X-Wing and Starwars fleet scale game?

[StoneRhino]

Recently I picked up a starter box for the X-Wing game, as well as a box that included two elite tie fighters in it, but have yet to play it. I have seen some people playing it at the local shop, but I was wondering just how popular the game was, and what people think of it.

I have only read the quickstart rules, but I find the movement being decided and locked in without anyone seeing anything until it is revealed to be rather interesting. A simple double blind like system could either bring a BT game to a crawl or speed things up depending on the players. I wonder how it affects the time for an xwing game.

Within a few days of buying the starter box I find out that they have a larger scale game that has been out for a few months. Unfortunately, I heard nothing about it. My interest in xwing was light, but when I saw a starterbox for sale and on sale I decided to make a snap decision. The large scale game is more of what I was looking for, and seeing a single transport style ship for xwing weighing in at $50+ , and the size of it made me wonder if xwing is something I am going to be playing very long.

When it comes to the fleet scale game, I was frustrated after seeing it, but remembered that I and others in the local group purchased some BT warship minis. I am wondering how the fleet scale SW game compares to BT:Space battles. Down the road I might still pick up a starter box for SW fleet scale, but I am doubting that it is going to have that Battletech, love it and hate it, level of detail.

I'm wondering what others think of both of the games, and if possible how SW fleet compares to BT:Space.

With far to many minis that need to be painted, and the better then decent quality of the x-wing paint jobs, I am still on the fence regarding that aspect of the game. On one hand it is rather impersonal. On the other its a completely different world then the craptastic MWDA "prepainted" stuff. Then again, when you share a BT table with someone that has zero paint on his minis, even the craptastic MWDA paint jobs seem welcome. >:D

[I am Belch II]

There is a fleet scale game comming out for Star Wars called Armada. Don't know much about it, and how Battletech ships could fit in with it.

[Stormlion1]

Armada looks interesting, if only because I desire, no need to field a Super Star Destroyer at some point. Or create a campaign game with the rules.

[Mecha82]

Well if quality of pre-painted ships with SW Armada is as good as it's with X-Wing there should not be any worries about that part. X-Wing ships from FFG are painted by hand so quality is much higher than with factory painted that WK has.

[MAD-4A]

I understand that RL was originally intended as the SW game, Interceptor was the fighter rules & Leviathan was the Fleet action rules but things fell threw with GL & FASA so they came up with their own background

[I am Belch II]

Ive seen the ships for Armada and they are very awesome looking, little bit larger then the Battletech ships. Little expensive but very awesome looking.

[Weirdo]

Little expensive?!? :o

[Stormlion1]

Little expensive?!? :o

Way expensive. Which will hurt the game I think.

[DarkSpade]

I was really excited about armada until I saw the $100 price tag on the starter.   I think I'll stick with X-wing.  That's expensive enough.

[MAD-4A]

I was really excited about armada until I saw the $100 price tag on the starter.   I think I'll stick with X-wing.  That's expensive enough.

eehh...$100...NOT sold

[WarGod]

yeah 100 for a box set, pass.  Plus 16 bucks for one mini?

[DarkSpade]

yeah 100 for a box set, pass.  Plus 16 bucks for one mini?

Looked at the price of an unassembled and unpainted CBT mini lately?   ;D

That's actually about the same you pay for an x-wing ship(cheaper online).  If the Armada ships look as good then I'd say $16 is worth it.  It's just that huge cost upfront they need to figure out how to get down.  I do wonder how much of that is profit.  Might be better for them in the long run to sell it as close to cost as possible.

[I am Belch II]

Some of the miniatures go for over $30.

[MAD-4A]

o-l a single Victory class is $27.49 but they have a Nebulon-B & Corellian Corvette for $13.99 each, I'd like those just for the model value. one error I noticed is that the Imperial fighter set has 2 of each except the Defender, that's not the right mix. There were never that many TIE Advanced or even TIE Interceptors. They should drop these 2 to 1 each (or at-least the Advanced) and add more regular TIEs or replace the regulars with TIE Defenders and have a separate pack with 8 regular TIEs

[Weirdo]

I doubt any company that actually invests in TIE Interceptors/Advanced/Defenders will go for a 'proper' mix of them, as there'd be no way to justify the costs of producing molds that would make so few minis compared to anything else. You want a proper mix, you'll have to do it yourself, either by buying the proper packs, or grabbing single fighters somehow.

[Scotty]

I'm totally fine with having two bases of Advanced.  They're cool ships and the Empire really needs something like them for balance.  They just don't have anything like the X-Wing for the longest time in universe.

[MAD-4A]

I doubt any company that actually invests in TIE Interceptors/Advanced/Defenders will go for a 'proper' mix of them, as there'd be no way to justify the costs of producing molds that would make so few minis compared to anything else. You want a proper mix, you'll have to do it yourself, either by buying the proper packs, or grabbing single fighters somehow.

That's why I suggested replacing with the Defender as "other TIE" Pack and making an 8-pack of Regular TIEs a separate item, so players can buy as many as needed. the original loadout of the Imp Class SD was 3 squadrons of TIEs & 1 squadron of bombers. Later some (not all) SDs replaced 1 of it's TIE squadrons with Interceptors (the Elite unit) even in RotJ the Interceptor was rare, it was prevalent in the action because the Emperor was there with all of his elite units "It's a Trap!". the TIE Advanced never had a full production run and those handful produced were consigned to "test" units, usually on stations, and a few high ranking offices (Vader primarily) "too expensive" & "just going to get shot down anyway" - the Empire viewed its pilots as just so many bullets to fire at the enemy. "we'll recruit more". More TIE Defenders were built (than Advanced), when it was realized the massive advantage rebel pilots had over regular TIEs, but still no where near the numbers of even the Interceptors or Bombers.

[Stormlion1]

The Empire was all about Quantity has a quality all its own. Tie Fighters should be the bulk of there fighter force with Interceptors, Advanced, and Defenders being very rare.

[StoneRhino]

The price of the xwing minis, of the fighter size are about the price of an assault mech. I have yet to play so I don't know the normal mix of minis that people tend to field, but if you factor in the time it takes to paint a mini and the cost of the paints then the individual mini price for xwing isn't so bad. The MWDA minis were painted in the most horrendous manner possible. Few people could end up with such poorly painted minis on their own, and I say that as a horrible painter. If you consider the price of the mini and the amount someone would charge for a decent paint job, the cost of a BT mini would likely hit $30 with ease. Then there is the cost of the little cards that come with it, which I have to say are nicely done.

I hate the idea of not getting to paint the minis myself, but at the same time I know how slowly I get around to painting, and the quality is higher then what i would likely end up with. The table of an xwing game ends up with nicely painted minis no matter who owns them or what their skill level is when it comes to painting minis. There is no cringing at the sight of a friend's force that is bare metal, no cringing when he puts a bushwacker's foot down on the table (just the foot) and uses it as a mini. Nope, its just nicely painted, preassembled minis hitting the table.

The larger ships are understandably going to cost more. Those BT tripods aren't cheap, nor are the tanks for 40k. No assembly and no painting, along with the cards that come with it, the larger Xwing ships seem to justify some of their increased cost. The cost of that transport on the other hand is not something I would consider, but if you double the cost of the map size Leopard dropship it comes in rather close.



The funny thing about the rebels was that their fighters were higher quality then the empire's, but their warships were lower quality. How they managed to have anything that was higher quality then the empire is strange. The only real way that would happen is if the empire chose to build weaker ships, but in greater numbers, which they did. But that doesn't mean that they couldn't produce more advanced designs. If anything the empire had the greater capacity for designing and producing higher tier ships. Whatever the rebels could produce the empire could probably produce several more.

Its unlikely that the empire would have continued to produce and lose tons of tie fighters without adjusting over time. I doubt that Lucas really cared or even thought of how things would work in a game, or if things were a bit more realistic. The idea that higher end Tie fighters were never present in the movies, or rarely so is likely due to nothing more then it wasn't planned as being anything more then a movie.

[MAD-4A]

The MWDA minis were painted in the most horrendous manner possible.

MWDA?

[MAD-4A]

The funny thing about the rebels was that their fighters were higher quality then the empire's, but their warships were lower quality.

Not really - Home One was better than An IMP I SD, the Empire just had so-many more. the Imperial ships were also designs as ship killers, with nearly all their weapons devoted to killing other starships, which was stupid as the rebels didn't even have much in the way of starships when they first started. It was the Mon Calamari. who developed their own ship building capability out in the fringes that even gave the rebels any true warship capacity. the Empire relied on its fighters for fighter defense while the rebel ships, operating alone or in small groups, had to have more diverse weapon systems, requiring some loss of Anti-warship capability (that was what the B-Wing was for). as far as the fighters, the Empire used conscript tactics (let them die to save the ship & we'll make more) same as the Russians in WWII. the rebels (early on) had very few pilots (all they had at Yavin 4 was 30 pilots which is why they wanted Han to help - the DS had 7,000 TEIs - only Vaders personal squadron launched - that idiot Tarkin didn't bother launching any of his 7.000 assigned TIEs - what did he think they were there for?) and few fighters so they couldn't afford to loose many, so they bought high end fighters to help preserve as many of their pilots as they could, they also didn't have a permanent base, so the fighters had to fend for themselves, that means a Hyper-drive (also used in raiding) which meant higher cost and a greater incentive to buy ships that could survive a battle.

[MAD-4A]

Its unlikely that the empire would have continued to produce and lose tons of tie fighters without adjusting over time.

That's what the Advance, Interceptor & Defender were for. The TIE was addaquit against the Y-Wing (which was too slow and had early low powered shields). the Empire saw it's TIEs outmatched by first Z-95 Headhunters then X-Wings, that's when the TIE Advanced (Vaders fighter) was developed, as a prototype for a new High end Fighter. With its Hyper drive & shields it was considered too expensive by the Imperial Navy (It was also feared that a Hyper capable fighter would be used as a reason to slash new ship construction and would also facilitate defection/desertions). The shields and H-D were removed to make a striped down "cheap" version (which also had the happy benefit of greatly reducing mass & power consumption making a much faster and more nimble design). This design was close to the cost of a regular TIE and was put into production for elite or experienced pilots. That became the "Interceptor". Later, just before Rot, it was decided that the TIE was too outmatched by the rebel fighters, so a new design was produced (even more capable than the Advanced), for limited use by elite units, to counter the rebel fighters. this was the TIE/D Defender. It only had a short run before the Emperor was killed at Endor and the Empire began breaking apart.

[SpaceCowboy1701]

There is at least one online store offering a $70.00 pre-order deal on the Armada starter as well as reduced prices on individual warships and fighter squadron packs ... while I'm still deciding on whether to take the plunge even at that price, it's at least significantly less than "suggested retail price." Frankly, considering my scarcity of opponents and the lack of either a full-on Imperial Star Destroyer or Mon Cal Star Cruiser in the initial run, it's hard to feel the level of excitement I should, since this is something I've wanted for a long time, and was let down by the Wizards half-hearted attempt at a rule set ... and then there's the issue of the unpainted fighters ... my life right now does not lend itself to painting ... and I question how well I'd even be able to do those tiny things.

Side note regarding the TIE Advanced, it's worth noting that Fantasy Flight seems to like putting in ships from the EU, and there's an old Marvel comic (#18, I think) that had the Empire fielding a squadron of these ... so it may serve the double purpose of justifying a mold of a popular ship ...

I'll look forward to hearing what people think of this once it starts rolling out and some more ships are released ...

[Bosefius]

I was ambivalent about the XWing game until (literally) right now. Blind movement makes it for me. Now to find opponents locally.

The struggle is real!

[Weirdo]

Blind movement is indeed a fun game mechanic sometimes. It's one reason I love Starmada. O0

[cavingjan]

It reminds me a lot of WK's Crimson Skies game. I miss that game.

[StoneRhino]

That's what the Advance, Interceptor & Defender were for. The TIE was addaquit against the Y-Wing (which was too slow and had early low powered shields). the Empire saw it's TIEs outmatched by first Z-95 Headhunters then X-Wings, that's when the TIE Advanced (Vaders fighter) was developed, as a prototype for a new High end Fighter. With its Hyper drive & shields it was considered too expensive by the Imperial Navy (It was also feared that a Hyper capable fighter would be used as a reason to slash new ship construction and would also facilitate defection/desertions). The shields and H-D were removed to make a striped down "cheap" version (which also had the happy benefit of greatly reducing mass & power consumption making a much faster and more nimble design). This design was close to the cost of a regular TIE and was put into production for elite or experienced pilots. That became the "Interceptor". Later, just before Rot, it was decided that the TIE was too outmatched by the rebel fighters, so a new design was produced (even more capable than the Advanced), for limited use by elite units, to counter the rebel fighters. this was the TIE/D Defender. It only had a short run before the Emperor was killed at Endor and the Empire began breaking apart.

Dude, I'm trying not to recall my days of running Starwars RPG games. Seriously, I was trying to block my brain's want to dig up that old information at various points in your post. Heck, I walked away from my own post that you were responding to because of that. I started to wonder about the imperial planet stripping resource gathering cubes used to feed their factories, how many of them were produced and just how many tons of resources they could gather and how that translated to x amount of tie fighters(of any design).  @p? I just didn't want to go there so I walked away from my post before I even got near scratching the surface of the train of thought I had going.
Sluishi > all

[Xtrahmxwohld]

I was ambivalent about the XWing game until (literally) right now. Blind movement makes it for me. Now to find opponents locally.

The struggle is real!

Just double check you choose the direction you REALLY want, it really sucks to fly right into an asteroid (or off the board) because you weren't paying attention.  :-[

[DarkSpade]

Just double check you choose the direction you REALLY want, it really sucks to fly right into an asteroid (or off the board) because you weren't paying attention.  :-[

But it is AWESOME when your opponent does it!  O0

[Xtrahmxwohld]

But it is AWESOME when your opponent does it!  O0

I feel bad if I win because of a silly mistake like that.