As a relative newcomer to X Wing, I guess I may have a different outlook on the changes made in second edition to many.

I have been aware of X Wing since it’s introduction, played the odd game with friends, but was never really a Star Wars nut. A strong start with the original movies awoke in me a genuine love of Sci Fi and Fantasy in all it’s forms, from books, comics, games TV shows and Movies, but Star Wars itself waned into the category of “A Legendary story, done and dusted”.

I guess the variety and tension (reality to fiction) in Sci Fi, from hard/real to more fanciful simply allowed Star Wars to be “placed” in it’s niche more specifically, making it less important to the Genre over all as time moved on.

For some reason Trek moved ahead, likely due to infinite re-runs of the TV shows and the “big ship” vibe, but again, it was only one of many flavours. My gaming, especially role playing falls more squarely in the Fantasy or real-fantasy sweet spot. Call of Cthulhu for example far outweighed Traveller back in the day. For those of us not science minded, the relative ease of Fantasy and Sci-Fantasy took a softer and more approachable form, letting the game get out of the way of the story.

1e X Wing grew (hugely) from a spur of the moment impulse buy of some TFA core sets. The idea was to stay within the TFA time line (some ringers allowed), representing enough ship type to play scenario or casual games well enough (certainly considering the huge number of other pre-painted jousting games I have).

This of course grew. I wedged Saws Renegades in to represent a hypothetical post-Empire renegade faction (T-65’s and S-Foils), added plenty of Scum, some Imperial Lambdas etc., but the inevitable flood gates opened when an old red core set popped up cheaply, out of nowhere.

The rest is (expensive) history. The tension between TFA and “old” period is not something I can deal with. I automatically separated the time lines, enforcing a soft apartheid.

When 2e was released, it did a lot of good. I had no interest in it. I was happy. Then a couple of things happened.

A supplier sent me a 2e core set instead of another cheap red core set (and let me keep it at the reduced price), then FFG released some new ships for the Resistance and First Order and promised more to come.

A plan was hatched. If I could separate (to a degree I found acceptable), the older movie/game segments from the newer, I would have effectively two games.

To me nothing says Star Wars more than the original ships as presented in the first core set and the movies. Bare Bones has, for me, balanced the original game and removed many of the “gamey” elements, giving me a true old school Star Wars junkie simulation.

2e on the other hand has allowed for a re-invention of the rules, driven in no small part by the ever changing Star Wars universe, that had outgrown the old game. The TFA ships were better in 1e, but balanced by being dearer, so from a game perspective, they made sense, but you cannot deny, they do not fit in time-line wise.

*

For me, the clean break of the new game, new movies and FFG ships and now defined factions fit together perfectly, just as the old 1e game and old movie ships do.

The deeper gaming experience, with all of those “tacked on” additions that unbalanced later 1e now integrated fully, deeper, but stream-lined rules, with more upgrade slots (than BB) with Tech and Force (making all upgrade types available to these two factions), and the generally more robust and modifiable ships makes for a game that just feels complete in it’s own right.

Add in the Scum faction and you have a full spread of flying and gaming options, that allow all facets of 2e to be accessed.

The added benefits (for me) are the almost perfect fit of the conversion kits to my fleets, the size of my fleets (5 TFA core sets +), allowing a truly Epic game to be played and the better application of the (now allowed) Huge ships for these factions.

Looking at the factions more closely;

The Resistance offer the work horse T-70 (a better and deeper X Wing), the super fast RZ-2 (a stronger A Wing), the massive MG-100 (covering all of the bomber types, but with a real “Memphis Belle” feel), The Huge GR-75 and Resistance Transport+Pod, which cover the support ship roles. The Falcon, being the Falcon, with the Fireball, are the factions wild cards. Enough to give this faction not only all types of fleet builds you could want, but in each case a deeper and more flexible platform than previously offered in either the Rebel fleets or 1e. Each ship is noticeably improved and deeper than it’s 1e version or simply not available in 1e.

The fleet;

• 13 T70’s (8 Blue, 2 Green, 2 Orange, 1 Black)

• 6 RZ-2’s (4 Blue, 2 Green)

• 3 MG-100’s

• Transport and Pod

• GR-75 Transport

• Fireball

• Scavenged YT1300

• optional CR-90 (rebel generic used as proxy)

The First Order are much the same. Lacking the highs and lows of some factions, they are solid across the range, but nuanced within that. The Tie/fo is better than the Tie/ln, the ba/Interceptors and Silencers are a cleaner representation of the many different forms of “better” Tie, the Upsilon, Xi and Raider add support backbone and the Tie/sf is the multi role ship that does not suffer from slow “bomber-itis” like the Imperials. The Xi also fills the role of the wildcard, offering Illicit unpredictability.

The fleet;

• 12 Tie/fo

• 4 Tie/sf

• 4 Tie/ba

• 2 Tie/vn

• 2 Xi shuttles

• Upsilon

• Raider

With the last few rafts of releases, FFG have filled the necessary holes in both ranges and stayed true to the feel of the factions. The Resistance are a hard core of veterans, dedicated to their legendary leader with versatility and consistency as their hallmarks. The First Order are again, the hardened remnants of a fallen empire, sharper and more refined than their predecessors.

The addition this month of more pilots and ships gives the Resistance (and First Order) even more of a same ships-many different builds vibe, quite different to the Imperials and Rebels, who offer fewer pilots but a huge range of ships.

This again suits the 2e experience, allowing casual/occasional players to get familiar with a small range of strong, easy to fly ships, each offering a different flying style and generally more upgrades for a huge range of easy (and safe) squad builds. Combined with extra rules depth, each game can be new and exciting within these limitations (remembering also there are other games in the closet).

1e as a Bare Bones game is more about ship synergies in larger squads, with simplified rules and faster builds.

There will likely be more ships to come for both factions (maybe a CR-90 upgrade kit ;) ), but my gaming needs are filled for now.

The Scum faction, much as they do in 1e, offer the variety and bag of tricks builds that befit them. Illicit upgrades and Turrets are both a little blunted, but the sheer variety of ships and sub-factions allows for all of the variety you could want. For me the Scum fit better in their correct time line, fleshing out the thin* 2e Imperials and Rebels (we allow a 60% max mixed squad build option with limited Scum mercs, allies and Bounty Hunters with Empire and Rebels, but not so much with FO and Resistance).

*I do have the conversion kits for the Empire and Rebels, but they do not cover all the ships I have, so the experience is lacking a little until the second hand market coughs up some more dials.