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X-Wing: Moving Formations, Part 3

4 Minute Read
Dec 11 2013

Welcome back Academy Pilot!  Today we will talk about how to fly in tight formation and NOT bang into your wingman.


First off, make sure you’ve caught up with part 1 and part 2 of this series.  Ok, let’s continue.

Before we talked about what moves not to make when it came to flying in a tight formation where upon examination we realized that you can’t make equal numbered Turns or Banks with ships that start out 100% adjacent to each other. Today we’ll talk about what moves actually don’t end in overlaps and therefore Action robbing collisions.

So let’s check out some more moves! First up- Turns. I want to get 3 Turns out of the way first and since we know what happens if we do double 3 Turns, let’s look at what happens when the outside ship pulls a 2 Turn and the inside ship pulls a 3 Turn.

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Oh, that’s right out. No good.

Ok, moving on. Let’s switch those templates and try the reverse- the outside ship pulling a 3 Turn and the inside ship pulling a 2 Turn.

Friggin’ finally! Now we’re getting somewhere! Two ships Turned and didn’t crash into each other! Holy mackerel!

So we’ve covered 3-2 and 2-3, let’s try a ship on the outside Turning 3 and an inside ship Turning 1. Should be cool, right?

Oh fo’ sho’. No problem there at all either. Let’s try a 1-3 and finish off the 3 Turn permutations.

Smooth like Colt .45.

At this point we can probably make some pretty valid assumptions about how to make Turns of differing values work, but since I went to the trouble to take all these pictures and upload them to Picasa, humor me and we’ll see how this plays out. Next up, a 2-1.

Ok, so a 2 Turn for the outside is cool with a 1 Turn for the inside. We already did a 2 Turn outside with a 3 Turn inside (wasn’t cool- scroll back up if you already forgot that result and consider seeing a doctor about increasing your ADD meds), so let’s switch them and see if a 1-2 nets the same results as a 2-3 did.

Same results- overlap.

Right. So that’s it for turns. Here’s a handy summary of the above-

TURNS
(Where ships are adjacent and Turning Left)
2-3 Overlap
3-2 Safe
3-1 Safe
1-3 Safe
2-1 Safe
1-2 Overlap

Want to place any bets on Banks?

Same deal- let’s go through the various permutations starting with the 3 Banks. I’ll go in the same order as I did with the turns so I don’t go completely crazy here trying to keep this straight.

First up we’ve got 2 Bank outside, 3 Bank inside.

They’re really, really, REALLY close, but it’s a valid move- no overlap.

Let’s flip the templates. Now we’re looking at a 3-2.

Oh yeah! No problem there whatsoever! Two for Two! I spelled that out so nobody would think I was talking about a 2-2 which we already covered the other day. I’m serious. And by nobody I mean me, primarily, for when I go back over this and proofread it later.

All right, next on the list is a 3 Bank outside, 1 Bank inside.

Not a care in the world, those two. They’re just rollin’.

Switch templates to a 1-3.

Ditto for these moves. All good.

Last set of moves starts off with a 2 Bank on the outside and a 1 Bank on the inside.

No problemo. Hasta la vista… baby.

Switch templates to a 1-2.

Damn right it was a good day.

Bank summary time-

BANKS
(Where ships are adjacent and Turning Left)
2-3 Safe
3-2 Safe
3-1 Safe
1-3 Safe
2-1 Safe
1-2 Safe

If you want to get into X-Wing Miniatures but don’t know your Evades from your Target Locks, by all means, stop on by the hippest pilot bar in the galaxy- TheMetalBikini.com. We serve all kinds (yeah, even droids- they’re the best tippers), and have a whole bunch of articles from breakdown summaries of every single card released so far, to tactics articles, to our Bikini Battle Basics new player guides- all served up with a heapin’ helpin’ of my own personal brand of slang and humor. Can you dig it? 

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