My sons birthday and my nephews birthday are only days apart so it happens that every couple years it seems through convenience for his parents and my wife and I that they end up sharing a birthday party. This year was one of those years and a couple of friends that his father and I have in common decided for their birthdays to buy them both a starter set of Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures. I had been quite interested in this game when it came out last year since I was also a fan of Wings of War, but I'd managed to ignore it... Until now.
Yes it was a miniature game that my son actually showed interest in. Probably because he was playing with his cousin more than anything but like a rabid dog I latched onto this with reckless abandoned and charged full steam ahead into the game. After 3 games we bought our first extra ship, a Tie Interceptor. Then our FLGS informed us that a number of people just now decided to get into the game and that they would be running a weekly league night with the FFG game night packs which provide special tokens, alternate artwork cards and medals for the league winners. Now we’re running!
However we only owned 1 core set and good ole’ Fantasy Flight seemed to be unaware of how popular this stuff was and Wave 1 has been out of print for a while now. So began the scavenger hunt for the wave 1 ships which were the single X-Wing, Tie Fighter, Y-Wing and Tie Advance. Neither of our FLGS had any in stock, Target only carries the core game and then I found Barnes & Noble. I dug around on a shelf and managed to find a Tie Fighter. After some inquisitional tactics on an employee and forcing him to not only search the backroom but also the stock carts he managed to produce an X-Wing and a Y-Wing.
With extra ships in hand my son and I played the missions from the rulebook as well as about 5 more games to ensure that he knew the rules as I refused to take him into a league against adults if he wasn’t going to put forth the fullest effort on his part. With that in mind he also spend 2 evenings before bed reading the rulebook.
Our first League Night came and went and he did splendidly as did I. A total of 9 players showed the first night. The store owner decided that though the FFG’s tournament rules set the game at 100 points since most of the players were only able to pick up core sets we would run 50 points for a bit before picking up to larger games in a week or two. Through our games my son had decided to take the Imperials thus leaving me with the Rebels. I think he should have taken the Rebels as they are a more forgiving group due to the shields helping keep them alive longer but I also want him to play and discover these things for himself.
I did help build his 50 point list though.
He fielded:
Howlrunner with Swarm Tactics
Academy Tie Fighter
Alpha Tie Interceptor
He first played a guy with an X-Wing and A-Wing which lasted a while and he did eventually win. Although I think the guy may have wrecked one of his own ships on an asteroid which certainly didn’t hurt his chances. His second game ended up being against the same person as all the other players were busy playing still and in this game which he didn’t have time to actually finish he was down a ship and in bad position when we had to leave so we called it a loss.
Biggs Darklighter with R2D2
Rookie X-Wing
My first opponent was running double Tie Interceptors both with Stealth Devices and Determination. With Biggs drawing fire and some luck on maneuvering I took both ships down without suffering damage. My second opponent was the guy my son played against. While he did manage to put a damage card on Biggs I again out maneuvered him and once I was behind him put the guns to him winning with losing a ship.
We both had a lot of fun and are looking quite forward to the next league night. The guy who played my son said he did well and they only got stuck on a few rules. He needs to try and speed his play up; but I think that will come with time. Needless to say I’m excited. Excited to the point that I’ve now acquired a 2nd core set through a math trade on Board Game Geek and recently purchased the Tie Bomber, B-Wing and A-Wing to add to our collection. Now we’re really gaining steam.
The real point of writing this article isn’t to just talk about the games and our enthusiasm for them; but to make a point about the cost. It’s been so long since I bought a Warhammer army new off a shelf that I’d really forgotten how much money it takes to get into a game. A LOT! As such here’s a breakdown of what I’ve spent in the last two weeks.
Tie Advance - $15.00
Tie Fighter - $15.00
X-Wing - $15.00
A-Wing - $15.00
B-Wing - $15.00
Tie Bomber - $15.00
Total - $90
I know that doesn’t seem like much but it’s been an awfully long time since I’ve tossed that much money that quickly into a game. If I’d had to buy the two core sets we have that would have been another $60 and if I eventually buy the rest of the ships that are out for the game I’ll be looking at another $120. While I don’t doubt I’ll get there eventually it’s kind of rough and my wife isn’t looking too favorably on it. I look at this post now and I see it getting a little long so I think what I’ll say here is refer to my future post in which I review the game. There will be a bit at the bottom breaking down the cost of this sucker there if you’re interested more in the overall cost. Damn…
The Post Reviewing more of the Game
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