On a complete side note about always taking brobots: If you consistently fly that thing people will call for a nerf in your area. However, if you "handicap" yourself by flying other things (rebels, imperial, non-standard lists, etc) you will also learn about those other ships' strengths. It will actually help your tournament playing because when you go back to flying brobots you will more understand the other ships strengths, maneuvers, etc, and can prey on them better

I actually stopped playing brobots when my record got to 15-0. Now I've been trying a list with Bossk and a different wingman for him each week, and really enjoying it. Can't wait for all the new bodies coming in tomorrow for Bossk to drag along.

Yeah, but the real mark of genius is if you take a bunch of Scyks and do well with them!

☼ I work away from home a few weeks at a time and so every tournament that has been on this year and is going to be played up to Christmas is always on the weeks I'm away working. AAAHHHHHhhhhhh° FACE PALM

☼ The only one that I can go to is in September and I'm actually on holidays overseas for my 20th wedding anniversary ( In hell if I miss that ) again AAHhhhhhhhhhhhhh°

☼ Also there's a tournament on this Saturday night for the 8th wave and do you think I can go NNNOOoooooo° its my sons 18th and my other sons 16th birth days. They also play X-wing™.

☼ So I sit and look at my box of hopeful ships and lists with war wining strategies and ponder.

☼ I live in the first country town north of the city and every shop is 2/3 hours away BUT one that cant get to, sigh

I try to help them build and play better, but they hardly ever listen.

That's always a risk. Sometimes people don't really give any weight to advice from relative strangers, and other people are mildly offended even to hear advice.

Or, and I'm just tossing this out here... maybe they don't think becoming a world class caliber X-Wing player is a worthwhile enterprise. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend hours practicing with the goal of giving you a challenge, crazy, I know.

I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I don't mean that anyone should lecture their friends and acquaintances about the relative merits of VI+R2-D2 Poe and PTL+BB-8 Poe.

But I've seen players get frustrated because (e.g.) they keep losing with Ten Numb + Accuracy Corrector + Autoblaster and a pair of FCS Knaves. And a player like that is in a position where some gentle advice about list-building could make a huge difference in their level of satisfaction. I think providing some courteous, constructive feedback after a match like that is a friendly and positive thing to do--but you can't force anyone to listen, and some people won't.

I went dormant for nearly a year because there was NO local community for this game up where I live. I showed up to 5 "open play" sessions, and for 4 of them I was the only person who showed up.

That's recently changed in a community about an hour away which has gotten very active, and we've talked to my FLGS/ FLCS . Now we are trying to expand that to their other branch, which is about 20 minutes closer to me. Our first session at the new location is Mar. 23, so fingers crossed.

So, I guess I'm saying don't lose hope... But nothing changes if you don't get involved and ask.

I try to help them build and play better, but they hardly ever listen.

That's always a risk. Sometimes people don't really give any weight to advice from relative strangers, and other people are mildly offended even to hear advice.

Or, and I'm just tossing this out here... maybe they don't think becoming a world class caliber X-Wing player is a worthwhile enterprise. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend hours practicing with the goal of giving you a challenge, crazy, I know.

I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I don't mean that anyone should lecture their friends and acquaintances about the relative merits of VI+R2-D2 Poe and PTL+BB-8 Poe.

But I've seen players get frustrated because (e.g.) they keep losing with Ten Numb + Accuracy Corrector + Autoblaster and a pair of FCS Knaves. And a player like that is in a position where some gentle advice about list-building could make a huge difference in their level of satisfaction. I think providing some courteous, constructive feedback after a match like that is a friendly and positive thing to do--but you can't force anyone to listen, and some people won't.

No sir. I understand exactly what you are saying. What you are saying isn't wrong, assuming that the player in question is interested in becoming a "better" player.

What if they aren't though? I have a close friend. He is a huge Star Wars fan. He insists on flying Wedge and Lando with Chewbacca. He loves Return of the Jedi.

If I take any type of serious list, I will crush him. This isn't a "hey, you should have boosted there" type of thing. We like hanging out and playing Star Wars. If I fly a serious list I spot him 44 points. Why? So he can add in a B-Wing and X-Wing. It makes the match more even. He wins about half the time. We enjoy the game and our time spent together.

Why would I try to make him improve his play, or nudge him toward a more competitive list, or find someone else to play against altogether? By handicapping I can still get a challenge, he doesn't lose every time. Win/win.

If you have a casual scene around you, it is easier to help handicap players than it is to find an entirely new group to play with.

For a while last year I was making an hour and a half drive(because of horrible traffic on a particular highway the drive was 30 minutes longer than it should take) one or two Thursdays a week to get a couple games in. At my first tournament I met a couple who said they played near where I work. When I started going there we had three regulars including myself and occasionally the couple I had met would come by. I offer to do demo games a lot and I have gotten pretty good at explaining the basics of the game in under two minutes. We have since picked up two more regular players and have had three or four more people that come by at least once a month and it seems like there are new people every month.

Work on your rules explanation to get it short and easy to understand and try and put together a pair of lists for demoing the game. Vader + two Obsidians vs Wedge and Luke are both at 57 points and makes for a good demo game since you don't have to fool around with upgrades.

I don't know about the guys you are currently playing with, but think hard about how you are suggesting things to them. You may be coming across as pushy or as a "know it all" with out meaning to. Maybe try and organize the HoAC campaign or some 1v1 or 2v2 Epic matches, those are a lot of fun, more casual, and tend to grab passer by's attention pretty well.

Good luck!

I only play with friends and family right now.

The FLGS does a season long tournament thing where you have to arrange a game with someone on your own time every week, and my life is too crazy for that sadly. I really, really want to see a SC where a day is dedicated to X-Wing - I could make that happen if I built up enough wife points.

I only play with friends and family right now.

The FLGS does a season long tournament thing where you have to arrange a game with someone on your own time every week, and my life is too crazy for that sadly. I really, really want to see a SC where a day is dedicated to X-Wing - I could make that happen if I built up enough wife points.

Building up enough wife points is the trickiest part at times

I only play with friends and family right now.

The FLGS does a season long tournament thing where you have to arrange a game with someone on your own time every week, and my life is too crazy for that sadly. I really, really want to see a SC where a day is dedicated to X-Wing - I could make that happen if I built up enough wife points.

Building up enough wife points is the trickiest part at times

Nah, asking for forgiveness is much easier.

Yeah, but the real mark of genius is if you take a bunch of Scyks and do well with them!

Don't laugh, One of my junk lists was torkil with tlt, serissu with crackshot and 3 tansarii point veterans with crackshot. I almost beat a brobot list with it (and he is a decent player too). When the game was over he had 1 hull left on B and 2 on C. I got half points

Honestly, the fact that May IV is a Wednesday this year has some promise.
There's not a lot of competition with other events on Wednesday nights, unless you're in the bible belt (and even then, you just miss the choristers).

Work with your FLGS to advertise Wednesdays as Star Wars nights, and folks will start to show up.

Yeah, but the real mark of genius is if you take a bunch of Scyks and do well with them!

Don't laugh, One of my junk lists was torkil with tlt, serissu with crackshot and 3 tansarii point veterans with crackshot. I almost beat a brobot list with it (and he is a decent player too). When the game was over he had 1 hull left on B and 2 on C. I got half points

Oh, no! I'm serious! I love taking "bad" ships and winning with them. I actually like generic Scyks with no upgrades. They do cost maybe a single point too much, but I still like them.

Yeah, but the real mark of genius is if you take a bunch of Scyks and do well with them!

Don't laugh, One of my junk lists was torkil with tlt, serissu with crackshot and 3 tansarii point veterans with crackshot. I almost beat a brobot list with it (and he is a decent player too). When the game was over he had 1 hull left on B and 2 on C. I got half points

Oh, no! I'm serious! I love taking "bad" ships and winning with them. I actually like generic Scyks with no upgrades. They do cost maybe a single point too much, but I still like them.

I have 5 of them - lol. For a full-on Scyk Crackshot mini swarm.

Community building is a very long, and generally frustrating, process. I've been at it for probably three years now in our small city of 70,000'ish people, along with one university and a small technical college, and we're up to about 6 or 7 regulars each week now. A handful of casual and curious too.

I've been demoing the game at the twice-annual local game convention for at least 3 years, convinced the LGS store manager to order more product (which sold when he finally had stock in on a consistent basis - the wonder!), and figured out which night was NOT the M:tG night so that the store wasn't over-run with people who don't care about what we're doing. I run a Facebook group for it, and while I do a lot of the posting, there are others who do as well. I also became good friends with the Facebook group for Toronto and area players (about a 90-minute drive), and cross promote with them, and them with us, for events and tournaments.

I'm to the point where I'm basically known as "that Star Wars gamer guy" in the local gaming community, and that's not a bad thing. I've had a few people ask about it. I own enough ships for both X-Wing and Armada that I'm happy to have people come try the game, and they can use my ships when they do. It's always about starting simple with things. Don't jump in with a complex 100-point build for each side. I've always started with a simple four TIE versus two X-Wing build to let them try it on for size.

Community building. It's a never-ending journey, not a destination.

Well, Wednesday IS X-Wing day at our store. But it is also a Magic day. The thing is though, every day is a Magic day at our shop. They are open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and each and every day has a Magic tourney of some sort. It's kinda annoying. The Magic community in our area is HUGE.

If anyone is within reach of the fox valley area in wisconsin, we could use more people. Only a couple so far.

If I can make contact with others we can arrange a regular day or night for games.

Well, Wednesday IS X-Wing day at our store. But it is also a Magic day. The thing is though, every day is a Magic day at our shop. They are open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and each and every day has a Magic tourney of some sort. It's kinda annoying. The Magic community in our area is HUGE.

What's going down Tuesday, Thursday, and/or Sunday?

Well, Wednesday IS X-Wing day at our store. But it is also a Magic day. The thing is though, every day is a Magic day at our shop. They are open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and each and every day has a Magic tourney of some sort. It's kinda annoying. The Magic community in our area is HUGE.

What's going down Tuesday, Thursday, and/or Sunday?

Well, Wednesday IS X-Wing day at our store. But it is also a Magic day. The thing is though, every day is a Magic day at our shop. They are open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and each and every day has a Magic tourney of some sort. It's kinda annoying. The Magic community in our area is HUGE.

What's going down Tuesday, Thursday, and/or Sunday?

They just aren't open those days.

So, if you can host a small group in your home, they won't be tempted away by Magic on those days, ehh?

​Then, once the community grows too large for your home, you might say "Hey, FLGS. I've got a group of 12 that plays X-Wing on Tuesdays. Any chance you can open for a tourney for us?"

I'm helping to build up a community in my area as well. Hardest thing is that we don't even have a FLGS for support. After three years, our Facebook group finally has a regular meetup every Friday night in a university dormitory basement recreation hall. (Most of the FLGS didn't have a large enough table.) We have around 6 or 8 regular, with a few lurkers. I wrote a blog to promote the game in my native language, and had successfully acquire a tournament kits from Singapore (as it's been very hard to order one from FFG directly) to host a small tournament last month with 9 people. It's very satisfying to see lots of players enjoy the game together. I just wish we have more support.

I read a few of the advise here and I think I could practice some of it, like demo the game at game convention. The board game is growing in my country, but sadly Star Wars is not a big thing here and very very few game store actually carry X-wing stuff.

Without reading anything on this topic first:

Facebook / Reddit / Forums, find some people who are interest in playing and once you hit a critical mass of 10+ people interested, start a club. One big advantage in this is that you can find some place outside of our LGS area to play, which might increase availability of players when the next store is 2 hours away and has a decent sized community playing. At least some of them might be closer to you than you suspect.

For getting new players into the game: Play limited lists, like for example core set + fel & coran. The core set itself is imo already quite entertaining and one of the beauties of the game lies within its accessibility. But it is only accessible if you do not play super competitive and expensive lists against new players. Allowing proxies and/or lending stuff might help as well in this regard. Switching lists for example on a re-match.