As your host continues to slack off on his blogging efforts, I’m pleased to report that the Leeds Nomads’ Ian Franklin has had a very excellent time in Poland!

“Summary: I went to Poland to play X-Wing. The games went ok, the experience was awesome.

I am a mediocre player of X-Wing. I generally win around 50% of my games, like many other players. Not enough practice, not enough skill, flying underdog type lists (partly so I have an excuse for my losses!). I enjoy playing, whether I win or lose, as long as the company and experience are positive. Last March, I went to the UK System Open where I had a great time, made lots of friends, and enjoyed losing in the main event (on purpose, to avoid stressing myself out over whether I would make the first ‘cut’ of winning 2 games out of the first 3 – I flew Horton Salm, Dutch Vander, and Jek Porkins with the objective of scoring some points in each game and ioning something off the table: I managed the latter, at least!) and then trying to win my Hanger Bay Pod.

So, why have I written all that? To show that you don’t have to be a ‘good’ player of this game to travel abroad and play International X-Wing!

Bob Dee wrote about playing in Poland (and other places) last time, and made it sound like a lot of fun. More importantly, he provided a breakdown of the costs involved – and he spent less going to Krakau than I did going to Birmingham.

I went on about this to my wife for quite a while. So much so that, when the System Open in Gdansk was announced, and I inquired about the feasibility of me going she said I could go. I checked the accommodation prices; and the flight: was it even possible to go from Leeds to Gdansk? Yes, there were flights at reasonable times, direct, and all this was cheap enough.

Then I needed a ticket for the event. Would this sell out like the UK one had? Or, just possibly, could I get an Admiral’s ticket and get one of the new mats?

I needn’t have worried, it turned out. They never sold out of either. That was a definite plus point, compared to the UK event!

Costs:

Admiral’s Ticket: £50 (the UK price is £60)

Flight: £112, including the extra payment for being allowed to take a bag with me.

Accommodation: 620 Zlotys or £125 for 3 nights in a decent hotel that was the closest to the venue, 7 minutes walk away. This was about the same quality as the one in Birmingham, which was about 10 minutes drive away. Cheaper hotels were available at both locations, but being walking distance away from the Birmingham Hilton would have cost me a lot more.

Spending money: I asked a Polish player (Hi Lukasz!) and he suggested 300 Zlotys or £60-ish would be plenty for 3 days’ food and drink. Sounds like it wouldn’t be enough, but I had a card too. I don’t drink much alcohol, and I didn’t go to any fancy restaurants, so I ended up spending less than 150 Zlotys and therefore could buy some vodka and other presents for my wife and kids to take home with me with the rest.

Total: £350

Language issues: I speak reasonably bad German, and some French. I don’t speak any Polish, and the words are unrelated to English so working out written signs and labels was very tricky. However, every Pole spoke English – some very well, others just enough – and they were universally very friendly and helpful. They look a bit dour and glum walking around outside (probably because it’s cold), but really liked being approached and asked questions by silly foreigners! The hotel receptionists made phone calls and bookings on my and the other UK players’ behalfs, and random people in the street helped find the right bus or train.

On Friday evening, I met a couple of other players staying at the same hotel; we went out for a pizza and returned to play a practice game or two.

Overall, there were about 14 Brits there; Ed Holmes’ gang of Scots was the biggest, but there were quite a few people who’d travelled independently, not knowing who else was going. The mutual support was excellent, with everyone wanting to know how the others were doing. The locals were also very encouraging and pleased to see more foreigners visiting. There were a handful of Danes, and at least one Spaniard there too!

The Event

159 players. Hanger Bay pods were available, but the prize structure meant it was better to stay in the main draw. There wasn’t a Stage One and Two this time, just 6 rounds and anyone going 5-1 or better made the knockout rounds on day 2; the rest of us would be in the Hyperspace Qualifier. This had 5 rounds and everyone who went undefeated got an invitation to Coruscant.

We would win 1 ‘Prize Ticket’ for losing each game and 2 for winning. Hanger Bay gained one for participating in a Pod and another one per win. And therefore no players actually dropped out to play in any Hanger Bays as far as I could tell.

After a lot of dithering, I had decided to fly Jek Porkins again. Seeing the prizes included an alt art card for him made me want to see whether he was now viable as a pilot in a serious event. He was terrible in 1st edition, and I only used him as a bit of a joke last time when I wanted to lose. Could he actually be any good now? I took Wedge, Thane, Garven, and Jek (with Elusive and Chopper, so he could regenerate shields after he wrecked himself) to Nerf Herder to see if the list would work at all and won 3 out of the 5 games I played. And I packed up a silly list that could dish out lots of tractor tokens for day two: Ketsu Onyo with Shadowcaster title, Trickshot and Rigged Cargo Chute; Unkar Plutt with Proximity Mines; and Latts Razzi with Trickshot, 000, Shield Upgrade and Rigged Cargo Chute. 5 ways to inflict tractor tokens, only one of which involved dice.

Day 1: I won 3 games and lost 3 games. It was about what I hoped for, although going into the last round on 3-2 had me thinking that I had a chance of 4-2….until I saw who I was playing! Why am I on table 16? Why am I about to play Bartosz Wojcicki? (European Finalist, Winner of (I was told) 3 system opens). He ended up 3rd on the rankings, and reached the semi-finals. He took about 20 minutes to kill 3 of my X-Wings, in exchange for his Sabine. And then Porkins really showed what he could do in an X-Wing! 8 times I shed a stress from pushing his ship; 8 times Jek ‘held it’; not a single self-inflicted damage! Bartosz really doesn’t like that pilot – he thought he’d win easily and get to relax for most of the round, but Porkins nearly got me more points by taking Wedge’s shields off, and took over 30 minutes more to die as he dodged firing arcs and took pot-shots at the opposition.

My 2nd round game was also streamed by Raven Squadron. Mostly because Scott Bryant kept badgering Dave (the guy running the stream) until he went and found me. I won’t tell you the outcome of that game, in case you want to watch it, but it was my first time on stream. Don’t be scared of being streamed; I was, until I did it. Be adventurous, be bold! And have fun.

The event ended late, so I didn’t join Team Scotland for their almost-all-night-drinking session; instead I had another pizza, this time delivered to the hotel, and discussed the day with a new friend I’d just met.

Day 2: Having Fun, while my kingdom burned around me!

Flying the silly tractor list. My dice were absolutely terrible all day, except for the first round where my green dice were very good. This was also the case for my opponent in this game: for the first time ever, we finished with no points destroyed at all! My first Final Salvo too. I lost that.

And lost the next 3 games. Couldn’t hit anything. Nada. Fortunately, the games were still entertaining as I dumped ship after ship onto asteroids, or out of the way, or just pushed them about because I could. Still couldn’t actually hurt them though. One quadjumper got dumped on the same rock 5 times, and I shot it 3 times – yet it still lived!

The final round was also a farce, but had a good ending. Quite a few people had dropped out, and several were offering to just do a final salvo instead of playing. I couldn’t understand it – I was there to play, not to quit. And my opponent didn’t turn up. I didn’t want a bye, especially as my only victory of the day. Another player felt the same way, and offered to play me – but then his own opponent arrived! Boo! But he wanted to final salvo! Hooray! I got to play after all.

And win, fair and square. Despite still only getting one hit per 4 red dice rolled. It was very close, but the matchup favoured me, and his green dice didn’t help him.

So I claimed my prizes (few though they were, compared to some; the Target Locks had all gone, but there were plenty of the others available), and went back to the hotel and another takeaway delivered to us.

On Monday, I made my way back to the airport and came home. The mat fitted fine, folded in half and then rolled. No major creases. My aluminium KR case had no problems with going through security either.

A random street near the train station at Wrzesczcz, the closest station to the hotel. No, I don’t know how to pronounce it. I asked a Pole, and he said, “It’s very tricky”. And didn’t try to say it either.

Things I’ll do differently next year: book 4 nights away, so I have time to explore the city. Unless the location is really dull. Take some small giveaways for each of my opponents, plus helpful people I meet. Take some sandwiches for day 1, rather than queuing for an hour to get a (very tasty) pancake from a food van outside – there were only 2 food vans to serve the entire games convention and 159 hungry x-wing players; Alec and co kindly held the next round back by about 45 minutes otherwise we’d have been in trouble. I took sandwiches next day! And take a scarf: it’s cold in Poland, and my gloves and hat were ok but a scarf would have helped.

Will you be there too?”