We had a great LAN party last weekend. though in the end it was more of a LANBG (Local Area Network and Board Game) party. One of the games we played was the FFG’s X-Wing miniatures game. It looks fantastic and I’d got a few pieces on E-Bay to try out.
Previously I’d played a couple of partial games with my daughter (which she won; clearly shields are OP) but everyone was up for big 6-7 player game to really kick the tyres on it.
The game was great and I picked up some great tips about how you definitely should play (as long as you’re playing against me that is).I was on the side of the forces of Law, Order and Stability with two friends while the Rebel Terrorists had four on their side. It was a long game but a few key moments of subtle strategy turned the tide in the Good Guys (Imperials) favour.
Asteroid-Phobia
We’d stressed at the beginning of the game that running into asteroids was bad (you had a chance of taking a bit of damage and couldn’t perform fancy manoeuvres).
So in the following situation there was clearly only one choice;
The rebel pilot HAD to make sure that he didn’t run into that asteroid as that Would Be Bad. Unfortunately, leaving the map in X-Wing causes your ship to explode which could be considered Even Worse.
So this move;
raised eyebrows. On his following turn there was no manoeuvre he could make that wouldn’t cause him to leave the play space. Hence;
1-0 to the forces of Justice without a shot being fired! Unfortunately, Boba Fett had been on the sauce….
Boba Sings Wrecking Ball
We were doing well but the rebels still had their big ship, the Millennium Falcon, in play. 
It was piloted by Han Solo, had a tonne of shields and was built like a Sumo AT-AT. Slave 1 was the big ship on our side and we needed it to get into range and start plugging at Han. After the rebel’s had got over the shock of watching their friend drive into oncoming traffic the Falcon had moved pretty close to Slave 1 and so we thought with a simple turn it would engage;
Slave 1 was piloted by Boba Fett himself, a pilot only slightly worse than Han. He’d make a move like that in his sleep.
IF HE WAS SOBER.
This was what Boba actually did over the next few turns;
You’ll notice there are more TIE Fighters being rammed in that shot that there were in the initial picture. That’s because the same TIE was hit multiple times as he desperately tried to get out of the way of Boba’s drunken flailing at the stick.
After this, things looked dark indeed for the Empire but eventually Boba put down his beer, belched and squinted hard enough to make out what resembled the outline of an enemy ship. He actually got on the Falcon’s tail! Solo had multiple turns to flank our ships though and he was a better pilot. There was no way we could catch him.
Luckily, there was an A-Wing pilot who needed a hug.
The Best Of The Best
A-Wings are the most manoeuvrable ship in the Rebel fleet and so it’s important they’re only given to the top-notch pilots. This was clearly demonstrated as Han zoomed to freedom;
Han was the better pilot, so he moved last. Everyone could freely discuss their moves (you couldn’t show anyone the exact move you’d picked though) and he made it clear he was continuing his flank. Boba had randomly decided to chase him now and so he wanted to get clear.
This was what the A-Wing pilot chose;
He’d flown full speed ahead, straight into Han’s path. As Han couldn’t complete the move he’d picked (as he moved last) he had to move back along his template and was considered “bumped”. That means no fancy actions for him which meant that Boba had a chance to actually hit him.
A bad move but accidents happen, right? The Falcon still had plenty of health left and the A-Wing could easily get out of the way. Han needed to avoid the asteroid so he said he’d bank right. As long as the A-Wing didn’t bank left, Han would be golden.
Oh dear. Han was inventing all sorts of interesting descriptions about the A-Wing pilot’s parentage; Boba had passed out on the “Fire Guns” button and was dealing a reasonable amount of damage to the Falcon now.
Han was going to straighten up. Touchy-Feely A-Wing man just had to get out the way. Soft left, hard left, soft right, hard right; it didn’t matter. Just Turn!
Luckily Boba blew up the Falcon before Han could physically murder Mr A-Wing.
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