Why Wing?

[Mr Mystery]

Yes, it's another crap pun.

No, I don't apologise at all.

Now onto the waffling....

This X-Wing game eh? Hearing good things about it, but oddly I have no idea why. Glowing referrals to it, but nobody really telling me what it is that has them hooked!

What appeals to me - It's Star Wars. I like star fighters. It's Star Wars. Pretty models

What drawbacks - Pre-assembled models (I like building the models), models look pretty, but always make me think of the Micro Machines from a few years back. Price - Not massively expensive, but value concern due to only getting a single model and some cards.

Now then, please do wax lyrical about the game. I'm intrigued, but not yet sold on it.

[Joe Fixit]

It's a fantastic game, hugely enjoyable and easy to learn.

1. Price, some moan about how wargaming as a hobby can get pricey. In comparison x-wing is quite cheap. £25 (ish) will get you a core set. This includes everything you need to play a good couple of basic games. 3 ships which can be used in multiple ways and various missions to get you started. Grab a buddy and start playing. A stand alone ship will cost anywhere between £12 for an X-Wing to £60 plus for the new bigger ships.

2. Rules, bloody easy to learn and very simple. No time spent debating x y or z. The rules are very clear as are the ship upgrades and abilities. Kids can pick this game up easy enough and with all the ships (called expansion packs) coming with multiple upgrades and pilots there's enough there for the hardcore wargamer to come up with fiendish tactics and combos. Oh and just because an upgrade card comes with one ship doesn't mean it can't be used on another. The expansion packs are brilliant for adding variety to not just the new ship you bought but your whole collection.

3. It's starwars, enough said really. Who doesn't want to be Vader, Han Solo, Fett...... Etc etc

4. Game time, it's a fast game and where one game of say 40k can take hours you could 3-4 games of 100pt games of X-Wing in the same time. 100pts is the standard game size and that can be anywhere between 2 ships to 8 (Tie Swarm)

5. Pre-painted ships are a plus for some, me I like to repaint mine as I think the stock paint job is a bit crap generally. A bit of a spruce up and a wash improves them 100% if that's your thing.

6. Frequent updates of new ships, also FF are very open about what's in the works and nothings kept as a secret. If it's in development they tell the players about it with pics of the movement dials, upgrades and ships many months in advance. Gets me salivating every time in think of the Rebel Aces box set to come.

7. Game balance is really good, it really is down to the player more than the ships. Sure some are better than others but I can't think of a single ship that isn't viable in one form or another.

8. More and more people are picking this up, my friends are dropping other games rapidly for X-Wing. Not because they stopped liking them, they just prefer X-Wing.

If you do make the jump into the game the usually recommendation is to buy x 2 core sets and an an extra Tie Fighter and X-Wing. This gives you enough varity to keep you interested for some time, but if like me you get the bug it won't be long before your chomping after a YT1300 and extra ships. Availability of some ships can be a bit of a pain as it's so popular and ships like the B-Wing can be hard to find until a reprint is issued. That's the only downside I can think of X-Wing.

I hope this helps you out, let's face it £25 is good for a punt on a new experience even if that's as far as you get.

[Mr Mystery]

So how do you play the game? What are the mechanisms?

I was reading about the E-Wing, and the shop blurb thing went on about actions and cards and stuff, and stress tokens.

[Joe Fixit]

I could waffle on but FF did a brilliant video of the rules and mechanics.
Loads on YouTube really.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuhwSma960Y

[Mr Mystery]

Cheer dude.

[eldargal]

It's easy to learn, slow to master, great fun and fast to play with excellent balance. I prefer painting and assembling models as well but the FFG X-Wing range are really beautiful, well worth it. But you can make them even prettier with a bit of shading and highlighting.:) Plus using modelling skills to build stuff to make the table more exciting like asteroids, cargo containers, stations, other ships even etc.

[spaceman91]

I got hooked because its one of those games that's simple but complex. I love all games like that. Plus being a massive star wars nerd helps. The value I find to be good and the models may be premade but just go look for conversions and repaints, there's plenty

[Wildeybeast]

All of the above really. Also, getting started is stupidly easy and pretty cheap. Assuming you have a friend, buy a starter set each. Then you both have all the gubbins each, plus enough dice to play properly (as the three isn't enough) and then you can either share your ships or do a swapsy if one person is set on Empire and another on Rebels, so you have decent starting fleet each. it works out much better value than buying the ships individually, where they are on par with GW prices.

One note of caution though. FFG cannot keep up with demand when it comes to manufacturing. Beyond the core sets and some of the first wave ships, it's proving difficult for UK retailers to get stock of the newer releases. Most have indeterminate order fulfilment dates AFAIK. It's the one thing letting FFG down with X Wing.

[Nabterayl]

Also, good lord does it feel like playing X-Wing or TIE Fighter (the computer games from the '90s) in miniatures form. Really great job of capturing the feel of Star Wars dogfighting, not just interesting mechanics on their own.

[Tyrendian]

by the way, anyone got a recommendation for a youtube channel with quality batreps?

[Houghten]

You're trying to put "video" and "quality batrep" in the same conceptual space, that's never going to end well.

[Mr Mystery]

Also, good lord does it feel like playing X-Wing or TIE Fighter (the computer games from the '90s) in miniatures form. Really great job of capturing the feel of Star Wars dogfighting, not just interesting mechanics on their own.

K now that interests me, as I really enjoyed those games (and I would kill for a current gen starfighter game of any stripe on the PS3/PS4)

[Psychosplodge]

Nah I wouldn't want it dumbing down to console level.

[ted1138]

I love x-wing because: It's simple to get started but has endless possibilities. The rules are very straightforward and well supported by FFG's FAQs, meaning you don't get any of the arguments commonly found in games like WH40k. You play on a 3'x3' table/board, so it's perfect for playing at home. Even though you only have a handful of models it still feels like a full game. As soon as you finish playing one game you want to play another, and then another. :)

[John Bower]

Simple solution to your quandary mate, get somebody to teach you over a few games, then you'll be hooked. :)

[Tyrendian]

You're trying to put "video" and "quality batrep" in the same conceptual space, that's never going to end well.

admittedly yeah :) with some exceptions - just look at Team0Comp for player quality and sheer level of hilariously inappropriate banter or StrikingScorpion88 for models and terrain (no offence to Reece and crew but that guy has you beat, especially on the terrain front...)
Back to X-Wing, let me rephrase that "quality" into "fun to watch and know what they're doing"...

[Brakkart]

A pretty good (and fun) introduction to X-Wing courtesy of the awesome Youtube tv show that is Tabletop!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mxPFHBCfuU

[Denzark]

K now that interests me, as I really enjoyed those games (and I would kill for a current gen starfighter game of any stripe on the PS3/PS4)

MM there is a community of X-Wing Alliance players who have modded it up to W7...

[Patrick Boyle]

A pretty good (and fun) introduction to X-Wing courtesy of the awesome Youtube tv show that is Tabletop!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mxPFHBCfuU

Simultaneous rolling of attack and defense die, rerolling for your target locks on missle attacks, boosting by stacking templates...

http://mlkshk.com/r/8DB

X-WING DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!

...ahem.

[Weidekuh]

Easy to learn,
hard to master,
tactical depth,
very well balanced.

A good site to read about X-Wing: http://teamcovenant.com
They also organise tournaments on VASSAL. I think their latest one is a X-Wing league. 144 participants from 20 different countries.

They also have a youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/CovenantTCG/videos?shelf_id=7&sort=dd&tag_id=UCT0_zqao2b2kJBe-bmF_0og.3.star-wars-x-wing-miniatures&view=46

Their video of the 2013 World Championship Final is very well done and shows how balanced the game is. I won't spoiler it. ;)

[Donga]

I'm very tempted. I was thinking of getting two reasonably well matched fleets so I can play against my son and brother-in-law (both massive star wars fans like me).

I was planning to get 2xgame boxes plus and tie advanced (darth vadar!!!) and a Y-wing (so we can say "stay on target!"). Would that be a good starter for noobs?

(Not a noob for warhammer, 40k since rogue trader days, 2nd ed warhammer)

[Weidekuh]

You can have fun matches with that. I love flying the slow but sturdy Y-Wing. Especially with an Ion Turret. ;)
Of course your squadrons will be somewhat limited, but you can have very fun battles already. There's really only the HWK-290 I wouldn't recommend starting with, since you need better knowledge of the game mechanics to make it work. Everything else is fine.

The Tie-Advanced is generally seen as a little weaker ship. Weaker meaning, you won't notice much difference (not 40k-style weaker :P ). And Darth Vaders ability makes it a solid and fun ship to fly anyway.
But I wouldn't recommend buying more than one until FFG gives it a little boost. Like they did with the Tie-Interceptor and soon the A-Wing.


EDIT: Just to be clear. 2x starter box is the best value you can get. I was only commenting on the Y-Wing and Tie-Advanced.

[Tyrendian]

I'm very tempted. I was thinking of getting two reasonably well matched fleets so I can play against my son and brother-in-law (both massive star wars fans like me).

I was planning to get 2xgame boxes plus and tie advanced (darth vadar!!!) and a Y-wing (so we can say "stay on target!"). Would that be a good starter for noobs?

(Not a noob for warhammer, 40k since rogue trader days, 2nd ed warhammer)

also, probably includea blister of both the XWing and TIE in your first purchases - gives you a bunch more fun pilots to use with the ships you already have!

[Mr Mystery]

Quick question about 'Tie Swarm'.

I've seen it mentioned that this is a bit overpowered and unbalancing..... But is it actually a bit unfair, or just sour grapes from people who haven't figured a decent counter to it? Because TIE Swarm is effectively the prime tactic of the Empire all the time ever. Hence the lack of shields and hyperdrives. They're disposable!

[Joe Fixit]

Quick question about 'Tie Swarm'.

I've seen it mentioned that this is a bit overpowered and unbalancing..... But is it actually a bit unfair, or just sour grapes from people who haven't figured a decent counter to it? Because TIE Swarm is effectively the prime tactic of the Empire all the time ever. Hence the lack of shields and hyperdrives. They're disposable!

Think of a Tie Swarm as the equivalent of a green tide in 40k, not unbeatable or unfair but a bit daunting to play against.

[Weidekuh]

There is nothing that is unbeatable in X-Wing. Tie Swarms are good, because they are very reliable. Bad rolls don't hurt you so much, because you have a lot of redundancy. And shooting with 6-7 ships means, you will do some damage, even if every attack is only strength 2.

The key to fighting swarms is pulling them into asteroids and breaking their formation apart. Then picking them one by one. Killing Howlrunner early is important. She does hugely buff the ties around her. Also asteroid placement is very important.


EDIT: Tie Swarms are not imbalanced. But you need to know how to fight them. Else they are pretty hard to beat. That's probably the reason why some people see it as a bit though. If you just run straight at it, you'll basicly die.