I am teaching my daughters to play this game (I'm new to the game as well btw). We've played a couple of games already, and I am wanting to take a step back and simplify a bit. I plan to play the Political Escort mission, but plan to use 55pt squads, to allow for multiple ships without too much complexity, that will allow us to focus on flying. I have two core sets so I'm planning to go with 2 x-wings vs 4 TIEs.

I know there is an adjustment in the rules to add 6 shield if you are playing 100 pt lists, but I'm not sure the best adjustment at 55pts. Does anyone know?

The mission is based on 24 point squads, and if they suggest 6 shields at 100, mathematically adding 2-3 shields would be about right, but not necessarily the right answer (see below).

I'd say depends on who is playing Rebels. If your daughter is playing Rebels, give the shuttle 3 shields. If you are playing Rebels give it 1 or 2 shields, if any at all. Think of it as a golf/bowling handicap. Yes, you might both be new, but the worst that could happen is her losing interest and not wanting to play. If she thinks it is too hard, make it easier, and vice verses if it is too easy.

I personally can't wait for my kids to old enough to play with this game with me, as it currently stands I am working on trying to get the wife to play a bit.

Why not give each daughter ~50 points and have them team up against you? Keeps it simple for them and lets all three of you play together?

Don't use additional shields the first time. The senator's shuttle moves faster than you might expect, and the attacker needs to be entirely focused on destroying it (rather than destroying the escorting ships) in order to win before it flees.

If the X-Wings are escorting, don't use Biggs.

It's a pretty fun mission that doesn't take very long to resolve, so maybe play it once and see if it needs any adjustments, then play it again.

Thanks for the advice. I was thinking similar but wanted to hear from some that have actually played the scenario.

We've played twice so far. I have 10 year old twins, so some of the challenge is finding a way for all three of us to be involved, at least during the learning phases.

1. The first time went pretty well. I played 2 TIEs and a TIE Advanced, and they each played one X-Wing - all generic pilots - 55 points I think. It went well and in the end they actually won, after I killed one of their ships, eliminating one of them for a few rounds.
2. The second game didn't go as well. To prevent one of them being eliminated (at this point), I let them play each other, and I just oversaw the game, so I could focus on the rules. They played XB with a named B pilot vs 2 TIEs and Vader TIE Adv, and I think we put out 2-3 asteroids. The extra rules plus them having to both move multiple ships bogged things down a bit, which is to be expected. The game drug out for multiple hours and I was going to have to stop the game due to time, but then one of the girls realized she was losing so chose to run off the board in retreat. So at least the game had an actual ending. While somewhat frustrated at the time, they later said they still had fun. They actually handled the new rules and movement okay, it just took longer - but we'll have to get to a point of faster games if we want to keep playing.

I mentioned the past to just say that I am hoping the escort scenario will help prevent game #3 with them becoming too much like game #2, which could turn them off.

The escort scenario puts the game on a clock at least, so it can only drag on so long, and we can focus on us playing at a quicker pace. My current thought is me having:

Me:

Wedge + Red Sq Pilot (Proton Torp)

Them:

Player 1: Mauler Mithel + Academy TIE

Player 2: Night Beast + Academy TIE

So that is two of the same ship each, so only one dial, but gives a bit of variety and builds off of the named pilot game a bit, while still mainly focusing on basics. 56 points each. Since they can get reinforcements, neither can get eliminated.

I'll start out with an unshielded shuttle, and progress from there. I might add Biggs later, just to force them to attack something other than the shuttle, if I think it's helpful. I think I saw a player modified scenario using 100 points that could work with the shuttle being for either side, so that's an option too, if we still need the finite game length.

Thanks to all!

For very casual players I think it's a great idea to have a "soft loss" condition that allows the losing team to flee in order to fight another day. For as much fun as this game is, it actually is pretty unforgiving of mistakes. New players (especially young players) can get turned off by that. If you can laugh at everything -- good rolls, bad rolls, hitting asteroids -- and treat it like "toys with rules" then it can be a blast for everyone. Adding a bit of roleplaying, or inventing a continuous story can help a lot. Nobody dies, they just hit the eject button.