Check out this page for a true wargame AAR! BTW, this is ONE battle!

http://www.fireandfury.com/phorum5/read.php?2,51168

I think the people who consider any game of more than 90 minutes to be too long tend to be coming from a very different background to regular wargaming. X Wing is a weird hybrid game that appeals to the people who play card/board games, as well as traditional wargamers, and there's quite a bit of culture clash.

I'm an old Battletech player, so I am plenty used to TT games taking a rather long period of time. I've actually found most games of X-Wing to be rather short, even when I end up dragging things out.

I also tend to lose a lot in X-Wing and still have fun because I have a tendency to run mostly troll lists. My favorite being an epic list of a GR-75 buddying up with a flock of ion turret/bomb/torpedo nonsense.

The problem with X-Wing taking a long time is that there are prolonged periods spent leaning over a table and it plays hell with your lower back.

Typically I play other wargames sitting down or at a higher (think kitchen counter height) table which doesn't involve as much leaning.

Not all of us have 7 hours to spare either. Or seven hours for three days straight. For one clobbing game.

Also sometimes having to do that in a man dungeon is a turn off too.

Also sometimes having to do that in a man dungeon is a turn off too.

Only for namby pambies, and there's no room for them in the dungeon!

That it plays so short is wonderful, but it has led to some slightly odd optimisations and expectations, too.

But I'll freely admit it's half the reason i play it. Hard to get more than one game of of anything most nights. 90min rounds help a whole lot.

I'm an old Battletech player, so I am plenty used to TT games taking a rather long period of time. I've actually found most games of X-Wing to be rather short, even when I end up dragging things out.

I also tend to lose a lot in X-Wing and still have fun because I have a tendency to run mostly troll lists. My favorite being an epic list of a GR-75 buddying up with a flock of ion turret/bomb/torpedo nonsense.

Well unless someone gets lucky and slams a gauss rifle slug through your cockpit turn one them games end pretty quick.

But now we have alpha strike you can get mass mech combat on the go in about an hour and catalyst plastic mechs have made the game more affordable.

The ability to finish a game in about an hour (give or take) is pretty much a necessity for any wargame that wants to have a tournament scene.

Any longer than that for a game and you start to run into pretty serious logistical issues for a tournament of any decent size.

To be honest, the ability to play a game out in a relatively short space of time is one of the things I like about x-wing. Don't get me wrong; I like a nice long, large scale game as much as the next man... But the short games are so much easier to make time for.

The longest wargame I've ever played lasted an entire weekend. It was a World War II Naval demonstration game that was a re-fight of the Battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct 44) and involved hundreds of model ships. We set up the tables (five 8'x4') on a Friday afternoon and got started on the game around 6:00pm and played until midnight before retiring for some sleep. We resumed at 8:00am on Saturday and sent out lackeys for food supplies during the day. We finally adjourned at 1:00am on Sunday morning only to resume at 8:00am again and continued until about 5:00pm when we had to pack away and leave.

All up, the gaming time was about 32 hours.

I'll second the lower back pain. Old skate shoes, concrete floors and six TIEs makes DC a sore boy!

I used to play 25mm Napoleonics many moons ago. We used to play battles that would go over an entire weekend, maybe 20-30 hours. Was fantastically fun and it didn't always have to be that big. Having 4 or so divisions a side, each division with 10,000 or so men in them is a sight to behold. I find 75 minute games of X Wing like snack games.

The longest I ever played in one sitting was 12 hours. The game was SNIPER by SPI. I think it was the first squad level combat, in a city, to feature pre-programmed moves and individual soldiers.

Obviously this wasn't one game but multiple ones. Some were very short, 15 minutes or less and some were butt numbing sessions. Great game!

I've played a lot of different wargames. Started with WHFB, but also got into various 15mm and 28mm WWII games. Yeah, I'm used to longer games, but I haven't done many monster games. I did do a Normandy Beach game in 28mm. It was HUGE. It took hours. It was a lot of fun....but tiring.

If someone is playing a regular epic game, but worries about how long it takes, there are tricks you can do for X-wing. Break the lists into squads and spread the PS level of pilots out, even if it's not the best use of points. It sucks when one team has to move 12 Academy Pilots at one time....and then shoot 12 Academy Pilots at one time....

X-wing plays in almost the same round format as MTG. If it takes too long you don't have the time to be playing competitive games.

True, but that's just competitive play. There are other formats out there for the game. Fly Casual.

The longest wargame I've ever played lasted an entire weekend. It was a World War II Naval demonstration game that was a re-fight of the Battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct 44) and involved hundreds of model ships. We set up the tables (five 8'x4') on a Friday afternoon and got started on the game around 6:00pm and played until midnight before retiring for some sleep. We resumed at 8:00am on Saturday and sent out lackeys for food supplies during the day. We finally adjourned at 1:00am on Sunday morning only to resume at 8:00am again and continued until about 5:00pm when we had to pack away and leave.

All up, the gaming time was about 32 hours.

Did the game actually end, or had you run out of time?

I appreciated the pace of X-Wing. I like how the turns are mingled, so that you don't have towait for your opponent to finish his move / shoot / resolve stuff before you get a turn to react. X-Wing keeps you constantly in the game.

That and having a game that plays out in about an hour is good for busy people with jobs, kids, and so forth.

The days-long wargames are over for me for now.

The longest wargame I've ever played lasted an entire weekend. It was a World War II Naval demonstration game that was a re-fight of the Battle of Leyte Gulf (Oct 44) and involved hundreds of model ships. We set up the tables (five 8'x4') on a Friday afternoon and got started on the game around 6:00pm and played until midnight before retiring for some sleep. We resumed at 8:00am on Saturday and sent out lackeys for food supplies during the day. We finally adjourned at 1:00am on Sunday morning only to resume at 8:00am again and continued until about 5:00pm when we had to pack away and leave.

All up, the gaming time was about 32 hours.

Did the game actually end, or had you run out of time?

The battleship squadron I sent to guard the southern part of the Gulf came under attack from the air and later in the evening it got hammered by Japanese destroyers that managed to sneak into close range and attack with torpedoes with devastating results. More sinkings there.

The fast battleships I sent north with escort carriers found nothing and had to turn back when the main Japanese striking force came into the gulf from the south and wrecked havoc amongst the now defenceless assault transports that were just closing on the beaches.

Pfft

Streets of Stalingrad could take weeks. It's almost real-time.

X-wing plays in almost the same round format as MTG. If it takes too long you don't have the time to be playing competitive games.

In the current format, yes. But there are lots of games that have tournaments where each round lasts up to 3 hours, 40K being the most obvious example.

I think the people who consider any game of more than 90 minutes to be too long tend to be coming from a very different background to regular wargaming. X Wing is a weird hybrid game that appeals to the people who play card/board games, as well as traditional wargamers, and there's quite a bit of culture clash.

eh? aside from the traditional board games (chess, checkers, etc) regular board games take hours for me. Every game of Settlers of Catan i play usually takes closer to 2hrs with a full board of people.

Even still i agree its a bit of a culture crash. Lot of the people in my area dont play any tabletop wargame except xwing. When i mention my average 40k game is 3hrs they flip lol

X-wing plays in almost the same round format as MTG. If it takes too long you don't have the time to be playing competitive games.

In the current format, yes. But there are lots of games that have tournaments where each round lasts up to 3 hours, 40K being the most obvious example.

And about the same for Flames of War, Dropzone Commander, and War of the Ring. Warmachine, Hordes, and Infinity are often regarded as 'short' in that you can play through them in merely a couple hours.

X-wing games are short by miniatures standards. It's noteworthy that it also boils down to the quirk that FFG's organised play is largely from a card-game background, so we're running what are effectively card-game-style tournaments for a minis game.

I'm pretty OK with this, but it's useful to know that there are very different tournament structures out there, too.

As a BattleTech player, I was apart of two 10am - 10pm games.... what can i say?

As an ex-40k player, ex-BFG/Necromunda/Malifaux and current Armada player as well as X-wing, I think the amount of time for X-wing is right on point for what the game is. I think the main complaint I would have with X-wing tournament time is the amount of time spent standing, as that can be a strain on the back. With 40k, I was at least able to sit while my opponent moved his minis, but X-wing has much less movement in comparison. But I'd still rather go to an X-wing tourney than 40k, since in 10 hours I can play up to 9 opponents rather than maybe 3.