For the fourth year for the fourth year in a row, I’ve participated in the Campaign Against Cancer X-Wing event. It’s a wonderful international tournament where players raise money for children and families struggling with this awful disease. As with last year, the majority of the proceeds went to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the United States, but portions also went to the Telethon Kids Cancer Centre in Australia and the German Children's Cancer Foundation.
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| My sister Jessica, Grandpa, and I in 1991. |
My grandpa died of melanoma in September 2010 and I’ve been playing in his memory since I learned of the Campaign Against Cancer in 2016. Even though I’m not as avid of an X-Wing player as I used to be, this is the one event that I make sure to attend every year.
As with last year, the DC area event took place at Huzzah Hobbies in Asburn, VA. It's a bit of a trek from where I live, but it's always worth it as it's one of the best hobby shops in the area. But that's a post for another time! The event was to kick off at 11 am and run until about 9:30 pm with six rounds total in a pod format.
With the onset of X-Wing 2.0, my beloved TIE Swarms are viable again! So I chose to fly a six ship formation consisting of Howlrunner with Swarm Tactics and Hull Upgrade, Iden Versio with Swarm Tactics and Hulk Upgrade, Wampa, and three Academy Pilots without any upgrades. It’s a list that I’d used a few weeks before at a local mini-tournament and had pretty good success with (winning two out of three...that's never happened before). I knew going in, however, that it’d been a while since I’d flown a TIE Swarm and that that rustiness would likely play against me. But this is an event to raise money for an awesome cause and to have fun. So I was determined to have fun and do my best!
As is usual for these sorts of events, I got absorbed into the games and didn’t get a whole lot of pictures. It worse this year as my phone has been on its last legs for a while and I tried to conserve as much power as possible for the ride home (my phone serving as my GPS).
In fact, the only actual photo I got of game play was of this epic furball in Round 1. To make a long story short, I didn’t win that one. In fact, thanks to the new half points rule in 2.0, I narrowly lost all my games until Round 4. I had a Bye and took the opportunity to go back to my car to take a power nap as well as charge my phone.
These guys showed up during Round 5. This was the first year since I've been playing that we've had members of the 501st come out! I thought it really added a fun bit of flair to the event and I really hope they can come out again next week.
I narrowly won my Round 5 game, and decisively won in Round 6. I didn't finish dead last this time! I don't do this event to win, but it's nice to know that I can still win once in a while. And as per usual, I had a fun time and can't wait for next year's event!
JUNE 24, 2019 UPDATE
The final numbers have come in, and participants worldwide raised $47,389.01 total! Our location contributed $988.76 through entrance fees, challenge coin sales, and t-shirt sales. This is hands down our biggest year so far!
READ MY 2018 CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER REPORT HERE.
READ MY 2017 CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER REPORT HERE.
READ MY 2016 CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER REPORT HERE.
