May the Fourth be with you!

Could it be? No it isn't? YES IT IS, A FOURTH UPDATE!!!
(Yes I know "May the Fourth be with You is what you say on may the fourth a.k.a. Star Wars day.)

Håkan, one of my mates,  delivered a Z-95 headhunter he had ordered for me about a month ago when every local game store was out of Z-95:s. Naturally our order got delayed and the local stores have restocked in the meantime.

But anyway, I mentioned that I was going to repaint the Z-95 to match the card art for Lt. Blount and we joked that I should try and repaint it tonight and then update the blog to get four updates in so many days...

Well... I did it.

The original paintjob with blue markings. (Picture by Fantasy Flight Games.)

Lieutenant Blount's card. Notice the red markings.

My repainted Lieutenant Blount.

First I repainted the fuselage with Vallejo Khaki mixed with Vallejo Deck Tan. This produced a more grey-brown paint than the original grey, more akin to the colours of the X-wings. 

Next I used a Nuln Oil wash to bring out the details, after which I drybrushed with pure Deck Tan to lighten the paint job a bit. The markings were picked out by free-hand with GW Mephiston Red. It was hard to see what the markings were on the wings so I just went with red stripes. I touched up the lines and added a few small nicks and scratches on the red with deck tan again.

Last I added some more Nuln Oil to the engines and the cock-pit canopy where the drybrush had spilled over. I used Liquitex gloss medium to bring the shine back to the canopy. 

May the Force be with You

Repainting X-wing ships

Inspired by the fun tournament I played in and the fact that a lot of the players had either repainted or in some way touched up their ships, I decided to try my hand at painting some ships. Now, these are 1:270 scale, and I have painted tanks and infantry in 1:285 scale so how hard could it be?

The answer is pretty not hard at all, as long as you have a fine brush and a somewhat steady hand. For starters I decided to repaint one of my two HWK-290s.

Come on JJ, how do you like my lens flare?

At Starfighters everyone can hear you Pew Pew

I promised earlier that I would report on my first ever X-wing tournament. You can read an introduction and about my squadron here.

"What do you mean you don't have any S-foils?"

The tournament used a five round Swiss system, meaning that opponents would be random in the first game, but in the subsequent four games you would meet someone with roughly the same points. Winning would keep you at the top facing harder and harder (or luckier and luckier) opponents, while loosing would cause you to drift down the score list and meet less successful players. After five games the two top players would meet in a final. Each game was timed for 60 minutes play time, excluding set-up. When the time was up you had to finish the current turn and then total the points lost and incurred on the opponent.

In Space, no one can hear you Pew Pew!

I promised you that I would tell you about the X-wing tournament I played in. This was a local tournament arranged by the Starfighters X-wing club in Uppsala. We were 16 players competing for one of two ships from wave 5, just released at GenCon but not available in the shops yet.

The prices: an Imperial Decimator and the Rebel YT-2400. (Picture by Erik Björkelund)

Tantive IV unboxing

As some of you know I'm a huge Star Wars fan. I'm also very fond of games, so Fantasy Flight's X-wing Miniatures game is right up my alley. One of my favourite ships from the Original Trilogy is Princess Leia's ship Tantive IV that is captured by an Imperial Star Destroyer at the beginning of A New Hope.

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Originally called just "Rebel Blockade Runner" it was ret-conned to be a Corellian Corvette going by the name Tantive IV. (I wonder what happened to Tantives I-III?) Anyway it arrived in local shops yesterday and I had to pick one up immediately. Everyone was surprised that it turned up right on the heels of the Rebel Transport that have been delayed for some time. So suddenly there were two ships to buy, and I naturally bought the biggest one first. Enough talking, I did an unboxing video which you can see right after the break.

Weekend Report; X-wing, Renedra News and Give-away!

I didn't get any hobbywork done during the weekend, but I managed to get some gaming in. Namely X-wing together with the local club Starfighters on sunday. It was a nice afternoon spent together with other Star Wars geeks. Also double nice as my youngest decided to come along.

Me and the Padawan trying to come up with a clever strategy.

We played as a team fielding the forces of Order (Empire) against the vile terrorists outlaws (Rebels) fielding Boba Fett, a Lambda Class shuttle and some protection in the form of a lonely TIE Fighter to provide cover and colourful explosions. Which he did by getting in the way of my shuttle, getting ionized by the revolting rebels and then blown to bits. In the end the Empire prevailed though, order was restored to the galaxy and everybody had fun, which is the important bit.

Wedge saves the day!

Me and a couple of friends played an exciting game of X-wing recently. We wanted to try out the new Wave 3 ships and introduce a new player to the game. At first we were going to play two separate games since we were four players, but decided to play a big multi-player battle instead. Each player could choose 75 points of ships, making the game 150 points in total. Me and Håkan played the peace-loving galactic Empire while Mats and rookie Dave played the terrorist Rebels.

I chose Colonel Jendon in a Lambda Shuttle with Heavy Laser Cannon, Anti-Pursuit Missiles and the ST-321 title, along with Major Rhymer in a Tie Bomber with Advanced Proton Torpedoes and a Proton Bomb. The tactic would be for Jendon to aquire target locks early and then pass them on to Rhymer, who would be able to fire the Adv. Proton Torpedoes at range 2 because of his special ability (they are normally range 1 only). Hopefully I would be able to pull off the sacred Target Lock/Focus combo for maximum carnage.

Meanwhile Håkan chose three TIE Interceptors led by Thurr Phennir, all from the elite Sabre Squadron. He gave the Sabre Squadron pilots the Veteran Instincts upgrade making them Pilot Skill 6. I don't remember what other upgrades he chose, I think Thurr got a pilot skill as well but it didn't come into play during the game.

Mats naturally wanted to play with his B-wing so he chose Ibtisam, tooled up with Heavy Laser cannon and Advanced Proton Torpedoes, along with an Outer Rim smuggler in an old beat up YT-1300 freighter as bait. Mats also gave Ibtisam a Fire Control System allowing her (yes, Ibtisam is female) to gain a Target Lock on a ship she has just attacked. The plan was obviously to fire the Heavy Laser Cannon at long range getting the Target Lock for free and then swoop in for the kill with the Advanced Proton Torpedoes.

Dave was a bit star struck I think as he chose Wedge Antilles -- the best pilot on the rebel side -- along with a Rookie Pilot in an X-wing and a Gray Squadron pilot in a Y-wing. He also bought an Ion cannon for the Y-wing which could potentially wreck the best laid plans if used at the right moment. A solid squadron rather straight forward to use, the biggest problem would be for Dave to keep them together, always tricky to pull off the first few times you play.

Dave and Mats mulling over the set-up.

Find out how the game went after the break. Warning, the page is quite pic-heavy.

Star Wars X-wing Wave 3 review

One of my friends went to Gencon, yes I'm officially jealous! Before he went I asked him if he could, possibly, perhaps, pretty please with sugar on top, pick up any of the new ships that FFG were rumoured to release. He answered "Sure, it's the Slave 1, isnt it?". I carefully corrected him and sent him links to FFGs webpage along with pictures of B-wings, TIE Bombers, Lambda Class Shuttles and the HWK-290. "Sure" he said again, "I will see what I can do." When he returned I somehow got it into my head that he would have bought four Slave 1's, but my worry was unfounded. Dave delivered.

THANK YOU DAVE!!!

Mine, all mine.

So, what are my opinions on the ships of Wave 3?

Let's get the cat out of the bag and start with the HWK-290. This ship is from the Dark Forces series of computer games and is a light personal transport from Corellian Engineering Corporation, the same company that made the famous YT series of light freighters. In other words, this is the only ship so far that isn't featured in any of the films. With a two crew and ability to take six passengers the model is smaller than I imagined, on par with an X-wing but a bit bulkier. At first I didn't like the model, but now it's warming on me. I'm actually planning on getting a second model and repaint it.

Gamewise it's an interesting asset for the rebels. It's not hard-hitting as an X-wing, and not as robust as the Millenium Falcon or an Y-wing. The manuever dial is decent but lacks the K-turn, so the ship can't do a 180 like the other ships in the Rebel fleet. It's cheap, however, and can take a crew and a turret. So you can load it up with an Ion or Blaster turret and a Gunner if you want to give it some more offensive capabilities. It's true worth though is as a support to your other rebel forces. The Moldy Crow title card give the HWK-290 the ability to retain Focus tokens after the End phase, allowing you to build up a pool of focus tokens. Not so useful you may think, but Kyle Katarn (the most famous pilot included) has the ability to give a focus token to a friendly ship within 3 range, while the Recon Specialist crew included give you two focus tokens for each focus action. The other named pilots (Jan Ors and Roark Garnet) also has supporting abilities so this ship will change the metagame a bit I think. And as a last nugget you can give the Blaster turret to your Y-wings in case you are tired of ionising Imperials.

I have always thought that the B-wing looked cool and that the HWK lacked a windscreen...

The other Rebel ship in this release is the B-wing, which can be glimpsed in Return of the Jedi, just at the beginning of the Battle of Endor. Sadly despite being über-cool they didn't get any screen time. According to canon it's a heavy assault fighter designed to take on capital ships. It is heavily armed and has a unique rotating cock-pit which allows the pilot to remain in position while the fighter swivels around him. This is carefully recreated in the LEGO models I have, but sadly not on this small model. It is depicted in flight mode with S-foils extended in attack position in the upright "pose" it is seen in the movie.

Promotional composite still released by Lucasfilm. How I wish they had filmed a scene like this.

Gamewise the B-wing is indeed a heavy fighter. It has the ability to take two torpedoes, one cannon and one system upgrade. We get both regular Proton torpedoes and the new Advanced Proton Torpedoes, Ion Cannon and the new Autoblaster included in the expansion. Advanced Proton Torpedoes and Autoblasters are both range 1 weapons which can be devastating if you manage to get into position. So you have the option to kit it out as either long-range or short-range, or both. The system upgrades are a new kind of upgrade introduced in Wave 3 and included with the B-wing is a Fire-Control System, which lets you gain a Target Lock after you have performed an attack, if the target is still alive that is. Two generic and two named pilots are included; the unique pilots can both take a skill and have a different special ability each.

The B-wing is the first Rebel ship that can take cannons, so you can use the Heavy Blaster cannon included with Slave 1 on the B-wing and put the Autoblaster on Slave 1 if you want to. It is also the only Rebel ship able to do a Barrel Roll, to represent its rotating cockpit. A neat way to use a function already included in the game to make the ship unique. Maneuver-wise it's quite slow, but able to make sharp turns at low speeds and it can make a 2 speed K-turn. Combined with the Barrel roll it will be interesting to play.

The TIE bomber in stylish blue-grey while the Lambda Class Shuttle wear 80's computer beige.

Next up is the TIE Bomber. It too doesn't have a lot of screen time, but who doesn't remember when they are Proton Bombing the asteroids in The Empire Strikes Back? This is one mean ship, being able to take two torpedoes, two missiles and one bomb. Although it is probably not wise to fully load the bomber up with everything and the kitchen sink, it gives you the option of customisation. Do I get missiles, torpedoes, or a bomb. One of each? Two kinds of missiles for different targets? Or nothing and just fly it like a decoy and blaster magnet? The choice is yours.

The TIE Bomber is quite maneuverable and able to make a K-turn although it isn't as fast as a regular TIE. While it only has two defense compared to the other TIE:s' normal three, it has six hull points so it should stick around a bit. Two generic and two unique pilots are included. As with the B-wing both named pilots are able to take a skill and have a special ability each; both are useful when attacking with secondary weapons so make sense on the TIE Bombers.


And so we come to the final ship of Wave 3: The Lambda Class Shuttle. Sometimes erranously called the Shuttle Tyderium, but that is only the name of the shuttle the Rebels used to land on the forest moon of Endor in Return of the Jedi. It would have been cool if FFG had included a rebel pilot with the ship, but I guess they are saving it for later.

The Lambda class shuttle is the only big ship in this wave, unlike wave 2 where both the Rebels and the Empire got a big ship each. First off, the ship is beautiful. I have always loved Star Wars for their ship design. Folding wings, hexagonal windows, asymmetric ships, love it. But the Lambda is the most beautiful ship in my opinion. And yes, you can fold the wings up and down on the model.

So what about gameplay? The Lambda fills the support niche. Although it packs a punch with three attack and the ability to take cannon upgrades, the other ships will run rings around it. Put simply, it's manueverability is awful. The hard turns are red, it's top speed is three, and it can't do a K-turn or a barrel roll. Sure you can give it engine upgrade which lets you boost making it a bit faster, but since the hard turns are red you cannot do a turn and then a bank with boost. So you only gain speed, not the ability to turn more. But it can do one maneuver which no other ship can do in the game: it can stop and stand still for a turn. With five hull points and five shields though it can take some damage.

But as I said, it's role is support, not to dog-fight in itself. It can take a system upgrade, a cannon and two crew, and here's where the fun begins. Included in the box are Advanced Sensors, which allow you to take your action before moving, and Sensor Jammer which allows you to change one of the attackers dice when defending. The crew includes among others a Rebel prisoner which give a stress to the first rebel ship each round to target you, and Darth Vader which can cause an extra critical to a ship you attack. The pilots included is a generic pilot and three named ones. The named pilots each have useful support abilites like taking stress off nearby ships or dealing out target locks to other ships. However, none of the pilots are able to take a pilot skill, which I think is a bit odd.

To summarize: If you like Star Wars and X-wing you need all of the ships. At least one of each. (If you are a real die-hard fan you might balk at the HWK-290, but it's a nice ship.) FFG are devious devils and put the most useful cards in only one of the expansions. People have complained that Push The Limit is only in the A-wing expansion, and they will get another gripe in Adrenalin Rush which is included in the TIE bomber. In short it lets you treat a red maneuver as white, once per game. Do a K-turn, target lock and shoot your missiles, blammo. On the other hand they can't include each card in each expansion and I plan to get three bombers anyway. So there. And they did put two copies of Anti-Pursuit Lasers in the Lambda, so they are not all evil.

May the Force be with You.

X-wing news and starter guide

Seems like Fantasy Flight Games is on a roll with their X-wing games. Right now Gencon is going on and FFG has not only released the highly anticipated ships of Wave 3, but also released info about the future of the game.

The ships of Wave 3; HWK-290, Lambda class Shuttle, TIE Bomber and B-Wing.

The Wave 3 ships are geared towards supporting functions and some slow heavy hitters. Some new upgrades and missions will shake up gaming field, I think. Personally I have always loved the Lambda class Shuttle and I look forward to the B-wing.

Picture taken from FFG's in-flight report slideshow at GenCon. I don't know who took it, sorry.

That's right, FFG will be releasing Tantive IV (which is a Corellian Corvette of course) and a Rebel Transport some time next year. The X-wing is apparently an alternative paint job with alternative pilots and upgrades to the currently available X-wing. It's not clear though if the X-wing will be a separate model or come with the Rebel Transport, there are conflicting reports from different sources about this.

This picture gets a lot of use...

But what if you have just started out with the game, or if you have a lot of friends who are playing and you want to get into the game as well?

Millenium Falcon Unboxing and quick review

A couple of days ago I picked up the Millenium Falcon from Fantasy Flight Games, for their X-wing miniatures game. I had pre-ordered it and a Tie Interceptor at my local friendly gamestore so I wouldn't miss it in case the first batch sold out. They also got the Slave 1 and A-wing which I will pick up later. (And yes, everything is out of stock at FFG, so I better hurry.)

The fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, in a pretty box!

At first glance the box looks very attractive with the miniature cleverly displayed. The tear in the upper right corner came from when I eagerly ripped the box open...