My desire for a while now is o have a “travel” kit for X Wing (1e). This has had a couple of stumbling blocks, the main one of which was the fragility of the ships, then it dawned on me, the ships are only a suggestion. Sure they are the main draw to the game, but it functions 100% without them. All you need is…everything else.
Looking at my embarrassing collection of unused collateral for 1e, I realised, I could put together a full and workable “emergency travel” kit without touching on my main Bare Bones collection, especially if it was not exhaustive. To replace the ships, I use the deluxe dial ship silhouette tokens, not otherwise used.
So, looking at the potential. I have a cheap $8 fishing tackle box, bought as a possible travel option, lots of counters and cards, plenty of excess bases and even dice. The movement tools are a good fit, but I may have to cut down one of my range tools to a 2 &1 band set, but again, I have plenty.
What to put into the box as far as ships go?
Originally I wanted it to be a strictly 1 on 1 grudge match set, sticking to generic pilots (1 average and 1 rookie), but the 1e landscape screws the Rebels badly there, so instead I went with an “Ace” and a solid middle of the road line pilot, which ended up being the reverse of the same ship counter. This was then expanded to a pair of counters, making 4 pilots per ship covering an Ace, a second level Ace, line pilot and rookie, with a mind to representing the feel of each ship and it’s role in the game and also allowing a second ship in the squad (but no duplicates). Some of these pilots are support role pilots, so are best employed in a 2-3 ship squad, but most are lone wolves. This also increased the range of EPT’s to support options.
Having the ability to use two or more ships also opened back up some upgrades and abilities that were redundant with single ships (Cluster Missiles, Wingman, Swarm Tactics, solitary ships etc). Due to a shortage of some dials, one of each type is possible anyway so most squads are made up of a role defined and support option.
Pilots and Ships
Rebels;
X Wing: Wedge, Luke, Biggs, Garvin, Red Sq pIlot, Rookie, Cavern Angel and Leevan. Solid.
Y Wing: Horton, Dutch, Grey Sq pilot, Gold Sq pilot. Full options.
E Wing: Corran, Etahn, Blackmoon Sq pilot, Knave Sq pilot. Full options.
B Wing: Ten Numb, Nera, Keyan, Ibitsam, Dagger pilot, Blue Sq pilot. Tough.
A Wing: Tycho, Jake, Gemmer, Arvel, Green Sq pilot, Prototype pilot. Heavy on EPT’s, fast.
All of the core fighters represented, each with a defined role. The Rebels have exclusive Droids and System slots up their sleeves and solid pilots across the board. They also have most weapon options. The roles of interceptor, line, multi role, close in fighter and superiority are covered, but no swarmer.
Imperial;
Interceptor: Soontir, Turr, Lorrir, Wrath, Saber pilot, Avenger pilot, Alpha pilot. Skilled.
Fighter: Howlrunner, Mauler, Dark Curse, Night Beast, Black Sq PIlot, Obsidian Pilot, Academy pilot. A solid support.
Advanced: Vader, Maarek, Storm Sq Pilot, Tempest Sq Pilot. Vader & options.
Defender: Rexler, Vessery, Ryad, Glaive Sq Pilot, Onyx Pilot, Delta Pilot. Superiority.
Aggressor: Kestal, Double Edge, Onyx Escort, Sienar Spec. The multi role option.
Most of the usual suspects (no Howl as she has the wrong option on the flip side), with some classic high end Aces. The Aggressor gets some love as does the Advanced. Swarm, interceptor, multi role, line and superiority. The Empire lack that close fighting specialist, but are fast across the board.
Scum;
Fang: Fenn, Teroch, Kadd, Protectorate Ace, Protectorate Veteran. Aces all.
Z95: N’Dru, Kaa’to, Black Sun Soldier, Binayre Pirate. Full coverage.
Scyk: Serissu, Genesis Red, Tansarrii Vet, Inaldra, Cartel Spacer, Sunny. Versatile support.
Kihraxz: Talonbane, Viktor, Graz, Black Sun Ace, Cartel Spacer. Solid but unpredictable.
Viper: Xisor, Dalan, Guri, Black Sun Assassin, Black Sun Enforcer. A tricky mix.
The Scum things are Illicit upgrades and weird manoeuvres, but they are also strong in the middle and upper end in pilots. Scum have the only S-loop/Super S-loop (Viper/Mk2). The Viper has more tricks than usual in this environment and the init roll rule evens out pilot disparity a little. They lack a turret or cannon option, but make up for that with the above. The Scum have two swarmers, an interceptor, line fighter and trickster/close fighter.
Between the three faction’s fifteen ships, there is a good representation of pilot abilities, manoeuvres, upgrades and factional feel. This is a sound introduction to the game with plenty of variety. The Imperials will tend towards a two ship squad, as will the Scum, with the Rebels being a little more robust.
Upgrades
For upgrades, judicious selection of ships (fighters & multi role) removes Crew, Salvaged Mech, and Bomb upgrades, anything large ship limited and some duds or more mechanically complicated options like Tractor Beams are omitted.
There is only one copy of each upgrade and only about 50-70% of the total are represented, so picking becomes a one at a time (secret) round robin affair in this order; Rebels, Empire, Scum. You may get “Push the Limit”, but miss out on “Auto Thrusters”, so some thought has to be applied to first choices and if there are 4 Missile or Torpedo armed ships, some out of the box thinking is needed.
(optionally, the player may be forced to select from a secret hand of 3-5 maximum of each upgrade type, keeping their choice and tactics a secret).
Many Mods and Elite Pilot Talents, are allowed (including ship specific S-Foils, Integrated Droid, Light Weight Frame and Twin Ion Engine), but no titles, two of the three “bandaid” fixes I usually so dislike, but these are kept in check by the limited scope of this project. At least these get a run in our house in some form. Soontir, Fenn, Tycho and Vader are a handful, but we are not talking about a tournament environment here, so it is an ideal time to allow these “game breakers” in for variety and nostalgia (and the optional init roll rule also helps).
EPT’s are all of the usual offenders, but originally had no support or team options. The increase to a squad sized points value allowing for a second or even third ship required their inclusion. The team or support dynamic is a strong X Wing tactical element without too much mechanical weight.
Systems are limited to Rebel B and E Wings, Droids to Rebel Y, X & E wings, Illicit to Scum Kihraxz and Z95’s, Cannons to B Wings and Defenders and Turrets to the Y Wing and Aggressor. This allows for some natural balancing and faction flavour as well as newly found relevance for those ships.
The Droid upgrades are kept to generics and R2-D2, R2-F2, as dearer options.
Ordnance is a solid range of the more liked Torps and Missiles, including Ion effect weapons, which were originally excluded for simplicity, but in the vein of this being a learning tool and Ion being a core tactical concept, they were added back in.
It all fits into this little tackle box. Along with ships and collateral, there are satellite/mine tokens, rules cards and some asteroids. The sleeves are ridiculously tough outer sleeves I used to get with the cards in my s/h Heroclix orders with ships loaded back to back to match their token. The (6) bases are rubberised, allowing for non slip performance on nearly any surface. I may use a set of rules as a box liner, write up an abridged cheat sheet or just use my phone/memory. Any 2x2’ surface area will do, but I may add a soft felt mat or boundary string in also.
The game will take the form of a head to head clash or maybe randomly chosen mission*, with squads ranging from 20 to 60 points.
At 15-20 points, the Z95, Tie Fighter and Scyk are all available, with a basic A Wing, Kihraxz, Aggressor or Interceptor option possible. Upgrades are also kept to a minimum.
At 25-30 points, basically any ship is an option, most with all pilots or a 2 weak ship squad.
At 35-40 points all ships with almost any upgrade selection can be used (Fang’s Defenders and E Wings only can exceed this budget), or a solid ship with a weak wingman.
At 45-60 points even a three ship squad could be fielded, but generally an Ace in a superiority fighter and a solid wingman is the way to go.
House (Box) Rules
An optional rule is to roll for initiative (PS + 1d6) which is at odds with the rules (see “optional”), but adds some unpredictability. Better pilots have an edge, but it is not set in stone that a PS8 pilot is always trumped by a PS9 one.
All upgrades are limited to one each per fight only (both sides).
Imperials pick first in rotation, then Rebels, then Scum. This gives the Imperials something to help make up for the factional benefits the others have, giving them the benefit of better resources and tends to force the Scum to try something different. For some added secrecy in squad building, split contested upgrade decks in half or a specific number of options, each player choosing from their hand only. This allows them to know what the enemy cannot have, but not specifically what they do have.
All ships may have 2 Mods because, well why not. It is not realistic to limit them. Why would Vectored Thrusters exclude, for example Guidance Chips? Mods, if used should be available as the player wishes to a point. An X Wing should come with S-Foils as standard, but that negates their mod slot, making them chose between Integrated Mech and S-Foils. Illogical. If all ships can potentially field two Mods, then the core ship determines what they come with as standard and how far (and how expensive) it is to expand them within that. Putting Targetting computer and Engine Upgrade onto a Tie fighter makes it well rounded, but still a Tie. Giving an Ace like Talonbane 2 Mods (Vaksai would have allowed 3), makes sense. Pimp the best ride, but loading up a fighter with the things it was not designed to have with a low grade pilot is not good economics, so this naturally evens out (as well as the limitation of only 1 of each mod to chose from).
The only thing to look at now is some kind of portable mat. There are a few options. One is the Ultimate Guard 1’ tile pack which gets mixed reviews, another is the 3x3’ Cigar Box cloth mat that I have, which is wrinkle resistant, but may not be very good for actual play without some type of anchor. I will have to have a good look at both.
*One simple scenario is the “destroy the warning beacons”, where 3 satellites are set up as targets, each needing a hit to be destroyed. The attacker wins if they are all taken out, the defender wins if not. These can then be used as mines for an escape scenario etc. Another is an un-even hunt/pursuit/escort scenario.
ed. The tackle box has been replaced by a small tool bits-n-peices box which is actually slightly smaller, but a better shape and has allowed me to add a dozen or so more pilots. I have also ordered an Ultimate Guard 2x2’ “Mystic Space” game mat for this and general card game play also. It folds down into a 1’ square or 2’ roll and the troublesome range ruler will also fit in it.