Exciting times, a whole weekend of X-wing approved and here it is. I had no idea I would need to be so organised – hydration, snackage, forms, paperclips – this doesn’t sound fun! Star wars spaceships, thats better!

We arranged to travel up together on the Friday, in three cars. Some lucky Zombets (I made up a word but it suits them) even took the day off and arrived early, I wasn’t jealous it was fine. Our driver was a little delayed owing to a complex tale involving an injured finger, A&E, a book case, swooning at a receptionist and lying down for a bit – I may have lost the gist here but he was fine in the end. It was a manly tale.

We arrived a little late but the journey was swift and cheery. Our fellow zombies had decided to go to bed as the bar was closed. After a night cap of campari and lemonade, a first and last taste I think. Is it just me or does it smell and taste like old spice, guessing about the taste bit……

Sorry I got a little distracted there, in summary we arrived safely.

SYSTEM OPEN

We arrived early in the morning to register and say hello to the other zombies. All set and ready, now for pairings.

Round 1 – Rey Lowhhrick – Pete Smith

Straight in with a tough pairing, Rey generally is so good and does stupid amounts of damage. Lowhhrick is adding a lot more than support here, stress with tactician and reliable dice.

The stress from Lowhhrick plus nicking a debris was the crucial turning point here and I couldn’t clear the stress and do any meaninful damage.

Pete flew this really well and was the deserved winner, the score was very close at the end.

Lost 72-68

Round 2 – Miranda Lowhhrick Jess

Ben Saunders

I made a mistake in the first few turns here, it took me too long to get into engagement by which time Lowhhrick had 4 focus tokens. Vessery went down first, shortly followed by the Delta squadron.

Quickdraw then managed to get into range one of two ships in both arcs and really hurt Jess and Lowhhrick. After a couple more turns they were both dead and the score looked better than it should have. Miranda did the ast damage on Quickdraw and Ben had his deserved victory.

Lost 100-49 and I’m 0-2, out of it already

Round 3 – Wedge Poe Ezra (Elusiveness)

Simon Woodward

This was a really cool list, Ezra supporting both ships with M9-G8 re-rolls and being almost impossible to kill with elusiveness and his ability when stressed. Wedge hits hard so I decided to go for him first

I flew a lot better in this game but forgot some triggers, brain fried and peraps I was more relaxed than I should have been after the realisation I was out. I set the delta up out front as a blocker/juicy target which worked nicely, this left Quickdraw and Vessery to do mean things.

Win 100-28, end the competition as 1-2

All my opponents were really nice and it was an absolute pleasure to fly against them. We exchanged some nice swag and wished each other good luck over the weekend.

HANGAR BAY

I wasn’t sure what to fly in Hangar bay I had brought two additional lists and I’d had enough of the Quickdraw Defender list.

My choice was between Rey/Poe, the sensible list, and Woodchipper a list that I think Richard White created from the Scum and Villainy podcast which I had been meaning to try for a while.

I decided (foolishly) to go for Woodchipper as it scratched the Gunboat itch, after having given them up just before the tournament.

Here is the list:

Alpha-Class Star Wing: Nu Squadron Pilot (28)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

XG-1 Assault Configuration (1)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Linked Battery (2)

Alpha-Class Star Wing: Nu Squadron Pilot (28)

Long-Range Scanners (0)

XG-1 Assault Configuration (1)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Linked Battery (2)

TIE Aggressor: Sienar Specialist (25)

Lightweight Frame (2)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

TIE Bomber: Scimitar Squadron Pilot (19)

TIE Shuttle (0)

Courier Droid (0)

•Darth Vader (3)

Total: 100/100

Sorry, my brain left me and I forgot to continue taking photos of lists and names so I cannot recall who you are. Next time…

It hits really hard with the two HLC’s, the TLT Sienar is brilliant for whittling down tagets and removing their tokens before the big guns come in. The Doom canoe (Vader on a Tie Bomber) is a beautiful thing, so cheap and if it gets the right match-up devestating and expendable.

Round 1 – 4 x Tempest sq with Cluster missiles and accuracy corrector

A cool and brutal list, especially if squared up against a ghost. The Cluster missiles and accuracy corrector guaranteeing 4 hits each in one turn is nasty. We were both at 100 points and had 4 ships at P2 2, I won the roll – this was huge.

Having given the initiative away I could react to my opponents moves and make sure that only a few of his ships were firing at any one time. Each turn the firepower of the squad took out a ship and Vader on the bomber mopped up the pieces.

Win, I think I lost an HLC boat and the Doom canoe

Round 2 – Norra Nym Tala

A Zombie squadron match-up and against one of the squadron who had done well to make it at all, he was not well. So unwell that he named himself Captain Lurgy.

I think he was a little scared of the fire power of my list so tried to drag me through the rocks. My list converged on Nym and destroyed in one turn. My bomber k-turned behind the Tala and Vader’d a Direct Hit before the Harpoon misile could be shot. All four ships surrounded Norra and ended her – no regen today. It was brutal, sorry.

Win 100-0, 2-0 in Hangar Bay

Round 3 – Rey Intensity Poe

This was pretty brutal as well, the doom canoe went after Poe to kill him early and the rest of the squad surround Rey. Poe got a direct hit and another crit so was dead in two turns without doing too much.

Rey fought back but it was too much with the reliability of the HLCs and TLTs.

Win something like 100-47, 3-0 and winner of our Hangar Bay Pod.

This unfortuantely went to my head and I decided to fly this list in Hyperspace the following day, stupid boy. I couldn’t decide but it was fun so what’s the worst that could happen…..

Day 2 – HYPERSPACE

Day two and there had been some chat about John Barrowman amongst the squadron which didn’t go over my head at all. During breakfast (with Yorkshire puddings – weird but good, I think!) a zombie squadron t-shirt with the good man dominating the front appeared. Nominations to wear were called for and some idiot said something like “who is John Barrowman anyway?”. Yes that idiot was me and that sealed the deal.

Hyperspace Round 1: Nym Miranda

When the pairings were announced I noticed that the name (Ed Holmes) opposite mine was one that I recognised, not good news he must be good I thought.

A really friendly guy, who had clearly had a couple of soft drinks and had yet to sleep. Despite this he flew Nym Miranda well and I was destroyed with a minimum of fuss.

Loss 100-0

Me 0-1

John Barrowman fail

Hyperspace Round 2: 3 x Rho sq

Next pairing was against 3 Rho Gun boats with two HLCs and a Mangler, so very similar to mine but at higher PS – I had to pull something out of the bag to win this one.

I attempted to flank with one of my gunboats and get behind his three Rho’s which were annoyingly glued in formation. Round one of engagement, he managed to delete one ship before it shot. Oh dear. The next turn he turned his attention to the Doom canoe and it was gone, and in return I removed the Mangler boat.

Then the game got more interesting, two PS 4 Rho gunboats versus two PS 2 Nu gunboats. There was a lot of jockeying for position and with the slam some interesting moves. I was pleased with how I flew and how much of a game I made of it, ultimately it was not enough my opponent did not make a mistake and owned the table.

Loss 100-30

Me 0-2

John Barrowman fail

Hyperspace Round 3 – Kylo Soontir Wampa

I really enjoyed this game, I have yet to fly Kylo but it is high my list to try next. My opponent was a really nice guy from the Weekend Warlords.

This match up is one of the main reasons for the Doom Canoe, Soontir was looking nervous. I paired one gunboat with the TLT aggressor and one gunboat with the doom canoe, slow approach in and target locks on Soontir. Kylo raced down the flank with his green 5 speed manouver. Soontir slipped out of arc, shock! So Wampa started to feel the pain, as Kylo attacked from the bottom left. As Soontir was being a cheeky monkey I turned my fleet to surprise Kylo, which worked! The Doom canoe managed to keep Soontir in arc

This was a lovelly round of combat for me, two HLC’s shot at Kylo, one did no damage but the other put through all 4 damage. The TLT aggressor killed wampa and Soontir got the crit that made hard turns red (whatever that is called) from Vader, nice.

In the next turn the Doom canoe was the target and destroyed, understandably. I focussed on Soontir and after a couple of turns with all my arcs fanned out he couldn’t escape. It was then Kylo’s turn, so my Gunboats turned fast with the help of SLAM and the Tie Aggressor continued to attempt to arc/damage dodge, with the help of the friendliest green dice in the world. Again, with 3 ships fanning out Kylo was always getting shot and I managed to take him down. Awesome game!

Win 100-19

Me 1-2

John Barrowman win, finally.

So not the overall scoring I was looking for but I had an amazing time and I flew four PS2 Imperial ships which was great fun. I think I will keep this list in my bag for a little while.

At this stage, my brain was a pumpkin and together with Steve the Zombie that it was a good idea to get back in time for story time. I had a wonderful weekend, biggest thanks to the Zombie crew who were really helpful and the banter was strong.

As for John Barrowman’s magical powers, inconclusive. I think I will return the t-shirt, I was not accepted and a more worthy owner needs to be found.

Memory disclaimer…I have done my best to remember what happened and how, but if I have misremembered then I apologise.