So far Boba and Guri have been through several iterations in 2.0. There was the pre-release version I worked on with 0-0-0 and BT-1 which was pointed according to the PDF when it first arrived. By release input from facebook had evolved those two options into Han Solo gunner and Perceptive Co-Pilot. Those two now seem irreplaceable on the Firespray.

After my first 2.0 tournament the Fire Control System disappeared from Guri and Collision Detector replaced it. At the same time Boba lost his Seismic Charges, because what’s the point of a Collision Detector when you’re actively removing obstacles that you could make use of with it? Then after last weeks post I got this message via word press, which opened my mind:

Debis Gambit on Boba! How had I missed this? It just screams YES and ties into keeping those rocks on the table for Guri’s Collision Detector. This means that Boba can have and evade as his action and then two foci when he engages from Han. So flown well that means two focuses an evade and Boba’s re-rolls, that’s about as tanky as I can make him! One of the rules in my head about flying a two ship builds is that survivability comes first, and for a ship that likes to park up close and personal that token stack looks really handy.

Fearless is great, but it doesn’t trigger every turn or every attack. As it now only triggers out of the front arc, not the auxiliary arc too it’s less effective than it was in it’s first edition incarnation. Additionally when combined with the re-rolls Boba gets when fearless would trigger anyway he should still be able to push damage through. I don’t really understand all the stats about X makes Y better and Z is is such and such percentage better, but two foci and an evade means Boba gets more tanky. Tanky I approve of.

So this weekend’s events in Aldershot and Chichester see Boba Guri V3 stepping to the table to see if Fearless is missed or Debris Gambit shines and takes the talent slot as it’s own. It also means that the list is decreasing in points. Firstly from 192 to 191, and now from 191 to 190. This is great on 2 levels. Firstly I get to have a ten point bid which means initiative is probably mine to decide more often than not. Secondly, and I think this is really important in list building, we know that points are going to change. Some things may well go up in points over time so having that cushion means that the list should still be viable.

This process of evolution is something that every list needs go to through if you want to improve what you’re flying. Little tweaks here and there, a card a time lets you see the potential of a list. Looking at Jesper’s list last week, and more specifically Palob. On Saturday he had no crew on the HWK (presumably in preperation for Boba potentially being there for Coruscant) and on Sunday he tried 0-0-0. What he found was that everyone let him take the calculate every time the droid triggered. I mean, when the HWK has 2 focuses and an evade from Debris Gambit, who on earth is going to take a stress to stop him having that 4th token? So that’s 3 points saved or freed up to be re-invested. It is this kind of time investment in evolving a list through trial and error that potentially lands you with something really good.

A lot of times a list looks great on paper (or App) and the theory is that A triggers B which triggers C. The problem with theory listing like this is that it looks great in theory, and then you put it on the table and it just doesn’t work. Until you have put something on the table, played a few games with it against a mix of stuff then you don’t really know if it will work. Play some games at a tournament or a practice night, see how it goes then assess what worked and what didn’t. Throwing something away after one bad game is probably just as invalid an approach to writing a list and instantly thinking it will win you Worlds with it.

It’s been said many times before but talk to your opponent about the game. Did their list play as expected? What did they/you get wrong or right? What could you have done differently? Did you get the asteroids in a favourable deployment? How effective was your first engagement? All these are really sensible questions to ask, to look at and to chat about.

Once you have some answers then tweak the list. It might be you need to rethink your obstacle selection, or it might be that changing one upgrade could dramatically affect the way your list works. Debris Gambit on Boba should help make him more durable in the key turns when I need him to survive. If the theory doesn’t work it’s not like I can’t just go straight back to fearless.

Another great side effect of sticking with a certain list and evolving it is that you will get better with it as you play it. Every incarnation that it goes through you’ll learn more about your ship and how to fly them. If you make a change and it doesn’t work just wind back a step and try something different, the key is evolving the list to suit how you want to play.

There are some very different views on list writing, some people are happy to pull something that wins events of a forum and run it, which is a totally valid way to go. If you’re not sure what you want to fly this is a great way of trying stuff out and getting some game time. Personally I’m a bit of a sentimental soul and like to fly list that reflect me a bit more (not that a netlist can’t do this for you) and it’s the table time that gives me the understanding of my ships, the freedom to play with a certain amount of self expression. Boba Guri is the best example of that for me, from when I tried it for the first time on Christmas Day 2017 against Alex Krysta to last weekend when I had a pretty solid few games of X-Wing. The biggest compliment of all is when other people pick it up, have a go and most importantly have some fun with it.

I’ve always been an advocate of “fly what you love”, and if you can make what you love flying work for you then you’re going to be in a good place when gaming. Michael Manners said it very well a few weeks ago “The best list for you is the one you enjoy winning and losing with.” (Paraphrase but sentiment is there.)

The joy of this approach is that when the next release wave lands you get a whole load more cards to try out, to see what else can work with it. More importantly as the game evolves your list will have to evolve to meet new challenges and difficulties. All the while with practice you should get better at flying the list too.