Ultra Tiny....But Epic

Trawling the interwebs for games for Meg and I, a while ago I came across the Tiny Epic series. They hit a spot with me because they are small games in a big box (travel), have a feel to them similar to my early days of gaming (you know, the stuff you would make up on a rainy Sunday with a friend, but never completed) and are generally on the money theme wise.

Choices, choices. Too many to get, so little time.

I started by going with Ultra Tiny (Galaxies and Kingdoms), for a couple of reasons;

They are cheap at roughly half the price of the parent version.

They are super small (card pack size), but spread to cover a tray table.

They are generally even more complete than the Tiny Epic’s first volumes, effectively making them 1/4 the price of the base and expansion, including solo play and in the case of Galaxies a small extra element (Satellites and Super Weapons).

They are a dead end (no extras), so no add-ons even if I wanted ;).

They are a master class in ridiculously small game design.

So, in this box, small enough to easily fit into a cargo pants pocket, there are two full games, each of the depth and cleverness of games like Catan, but slightly faster playing and 1 to 4/5 player capable. The original boxes are card pack sized, but after sleeving the cards, they are just too tight. The relatively huge d12 is for UTEK solo mode and the optional 2x d4 combat dice for those of us who like some randomness/risk in TEK combat (a BGG recommendation).

This is most of one of the games (Galaxies). You have the 8mm cubes for; 2 players-Red and Blue (3 more factions are left out for added space), the Action dice (the dark grey ones), Satellites (light grey) and the Action, Galaxy, Planet, Secret Mission and solo “Rogue Galaxy” cards which are printed on the back of the Galaxy cards. The small cards are mini-American sized (X Wing 1e upgrade cards), the larger cards are standard playing card sized.

Kingdoms has a slightly different look with only the larger sized cards used for Territories/Factions (dual sided), Building, Solo, and Action cards. UTEK is slightly lighter in card stock, but “heavier” in cubes with 70 odd.

How does this play? With large hands, I find the cube moving fine. The text, especially on some cards forces my wife to wear her reading glasses and in a couple of cases in UTEK, even I struggle, but after a few games, the size becomes irrelevant (they are after all the same size as most game cards). The games are what they are, engrossing and compelling regardless of size and many of the issues raised by players are just as likely to be found in “Big Box” games (The text is comparable to the bulk of the cards in Eldritch Horror). If it was an experiment in gigantism, it would likely take longer to come to grips with.

The only real issue is bumping, as everything is so small and light, but we have found the answer to that is a little space and careful card placement with single finger cube pushing. Obviously don’t play it in the wind either.

To follow this I also added Tiny Epic Galaxies Blast Off, because it is apparently better than the first, more fun/generic/lite in feel and play and tighter rules wise, so ideal for guests. It does lack Solo play and the Satellites and Super weapons expansions so the smaller UTEG is still relevant. The UTE’s may fit in it’s box also, meaning I have the same game twice (but differently) and a second game all in a video tape sized box (remember those?).

Of the other games, Zombies is tempting, Western, Defenders with the recommended expansion (just bought), “full sized” Kingdoms with Expansion (for the heroes), maybe Tactics, Quest, Mechs, Pirates, Dungeon….,but we will see.

My immediate gaming future looks to be both Tiny and Epic.

The Tackle Box Experiment

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.

The Actual Differences Between Attack Wing and X Wing

X Wing and Attack Wing use the same core system, but with subtle thematic differences. These differences are more than enough to differentiate the two games, so lets have a quick look at them*.

XW 1e and 2e will be basically treated equally for this comparison.

Ships

A ship in Attack wing, regardless of actual size (except for a few genuine giants), are all represented with about the same table presence. The little Delta flyer and the intimidating Reman War Bird have the same foot print (i.e. base) and movement mechanics. The actual differences between the two are many (stats, dial etc), but otherwise you do not need to do a major mind shift to play either. This allows the game some consistency, especially in manoeuvre application and effect, but some inconsistencies regarding scaled capabilities and perceptions.

True, a small ship in Star Trek can have a big influence, but a range of 1-6 attack and 1-3 defence does not have the spread to cover the above two ships realistically. The little bank of phasers on the Flyer would be matched dozens of times over by the War Bird as even the Enterprise E needed allies to take it on, but for the game and the theme’s sake, the spread is heavily compressed.

Captains are separate to ships in AW so theoretically any combination is possible. Even if you stick to timeline and faction limits, this is a more flexible aspect of AW. Titles for AW ships are almost mandatory, adding shields, special abilities and more upgrades for a consistent 2 point bump.

AW feels fine with a single ship, while XW feels better with a squad.

X Wing is far more literal in scale. The Ghost dwarf’s a tie fighter, the Raider is considerably bigger than the Ghost and full sized capital ships are left to the sister game Armada (where the X Wing ships are correspondingly, but abstractly smaller). Weapons are kept at the same effect scale, so bigger ships have more. This allows the player to settle their eye with a “what ya see is what ya got” dynamic, but has created effectively 4 basing scales (3 in 1e). This effects manoeuvres, upgrades etc. Big ships feel and act very differently, even clumsily in 1e. FFG have had to control upgrade options depending on size, which makes sense, but adds natural complications.

Pilots in XW are locked in to certain ships, a design element I feel they got wrong, but seems set in stone after the second edition roll out. Some X Wing ships have Title options, which is part of the “legend” of many ships. These range from must have’s, to meh, but are generally less of a free ride than AW ones.

Manoeuvring

The two games share the same movement system, but there are some major differences in application.

Attack Wing is pretty conservative, offering no Boost, Barrel Roll, Talon turn or Segnor’s loop options and few pilot modifiers. Manoeuvre in AW is pretty straight forward as would be expected of a capital ship game, even predictably boring in some factions. Smaller ships tend to be slower, much like actual warships where big ships generally cruise faster even up to a genuine speed 6. Smaller ships do turn well, but nothing like the most nimble XW fighters. A table size is recommended for points games in AW, but I rarely take notice of this, playing on huge mats, increasing the feeling of vastness.

X Wing manoeuvring is a very different beast. Speeds are generally up on average, but top out at 5. The Boost and SLAM actions do add a speed 6 element, but only to a few and only by using up their action. Ships can be more agile, many have post move options unheard of in AW and many pilot skills are movement based. Movement, especially tight turning and outmanoeuvring in XW is a larger part of the dog fight dynamic, especially in the later 1e and 2e games where post move action chains often win or lose a game.

X Wing is as a rule played either on a 3x3’ tournament or 3x6’ Epic mat. I usually ignore this and use anything from 3x3 to 6x4’ mats.

Upgrades

AW upgrades are generally more common, but less varied. When looking at upgrade options as a whole, there are fewer classes (Crew, Weapon, Tech and the Captain only Elite Talents), but almost all ships will have 3 or more to chose from. As a prime example, Archer’s Enterprise (The Captain assigned can be part of the upgrade path) can have 6 if T’Pol is included (A Tie fighter, with otherwise identical stats may have 2 max).

In AW these are generally Crew, or if the faction leans that way, Tech centric, with weapons often being a “Photon Torpedo” equivalent or not, but there are exceptions. A major difference in AW is named ships. They are often blessed with special capabilities, more shields and more upgrades. The feel of AW is more about a big ship that soaks damage or shuts down enemy upgrades and most upgrades are a part of that. It is interesting to me how un-important upgrades feel in AW , compared to XW at least.

In XW upgrades are crucial. They are one of the strongest elements of XW is also the root of many of it’s problems. Upgrade choice makes or breaks a competitive squad build, with some upgrade cards being bought en-masse with little else in the ship pack employed (which would be unlikely in AW). Upgrade releases, followed soon after by a nerf or other tactical counters are really the story of XW 1e, but hopefully less so in 2e.

Not only is the choice greater, but layers of upgrade synergy are also more powerful. The right pilot and upgrade combination can sometimes be too powerful for the game to control, a dynamic that is less common in AW, especially faction pure. Even with the heavily reduced choice in Bare Bones, upgrade choice can still be the core of squad building.

Actions

AW has a pretty even handed feel with actions. Whether your ship has then or not is rarely the question, making their actual use more important. There are 4 core actions (Lock, Evade, Battle Stations and Scan) with a couple that may be swapped out (Cloak, Echo often for BS and Scan), but that is it. No dynamic post move manoeuvres or sneaky tricks, just 4 vanilla ones or the “alternate” if a ship can cloak. Rarely ships have fewer than 4 and often only if they are small or lower tech.

XW actions and their economy are the cause of much debate. The basic principals of the game have been heavily eroded over the years with layer upon layer of post movement re-positioning defining the later game. Realistically, if you lacked action synergy, you had better have something else up your sleeve like resilience or fire power. Ships in XW also have more variety of Action choice. Some ships only have a Lock and Focus, some have 4, but these can be very different to others, even going as far as defining factions. Barrel Rolls are common with Imperials, but less so with Rebels. Bigger ships usually lack manoeuvre options, but not always and Evade, standard on AW most ships is only available to some.

Most XW actions are movement or combat based, with some support options. The fragile but elusive fighter feel is highlighted here with Barrel Rolls, Talon Turns and Segnor’s Loops all the thing. Attacking with a Lock and Focus or defending with Evade and Focus are also important, but positioning to deliver the killer blow, or avoid it, really rules the game.

Which is better? The AW feel is appropriate as is the XW one, and neither game would feel right if swapped over, so they both serve their purpose.

Combat

AW is a less combat orientated game. Odd thing to say? What I mean is, AW is a less overtly aggressive game, which fits the theme of the universe it is part of and probably explains why scenario play fits it better. Many tactics in AW are clever captain’s gambits or crew disabling tricks. It is rare that even a combative faction like the Borg would lack some kind of upgrade disabling option. Ships with no Evade or high Agility are extremely rare also, making them less agile overall, but with the Evade option available almost always. This makes defence an action choice, not built in.

The ships are almost universally lower in agility than attack strength (def 3 is very rare), making the player feel like the hit is more likely, but the effect may be countered in some way. Just like in the shows, ships tend to fly around each other, passing out damage and other effects them coming around to do it all again, waiting for their enemies shields to be depleted, so they can beam over and cause havoc.

XW combat has a more destructive, alpha strike feel. Missiles, Torpedoes, Bombs, Cannons, all cause major damage or other effects, but your target may be too elusive to hit. Some bigger XW ships lack evasion, but smaller ships especially have 2+ standard. The big gamble is often when to use ordnance, as the sudden death nature of these heavy hitters can be game defining. Ordnance is often one use also, making manoeuvre and timing critical.

Factions

Attack Wing has clearly been designed with faction and timeline accuracy in mind. The Enterprise A and E are from different periods, so they are vastly different in capabilities, but are the equivalent of each other in their correct time. AW is unfortunately played pretty loosely competitively, with any captain and ship mated with any upgrade. This is a shame as the weaker ships are usually only weak by unfair comparison and mixing factions and timeline without any limits ruins story fidelity and tends to relegate a lot of ships and captains to the junk heap. Recommended; stick to timeline first, then faction optionally (lots of precedents here) and you will enjoy your collection more. In hind-sight I would have bought the Enterprise (NX) and Voyager collections only, but that is with the benefit of hind sight.

AW feels best played with a scenario. Can’t say why, maybe a hold over from the shows, but a scenario seems to be assumed and plenty are provided.

X Wing is strictly faction limited and with the exception of later 1e, is timeline specific within those factions, though competition play is loose here also. I dislike the logic of Republic fighting Resistance for example, but do as you feel suits.

Most X Wing play is a head to head duel, but I feel that is a shame. There are lots of great scenarios, many can be borrowed from AW or the source, but often, 100pt fights are assumed.

*

The two games are similar but different. Different enough for you to justify both? I do, but must admit, I bought AW to avoid buying the “bigger” XW game, knowing less went further in AW and then got XW anyway. I also have WW1 and 2 planes, sailing ships and others, so too late for me, but there is still time….you can still save yourself……run……now.

*We will not be looking at physical differences, only play and feel divergence.

Further Fun On The Home Front

My wife has become a little addicted to Catan, even with Star Trek trappings. Most nights lately, we have been going head to head over two or three games with honours pretty even.

Our house rules have spiced up the base game**, but none the less, the game is holding firm as our premier distraction at the moment.

This has spurred me on to try some other games;

King of Tokyo Dark edition, which has a few more rules than the standard version, making it unnecessary to buy any expansions. This has not been a great success as is for 2, but I am looking at house rules here. The map has 2 spaces (optional placement, maybe one adds 2 energy, the other 2 VP, but both without healing), so there are options there and the in-out of Tokyo dynamic seems pointless with 2, so again I will look at that. We may even just play 2 monsters each with the last one standing wins.

Seven Wonders Duel*, which is one of the most recommended two player games around. Once we give this a crack, I may add the Pantheon expansion, which seems to be the popular option.

Ticket to Ride (Express) London* . This was an instant hit (7 games the first night!), so much so that I have repainted the buses into 3 rather than 4 player (17 buses base +1 spare +6 from the “lost” team makes 24) for a longer and more strategic game for 2 people and I went Union Jack Red/White/Blue. I bought this on a whim, looking to try the mechanic out with Meg before getting a bigger one, but to be honest it is a winner on it’s own, we just felt it could have gone a little longer. The house rule of first to 50 points for instant game end is used also (although that does not guarantee a win).

Ed. This works really well. There is enough game for two people to try 3-5 route cards, complete 1-2 zones and reach consistently 30-40 points, with 50pts an instantly win. It plays about half as long as Catan basic.

Pandemic Fall of Rome, because I get a little fix of wargaming in with a new take on the Pandemic mechanic. The “viruses” are barbarians who march on Rome, forcing you to make peace with them or raise armies to fight them off, but they migrate, rather than just pop up (and with dice! Love dice).

Pandemic Reign of Cthulhu. This is our second most played game, maybe soon supplanted by Ticket, and we have it’s measure for the moment and have not found it half a twitchy as we thought it might be (lost a game in 4 turns once). I am sure we will get a good pasting when we raise the difficulty.

Kingdomino*. The game that started it all. Simple and fun, but surprisingly deep, this one will stay as is, played on “lite” evenings, although Meg seems less excited by tile laying games.

Wingspan. This is probably the most involved game in the set. We have the two expansions, though we have not played the Oceania one yet. Meg is ok with this one, but says it is a long winter night game for her, admitting she is a little stuck on Catan for the moment.

Carcassonne (Big Box). A cross between Kingdomino and Catan, I will assume this one is also a winner. The big box adds the near mandatory Inns and Cathedrals and Trades and Builders expansions along with several smaller ones for added variety (crop circles?). The Catan builder dynamic seems to suit Meg more, but this one is in the mix. We like the river, but generally ignore some of the more fiddly rules.

Cthulhu Realms*. This one is on the way. The sci-fi or fantasy themes did not appeal to Meg and their need for “growth” put me off, while this one looks complete in one box, a little more fun, varied and re-playable judging by the reviews I have read.

*

Games we may try;

Batman Talisman. I have played this with friends and as with Talisman of old, it can get a little bogged down, but I think we will give it a go and see (probably with house rules if needed). If we like it enough I will paint the figures, if not they may find their way onto the war games table.

Star Trek Panic. Meg tried this with me when I first got it, just so I could learn the rules and she did not like it, but we will likely give it a go again later as this was in the pre-gaming period. It is playable solo anyway, so no harm.

Munchkin/Marvel Munchkin*. Apparently it can be played with two, just dump un-playable cards as you go. I have 9+ expansions for standard as well as Pathfinder, so plenty to see here. Personally I am keener on the Marvel one, but we will give both a go. A two person variant rule I prefer across the board is to add a 1d roll for combat. With two people the combat dynamic can get a little predictable, so rolling adds a little risk, both ways. Not without it’s flaws, Munchkin has tons of support and viable variants/fixes out there. House rule options are starting at level 3 and using a combat dice.

Heroes of Normandie. I think the look and feel of the game may be enough to get Meg interested, but I will start modestly, especially if I play as a game master rather than opponent.

X Wing. Could it be that she has shown the smallest interest in playing Bare Bones with me? The new Bespin and Orbital Dunes mats have also gone down well, further stocking the fire.

Star Wars Risk. Good simple fun, this one usually comes down to the wire. I remember one game being won with a 6 rolled by the last surviving Rebel ship, destroying the Death Star the turn before all would have been lost.

Eldritch Horror (all the small expansions). This is basically Cthulhu Pandemic on steroids. Playable solo, I will give it a crack with/without Meg as a deeper, longer game than Pandemic.

Pathfinder CCG. I have the first and original set with all the Crimson Throne expansions. It may be too much, but who knows.

Iron Kingdoms/Hordes CCG. Same as above.

CG’s are risky, so I have limited them to Cthulhu Realms, 7K Duel and what I already have.

*These are small enough to travel with as well.

**We place the planets randomly first, then our bases and ships, then the numbers are allocated only to the planets we have bases on, with the rest revealed as we “explore” them. These rules and the personality cards that this version has make for a pretty fresh and surprisingly balanced game each outing (we leave the planets as placed for the night-usually three games, re-allocation the numbers each game). We also have an “advantage” rule, where the winner must win by three or more points once they reach ten, which has a couple of times made for a very cut-throat experience and we once beat the game with something like a 16-15 score.

X Wing 2e Generics Only Or "Hero Maker" Mode

See a pattern here? Again, I find the dynamic of an inherent pilot talent and another pilot talent odd, so as a play condition option I would like to put forward a “Generics only” limit.

This was not possible in 1e, due to an imbalance of offerings. The Empire and to a lesser extent the Scum factions had more and better generics as “fillers”, where the Rebels managed to fill their ranks with named pilots, so their generics were generally weaker. Too weak as it turned out. Even if pilot skill is limited to PS4, other problems pop up like the abundance of PS5 Scum pilots dropped, leaving trash pilots with no EPT slot. The TFA period was a little different, but limited in choice if used “timeline clean” and many of them still had their own talent anyway, blurring the logic.

Generics only in 1e were unfortunately not really viable except in set games.

Everyone is an Ace in the making.

So, lets look at using generic pilots in X Wing 2e with EPT’s as the only Pilot skill options and see which ships offer these upgrades in 2e?

The Resistance (4).

The A Wing has 2, 1 with 2 slots (I1 & I3), T70 has 2 (I4 & I3).

First Order (4).

Tie/ba 1 (I3), Tie/fo 1 (I3), Tie/sf 1 (I3), Tie/vn 1 (I4).

*

Scum (8).

Y-Wing 1 (I2), Fang 1 (I4), Khiraxz 1 (I3), M12-L 1 (I3), M-3a 1 (I3), Guild Tie 1 (I2), Viper 1 (I3), Z 95 1 (I3).

*

Empire (12).

Alpha Starwing 1 (I3), V1 Advanced 1 (I3) +1 Force (I3), x1 Advanced 1 (I3), Aggressor 1 (I3), Defender 1 (I4), Interceptor 1 (I4), Tie/ln 1 (I3), Phantom 1 (I4), Tie/rb 1 (I3), Bomber 1 (I3), Striker 1 (I3).

Rebel (7).

E Wing (I4), B Wing 1 (I3), Y Wing 1 (I3), A wing 2, 1 with 2 slots (I1 & I3), X Wing 1 (I3), Z 95 1 (I2).

This offering, not counting the non-EPT pilots which most ships also have, shows a logical and workable roster. The ships that should have EPT’s available to them (small ships, fighters) do have them, the bigger, slower ships less likely to use such tactics, don’t.

With the imminent arrival of some new squadron packs for the Empire, Rebel and Scum , there are likely more coming also.

*

The smaller spread of initiative also helps here, nullifying the inconsistencies of 1e (specifically and generally).

Every faction (I have looked at) gets at least one I4 option, usually placed with superiority fighters or elite squadrons and often with the ships that cost, so need something more.

All factions get plenty of I3 line fighter options and generally an I1-2 non EPT option also.

The I2 ships fit in better with second raters or multi role ships.

Ships too large and slow to need/use EPT’s without exceptional pilots miss out.

The A Wing I1 and 2 slot I3 fits with their “stunt pilot” vibe and the T70 getting an I4 and I3 also fits well with their numbers (countering the smaller range of ships)

There are a few ships missing such as the ARC-170 in Rebel fleets (found in Republic Fleets), but otherwise everything fits well.

*

Why do it?

For me it is simply the rationalising of pilot “tricks” to one option defining each flyer instead of a pilot inherent and optional EPT, which in 2e I am far more accepting of anyway. Even for the rest of the more sane world, it is a good “clean slate” or “make your own ace” mode for casual night matches.

Just like in 1e, it does reduce synergic layers a little (again less of an issue in 2e), so at it’s simplest, it is a reduction in complication for newer players.

Action Economy In Bare Bones

The idea behind Bare Bones X Wing 1e, is to wind the clock back to a game more like the original concept, which is in line with most other “Guess and Move” dogfight games.

Later 1e X Wing suffered from a (very natural) growth of options, leading to over complication, rewards for min/maxing and much assistance fully committed players while ham-stringing less knowledgable players. This was mainly due to increased action economy dynamics, already the most powerful aspect of the game, making squad building more of an efficiency audit than a themed ship love-in.

Bare Bones, by removing Elite Pilot Talents, Modifications and Titles, in one sweep reduced overall action economy, returning some balance and removed the bandaid fixes used to attempt the same.

Action economy is still important of course, but not dominant. This means good flying is paramount on a core level, as there are not seemingly infinite ways of changing what has been committed to, after the fact.

Lets look at what is still around in the Bare Bones universe*.

Pilots with two unconditional actions;

• Darth Vader (elegantly handles Vader being the strongest Force user around)

Pilots with two conditional actions;

• Night Beast (Focus), Chaser (Focus), Commander Alozen (Target Lock), Soontir Fel (Focus), Turr Phennir (Boost or Roll), Colonel Vassery (TL), Redline (TL).

• Tarn Mison (TL), Thane Kyrell (Action), Jake Farrell (Boost/Roll).

• Kad Solus (Focus), Drea Renthal (TL), Guri (Focus), Genesis Red (Action), Laetin A’Shera (Evade), IG-88C (Evade).

Pilots able to steal Actions;

• Palob Godalhi (Focus/Evade), Kaat’o Leeachos (Focus/Evade).

Pilots able to share with others;

• Garvin Dreis (Focus), Dutch Vander (TL), Kyle Katarn (Focus), Lando (Action), Shara Bey (TL), Airen Cracken (Action).

• Col. Jendon (TL)

• Manaroo (Actions/Tokens),

Pilots able to ignore Action reducing stress;

• Tycho Celchu, Braylen Stramm, Keyan Farlander, Hobbie Klivian.

• Captain Yorr (friends)

• 4-Lom (share stress)

Pilots able to swap out Actions;

• Nora Wexley (TL>Focus), Luke Skywalker (Focus>Evade).

Action economy can be vital.

*

Pilots are not the only source of action economy.

Droids that effect Action economy;

• R3 (Focus>Evade), R7-T1 (TL + Boost), R5-K6 (TL)

• R4 Agromech (Focus>TL), Overclocked R4 (Focus), Genius (Free Bomb Drop Action).

Crew who can share or add Actions:

• Latts Razzi (Evade), K4 Security Droid (TL), Outlaw Tech (Focus), Bossk (Focus + Lock), 4-Lom (Focus/Evade).

• Weapons Engineer (2x TL), Recon Spec (2x Focus), Ops Specialist (Focus), Inspiring Recruit (Stress)

• Jan Ors (Friends Focus>Evade), Leebo (Boost), Kyle Katarn (Focus).

• Ysanne Isard (Evade), Fleet Officer (Focus), System Officer (TL).

Systems and Illicit upgrades that effect Action Economy;

• Advanced Sensors (change Action/Move order), Fire Control System (TL).

• Burnout SLAM (SLAM), Contraband Cybernetics (Action), Glitterstim (Focus)

I am sure I have missed someone or some thing.

I have not included Action reducing or stress inflicting effects here, nor the effects that are more aligned to manoeuvre or combat, only direct Action economy elements, but as you can see there are plenty available (proportionate to other elements of the game), without stacking too many layers.

A crew or droid fitted ship may have a second Action stacked onto their own, if any and that added to a friend’s shared effect where possible, but that is it. Three AE effects are the maximum and one likely the norm. This is in balance with the Manoeuvre and Combat elements of the game.

Action economy should be the rare and powerful exception. The exception that, like a combat or manoeuvre mod, defines the ship and it’s tactics, but not one that has become an over powering element of the game.

*Bare Bones has been further trimmed at this point to help introduce new players to the game, removing the “Rebels” storyline, some Imperials and Scum, primarily those with actions that go outside of the main four or any from the newer movies. These ships are included in the slightly more complex “Classic” along with Named Titles.

A French Connection

A few years ago, I succumbed to the dark side (not the Star Wars one). As a confirmed miniatures and Role Playing gamer of many, many years, I stuck my nose back into the long forgotten (by me) realm of board gaming.

I had always been intrigued by the “Heroes of Normandie” game from Devil Pig Games but a few things put me off.

1. It was expensive, partly because the weight, making freight for the core sets excessive (a multi kilo box of thick cardboard) and there was a lot of it.

2. It was also a translation from French and depending on the edition you bought was rife with typos and inconsistencies.

3. It was a hybrid miniatures-board game, which felt familiar and enticing, but also irrelevant on some level.

4. I came in late, missing some kick starter and older expansions and the longer I hesitated the worse that issue became (like X Wing 1e, like Attack Wing…).

I decided not to go the HoN avenue, but instead just dabble in a few (physically) lighter games with more limited and controllable expansion paths.

It started innocently enough. First the Black Hawk Down themed Lock N Load Tactical “Day of Heroes”, which lead to the Heroes of Nam, Falklands and WW2 expansions and most supporting materiel. These are all self contained, but used the same rules, so cross purchasing was an option not an imperative.

Not content.

I have since sold LnL on. It was the biggest investment in time and money, in a time where I want to get things done, not get stuck on one system. I also found the cost of some “necessary” upgrades off putting such as $35 for some bigger maps, that were not better than the originals, just bigger (and needed), then they released even better ones! If I had kept going, each single box (I had 7) would have topped out at over $200au (more than my actual HoN collection), with much of that being new maps making the previous 2 sets redundant and separate scenario generators that I think should have been in the box in the first place. I do however miss the modern themed games.

I then ordered the Base game and Stalingrad expansion for Old School Tactical, but had to wait over a year for the reprint of the expansion as again, I had waited too long (then they sent me two!). This was followed by the Western Europe set and expansions, which weigh in as the same class as the HoN games.

OST has also expanded into the Pacific, but I have held back for now, content with the first two volumes, but if they go in the direction of Italy….

Ed. This one has gone also.

The final system and probably the most sensible is Combat Commander, which is mechanically the best of the three (for me), but lacks tanks and is unplayable solo.

All of these have several things in common.

The counters are abstract in art style and counter colour in that they do not match the boards. People are silhouettes and in some games of this type even the vehicles are also. When you look at them you are looking at game counters, which from a miniature gamer’s perspective (even one with a memory that goes back to older board games) sit in an odd space between abstract simulation and just unrealistic. Vehicles especially, drawn side on at this scale (1:1 vehicles and sections of foot) just look odd to me and the benefit of the often beautiful “top down” boards is reduced by them.

HoN eventually wore me down as it probably was always going to.

Lesson learned was to get where you are going directly, not by other routes, as any other process is just wasted time and money. Convinced it filled a different theme (semi cartoonish and light weight) and with a cross-over to the Achtung Cthulhu RPG world, it held a connection that would not let go. Really I just wanted all of it’s lusciousness.

Some of the heavier bits were shipped locally, some from France direct (which was reasonably cheap in quantity) and some from the U.S with mixed freight costs and some other issues. After a long year of collecting I am there.

Thanks to Noble Knight Games I am now knocking on the door of a complete collection with extras. We will ignore for the moment the pending second edition that I do intend to ignore :), my collection now boasts the kick starter extras (Millers Rangers having the title of “dearest cardboard slab” in the house, but did come packaged with the Marquis and Steiner panels as well, I think erroneously), the Gazettes, all core games and expansions for HoN, Heroes of Stalingrad and Shadows Over Normandie (the Cthulhu-Horror connection).

This game has the distinction (as of 2018) of being in the top ten dearest board games available….go me… .

Is it worth it?

I think so, and here is why.

First up all of the problems with inconsistent rules and counter print errors have been addressed.

The Rules Compendium and later expansions with the inclusion of multiple cheap (0.01c) errata re-print counter sheets, have soothed frayed nerves. Many of the errata’d counters are only minor and many went un-noticed, but they still printed replacements. I must confess to buying a few more each order for extra Zombies, Rangers etc.

So, issues aside….

The game is beautiful, really beautiful.

The counters are all mini dioramas in their own right. The top down view infantry teams and vehicles match the stunning scenery perfectly and everything is to “modellers” scale (i.e. correct).

The Combat Commander counters are large and well drawn, but is there really any comparison? The HoN counters are also very cleanly cut and corner rounded. No ragged corners! I have a very few that are slightly off register, but because of their size, this is less bothersome than in other games. The counter above is about as busy as they get.

The scale is better.

The counters are pretty literal. Four figures are four figures. If the counter is reduced (flipped), there are fewer figures on the flip side. I prefer the teams scale also as it fits better with the scale of vehicles etc. and makes weapon teams equal to rifle teams. Where other games have a section sized counter and little weapon counters added, HoN counters are the weapon team. This also reduces the need for pesky morale rules (some are optionally available), as the fortunes of a small team tends to be more; healthy > reduced > dead, than the larger section sized unit; active > broken > dead dynamic.

The game has character and characters.

The main players in the game are usually historic figures or well known movie/TV characters (often one in the same). If history and fiction cross over they will use a likeness that is similar to both the historical figure and the actor that played them in the movie both old and new (John Frost > Antony Hopkins, Sean Connery > General Urquhardt etc, with appearances from Jude Law, Tom Hanks, John Wayne, Charles Bronson, Matt Damon, Clint Eastwood, Ed Harris, James Coburn, Ron Perlman-twice and many more). Even some characters from ‘Nam era fiction pop up in SoN like Robert Duvall’s mad Air-Cavalryman and a George Peppard like Ranger. Some are even the actual designers and friends. Some hinting is required for fictional characters (Private Bryan), but real people are named out.

Each character is strong, but not impervious, so things may still go pear-shaped on you if you play them badly. Each unit represents an actual unit and has characters to fit.

A Vanilla U.S. Airborne unit or the actual “Band of Brothers”, lots of options. The recruitment tiles above are used to create the forces in the game. I ignored them at first, but they really do make it easy to set up a game and make for realistically balanced forces.

The system is solid and surprisingly deep.

Simply put, it sits nicely in my sweet spot of realistic results without clutter and is elegant in play. I am always surprised how much they can do with a single d6 roll. Want to kill that Tiger with a Piat? Give it a go, because anything is possible, but expect to fail, because you should, it is a Tiger and you have a crappy Piat! They set up dramatic Hollywood moments, both heroic and tragic.

The activation system is also sufficiently “Hollywood”. A cat and mouse game in itself of blind activation allocation with a little bluff, but I have even played it with a different init system from one of my own WW2 miniature rule sets for a more traditional “Igo-Ugo” feel and it is flexible enough to allow aggressive tampering.

The blocks at the bottom (belonging to Lovecraftian Deep Ones in this case), are used to allocate activations and the matching dice are used for all tests. The cards add the events that make movies different from reality (or is reality that different?). The ill-fitting card sleeves are down to me. Each faction gets a card pack, themed to suit them.

The game is comprehensive.

Many vehicles and weapons from late war Europe and mid war Stalingrad or the SAS desert campaign as well as some weirdness from Shadows are present. Wittman’s Tiger or “Oddballs” M4, flame throwers (or worse), most infantry and support weapons are all there. It is actually more comprehensive than Lock N Load and Old School Tactical in that regard, especially in variety to counter load. The scale helps here. Instead of needing a half dozen of one vehicle at section scale, you only need a couple of tanks at team scale. There is even an armoured train complete with Goering.

The LRDG about to be ambushed.

The game feels different, more tactile.

The core counters are actually tiles an inch square and thick. A larger tank has a similar foot print to a credit card and even a single person counter is bigger than a tank in OST.

Everything you need to know is on the counters. One of the handy things about the substantial counter size is it allows the designers to put all relevant information on the counter in a pleasant and relatively invisible way. Even the terrain has movement and cover effects printed on it, in-offensively. No charts!

This brings us to the luscious boards and scenery.

The scenery can sit on the board, which would normally annoy me, but in this case a small house is 4-6” wide, so it sits with some presence. I have (gulp) over thirty double-sided boards (you only need 2-6 for a game). I can do desert, woods, hills, dungeons, evil labs, coastline with fortifications, rivers with multiple bridges, swamp, sewers, towns (demolished or not) and on and on. I even have a promo board form the Warhammer spin-off game, that adds a Nazi or Allied “secret base” desert tile. These can then be covered with more of the same! Below Devil Boys cave appears on your everyday Nazi cult-sacrifice clearing.

Counters for everything and all you need to know is on them. The trenches above show egress points, defensive values and terrain effects, all without ruining the ascetic.

The game is alive and it is a community.

Fan made content is common, feedback constant and their site has regular scenario ideas. They even put their work out for customer approval! Not long ago, the small company reached a crisis point, almost folding, but fans bailed it out. There is much love for this game.

Cross-over is relevant.

Achtung Cthulhu by Modophius has a unique style and plenty of established characters and SoN shares in that. I was lucky enough recently to pick up the original Achtung Cthulhu expansion that preceded Shadows. This completes my Mythos character and monster options, even a giant Cthulhu makes an appearance, but there is more. The system also has a super hero themed set of expansions from the “Guardian Chronicles”. A Hell Boy clone, a Captain America like character with a British offsider and even some more regular evil Nazi supernaturals (Zombies, Ghouls, Werewolves etc), so your weirdness can be accessed via other flavours of weird if Cthulhu is not your style. The only thing I have not collected is the “Dust Chronicles” expansion that adds German and American super soldiers with sci-fi weaponry.

Maybe one day.

A frikkin’ sleep walker!

Engagement is very strong.

The game has a semi role playing feel. I often set up a game like an RPG scenario and play as the GM. The feel is movie orientated and it comes through so well. It is actually hard to play it too straight because the games character forces it’s way through regardless.

Recently a friend was tasked with the extraction of an enemy scientist from a lab somewhere in France. The scientist in question was working on a potion that animates the dead, and it was working, possibly too well. The player entered the game with a platoon of Rangers through an eerily deserted village, thinking it was a semi pulp WW2 scenario, then discovered he was in an episode of the Walking Dead meets Saving Private Ryan!. Much fun was had, especially when his men started going mad. He won, but I can only assume everyone involved would never be the same.

Like a scene from a “Boys own Adventures” book, but it is still fully compatible with the WW2 action around it. There are even spell books.

Play it normally, weird or any combination that suits, this game will reward you with engaging fun and rewarding play. Next is to get my wife playing!

Why Bare Bones First Edition X Wing Is A Good Primer For Second Edition

X Wing has two editions because the first got “un-fixable” without a major overhaul and too many people needed it to work competitively, which is testament to the quality of the core game concepts, that people wanted to fix it, when they could just walk away.

Was enough done? I thing enough was done within the parameters of “keep it close to the original”, but not everything that could have been done was, but anyway, there is no doubting that there was enough to make the game vibrant, logical and reasonably future proof.

The other option, taken by the “softer”, less combative community was to simply modify or remove the more troublesome elements to try to re-capture the earlier games balance and brilliance.

Bare Bones is our fix. It simply removes non-named (generic or loosely connected) Titles, Elite Pilot Talents and Modifications, which are all part of the over bloated, fix-the-fixes syndrome that bought the game down. Later 1e suffered from a top 10% only dynamic, with older ships requiring some major bandaid measures to see any table time, not always successfully, many of these requiring their own re-balancing fixes etc (and many were an imagination stretch at best) until it got to the stage where there was often only one good way to play/build a small group of competitive ships and the rest (the majority) became useless to all but the most open minded casual players.

The game started to look more like a Magic The Gathering style deck builder than a miniatures based game, but worse, it had a real insiders knowledge edge that excluded a lot of want to be players.

It also led to a lot of non-canon weirdness, which if that annoys you (yup), then another wall is erected between you and satisfying game play.

Bare Bones seems to have fixed much of this.

Goodby to multi layered action chains, nullified ship and pilot uniqueness and token stacking. This has made some ships pretty vanilla, but guess what? Squad tactics have come to the fore, much in keeping with the source material and the core concepts of the system a pretty balanced. Your 4 Tie Advanced squad may seem pretty lame, but they are up against 4 X Wings with no S-Foils, Expert Handling, Vectored Thrusters etc, so they are equally “lame”. X Wing still offers considerably more in build and ship variety than say Wings of Glory or even Attack Wing.

This is a balance achieved by turning back the clock to the point when the core game concepts ruled.

Ships now fly in formation for support, not relying on tricky action chains as their primary defence. Many ships only have their Pilot Talent as a point of difference, but that is fine. Pilot Skill, Pilot Talent and raw ship capabilities, mixed with more of the same (but different) gives you plenty to build with, then you fly on these merits alone. To be honest, on a level playing field, there are too many options to try them all. Conversely, if even more layers of synergy were added, would the game be better?

The design principles are there, they have just been swamped by more and more options.

Classic X Wing

The really cool thing though, is that BB 1e is a great jumping off point for 2e. The play is similar, just deeper. The 4-6 card monster builds that made the competitive 1e combos have been replaced by sometimes bare ships, but in numbers, which is similar to the cleaner presentation in 2e. This is helping a newer player learn the real basics, then move into to the linked actions and more varied manoeuvre choices of 2e, without unlearning the tangled web of competitive 1e.

A lot of the things nerfed or seamlessly blended into 2e are a natural fit, removing most of the mod cards that rankled and at the same time simplifying the game dynamic for players and designers. Many of the more troublesome upgrades have been dropped completely and the overall fit is natural and logical. The fell of 2e is surprisingly similar to BB, just with more moving parts.

Family Affair

I have no illusions about my wife’s interest in the bulk of my gaming hobby. Bemused by my fixation on systems and processes, collecting the correct and balanced forces and the variety of subjects I bring up when thinking about gaming, she has been well saturated with enough “Nerd” to stay well away.

This lockdown (such as it was in Tassie) and the reality that we are really home bodies anyway, has made us look deeper for entertainment. Netflix etc failed to excite for more than a month or so, so I hatched a rudimentary plan to ensnare my beloved in a cunning web of trickery….I digress. I bought Wingspan with the knowledge that it is;

• A well respected game

• Beautiful

• Mechanically different to most of my other games

• May hold some interest for Meg, my wife.

Broad hints went by seemingly unnoticed, then two things happened. My brother in law sent us a copy of Kingdomino for Christmas and friends also bought Wingspan ata bout the same time, giving us a more social opportunity to try it out as a group of beginners (only our host had read the rules and only once, so we got a few things wrong).

Meg and I tied for first! This convinced her that her main fear, the fear of playing against and slowing down “natural” gamers, was unfounded.

We now play something most nights while the TV does it’s best to regurgitate something bearable (mostly T20 Cricket at the moment).

Wingspan is our “Big” game (with both expansions), already very mildly house ruled and played usually in a three game “set”.

Kingdomino is the light game, often played in three sets of three.

Catan (Star Trek version with Fed Space expansion) is the favourite though which surprises me on a couple of levels (Meg not being at all interested in franchise Sci Fi), but it goes to show how a good game catches you regardless of it’s delivery.

I plan to add Pandemic (Cthulhu version), Star Trek Panic, Star Wars Risk, then the deeper Eldritch Horror and Batman Talisman as needed to keep things fresh, but don’t want to push things too fast. Buying vanilla versions would probably help, but our gaming friends have most of these and in many cases (Panic/Catan/Talisman) the franchised variants have extra or improved mechanics.

Cigar Box Battle Mat Review pt 2

Last time we looked at a few of my personal Cigar Box Battle game mats. This time we will look at the rest of my current collection with the exception of the little 3x3 poly mat.

No excuses for the images, still suffering the same issues as yesterday, but I will update them as I can.

First, lets look at “The Valley” mat, which was an impulse buy when I ordered the “Frontier Town” along with the little X Wing 3x3 (review later). I knew about the western themed ones for a month or more and was waiting in anticipation for them to arrive in Australia. With the late December release looming, but still no sign, I went ahead and ordered it direct instead, using three mats to equalise the freight (which is quite high for one mat). Way to economise!

This is probably my favourite mat.

A few wrinkles, but a new mat, expected and not nearly as bad in situ.

Lovely details, great colours and a very useful river running right through the middle. Printed rivers, like roads can be either treated as major or minor features or simply ignored, so I am grateful there is a decent sized one available on a nice general purpose mat.

The details on this mat are gorgeous and timeless.

A little scale specific, but yummy.

First figures I grabbed, Arthurian later Roman. This thing is “lush”.

A well scaled environment for this little M5, if not a healthy one.

I think that this mat is going to be a favourite for Dark Age through to WW2 in 28-20mm games. My various basing techniques “through the ages” also blend perfectly with this one.

*

The next mat is a good example of the “out side of the box” versatility of these mats, as it is not used for the designed purpose.

The “Redwood Fight” mat is meant to represent the deep dark temperate rain forests of Canada and it does that beautifully, but I have other plans for it.

I do not have any 7YW or later woodland Indians, and probably won’t (Indians vs Vikings?), but I do have several figure collections in need of Jungle terrain.

Another “cracking” image ;). What drew me to this one was the brilliance of the greens, which matches my re-purposed aquarium and fake indoor plant jungle and the red of the soil, is very in keeping with rich Pacific Island, volcanic soil.

A long weekend of repainting the edges of my scenery and figure bases and adding some bright green static grass and I am happy with the new look jungle.

20mm Marines cautiously move over open ground.

A hapless African militiaman stumbles over something from the “Lost Valley”, but on the bright side, he now knows where his friends went. This poor chap probably won’t survive to get re-based, so he will go to his doom unmatched to the terrain.

The Avengers on the hunt for something the Black Panther lost (his wallet?). Re-purposed Heroclix on useful clear bases. These clear bases do not like abrasive terrain, so the mats are a real boon.

*

The next mat is part of a huge project that has far out stripped it’s immediate need, but I hope to flesh it out with more options.

The “Roaring 20’s” mat was the culmination of a long search for a decent generic modern city mat for my huge Heroclix supers/super natural/horror/sci fi collection. The Cigar box trick of underlaying terrain is wasted on this one, as it is used flat, but even then, I found it was the best bet from a long list of contenders**.

A bland, but versatile colour palette. The one thing I under estimated was the building density needed to populate it. I ran out of steam after the first 15 or so buildings, with a half dozen left to go, but the beauty of these mats is I can literally fold it and play smaller as needed. This and the Redwood mat are slightly smaller than my others, only just covering the 7x5 table top.

Guardians of the Galaxy facing down an alien robot menace. The slightly cold blue-grey is fairly accurate, making most of my dirty grey paints look at odds with it, but that is my fault, not the mats. The light used is also daylight balanced flash, so you have to imagine the mat under normal tungsten lighting which is warmer.

My only real issue is the relatively limited range of games for the mat/city investment. My Heroclix collection is vast (a wonderful range of cheap second hand figures, some even decently painted), but all comes down to basically similar themes, so I will possibly add some gangsters or zombie apocalypse later.

The last mat for this review series is the “Crossroads” mat with 2” Roads.

I ordered this on impulse a year or so ago, as an option to the “European Fields” and “La Haye Sainte” mats and because I liked it.

At least I am consistent! The obvious grid lines are because I have not used this one yet. Notice though how the grid lines are invisible on the detail shots below.

This one is greener and lighter than the La Haye mat, with smoother looking grassland than the Europe one. I would not buy it now in hindsight as I have other options, but at the time, it added a different grass look and a scenario driving mid-point. This mat, like the La Haye, needs hills to break it up.

The grass colour is better here. I went for the 2” roads again as a good scale compromise. At a pinch I can also line up the roads with the Europe mat for an unlikely huge game.

18mm figs again, looking fine for larger scale games. 20mm WW2 are great as are smaller 15mm’s.

If I could change anything, it would be the perfect straightness of the roads. They don’t allow for things lurking around corners, which in WW2 games especially is a standard tactical consideration and also preclude ideal lining up of two mats the same (a single dog-leg would fit my needs perfectly).

*

The take-aways from this little preview are;

• The mats do topography in the only flexible way, that looks natural.

• They have a natural dullness that generally suits war gaming, except the plush that have a slight sheen. A friend bought a newer plush one and disliked the shiny finish.

• They can be washed if needed.

• They protect against handling mistakes and wear.

• They are bigger than 6x4’, which is better for big games, but don’t have to be.

• Their size adds overall capacity or segmented versatility. I have used the same mat in smaller parts for quite a different feel.

• They can be used in small spaces (just fold them).

• You get what you expect, based on their own images and most other online sources (not always the case with mat purchases*).

• They have obvious handling, storage and travelling benefits.

• They can post cheap because of the weight and foldability, but don’t always, so watch that.

• The range is huge and always growing/improving.

• There have different looks for different modelling and simulation tastes.

• Like everything, you get back what you put in.

• The felt-like fabric is not the most ideal option for “push and slide” movement games like Sails of Glory or X Wing, but will work (heavier neoprene is best here, but they do offer slippery poly in some mats to help with this). My extra layer of under-plushness is not used with this type of game to make for a firmer base.

*I will do a Deep Cut mat review next which will touch on this.

** If I need a modern, moody concrete or bitumen plain mat, I have a $50au “Kate” grey mottle backdrop, that looks very similar to the concrete or Gotham offerings from Deep Cut or CB.

Cigar Box Battle Mat Review pt 1

One of the most vexing things in gaming for me is the seemingly eternal struggle with scenery.

The base (literally) of the struggle comes from the game table itself. Many years ago I settled on a medium brown for my boards, based on a combination of a “Stone Effects” paint, matching Humbrol #29 and Davco #27 tile grout.

These formed many boards large and small, very few of which are still with me, due to weight, size, shape permanence (being a bad thing sometimes) or simply me losing interest. The only survivors are a 6x3 desert base, which will likely go soon (has), the desert painted 6x4 top of my game table (buried under a mountain of neoprene and cloth mats), and a 4x3’ cobble stone board, that may also go with the possible addition of a new CB mat.

The holy grail for me includes a flexible and natural form of gradation, preferably one that does not look like foam dumped on a bowling green, a blend of natural and “game-ish” looking terrain as a base and something that can take many forms easily.

This has been nearly impossible until I took a punt on Cigar Box mats.

The mats themselves are, with few exceptions, either 3x3’ or 7x5’ (1500x2000) soft microfibre cloth. This cloth has the ability to mould around shapes placed under it, prints to a high level of “gamers realism” (not photo-realistic, but that would clash with model terrain and mini’s), packs up flat (all of mine are in one plastic tub) and can be used fully or in part on smaller surfaces, just like a table cloth.

The “over” size is for two reasons. The mats can be placed from any corner, literally changing the terrain on a smaller table and secondly when reasonably large terrain pieces are placed under it, the mat will still guarantee a 6x4+ surface. Personally, I use them as 7x5’s with plenty of gentle sloping under.

The finish is dull and natural in most cases. Some newer mats, especially the plush double sided ones have a shinier finish, but all of mine, except my 3x3 Frontier Space are the dull. Unlike Vinyl and some neoprene, no odd shininess and no slipperiness. The Space mat is a smoother surface like soft shell poly, to help with X Wing or similar “slide” movement I assume.

The mats can be ironed, washed and stored folded in a small space.

Preparation; They can be placed on any surface, but I like to place a cheap K Mart velour blanket down first which tends to stop slippage of the mat and the foam hill pieces and makes the surface softer and more comfortable to work with.

Like neoprene, the mats can be very kind to mini’s. Handling and figure wear/damage compared to my old “gritty” desert surface is worlds apart. My old boards pretty much precluded using clear bases as they scratched too easily.

Below are the basic steps for setting up in my main game’s space/photo studio.

• The base table (750x1350).

• Three left over (from an old board project) 450x1800, 18mm panels for weight and support (in my upstairs game’s room, the 6x4'‘ table top is enough support).

• Five 400x1500 thin shelf panels for full width cover.

• The cheap black blanket base, which tends to smooth out any lumps and bumps.

• Some hills “carved” out of insulation foam.

• A mat laid over it all.

A note on photography, which was a disaster today. The light on the room is on the fritz so I was shooting literally blind, my camera (an old OMD EM5 is banding, I thought a little, but it turns out a lot, and the space, which is new, cramped me a little with the gear at hand.

Ok, now the specific mats.

One of my newest is the “Frontier Town”, which covers western, modern and any arid terrain campaigns. There is another plain version in the range, but this mat with a river and roads is nearly identical in design to my current option, which is too heavy (the reverse of my 18mm table top, taking two hearty souls to flip). It is also rough surfaced, has fixed hills and is smaller than this.

This mat has a 28mm feel, but easily covers down to 15mm. The river can be be deep or shallow, so it can be effectively ignored if wanted. I really like the inclusion of water and roads, as these, like hills, can sit on the board like a crude add-on, but a printed river can easily be ignored as an ankle deep nothing or a raging torrent.

A 28mm USMC patrol sweep, “questioning” the locals. The roads clearly stand out, or can be ignored as suits.

The colour tones match reasonably well with my three base tones (above), although some of my figures have a little too much grass on their bases.

My first “dry ground” love, 28mm western. The mat’s resolution matches the slightly “hyper” real look of the buildings. These figures are Davco grout based only, so a little of the darker brown and some specs of grass like the mat will be added.

The (20mm) green recruits of Alpha Coy moving into a German ambush in Tunisia. Based more for Europe, these are a little over grassed for this mat also, but work ok. Napoleonic Spain, the Crusades, Greece and Italy and most Ancients are all good for this very versatile mat. They do a true desert mat, but I prefer my games with a little more terrain, like you find in arid, but not sand dune geography.

*

My first CB mat now and a long thought out process that was! I went for the older design of the original “European Fields” mat, because the newer one was closer to photographic realism, which I felt was not in keeping with my terrain or figures. This worked out well as later mats gave me a newer, better look for some games, leaving this one to it’s own special periods.

Poor image, but plenty of others around on the net of this older mat. The roads are the larger ones for 28mm. This is to my mind a good compromise for 15/20/28mm figures (15mm Roads, 20mm minor roads, 28mm horse trails).

The hardened survivors of Alpha, now on mainland Italy. The road width suits most Normandy or Italian back roads.

My 28mm ECW figs are mostly used for “grand skirmish” games, so the one-cart trail is ideal.

Equally suitable, my 18mm ECW figures are used for bigger battles, which means major roads.

About the earliest period that suits this mat is high medieval. As the fields are many and regularly shaped, so they are a little too neat and plentiful for Dark Ages.

This mat is one of the older mats and has a couple of features I don’t love but can live with. Some of the field colours are a little odd (see the two fields above). Their later mats are more natural looking, but really I am being harsh. Recently i grabbed some mid brown teddy bear fur, that I will cut to cover some of the less natural looking field sections with “standing wheat”.

The thing I do struggle with though and something that in later mats seems to be either a specific feature or completely avoided, is the use of printed-on trees and hedges. This mat has some (the new version does not), but not so many they cannot be covered by terrain pieces if they annoy.

*

The last mat in this first review segment is probably my favourite do-all mat, the “La Haye Sainte” 15mm mat from the Waterloo range. The green on this mat really suits my original basing colours, it is very scale agnostic and the little road and field are surprisingly useful for context.

Another crappy image :). I have two of these after an ordering stuff-up* and it looks like I grabbed the unused one with plenty of storage wrinkles. After a few uses these will go or you can try the damp towel in the dryer trick, or just iron it. The only thing to avoid is storing with defined creases, which will stay at least for that use. In real life, these ripples are far less bothersome, but my single light has exaggerated them.

*If I ever have enough room I suppose I could do a 5x14’ game?.

I think “hills” with this mat. The lower left corner of this set-up has a two level hill, about 4” tall and the green edge is actually the ridge line at La Haye.

Not a great image, but you get the idea. This heart breaker adds to my gaming versatility.

It is a decently long way from this tower top to the base of the hill.

Enough to stop this lot? Big fights, lots of figures and gentle rolling slopes are the theme here.

The little trail for my 28mm Vikings, becomes a major road for 10mm figs and is even ok for 6mm (Zulu Dawn anyone?).

20mm figs work well. I like this a lot for WW2 20mm non-jungle Pacific/Vietnam or North African games.

I do not do much in the way of 6-10mm gaming, but do have some figures. Of all of my mats, this is the best for these. I can use the huge grassed area for a pitched battle or the little road is acceptable for a major road in these scales. My 10mm cowboys, 6mm Samurai and colonials and my smaller 15mm ancients will find themselves here more often than not.

A 6mm Samurai castle. If the units are sizeable (one way of using 6mm figs), then the road looks fine.

These three mats are probably plenty for most uses, but I have more, so I will be back (hopefully with better images), to share my thoughts on “The Valley”, “Crossroads”, “Redwood Fight” and “Modern City” mats.

Bare Bones House Rules And Title Upgrades

Bare Bones is working well. The game when seen from an overarching perspective fits in well between the simpler “Guess and Play” games like Wings of Glory and Canvas Eagles and the more complicated, but streamlined X Wing 2e.

House rules are pretty fixed now and include;

Excluded are all upgrades that are game or time-line breakers (and bandaid fixes for these breaks).

• No TFA era ships.

• No Crew or Droids from same (No BB8!).

• No Huge ships.

• No Elite Pilot Talents.

• No Ship Modifications.

• No generic or “thinly” named Title Upgrades**.

Included are upgrades types that are considered to be mandatory and non game breaking.

• Only ships from the first three movies and the expanded universe that followed from these and Rogue One, being from the same time-line.

• (Optional) Named “Legendary” Title upgrades**. Left out for basic games.

• Crew, within the above guide lines (factional Point of difference).

• Droids, within the above guide lines (factional point of difference).

• Salvaged Droids (factional Point of difference).

• Illicit (factional Point of difference).

• System (technological point of difference).

• Ordnance (some specific types are faction limited).

*

Base squads are 40-120 points (120 assumed maximum with 40/60/80 point options for mix and match.

Squads should have a theme.

Title Upgrades are strictly limited to the actual named pilots**.

No single character can be played more than once (logically), even in different upgrade classes/factions.

If these clash the Rebel player always has first choice.

Some Scum are faction specific (Black Sun, Tansarii Point, Protectorate, Binayre Pirates) or are independent cartel thugs, mercs and bounty hunters.

Rebel and Imperials may optionally make up less than half of a squad from a single Scum faction ally or one Independent merc/bounty hunter. All clashes go to the Empire.

Scum may be made up of one faction and an ally faction, but may have any number of mercs.

A nice themed squadron on a mission to destroy a crippled Imperial Raider. The story fidelity is tangible (although maybe their immediate futures are not so much).

*R2-D6 is omitted and Tomax Bren, “Youngster” and “Duchess’s” abilities are ignored as their pilot skill levels are well enough priced in a BB world.

**Title upgrades on the whole are one of the major culprits when it comes to FFG’s mechanically over-controlling of the later game. Mark 2’s, special re-fits etc were all simply re-balance mechanics thinly disguised thematically. The community as a whole hankered for them because they were needed in the competitive meta, but from a Bare Bones perspective they are the enemy!

Named Titles, limited to famous ships and always unique are, on the other hand kind of needed in the FFG design paradigm. Taking the weapon upgrade option from the “Outrider” or “Punishing One”, the extra slots from the “Virago”, “Sabine’s Tie”, “Mist Hunter”, “Shadow Caster”, “Havoc”, various Fire-sprays etc, takes away their uniqueness and they are clearly designed to be used with them, but only by the pilots that are actually connected to them. It is possible to leave them out, using their pilots and upgrades to make up the difference with only a few inconsistencies such as Nym’s “Havoc”, but we allow them optionally.

One Unique Thing

In many fields, especially areas of Japanese influence, there is a term (or terms) for the “One Unique Thing” , “Unique Selling Proposition”, or “Point of Difference” that any product or service needs to bring to the table.

In X Wing Bare Bones, each ship has one or more of these, as holds true in full X Wing, but in BB, these subtle, or not so subtle differences often stand out as the very justification for a ships existence. Full X Wing then tends to dilute these “O.U.T’s”, through more upgrade layers.

Lets have a little look at what makes each ship type different.

Manoeuvres

In BB basic dials are important as the Action economy layering is missing compared to later X Wing 1e. With the new movies, new ships were rolled out (not used in BB), new manoeuvres were introduced and rules with them. These are mainly limited to TFA era ships, but a few Scum ships that were included later get them as well. On the whole this can be harmoniously accepted.

Ships that have K Turns that go further than their highest speed;

• Kihraxz, Scyk, Kimogila. Scum pilots who would push their often less than cutting edge ships hard looking for any edge.

• VCX-100, Bomber, Punisher, Aggressor, YV 666. We will call this momentum at work and ignore the science.

Ships with a white K-Turn;

• The Defender. Those bizarre wings should do something special.

Ships with an S-Loop;

• Star Viper. Designed like a butterfly for a reason.

• Aggressor. Gnarly maintenance ship, flown by a Droid effectively immune to physics.

• Jump Master. Shaped like a horse shoe and turns like one.

Limited to the slippery Scum, which is fine with me.

Ships with a Talon Roll;

• Fang Fighter. The wings rotate around the body, so it makes sense.

• Scurrg. Shaped the most like a kite, giving the most drag - again, science aside.

Again Scum only, which is still fine.

Ships with awesome repositioning/defence;

• Tie Interceptor (7 Greens, Roll, Boost, Evade)

• Phantom (Roll, Cloak + Adv Cloaking, Evade)

• Aggressor (9 Greens, Roll, S-Loop, Evade)

• A Wing (Boost, 8 Greens, Evade)

Love being able to love these.

Speed 6;

• A Wing (green 5 + boost = 6 and clearing stress)

• K Wing (3 + SLAM = Potentially 6)

• Interceptor, Fang (White 5 + Boost)

Combat Effects

Ships with multiple fire ARC’s;

• YT-1300, YT 2400, Decimator (Turreted ships - nerfed in BB with Range 1-2)

• Lancer (Rotating main weapon, not nerfed like full turrets which feels right)

• ARC 170, Slave 1, Sheathipede (Dual Arc)

Ships with 4d Primary Attacks;

• Phantom (the ultimate hit and run “Glass Cannon”).

• Ghost (a lot of “front”).

Ships packing Ordnance;

• Tie Aggressor (the only ship with a Turret and Unguided Rocket option).

• K Wing, Punisher, Bomber, Scurrg (just lots).

• Kimogila (reload which in BB is the only real Extra Munitions option. Explains the big belly).

Upgrades

Unique Upgrade Combo’s for their faction or the whole game;

• E Wing (Droid + System + Torps).

• B Wing, Punisher (System + Ordnance).

• GA-1 (Crew + System + Illicit).

• ARC-170 (Crew + Droid + Ordnance).

• VCX-100 (Crew + System + Turret + Ordnance).

• Lambda (Crew + System + Ordnance).

• Jumpmaster (Crew + Illicit + S/Droid + Ordnance).

• Y Wing (Turret + Droid + Ordnance).

Factional Unique Elements in the BB universe;

• Rebels (Droids, the most and best team-work Crew and Pilots, Proton Rockets, Reinforce and Coordinate).

• Scum (Illicit, Salvaged Droids, Harpoon Missiles, Flechette Torp/Cannon, Mangler Cannon, Bomblet Generator, Autoblaster Cannon, all S-Loops and Talon Rolls, Rotate and Re-load).

• Imperial (Advanced and stable Cloaking, Unguided Rockets, Thread Tracers, highest percentage of Boost/Barrel Roll ships and Jam).

There are others, often in the form of individual Pilot abilities or factional ordnance lock-outs, but you get the idea.

Head To Head; YV 666 vs Ghost

These two ships have a lot in common. They are brute/support ships without built in turret primaries, but none the less strong offensive weapons.

Points;

YV 29 to 35 (64 max) vs 35 to 40 (74 max) VCX

The YV can be relatively cheap at 1/3rd of a squad’s points or less, allowing the user to slot it into a support role or as a front liner, the VCX is usually going to be dearer, but the maximum of 74 points is unlikely.

Base Stats;

YV 3w 1 6 6 vs 4 0 10 6 VCX

The VCX has 4 more health, but the YV has the “perpetual health” of 1 Agility, giving the Ghost the slightest edge unless the fight drags on. The wide fire arc is not a replacement for a turret, but it is useable at R3 vs the less wide but brutal 4d primary (one of two in BB). The Ghost has no inherent agility, but may Evade as an action, the YV has permanent agility.

Actions;

YV Lock vs Lock, Evade VCX

Finally some big ship love.

Upgrades (BB style);

YV 3 Crew, Missile, Cannon, Illicit vs 2 Crew, 2 Torpedo, Turret, System VCX

A true “party Bus” vs a more refined and dangerous Turret, Systems combo. With 2 Torp, a Turret and 4d Primary, the Ghost has the most offensive options of any ship in BB, but that is where the 70+ points comes in. The YV can pack the Heavy Laser Cannon and some Illicit trickery, but the real benefit will likely be in wingmen for the points difference.

Moves;

YV 7 White, 5 Green, 3 Red vs 8 White, 4 Green, 4 Red VCX

YT Speed 4 vs Speed 4, 5 K Turn DM

The K Turn is a real point of difference. Most large base ships, especially the tougher ones lack much in the way of manoeuvring power, but the Ghost, with it’s big base can cover some ground and come back in your face! Other than that, they are pretty even.

Pilots;

YV 4 (3 Elite) vs 4 (3 Elite*) VCX

The YV does have a weaker pilot choice than the Ghost. This is to some extend mitigated by their Illicit upgrade, adding in the “X” factor better Pilots often add, but the Ghost has amazing crew synergy and a system slot, making them pretty even.

Summary;

The Ghost is a beast, making even the Imperial Raider look more regularly sized and it packs a wallop for it’s points. The YV is cheaper, which it needs, allowing for some extra help.

*No Ghost Pilots have Elite talents (and neither does BB), but three have inherent talents.

The New Order

There is little doubt that X Wing 2nd edition is on the whole a better systemic skeleton than the belaboured 1st ed.

Starting from scratch with a fully developed pathway laid out, has allowed the designers to re-prioritise and set new boundaries. No more insidious power escalation, priority shifting or balance issues.

Well…so far.

I am committed to the game as a whole and to 1e in it’s various deliberately limited forms, which go some way to reducing the issues outlined above.

That does not mean I have no interest in 2e, in fact far from it.

My (big) toe dip into this edition is very much one of circumstance and factional preference. I like the new movies, which match the feel and look of the new edition and the new ships as a combined whole. In a nutshell, 2e just feels more “Disney”.

I also have an abundance of these new ships from my early purchase of 5 cheap TFA starter kits, that happened to line up with the cheaper conversion kits nearly perfectly. This pretty much set me on my way.

Now that that was so effortlessly settled, lets take stock of what it all means.

*

The Resistance only offers 8 ship types, two of which are unique if you stick to canon (9 if you fudge the CR-90, seen in the final movie). In 1e this would be the makings of a nice small collection from your favourite faction, maybe even a varied and powerful enough one to win tournaments, but as the sum total of what is available, all of the ships need to do some serious heavy lifting, both thematically and systemically.

In 2e the Resistance has a deeper, but more controlled build path with fewer super builds and little chance of really stuffing one up (making piloting and story fidelity kings again), so the faction offers one of the most stable and satisfying platforms to work with, beginner or not.

The XT-70 (15) is a very solid start. With 16 pilot options (including generics that can be fielded in different ways), this one ship can decently replace the XT-65 and XT-70 from the first edition and go some way to replacing the ARC-170, B and E Wings also.

The basic dial was good in 1e and that has stayed roughly the same, offering a Talon Roll. It also has the S-Foil configuration as standard, added to the new Overdrive Thrusters, there are manoeuvre options that make the ship truly versatile, if more complicated to fly.

The Hard Point allows the T-70 multiple personalities as an ordnance platform or gunship or Interceptor and the new Underslung Blaster Cannon effectively makes it a semi-turreted ship. Tech, Droid, Title, Mod, Config and EPT’s with the many pilots available allow for almost endless combinations.

So, more Ordnance and flight choices with a bunch of pilots. The X Wing has come a long way since the basic XT-65 of the 1e core set.

As a perfect foil to the X Wing, the RZ-2 A Wing (10) is the lighter, faster, funkier little scout or flanker ship that any faction needs (or at least wants to have). Better again than the original and sporting front/back firing lasers, the RZ also has the dual EPT option baked in. Again, this little ship with 12 Pilots and a Tech slot (no Mod, but that’s bare bones A Wings) has options galore.

With S-Loop, Boost and Green 5 max speed, it is not only one of the fastest ships available, but nimble as well.

Already with just two ships, the Resistance faction in 2e has effectively replaced the roles of the 1e X’s, A, E, Y, B Wings and ARC 170 and all with 2 more pilot options.

The Fireball (1) adds a Scum like ship, Illicit upgrade and all. With 2 Mod, Illicit, EPT, Title, SLAM and Droid slots, the unique Fireball is a genuine wild card a bit like a Vaksai Kihraxz crossed with a Kamikaze Z-95.

The MG-100 Bomber (3) is an odd fish. It is vastly better then the 1e version with a decent crew compliment. Playing the role of the “Memphis Belle”-like Flying Fortress, it is way more than a K, Y Wing or ARC-170, adding another dimension entirely. Love it or hate it, this one is a scenario maker.

The Transport/Pod (2/2) and GR-75 (1) are a comprehensive support offerings compared to a complete lack of faction specific support ships from 1e. Each is a true support platform, with Force, Coordinate and Jam, in tiny, medium and Huge packages.

The Scavenged Millennium Falcon (1) adds a medium support and second “wildcard” ship, bringing the Resistance to 2 Illicit capable ships and that legendary “something” that the Falcon always brings.

Optional; CR-90 Corvette (1) is not officially supported by FFG in the Resistance faction, but the reality of one is in the final movie, which will likely force a fix of some kind. The easiest fix though is to simply play the Rebel one with generic or Resistance crew.

Total 1 (2) Huge, 4 Large, 28 small ships, 33 (34) in total.

A really well rounded offer, especially considering the deeper upgrade path and inherent capabilities of each ship. With Illicit and Turret upgrades heavily reduced in 2e, the balance of what is on offer and what is usable sits well.

*

The First Order is similarly well balanced and robust.

Like the Resistance, the depth of ships is shallow at this point, but the breadth of role coverage is, as of the Xi Shuttle expansion, now fully rounded.

The basic Tie/fo (12) is tougher and more versatile than the Tie/ln, with Mods, EPT’s and Tech to choose from. This little, unassuming ship has multiple personalities, an abundance of pilots and is still cheap as chips.

The Tie/sf (4) gives the First Order an ordnance platform that is also a genuine fighter, not a slow moving target like the Bomber or Punisher. In 2e it gained one speed, tying in with Po’s comment in the first movie.

The Raider (1) is the “Big Bad” the faction needs, which the Upsilon can also fill, but with two options the First order has tactical choices or can double up the fear. Like the MG-100’s this one is a scenario maker.

The Upsilon (1) is almost as big as the Raider (wing span to length), giving the First Order two intimidators. One is a weapons platform with bells on, the second is a crewed support platform with teeth. Loaded with Tech and personalities, the Upsilon is a points hog, but interesting to fly.

The Gozanti class Cruiser (1) is another huge ship that adds support and muscle, even if it is less brutish than the two above. An excellent scenario driver and fleet strengthener, it will get a lot of use.

The Tie Silencer (2), with Ren at the helm or not, is a fast and dangerous heavy fighter, like the Tie Defender, but more versatile and even scarier looking. This is the Tie Advanced of the First order and it shows. Strong fast and lethal, this one is a good ride for Kylo.

The Tie/ba Interceptor (4), like most FO ships, is also an improvement on the Imperial one. This is the close quarters knife fighter, giving the FO different paths to the same end point and an equally different feel to the A Wing. Where the A Wing is great at high speed fly-throughs, the Interceptor wants to stay in close, like an angry hornet.

The final piece in the First Order puzzle is the Xi Shuttle (2). This has added some scenario interest, a supply of Illicit upgrades and a support option. How useful it is generally is up for debate, but what is not contested is it’s role in the FO fleet. Basically it adds what was missing.

Total, 2 Huge, 1 Large, 2 medium and 22 small ships, 27 in total.

Optionally, other generic Imperial era ships could could be pressed into service as long as there are no thematic conflicts (Crew, Title etc), such as the Decimator or Lambda.

One thing that dawned on me when looking at these factions, and something that sits really well, is that unlike 1e where each faction tended to have equivalents in their opponent’s fleets, these two fleets are very different.

There are no direct equivalents in the First Order to any Resistance ship, which effectively doubles the variety available and makes them play differently.

*

The above can comprehensively support Epic and Huge ship games and any form of smaller format play.

I have a reasonable coverage of the other factions through the conversion sets, but for the moment they will take a back seat as they are (1) incomplete in coverage and (2) do not fit into my settled vision of the old game > old movies (and extended universe) and new game > new movies dynamic.

Adding in Scum expands variety massively and with little that jangles the nerves thematically, but without, there is still plenty to work with, after all how long is life with sooo many games to play.

Head to Head; YV 666 vs Decimator

These two are the “Party Bus” (3 Crew) options for the Scum and Imperials respectively, so are worth matching up.

Points;

YV 29 to 35 (64 max) vs 40 to 46 (69 max) DM

The YV can be relatively cheap at 1/3rd of a squad’s points or less, allowing the user to slot it into a support role or you can max it out with all the trimmings, which will have mixed results.

Base Stats;

YV 3w 1 6 6 vs 3t 0 12 4 DM

The Decimator has 4 health more, but the YV has the “perpetual health” of 1 Agility and more shields. The wide fire arc is not a replacement for a turret, but it is useable at R3 (house rule of R2 max for turrets assumed to be in play). Both look like cumbersome brutes, but the YV is a little deceptive here.

Actions;

YV Lock vs Lock DM

Move along, still nothing to see here.

Upgrades (BB style);

YV 3 Crew, Missile, Cannon, Illicit vs 3 Crew, Torpedo, Bomb DM

The “Party Bus” terminology comes from the three Crew each ship has, although a “Party” held on an Empire ship sounds a bit iffy. Three crew for each of these factions is not as powerful as a Rebel offering might be, but they can still throw up tons of options offensively or defensively.

Moves;

YV 7 White, 5 Green, 3 Red vs 10 White, 4 Green DM

YT Speed 4 vs Speed 4 DM

Unlike the Falcon-Decimator comparison, things settle down a lot here, but there are differences. The Decimator can turn better than the YV, but the YV can do a full stop, which if timed well can give it a manoeuvring edge over other big ships.

Pilots;

YV 4 (3 Elite*) vs 4 (3 Elite) DM

The YV does have a weaker pilot choice than the Decimator. This is to some extend mitigated by their Illicit upgrade, adding in the “X” factor better Pilots often add.

Summary;

Like the Falcon comparison, these two were designed to fill roughly the same role in their respective fleets, but do it again in factional style, in large part from their reliance on Crew upgrades. The YV, like the Falcon shows it’s smugglers-ride roots, the Decimator is still that a simple brute. The YV’s blind spot can offer an interesting trap for the Scum player, with several Illicit options in play and Jabba can make these double whammy’s.

The YV, unlike the Decimator can play the role of a cheap, giant HWK 290 support ship or be armed to the teeth with it’s rear defended by smaller friends, much like a mini Raider. In BB without Title it has no Nashtah Pup option unless this is used as a scenario option.

*Only one Pilot has an unused Elite slot, but three have Pilot talents, which makes them Elite in BB.

Head to Head; Falcon vs Decimator

This head to head pits the two turreted brutes of the Rebel and Imperial factions against each other. The Outer Rim Smuggler YT 1300 variant is omitted as it is a weaker and quite different ship.

Points;

YT 42 to 46 (62 max) vs 40 to 46 (69 max) DM

The ships are both points hogs, taking up about half of a BB 120pt squad each. This may seem excessive and in some builds it is, but remember these ships are the only ones with a native 3d, 360 degree turret, which are considered game breakers in 1e (house ruled to R 1-2 max to reduce their effectiveness).

Base Stats;

YT 3t 1 8 5 vs 3t 0 12 4 DM

The Decimator has 3 health more, but the Falcon has the “perpetual health” of 1 Agility. The full “Fat Han” build is not available in BB (No 1 Evade Title), but with C-3PO, Chewbacca as pilot and other options, the Falcon can really hang in there. The Decimator is just a big fat target with lots of bulk.

Actions;

YT Lock vs Lock DM

Move along, nothing to see here.

Upgrades (BB style);

YT 2 Crew, Missile vs 3 Crew, Torpedo, Bomb DM

The extra crew (and the Empire do have some decent options) and two Ordnance slots give the Decimator an advantage here, making up for it’s generally predictable nature. No Illicit option for the Falcon makes it more main stream, but everything you see in the movies is there to use.

Moves;

YT 10 White, 4 Green vs 10 White, 4 Green DM

YT Speed 4, 4/3 K-Turns vs Speed 4 DM

This is the real difference between these ships. The Falcon is slippery and agile for a big ship (even without a Title option), the Decimator is a big angry Space Cow with wolf’s teeth, happier to “touch park” than go around. If the Decimator did not have a turret, it would be a bit of a lame duck, but with it, it’s like a Bumble Bee with a Scorpion’s Tail.

Pilots;

YT 3 (all Elite) vs 4 (3 Elite) DM

Each ship has three Elite Pilots, with a defensive, manoeuvre and offensive option available to both. The Decimator also has a decent generic (the Falcon has the Outer Rim Smuggler, which is effectively a different ship).

Summary.

These two fill roughly the same role in their respective fleets, but do it in factional style. The Falcon shows it’s smugglers roots, the Decimator is a simple bully, that arrives, intimidates and shoots. Both can be a little boring, with variety and tactical nuance provided by their respective escorts, securing their roles as squad leaders and aggressive supports.

Catching My Tail

1e X Wing is still supported and played by some, but coming into it at the end of it’s run (Feb this year), put some ships out of reach with no news yet of their return in 2e.

Finally, the gang (timeline inconsistencies accepted) are all here!

Recently I picked up a second K Wing and Sabine’s Tie, both of which are long gone from most new sources, but are available through Amazon UK, in SPANISH editions! These compliment my cheaply bought 2e Tantive, all supported by cards sourced from Big Orbit in the U.K. (thanks Paul) and miraculously I found a Gozanti Assault Carrier (Spanish version) to, but have to use the damage deck either translated or modified until a second hand one turns up.

“Ok, peel off to the right”.

“Que?”.

The only ship missed from 1e is the Alpha Star-wing, which for some reason I could care less about, but if they release it in 2e, I will source more cards for 1e also.

The hardest to find are 2e dials for the various “Wings” and Vipers, but these will come eventually.

Looking like a busy Christmas.

Making The Game Fit

So far on this blog, the hobby side anyway, I have almost entirely focussed on X Wing (both editions) and lately a little Attack Wing. I have many interests in gaming, but before I start looking at these, lets finish off some basic thoughts on the above.

All three of theses games have levels of complication, a required simulation stretch and even some recognised problems that may or have put you off playing them.

I have offered a couple of fixes, especially to the story line fidelity side that I find so necessary, but also a couple of fixes for mechanical issues in X Wing 1e.

There are more out there, so lets look at some common ways of reducing the broken or overly deep elements of these games.

X Wing. “C’mon guys, lets get ‘em”.

Bomber. “What version are we in?”

Transport. “Yeah, should I even be here?”

A Wing. “Aw man, I swatted up on my EPT’s, is that even kosher?”

X Wing. “Ok fine, I’ll go it alone”.

X Wing 1st ed

Bare Bones

Play as normal but remove Titles, Mods and Elite Pilot Talents (EPT’s). This reduces the action economy layers that plague the full game and seems to bring all ships back to a more basic manoeuvre and shoot dynamic. The only real losers are the basic swarm ships that lack any other upgrade slots and Titled ships that are bought back to the pack, which is generally good. We play this with only Rebel, Imperial era ships, with Scum included and only ships with the basic 4 upgrades.

This format is ideal for pick up games with new players as the base pilot reigns supreme and action economy layering is kept to a minimum or experienced players tired of the action economy is all play of later 1e. It also tends to give all ships a fair go.

Classic

As above but add in named Title ships and all the ships with more advanced upgrade bars. This adds a level of rules complication, but returns the extra capabilities of the Legendary ships and helps round out the fleets. It also opens the door to Huge ships.

Optionally add back in EPT’s, but be aware of their potential to break the game or give an experienced player too much of a systemic edge over a newbie or casual player (as opposed to just flying better). Granted they also have the potential to increase fun. We also play this with only Rebel and Imperial era ships, Scum included.

Full Bore

Full options, but a 60 point squad maximum. Reducing squad points seems to make maxed out ships more workable and really makes for a fast game. Luck plays a bigger role, blunting the super squad dynamic. You can still squeeze in a 4 Tie swarm, an Ace and wingman or Brute like a Fat Han, but nothing else.

Generic Full Bore

Play generic ships only and (optionally) keep them to PS4 or less, but allow any upgrades. There are no Pilot based abilities, only reasonably rare EPT’s. The EPT’s tend to land on ships that have no Systems or Droid slots, so they help even these out. The A Wing, Tie, Interceptor, M3 and Fang get them, making those ships the intuitively flown, bare knuckle ships as opposed to the advanced Systems, Illicit or Droid assisted ones. We still play this with only Rebel and Imperial era ships, Scum included but this format tends to naturally exclude some ships with no generic option.

A small problem with this format is if you leave out TFA era ships (as we do), is that the Rebels are a bit screwed with only the A Wing getting EPT’s, but many of their enemies do not have the Droid or Systems options. This effectively makes the X Wing a “heavy” ship, like the Y and Punisher, missing out an EPT option, which I am ok with (on closer analysis this actually works well. Most of the ships with other upgrades do not have an EPT slot unless the specific ship is also the type that would one such as the JM 5000 Contracted Scout). *The YT1300 is poor with only the Outer Rim Smuggler option so we allow the Resistance Sympathiser from the TFA era in.

Restricting the PS to 4 is a fix for the top heavy Scum (Black Sun Assassin and Ace) and Imperial (Royal Guard/Glaive Squadron) choices, but this can be evened out with the inclusion of TFA ships and no PS limit. The PS 6-8 pilots are then better spread through these factions.

Play to a Theme

Original movies only, or early or later period or Scum vs Scum. Better still play to a scenario, like a Death Star attack or escape from “X” game. These are not only satisfying, but any other limits imposed tend to sit better with players. To fix unbalanced games switch sides and go again.

*

X Wing 2nd ed

Second edition has fixed a lot of the balance issues from 1st ed, but has added in more moving parts, so to make the game more approachable, here some options.

Quick Builds (official).

The official Quick Builds, available as a print out from FFG.

Simplified points.

This is a version of our own creation using 1/5th points, making upgrades 0-2 points (most are 1). This simplification actually ends up like the Quick Builds, but with variety. There are of course maximum builds for those that can be bothered, but if you can control that, it works well.

Generics only.

The same as the first edition version, but a better spread of EPT’s. This is especially good with Epic Play

Reduced Squads.

As above, maybe 120 or 100 points.

*

Attack Wing

Although it is a less aggressive game overall, Attack Wing has even more balance and scale/timeline credibility issues than X Wing 1e.

Timeline Specific

Each timeline (TOS/TAS, TOM, TNG at 2 scales*, Ent) is self contained. Each tends to have the advantage of balance built in either by design or as a sign of the gradual evolution of the game, but either way, each Enterprise fits it’s time!

*There is a scale forced sub grouping of TNG Skirmish and TNG Battle, just because we (I) cannot deal with the massive discrepancies in size, but this again seems to help with relevance and balance.We play timeline and faction limited almost always.

Timeline specific may also allow cross factional builds, which fit in ok and are often based on precedent. Basically if there is a reasonable “Trek Solid” scenario suggestion, it is taken on board.

Generic

The Named ships in Attack Wing are all consistently 2 points dearer. This tends to make them sooo much better for the points, you would only take a generic if there were literally no other options available. This is especially exacerbated by the non graded curve. The 40 pt Scimitar is 2 points dearer than it’s generic, so is the 14 pt Apnex, but they are very different ships. This format allows the player, their upgrades and Captain to determine the ship’s fate, not the built in and sometimes odd inherent ship’s ability (like one version of the Enterprise that is inherently harder to hit….because???).

Some ships are weakened considerably, but this just makes the limit of choices more flavoursome and a lot less predictable. Will Kirk use Scotty, Bones, Spock or Sulu for his cunning plan?

An allowance that is often played, but is optional is to start the game with all upgrades (and optionally the Captain) facing down. The upgrade is revealed when used and the Captain is used at a nominated CS of their actual CS or lower until revealed (the player forfeiting the game if they embellished).

A further option is to allow the player to chose their upgrades during the game, until all of their slots are used (this only works with faction and period restrictions). Kirk can activate any of his crew, even different versions of them, but only until his upgrade slots are used. This really simulates the quick thinking of the Captain in the actual show, choosing who and what on the fly.

Another option is to allow a ship to field any faction legal upgrade, but at double cost once it is outside of the base allowed.

Because the ships are lower in upgrades power and complication*, this format suits larger actions well. The player may have their favourite upgrades, but these can be spread over more ships or they simply get by with fewer choices, so they have to strategise better.

We play this with bigger games as well as above.

*+1 shields, +1 or more upgrade and an inherent ability for 2 points.

Named Only

This option is almost irrelevant, because it tends to mirror reality. Named only takes out the dead wood of generics, if needed. It’s only real effect is to reduce the maximum fleet options of each faction.

Fleet Limited

If using faction and or timeline limits, then there is little reason to look too hard at fleet limits as each period tends to even itself out.

A points per ship limit can help reduce over complication (say half ship cost maximum).

*

At the end of the day, it’s just a game, so playing with house rules (assumed in some gaming forms like miniature war games and role playing) is all in the spirit of fun.

A Brief Retrospective Of Our Attack Wing Analysis

This has been fun and enlightening.

Before I go gangbusters into the two biggest periods (TNG Battle and TNG/DS9 Skirmish, which I will explain later), I would like to revisit the previous posts and ponder what has been learned (and since bought).

The house rules used are;

• All upgrades, even the Captain’s are hidden until revealed/used.

• As an option, in some periods where it suits (TOM, TOS, Ent, Voyager), the players may buy from their upgrade choices “as they go”, until their points or slots are exhausted. This give Kirk, Khan or Chang for example more choices per game.

The Original Period.

The TOS period(s), including the Animated Series and Kelvin timeline have proven to be most satisfying and surprising. The TAS (1970’s Animated Series) has fleshed out TOS with some tasty Tech and Weapon upgrades, fully allowable as they are for the same ships and timeline, but the animated Crew and Ship cards are kept segregated.

The same for the Kelvin timeline. The Weapon and Tech options can be interchanged for a little spice, the Crew and Ships not. The Kelvin Enterprise let loose on the other original ships would be just mean.

The Mirror Enterprise (the dark one, not the Kelvin), also adds options which can partially, go both ways (no Agony Chamber for the USS fleet please).

By spreading the Tech and Weapon upgrade love, each sub-faction of the TOS period is deeper, with no harm done to any (for example there are no Federation Photon Torps in the Kelvin pack!?).

Reviewing this period (or periods), apart from soothing my doubts that it was not really a going concern on it’s own, did lead to some more purchases. A third Gorn ship, the Mirror Enterprise, the Animated Series pack and making a commitment to repaint some D7’s to fit the period better (and I do have lots!), has rounded out the range nicely.

Cheap ships with powerful upgrades are this period’s vibe. The Enterprise loaded with the original cast can pack a real punch and stay under 50 points, so 2-3 ship a side jousts, at 80-100 pts are the realistic limit (the whole Federation fleet comes in at 95pts, as do many others).

The Enterprise Era.

This one always sat quite nicely on it’s own. The models are great and largely in scale (avert your gaze from the Xindi Aquatic now) and the faction choice is interesting, balanced and diverse.

Separating it from other periods has only made it better. The NX is a weak ship in some company (actually equal to a Tie fighter in X Wing, see below), but it is a solid option here thanks to good upgrades. The emerging Romulans and Klingons, the paranoid Xindi and frenemies such as the Vulcans and Andorians make the squadron builds thematic, flexible and appealing.

Cheap and relatively weak ships, there are still agile (NX, Insectoid, Romulan), powerful hitting (Xindi, Andorian), robust (Xindi, Vulcan) and tricky (Romulan, Tholian) options. Crew are important here as is an awareness of individual ship strengths and weaknesses, which fits in well with the series.

There is actually more variety in this era than most, even though the power level is generally low.

A second Muritas found by accident while searching for something else has completed this period, which in turn helped rekindle my waning interest in STAW generally. A second Romulan Drone was also added to go with the new card pack, because damn they are nice to fly.

This period lends itself to small fleet actions, both thematically and mechanically (100 pts goes a long way).

The Original Movies.

To be honest this was my least favourite period and probably still is. Not a huge fan of the movies at the time, I have watched them with older eyes and appreciated their legacy, but the STAW offering was seen more of an annoyance than a benefit.

I will admit to judging it too harshly. Sure there are limited factions (2 and a half) and limited ships, but nice ones and more than in the same factions in TOS. The models are nice-ish (love the Excelsior, but the Enterprise refit has moulding issues, which I have bought a couple of Deep Cuts to fix).

What the ships lack in variety, they make up for in upgrade options (53 in my collection). Chang in his BoP has multiple tactical choices and powerful ones, Khan is not faction limited and Kirk is a powerhouse with Crew to match, in fact most of the major characters have more than one option (Gorkon has 3!).

This is a good period I feel, for simulating the deeper tactics shown in the movies. Full of flavour, it is just begging to be used thematically.

Nothing added here because as it turns out, it is pretty healthy, but lots of re-paints.

1:1 duels in complicated, tactical scenario’s are best here.

The Delta Quadrant.

The first of the Next generation periods and one of the two “skirmish” options*, the Delta Quadrant at first looks like the graveyard of Federation dreams. The lone Voyager, with the later Delta flyer for support is a neat and strong little combo, especially when you look at the upgrades on offer, but the catch is, the Delta Quadrant is dangerous enough to give even the Borg pause.

Species 8472, The Krenim, Hirogens, Vidiians and even the Kazon are capable of giving a single ship as good as the Intrepid class, even with a little support, a good run. Add in the Borg and things start to look over whelming, as they are meant to.

To add variety and survivability, there are options for the Feds other than alliances. Other ships, stranded in the Quadrant, such as the Val Jean (destroyed), Equinox (destroyed) and even the Dauntless (fake) could be pressed into service or used as another enemy, to keep games interesting (maybe a Hirogen allied Equinox or Kazon allied Val Jean?). The Klingons and Romulans (the nearest Alpha Qd neighbours?) can also be used, as they were (lost experimental Drone ship anyone?) and the enigmatic Tholians it seems can pop up anywhere and anytime. You could even switch out the main ship entirely (lost Defiant?)

Optionally other factional conflicts, maybe between the already demonstrably combative Borg vs Sp 8473, Kazon vs Hirogen or the Vidiian vs the Krenim, allow you to pit the quadrant’s power houses against each other. Other Skirmish scale ships could also be added including Enterprise era/Xindi or even TOM ships as they will fit well enough size wise and could make for interesting scenario games.

Like the Enterprise series, the ships are nice and if kept to their designated grouping*, well scaled (the Borg are always a stretch, but are too much fun to ignore).

I have not re-painted one ship in this period, but relented and purchased the Dauntless for variety and a second Krenim Time ship to empower that faction a little.

Small squadron actions are good here as are the excellent scenarios provided.

*

*The TNG period has been split into “Battle” for big ships and “Skirmish” for smaller ships.

The Battle category has the bigger BoP (K’Vort or bigger) is the smallest big ship used, even though it looks a bit out of place and genuinely small ships such as the Hathaway are included as the minnows of this group. The core assumption is a ship will be in the 500ft+ class. Battle has fighters, representing a full squadron strength per unit.

Skirmish considers the Voyager or a B’Rel BoP to be the “big guns” of the group with most ships coming in at 100-200 ft maximum. Fighters represent wings, with 2-3 making a squadron. Generally more agile and fragile, this is the dog fighting group. WizKids seem to have settled on two scales to make most ships look the same on the table. Often within one period there is only the odd exception to this, and many are up for debate anyway, but in the TNG era, the big ships are really big, the smaller ones quite tiny in comparison.

The Ex Astris Scientia or an equivalent size chart is used for a loose categorisation, but the micro scale knit-picking is ignored.

*

In comparison to X Wing.

They may share the same movement system, turn sequence and even some terminology, but STAW has a very different feel to X Wing. The ship to upgrade dynamic makes upgrades the primary tool for an enjoyable and competitive game and better connection to story. This has the benefit of greater customisation within a single ship type (the equivalent of separate Pilots and even more upgrades for X Wing), so a few go a long way. Even when strictly limited as here, the build options are many, allowing for a more epic style long game vs a manoeuvre for the first strike feel of the dog fight designed X Wing.

Somehow STAW is just less hard edged than X Wing. We have made some allowances in our games to reduce the built-in competitiveness of X Wing, where STAW tends to start with a scenario idea and grow from there naturally.

Why is it STAW generally starts with an “ok what is A trying to do that B is trying to stop” while X Wing has a “how many points and what’s in or out” feel?

The greater reliance on upgrades, but their lower individual impact on the game, allows for a lot of “soft” experimentation and build options.

The Action Bar dynamic is also very different.

In X Wing the Action Bar is a large differentiator between ships.

In STAW, the bulk of ships have the same bar (BS, Sc, TL, Ev), with the “alternate” being the cloaking capable ships who swap out BS and Sc for Cloak and Echo. Some (few) ships have fewer than the basic 4 options, but not many. These actions are more in line with larger ships so there are no Boost, or Barrel Roll actions.

By comparison, lets look at the NX-01 Enterprise (16 points) vs the standard Tie fighter (12-18 pts).

Base Stats

NX 2 3 3 0 vs 2 3 3 0 Tie

Action Bar

NX Ev TL Sc BS vs Br Ev Tie

Moves

NX 4 GR, 7 Wh, 2 Rd vs 4 Gr, 10 wh Tie

Manoeuvres

NX Red 3 and Wh 2 K-Turns, Sp 3 vs Red 3 and 4 K-turns, Sp 5 Tie

Upgrades

NX 4 Crew*, 1 Weapon, 1 Tech**, 1 Elite* vs Elite (some) and Mod Tie

*with Archer as Captain.

** with T’Pol

So very similar in some ways, totally different in others. These two really highlight the differences between the design goals of the two games.

The tie is faster and can be more agile (Roll), the Enterprise has 4 Action options (Crew not withstanding), but is considerably slower (on par with it’s contemporaries). They can both turn, the NX maybe even better and tighter, but has 2 Red moves to the Ties none.

The most expensive Tie/ln in the Game is a 26pt Howlrunner (usually 23 though and 18 in Bare Bones).

The Enterprise can come in at 33pts with a multitude of choices and free Hull Plating.