The Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game (or X-Wing 2E) has always been a tight little dogfight war-game – Not only does it possess the pedigree of the Star Wars universe, but it’s lovingly detailed pre-assembled and pre-painted ships adds an additional layer of allure for the collector.

A tight ruleset and a movement mechanic that requires you to second guess your opponent before committing to your own movement can create some epic space dogfights between Star Wars stalwarts like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, but X-Wing 2E also draws upon the full scope of its massive universe as factions like the Resistance, First Order, Galactic Republic, Separatist Alliance take to the Stars, bringing fabled names like Padmé Amidala and Poe Dameron with them.

Whether you’re a parent using X-Wing to experience a Galaxy Far Far Away with a child or a seasoned wargamer looking for a new dogfight experience, X-Wing 2E might have something for you. And if you stay to the end, we might have a little promo for you, if you keep reading.

TL;DR: Star Wars X-Wing 2nd Edition is an approachable miniatures game with pre-painted miniatures ready to play out of the Core Set box. Players control star-fighters from the Star Wars universe in fast and furious dogfights that can be wrapped up in less than an hour.

X-Wing 2E is a miniature game which allows players to engage in a Star Wars dogfight. Playable right out of the Core Set with it’s included T-65 X-Wing and TIE Fighters, X-Wing 2E scales to whatever scale a player might want, be they large scale formation flying or quick and often lethal individual duels.

A turn in X-Wing 2E is split into five separate phases:

  • A Planning Phase where each player secretly sets their ship’s movement for the turn on special dials.
  • A System Phase in which ships with special abilities can activate them.
  • An Activation Phase where players players reveal their ships movement dial and move their ship and can perform special actions.
  • An Engagement Phase where ships fire their weapons and launch missiles and rockets in descending initiative order.
  • The End Phase where clean up occurs.
An X-Wing performing a selected maneuver. Each ship dial is tuned to a specific ship type, so a nimble TIE Interceptor will fly very differently from a lumbering Y-Wing.

The tactical depth in a game of X-Wing 2E is in the movement and combat. In a game of X-Wing, players jockey for position, aiming to put their ships in a position where their weapons arcs can target the enemy while avoiding the same. Positioning is a key factor of dogfights, as ships like the fragile TIE Fighters can evaporate under serious enemy attention, so planning where you want your fighters to end up relative to an opponent and second guessing their plans can decide the game.

Combat is a matter of ensuring that enemy ships are within your ship’s arc of fire (helpfully indicated on the ship’s base), within range and then rolling attack dice against your target’s defense dice. Dice which roll hits deal damage to an enemy’s shields and hull, while evade symbols negate hits. If a ship takes damage equal to its hull value, it is removed.

A TIE Fighter catches an X-Wing in it’s fire arc and makes an attack against it by rolling attack dice against it during the engagement phase.

While this might sound complex at the start, X-Wing 2E makes a concerted attempt to keep things simple for the new player and remains one of the most approachable miniature wargames currently on the market and new players will be often able to grasp the ebb-and-flow of a dogfight within a few turns of trying the system.

While players could bog themselves down with the minutiae of assembling a force from scratch and carefully picking their way through a laundry list of equipment, the designers have also anticipated that with the creation of a ‘quick build’ system where fighters are pre-assigned specific payloads and assessed by their ‘threat’. ‘Threat’ lacks the granularity of costing out each item and upgrade installed, it greatly speeds up the ability to leap into battle for new players.

Should you buy into the Star Wars Miniature Game? Ultimately X-Wing 2E is an investment into what is one of the most popular skirmish miniature games around, with its simple to learn and fast paced combat.

Complexity comes, not from learning and memorizing rules minutiae, but from learning to pilot your ships and figuring out how to read your opponent’s actions and the joy of corralling a twitchy TIE Fighter into an X-Wing’s arc of fire remains something that has to be experienced. With the ever popular Star Wars universe as an added bonus, it remains one of the fastest ‘to-table’ miniature games available, playable right out of the box.

If you’re a fan of Star Wars on the silver screen, it’s hard to find another experience which so closely captures the thrills of the series’ iconic cinematic dogfights.

If this sounds good to you, consider picking up the Star Wars X-Wing Miniature Game Core Set, with its X-Wing and two TIE Fighters and give the system a spin for yourself?

And… of course if you read this all the way down to the bottom, here’s a little something for you. Use the promotional code KESSELRUN at the Games @ PI webstore from now until Tuesday, 23rd June 2020 to get 10% of Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game purchases.*

GAMES @ PI

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* Limited to one code use per customer. Promotional code valid for Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game products only.