FAQ: X-Wing and Game of Thrones FAQs are out!

New FAQs are out for your favorite Fantasy Flight Games!

News: Wave 4 Imperial Abilities

There's some exciting new news for Wave 4 ships for X-Wing! Let's take a look at the latest info from a Galaxy Far Far Away...

News: Rebel Aces for X-Wing Announced

Hot on the heels of Imperial Aces Fantasy Flight Games has announced Rebel Aces! What all does the new set add?

X-Wing: Imperial Aces Preview and Discussion

Imperial Aces for Fantasy Flight Games' X-Wing is set to arrive sometime in March and it's time for Imperial players to get excited! It seems like a long time ago in a galaxy far away that Wave 3 released and the while there have been previews of new ships since then there have not been any releases. This is just what the game needs to get players going again and to shake up the meta.


The box set will bring two custom-painted TIE Interceptors to the table with a host of new pilots and upgrades. Let's dig right in:

Lietenant Lorrir at pilot skill 5 might not always be shooting first but he takes barrel roll to the next level. Tetran Cowall's skill 7 puts him up there with the other super-elite pilots and his ability to k-turn at speeds 1,3, or 5 can set up some nasty surprises, and for just one more point than Lorrir.

Next up, we have the other two pilots. The generic royal guard pilot comes in at an impressive pilot skill 6 and only 22 points! The most elite pilot from this set is Carnor Jax who will want to be up close and personal with enemy ships (preferably out of their firing arc!). He will be able to finish off ships by ignoring focus and evade tokens. The way his ability works means that he essentially debuffs all enemy ships in range 1. Ideally, enemy pilots would end their move close to him, they won't get their focus/evade and then Jax would move close to last with his high pilot skill, hopefully flying out of enemy firing arcs and pouncing on some poor ship.

(All pics from BoardGameGeek)

The upgrades are all very good and will see plenty of use. Royal Guard TIE is a free title which will unlock some more upgrades for any interceptors you give it to. Hull Upgrade is an interesting modification and can really increase the survival chances of TIEs but really any ship. I'd expect this one to see a lot of play. Targeting Computer essentially grants targeting lock to any ship so expect this to pop up on all kinds of Imperial builds. This really gives you some extreme flexibility with Interceptors.

What do you guys think about the Imperial Aces set? How many will most players want to get? If you're mainly a Rebel player, what scares you the most from this new set?

Breaking: X-Wing Wave 4 Revealed!

All pilots to your ships! Fantasy Flight Games has just announced the next expansion for X-Wing and it is going to add all kinds of exciting new options for Rebel and Imperial players alike! Four new ships are coming with this and it is great to see the game continue to tap the expanded universe!

The Rebels are getting Z-95 Headhunters which will open up some swarm lists for Rebels which could also see some missile spam action.

The Rebels are also getting the E-Wing which is a combines the best of both X-Wings and A-Wings.

The Imperials get the mighty TIE Defender, personally, my favorite ship in Star Wars, and the TIE Phantom as well. The defender is an interceptor on steroids with all the same firepower and maneuverability coupled with shields. It features powerful upgrades and apparently a never before seen maneuver on the dial.

The Phantom packs a real punch and also includes a cloaking device. This will open up some really interesting tactical possibilities for the Imperials.

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4645


Which ship are you most excited about in this new wave?

Unboxing: TIE Interceptor for X-Wing

Slick here again with the latest unboxing video for X-Wing. Today we tackle the deadly TIE Interceptor and provide some insight into its pilots and upgrades. Enjoy!

X-Wing: Wave 3 Ships Revealed!

Yesterday was Star Wars Day and FFG unveiled the highly anticipated wave 3 ships for their fantastic X-Wing game! Details below:

X-Wing already includes a great lineup of ships:

Core
X-Wing
TIE Fighter

Wave 1
Y-Wing
TIE-Advanced

Wave 2
A-Wing
TIE Interceptor
Slave One
Millennium Falcon

Brace yourselves for Wave 3!

As predicted the B-Wing and TIE Bombers are on their way, but wait up, they're not done yet! Get read fro the Lambda-class Shuttle and HWK-290 "Moldy Crow" (from Dark Forces)! 

Each side will now have a shuttle and bomber which opens up several new layers of strategy and tactics for Rebels and their Imperial counterparts.

FFG also has some details up on their site:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4116

Check out FFG's Flickr feed which includes tons of pics of the new ships!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hexis/sets/72157633402183581/with/8708007490/

TippCon: Star Wars LCG Regional Tournament & Prize Information

Star Wars LCG fans, want to test your skills against fellow players from the Midwest? Then you won't want to miss the Star Wars Regional Tournament at TippCon in Lafayette, Indiana, June 16, 2013!!! There are tons of prizes to be had and entry is a mere $10 if you preregister by May 15! Registering afterward or the day of the tournament will be $20 instead.

TippCon III FFG Star Wars LCG 2013 Regional
Championship Prize List

1st place gets $50 gift card, FFG Regional prizes (Champion Trophy, ticket to the World
Championship, custom Balance of the Force coin, play mat, and FFG Regional 2013 affiliation
cards)

2nd place gets $20 gift card, FFG Regional prizes (Custom Balance of the Force coin, play mat,
FFG Regional 2013 affiliation cards).

3rd place gets a play mat, FFG Regional 2013 affiliation cards, and 10 acrylic focus tokens, and
the FFG OP game night kit Darth Vader and Red 5.

4th place gets a play mat, FFG Regional 2013 affiliation cards and 10 acrylic tokens and FFG OP
kit Darth Vader.

5th place gets play mat, FFG Regional 2013 affiliation cards, 10 acrylic tokens and FFG OP kit
Red 5.

6th-7th place, a play mat, FFG Regional 2013 affiliation cards, FFG OP kit Red 5, and Deck box.

8th gets a play mat, FFG Regional 2013 affiliation cards and FFG OP kit Red 5.

9th-14th gets the FFG Regional 2013 affiliation cards, FFG OP kit Red 5

15th-16th gets FFG Regional 2013 affiliation cards.

Last place gets a Deck box.

*TippCon III and its Event Hosts reserve the right to change/adjust prizes.

Please visit www.custodesimperialis.blogspot.com for full tournament information and online registration!

TippCon: X-Wing Regionals Tournament & Prize Information

X-Wing fans, want to test your piloting skills against fellow pilots from the Midwest? Then you won't want to miss the X-Wing Regional Tournament at TippCon in Lafayette, Indiana, June 16, 2013!!! There are tons of prizes to be had and entry is a mere $10 if you preregister by May 15! Registering afterward or the day of the tournament will be $20 instead.


TippCon III 2013 Star Wars X-Wing FFG
Regional Championship Prize List

1st place – (1) Millennium Falcon & (1) Slave 1 expansion packs and FFG Regional prizes:
Regional Champion 2013 trophy, World Championship Weekend ticket, Regional 2013 dice bag,
10 acrylic focus tokens, and a Regionals 2013 patch.

2nd place – (1) Millennium Falcon OR (1) Slave 1 expansion pack (player’s choice) and FFG
Regional prizes: Regional 2013 dice bag, 10 acrylic focus tokens, and a Regionals 2013 patch.

3rd place – (1) Millennium Falcon OR (1) Slave 1 expansion pack (the remaining ship not
chosen by the 2nd place player), 10 acrylic focus tokens, and a Regionals 2013 patch.

4th place – (1) Random Wave 1 (X-Wing Fighter, Y-Wing Fighter, TIE Fighter, or TIE
Advanced Fighter) or Wave 2 (A-Wing Interceptor or TIE Interceptor), 10 acrylic focus tokens,
and a Regionals 2013 patch.

5th place – (1) Random Wave 1 (X-Wing Fighter, Y-Wing Fighter, TIE Fighter, or TIE
Advanced Fighter) or Wave 2 (A-Wing Interceptor or TIE Interceptor), 10 acrylic focus tokens,
and a Regionals 2013 patch.

6th place – (1) Random Wave 1 (X-Wing Fighter, Y-Wing Fighter, TIE Fighter, or TIE
Advanced Fighter) or Wave 2 (A-Wing Interceptor or TIE Interceptor), 10 acrylic focus tokens,
and a Regionals 2013 patch.

7th place – (1) Random Wave 1 (X-Wing Fighter, Y-Wing Fighter, TIE Fighter, or TIE
Advanced Fighter) or Wave 2 (A-Wing Interceptor or TIE Interceptor), 10 acrylic focus tokens,
and a Regionals 2013 patch.

8th place – (1) Random Wave 1 (X-Wing Fighter, Y-Wing Fighter, TIE Fighter, or TIE
Advanced Fighter) or Wave 2 (A-Wing Interceptor or TIE Interceptor), 10 acrylic focus tokens,
and a Regionals 2013 patch.

9th place thru 16th place – A Regionals 2013 patch.

Last place - “Crash prize” - A previous prize from the FFG archives

*TippCon III and its Event Hosts reserve the right to change/adjust prizes.

Please visit www.custodesimperialis.blogspot.com for full tournament information and online registration!

X-Wing: Unboxing Slave I

Slick here again with our latest unboxing video. Today we're taking a look at the mighty Slave I for the X-Wing miniatures game. We also discuss the pilots and their abilities. This is one of the coolest ships in Star Wars and to be able to field it is so much fun! Enjoy!




Have you added Slave I to your imperial forces? 

X-Wing: Unboxing and Review Part 3

Slick here with the conclusion to our X-Wing unboxing and review. We cover some more mechanics and gameplay as well as some general thoughts on the game. Enjoy!

X-Wing: Unboxing and Review Part 2

Slick here again. We continue our unboxing and review of the X-Wing starter set as we delve into some of the mechanics of the game. Enjoy!

X-Wing: Unboxing and Review Part 1

Slick here again. Today we have some more X-Wing coverage with an unboxing and review of the starter set. If you haven't heard about this excellent game from Fantasy Flight Games and you even remotely like Star Wars and/or miniature gaming, you are in for a treat. This game is definitely worth getting into!

X-Wing: Wave 2 Ships First Impressions

So the Wave 2 ships ( YT-1300, Firespray, A-Wing, and TIE Interceptor) all hit store shelves earlier this week, and all I can say is that I am really impressed.  Fantasy Flight Games is putting out a number of great products right now and getting a good portion of my gaming budget lately.  Earlier this week for my birthday I purchased Descent 2, and it's expansion, Liar of the Wyrm. Last night, a Falcon, a Slave I, 2 A-Wings, and 2 TIE Interceptors.

First impressions of the Wave 2 ships is that average game sizes might be increasing, currently options are starter (1 X-Wing versus 2 TIE Fighters or to increase the point total to 100 points a side).   In free play, I see team games (2v2, 3v3, 4v4 or even larger games in the works) and I also think players will bump point totals to 150 or 200 points a side.  There is even talk at the FLGS that a massive Battle of Yavin type game might be around the corner, and that players will draft for unique/named pilots.  I am really interested in getting in one a game of that scale, but I don't think that my corporate sponsor (employer) would be too keen on that idea.  I also am thinking you might actually see more actual squadrons ran in the game, I like the idea of having a squadron of 12 TIE Fighters face off against a half squad of X-Wings, I think that just reminds me of the hours and hours I spent playing the original X-Wing computer game back on my 386 that was running DOS 6 and Windows 3.1 at the time.  (WOW, that just seems like an eternity ago having that pre-Pentium Intel processor and those operating systems)

As for the ships themselves, I am going to review the Interceptors and the A-Wings together, since both ships have similiar roles as far as interceptor/reconnaissance/escort type roles.  The best way to describe the ships would be as very quick and agile, with the TIE Interceptors having a bit more raw firepower in the way of lasercannons, the A-Wings on the other hand have some shielding and the chance to upgrade with missiles.  Also both ships have the boost ability available without upgrade, while the booost takes the place of another action, a skilled gamer will use the boost to quickly get his/her ship into position for another attack run.  I think it will be interesting to see how players start building squadrons with the availability of the Interceptors and A-Wings.

Prior to the Wave 2 release I can tell you I was most interested in getting my hands on both the A-Wings and the Interceptors, after running a game taking Boba Fett with his Slave I and two Avenger Squadron Interceptor against Lando Calrissian in the Millenium Falcon with Nien Nunb and two A-Wings, I must say that I am sold on the Slave I.  I think utilizing the Slave I in the manner that I did in my first game with it is the way to go, although not a true starfighter it is a pretty tough ship to take  down. Although its hull is not as tough to crack as the Falcon is and it doesn't quite have the shielding of the Falcon, the ability to have both missile and torpedo upgrades, and the nasty bomb upgrade does  make it seem more of a fighter when compared to the Falcon.  For my first game with the Slave, I can say that I kept my distance from the A-Wings, allowing my Interceptors to focus on the A-Wings, and try to soften up the Falcon when they had shots.  I tried to keep the Slave out of direct fire arcs for the Falcon or at least keep as much distance as I could, since my opponent had the boost upgrade on the Falcon. I knew with that upgrade he could out manoever me and keep out of my firing arcs without any problems, leaving me in a very bad situation.  That first game I took the following upgrades on the Slave: Slave I title, Heavy Laser Cannon, Mercenary Copilot, Siesmic charges, Stealth device and Expose.  I was least impressed with the Expose upgrade, it seemed extremely situational at best, and I never felt that I was in the right situation to use it.  I am going to give it a few more games before making a decision to drop it, it just seems to me that there isn't a good alternative for the points at this time.

And that leaves me with the ever popular Millenium Falcon.  Not actually having run it in game, these are all impressions that I have in regards to the stats for the Falcon and how those stats seem to play out in actual games.  The Falcon has the highest hull rating and shield rating of any ship in the game right now, which is what I would expect for a highly modified smuggler ship, the dual turrets seem balanced against other ships where as if they are rolling well, they should be able to take out a TIE Fighter or an Interceptor in a turn, but not on a constant basis, and the agility dice leave something to be desired, but I guess for the size of the ship it makes some sense.  I just feel completely unimpressed for the points cost for the Falcon itself, the Falcon with Chewie, Lando or Han as pilot just seems too expensive, and the generic smuggler pilot doesn't have the stats I would be expecting. Again, you might want to take this review on the Falcon with a grain of salt, as I haven't ran it in game yet, and eventually I am planning on running the Falcon, but for the time being, I think I will be sticking with the Slave I.

There you have it, a brief overview of the second wave of ships for X-Wing the miniatures game, and if you continue reading, I have included a brief overview for the rest of the game and the first wave ships.  So if you haven't had the chance to buy into the game, or even seen the game in action, let me give you a quick break down, I realize that Fantasy Flight is just getting around to getting shelves EVERYWHERE restocked.  The starter box is priced at $40 for an X-Wing and two (2) TIE Fighters, pilot and upgrade cards, a deck of damage cards, dice, moving templates, and gaming tokens.  Enough to get your appetite whetted and for you to realize that a second starter is really needed to get some repeatablity out of the game itself. If your looking to get a more or less standard sized game of a hundred points, you are looking for the expansion blister X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Y-Wings, and TIE Advanced.  At $15 a piece, the expansion X-Wings and TIE Fighters provide you additional pilots unavailable within the starter box, and the Y-Wings and TIE Advanced add some tactical variance and stragedy to keep things interesting.

So I thought I would give you a slight break down on the the strengths and weaknesses of the ships, and how I tend to them, at this point I am going to skip going into specifics on the pilots, as I haven't had enough games to know which ones I prefer and how to effectively use them all.

So to start out with, the staple of the Rebellion lists, the Incom T-65 X-Wing.  Up until now (with the release of the second wave ships) the Rebellion X-Wing was the building block of the Rebellion lists.  Whether you went with a small list and included Wedge Antilles and/or Luke Skywalker or prefered running a X-Wing swarm or a mixed squadron approach with Y-Wings, you had to run the mighty X-Wing.  A very balanced ship, with great fire power, a decent manoever dial, and plenty of shields and hull to hold out against the TIE fighters, a well equiped pilot, droid and torpedoes with some serious tactics can make an X-Wing a formiable opponent.

While the X-Wings are very versatile, the Y-Wings are much more specialized and fit a rather limited more supportive role.  As a bomber, it doesn't have the speed or manoeverability of the X-Wing or the TIE Fighter and really shouldn't be dog fighting in the the middle of things.  I prefer to equip the Ion Cannons for 5 points and use it as a long range method of keeping opponent's ships tied up.  With a strong hull, but lacking in the shielding and defensive (agility) die, I don't recommend relying on too many Y-Wings on your force, but I might rethink my stance with the release of the A-Wings.  

TIE Fighters are the mainstay of the Imperial fleet of starfighters.  

Cheap, easy to produce, and devestating in the hands of a skilled pilot (if an Imperial pilot can survive more than an individual combat or two), the TIE Fighter can, in numbers, can overwhelm the better equiped Rebellion starfighters.  With just a little more speed and agility than a X-Wing, but significantly less resistance to damage, and not quite the sheer firepower of a single X-Wing.  So far TIE swarm tactics, seem to be very popular amongst the Imperial players at my FLGS.

The other first wave Imperial fighter is the TIE Advanced.  With the speed and manoeverability of a TIE Fighter and the shielding of an X-Wing, the TIE Advanced is meant for more as a one-on-one dogfighter that can go toe-to-toe with X-Wings and Y-Wings.

In addition to the game setting and the familiaity of the units, the simplicity of the rules do really make the game.  Each ship has a movement dial which is set and placed face down next to each ship.   Each pilot has a pilot skill which also corresponds to their initiative.  Pilots activate in order of initiative and then make their movements by placing a movement template in front of the base that the ships sit on, the bases have prongs in which the movement templates sit within.  After a ship moves, you can give it an action, such as evade or focus.  After all the ships have moved and been given actions, then the pilots get to attack in reverse initiative order.  And so when all of the attacks have been resolved, you repeat the entire process starting with setting the dials again.  The rules are light enough for younger players and strategies ae becoming increasingly more sophisticated with addition of the second wave ships and the possibility of larger games. 

So there you have it. Look for our unxboxing and battle report videos for X-Wing starting very soon. What has been your experience with X-Wing thus far? 

X-Wing: Battle Pics

If you like Star Wars then you should definitely be checking out Fantasy Flight's X-Wing game! Below are some pics from our latest event! Pew pew pew!

Check back soon for several unboxing videos and an onverview/review of the game.

X-Wing: Battle pics

Are you a Star Wars fan? Looking for a chance to pilot an X-Wing to take on the Empire, or perhaps you want to command TIE fighters as they try to crush the Rebellion? If any of this is exciting to you, then you will want to check out Fantasy Flight's X-Wing miniatures game! Below we have a few shots of games in progress. Look for our review of the game which will be coming out soon!