How to lose a game in six easy steps.

In X-Wing, we can lose games from a variety of causes. It could be from having a bad list, or getting a bad match up. It could be simply from being out-flown. Every once in a while it's because our dice betray us. But most often we do more to lose our games than our opponents have to do to win them. Here are six easy steps to losing a game.

1. Don't pay any attention to your opponent’s list.

In a side event after my first major tournament, I flew against a guy who had just gotten knocked out in the top 8 match. He jumped into the side event and handed me a crushing 100 - 0 loss. Afterwards, I asked him where I had lost the game and semi-jokingly asked if I had lost it in the list building stage. I distinctly remember him saying, “No, your list is fine, and you played it really well. The problem is that you didn't play my list at all.” No matter how well you play your list's strengths, if you don't take into account your opponent's list, you will get wrecked by a strong player.

It is equally important to remember the state of your opponent’s list during the game. In a recent game against a local, Clint, who was flying the Trench Run Trio, Luke, Wedge, and Biggs, I lost any chance I might have had at pulling out a win when I forgot that it was Wedge, not Luke, who had fired both of his proton torpedoes. I parked a full health Guri at range two of Luke and limped away with just a couple of hull points left. It was a stupid mistake and I got suitably punished for it.

Read through your opponent's cards. You might think you know what the list is already, or what the cards say, but now in second edition, it's even more important when so much has changed. Know what your opponent is capable of. Also, the end phase shouldn't just be a time to clean up the board for you. Check their charges, look to see if they reloaded last turn. Is Vader back up to three force or is he just at one? These small things have huge gameplay consequence.

2. Butcher your obstacle set up.

I played a game recently with two high initiative StarVipers where I let (and even helped) my opponent set up a dense cluster of obstacles in the center of the board with all the biggest rocks. I then let him draw my two Vipers into that rock cluster for the engagement. It was very well played on his part and incredibly stupid on mine. These highly maneuverable aces depend on having the space they need to barrel roll and boost out of arcs, but don’t have the hit points for taking sustained fire. I brought the wrong obstacles, set them up in the wrong places, and then let my opponent dictate the terms of our engagement. Needless to say, the game did not go very smoothly for me. The last competitive list I'd grown accustomed to flying featured a Quadjumper and I depended on a dense rock formation to tractor beam my opponent's ships onto and through them. Not adjusting from that list to a list with a different play style was hugely detrimental, and if I had actually taken the time to think through set up options for the list I could have seen that and made adjustments accordingly.

Take the time to figure out your list's obstacles strengths. Does your list have bonuses for firing through obstacles from cards like Trick Shot, Scum Han Solo, or the Outrider title? Do you have tractor beam shenanigans? Take large rocks or debris. Do you benefits from opponents being stressed from upgrades like Lattz Razzi or Lando’s Falcon title? Take debris. If you don't benefit specifically from having large obstacles, I suggest taking small rocks, because Seismic Charges are a thing now.

3. Be careless with your dials and maneuvers.

I once parked a full health Fenn Rau on an asteroid directly in front of my opponent's entire list simply because I got ship left and right confused on my dial. A tokenless Fang Fighter sitting on an obstacle at range two of a three ship list is a dead Fang Fighter. It's important to check and double check your dials before you say that you are set. Even a simple maneuver can lose a game for you if you are careless. I've seen people accidentally assign the wrong maneuvers to the wrong ships because they reached for the wrong dial. The result can be ships flying off the board, K-turning right in front of a swarm, landing on the aforementioned rock. A myriad of avoidable disasters await you, even if it is as simple as being out of position for the next turn.

It's fairly easy to keep the dials of just two ships straight, but as ship counts increase again in second edition, it will become increasingly important to develop a consistent method of both placing your dials after you assign a maneuver and clearing the dials off the board after you execute that maneuver.

To prevent mixed up dials, I try to keep my dials on the ship cards that they correspond to in order to avoid that particular confusion. This has an added benefit in that it prevents you and your opponent from confusing whose dial is whose during the activation phase. There are no more awkward moments of sheepishly trying to explain why you have their dial in hand or trying to figure out a way to rectify the shattered game state after they accidentally see your high initiative ace's dial.

4. Forget your triggers.

I can't tell you how many times I forgot to assign a target lock after attacking with the old fire control system. And forgetting to advance sensors a target lock before your Segnor loop feels really bad when you realize you can't fire the proton torpedoes that you paid nine points for. I did that in a game last night, and those nine points went to waste. Again, this will be very important with second edition on our doorstep. All sorts of new triggers exist or have changed a little, and with systems phase now existing, you have to remember a whole new phase. Miss that phase and you could miss a pivotal decloak, bomb drop, or undocking that you might have planned your turn largely around.

If you can, try to develop some physical habit to remind you of triggers, such as holding a token in your hand as I started doing to remember my FCS in first edition. Another simple tactic I’ve seen used is to write the trigger on your hand. That may be a bit extreme for casual play, but at a tournament, it may be thing that saves your game.

Unless you are at a top table, I highly recommend refusing any gracious offers by your opponent to take that action after you miss its trigger. Losing a ship to a simple mistake will do much more to help you remember the trigger than a complete lack of consequences for your sloppy play. Experience is, as they say, the best teacher.

5. Forget what ships have what critical hits.

Games can swing from a probable win to a loss with a single crit. And in second edition the crits are brutal. The good news is that most of them are repairable with a single action. The bad news is you have to remember to take that action. It's easy to forget that you have a face up console fire or a damaged sensor array.  But forgetting some of these crits can have disastrous consequences. If you spend much time watching streamed games you'll notice that many veteran players actually go so far as to place the critical damage card they want to remember on the board next to the ship it's affecting. I am terrible at remembering crits, and have lost games as a result.

At the same time, you also need to be mindful of your opponents criticals. In a recent game my opponent forgot that Guri had damaged engine and couldn't hard turn without stressing herself. As a result, he blocked the turn instead of the bank and Guri lived to fight on.

Use the tokens FFG provides; they were given to us for a reason. If you have to, put the card next to your ship. It might even be worth it to put down tokens for your opponent’s ships should they let you. As much as you don’t want to forget your crits, you don’t want your opponent to neglect the fact that they have blinded pilot or weapons failure, either.

6. Don't pay any attention to the time left in the game.

When time is called it doesn't matter in the slightest if both you and your opponent know that you would win the game if there were only one more round to play. The amount of time left in the game can be a vital piece of information. If you are behind and time is almost up, you might need to take some risks you normally wouldn't. Conversely, if you are ahead on points, your opponent might suddenly become more aggressive in their play style, and you should be aware of that possibility. Knowledge about the amount of time left in the game can be a pivotal weapon in your arsenal, and takes almost no effort.

Set your own timer, if that's what it takes. In a tournament, judges will be happy to give you a time update any time you ask. Just be careful that you don’t rush so much that you make silly mistakes in the final minutes of a game.

In every game of X-Wing there will be a winner and there will be a loser. I write this in the hope that it will help all of us play our best game, no matter the final score.

If you are in the St. Louis area or coming to visit, reach out to Arch Alliance X-wing on Facebook to find out where we are playing on any given night.