9 minutes ago, T9FURY said:

Where are you guys getting the info about mines though, the only thing I can in the game is in the mission guide, and it just mentions about detonating them and shooting them. Now I can understand it would be classed as an object but is there a hidden source of info somewhere or was it just a hose rule that came in to play and everyone accepted it?

A lot of the information about bombs is written on reference cards that are included with the ship expansions that have bomb upgrades. If you don't actually own those expansions, you might not have the reference card to tell you what they do. Also, if you look in the Rules Reference, on page 7, under "Bombs", it specifically says "Bombs tokens are not obstacles." https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/40/b4/40b44d5f-7a06-406c-ae6e-183c5297e796/swx36_rulesreference.pdf

Here's the Rules Reference:

https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/40/b4/40b44d5f-7a06-406c-ae6e-183c5297e796/swx36_rulesreference.pdf

Check out the section called "Bombs". Notice it mentioned bombs are not obstacles, etc. In addition to that, there are specific rules cards that come with any pack that includes bombs (aka mines, etc), explaining how that specific bomb is dropped, triggered to go off, and what it does when it goes off. The fandom wiki has a lot of this information as well.

http://xwing-miniatures.wikia.com/wiki/Cluster_Mines

28 minutes ago, T9FURY said:

Anyway, on a less questionable note, I got my first couple of expansions yesterday, an X-Wing and a Tie Fighter. I ordered the vanilla Core rules the other day and should be with me tomorrow. It was bloody hard work trying to find a copy that was not going to cost a lifetime of income :/, I also have a Tie Interceptor on order plus a Tie Advanced, so will have quite a good starter collection, so thumbs up.

You've got enough to play a casual game now, but understand that the early wave ships have suffered from power creep over the years, and "fixes" for those ships are often released in later expansion packs, but aren't put into the original packs the ships came in even after reprints. I believe all the ships you mention are wave 1 & 2.

As such, the Tie Interceptor really needs the Royal Guard TIE title that comes in the Imperial Aces expansion, and the Tie Advanced really needs the TIE/x1 title and Advanced Targeting Computer system upgrade cards that come in the Imperial Raider expansion. If you don't want to buy those expansions that included the fixes (Imperial Aces is certainly worth it, but the Raider is a hard sell if you don't expect to play Epic format games) you can buy the cards individually on eBay. That's what I did for the Tie Advanced fix cards.

20 minutes ago, T9FURY said:

Anyway, on a less questionable note, I got my first couple of expansions yesterday, an X-Wing and a Tie Fighter. I ordered the vanilla Core rules the other day and should be with me tomorrow. It was bloody hard work trying to find a copy that was not going to cost a lifetime of income :/, I also have a Tie Interceptor on order plus a Tie Advanced, so will have quite a good starter collection, so thumbs up.

Always fun to start with the classics A bit of advice while building your collection. Use a site like http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build ... there are several out there. First off it will help you flesh out builds you may want to try. It gives you access to every current upgrade card and pilot. So you could pick a pilot you have, then can quickly see what possible options you can upgrade them with to quickly build a squad without fumbling with the cards and seeing cards your don't yet own. For casual play you don't really NEED the upgrade cards as long as everyone playing is ok with you just using proxy cards. You will need the ships and dials of course and some upgrades, like bombs, you may not be able to proxy without the real deal but for the most part it will let you test fly some stuff before you have the upgrades. Those squad builder sites also will tell you which expansions the upgrades are from, so once you have a squad you like, you can make it tournament legal buy buying the appropriate expansions. It can really open the game up for you without having to break the bank buying every expansion without knowing what they can do for you, and makes it easier to guide you as your collection grows.

15 hours ago, T9FURY said:

It was bloody hard work trying to find a copy that was not going to cost a lifetime of income :/, I also have a Tie Interceptor on order plus a Tie Advanced, so will have quite a good starter collection, so thumbs up.

Just so you know. Nothing in the X-Wing game will ever go out of print, as long as the game is being produced they will keep making all the expansions. So if something is hard to find, it should be back in stock at some point, so don't pay $25+ for a $`15 ship.

Just to flag up a note: T9FURY has the Force Awakens Core Set - when he's talking about "mines", I suspect he's talking about the minefield tokens in the Ambush mission!

Not upgrade card tokens from expansions, like Cluster Mines or Proximity Mines .

The mine tokens in this missions are not obstacles (you are correct that you can move through them at will and with no effect on the game). Flying through them (unlike other 'normal' game mines) will not set them off - their trigger is entirely at the Resistance player's discretion:

Quote

At the end of the Combat phase, the Resistance player may choose to DETONATE one or more mine tokens.

Re console fires and actions

Quote

The first part is easy, but the action part, is that a choice? So I can keep the card and risk getting damage each turn, or I can choose to flip the card over as an action and take the 1 damage? If I choose it as an action does it replace my standard action or can I still perform a standard ship action as well? Or, have I got this totally wrong?

Remember (again) that the card is still a point of damage, even though it's face up. As long as it's face up (fire still burning), there is a chance that you may take additional damage.

The only downside to putting it out is that it uses your action - a ship only gets one action per turn (barring special rules), which can be spent on anything on your action bar (focus, boost, target lock, etc) OR on any upgrade card or damage card which says something along the lines of "ACTION: do XYZ ", which essentially gives you an additional way to spend your action to gain a benefit (or remove a penalty).

So the question is (assuming you aren't unable to perform actions for some reason) "am I more likely to take damage by not having a focus token when I'm shot at, or by taking a single attack die that I'm not allowed to dodge?" (or similar risk-balancing exercise).

I don't think there are any examples in the Force Awakens core set, but see Expert Handling (which you should have received in the X-wing expansion) for an example.

There are ways to get extra actions (look in the rules under "free actions") - Darth Vader gets two actions (which is nice because there's nearly always a way to use that to your advantage, Squad Leader lets you pass your action to someone else, and quite a few upgrades either give you specific free actions (like TIE/v1 ) or let you take free actions at a penalty of some kind (like the ubiquitous Push The Limit ).

Wow, bloomin' eck, loads of info, thanks to everyone who has contributed to this topic, especially all the posts on this page, it has brought a lot of clarity, I won't quote and post a reply to everything so I'll just keep it short.

I forgot to mention about the mines being from the TFA core mission set, but you have answered that for me, so not obstacles

The upgrade (only) cards that are for sale are these just cards the other players don't want or they legitimate cards you can buy from a distributor?

As for my collection I received my Vanilla Core set today, I have been on a fleet builder for the last week so have lots of 100 pts fleets to prep for. I'll be playing my first solo game with upgrades this weekend now that I have a lot of the stuff in my head. I've even started designing a scenario that I need to try out, too much to do in so little time.

Thanks again all, muchly appreciated.

2 hours ago, T9FURY said:

Wow, bloomin' eck, loads of info, thanks to everyone who has contributed to this topic, especially all the posts on this page, it has brought a lot of clarity, I won't quote and post a reply to everything so I'll just keep it short.

I forgot to mention about the mines being from the TFA core mission set, but you have answered that for me, so not obstacles

The upgrade (only) cards that are for sale are these just cards the other players don't want or they legitimate cards you can buy from a distributor?

As for my collection I received my Vanilla Core set today, I have been on a fleet builder for the last week so have lots of 100 pts fleets to prep for. I'll be playing my first solo game with upgrades this weekend now that I have a lot of the stuff in my head. I've even started designing a scenario that I need to try out, too much to do in so little time.

Thanks again all, muchly appreciated.

For the upgrade only cards a lot of ebay re-sellers buy the expansions, then break up the sets and sell the cards individually. Then they sell the ship only without any upgrades. They ultimately make more money than the expansion costs. If you are only looking for a single card from the expansion it can definitely be a better way to go. For example: Many people buy the imperial raider just to get Emperor Palpatine and the Tie Advance upgrades. The Raider retails for $100 and is not usable in normal play. So if you know you'll never use it and only need enough Tie Advance x1 upgrades for 2 ships, you can buy them and Palpatine for about $50. And sometimes they are just cards others don't want. Unique upgrades that come with small ships (like the Illicit Cloaking device, or many of crew members) people will have multiples of these from buying copies of the same ship or getting a promo from a store event. If they can't use them, sometimes they go up on ebay.

Just curious, how are you playing solo? With half the game being a mental chess match of guessing your opponent's maneuver, it doesn't seem possible if you know what both sides are doing. There are squads I would love to test out solo, but I don't think I could get a true feel for them if I knew what my "opponent" were doing in advance. I have seen there are AI scrips of sorts, but they too rely on set rules and would mean I would always know what my opponent was doing before they did it.

On 24/06/2017 at 1:18 AM, xbeaker said:

Just curious, how are you playing solo? With half the game being a mental chess match of guessing your opponent's maneuver, it doesn't seem possible if you know what both sides are doing. There are squads I would love to test out solo, but I don't think I could get a true feel for them if I knew what my "opponent" were doing in advance. I have seen there are AI scrips of sorts, but they too rely on set rules and would mean I would always know what my opponent was doing before they did it.

I actually find it quite easy to play solo, I just just do all the manouvres for all the imperials, blank my mind for a few seconds (which isn't very hard for me), then just go for a manouvre as if I didn't know what the imperials were planning. I used to play a lot of chess against myself as well.

Anyway, I had my first game against a real person Tuesday evening, I got my butt served to me on a platter, lol. I forgot to set up a decent 100 pt force and had to run with what I have been practicing with, 3 Tie Fighters, 2 Tie f/o's and 1 Tie Int, he had 2 IG2000, good game though. So when I got home I went on this fleet build site to see I could get for next time, I thought I wouldn't be able to get anything serious for a while what with all the TT games I am after. I went in to a gaming shop only to buy some card holder folders and ened up buying the Slave 1, VT-49, an A-Wing, Bolt Action Starter pack and nearly forgot what I actually went in for. I need to stay away from shops.

I also picked up Star Trek Attack Wing for £8 from Waterstones :).

1 hour ago, T9FURY said:

I actually find it quite easy to play solo, I just just do all the manouvres for all the imperials, blank my mind for a few seconds (which isn't very hard for me), then just go for a manouvre as if I didn't know what the imperials were planning. I used to play a lot of chess against myself as well.

Anyway, I had my first game against a real person Tuesday evening, I got my butt served to me on a platter, lol. I forgot to set up a decent 100 pt force and had to run with what I have been practicing with, 3 Tie Fighters, 2 Tie f/o's and 1 Tie Int, he had 2 IG2000, good game though. So when I got home I went on this fleet build site to see I could get for next time, I thought I wouldn't be able to get anything serious for a while what with all the TT games I am after. I went in to a gaming shop only to buy some card holder folders and ened up buying the Slave 1, VT-49, an A-Wing, Bolt Action Starter pack and nearly forgot what I actually went in for. I need to stay away from shops.

I also picked up Star Trek Attack Wing for £8 from Waterstones :).

I see. I may try that, but I have too good a sense of "what would I do in that situation." Some of the most fun and most sense moments are when trying to decide if and how someone if going for a block, or if they are going to cut and run to regroup. I don't need to know the actual maneuver if I know the intent. But it may be worth a try.

IG-88's are an interesting squad. You almost can't build them wrong. But flying them can be trickey, I won a game against them because the player was new to them and kept kitting asteroids. Did far more damage to one of his own ships than I did. It can be difficult to stay focused in shops. Seeing all that stuff and wanting it all, I very quickly start doing budgeting math in my head. I swear the accountant in my brain is cooking the books too, always seems to tell me we are ok to pick up another ship or 2.

I've never played Attack Wing, but the few reviews I have heard have not been all that positive. It is apparently very similar to X-wing in play, but you can pick any ship, then all captains and crew within that faction are available. There are a few tweeks like being able to target specific ship systems in an attack. But the general opinion is that I have seen is the 2 games are SO similar there is little reason to play both, and X-wing is the better of them.

On 29/06/2017 at 5:33 PM, xbeaker said:

I see. I may try that, but I have too good a sense of "what would I do in that situation." Some of the most fun and most sense moments are when trying to decide if and how someone if going for a block, or if they are going to cut and run to regroup. I don't need to know the actual maneuver if I know the intent. But it may be worth a try.

IG-88's are an interesting squad. You almost can't build them wrong. But flying them can be trickey, I won a game against them because the player was new to them and kept kitting asteroids. Did far more damage to one of his own ships than I did. It can be difficult to stay focused in shops. Seeing all that stuff and wanting it all, I very quickly start doing budgeting math in my head. I swear the accountant in my brain is cooking the books too, always seems to tell me we are ok to pick up another ship or 2.

I've never played Attack Wing, but the few reviews I have heard have not been all that positive. It is apparently very similar to X-wing in play, but you can pick any ship, then all captains and crew within that faction are available. There are a few tweeks like being able to target specific ship systems in an attack. But the general opinion is that I have seen is the 2 games are SO similar there is little reason to play both, and X-wing is the better of them.

I've had some really good solo games, I think it is actually surprising how random a game can turn out, when I started playing I initially thought I would naturally end up using only half a table because I couldn't be bothered to walk round to the other side, but the amount of times you end up utilizing ALL the playing area is unreal. I've tried different tactics with different ships and upgrades trying to improve builds with my current force, and it ends up so random.

Well after the butt kicking I got the other week I decided to get the IG-2000 expansion simply for the upgrade cards, I will set up squad build with it in but my focus is on my Firespray, but some of the upgrades are bad ***. I've been playing a Firespray / Lambda build lately, I wasn't impressed with the Lambda, but a chap I played said I was playing it too aggressively for a support craft. So I switched a few upgrades and it tried out different tactics and it is sort of ok, not a build I would go into a tourny though.

As for Attack Wing, yes the movement templates are the same, in fact if you never knew who manufacted each game you would think they were made by the same company, the games are still based on points though, it's only the initial training mission where you don't have points. Each ship plus upgrades would be around 40 pts, so in a 100 point battle you might get 2 - 3 ships depending on what upgrades yo choose. My focus is on X-Wing at the minute though, but I had to buy it though, £8 is a real bargain even if I don't play it that often.