This came up as a discussion at our FLGS this past week. In going over some of the finer points of the rules with some new players, some of us "older" players realized that there's a great imbalance with in-depth rules knowledge of X-Wing. It seems to stem from those players who've read the Learn to Play guide, the Rules Reference Guide, and go over the FAQ when it get updated. But then there's the players that only know the rules by word of mouth, having never really read the rules other than at a cursory glance. What's common in your area? I'd presume a mix like we have. Do you actively encourage new players to sit down and read the LTP and RRG after teaching them the basic? Or do you encourage them to do it before you teach?

I taught myself (poorly). Biggest two things I did wrong initially were splitting up my ships to cover as much spread as possible, and not ever focus firing. For some reason I thought the game was meant to be more about dogfighting where it's 1 vs 1, not everyone gang up on one ship.

Then to make matters worse several of my first few games were on vassal, mostly against top players in the world. I got beat so bad almost gave up the game right there. Luckily I stuck it out.

I'm an odd duck. I love reading rule books. When I get a new toy (especially those old video games for Nintendo and Gameboy) I would open the package and dive into the instructions. It heightened the anticipation, and made actually playing a much more enjoyable experience. I definitely did this with X-wing. I think I read the instruction manual three times during the first week that I had it. And for that first month, I know I perused the rules after just about every game I played.

The only reason I like teaching by word of mouth better is that I can add tips and tactics to bring new players up to speed quicker.

Played the Learn to Play rules from the core set, watched the FFG videos. Watched some other videos. Played a bunch with my son and my friend. Eventually we went to the FLGS and entered into Store Championships. My friend played against Paul Heaver. I played against some other big shot NOVA squadron dudes. We had fun.

I read every bit of information I could get my hands on before release, and devoured the rulebook's PDF as soon as it was available on the FFG website.

Then on release day, I went and bought two of the first core set.

When it came out, I bought the game and took it to my local club. There we chased the senator's shuttle three times in a row.

I complained about something that wasn't fun and my greasy ******* of an opponent told me to just git gud.

I was on the cusp of quitting and selling my stuff, but man did that solid bit of advice invigorate my interest in the game. Without that welcoming, constructive criticism, I would have just given up.

@BlodVargarna

Started by playing a couple of casual games with my friends at Christmas over beers and pizza. Not even 100/6, just skim-the-rules-and-throw-some-ships-of-roughly-equal-points-on-the-board-and-see-what-happens. Great fun.

Then we bought a few more expansions, put together some 100 point lists and played a few more games over beers. More fun.

Then we went to a local store championships and found out everything we were doing wrong. Amazing.

Then we bought two of everything, and haven't looked back since.

Overall the players around here a well informed. There's a couple that don't think some cards play as they do. And occasionally we get a player or two that don't read the whole card. Like using a pre-nerf Palpatine to alter your opponent's dice roll.

I think think the best faux pas was when one player mistook the system upgrade symbol for the cannon symbol and put a Mangler on Corran Horn. His opponent never caught it. We had a good laugh at that. They are similar in appearance but point in opposite directions.

On the whole the player base is mostly older guys with more patience to sit and read the relevant info.

I learned the game from a group of friends that had been playing for a while a format like : 2vs2 100/6 games (so 200 points per side), with some home rules on bumping (the figurine is what counts, not the base), and very 3D asteroids (that ships crash into).

After about 2 games playing with their ships, I got myself some scums and a starter, read the rules thoroughly and figured out where they were wrong and what they forgot. Then the internet explained to me some details and stuff so now I feel ready to play outside of this group or in tournament settings ^^

I learn by playing through with a few friends, none of us had really played it before (A friend picked up the core set after trying in a convention somewhere). Took us a few play throughs and rereading of the rules to figure it all out (We were still making mistakes 18 months after owning it). We only really got all the rules figured out after one of us starting entering official tournaments.

The forums have been a big help with settling some of our arguments as well, usually around our interpretations of upgrade cards.

I've been playing for about 2 years now, still can't remember how asteroid and debris work

I watche this video and looked at the rules on my kitchen table, I went on to play terrible and have people correct me for a year afterwards :-)

trial an error in a basically 1:1 ratio

for years

2 hours ago, Stoneface said:

Overall the players around here a well informed. There's a couple that don't think some cards play as they do. And occasionally we get a player or two that don't read the whole card. Like using a pre-nerf Palpatine to alter your opponent's dice roll.

I think think the best faux pas was when one player mistook the system upgrade symbol for the cannon symbol and put a Mangler on Corran Horn. His opponent never caught it. We had a good laugh at that. They are similar in appearance but point in opposite directions.

On the whole the player base is mostly older guys with more patience to sit and read the relevant info.

There is a store that whenever I judge there, I have to check all the lists or else K4 Security Droid will be on Miranda or there will be missiles on a Jumpmaster or I'll get asked, "How do I drop this bomb" and the ship he's trying to drop it from is a Jumpmaster pre-Cad Bane.

I don't think they have bad eyesight, and I don't think that they're cheating because they're very, very bad at the game, so I don't understand what the **** is going on.

Do they just not read the cards? Do they just not even look at the upgrade bar on a ship?

I turned up at a charity tournament in Hull called Nerf Herder, never having played anything other that the intro scenario in the book and played my first 6 games.

I read everything and watched the videos until I thought I grasped it. Then taught the gf how to fly ships against me based on that knowledge. Then I went to a game store for the first time and learned there was a much larger world of x-wing with faqs and forums and those that give no faqs.

My brother taught me how to play. Then I read the rules and figured out how the game was actually played.

I've read the rules every time a question came up. Probably read most of them by now, but never just sat down to read them all at once.

10 hours ago, Parakitor said:

I'm an odd duck. I love reading rule books. When I get a new toy (especially those old video games for Nintendo and Gameboy) I would open the package and dive into the instructions. It heightened the anticipation, and made actually playing a much more enjoyable experience. I definitely did this with X-wing. I think I read the instruction manual three times during the first week that I had it. And for that first month, I know I perused the rules after just about every game I played.

The only reason I like teaching by word of mouth better is that I can add tips and tactics to bring new players up to speed quicker.

I fully understand this outlook. Love rules. It's why I have a huge collection of DnD and other RPG books yet can count the actual games I've played on one hand. The downside is I always have to be the 'rules explainer' to my friends which puts me off actually playing.

TIE fighters. Lots of them.

I initially only had 5 TIEs (since i had starter + split starter + standalone at first) so i filled the gap with TIE/fos. Only able to get up to 7 since tie/fos cost a fair bit extra but the whole point was learning how the maneuvers work. I was used to judging distances in inches, this game doesnt use inches it uses fixed distances. My entire intent was just "dont hit anything" rather than win, also practice formation flying. Im at the point now where i rarely misjudge a distance, and if i do it even rarer still shafts me in the end.

An MAN is that important. I've freaked out my opponent when i reveal a 4k/5k facing the board several times and i end up like 1/2 an inch or less from the edge lol.

2 hours ago, SaltMaster 5000 said:

There is a store that whenever I judge there, I have to check all the lists or else K4 Security Droid will be on Miranda or there will be missiles on a Jumpmaster or I'll get asked, "How do I drop this bomb" and the ship he's trying to drop it from is a Jumpmaster pre-Cad Bane.

I don't think they have bad eyesight, and I don't think that they're cheating because they're very, very bad at the game, so I don't understand what the **** is going on.

Do they just not read the cards? Do they just not even look at the upgrade bar on a ship?o

They read most of the card. They then think they understand how it functions. Then the hilarity begins. Followed by the arguments

I think part of the problem is that some new players are just really fired up to fly star ships. They lack patience. And focus. You can see that in some of the threads where guys are dropping out because the game has gotten too complicated. The basic game is unchanged it just has many new variables. It takes a bit of focus to sit down with the RRG or the FAQ to read and understand what's going on.

... Still trying.

i laugh every time i see the "The game is too complicated" bit. Dude this game is still simple as **** compared to ANY other tabletop game. Even Armada is oddly complex, just in a different manner.

12 hours ago, Parakitor said:

I'm an odd duck. I love reading rule books. When I get a new toy (especially those old video games for Nintendo and Gameboy) I would open the package and dive into the instructions. It heightened the anticipation, and made actually playing a much more enjoyable experience. I definitely did this with X-wing. I think I read the instruction manual three times during the first week that I had it. And for that first month, I know I perused the rules after just about every game I played.

The only reason I like teaching by word of mouth better is that I can add tips and tactics to bring new players up to speed quicker.

Add another rule book duck to the queue. I did watch a few online tutorial videos, too, just so I could feel like a Millennial. Then I joined to boards to really try to hone my knowledge and quickly realized that no such thing would ever happen here.

Being a rule-book-reader, I also function as a walking GURPS encyclopedia.

Played the intro and liked it. Bought some ships and a started to play a few months later (adult gamers having free time... bleh). Having faced only top-tier Scum lists and the LGS employee (who has a photographic memory an penchant for breaking games) flying his Imperial list... I now fly extremely well. Which is good, because I can fly the dorkiest of lists now and still do well.