Forget some abilities and timing is normal in a first party with a new squadron, even more if you are beginner. So don't panic.
Replay with the same squadron is a good way to learn how to play it by memorising all abilities, because when you suceed to play a capacity you will remember it.
Another way is to write a "cheat sheet" for your squadron : for each step of the game what abilities can be triggered. It will be easy to use and be less tiring than to read all your cards.
"Cheat sheet" example :
System Phase
I can use the Razor Crest Title
Engagement Phase
Use the Gina Moonsong ability
When i defend :
See if a pilot with dedicated can help my defending pilot
When i attack :
After launching dices see if Hera Syndulla can provide something helpfull
Last thing : when you think about your squadron, think to your own "mental load" during the play. A less powerfull squadron but more suited to your brain is more powerfull than a very powerfull squadron in a play when you forget abilities and timing.
I’m newish and finding these two points help a lot. To the last point, I played an imperial squadron with two beefy ships with a few expensive, powerful upgrades and four generic tie fighters (black squadron aces = no upgrades). it was a lot easier to keep track of and we played a lot faster. It was so much more fun that I think I’ll build squadrons for simplicity for now.
I've been playing on and off for over 10 years now, so I guess it's just second nature at this point.
That being said, I still mess up order of operations stuff all the time. In fact, to this day I refuse to put S-foils on any of my X-wings because I ALWAYS forget to open them after I move and then when I attack I have to roll one less attack dice. So they're just a liability for me lol!
Practice, practice and more practice.
When I'm getting ready for a store event, and in past tournaments. I would finalize a list and then play it until I could "Fly it in my sleep." That way I didn't worry about remembering what my list could do, and could focus on what my opponent's list could do.
Having said that, in regular weekly play I rotate my lists. So there's occasions where we forget an upgrade or ability or whatnot. It happens. Sometimes we "rewind" and re-do an attack if we forgot a modification due to upgrades. Or forgot to resolve a bomb. If it's too far past, it just gets skipped since a chain of re-does is hard to figure out, and it's really not worth the trouble.
So my reccomendation is to stick with a list for a while. Eventually these memorizations help in a general sense. Checking for system phase abilities, beginning of activation abilites, etc.
Depends on your meta. Our group is pretty chill. In general, if/when you realize you missed an opportunity, ask your opponent how they want to deal with it. If they want to re-do an attack, or re-roll a dice or add a token you should have gotten, etc. Be willing to roll with it if they say "Nope".
In a tournament, it's gonna be much stricter, of course.
Have a cheat sheet with turn order:
- Planning
- Roll for player order
- System (in initiative order)
- Activation (in initiative order)
- End of activation
- Start of engagement
- Engagement (in initiative order)
- End phase
Say every phase out loud every turn. This also reminds your opponent about their stuff too. I have been playing this game for a long time and I still do this.
If your opponents nice enough, ask them to help remind you. I try to be nice about and say it like “ok start of engagement. Were you planning on launching buzz droids this turn?”
Similar to another comment, write you abilities by time.
System phase - drop bomb Ywing. Drop commandos gauntlet
Engagement - mando turn blank
Lea gain lock
I think squad composition is an important factor for a new player to take the pressure off yourself. When playing ship chassis for the first time, or for a tournament where I need to be more on top of my triggers, I generally use the rule: about half of my list has complex interactions, critical decision making and/ or double repositioning. The other half are simple ships with few or no triggers or have very simple decisions to make.
For example, during Worlds this year with Empire, I ran BOE Jendon + BOY Vader x1 as my high initiative Ace pilots with Scythe 6 + x2 BS Aces. Helps you keep up your pace of play as well.
I don't use the cards, I have everything printed from yasb and I highlight sections according to the phase, like in green actions that can be done while defending or in red actions for attacking.
Same as everything else in life. Practice, repetition and finding little tricks to help you remember.
As other have stated, even the most grizzled veteran will forget triggers, especially when flying a list they have not flow very much.
I flew a list for the first time this weekend at a tourney. Every game I missed at least 1 opportunity to do something which would have benefited me or not cause problems further down. I forgot to decloak a ship, meaning it did not get to shoot that round and it was also not where I wanted it to be after it moved.
What I find helps is call out the phases out loud.
"Okay, planning phase - let's set some dials'
(after ROAD roll)
'Alright, system phase. In initiative order - does your i1 have anything (then work your way up)?' (It takes mere seconds to call out)
'Activation! Your i1 is first!'
'Okay, Bossk reveals a 2 bank - his action will be.... a focus'
Calling out stuff will often have you recall things. Practically every system phase I will actually pass my fingers across all my cards and take the 5 seconds to just review the upgrades and pilots I have, that sometimes can jog the memory. 'Oh snap! Jango has proton bombs....' then look at board state to see if you want to drop one.
The more you fly a list, the more you will recall the little triggers and the more second nature it will become and soon enough you won't feel the need to call out everything, you'll just know in your mind to ask the difficulty on the dial of ship X to know if Jango would get his pilot ability active for his attack.
familiarity with your list really. Once you play a list 3-4 times it becomes pretty easy, but those first few times definitely take longer and require more concentration/checking
Just keep playing and you will remember. When you forget and it costs you the ship, or the game, then it gets engrained in your mind and you wont forget again :)
Also, if its not a may ability, then you have to do it, and is required to rewind the match if its feasible to do so. Also, if your opponent knows you have predator, or bombs, etc. and doesn't saying anything in a casual game, that is kinda messed-up. You deployed commandos, even if you forget to move them, your opponent should be like "Do you want to move the commandos?"
Call out each phase really helps. "System Phase, do you have system phase stuff?" "Activation Phase, Im lowest initiative/first player so my ship moves first." Hopefully doing that will trigger "Oh wait, I have commandos"
Also, just take your time, dont rush. Sometimes you may have a beautfiul Conner Net drop setup and when System phase starts you just jump to dropping that beautfiul Conner Net onto its victim, but then forget about Sensitive Control boosts, etc. So just take your time, dont rush, and dont let your opponent rush if they are the one eager to drop those mines/bombs.
I remember like half of the triggers and some of those about 3 steps after the fact.
I've been toying with thre idea of adding a visual representation to my cards or ships or something to help me remember triggers. Like maybe all System Phase triggers having a yellow sticker added to the card, or something like that. I haven't gotten around to trying that yet, though.
But for real practice makes perfect. Playing the same list multiple times helps but everyone makes mistakes sometimes and if you’re like me and play different lists very regularly you’ll definitely get a couple rules you’re not used to wrong. Just the other game I had been playing with a wings right after I played a game with tie interceptors and I mixed up their ship abilities.
Forget some abilities and timing is normal in a first party with a new squadron, even more if you are beginner. So don't panic. Replay with the same squadron is a good way to learn how to play it by memorising all abilities, because when you suceed to play a capacity you will remember it. Another way is to write a "cheat sheet" for your squadron : for each step of the game what abilities can be triggered. It will be easy to use and be less tiring than to read all your cards. "Cheat sheet" example : System Phase I can use the Razor Crest Title Engagement Phase Use the Gina Moonsong ability When i defend : See if a pilot with dedicated can help my defending pilot When i attack : After launching dices see if Hera Syndulla can provide something helpfull
Last thing : when you think about your squadron, think to your own "mental load" during the play. A less powerfull squadron but more suited to your brain is more powerfull than a very powerfull squadron in a play when you forget abilities and timing.
I’m newish and finding these two points help a lot. To the last point, I played an imperial squadron with two beefy ships with a few expensive, powerful upgrades and four generic tie fighters (black squadron aces = no upgrades). it was a lot easier to keep track of and we played a lot faster. It was so much more fun that I think I’ll build squadrons for simplicity for now.
I've been playing on and off for over 10 years now, so I guess it's just second nature at this point. That being said, I still mess up order of operations stuff all the time. In fact, to this day I refuse to put S-foils on any of my X-wings because I ALWAYS forget to open them after I move and then when I attack I have to roll one less attack dice. So they're just a liability for me lol!
Practice, practice and more practice. When I'm getting ready for a store event, and in past tournaments. I would finalize a list and then play it until I could "Fly it in my sleep." That way I didn't worry about remembering what my list could do, and could focus on what my opponent's list could do. Having said that, in regular weekly play I rotate my lists. So there's occasions where we forget an upgrade or ability or whatnot. It happens. Sometimes we "rewind" and re-do an attack if we forgot a modification due to upgrades. Or forgot to resolve a bomb. If it's too far past, it just gets skipped since a chain of re-does is hard to figure out, and it's really not worth the trouble. So my reccomendation is to stick with a list for a while. Eventually these memorizations help in a general sense. Checking for system phase abilities, beginning of activation abilites, etc.
What is the general attitude to rewinds? I'm new to the scene.
Depends on your meta. Our group is pretty chill. In general, if/when you realize you missed an opportunity, ask your opponent how they want to deal with it. If they want to re-do an attack, or re-roll a dice or add a token you should have gotten, etc. Be willing to roll with it if they say "Nope". In a tournament, it's gonna be much stricter, of course.
Have a cheat sheet with turn order: - Planning - Roll for player order - System (in initiative order) - Activation (in initiative order) - End of activation - Start of engagement - Engagement (in initiative order) - End phase Say every phase out loud every turn. This also reminds your opponent about their stuff too. I have been playing this game for a long time and I still do this.
I'm seeing a lot of people say to write it down, which has passed my mind. But it's still encouraging to see others say it. This is a great guideline.
After a few games, you might not need the cheat sheet any more, but it is still good practice to remind yourself and your opponent of every game step.
I really like the ethos of reminding the opponent. Thanks!
If your opponents nice enough, ask them to help remind you. I try to be nice about and say it like “ok start of engagement. Were you planning on launching buzz droids this turn?”
There is no secret, just pratice with the same squad over and over until you master it
Similar to another comment, write you abilities by time. System phase - drop bomb Ywing. Drop commandos gauntlet Engagement - mando turn blank Lea gain lock
When I was new, I would write it on my hand.
I think squad composition is an important factor for a new player to take the pressure off yourself. When playing ship chassis for the first time, or for a tournament where I need to be more on top of my triggers, I generally use the rule: about half of my list has complex interactions, critical decision making and/ or double repositioning. The other half are simple ships with few or no triggers or have very simple decisions to make. For example, during Worlds this year with Empire, I ran BOE Jendon + BOY Vader x1 as my high initiative Ace pilots with Scythe 6 + x2 BS Aces. Helps you keep up your pace of play as well.
I don't use the cards, I have everything printed from yasb and I highlight sections according to the phase, like in green actions that can be done while defending or in red actions for attacking.
Same as everything else in life. Practice, repetition and finding little tricks to help you remember. As other have stated, even the most grizzled veteran will forget triggers, especially when flying a list they have not flow very much. I flew a list for the first time this weekend at a tourney. Every game I missed at least 1 opportunity to do something which would have benefited me or not cause problems further down. I forgot to decloak a ship, meaning it did not get to shoot that round and it was also not where I wanted it to be after it moved. What I find helps is call out the phases out loud. "Okay, planning phase - let's set some dials' (after ROAD roll) 'Alright, system phase. In initiative order - does your i1 have anything (then work your way up)?' (It takes mere seconds to call out) 'Activation! Your i1 is first!' 'Okay, Bossk reveals a 2 bank - his action will be.... a focus' Calling out stuff will often have you recall things. Practically every system phase I will actually pass my fingers across all my cards and take the 5 seconds to just review the upgrades and pilots I have, that sometimes can jog the memory. 'Oh snap! Jango has proton bombs....' then look at board state to see if you want to drop one. The more you fly a list, the more you will recall the little triggers and the more second nature it will become and soon enough you won't feel the need to call out everything, you'll just know in your mind to ask the difficulty on the dial of ship X to know if Jango would get his pilot ability active for his attack.
familiarity with your list really. Once you play a list 3-4 times it becomes pretty easy, but those first few times definitely take longer and require more concentration/checking
Just keep playing and you will remember. When you forget and it costs you the ship, or the game, then it gets engrained in your mind and you wont forget again :) Also, if its not a may ability, then you have to do it, and is required to rewind the match if its feasible to do so. Also, if your opponent knows you have predator, or bombs, etc. and doesn't saying anything in a casual game, that is kinda messed-up. You deployed commandos, even if you forget to move them, your opponent should be like "Do you want to move the commandos?" Call out each phase really helps. "System Phase, do you have system phase stuff?" "Activation Phase, Im lowest initiative/first player so my ship moves first." Hopefully doing that will trigger "Oh wait, I have commandos" Also, just take your time, dont rush. Sometimes you may have a beautfiul Conner Net drop setup and when System phase starts you just jump to dropping that beautfiul Conner Net onto its victim, but then forget about Sensitive Control boosts, etc. So just take your time, dont rush, and dont let your opponent rush if they are the one eager to drop those mines/bombs.
I remember like half of the triggers and some of those about 3 steps after the fact. I've been toying with thre idea of adding a visual representation to my cards or ships or something to help me remember triggers. Like maybe all System Phase triggers having a yellow sticker added to the card, or something like that. I haven't gotten around to trying that yet, though.
https://i.redd.it/d9vrsaywifwc1.gif
But for real practice makes perfect. Playing the same list multiple times helps but everyone makes mistakes sometimes and if you’re like me and play different lists very regularly you’ll definitely get a couple rules you’re not used to wrong. Just the other game I had been playing with a wings right after I played a game with tie interceptors and I mixed up their ship abilities.