Category Archives: star wars

star wars

False Summit! 

Destiny, Game day, game of thrones, star wars

Monday Dale and I met up at The White Lion to do combat using cards and dice playing Star Wars: Destiny. It’s been a couple of months since we’ve had a chance to play like this. Our timetables don’t really sync that much this year at work.


While waiting for Dale to turn up (which wasn’t long) I threw together an Elite Thrawn and Darth Vader Sith Apprentice Deck. 

Dale was playing the nasty combo of Elite Mace Windu and Jedi Instructor.
That Mace die is nasty. 

The day got off to such a great start with Thrawn/Vader getting me the win. Everything went to plan. Vader was doing damage with hate, I got to use Maces dice against him.

But it went to pot after that. For once when you want Dale to roll badly and get lots of blanks, he decides to roll well. Blanks were few and far apart.

I did tweak the deck a couple of times, which included swapping Vader for an elite Kylo. But still my arse got handed to me.

These weren’t quick games. One or two were nearly victories for me. In those games the dice really did love Dale.

I think both my combos with Thrawn have potential just need to sort the deck out. It needs more removal I think.

Still despite lots of losses I had a lot of fun. 

Oh last night FFG decided to finally release a rules update. It’s massive. FN,Unkar,Phasma (2 player version) and Poe get their point costs adjusted upwards in what FFG are calling Balance of the Force. It’s a bit like the Netrunner Most Wanted List. There are some card errata as well. The main one nerfs Vibroknife. And the overwriting of upgrades gets changed to dial back FN and Rey. But in Reys case it’s still possible to do a big action cheat with Force Speed and an Ambush weapon and her ability, but there are tools to at least stop it now. Overall not a bad update. You can read it here.

Yesterday also saw the Justin and Liz alliance once more in full swing as we played our first six player game of A Game of Thrones the boardgame. We played with the A Dance With Dragons expansion.

The expansion replaced the combat cards from the base game. These cards could be used in the base game all the time if I wanted to. It also had starting scenario cards for all the houses. 


I liked the expansion a lot. The new combat cards shake things up a little for those that have learnt the cards in the base game. Whilst the starting scenarios jump you more into the action, speeding the game up a little. The game also plays over 6 rounds with the highest score being the winner at the end of the 6th round if no-one has gained the 7 points before then. So it’s a shorter game too. Forcing people to be aggressive and grab those castles and strongholds. 

In our game it almost worked out that it was one side of the table/board against the other side. With puppet master Justin trying to manipulate the unholy alliance on his side to his benefit. Luckily the Tyrell’s were placed on the Iron Throne denying the axis of evil. My last round was spent attacking Liz (Starks) to cut down her points. Which would deny her a shot at victory. A lesson not to side with Justin.

As the Greyjoys I was last. But I think everyone enjoyed the game. I think Cry Havoc would be a good game for Liz to try next.

Little guys win again!

Fenland Gamers, Game day, star wars

That’s the only way I can describe the fall of the Empire once again to the Rebellion.

Yesterday Diego and I played Star Wars: Rebellion with the newly released expansion Rise of the Empire.

Rise of the Empire adds new leaders, new missions, new units, new dice, and new tactic cards. All on the whole inspired/themed around the movie Rogue One.

The new tactic cards are normal size and replace totally the old ones. Plus they are used now in a more streamlined “cinematic” combat system. 

Both Diego and I both liked the new “cinematic” combat system more than the original one. You still have tactic cards for both space and ground battles but each deck is treated as your hand of cards when it comes to do a battle in that arena of conflict. At the start of each round of the battle you choose one tactic card from your hand, then simultaneously both players reveal their selected card, and resolve (the card is then discarded). Then you roll the dice, do damage etc. Except this time the crossed swords symbol is used to prevent dice. And the figures on your leader that were used to draw tactic dice now determine how many dice you can reroll in that arena of conflict. So obviously if you have played A Game of Thrones the boardgame you will be used to that selecting a card and revealing element. It’s the same mechanic. But it’s a nice way of doing this, and it forces you to make some tough decisions about when to play cards. I think after reading a thread when I got home we may have had a misplay on the sword dice. But hey ho.

The new characters, actions and missions were fun, and changed things up. Plus add a little variety to the game. 

It’s a nice expansion that I don’t think I’d play the game without out. 

In our game yesterday we had some great moments. But the game came down to a final battle, that if I’d destroyed Diego’s fighters  instead of going for his big ships first, I’d have won next round. Instead he was able to attempt to blow my Death Star up, and succeed getting him the final two points he needed. To add salt to the wound he also killed Palpatine that round.

A great afternoon gaming with a tactical genius. I will beat you one day Diego ;)

Rise of the Empire Random Give Away

competition, star wars

Somehow I’ve ended up with two copies of the newly released first expansion for Star Wars: Rebellion, Rise of the Empire.

So what to do with this extra copy?

It could sit around collecting dust. Or I could give it away in a give away.

To enter this give away you will need to work out the following simple math problem and leave your answer along with your name  in the comments below:

(Qwixx – Dice City) + Kemet = ????

I am looking for a numeric answer here!

HINT: You will need to look at my Top 100 games posts.

You will need to hurry because I will select the winner randomly from the list of correct entries next Monday 2nd October 2017.

This will be UK only sadly because I will be paying the postage.

Planeswalker Apprentice or is it Padawan?

Destiny, game night, magic, MtG, star wars

Last night I was round Edmund’s teaching him how to play MtG and Star Wars:Destiny.

After recreating the Rey and Kylo starter sets using a deck list for each I pulled off the internet, Edmund and I played eRey/eFinn vs eKylo/First Order Trooper.

Yes you read that correctly eFinn. I know in the starter set he is just a single die. But there are enough points for him to be played as an elite version.

Did this make the combo too powerful? Potentially, in our two games that character combo with it’s extra dice advantage won the roll off to decide which battlefield is chosen. Edmund and I took turns playing the character combos. I started off with eRey/eFinn, and won the game. But for a first game, unfamiliar with cards, rules etc, Edmund had picked up the game quickly, and played well. When Edmund played the eRey/eFinn combo he won. That was a closer game, both down to our last four cards in hand. Edmund only had Rey left with four damage on, while I only had the First Order Trooper left with five damage on. I wasn’t going to win that match up. I thought that this did make it a more even game for a new player to go up against an experienced player.

Mind you I might tweek the eKylo/First Order Trooper deck by adding in a second Trooper to balance it out a bit more. There is certainly the points to allow it.

It was weird to be playing with just the starter cards again. There were cards I just wouldn’t or hardly use. To get Mind Probe out I’d be using Sith Holocron, and running more abilities in the deck. I’d even be using training to get more Trooper dice out. On the Hero side, Backup Muscle would be a must have. Yeah an interesting experience.

Sadly after our two games there was not really enough time to move Edmund on from being a Padawan to a Planeswalker Apprentice. But hopefully after giving Edmund his first hit of Destiny we have a new convert.

Custom Playmats and a first game of Commander 

Destiny, Game day, magic, MtG, star wars

If all goes to plan I will have a new play mat for Star Wars:Destiny that will be pretty amazing.

I love this image from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Those X-Wings skimming the water as they race to the rescue of Maz, Han, Chewie, Rey and Finn (plus everyone else at Maz’s place) is just iconic to me.

I was hoping we’d see an official play mat with it on. But it hasn’t happened yet. So I’ve had to resort to “borrowing” the above image off the Internet and getting an unofficial version made with it.

If the results are good I might look into getting some Fenland Gamer ones made up.   Some general large ones for game sessions. But if demand or the public cry out loud enough one for our MtG players. Both would be pretty cool. I’d love one of the official Ultra-Pro MtG 6ft play mats for our group. But justifying just short of £100 for that is very very hard. Having club ones that individuals get to buy if they want is an easier decision.

This afternoon Charlie and I met up and played our first ever games of Commander using two of the prebuilt 2017 decks.

Charlie went with the Feline Ferocity deck, so cat tribal with Arahbo, Roar of the Wild as its commander. I chose cool dragons tribal with Draconic Domination and it’s commander the Ur-Dragon.

In our first game after a couple of turns Charlie had a couple of creatures out, and I just had to take the damage they were dealing, and then he dropped Quietus Spike on the board.

Luckily he didn’t have enough mana to equip it straight away. I needed a solution. I could play a dragon and block with it. It would die. But I’d have to keep doing that each turn until I found a better solution. Or I could hope to top deck the answer. Which is what I did on my card draw.

I drew Crux of Fate, chose Destroy all non-Dragon creatures. Wiped the Board clean of all cat creatures on Charlie’s side and removed any targets for that horrible spike. After that I was able to get dragons onto the board and hit Charlie at will. Charlie wasn’t able to draw into any more creatures.

Not being able to sacrifice a creature with Wasitora out meant I was able to get some cute cat dragon tokens out. Plus Charlie did once manage to draw and play a creature but then had to sacrifice it!

Game two saw an early Dragonspeaker Shaman hit the board. Which with my commanders eminence ability meant I was getting a 3 mana discount on casting dragons.

So I was casting big dragons a lot earlier than I should. Charlie still wasn’t drawing any answers and once again took a beating. But give Charlie his dues he was determined that the cats could work.

Game 3. Charlie was giving me rat tokens! I got three before I killed off the Hungry Lynx creating them.

Thing is with Dromoka in play on my side I was putting two +1/+1 tokens on them!

I was attacking at will, with once more the cards hating Charlie, no damage coming back at me. So the inevitable happened again and I won. I wasn’t used to this. I was winning at Magic!

For our fourth and final game we swapped decks. I joked “you know what’s going to happen, I’ll win with this deck”. I was able to play a turn one soul ring. I had some great mana ramp. I played an enchancement that doubled my mana produced by a land when I tapped it, plus gave my creatures +1/+1.

I had a couple of artefacts that I was able to equip on to I think it was Temur Sabretooth. Which with the Commander ability meant it had vigilance, first strike, trample, and was something like a 11/11 when it swung in.

Although Charlie was able to get rid of my enchantment slowing my mana ramp down a little, it was too little too late. He wasn’t drawing any answers and I was hitting him hard with my beefed up creature.

I managed to win with the cat tribe!

The cards were really harsh to Charlie this afternoon, whilst really kind to me. I enjoyed this 1 v 1 game of Commander. But I’m really keen now to try it with more players and see how the politics of the game kick in.

But a great afternoon with a great opponent. Thanks for the games Charlie.

Destiny Dice Storage Solution 

Destiny, star wars

One of the biggest problems for Star Wars:Destiny players is how to store your dice.

With the three sets, two starter sets, 2 player starter the dice mount up fast.

At the weekend the discussion about storage solutions once again popped up on the UK Destiny Facebook page I follow. I skim these posts now and again to see if there is a solution I like. The tool box/tackle box idea I found interesting. But I’ve solved my card storage issue a while back. I went the folder and the special card holding pages you can get.

In this discussion Feldherr was mentioned, but so was Just Lasered. Yes a foam tray looked like the solution I’d been waiting for. So naturally I went with the “cheaper” UK based company.

I went for the 13mm deep tray. I wanted the dice to be easy to get out when needed, and the maximum size they did of 370mm by 275mm. Which I was told would hold 96 dice. I went with 6 trays to give me a total capacity of 576 dice. This also meant the trays were slightly cheaper also. I went with this size of tray because if I put them in a box to transport I’ll be using a KR storage solution. Mainly because I have a KR rucksack that I got a few years back now.

So what’s my opinion of these foam trays? I like them. I like the fact with the 13mm the dice are really easy to take out. The dice fit really snugly, there is no movement at all.

The page for the foam trays says the following “Foam tray up to 370 x 275 with 2mm MDF support.” I’m not sure where the 2mm MDF support is. I can’t see or detect any MDF. But 2mm is pretty thin. So would I?

Naturally with the foam topper in place there is a gap around the edges with the 13mm. Which isn’t an issue for me. The ease of access to the dice easily out weighs this point. Plus I’m going to be storing these at home for a good 99% of the time. At some point I will get the KR box to use with them.

I’m glad I got these for organising my Destiny dice they needed a solution. The game has gone passed that point where you can take everything with you and make decks up on the fly. It’s getting to that point where you will take two or three decks and that’s it. With maybe the odd card that you want to maybe try and see how it does.

You can visit Just Lasered by clicking their name.

Empire at War Box 2

Destiny, star wars

Yep be afraid very afraid, 36 more rare and possibly legendary cards from the second booster box opened from the new Star Wars:Destiny set Empire at War.

Here is what I pulled in box 2…













Not a bad haul if I say so myself. 4 from my hit list of characters. Kanan is now playable as an elite. I think all the pulls from yesterday can now be played as elite characters. I also got two of the weapons/vehicles I wanted.

Although I think Ezra, and one or two of the others are too frequent in the packs.

I also got an Ancient Lightsaber that some-one on the Facebook trading/selling page wanted £30 for at the weekend!!!

Final post in this short boring series tomorrow.

Empire at War hits Whitespider1066 Towers

Destiny, first look, star wars

Finally the latest Star Wars:Destiny release Empire at War has hit the stores in the UK. It felt like an age after it’s release in the US last Thursday. It was so hard seeing all these Yanks opening all their new booster packs and the goodies inside over the weekend. There were also the odd release events at the weekend in the UK, where the chance to open some boosters also occurred (but we need a local scene to be able to get that happening).

It was looking like according to the weekly release sheet from the local Asmodee Borg Collective Esdevium that we would have to wait until the 21st to get our hands on the boosters. However my FLGS said the boosters were arriving early. TODAY!!!!

Thanks to Dale giving me a lift over to my FLGS during our lunch break I was able to pick up my pre-order.
My first three boosters opened, three yellow villain cards for the rares. Two characters and a weapon.
So I’ll save you from total boredom and just show you the rares and legendary cards/die that I pulled.

I’m happy I got the EMP grenade.



I was surprised by two of the following cards. I hadn’t heard anything about “Servant of the Dark Side” or “T-7 Ion Disruptor Rifle”. I’m curious to build a deck with “Servant of the Dark Side”, maybe pair him up with FN? That Ion Disruptor Rifle is insane, and has an insane cost to go with it. I think that 5 cost is the only thing stopping this going straight into a FN deck.


So we hit the first of my “hit list” of characters I wanted to pull with Kanan.

I even got a candidate for worst card in the set Chance Cube. Don’t think I will ever be playing this.

A strong finish on the rare/legendary pulls. I’m happy with these three. That “X-8 Night Sniper” is screaming Han/Rey to me.

So that’s the first booster box done and dusted. Reasonably happy with the pulls. I got “Roll On”, “Rend”, “Quick Escape” and “Thermal Paint” on the commons front. So I’m chuffed with those ones.

Right onto box two…

Empire at War is nearly here 

Destiny, star wars

It’s nearly here the third set for Star Wars: Destiny Empire at War (EaW). 

This set brings an emphasis on supports apparently. Plus it features characters from the Star Wars: Rebels cartoon.


There are one or two new characters I’m excited to play with(see collage below). Plus there are a load that we haven’t seen. If I remember correctly Lucas (the designer) in an interview on YouTube said there are 25 new characters in this set! But if I pull these ones to start with I’m going to be really happy.

There are definitely some supports you will not like seeing your opponents play. And absolutely hate to be on the receiving end of. Vader’s Tie Advance is the one I really want to pull here. It’s special is insane.

With the addition of EaW and the newly released 2 player set and the new cards it added, there are going to be some really hard choices to make when deck building. 30 cards is already too small to fit in everything you would like with the current 2 sets.

I’m looking forward to Dale and I cracking open boosters, and building our new decks and dueling away.