Octopus Overlords

Seemed odd there wasn't a thread on this here. There was some discussion of it in the Star Trek: Attack Wing thread though.

I've begun playing and already have a fair amount of Wave 1. Will likely be getting a chunk of Wave 2 and 3 this month.

Would love to get some discussion going though since I don't have too many people to play with yet. I'm near Indianapolis, IN and would love to play more.

I haven't been able to play it a lot myself, but I have tons of ships. IIRC, I believe I have 4 X-Wings, 8 TIE Fighters, 4 TIE Interceptors, 2 A-Wings, 1 TIE Advanced (there's only one canon TIE Advanced anyway, so that suits me fine), 2 Y-Wings, 1 Millennium Falcon and 1 Slave-1.

The few matches I've played have been very entertaining, and with this many ships there's en enormous amount of replayability and choice.

The TIE Interceptor is devastating, btw.

I picked up the core set, then 4 X-Wings (one too many, so I didn't open it), 2 Y-Wings, 4 Tie Fighters and 1 Tie Advanced.

My wish list at cool stuff though has about $300 of stuff in it for Wave 2 and 3, have to try to budget that in before they disappear. Got kinda lucky that I found the Wave 1 stuff in stock at Gamestop. Online is much cheaper though.

Kinda want another Y-Wing or two, but might wait until I get and play the B-Wing.

I have way too many ships and don't get to play it often enough, but I love it. I have wave 3 pre ordered and coming this week (should be this week that is). When I do get to play it I enjoy it quite a bit although the games can drag a bit at the end. The models are so great though I would buy them even if I didn't play it.

I swear there was a thread before the great purge, but maybe not.

Harkonis wrote:I'm near Indianapolis, IN and would love to play more.

OctoCon is a mere 4 hour drive away, and we've had X-Wing games the last 2 OctoCons...

Harkonis wrote:Seemed odd there wasn't a thread on this here.

It has been discussed in the big "what did you play" thread a few times. I have one of everything and an extra base set, plus 1 of all of wave 3 pre-ordered. I've only played once and was taught that I relly know nothing about dogfighting. I definitely want to play more. I feel like the two most basic things Isgrimnur pointed out to me that I managed to absorb will make a meaningful difference all by themselves.

It really is just a squad level dogfighting game. But it's a squad level dogfighting game with awesome star wars minis. It's also stupidly expensive beyond the base set but such is the hobby.

At this point I have 4 x-wings, 3 y-wings, 4 a-wings, the falcon, 8 ties, 3 tie advanced, 3 interceptors, and slave 1. I have 2 b-wings and 2 hwks on their way along with 2 tie bombers and one shuttle. I've gone a bit overboard with it. But they do look great. Really excited for capital ships but money is tighter now than when I pre ordered and bought my current collection so I will have to save up a bit before they come out.

I didn't play it at the last octocon, I will have to get in on a game or two at this upcoming one.

What capital ships are scheduled to come out? Are they going to keep them to scale?!

There are huge, but not to scale. Most ships are to scale, so it's a bit sad these won't be, however I don't know that many people have tables that could fit a to-scale Star Destroyer. lol The rules of the game will change when they are used. As of now it looks like 'tourney play' will forbid the big ones. (they wouldn't fit in the point value limit at any rate I would guess)

These are the two coming first, one at $60 and one at $90 I think.

As for lists, you will have plenty if you get 3 x-wings, 4-5 ties, 2 of every other fighter and 1 of the bigger/named ships (falcon, slave 1, shuttle, hawk).

I believe the capital ships announced at GenCon were rebel transports and Tantive IV. The imperial capital ships weren't announced.

I have a small set as well - the base set plus extra X-wing/TIE, and I've bought a Y-Wing, TIE Advanced, and I got the Wave 3 B-Wing and TIE Bomber at Gencon. I have not sprung for any of the bigger ships yet, I want to get a few more games in with my kids and see if it hooks them before sinking any more money into it.

My impression so far in the half-dozen games I've played is that it works really well, but seems to take far longer than it should. I feel like a whole game ought to last 30-40 minutes, but ours have taken easily twice that long.

once you stop having to really THINK about how to play, things go a lot faster. Keep in mind that tourney games are 100 pt squads 1v1 and last 60-90 minutes depending on the TO's rules. Most seem to put 75 minute limits on matches with partial wins given at that point based on how much damage done.

The capital ships while not to scale looked fantastic in person. They still look huge compared to the alternative x-wing coming out with them. And the good news is that isn't wave 4. Wave 4 has yet to be announced.

What I'm most excited about with the capital ships is the new game types. I like the dogfights but I would really like more missions and a campaign to be released from ffg. Sounds like they may be doing just that with the new "cinematic" gameplay. Just take my money already ffg. I'm throwing it at you for this game.

Harkonis wrote:There are huge, but not to scale. Most ships are to scale, so it's a bit sad these won't be, however I don't know that many people have tables that could fit a to-scale Star Destroyer. lol The rules of the game will change when they are used. As of now it looks like 'tourney play' will forbid the big ones. (they wouldn't fit in the point value limit at any rate I would guess)

These are the two coming first, one at $60 and one at $90 I think.

Hmm, image link isn't working for me.

I'm trying to think of a joke about a to-scale Super Star Destroyer just being a reskinned Winnebago but I can't quite find it.

Harkonis wrote:Kinda want another Y-Wing or two, but might wait until I get and play the B-Wing.

The Y-Wing is probably the last ordinary (ie. not large) ship you should consider multiples of (well, maybe except for the TIE Advanced if you want to follow canon). Its strengths are as a support craft. You'll get crushed if you try to field an entire wing of them. One Y-Wing can really mess up the Imperials though, as long as it's got more threatening ships along with it.

TiLT wrote:

Harkonis wrote:Kinda want another Y-Wing or two, but might wait until I get and play the B-Wing.

The Y-Wing is probably the last ordinary (ie. not large) ship you should consider multiples of (well, maybe except for the TIE Advanced if you want to follow canon). Its strengths are as a support craft. You'll get crushed if you try to field an entire wing of them. One Y-Wing can really mess up the Imperials though, as long as it's got more threatening ships along with it.

I've only been playing Imperial ships so far but slapping an ion cannon turret on the Y-Wing gives it a bit more utility compensating for it's limited maneuver wheel with a 360 firing arc.

Like others in the thread, I love the game but it's hard to find people to play with or with a family finding time to play. Luckily the one person I convinced to get a core set really enjoys the game and he got himself the Falcon and Slave I. Our games last for what it seems like forever due to us learning the rules but the last game which was a 100 pt game went by more smoothly as we settled into a rhythm and were more organized in keeping track of things during the turns. Easy to forget that your pilot may have some special abilities in addition to any upgrades you may have tacked on. No regrets on buying into X-Wing though and I enjoy reading about the game on various forums in BGG, A few maneuvers and the official FFG forum.

My fleet thus far:

2 Core sets (2 TIEs and an X per set)
1 X-Wing expansion
2 Y-Wings
2 A-Wings
1 Millenium Falcon
1 TIE Fighter expansion
2 TIE Advanced (Bought two only because they were available. I hear the "point to value" isn't so good but I hear that they can be pretty useful when flying them with TIE Bombers. And I have a soft spot for Vader)
4 TIE Interceptors
1 Firespray

and hopefully in the near future when they start shipping:
1 Lambda Shuttle
1 HWK-290
2 B-Wings
2 TIE Bombers

Oh from a thread on the A Few Maneuvers website here are all the pilot/upgrade cards thus far and maneuver templates for all ships. Enjoy.

http://www.afewmaneuvers.com/topic/573- ... expansion/" target="_blank

Do the rules have something that prevents Luke from being a passenger on a YT-1300 as well as the pilot of an X-Wing, or have Darth Vader both in a TIE Advanced and inside a Lambda Shuttle?

wonderpug wrote:Do the rules have something that prevents Luke from being a passenger on a YT-1300 as well as the pilot of an X-Wing, or have Darth Vader both in a TIE Advanced and inside a Lambda Shuttle?

Yes. Unique characters may only appear once on a side. There's nothing but gentleman's rules to stop both sides from fielding Luke Skywalker once each in a tournament, but that's not typically something that will happen in casual play since most matches pit the Empire vs the Rebels.

coopasonic wrote:I definitely want to play more. I feel like the two most basic things Isgrimnur pointed out to me that I managed to absorb will make a meaningful difference all by themselves.

Well wave 3 is out! But I am still waiting . I may be done with Miniature Market for pre-orders. I waited patiently after hearing they had ships for 3 days knowing it would take them a little while to get through their order (although mine were ordered may 10th). I finally decided to call after receiving an email from them yesterday advertising wave 3 ships being available to buy. I thought that was odd so I called today to see what was up. They missed my order I guess, although I can see it on the computer. After getting it all fixed they said it will ship out on the next business day (Monday). Sigh. Oh well, not a big deal it is just a toy but I think I will go with CSI next time.

Just a toy!?!?!!

coopasonic wrote:Just a toy!?!?!!

My brother TK-423 died over Yavin. It may be a game to those anarchist rebel scum but he shall be revenged!!! (when my TIE bombers come in next week...)

$iljanus wrote:

coopasonic wrote:Just a toy!?!?!!

My brother TK-423 died over Yavin. It may be a game to those anarchist rebel scum but he shall be revenged!!! (when my TIE bombers come in next week...)

And just think of all those independent contractors on the Death Star.

doubletap

My MiniatureMarket order shipped today and will arrive Monday. I preordered the week after GenCon.

So, how does this thing play without expansions/extra ships? My kids want to play it (although I think it would be a bit time consuming for their attention span), but while the base set is fairly cheap, I can't afford a bunch of ships to go with it.

Blackhawk wrote:So, how does this thing play without expansions/extra ships? My kids want to play it (although I think it would be a bit time consuming for their attention span), but while the base set is fairly cheap, I can't afford a bunch of ships to go with it.

I think IMO the base game is just enough to give you a taste of the game and make you want more. Truth is the core game comes with two tie fighters and an xwing, pretty limited in what you can do. The coolest part of the game for me is coming up with fun lists to fly and the core set is limited in that regard. But it's a good way to decide if you want to spend more money on it in the future.

A list often runs around 3-4 ships. Empire runs larger, Rebels run smaller. A base set with a 2 Rebel and 3 Imperial ship expansions would get you there. I expect a few people will start to sell off their ships by year end when Wave 4 ships.

If you ever make it to Octocon, I'll have my ships out.

Blackhawk wrote:So, how does this thing play without expansions/extra ships? My kids want to play it (although I think it would be a bit time consuming for their attention span), but while the base set is fairly cheap, I can't afford a bunch of ships to go with it.

It's playable with just one pack, but very limited. Squad building doesn't really work with just the beginning ships, forcing you to mostly just use the premade setup or something very similar.

Blackhawk wrote:So, how does this thing play without expansions/extra ships? My kids want to play it (although I think it would be a bit time consuming for their attention span), but while the base set is fairly cheap, I can't afford a bunch of ships to go with it.

Maybe we can get together and play it sometime and I can make you jealous of all my shiny toys. (I mean we can mitigate expenses by sharing pieces while playing together )

Just picked up some pieces online, should be here next week. grabbed 2 B-wings, 2 Tie Bombers, 2 Tie Interceptors, 1 Slave I, 1 Falcon, 1 Shuttle, and an A-wing. I think that's all for now. They sold out of the HWK in minutes.

Blackhawk wrote:So, how does this thing play without expansions/extra ships? My kids want to play it (although I think it would be a bit time consuming for their attention span), but while the base set is fairly cheap, I can't afford a bunch of ships to go with it.

I think with just a few more ships beyond the base kit you can have a lot of fun with your kids. I get the sense that you're not interested in tournament play at the local game store or regional competition so the pressure to buy all sorts of expansions is off.

With the base set two options come to my mind. You can get one additional TIE Fighter and an X-Wing giving you unique pilots and upgrade cards. Or for a little more you can buy two core sets which will give you 4 TIE fighters and 2 X-Wings total. You always end up needing more dice then what they give in the base set anyway and both sides can have their own damage deck, movement templates, etc.

For me though I would tend toward option one because you're just starting out with the game. You get a variety of options with the two suggested expansions since upgrade cards are shared among all the pilots (except for the astromech units which only go with the X and Y-Wings) while the pilots are specific to their ship. And some of the best pilots in the game are in the expansions.

With a short attention span there are streamlined quick play rules which are very basic and don't use the upgrades and I think don't use any pilot abilities specific to the "elite" pilots in the game. You can start off easy with getting the flight and combat mechanics down and add rules from there. My friend and I started off with just basic pilots with no abilities or upgrades and regular rules.

I've ordered many of my ships from this online store which has competitive prices and good customer service. Had some good e-mail exchanges with the main guy. There's a shipping charge but I think it's reasonable when it's all added together. I've usually put in a large order to save on shipping costs. I also buy many of my board games from here:

NWS Online Gaming Store

Hope this helped your decision and if you do pull the trigger have fun playing with your boys. It's hard for my friend and I to play on a regular basis so it's nice to have some "local" players living right in your household. My 6 yr old has expressed an interest so I'm excited about that.

So FFG just announced a new expansion to the game which I guess would officially be Wave 4...maybe:

Earn Your Bloodstripes Announcing the Imperial Aces Expansion for X-Wing (TM) Battles

This fella seems like a bit of a badass:



Now it wouldn't surprise me if there's going to be a Rogue Squadron expansion for the Rebels announced in the near future or a bunch of Rebel Aces.

Nah, I don't think FFG would do this as wave 4. Instead, I think the text in that link hints strongly at one of the ships in the actual wave 4, the TIE Defender. Everyone's expecting that ship in the next wave if it'll ever arrive at all, and the "prototype weapon" they're talking about in the text could very well be the first TIE Defender.

TiLT wrote:Nah, I don't think FFG would do this as wave 4. Instead, I think the text in that link hints strongly at one of the ships in the actual wave 4, the TIE Defender. Everyone's expecting that ship in the next wave if it'll ever arrive at all, and the "prototype weapon" they're talking about in the text could very well be the first TIE Defender.

I ended up editing my post to add "maybe" after reading that. Whatever wave it is, it looks like I'll be adding to my collection when it comes time to pre-order. And I had just recently bought 2 TIE interceptors too. Ahh well.

I think it could just be one of the 4 offerings of wave 4. It should be near the price range of a large ship ($30). Maybe we'll get a Tie Defender, Imperial Aces, Rebel Aces, and one other Rebel single.

I hope the TIE Defender is as sickeningly OP as I remember it being in TIE Fighter.

Well miniature market shipped my wave 3 ships today, and they are getting here tomorrow! Looking forward to that. I also ordered a new Plano for a new storage solution, not as elegant as the original one I was using but it is getting full and with all the new ships coming out it was time to upgrade.

One good thing out of MM mess up is they actually emailed me today and gave me a $10 gift certificate for their mess-up with my order. I was caught off guard because I didn't really complain or get upset at all I just called to figure out what was going on and when they told me I asked if they could please fix it and thanked them for their help. For all they knew I wasn't even disappointed in how they handled my order but all the same I appreciate the $10 gesture they gave me. May be enough for me to pre-order wave 4/ the new aces ships from them. I love the idea of new pilots for the interceptors. Hopefully it is part of a bigger wave like you all are suggesting. I would love some rebel aces as well, and perhaps one new ship each. Maybe a second large ship for the rebels, although I suspect the next large ship for the rebels will be the capital ships.

I already own at least 3 interceptors (can't actually remember how many I have) so I will probably have a few too many interceptors after this order but what the heck I don't mind having extra ships.

Mostly I just need to find a way to get this to the table more often.

That can be arranged, but whose collection hits the table will be open to negotiation.

Zarathud wrote:That can be arranged, but whose collection hits the table will be open to negotiation.

My collection is used to not hitting the table (last time I played it was May) so they wouldn't even notice if they went unused. Yet I still want more ships... the Star Wars pull is strong.

Thankfully my girlfriend is starting to get hooked and my wave 3 ships should be here today (courtesy of her )

Look forward to playing soon. So glad I only bought 2 interceptors so far though.

I REALLY wish there was a way to buy cards separately.