I am looking for new ways to play x wing as well as new ways to introduce others to the game. What are some fun ways of playing that you have enjoyed, that are easy to introduce others to the game. Note: I'm the only serious player I know, everyone I play with just uses my ships and plays however I set it up.

Ways I've played:

Everybody pick one ship free for all

50 point match

Rebels vs empire team play with everyone piloting one ship

60 point match with 40 point reinforcements on 5th round.

....

For an absolute never-played-before noob, give them the learn-to-play scenario with one X-Wing versus two TIEs from either Core Set.

After that, I highly recommend playing the missions and scenarios included with the various core sets and expansions. Many of them are very interesting, even for highly experienced players, because they force you to re-think your usual squad building strategies and turn-by-turn tactics.

Finally, Heroes of the Aturi Cluster (http://dockingbay416.com/campaign/) is the hands-down best fan-made anything ever made for X-Wing. The co-operative nature of the campaign will get non-competitive players (like my wife) interested. The story-telling and role-playing aspects (missions chain into other missions based on whether you won or lost, each player gets their own call sign and the group gets a squadron name, etc.) will get and keep narrativist players (like my wife) interested. And the RPG-like XP system and slow build up of upgrades will help newer and less strategic players (like my wife) ease into the complexities of the game at a pace they can handle. (Did I mention I really really like playing HoATC with my wife?) Oh, and it handles odd numbers of players well and allows drop-in / drop-out play from one mission to the next (excellent if you don't know from session to session how many people will show up each time).

If someone is going to get into the game, once they see the X-Wings and TIE Fighters from the Core Set, they're excited just to play with those. I've gotten a lot of people into the game just through the Core Set. Fun and crazy game modes can wait until they actually know how to play the game in an atmosphere conducive to it. Free-for-alls and all that tend to frustrate newer players in my experience, as they havent had the time to grasp the game yet and will lose to something dumb and end their first game with a bad taste in their mouth.

Just do Core Set battles.

How did you learn/get into it? Do that.

Seriously. I got in by buying a few of the minis on a whim and trying out the core set "learning game" with a friend. I've tried different methods of introducing people to the game, but to get the very core mechanics (turn order, PS, dials, how to move, actions and combat), the core set is the way to go. I tried one method to teach two people at the same time by gearing up Vader Wedge and Tycho to within similar points and having them pick a ship (I took Tycho mostly to practice zipping through asteroids while I was showing them the game). That was fun, but ultimately a mistake. You take people with no experience with the game and have to show them EVERYTHING. Keep it simple before you add in pilot abilities and then the true morass of the game; upgrades.

You can even do the starter match with two friends and referee the thing. Just remember, for the first few games you are a teacher, not an opponent. When they do want to play full games, take it easy on them, but don't let them win. Let them try squad building, play a list that maybe isn't tournament optimal but isn't a push over either (my go-to 100 point teaching list is 5 Cartel Marauders so that my turns are essentially move, focus, shoot and I can concentrate on teaching, then 2 mando mercs to show them how upgrades can synergize like PtL and K4).

Anyway, TL;DR is keep it simple. Core box then expand from there

I'll second Heroes of the Aturi Cluster's opening mission as a good way to introduce new players.

Have them fly a ship or two while you control the AI for the Ties and maybe fly a ship or two alongside the newbie to help.

Also just playing 60pt matches with people. If I'm playing someone new I'll usually fly loose sending in one ship at a time to attack. That way they don't get focus fired down and if gives them a chance to blow stuff up!

Saturday a couple of us demoed X-Wing at the geek open in Geneva, Ohio at the Spire Institute. We had both core sets and drew a fair amount of interest. I enlarged the movement charts so they could see available moves at a glance. There was a youngster, about 11, that was really good. Picked up on the basic rules quickly and I swear was reading the other guy's mind. If he picks up the game we may see him at World's in a couple of years!

I'll echo what was said above. Use either core set and play the scenarios. If there's the least amount of interest, they will get bitten by the desire to play.

2 Tie Fighters against 1 X-Wing is really the best intro to the game imo.
A handfull of those, where you alternate between the one and the other is really a great way to learn the basics and getting hooked

Hi! I love Casual games. They are the best to me. I love it so much, I started a podcast based on Casual X-wing. It's all about different ways to play the game and seeing the game from a different perspective. We even review new ships without calling anything DOA.

http://shuttletydirium.podbean.com/

So....just to list off a few.....

• Heroes of the Aturi Cluster is simply amazing. We spend numerous episodes discussing it. One of the best ways to play X-wing. I can't recommend it highly enough.
• Missions from FFG. Some are a bit duds, but some are still fun, even with all the crazy stuff.
• Epic campaigns from the epic ships are a load of fun. We are going through the CR-90 missions right now and discussing them.
• 20 Obstacles. Just throw out 20 asteroids and/or debris fields on the table. Play a normal 100 pt game or even play a multi player furball. It's actually a lot of fun to deal with flying through all those crazy asteroids. It was recommended and I actually found it really addicting. It was more fun than I thought it would be.
• FFG has Mission Control where people can upload their own missions. It's really hard to search through them and can be utterly frustrating, but if you look up Babaganoosh as the author, you will find some of the best missions out there. He's done multi player ones and everything. I liked them so much I asked him to help start my podcast with me.
• All generic ships. Just play a game with no unique pilots or upgrades. I find it feels more...Star Wars-ian.
• Different points levels. Just try 125 pts...or 150 pts...or 200 pts. It can be a lot of fun that way. I especially like it with All Generics as it feels like a real Star Wars battle. 4 X-wings, 3 Y-wings, and other stuff vs. a whole mess of different Tie Fighters is great in my mind.
• Epic games. It doesn't even have to be the 300 pts. It can be 400 or 200 or whatever you want. Lots of people never play with the big ships and it's a shame. It's a whole crazy side of the game that feels awesome. We have done at least one episode where we talk about ways to play Epic.
• Make up your own mission. Want to use some of those tokens you never play with? Or want to create some crazy 3 way game? Or have a friend that loves the Tie Punisher and you want to use it as the focus of a mission? Just make something up! I built a space station out of a Big Gulp cup, 2 plastic plates, and a yogurt container and it actually looks alright! Made up some rules for it.
• Dagobah Dave's Trench Run mission is one of my all time favorite things to do with X-wing. I printed out death star paper to put on the table. I made little paper turrets. It's so much fun when you re-create the Trench Run. It's great for new players and old ones. We discussed it on our podcast in Episode 4 and on these forums. Our discussion even got Dagobah Dave to update it for the first time since 2012! I really really like this mission and think it should be your 2nd thing to look up, right after Heroes of the Aturi Cluster.

Feel free to PM me for any questions or further discussion as I absolutely love talking about different ways to play the game.

EDIT: Dang! I forgot to talk about B-teams! That's teams that may not be the most competitive, but are fun to fly. Weird combos or other builds that just look fun. I highly recommend it. Just try playing a game when you agree not to take anything in a meta list. No Soontirs or Biggs or Tie Defender titles.

I'm working on a FFA game specifically targeted at beginners. Each player gets 35 points with 4-8 players per 3'x3' play area. The game uses a point system to determine winners, and after you die you get to come back as a ghost ship and continue to target the remaining "living" ships. This prevents someone dying from 1 bad roll and being unable to play any further, and since they can still score points it's possible to die quickly and still do decent in the game. I've played it once so far and it was a blast to play. Since 35 points is usually 1 ship and on occasion 2 ships, I was able to come up with about 20 lists from my own collection so plenty of people could come and try the game without having to own any miniatures themselves.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VMjTOm5dMu--45NdzTfVfwCimuP-gEcTI_tSmOjmXtc/edit?usp=sharing

To All, thanks! You had some great suggestions and I am excited to start trying these things out.

Lots of great suggestions here already, and I'm going to echo one of them - running the "learn to play" scenario (2 Tie/Fo's vs 1 T70 X-Wing) is great, AND it uses what you would get in the Core Set - so they could have a demo, decide if it's for them and know what they're getting when they pick up that set.

That said, consider bringing two "starter squads" to teach people on the sidelines.

I bring two 60pt squads

Rebel

• Luke Skywalker w/ BB8
• Prototype Pilot w/ Refit x2

Imperial

• Darth Vader w/ Title & ATC
• Tie F/O - Epsilon Pilot x2

It helps illustrate a few things very well

• Actions before dials (bb8)
• Modifying dice (Luke's ability / Vaders Title)
• Multiple actions (Vaders ability)
• Dealing with same pilot skill (Tie's & A's)
• Nearly every action is available - Boost, Barrel Roll, TL, Focus, Evade
• Shows off odd movement patterns with the Tie's SLOOPS

By using the emotional nostalgia factor of Luke and Vader, everyone gets on board, and by turn two they're into it.

I've spent some time working at my local gaming store, sometimes i've been asked to teach a group of kids attending "noob classes", although i´ve only played for a year the following method had great results:

(Note that for these games I am Half-kidsitter / Half-trying-to-get-people-into-the-game / half-trying-to-make-sure-nobody-is-bored)

Play 4 man 25 point deathmatch battles with preassembled ships+upgrade cards, making sure every ship has the same PS yet every ship is different. The kids draw lots to get ships (all the cards are sleeved and the kids draw their card from your hand with the cards facedown). Because the ships are different nobody will get confused about to whom each ship belongs, since everybody is at the same pilot skill everybody gets to shoot at least once. The upgrade cards are the trickiest part to teach but since they´re so integral to the game we like to keep them in, we try to make sure to explain all the icons and tokens so that they can figure most of the upgrade cards out by themselves. Deployment is fixed with the each player starting at range 2 from the respective edges of his corner facing the center, 8 obstacles are strew in 2 circles of 4 at range 3 and 4 from the table center, this keeps the arena tight and makes it hard to break away.

Each match 4 ships are drawn, last time the ships in the lot were:

Khiraxz fighter Cartel Marauder: Vectored thrusters. Hotshot blaster. (Recent addition, yet to fail to impress with the out-of arc shot)

Tie Advanced Tempest squadron pilot: Concussion missile. Guidance chips. Tie/X1. Fire control system. (There's usually at least one kid who decides his is Darth Vader. )

B-Wing Blue squadron pilot: Plasma torpedo. Guidance chips. (The least popular ship so far, not entirely sure why)

X-Wing Rookie pilot: Proton torpedoes, Guidance chips. (Most popular, for obvious reasons)

Y-Wing Syndicate thug: vectored Thrusters, Dorsal Turret, R4 Agromech. (Usually either the winner or first death)

Tie/Advanced prototype: Concussion missiles, Shield upgrade, Tie/v1. (The underperformer, the options for PS 2 imp ships are a bit few and we're not about to add a shuttle to the pool. The other option is the Bomber but we dont want to go into bomb's or try to explain Extra munitions)

My group has 2 teachers so we start off by playing two sample rounds (rounds, not games) before the kids start, we always do a little scene with the Millennium falcon running from Boba fett. Between them they have several of the cards or similar cards to what the kids get so they will have seen how they are used (a big moment in the first show round is when Boba concussion missiles the falcon).

This method has worked really well with a group of kids who may or may not be interested in the game at all.

With an Adult playing one on one I highly recommend 60 point battles. It's a good learning experience and the table is kept relatively "calm" (so there usually aren't any game endingly powerful bumps or asteroid crashes). You only have to try and remember/predict so many variables.

Heck start with a 30 or 40 point battle. As an avid gamer and an adult I find the bare bones 1 v 2 battle dauntingly uninteresting, add a couple upgrades.

Right after I started me and my co-starter decided to play a homemade campaign. We each started out in a 60 point battle assuming we were "commander's", each ship we added to our fleet was permanent (we didn't loose ships if they were shot down), the pilots and upgrades came and went. We played 5 battles (60, 80, 100, 120, 140), all on a regular size mat, the number of asteroids was inversely proportional to the battle size (12 the first time, 8 in 100, 4 for the 140). It was super thematic, would do again.

I'm hosting a game night with 3 other people - 2 people who haven't played and 1 who's played twice. I'm looking to take them through Mission H1 from the Rebel Transport, splitting up into teams of 2. I've pre-built simple squads with limited upgrades and straight forward pilot abilities:

Rebels

Rebel transport - Bright Hope title, repair droid, backup shield generator, comms Booster, combat retrofit

Jake Farrell - chardaan refit, stealth device

Luke, Wedge, Wes - no upgrades

Imperials

Howlrunner, Dark Curse - no upgrades

Night Beast - Twin Ion Engine mkII

Gamma Squadron - proton torpedoes, extra munitions, guidance chips

Gamma Squadron - plasma torpedoes, extra munitions, seismic charges, munitions failsafe

My vision is that myself and the other guy who's played before will split up, I'll likely take rebels to fly the transport (my assumption is this would be least fun for new players). This will allow us to each have a new player on our teams and help them as we go.

On the Rebel side one person will man the transport and Jake (likely me) while the other will pilot Luke, Wedge and Wes. The A-wing can go be a pest or intercept fighters coming in on the transport while the X-wing's are going to deal with incoming fighters.

On the imperials, one person takes the bombers (guy who's played before) and the other takes the 3 Tie's. The bombers are looking to get their munitions off on the transport while the Tie's run interference by flanking the transport or engaging the fighters. I believe the squads to be pretty balanced and in the event the imperials lose ships, the mission allows for low level Tie's and Bombers to spawn at the end of the round.

This will be an interesting "throwing them into the deep end" learning experience for 2 new players but I feel that will be offset by havinby us in teams of 2. In the end it's a fun casual game amongst buddies with some star wars theme music playing in the background. I welcome any feedback and thoughts.

Has anyone tried playing a capture the flag type of X-wing game? For example each player would get enough ships with a certain max point cost to make the game interesting. This could be a multi-player scenario with as many people/ships as possible. Put something on each end of the playmat/playmats to represent the flag with maybe a rule regarding how close to the edge of the board it can be. When a ship gets destroyed it goes to an area to be rescued. If a ship carrying the flag is destroyed it is released like a bomb with the 1 straight template. The flag could then be picked up again by either team afterwards. Has anything like this been done before?