Back in the saddle/cockpit

Wow. Over 2 years since I last posted anything. Real life has a way of tramping all over your hobby time, in the best possible way. I’m now a dad; with a happy, healthy, one and a half year old daughter. That’s meant lots of sleep deprived nights, zero spare time and no hobby at all. But recently, as she’s grown and my wife and I have had two minutes to breathe, I’ve managed to fit some hobby back in.

Yesterday I met with a friend for the first game I’ve had in over a year. We played X Wing, standard 100pt lists with no scenarios. As an aside, I can’t recommend Alfie Byrne’s pub on Earlsfort Terrace off St Stephen’s Green enough as a casual gaming venue. Plus they do great beer.

The first game I took two ARC-170s and Sabine’s TIE. I choose Norra Wexley and Breylen Stramm for the ARCs and Sabine herself in the TIE. Graham took Kylo Ren in his TIE Silencer and Col Vessery in a Defender. This was a great game, despite Sabine wandering off in her TIE with a mistimed K-turn on round two. The ARCs take a hammering, and adding R2-D2 to Braylen kept him in the fight. Kylo’s Silencer is a nice ship, but instead of loading up on upgrades, Graham should have taken another ship to give me more targets.

Game 2 was a different affair. This time I deployed 2 A Wings and a K Wing. Graham took a Defender, Phantom and TIE fighter.

Bombs are fun. Especially when you drop an ion bomb first into a crowded area followed by a seismic charge. Not so much use is vectored thrusters on A Wings, those points would have been better spent on something else. Also reading up on what a SLAM action actually does would help. This game ended with both A Wings brought down by TIE fire and me taking out the K Wing myself by using a seismic torpedo whilst at Range 1 of the obstacle and on one hull point. (I also couldn’t roll defense dice to save my life as evidenced by the photos below)

Overall, I really enjoyed both games and it reminded me how much I love gaming. It definitely won’t be two years between posts again. Nor will it be a year between games.