No 40k this week! New X-wing models just arrived.

     I got to the game shop yesterday and had to wait for my opponent to arrive.  While I was waiting, I found that the new expansion for X-wing had come out (finally.)  I took this time to purchase one of the new A-wings and check out the rules for it.  When my opponent showed up and saw the new model, he went straight over and bought 2 A-wings, a Tie Interceptor, and the Slave One.  Then he asked, jokingly at first, if I would rather play X-wing.  But I was all about it!!!  He got the rest of his models from the car.  Unfortunately, I had left all mine at home.

     We played a coulple of 100 point games.  I was Rebel and he played Imperial.  Our armies were something like this:

REBEL FORCES:
     X-wing: rookie pilot
     X-wing: Luke Skywalker, R2-D2
     Y-wing: Salm, (upgrade that lets you change focus results to 1 critical and the rest hits)
     A-wing: green squadron pilot

IMPERIAL FORCES:
     Tie Fighter: academy pilot
     Tie Fighter:
     Tie Interceptor: (pilot that can boost after attacking), stealth
     Firespray: bomb

     The first game involved both of us being really bad at planning our maneuvers.  I think there was one round where every single ship didn't get an action due to flying into an asteroid or another ship.  He had the worst luck with his Interceptor; landing on an asteroid, turning too sharply the next turn and not making it off, then having a ship in the way on his next turn.  I think it lost 4 rounds of shooting in a row, but fortunately only took 1 damage from the asteroid.  I ended up winning the first game pretty solidly, having only lost my rookie pilot.

     The second game started with both of us running into our own ships again!  We got some first turn shooting and he turned the tables by taking out my rookie very early.  This was definitely the most fun game of X-wing I've ever played.  There were plenty of small dogfights that would turn back into another, sometimes with everyone having multiple targets to choose from.  I focused primarily on his Interceptor.  That guy getting to boost after an attack was beginning to scare me.  The game was back and forth the whole time, and I didn't think I had a chance.  I did like the boost action on the A-wing.  It helped supplement its relatively low firepower by getting within range 1 for the extra attack die.  Also, it is the preferred ship for staying behind an enemy, using the boost to match his maneuvers.  In the end, it was down to just his Firespray against Luke, after a sharp turn by the Firespray helped take out my A-wing.  He kept on turning hard and, being able to shoot in his rear fire arc, he kept on taking down my shields.  I eventually had to do green maneuvers 2 turns in a row so R2 could bring both of my shields back online.  I got lucky (translate: MAD SKILLS) and turned right into him, ending up at range 1.  I decided to Focus for my action instead of using Target Lock, mostly because I did not know if I could take him out, and he has some firepower, too.  The dice gods must have been happy with me, because I rolled 1 hit and 3 FOCUS!!!!!  There was no way to evade all the shots, and he did a crash and burn.

    Overall, I had a blast.  New ships are powerful, but don't break the game at all.  I think the large size of the Firespray does make it harder to handle.  Otherwise, their real difference is in the number of shield and hull points they have.  4 shields, 6 HP and some cool weapons make it a strong.  But once I had it down to just 2HP, I felt much stronger with the X-wing (with Luke as the pilot).

     I am going to try to get one of each ship, hopefully tonight.  Brandon said the store will not get any more copies for a while once they sell out.  I'll let you know how the Millenium Falcon handles next time!!!!!