The Wargamesmonger in S-P-A-A-A-C-E!

Gaming in a Galaxy Far, Far Away

(An X-Wing After Action Report and Review)

 Greetings, young Jedi, and welcome back to Parzival’s Place. This time around we shall leave the green fields of Earth (or someplace like it) and set out into the grand and glorious void of space... a long time ago in a galaxy, far, far away. (Okay, at my friend Will’s house in Nashville).

 This is my semi-occasional-regular-when-we-can-all-schedule-it gaming group, which consists of my friends Will, Jim, and Michael, my son Alexander, and Michael’s son, Chase. For Christmas I had received from my lovely and amazing wife the gift of Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game, along with several expansion packs. Though I myself had fiddled around with the game, this evening would be the first exposure for the rest of the group, and I was eager to find out what they would think of it.

Why should the bad guys be the only ones to use the Force choke?
Left to right: Padawan Alexander, Commodore Howard (yours truly), Captain Will, Darth Chase, Darth Michael. Not pictured (the sneaky devil), Lord Jim

How X-Wing Works

(If you know, skip ahead to And the Battle Begins...)

 X-Wing attempts to echo the classic dogfights from the various Star Wars films (the original trilogy only at this time). Players control one or more iconic spaceships from the movies, choosing maneuvers and special actions for their craft, and blasting away at their opponents.

 Play is simple: A turn begins with everyone secretly plotting their crafts’ maneuvers for the turn. This is done on a very handy little dial that depicts all the possible maneuvers for a specific craft. Different craft have different capabilities— TIE fighters, for example, are faster and generally more nimble than other craft, but can’t make shorter movements except for sharp turns. X-wings are less speedy, but can make gentle maneuvers at low speeds that TIEs can’t match. And the Y-wing (an expansion craft) is a lumbering hog, though it also can make slow maneuvers that TIEs can’t.
Certain extreme maneuvers (such as a 180° turn) are “stressful”, and result in limitations on a craft’s actions for a while, until a gentler maneuver is picked that allows the pilot to correct the “stress.”

 Once all maneuvers are plotted, movement begins, starting with the lowest rated pilot (crafts are rated from 1 and up, with 1 being the worst) and then working up in turn to the highest rated pilot. To move, a simple template matching the chosen maneuver is placed in front of the craft. The fighter moves along this template until it reaches the end, or, if the end would place it on top of another craft, until its base touches the other craft.

 After moving, a player may select an “action” for his craft. These differ depending on craft and pilot, but generally the actions are Focus (which improves odds of winning in combat rolls), Evade (which automatically avoids one hit in combat), Barrel Roll (which allows the craft to spin to the side immediately after moving), or Target Lock (which allows re-rolls when shooting a specific target). “Stressed” pilots can’t use an action until they perform a gentle maneuver to remove their stress (a “stressed” pilot keeps a red triangular “!” marker next to his craft).
Once all movement and actions are chosen, combat begins, starting with the highest rated pilot and moving in order down to the lowest rated pilot.

 Combat involves checking the range to the target and rolling the eight-sided red attack dice versus the eight-sided green “evasion” dice. Attack dice results are either blank, an eye (the “focus" action turns this into a hit) or a starburst (a hit— some starbursts indicate critical hits). Evasion dice results are either blank, an eye (“focus” turns this into an evasion) or a curved arrow (a successful evasion). Each curved arrow rolled cancels a hit rolled. Range may give the attacker an additional die (short range) or the evader an additional die (long range).

 Once the attacks are done, damage cards are handed to those hit (or shields are removed for craft that have them). Depending on the craft, three to five hits will destroy it. (Cards also show special effects, but for simplicity’s sake we ignored these.)

Repeat above until one side is destroyed or the scenario objectives are complete.

And the Battle Begins...

 We tossed aside the scenarios in the book in favor of a straight out battle of equal forces— Empire vs. Rebels. Chase, Michael and Jim took charge of a patrol of TIE fighters, while Will and Alexander took command of an X-wing each, and I, as the veteran, sat at the controls of a reliable, sturdy (and slooow) Y-wing.

 I expected the fight to finish quickly, but I neglected to consider the newness of everything to each of us. It’s very easy to discover that your carefully planned maneuver did not actually place the enemy in your sights— not helped by the fact that TIEs can barrel roll, effectively changing their final position by about an inch and a half. The Imperial patrol made good use of that tactic early on, and our Rebel fighters often found ourselves shooting at empty space!

"They're just two ships who pass in the night..."

 The first turn amounted to an approach only, with no one in range to do anything. The second turn saw Lord Jim and Padawan Alexander exchanging shots (removing one of Alex’s shields), but nothing significant, and on the following turn they zipped past each other, waving and exchanging friendly Force gestures through the cockpit windows.

Target Lock acquired! Hold it, hold it... prepare to keep holding it...

 Meanwhile, I had Darth Michael in my sights, and immediately set a Target Lock on his craft (which would remain active until the end of the game). Darth Michael opened fire on Captain Will, to no avail, and the good captain returned fire with equal results (that is, none). My shots also missed, and I decided to hold the Target Lock for a better opportunity. That opportunity would be a looooong time in coming.

Fire at Will! (Not at me!)

Captain Will: "I hope this doesn't hurt."
Darth Chase: "Pew pew pew pew!"

"Wow, you, dodged that one!"
"It's all in the wrist."

The Rebels strike back. (Oh, come on, you had to know I was gonna say that.)

Padawan Alexander turned to support Will and me, who were now in a very confusing muddle with the other TIEs. Lord Jim zoomed in as well, but wound up in Captain Will’s crosshairs. The good captain, never one to turn down a heaven-sent gift, introduced Lord Jim to stardom (meaning, his TIE fighter momentarily achieved the light and heat of a small star). Boom— scratch one of the Emperor’s minions.

A target-rich environment. Which way are we gonna move?

Okay, wait— how did we *all* end up with no targets?!?

The imminent destruction of Dark Lord Jim (leftmost TIE) and Padawan Alexander (rightmost X-wing).
Captain Will:"I have you now!"
Lord Jim: "Wait, that's supposed to be *my* line." BOOM!
Padawan Alexander (shortly after): "I've been hit! I've been..." BOOM!

Alas, revenge was swift, with Darth Chase swooping down upon Padawan Alexander. The young Jedi apprentice was caught in a blast no amount of Force could overcome, and his X-wing exploded in a fiery ball as well.

With both sides at even success, Darth Chase and Darth Michael kept doing their dance with Will and me. I was plodding my way about, trying to get Darth Michael’s TIE— on which I had the Target Lock— back in range, only to have him dart and barrel roll aside at every turn. Meanwhile, both Chase and Michael took shots at me, reducing my shields (like I was worried— I had three shields and five hull points). Thanks to Captain Will, the two Imperial lackeys took hits as well (2 and 1, respectively). 

Darth Chase plots his move...

Darth Chase: "I can roll dice and drink soda AT THE SAME TIME!"
Darth Michael: "That's not really a Force trick, young apprentice."
Captain Will: "Why is there a stone tower in space?"
Commodore Howard: "That's no tower... well, it is a tower. Just roll the dice in it, okay?"

Unfortunately, Michael and Chase wound up having to leave before the game ended, so Jim and Alexander took over their craft, but the change in pilots mattered little. Will gunned down his target (the TIE fighter formerly known as Darth Chase), and, with the object of my Target Lock finally back in my sights (after following that blasted thing around space for turn after turn), I took full advantage of the re-roll, producing three hits on my second attempt to blow the last Imperial fighter into its constituent atoms.

A Rebel Victory! Hurray! Huzzah! Let's have an ewok roast!

Huzzah for the Rebels! Time for a victory celebration, wookie dance (we don’t believe in ewoks), and a medal ceremony!

Battle Analysis

It’s a bit difficult to break this game down into a play-by-play, as every fighter is constantly changing position and angles— which is exactly how a good dogfight game should go! I will say that when we started putting things away, we realized that we had failed to take the points values of the craft into account— our Rebel forces amounted to 62 points total, while the Imperial forces had only 44. Theoretically, this was a highly unbalanced fight in favor of the Rebels (not that it felt that way at the time). I will say that the Y-wing’s high shield and hull strength probably was telling, but I never took that much fire during the game anyway— the slow maneuvering usually wound up with the TIEs zipping out of my firing arc, but also passing me so that I wasn’t in theirs, either. We also ignored the damage cards’ special effects, which probably allowed the TIEs to hang in longer than they should have (but that cuts both ways).

In any case, we all had a great deal of fun, and I’m certain this game will be back in demand for a rematch soon— hopefully with some more ships (I now have Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced fighter, and the next round of expansions is on my radar— including the Millennium Falcon).

A Quick Game Review

I have to say, Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game is everything I could have wanted in a Star Wars dogfight game. The components are gorgeous, from the miniatures down to the cards, markers and templates, and everything is solid quality. The basic concepts are simple and easy to grasp, making this easily playable with even elementary-aged kids (and adults who think like them). Within two turns, everyone in our group had a solid hang on how maneuvering, combat and even the special actions worked. The back cover of the rule book was the only real reference we needed, and that just to become familiar with how the Focus, Evade and Target Lock abilities functioned, and to confirm the effects of range on combat. Otherwise we looked up the “Barrel Roll” rule once to determine exactly how it worked, and that’s about it.

What you wind up with is a game that feels very much like a Star Wars dogfight (even if only on a two-dimensional level). The ships zip about, crazily weaving in and out and making desperate maneuvers to line up shots or avoid being shot at. Instant kills are rare, but damage accrues quickly, so somebody at some point is gonna buy the evaporator farm— and that’s just good Star Wars fun. Plus you get plenty of lucky scrapes, unexpected moments— “how did I end up there and you there?”— and all in all a very satisfying tactical experience. The Force is with this game!

At first I thought the game could use some collision rules— as written, landing on top of another ship just forces you to back up— but I suspect such might slow down play. As it is, play is rather speedy, provided everyone makes their maneuver decisions in a reasonable amount of time— a factor that did affect us due to our unfamiliarity with the ships’ capabilities. (Michael admitted spinning repeatedly through his TIE dial, looking for a short, straight “1” maneuver, which TIEs can’t do.)

We did take considerable time with our game, but again, we were new to it, had not picked a specific scenario, and goofed about a bit before hand. Plus, I am notoriously long-winded at explaining rules. ("I just like for everyone to be clear!" I say. “We know!” my group replies back.) So I put actual playing time at about an hour or two, depending on the number of players and how experienced you are with the game (for two players, the time will be much shorter).

For the record, I do recommend picking up two of the starter game boxes. These come with two TIEs and one X-wing, plus three each of the attack and evade dice, as well as the maneuver templates and other accessories. The sets run around $35-$40, versus $15 for the expansion packs, which have only a single spacecraft each. The advantage of the expansion packs are that they included other pilots as well as “booster” cards (we didn’t use this option) which give craft special abilities or additional actions or weapons (like proton torpedoes, astromech droids, special pilot skills, etc.). My current collection includes two starter sets (the extra dice come in handy), one X-wing expansion, two TIE expansions, two Y-wing expansions and one TIE Advanced expansion. Late February or early March will see the release of the Millennium Falcon, Slave 1, A-wing and TIE Interceptor expansion packs. They’re on my list!

In conclusion, if you want a great time with your gaming buddies (and buddettes), and you love Star Wars, you can't go wrong with the Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game from FFG.

Other Notes

The starfield is a 6’ x 6’ expanse of black glitter felt purchased at Jo-Ann’s Fabric store. The white dot grid was painted by me, using a sheet of peg-board as a guide. The grid is not actually needed for the X-Wing game, but rather something I created for my own game, G.O.B.S.! (Generic Outlandishly Big Spacefleets!). But even with the grid, I think the mat looks much better than a bare tabletop, which the photos bear out. The silver moon, well,— “That’s no moon... that’s an oversized plastic Christmas ornament sitting on top of a bit of round clear plastic packaging!” Which is exactly what it is. I use it as an obstacle in combat, but we didn't set it out for this game.

“That’s no... Line?”

Though fans of Star Wars, my group was woefully inept at coming up with the “That’s no moon” line, even after prompting. Here are some of their attempts:
“That’s no moon— it’s a... what is it again?”
“That’s no moon— it’s a star...no, a space... uh, ship. Spaceship. No! Star station! What?”
“That’s no moon— it’s... I forget.”

*Sigh*

I think it’s time for a refresher viewing.
At least they made decent TIE fighter sounds...

Use the Force, young padawan! (It helps if you make odd faces.)