Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu May 08, 2014 11:14 am

Chrisoc13 wrote:And wave 4 is officially on the boat... lots coming out soon... I'm pretty excited about the new empire ships, they really seem like they will balance out the force... The empire needs some muscle.

Chris (and anyone else),

How many wave 4 ships are you ordering? With the exception of the Headhunter, many of the pilots are pretty expensive point wise especially once you start adding weapons, devices, elite skills, etc. With the advent of huge ships like the transport and corvette, large point games can accommodate multiples of these ships I suppose but I ended up just ordering a pair of E-wings, Defenders, and Phantoms since I don't know how often I'd be running a 200+ point game. I need to be convinced about buying Headhunter's though.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Thu May 08, 2014 1:10 pm

I will start with 1 of everything now but will probably end up with 2 of each fighter over time. I'm going to need a new storage case anyway.

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Thu May 08, 2014 4:22 pm

I'm buying a full compliment of wave 4 guys, partially because everyone who doesn't already have an army uses my stuff when playing X-Wing at the store.

I'm getting 2 E-Wings and 2 TIE Defenders, the goal being to have fun learning how to run a hyper-elite 2 fighter list since I already have my 8 TIE Swarm. A lot of the tools released in this pack and the last one were designed to help small elite lists fight larger swarms. On top of that I'm getting 3 Phantoms, and 2 Z-95s just to round out my collection.

For my TIE swarm I'm actually going to customize their paint scheme by finding the name of some imperial flight academy and airbrushing it onto the side panels.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu May 08, 2014 4:55 pm

Blackhawk:

On the A Few Maneuvers forum there's a thread devoted to all the cards that are found in the various expansions such as pilots, skills, weaponry, upgrades, etc. Since you have the core set, you can peruse some of the cards that come with the X-Wing expansion and TIE Fighter expansion and print them out for your use. Swarm Tactics is a pretty handy card I think for an effective TIE swarm and since you have a few TIE fighters in your collection. And Wedge is one of the best pilots in the game.

Hope this is of use to you!

Card list

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Thu May 08, 2014 5:12 pm

I'm buying way too many of wave 4... mostly because I think the Epic game will be what I will choose to play when I have time, and to have freedom in squad building you need a fair number of ships. Also I see wave 4 as all being really good. In fact for the empire it very well might be the most useful ships yet for my style of play (my opinion only having only read the previews and thought about the ships).

Currently I have 3 E wings, 3 phantoms, and 3 defenders pre-ordered. 6 Z-95s. I will try out a few epic games with them and see if I need to order more. I own at least 3 of pretty much each other ship (except only 2 shuttles and falcons and 1 transport) so my collection is entirely too big.I mean I own 5 a-wings for some reason. But I do provide all the ships for people I play with too. My brother has recently picked up a decent collection but otherwise it is all my ships, so it is nice to have a few more.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu May 08, 2014 5:31 pm

Chrisoc13 wrote: Currently I have 3 E wings, 3 phantoms, and 3 defenders pre-ordered. 6 Z-95s. I will try out a few epic games with them and see if I need to order more. I own at least 3 of pretty much each other ship (except only 2 shuttles and falcons and 1 transport) so my collection is entirely too big.I mean I own 5 a-wings for some reason. But I do provide all the ships for people I play with too. My brother has recently picked up a decent collection but otherwise it is all my ships, so it is nice to have a few more.

I was toying with getting 3 of each but decided I needed to stay strong dammit and see how much use they'll get in a game. I do look forward to the new Empire ships though and with the Imperial Aces I recently received I'm looking forward to coming up with some interesting lists...

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Thu May 08, 2014 5:35 pm

Well now the problem is fitting them all in my case. I have a PACK 720 battlefoam for X-wing which is only half full. I may have to do some reconfiguring though because the Tantive is going to be deeper than anything else I have, and I don't want to waste that much foam on it. I'll have to come up with something for it. Currently it will just be in extra pluck foam in the case. Maybe for a long time until there are other deep ships to share a foam tray with.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Thu May 08, 2014 5:46 pm

I have one of the huge Plano boxes that I was so proud of after organizing all my ships. Of course with the transport and Tantive that's out of the question.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Thu May 08, 2014 5:50 pm

The announcement of the huge ships is what pushed me to battle foam and out of my Plano. I had some extra money at the time and thought it was as good a time as any. I'm curious to see what other great storage solutions people come up with. There are some resourceful people on BGG who come up with some great storage solutions.

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Fri May 09, 2014 11:52 pm

Actually, I don't think battlefoam is the best bet for storage in the long run, at least not to a price to capacity and protection ratio. You pay a steep premium for battlefoam bags and foam, but the thing is, X-Wing is going to be a game that will constantly expand. Sooner than you think, you'll need another bag full of foam. Already the number of ships you'll want has gone up with the inclusion of big ships and the requirement to play in epic 300 point formats to use them.

Better to get only a few of their custom shape cut foam, and just have pluck foam for the rest. I'm going with KR multicase pick and pluck foam.

I'm also looking into some way to better organize all the cards, such as making little divider tabs and space fillers for each ship and upgrade type.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat May 10, 2014 12:18 am

I am now the owner of one core set, a birthday gift.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Sat May 10, 2014 1:04 am

Turtle wrote:Actually, I don't think battlefoam is the best bet for storage in the long run, at least not to a price to capacity and protection ratio. You pay a steep premium for battlefoam bags and foam, but the thing is, X-Wing is going to be a game that will constantly expand. Sooner than you think, you'll need another bag full of foam. Already the number of ships you'll want has gone up with the inclusion of big ships and the requirement to play in epic 300 point formats to use them.

Better to get only a few of their custom shape cut foam, and just have pluck foam for the rest. I'm going with KR multicase pick and pluck foam.

I'm also looking into some way to better organize all the cards, such as making little divider tabs and space fillers for each ship and upgrade type.

Price-wise it is expensive, but it sure is good. I've been really happy with it and have not regretted it at all. You might be surprised how many ships you can get in one tray. For instance I have almost every single one of my ships in 2 inches total of foam. That would be:
7 interceptors (room for one more)
2 falcons
2 slave 1
3 hawks (room for 2 more)
3 Y-wings (room for 3 more)
6 x-wings (room for 4 more)
8 tie fighters (room for 2 more)
5 A-wings (room for 3 more)
Lambda shuttle
3 Tie advanced (room for 1 more)
4 B wings
4 Tie bombers

All of that in 2 inches of battlefoam. My 720 case has 12 inches of foam available. Then I have half a tray of pluck foam to hold my rebel transport, extra slave 1 and shuttles etc for now. The pluck foam simply isn't as efficient as custom foam for holding the high number of ships. And the pre-built x-wing trays from battlefoam... suck. Building a custom tray lets you fit a ton more ships into each tray.

Currently the rest my my 720 case is being used to hold the cards, templates, etc. I use card boxes for thee cards and upgrade cards. I'm pretty happy with my storage situation. But the way it stands if I expand beyond the limit of the battlefoam I will simply use the case and put custom trays in to hold the ships. I will use something less expensive for cards, templates, dials etc.
I'm happy with battlefoam. The thing I don't like about KR multicase is that they are designed to keep the ships on their bases. That wouldn't work as well for me, but obviously it works for others.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat May 10, 2014 4:35 pm

I went and ordered the Falcon. Looking forward to something cool coming in the mail is exactly what I need right now. Oh, and I found some fabric at JoAnn the other day that is great as a playing area. $12 for two yards. I'll try and post a picture later.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Sat May 10, 2014 5:09 pm

Blackhawk wrote:I went and ordered the Falcon. Looking forward to something cool coming in the mail is exactly what I need right now. Oh, and I found some fabric at JoAnn the other day that is great as a playing area. $12 for two yards. I'll try and post a picture later.

You really can't go wrong with the Falcon. Nice choice. The model is fantastic. Also it is a great ship for beginners/kids (IMO) because of its 360 degree firing arc. Takes one of the things out of the game that early players get frustrated with. Enjoy it, it is one of the best ships in the game, and of course nothing says Star Wars like the falcon.

Looking forward to pictures! I've played on a fabric star field before, works out nicely.

On another note: I'm playing another epic game tonight (or should be). I'm hoping to play as the empire this time. Planning on running 3 Slave-1s with heavy laser canons and proton bombs, a lambda shuttle with target lock passing abilities, and then a squad of tie fighters (with howlrunner) and a squad of Interceptors (a couple of elite pilots in that group too... haven't quite decided which ones). Should be a good time, hoping to really take down that transport.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Sat May 10, 2014 5:36 pm

How does the game handle what happens if you accidentally fly off the table?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat May 10, 2014 5:56 pm

You've "fled the battlefield" and are in effect destroyed for the game, i.e. no returns, unless there's scenario aspects that overrule it.

But there's not really a set playfield dimension to be used.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Sun May 11, 2014 11:12 pm

Well this game sure snowballs fast. I've been avoiding the game entirely since I know it'll be nigh impossible for me to avoid buying everything if I start.

And then I just had a rough week so I figure I'll just buy the Falcon. You know, just have one cool model and keep it at that.

But oh, the core set is on sale on Amazon for just $30. Well, I may as well also buy the core set so I can actually play the game if I want to.

But you know, it's just not right only having two TIE Fighters. Gotta have at least a 3rd one.

And you know, just one X-Wing is kind of sad. Maybe just one more X-Wing.

But you know, the new big rebel transport comes with an X-Wing, so, you know, may as well "save some money" on the bundle...

Oh look, $200+ in my Amazon shopping cart.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Sun May 11, 2014 11:23 pm

Not to make matters worse... but you will probably want an X-wing expansion too since it comes with Wedge, arguably the best pilot in the game...

Note on my second epic game last night: the empire again was demolished. This time I was the one playing the empire. I ran the list mentioned above and just had terrible rolls. I did manage to take down the rebel transport, but not before it ran over two of my firesprays

I was flying close to drop proton bombs by it, dangerous game it turns out. The huge ships move in a way that is not evident at first glance. It lists if you will. Well it listed right onto my ship and barely touched two of them. Boom there goes 66 points of my fleet... that was enough to kill me.

Another thing I noticed, evades are much less useful in epic games. With so many ships it is hard for a target to stay out of the arcs of multiple ships. For instance Howlrunner instantly became the target of the enemies attack (which is par for the course when Howlrunner is on the table). One evade (or focus) is just not enough to keep it alive. The falcon and Y-wing with the turrets just ate up Howlrunner before there was even a chance to use the powers. Really disastrous all around for the empire.

With that in mind I don't think I will be playing the epic game again until wave 4 arrives. I already have trouble balancing the empire and rebels (rebels are just stronger ship for ship) and the epic game for us as magnified that problem. It is most likely just my play style that is an issue in epic games but it is hard to counter that many rebel ships with no heavy hitters on the empire side. The defenders and phantoms should help alleviate this so we will give it another go in June when they show up. Until then we will likely stick with 100 point matches.

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Mon May 12, 2014 1:16 am

Yeah, don't worry, after an initial learning period, getting killed by huge ship ramming will rarely ever happen.

While evades are less useful, you have more points with which to combat larger numbers of ships.

First, for epic games, always put stealth device modification upgrades on your characters, that 4 defense dice definitely helps.

Look for characters and abilities that give extra actions. Vader had two actions, and if you give him squad leader, can pass off that action to give a nearby ship an extra action, allowing you to have a focus and evade on a tie fighter.

TIE bombers are the current answer to rebel strengths. A few proton and flechette torpedoes, assault, cluster, or concussion missiles at range 3, followed up by the threat of bombs if they try to get behind you is a great way to soften up rebel ships.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Mon May 12, 2014 10:57 am

Requesting link(s) to favorite and beloved Plano cases for this game!

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon May 12, 2014 11:18 am

wonderpug wrote:Requesting link(s) to favorite and beloved Plano cases for this game!

I have this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Plano-1374-System ... B000E3FKTO

I only have one of each ship (minus the huge one) and two base sets. That nearly fills 3 of the for 3750s that go inside that box. The bottom one just holds spare dividers for now and the top area carries a bunch of other small games as well as the x-wing rulebooks. If you go x-wing crazy, like the pros here with multiples of everything, that case may be insufficient.

$iljanus · Post by **$iljanus** » Mon May 12, 2014 12:56 pm

coopasonic wrote:
wonderpug wrote:Requesting link(s) to favorite and beloved Plano cases for this game!
I have this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Plano-1374-System ... B000E3FKTO

I only have one of each ship (minus the huge one) and two base sets. That nearly fills 3 of the for 3750s that go inside that box. The bottom one just holds spare dividers for now and the top area carries a bunch of other small games as well as the x-wing rulebooks. If you go x-wing crazy, like the pros here with multiples of everything, that case may be insufficient.

I have this one as well. I own all the ships (with the exception of the huge ships...for now) released for this game. One Slave I, Falcon, Imperial Shuttle, and HWK-whatever numeric designation. Multiples of everything else ranging from 2-5 or 6 of a ship type. Fits everything comfortably for now with some ships doubling up within a partitioned spot but it is filling up. Have no idea what I'm going to do with the huge ships that are coming in the future and looking for a better way to organize my upgrade cards and pilot cards.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Tue May 13, 2014 10:37 pm

Sweet mercy, what have I done.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Tue May 13, 2014 11:30 pm

The Red Plano 5321. It fits 5 Tie Fighters, 5 Tie Interceptors, 2 Tie Bombers, 2 Tie Advanced, 5 X-Wings, 2 A-Wings, 2 B-Wings, 2 Y-Wings, the Falcon, Slave-1, Imperial Shuttle, and Moldy Crow. I use a separate card box for the pilot cards and will put the Transport on display. I have the A-Wings and Tie Interceptors doubled up.

I am debating getting a second case for Wave 4. The capital ships are going on top of my bookcase.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Wed May 14, 2014 8:19 am

That's the Plano I would suggest. Having used a couple of different Plano containers before switching to battle foam. That is my favorite one but obviously it won't hold huge ships.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Wed May 14, 2014 1:38 pm

Are upgrade cards faction specific at all? For instance, the Marksmanship upgrade came with a Rebel ship and has an X-wing on the picture, and the Determination pilot upgrade came with an Imperial ship and has Vader's face on it. Can I use Marksmanship on an Imperial ship and Determination on a Rebel ship if I want?

Turtle · Post by **Turtle** » Wed May 14, 2014 2:18 pm

Yes you can.

The only times you can't use upgrades even though it has the icon is due to specific ship or faction limitations printed on the cards themselves.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Wed May 14, 2014 2:38 pm

Ok, so for organization, just make decks of cards by upgrade types? Missiles, torpedoes, droids, etc.?

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Wed May 14, 2014 2:58 pm

Yep, that will work well. You'll notice upgrades that have restrictions on them. The Luke and Chewbacca crew cards say they're Rebel only so you can't put them on a Firespray and so on.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Wed May 14, 2014 3:02 pm

Thanks much. So far I "only" have opened a TIE Fighter, TIE Interceptor, Y-Wing, X-Wing, and an A-Wing. The rest of the fleet hyperdrives in tonight and tomorrow.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed May 14, 2014 5:10 pm

Here is a shot of the table cover I picked up for it. It's a poor shot - the flash made the light colors look much brighter than they do in real life, but you get the idea. Still, two yards of cloth for ~$12 compared to the $70+ people are paying for mats makes it a good deal in my book.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed May 14, 2014 6:52 pm

If the models slide around too easily, I would suggest picking up some metal washers to glue underneath the base. A little weight helps.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Wed May 14, 2014 8:08 pm

Looks great. I really like it.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Thu May 15, 2014 10:44 am

I did a highly scientific simulation of the Falcon's escape from the Death Star, and it turns out that Leia was full of it. Easy? You call that easy? The Falcon, manned by Han, Chewie, and Luke, only managed to down one of the four Academy TIE Pilots in pursuit before being blown to smithereens. Admittedly, this Falcon ran into more "small coffee table" issues than the Falcon in the movie probably did, plus it took Han a few rounds to figure out how to use his targetting computer.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu May 15, 2014 10:47 am

Given the X-Wing scale reference I've seen, the coffee table would have been about a foot wide and 1.6 kilometers in length.

/edit - and Luke wasn't there. He was playing the RPG version on one of the Star Destroyers.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Thu May 15, 2014 10:52 am

Oh, this wasn't the trench run. This was the four TIEs that chased the Falcon after they rescued Leia and fled the Death Star. But now that you mention it, I would like to see if Luke, Biggs, and Wedge can make it to the end of my hallway at full throttle while being chased by Vader and two TIEs (though I guess only Vader would be taking any shots).

edit: wait, which scene are you thinking of?

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu May 15, 2014 11:07 am

wonderpug wrote:Falcon's escape from the Death Star

I thought you were referring to the Falcon's escape from the Death Star at the end of Return of the Jedi.

RE: The trench run. I've always wondered.

They had to go straight down into the trench from space. Why did they enter the trench so far away and force themselves to fly through obstacles and defensive batteries? Why not just dive straight for the exhaust port to begin with?

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu May 15, 2014 11:14 am

Below the surface of the trench got them out of the tower-mounted turbolaser fire from the turrets. It might not have shielded them completely fro fire, but it certainly reduced it.

In many video games, particularly the Rogue Squadron trilogy, the player has to avoid many obstacles and make several turns when flying in the Death Star's trench. The schematics/layout of the Death Star show no objects or turns in the trench, and the appearance of the trench in video games is deemed as non-canon game mechanics.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Thu May 15, 2014 11:21 am

Blackhawk wrote:
wonderpug wrote:Falcon's escape from the Death Star
I thought you were referring to the Falcon's escape from the Death Star at the end of Return of the Jedi.

In that case, Han and Chewie weren't there either.

I think the Falcon miniature did come with cards to have Lando and Nien Nunb at the helm, though.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Thu May 15, 2014 11:49 am

wonderpug wrote:
Blackhawk wrote:
wonderpug wrote:Falcon's escape from the Death Star
I thought you were referring to the Falcon's escape from the Death Star at the end of Return of the Jedi.
In that case, Han and Chewie weren't there either. I think the Falcon miniature did come with cards to have Lando and Nien Nunb at the helm, though.

Yeah, it should have been obvious which time you were referring to from the crew. I just had the wrong scene pop into my head.