Campaign Against Cancer: Cancelled

Unfortunately the 2020 Campaign Against Cancer X-Wing Miniatures Event has been cancelled. Given everything that’s been going on in the world, I support the organizers’ decision full heartedly. Better to safe than sorry. Way better.

I would be lying, though, if I said I wasn’t a bit disappointed. This is such a special event – and not just to me either. But there’s always next year. I suppose we’ll just have to raise double the amount in 2021!

Campaign Against Cancer: Postponed

It’s not surprising that the Campaign Against Cancer didn’t happen on May 2. This of course was due to COVID-19. It has, however, been rescheduled to July 18 (depending on how things are looking of course). No idea if things will be normal enough by then, though, but I’m cautiously optimistic.

This year is significant to me in several ways: September 15th marks the 10th anniversary of Grandpa’s passing, this will be my 5th time participating in CAC, and now my little cat bro Jimmy has been diagnosed with cancer. It was a highly emotional year even before the pandemic and all its stresses hit. When the event does eventually happen I’ll be happy to take part.

So until then, we sit and wait. 

Campaign Against Cancer: An Interview with Chad Hoefle

As anticipation builds for this year's Campaign Against Cancer X-Wing event, this video from last year's Star Wars Celebration was shared on the group's Facebook page. Founder Chad Hoefle talks with SciFiction's Owen C. Cotter about what Twin Suns Charities, Inc. does and how it seeks to help others. 

Meanwhile, my excitement for this year's event is growing stronger by the day. 

The initial list of locations has been released, minus a few who are still working out some last minute issues. There are 34 locations across six countries this year! However, it might be a trek: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is currently the closest location to me. Unless a DC/Virginia/Maryland location is one of the ones working out some issues I think I'll be taking a road trip in May. 

The Green Angels: Redux

"Green Angels standing by."

After more than a month of on-again/off-again work, the Green Angels are finally finished! They're based off my Grandpa's old F4U Corsair squadron and the color scheme is inspired by the planes flown out of NAS Los Alamitos in the 1950s. 

 You can read about my process on these guys in previous posts (here, here, here, and here). After finishing with the decals, the X-Wings were weathered with a stipling of silver and streaks of Games Workshop Agrax Earthshade and Nuln Oil. I wanted to capture the "beat up" look of the F4U Corsair pictured above. I have a coworker who's a former USMC aviation mechanic and when I showed him this photo he seemed surprised at how rough this plane looked. 

I opted to magnetize the ships, which is something I've been meaning to try out for some time now. I ordered the wrong size disc magnets and didn't discover that until about a week ago. Thankfully, though, K&J Magnetics ships their orders out super quick and I got the new magnets about two days later.

This was the first time I've repainted X-Wing miniatures since 2016 when I created the first iteration of the Green Angels. I'm honestly surprised and happy to see just how much I've improved in three years. I also got the numbers and the insignia facing the right way on the wings this time!

It's also nice to actually finish a project! Unfortunately I tend to drift in and out of projects and, as a result, have five or six that I've started over the last few years but haven't finished. The fact that it took me just over a month to finish these guys is a huge personal triumph for me.

The Green Angels, past and present. 

Thus concludes a highly personal project for me. I fully intend to fly these guys at the 2020 Campaign Against Cancer event, which is slated for May 2, 2020. I need to brush off my X-Wing templates and take them out to Curio Cavern for their weekly mini-tournament; I'd like to finish at something other than last place for a change. 

I may also create a custom pilot card to give out at tournaments. I love seeing what people come up with and it's one of the things I really love about the X-Wing community. If I end up doing it, it'll of course be Grandpa as Green Angel Leader. His call sign/nickname? "Quiet Giant" just as it was when he was in the Navy.

Campaign Against Cancer: X-Wing Miniatures Event 2019

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.

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.

Campaign Against Cancer: X-Wing Miniatures Event 2018

This year's Campaign Against Cancer took place on April 7 at a new location: Huzzah Hobbies in Ashburn, VA. This was just one of several locations throughout the world (the event's gone international this year!) to host an event dedicated to raise money for cancer research. This year's proceeds went to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in the United States and the Kids with Cancer Foundation in Australia.

It's an event near and dear to my heart as I lost my grandpa, Bob Abel, to cancer on September 15, 2010. He served in the US Navy from 1944 to 1976 and flew all manner of naval aircraft during his career. Grandpa was also an avid model builder and helped me paint my first toy soldiers. I've been playing the Campaign Against Cancer in his memory ever since I first learned of the event in 2016.

Although I was sick as a dog and not feeling well, I pushed myself. Following my disastrous performance at Han's Holiday Hangover in January, I hadn't played X-Wing at all prior to this. I hadn't even bothered to unpack my box afterwards. Although I was still flying the same list (Lt. Karsabi and two Rho Squadron pilots in Assault Gunboats with an emphasis on cannons), I had a much better time. Seasonal affective disorder is a real thing, folks.

Loaded up on cold meds, Zicam, and ibuprofen, I hit the tournament! I realize now that I only took two photos during the whole event. I blame the cold medicine and the overall fatigue that set in around Round 3.

Once the cold meds wore off, I started feeling pretty bad. I could barely stand at one point and played most of one game seated, which is something I never do. Thankfully in Round 6 I got a Bye, which meant I could leave 75 minutes early. It was an opportunity I took advantage of.

Although I probably should've stayed home, it was a fun time! Mindset is everything when it comes to games like this, and I think I was probably getting a little too competitive there for a bit. This event was a reminder to me to not take things (especially tabletop games) too seriously....the whole point is to have fun! I can't wait to take part in next year's event!

APRIL 21, 2018 UPDATE

It was just announced that globally we raised $37,058.78 total! That's significantly more than last year! Ashburn, VA contributed $777.01 of that final amount.

READ MY 2017 CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER REPORT HERE.
READ MY 2016 CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER REPORT HERE.

Campaign Against Cancer: X-Wing Miniatures Event 2017

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!

On April 29, I joined others at the Island Games in Centreville, VA for the 3rd Annual Campaign Against Cancer X-Wing Miniatures event. Players raise money for the American Cancer Society in an effort to help find a cure. I found out about the event in January of last year and signed up almost immediately! My grandfather died of melanoma (which spread to his brain) on September 15, 2010 so I played in his memory. That was the case again this year. 

My grandpa, Bob Abel, served in the US Navy from 1944 to 1976, and was a naval aviator from 1948 on. He told me once that his squadron's nickname was the Green Angels, because they weren't nearly as good as the Navy's elite flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels. He also loved building models and helped me paint some Revell Civil War Union soldiers when I was maybe 5 or 6. So I wanted to do something special for this year's event.

I decided to name my squadron the Green Angels and base them off of Grandpa's old F4U Corsair squadron. I'd actually painted these ships up for last year's event but couldn't bring them out after misplacing some of the pilot tiles. They were a big hit! A lot of people thought they were pretty cool, especially so after I told them about the backstory. I ran them was Wedge Antilles. Wes Janson, and Biggs Darkligher. Perhaps this was a little more elite than the Green Angels should've been, but I wanted to give them a fighting chance in a game whose meta has not been favoring the T-65 X-Wing lately.

As I'm finding out is usual with me at tournaments, I didn't get a whole of photos and have forgotten what round these exactly were taken in. So just sit back and enjoy these photos of simulated space combat in a galaxy far, far away!

Now, I do remember the specifics with this! My opponent had laid mines in an effort to trap Janson, but only dumb luck skilled flying was he able to avoid detonating any of them!

Another example of the dumb luck skilled flying witnessed throughout the tournament.

 

What a great day of gaming! I never actually won any of my games, but several were close and came down to the last few seconds and less than 5 or 6 points. I didn't take this list to win anyway, so it was nice to see that it could hold its own.

Besides, I ended getting the raffle prize that I really wanted: a custom painted green A-Wing so I've got nothing to complain about. All in all, it was another successful event and I can't wait until next year!

MAY 10, 2017 UPDATE

It was our biggest year yet! X-Wing players raised a grand total of $22,597! Centreville, VA contributed $560 of that through tickets, challenge coin sales, and t-shirt sales. 

READ MY 2016 CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANCER REPORT HERE.

Campaign Against Cancer: X-Wing Miniatures Event 2016

A few weeks ago I played in the 2016 Campaign Against Cancer tournament at the Island Games in Centreville, VA. Our location was just one of several throughout the country raising money for the American Cancer Society. 

This was a deeply personal event for me: I lost my grandpa to melanoma (which metastasized into brain cancer) on September 15, 2010. So when I learned of this event in mid-January, I instantly signed up and participated in his memory.

Wanting to try something new, I decided to fly Rexler Brath in a TIE Defender with Wampa and 3 Academy Pilots in TIE Fighters. It was more or less a disaster. Even with a 1st Round Bye and 6th Round win, I was thoroughly trounced and finished dead last. But since this was a fundraising campaign, I really can't complain. It was fun! It was enough to convince me to return to a pure TIE Swarm though.

Here are a few photos of the game play. I only realize now that I didn't get all the rounds, so I apologize for that.

Round 3

Round 4

Round 6

All in all, players around the country raised a total of $20,299.81! Our location contributed $855 of that final amount through entrance fees, t-shirts, and challenge coin sales.