After the Europeans, I realised I didn't enjoy flying the Rho and Nu; but I decided I wanted to keep flying Kylo. As far as I'm concerned, he is the most fun ship to fly; ever. What I really love is that, with him, great flying often brings great rewards; of course, a single mistake can see him die very quickly. So, when looking for a pilot to partner him with, who else came to mind then his inspiration: Darth Vader. A ship that stays in the spirit: fantastic if you play him right, but any mistake will also get you punished more often than not.
So, meet the new list: "I will finish what you started": 97 pts
| Kylo Ren (TIE Silencer) — TIE Silencer | 35 |
| Push the Limit | 3 |
| Advanced Sensors | 3 |
| Advanced Optics | 2 |
| Autothrusters | 2 |
| First Order Vanguard | 2 |
| Ship Total: 47 | |
| Darth Vader — TIE Advanced | 29 |
| Veteran Instincts | 1 |
| Cruise Missiles | 3 |
| Advanced Targeting Computer | 1 |
| Engine Upgrade | 4 |
| TIE/x1 | 0 |
| Ship Total: 38 | |
| Academy Pilot — TIE Fighter | 12 |
| Ship Total: 12 | |
I had tried it before in a couple of local games and it worked OK. Not really brilliant results; but fantastic games... And that's what's important, isn't it?
Wrong! What's important is having a fun day with friends! There were plenty of us Vagabonds going to spend a day in a nice pub, playing X-Wings; as well as plenty other goods friends and players...
We even got some random dude crashing our team photo :)
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| Vagabonds and a friend |
I came in Rich's car, followed by Steve's.
So, of course, my first game was against Steve...
Steve was flying a list we talked about the week before (and that it let me try on the Wednesday) : Kylo and Whisper. Kylo is the same as mine and Whisper's got Krennic and sensor jammer.
I felt quite OK with the matchup with VI Vader moving last and shooting before Whisper. The engagement goes as I had hoped for: a 5 dice cruise missile (with TL and focus) on an uncloaked Whisper leaves her on one hull (the shield from Krennic really made a difference here). Unfortunately, the return fire at range 2 removes the shields from Vader and adds a crit in (one less agility). Not ideal...
On the other side of the board, Kylo on Kylo doesn't do a lot...
Next round, I guess exactly where Whisper will be, but mess up totally my moves and the boost I thought would get Vader out of arc brings him in range 1 of whisper. Bye, bye Vader.
It's now my Kylo vs Steve's list (my Tie Fighter has been killed after blanking out his greens and taking a hit and a crit which goes into a major explosion for the kill... Spoilers: he's going to do exactly the same (but with Direct Hit) in two other games!).
And Steve's whisper shoot last, which means she'll be cloaked and with sensor jammer when I attack, possibly with an evade as well... It was initially my game to lose and it was looking like I was going down that path quickly.
The only way I could win this was by arc dodging Whisper and get a surprise attack in before she can cloak. My kylo does a bit of runaway until I see an opportunity: by barrel rolling, then boosting, then hard-2, I should be able to get just past an asteroid above me and surprise whisper. It's exactly what happens and Kylo manages to kill Whisper. The game is now again mine to loose: I've got only 2 hull on Kylo against Steve's untouched Kylo, but I move last...
What I don't realise is that Steve is winning on points! I stay very (too!) prudent and manages to get to a point where we're both on 2 hull, but we're a few minutes from the end of the game. Last round sees both our Kylo face to face at range one.
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| Kylo on Kylo action |
Steve shoots first. I roll my defense dice. I've got to spend my focus to stay alive... But I decide to keep it for the attack. The result is both Kylo explode and we're in for a final salvo!
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| Final Salvo: 7 vs 7 |
Steve wins the final salvo and I lose my first game 100-100!
This was one of my best games in a long time. Partly because Steve is probably the best opponent you can wish for; and also because of the flying and how the game went with why enjoy so much this list. A single mistake with Vader cost me the game, but a perfect move with Kylo gave me another chance. A great risk-reward list!
After playing against Steve, who was following us in his car... Who do I get paired with? Rich who drove me there!
Rich is playing a 5X list which looks quite frightening!
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| Who would have guessed: my Tie Fighter didn't even get a shot before exploding! |
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| First round of shooting and an X-Wing and a Tie Fighter will be gone! |
I've put my aces in a position where Rich has now to choose who to chase on the next round. He decides to go for Vader who will then only serve as bait until he finally dies from too many red dice..
In the end, Kylo doesn't manage to finish the last 2 X-Wing, and I win by 60-50.
Third game, and I can, at last, play someone I don't play on a regular basis!
Chris is flying QD with countdown and 2 Nu with harpoons. We played each other in last year's similar event and outflew me entirely with his RAC list. It's time for a revenge!
I decide to put Kylo more or less facing Chris' list, while Vader will get behind. A nice BR+ boost from Kylo means I get straight into range one of the Nus, avoiding the harpoons and his QD bumps on Kylo. This means I've got a 4 dice cruise missile from Vader on a token-less QD who can't return fire as she has no-one in sight! (I think my Tie Fighter already died while I was getting in position!).
I only get 2 shields off, but that's a good start. From there, it's quite easy to play with Kylo and make sure he arc-dodges the Nu. It's still a very tense game as a single mistake could easily cost me the game! In the end, Kylo is badly hurt, but still alive and a damage Countdown and Nu are also still on the board. I win on points (can't remember how many exactly). A very good and tense game (and I'm happy no harpoons were shot!).
For the last game, I'm paired against Pete who flies a really interesting list with VI BB8-Poe, Lowhrick with Saw (and another new crew) and Jess with M9-G8.
Pete decides to castle in his corner, but that gives me the opportunity for a 5 dice cruise missile on token-less ships (as they all bumped), except Poe who had a focus from before. So, what do I do? I choose to launch it on Poe... for 1 shield off. The return fire at range 3 also removes one shield from Vader! Not a good start.
I think this was my first mistake and I kept at it through the whole game: target priority. I should have gone for Lowhrick and then kept at the same target until I could remove it from the board. Instead, I ended damaging all ships, killing none..
Did I mention how Kylo can be so good when well flown, but dies quickly in case of mistakes? I misjudged a move and got greedy: instead of making sure of a bump on Lowhrick - or even of flying past - with a boost before my move, I decided on a TL). I missed the bump by less than a mm, putting Kylo in range 1 of a M9-G8-ed/Saw-ed Lowhrick. It didn't go well!
I did manage to Kylo a PS0 on Poe a bit later, but it was too little too late and I lost my two ships in the same round of shooting! Loss 0-100.
In the end, I finished 2-2, with possibly one of my worst mov in a long time.
Still, I had a fantastic day. No single turret or bomb during the whole day! Plenty of fun games with impressive flying (and huge mistakes); full of surprises: a perfect day of X-Wing!
And did I mention spending time with a bunch of great friends?
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