Getting Started: An X-Wing Primer
Ready to take the “X-Wing Plunge (™)” but not sure where to start? Step right up and start here!
Getting Started
Hey Everyone! It’s AdamHarry here to type your face off about X-Wing. That’s right – not only am I making videos for X-Wing – I’m writing about it, too! So what is this all about? It’s a primer on how to get started playing X-Wing if you haven’t already. Look, I know you’ve seen the articles and the fact that you’re on this site probably means you can tell your D3s from your D6s. You don’t need a hand-holding article about where to start. Good. This isn’t quite like that. That said, FFG just released Wave 6 and there are a ton of things in game now. Maybe you’re not sure where to go. That’s perfect – because that’s where I was just a few short weeks ago. Lets talk assumptions:
1) You’ve got friends that play X-Wing already (or ones that would play with you).
2) You’re familiar with miniature games and have probably played a few.
3) You like Star Wars as a whole and the thought of dog fighting X-Wings vs Tie Fighters sounds pretty awesome.
4) You don’t want to spend a bunch of money on yet another flash-in-the-pan fad game that your friends have sucked you into before.
5) You’re internet savvy enough to know how to Google things.
6) Jar-Jar Binks is terrible.
Yes. I know he was there for comic relief. But that would mean he would have needed to be comedic.
Okay – so now that we’ve established that let me address those fears/concerns. How does one get started playing? Grab that buddy that has a bunch of X-Wing stuff and get a game in already! Seriously, why haven’t you asked them? Are they scruffy and nerf-herderish or something? Once you get a game or three under your belt and have an idea of how the game plays you can start making educated decisions on what you want to spend your money on. Everyone has a different play-style and you’ve got to figure that out on your own.
Don’t have a buddy that has 4 of every ship? Not a problem – Buy the starter box. In fact, buy two! Split it with a buddy that wants to play. The reason is two-fold: you’ll have enough ships to actually play a decent starter game and you’ll have enough ships for TWO players to actually feel like they are playing a real game. But that’s the same thing, you say? Not really. You can play a decent starter game with the base set – FFG did a great job with it – but with 2 X-Wings and 4 Tie Fighters both players will start to get a better feel of how the game actually plays. There is a lot of strategy in the placement of multiple ships and how you can use swarms of cheap ships to block stuff off… but that’s another series.
X-Wing Resources
So you’ve picked up a starter box (or two) and gotten some games in and you’re getting that itch but your wallet is screaming at you to “be fiscally responsible.” I get it. Let’s talk resources because there are many, many, many places you can go to get helpful advice on what to buy next. Here are a few that I found useful:
4) And not to be self referential but we’ve done a few articles on X-Wing as well.
There are tons more out there but see assumption #5. In fact, if you have a few favorites put them in the comments below! I didn’t even mention the great Pod Casts out there.
You want me to read?! On the INTERNET?!
But how do you keep up with all the ships and lists? How do you look stuff up quickly and efficiently? Glad you asked! I like two additional sites for list building and organizational help:
1) This is a super clean army builder out of the UK. You can save lists, look up cards and even print those lists out. But just a heads up – if you want to play in an official X-wing tourney in the future, you will need the actual cards. I’ve just scratched the surface of this site’s capabilities as well. You can even save your collection online. Which brings us to…
2) This is a stripped down builder that a friend of mine recommended. He likes this one because you log in and input your collection it will highlight in red the cards you’re missing as well as tell you want expansion pack you can find them in. So you’ll be able to plan out your purchases accordingly and that is pretty handy!
You could even use those to build out lists and proxy those with the ships from the starter set until you’re ready to go all in… Just sayin…
It’s the fastest hunk-o-junk in the galaxy… if you squint real hard.
Alright that brings us to the next phase in the plan – you’ve done a bunch of reading about the game, you’ve invested in a few ships and gotten some games in and your collection has grown from a handful to … a box full. What now? Transportation time! BigRed keeps his Rebel and Imperial fleets (as in many ships for both) in just two KR multi cases. These aren’t very flashy. Heck, they are made of cardboard – but the foam is worth it and they have pretty much all the shapes you could need cut out. Oh and it’s cheap, too, relatively speaking – it’s a great value.
Community
“Whoa there Adam! You just told me to go spend a bunch of money on stuff, do research, and then make my own decisions. That’s going to take some time. How do I know my friends will still be playing this game in the next [insert timeframe here]?” Ahh assumption #4. Yes, yes. I know what you’re feeling. We’ve all been there. A game comes out and someone pushes it. You buy-in only to get left in the dust after you’ve finished painting everything.
“Not Again!” OR “They Made a Sequel?” Your choice on that caption, folks.
Let me try and calm your fears about that. The X-Wing community is growing. There are tons of tournaments all over the place. Heck, FFG supports seasonal play! There is even a World Championship as well. The rule set is tight, well written and non-obscure. The models are pre-painted. Once you get a case for transport everything you need to play will take up very little space as well. To top it all off – most games are done in 30 minutes to an hour! Lunch brake game? Sure! Palette cleanser between larger scale war games? Absolutely!
Basically, this is a busy miniature gamer’s dream come-true. FFG just released the third faction with the wave 6 ships as well – they are going to continue to support this game and the community around it. X-Wing is not going anywhere. This is not a fad game. So even if your friend(s) stops playing for a bit there will be places to play this game and people to play with. You might have to go look for them but see #5. And if you’re looking for a quick hobby fix there is a whole galaxy of repaint options for your X-Wing miniatures to explore…
I think I’m ready for Prime Time
I have pointed you in the right general direction to get started with X-Wing. I’ve given you all the basic resources you’ll need from additional reading to list building sites. I’ve recommended carrying cases and shown you were to look to get a game in. I’ve even made videos of us playing X-Wing (and getting stuff wrong). So I’m asking you to take the plunge! Give it a shot if you haven’t. If you haven’t played in a while bust those ships out and go for the exhaust port! Scum and Villainy is out now and they may have made your old clunkers into the new hotness. But you’ll never be sure unless you give it a shot.
Stay frosty out there X-wing pilots. If you have any additional tips or resources you want to share please let us know in the comments below. About Jar-Jar: I know he’s an easy target but it’s his fault the Emperor becomes the Emperor. The whole point of Episode One was the chess game the Palpatine was playing on the back end to get into position to take power. Who knew a weak-minded, floppy eared, bug-eyed, backwater Gungan was going to be the key to his success. The Emperor, that’s who.
~AdamHarry OUT.
