X-Wing: Why are there Asteroids above a Space Station?

The monthly X-Wing tournament at Goodgames Ballarat was rather short of players this month: only three of us. I ended up playing two games against Robbo and one against Josh. The game against Josh was played on his new space station battlemat. It looks really good… up until you put the ships on it, at which case the two Rebel squadrons we were fighting with rather blended into the background.

Tournament rules also require there to be asteroids. They’re there – somewhere!

I’ve played quite a bit of the two B-Wing and two X-Wing build of late, so to get away from the incredible B-Wings that have been so successful, I built a squadron with no B-Wings. Instead it had two X-Wings (Wedge + R2-D2 and a Rookie Pilot), a Y-Wing with an Ion Cannon Turret, and an A-Wing: Arvel Crynyd, who had the special ability of being able to fire at a ship he’s touching!

The build was entirely about trying out Arvel. The X-Wings and Y-Wing were just added to be really, really good support.

My ships advanced in two tight formations, whilst Josh demonstrated his mastery of four X-Wing squadron manoeuvres. When it comes to squadron flying in X-Wing, I really don’t have a clue. My ships are as likely as anything to bump into each other… occasionally interfering with my opponent’s ships in the process.

However, one thing I’m really good at: rolling dice. We were at the limits of my range, but Wedge and Arvel were able to get together to wipe out Josh’s lead Rookie Pilot. Josh’sBiggs, back in the second rank, sighed in relief – he wasn’t the first to go. Josh was not impressed by his defensive dice rolling.

Well, that was enough of the long-range shots, how about getting everyone close together? That was something we could do well!

Josh’s three X-Wings in formation looked great attacking my ships, and I discovered the big flaw with Arvel: if there are ships that can shoot him, he’s likely to explode! Josh’s Biggs likewise found out that between a Rookie Pilot and Wedge, the X-Wing isn’t quite tough enough!

Josh had also kindly placed his left-most ship – piloted by his Wedge – in a path that would lead it right into an asteroid if it didn’t deviate. My Y-Wing’s Ion Cannon made sure it went right into the rock! Otherwise, we made a lot of K-Turns. My Wedge ended up horribly out of position, with Josh’s other rookie pilot coming up on it from an angle. I still had a rookie pilot and a Y-Wing firing at Josh’s Wedge, however!

Josh’s Wedge survived the attacks – barely – but not the rocks from his next movement step. That left three of my ships against one Rookie Pilot. My Wedge moved in a straight line, recovering shields, and my Rookie Pilot ran straight into him, Josh’s Rookie still in great position to attack – but not with enough attack dice to finish off my Wedge.

Wedge raced off to do a K-Turn, whilst my Rookie stayed where it was (taking advantage of Wedge moving later and taking a “1” forward move to not move due to collisions). This interfered with Josh’s movement and left him unable to attack Wedge successfully. My Y-Wing came around over two turns, getting into Josh’s way once again. He tried to turn past my ship… but ran into the Y-Wing and an asteroid… with Wedge, behind the Y-Wing, lining up the shot…