most game deviate slightly from their theme when you go into min maxing for tournaments.

But personally I prefer this because otherwise you almost have to enforce too much order, which limits creativity and free choice drastically.

Besides, tournaments are probably more about balanced mechanics than theme, while scenarios and casual sessions allow more room also to play thematically fitting unbalanced force mixes etc.

tournaments are more abstract anyhow with allowing IMP vs IMP and rebels vs rebels - something I would try to avoid hard in casual play (not that hard if you provide both sides for a casual game, then this is the natural distribution)

...

X-wing neither needs nor wants a force organisation. 40k does, because it's been designed into the game from it's basic level - as noted, a 'special character' is fundamentally different to a line squad member, and can be made nigh invulnerable for relatively little effort. By comparison, just last night we saw a named Interceptor ace successfully roll 4 blanks on his evade dice and explode in a single volley of fire, shield upgrade and all...

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Soontir Fel has a reputation for rolling green blanks - at least when I play him.

I think you can make the comparisson with Magic the Gathering. The developers made 3 player profile: Spike, Timmy, Johnny. In short Spike is the tournament player, min/max his deck, plays the metagame as best as he can. He wants to win tournaments.

Timmy wants to play big creatures, he wants to win by overkill.

Johnny Sablegryphon is the player that wants to win with cards nobody plays as a challenge to make the cards work.

Of course there are hybrids between these types.

I think this applies to X-Wing aswell (any game for that matter) some people enjoy min/maxing the best list, some enjoy thematic epic battles, some play only the ships in the movies.

Fixed that for you

Think the author of the article should just be thankful he's not a Warhammer Fantasy player if the recent rumours are anything to go by!

My biggest gripe is just doing the "normal" 100pt games all the time, my area does very well at mixing up lists (granted it is rebel dominated, but not really a lot of Falcons, Fat or Skinny)

The other thing that seems to help X-wing is as point costs for ships go higher the official size stays the same. I know many people wanted a rise to 125+ when Wave 4 hit with Phantoms/Defenders/E-wings being as expensive as they are but keeping it at 100 keeps Interceptors, X-wings, and the other older ships around a bit more

Think the author of the article should just be thankful he's not a Warhammer Fantasy player if the recent rumours are anything to go by!

Oh man right, 9th sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen.

You have to buy a new rule book every six months to stay current, armies will only be on sale six to eight months then they are gone forever, well loved armies totally removed.

Sad thing is 9th will crash and they'll ditch wfb completely.

From what I understand about 40k, it's considered to be more of a crafting hobby than a game, that is to say that more people get into Warhammer for the painting and gluing, and the game aspect is just an excuse to do something with them after your done making them. I think a lot of hobbycraft minis gamers, as well as D&D style rpgers (and no offense to anyone that does these), treat games less as a way to test themselves and improve themselves, and more as just pure escapism. Of course you can't fault someone for playing games as a form of escapism, that's their choice, but the problem comes when the escapism players encounter the competitive players.

edit: This is all my subjective take on the casual vs competitive gaming debate, it is no my intention to generalize or stereotype people who play certain games. I am not saying that if you play hobby minis games or rpgs that you don't understand competitive gaming, just that games of that nature don't emphasize competition.

If a person's true goal in gaming is escapism, than of course they don't want to bother finding and playing the best strategies or practicing to improve their skills, that's too much like work! And if using the best strategy not look similar enough to whatever fantasy movie or book scene it's set in, then the escapism is reminded too much that they are playing a game in the real world with rules, and not actually flying a spaceship or slaying a dragon, and they lose the escapism they were seeking. Of course the true irony is when an escapism player proclaims that escapism gaming is the only true reason to play games, and everyone that pushes the game to its competitive edge (and usually stomps the escapism gamer every time they meet) is ruining the game for everyone that's doing it the "right" way.

I think the real take away from all this is this: As long as everyone is playing by the rules (as they are written), play the game how you want to play it, and let others play the way they want to play. If the way someone plays ruins the experience for you, then just don't play against that person anymore. And if you go to a tournament, than you will have to accept that the person playing the game the "right" way is the most likely the person that's winning.

I pretty much stopped playing other minature games like warmachine and hordes because it after so often when a new expansion comes out you got to buy a new book and the **** rules are constantly changing... im glad this game stays the coarse on rules and if anything is added to the game its not big enough to be a head ache...the game stays user friendly. This is why i get frustratedwith the many people who post that this ship is broken or this load out is unfair because it is over powered. Or oh man you got a new ship for your faction the sky is falling. Or this list cant beat this list meta woes meta woes meta woes.........shut up already....

never once in any game of x-wing have I ever cried out omg thats so broken!!! Because This game was thought out rather well and any new release is thought out well before it hits the shelfs. It's people like the guy who wrote the post on Beast of War that put a bad taste in gaming because they want instant gratification for a win instead of earning a **** win. Or they want to fix everything that comes along that doesnt make them happy or change the things that work against a nich playstyle that they may have.