Good afternoon X-wing players!
We had an awesome time at Omaha this weekend with DSM giving a strong showing and Wayde Stover taking the win! Below are some pictures from the event for your viewing pleasure:
We also will be posting some battle reports shortly and will have links available via our Strategy and Tactics page.
Stay tuned!
This Week in Des Moines:
Open Play – Mayhem Comics– Monday 3/5 at 4pm
Monthly Ames Open Play Night – Mayhem Comics (Ames location) – Thursday 3/8 at 5:30pm
Monthly X-wing Tournament – Jay’s Cd and Hobby (Clive location) – Sunday 12p at 12pm
Upcoming Events:
Monthly Ames Open Play Night – Mayhem Comics (Ames location) – Thursday TBD at 5:30pm
Monthly X-wing Tournament – Jay’s Cd and Hobby (SE 14 Location) – Sunday TBD at 12pm
Adepticon 2018 – Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Event Center – Thursday 3/22 thru Sunday 3/25
Campaign Against Cancer – TBD – Saturday 4/7 at 10am
2018 X-wing World Championship – Fantasy Flight Game Center – Wednesday 5/2-Sunday 5/6
2018 MuseOn Con – Holiday Inn (Merle Hay Location, DSM) – Friday 5/18-5/20
Friday – Unsung Heroes Hangar Bay
Saturday – MuseOn Con Cup 2018, White Whale Tournament
Sunday – Fel’s Free-for-All
Good afternoon X-wing players!
The results have been tallied and the winners have been determined 
Our DSM Ace, with the most kills over the course of both tournaments –
Nicholas Post!
Our Imperial Incinerator, with the most Imperial kills over the course of both tournaments – John Steil!
Our Rebel Ravager with the most Rebel kills over the course of both tournaments – Benedict Hebl!
Our Scum Slayer with the most Scum kills over the course of both tournaments – Avery Langholz!
And finally, most important of all, our Proper Pacifist, who understands the only way forward for a galaxy riddled by war – Sean Micheal Jarnagin II!
I will be bringing the wings that represent your glorious achievements to Mayhem tonight to distribute. If you can’t make it, please let me know and we’ll either meet up another night or get it mailed to you.
Congratulations to our winners and we hope to see you all at future events.
If we like this format and would like to continue using it for other tournaments, let me know and we’ll get the process worked out.
Check out website for more details about future events for DSM X-wing. And as always, good luck and fly casual!
This Week in Des Moines:
Open Play – Mayhem Comics– Monday 2/19 at 4pm
Upcoming Events:
Monthly Ames Open Play Night – Mayhem Comics (Ames location) – Thursday TBD at 5:30pm
Omaha Regional – Sparta Games – Saturday 3/3
Green Bay Regional – Gnome Games – Saturday 3/3
Monthly X-wing Tournament – Jay’s Cd and Hobby (SE 14 Location) – Sunday TBD at 12pm
Adepticon 2018 – Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Event Center – Thursday 3/22 thru Sunday 3/25
Campaign Against Cancer – TBD – Saturday 4/7 at 10am
This Week in Des Moines:
Open Play – Mayhem Comics– Monday 1/29 at 4pm
Victor Going Away Tournament Part 1 – Critical Hit Games – Sunday 2/4 at 12p
Upcoming Events:
Monthly X-wing Tournament – Jay’s Cd and Hobby (SE 14 Location) – Sunday 2/5 at 12pm
Victor Going Away Tournament Part 2 – Geek City Games and Comics – Saturday 2/10 at 10am
Alley to Adepticon Series: Part 2 – Mayhem Comics – Saturday 2/17 at 10am
Monthly Ames Open Play Night – Mayhem Comics (Ames location) – Thursday TBD at 5:30pm
Omaha Regional – Sparta Games – Saturday 3/3
Green Bay Regional – Gnome Games – Saturday 3/3
Adepticon 2018 – Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Event Center – Thursday 3/22 thru Sunday 3/25
Campaign Against Cancer – TBD – Saturday 4/7 at 10am
This report was provided by Paul Olson, a satellite DSM X-winger hailing from the Minneapolis area.
I played my only regional I’ll be able to play this season near home base for me at FFG for their record breaking 142 player regional. I flew a Yorr shuttle with Palp, QuickDraw, and Inquisitor (link to full list). The list deals with stress dealers really well thanks to Yorr and even allows a surprise 4K from Inquisitor with him still getting actions or a sloop from QD and still being able to reposition. In general, the list is flexible against a lot which is why I picked it as my list. Turns out, that was the right call for me. I was thrilled to finish Swiss with a record of 5-1 (with my only loss being a final salvo) and end the day 6th overall before the cut to the top 16. I lost my top 16 match to Alex Smittle who was flying almost a mirror list. I can honestly say this tourney was some of my best flying ever. Details on each round below:
Round 1: Win 100-16 Kavil (VI TLT), Lok Rev Scurrg (Trick-shot TLT), Talonbane (PTL, EU, VT, Hotshot Blaster)
When I saw this guy’s list, I immediately knew I had an advantage. TLTs don’t really scare Inquisitor (yes, they scare QD), but I figured if I traded QD for Talonbane, Inquisitor could finish off the game pretty quickly. This guy also didn’t have autothrusters on Talonbane for whatever reason. Quick tangent: one of the biggest clues into whether my opponent has a good grasp of the game or not is their list. If there are things that don’t make 100% sense from an upgrade standpoint, that tells me they might not be the best flier either. My assumption was correct as this guy set up the two TLTs in the center of the board with Talonbane in the far corner. He danced around in the corner with Talonbane not engaging with him until after he had already lost his Scurrg. His TLTs came right at me (assuming he was trying to take down QD first), but he focus fired on the Inquisitor. Inquisitor lost 1 shield the entire game. Talonbane finally came in for a big 5 dice shot on the shuttle as he decided he wanted to get some points instead of 0 once he knew the game was probably over. He got half points on the shuttle but that was it. I’ll take the somewhat easy opening win.
Round 2: Win 100-0 Han (Expertise CM 3P0 Hotshot), Jan (Adapt TLT Nien)
Pairings get posted and I see I’ll be on Table 1(!) which means it’ll be live streamed. I’ll be honest, I actually love the idea of being streamed as it means someone is recording and I can look back over my game to analyze it. This was my second time ever being on stream, but I was excited. My opponent was not. It didn’t help that the guy covering the stream talked me up before the match to my opponent who was clearly nervous to be on stream anyway as this was his first time. It was more evident throughout the game as he proceeded to make mental errors specifically in target priority. This game was swingy even though the score doesn’t show it. Opening engagement I flanked with Inquisitor and he came right at QD and Yorr with Han. I did 2 rounds of decent damage to Han, but he got a major explosion into QD the second round of combat that triggered into a blinded pilot (it wasn’t a direct hit which was good, but that’s the second worst for QD as he also lost his last shield on that shot). Han was hurting though. Next round, he does a 4K with Han to stress himself(?) which meant Expertise was shut off and for whatever reason, decided not to shoot at QD (he had no focus and 1 health left) but shot at the shuttle to try and get half points on it. Next turn I ps killed Han, and Jan went down from Inquisitor easily. My advice to this guy afterwards (and anyone who gets streamed) was to treat a streamed game like any other. Hard to do, but you’ll make mental mistakes if you don’t. Still, another good win for me. 2-0 now with great MOV.
Round 3: Loss 0-0 (final salvo) Quickdraw, 3 Harpoon Nu Gunboats with LRS
I knew this matchup would happen at least once during the day as this is a popular list in the current Meta. I also know it’s a tougher matchup for me if I don’t fly perfectly. In testing, I found baiting the Nu’s with Inquisitor and flanking with QD and the shuttle worked really well. If they ignore Inqui, he gets in several rounds of shots before the Nu’s engage the Shuttle and QD. If they go after Inqui, he can run while the Shuttle and QD put on the hurt. Inquisitor also has the ability to dodge a fully modded harpoon missile pretty easily if at range 3 from one of the Nu’s (evade token, focus, auto thrusters, and Palp mod) as long as I don’t roll 3 blanks. He set up in the center, I set up Inquisitor in one corner and Yorr and QD in the other to make him pick a side. He 1 straights not choosing a side yet (although he target locks QD) and I slow roll as well. I figure he’s trying to bluff, planning on going after Inquisitor. He turns towards Inquisitor which I suspected he would and only had 1 Nu in range of Inquisitor switching all his locks to Inqui. His range 3 obstructed shot is dodged easily by Inqui. Next turn I shoot forward and arc dodged 2 of his 3 Nu’s turning towards Inqui, and get into range 1 of the other with QD not having a shot either. Now he’s out of position with my other two ships closing. I figure I can either kill QD quickly or start picking off Nu’s depending on what he presents. He presents QD and I get him down to 1 health while losing 1 shield on QD. I’m feeling great about where I’m at. Time is winding down at this point though as we’ve both been cagy and he’s disengaged several times with the Nu’s. The next 3 rounds, I get 5 fully modded shots onto his QD which he natty evades every. Single. Time. I have 1 last shot with time in the round being called and he dodges it AGAIN. We go to final salvo as no one has lost a ship and my shuttle is still at full health (somehow). He gets 8 dice and I get 7. We both roll 4 hits the first time and he rolls 4 I roll 3 the second. I lose. It would be my only loss of the day and actually is the best MOV you can get for a loss so it’s not the end of the world. I now have to go undefeated to make the cut though. Now 2-1.
Round 4: Win 76 – 47 Quickdraw, 3 Harpoon Nu Gunboats with LRS
I was a little salty after my previous loss and am now facing the same list I just faced. I wasn’t looking forward to that, but this guy set up in a corner with all his ships so I could fly differently at least. I set up in the opposite corner with all my ships and started flanking with Inqui. He did what every opponent had done up to this point and took the bait going for Inquisitor first. I decided to start hunting Nu’s this game to make sure to not repeat a final salvo again. He kept the heat on Inqui. I traded Inqui and half the health of my shuttle for 2 gunboats, and time was called in the round with his QD still alive and me having one more shot with my fully modded QD at him. I needed 1 hit to go through. Now this is where I should have known the rules better. I had thought that I could use Palp any time I rolled dice. I thought that meant that after rolling, if I had a target lock, I could spend the lock and then use Palp on that reroll. However, a reroll is different than a roll. My opponent called me on it even though he’d already let me do that very thing 2 times during the game. I wasn’t thrilled to say the least, but I was more mad at myself for not knowing that rule. I rerolled into 3 hits anyway (thankfully) and he blanked. If QD lives on that shot I lose. Whew. Close win but I’ll take it. Now 3-1.
Round 5: Win 68-16 Lowrick (Predator, Tactician, 3P0), 2 Wookiees (Tactician, Expertise)
I always feel badly when my opponent is obviously under the weather when we start the game. This gal was definitely not feeling well and that probably played into her not picking targets well. She also had never seen Yorr before which didn’t help (spoiler: you need to kill Yorr first if your list deals out stress). Again, like every opponent before her, she went after Inquisitor first. He didn’t take a single damage the whole game. I calculated that I’d need to kill 2 gunships and have QD live to guarantee a victory. She had 1 gunship just outside of Low’s range 1 safety net during the first combat engagement, so that helped push through damage. She got too close to debris a couple turns and when she was stressed (so no reinforce) the wookies started dying quickly. She kept 1 alive and got half on the shuttle realizing she should have targeted Yorr first as he was soaking up all the stress she was trying to deal out. Fairly easy win for me as it was a match I’d practiced against going into this tourney. Now 4-1. 1 more win to make the cut!
Round 6: Win 100-16 Poe (VI, Adv Opt, R2D2, Auto Thrusters), Dash (LW, CM, HLC, Rey)
Last round. Gotta get the win to make the cut. Good news is I’ve tested against this list a LOT as there is a guy here locally that flies this list exclusively. Bad news is this guy came in with a 2 point bid so Poe will be moving last (turned out to be his downfall ironically). In testing, I found if I killed Poe, it was almost an auto win as Inquisitor could take down dash by himself (or at least get half points on Dash which is still a win if Poe is dead). If Poe lives and I lose even 1 ship (especially QD or the Inquisitor), I almost cannot win. So I made a beeline for Poe. First round of engagement I had all guns on Poe and cleared shields and got 1 damage card through on him but I forgot to trigger FCS on QD(!). Had I done so, I probably would have killed Poe the next turn. Anyway, I blocked Poe with the shuttle the next turn and got a crit through on Poe (reduce Poe’s agility by 1) but I forgot to trigger FCS again! As for my opponents target priorities, like every opponent before him, he had Dash focus on Inquisitor but failed to do any damage. Poe ran away like I figured he would. I knew exactly where Poe would be and dialed in a hard 2 with QD. However, my dial slipped and when I revealed my dial it was a 2 bank(!). This meant if Poe boosted, I wasn’t going to have a shot in arc of Poe. And it put me right behind a debris cloud. Poe did boost to get out of arc of QD but still only had 1 shield and still had the reduced agility. This is where I got fancy and took a bit of a risk. I knew that whatever move I did with QD, Poe was going to get out of arc and get another shield back, so I flew QD as fast as possible through the debris to get into range 1 of Poe. This is where it gets crazy. I used Palpatine to get a crit on the debris cloud to damage QD and clear one of his shields so I’d get a shot during activation. My opponent never saw it coming either which was the best part. Poe only had 1 defense die, and as long as I netted 2 hits, Poe was dead. I rolled 2 hits which is average and he blanked. Poe died! It was easy clean-up for Inquisitor on Dash and I brought in QD for the final kill. Now 5-1 with great MOV. I ended up 6th overall after Swiss.
Day 2: Top 16 match: Loss 69-100 Quickdraw (same as mine but with a harpoon), Inquisitor (same as mine), PS2 Shuttle (Palp, CD)
I was ecstatic to make it this far in such a big regional but was bummed none of my friends could say the same (from MN or DSM). To make matters worse, I found out that I’d be facing almost an exact mirror match of my list (I hadn’t tested against it). However, his list had no bid and mine did. That was going to make things a lot easier as I’d be able to arc dodge (in theory). Also, as long as I kill his QD, I’m almost guaranteed the win if we keep trading ships. Opening engagement we both targeted each other’s QD’s and netted 1 damage each (even after we both got a double tap). He then switched targets and fired a harpoon on my shuttle and followed up with a palped crit with his Inqui to max out damage on it (smart). I took down his QD that round, but my QD was hurting after a direct hit crit from his shuttle slipped by thanks to not great defense dice. The next round he killed my shuttle with his and I tried desperately to kill his shuttle as fast as possible. My dice weren’t great and his shuttle lasted 2 rounds too long. This was especially bad as it meant I had to guess which way to go to not get blocked with Inquisitor/QD 3 rounds in a row. I guessed wrong every time which meant my Inquisitor had 2 rounds of no mods from shots from his Inquisitor. My Inquisitor died before I could kill his shuttle. Last round as time is called I have to guess which way his inquisitor is going to stay out of arc with QD, I guess wrong again with QD (I swear this dude was in my head) which mean he got a fully modded shot on QD and I only have a focus. He maxes out hits on his attack and I didn’t roll enough paint. QD dies and I lose. Super close game. Wish I could have done better, but my opponent (Alex Smittle who went on to lose in the finals) was a heck of a guy and the game was a blast.
Final Record – 5-1 in Swiss and Top 16 in the Day 2 cut.
Again, I was thrilled to make it that far and other than my final game, I can honestly say I flew the best X Wing I’ve ever flown. Had you told me when we started the regional I’d go 5-1 with my only loss being a final salvo, I’d have been over the moon. A practiced list, decent matchups, and good flying helped me get as far as I did. Thanks for reading and remember… fly casual!
Thanks for your insight Paul! While you may live elsewhere we know you have the heard of a DSM X-wing player. We hope to get in games against you soon and wish you the best of luck in the Twin Cities!
Good afternoon X-wing players!
We had a fantastic weekend of quality X-wing play this weekend at Part 1 of our two part “Alley to Adepticon” event. 16 players came out for some sweet tournament play and the dry run of our “Confirmed Kill” tracking system. A congratulations to Nick Post on winning the event, with a round of applause for Marshal Blackburn, Jefferson Hansen, and Avery Langholz for making the Top 4 cut.
And while we’re not ready to award our “Confirmed Kill” wings quite yet, here’s some intriguing stats from the tournament:
-Players killed a total of 96 ships over the course of the event
-Total ships destroyed by faction are as follows – 5 scum ships, 42 Imperial Ships, and 49 Rebel ships
-The top four most popular chassis to destroy were as follows – Scurrg H-6 Bomber (11 killed), T-70 X-wing (10 killed), and a tie for third between the Alpha-Class Star Wing and the Tie S/F (8 killed each)
Stay tuned for more updates as we finish Part 2 of our series in February and share the final results and awards from the tournament.
Of course, we’re still getting ready for the Minneapolis Regional this weekend so if you’re looking to get in some practice, come on down to Mayhem Comics in Des Moines tonight or Mayhem Comics in Ames on Thursday (link to the event below).
Monthly Ames Open Play Night – Mayhem Comics (Ames location) – Thursday 1/25 at 5:30pm
As always, good luck and fly casual!
This Week in Des Moines:
Open Play – Mayhem Comics– Monday 1/15 at 4pm
Monthly Ames Open Play Night – Mayhem Comics (Ames location) – Thursday 1/25 at 5:30pm
Minneapolis Regional – Fantasy Flight Game Center (Roseville, MN) – Saturday 1/27
Upcoming Events:
Monthly X-wing Tournament – Jay’s Cd and Hobby (SE 14 Location) – Sunday 2/5 at 12pm
Alley to Adepticon Series: Part 2 – Mayhem Comics – Saturday 2/17 at 10am
Omaha Regional – Sparta Games – Saturday 3/3
Green Bay Regional – Gnome Games – Saturday 3/3
Adepticon 2018 – Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Event Center – Thursday 3/22 thru Sunday 3/25
Campaign Against Cancer – TBD – Saturday 4/7 at 10am
Good afternoon X-wing players!
It’s the new year, a new regional season and a whole new X-wing meta. And your Des Moines X-wing crew is looking to take advantage of all three 🙂
First up, check out our X-wing Events page for all of the upcoming tournaments, including our “Alley to Adepticon” series, starting this Saturday at 10am. Not only will we be practicing premiere play in a full tournament setting, but also we’ll also be tracking “confirmed kills” for each player, culminating in special prizes for our Ace and our Pacifist. To get in on the premiere play action and gun for your enemy ship of choice, check out both our events and RSVP today:
Next, we want to give a special shout-out to Justin Brown for making the Top 8 at the Chicago Regional on 1/6. Justin was flying an excellent Imperial Aces list utilizing Kylo Ren to his fullest extent. You can find the video of his game against Nathan Eide down below, as well as a link to his list:
Chicago 2018 Regional – Justin Brown vs. Nathan Eide Top 16
Justin was also kind enough to share a picture of his swag from the event:
And in case you’re wondering, yes, that’s a Grand Admiral Thrawn backpack. Get jealous 😉
Congratulations Justin!
Finally, be sure to stop back here often for more news about regionals, tournaments, and other local events. X-wing has never been larger in the Des Moines area and we hope to bring even more of that sweet Star Wars goodness.
As always, good luck and fly casual!
This Week in Des Moines:
Open Play – Mayhem Comics– Monday 1/15 at 4pm
Alley to Adepticon Series: Part 1 – Mayhem Comics – Saturday 1/20 at 10am
Upcoming Events:
Minneapolis Regional – Fantasy Flight Game Center (Roseville, MN) – Saturday 1/27
Monthly X-wing Tournament – Jay’s Cd and Hobby (SE 14 Location) – Sunday 2/5 at 12pm
Monthly Ames Open Play Night – Mayhem Comics (Ames location) – Thursday 1/25 at 5:30pm
Alley to Adepticon Series: Part 2 – Mayhem Comics – Saturday 2/17 at 10am
Omaha Regional – Sparta Games – Saturday 3/3
Green Bay Regional – Gnome Games – Saturday 3/3
Adepticon 2018 – Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Event Center – Thursday 3/22 thru Sunday 3/25
Campaign Against Cancer – TBD – Saturday 4/7 at 10am
Des Moines Area X-wing 