My cousin's son turns 11 next month. The kid loves Star Wars, especially the Empire and the First Order. Since I do not have a kid of my own I figure he can be my apprentice.

Hes a smart kid, good grades, does well at video games, and generally smart when you talk with him.

I was thinking about getting him The Force Awakens Core Set for his 11th birthday. His mom (my cousin) thinks him and his father will like it.

Is 11 too young? We are not talking competitive play here, just something that him and pops can do on the kitchen table and potentially collect if he really enjoys it. There are not too many star wars nerds in my family so I feel i need to foster this.

My daughter is 7 and she plays. For almost 3 years now

She gets bored about 30 minutes in, and do some crazy maneuvers sometimes, but 11yo kid should be perfectly fine playing . Good buy IMO, especially if he got an adult to play with.

Depends on the 11 year old, but on balance, no, it's a fine game for an 11 year old. There's a kid about that age who comes to our club nights regularly, and makes a very solid showing when he does. Introduce him to the game, see if he enjoys it, and weep for your wallet if he does.

He'll do fine I'm sure. A friend of mine showed his son how to play when he was 9 years old. He's now 10 and he's a solid player. He even participated in a few tournaments.

my son just turned six and loves playing. we haven't got to squad building yet (i build and give him a few more points) and have started to introduce upgrades and explaining how they work (he loves the VCX and A Wings so turrets and autothrusters mainly)

hes picked it up well and enjoys playing it so an 11 year old with his head screwed on should pick it up nicely.

awesome. yea i wont be funding this addiction that's on my cousin. They live 5 minutes away so I can easily go play. It would make all the holidays easier.

Yes

Also keeps him away from drugs, since he'll never have the money...

My nephew started playing when he was 10 or 11 and he's really into this game. In fact, he posts on here quite frequently. So I'd say 11 is fine.

My eldest is 11 and plays just fine. My middle one is 8 and tends to get bored and wander off after a couple of turns. I normally start them off playing with each other and then take over from my 8YO once he has had enough.

The nice thing about X-Wing is the complexity of the game grows with the maturity of the players. If two players are just playing for fun, it's simple. You just move and shoot. As long as the boy in question is careful enough with the ships, I don't see why X-Wing wouldn't be a great game for an 11 year old.

My 7yo daughter and I play the game with no actions, generic ships, no upgrades... She's actually quite good.

I'd think an 11yo would do just fine.

I've seen 5 year olds do it. Not Manchildren with the metaphorical brain of a 5 year old. But actual, bona fide 5 year olds.

I'm with the majority here, 11 is a good age to start. But buy him the original core and BIGGS!

Saskatoon and Calgary regionals had a youngin in the top 8.... so yea...

My son will be 11 in 3 months. He's been playing since he was 8, and has even been to a few tournaments. The best thing about playing against him? His analytical processes are different that an adults, so what you'd expect him to do, he doesn't always do. It's makes for some unexpected - and fun - encounters and games.

I would imagine, if nothing else, you will end up with an opponent who can play you in ways the adults can't.

Get him the core set.

Kids make the most interesting lists as well.

I taught my son when he was in Kindergarten. He gets the mechanics well and has flown more than one ship with upgrades fine. For him, fatigue sets in after a while when there is a lot on the table. 11 should be fine.

Yes. In my experience 10 years is ideal to start playing this game and some younger kids with some "tabletop training" like chess or Risk can enjoy it also.

Last year a 13 years old "Cadet" whiped me out during LGS play...twice.

My daughter is 3 and nowhere near ready for X-Wing (although she likes the Star Wars imagery). But a game I frequently play with her is Rabbit Rally, which is produced by German company Haba. This game is actually a good preparattion for X-Wing. It involves putting playing pieces on the table at an estimated distance, and then using a template to see how close you were. If you take it further, you can even block an opponent's moves. Good fun.

8 is a good Xwing basic age as long as they can treat the plastic with care, handle dice ebb and flow, and you spend lots of time teaching them to play. 11 shouldn't be a problem with all that in mind.

Depends on the kid.

My oldest, 7, cannot get enough of X-wing. He's been to two store kits and finished 2/13 and 20/25(26 later in the day), he finished middle of the pack at an evening tournament too, but that started after his usual bedtime, so we weren't even expecting him to play through 3 games... His biggest issue so far landing the first bye randomly, which happened twice, being "off" for the first match screws him up.

He's been playing for over a year now. He has good and bad days, but he's learning so much at school and otherwise that X-wing is just a fun game to play. He also took part in the Bytown Smugglers League and finished middle of the pack, getting me as his 8th opponent was far from ideal though, I know his tricks too well. Some players find

My second, 5, is a monster at the game, but doesn't enjoy the combat aspect of it. He pulls the most incredibly mind-bending perfect moves without seemingly thinking about them though. He likes to play the mario kart version with us.

The youngest, 3, wants to play, but it's clearly still beyond him at this point.

One of the best local players has 2 sons, around 12-13, and in his experience, they don't have it in them to play a whole game, so he's flabbergasted that my oldest can do it, for a whole day, and do it well.

So, again, it depends on the kid as to whether they have it in them, or will even enjoy it at all.

Its a great game if they have people to play with that are not jerks. If nothing else he will look at the ships and fly them around shouting PEW PEW PEW. Most 30 somethings I know that play X-wing fly ships around shouting PEW PEW PEW.

IF you are going to play STAR WARS X-WING... it will be wonderful and he will have a great time.

Just stay a million miles away from Meta-Snargling Ace Wing... DAT... AIN'T STAR WARS!

20 hours ago, Ob3ron said:

I'm with the majority here, 11 is a good age to start. But buy him the original core and BIGGS!

He loves the First Order. I would expect his first purchase to be an Upsilon when he starts looking into it more.

Thanks for the all the feedback I am def going to do it. I think its something both him and his father will enjoy and I can probably get a few games in too and see family more.