We have expansion packs, folks! I'm totally excited. I think I'm dropping LotR this instant. These look so awesome! And Y-wings got long range after all!

[squeeling with delight] I can't believe there's finally an update!!!! I am so stoked about the pilots -- like Salm for the Y-wing and Maarek Steele for the TIE advanced!

This is the perfect avenue to finally see Green Squadron fleshed out (outside of my own Saga RPG fan creation). As soon as the A-Wing expansions release, I'm in. Hopefully Hasbro, whose the only ones that release the actual green variant A-Wing in their toys (LEGO also released a green A-Wing in it's Home One set for Toys R Us).

I love the polish the graphic designers gave the components. It really looks like top-quality stuff. I hope it plays that way as well.

And hey, now we know what the modern myth site was referring to when it said the core will be released with X-wing, TIE Fighter, Y-Wing, and TIE Advanced. It meant they're released together, not part of the core set. So what they said was true, from a certain point of view.

The minis look great. I seriously want a Slave-1 and Falcon. A B-wing, too. It's nice to hear more about the game.

It's still listed as being "at the factory" but I imagine it may be on its way soon because of the update.

Absolutely cannot wait for this. It's been waaay too long since I've had a quality Star Wars games top lay. Couldn't be happier that Fantasy Flight has the license for Star Wars games. Amped!

sepayne7l said:

Yeah, I think it's gonna be coming along soon. I'm estimating early January. These previews seemed to have an extensive list of other updates to look forward to. If they give us one update a week till the release, we could see between 7 - 12 updates, I'm thinking. Lists of updates could include squad-building, game mechanics, in-depth looks at each fighter and the pilots it comes with and strategy discussions. I just hope that they keep the momentum now that they've got back into it.

EDIT: And I totally agree about the Slave I and the Falcon. I wonder if we'll see Boba Fett, Bossk, and Dengar in the Slave I and Chewbacca, Han, and Lando in the Falcon.

Budgernaut, did you mean early June (instead of January)?

So, do my eyes deceive me, or are those fighters on variable altitude stands? For me, it's slightly intimidating, but I've never played a game that involves variable altitude, so I'm willing to give it a try.

Well, I'll be... I'm excited again! I'm such a pushover.

$15 a ship still seems pretty insane, but these models look good (though something seems a little off on the TIE Advanced to me, but that's a nitpick). This has the looks of a quality game, and I'm a sucker for bits and bobs (custom dice - EEEEEEE!!!!!). As long as they keep the previews coming, so that we can be sure we're not buying a ten-ton turkey, I could see myself getting pretty fired up about this game once again!

[EDIT: I hope they don't bother with variable altitude - it just seems like potentially broken parts, for very little gain to me]

Oh . . . yes . . . June. My mistake. I promise I was not trying to be snide.

"All of the X-Wing miniatures have been recreated to scale with painstaking accuracy, and the results are stunning."

IG-58 and Dog Solitude, how does this statement jive with your expert peepers?

Between the starter set, expansions, and the dice set, it looks like I'll be spending about $110 on release day. I actually can't wait to spend that money!

Stay on target!

Slipstream said:

All about the A-Wing, totally agree! One thing that I don't recall reading or hearing about is what are these minis made of? Soft plastic like the Wizards of the Coast line? Hope not (bendy wings & guns make me twitch). Metal? Better, but probably too top-heavy. Hard plastic? That's what I'm guessing. I have never bought any FFG miniatures, so I don't know what they normally do. Insight is appreciated...

Finally something concrete about one of the Star Wars games and it does look very tasty.

Alpha Chaos 13 said:

I imagine they'd be similar to the Wings of War minis, which is a nice hard plastic. I'm so ready for this game to be awesome...since we'll probably never see an updated X-Wing PC title.

spirit said:

Doesn't it just!! I can't decide if I'm excited for this because it looks like a good game or because the other one is dead in the water, so I've got to be excited about something with the Star Wars label on it. But my goodness me, those miniatures and cards do look magnificent!

qwertyuiop said:

That's what I would have thought. Thank you!

Holy cow! There are 676 Facebook "Like"s on the "Prepare to Launch the Starfighters" article. I'd say this is a good sign for FFG -- and I'll probably have people to play with in my area!

Not sure how many of my friends will buy but I will be Very much looking forward to this now

I'm into it.. to start… but to make a full Death Star Trench Run….. it's gonna cost me $900 for the ships alone!!

Now to make the trench itself… that's taking some time….. and money and space…. I mean the Death Star wasn't built in a day you know!!!

lingster said:

I think the trick is to find a bunch of other people who collect in your area. You could build the trench, but then pool ships together to build the final battle. If you got 6 people, each with 10 ships, everyone just spends about $130. (The reason it's a little cheaper than your $900 estimate is that the starter is $5 cheaper than 3 ships. Also, you could get some good online deals that will further cut your costs, and if you choose to buy multiple core sets, you can improve on the $5 saved.)

Of course, it'd be more fun to own all the ships yourself.

If I were to buy all the ships for the death star assault, I'd probably do the following:

18x Y-wing = $270
6x Starter = $240
6x X-wing = $90
17x TIE Fighter = $255
1x TIE Advanced = $15
TOTAL = $870

This results in 30 ships on each side, 12 X-wings, 18 Y-wings, 29 TIE Fighters, and 1 TIE Advanced. Okay, so the savings aren't that great, but hey, with the $30 saved you could probably buy the Millennium Falcon when it comes out.

EDIT: But the logistics of a 60-craft game seem like a nightmare, to me. I think the tedium would rob the enjoyment.

Unless you plan or really want to have all the ships on the table at the same time … you could probably get away with a lesser number. Just allow destroyed ships to return to the battle to simulate reinforcements or ships coming in from a different part of the battle. Give each side a certain number of "reinforcement points" to keep track of the number returned to battle. If you do this, you could probably do it with half the number of ships.

Many places already offer 33% discounted pre-orders…you're down to $600!

I just found this and thought I'd share…

www.icv2.com/articles/news/22785.html

Edited because I didn't set it as a link….