So last week we were up at "Stupid O'Clock" on a Sunday (or "Normal time" for a weekday) to head up to Beanie Games on Teesside and our last "big" Tournament of the Season. Our tally since the start of the year is the System Open, 3 Hyperspace Events, and some sort of store event at least once every two weeks, so its fair to say we've played a lot of Toy Spaceships in that time. But with the Hyperspace Season closing for now, and the summer (and points changes!) upon us, it seems a good time to take stock.
I've flown pretty much the same list throughout the year so far - The Resistance Fives. They're a ton of fun, pretty flexible and strong, whilst also being uncommon enough that I don't see a lot of mirrors. LaunchBay Next tells me I've logged 45 competitive games with them, at a 63% win rate, including 4-2 at the System Open, which regular readers will know I was dead proud of. It's also the list I think I've flown more than any other, which is uncharacteristic of my normal attention-span. But it's taught me a lot!
The main takeaway of playing a list over this sort of haul is how much "reps" are a positive feedback loop in terms of performance. What that win-rate up there doesn't reveal is how much "solid" my performance has been with the list and in both the Open and one of the Hyperspace events I was playing for the cut in the final game even if I didn't make it. A couple of the stores I went 3-1 at I was 3-0 into the last round. It's a "soft" step up for me; not making that last game still, but having the shot is a new mental space to be in, and having that list experience to fall back on really helped.
It's not to say it has been without frustrations; I think X-Wing is in a pretty good state, balance wise, at the moment, but I'm not a fan of the preponderance of Rebel Beef in the Meta (especially after three games in row against it at Beanie) and I'd like to see the newer factions grab the extra ships they need to compete (Roll on Wave 4). Having to fight through team-mates solidly at one event felt "lose-lose" as a fledging team, but at least we were assured collective glory, which made up for it. And in the end, I was able to pick up some of the Top 16 Dice at Beanie, which was all I really wanted!
As for the Teenager, I've felt part parent, part taxi-service and part coach this year. X-Wing has been a huge opportunity for us to spend time together, and I think I'd rather see him do well, than me. After all, its probably a (relatively) bigger part of his life than it is mine. He's taken a different approach to me - different lists to every event, light on practice, hoping to find a sort of "zen space" where a list will appear, fully formed, and ready for victory. Mostly, it didn't, although the Striker Swarm and Twin Silencers were both fun lists that overperformed and seemed to garner him satisfaction from the number of people that told him they were impressed he'd taken it.
And then, partly as a result of all these long car conversations, he drops the upgrades from the Twin Silencers and sticks in...another Silencer. And suddenly that's pretty good. He came 3rd in a small store event, won another, and then took it to Beanie, going 4-1 on the day for 7th place. He's delighted. Now I'm going to steal a little credit here, as I also think the huge amount of time we've spend talking about headspace, mental discipline and perseverance also helped.
Although apparently pointing that out is "ruining it with parenting".
So that's it! Pretty successful season for us personally, and as an added bonus we've had a good run as "Nomad Squadron", and one of our next projects may well be building up our Team Identity, so people will actually have heard of us!
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