Anniversaries, Activations, and Expo Loot | This Week in Hating Dice — Week 23 and 24

Sometimes the weeks just run together — and with our 15th wedding anniversary falling right before UK Games Expo this year, I decided to let this next instalment cover a two-week window. It’s been a packed stretch of hobby and life: a Legion game, a peaceful (if slightly sickly) Lake District trip, and my first UK Games Expo at the NEC. Let’s get into it.

Legion: A Costly First Strike

The main game on the table these past weeks was a clash against Simon’s GAR list — a 501st list that we iterated a little before the game containing both Anakin Skywalker, and the newly released Ahsoka Tano Padawan Commander (its new in the Uk anyway)
It was one of those matches where a single early decision skews the flow of the whole game.
On turn one, Simon left Anakin slightly exposed in an earlier activation than he would have wanted — only 1 Dodge token, no Back Up — and my Fluttercraft and Ranged Wookiees hadn’t activated yet.
I had opened with Luminous Beings are We for Yoda’s command card, so I had aim tokens a plenty to use so I committed hard to take him off the board immediately — and it worked. Anakin was deleted turn one.

Early moves in my Wookiees vs. GAR game — Anakin didn’t last long, but my Fluttercraft paid the price in positioning.

But the cost was clear. In forcing that play, I had to push my Fluttercraft all onto the same flank, and with each one having to make space for the next shot, they quickly ended up in very sub-optimal positions. Rather than using them flexibly to contest smart objectives, I found myself just struggling to keep them firing, repositioning awkwardly, and trying not to hand Simon too easy of a swing back.  I eventually got them loose, but his ARC Troopers had still done damage and Ahsoka was his Bomb Carrier and was always threatening to blow up my Bunker if I pushed too aggressively.

Yoda, Wookiees and Fluttercraft committing hard to the flank — a costly push that shaped the rest of the match.

I made a risky play to try to seal the game with Size Matters Sometimes. Playing the card dragged Yoda in to charge range of a full unit of ARC troopers, while the rules don’t allow him to engage both Yoda and Chewbacca, it did bypass Guardian meaning that all the attacks on to the wise Jedi Master would be his to deal with. 
Obviously, Simon got the 10 hits, and it was a tight moment rolling the dice to see if Yoda would live, but the averages held and he lived with 1 wound remaining, and was safe from any retaliation as no one else could fit in base to base contact with him until he moved.

Saving his and Chewbacca’s activations until it was safe, I moved Chewbacca first which pulls Yoda out of Combat because of Size Matters Sometimes (The tricks that that card allows are so fun!) The double move from Chewbacca as he dashes towards the enemy Bunker, Yoda in tow who is carrying my Bomb.  Then on Yoda’s turn, he used Guidance to move Chewbacca within range of the Enemy Bunker and used Force Wave to clear out the last two models contesting it allowing for a 4 point swing that solidified my advantage in the game, and even if Yoda went down next round, it would not affect the outcome as Ahsoka didn’t have the firepower to deal with he Wookiees holding my home objectives and Bunker and so there were not enough achievable victory points for Simon to pull the game back.

It was a lesson in balance: achieving that early advantage was great, but it left me out of position, and I felt like I was struggling for tempo for big parts of the rest of the match.
A good reminder that in Legion, board state is often more valuable than an early attrition spike, as it ended up being a much closer game than it should have been — 501st can put out serious damage!

A Quiet (and Slightly Sniffly) Anniversary

A peaceful view from our anniversary trip — not much hiking this time, but a very welcome change of pace.

Later in the week, it was time for a very different couple of days — Gill and I headed up to the Lake District for our 15th wedding anniversary. In theory, it was meant to be a proper break: some time away, nice meals, a bit of walking, and plenty of hobby downtime.

15 years — and counting. Sometimes the best trips are the quiet ones.

Reality intervened in the form of a nasty cold that we had been carrying since the trip to the caravan the weekend before. So instead of hiking the fells, we enjoyed the lovely hotel, taking it easy and enjoying some much-needed quiet time.

My Lake District painting setup — not bad for a temporary desk!

We both leaned into our respective hobbies — I brought some painting with me, and Gill had her crochet and books — and despite not feeling great, it was still a lovely, peaceful few days. Having that time to ourselves — just relaxing and taking things at our own pace — made the trip worth it. We even managed a nice picnic before the rain caught up with us!

UKGE: Familiar Faces and Fresh Plastic

Barely back from the Lakes, I was up early Saturday morning to make the drive down to Birmingham for UK Games Expo.

I had initially planned to be there for 4 days covering the event as Press, but that plan didn’t materialize (much to my relief as it allowed the Wedding Anniversary trip to happen…) so it was a bit of a frantic weekend, heading down to the AirBnB that one of the Patreon had kindly arranged (thanks Peter!), so I could just shoot off my share of the bill and not have to stress about any of the organization.

Back in the mix — UK Games Expo 2025 in full swing.

It was great to catch up with the listeners, and the wider UK X-Wing community — I’ve said it before, but the way the scene has pulled together in this new environment is fantastic to see. Walking through the X-Wing space at the Expo felt a bit like a mini-reunion, with so many familiar faces from past Worlds events and local groups. There’s a real sense of resilience and positivity there right now.

While I was at the Expo, I also had the chance to speak with Ross and Will from AMG and set up our interview for the Sunday. I’ll cover more about that in a separate post (and you can already find the interview on the DiceHate YouTube channel if you haven’t caught it yet), but it was a good conversation and a nice chance to get more of a pulse on where AMG is at with Legion and their other lines.

Of course, no UKGE trip is complete without a little wallet damage. Here’s the rundown of this year’s haul:

• Two Thin Coats Wave 3 paints — I had been working with Wave 1 and 2 on my Shadow Collective, so adding Wave 3 was an obvious next step in the project.

• Pro Acryl Starter set, AMG Sets 1 & 2 — I am a sucker for a new paint line and when we spoke about them at Adepticon, I was keen to get a set to test and tinker with.

• Shatterpoint models — After rebuying the starter set at Adepticon, I went and bought some extra sets to fill in some different play styles and offer a few more options.

• New Rebel Troopers for Legion — Mainly so that I can do a review of the new sculpts and a side-by-side comparison, I know I missed the boat for early content, but I still want to give it a go.

• Bushido — something of an impulse buy; but the miniatures looked fun, and I am sure I will get to paint them and didn’t just add to my pile of shame…

• Pike & Shotte: Wars of the Samurai — I do love Samurai games so why not bring two home…

• Fancy tokens — because I am weak when confronted with well-designed tokens at a convention stand.

I didn’t take part in any of the wide array of events on offer at this years UKGE, as it was more of a networking and reconnaissance trip with me trying to find my feet in the UK, but I did squeeze in a Shatterpoint Demo just as a nice refresher, as I had not played since running my own demos at Launch.

Quick Shatterpoint refresher — great to see the demo team keeping it fast and fun.

I took Anakin and Ahsoka against Maul and Ventress, in a very hotly contested back and forth single struggle game.
 It was great to see the demo team working their magic first-hand — really selling the feel of the game, getting you right into the action without bogging you down in too much detail too early. It’s exactly how I believe a game demo should be.

Armed with my crushing victory of a demo game, I got my discount code and went to purchase the aforementioned Shatterpoint Models.
I ended up getting:

• Plans and Preparation

• Fistful of Credits

• Lead by Example

• That’s Good Business

This year’s UKGE haul — paints, minis, tokens… and maybe a small addition to the pile of shame.

Giving me what I hoped would be a good mix of characters to explore a different style to what I had started with (I was planning on running You Have Something I Want & Today the Rebellion Dies Squad Packs as a very Objective Focused Imperial Squad) So I am sure there will be more Shatterpoint Content to come, especially as it is a game that I may be able to fit a table in to my own very restrictive play space, and I do love a nice table!

Back to Base

Since getting back, it’s been a mix of recovery and productivity. The Expo took a lot of energy, especially after fighting off that lingering cold, but I’ve also been diving into editing the AMG interview and catching up on some painting projects that were lingering on the desk.

It’s one of those times where momentum matters — even with the disruption of travel and illness, I’m trying to keep the hobby wheels turning. Having a few shiny new things from UKGE certainly helps with that motivation.
So armed with the newly acquired Wave 3, I unpacked my Two Thin Coats paints and got to work on finishing the Swoop Bikes that I had started in the Lake District.
It was a slog — not because of the models or the paints — but because I was adjusting to not having that dedicated hobby area. It was the first project that I was tackling at home in what I knew would be the way that I now approach painting, and I wanted to make sure that I put the effort in to get results and didn’t become defeatist about it.

Finished Swoop Bikes — the first full project completed in the new home hobby setup.

I think they turned out well — and it felt good to break out the light box again and snap some proper photos with backdrops. The hobby momentum is back.

And that’s the update for this fortnight.
Between the fast-paced swings of Legion, a quiet anniversary break, and the buzz of UKGE, it’s been a full couple of weeks. I’m already looking ahead to what’s on the table next — both literally and creatively.

Until next time, happy gaming — and if you’ve got any great UKGE finds, Legion plays, or hobby wins of your own this week, drop them in the comments or tag me online. Always love seeing what everyone’s working on.
Kris