I suppose that here at Geekscape not that many eyebrows would be raised if someone said they were thinking about dropping $110* on a Star Wars model. After all, she is a beauty isn’t she?

[*That’s UK prices, in the US you can pick it up for a mere $61]

While the Tantive IV would look great decorating your shelf, this is not just an ornament, it’s part of a board game, or if you are being pedantic, a miniatures battle game – the Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game. I think that Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures is a great game for any gamer, but especially the geek gamer. While the Star Wars connection is one obvious reason (and they also make a very similar Star Trek version for those who swing more that way) I will try to give you a few more.

The Basics

Let’s start by explaining what the game is: it’s Star Wars dog fighting. Is that good enough? OK. It is a game of two sides, Alliance vs Empire of course, designed to be played by two players but that can easily accommodate more with a few extra ships and team play. Each of you controls one or more ships flying around in space trying to achieve your mission goals. These can be as simple as a TIE Fighter vs X-Wing fight to the death or a more sophisticated scenario involving escorting shuttles, scanning probes and so on.

The rules are pretty simple which makes it an easy game to pick up, and I think it’s worth me going through them briefly. At the start of each turn the players all secretly and simultaneously select how far their ships are going to move and in which direction by using little dials that belong to each ship. Each type of ship a different choices – TIE Interceptors for example are obviously quicker and more manoeuvrable than Y-Wings. Players then reveal the dials one at a time and move their ships, in order of pilot skill. After a ship moves it can take one of a small number of actions that vary depending on ship type. For example they can Target Lock in order to increase their chance of attacks hitting and have an opportunity to fire any missiles they might have, or they might Evade reducing the chances of being hit if fired upon.

Once all the ships have moved, it’s shootin’ time. The most skilled pilots go first and pick a target. Simple range and line of sight is determined with a natty little ruler shaped like a laser blast – red on one side and green on the other. The attacking player rolls a number of special attack dice and sees how many hits they score. The defending player rolls the defence dice and tries to cancel out any hits. Players may spend those tokens I mentioned that you can take as actions. Each hit damages the ship, reducing shields first and then causing hull damage. Once your hull is depleted the ship explodes in space. Feel free to hum the sad Binary Sunset music mockingly at your opponent. After all ships that are able to fire the round is over and you start again setting your manoeuvre dials. And that is basically it. Simple yet elegant. I think this is a great game for both the first time casual player or the hardcore seasoned gamer, and here’s why.

Simple but meaningful choices

As I hope I have shown, the rules are easy and your choices fairly simple each turn. Do you fly at the enemy head on with all your forces, or do you divide your strength by splitting up to flank them , do you go for their strongest ship first to take it out early, or do you try and pick off the weaker ones quickly first? Do you pull a difficult manoeuvre to get into (or out of) a crucial spot but then take a Stress token limiting your options later? And after your move you will have another choice to make. This will probably be one of 3 or 4 possible actions for each ship, and these again can be crucial decisions. Maybe your ship has the option to do a Barrel Roll [best Peppy voice please], Evade or Focus. The benefits of each choice will dependent on what your opponent does and whether you plan to be opening fire or trying to duck and cover. The options are never complex but the choices can be agonising and the consequences weighty.

Variable ship characteristics

As illustrated above each ship has unique characteristics. The X-Wing is has 3 attack dice [red number] and only 2 defence [green number] meaning it has more firepower than the TIE [2 attack] but is not as evasive [3 defense]. However when the tie is hit it will explode in a ball of flames after taking only 3 damage [yellow], whereas the X-Wing has 2 shields [blue] to take out before it receives real damage. As mentioned before they also have different abilities, for example TIEs can do a barrel roll and X-Wings can target lock. As a result it really feels like you are flying very different ships and you therefore adjust your play style accordingly.

Squad Customisation

Not only is each ship different but they all cost a different number of points. This is further modified by the skill of the pilot, as more skilled pilots move last (usually an advantage) and shoot first (always an advantage). Better pilots are also more likely to have special abilities that can modify the game, changing die results, adding or removing tokens, adjusting combat rolls and so on. As an example of cost Luke in his X-Wing costs 28 points whereas a lowly Academy Pilot in their TIE is only 12. Finally you can further customise a ship by adding upgrade cards like missiles, pilot skills and R2 units. When picking your roster you set a number of squad points each; 50, 100, 200 or whatever, and build two squads. If you enjoy this kind of thing you can spend ages fine tuning a squad. If you don’t it’s pretty easy to do off the cuff, or you can find pre-made squad suggestions in the box or online. And while the box says 2 players, bigger squads mean you can play with more players. I have had many enjoyable 3-5 player team games, with each player controlling one or more ships.

Ship Collection

In the starter box you get one X-Wing and two TIE Fighters with a bunch of different pilot and upgrade cards. This alone is enough for plenty of game, with a few different scenarios adding variety if you want a rest from last-man-standing type play. But we are geeks and cannot stop there. The damn company keep releasing more ships and how can we resist? For about $10 each you can get A-wings, B-wings, Y-wings, TIE interceptors, TIE bombers and the TIE Advanced. Each ship plays a little differently and has different pilot and upgrade cards in the box, with the latter often usable on many of your other ships. And there are bigger (of course more expensive) ships like the Falcon, Slave I and an Imperial Shuttle. And recently even bigger ships with the Tantive IV and a Rebel Transport. Many of the new ships add minor or major new rules and mechanics to the game. There are now even extended canon ships like TIE defenders and Z-95s. I am up to 14 ships at the moment and having a bit of a rest. For now.

Conclusion

For $27 you get a simple and fairly elegant game with amazing models. You have a rules set that is easy enough that my 5 year old son can play the game and squad build with a little help, and yet create deep enough play to satisfy the tactical needs of many of the more hard core gamers in my group. You can keep it light and drop it on the table for a quick casual game or you can spend hours honing your squad to compete in national tournaments.

Bottom line is, at the end of the day it’s just fun. And did I mention it’s Star Wars?