My first science fiction love was Star Wars, the original movie, the first time round the block when I was about 10, at the beautiful old the Princess Theatre Launceston. I can even remember (roughly) where I sat, up in the stalls left hand side. I went in with I know not what expectations, possibly none, I certainly don’t having remember any, but I came out changed.
Science fiction that looked real, looked like it was the history of another place, lived in, like it actually happened, not the weird, super clean, strangely fanciful fiction I had seen up till then.
Star Trek came later, a constant flood of series from various generations, filling the void Star Wars left between the original trilogy and the things that came later, movies I did not even bother with until recently.
I found Trek a little boring at first. The old stuff was old and looked it, I viewed it like a teenager looks at a child, so alien, but too close to their own recent past, the newer stuff was that clean, unlikely future I had rejected in the past.
It grew on me. The big ships, variety of encounters, sheer saturation won in the end and Star Wars became the “other one”, a world of fiction and series I had little awareness of and somehow Star Wars lost it’s special place, it revealed its simpler ideas and less developed story lines for what they were, Space Opera.
Ok, the point.
I bought into Attack Wing early to get into a game type that was not my preferred style (pre-painted, semi board game), but an itch that needed scratching and going AW meant avoid the larger commitment of the more popular X-Wing. I also knew more about it and familiarity is a thing.
X-Wing still happened, then Armada, both just completed as their respective games wound down. They became an obsession and I even sold off some Attack Wing to help soften the blow of chasing some weird and rare X-Wing and Armada ships.
That was a mistake.
If I could wind the clock back, I would have avoided X-Wing all together or stuck to my guns of only doing the TFA period (bought cheap on clearance), something the 2e upgrade packs would have perfectly fit with and also probably avoided Armada or more likely avoided the Prequel sets where I started. These sets were never completed, which still annoys and distracted me.
That would have let me complete my AW range which was still clicking along in the background (missed the Romulan Faction, Borg Faction and 3rd Dominion War solo sets, now going for hundreds) and chase up some OP’s when they were plentiful. I would also have kept what I had and ended up with, I think, a more enjoyable game for a casual and non-competitive player.
Why is AW better in my eyes?
It’s not the minis, they are all over the place in quality, paint job and scale. I fix this by keeping my fleets to strict faction and timeline sub-sets, even splitting DS9 and TNG.
It’s not the core game play, because AW uses basically the same system as X-Wing. There are difference, but at the heart of it, they are the same game bought under license.
So, what is it?
The game straddles an interesting place between the small ship X-Wing dogfight and huge ship Armada fleet battles. AW gives you the feeling of flying a larger ship, one less agile than in X-Wing, but one that is also “squishier”, more robust and deeper.
The dials and Action bars are less interesting, but that also matters less. Manoeuvre is important, but unlike X-Wing, not all important.
Captains are separate from ships, meaning vastly more variety up front, a Captain and named ship and Elite Talent provide a triple synergy and there are often even multiple choices of better known Captains.
This can lead to odd combinations in open competition play, so again, sticking to timeline and faction limits helps make it feel right.
There are more upgrades, especially Crew. X-Wing tends to be a Pilot/Elite Talent/payload squad build with “Action chains” all important. The second edition worked to reduce that dynamic. In AW, there are near countless combinations of exceptions, mitigations and additives, all designed to give you the feel of ensign “X” saving the day or pulling off a miracle manoeuvre or fixing a used/broken/stolen/”not installed til Tuesday” upgrade.
It is, as I eluded to above, a squishier game, less alpha strike and premium build, more play to a tactic for a scenario, adapt to what comes, prevail in the end. There is a community and they do have ideal builds, but if you avoid that free-form space, you can make almost anything work.
The core set is a prime example of the difference in the games.
The X-Wing core provides about a third of a competitive squad. One X-Wing vs two Tie Fighters was never meant to be a competitive set, only a start.
The three capital ships in the AW set can provide multiple combinations, the upgrades mixed if you so desire, a three person game even played and even though there are not enough ships for a 100pt competition squadron, the game is not so hung up on that, it is ok with a 30-50 point build (possible three times in the set) for a scenario game. It is still more than the XW set provides.
Building an AW fleet is a matter of adding maybe 2-3 more ships to the three factions you have started, this provides plenty of options and tactical directions, each ship coming with enough upgrades to open up a myriad of tactics, even within a faction.
XW actually needs several ships just to make a squad, many of these coming with upgrades that are ship limited.
Story telling is heroed in AW, each ship coming with a scenaio. XW has only started to support this in later iterations, to their detriment.
When I want to play AW, my mind goes to a scenario idea, when I play XW, I build a 100pt squad (still playing 1e here) and have at it. Oddly, scenarios in XW are very popular, but only in later releases has that been pushed.
I see a story here (probably a short one), something XW needs to have added.
The range of personalities mean more in AW (contentious), but every Captain or Crew card adds a personality and a face. In XW, the Pilot is a ship, the Crew fewer in choice and slots and as often than not, generic. In AW Crew is everything, which is as it should be.
I prefer the dynamic of upgrades in AW.
I have lists of XW upgrades, most committed to memory, but in AW, there are so many, I don’t even try.
Weapons are needed, it’s a combat game at heart, but they do not dominate. In AW, it is logical to take Torps or their equivalent, maybe something more faction aligned, but you can fly a decent game without. Ships are tougher, mistakes less precipitous, other things matter as much. In XW, ordnance is much more varied and can be brutal, but it is often a one-shot trick.
Something AW also does well is disabling of upgrades, not spending and removing them. XW 2e did add the “charges” mechanic, but AW has always allowed Photon Torpedoes to be replenished, or busy Crew cards to be re-enabled. It fits the theme and makes for a longer lasting game.
Crew are more important and vastly more common, many ships having 3 and many Captains can even add more. Most are named, meaning literally a cast of hundreds.
A great example is the humble Enterprise NX (pre-Federation), on paper a Tie fighter at 2-3-3-0, but add four Crew (with Archer) and with them some Weapons, and Tech and that little ship can stick around for a while, not “pop” like a Tie. You can have 8-10 abilities on that little ship, the Tie gets a Pilot, EPT and Mod.
The Elite Talents are similar, but with Captains and named Ships sporting abilities and most coming with a bespoke Talent, the mix is softer and more flexible with few repeats. Many EPT and Pilot combinations in XW are often not considered optional and create very powerful combinations in multiple, something AW avoids by simply blunting them with more choice and less repetition.
Tech is a good way of upgrading any AW ship, Sensors, Mods, Droids, Illicit do this in XW, but are limited and there are clear favourites.
Edition wars are less painful. No 2e migrations, just some annoying point value changes*, a polishing of the core rules and clarification of some exceptions. Wizkids were not as tight in their roll out of AW as the XW custodians were, but the game was also less brittle by design.
Your milage may vary, probably does on average as XW is by far the more popular game, but for me AW was where I went first and looking back was where I should have stopped.
It is still my obsession, even after stripping my collection bare, even after spending more on both Armada and XW respectively.
*I have mostly dealt with the PV’s by keeping to faction limits and making a choice on either dearer or cheaper values, “hacking” cards as needed.