The Griffin's Crier

Remember the cardboard snap together XWing starship game which really really sucked? Well here's what it should have been:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_ ... p?eidm=174

I picked up the starter set at Target for $25 last night. I'm still reading the rules but so far it seems like a combo of Clix and Noble Armada. One thing I really like so far is that there are maneuver templates, which are either straight lines or curved lines. You feed the line into the front of the mini's base and move the mini along the guide until you get to the correct place. This neatly solves the measurement/facing issue in Noble Armada.

There are also cards that tell you what your ship can do, and the cards are different if you have a different pilot. So Luke's XWing will play differently than Wedge's, for example. It seems pretty cool so far. I may get a few more ships for XMas.

I've been looking at picking up the starter box for some time now, but cash has not allowed for it. There are already a few expansions (IIRC TIE advanced, Y-wing, Falcon, etc), and plans for a 3rd wave. A lot of people had mentioned it's pretty good. Once the basic ships are out, I'm hoping they'll start hitting some of the EU ships...

Damon.

Interesting. Maybe I'll pick up a box over Christmas. If nothing else it would be nice to have some more good Star Wars minis.

$25 at Target you say? There was no way I was going to try it out for the $40 MSRP; FF has enough of my money as it is. $25 may be justifiable, but you only get 3 ships, right? And depending upon the increments included, those pre-measured movement tracks may be quite useful...or at least fun in a gimmicky way.

I see the expansions are $15 for one ship. Makes our Noble Armada investments seem reasonable.

*trigger*

Doh! Now I want more Noble Armada ships.

Jon and I tried out the basic rules with the starter set last night and I think it's a pretty solid game. We didn't get into the full rules just yet but even moving the mini's around and simulating dogfights was pretty cool.

When you move, you decide on your manuever first and then put it face down next to your ship. Then you reveal your maneuvers in order, lowest pilot score to highest, so you don't know exactly where your opponent is going to wind up when you're deciding on your own moves. It's a nice mechanic and there were a few tense moments when the movements are resolved and you see that your opponent ends up directly behind you!!

I think when we add in a few more advanced rules and the special maneuvers it will be a pretty deep game.

Jon, Bob, and I played a game of Fantasy Flight X-Wing last night. I must say, these are the best dogfight game rules I've ever played - really like it!

Play is very fluid and furious. Even though this was our 2nd (1st for me) playthrough, we did not get bogged down by rules. The game is relatively short. Once we have the rules down, I can see matches knocked out within 30 minutes.

The game seems very well balanced, given the asymmetric opposing forces. Ties are extremely fast, with no shields and lighter cannons, relying on maneuverability for their defense. The rebel ships are a little slower with shields, targeting computers, and heavier cannons. The Y-wing has a turreted ion cannon with very cool special effect rules.

Jon got a few lucky hits in early on, and Luke's X-Wing was the first casualty. This made the rest of the game tough for Bob's rebels, but it was pretty easy to see that the game was well-balanced, built-points-wise.

I completely agree, this is a very fun game! I'm really looking forward to some more games and hopefully trying some of the scenarios.

If you want another player next time let me know. I picked up the discounted Target core set last week.

Sounds promising!

Fen's Ego wrote:If you want another player next time let me know.

I was assuming (ass, you, me) that you wouldn't be free on a non-Pathfinder week - I hope I didn't screw up!

Just got word we're getting a quarterly bonus, so I'll probably pick up a copy in Febuary, if not sooner.

Damon.

Just so everyone is clear, you don't really need multiple copies of the starter set, nor does everyone even need to purchase any ships at all. I have the rules and ships. We can all use them.

Jon and I played another engagement last night. We did another big brawl with Jon flying all 5 TIE fighters led by the TIE Advanced. I was flying 2 XWings and 2 YWings.

We were still figuring out a few rules things (we did the YWing's Ion Cannons incorrectly for most of the night, which swayed the results in my favor quite a bit, but we have it figured out for next time) but even so we just had a blast! I can't wait for the next set of ships so that the empire can start fielding TIE interceptors and the Rebels can bring in the AWing, not to mention the Falcon vs the Slave 1!

Info on the next wave of ships:

http://kotaku.com/x-wing-tabletop-game- ... -492928370

Just an FYI in case anyone cares, I picked up the starter today...

Damon.

Cool Damon!