Played my first full game of X-Wing tonight at Gamer's Haven in Colorado Springs. First time playing in this store, actually, and it is quite nice.
I played the part of the evil Empire, trying to rid the galaxy of those treacherous rebel scum. Here's the ship line up (ranks in parentheses):
Rebels (all X-wings):
-Biggs Darklighter (5)
-Red Squadron pilot (4)
-Rookie Pilot (2)
Imperials (all TIE fighters):
-Mauler Mithel (7)
-Dark Curse (6)
-Obsidian Squadron pilot (3) x2
On paper, the Imperials have the advantage. But this is ME we're talking about.
The battlefield before the carnage:
We threw a few asteroids out for fun. Turned out to be a hindrance.
Round 1 was pretty much "sprint to the middle, pick a target, and SHOOT!". Nobody got killed. He had his X-wings in a tight formation, and Biggs Darklighter draws all enemy fire if other friendly ships are within Range 1 of Biggs, so Biggs was all I could shoot at. Didn't even scratch him.
Here was the situation at the end of round 2's movement phase:
Notice there are still 4 TIEs. This number will dwindle.
This is where the bloodbath began. I can't remember all the particulars, but suffice it to say that between his good dice rolling, the X-wing's shields, and Biggs' astromech, they all survived. My first TIE to go down was, of course, the highest-ranked pilot on the board. The next highest followed him shortly thereafter.
Down to three, as you see above.
I will say this for the TIE: that sucker can turn on a dime!
Being hunted down by Biggs...
This is the last anyone saw of the Imperials. Suffice it to say that pilot did not survive the head-on engagement.
Even though I got beat like a rented mule, this is a fun game. Really enjoyed it. Some pros and cons:
Pros:
-gameplay was quick, even for two people fumbling through the rules somewhat
-action is pretty clean--fly, turn, shoot, for the most part
-the miniatures are really well done
-no tape measures needed!
Cons:
-kept having to borrow dice from the other player to get all the attack or defense dice needed
-token/card system is a little strange, although I guess it adds a "fog of war" element; I'm just used to DW, where you can see all the damage a ship is carrying by looking at it on the battlefield; having the damage tracked by the ships' cards off the battlefield (and tracking shield points) made it difficult to tell which ship was carrying what damage
Definitely looking forward to playing this more. I've purchased a couple more X-wings and a TIE Advanced; we'll see how those do.
Thanks for reading!
