How do you minimise set up time and get the most gaming time for your games?

Personally I have all my ships in a cabinet split by faction in the house so they are easy to grab.

All my cards and tokens are bagged up and kept in one of two core game boxs

Box one has things needed to play the game: Dice, rulers, ateroids, rules, damage deck etc

Box two has things needed to build ships: Pilot cards, upgrades, titles, focus tokens etc

I've also seperated base chits and pilot cards into seperate bags.

Most important of all though i use.

http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build

To build my force and then select the right card. it's by far my favourite builder and the ability to toggle 'my collection' that only allows you to chose cards and pilots you own makes life a lot simpler... the 'printable list' option also helps no end rather than having loads of cards everwhere or 'forgeting' you have extra hull or shield points.

Using these techniques its possible , as long as you have a rough idea what you want to game with , to get pre game down to about 15 minutes tops!

All the more time for gaming,.

So what do you do?

I come from a Flames of War background. In comparison, there is no prepping in X-wing, which is one of the reasons why I like the game so much.

Ditto from a traditional napoleonics background (and also GW stuff).

After you're used to making lists of *battalions* and writing your orders down in advance for three turns (and having to send 'runners' on horseback to units to get them to do anything different) then xwing is simplicity itself.

I do like its fast play aspects but an earlier thread on here was from someone wanting a very specific card wallet to be released as they felt that sorting their cards out and getting everything together was taking too much of their time.

doing things the way i do them above it takes next to no time at all and i've got a reasonable amount of stuff.

Mostly loudly announce to my slow playmates that I've been ready for about 5 minutes now. =P

They like everything all nice and sorted out though, so they're a little slow on the uptake. I also feel like I'm the only one with the total rules actually memorized so they don't remember exactly how to start. (not sure they care, very casual).

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I do want them to at least plan a list in advance before we meet, but for some reason they've been pretty obstinate about not using any list planning.

To some people re-arranging their figures into new formations and shuffling cards *is* the hobby.

I agree with the above. From Napoleonics to GW or even and olde like Iron Clads Star Wars isn't that bad. But!!! Getting the synergies in your squad is getting far more difficult unless you play often or keep some sort of cheat sheet.

There was a thread a while back where people were listing good combos, it would be nice to compile a list of good squads.

And.... I LOVE the premade missions especially with the pre-build squads. It is a nice diversion from the fur-ball, give everyone a goal and when it comes with pre-build squads and friends come over. Pull one up, print it out and bang ready to play.

For us that doubled our table time playing the game.

I prepare the cards, tokens and ships needed to field my list. Add the printout of my list (3 copies).

Then I show up and drop it all on the floor (happened at the Nordic Championships/Nationals).

I have to echo what others have said about X Wing compared to games like Warhammer. X Wing requires little to no prep work, other than putting together a list and sorting your token.

I think once you obtain a good storage unit and container for your tokens, everything is a breeze.

I have my game components neatly sorted in Plano trays, in a sensible way that makes it easy to look through the cards and assemble the models. Since I usually know to expect a 100 point dogfight on our open play nights, I prepare two full squads, one for each faction. I put the cards for each squad in their own ziplock bags. All of the tokens needed for each squad also go in their own ziplock bags. I assemble the model+base+token+ID for each ship and place them in my travel case. When I show up to play, almost everything is ready to go.

I have my game components neatly sorted in Plano trays, in a sensible way that makes it easy to look through the cards and assemble the models. Since I usually know to expect a 100 point dogfight on our open play nights, I prepare two full squads, one for each faction. I put the cards for each squad in their own ziplock bags. All of the tokens needed for each squad also go in their own ziplock bags. I assemble the model+base+token+ID for each ship and place them in my travel case. When I show up to play, almost everything is ready to go.

If only every player was as organized as you! Sounds like you have a good system going.

I am waiting on this guy that runs a store called "Battlemarkers" to come out with his version on X Wing tokens. He makes markers and token using a 1" button maker and they are very high quality. I use them for objective markers, turn counters, wound markers, and the like. I can't wait to use them for X Wing.

I have all cards and tokens in a separate spot for whatever list I'm bringing. Ships are also assembled. Takes me just a min to get out ruler and maneuver templates.

I use PowerPoint to do print outs of the lists, pics of the cards from the X-wing wiki site, cards are in a binder in case people have an issue with that. That give me a binder for Empire, one for Rebel, one for upgrades, and one that's just pre-done lists.

I've changed from larger containers down to small ones (see pic). What that does is group ships with their bases, dials, and tokens. Then I can just grab the 1-3 containers that I would need.

Add on the stand I use (http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/112768-x-wing-gamestand/#entry1189034) and I'm ready to go from table to table quickly, total setup time in the beginning is a couple of minutes.

1) Setup stand

2) take sheet out of binder

3) take minis out

4) take templates out

Take down is almost as quick.

What wasn't quick was writing this (over 20 minutes). Lots of plug in issues with Photobucket so I will add the picture of the cases as soon as I figure out what is going on.

I've cannibalized one of my old 40k mini cases, and use the foam trays to stash the ships, tokens, and bases relatively neatly. The flight pegs fit in one of the small holes pre-assembled, so that helps.

I have my tokens ships and cards separated in bags and also split among 3 stack up boxes. Rebel, Imperial, and Epic/Mission scenarios. Also if I did do some preparation before league night have lists saved on my squadron builder application.

Now there are people who are way more organized than me and have individual boxes that come with pre-arranged tokens for all actions and shields. However I think my setup gives me the flexibility that works best for myself. Heck at League me and another player wanted to try out the huge rebel ships and found 2 players to try 2v2 epic. No amount of preparation would have had set up faster for that spur of the moment decision.

Coming from a GW background I don't worry about how long set up takes. After entire days being taken up playing one game of fantasy, it seems petty to worry about someone spending twenty mins sorting out their list for a game that only takes an hour to play - plus more time to drink smoke and talk crap lol

I have my game components neatly sorted in Plano trays, in a sensible way that makes it easy to look through the cards and assemble the models. Since I usually know to expect a 100 point dogfight on our open play nights, I prepare two full squads, one for each faction. I put the cards for each squad in their own ziplock bags. All of the tokens needed for each squad also go in their own ziplock bags. I assemble the model+base+token+ID for each ship and place them in my travel case. When I show up to play, almost everything is ready to go.

I also use Plan boxes. I have each ship in it's own little spot, sitting with the cardboard pilot insets. This way if I know I'm playing a ship, I also immediately have the right pilots handy.

I also pregen lists. And in between games, I try and only make small changes to my lists.

Last night I played two games where I ran E-wings and some other stuff. My opponent started off playing Phantoms, then switched to a TIE swarm and the Decimator. I was done setting up for the second game while he was still looking at pilot choices.

I mostly play casual games, so I use the voidstate printout and just mark it up. It's much cleaner and simpler, it dramatically reduces set up time, and my cards are still safely in the box.

Each cardboard base icon is in a bag with all of the stuff it needs. It has a unique number indicator, all the shields, locks, focus, evade tokens it needs.

So if I want a TIE Int, I just grab a TIE int bag and I'm done.

The ships I keep in the original packaging (slightly modified). So they are all in nice clear packaging and easy to locate.

I only bring exactly what I'm using with me to our gaming nights. That way there is no looking for stuff or going through bits and pieces. Take them all out, play the game, put it all away.

I have all my stuff stored in a single large Plano tacklebox, so I just bring that to game night so I have everything. Usually my pregame starts during the day when I am bored at work.

Pregame

1) text main gaming partner to get details of squad size (100 or Epic 300) and if we are doing group games

2) Finalize appropriate lists so I have at least 2 of both Rebel and Empire for 100 pt game and an Epic 300 point list for Empire

3) Review lists to ensure I am not double-dipping unique pilots

At Game location

1) Most important step: Say "Hi" to everyone and gab for at least 30 minutes before game and have a few laughs

2) See who wants to play and and what their skill/experience level is

3) Hash out lists and see who wants to play what. I am usually Empire. If an opponent chooses one of my Rebel lists, I explain synergies and abilities of the pilots as we set up. I find that when I am getting the squad built it is a good time to review, mentally, my battle plan with that particular group.

My pregame usually takes a while, but it is more due to treating the game as an excuse to get together and socialize than any uber-serious gameplay. We all want to win, but it is sportsmanship and fun above all else.

Pic finally added.

I have all my stuff stored in a single large Plano tacklebox, so I just bring that to game night so I have everything. Usually my pregame starts during the day when I am bored at work.

Pregame

1) text main gaming partner to get details of squad size (100 or Epic 300) and if we are doing group games

2) Finalize appropriate lists so I have at least 2 of both Rebel and Empire for 100 pt game and an Epic 300 point list for Empire

3) Review lists to ensure I am not double-dipping unique pilots

At Game location

1) Most important step: Say "Hi" to everyone and gab for at least 30 minutes before game and have a few laughs

2) See who wants to play and and what their skill/experience level is

3) Hash out lists and see who wants to play what. I am usually Empire. If an opponent chooses one of my Rebel lists, I explain synergies and abilities of the pilots as we set up. I find that when I am getting the squad built it is a good time to review, mentally, my battle plan with that particular group.

My pregame usually takes a while, but it is more due to treating the game as an excuse to get together and socialize than any uber-serious gameplay. We all want to win, but it is sportsmanship and fun above all else.

I find the chatting important, but it's good for everyone to multitask and get everything going. Otherwise what could be a 2-3 game night ends up being only 1.

I have found that baseball card pages in a binder help a ton with organizing your pilot and upgrade cards. Also on the edges of the ships base template, i have taken markers and colored, x wings red, b wings blue, a wings green... etc so that instead of filing through all the cardboard templates I can have them color coordinated and easy to access. Plan tackle boxes work fine but if you plan on really getting serous or sticking with the game for a long time Battlefoam P.A.C.K's are the way to go. I would suggest just getting the pluck foam trays though, that way you dont have to order the new wave pre cuts all the time, just pluck and store. Also keeping your print outs of your favorite squadrons in the binders help a ton!

I tend to stick to using one list for extrnded periods of time, so I'll put all of its' tokens, cards, bases and such in a bag. This makes getting things ready as simple as pouring out 1 bag and sorting it.

I prebag my squad cards. My case allows for the minis to be stored preassembled (accept for the mini on the stand), so the pilot tokens and base are preassembled. The case also has a small tray that holds all of the typical tokens. This case also has my damage cards, dice, and asteroids preorganized.

Essentially, when I sit down at the table, it takes about 2 minutes to setup because I do the prep work for the builds I want to use the night before.

I should note that I do not take everything with me anymore. That's just a waste of time and it takes up so much space to haul it to the FLGS every time. I just tote the squads I'm flying that night (typically 1 rebel and 1 imperial build, but will soon add a S&V build).

I don't wear clothes. That puts me where I need to be five minutes earlier and gives me more time to get all my ships situated.