Recent guest on the show Bryan Ramsdell brings us his first Friends of the Cast article! As someone deep into the competitive scene of X-Wing miniatures, he’s got a lot to share with us, particularly for those who are maybe hesitant to take the leap into what has become such a huge game.
X-Wing For Beginners
by Bryan Ramsdell
I get asked by a lot by people wanting to get into the game where to start due to the fact that there are a lot of ships out now. Some people even say they don’t want to start because there are so many ships out now. You don’t need all the ships to play. I usually explain to those people that it doesn’t matter how many ships are out, you can still play and enjoy this game, and even be competitive if you want to play in tournaments.
There is only one thing in this game that is a must-buy and that is a starter set. There are two different ones, the original and the Force Awakens one. The original one comes with Luke Skywalker, Red Squadron Pilot, Rookie Pilot and Biggs Darklighter as pilots for the T-65 X-Wing. Biggs is still really good today and used a lot. The Tie Fighter pilots that you get in the set are Mauler Mithel, Dark Curse, Night Beast, Obsidian Squadron Pilot, Academy Pilot and the still used today Black Squadron Pilot. Upgrade cards included only in this set are R2-D2 and R2-F2. The Force Awakens set comes with Poe Dameron as a unique pilot in the new T-70 X-Wing. The new First Order TIE Fighter (TIE/fo) has Omega Ace, Epsilon Leader, and Zeta Ace as its unique pilots. The upgrade cards are BB-8, R5-X3, Wired, and Weapons Guidance. The last one is a new tech slot upgrade, the only different type of card between the two sets.
Either one is fine to get, as you can use the damage deck from either to play. The newer Force Awakens set has updated wording that was required as the game has expanded and seen further play. Getting both at some point is recommended due to the fact that you can use more than the provided dice in one set and extra ships is always a plus.
After buying the starter set, look at the expansion ships and just choose a couple you like and go from there. You will see that those ships in the core sets come separately as well. Those expansion packs add new pilots that can change your squad. The original TIE Fighter pack has Howlrunner, which allows anyone in range one to reroll one die for free. The original T-65 X-Wing expansion comes with Wedge Antilles whose ability reduces anyone’s agility that he attacks.
The Force Awakens set has single expansions, as well. In the TIE/fo you get Omega Leader, Zeta Leader, and Epsilon Leader. It also adds a new tech upgrade, Comm Relay, which allows you to keep one evade token for the next round. The T-70 X-Wing expansion adds unique pilots Ello Asty and Red Ace and a new modification that can help out the T-65 as well, called Integrated Astromech, which allows you to discard an astromech, like R2-D2 or BB-8, to discard a damage card.
Since each ship has multiple pilots, one of the factors for deciding which pilots to use are their Squad Point values. Squad points are how much each individual card costs to field. For example:
T-70 X-Wing Pilot Poe Dameron is 31 points
Astromech Upgrade BB-8 is 2 points
Each card you add will add to your total squad points, so, in this instance, we have 33 total points.
Important to remember is that there is no set number of squad points to play at your kitchen table. Only in a tournament do you need to have 100 point squads to play.
In closing, you can get into this game at any time, enjoy it casually, and even be competitive. In fact, someone won a regional tournament playing with only ships from the original core set just this year!
Thanks for listening.
Bryan’s show, The Star Wars Collector Podcast, can be found on iTunes, their Facebook page, and their official forums!