I was at my local Barnes and Nobles for the X-wing Event, I was sad that not a single person showed up other then me, but it gave me a chance to talk to the Person running the Demo. She was really excited about the game and after watching the FFG videos and reading the rules and the FFG instructions she had the game down in 2 days. I have met only one other person that seemed to be able to absorb instructions for board game as fast and understand concepts and create strag to win in my life, she is now the 2nd. Also she hates Green Dice, that took me a couple months to figure out.

As we talked about X-wing (as I have been playing from wave 3) I was talking about ships I liked and she was following along, I said a Pilot Skill wrong for Poe and she corrected me (I was taken back and thought wow she knows her stuff). We talked some more and I asked her if she had saw the New Stuff on the site today and Rey came up. The Demo Org was really excited as it Rey pilot she can relate to, that Rey is a Girl that is an outstanding pilot and a strong char. In this single second I saw a spark about Star Wars I have not seen in a long time, It reminded me of how much I love this game the first time I played it how I fell in love, how I longed to be Luke taking down the Death Star and Facing the impossible, how much I love Star Wars in general.

I did not even think of this but Rey is going to bring in a new generation of people to play x-wing, Rey is someone to cheer for and to be excited to watch grow into the world we nerds love, men, women and children. My view of Heroes changed on a dime and I am excited that more people will Play X-wing now then before also on a small side note I don't need to repaint a t-70.

I started at noon asking why we did not get the T-65 fix or news about Armada wave 3 and ended with a sweet note, also my wife is excited to fly Han and Rey, I am excited my wife wants to play more Star Wars It is a good day, so Hats off to FFG at this Second, you will have more of my money 3rd or 4th quarter this year.

You know, the way the post was going I was cynically half expecting you to ask the girl out.

Then you mentioned your wife.

My bad.

I was at my local Barnes and Nobles for the X-wing Event, I was sad that not a single person showed up other then me, but it gave me a chance to talk to the Person running the Demo. She was really excited about the game and after watching the FFG videos and reading the rules and the FFG instructions she had the game down in 2 days. I have met only one other person that seemed to be able to absorb instructions for board game as fast and understand concepts and create strag to win in my life, she is now the 2nd. Also she hates Green Dice, that took me a couple months to figure out.

As we talked about X-wing (as I have been playing from wave 3) I was talking about ships I liked and she was following along, I said a Pilot Skill wrong for Poe and she corrected me (I was taken back and thought wow she knows her stuff). We talked some more and I asked her if she had saw the New Stuff on the site today and Rey came up. The Demo Org was really excited as it Rey pilot she can relate to, that Rey is a Girl that is an outstanding pilot and a strong char. In this single second I saw a spark about Star Wars I have not seen in a long time, It reminded me of how much I love this game the first time I played it how I fell in love, how I longed to be Luke taking down the Death Star and Facing the impossible, how much I love Star Wars in general.

I did not even think of this but Rey is going to bring in a new generation of people to play x-wing, Rey is someone to cheer for and to be excited to watch grow into the world we nerds love, men, women and children. My view of Heroes changed on a dime and I am excited that more people will Play X-wing now then before also on a small side note I don't need to repaint a t-70.

I started at noon asking why we did not get the T-65 fix or news about Armada wave 3 and ended with a sweet note, also my wife is excited to fly Han and Rey, I am excited my wife wants to play more Star Wars It is a good day, so Hats off to FFG at this Second, you will have more of my money 3rd or 4th quarter this year.

hum but she first was interested in x-wing and then in the Rey card. you're sort of assuming that the presence of the Rey card pilot will bring new players in, but I'm not sure how true that is. I'd say a lot of people get interested in a game for the mechanics and so on. at least, that's what I did

I was at my local Barnes and Nobles for the X-wing Event, I was sad that not a single person showed up other then me, but it gave me a chance to talk to the Person running the Demo. She was really excited about the game and after watching the FFG videos and reading the rules and the FFG instructions she had the game down in 2 days. I have met only one other person that seemed to be able to absorb instructions for board game as fast and understand concepts and create strag to win in my life, she is now the 2nd. Also she hates Green Dice, that took me a couple months to figure out.

As we talked about X-wing (as I have been playing from wave 3) I was talking about ships I liked and she was following along, I said a Pilot Skill wrong for Poe and she corrected me (I was taken back and thought wow she knows her stuff). We talked some more and I asked her if she had saw the New Stuff on the site today and Rey came up. The Demo Org was really excited as it Rey pilot she can relate to, that Rey is a Girl that is an outstanding pilot and a strong char. In this single second I saw a spark about Star Wars I have not seen in a long time, It reminded me of how much I love this game the first time I played it how I fell in love, how I longed to be Luke taking down the Death Star and Facing the impossible, how much I love Star Wars in general.

I did not even think of this but Rey is going to bring in a new generation of people to play x-wing, Rey is someone to cheer for and to be excited to watch grow into the world we nerds love, men, women and children. My view of Heroes changed on a dime and I am excited that more people will Play X-wing now then before also on a small side note I don't need to repaint a t-70.

I started at noon asking why we did not get the T-65 fix or news about Armada wave 3 and ended with a sweet note, also my wife is excited to fly Han and Rey, I am excited my wife wants to play more Star Wars It is a good day, so Hats off to FFG at this Second, you will have more of my money 3rd or 4th quarter this year.

hum but she first was interested in x-wing and then in the Rey card. you're sort of assuming that the presence of the Rey card pilot will bring new players in, but I'm not sure how true that is. I'd say a lot of people get interested in a game for the mechanics and so on. at least, that's what I did

Is this a thread that really needs to turn into an "yes, but actually..." flavor of conversation, instead of just letting the dude be happy and excited?

You know, the way the post was going I was cynically half expecting you to ask the girl out.

Then you mentioned your wife.

My bad.

So again, why didn't you ask her out?

Great story thanks for sharing OP.

You know, the way the post was going I was cynically half expecting you to ask the girl out.

Then you mentioned your wife.

My bad.

Yea my wife and son would frown on that ;/p

the coolness of Rey the character may well be tempered by how ******* awful it is to fly against PWTs

granted, FFG did the right thing with her arc-locked ability, but it may not be enough to offset how dice dependent and boring it is to play v turrets

heres hoping the rest of the expac, especially Finn, focusing on arc-locked benefits to encourage both players to actually care about their maneuvers

I was at my local Barnes and Nobles for the X-wing Event, I was sad that not a single person showed up other then me, but it gave me a chance to talk to the Person running the Demo. She was really excited about the game and after watching the FFG videos and reading the rules and the FFG instructions she had the game down in 2 days. I have met only one other person that seemed to be able to absorb instructions for board game as fast and understand concepts and create strag to win in my life, she is now the 2nd. Also she hates Green Dice, that took me a couple months to figure out.

As we talked about X-wing (as I have been playing from wave 3) I was talking about ships I liked and she was following along, I said a Pilot Skill wrong for Poe and she corrected me (I was taken back and thought wow she knows her stuff). We talked some more and I asked her if she had saw the New Stuff on the site today and Rey came up. The Demo Org was really excited as it Rey pilot she can relate to, that Rey is a Girl that is an outstanding pilot and a strong char. In this single second I saw a spark about Star Wars I have not seen in a long time, It reminded me of how much I love this game the first time I played it how I fell in love, how I longed to be Luke taking down the Death Star and Facing the impossible, how much I love Star Wars in general.

I did not even think of this but Rey is going to bring in a new generation of people to play x-wing, Rey is someone to cheer for and to be excited to watch grow into the world we nerds love, men, women and children. My view of Heroes changed on a dime and I am excited that more people will Play X-wing now then before also on a small side note I don't need to repaint a t-70.

I started at noon asking why we did not get the T-65 fix or news about Armada wave 3 and ended with a sweet note, also my wife is excited to fly Han and Rey, I am excited my wife wants to play more Star Wars It is a good day, so Hats off to FFG at this Second, you will have more of my money 3rd or 4th quarter this year.

hum but she first was interested in x-wing and then in the Rey card. you're sort of assuming that the presence of the Rey card pilot will bring new players in, but I'm not sure how true that is. I'd say a lot of people get interested in a game for the mechanics and so on. at least, that's what I did

It's a fair point. I think people are going to see the film and say I want to be like Rey. They will walk through Target or Barnes and Nobles and see X-wing, like me they will say I can fly pilot X and do what they did in the movie, these models are amazing, this is not that expensive (though I got 4 core sets for 20 on clearance from target back in wave 3) I am going to buy this game. Rey is an addition to Star Wars which I love because I love the character, and the development of her is going to be excellent. Fin makes me excited also if he becomes the new Chewie making him amazing and witty. I believe Disney will use Chewie copiloting to explain in the next film why she is a better pilot maybe even on par with Poe....

Back to your point I think others will fall in love with the game and be excited Rey is in the game and is well represented.

I was at my local Barnes and Nobles for the X-wing Event, I was sad that not a single person showed up other then me, but it gave me a chance to talk to the Person running the Demo. She was really excited about the game and after watching the FFG videos and reading the rules and the FFG instructions she had the game down in 2 days. I have met only one other person that seemed to be able to absorb instructions for board game as fast and understand concepts and create strag to win in my life, she is now the 2nd. Also she hates Green Dice, that took me a couple months to figure out.

As we talked about X-wing (as I have been playing from wave 3) I was talking about ships I liked and she was following along, I said a Pilot Skill wrong for Poe and she corrected me (I was taken back and thought wow she knows her stuff). We talked some more and I asked her if she had saw the New Stuff on the site today and Rey came up. The Demo Org was really excited as it Rey pilot she can relate to, that Rey is a Girl that is an outstanding pilot and a strong char. In this single second I saw a spark about Star Wars I have not seen in a long time, It reminded me of how much I love this game the first time I played it how I fell in love, how I longed to be Luke taking down the Death Star and Facing the impossible, how much I love Star Wars in general.

I did not even think of this but Rey is going to bring in a new generation of people to play x-wing, Rey is someone to cheer for and to be excited to watch grow into the world we nerds love, men, women and children. My view of Heroes changed on a dime and I am excited that more people will Play X-wing now then before also on a small side note I don't need to repaint a t-70.

I started at noon asking why we did not get the T-65 fix or news about Armada wave 3 and ended with a sweet note, also my wife is excited to fly Han and Rey, I am excited my wife wants to play more Star Wars It is a good day, so Hats off to FFG at this Second, you will have more of my money 3rd or 4th quarter this year.

hum but she first was interested in x-wing and then in the Rey card. you're sort of assuming that the presence of the Rey card pilot will bring new players in, but I'm not sure how true that is. I'd say a lot of people get interested in a game for the mechanics and so on. at least, that's what I did

I think characters certainly can bring people into the game. Particularly non-gamers.

I run the Jodo Cast twitter account, and I'll tweet about the new stuff FFG is putting out, particularly the Rebels stuff, and a lot of followers on there that I know are non-gamers get really excited.

I know people have been picking up the Ghost model just because they love the show, and a lot of people have gotten really pumped about Ahsoka's announcement for the LCG.

If there's a character you're excited about and you find a new way to experience that character, you might try something new, like a game you've never played.

So I think it is possible, and likely that certain characters could be the reason people start playing this game, not just the mechanics of it.

the coolness of Rey the character may well be tempered by how ******* awful it is to fly against PWTs

granted, FFG did the right thing with her arc-locked ability, but it may not be enough to offset how dice dependent and boring it is to play v turrets

heres hoping the rest of the expac, especially Finn, focusing on arc-locked benefits to encourage both players to actually care about their maneuvers

You know that Finn is going to be something like this:

Finn

3 point Crew

Rebel Only

You may treat all enemy ships at range 1-3 as being inside your arc.

the coolness of Rey the character may well be tempered by how ******* awful it is to fly against PWTs

granted, FFG did the right thing with her arc-locked ability, but it may not be enough to offset how dice dependent and boring it is to play v turrets

heres hoping the rest of the expac, especially Finn, focusing on arc-locked benefits to encourage both players to actually care about their maneuvers

You know that Finn is going to be something like this:

Finn

3 point Crew

Rebel Only

You may treat all enemy ships at range 1-3 as being inside your arc.

oh that's good

he'll never be used if he's competing with c3po in price

the coolness of Rey the character may well be tempered by how ******* awful it is to fly against PWTs

granted, FFG did the right thing with her arc-locked ability, but it may not be enough to offset how dice dependent and boring it is to play v turrets

heres hoping the rest of the expac, especially Finn, focusing on arc-locked benefits to encourage both players to actually care about their maneuvers

You know that Finn is going to be something like this:

Finn

3 point Crew

Rebel Only

You may treat all enemy ships at range 1-3 as being inside your arc.

oh that's good

he'll never be used if he's competing with c3po in price

You noticed the bit where Rey's ability is super-predator-lone-wolf while things are in arc, right?

But wait! Finn's awesome shooting all movie was done with arc-limited (ok, ok, jammed) turrets! Maybe he'll be a cheap, in-arc-only Gunner? 'cuz if so, I'll be bummed that he's not available to everyone else.

the coolness of Rey the character may well be tempered by how ******* awful it is to fly against PWTs

granted, FFG did the right thing with her arc-locked ability, but it may not be enough to offset how dice dependent and boring it is to play v turrets

heres hoping the rest of the expac, especially Finn, focusing on arc-locked benefits to encourage both players to actually care about their maneuvers

You know that Finn is going to be something like this:

Finn

3 point Crew

Rebel Only

You may treat all enemy ships at range 1-3 as being inside your arc.

oh that's good

he'll never be used if he's competing with c3po in price

You noticed the bit where Rey's ability is super-predator-lone-wolf while things are in arc, right?

But wait! Finn's awesome shooting all movie was done with arc-limited (ok, ok, jammed) turrets! Maybe he'll be a cheap, in-arc-only Gunner? 'cuz if so, I'll be bummed that he's not available to everyone else.

I noticed the bit where Rey's ability synergizes directly with c3po and gunner, yes

but man, forget about everyone else

the ghost will love arc-locked gunner FInn

My girlfriend and her 10 year old daughter play this game with me. And the little girl is actually pretty good at it. Why? She has some kind of teddy-bear crush on Chewie. She wasn't interested, until she found out she could "be" Chewie in the Falcon. Now she loves it. In fact, Chewie in the Falcon has been part of EVERY list she's ever flown.

You wanna know how excited she's gonna be when I bring this home and she realizes she can be Rey?

You better believe that the character-identification fantasies are one of the key elements that draw people to this game. Marry that with the consistently rock-solid game mechanics, and this thing is a winner.

So I brought up the new expansion to my girlfriend and she was in "aha" mode all along, listening half-heartedly (I promise I don't bore her with ALL the details). Anyway, I bring up that Rey is a new Falcon pilot and she lit up instantly: "we should play sometime soon!". She hasn't played in a year...

Seriously FFG should include some coffee shop vouchers in their expansions, then the wives would be happy too - and busy (I mean the ones not playing)

If the trailer is anything to go by, I can see Rogue One continuing this trend of in-game characters that could bring more people in that are on the fence... smart marketing on everyone's part, and if that means I get more people to play against, who doesn't win?

Thank you for this post. It's good to see how many people get excited about new demos into the game, into the nerd-sphere. My wife has been a huge Star Wars fan for years, even more so than me, She really enjoys X-wing, though she refuses to change her list up. "I've got Chewbacca, Wedge and Biggs... I fail to see any reason this should be different" She's beaten me 12-2 with this list so it makes a good test for new lists of my own. (She's toyed with some Poe lists too) When this new box was announced she got excited to find new lists to mix it with. "I'll fly Rey with Poe... Or I can run Lando with a Nien Nunb wingman and get Return of the Jedi feels!"

It's easy to forget amongst all the super-competitive-cynicism that there are people who play this game for the rush of being part of the universe. I personally am excited to fly a little JediTestor action with Rey and Jessika Pava together just for fun.

This post has been a good light to the positivity and excitement for fandom growth that exists, even if we don't see it all the time.

I run the Jodo Cast twitter account....

I heard that's a good podcast, but not quite as good as the Decipher CCG.

So I brought up the new expansion to my girlfriend and she was in "aha" mode all along, listening half-heartedly (I promise I don't bore her with ALL the details). Anyway, I bring up that Rey is a new Falcon pilot and she lit up instantly: "we should play sometime soon!". She hasn't played in a year...

Ditto

My Wife is going to fly Rey and Han and could not be more excited.

The only ships my eldest wants to fly currently are a wings and the ghost! However with this expansion he now wants Poe and Rey! I can see my little brother getting excited by this as well

I was at my local Barnes and Nobles for the X-wing Event, I was sad that not a single person showed up other then me, but it gave me a chance to talk to the Person running the Demo. She was really excited about the game and after watching the FFG videos and reading the rules and the FFG instructions she had the game down in 2 days. I have met only one other person that seemed to be able to absorb instructions for board game as fast and understand concepts and create strag to win in my life, she is now the 2nd. Also she hates Green Dice, that took me a couple months to figure out.

As we talked about X-wing (as I have been playing from wave 3) I was talking about ships I liked and she was following along, I said a Pilot Skill wrong for Poe and she corrected me (I was taken back and thought wow she knows her stuff). We talked some more and I asked her if she had saw the New Stuff on the site today and Rey came up. The Demo Org was really excited as it Rey pilot she can relate to, that Rey is a Girl that is an outstanding pilot and a strong char. In this single second I saw a spark about Star Wars I have not seen in a long time, It reminded me of how much I love this game the first time I played it how I fell in love, how I longed to be Luke taking down the Death Star and Facing the impossible, how much I love Star Wars in general.

I did not even think of this but Rey is going to bring in a new generation of people to play x-wing, Rey is someone to cheer for and to be excited to watch grow into the world we nerds love, men, women and children. My view of Heroes changed on a dime and I am excited that more people will Play X-wing now then before also on a small side note I don't need to repaint a t-70.

I started at noon asking why we did not get the T-65 fix or news about Armada wave 3 and ended with a sweet note, also my wife is excited to fly Han and Rey, I am excited my wife wants to play more Star Wars It is a good day, so Hats off to FFG at this Second, you will have more of my money 3rd or 4th quarter this year.