EPISODE 4 Part2 - ONE SHOT, ONE KILL

HI everyone. This week i only managed to get two games in due to an uneven number of players but they were good games all the same. hear's a reminder of what i was flying.

GAME ONE.
for the first game my fearsome squad of Kihraxz fighters headed off against a heavily armed imperial

attack force. Krassis Trelix, Backstabber and a TIE Punisher from Cutlass squadron. My Kihraxz set up on the right flank hoping to use a line of asteroids to cover their approach. With the Punisher in our sights the Kihraxz surged forward as fast they could. The Punisher met my engagement and locked its cluster missles on my squad, Krassis turned to avoid the screen of asteroids while backstabber put pedal to the metal trying to get into flanking pposition The Punisher was a sitting duck. 15 attack dice with focus later and there wasn't a Punisher. But now both backstabber and Krassis were getting behind my fleet. That nice 5 K-turn got me clear of the asteroid line, but backstabber and the firespray were a little out  my sights. A few stray shots yielded little results as krassis heavy laser cannons fired back into my squad. not wanting to risk being boxed in by the asteroids my entire fleet kept its stress and preformed a hard 1 turn facing directly at backstabber. the TIE fighter collided with the front of my squad but with 3 range 1 Kihraxz thats one

dead Backstabber. Meanwhile Krassis manages to destroy one of my ships. Only Krassis was left but i had no way of getting him into ark and every one of my ships was stressed. my fleet turned on the retrothrusters slowing down to relieve there stress and to collectively target lock the firespray which flipped behind my position. The furthest back of my ships took a heavy hit being reduced to one hull by Krassis' gunner co-pilot. Relying once again on that 5 K-turn my fleet quickly flipped around and had the firespray in there sights. The heavy laser cannon blazed away at the injured Kihraxz but he was determined to dodge every shot even from the enemy gunner. My Kihraxz return fire relying on there target locks. Solid hits. And that's one dead Firespray. Victory to the Kihraxz!



GAME TWO.
in game two my Kihraxz came up against nothing....we were just flying through space with malicious whimsy when all of a sudden "HOLY HANSOLO, THREE PHANTOMS!" This was going to be a tough match but i set up my squad and planned to try and focus down the phantoms one at a time.

luckily they set up quite far apart. I gunned it. moving as quickly as i could upto the closest phantom. cloaked or not attack dice are more reliable than defence dice. my squad sweeps inbetween two asteroids and gets the first phantom in there sights. one of my Khiraxz takes a hard hit but survives. we return fire and my opponents evade rolls run out of luck pretty quickly and thats one phantom down. Only problem was the other two phantoms have managed to pincer me in and i don't seem to be able to move into a good firing position on either. I take a big risk deciding to K turn my entire fleet. A bad decision. one of the phantoms Decloaks and blocks my move and then they manage to get out of ark of every one of my ships.

Enemy blasters fire over and over again while my Khiraxz struggle to stay together and barely get in a few shots on the phantoms until all that's left is my squad leader fleeing desperately. One turn later. Dead. A victory to the Phantoms.


                                      DON'T BE LIKE ME --->

THE REVIEW.
I really enjoyed flying this list. every time i managed to fire with all of the Kihraxz at once i made a ship disappear. Iv never seen my opponent pull out damage cards so quickly as when i fired at that punisher and firespray. The phantoms were always going to be a tricky one but i think i just threw the game when i did that squad wide K-turn. I would like to see how the game would have played out had i split my squad into a group of two and a group of three and then have them approach fairly close but at different angles so that i could at least fire at the phantoms consistently. All said i definitely rate the Kihraxz as a top notch all round fighter. Its dial is great and its stats are solid. I have high hopes that one day a Vaksai title and some more pilot options will give the Kihraxz that bit of a boost that i think it needs to be used competitively. Or perhaps the Upcoming Cloaking Device will give Graz and Talonbane the boost they need.

Halfway through the league now and iv had a lot of fun so far. I have so many lists i am dying to try with some of the cards due to be released in wave 8 including what i hope to be my new tournament list (hopefully more on that later) and with rumors that wave 8 is due to be released mid March i should be able to try a few of these lists before the league comes to a close. As always my commissions page is in the sidebar please check it out. And ill see you all soon with my next list.

Goodbye and fly Casual

EPISODE FOUR - SPECIAL K

Hi Everyone. This week i'm playing the list that got me playing Scum in the first place. 5 Kihraxz Fighters AKA the Special K.

Cartel Marauder. 
Theres not a whole lot to talk about with this list as its just five of a simple solid fighter. So instead lets take a closer look at the Kihraxz and talk about its strengths and weaknesses. The Kihraxz is a

formidable ship and is clearly designed to be the scum equivalent of an X-Wing, So lets compare the Khiraxz with its Rebel rival.

STATS: The only difference between the two fighters stats is the Kihraxz looses one shield and gains one hull. Generally a shield is better than an additional hull as it can absorb a critical hit so perhaps the X-wing has a slight advantage over the Kihraxz when it comes to stats but barely.

POINTS: For one point less than a Rookie X-wing pilot the Cartel Marauder matches his rivals Pilot skill of two. Nothing to brag about but at least they're evenly matched. This single less point makes little difference other than it allows you to perfectly fit five Kihraxz in one list. in value for its points the Kihraxz  comes out on top.

UPGRADES: The Kihraxz has the illicit and missle upgrade where as the X-wing has an astromech and torpedo. in my opinion missles are better than torpedoes, as all torpedoes need to spend a target lock. But at the same time id say an astromech is better than most illicit upgrades so they're quite even in upgrade potential. However there is one advantage the X-wing has over the Khiraxz and that's the Integrated Astromech upgrade. This free modification allows the X-wing to remove his astromech to negate any one hit. Essentially being an extra shield. The Khiraxz sadly has no equivalent to this so the X-wing comes out on top in Upgrades.

DIALS: The Kihraxz is a more nimble fighter than the X-wing with a very nice 1 turn and the interesting 5 K-turn. The X-wing has the ever useful 1 forwards as well as the 3 turn but its green maneuvers are limited to it going very slowly where as the Kihraxz can relieve stress with its 2 maneuvers. Clearly very similar but i think the Kihraxz comes out on top of the X-wing when it comes to the dial, Largely because of that hard 1 turn. 

PILOTS: When it comes to named pilots the X-wing dominates the Kihraxz. Mostly because of the sheer number of named X-Wing pilots available. There are two named Kihraxz fighters and they're both abit mediocre. Graz the Hunter allows you to roll an additional defense die if whoever is shooting you is in your firing ark and with a pilot skill of 6 Graz could be an interesting pilot. However Graz looses the elite pilot talent available to the Black Sun Ace which i feel really takes away his potential to be awsome. One man who is brimming with awsome (in his name at least) is Talon Bane Cobra. What a name! Talon Bane's ability doubles  his range bonuses giving him 2 extra attack dice at range one and two extra defense dice at range two. on top of this he comes with an astonishing pilot skill of 9. Almost

unheard of in the Scum faction and he gets to keep the Elite pilot talent. for 8 points more than the basic Kihraxz fighter an additional seven pilot skill a decent pilot ability and an elite pilot talent isn't bad. However my favorite of the Kihraxz Pilots are the Black Sun Ace. For 3 points more that the cartel marauder the Ace's go to Pilot Skill 5 as well as gain the Elite Pilot Talent. The Pilot Talent has a lot of potential given the amount of cheap quality upgrades there are. for 1 point take veteran instincts and have everyone be Pilot Skill 7 or take Crack shot and scare the hell out of TIE Interceptors. All of that said id say the X-wing still takes the victory on best pilots.

VAKSAI 
With the X-wing getting a boost from the Intergrated astromech card id like to see the Kihraxz get a

Vaksai Title card. The Vaksai was an upgrade to the standard Kihraxz. Desighned to be have more powerful engines, Better shielding and carry a heavier payload, the Vaksai was the pinacle of the Kihraxz starfighter. In game i imagine the title to be around 2 points and allow the Vaksai to turn one roll of an Eye into a hit when attacking at range 1-2 . This would represent the sheer amount of weaponry the Vaksai can carry and make the Kihraxz more offensive which would be a nice contrast to how the X-wing becomes more defensive. 

Tactically this list is just to be flown as a squadron. No special tricks just pumps out 15 red dice a turn. Abit of a different format this week but hope you all enjoyed it just the same. My Commissions page is in the side bar or those interested in seeing more X-wing paint jobs or looking to have some work done. Im looking forward to lying this list as iv yet to field all five off my Kihraxz at once. Ill be back soon with news on how they preformed and until then.

Good bye and Fly Casual

EPISODE THREE Part2 - HUNTER OR HUNTED

Hi Everyone. Sorry this episode is a bit late, Life and all that. This week we saw the Wolf and the Hound levee a trail of destruction in there wake coming up against a very different force from each of the enemy factions. Without any further ado hears a reminder of what i was flying this week.

GAME ONE.

In game one i came up against some fellow scum. Emon Azzameen in the infamous Andraste and Guri in the equally menacing Virago. The game started of well with Moralo's Yv setting up prime "Space Gun" position (SPACE GUN - NOUN - PRIME LOCATION TO BE A GUN, IN SPACE) Meanwhile IG-B flew towards the Andraste as a decoy before swooping in after Guri. Sadly the Firespray didn't take long recovering from the misdirection and was upon me before i could cause much harm to Guri. IG-B looped around ready to take on the firespray while Guri snuck right under the Moralo's nose. It wasn't enough with Bossk barking at the gunner it didn't take long for
Guri to become an ash stain on the underside of the Yv. Emon Would be a different story. Dropping a bomb into the face of my IG and then flying over Morallo and swinging another into place caused solid damage to my ships but it wasn't too long until the Andraste was all out of bombs and all out of time. Pinned between an asteroid and my fleet the Firespray was a sitting duck. Insurgent bounty hunters eliminated. Wolf and Hound moving out.







GAME TWO.

Next we found the Rebel duo Dash Rendar and Corran Horn in out sights. This was going to be a
 tough one but IG-B had a plan. His Agressor rushed up to Dash with blinding speed holding the

Outrider in place while Corran's E-wing drifted harmlessly by. Dash fled far way from the IG but from between the debris clouds saw the ominous silhouette of Morallo's Yv-666. The Outrider turned to run, Exchanging glancing hits with the Yv all the way. but Corran was in trouble. Outmaneuvered and outmatched he was forced to K-turn to bring the Agressor into his sights. The Tactician aboard Morallo's Yv took full advantage and began to stack the pressure onto the Jedi. The E-wing tried to regain control, R2-D2 desperately trying to bring its shields online. But it was too late. The Outrider swung past, just in time to see Corran join the debris fields and he set his Mangler Cannon dead onto Morallo Eval. Barrel rolling and boosting to try and get away from its pursuers the Outrider tried everything it could to get away but Morallo's Tactician made sure its options were limited. Engines on fire and not even Kyle Katarn being able to calm dash down the mangler cannon blazed away at the Yv-666 barely managing to land a critical blow and destroying it. IG-B left no time to react and showed no remorse. His own mangler cannon rattling into the rear of the outrider, blowing it out of the sky. Two Jedi in one day. Not a bad haul.





GAME THREE.
After a bountiful day of hunting Morallo and IG-B were on there way home when an imperial patrol

came into sight. Backstabber, Deathrain, a bomber and a TIE FO. Lets mop up these imperial fools and go get out credits. Morallo stalled awaiting the perfect time to ambush the TIEs while IG-B once again advanced aggressively to gain there attention. Boosting into possition IG-B lets loose his mangler on the TIE Fo but an intervening asteroid spares its life. Morallo Drifts ever closer pleased to see the TIE have indeed fallen for the trap turning there attentions to the Agressor. But wait! IG-B attempts a Segnors loop that should have brought him right behind the enemy, but a well timed turn blocks off the Ig and levees it a sitting duck amongst the asteroids. The TIE's fire away stripping away all of IG-B's shielding even with his Lone Wolf download he just couldn't evade the imperial fighters. Knowing when its time to back away the Agressor makes a break for it while Morallo

swoops in in to provide cover fire. Morallo Pelts the TIE with his Heavy laser cannon as they try to turn around and chase down IG-B. Backstabber is destroyed first with the bomber not lasting much longer. The First order TIE was our next target but a well places barrel roll caused Morallo's ship to go too far forwards for him to bring his guns to bare. But the Fo shouldn't have been out focus. Deathrain had looped around and fired an assault missile at the Yv. The Missle detonates against the rear hull damaging the Agressor as well as the TIE Fo. This was it we only had time for one more round of shooting. IG-B focused his primary weapons on the Fo the shots hit but it was let with one hull. The Fo returns fire. A solid hit and IG-B is destroyed. Knowing when to cut his losses Morallo Vanished into hyperspace and the Imperial patrol is Victorious.


THE REVIEW.

Morallo
All said i think this list is very solid. I thought the Yv may be easy to outmaneuver once his "giant space gun" position is compromised but he was surprisingly maneuverable mostly due to the three turn. Morallo's weapons were very consistent and apparently quite scary forcing even the outrider to flee from him. The Inertial dampners were great. Mostly used to let me stay still two turns in a row but with bossk and gunner the stress isn't really an issue. I never needed to use the maneuvering fins they seem
like one of those upgrades where if you can fly well in the first place then theres no point in taking them. As a replacement id probably take a tactical jammer giving IG-B a little more protection when he comes in to save help Morallo. The tactician is an upgrade i wasn't too sure weather to take but it basically won me the game against Dash Rendar. No Push the Limit for you. In summery. the Yv is a great ship. A little tricky to fly excellent as a giant space gun.


IG88-B
Now the IG is great to fly and i really like this set of upgrades. Firecontrol System plus IG-B's ability was great and Autothrusters made him the perfect counter to the Outrider. The upgrades i didn't find the most useful were glitterstim and lonewolf. The glitterstim didn't seem all that useful as when i used it ether had a target lock from the fire control or just rolled a bit badly with my evades. I know its a popular choice on the IG but i couldn't help thinking a bomb could have been more useful. Now lonewolf is an upgrade that seemed great with the way i was going to play this list. With the Ig scouting

ahead and luring people into Morallo's trap but that said i didin't seem to get alot of benefit out of the re-rolls when i had them seeing as aggressively i already had the target lock from fire control system. And as you can see from the pictures IG-B often came back to pincer with Morallo. Alternately Push the Limit would be a simple solution tho i did enjoy not having to do green moves every turn.. Outmaneuver could also be a great option as the IG is most often attacking from behind the foe. In the end IG-B preformed exactly how i wanted him to being aggressive and maneuverable just sadly a little more fragile than i remember.


SUMMARY
Were i to fly this again here are the changes i would make.

As of last week this blog got to almost 2500 views something i never thought would happen so thank you all for reading. As always my commissions page is linked in the sidebar. Ill see you on wednesday and until then.

Good Bye and Fly Casual

EPISODE THREE - WOLF AND THE HOUND

Hi Everyone. This week we leave the grunts of the Black Hawks behind and go hunting with the Wolf and Hound. Here's what i'm flying.

IG88-BLets talk about Aggressors. Where to start. Well there's a reason the IG2000 is so popular, it has incredible stats boasting three attack dice as well as three agility on a large ship. it comes with boost that relieves the need for the very popular engine upgrade. It has all of the upgrade options you want. Cannon, Elite Pilot Talent, Systems Upgrade, Illicit and even a Bomb slot. when it comes to the basic IG the only downsides are the lack of a crew slot and a mediocre Pilot skill of 6. Both of these weaknesses can be redeemed with Veterans Instincts giving it a very respectable Pilot Skill of 8 and IG88-B comes with the amazing ability to fire again with a cannon if you miss the first time. So remember that crew slot you wanted for gunner? Na just have a better version of gunner for free. Yes theirs a reason you see these things used a lot. OK rant about the IG over with lets get to talking about my build. With IG88-B a cannon is almost mandatory. I prefer the Mangler Cannon as it still allows IGB's ability to be used at range one. Fire control Systems also has a great synergy with IGB's abiity allowing my attacks to miss and then fire again now with a target lock. Autothrusters gives the IG a nice defensive boost at range three where its comfortable at firing from with its mangler as well as being a great boost in defense when facing the falcon, outrider, Decimator or the dreaded Twin Laser Turrets. As an additional boost of defensive prowess my IG has Lone Wolf. So long as the IG isn't at range 1-2 of Maralo he will be able to re-roll one attack and defense dice per roll. Combine this with the Aggressors three agility and Autothrusters that makes the Agressor very hard to hit. The final upgrade i'v taken is a Glitterstim. When in a tough spot for the price of one stress token all of my Eye results become hits or evades this turn. Great for a turn when the odds aren't quite in your side. I did ponder bringing a seismic charge to drop on swarms or just make the idea of flanking the Aggressor a little less appealing.  But in general the IG is fast, maneuverable, reliable and hard to hit. all the things you want from a cold hearted robot killing machine


Moralo Eval 
Moralo, within his YV-666 is basically a giant space gun. The Yv is an interesting ship that has some very obvious strengths and weaknesses. Its obvious weakness is its inability to K-turn so if your opponents are to

get behind the Yv its going to have a hard time shaking off the pursuit on its own. Its other downside is its feeble one agility. Unlike the falcon the Yv has no way to stack defensive tokens on itself or regenerate (YET). However with a total of tweleve defensive points the Yv can definitely take a beating. Now lets look at the Positives of the Yv-666 and why we are using Moralo. Moralo's ability allows him to fire an equiped cannon out of the Yv's 180 firing ark meaning unless your behind him your going to get a Heavy Laser Cannon to the face. But the biggest reason we let Moralo drive over the infamous Bossk is because we need that trandoshan menace manning the guns. The Yv has three crew slots and this is its great gift to the scum and villainy faction. I have taken the combination of Gunner, Bossk and Tactican. So Moralo shoots at his target at range with his heavy laser cannon. My tactician gives that enemy a stress token but the attack is evaded...shame....GET TO WORK. The gunner Takes up his seat Bossk barks orders into his ears and the tactician calculates the attack and now moralo fires with his primary weapon with Bossk giving him a target lock and a focus. Super reliable attacks from Moralo with a little help from his crew. Its important to bring this giant space gun into a nice position.  I like to find a nice spot and use the YV's 0 menouvere to stay there. And on the turn you have a good shot lined up but are stressed the Inertial dampeners allow the ship to stay still two turns in a row. All in all Moralo is a big lumbering space gun......so he's Megatron.

SYNERGY 
The premise of this list is to have two independent operatives covering each others backs, Moralo Sets up his optimal firing angle and blasts away while the IG rapidly swoops forward setting up shots from the flank or behind your foes. With Lone wolf the IG becomes very difficult to hit and both the Yv and the Agressor have very reliable damage output. Should your opponent try too dance with the IG, they will be doing so under the barrage of Moralo. And if they focus on rushing down Moralo's Yv then IG-B will be right behind them. Its a solid list with its validity really hinging on how long you can bring Moralo's weapons to bare before he has to roll out again. Looks like the Trandosians have entered two by two and Ig has downloaded his new update. Wolf. Hound. Lets go hunting.


I also did a commission for sum one at the league last week. I was asked to paint a T-70 x-wing to look like Poe Dameron's ship. This is a repaint iv been considering doing on my own T-70 for a while and i think it turned out pretty well. If any of you are interested in having your x-wing minatures painted my commissions page is in the sidebar. Thanks for reading and until next time. 

Good Bye and Fly Casual

EPISODE TWO part2 - GAUNTLET OF DEBRIS

Hi Everyone. Well that's round two over and this time lady luck was a little more on my side. Due to an odd number of players i only got to play two games this time around but they pretty fun games. Here's a reminder of what i was flying this week.

GAME ONE.
In the first game i came up against an imperial Decimator
harboring not only Darth Vader but the

Emperor himself. Sadly that lumbering behemoth wasn't alone. An escort of elite TIE fighters swarmed around its flanks. Scourge, Backstabber and Wampa all had my fleet in there sights. The game started off strong with my fleet aggressively swooping in to fire on the Decimator. with my headhunters stripping shields off rapidly the TIE's took aim to protect there masters. After an initial volley the Decimator was on the run and my headhunters gave chase. Our shots where lined up but one TIE pilot strayed too close to the swarm. It proved a little too tempting and Zaaap.

There goes a TIE. The Decimator continued to flee while pelting Torkils Hwk with laser fire but it was backstabbers flanking assault that took Torkils life. My Headhunters were going down and fast. Only three headhunters left and all i had killed was one TIE fighter. The Decimator had two hull left all i have
to do is get one good shot. But it seems the Black Sun soldiers are no match for the Imperial elites as both of my remaining headhunters died before they could catch up with the Decimator. A victory to the Imperials.






GAME TWO.
In the second game it seems the Emperor was a little begrudged about us trying to destroy his Decimator. Krassis Trelix had been hired to hunt down the Black Hwk squadron. And one of the academy finest, Whisper flew along side him in a dreaded TIE Phantom. Both forces started aggressively with the Black Hwk's getting ready to joust with the Firespray.

 With an Unexpected boost of speed my fleet advanced towards Trelix forcing him right into the swarms midst. Whisper approached along side the swarm but fearing the Feedback arrays she was forced to barrel roll out of range one and out of ark.Torkil did his Trick distracting the firespray pilot as my headhunters fired away. I rolled 12 attack dice with focus but only managed to push thru 2 measly damage onto Trelix. Luckily his return fire wasn't much better. Meanwhile Torkil took the opportunity to fire his Ion Cannon Turret at the uncloaked Phantom. Whisper was hit and began to drift. My Headhunters looking into the cockpit of Trellix' firespray saw him release his bomb payload and made a hard turn to avoid it. Overhead screamed Trelix dooing a K-turn to repeat his assault on Torkil. But the trap was set. After last turns pitiful display things had to change. BZaaap. Five Feeback Arrays causing five instant damage on Trellix, And we couldn't even see him burn. One turn later my ships drift forwards towards an oncoming debris cloud but our pray was right where we wanted. Once again Torkil distracts the firespray and ZZap a few more Feedback arrays and Krassis Trelix is no more. But now he have a new issue, my entire fleet staring down a debris cloud. Luckily

Whisper was still recovering from drifting so far away from the action. My Headhunters delve into the Debris cloud trying desperately to turn around before Whisper could bring her guns to bare. I can imagine trying to navigate a Debris field while hoping a phantom doesn't appear and destroy your ship is stressful but things got a little ridiculous. Eventually most of my headhunters turned around and once again torkil managed to Ion Whisper leaving her as a sitting duck. A few lucky shots from a pair of headhunters later and BOOM no more Phantom. A Victory for the Black Hwk's.

THE REVIEW
So this week i had an interesting loss and a Decisive victory. I like this list a lot and it was nice to fly something so different. I think the list is solid but doubt it would be winning a tournament anytime soon. The Headhunters have a great dial and i found this the easiest swarm to control that iv ever flown. Its surprising how Torkil's ability combined with the feedback arrays can be so dangerous to anyone who enters into range one. I also had a few practice games with this list where i managed to have torkil Ion and stress Poe Dameron's X-wing right into the side of my swarm before Zapping him to bits. I don't think there's anything i would really change about the list. Torkil does his job well and the ion was surprisingly useful. The only upgrade that didn't see much use was the Tactician on the Hwk. As an alternative you could take greedo making that one damage the ion cannon does be a critical hit. tho that does make the Hwk more fragile. Alternatively Dengar could be a great alternative making that Ion Cannon Turret more reliable when the new wave comes out. As with any swarm i think the strength of this list will be determined by how well you can fly it. I think i will try this list some more in the future and hopefully become a better pilot myself.

Two weeks in and im hoping for a few more solid victories next time. Im going to be flying a list im much more Comfortable with The Wolf and the Hound. As always my Commisions page is linked in the side bar. If your interested in having any ships painted feel free to send me a message. Thanks for reading and until next time.

Goodbye and Fly Casual

EPISODE TWO - BLACK HWK DOWN

Hello everyone. Last week we tried to make a scum fat and fast list with Boba and Xizor. Well today we forget the grandeur of kings and princes and fly an interesting take on the scum swarm. Lets get those Z-95 pilots buckled up its going to be a bumpy ride. Here's my list.

Z-95 Bug Zapper 

So lets begin talking about the Z-95 headhunter. This underrated little ship really has a lot of potential for its base points. With a solid Dial that boast a 1 forward and a 3 turn (probably the maneuvers i find the most useful) the humble headhunter has a decent stat line with its only downside being its feeble two attack. Due to this underwhelming attack output the headhunters can have a very hard time pushing damage through to highly evasive ships. Tho being at range one can help counter there weak attack sometimes its just not enough. Luckily Scum has an interesting piece of Illicit tech, the Feedback Array. lets take a look at it.
                                         

The Feeback Array allows you to take 1 damage and 1 ion token to instantly       deal 1 damage to an enemy at range 1 regardless of there agility, focus and evade tokens. Obviously you don't use the Feedback Array every turn or you would have a very suicidal squad. But when you are flanked by a phantom, an interceptor or Han solo gets behind your fleet. Normally you wouldn't be able to attack at all but now with Huttechs all new Feedback Array you can make those pesky arc dodgers go Bzzzap. In this list i have five "Bug Zapper" Headhunters. That means if i want i can deal five automatic hits on any enemy at range one. Goodbye Soontir. Now the clear downside of this is on the turn you activate the Feeback Array each of your ships is taking 1 automatic damage as well, but there only 15 point ships and if they can take out a 30+ point ace in one turn ill take the hits. The other downside is the turn after you activate the array you are ionised so your just going to drift that 1 forwards because of this ill have to think about where i'm going to end up next turn before opting to use the Zapper. The final and less obvious Issue with the Feedback array is that it fires instead of your normal attack. Meaning it activates on your ships own Pilot skill. And with pilot skill one or three on the headhunters you could take alot of hits before the Zappers get to do there thing. And this is why the Headhunters brought a friend. 

Torkil Mux
Torkil Mux has a unique ability. From within his HWK-290 he can make one enemy ship at range 1-2

become pilot skill 0. This counters the weakness the Bug Zappers have of activating at Pilot skill 3. with Torkil hiding a midst the swarm anything that dares come into range 1 will be made pilot skill 1 and then quickly zapped. On Torkils Hwk im running an Ion Cannon Turret and Tactician. 

My instant thought was to put a Twin Laser Turret on Torkil so the list can do some consistent damage but Torkil wouldn't be able to fire at range one, which is where the rest of the swarm wants to be. With the Ion Cannon Turret Torkil can fire at range one-two which is ideal and i can utilize the ion cannon in two ways. The first is to set up for the bug zappers. 

If i can ion an enemy into floating strait towards me i can know where they are and zap away. The second advantage is if an enemy has flanked the swarm. If Ioniesed the enemy will drift forwards and not be able to turn and fire at me as i also drift forwards from the ion feedback. The second upgrade i have on Torkil is Tactician. Sadly Tactician is limited to shots within the Hwk's firing arc but the ability to both ion and stress a small ship in the same turn is great.  With the Ioned movement being a white one forwards the ship will not relieve its stress and have no ability to flee the swarm with Barrel Roll, Boost or Slam. And even if the Ion cannon Turret misses i can still put stress on a ship and make its movements much more predictable next turn.


SYNERGY 

So this is the plan. Fly the Headhunters in tight formation with Torkil's Hwk in the center. When flying the squadron everyone should be doing the exact same movement most of the time which sadly limits me to not preforming that nice hard three turn as Torkil can't quite keep up with the Headhunters. First select the squads initial target and then stay on target. The headhunters may have weak guns but that's still 10 attack dice a turn and thanks to Torkil i will likely be firing before my chosen target. Just like Admiral Ackbar said "Its a Trap" the idea is to set a trap with Torkil and Spring it with the Headhunters. Set up range one shots and if they manage to get behind me then Zap away. Each ship in this list is sum what fragile with most of my ships having four total damage points and the Hwk only having one more. But all told that's twenty five total damage points for your opponent to try and chew thru. Oh looks like the ships are back from getting there "Upgrade". Now, Lets go find some prey.

This will be the first time iv attempted to fly a swarm since my days for flying five A-wings and it will be nice to see how the list deals with the ace's type builds i fought last week. As always my commissions page is in the bar to the right. If you are interested in having any ships painted please don't hesitate to send me a message and please follow the blog for all future posts. Ill be back on Friday with news of how the list went but until then.

Goodbye and Fly Casual.

EPISODE ONE Part2 - SOMETIMES YOU ROLL BLANKS

HI everyone. So with round one of the league over lets talk about how the games went and how i feel about the list. First here's a quick reminder of what i was flying.

GAME ONE.In the first game i came up against Maarek Stele, Turr Phennir and Darth Vader. My force started off strong dispatching Turr Phennir on the second turn and then Maarek Stele on the third. Thats about where my good fortune ran out. from then on Darth Vader managed to avoid being hit for a long long time all the while nibbling away at Boba Fetts hull.  In the end, it ended up with Boba on one hull being closely chased down by Vader on one hull. Had vader managed to kill Boba, the dead mans switch would have activated and Boba would have his revenge. luckily Xizor's starviper managed to finally end the dark lords assault with a well places shot across an asteroid field and the game ended in a victory for the Scum.



GAME TWO.
The second game brought the deadly duo against Jake Farrell and Han Solo's Millennium Falcon. This game didn't go quite as well with Boba Fett greatly underestimating the Maneuverability of the falcon.
the Crime lords almost managed to swat away Jake Farrell and Boba's Ion Bombs forced the A-wing right onto an asteroid field but the falcon made sure he couldn't capitalist on this opportunity. I ended up loosing Boba to the combination of a Proton Rocket from the A-wing and Luke Skywalker making sure the Falcon got those hits in every turn. Xizor was left to fend for himself against a fragile a-wing and a barely scratched Falcon. A few laser blasts and a few bad evade rolls later Xizor was destroyed. A Victory for the Rebel Alliance


GAME THREE.
Game three looked eerily familiar. The Falcon was back but this time we wouldn't let him get away and it seems he has a new wingman, Poe Dameron. The game began with Boba and Xizor both streaming up to the falcon Boosting into position and Pushing the Limits to focus on there Target. Tho Dealing 3 damage to the falcon Boba took 4 damage strait away from poe and Hans firepower as he rolled nothing but blanks to evade. With Boba taking a bad initial hit the Duo decided to focus on the falcon. Boba Dropped his ion bombs and both Han and Poe fell for the trap. Sadly Poe Still managed to get a shot on prince Xizor. Evading at range 2, Through an asteroid, With stealth device, And focus.....5 Blanks. Sum one around here is definitely force sensitive and working against my dice. Both Han and Poe Drifted forwards desperately trying to reboot there systems from the ion assault. Han takes a Pot shot on Boba's firespray and somehow kills it. Xizor is left to fight off a damaged Falcon and Poe. Luckily, due to some hidden nefarious scheme Xizor forgot he had even implemented Poe managed to fly directly off of the table and into the far reaches of space. Back in with a chance Xizor swoops in on the falcon. Taking Prime position to blast solo out of the sky, Xizor fires and gets 3 solid hits. the falcon returns fire. 3 hits......3 blank evades.....xizor is gone.


THE REVIEW
In the end i won one game and lost two. Not a great result but i can't expect too much when i roll about 6 natural evades during the entire event including Boba's range one re-rolls. Xizor lost his Stealth device on the first attack every single game and in general just awful defensive rolling i couldn't do much about. With that said lets go over what i liked or would change about the list.

Boba Fett 

Boba seemed too be the focus of everyone's attacks in each game which meant he often got some good solid hits in every turn. The Recon Specialist came in handy in both attacking and defense and push the limit with Engine Upgrade really made Boba more maneuverable. The Mangler cannon rarely came into play with Boba firing at range three twice through out the event and often using his rear firing ark. Tho the Ion bomb hit Every Single game i found it difficult to take advantage of my stunned enemy. Deadman's Switch is mostly a tool to counter swarms in this list (non of wich i got to fight) but twice in the event it ended up hitting Xizor as well. I think were i to fly this list again the changes i would make to Boba are. Remove the Mangler Cannon and swap the Ion bombs out for Proton bombs. Proton Bombs will be a much bigger threat to the enemy. Seeing as i can get good hits with the bombs id rather they did some meaningful damage that just gave me a little control over my opponents movements as well as giving me a bomb that swarms would really fear. With a different approach to taking out swarms i would swap the dead mans switch for a hot shot blaster. Using push the limit makes my moves somewhat predictable and a few times my opponent managed to get right into Boba's blind spot. And the final change/addition i would make is to take some Advanced Homing Missiles, the Slave 1 title and some Extra Munitions. This gives me four chances to Cause Critical hits through my opponents shields. This build of boba is a little more scary to come up against. Tho he has no better defenses he has a lot of ways to cause Meaningful damage.

Prince Xizor

Xizor was very fun to fly and i really do love the starviper. However i feel i didn't get a proper chance to see Xizor in action with him rolling almost exclusively blank evade dice every game. His Stealth Device proved completely useless loosing it by the first attack everytime. Sumone also brought to my attention that if Xizor passes on his damage to Boba he has still been hit by the initial attack and therefor looses his stealth device. Not sure if due to the frustration of bad rolls or the fact i faced two falcons but i can't help but wish i had Autothrusters on him instead. Push the Limit was abit of a mixed bag. It allowed me to get into great positions and sometimes to combine with the advanced sensors and give me two actions and no stress. That said i don't think Push the Limit is the correct choice for the Starviper. With its only Green moves being 1-3 forwards and the 1 banks, it made Xizors movement very limited if i did end the turn with stress and also made the Advanced Sensors redundant. As an alternative to PTL i would consider the following. Predator - Predator would give Xizor a more reliable attack without using up the Systems Upgrade slot for fire control systems. Lone Wolf - Abit of an odd choice given Xizors ability but lone wolf would give him a re-roll for offence and defense once Boba is dead. This also allows Xizor and Boba to set up on opposite sides of the board and just utilize Xizors ability when they cross paths. Veterans Instincts - I know i said the Advantage of Xizor was that he came at Ps7 and i still had the Pilot Talent but in the meta of Ace Pilots Ps7 is just not good enough. with Ps9 Xizor would become a very reliable arc dodger especially if i can give my opponent the initiative. Combine the Advances Sensors to barrel roll or boost before movement and i could modify my flight path after seeing where my opponent has ended up. All of these are good alternatives for Xizor but personally i feel like Veterans Instincts is the way to go.

THE SUMMARY
So here is my altered list.
It should play pretty much the same as before with Xizor and Boba sticking together but perhaps beeing a little less aggressive on the approach so Boba can fire off those Homing Missles. Now enemy's should be more afraid to get into Boba's blind spot, with him able to fire his Hot Shot Blaster as well as the Threat of barreling into a Proton Bomb the next turn. Xizor can now be fully focused on being an arch dodger. With a Ps high enough to outmaneuver most aces and Autothursters to keep him a little safer from bad rolls Xizor should be more survivable. The only real downside i see to this list is Boba comes to 62 points. Thats a hell of alot of points to put into one ship. Because of this the game with Boba will probably be a damage race. Make sure you can fire off those missiles, drop those bombs and cripple your enemy as quickly as possible.

With week one over, the league is just picking up steam and tho the dice may have not been on my side this is only the beginning. After all what villain ever succeeds the first time around.
My commissions page is in the bar to the right if you are interested in having any ships painted and please follow the blog for future posts.  Ill see you all on Wednesday with my next list so until then.

Good bye and Fly Casual.

EPISODE ONE - THE DEADLY DUO

Hello everyone. My name is Mike Arnold more commonly known as Mr Pidge. In the coming weeks i will be taking part in the X-Wing League at a local games shop by the name of Netherworld. Having never taken part in a league before i was excited for the chance to try out some new lists in a less competitive atmosphere than a tournament. The League will be running for nine weeks and each week i will be putting out two posts. One the day before the event (Thursday) explaining what list i plan on flying that week and one the day after reviewing how my games went, how good or bad the list was in use and what i would change if using it in the future. I'm hoping you enjoy reading these blogs and that they inspire you to maybe try some of these builds or to come up with new and improved versions. So lets get down to business.

SCUM AND VILLAINY 

In my limited experience of the competitive X-Wing scene
i have been disappointed to see that the scum and villainy faction
is rarely represented other than the usual IG-88 brobots flying around.
Due to this, and my love for the Scum i have decided every list i fly during the league will be from the Scum faction and none of my lists will contain more than one IG-2000. As the event is going to be lasting around two months i have high hopes that wave 8  will be released during its duration. (Oh the plans i have for that Misthunter)

without any further ado here is my list for week one.

THE DEADLY DUO
As its the Opening week i felt compelled to be flying the king of all Scum Boba Fett himself. Along side Boba i'm flying another Piece of Royal Villainy Prince Xizor. So lets take a look at the overall list.

Boba Fett
My personal Favorite build for Boba is: Push the Limit, Recon Specialist, Engine Upgrade, Dead Mans Switch. this build is to maximize on Scum Boba's ability of wanting to be at range one. The Engine Upgrade means Boba can zoom on into range one surprisingly quickly. Push the Limit allows Boba to do that boost (which i do very often) and still take action. Recon Specialist allows Boba to have two focus tokens per focus action giving him one to use for offence and still have one for defense. Combine all of these things with Boba's ability to re-roll dice when at range one you have a bulky offensive ship with reliable attack and defense, a decent dodging ability in the boost and great action economy with often having 2 focus tokens and an evade or target lock. The final piece that i think tops off this aggressive build is the Dead Mans Switch. This interesting little piece of Illicit tech Reads "When you are destroyed, each ship at range 1 suffers one damage." This is great on Boba as he always wants to be at range one of as many ships as possible. Not only can this Destroy a swarm that dared to be at range one of Boba It is also a small compensation for if Boba is Destroyed by an arch dodging ship that gets into his blind spot.(*cough*soontir*cough*) In this build i had around 8 points left over after i had put in the base of what i wanted so Boba has a few new toys. The Mangler Cannon allows Boba to deal better damage on his approach into the fray as well as push some definite critical hits in against bulky upgraded ships like Decimators and the Outrider. The Ion Bomb is also a nice addition to Boba Fett. With a Pilot Skill of eight, Bobba often gets to see where people are before he decides whether or not to drop the bomb. I have had a lot of Success in using this bomb against Elite lists who use push the limit to get reliable arks against Boba and then once there ioned that rear arc can fire away.

Prince Xizor

The Starviper doesn't seem to get alot of love, mostly due to its high points cost. Recently ive been trying out Guri in another list and all i can say is i Love the Starviper. It gives me that amazing feeling you get when you completely outmaneuver your opponent and get that perfect shot lined up just right. The only Issue i'v had with Guri is that i need her Elite Pilot Talent slot for Veteran Instincts as its very hard to ark dodge with a Ps5 ship. Guri gains a free focus when at range 1 of an enemy which allows her to always stay in the fight but this time iv taken the prince himself. Xizor comes with a nice base Pilot Skill of seven (the same as Guri with Vi) but in my oppinion has a slightly worse ability. Xizor allows a friendly ship at range one to take a hit for you each time you get shot at. This is a very nice ability but doesn't go well with the idea of the viper being an aggressive arch dodger. However running him alongside Boba gives some interesting options. In this build i have given the Viper a combination of upgrades iv never used on it before. Advanced Sensors on the Starviper is a must for me. Tho firecontol System would make its attacks more consistent. Push the Limit is interesting on the viper and i feel this is what gives Xizor the edge over Guri. The combination of Barrel roll and Boost in the same turn gives you an incredible amount of maneuverability especially when you can top that off with a green move to get rid of the stress. And now we get to the eternal battle that goes on in my mind forever. Stealth Device or Auto Thrusters. Auto Thrusters are what i tend to run on Guri. Get out of ark and those ships that can shoot 360 really can't do much to you. Ps7 is solid but is pretty feeble among aces. The Stealth Device helps out against these aces alot. Being Agility 4 is Very nice even if it is only for a limited time. For Xizor i feel stealth device is the way to go, seeing as if he does get unlucky and take a hit he can often shed that damage onto another ship and not break the stealth device. The Glitterstim is another upgrade added because i had a few dangling points. Tho the Starviper isnt the best at relieving stress Glitter Stim is a nice OH BALLS card. On the turn where you've ended up jousting a swarm or just need to finish killing something of glitter stim gives you that edge.


SYNERGY
Now lets talk a little about the point of this list. Its to be super aggressive. just stay at Range one and blast some fools. Xizor and Boba should fly together on the approach. Both have a decent defensive ability with Xizor very unlikely to be hit and if he does he just passes that damage onto Bobba in order to keep his Stealth Device online. Meanwhile Bobba boosts on in using that Recon Specialist and Mangler Cannon to deal some damage while hopefully dodging whatever comes his way. Then the Engagement. Boba can take alot of things head on. Getting into range one when possible and using those 4 attack dice to deal the damage while Xizor flips around behind your foes and starts to blast away. If i can stay ontop of my opponents i should be able to deal damage very quickly. Timing when to not use Push the Limit will be a bit tricky as a Stressed Boba takes a while to turn around. Against bulky turrets i should have the advantage as i can stay at range one so the Twin Laser Turrets can be Countered and the Falcon can be kept close. Against Aces it should be interesting and my moves with Xizor will have to be very well planned out. And against a Swarm i think it will becomes a game of disruption using Xizor to try and split the pack while Boba blasts away and goes boom if all doesn't go to plan. 

Well there you have it the Deadly Duo. I'm looking forward to The League a lot and can't wait to try out these lists. I hope everyone enjoys these blogs and they get you thinking about some of the possibilities of the Scum and Villainy faction. For those interested i will put a link to Netherworld's Facebook Page below and id like you to show them some support. Also i paint all of my X-wing miniatures (As seen above) and each week i will be showing you my versions of the ships im using for the list. I have a link to my commissions Facebook Page listed below. If you are interested in having any X-Wing miniatures custom painted don't be afraid to drop me a Pm. Thats it for now folks. I will be back on Friday with a Review of week ones events so until then. 

Good Bye and Fly Casual


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