Ulp...

So I'll get right to it. Nov.4 is Two Headed Giant X-Wing Club's first ever event. Its also my first foray into anything like this ever. My facebook page sucks, and I don't know how to get the volume on solitaire to go up any louder. Is this thing even on? Dammit... HONEY! I broke the computer again!

Ugh... See? Totally technologically inept. You just have to believe that I have purple Ties.

Anyways I'm having trouble planning the event and so I thought I'd turn to here for help! Seems like a good idea. I figure if I have some wicked games to play people will forgive me my hand drawn posters and papyrus sign up sheets.

Game One. Asteroid Race! I envision a bunch of people gathered around a large table moving ships through a ton of obstacle tokens. I want to use d20s to decide pilot skill by round. I want to use the full movement rules, including obstacles and overlap as these are key concepts to the move phase I feel. No actions however. That can come later. I planned on doing this on one long table and filling it with asteroids. Use beads or counters instead of damage cards maybe? Any tips there?

Game Two. Fleet Battle Scramble! Gee... That sounds awesome... But will it work? I planned on lining people up into two teams and doing a civil war style firing line, where movement is predetermined and players take pot shots at each other using primaries and range bonuses. Would now be a good time to introduce tokens? I could allow players to take a focus or evade, and then when everyone had to perform the K-turn when the lines got too close then they could learn about stress, and how to remove it. Again, D20s for round by round PS. Players would roll their PS, set their dice by their ship and then move and perform an action. Then go by PS during the shooting phase and allow players to choose their own targets. Would this even work?

After that then I figure we could all sit down and play a few games using basic squads and the full game rules.

Prizes for the asteroid race, sure. Who wins the Mega Space Battle Epic and how? Teams? Is chips okay? Should I bring chips? Do people still drink soda pop?

Why can't I get the volume on my solitaire game to work?

Do you have regular X-Wing players already, or is this both a first game event AND you're trying to attract X-Wing players to your store?

Well both sort of. There is already a few guys who play. Its a very new shop and so the owners are very keen on drumming up business, as you would expect. One fellow has actually donated an old core for shop use and the product is selling from what I can see.

I suppose I will have to get more of a consensus of the expected turnout. I put up a sign up sheet and the guys at the shop are excited. If a bunch of seasoned pros show up then we might skip the learning aspect and just do the race as intended and then the mass battle can just be a big team showdown?

I dunno! This is why I need advice! Ha-ha!

It's often better to run smaller/simpler games that use the rules in their entirety than it is to try and 'teach' the game by introducing half a dozen rules variants for a single game.

If you want something that everyone can show up and do something 'simple', run a 32pt Furball - everyone shows up, they get one 32pt ship each, and then fly them as a team vs the other team. (This works especially well at events, when you've got a super-collector or two willing to put up the models).

Alternatively, try running a little tournament - but if you're worried about new players, I've actually suggested cutting back to a 76pt format instead of the standard 100; this lets folks have fewer ships & combos on the table, and also 'breaks' the standard meta lists so the skilled people have to be creative. The lower points means that slower play matters less, and people can play with smaller collections.

We've run Furballs at a local game con to get new players into the game. We'd pre-make a bunch of 30-point ships, and just have a giant free-for-all. Offensive upgrades only, and only small base ships.

Start slow, but not *too* slow. Over-complicating the game with difficult squad builds makes the game seem far harder than it is. A simple 2 Red Squadron vs. 4 Black Squadron TIEs can be a good fight for new players to learn the game. I'd even start the first time they play with maybe only 3 asteroids on a 3' x 3' mat.

And don't overthink it.

We've run Furballs at a local game con to get new players into the game. We'd pre-make a bunch of 30-point ships, and just have a giant free-for-all. Offensive upgrades only, and only small base ships.

Start slow, but not *too* slow. Over-complicating the game with difficult squad builds makes the game seem far harder than it is. A simple 2 Red Squadron vs. 4 Black Squadron TIEs can be a good fight for new players to learn the game. I'd even start the first time they play with maybe only 3 asteroids on a 3' x 3' mat.

And don't overthink it.

Very much this, and check just what level of involvement is already in you area.

Total newbies who've never seen the game before? Furball is good (Though I generally prefer two sides, the team aspect can be fun), or straight-up introductory games. Lots of sales and interest, but no tourney scene? Perhaps a small, casual tournament - the 76pt stuff can be good. If you're in the middle of a vibrant, thriving X-wing community? Just organise casual games nights.

If you have no idea at all? Start low with a furball/intro games night, work your way up once you see who shows and you get to know what the level of local involvement is.

Reducing points to break the meta sounds good. Just out of curiosity: Why 76 points? Is this THE sweet spot or just random? We used 60 points so that you could field at least 2 of every generic, small ship.

Thanks guys! I was hoping someone would talk some sense into me. Trying to teach people games with homebrewed mini games is a bad idea. A 32pt furball sounds excellent. A perfect replacement for the battle thingy.

I still think the asteroid race is a great idea and maybe even allow action taking. After all the actions are what help define a ship so to cut them out would out certain ships at a disadvantage. I mean an X-Wing can't barrel roll away from impending collisions like a Tie can, but then again X-Wings have shields. I'm gonna do the roid race. I already painted the asteroid tokens...

I think the furball idea is swell though. I'll do that instead.

Reducing points to break the meta sounds good. Just out of curiosity: Why 76 points? Is this THE sweet spot or just random? We used 60 points so that you could field at least 2 of every generic, small ship.

76 is like 75 except that it allows a couple more builds to squeeze in that last point, mostly. It allows symmetry to squads that appreciate it, too. And if someone really wants to run a trio of 25pt ships anyway, they get a 1pt initiative bid.

Key among them: You can actually fly mirror-match'd IG-88s. They're not going to be running with much (2pts of upgrades each, hahaha), but it's actually technically viable. And at 76pts, there's a lot fewer guns for them to face anyway, so it works out surprisingly well.

The actual tournament structure I've run is "76pts, with no ship over 50". (This prevents Fat Han + 1Z showing up and trashing the place when enemy squads are too small to deal with it. Fat turrets aren't in themselves broken, but their effect is nonlinear with squad size, so keeping them relatively lean helps when there's fewer ships on the table to deal with them.)

No ship over 50 points sounds like a safe bet too. I'm gonna do that too.

I think I feel much better about X-Wing Night now...