Hello, I have an idea for how to play casual X-Wing that I think might be fun but don't have time to try myself (I'm still trying to fly each of my ships at least once). So instead I will run it by all of you and see what you think. I have yet to see anyone suggest playing like this but if they have than hopefully someone can tell me if it was fun or not. Also if anyone wants to try this and let me know if it adds a fun element to the game that would be awesome. So here is my concept:

In Blind X-Wing you don't know what you are up against until it hits you. All cards would be face down until they are in use. This would add a layer of bluffing to the game and may make ships that see less play more useful. There are also a few other changes to encourage bluffing. An example of how the game would play out would be something like this:

Both players make squads up to 100 points but does not reveal the ships or the pilots.

Players declare their point amounts. A player may mention any point amount between 100 and their actual point value. So if one player has 98 points they can say 98, 99 or 100.

When initiative is established they put down asteroids as usual.

For placing ships the player with initiative puts down his 1st pilot skill 1 ship and reveals the pilot (if veteran instincts is used it is to be revealed as well though this wouldn't happen for Pilot Skill 1). If the player doesn't have any pilot skill 1 ships the player can either pass or place a higher Pilot instead if the player chooses. Then the opponent does the same thing and they go back and forth until they are done placing pilot skill 1 ships or ships they wish to place early. When a player passes they cannot place another ship until placing the next pilot skill. If hyperwave com scanner is used it needs to be revealed when it comes into play. If used for 0 pilot skill then it has to be mentioned before the pilot skill 1 ships are placed. This continues until all Pilot skills are placed and all pilots revealed.

Then you play as usual but don't reveal upgrades until they come into play. This can make bluffing a bigger part of the game as you could be flying a y-wing with a mystery turret that your opponent assumes is a twin laser turret but is actually an autoblaster turret. He flies into range one and instead of being in the donut he is in range for unblockable hits.

I think this would be fun and would encourage weirder lists as bringing the same thing as everyone else will make you very predictable.

We've played with hidden cards before, but the only downside was that with our cards facedown, I forgot to use half of my upgrades. Haha! It was fun, and very thematic, since as a pilot you would not know who was flying the enemy ship or how they are kitted out.

3 minutes ago, Piscopas said:

We've played with hidden cards before, but the only downside was that with our cards facedown, I forgot to use half of my upgrades. Haha! It was fun, and very thematic, since as a pilot you would not know who was flying the enemy ship or how they are kitted out.

Yeah, I was worried the face down upgrades would cause that problem. The main idea came from trying to have it be more thematic. In Star Wars they don't show up and see that the enemy has Vader in a Tie Advance with Advanced Targeting Computer. Instead he comes from behind and mucks things up. If there was a way to hide pilots that would make it even more awesome but that would require custom parts and probably custom cards as anyone would be able to figure out who the hidden Pilot Skill 9 pilot is. Maybe blind escalation would solve that problem.

If you had a way of standing the cards up so you could see them, but your opponent couldn't or something like a DM screen that might work. We didn't bother hiding the PS of the pilots. We just made the player with initiative deploy all of his ships first and revealed the pilots the first time they used their pilot ability.

Hmm, the DM screen is a good idea. Maybe instead of having the cards face down and then flipped up you just never show them ever. It would rely entirely on honesty but it would be like poker. Also if the opponent sees nothing of what you have then they don't even know if you have upgrades equipped or not. Certain upgrades are really obvious (like titles) and not being able to even see how many upgrades the opponent has would make it more challenging and more thematic.

This idea has been suggested dozens of times over the years. I've yet to hear of anyone who has actually played it and enjoyed it enough to make it something they do regularly. I could definitely imagine an alternate universe in which X-Wing was designed around this kind of hidden information and is a very fun, albeit different game. Alas, this universe is not that one.

29 minutes ago, EdgeOfDreams said:

This idea has been suggested dozens of times over the years. I've yet to hear of anyone who has actually played it and enjoyed it enough to make it something they do regularly. I could definitely imagine an alternate universe in which X-Wing was designed around this kind of hidden information and is a very fun, albeit different game. Alas, this universe is not that one.

I figured it wasn't an original idea by any means but wanted to know the problems people might have encountered or if it was any fun or not. Already I have thought of ways to refine my method thanks to the replies I have so far.

It was fun when we did it, and I would do it again, with the tweaks I suggested above. It certainly changes the game up, when you don't know on the first pass who or what you're up against.

Start with the cards face down and as you use abilities those cards get flipped face up.

Nevermind, I didn't read through the entire OP. LOL!

It's a fun format. I've played it a few times. My opponent finding out that Corran has advanced sensors and engine after you've supposedly got him pinned down is pretty fun.

Use Scrabble tile holders to hold your cards up but hidden from your opponent until they're revealed?

For what it's worth, this is how I run my Heroes of the Aturi Cluster stuff. I'm the "game master" and don't reveal anything about the equipment of the Imperial forces until it's necessary. It was fun the first time we had an elite that was PS 10. The players kept saying, "okay, it's your turn to move." Me: "Nope, not yet."

2 hours ago, Piscopas said:

If you had a way of standing the cards up so you could see them, but your opponent couldn't or something like a DM screen that might work. We didn't bother hiding the PS of the pilots. We just made the player with initiative deploy all of his ships first and revealed the pilots the first time they used their pilot ability.

One of these:

I've seen those...Not really my thing though.