I've started playing X-wing with the kids at the school where I work, but my own squad setup is proving to take too long to play through in the time we have, so does anyone have any suggestions for a decent fast paced squad setup?

What I need is a setup with 2 squads facing eachother that both are fast paced and shield-light (to keep the games short).
It also needs to include multiple ships per side, so many kids can play (they usually have one or two ships that they control).

Here's a list of what I've got:

1 Millenium Falcon box

1 Slave 1 box

2 x Old starter box

1 x New starter box

1 X-wing pack

1 Y-wing pack

1 B-wing pack

1 K-wing pack

2 Headhunter packs
2 A-wing packs

1 Tie-fighter pack

1 Interceptor pack

1 Defender pack

1 Punisher pack

1 HWK-290 pack

1 Imperial Aces box.

I'd just drop the squad points down to 75, 60, or 50. The difficulty with setting up a "fast paced game" is that the reason it would generally be fast paced is one list is particularly strong against the other, and your kids may be discouraged if one side always wins and wins quickly.

You want fast paced you cannot beat Chiraneau/Vader/Gunner & Whisper. One way or another the match will be done fast.

I'd just drop the squad points down to 75, 60, or 50. The difficulty with setting up a "fast paced game" is that the reason it would generally be fast paced is one list is particularly strong against the other, and your kids may be discouraged if one side always wins and wins quickly.

No, no, no, by fast paced, I mean both sides being equally "weak" when it comes to staying-power.

So basically like a tie-swarm vs a tie-swarm.

Not that one side is stronger than the other. I don't want the matches to be short because one side can easily beat the other, I want the matches to be short because it's not a war of attrition against heavy shields and hulls on one or both sides.

I hope I'm making myself undestood here. It's late and I'm tired.

I'll second the "lower the point value" mentality with a good dose of keep it simple.

An issue is see is having multiple people playing the same side. Now this can work if the can all work together otherwise I think you need to find ships that can work independently of each other. A trick with that independent operation is the balance between firepower and durability.

In some ways I like the idea of a few independent ace type ships flying against a single 'big' ship or one with a minimal escort. Set up a Falcon or Decimator with a limited escort against 25+ point aces. I guess the lack of a Decimator hurts here although a Punisher or Firespray could work to an extent.

Have you considered doing a free-for-all furball format? You could do up a bunch of ships worth ~25 points each and just let them go at it. When you kill another ship, you get a point. When your ship gets destroyed, you respawn on the board edge on the next turn.

This lets any number of kids play and when time's up, you just see who has the most points.

Another idea - every ship starts with a "kill" token, and drops all of its kill tokens when it's destroyed. Other ships can scoop up one kill token per turn by flying over it. Use a poker chip or something suitably large. Ships respawn with a fresh kill token when they are destroyed. Winner is whoever has the most tokens at the end of the game. This should reward risk-taking and token stealing, and also teach kids how to predict where enemy ships are going.

I'

Here's a list of what I've got:

...

1 Imperial Veterans box.

Woah, did I miss something? Is this out already?

I've totally been considering starting an X-Wing club at my school. The day before winter break I taught 2 other teachers to play in front of a class (it was reward day) and they were all glued. If I do this, it will be hard to figure out how to get people involved if I have more than 12 students join, but I was thinking small games of 50/60 points with few or no upgrades. The hardest part is going to be teaching that many to play at once.

I'd just drop the squad points down to 75, 60, or 50. The difficulty with setting up a "fast paced game" is that the reason it would generally be fast paced is one list is particularly strong against the other, and your kids may be discouraged if one side always wins and wins quickly.

No, no, no, by fast paced, I mean both sides being equally "weak" when it comes to staying-power.

So basically like a tie-swarm vs a tie-swarm.

Not that one side is stronger than the other. I don't want the matches to be short because one side can easily beat the other, I want the matches to be short because it's not a war of attrition against heavy shields and hulls on one or both sides.

I hope I'm making myself undestood here. It's late and I'm tired.

Oh I get you, and I stand by my original suggestion. Reduce the Squad Points. It will relatively maintain balance while shortening your games.

I'

Here's a list of what I've got:

...

1 Imperial Veterans box.

Woah, did I miss something? Is this out already?

Sorry... meant Aces.

It had been a long and tiresome day at work.

Have you considered doing a free-for-all furball format? You could do up a bunch of ships worth ~25 points each and just let them go at it. When you kill another ship, you get a point. When your ship gets destroyed, you respawn on the board edge on the next turn.

This lets any number of kids play and when time's up, you just see who has the most points.

Another idea - every ship starts with a "kill" token, and drops all of its kill tokens when it's destroyed. Other ships can scoop up one kill token per turn by flying over it. Use a poker chip or something suitably large. Ships respawn with a fresh kill token when they are destroyed. Winner is whoever has the most tokens at the end of the game. This should reward risk-taking and token stealing, and also teach kids how to predict where enemy ships are going.

I like this idea, I might do that one.

Free-for-all battle royale with one ship each at about 25 points

I'd just drop the squad points down to 75, 60, or 50. The difficulty with setting up a "fast paced game" is that the reason it would generally be fast paced is one list is particularly strong against the other, and your kids may be discouraged if one side always wins and wins quickly.

No, no, no, by fast paced, I mean both sides being equally "weak" when it comes to staying-power.

So basically like a tie-swarm vs a tie-swarm.

Not that one side is stronger than the other. I don't want the matches to be short because one side can easily beat the other, I want the matches to be short because it's not a war of attrition against heavy shields and hulls on one or both sides.

I hope I'm making myself undestood here. It's late and I'm tired.

Oh I get you, and I stand by my original suggestion. Reduce the Squad Points. It will relatively maintain balance while shortening your games.

See, the problem there is that I have 7+ kids playing, so a lower squad point would likely mean not everyone gets to play.

Furball is the way to go. It's fast paced, there'll be no arguments or need for coordinating within a team either.

You could just go for a strict points limit allowing multiple ships or impose a single ship limit.

For a furball, I wouldn't even let them build their own ships - at least to start. Just set out a bunch of models with their dials on a side table, and put the pilot cards in front of them. For example, you might set out a Blue Squad B-Wing with Advanced Sensors, a Rookie X-wing with R2-D2, a naked Hobbie Klivian, etc. and then they just pick a ship, put it on a table edge and go at it.

If there are kids who know the rules well enough they can request specific 25-point builds in advance for future sessions.

Currently, I'm the one doing all the builds, as we are using my ships.

Only one of the kids bought a ship, so far, and unfortunately he's not one of the brighter ones so he won't be able to make his own squad for quite a while.