Filthy, Filthy

Hello people,

So once again real life has got in the way but last weekend that was all brushed aside as I spent both day playing Netrunner,aka Filthy Cards,  and thoroughly enjoying myself whilst I did it :)

Saturday was Dark Sphere's Regional with a trip up to Northampton on Sunday to catch up with Gaurdians of Tyr's 2016 Grand Tournament.

In total I played 10 games across the two days, didn't win too many, came away with an impressive haul of swag, including a wooden spoon, and as with Birmingham a reinvigorated Mojo. All good :)

To be honest that was pretty much my goal for the weekend as I'd realised that by not playing much recently I had slipped down the learning curve somewhat. Netrunner's curve is pretty steep so it was more a case of how far.

As such I took older decks, which have done decently for me previously. Other than a mild issue with Influence, oops, the only issue was going to me. I made a lot of mistakes over the weekend, I got swept repeatedly, three in a row at Northampton, but relearnt a lot from it.

I've been keeping up online and with something of a Eureka moment can see the benefit of more varied Runner decks, mine being more mono-themed and as such having less choices to make.

I also recently came across an interesting article about running Jank on Netrunners.co.uk which resonated pretty strongly with me and seems like a good, fun way to delve into the wider card pool.

First off , put into practice the relearnt lessons of how to play a bit better which means rocking up for Secret Weapon in Stratford on a Wednesday night on a more regular basis.

Oh, and stop running 4th click so much ;)

Life on the NET # 10

Hello people,

Yes it's another Netrunner post and as I've just noticed that the series has made its way into double figures which confirms something that I already now, I've kind of fallen for this game in a big way ;)

So yesterday myself and Alex headed up to Wargames Workshop in Northampton for thier Store Champs which also doubled up as Round 1 of Gaurdians of Tyr year long Grand Championship.

It was first time out proper for my NBN Sparks and Criminal Ken decks though ive had a reasonable number if games with both. With a field of 28 we were guaranteed an alt art Jackson Howard, as well as a choice of two custom art card dividers, but that wasn't the best thing I came away with.

With four rounds my target was 2 wins for 4 Prestige. After the second round I'd gathered 5 prestige with two wins and a timed draw. Within that I'd played poorly for my first Corp loss and made a big mistake to miss out on the win in my drawn Runner game. As such I was feeling pretty chipper at lunch :)

Post lunch I found myself on the dizzying heights of table 5 and deity competing well lost the double. Final round I was feeling the brain drain and playing against decks I'd never encountered before which did not go well.

Overall I impressed myself and felt much happier with my decks and overall gameplay. I have no problem making mistakes as long as I learn from them. Other than a few tweaks for Ken, mainly adding Drive By to deal with Ash and Caprice it'll be same again next Saturday at Warboar.

The good times, the are rolling :)

Life on the NET # 7

So it was the Gaurdians of Tyr Netrunner team championship on Saturday which was once again something of a step into the unknown and a huge learning experience.

 

As a headline I went 4-4 with two wins as Corp, both by killing the Runner, and two as Runner, one of which was timed, as in I was ahead when the round finished. I learnt plenty on both sides of the fence and was far happier playing a more focused Kitt Runner rather than a scattergun Criminal.

 

Once again my lessons were split between timing issues, what to do when for maximum effect, as well as facing new IDs and deck builds. A few times with Kitt I installed key programs to be used next turn only to realise that I'd just given my strategy away and my opponent a turn to prepare.

 

All but one of my opponents were helpful enough to answer my questions and explain what they were doing along the way. My final opponent had been to World's this year and continued to play in that vein. Fair enough, a lesson in itself as he crushed my Run, but all the more satisfying when I Scorched him into the floor 

 

As with the X-Wing championship the team format gave the day a less full on feel, at least at our end of the tables, and was just as fun as any other Gaurdians event. So another alternate art card, a few more possible deck tweaks and a bunch more games under my belt. Happy days :)

 

The day also brought my tourney / event to a close for the year. It'll be nice to play casual for a while, on all fronts, though I've already got plenty booked in for the new year!

Seeing RED

Hello people. Yes, getting back into the habit now.

Yesterday was another trip up to Milton Keynes for the final round of Gaurdians of Tyr's X-Wing 2015 calendar.

I took the Khiraz / Scyk list again, primarily as further playtesting, and was once again pleasently surprised to go 3-2 for tenth place :) I've now firmly established that formation flying and firepower is the way to go. Using a slow roll up one board edge I look to disrupt my opponent's formation and try and force the engagement on my terms. Patience is key and when did look to force things, to establish what the list can't do, recovery was difficult. Lesson learned!

One of these was the first game, which was always going to be a vicious joust as my opponent also had three PS2 Khiraz. I deviated from the target priority I knew I should have chosen and paid dearly for it. One way dice didn't help but they had just been varnished the night before.

Prize support was excellent as always but I'm particularly pleased with my little Death Star tin that from now on will contain my Stress and Crit tokens :)

On that note I've also finished up a TIE Advanced and a pair of Punishers. Fora bit of variety I've gone for a reversed scheme that will also feature for my TIE FOs, especially as I now own a full dozen of the little buggers.

All together that's another 12 Painting Points. I noticed the other day that I'm on for a very lean year in that regard. I think that's more because of my shift in gaming over the last year, not only towards X-Wing and now Netrunner but also because I spend more time playing. I felt kind of sad but Infinity is going to be my main painting outlet and has only really been around since the summer. I want to clock up some more points but it's time, I need to make better use of it ;)

For a further seemless segway I fully intentionally picked up a can of white spray yesterday. You can see it on the right next to my impulse purchases 😲

The store, Wargames Workshop has added a merchandise and comics section which were far too good to pass up. I could have been far far worse but resisted the Boba Fett shoulder bag and the more obvious Star Wars bobble heads.

I'd been tempted to pick up an Imperial Assault bantha rider for some time and I'm a long time Battlestar freak from my very early years. With this kind of stuff I often prefer the more niche stuff that you have to know about to understand. Slight geek snobbery I admit.

I'm also a part time comics geek. I've had a 2000AD subscription for many years now a days have a few trade paperback lines that I pick up regularly. I'm a big fan of the British scene so the pre Watchman mini series was always going to be leaving the store with me. Another blog topic is forming from the mists.........

And there we are all caught up! It's another busy geek week on the cards, plenty of Netrunner, but I'm setting an Infinity painting target of the Doctor and Engineer.

Little steps!

Strap in....it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

Hello people,

Bit of a busy week culminating with the X-Wing Regional tourney at Milton Keynes run by the rock solid guys at Guardians of Tyr.

I have to admit that I wasn't expecting too much from this one in terms of results. This was mainly because I was doing a Tough Mudder the day before (11 mile cross-country assault course) and expected to be suffering......I was not wrong!

As such I went with a new list, one close to my geeky heart....... the man, the legend BOBA FETT!!

I'd played around with a few lists and come up a Chunky Boba / Swarm list I liked;

Firespray - Boba Fett - Vet Instincts, Gunner, Engine Upgrade, Inertial Dampeners
Z95 - Binyare Soldier x 4 

In theory the Zs run interferance whilst Boba flanks to swoop in close and make best use of his re-rolls. Gunner gets him an extra bite of the cherry and keep his action Boosts. As his ability is positional VI allows him to move last with Boosts and a one-off full stop.

As we all know theory isn't practise and  Firesprays aren't the easiest to get the best from. In short I lost my first three games, drew the fourth and won the fifth. Rarely did my opponent give me a flanking opportunity and at times I struggled to create one. Once in broken field I flew much better.

First up was a super doom Shuttle, Soontir and Carnor. I took the shuttle down quickly but struggled with the stealth / autothruster interceptors who had hot green dice. In honestly I got Boba out of position and didn't turn him round quickly enough in an attempt to keep my options open. Mediocre flying and dice cost me a very close game.

Second was thirty-six shades of grey (Decimator, Firespray, Shuttle) which set up wide to reduce my options. I took the right option of steaming into the Shuttle opposite my Zs to create the flank. Boba took fire early as I splatted the Shuttle and then chased down the Decimator. Boba fell to the Firespray who couldn't roll a wrong dice and eventually finished me off. Right options, wrong dice!

Third was a quintuplet of TIE Bombers. As it was the game after lunch I worked out my best options and then flew the worst. Somehow I made a game of it and knocked down three Bombers to go ahead on points with a heavily smoking Boba. With 4 minutes left on the game he bought the galactic farm. A fair result really.

Penultimate round was against a Chewy / Lando road-train which is a net-list I was aware of but hadn't played against. Knowing I had to target Chewy I blocked the road-train into a corner with the Zs and brought Boba to bear. Eventually Chewy bought it and Lando broke out o the corner. At that point I'd lost two Zs and felt the win was coming. Unfortunately it didn't quite go that way as the Zs got slotted and Boba took a battering for a draw. Right options, wrong dice #2!

Finishing up was a Kath / Oicunn combo that split up allowing me to jump all over Oicunn before rounding on Kath who was toting an interesting Tactician / Mangler combo. Right options, right dice, just one Z lost!

At the beginning of the day I was just looking to take home an alternative Boba card. Thankfully it was the participation prize! I also managed to pick up a second alternative TIE Push the Limit card which was a bonus.

Mr C had a similar day to mine with his Interceptor list, going 2-3 to finish two spots above me. Nigel G meanwhile took his Dash / Dual B list to eighth and the knockout rounds, a major achievement! Big ships dominated the top eight, especially IG-2000s with Autothrusters and Nigel replayed one of them with a four Z95 swarm which had been his only loss of the day. Unfortunately Lady Luck turned it into a one sided affair to the IG. Watching the game it was something of a masterclass as the Z95 swarm forced the engagement and the IG lurked.

So all in all another good day out and a bit more learnt than usual. I need to put more flying time into my lists and working out the first few turns all the way from asteroid placement to opening moves.

Next up is Enfield Gamers' Scum & Villany Event Day. Boba will fly again! :)