This Is Red Leader...

Played a second game of FFG's X-Wing with Zachary and Phillip last night. We used the full rules this time. Overall they picked up the rules pretty quick, but need to work on predicting where their target is going to go and picking a maneuver to best position themselves. The game remains highly intuitive though. Movement, normally the bane of any space fighting game, is very visual and easy to understand. Combat is fairly straightforward, especially since the results are on the custom dice and no charts are needed.

We played a 31 point game (as recommended in the rules when using just the core box for a squad build game). I played the Rebel Alliance and chose Red Squadron Pilot with Proton Torpedoes and R2-D2. Zachary played "Dark Curse" and Phillip "Night Beast."  My pilot had no special abilities and the lowest pilot value but had the advantage of having shields, R2-D2, and the torps. Dark Curse gets a free Focus action when he does a green maneuver. Night Beast is actually a bit of a pain with his ability, a model attacking him cannot change focus results to hit or reroll attack dice. This pretty much means you need to overwhelm him with odds by getting in close for primary weapon attacks or use your proton torpedoes and hope for the best.

The game went a long time because Zachary was so focused on performing green maneuvers to get his free focus action that he wasn't putting himself into position to attack and Phil is still getting the hang of predicting opponent moves and making his selection to position himself to attack. Zachary got better at this, but it was too late. In the end I won and we all had fun. The game produces a very cinematic visual as the ships swoop around the table. I'm looking forward to getting the expansions and seeing how they impact the game. I think in our next game though Luke Skywalker will be taking the stick. I want to see if that back-water bush pilot kid is all they say he is.