Yesterday saw my last tournament of 2018, there have been a few. A final trip of the year to Firestorm Cards in Basingstoke. Fourteen players getting together for some fun and games after a Christmas hiatus. Quite a few of the competitors were edging towards Hyperspace with their lists, the Resistance and First Order both having strong representation in the field.

I was saying goodbye to Boba Guri. I started flying them as a pair on Christmas day 2017 and they have been with me for most of 2018. There are a few reasons I’m saying goodbye to them. It’s time to move on. We’ve had an incredible ride and I love both these ships but I think I need to fly something else now. This decision has been informed by anticipated points rises and the looming presence of Hyperspace. I suspect this particular build of these two ships has had it’s time.

As ever Firestorm had the usual suspects and a few others thrown into the mix. I started the day playing against Nic Harris, I’ve lost count of the times we’ve played (sure I could read back through 20 months worth of blog posts and get an exact total but I can’t be bothered to do that). It’s fair to say Nic and I have become good friends over that last couple of years. Nic was running Rey and Edon Kappehl. Rey and Boba hurt each other a lot, then I did a sloop with Guri which would have been the perfect move had I slooped the other way….

Pretty sure there was some rust after not having played for a couple of weeks as I parked Guri at range one of Rey’s rear arc needing Nic to roll badly and me to roll perfectly – oh look, it didn’t happen – and my bad positioning cost me dear as Nic rolled perfectly and I rolled badly. I killed Rey in return but that ill thought out move cost me the game. 200-108 win to Nic, at least I got some solid MoV.

Game 2 was against Rob from Southampton, who unfortunately I didn’t get the surname off. Rob was running Wedge, Thane, AP-5 and Dutch and hadn’t flown against Boba and Guri before. Boba went in fast, and Guri flanked. I got some perfect dice and Thane exploded having only shot once. Next on the target list was Wedge, Guri anticipated his K-Turn and was waiting for him when he arrived there to finish the job. Dutch put up a spirited fight, getting Boba down to two hull before the Scum finished him off and then AP-5s defiance put Boba on one before the droid exploded. 200-45 win for me, and then we played some Keyforge for the remaining time, and Rob handed me my arse both games.

The third game was against Dan Flewitt flying a list I entirely approve of, Fenn Rau and Guri. Dan has a 24 point bid on his list and that meant that both his ships would be moving after both of mine. It’s a conversation that has been had many times, you don’t need to move second to win, but it kind of makes it easier when you do. I had to change my mindset in how I approached the game, and remember how to use Guri as a positional annoyance. While my Guri messed about with Fenn, Dan’s Guri got greedy against Boba. Rather than rolling out of arc and having the 4 dice outmanoeuvre shot Dan went for the APTs against a shield Boba in rear arc. It went badly for his Guri, then his Fenn was left with a two on one fight which he’s never going to enjoy. 200-0 win and some more Keyforge to play. Again, I got my arse handed to me.

Into the final game of the day against Steve Fase. Steve (like Nic) is already prepping for Hyperspace with Fenn, Teroch and Lando. In this match up I have to kill Fenn quickly, and a fortunate long range shot from Guri half pointed the tokenless Skull Leader, then she blocked him and allowed Boba to finish him off from range two. Old Teroch put up a fight but with Guri hunting him down his time was limited. Once it got to the Falcon vs both my ships Steve conceded giving me a 200-48 win and another 3-1 finish with Boba and Guri, I placed second overall coming runner up to Nic who had gone 4-0 for the day.

In 2.0 so far I’ve now played 93 tournament games, winning 62 of them putting me on 67% wins. I’m expecting that to drop in the future though as I start to try out different things with Hyperspace in mind. The reason I think I’ve done so well with Boba Guri is the amount of time I have spent with them on the table. Of the 21 tournaments I have been to in second edition they have been to 16 with me. That’s the level of intensity I feel I need to get good with a list and work out how to use it. I should feel sadder about retiring Boba Guri after a year but I’m left with so many happy memories of the list that moving on feels right, especially with the shift in the game that we’re all expecting to happen coming soon.

I have a couple of options that I’m looking at for Hyperspace, for Scum it’d be Fangs or for the Resistance it will likely be T-70 heavy. Either way practice with one of these lists starts next weekend at The Game Shop in Aldershot.

2018 has been a great year for me personally, outside of X-Wing I have a job I love and have settled into being 40 years old quite happily. Inside of X-Wing it’s been an amazing year, being a part of the team that won the ETC, making my first cuts at major events, winning the Goldie for Best Blog. But the thing that gives those achievements value has been the people who play this game. Without the friendships and the wider community they just wouldn’t matter (or have ever happened).

Finally, happy new year everybody, it’s been a pleasure to meet so many amazing people in 2018, here’s to more of the same in 2019.

Next Time: THREE SHIPS?

If you are looking for X-Wing Tournaments to go play at then head to the 186th Tournament Calendar.