Last one, promise.
First ed X Wing (1e) has been a passion for a while (no kidding). Not the play as much as the play dynamic re-designs.
I have the greatest respect, maybe be even adoration for the core game, the premise, the balance of the early waves and overall feel. It looks great and plays well.
It was broken at several later stages, something that tends to happen when the original premise is sound, but not suited for the multiplying effect fiddling with all its variables can do. For tournament gamers, this was an on again-off again thing and they enjoyed the constant adaption, well most did, some got tired and moved on, but for canon adherents (like me), it went off the rails well before I even became involved with it.
Ignorant at first, I just went with it, but over time I became less interested in the buildfirst-play second mentality (it is a game, but it is also potentially a simulation), much as I did with Attack Wing and others. Some things made sense, others seemed to be “tacked on” for gamesmanship only or to cover previous mistakes.
Ironically, it was often the things thatI like, such as printed on card upgrades, costs, effects that were its undoing. Endless FAQ, home brew card reprints, point cost values shifting and older ideas just not cutting it any more meant often more card board was left in the box than used.
I was enjoying Wings of Glory, Check Your Six, Blue Max with almost no upgrades, no clutter, no shifting of the goal posts, so why did X-Wing and Attack Wing rankle?
The tactical game is much the same, but options make it more involved, more complicated, especially for new players, too many choices, too many traps, so experienced players have an edge.
Add something or someone almost nobody has heard of to a little known ship, which may throw the tournament circuit out of balance and make that ship the “must fly”, add an even less likely fix, fix that fix etc, all while side lining the main players of the saga and you have a recipe for a split support base.
At the very end of 1e, there was some balance, but within the extreme limits of the mechanics and some fixes were pretty odd-over obvious even, many certainly straying from canon and the games original base line was forgotten.
Flying the ships should be the priority, not tricky list building, actions should be like gold, but there should be a bank limit set on how much gold can be used.
In BB for example (below), a two action ship is the ideal, the “Ace” move, but also the limit.
Two layers; the ship and it’s Pilot Talent or upgrade or the Talent and upgrade of another. A third layer may occasionally be available, but rarely and often not in ideal combinations, making the fringe ships and pilots more useful. Actions may change, shift in turn order and free actions may be situationally available, but chains of these and other dice mods are restricted.
Some (many) ships lack strong re-positioning. This is troublesome to many and some thought has been put into fixes at various levels. The X-Wing is over serviced in that area, no fewer than 6 different ideas put forward (1 EPT, 1 Droid, 3 Mods), but each comes with their catch. The reality is, you cannot have good fixes without opening the door to bad ones and drawing the line is the trick.
How to fix?
We have six “layers” of X Wing 1e on offer. There are also some little side projects over and above the core six, but six core ideas.
The idea is limiting or removing the “bad” bits, hero-ing the good.
Layer 1
“Classic”
This one is a little different to the others, limited in perview, not options.
Here come Vader and Mauler.
The ships from the original three movies, limited to the squadrons that were present. Red, Rogue, Gold, Grey, Green and Blue vs Black, Obsidian, Scimitar and the 181st Wing.
Only personalities are admitted in Crew and Droids etc, and Droids are pilot matched.
The rogues gallery of bounty hunters (you know, the picture from Empire Strikes Back), the Falcon, some other bits. These are built out with pre-builds and named Titles.
Droids, Illicit and Systems are matched to ships, crew available are all known quantities, Ordnance kept to the basics. The only exceptions to Named Droids are a single Salvaged for Dengar, an R2 for Wedge so he flies better, and an R5 for Horton so he lives longer (Dutch gets R5-P9).
I intend to do some pre-built cards with pics.
There is nothing for tournament builders here, it is all support for the story.
Layer 2
“Bare Bones”
The first of the true “strip it down and build it back up” formats, Bare Bones is very different to Classic. Each faction has a representation of their basic ship types (pretty much up to wave 3 with select bits from later waves, especially Scum), but are not now limited to the movies, allowing other options for balance and better representation of their factional theme.
The Scum get the Kihraxz, Z-95, Star Viper, as well as the Nasties from above, with all their pilot options. Scum are now broken down into sub-factions (Black Sun, Hutt Cartel, Binayre Pirates, Mercs and Bounty Hunters).
The Rebels get the X, A, B, Y-Wings, the HWK-290, Custom YT-1300 and YT-2400.
The Empire gets the Tie Fighter, Advanced, Bomber and Interceptor, with the Lambda and Decimator for support.
Upgrades are limited to named Droids and Crew (the assumption is the generics are always there, but characters add something), a handful of Systems and Illicit (the clean playing, popular ones). There are no Titles, EPT’s or Mods.
Pilots like Vader (2 Actions), Tyco (ignores Stress), Jake (Focus > Roll/Boost action), assists like Jan, Palpatine, Roark, Kyle, Lando, Leia, Howlrunner etc are all highly valued as they are the first and often the only exceptions to the game mechanics as written.
Ordnance is faction limited and heavily reduced to the efficient options and in the interest of simple squad building, anything with added complications is dropped (Ion, tractor, jamming, harpoon effects), so Advanced Proton Torps, Homing Missiles, Cluster Mines, TLT’s and HLC’s are king. Rampant TLT’s are limited to often sluggish ships, HLC’s to large ships and Ordnance has no failsafe’s or re-use.
The ships fly as designed unless a Pilot or Droid/System/Illicit upgrade allows for an exception and faction flavour is intact.
21 Ordnance, 13 Droid, 12 other, 25 Crew for 21 ship types (and all pilots unless their Talent is EPT related). Plenty to pic from, but nothing uber powerful or over complicated.
Layer 3
“Legends”
This is possibly the perfect middle ground option.
Ships are added as well as more names, pushing into the “Rebels” and animated universe. Limits are still set at the basic five actions and named Droids/Crew, but some effects are re-introduced as well expanding Ordnance, Illicit and System choices as well as Named Titles.
The Scum get the Fang Fighter, their versions of the Y-Wing and HWK-290, the M3 and Scurrg. The named Titles for their gang of scum make all the ships more powerful, but also more expensive.
The Rebels have their cheap swarmer Z-95, the E-Wing, ARC-170, regular YT-1300, VCX-100 and Attack Shuttle. The Falcon, Outrider and Moldy Crow are welcome additions.
All the big names, Pilots, Ships and Crew.
The Empire get the Tie Advanced Prototype, Punisher, Defender and Aggressor.
This still avoids the EPT, Mod and the generic Title quagmire, but with Tractor and Ion effects, Harpoon Missiles, Bomblet Generator and Unguided Rockets for some unlimited Ordnance options and fewer factional limits, the choices and tactics have massively expanded, especially in board control and team coordination.
The Rebels alone get 9 more Crew and the three named Titles that seriously enhance many ships (but are limited to the actual pilots that flew them).
Quickly becoming a favourite, you get all the fun, the names and more of the game’s mechanical variety, without the over bearing, multi-layer crunch and there is a little shift towards smarter and more involved play.
Layer 4
“Primaries”
“Primaries” is possibly where this all started, the full game with the bits identified as “broken” removed (EPT’s, Mods, Titles).
No ships are added, but generic Crew, Droids and many other upgrades are back in. Crucially, still no EPT’s, Mods or Generic Titles as these are the bit where it gets dicey-so to speak.
Layer 5
“Expanded”
“Expanded” lifts the hard ceiling of the base 5 actions, which brings plenty of ships into play including the Rogue One waves and single card Huge ships. Reload, SLAM, Reinforce, Cloak, Rotate, Jam etc add many layers of complication to the game, so this is where the experienced players play.
The Scum get the Kimogila, Lancer, C-Roc cruiser.
The Rebels get the U and K-Wings, GR-75 Transport, Auzituck, Sheathipede and Captured Tie.
The Empire has a change of feel with the Reaper, Striker and Gozanti.
The inclusion of single card Huge ships means many more upgrades are available, Teams, Cargo, Hard Points, but Mods, EPT’s and generic Titles are still out.
Layer 6
“Full Noise”
Had to be, all the bits, but as mitigation for the over the top builds possible, some are still limited to Title > actual Pilot, upgrade > Faction.
Sidelines
“Aces High”
This is a group of little sub-games also, often to allow full use of the neglected EPT’s etc, but limit the range of ships available. Fighters only, often grouped into “Big Three’s” of like similar ships like the X-Wing/Kihraxz/Tie Advanced, A-Wing/Interceptor/Star Viper or Fang/Defender/E-Wing with all the trimmings.
There may now be the Virago and a Mk2 in this pack with Auto Thrusters, PTL, Expert Handling etc.