In Which I Earn My First Tournament Victory!

Sorry I haven't been updating a hole lot, folks...it was the end of the school term, I had lots of finals, issues with looking for new roommates, etc. I still took lots of photos of games, but I never found the time to post anything, and things just slipped my mind until recently. I'm on the SoCal X-wing Facebook page, and a conversation there necessitated me looking up some of my posted photos, reminding me of my lack of updates for over a month! I know there's not many of you who view this blog, but to those of you who do, sorry!

Anyways, on June 28, GMI hosted an escalation tournament, with the first-place prize being a CR-90 box! I ended up winning it, with Michael taking second. I almost went 4-0 as well, but Michael played very well and had a strong list, so even if I hadn't made the fatal mistake with an A-wing who's entire purpose was to assassinate Biggs, Howlrunner, or Jonus (whichever showed up in the round five game) with a homing missile, I still probably would have lost...or at the very least it would have been a very close game. It's hard to tell, since the mistake was kind of early on.

I promise to post more often. I really do enjoy sharing my games, even if they don't get many views. I've got a few backlogged games to post, hopefully those will be up shortly, and then I'll work on some new stuff.

First Published Game with Barret!

With no D&D to occupy my Tuesday evenings for the time being, I was able to get in some more Star Trek. Saturday after the tournament Barret had asked me about a brand new Federation list he had been working on, so I decided to test it with him. Rather than running Crazy Janeway's Torpedo Punch, I ran a list about as close to MSU/MSA as one can get. By it's very nature, it had me trying out some brand-new combinations myself, including one that worked surprisingly well...

Curious Cards!

So...it's Focus for people who didn't Focus?

Short Tournament Battle Reports!

Here's how I did at the tournament this past weekend. Read on for a tale of ups and downs, or surprise and regret, and just a little bit of self-reflection...

Sorry, no pictures this time, other than the header image taken from Round 4...I focused on gaming, not picture-taking.

My List: [100]

• Wes Janson + Swarm Tactics
• "Dutch" Vander + R5-K6 + Ion Cannon Turret
• Ibtisam + Opportunist + Heavy Laser Cannon

List Testing with Charles!

After my bout with Elijah, I asked if Charles would be willing to test my list. We had just enough time before closing for a single game, so I had to make it count. He brought a modified version of his classic Vader/Jonus/Bomber list, something he said he would take to a tournament himself. We cut the 4x4 table down to 3x3 as best we could, deployed, and went at it, time limit in mind.

In Which I Gain a Padawan Learner!

Friday night I headed to my FLGS for some tournament list practice. The list was brand new, and while theoretically amazing, I had no idea if it would survive the table. The only other X-wing players there were involved in the weekly MTG event, so I couldn't count on them until later, especially since they had an ongoing game where between MTG rounds they'd have a couple rounds of X-wing. Instead, I was able to run a demo game for someone who came in looking for card games and found himself attracted to the miniatures. This isn't that demo game

FFG, WHY YOU DO DIS TO ME?!

Tantive IV is slated to release May 22nd...I JUST GOT DONE BUYING THE TRANSPORT!

/cry

To quote someone on the Facebook post they announced it on:
"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of wallets suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

Why I'm Excited for Third Quarter!

So while building a list for the upcoming tournament, I pondered my anti-swarm predicament. All of the lists I built have tremendous alpha strikes, and most of them have good defenses too. But only one, the second-to-last one I was considering running, has dedicated anti-swarm capabilities. This could be me imagining the amount of swarm playtime we'll see there, but it's still a valid consideration, one that Imperial pilots may soon have to face when the Z-95s release.

Then I hit on something amazing while digging through the squadron builder, which shows the text for all cards that have been spoiled, as well as fully released ones. Sure, we can't take them yet in legal play, but I can still plan a list...

So what am I so excited about?

My First X-wing Miniatures Tournament!

It's almost time for my first X-wing tournament, and I have NO IDEA what my list should be. I only got two games in with my first version on Saturday, and I'm not terribly pleased with the results. It performed decently well in the first round, but due mostly to amazing dice rolls, since the second round with both fleets exactly the same I had my arse handed to me. So, not completely back to the drawing board...

For those interested, the tournament is at GMI on Saturday 17th at 2pm. Registration opens before then, so be early. Prize support is some promo cards from one of the event boxes, and potentially more depending on how many show up. We weren't planning on this one being huge, it's more just to dip our toes in the water and gauge interest in more and larger events.

Speaking of events, we're trying REALLY hard to get into the Assault on Imdaar Alpha: Wave IV Launch Event. We probably won't make it, but our store liaison is giving them a call on Monday to see if we can still get in.

Old Footage Found!

So while digging through my old iPad photos (the device I take all these photos with currently), and found some old pics of my first real X-wing Miniatures game (I'm discounting the first two demos I ran, with just the ships in one box). I thought I'd share, so see how far I've come, and yet how far I have to go still.

Epic X-wing Battle!

I got to the store a little late Saturday for some tourney list practice (my first tournament is next Saturday!), and was only able to get two practice games in. I'll be discussing my potential list later. After a short break, we decided to run a four-player Epic game. 200 pts. to each player, two to a team. We used the Epic rules for asteroid placement and staring zones, and went at it.

The Search for Dilithium!

Time for the evening was running short, so we decided to run a mission instead of duke it out like normal. We originally chose the second mission in the rulebook, but it proved to be terribly written from a design point of view, and so we switched to the first one, a simple pick-up and escape mission.

The battlefield was again the 4x4 mat, with the objective planet in the center, surrounded by large then small obstacles, placed roughly evenly according to terrain placement rules in the tournament handbook.

We decided to play to 100 points again, as we didn't want to take the time to rebuild all our lists (Nick had already rebuilt his during the last game, taking the time to write it out while his opponents were acting). I brought "Crazy Janeway" again, switching out Harry Kim for Montgomery Scott. Charles barely shifted his build, but Nick, perhaps inspired by my single-ship escapades, decided to load the Defiant. He ended up being 16 points short, but it may not have helped him in the end...

Debut of "Janeway's Torpedo Punch"!

First game of the night, of the first day this site has existed. What, battle reports already?! YOU BETCHA!

Anyways, I debuted Janeway's Torpedo Punch in this battle. It was a three-way free-for-all with a good number of planets and obstructions on a 4'x6' mat (sectioned to 4x4). The Transwarp Conduit tokens were used as large Plasma Storm markers. The look on their faces when I placed only one ship in my deployment zone, then announced I was completely deployed...priceless. Much lulz were had.  

Mission Statement

Hi, I'm a Wargamer, based in Southern California, USA. My primary store is GMI, in Riverside. I currently play Warmachine (Retribution of Scyrah), X-Wing (both factions), and Star trek: Attack Wing (Federation only, though I may expand to Klingons eventually). I grew up playing Warhammer 40k and D&D, so expect posts related to those as well.

I'd like to think of myself as a competent gamer, and a good modeller, though my painting skills are merely average. I had a long hiatus until recently where I wasn't painting, or playing for that matter. As I paint more and more, I hope to get good enough to want to post more images.

Here I'll post mostly battle reports, but sometimes fun or important articles, blogs, or forum threads, as well as finished models. I know some people hate battle reports, but I love them, so I'll be sure to tag them so those who want to can avoid them.

I game Tuesday and Friday nights, plus whenever I can get anything else in. Expect the majority of battle reports then.

I look forward to sharing with you!
- Charles