Obsessions over Oblong Outmaneuvering

X-Wing:  The Obsession

                Hello all, glad to be back!  Today we are going to talk about the X-Wing Miniatures game put out by Fantasy Flight Games, a true powerhouse in the Board Game world – you’ve probably heard of them.  If you haven’t, you can thank them for X-Wing, Star Wars Armada, Android Netrunner, Star Wars Age of Empire, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, and many more renditions of your favorite entertainment as board games that are truly excellent.  I could talk to you for the next week about some of their awesome games, and I am sure that I will at some point, but today we are focusing on something that could be considered their flagship product:  X-WING.

SYNOPSIS:

There are few games that many people can agree are well balanced, engaging, have an actively supported community, and are awesome to look at on the table while they are being played.  Well, X-Wing covers all of that and more.  I’m sure many of you have already played it, seen it, or atleast know about it in some sense.  For those of you that haven’t heard about it, this is a game where you collect pre-painted ships from Star Wars canon (currently only the Original Series) and make a squadron out of some of these iconic vessels and pilots – such as the Millennium Falcon and Luke Skywalker piloting an X-Wing.  Each ship pack comes with an assortment of pilots, upgrade cards to improve your ships, and in some cases missions to be played out on the table. 

The core game comes with all of the tokens that you will need to play the game, as well as all rules that you need to play for 90% of the games you will play.  It also comes with all of the movement templates and range finders used for shooting at other ships.  If you get the core box – which comes with all of this and is an amazing deal for a starter box – you also get 3 ships to start!  You get two TIE fighters of the Galactic Empire as well as an X-Wing for the Rebel Alliance.  From there, it is recommended by many that you simply go out and buy a second core box, which will give you more than enough dice, tokens, cards, and a good amount of ships to build your first squadrons.

 

This is how I started the game of X-Wing, with a simple X-Wing going after a pair of TIEs.  I soon expanded my squadrons to have A-Wings, B-Wings, Y-Wings, the HWK 290, several Z-95 Headhunters, and the terrifying Rebel Aces.  I have yet to buy a large based ship, such as the Millennium Falcon or the agile YT-2400 Freighter used by Dash Rendar.  On the Imperial side of things, I have yet to expand past the original 2 TIE fighters, but I have plans to advance the cause of the Empire in the foreseeable future.

GAMEPLAY:

                Few games run as smoothly as X-Wing that I have found.  The mechanics for X-Wing are designed with beginners in mind, making it easy to learn, hard to master.  This is most likely why this game is so incredibly suited for tournament play.  There are good combos, but even the best combos will be beaten soundly by a competent player armed with a squadron they know well.  You would be hard pressed to try and find some ultimate win combo in this game.  This doesn’t mean that there are not subpar choices to take in a list – for instance, in the current meta of the game, it is not often that you will see Rebel players take E-Wings or Imperials take TIE Advanced, because both of these options – while amazing on their own – are simply too overpriced to take effectively and still be able to build a functional squadron around.  Does that mean that people never take these?  Not at all.  In fact, I have seen people take these options just for the challenge of flying with these ships. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of the game so that you can understand what makes a good player that can truly surpass others based on their skill, rather than if they have internet connection to get to net lists.

1.       Squadron Building

I know that I just said about an inch above this that we should get to the nitty-gritty of playing the game, but that honestly does start with Squadron building.  The choices you make here will determine how you fly your squad, and how they will act together on the table.  Let’s use an example from all wave 1 ships, just to keep things simple.  Most games will be played at 100 points – that means you and your opponent will each get to make a squadron with a value of 100 points of ships, pilots, and upgrades.  However, for this upgrade, we will make a 50 point list for both the Empire and the Rebellion.

Rebel Alliance – Yavin Squadron

X-Wing – Rookie Pilot: Proton Torpedoes, R5-K6 [27]

Y-Wing – Gold Squadron Pilot:  Ion Cannon Turret [23]

Galactic Empire – 203^rd Squadron

TIE Fighter – Howlrunner: Marksmanship [21]

TIE Fighter – Dark Curse [16]

TIE Fighter – Obsidian Squadron Pilot [13]

As you can see, there are many different ways to make a squadron, featuring lots of different overarching strategies that will impact the heart of the game and how each of the players will proceed.  The Rebel player will focus on attempting to stun ships so that the X-Wing can target lock and use the proton torpedoes to destroy the most important target – in this case Howlrunner.  The Empire player will attempt to get in close as quickly as possible, with Howlrunner giving his ability to Dark Curse at range band 1, allowing him to roll a mighty 5 dice in the attack phase.  3 for being short range, 1 for Dark Curse’s ability, and then 1 again from Howlrunner being within range 1.  5 dice have a much greater chance of causing lots of damage to the enemy, even one as tough as the Y-Wing.

A useful link to check out for squad building help.

2.       Deployment and the Board

As soon as you and your opponent have created squadrons of equal value, it is up to you to decide who has initiative.  In the case above, the two would dice off to see who would have the choice of initiative.  If one of the players had failed to reach the required 50 points, then the player with the least number of points would automatically have the initiative choice to be made.  The first step of the game on the table is to set up the playing area.  You will need a 3x3 table to play on, and all of your ships off to the side for deployment.  You will then need to have the 6 asteroids included in the core box and take turns placing them on the field.  After that, you will each place your ships in increasing Pilot Skill level.  From there, you will begin the game!

From the Cloud Cities on Bespin

To custom made LED tables

3.       The Game

As the game begins, you will use the movement dials – one of the coolest parts of the whole X-Wing game – to plot your movements in secret, and then you will move your ships in ascending Pilot Skill order.  After you move a ship, you will have the option to take any of the actions listed on your pilot cards, including barrel rolls, target locks, focus, or evades among others.  These actions are an important part of the game, giving the individual ships their flavor and making the game even more interesting.  These actions will allow you to either set up for combat next turn, or to blow some of the enemy to tiny pieces. When you get into the combat phase, your high pilot skills will get to shoot first, firing blasters, missiles, torpedoes, and more.  As you defeat ships, the game will move faster, culminating in the final turns as a rapidly played out, highly cinematic, tense game – if it is close.  If it isn’t close, don’t be afraid to call it and reset your ships for a rematch!

4.       Final Thoughts

There is not a game quite like X-Wing on the market in my opinion.  Several people will throw up their hands at this and point at Star Trek Attack Wing or D&D’s Attack Wing and look at me expectantly, but I really think that X-Wing is in a realm of its own.  There is no game that combines excellent miniatures, streamlined rules, tournament friendliness, and an IP that almost the entire world knows about to form this mega hit that is X-Wing.  You can find someone to have every walk of gaming life in X-Wing, from die hard repainters and converters to people who just want to “fly casual” and have a beer and pretzels game.  This is why I love X-Wing, the flexibility to play whatever type of game you want while simultaneously offering a competitive and supported game. 

Rating: 5 Blasters out of 5.

What to Expect Next:

The end of the weight of 40k around my neck, and the rise of new games to replace it!  Can I beat my rival at X-Wing!?  Can I finish painting all of my current Malifaux stuff by the end of the month?!  Can I paint Board Games miniatures to the same standard as my tabletop minatures?!  Tune in soon to find out all of this, and more!

COME-COME BACK SOON MAN-THINGS.  MORE-MORE TO BE SAID SOON!