2023 Store Champs 2: Electric Boogaloo

 

This writeup is a bit late (Balder's Gate 3 has been distracting me), but better late than never! Several weekends ago, I managed to attend our second X-wing store championship for this year. Like the previous event, we hit exactly 16 players, and were able to play for the worlds invite. The previous event taught me that snapshot was complete trash, but TIEs and Interceptors are still great ship chassis. I decided to modify my list from the previous even, swapping out all the costly named TIEs for some generics, supported by Iden with a thread tracer.

Even at cost 4, I'll never give her up!

My List:

Second Sister w/ Predictive Shot, Ruthless, XX-23 S-Thread Tracers, Shield Upgrade, Config.

Lieutenant Lorrir w/ Enduring, Targeting Computer, Config.

Iden Versio w/ Ruthless, Marksmanship, XX-23 S-Thread Tracers, Precision Ion Engines.

Black Squadron Ace #1.

Black Squadron Ace #2.

Black Squadron Ace #3.

Black Squadron Ace #4.

Iden recently received a (well deserved) nerf from cost 3 to cost 4, but I still think she's worth taking if you're bringing any TIE Fighters. Her ability is just incredibly disruptive to your opponent's plans, and can cause them to overthink it's use, or straight up take poorer shots to avoid it. She can also bring Thread Tracers and Ruthless to give your TIEs locks. Overall she's a very nice support piece. 

Downgrading all the expensive snapshot TIEs to 2-cost generics allowed me to fit an extra TIE into the list. An extra ship is always useful, especially with the scenarios.

I decided to just keep my previous Second Sister, and Lorrir builds. I think enduring on Lorrir is fine, but the Thread Tracer loadout on Second Sister is probably better used to just get Hate, or Malice. Even so, both the interceptors were standouts in all my games, flexing into scoring, baiting, tanking, and/or dealing damage; It's just a great chassis.

Round 1: Assault at the Satellite Array

Game 1: Setup.

My opponent had a squad of five PS4 Republic pilots in; Slider, Padme, Wollfe, Shaak Ti, and Hawk.

Setup is shown above. I did my usual swarm setup, having them on one side to joust into the objectives. The interceptors were deployed on the other flank to cap objectives, and/or rush over to support the swarm. 

My plan was to have the TIEs focus down the ARC and LAAT as fast as possible. Second Sister and Lorrir were going to converge, and kill Slider as quickly, before swinging into a flank position (all the while scoring the right-side objectives). 

The game pretty much played out as I planned. In the first engagement, I fired a thread tracer at Padme, and the swarm took some early pot shots at her (since they couldn't concentrate on Wollfe). They failed to do any damage, so I still committed the TIEs to the Wollfe, and later Hawk. Slider clipped a rock on the second turn, and died to Second Sister, and Lorrir's combined fire. I sent the right-most Black Ace off to contest the central objective, but he died the next turn to Wollfe's shot and a triple green-dice blank out.

Game 1: Turn 3 planning phase.

Next, the swarm slotted in behind Wolffe, and obliterated him with some help from the two interceptors. The game snowballed from there, with Hawk dying to the swarm soon after (he got trapped, and blocked in front of the TIEs). It was just a case of locking down the remaining points via the objectives.

Game 1: The final turn.

Game 1 Result: Win 22-8

Round 2: Chance Engagement

Game 2: Turn 2 planning phase.

Round 2 was against another very experienced X-wing player. In a throwback to 1.0 and 2.0 X-wing, my opponent had a triple(ish) ace squad. This included Anakin, Obi Wan, and Ahsoka, all in the Delta-7B. That's some insane manoeuvrability, with force, and 7 HP (with a shield upgrade). Even worse, the mission was Chance Engagement, which means I had very little objective pressure to put on my opponent.

As with all triple-ace games, it comes down to getting an early trap on one ace, and deleting it quickly, so you then have a large number advantage against the other two. You can then bully, and control the remaining two aces. If you fail that trap, or your opponent lucks out, and escapes, it become an uphill battle. You then typically spend the rest of the game scattered, slowly being baited, and switched, while getting chipped away, or straight up PS-killed. 

The gas clouds ended up in a "7" shape as pictured above, which was going to cause me issues as soon as I tried to cross it with the swarm. Worse still, I won the roll-off and needed to deploy my swarm before Ahsoka. I setup the swarm on one side, ready to push into the centre, or cut across my board edge. Second Sister and Lorrir were deployed on the other side to try and bait the aces in. My opponent obviously setup his ships in a loose squad in the opposite corner to my swarm, directly opposite Lorrir, and Second Sister. This wasn't his first rodeo! 

Round 1 my TIEs turned in to reinforce my Interceptors, which both just stalled to see what the aces would do. My opponent wisely ended all three of his ships in position to either turn into the centre of the board, or come at my interceptors (pictured above). Turn 2 saw Ahsoka move into the middle of the map, safely flanking the swarm, while Anakin turned to follow her. Obi wan stalled to be cagey, and possibly flank down the other side. Obi wan, and Second Sister traded shots (he lost 1 shield to nothing). 

At this stage I had two choices. The obvious move was to commit the swarm to Obi, and try and trap and burn him down. This was risky, as he was in prime position to disengage and bait the swarm to chase him. Alternatively, I could turn into the centre, and commit to Anakin, hoping this would throw my opponent off. In the end I chose to shift focus to Anakin, who dodged a block with a 4 K-turn. Luckily he didn't have bullseye, and remained stressed. The interceptors moved into position behind Anakin, and Obi wan just lazily turned into my swarm and got an easy flank. This is the danger of playing an experienced opponent. They sometimes call your bluffs.

This was my trap moment. Anakin got gummed up by the K-turning swarm and took a bunch of damage with help from Iden's tracer. Iden was, in turn, hammered by a slooping Ahsoka, and Obi, but lived. Next turn Anakin was again gummed up by the swarm and failed to kill a 2 health TIE to limit the return shots. He then died to the swarm for the cost of Iden. My trap was successful and I could now bully the remaining aces with my superior numbers. Even still, they put up a fight.

Game 2: The final turn.

In the final combat phase, Obi wan managed to finish off a 1 health TIE. Second Sister's R1 attack PS-killed Ahsoka, and Obi wan was halved by the remains of the swarm, which got me over the line. This game was on a knife's edge the whole way through. One roll different, and it could have easily been a loss. Gotta love a close game!

Game 2 Result: Win 22 - 15

Round 3: Salvage Mission

Game 3: Turn 2 activation phase.

My opponent had Han with Bistan, Lando, Keo, and A-wing Wedge. Obviously this game the double-shooting Han had to die ASAP.

Again my swarm deployed on the left side, with the two interceptors deploying on the right. In a difference from my usual deployment, I had one TIE deploy on the far right to swoop in and pick up a nearby box. Han ended up deploying near the swarm, with Wedge for support, and Lando was opposite my Interceptors. Keo deployed in the middle to stall and pick up a box I placed near my opponent's side. I like to stick a box deep in my opponent's side in this scenario. It often forces my opponent to have a ship delay fighting to hang around and pick it up, which can be annoying if they don't have a dedicated filler ship. Good rock placement can exasperate this, and keep a ship out of the fight for several turns.

Turn 1 my TIEs slow-rolled forwards, and the interceptors moved quickly to converge on Han. The lone TIE moved up to snatch a box. On the other side, Han moved forward, committing to a restricted flight path, which cemented my plan to attack him first. Wedge slow-roll forward, Lando moved fast up the board, and Keo stalled to grab the deep box next turn. 

The next turn, My swarm slow-rolled, grabbing a box, while the two interceptors moved in to cut off Han's retreat options. Wedge raced down the flank to dodge the swarm, Lando slow-rolled in, and the lone TIE, and Keo both moved slowly forwards, grabbing their boxes. Han moved 1-forward into my web of firing arcs, and lost a huge chunk of his health, ending with 4 hull point remaining. On my side, Second Sister, and Iden both took two hits each, and Han shot the box off one of my TIEs.

Game 3: Turn 2 combat phase.

After such a one-sided turn of damage, all my TIEs converged to cut-off Han's movement options, and keep him trapped in front of the swarm. He had nowhere to manoeuvre, and died in the combat phase, costing me Iden's charge. I also managed to chip some shields off of Lando with Lorrir, and a Black Squadron's shot.

Game 3: Turn 4 planning phase.

On turn 4, Lorrir positioned himself to Block Lando from bugging out, and the swarm turned in to face him. The two A-wings continued to chip away at my TIEs, but couldn't prevent Lando from taking a walloping from the swarm. This culminated in 3x Crits which left him Wounded, with a Fuel Leak, and a Loose Stabilizer. On my side, Second Sister's luck ran out and she exploded in a spectacular crit-chain fireworks.

Game 3, turn 6 combat phase.

The next turn, Lando overshot the swarm, suffering the stabilizer crit, and gambled on taking a rotate action before boosting away. Unfortunately, he suffered the wounded pilot stress, preventing his escape. He lost his final 2 hull to the swarm, and that was game.

Game 3 Result: Win 21-9

Round 4: Scramble the Transmission

"You have elected the way of... pain!"

In the final round I was playing against another undefeated, experienced, and regular opponent. He had a fully kitted out Dooku, Cad, Durge, and the ever present Grievous. It was exactly the kind of list TIEs hate to see: lots of accurate 3 & 4-dice attacks, with squirrelly ships. My plan was to use my superior numbers to control the objectives, and try to focus Dooku down early (when in doubt, kill the Palp-shuttle).

My TIEs deployed on the right side, opposite Dooku, with Second Sister in the centre, and Lorrir on the far left. Dooku was opposite my TIEs with Grievous, and the two Rogues were opposite Lorrir. 

The first turn Dooku bailed on the joust by decloaking, banking towards the centre of the board, and recloaking. Grievous stalled to claim the nearby objective the next turn, and the Rogues moved down the left side. My TIEs shot 5-forward, while Lorrir and Second Sister stalled on my left flank, and middle respectively. 

Turn 2 saw Dooku launching a squad of Mandalorians to harass my swarm. Dooku stayed cloaked, and moved into the centre of the board, taking control of the central objective. Lorrir raced down the left side to block, or overshoot the Rogues, taking control of the objective in the process. My swarm did a bank manoeuvre to get around a rock, with one TIE peeling away to turn before the rock. Grievous clipped a debris cloud with a 1-hard, and was unable to claim the nearby objective, and Cad rushed to the middle of the board. Second Sister zoomed into the centre to take control of the objective, but collided with Dooku. In the combat phase, Dooku spent all his force to dodge attacks by the Swarm. A TIE dispatched the freshly launched Mandalorians, and Grievous lost a shield to a lucky long-range TIE shot.

The next two turns their was heavy fighting around the middle of the board, with the swarm, Grievous, and Dooku taking damage. System-wise Dooku launched a second squad of Mandalorians to avenge their fallen brethren. Cad's K-turn was blocked, so he blew up several obstacles as revenge (to minimal effect). On the outskirts, Lorrir continued to stall and tie up Durge, while keeping control of the left-most satellite. I had also peeled off another TIE to take the satellite in the top, right, corner. This was in keeping with my overall plan. Since Dooku had stayed cloaked, and dodged a lot of the swarms damage, I was committed to winning this match via the objectives, and maybe an opportunistic kill.

The game-state at turn 4:

Game 4: Turn 4 combat phase.

The following turn, Dooku stayed cloaked, and 3-slooped to get into an attack position for next turn. The dogpile in the middle continued, with Grievous taking heavy damage, but managing to slink away with 2HP. This was at the cost of several TIEs, and Iden's charge.

Game 4: The final turn.

In the final round my TIEs maneuverer to get shots on Dooku, without blocking Iden. Iden slotted into a gap I created, and fixed her console fire. Lorrir did a blue manoeuvre to clear his stress, and set up for next turn. Dooku faced Second Sister, and flipped the nearby satellite. Importantly, Durge didn't get ionized flying through a gas cloud, and was able to flip a second satellite. 

Second Sister faced Dooku head on at R1, and I had a choice to make. I could flip the Satellite back, and try to survive; I could focus, and try to kill/cripple Dooku with a crit chain; or I could just be safe, and boost past him and try and clip his back corner. Since I was ahead, and Dooku had a lock from earlier, I decided to be safe, and boost past. This left Second Sister with no shots. 

At this stage, time was called, and we finished the round off. I lost a TIE to Cad's shot, and in retaliation, my TIEs reduced Dooku to 3 hull. With the objective points, this left me narrowly winning 9-8. For official reasons, I conceded before we finished, so that my opponent would get the worlds invite (I had no intention of attending, and my opponent was guaranteed 2nd place at this stage). This ended with me getting the glory, but more importantly, the Poe shiny!

Game 4 Result: Concession 0-20

The true prize. The shiniest of Poes!

Overall Result: 1st place... ish.

Post Tournament Thoughts:

This list was a clear improvement over the snap-swarm I ran at the last event. Even with the result, I still think swarms are in a bad place in 2.5. If you crunch the numbers, they're generally less point efficient than "good stuff" lists, and blocking has been eroded as a strategy. It's mostly just familiarity that keeps me playing TIEs, as I know their maneuvres

Iden proved to be worth her weight in gold, as she cinched me several games by denying easy kills and evening out the volatility of my TIEs defence dice. She was also a much better Thread Tracer carrier than Second Sister. 

It would be interesting to swap out the swarm for Tomax, Rhymer, and Jonus, all with Saturation Salvo, and Barrage Rockets. They're not as manoeuvrable, but they hit harder, are tankier, and I could still fit in a Black Squadron Ace as a filler ship to get me to six ships. The bombers have their own downsides, but it would be interesting to try out and compare to the swarm:

That's a lot of double-modded, 3-dice attacks!

As with last tournament the interceptors were the clear MVPs:

Both ships can (and did) fulfilled multiple roles, depending on what I needed them to do at the time. Their manoeuvrability with the system phase reposition is just ungodly, and you can almost always get them into a prime position to do something useful. 

Second Sister is probably one of my favourite pilots at the moment, even though her pilot ability might as well be blank. The two force points are just incredibly useful for keeping her alive, and doing damage. I think next time I'll lose the Thread Tracers (which I never used), and try out Malice for the bonus crits. This leaves me with 2 loadout for a cheap EPT, which will probably be Disciplined, or just sticking with Ruthless. Predator + Heightened perception is another option, which could give my list some PS-kill options. Lots to think about!

Another fun day of X-wing. I can't say I'm enjoying 2.5 quite as much as 2.0, and 1.0, but the community continues to be 10/10!

A wild Store Championship has appeared

I recently attended a small store championship. This tournament had a prize for the jankiest list, and I had been wanting to play a list which used snap shot, so I built a TIE Snap-swarm. 

Straight up janky trash. Just the way I like it!

I've played snapshot several times before, and in my experience it's greatest effect is complicating your opponents decision-making. Most players are adverse to proc'ing it, and will overthink their initial approach when coming up against mass snapshot. You either get some extra shooting, or your opponent jumps through hoops to avoid it. Snap shot is generally best at putting extra damage on agility 0-1 ships, or getting chip damage through on low-HP agility 3 ships which rely on green tokens for defence. Against agility 2 ships it's a lot swingier, as they have the green dice to reliably dodge poor shots, and the HP to mitigate any damage that gets through.

My List:

Second Sister w/ Predictive Shot, Ruthless, XX-23 S-Thread Tracers, Shield Upgrade, Config.

Lieutenant Lorrir w/ Enduring, Targeting Computer, Config.

Gideon Hask w/ Snap Shot, Ruthless, Precision Ion Engines.

Seyn Marana w/ Snap Shot, Jamming Beam, Precision Ion Engines.

Magna Tolvan w/ Snap Shot, Ruthless, Targeting Computer.

Yrica Quell w/ Snap Shot.

Building this list was fairly simple. I wanted a decent number of ships with Snap Shot, and figured a bunch of 3-cost TIEs was the easiest way to achieve this. I started with four of the 3-costers, which all had 9+ loadout and a Talent slot to equip Snap Shot. After the initial mini-swarm, I decided that I needed an object capper. Lorrir was recently buffed into the 3-slot, so he was a no-brainer to flank and/or cap objectives. His loadout was tricky, but I eventually settled on Enduring over Elusive. In hindsight, Enduring was the right choice, as it saved quite a few crits over the course of the tournament.

That left me with 5 points, which was either a fifth TIE with Snap Shot, plus a 2-cost filler, or I could splurge on a 5-cost pseudo-ace. I chose to try out Second Sister, with a shield for defence, and a Thread Tracer to buff the swarm if needed. Like Lorrir, Second Sister proved to be a really versatile ship, punching out damage, tanking shots, and grabbing objectives, depending on what I needed. 

Round 1: Assault at the Satellite Array

A rare photo I remembered to take. This is the End-phase of the first turn.

My opponent had some standard FO good-stuff in Midnight, Whisper-Kylo, and Malarus. He also had 2 tech pieces in Grudge with a Prox Mine (very nasty against my 3HP ships), and Agent Tierny (less useful against my list).

Objectives ended up in a tight triangle on the left-side, and with me placing the final objective deep on my opponent's side. I liked this setup because I had an efficient joust element to fight over the triangle, and two fast ships to flex into the fight, or go for the periphery objectives. The obstacles were fairly scattered, and didn't effect the game much.

I did a fairly standard mini-swarm + flanker deployment. The mini-swarm deploys on one side, and uses the board edge to protect one of it's flanks. It can then either joust whatever is opposite, or cut across the board if the opponent doesn't engage. You generally want the swarm deployed on the objective-heavy side so they can bully the opponent off them, or cap them on the way to the fight.

Lorrir deployed central so he could assist the swarm if the shuttle, and Malarus committed, or switch to objectives if they didn't. Second Sister was on her lonesome on the far side to keep her from stressing my ships, and cap objectives and/or harass any enemy ships on her side. Kylo and Midnight ended up opposite her.

This game started with me getting a lucky kill on my opponent's bomber before it could drop a Prox Mine on Lorrir. This then snowballed pretty quickly, with Snap Shot, into a dead Xi Shuttle the turn after. After all that carnage I just focused on the objectives to guarantee the win. Second sister spent the game capping objectives, and tying up Kylo and Midnight. Some TIEs died, as they do.

Win 22-14

Round 2: Scramble the Transmissions

Setup of game 2.

My opponent had a resistance chonk list, which included four T70s, and Finn in the pod. It was all the usual T70s, except Kare Kun substituted in instead of Jess Pava (PS4 instead of PS3). 

Again I setup the swarm on one side, ready to push into the objectives in the centre, and/or on my opponent's side. Lorrir deployed ready to cap the objective on my side, and head into the centre of the map. Second Sister was setup on the far side to bait some X-wings, or quickly flank in behind them if they ignored her.

Snap Shot was a non-factor this game, as I struggled to deal meaningful damage with it against the 7HP, 2 agility X-wings. We fought constantly over control of the satellites, and they were changing hands throughout the game. I lost a TIE in the opening exchange, before he could fire (which always hurts), but did heavy damage to Ello. An unfortunate self-bump on Turn 4 cost Finn a shield, and then his life, and Ello died soon after. I then proceeded to spread a bunch of damage across the remaining X-wings, whilst my other TIEs all died one by one. It was 18-19 in my opponent's favour on the last turn with me controlling two of the three satellites, so a single kill either way would result in a win. Luckily Second Sister survived some concentrated fire on 2HP, with Lorrir managing to kill a heavily damaged T70, which got me over the line. 

Gotta love a close game.

Win 24 - 20

Round 3: Salvage Mission

My opponent had Han with Bistan, BoY Luke, a Chop-Saw Ghost, and Sabine in the TIE. 

A scary list, with lots of heavy-hitters rolling 4 dice.

Again my TIEs deployed on one side, with the two interceptors loosely paired on the other side. Sabine was opposite my swarm to grab a crate next to her, Han started in the middle of the board. and Luke and Chopper chose to deploy on one side opposite the interceptors. 

Han's first move had him committed to a rather restricted flight path due to the obstacles, so my swarm made a bee-line to head him off in the corner. My interceptors both noped out of the joust with Luke, and Chopper. Lorrir went fast through the centre to grab the central crate, and Second Sister slow-rolled, then shot past Luke and Chopper, grabbing a box on the way out. Sabine turned tail and ran from the swarm with her box, while the swarm ambushed Han and took him down to 6 Hull at the cost of a heroic TIE pilot. I missed a follow-up block on Han, which almost cost me the game. Luckily I was able to chase Han down the next turn, and then rapidly drop the Ghost over the next two turns when it finally turned around and came in. This came at the cost of another heroic TIE pilot, and also Lorrir, who died trading fire with the Ghost.

Win 22-18? (I'm a little unsure on the exact score for this one)

Round 4: Chance Encounter

A High-quality re-enactment of the last game. The author is a graphics design genius.

Going into the last round we knew it would be chance encounter. I was up against another Resistance chonk list, which is not a great list to be versing in chance engagement. This list included the usual four T70s in Ello, Temin, Doza, and Jess, plus L'ulo in the A-wing as a fifth pseudo-3-dice hitter.

My TIE swarm started on the left side with Lorrir, and Second Sister deployed centrally. Ello, Doza, and Jess were deployed as a group on the side facing the TIE swarm, and Temin and L'ulo deployed on the other side of the board to try and race in and flank the two interceptors. 

The Swarm and the three T70s opposite had a good old fashion joust, with my opponent managing to avoid Snap Shot mass proc'ing on a single X-wing, though Doza did lose 2 shields to a single lucky Snap Shot. Second Sister rushed over to assist the Swarm and turn it into an unequal fight. I lost a TIE (before it could shoot, RIP) in exchange for reducing Doza to 1HP. Doza died the next turn, and we went back and forth over the next couple of turns trading ships.

This game really demonstrated how great Lorrir is as bait. L'ulo, and especially Temin wasted a lot of time trying to chase him down until finally giving up and coming in to assist the other T70s. Lorrir danced around, and dealt plenty of damage before finally being felled by Ello on the last turn.

My opponent made two clutch decisions which swung the game. Firstly he chose to Tallon Roll Ello in the midgame, but went in the opposite direction than I expected. This was a big deal as I wasted a TIE doing a hard-1 and BR back to block the obvious Tallon. This left Ello nothing to shoot, but in a decent position to reengage the next turn, rather than spending 2-3 turns trying to avoid the board edge and turn around. Some big-brain moves by my opponent, as sometimes the worse, safer move is the better move. More importantly my opponent took a gamble targeting a healthy TIE later in the game, instead of my 1HP Gideon. This paid off, as the TIE died, and I lost my only ship in range of the central objective, causing a 2VP swing against me.

The game ended with Lorrir dying to Temin, but Second Sister killing L'ulo to tie the game. In return she took no damage from Jess's follow-up shot. This left Second Sister on 3HP, denying my opponent the 1/2 points on her and hence the win. The game was close pretty much the whole way through, and ended in a draw. What better way to end a tournament?

Draw 20-20

2nd place, also known as the first loser.

Overall Result: 2nd place. All my games were close, so losing out on the tie-break for 1st was unsurprising. Unfortunately, I did not win the title of Jank-master, so it was a hollow podium position.

Post Tournament Thoughts:

I feel Snap Shot was pretty underwhelming. It sprinkled some damage on early, but I don't think it made up for the inefficiencies of getting it into the list. Next time it's probably worth swapping at least two of the TIEs for the more efficient 3 cost bomber chassis, which also have the slot and loadout for Snap Shot:

It could just be that my estimating was a little rusty, and I didn't get as many early Snap Shot triggers as I should have. I'm glad I tried it out, but a more traditional swarm is probably better. Iden and four Black Squadron Pilots is the same cost, and gets me a more efficient swarm with an extra TIE.

The clear MVPs of my list were the two interceptors:

Second Sister was just generally very solid. She constantly applied offensive pressure, flanked, tanked damage, and/or scored objectives. The only part of her kit that was underwhelming was the thread tracer. It just feels bad sacrificing a 3-dice primary, even if it is to get locks for the swarm. Shield Upgrade and Foresight might be a better build to try, which also leans into the activation-phase shooting.

Lorrir was even better at 3 points. His weird movement constantly through off my opponents, and most of them just chose to ignore him. It's perfect for a 3-cost ship so heavily tilted towards offense. Enduring was also clutch in a couple of games, stopping ~4 crits over the course of the day (two from a single Proton Torpedo from Luke, which allowed him to keep his salvage crate on 1HP).

I learned a lot playing this list and it was a fun day of X-wing!

Hobby Update September 2023 - MESBG Minas Tirith

I've been playing X-wing since it's first release back in the early days of 1.0, where the TIE swarm was king. However, there is another miniature game I've been playing almost as long. 

The Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game by Games Workshop is, in my opinion, one of the greatest miniature games currently available. It differs from most of GWs other games by having a rather simple ruleset, which has a surprising amount of depth, and fits the theme of the setting perfectly (much like X-wing). Your heroes are exceptional models, which can perform mighty feats that normal men/elves/dwarves/orcs couldn't even dream of. This could be calling their warriors to make an unexpected charge, fire off a volley of arrows, cut through lesser warriors, or even cheat the very dice rolls of the game. These mighty feats can't go on forever as even the greatest of heroes begin to fatigue and become vulnerable as the battle drags on. If it's not obvious, MESBG focuses heavily on your heroes (typically) being mighty warriors, but more importantly they're the leaders of your army, and provide essential, but limited, support to your warrior models.

There's a reason this particular miniature game survived being essentially discontinued for an extended period, before being gloriously rebirthed as MESBG-the-White; it's a very good game.

Enough gushing about this game. The following are some models I recently painted for my Minas Tirith force (apologies for the amateurish photos. One day I'll learn how to properly photograph miniatures):

A Gondor Bolt Thrower, ready to cut down some Mordor Orcs.

Beregond, Guard of the Citadel. I'm currently working on a mounted version.

Cirion, Lieutenant of Amon Barad. An oldy, but a goody.

A converted younger Denethor. He's still mad as a hatter, but is eating less gross tomatoes.

Some warriors to fill out numbers, with a converted banner.

Hope you enjoyed the models! I'll post more hobby content as I progress through my shameful mini-gamer backlog.

Updated X-wing 2.0 to 2.5 Points Comparisons

Here's an updated spreadsheet, which roughly compares the points costs between X-wing 2.0 and X-wing 2.5.

I've reverse engineered X-wing 2.5 pilots back into a 2.0 point value, which gives a rough idea of what pilots are 'good value' in each cost slot. My assumption is that the points values FFG had at the end of 2.0 were approximately balanced (Debatable, but I think they were close). More ships and pilots have come out since I first published the sheet, so I have done my best to estimate their old 2.0 cost using similar pilots. Ditto for the standardised builds. My estimates are all clearly highlighted, so take them with a grain of salt.

The differences in value obviously doesn't tell the whole story, but it's been useful enough in my list building, in conjunction with YASB 2.5.

Download File

I've also created a second sheet which ranks the pilots by how much of a points difference their is between their 2.0 cost, and their 2.5 cost. Ships that are higher in the rank are better 'value', and hence are probably pretty strong ships (again all the caveats of it an estimate). Like the previous sheets, anything highlighted in yellow is a ship it's had to have a rough guess at it's 2.0 cost by using other similar ships and/or pilots.

Download File

Hope you find this all helpful!

I'm back baby!

I'm back baby! I've been on a hiatus from X-wing for the past year. This was mostly due to a combination of work, study, and holidaying. I didn't play any competitive X-wing over this break, but I did get to try out Heroes of the Aturi Cluster (HotAC), which was very fun, and a great palate cleanser. 

Now that I have some more free time, I'm intending to try and post more regularly, starting now! Here's a (fairly) recent X-wing repaint I completed; Corran Horn in his CorSec X-wing (apologies for my amateur picture quality):

Yes, the S-Foils still work!