Where's Your Head At?

So welcome again to another episode of "Things I talk about in the car with the Teenager", or "Parenting Hormonal Monsters for X-Wing Players". OK, so that's a little mean, but it has been an interesting couple of weeks on the gaming front and we've ended up talking a lot about psychology, and mental processing, of all things. So let's get into it, after the cat. 

This weekend was our local store's Wave 2 championship, so it was up and out and into Leeds for an early Saturday start. I was flying a new list for the first time (always a smart move for a Wave Champ!) consisting of the four I5 Resistance aces, but more on that in a moment. Ewan, on the other hand was flying his Twin Silencer list, of which he is very fond - a list with a lot of power, but also pretty unforgiving. For his first game, Ewan is drawn against a player we know from IQ games - Rob Ramm - who i'm sure won't object to being described as "a damn good player" and edged out the win after a tight game. In fact he described it as "one of the best games he's ever had". But he was also clearly, one game in, shattered. 

So here is where it all starts to go wrong. Next round he gets another IQ player, who will go on to win the whole event unbeaten. Then he gets one of the local club players, again; a great player who knows his list and playstyle. By game four I think he was ready to go home and climb under a duvet and never come out. What's new to him here is that he's experienced to know what it's like to have to pick yourself from a bad loss but having to pull all the stops out for a win and then push on is totally new to him. 

I had a similar experience with my list. I don't usually field more than three ships, so four highly maneuverable small bases was hard work, and after reaching 2-1 my brain went into revolt for game four. Amongst the many, many mistakes I am still kicking myself for include: Not disengaging and getting stuck "chasing" kills, forgetting Tallie's ability all the time, forgetting what my opponents list had in it, twice (ffs!) trying to roll too many dice from a T-70 with closed S-Foils. I'm not saying I should have won (which is hugely disrespectful to my opponent, so don't ever do that) but i should have given him a better fight. 

A couple of years ago, for grown up reasons, I was reading a lot on how the brain processes information, and what struck a chord with me was the idea of "bandwidth". Its different for everyone, but broadly speaking the idea is that there is only so much you can keep up with at a time, only so many plates you can juggle, and after a certain amount of plate-juggling you just start dropping them. Practice reduces bandwidth. Breaks reduce bandwidth. That 10 minutes you get outside in the cold helps to reset your brain and reduces bandwidth. And both these lists, in different ways, eat that up. 

So the discussion we're (still) having about the Twin Silencers is that are they worth it, not in points, not on the table, game-by-game, but over an event, as it eats your bandwidth up. Is it a list that can potentially do well, but will always struggle because the mental effort of making it do well will ultimately overwhelm you. We don't know the answer, I guess we'll see, and in the meantime we are having close to grown up conversations about mental health, mindfulness and the ever important skill of still having a laugh when your damn ships just keep dying on you.

As a coda to all this, I am having a shed-load of fun with the double bomber list. Its kind of rubbish, and I have been rightly mocked for persisting with it, but looks cool on the table now I've painted up my big lads, every win feels like a win, because my expectations are low, and bombing people is hilarious. So there! (Also, I'm 5-5 with them, so they're not that terrible!) Fly Fun, everyone. 

Lists: 

Fives! 

(38) L'ulo L'ampar

(1) Heroic

(2) Predator

Points 41

(35) Tallissan Lintra

(1) Heroic

(2) Predator

Points 38

(56) Ello Asty

(0) Integrated S-foils

(1) Heroic

Points 57

(55) Nien Nunb

(0) Integrated S-foils

(1) Heroic

(5) Pattern Analyzer

Points 61

Total points: 197

Space Whales

(58) Cobalt Squadron Bomber

(8) Perceptive Copilot

(3) Seismic Charges

(5) Proton Bombs

(2) Skilled Bombardier

(6) Veteran Turret Gunner

(3) Hull Upgrade

(10) Trajectory Simulator

(5) Pattern Analyzer

Points 100

(58) Cobalt Squadron Bomber

(8) Perceptive Copilot

(3) Seismic Charges

(5) Proton Bombs

(2) Skilled Bombardier

(6) Veteran Turret Gunner

(3) Hull Upgrade

(10) Trajectory Simulator

(5) Pattern Analyzer

Points 100

Total points: 200