Three long drives in the last three weeks has taken it’s toll on my petrol tank and sleeping patterns. Fortunately this weeks escapades take place a lot closer to home, with visits to Eclectic Games and Ibuywargames on Saturday and Sunday respectively for lots of games of X-Wing.

After their 4-1 success last weekend the Firesprays are coming out to play. They had game against the big turrets of the Weekend WarlordsWeekend Warlords, far more game than I expected them to. The ship has earned a spot to see how it can handle what the South East of the UK has to offer this weekend. Next weekend is the Italian Open, potentially the last open of the season (There is France but we’ll have to see how budgets pan out nearer the time, it’s only two weeks after Euros which puts that months paycheck under enough pressure as it is!)

No practice squeezed in during the week, the epicness of last weekend has left me somewhat exhausted so its been failed attempts at catching up on sleep during the week, totally not watching the Last Jedi repeatedly…

The goal of the blogs with “The 67%” in the title is that it’s me aiming at doing well at tournaments. Well enough to may be qualify for a cut once in a while. As it stands I have run three lists in this venture and this is how they shape up:

Games Wins % Dash Poe 34 20 59 Boba Fenn 20 14 70 Boba Kath 5 4 80

Well, isn’t confirmation bias a thing? (if you don’t know what confirmation bias is then it’s making conclusions based on what you assume or believe rather than what the actual facts are.) I dropped Boba Fenn in favour of a more proven list with a better track record when flown by other pilots (Dash Poe) but my numbers with the Scum are better than they are with Rebels.

Admittedly the Rebels have a bigger pool of matches to draw from. The only events we can really compare between the two are the Regionals they went to, both played 6 games, both with similarly large fields. The Mandalorians went 4-2, the Rebels 3-3… it makes me wonder if the numbers are trying to tell me something.

A good list in the hands of one pilot is a bad list in the hands of another. This is why the whole “netlisting is bad” argument falls apart so often. Anyone can pick up a list off any number of places on the internet and fly it, the fact that the list might have won a tournament or two doesn’t mean that who ever picks it up will win a tournament with it. Sure it may be pre-optimised but the person flying the list makes a big difference.

A really good example of this is Sim Pone using Foss/Polish Aces (whatever you want to call it) Quickdraw, Inquisitor, Yorr. Sim has been flying Imperial Aces exclusively since I have known him, and has always been good with them. So when he picked up an established Aces list he knew how to handle it and with some practice was able to win the Sheffield Regional. He’s found a list that fits him, that he feels confident with, and he flies it like a boss.

If I picked up that list I might do OK with it, I know my way around the ships involved. But without the table time with that list, without the connection to THAT way of playing I’m not going to win a regional with it, and because I don’t “feel” that connection I don’t really enjoy flying it. So I give up. I could run off a bunch of top list at the moment and an array of great pilots who fly them and I’d come to the same conclusion.

I’m not saying don’t netlist, I’m saying do it if it suits you. Do it if you come to love the list but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with flying what you love and getting good with it. Steve Theobald’s list that he flew against me last week is an example. It’s not something you see everywhere, it’s got a Scurrg in it that isn’t Nym, and the Nym in it is somewhat different to what you normally see, but Steve loves those ships and wins his fair share of games with them.

Captain Nym Sol Sixxa Veteran Instincts Debris Gambit Twin Laser Turret Twin Laser Turret Extra Munitions Extra Munitions Harpoon Missiles Proximity Mines Boba Fett Cluster Mines Bomblet Generator Havoc Guidance Chips Experimental Interface Advanced Sensors R4-E1

He’s better with that list after several months of practice and tweaking it than he would be running something someone else won a tournament with, more to the point, he’s learned how to beat the netlists with it. The process might be slower, but good things come to those who wait.

So what to take this weekend? I really want to take the Firesprays. I need to see how they cope with Nymanda (I suspect the answer is badly) and give them a run against Imperial Aces (again a tough match up). But I think I am going to be putting Boba Fenn on the table, as they have more to offer against a wider variety of lists.

Previously I had put this list aside because Fenn always seemed to die too early. I’m beginning to suspect that my flying rather than the ship itself might be at fault, after all I’m also very good at getting Poe killed too. Other people fly Fenn and he doesn’t die all the time… With the Italian Open coming next weekend I had promised Boba a shot at his templates, and I think Boba Fenn is the best build to give him that chance.

Looking at how each list fares against the current “meta” list doing the rounds and how I feel my chances against each one rate with each list gives me this. (I have also linked what I consider the standard build to all the lists on the graph so you can have a look at each one if you don’t know what they are)

Conclusion: there is only really one option to take. Boba Fett and Fenn Rau are hitting the tables this weekend. I have previously said that the issue with this list is that Fenn dies too fast, I guess this weekend I’m doing what I can to remedy that.

Boba Fett Fenn Rau Andrasta Concord Dawn Protector Veteran Instincts Push the Limit Harpoon Missiles Proton Torpedoes Engine Upgrade Autothrusters Ion Cannon Dengar Bomblett Generator Glitterstim 97 points

Saturday -Eclectic Games, Reading.

It’s a happy sign of the growth of the game, and it’s popularity in the area that this event is at capacity, a massive 30 tickets sold, a first for this level of tournament at the venue. I’ve only been to one sold out event here before, the hangar bay 40th Anniversary event that was won with a combination of Palp Aces and Twin Firesprays.

Today see’s a mix of some relative tournament rookies and a bunch of seasoned veterans including the likes of Sim Pone and Calum Brown. It’s nice to meet fellow blogger Charles Berkhold for the first time too, he went 4-1 with a TIE Punisher… a freaking beautifully painted TIE Punisher, but still… a Punisher!

The general vibe of the day was Imperial heavy, Defenders and Quickdraw are especially prevalent but there are a fair few big turrets about.

I got to fly against plenty of things today and enjoyed every game of the day. Wins in round one (Greg Squire), three (Will Martin), four (Tom Drew) and five (Rhys Gansen-Jones) put me 4-1 for the day and second for the event, by 1 MOV. The damage output of these two ships never fails to put a smile on my face.

I felt horrible in the game against Tom Drew where in the very first turn Fenn took a pot shot against tokenless Guri with his proton torps, rolling 3 hits and crit, only for Guri to roll 3 focuses and draw a double damage. It has happened to me on more than one occasion and I know how soul crushing that feels. His list of Fenn, Guri and Thweek was just great to see on the table, and he didn’t deserve that dice roll.

It did kind of make up for my game 2 loss to Calum Brown running his OP3 list. Miranda , Lowhhrick and Fenn is hard work, and despite me getting the engagement right in the opening I gave Calum the opportunity to double stress Fenn (so dead Fenn next turn then) and then proceeded to roll 7 blanks in a row on Boba’s green dice. A player of Calum’s ability will finish the game in that situation, and with hard turns being red on Boba we both knew the writing was on the wall long before the game ended. Calum went 5-0 for the day, so coming second to the only player to best me on the day didn’t feel to bad.

I got my shiny metal shield tokens, an 80% win ratio for the day, Fenn only died twice and there’s a whole second day to look forward to.

Next time Eclectic does one of these tickets are going to have to be bought in advance. If you’re even vaguely local to Reading I highly recommend getting on their facebook page and following them to not miss out. It’s a fantastic store and the atmosphere was so good all day.

Sunday – Ibuywargames, Woking.

Owner Ian Simpkins must really love us X-Wing players, every time he puts up an event it sells out, and some of the best players in the South East rock up. This events attendees include:

James Finlayson (the most consistent player in the UK this year, I doubt anyone has ever had a regional season like it)

Pete Wood (came second to James at the Norfolk Regional, having basically not flown for 3 months prior)

Sim Pone (Sheffield Regional Winner)

Martyn Chivers (won a small event a couple of weeks back)

Tom Forstner (came second at said small event a couple of weeks back)

Calum Brown (top 8 at UK nationals and and beat me on Saturday)

I mean, out of 26 players there’s 6 you don’t want to meet in round 1 right? No wonder the hush as pairings gets announced is a little… tense… We all get on really well, we’d just rather not play each other until we have to! Another 5 rounds today making the weekend an epic 10 rounder. Looking at the caliber of players going 3-2 here would be an achievement.

The day started being drawn against Sim. Not the match up either of us wanted. I went in faster than I needed to. Top tip. If you give your opponent the initiative so that your Fenn Rau can arc dodge his Quickdraw, then arc dodge! I got greedy and I deserved exactly what I got from that, I mean Sim could have rolled less natural crits… it went wrong and it went wrong fast, but he could have had no shots on Fenn had I been more sensible. 4 dice from Boba with 4 re-rolls on a 1 hull shuttle couldn’t kill it. 16-100 loss was not the start I was hoping for.

A little on tilt and in need of a hug Sim and I chatted through the game, and in his usual encouraging way said “you’ll be fine, just submarine it.” I didn’t share his confidence.

My second game was against Matt Collins from Zombie Squadron running Rey and Poe. Fully expecting the joust I took my approach a little slower than normal. A healthy respect for Rey and awareness of how capable Poe is acted as a deterrent, but when it became apparent that Matt had no intent of gunning for me I was able to unload both lots of munitions into Rey’s flank, taking 7 health of her. From there I pressed the attack and was able to win the game 100-29.

After a Nando’s for lunch game three was against Nick Coventry with Dash and Poe. I fancied the match up having been flying the two a lot in the last few weeks, I knew that Dash had to go and went in for him before he was able to dance away into the debris field. Nick got unlucky with the bomblets, taking 3 shields on Poe off two of them, but at the end the Resistance pilot found himself in a joust with Fenn and Boba coming up fast behind him. Another 100-29 win wasn’t going to be complained about.

The fourth game was the match up that I dread, but am beginning to feel more comfortable with. Christian Hooper flying RAClo and Quickdraw. I need a huge slice of luck to win this match up, and got it when Christian went to look for the second blinded pilot in the deck. Fenn had taken one and a face down damage card, sure enough the other blinded Pilot was already on Fenn. With both my ships then able to focus fire on “Quickdraw” (who was recovering from being Ioned) it quickly turned into a 2 on 1 fight with an already hurting Decimator. Fenn locked on his Proton Torps and was ready for the killing blow, only for Boba to sweep in and deliver the killing blow. Anther 100-29 win.

I’d done it! I’d made it to 3-1 which meant I couldn’t miss my target of 3-2, due to maths there was only one person on 4-0 (the other potential 4-0 had been paired down and lost) which was Open Champion Martyn Chivers. Martyn is one of my best friends, but he doesn’t like playing me in tournaments. When the pairing were read out and we were on table one together he sighed and I smiled, cause I always enjoy our games.

What happened next was a statistical anomaly unlike anything I have ever seen. Martyn knows that I play fast and aggressively. His Kylo was the first ship put on the table so I lined my ships to go straight for him. The opening engagement happened in turn two, with Boba having a lock at range 2 on Kylo with glitterstim, and Fenn having the range 3 lock with a focus. Between Dengar and the stims the harpoon hit home with 3 hits and a crit. Kylo rolled 2 blanks and a focus. Martyn quickly burned the Vanguard title to re-roll his dice. And they came up all blanks. So shield, shield, hit, crit found their way through.

I’d have been happy taking his shields. But luck wasn’t done with me yet. The crit was a major explosions the dice roll produced a double damage. 47 points of Kylo Ren evapourated before the wrath of Boba Fett. I anticipated dropping Kylo with both sets of munitions, that wouldn’t have been ridiculous, but to do it with a single harpoon was monstrous. I felt bad about killing Tom’s Guri on Saturday, I felt almost worse doing even nastier things to one of my best friends. Almost… but I love Guri way more than Kylo…

What followed was a relentless onslaught from Mandalore against the First Order, with “Quickdraw” dropping and then Epsilon Ace finding himself massively outgunned. Somehow I had managed a 100-0 win in 22 minutes. We were both a bit confused. I had come to one of the toughest “small events” I had ever been to and gone 4-1. Further more my MoV was enough for me to scrape the tournament win by 9 points over fellow 186th member Pete Wood. And Fenn only died once!

The three things you need to win a tournament are:

Good Match Ups

Good Flying

And a little bit of luck.

Today I was lucky enough for those things to fit in place (excluding the disastrous decision making in game one) and on another day this event could have gone to any number of players who I consider better than me at this game.

All of which means:

Tournament Games 69 Win Ratio 67% +/- +3%

This Wednesday (18th April) on the Weekend Warlords Youtube Channel they’ll be posting a video of me chatting through this list and the Twin Sprays with Rasta and Ash in some real depth, subscribe to their channel and you’ll be told when they post it!

Next Time: ITALIA!

If you’re looking for tournaments head over to the 186th Tournament Calendar