Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game

Did you know? That when production began, the movie was titled: ‘ADVENTURES OF LUKE STARKILLER, AS TAKEN FROM THE JOURNAL OF THE WHILLS, SAGA I: THE STAR WARS.’

Err...Quite! As we know, the title was eventually shortened and Luke’s name was changed to ‘Skywalker’. And the rest as they say, is history...

I've been doing a lot of homework of late (more on that later) in my quest to find my next hobby muse and like many hobby fanatics, I've been drawn into the cock stiffening world of the X-Wing Miniatures Game by Fantasy Flight Games...

Through clever use of slight of hand, I've so far fooled the wife into thinking I'd only purchased one copy...

I took the plunge and ordered two core sets. Apart from providing more of the game’s base content such as dice, range rulers, counters etc., I reasoned that it would provide a saving on buying additional individual ships further on down the line...

Luke Skywalker, Biggs Darklighter and Ron Blackvinyl...

In the righteous belief that I was saving money left, right and center ;)  I promptly added a further Tie Fighter and Tie Advanced expansion to the order… As Darth Vader would say -‘Your (purchasing) powers are weak old man’

Lord Vader and his Tie Fighter display team...

The game production quality is of a high standard and along with some great new artwork, the miniatures themselves get a solid 7/10 in the looks department - I can only imagine the paint brushers in FFG’s Chinese factory must be working overtime to keep up with the global demand…

The rules are provided in handy ‘quick start’ and ‘main rules’ format, with both being clearly laid out and easy to follow. The main rule book also presents a number of advanced rules in the form of Squad Building, Team Play and Missions. Alongside the miniature expansions currently being released and the missions exclusive to the Falcon and Slave I expansion packs, It would be good at some point in the future to see FFG delve further into the wealth of epic narrative background available and release a book dedicated exclusively to new mission scenarios... let's hope so :)

It’s worth noting that the game doesn't come with any kind of fold out playing surface, so it’s worth starting to explore your options with regards to a suitable table set up to help really bring your game to life. I’ll look to post a bunch of options and suggestions on this in the future, but in the meantime, I went for an interim and economical black vinyl approach - £4.50 for 5ft sq from your local Dunelm Mill - kinky!

Darth and Luke put aside their differences and head off to Tatooine on a lads weekend!

You can expect an X-Wing game report or two from HBID! in the not too distant future, but before I go, you'll recall me mentioning that I'd been doing some pre-purchase homework to help immerse myself in the game and see what it had to offer. With this in mind, here's some links that you may find helpful if you're thinking of dusting off your R2 unit and jumping in the cockpit of your ol' T65...

FFG Forums - The main site aside, the FFG forums are good place to start for release info and general discussion (can run a bit slooooowly)

A Few Maneuvers - Fan dedicated forum, with articles looking at a number of topics, including tactics and custom models.

Board Game Geek - Great site in general, but also packing a tasty X-Wing dedicated forum, video blogs and an excellent selection of downloadable resources...

Wookieepedia - Because even the biggest geek can find something new to learn about Star Wars here.

Until next time ;)

Biggs Darklighter does his bit to raise money for Movember