Ok so first off Xwing is my first and so far only war game so I don't know how each company does things like this. Anyway I was at my FLGS to play sone xwing and they also had an attack wing event going on. At the end top top players got a special ship that i believe is only available through these events. Seeing that got me thinking on if it would be a good idea for ffg to put out kits like that and the prize be a special painted ship. Not a different pilot or anything that would give someone a uniqur advantage but an alternate paint scheme like Luke's red 5 x wing or maybe a green corran horn inspired one. Thoughts?

There is no special ship given out as a tourney prize for X-wing. Maybe someone had done a repaint, but the ship itself is available to all.

And with the dramatic price gouging on ebay over dice, these would go for a TON of money. There's also those stores who sell entire tourney kits. With custom ships, they'd be raking in some serious extra profit just from that. I think it's extremely shady, and would rather not see special repaints given out as prizes.

From a manufacturing standpoint, it'd also be difficult to produce. They won't want to go through the hassle of designing special paint jobs for such limited releases. We've all seen how long it takes to have ships made. These things would have to be made waaaay in advance, and it just seems like more trouble than it's worth.

Yeah but if wiz kids can do it I assume ffg could as well from a manufacturing standpoint. I believe they are hand painted right? I don't mind the ebay issue at all. People will pay what they think it's worth and if someone wants to make a little money that's fine by me.

Check with your store. It may have been the TO teamed up with the store to get some local guy to do a repaint or Mod. Not uncommon in 40K tourneys.

The thing is, FFG specifically forbids retailers selling their kits. If they're handing out valuable ships, then the likelihood of this happening goes up.

And have you seen WizKids quality? I'm not sure if they get theirs printed at the same place, and the huge differences leads me to believe they get them somewhere else. Anybody know?

Anyways, as for FLGS giving out customized ships, I'm all for it. However, I'm very opposed to official, FFG repaints only given to winners.

I personally don't think organized play only ships ("OP only ships") are a good idea for the following reasons (based on my personal experience with various other games):

1. The OP only ships will be very difficult to get for people who do not reside near a store that hosts OP events. They will also be difficult to purchase separately only as they will probably be quite expensive. This becomes an even bigger problem if the ships are very strong.

2. People in other games (don't know any personally) buy OP kits and sell the prizes, etc. in those kits separately on the side. This does two things. One, it makes it difficult for bona fide stores to obtain an OP kit. Second, it further reduces the pool of available OP only ships.

3. Repaints could be a good compromise, except that they would need to include something (perhaps a pilot) that is unique. Otherwise, players will likely not go to OP events to get a ship they could otherwise get easily. Note also that OP kits cost stores money and stores would want to recoup that money somehow, usually by charging an entry fee. The problem with having an unique pilot, say, is that it would be difficult for players who don't have access to OP events to obtain that pilot.

BTW, Wizkids is for some games, an example of this gone awry. Certain Wizkids games that I shall not name are dominated by certain pieces/figures/"resources" (...) that are only obtainable through organized play events.

I personally don't think organized play only ships ("OP only ships") are a good idea for the following reasons (based on my personal experience with various other games):

1. The OP only ships will be very difficult to get for people who do not reside near a store that hosts OP events. They will also be difficult to purchase separately only as they will probably be quite expensive. This becomes an even bigger problem if the ships are very strong.

2. People in other games (don't know any personally) buy OP kits and sell the prizes, etc. in those kits separately on the side. This does two things. One, it makes it difficult for bona fide stores to obtain an OP kit. Second, it further reduces the pool of available OP only ships.

3. Repaints could be a good compromise, except that they would need to include something (perhaps a pilot) that is unique. Otherwise, players will likely not go to OP events to get a ship they could otherwise get easily. Note also that OP kits cost stores money and stores would want to recoup that money somehow, usually by charging an entry fee. The problem with having an unique pilot, say, is that it would be difficult for players who don't have access to OP events to obtain that pilot.

BTW, Wizkids is for some games, an example of this gone awry. Certain Wizkids games that I shall not name are dominated by certain pieces/figures/"resources" (...) that are only obtainable through organized play events.

The original question was just for a repaint of a ship not new pilots to go with it. Think of it as alternate art for a ship . I see no problem with the idea at all as long as they don't go giving things away that alter game play as a unique pilot would. They could solve the problem of kits by having a better Organized Play system. You really don't see regional kits going up on the market and if they included the reprinted ships in those kits it could work.

I hate the idea of pilots or stat lines that can only be obtained through OP events. I have heard many complaints from attack wing players about the damage that has done to the game.

I kinda like the idea of tournament legal repaints from FFG that aren't widely available, at least to start with. I would support the idea of a alt-art participation card like they have been doing, and then have the champion prize be a custom painted ship for that pilot card. A detailed, FFG legal Biggs repaint would make my day. Nothing anyone else couldn't play, just looks different (correct). And then after a fair period of time, mass release the mini in a pack or something.

It's going to be tough to keep making new acrylic tokens as we almost have a whole set (and I suspect that FFG will be selling sets soon) and what else can we reasonably expect? I mean we have alternate cards, dice, tokens and templates of various incarnations. We'll probably see crit tokens and asteroids. But then? Epic ship tokens? I'm not sure that would draw enough people. The only thing that's really left to alternate is the ships. Maybe acrylic bases with Stats and Arcs painted on?

I'd certainly be interested in Epic ship tokens. Currently I just use what I got from AP, and that's very nice. I just prefer official FFG stuff. Recently got a few ion tokens and the seismic charge, and will be on the lookout for the new stuff. Crit tokens are probably next, and I'm not sure whether or not they'll do asteroids. I certainly hope so, but the fact that they're a set shape and size, and you'd need all 6 raises an issue. It'd have to be done the same way as the movement templates, where the winner of an event receives the set.

I hope they redo the target locks, because the ones they've already released are kinda...hideous...
I could always use more shields though

I doubt we'll see bases as mentioned above.

I'd certainly be interested in Epic ship tokens. Currently I just use what I got from AP, and that's very nice. I just prefer official FFG stuff. Recently got a few ion tokens and the seismic charge, and will be on the lookout for the new stuff. Crit tokens are probably next, and I'm not sure whether or not they'll do asteroids. I certainly hope so, but the fact that they're a set shape and size, and you'd need all 6 raises an issue. It'd have to be done the same way as the movement templates, where the winner of an event receives the set.

I hope they redo the target locks, because the ones they've already released are kinda...hideous...

I could always use more shields though

I doubt we'll see bases as mentioned above.

I'd like to see epic tokens too, but if they made that the prize in a 100 point league, you'd hear a lot of whining I'd wager. Plus I was sorta hoping that they would start doing epic/cinematic kits and those tokens could be included with those kits.

I don't think we'll see bases with painted stat lines either, and that leaves just the ships left to tinker with in a 100 point setting. Alt art ships would be awesome, and we know that they aren't afraid of doing it.

Alternate paint schemes on ships would be a pretty enticing tournament prize.

Just as long as there aren't any prizes that impact game play. (like those clear attack and evade dice. Man, those things always come up with hits and evades)

Wow most of you guys are failing at reading the OPs post. I agree that tourney alt paint job ships would be pretty cool. I repaint most of my ships though...

And I also agree with the crumpy people that didn't read the post properly and were disagreeing with the idea of FFG doing what Wizkids does for Attack Wing with broken overpowered tourney ships, pilots and dice and other shenanigan stuff you get that breaks the game and just goes crazy on ebay.

Yeah I meant it to be along the lines of the alternate art cards. Alternate paint schemes for the mini itself. I repaint my ships as well but I'd definitely love to have won a rare and hopefully professionally painted ship.

Wow most of you guys are failing at reading the OPs post. I agree that tourney alt paint job ships would be pretty cool. I repaint most of my ships though...

And I also agree with the crumpy people that didn't read the post properly and were disagreeing with the idea of FFG doing what Wizkids does for Attack Wing with broken overpowered tourney ships, pilots and dice and other shenanigan stuff you get that breaks the game and just goes crazy on ebay.

I read the post. I explained what was wrong with the idea, in terms of it being sold by LGS for unreasonable profit and the manufacturing problem. Expanding on that by bringing up issues with similar ideas isn't far off topic. Maybe you just didn't read OUR replies very well.

I just can't see it happening. Regardless of where WizKids gets their (sub-par) ships from, FFG gets them from somewhere overseas, and it would take months to get just this small wave of promo minis out. I also doubt it's financially feasible, since they'd be paying all this money to have the ships printed, painted with a new scheme, shipped overseas, and then given away as prizes. That's expensive. Cards are cheap. They're just paper. Acrylic is a bit more pricey, but still not bad. But whole ships? Nope. Not gonna happen.

Depending on the size of the event and the time to get ready, I'd rather see FFG put out something akin to ribbons or medals that can be displayed by the player with each themed campaign event FFG puts out having different medal and/or frame-able certificate. Then a special larger medallion (like the ones Leia put on Luke and Han in Ep4) for the top players (Best overall, Best Imp, Best Rebel, Best Sports, Best Conversion/repaint, and off course...the Golden Spoon for last place).

As for FLGS events or indie-tournys...if the TO has enough time (and funds) a small trophy topped by a small model (the $10 snap-tite kits) of an X-Wing or TIE or even the Falcon (again, different ship for different award level/type) would be much more sought after than winning a ship (that most everyone has already bought).

While going to a major event would be a great time fighting new people (and metas) and getting to develop a camaraderie (like you see among the WH40K Tourny crowd), in the end spending several hundred (or thousand) dollars and the time and hassle of travel, just to win a $60 Tantive can get hard to justify.