About Rogue One ...

Go see it.

To analogize: If the original Star Wars movie* was The Dam Busters, then Rogue One is The Dirty Dozen. While the morality in original trilogy might have been black-and-white, in this joint it's very, very, gray.

I liked it better than The Force Awakens. Compared to that film, Rogue One doesn't feel like it's trying so hard to be a Star Wars movie. From a wargaming perspective, I'm sure you'll get plenty of scenario ideas from the many battles.

Like I said, go see it.

*A New Hope to all you kids who should get off my lawn!

Adios, old year!

As the Dreadnought says goodbye to 2014, I once again look back on my gaming over the past twelve months. As usual, not as much as I'd hoped--a move, training for a marathon, and other issues got in the way, and there was no GuadaComaCon. Still, the year brought a few highlights:

• I ran a D&D campaign using the blue Holmes basic rulebook, drawing several players to several sessions.
• I played a little Hordes of the Things and some X-Wing.
• I played a whole lotta Ogre with my new Designer's Edition and using the Pocket Edition.
• I obsessed over putting together a large Ogre scenario for Millenniumcon--and I actually did it, compiling the minis and the terrain and coming up with Siege of Monopolis, which was a success.

I'm glad I got to run the games I did, and I hope to keep it up in the coming year. So how was your gaming in 2014?

Test-flying the Rebel transport

I had a chance to play the X-Wing miniatures game last weekend, too.  I got out my Rebel transport, and we tried one of the scenarios from the rules for that ship.  The freighter was supposed to hold out for eight turns, while the Imperials' goal was to destroy it.  I took my Alphabet Soup squadron (A-wing, B-wing, X-wing, Y-wing) to escort the massive ship.

My opponents, Mike and Ted, took a pair of interceptors and a TIE advanced and a trio of TIE fighters, respectively.

What started out promising for me soon turned nasty.  The first turn, my A-wing fired proton torpedoes (with a target lock) at the TIE advanced, but failed to take it out.  My X-wing missed against one of the interceptors.

The next turn, the Empire was in range, and they quickly stripped the lumbering space whale of its shields.  By the third turn, the transport was a rapidly expanding cloud of debris.

Fun game, but I need to learn how to use the transport properly.  Hell, I still need to learn how to use all my other ships properly.  Maybe next time ...

Again, my wife is awesome

Got home from work Friday, and my wife surprised me with some X-Wing miniatures.  It's a thank-you gift for having to put up with a longer commute.  These are three of the Wave 4 ships, including the Rebel E-Wing and Z-95 Headhunter, along with a TIE Defender.  I look forward to gaming with these--if only I could have a real one to fly over all the freeway congestion!  Did I mention that my wife is awesome?

The first transport ...

... has arrived at my house.  Now I need to find a place for it, since this ship is pretty sizeable:

I recently received this expansion to the X-Wing game from my brother as a Christmas gift (whether it should be considered very belated or extremely early I will leave as an exercise for the reader)--so thanks, bro! 

The Rebel Transport is a huge ship, and it comes with some new rules and even a series of campaign scenarios.  It also includes another X-Wing model, along with some new pilot cards.  I can't wait to play some games with this, even if I still haven't figured out where I'm gonna store it.

May the Fourth ...

So to commemorate Star Wars Day today, here's a quick batrep from a couple of games on Saturday.  I went over to Steven's for some Warhammer 40,000, but other players never showed, so my host and I played two matches of X-Wing.

The first game was the scenario that comes with the Imperial shuttle rules, where the Empire player has to recover personnel stuck on disabled spaceships.  Instead of using the counters for the incapacitated vessels, I grabbed some of my other minis that were a good fit size-wise to serve as the objective markers.  I also brought my scratchbuilt escape pods to keep track of the people recovered, as this seemed better than using a sensor token from the game.  I was doing fine as the Empire, until my opponent blew up my shuttle, effectively ending the scenario in his favor.

The second game was a straight 100-point squad contest, using asteroids (with my own space rocks on top of the markers that come with the game).  My host stayed with the Rebels for this game.  It turned into a real furball, with the asteroids forcing my foe to fly around a bit, taking some damage from the floating debris.  However, the Rebel went on to eliminate my ships one-by-one, until Vader was the only remaining fighter, taken out by Luke Skywalker and friends.  An enjoyable time, and I think I have a new X-Wing convert!

X-Winging it

Since Saturday's dungeon craw was abbreviated thanks to low player turnout (i.e., one), Rickey and I played a couple of games of X-Wing to finish out the afternoon. Since he'd never played before, we did a quick game of two TIE fighters against one X-Wing so he could pick up the basics.  He took the two Imperials, while I played the lone Rebel.  The game had a lot of maneuvering back and forth, as we wore each other down. 

After I eliminated one of his ships, we flew around with one hull point each, until I was able to get him in my sights and destroy his remaining craft.  We then decided to play another game, this time with around 60 or so points.  He added two ships, an Interceptor and a Bomber, and I also took on more vessels, a Y-wing and a HWK-290.

This game didn't go as well for me.  The X-wing fell to some good shooting and flying from one of the TIEs.  And for the other two, flying in formation near a bomb blast wasn't a good idea. In the end, he had all his ships, with only the TIE bomber damaged.  This was his first time to play the game, and by his second match, he was flying like an ace!

X-Wing: Now with asteroids

I played another game of X-Wing last weekend, and at my friend's suggestion we placed asteroids on the map.  It was my first time playing the game with space debris, and I (playing the Rebels) only hit a space rock one time.  My opponent, who slammed a TIE fighter into one of the floating obstacles, remarked that it was true to the genre, as The Empire Strikes Back showed us that you should never take TIEs into an asteroid field.  These objects add tactical variety to the game, as you can use them to avoid opponents or to channel your foes a certain direction. 

My opponent flew a shuttle, Vader's advanced TIE, and three named TIE fighter pilots.  I ended up winning with my Alphabet Soup squad (A-wing, B-wing, X-wing, and Y-wing).  The game was fun overall, with both of us losing ships by carelessly planning maneuvers that took X-wing and his shuttle off the edge of the map.  I ended up winning with just my Y-wing and A-wing left.

I have the game mechanics down pretty good, so it's time to start playing some scenarios from the rules.

Dogfights & Dragons

Word of an interesting new miniatures game coming out: Dungeons & Dragons: Attack Wing.  This will be an aerial combat minis game by WizKids (which will also produce a new line of prepainted D&D minis), using the same game engine as Star Wars: X-Wing and Star Trek: Attack Wing.* 

Here are some tidbits gleaned from a Q&A with WizKids on Reddit:

• "We can confirm that we are doing an Dungeons & Dragons Attack Wing game, which will use the same game engine as Star Trek: Attack Wing."
• "Unfortunately, we can't give more detail than to say that it will have a similar product configuration to our Star Trek: Attack Wing game. We'll be revealing a bunch of information about our D&D Attack Wing game at the GAMA trade show in Las Vegas this March. Stay Tuned!"
• "We're also doing a dragon-based dogfighting game using the same engine as our Star Trek: Attack Wing game. So yes, dragons of all shapes and sizes."

EDIT: Here's an article with prices for the game.

I definitely want to play this Dungeons & Dragons dogfighting game!

*FYI, WizKids publishes the Trek game, while Fantasy Flight Games publishes the Star Wars version that uses the same game engine. Not sure how that came to be, or who first came up with it.

X-Wing batrep

On Super Bowl Sunday, I had a chance to play a little X-Wing before the football game at the starbase of Maj. Diz Aster (who posted his own account on his blog, Starbase Ares).  Since he'd never played the game before, we did a quick intro game with his two TIE fighters taking on my X-wing fighter.  Since  I had the experience of several games under my belt, I was able to take out his two ships fairly quickly.

With the first game out of the way, we brought out more fighters for a larger match.  He took one of his regular TIEs and an Interceptor, and borrowed my TIE bomber and TIE advanced (i.e., Vader's ship).  I took an alphabet soup squad: A-wing, B-wing, X-wing, and Y-wing.

The game quickly evolved into a furball as our fighters jockeyed for shots. The Sith lord was a tempting target that got taken out quickly (for plot purposes, we agreed he was able to eject from his ship to survive and fight another day), but served the Imperials by distracting me from shooting at the rest of his fleet.

However, after that, the Empire began to pay back the Rebels for the loss of their leader.  First the X-wing fell to the lasers of the various TIE craft. 

The battle wore on, and then the A-wing died.  Finally, the B-wing could take no more damage and erupted in a fireball as well.

At that point, my opponent still had three ships on the table, to my lone Y-wing.  It would have been pointless to continue, so with the kickoff taking place, it was time for me to concede.  It was a great game, and my thanks to the Major for having me over.  Let's do it again soon!

So what did everybody get?

Under the tree this year, I found a pair of ships for the X-Wing miniatures game, courtesy of my wife.  Representing the Dark Side was Darth Vader's TIE fighter (officially the TIE Advanced).  On the Rebels' side, the HWK-290 (a.k.a. the Mouldy Crow, originally appearing in a computer game). 

I was expecting the Empire ship, since I saw that when my wife and I were Christmas shopping.  She noticed me eyeing the toy, and asked if I wanted it as a holiday present.  I said yes, realizing that she would insist on wrapping it and not actually give it to me until Christmas, which I was fine with.  The other mini, however, came as a surprise. 

My spouse told me she was at Barnes & Noble and noticed a shelf full of various X-Wing expansions.  She didn't want to buy me a duplicate of  something in my collection, so she checked this blog to make sure she bought me something I didn't already own!  Very clever and thoughtful gift selection from my wife. 

These were the only gaming gifts I received this year, and I can't wait to try them out on the gaming table.  Did anyone else received wargaming or roleplaying loot this Christmas?

More games of X-Wing

I've been somewhat a DIY gamer for some time, never using minis that can be tied to any specific franchise, so I'm kind of surprised that I've gotten into the X-Wing minis game.  My brother bought it for me, and over Thanksgiving we sat down for a couple of games on his dining table. 

Some photos from Millennium Con (Friday)

Just some quick pics from my Millennium Con experience on Friday Night.  While the majority of the games were historical in nature, such as the one pictured here, there was also plenty of sci-fi gaming.

I ran my 5150: Star Navy scenario (more details on that later).  I had enough ships for eight players, but ended up with only three.  Here's the setup:

There was also a nifty Death Star trench run game for the X-Wing miniatures game.  I didn't get a chance to play in it, but I took a few pics:

There was also that annual crowd-pleaser, Circus Maximus, which was as popular as ever.

More pics and a more substantive con report at a later date, hopefully.

Another bout of X-Wing

I'm late in posting about some recent X-Wing battles at my house (Holdfast beat me to the punch a nearly two weeks ago), but I wanted to rave about this little minis game.  A couple of weekends ago, I hosted Holdfast and local gamer Kerstan for some fighter-on-fighter action.

There's some definite strategy to these rules--because players select their movement at the same time using maneuver dials, without knowing what their opponent will do, you need to learn to anticipate where you want to be and where your enemy will be.

The core set comes with two regular TIEs and one X-wing; but I had picked up an expansion ship, the TIE Interceptor.  Because the ships and their upgrades all have points values, we were able to make it an even match of the X-wing versus one standard TIE and the interceptor.

With three of us playing, we rotated fighters after every game.  We were able to get in several matches that afternoon, and the Rebel ship was destroyed in one game but prevailed in the other two.  The game is fast and addictive, and I want to play it again!

First game of X-Wing

My brother was kind enough to buy me the X-Wing miniatures game from Fantasy Flight Games.  Over the weekend, we took it out of its box and played the introductory scenario, which only used some of the rules.

My brother took the X-wing with a rookie pilot, and I had the pair of TIE fighters, with one Academy pilot and one Obsidian Squadron pilot.