Star Wars X-Wing

I have to admit that during the 90s I was a big fan of the Lucas Arts PC games X-Wing, Tie Fighter and later on X Wing vs Tie Fighter and XvT: Alliance. These were all great games, in fact Tie Fighter was the motivating factor for me to take out my first ever bank loan so that I could buy a 486 PC capable of running the game.

So when Fantasy Flight Games released Star Wars X-Wing why did I hesitate?

Well first up, the models were pre-painted. I am not a fan of pre-painted models I've seen some of the travesties that pass for pre-painted and I don't want to have strip paint before I can have a go at attempting a better one. I have to admit that pre-painted models did take a big step forward back in the last days of Rackham, but even so I have reservations when ever I look at a game that comes models ready to go out of the box.

Second was the cost of the game, while the basic set retails around £25-30 ($40-50) each of the boosters containing only a single ship costs around £10-15 ($16-24), and that seemed to me to be way expensive for a little pre-painted plastic spaceship.

So given my grave reservations above, how is that I came to buy in to this game?

The first thing was that I read a review of the game on a blog site that I trust to give me an honest assessment. You can check out that review on the Firebroadside Blog. The review compares Star Wars X-Wing favourably with Wings of War, a WWI era game of dog fighting biplanes, a game that I've played a few times at my local club and have really enjoyed. the article also give me a fairly detailed break down of how the game worked and some pretty pictures to look at. Most important of all was that it explained what comes in the booster sets and why they cost so much, the inclusion of many cards for the game and the thick cut card tokens etc.

This alone made me reconsider my assessment that the game was inordinately expansive for what you got.

I still didn't take the plunge at that point because of my inherent dislike of pre-painted models. So what happened to change my mind? The simple truth is this, as a father of two small children, I have very little spare time and very little spare cash to indulge my hobby. After several months of not lifting a paint brush I was starting to see the virtue of pre-painted models, particularly when that paint doesn't look like it has been applied with a trowel, and could be over painted if time became available in the future. It did mean that in the meantime I would be able to play a game without throwing down bare metal / plastic on the table top.

As it happened I came into a little money as a result of my birthday, and was instructed to spend it on me and not just lose it on bills etc. I took a long hard look at my hobby, should I buy more models for my Skorne? Or Infinity? and have a pile more unpainted metal on my painting desk, or perhaps should I do something different?

Well I did something different. I bought into Star Wars X-Wing and was pleasantly surprised with quality of the game and the materials that arrived through the post. The pre-paints are fairly good... yes they could benefit from a little OSL on the engines, but otherwise I'm satisfied with the quality of the models and the factory paint jobs. They look great on the table.

Since my initial purchase I've gone on to pick up a second copy of the Star Wars X-Wing game (its the most cost effective way to get more ships and extra dice), the Millenium Falcon, Slave I, X-Wing, Y-Wing, Tie Fighter, and Tie Advanced sets. That is no small investment, and I look forward to picking up a few more as finances permit.

If you play Star Wars X-Wing I have discovered this useful resource, an X-Wing Squadron Builder that has a very handy 'build a random force' option when you are in a hurry for a game.