I've been a bit discouraged to play X-Wing since it's such a big game now, especially since I've felt that with so many different upgrade cards and abilities happening and triggering in so many different stages of the game make the once simple dogfighting simulator feel more like a game of MtG than anything else.

So I would like to hear your thoughts on a "Bare Bones" X-Wing format where no upgrade cards are allowed to be fielded at all. Not even titles or mods. Just the pilot card and whatever ability that is printed on there. There would still be the standard 100 point limit + obstacles as well.

Some fun things that are possible (and possibly overpowered):

8 TIE Swarm

8 Z-95 Swarm

Biggs Walks the Dogs minus Adv Sensors

Double VCX + Wedge

Quad Jumpmasters

5 Khiraxz

Dual IGs + other ship

Kir Kanos

Quad Phantoms

BBBBZ

Triple Firespray

Quad Lambdas + TIE Fighter

The format relies on removing the brokenness and opportunity cost of upgrade cards (their effects, abilities, points) and allowing players to return to the core of dogfighting with 100 points worth of ships. Even removing titles is important to watering down Defenders, Dengar and the Falcon, even though it kind of hinders the TIE/sf and ARC-170.

I'm on the verge of stepping up and contacting a few local game stores around here to see if they'd be willing to host a Bare Bones X-Wing tournament, but I'd like to hear some feedback!

What do you guys think?

What could go wrong with a format like this?

What kind of list would you fly?

I love it! In fact, I try to make most of my builds pretty basic.

Sounds like fun... I'd be going with three red squadron T65s and Jess Pava... When she's released.

kinda makes any ordnance carries beyond garbage as well as any ships that NEED their title (defenders, tie advance namely) go back into the realm of no one uses. On the otherhand if you go with a "highlander" 1 upgrade only that opens it up to everyone

Get thematic with it!

If it wasn't in the OT it's off limits!

This type of thing is fun for a while. I did it for a good two months to learn. But once you and your partner have mastered the complexities of actually being efficient in jousting, it becomes really boring and stagnant... as largely there isn't a whole lot of dogfighting. You end up mostly just shooting each other... =/

You could request for a upgrade light game. I understand when it comes to too many upgrades, I hate playing 2 ship lists for that reason. I'll end up remembering wrong or forgetting some attack capacity they have.

I'd like a game night where you have to use only cards and ships that show up in Episode IV:

T-65 X-Wing (almost all named pilots, any generics)

Y-Wing ("Dutch" Vander, Gold Squadron)

YT-1300 (Han or Chewie)

TIE Fighter (Black Squadron, most named pilots)

TIE Advanced (Darth Vader)

Proton Torpedoes

R2-D2 and a few other droids (use Wookieepedia to determine)

A few EPTs (maybe just the ones from waves 1 and 2?)

I'd expand that to include the original trilogy to add the Lambda, A-wing, B-wing, Firespray, TIE Bomber, and TIE Interceptor, but yeah.

Do you count the YT-2400 since it appeared in the Star Wars Special Edition?

...

The format relies on removing the brokenness...

...

The format overlooks the fact that some upgrades fix brokenness.

Accepting that some ships might be back below par, it surely couldn't help but put more emphasis on the basic mechanics rather than the combo aspect of the game.

If, as someone above suggested, you quickly get bored of that format the next step could be some "half-way" option - remove all Unique upgrades.

I think it sounds cool. If xwing gets too extreme it may eventually need a 'highlander' format. But I think this approach goes a little too far in taking out most of the content of the game, that people do actually like to play.

I'd suggest you just run custom scenarios with pre-built squads. that would allow you to have the kind of gameplay you desire and can be pre-balanced to some degree. Or, another alternative is Heroes of the Aturi Cluster, but it all depends on the people you have around.

On the other hand I think a neat game format would be some kind of limitation on uniques. Most of the powerful combos in the game, that kill off the generic squadrons, are combos of unique cards. If you restrict uniques (pilot, or card or anything) it really changes up the game and forces people to make interesting decisions.

Sounds nostalgic and I can pretend to be a real squadron, not just the stars of one. Thinking about how different the micro-meta would be for this format is making want to play it.

Think about the tactics you could employ with four phantoms or six Sienar Test Pilots. The savagery of Bro Bots and a Slaver.

Adding this format to the big ole list:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/230069-the-collected-tournament-format-topic/?p=2413717

HWKs and Y-wings are going to be as sad as TIE Advanceds and Scyks.

I propose a variant: You're allowed one upgrade that costs you points , plus any title and free upgrades.

Still limits some nifty things (Sabine is a no-go, neither is B-wing/E2), but at least the rest is not so crazy, A-wings aren't left crying in the dirt, and HWKs get to carry a gun.

HWKs and Y-wings are going to be as sad as TIE Advanceds and Scyks.

I propose a variant: You're allowed one upgrade that costs you points , plus any title and free upgrades.

Still limits some nifty things (Sabine is a no-go, neither is B-wing/E2), but at least the rest is not so crazy, A-wings aren't left crying in the dirt, and HWKs get to carry a gun.

Wouldn't the majority of the lists probably just be defenders?

Yay, let's go back to TIE swarm vs TIE swarm!

Not a bad idea for some change. Tonight I used 4 Zs and 2 Ys. Zs were bare bones, one Y used R2 and a TLT while the other used a TLT and R3-A2. Got in 3 games in 3-1/2 hrs though the last game was shortend.

I don't think X7 defenders would be all people take. They're going to be outnumbered, and in the case of fighting an 8 TIE swarm, they're never going to have actions. You're limited to 3, so they're always going to be outnumbered, and they won't have amazing action economy, either. A single evade and a choice to BR, focus, or TL.

I'm in the camp of limiting to one upgrade per ship, but I'm not sure about free upgrades.

1 upgrade per ship makes Y wings and HWKs happy, and many other ships too. Adding free titles to that means you can fight brobots B and C with cannons and gunner ability, Tie Ds with Ion Cannons, and Vader with ATC, but X wings wouldn't be able to take an integrated astromech. Then you should add in free modifications too, like Integrated astromech, guidance chips, and long range scanners, but what about the other free upgrades, like crew and EPTs? If you can get adaptability, chopper, A Score To Settle, and trick shot, you're really not playing a barebones game anymore because you can get some crazy ships in there.

Then you're back at square one again. One upgrade per ship seems like a sweet spot, without having to craft a list of rules and exceptions.

So what you want is a howler swarm and BBBBZ dominating everything. Got it. Rose tinted glasses always make the past look enjoyable.

Let me know how your Xs and Bs get slaughtered. Your A wings unable to get where they want. Your advanced that just looks pretty. Your YTs that are sitting bricks.

Good luck. If you weren't frustrated with the game before, you will be after this exercise.

Get thematic with it!

If it wasn't in the OT it's off limits!

We can be friends! If it's not OT or TFA .. I don"t own it and I'm not flying it.

(...) Your A wings unable to get where they want.(...)

Jake Farell.

(...) Your A wings unable to get where they want.(...)

Jake Farell.

In retort. Soontir Fel. He only gets his ability if he does a K turn or flies over debris. Major ryhmer, no munitions to spend. Same with Nera. Tomax has no upgrade to reuse. Krassis has no secondary weapons and neither does moralo. I can keep going.

You can choose pilots willy nilly to prove a point. All that does though is prove all you are doing is shifting metas and disincluding others because they very well were written to have a upgrade of some sort. This game was built to include upgrades, and saying you want to get rid of them, is akin to saying you wanna remove the manuever templates and fly via tape measures.

i did something similar to "train" my nephew and focus on maneuvres.

Everybody choose 2 ships with similar prices, no turrets allowed (to also focus on arcs)

It was fun, and useful for me as i'm still a noob in table time.

Fun facts:

-It's weird to fly the Countess without the title, just doing focus focus and focus.

-Also a bad experience with the inquisitor and no title.

-Wedge was brutal, killing the Inquisitor in 2 attacks, and the Lambda.

Good luck defeating a tie/fo swarm with that

we've been trying a 12 point max upgrades - it's doing fairly well, though there's just about no reason to take the punishing one title - we're thinking of an or - 12 points or 2 upgrade cards. - this allows for some more points in the few cases where titles are involved.

play movie canon only .... its a lot of fun

I think it sounds fun and I always think it's great to break out of the mold of 100/6 to try something different. It helps rejuvenate the game for me. You end up looking at the game differently.

This type of thing is fun for a while. I did it for a good two months to learn. But once you and your partner have mastered the complexities of actually being efficient in jousting, it becomes really boring and stagnant

I think this would be true. If you play anything long enough, it becomes a bit stale. I think it would be fun to try out for a bit.

There are a few other ways to play the game that kind of do the same thing. Here are my two favorite:

GENERICS ONLY

Try playing the game with only Generic ships. No unique pilots, crew, or astromechs. Go ahead and remove Limited, as well. You still have all the crazy upgrades, but the special abilities are gone. There are still lots of cool things to do, but a lot of the nasty stuff is gone, as well. Also....I find it just feels more "Star Warsian". Usually, there are a lot of ships blown up on each side.

LIMITED UNIQUES TO TOURNAMENT

So, this one takes some planning and can be difficult. Basically, there can only be one of each Unique in the whole tournament. You get people who want to play and they sign up. You randomly rank them in order. Starting with the first, they get to pick one unique that they get in their list. Then move to the next one. So....there will only be one Soontir Fel in the entire tournament. There will be only one Biggs. Also, it means that these uniques also get split up. So, the guy with Soontir Fel is also probably not going to get the Emperor in his list, either. It kind of makes for a crazy tournament and unusual lists. I've always wanted to run something like this, but never got around to it.