I tried to make it sound official but this is just how I imagine them doing it:

X-Wing GROUND BATTLES is a new format, similar to EPIC format. In EPIC you could have 5 EPIC points. In Ground Battles you can have 5 GROUND points for every 100 points per battle. Some units will be valued at more than 1 Ground Point. In addition to GROUND points, each GROUND unit also costs squad points just like every other unit in the game. Ground units are typically cheaper than air units, to make up for their vulnerability and lack of mobility.

Unlike a standard battle, GROUND battles are won when the other side's ground units are destroyed. You can lose even if you have ships flying in the air. Therefore you must bring at least one ground unit, but may want to bring more to increase your chances of winning.

Ground Units: Most ground units will have weak attack dice (1 or 2), but will gain additional dice when attacking other GROUND units - meant to indicate the difficulty of hitting a flying target from ground. There will be exceptions however, such as anti air turrets which will be weaker vs ground, conversely.

Stationary Turrets - these will typically cost only 1 ground point each, and represent the first deployable unit in X-Wing which does not move (though some may have limited movement capability in the future). The cheapest turret comes in at only 9 points.(Squad points, not GROUND points).

AT-ST - These will cost 3 ground points each. They will use a standard small base, and have the first ever BACKWARD maneuver. It'll be red however. Base model is 18 points.

AT-AT - this will be inbetween the Falcon and the GR-75 in size, but most of it's size will be in it's height. It will have a new custom base, but will use the standard Huge ship maneuever tool and will have a weak dial. It will have a red zero movement option. The AT-AT costs 5 Ground Points. The base model will be 30 points. Named Pilots can go up to the early 40s.

Atmospheric Craft -

Atmospheric craft will debut in the GROUND BATTLE Wave - these craft are not GROUND craft however, and therefore may be used in standard games (Consider those battles to be in atmosphere instead of deep space - and consider buying one of the new Bespin Play Mats to represent this!)

Some examples are: Bespin Cloud Car, and Rebel Airspeeder / Snowspeeder.

Strategy - You'll want to have a comfortable blend of ground forces and air forces in your build. Spend too little on ground forces and your opponent might defeat you in a single turn. Spend too much on ground forces and you might not have enough maneuverability to actually destroy your opponent. Strong ground units like the AT-AT offer a lot of hull, and can help prevent your opponent from winning quickly, but they are also expensive and slow.

You know, for all of you clamoring for a ground battle game, all of this was done by WOTC star wars miniatures. Great game, especially the early waves. had everything from foot soldiers to AT-ATs. Later waves the quality suffered and the power creep got silly, but It's still a great game in the first 4 waves today. Unfortunately, it's discontinued and not widely available anymore.

Unfortunately, it's discontinued and not widely available anymore.

and the wrong scale.

Here's how you do ground battles for X-Wing....

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/105371-dont-hassle-the-hoth/?hl=%2Bdon%26%2339%3Bt+%2Bhassle+%2Bhoth

Nuff said.

Crabbok, I like your idea. I really do. I've been a big fan of introducing a ground based element to the game for a long time.

I would propose a few minor changes:

1. Scrap atmospheric fighters, infantry, etc. These cannot compete in speed, firepower, maneuverability, etc against space capable craft.

2. Introduce turrets, ION cannons, etc. in addition to AT-ATs and AT-STs.

3a. Introduce Scenario Packs which might include 3 Death Star turrets, some official rules for these (eg, 2 red dice, or turn 90 degrees and use 1 red) along with a scenario or two which utilise them. An ION cannon for example, might deliver heavy ION blasts, but is also a target for a bombing run scenario. Mountain/ Building tops, similar to asteroids but insta-death

3b. Some Scenario ideas:

Bombing runs. You must have a bomber that can deliver the payload (1 point card: bomb slot). How many do you take? Do you sink points into your bomber(s) or its escort? For the opponents, you have some target prioritisation. Which bomber do you attack? Do you hit the escort first as it is the most threatening?

Assault the Base. Launch a surprise attack on the opponents base. Opponent has 150 points but can only release a ship every 2nd turn.

Peek and Sneak. Opponent places 6 containers (1 is randomly marked underneath) on board. Fly within R1 of a container to ID it. If it is the marked one the player must bring in a shuttle to rescue the prisoners/collect cargo and evacuate.

Conclusion:

1. I feel this would add a new element to the game which, like EPIC, would appeal to some.

2. It adds some scenarios (I see a few comments on the forums about players becoming disinterested in the 6 asteroid Death Match).

3. It adds a story element and players can build campaigns (similar to X-Wing and Tie Fighter games)

4. Introduces a richer hobby element (in making terrain - crashed starships, turrets, etc). A lot of us have come from 40K background where making terrain was one of the draw cards.

5. Will sate our appetite for Atmospheric based engagements when TFA hits (the scenes from the preview look insane!!)

6. Inexpensive for FFG to produce.

7. It shakes up the meta a little and encourages a different approach to list building. Each scenario requires a different set of criteria when building a list.

Thanks for the feedback.

First off, point 2- I have already suggested AT-ATs, AT-STs, and Turrets. The Ion Cannon is the only new thing you mentioned, but that would just be an objective piece on the board, wouldn't need stats because it's not like you are gonna have a Star Destroyer for it to shoot at.

as to point 1. - You simply can't have an AT-AT and NOT have a snowspeeder. Speeders and Cloud Cars are iconic. You suggest they are too weak to be in the same game with space craft - I disagree. 2 Cloud Cars had the Falcon easily under control - so they are worthy to be taken seriously in terms of firepower, plus snowspeeders are flyable alongside X-Wings and A-Wings in Battlefront.... it feels right to me. Sure they'll be weaker than an X-Wing - that's what points are for. Maybe they only cost 15 points? Maybe 12.

Would the ground points be better with AT-STs at 2 and AT-ATs at 3? This allows 1 of each, or 2 AT-STs.

Also, the rebs don't really have ground vehicles, but T-47s and to a lesser extent the Cloud Car are fairly limited in what their repulsors can do, would it work to make them "ground" vehicles as well? Could assign points at 1 for Cloud Car and 2 for Snowspeeder, and this'd also fit them into the paradigm of wierd ground maneuvers, like 2-Tallons and 1-2 bank-Tallons (Snowspeeders turn fantastically well)

Would the ground points be better with AT-STs at 2 and AT-ATs at 3? This allows 1 of each, or 2 AT-STs.

Also, the rebs don't really have ground vehicles, but T-47s and to a lesser extent the Cloud Car are fairly limited in what their repulsors can do, would it work to make them "ground" vehicles as well? Could assign points at 1 for Cloud Car and 2 for Snowspeeder, and this'd also fit them into the paradigm of wierd ground maneuvers, like 2-Tallons and 1-2 bank-Tallons (Snowspeeders turn fantastically well)

Atmospheric fighters shouldn't cost ground points for the simple reason that they should also be usable in high atmospheric dogfights. They would be the past of the Ground Game, that transposes over to the core game. Much like how HUGE ships have upgrades that work outside of the EPIC format (C3PO, Emperor, Wes Janson, Juno Eclipse, etc).

I think any ground game needs to be it's own thing. The value of having a ground game is that you can explore all the cool stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else. AT-ATs, AT-STs, speeder bikes, airspeeders, infantry, etc.

Simply adding some ground units to X Wing and having a low altitude version of X Wing would be a missed opportunity, IMO. I'm thinking more like Flames of War: Star Wars edition!

Atmospheric fighters shouldn't cost ground points for the simple reason that they should also be usable in high atmospheric dogfights. They would be the past of the Ground Game, that transposes over to the core game. Much like how HUGE ships have upgrades that work outside of the EPIC format (C3PO, Emperor, Wes Janson, Juno Eclipse, etc).

Fair enough, but then what could Rebels and Scum use for ground forces besides infantry? Just because the cost ground points doesn't mean they couldn't be used in a regular game and just disregard their ground point. Would it work better for you if each side got "atmospheric" points in addition to their ground points that could only be a certain percentage of their ground point total? I really feel that if you don't limit speeders in some way, they would just be the only things Rebels and Scum run and it will be like early Epic games before the Empire had a Huge, long, semi one sided(in my experience, a ton of fighters easily destroy and fly rings around a huge ship) and kinda boring. Just my opinion.

I think any ground game needs to be it's own thing. The value of having a ground game is that you can explore all the cool stuff that doesn't fit anywhere else. AT-ATs, AT-STs, speeder bikes, airspeeders, infantry, etc.Simply adding some ground units to X Wing and having a low altitude version of X Wing would be a missed opportunity, IMO. I'm thinking more like Flames of War: Star Wars edition!

Concur - just without the tired '80/90s IGOUGO mechanic. I think that's where X-Wing shines in providing an 'always' engaged mechanic. Bolt Action offers an interesting, albeit imperfect take on this too.

Atmospheric fighters shouldn't cost ground points for the simple reason that they should also be usable in high atmospheric dogfights. They would be the past of the Ground Game, that transposes over to the core game. Much like how HUGE ships have upgrades that work outside of the EPIC format (C3PO, Emperor, Wes Janson, Juno Eclipse, etc).

Fair enough, but then what could Rebels and Scum use for ground forces besides infantry? Just because the cost ground points doesn't mean they couldn't be used in a regular game and just disregard their ground point. Would it work better for you if each side got "atmospheric" points in addition to their ground points that could only be a certain percentage of their ground point total? I really feel that if you don't limit speeders in some way, they would just be the only things Rebels and Scum run and it will be like early Epic games before the Empire had a Huge, long, semi one sided(in my experience, a ton of fighters easily destroy and fly rings around a huge ship) and kinda boring. Just my opinion.

Turrets for example, would be one thing we can see the Rebels use on the ground. There's also swoop bikes, creatures (Rancor, etc) and tanks like the tank seen in Imperial Assault, Maybe scum is more into creatures, and rebels are more into structures, and Empire is more into vehicles.

And on second thought, Maybe you don't need "Ground Points" at all. If someone wants to field 3 AT-ATs then that's gonna cost them their entire list and they'll have an extremely hard time trying to shoot down air.

Turrets for example, would be one thing we can see the Rebels use on the ground. There's also swoop bikes, creatures (Rancor, etc) and tanks like the tank seen in Imperial Assault, Maybe scum is more into creatures, and rebels are more into structures, and Empire is more into vehicles.

And on second thought, Maybe you don't need "Ground Points" at all. If someone wants to field 3 AT-ATs then that's gonna cost them their entire list and they'll have an extremely hard time trying to shoot down air.

Yeah I agree about Turrets/beasts and giving the different factions their own flavor(no Rebel walkers, etc) but I'm not sure it's a good idea to scrap Ground Points. I thought the Ground Point system was a really good idea. I get wanting to give people freedom during list making, but there should be mandatory ground units on both sides(unless the mission dictates otherwise) or it will just be regular Xwing. Maybe remove the cap but keep the minimum ground point requirement?

Unfortunately, it's discontinued and not widely available anymore.

and the wrong scale.

and the worst business model for expanding a game ever, the dreaded blind box expansions

DAT...

Turrets for example, would be one thing we can see the Rebels use on the ground. There's also swoop bikes, creatures (Rancor, etc) and tanks like the tank seen in Imperial Assault, Maybe scum is more into creatures, and rebels are more into structures, and Empire is more into vehicles.

And on second thought, Maybe you don't need "Ground Points" at all. If someone wants to field 3 AT-ATs then that's gonna cost them their entire list and they'll have an extremely hard time trying to shoot down air.

Yeah I agree about Turrets/beasts and giving the different factions their own flavor(no Rebel walkers, etc) but I'm not sure it's a good idea to scrap Ground Points. I thought the Ground Point system was a really good idea. I get wanting to give people freedom during list making, but there should be mandatory ground units on both sides(unless the mission dictates otherwise) or it will just be regular Xwing. Maybe remove the cap but keep the minimum ground point requirement?

Well of course there will be mandatory ground points per side - Victory is achieved by your opponent having no ground units left - so there is an immediate trade-off. If you only use ONE ground unit, then your opponent only needs to kill THAT one thing to win - however your spacecraft are going to be more maneuverable and powerful so it's a delicate balance - but that's why I think you might not need ground points as a limiting factor - if you went with ALL ground units (and ground units were inherently weaker than flying units), you'd naturally be at a disadvantage.

There is definitely a direction in Star Wars video games toward merging star fighters with ground elements.

It's very prevalent in Star Wars Battlefront and Commander.

And all the Force Awakens trailers feature star fighters in atmospheric dogfights and strafing runs.

An X-Wing-based ground game would almost certainly be a stand-alone product that could be mingled with X-wing. Something similar to Warmachine and Hordes interaction.

It might even draw from Star Wars Commander.

How would you handle Tow Cables?

I'm thinking something like this:

Tow Cable:

3 attack, Range 1

You may perform this attack against Walker enemies outside of your firing arc. Only one ship may place Tow Cable tokens at a time. If this attack hits, cancel all dice results, then place a set of Tow Cable tokens on the enemy Walker.

Tow Cable Tokens:

Tow Cable tokens come in sets of one blue and three red tokens.

Place a blue token on the ship that performed the attack, and a Red token on the target.

While you have a blue Tow Cable token, you may only perform Tow Cable attacks against a ship with a corresponding Red token. You may discard this token as a free action during your activation. If you are outside of Range 1 from your enemy during the Combat phase, discard all tokens.

If an enemy Walker receives three red tokens, you may discard your Tow Cable upgrade to destroy it.

But anyway, a Wes Janson crew card would be a good idea.