My wife and are are totally new to miniature games. We purchased the 2.0 starter set, and are playing the suggested Escalation set-up. We mostly just spin around each other, or flip to joust, and then shoot. But the vast majority of shots do not land. With focus and evade, defense rules. It takes forever to get to the reinforcements. I'm ok with it, but my wife is bored. If my wife is bored, I can't justify pouring money into this.

How does the game pace change with more ships? Do shots do damage more often? Are we maybe doing something wrong?

I'm guessing you two aren't playing correctly. One of the great things about the new rules set is that damage goes through much easier than in 1.0. Do you have a friendly local game store with an X-Wing night you can stop by and watch some games, and maybe pick up what you're doing wrong? That's going to be the easiest way to find out what you may be doing wrong.

The community is one of the best parts of the game, and at least most places I've seen are usually willing to answer any questions new players may have.

Can't imagine playing with less than 200 points of ships. Such a slog, otherwise!

for pacing, generally if you got one ship in your opponent's killzone where they can just Swiss cheese you with their entire squad, it's generally a dead ship.

exceptiins exist of course, especially at range 3. Luke is actually especially good at surviving concetrated fire because his ability keeps refreshing his focus for defense

27 minutes ago, TheSapient said:

My wife and are are totally new to miniature games. We purchased the 2.0 starter set, and are playing the suggested Escalation set-up. We mostly just spin around each other, or flip to joust, and then shoot. But the vast majority of shots do not land. With focus and evade, defense rules. It takes forever to get to the reinforcements. I'm ok with it, but my wife is bored. If my wife is bored, I can't justify pouring money into this.

How does the game pace change with more ships? Do shots do damage more often? Are we maybe doing something wrong?

Just a couple things to make sure you're doing everything right:

1) Most tokens (including Focus, Lock, and Evade tokens) must be spent to have an effect. If you use an evade token to defend the first shot, the token goes away and you don't have it for the second shot.

2) Focus tokens can be spent on offense as well as defense.

3) Focus and evade tokens are round, so they go away at the end of each round. Lock tokens do not go away until they are spent. If no one is going to shoot at you, it's usually a good idea to take a Lock action, because if you don't spend it you'll still have it the next round.

4) Ships only get one action per turn, unless an ability gives them an additional action. If you're playing starter games with basic X-wings and TIE fighters, ships should never have multiple focus or evade tokens, or both focus and evade. Additionally, even when granted extra actions, a ship can never perform the same action (such as Focus) twice in a single round.

5) Dice variance can swing wildly in this game. Statistically, red attack dice will succeed somewhat more often than green defense dice. If you're doing everything right and still can't seem to push your attacks through, it's possible that your green dice are simply having a lucky streak.

Hope this helps!

I......guess the defense dice are just over-performing. After maybe 6 passes, the X-Wing's 2 shields are gone, and two target locks are in place. Hopefully things will pick up when we get back to the game.

Thanks for the replies. It gives me hope. I really want to play and enjoy this game over the long haul.

1 minute ago, TheSapient said:

I......guess the defense dice are just over-performing. After maybe 6 passes, the X-Wing's 2 shields are gone, and two target locks are in place. Hopefully things will pick up when we get back to the game.

Thanks for the replies. It gives me hope. I really want to play and enjoy this game over the long haul.

Quick question: how are there two target locks in place? The X-Wing can only hold one at a time (without an R-3 Droid) and TIE fighters can't take locks. Also is the X-Wing not spending locks for Re-rolls?

If you are doing all of this correctly then carry on, and for a fuller experience you might want to invest in a 2nd X-Wing and a TIE Advanced for a more full game.

If you only have a few ships on the board then it can take a while to get damage through. I had this problem as well when playing with just the core set.

If you have some favourite ships you want to try (like b-wings or the TIE advanced) then adding those to your collection would go a long way - the game becomes much more interesting with larger squads, and works best with 200pt squads. More ships on the board means that you can have lots of ships shooting a single enemy ship, and that kills things very quickly. If you are able to borrow any ships to try a larger match maybe do that

The game does often take about 75 minutes to resolve fully for a 200pt list (75 mins is the length of a tournament game). Games can be decided earlier if one player gains a decisive lead, but close games can come down to just one or two ships chasing one another and can take a while to close out. If your wife doesn't enjoy that, the game may not be for her.

The game comes alive with more ships. I know you might not be inclined to buy more stuff if you're not really feeling the game, but 200 point lists going at it are where it's at. I enjoy escalation games but they take all afternoon to complete.

9 minutes ago, TheSapient said:

Thanks  for the replies. It gives me hope. I really want to play and enjoy this game over the long haul.

I’ll echo the sentiment that finding other passionate and experienced players will help shed some light on the subtleties. Getting out to play is great when you can!

Another admittedly more unexpected possibility is that you may have some funky dice. I don’t have the link handy but a clever fellow recently did a detailed analysis of X-Wing dice and found that some rolled less than random results. Adding a few more dice to your pool might help dilute this effect if it’s happening.

Beyond that, I do feel that X-Wing suffers a bit when you’re only able to play very small games with a fixed couple of ships. There’s a huge and wonderful variety of ships out there, with pilots and upgrades galore—and it frankly sucks a bit when all you see on either side of the board is two Academy Ties and a generic X-wing! This is where getting some exposure to other players and their lists (and their collections) can help you get a sense of what you might like to add to fit your playstyle (which you probably don’t even have a great sense of yet). Or, just scan Ebay/Amazon/the trade thread for relatively inexpensive options in the faction that inspires you the most.

Because ultimately, I think that’s a very important aspect of the game: what part of the sprawling Star Wars mythos really inspires you and your wife the most? Those are the ships that you’ll probably enjoy flying a bunch, at least until you build more specific tastes and preferences around playstyle. But even then, the love-aspect is important to hold onto!

42 minutes ago, Dr Moneypants said:

Quick question: how are there two target locks in place? The X-Wing can only hold one at a time (without an R-3 Droid) and TIE fighters can't take locks. Also is the X-Wing not spending locks for Re-rolls?

If you are doing all of this correctly then carry on, and for a fuller experience you might want to invest in a 2nd X-Wing and a TIE Advanced for a more full game.

As you say, the R3 astromech allows for two locks. It is part of the Blue Squadren Escort quick build.

It’s the Tie Fighters. It takes forever to kill them with a single X-wing. I had this same experience with a new player once and hadn’t realized it because I’d only ever played full games. The Ties three green dice and evade make them a pain to chip away at. With three or four ships, they pop much easier.

My best advice is buy more! Seriously though. Look at the seven factions and try and pick two you like and get a few ships in each until you can run a full match. You’ll get a much better feel for the game this way when you joust each other and ships are actually blowing up.

47 minutes ago, dadocollin said:

It’s the Tie Fighters. It takes forever to kill them with a single X-wing. I had this same experience with a new player once and hadn’t realized it because I’d only ever played full games. The Ties three green dice and evade make them a pain to chip away at. With three or four ships, they pop much easier.

My best advice is buy more! Seriously though.

I'll echo this sentiment, but actually recommend a second core set. It might seem silly, but honestly, you won't regret the extra dice and each of you having movement templates.

Then you'll have 2 Xs vs 4 TIEs. And, in truth, one of the most cost effective ways to boost your ship count.

59 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

I'll echo this sentiment, but actually recommend a second core set. It might seem silly, but honestly, you won't regret the extra dice and each of you having movement templates.

Then you'll have 2 Xs vs 4 TIEs. And, in truth, one of the most cost effective ways to boost your ship count.

You’ll also get more shield/charge tokens! If you decide to go with another faction (or stick with Rebel and/or Empire) I would suggest buying the expansion pack for that faction. It comes with almost all of the pilots that you’d want to fly (like Wedge in the X-Wing or Howlrunner in the Tie). Then if you want to fly any other ship in the faction, you can usually find the 1.0 version of the ships on amazon/ebay for a good price. I spent a ton of money buying the individual 2.0 ship packs before I bought the expansion packs...

Until you get more ships, asume Ties have only 1 Hull and the XWing 2 Hull and 1 shield.

Have fun!

2 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

I'll echo this sentiment, but actually recommend a second core set. It might seem silly, but honestly, you won't regret the extra dice and each of you having movement templates.

Then you'll have 2 Xs vs 4 TIEs. And, in truth, one of the most cost effective ways to boost your ship count.

I’ll give this a hearty “me too,” especially considering that your situation isn’t one new player but two . Both of you having a set of the core components will reduce how much you have to step on each other’s toes while you play. Plus, then at least the poor Rebel player gets to have a second ship! And overall, you should see more stuff blowing up through focus fire (and clearer motivation to maneuver ships in concert to achieve focus fire).

1 hour ago, pakirby said:

I spent    a ton of money buying the individual 2.0 ship packs before I  bought the expansion packs...

I think you mean the conversion kits. And yeah, as long as you’re willing/able to dig around some to find first edition models, I agree that the conversion kits will help give your budding collection a tremendous shot in the arm. But you need those 1.0 ships to make it worthwhile.

In fact, if you guys both like Rebels and don’t mind playing Rebel vs. Rebel, you might even be able to get by for a while with just the Rebel conversion kit, because Rebels have their own version of the TIE Fighter!

Thanks for all the advice. We ended up killing or first game after destroying 2 Ties and an X Wing. It just takes too long for the for box Escalation game to get anywhere.

If we decide to invest, I think we'll get a second core box, and stick with 2.0 expansions (unless some 1.0 collection shows up on Craigslist). With the Rebel Falcoln about to be released, I suspect my wife would be happy. And I'll just play the Empire with some Tie interceptors and one or two other ships. Scum is what really attracts me, but if I already have 4 Ties.....

26 minutes ago, TheSapient said:

Tie   interceptor  s 

I suspect you’ll end up wanting a TIE Striker rather than an Interceptor if you’re looking for that kind of zippy/killy ship. It’s just got more tricks up its sleeve. It has more health behind slightly less agility—probably not a bad tradeoff given its strong pilot abilities. And the Adaptive Ailerons make it faster than its dial suggests, as well as harder to predict.

I know; you’d think you want the Interceptor. But it’s like in the Stonecutters episode of The Simpsons where Homer learns that instead of calling 91 1 for help in an emergency, the real number you want is 91 2.

2 hours ago, TheSapient said:

If we decide to invest, I think we'll get a second core box, and stick with 2.0 expansions (unless some 1.0 collection shows up on Craigslist). With the Rebel Falcoln about to be released, I suspect my wife would be happy.

Buying 2.0 expansions is a good approach, I wouldn't bother trying to buy a conversion kit and a bunch of 1.0 ships to go with it in your position.

I recommend buying ships you like the most, as you'll get the most fun from flying your favourite ships. I'd probably buy some different ships before buying another core, though.

For yourself, a TIE striker will scratch the itch of a fast evasive ship until the interceptor is released for 2.0. I don't know if I'd go as far as @CoffeeMinion and say the striker is strictly superior, but it's a lot of fun. I also personally love Vader in the TIE/x1, but it's a bit less zippy (like vader himself).

For your wife, a rebel falcon is a great call. Luke and Han together is a strong squad, and this lets you both build decent 200pt squads.

3 hours ago, CoffeeMinion said:

I suspect you’ll end up wanting a TIE Striker rather than an Interceptor if you’re looking for that kind of zippy/killy ship. It’s just got more tricks up its sleeve. It has more health behind slightly less agility—probably not a bad tradeoff given its strong pilot abilities. And the Adaptive Ailerons make it faster than its dial suggests, as well as harder to predict.

I know; you’d think you want the Interceptor. But it’s like in the Stonecutters episode of The Simpsons where Homer learns that instead of calling 91 1 for help in an emergency, the real number you want is 91 2.

strikers are super fast. I flew mine off the board today...I shouldn’t have aileron’d it, LOL!

so if you don’t want a conversion kit, you could spend $60 and get a tie expansion, T-65 expansion & a B-wing. That would give you an extra x, a new b & a tie. Still probably won’t be able to field 200 points on either faction though, but you aren’t interested in competing anyways...

I find it interesting that no one else has suggested this but you could always just.... not play the escalation rules?

Have you tried running an approximately point balanced game using named pilots and upgrades? Admittedly, the included TIE pilots kinda suck if you want an aggressive, fast paced game (they really should have kept Mauler Mithel in the core set), but I'm sure you'll find things go way faster if you run Luke, or Jek with Proton Torpedoes.

Luke with R4 Astromech (and Servomotor S-foils, but assume they're always on X-Wings) vs Valen Rudor with Outmaneuver and Night Beast with Afterburners is roughly equal in points, and should give more effective attack dice while also giving you some much more fun tricks.

Jek Porkins with Elusive, R5 Astromech and Proton Torpedoes is exactly the same cost as the TIEs above and again should give you a lot of punch, especially as Jek can remove the stress from a tallon roll or k-turn and still get a lock to shoot those torps.

I see the sense in what others are saying by getting a second core set - the extra dice and damage deck will be really useful (though tbh I've never had a problem sharing a set of templates between two) - but I think the big problem is that the included TIE pilots in the core set are boring.

Iden Versio is a great competitive pilot, but if you're just looking for quick games with lots of kills, she's the absolute worst choice. Getting the TIE Fighter expansion would immediately get you access to much better pilots like Howlrunner, Gideon Hask and Wampa.

The same goes for the X-Wing as well, to a point. Wedge Antilles is a super killy little ship who loves nothing more than to burn through low health, normally high agility ships.

There's also Saw's Renegades, which I notice no one has mentioned, as a slightly more economical way to fill out a Rebel list. Saw's Renegades gets you a U-Wing and additional X-Wing, which should easily be enough to run a full 200 point list with the core set X-Wing. And it has some pretty useful or fun pilots in it like Magva Yarro, Edrio and Benthic Two Tubes and Kullbee Sperado.

A second core set won't be enough to fill out a list. For either faction, you'd still be looking at half to two thirds of a list depending on whether you go for cheap or expensive pilots. You'd probably want at least one more expansion for each faction anyway, at which point my advice would just be to suck it up and get a TIE Advanced, a T-65 X-Wing, a Y-Wing and two TIE Fighters. Three expansions is only slightly more than a core set, and this way you get vastly more variety in pilots and tricks to bring to the table. After that, I'd look at TIE Strikers and the Millennium Falcon.

On 7/4/2019 at 11:29 PM, TheSapient said:

Scum is what really attracts me, but if I already have 4 Ties.....

Eh, if you are just goofing around with stuff at home, go scum and play them as Mining Guild TIEs. The dial might be off, but who cares. Paint 'em yellow if you must.

As for what @GuacCousteau mentioned about access to pilots, use an online listbuilder. Then you have access to every card in the game right now, regardless of whether it's in a core set or not.

We went out to pick up another core set. Lost control.

I can confirm that games work better now, even if neither of us can help running into obstructions, each other, and our own ships far too frequently. We also frequently forget to use all of our upgrades to the fullest.

I kind of love the Decimator. The Falcon has been getting creamed (or is rolling poorly).

1 minute ago, TheSapient said:

We went out to pick up another core set. Lost control.

LOL.

I was going to append my post that you don't need to buy a bunch of expacs just to get cards.

Nevermind. Welcome to the addiction.

Sticking with Imperials, I see. Good man. We don't need their kind of scum. 😉

The love doctor is in.

The problem, of course, is that you are trying to play X-Wing with your wife when you should be playing Sex-Wing with her. This is an opportunity to strengthen your relationship on many levels, but you have to make the most of it.

First off, replace the lightbulbs over the kitchen table with red ones, and then dim the lights. If you don’t have a dimmer then just remove some of the bulbs. If in a jam Christmas lights will do just as long as they are not blinky.

Nex t, music should be playing in the background. You should know your wife well enough to know what works, but you should definitely include You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-m9uG50mSw&feature=youtu.be

Cologne . The GOOD stuff: Sex Panther. ( https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Panther-Cologne-Spray-Men/dp/B002R0GN9S )

Your outfit should be reasonably seductive. Show some skin, especially if you are hairy.

Lastly , you must repeatedly demonstrate what we in the X-Wing community call “The Power Stance.” Rest one foot on a chair, the other on the ground. This stance is used by X-Wing players to intimidate and demonstrate power over our opponents, but in this situation it is extreme seduction. While some women may call this another form of “manspreading,” the truth is women want to be manhandled and that’s what you are suggesting when using “The Power Stance.”

Actually……

My wife hated X-Wing, but eventually I got her to play and now she even go to tournaments regularly with me. Here’s my REAL thoughts on how to get her to play this game and how you both can enjoy it, in order of importance:

1: FOCUS ON OFFENSE. The first list I gave my wife was 1.0 Miranda/Dash - it shot at stuff and stuff went * BOOM *. Put Wedge and Luke out there with some Proton Torpedoes on them! You need to learn what it’s like when stuff just gets erased off the board in the blink of an eye. Why? Because everything interesting in life involves PRIMAL urges - and the desire to NOT DIE is the strongest one!

2: 75 MINUTES. Play with the official 75 minute time limit. This is ignored by SO MANY in casual play, but it is such a great part of this game. It creates a certain level of intensity that gives more meaning to every minute and turn of the game as you both keep an eye on the clock while playing. Otherwise, game WILL drag on. This one part of the game is what can make a defensive game STILL be fun.

3: 200 points. You need to play with 200 point squads or you (sorry) aren’t really playing X-Wing as it’s meant to be. If you’re going 1 X-Wing against 2 TIE fighters, where is the danger of being out-maneuvered? Who cares if you wind up in a bad spot and the other person’s entire squad is shooting at you if the entire squad only rolls a total of 4 dice? If there isn’t any danger then what’s the point? You know what’s scary? (and you need to be scared to love this game) Having 8 red dice being rolled against your ship that has two hull left!

4: Lastly, variety. This is way last on the list, like it barely made it. Mrs Rick is happy to play the same list over and over again, so long as she crushes her enemies, sees them scattered before her, and hears the lamentation of their dice. But some people (like me) want to put lots of different things on the table and think that 4 X-Wings by themselves look boring.

That’s it, have fun.