by dond80
Piqsid wrote:
The question isn't, "Is it Fun?" but, "Is it fun for a Euro Gamer?"
One aspect I really see represented is Deck Building. Not the in-game deck building of Dominion, but the pre-deck building of Magic. Even now with relatively few ships and pilots (The X-wings only have 4 named pilots? Come on.), you still have several combos you can make. Giving an X-wing Expert Handling allows them to Barrel Roll, but they will pick up more stress tokens. Combine it with an RD astro mech, and you can remove those Stress tokens more easily. Do you increase Luke's evade ability by giving him R2D2 so he is extra hard to kill, or do you make him a more rounded pilot by giving him marksmanship? Garven Dreis has a nice ability to give his Focus token to other friendlies, but since he fires after Wedge and Luke, he can only give it to lesser pilots. But if you give Luke or Wedge Swarm Tactics, you can increase Garven's Pilot skill and have him fire first to give his Focus token to anyone.
On the Galactic side, do you make the equivalent of a Skeleton deck in Magic by fielding 8 TIEs, or do you field it with heavy hitting Vader and some named pilots. You can Give Vader and a bunch of Black Squadron TIE pilots Swarm Tactics and chain the effect, giving you a fleet of skill 9 pilots.
The list of combos goes on and on. And with the release of more ships soon with more upgrade cards, some of which will transfer to the ships we have now, the combos and strategies will keep increasing.
And while I have a lot of fun building theoretical squads, the tactical portion of this is also a lot of fun. As a Europlayer myself, the Minature's market is daunting to me because it seems like almost a lifestyle. You need a lot of figures. You have to paint them. You need a lot of terrain, and you need an enormous table to play it. The cost and time seems excruciating. And when I watch the games at Gen Con, all I ever see is people measuring and staring. It's like trying to flip to a soccer game on TV and miraculously catching a goal. But in X-Wing, the action is pretty steady. The only down time is when you plan you movement, but since both players do it simultaneously, you are both engaged at the same time. You don't need any props or scenery. Yes, people will make fancy asteroids, but it is called "SPACE" for a reason.
The game is also very scalable from two people on up. It is also very approachable. If the neighbor kids like Star Wars, they will probably play this with you. I'm bringing the game to play with my nephews at Thanksgiving, and I have a feeling my sister will hate me for it because she will have to buy it for them after I leave.
One aspect I really see represented is Deck Building. Not the in-game deck building of Dominion, but the pre-deck building of Magic. Even now with relatively few ships and pilots (The X-wings only have 4 named pilots? Come on.), you still have several combos you can make. Giving an X-wing Expert Handling allows them to Barrel Roll, but they will pick up more stress tokens. Combine it with an RD astro mech, and you can remove those Stress tokens more easily. Do you increase Luke's evade ability by giving him R2D2 so he is extra hard to kill, or do you make him a more rounded pilot by giving him marksmanship? Garven Dreis has a nice ability to give his Focus token to other friendlies, but since he fires after Wedge and Luke, he can only give it to lesser pilots. But if you give Luke or Wedge Swarm Tactics, you can increase Garven's Pilot skill and have him fire first to give his Focus token to anyone.
On the Galactic side, do you make the equivalent of a Skeleton deck in Magic by fielding 8 TIEs, or do you field it with heavy hitting Vader and some named pilots. You can Give Vader and a bunch of Black Squadron TIE pilots Swarm Tactics and chain the effect, giving you a fleet of skill 9 pilots.
The list of combos goes on and on. And with the release of more ships soon with more upgrade cards, some of which will transfer to the ships we have now, the combos and strategies will keep increasing.
And while I have a lot of fun building theoretical squads, the tactical portion of this is also a lot of fun. As a Europlayer myself, the Minature's market is daunting to me because it seems like almost a lifestyle. You need a lot of figures. You have to paint them. You need a lot of terrain, and you need an enormous table to play it. The cost and time seems excruciating. And when I watch the games at Gen Con, all I ever see is people measuring and staring. It's like trying to flip to a soccer game on TV and miraculously catching a goal. But in X-Wing, the action is pretty steady. The only down time is when you plan you movement, but since both players do it simultaneously, you are both engaged at the same time. You don't need any props or scenery. Yes, people will make fancy asteroids, but it is called "SPACE" for a reason.
The game is also very scalable from two people on up. It is also very approachable. If the neighbor kids like Star Wars, they will probably play this with you. I'm bringing the game to play with my nephews at Thanksgiving, and I have a feeling my sister will hate me for it because she will have to buy it for them after I leave.
Good post. You touch upon something that I intimated earlier but perhaps did not say explicitly- the deck building (magic the gathering kind not dominion kind) is amazing and super fun for me. The theoretical battles with the ships are super fun in my head- but the gameplay is substantially less absorbing and wears out its welcome at about the 45-60 minute mark. if I'm to actually do 100 point deck building like I want, that mark will frequently be surpassed.