So, in an effort to increase awareness in the local area, my FLGS has agreed to let me put on a demo day for X wing. I'm going through in my head what all I want to discuss as far as how to play the game, and just provide a fun experience without having to explain all the nuances. As such, I was going to prebuild (and setup) different squads so they get a feeling for the game (This is also useful since there's a limited number of models to use for the demo).

I was thinking about just going through basic rules on selecting dials, moving ships, asteroid / ship collisions, actions, and attacking. I'm thinking about ignoring criticals as they can often severely hurt what the ship is capable of doing. And I would like to stay away from complicated things like Fettigator and advanced sensors. Any other thoughts on what to avoid? How do the following squads look as far as providing a fun quick way to play the game and learn a few different ways to play the game. I figure that people will probably play 2-3 different squads total. I might limit the big ships, A wing and interceptor list until they've played a game first. These are 55 point lists.

Rebels:

Squad 1

Wedge w/ PTL

Gold w/ Ion

Squad 2

Garven

Dutch w/ Ion + R2

Squad 3

Rookie

Prototype x2

Squad 4

Luke

Blue w/ Autoblaster

Squad 5

Han w/ Marksmanship, Gunner, Nien Nunb

Imperial:

Squad 1

Howlrunner

Academy x3

Squad 2

Vader w/ Swarm

Academy x2

Squad 3

Fel w/ PTL

Turr

Squad 4

Rhymer w/ APT, Seismic Charges

Scimitar w/ Homing

Squad 5

Krassis w/ HLC

Academy

I recently ran a huge starter game, and I have found that the less you throw on eahc ship, the less complicated you make it, the easier it is to draw people in with it. If they have to jump in feet first with things like PTL and mines/bombs, it can be a bit daunting. Here are the 10 50-point teams I built for that event:

Imperial

Kath Scarlett (38)

Academy Pilot (12)

Darth Vader (29)

Saber Squadron Pilot (21)

Howlrunner (18)

Dark Curse (16)

Backstabber (16)

Gamma Squadron Pilot (26 total)

-Cluster Missiles

-Proton Torpedoes

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Soontir Fel (27)

Fels Wrath (23)

Rebel

Lando Calrissian (50 total)

-Nien Numb

-Chewbacca

-Millenium Falcon Title

Luke Skywalker (29 total)

-R2 Astromech

Rookie Pilot (21)

Tycho Celchu (27 total)

-Determination

Green Squadron Pilot (23 total)

-Concussion Missiles

Dutch Vander (28 total)

-Ion Cannon Turret

Blue Squadron Pilot (22)

Ibitsam (28)

Rebel Operative (22 total)

-Ion Cannon Turret

-Intelligence Agent

The only tricky things with these teams are the missiles/torpedoes, which are starter-set simple, the turrets for the rebels, and the intelligence agent, which is really there to fill a point on an otherwise low point set. With these, if you have fewer players, you can throw down at 100 points simply by combining any 2 from each faction.

My demo list is...

Rookie w/R2 astromech

Luke Skywalker

4x Accademy Pilot.

I find that this gives the best feel for the standard game, without overwhelming the new people with too many choices or options to keep track of.

I like this thread, and will come up for some postings later on

My demo list is...

Rookie w/R2 astromech

Luke Skywalker

4x Accademy Pilot.

I find that this gives the best feel for the standard game, without overwhelming the new people with too many choices or options to keep track of.

I'm fine changing out the B wing for an X wing. But I'm limited on the number of ships I have available to provide these lists.

5 X

2 Y

4 A

4 B

1 YT

2 Hwk

9 Ln

1 x1

2 Int

3 Bmb

1 Firespray

1 Lambda

So I can provide that list once (I basically did), or even twice, but then I'm out of X wings and TIEs for every other squad.

I recently ran a huge starter game, and I have found that the less you throw on eahc ship, the less complicated you make it, the easier it is to draw people in with it. If they have to jump in feet first with things like PTL and mines/bombs, it can be a bit daunting. Here are the 10 50-point teams I built for that event:

The only tricky things with these teams are the missiles/torpedoes, which are starter-set simple, the turrets for the rebels, and the intelligence agent, which is really there to fill a point on an otherwise low point set. With these, if you have fewer players, you can throw down at 100 points simply by combining any 2 from each faction.

Yeah, I can see that. Alright, I'll switch Rhymer to have two Torps/Missiles instead of APT + Bombs. And Pull PTL off Wedge for... Swarm tactics? I wasn't really sold on putting PTL on him to begin with. I still think it should stay on Fel as I think he just works so much better with it, especially if I'm holding that squad out until at least the second game.

Although it may seem too "powerful" you may just want to use Chewie (who gets to ignore crits normally) in the YT-1300 (turret make firing arcs less important) with a gunner (no one likes missing) and a couple other simple upgrades at around 50 points.

IMO a demo game should contain lists with no more than 1 named pilot, and no more than 1 upgrade preferably on a duplicate model so you can see the value in an upgrade. This set up can get people into the game quick with little to remember other than where they want to fly their ships.

So, in an effort to increase awareness in the local area, my FLGS has agreed to let me put on a demo day for X wing.

When are you looking to have this? If it fits into my schedule, i can throw in some ships to help create a few more tables.

Do you also know if the store will be giving any discounts for those who enjoy the demos and want to get into the game?

So, in an effort to increase awareness in the local area, my FLGS has agreed to let me put on a demo day for X wing.

When are you looking to have this? If it fits into my schedule, i can throw in some ships to help create a few more tables.

Do you also know if the store will be giving any discounts for those who enjoy the demos and want to get into the game?

Nov 9th. While I don't know for sure, my guess is that if there's sufficient people showing up, they probably will like they did during the tourney. I'll post details in our local play thread. I have no problem playing a few games at the same time if other people want to show up.

So, in an effort to increase awareness in the local area, my FLGS has agreed to let me put on a demo day for X wing.

When are you looking to have this? If it fits into my schedule, i can throw in some ships to help create a few more tables.

Do you also know if the store will be giving any discounts for those who enjoy the demos and want to get into the game?

Nov 9th. While I don't know for sure, my guess is that if there's sufficient people showing up, they probably will like they did during the tourney. I'll post details in our local play thread. I have no problem playing a few games at the same time if other people want to show up.

Now your talking...

I agree with the above about keeping it simple. Upgrades especially should be kept to a minimum. I find most named pilot abilities to be pretty clear, but each should be evaluated on their own merits both for comprehensibility and complexity. Luke is good. Wedge is good. Kath I don't like so much because she requires some nitpicky timing knowledge. Howlrunner, Jonus, Garven, Dutch, etc I also try to avoid - they're more complex to fly with, and require you to remember more than just the ship you're activating. Keep it simple.

I never run a demo with the Falcon. However iconic it may be, the turret removes so much of the core gameplay that I don't think it shows the game off well. It's also very arguably overpowered at low points, which is where you want to keep demos. Likewise, be careful in the matchups if you include things like A-wings - you don't want a game that can degenerate into an A-wing vs. TIE Fighter whiffleball match.

One thing you can do if you're feeling brave (and have the room) is set up multiple tables with different complexity levels. At the extreme, you might have one table with nothing but generic pilots, one table with a few uniques and upgrades, and one with full squads. Experienced wargamers can usually pick X-wing up quickly, and jump right to the real game, while "That looks cool, what are these cards for?" players can start with the super-simple. Depending on traffic, players can even graduate from one to the next.

Remember to let them play as pilots whose names they recognize.
Luke Skywalker+R2-D2 NEEDS to be in a fleet.
Can you do Han Solo with a Chewbacca co-pilot?

Luke Skywalker+R2-D2 NEEDS to be in a fleet.

No it doesn't. Luke makes for a great demo pilot because he has a fairly easy to use special skill.

Luke + R2-D2 = Frustrated Imperial player, unless the person knows how to effectively fly the ties and focus fire Luke even with all the defense he has.

The whole point of a demo squad is to give people a taste of the game and see if they'll like it. Luke+R2-D2 in a low point game can make for a very long and drawn out game, and very frustrating for the Imp player. Such a thing doesn't do much to encourage someone to buy into it.

this blog post has some good ideas for teaching people the game and making it fun for the newbie.

http://www.themetalbikini.com/2013/08/seans-lengthily-titled-article.html

the lists he uses is 2 50 pt lists with Chewie with gunner (or Luke as I have done it) and a few TIE's

with Chewie, you get the fun of flying the Falcon & don't have to worry about firing arc or criticals. that's a win win for beginners.

I have a chance to teach some one the game this week and that's the list I am planning on using.

good luck and let us know how it goes. if I can show my gaming store this thread and how successful it was I might be able to do the same thing there!

If you're worried about using the Falcon in a demo "because it doesn't need to worry about firing arcs" then I'll suggest countering that with Backstabber. Sure the Falcon doesn't need to worry about where its opponents are in order to shoot at them but its player still may want to pay attention to its firing arc because of the bonus Backstabber would get when attacking from outside that arc. The smart Falcon player may quickly realize how much more dangerous Backstabber is outside the Falcon's arc than it is inside the arc.

If you're worried about using the Falcon in a demo "because it doesn't need to worry about firing arcs" then I'll suggest countering that with Backstabber. Sure the Falcon doesn't need to worry about where its opponents are in order to shoot at them but its player still may want to pay attention to its firing arc because of the bonus Backstabber would get when attacking from outside that arc. The smart Falcon player may quickly realize how much more dangerous Backstabber is outside the Falcon's arc than it is inside the arc.

This really doesn't help. "I have to maneuver to shoot at all" and "I have to maneuver to avoid one attack dice" do not equally convey the importance of maneuvering in the game. The Falcon removes the majority of maneuver from the game, especially for new players. It's one of the reasons Falcon lists like HSF or Dual-YTs are good for starting out.

Unfortunately, it's also very easy for it to come down to just dropping dice at each other, with the maneuvering playing very little role in the game. It's certainly part of the game, but it doesn't show off the interesting parts of the game. You can get plenty of iconic and interesting elements without putting the Falcon on the board.

When you're running a demo, you're trying to sell the game. Part of doing so is highlighting the strengths of the game and avoiding dull or boring situations. That's why the AvTIE is bad, because it gets boring. Likewise, "It doesn't matter what maneuver I pick" is not something you want your demo players thinking, ever.