Playing X-Wing Game

I recently had the opportunity to play the X-Wing miniature game by Fantasy Flight Games. Completely enjoyable easy game.

 

Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

 

My opponent, Mr. KeyanSark (from Plástico y Metal, a real must see) has a pair of core set boxes, so we had two X-Wings and four Tie Fighters to engage in battle.

 

I played the Alliance. Keyan got the Empire

 

As this was my introductory game, we didn't use special missions or anything, just the core rules, which are really easy to catch up in a moment.

First of all you have a planning phase. You choose a maneuver for each of your ships with the maneuver dial. Keep it secret, keep it safe!

Then you reveal them and activate your ships in ascending order of pilot skill. You place the appropiate maneuver template and execute your movement. Your ships are ready to shoot!

 

Star Wars OST sounding in your head now...

 

The system is quite simple, red dice to attack, green ones to defend. Angle and range are also out of question:

 

No possible dispute

 

The combat phase is executed in descending order of pilot skill (so the most skilled pilot moved the last and now shoots the first). Range 1, 2 or 3, as depicted on the template, makes it easier or more difficult to cause damage to the enemy. This can be aided with some special actions as "focus" or acquiring a target lock. If you have a look, you'll see both abilities in the picture above on the X-Wing base.

The focusing action (represented by an eye) allows you to change any eyes on the dice for another hit (or another "evade" if it's a defending action with green dices, given the case). The target locking action (which was used this turn, as you can see the card crosshairs on the table) allows you to reroll dice to get more hits.

My X-Wing didn't cause any damage to the Tie Fighter and it counterattacked:

 

Is it in range?

 

Nothing again, one "hit" and one "evade". Both ships escaped intact from their first encounter.

So, that's all, repeat this with any ships in range, the turn ends and you begin a new planning phase. No more complications.

 

You have to say 'Voosh' and 'zum, zum' from time to time when you move and shoot. It's in the rules. Or should be.

 

The only challenge here, of course, rises up in the planning phase, when you have to foresee the actions of your opponent. Once you have decided your maneuvers, you just have to let the dice rolled.

Ships crossing paths each other in space

 The game will probably not satisfy all those skilled wargamers who like spending hours with strategies and complex rules, but fortunately I'm not one of them :) This game is just what I need nowadays, simple rules wich I can learn in a few minutes and lots of fun re-enacting Star Wars battles.

 

Tie Fighter utterly destroyed

 

X-Wings are clearly superior to Tie Tighters -I was also playing with Luke Skywalker so I had a little few more special rules which give some advantage.

 

The X-Wing escaped this time. Two hits, two evades

 

Though simple, the game is attractive enough to make you hold your breath each turn, not knowing what's going to happen next. There are some particularly difficult maneuvers (the Koiogran turn, i.e., an Immelmann turn) which cause pilot stress and condition the player's next turn. The same happens with some special actions determined by the ship type or the pilot skills.

 

This is the end, my friend...

 

I finally won the battle, shooting down the four Tie Fighters and having received damage in both my X-Wings. But don't let that fool you, the battle was quite tough.

I don't pretend to make a complete review of the game, just wanted to share my impressions, which are pretty good. I strongly recommend this game to anyone wanting to have fun for a while without any expectations, far from difficult rules interpretations and common wargames. Absolutely delicious.