Wargames, Warhammer & Miniatures News: Bell of Lost Souls: X-Wing Tactics: Boba Gets His Groove Back!

Great overview of ways to use Boba Fett Wargames, Warhammer & Miniatures News: Bell of Lost Souls: X-Wing Tactics: Boba Gets His Groove Back!: Today we will look at the best Bounty Hunter in the entire Galaxy, Boba Fett!

New epic play ship

A most have for my X-Wing collection Emperial Cruiser for Epic play

Wings of Glory WW2 Review

thinking about picking up this one to go with my X-Wing game

Panther Ausf A - WWII German Medium Tank - Bolt Action

The second part of the Toy Solider shop commission 

Bolt action Tank commission

  This was a commission for the Toy Solider Shop. The Sherman Tank was the main stay of the American army. The Break out from the Normandy beaches and the bocage could never been achieved without the armored support. Although they had their weaknesses and were nicknamed âRonsonsâ by the Germans as they lit up every time; their impressive firepower and large production numbers enabled the Allies to over power the Germans.

Sherman assembled with moving turret

Shermans Painted with weathering effects

Repainting FFG's X-Wing Star Wars Tantive IV

I used this as a paint guide for my Repaint of my Tantive IV  to turn it into a Scum and Villainy fleet ship...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umz9hqYBGeA

Expand Your Fleet Announcing the First Wave of Expansions for STAR WARS (TM): Armada

 Something I'm looking forward to this X-Mas..http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5190    The fleet will be here any moment.”
    –Leia Organa
Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of the first wave of Star Wars™: Armada expansion packs!

• Victory-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack
• CR90 Corellian Corvette Expansion Pack
• Nebulon-B Frigate Expansion Pack
• Assault Frigate Mark II Expansion Pack
• Gladiator-class Star Destroyer Expansion Pack
• Rebel Fighter Squadrons Expansion Pack
• Imperial Fighter Squadrons Expansion Pack

As you launch into Armada and its tactical fleet battles, these expansion packs allow you to customize and expand your fleet. Five of them introduce carefully detailed and pre-painted capital ships, each of which comes with its command dials, ship cards, an array of upgrade cards, and all the tokens and other components you need to deploy it into battle. Meanwhile, the fighter squadron expansion packs each come with eight sculpted squadrons, representing four different types of fighters. You’ll also find eight squadron cards, including one unique card for each type of squadron.
Use these expansions to grow your fleet or to tailor it around your favorite strategy. Either way, these ships, squadrons, and upgrades allow you to explore a vast range of tactics and strategies that reach beyond those available in the Core Set.

What to buy first when starting X-Wing

18 February 2013

Updated! I Wanna Play X-Wing Miniatures! What Should I Buy?

UPDATED: 5 February 14 to reflect Wave 3 release and beyond

I've been meaning to update this since Wave 3 dropped and just kept finding excuses not to, but as this article gets a ton of traffic from folks Googling how to get into X-Wing, I gotta do it, so here we go. 

For the longest time, when a person would ask me what they should buy to get into X-Wing Miniatures, I'd say the same thing that folks on the FFG X-Wing Forums would suggest when a new player would indicate interest. I re-examined this advice in light of Wave 2, and now I'm adding to it now that Wave 3 has dropped and we're looking down the barrel of the Huge ships being released as well as Imperial Aces. 

Surprisingly, the answer to this question has changed quite a bit, at least in my mind. Maybe not on the forums and stuff, but folks getting into X-Wing have a few things they ought to consider when they take the plunge. As such, this article is going to change somewhat drastically from its previous incarnation. 

First things first- the ships in this game are viable in some form or another, but some ships are easier for a new player to utilize effectively than others. This being the case, I always, always, always suggest to people they buy the stuff they think they'd have fun pushing around on the table. 

That said, you do need to buy at least one Core Set because it gives you the Damage Deck you absolutely must have to play the game. Most everything else in there you can get elsewhere- the X-Wing Miniatures Rulebook is downloadable for free from FFG and they sell extra dice and even have a dice app (for iPhone or Android) if you're phone-centric, there are 3rd party entities selling the movement templates, range rulers, and tokens, and assuming you can find them, you can always buy the Expansion versions of the X-Wing and TIE Fighters that come with the Core Set. 

The thing you should be aware of here is that the Core Set doesn't include all of the available X-Wing and TIE Fighter named pilots. The other thing you, you, you oughta know is that the Expansion X-Wing and Expansion TIE Fighters don't either. Long story short, if you want to have all of the available X-Wing Pilots and TIE Fighter Pilots, you'll need to buy both the Core Set and an Expansion of each. 

Lots of people will suggest you buy two Core Sets. This isn't bad advice. Even if you're paying MSRP for the Core Set, it's a better deal model-wise than buying a total of three Expansions as the Core Set retails for $40 and three Expansions (without the Damage deck, dice, etc., etc.) retails for $45. Again, the only caveat here is that you won't have all the available pilots for the ships. 

All that said, people that give you that advice are assuming you want to field 2 or 3 X-Wings in your list and 4 or 5 TIE Fighters, or at least would enjoy having the option. If you're dreaming of an all TIE Interceptor force or something and nothing else will suffice, it's probably kinda pointless for you to buy two Core Sets just because everybody on the internet says so. Although, full disclosure- if you're at all in doubt, just go ahead and buy two Core Sets. The extra set of dice is practically necessary and it's handy to have extra copies of the cardboard movement templates if you're not crazy about dropping cash on some 3rd party acrylic ones. 

Obviously there's a certain attraction to having at least one copy of every ship and multiples of your favorites. Most of the X-Wing people I come across have way more ships than they'd ever use in a single match. In fact, it's one of the few miniatures games I've come across where it's fairly common for players to own many ships for both factions. Sure, you probably favor one faction over the other, but very few people go exclusively Rebel or Imperial. 

How much stuff should you buy? Well... 

Even if you don't plan on becoming a tourney player, 100 points is still the level at which most folks play the game, and the level at which most of the scenarios are designed to be played. It can be played at lower or higher point totals of course, but 100 points is the number where the majority of pick-up games occur, so it's the number most folks shoot for. This post assumes you're doing the same. If you'd rather play less or more, adjust accordingly and bear in mind, just because you play at 100 points, you don't have to limit yourself to only having 100 points worth of models. It's nice to have a few extra ships so you can change up your lists to keep things interesting for your opponent. 

Taking the stuff that's available currently into account, here's some ballpark figures on ships and how many points they're worth to give you an idea of how many of what ships you have to buy. I won't say how much it costs in money; it'll just depend on where you buy your stuff from. 

Rebel Ships

YT-1300 (Falcon)- 27-70 points

X-Wing- 21-40 points

Y-Wing- 18-35 points

A-Wing- 18-35 points
B-Wing- 22-40 points
HWK-290- 16-30 points

Imperial Ships

Firespray-31 (Slave I)- 33- 75 points

TIE Fighter- 12-20 points

TIE Advanced- 21- 35 points

TIE Interceptor 18- 35 points
TIE Bomber- 16-40+ points
Lambda Shuttle- 21-40 points
Imperial Aces TIE Interceptors- 22-35 points

Please keep in mind these are ballparks- I may be off a point or two in either direction and obviously the spread depends on named pilots, upgrades, modifications, etc. which may or may not be available to all ships/ multiple ships in the same list.

If you're curious as to what a particular named pilot brings to the table in the way of card text or the point cost of a particular Droid, Modification, or whatever you can either check out some of my Listbuilding articles or a couple of the Squadron Builders I've come across. My two favorites are Fab's Squadron Generator and (Yet Another) X-Wing Squadron Builder. 

If you've read about the Huge ships coming out- the GR-75 Rebel Transport and the Tantive IV Corellian Corvette, not a lot is know about them at this article's time of writing. I can tell you the Transport starts at 30 points, but no idea what the upper limit would be and nothing has been released on the 'vette yet. Bear in mind though, those ships are designed for the upcoming "Epic Rules Format" games and won't be allowed in "regular" games of X-Wing (although I gotta think the X-Wing model and named pilots that are included with the Transport will be legal for "regular" games). 

Like I said before, if you're just starting out with X-Wing Miniatures, some ships are much easier to get the hang of using than others. This is probably going to generate a lot of static in the comments and stuff, but here's how I'd rank the ships when it comes to how easy or difficult they are to fly for a beginning player, 1 being the easiest- 

Rebel Ships

1. YT-1300 (Falcon)

2. X-Wing

3. B-Wing

4. A-Wing

5. Y-Wing

6. HWK-290

Imperial Ships

1. Firespray-31 (Slave I)

2. TIE Fighter

3. TIE Bomber

4. TIE Interceptor

5. TIE Advanced

6. Lambda Shuttle

If you're wondering where in the world I came up with the criteria I'm claiming to be "easy for a beginner", it's kind of a mish-mash of stuff based on my own experience and observations. I'm trying to take into account how forgiving the ship is, how likely a novice player is to have success with the ship, it's offensive and defensive capabilities, the options afforded by named pilots, available mods, and Elite Pilot Skills, points cost, etc. Again, just my opinion so take it for what it's worth. 

Also, the Imperials are really hard for me to categorize, so if you're looking into playing Imperials exclusively, I think the list is more like 1. Firespray, 2-4 in no particular order, 5. Advanced, 6. Lambda. 

If you're looking for a jump off point for actual squadron lists, here's a couple of ideas that I think would be well suited to a beginner, again, for somewhat nebulous reasons including ease of use, how forgiving it is, damage output, survivability, etc., but not taking into account how many Expansions you'd need to buy to get the cards necessary really. 

Sample Rebel List- 100 Points

Chewbacca (YT-1300) w/ Falcon Title, Draw Their Fire, Gunner, Recon Specialist, and Anti-Pursuit Lasers

Rookie Pilot (X-Wing) w/ R2 Astromech

Rookie Pilot (X-Wing) w/ R2-F2

Sample Imperial List- 100 Points

Krassis Trelix (Firespray-31) w/ Heavy Laser Cannon, Mercenary Copilot

Mauler Mithel (TIE Fighter) w/ Elusiveness

Academy Pilot (TIE Fighter)

Academy Pilot (TIE Fighter)

Academy Pilot (TIE Fighter)

Now shut down your browser and go buy stuff!

... or barring that, maybe check out some of the other New Player Info articles here on TheMetalBikini.com. Bikini Battle Basics articles cover stuff like Pilot Ranking Explained and The Combat Phase Explained, but any of them are great starting places to increase your knowledge of the game. 

Gaming tables for X-Wing

Awesome examples of gaming tables for miniature gaming

This looks like it's going to be fun but, I'm worried about the time it takes them to come up with a full line up of ships for the expansion of the game.
Star Wars Armada Capital ship fight

ArcheAge - First Impressions with Ripper X! (MMORPG.COM)

Jedi Alliance: Episode 2: The Ellis Strikes Back

Building and repainting a proxy Fleet for Star Wars X-Wing

I'm going to try and build a Scum and Villainy fleet using ARC170 ,ETA2, Star Vipers

and Delta -7 star fighters. Using Black ,Gold and White as my color theme for my fleet ,I'm on the hunt for models that meet the eyeball scale for the ships I'm missing so far I've gotten the ARC 170 from the SW Command game and the Star Viper from the Micromachines fleet series the A-Wings work for that scale very well also.

Now with Scum and Villainy coming out from FFG I've decided to work on my Mandalorian Fleet using some proxy ships until the FFG ships become available

“This bounty hunter is my kind of scum, fearless and inventive.”
    –Jabba the Hutt

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce that in the sixth wave of starship expansions for X-Wing™ the galaxy’s Scum and Villainy will join the game's fast-paced space battles as its third faction!

The ranks of the Scum and Villainy faction are filled with many of the Star Wars galaxy’s most notorious bounty hunters, pirates, and Black Sun agents. You’ll find such infamous figures as Boba Fett, IG-88, Greedo, and Prince Xizor. These Scum live outside the law, do their best to remain at the periphery of the ongoing Galactic Civil War, and allow no one – no one – to threaten their profits.

Whenever Rebel or Imperial forces dare to interfere with their illicit dealings, Scum head to battle, and they do so in some of the best starfighters that money can buy, such as Slave I, IG-2000, and the MandalMotors StarViper-class attack platform. These expensive and technologically advanced starships are further supported by a number of mainstays that have proven their efficiency over the course of numerous battles.

Four separate expansion packs introduce the galaxy’s Scum to X-Wing:

• Most Wanted Expansion Pack
• StarViper Expansion Pack
• M3-A Interceptor Expansion Pack
• IG-2000 Expansion Pack

These four Wave VI expansions establish the Scum and Villainy faction as a collection of individuals bound by common interests, but ultimately less interested in teamwork and collective victories than personal gain. Accordingly, the faction’s unique pilot abilities encourage different types of squadrons than those commonly employed by Rebel and Imperial players.

Moreover, while credits can buy ships, credits can also improve them, and many Scum upgrade their ships with expensive and illicit technologies, several of which are represented by a new type of upgrade, the illicit upgrade, . As far as the galaxy’s Scum are concerned, if the Empire bothered to make such technology illegal, it must be potent.

Most Wanted Expansion Pack

How does a new faction enter X-Wing with enough firepower to take the fight to Rebel and Imperial forces? It starts with theMost Wanted Expansion Pack and its slate of thugs, hired guns, pirates, and spice runners, as well as a new version of the galaxy’s most feared bounty hunter, Boba Fett.

Most Wanted is a collection of ship cards, upgrades, tokens, and dials that allow you to repurpose some of your existing starships for use within the Scum faction. You’ll find support for the Firespray-31, HWK-290, Y-wing, and Z-95 Headhunter. Additionally, you’ll find three starfighter miniatures that have been given alternative paint schemes and re-outfitted for use by the Scum faction: two Z-95 Headhunters and one Y-wing.

• One Y-wing miniature with an alternative, Scum-themed paint scheme
• Two Z-95 Headhunter miniatures with Black Sun paint schemes
• Four Scum faction Firespray-31 ship cards
• Four Scum faction HWK-290 ship cards
• Six Scum faction Y-wing ship cards
• Six Scum faction Z-95 Headhunter ship cards
• Nineteen upgrade cards
• Maneuver dials and tokens for your Scum Firespray-31, HWK-290, Y-wing, and Z-95 Headhunters

So that you can pilot your ships, Most Wanted introduces twenty ship cards, the most for any X-Wing release to-date. It also allows you to upgrade your starships by outfitting them with any of its nineteen upgrade cards, including a host of new Salvaged Astromech upgrades , modification and Title upgrades for your Y-wings, new secondary weapons (one of which is illicit), and a trio of Scum only crew members that includes the infamous Rodian bounty hunter, Greedo.

With all of its ships, pilots, upgrades, dials, and tokens, the Most Wanted Expansion Pack comes with everything that you need to send your Scum into battle and derive a profit from your illegal investments!

StarViper Expansion Pack

Designed by MandalMotors in direct collaboration with Prince Xizor, the StarViper-class attack platform was one of the most formidable fighters in the galaxy.

The StarViper Expansion Pack features one pre-painted StarViper miniature, sculpted at 1/270 scale and brought to life in X-Wing as a potent, well-balanced ship that can quickly destroy opposing ships even while evading enemy fire.

Dual laser cannons provide the StarViper a primary attack value of three, which is partnered with an agility value of three, shields of one, and a sturdy hull value of four. To these already impressive statistics, the StarViper adds a uniquely loaded maneuver dial and an action bar that features both the barrel roll and boost actions, allowing you to dart about the battlefield with ease.

Naturally, you’ll be able to field Prince Xizor in the Virago, the prototype StarViper that he helped design. Outfitted with even more advanced technology than standard StarVipers, the Virago Title allows you to make use of the various system and illicit upgrades, like the Accuracy Corrector and Inertial Dampeners, that appear among the expansion pack’s nine upgrade cards.

M3-A Interceptor Expansion Pack

The lightest starfighter designed by MandalMotors, the M3-A “Scyk” interceptor featured a weapon mount capable of handling nearly any weapon and a price tag low enough that the Hutt Cartel and Car’das smugglers were enticed to purchase it in large quantities and make it a mainstay of their fleets.

The M3-A Interceptor Expansion Pack includes one M3-A interceptor miniature, which comes pre-painted and sculpted at the game’s standard 1/270 scale.

A light and nimble vessel, the M3-A interceptor starts with two attack, three agility, two hull, and one shield. However, the expansion pack’s five upgrades include the “Heavy Scyk” Interceptor Title and no fewer than three cannons, meaning that you’ll find plenty of options for adapting your Scyk to fit the role you want it to play within your fleet.

Additionally, the M3-A Interceptor Expansion Pack introduces two unique and two non-unique ship cards, a maneuver dial, and all requisite tokens.

IG-2000 Expansion Pack

A heavily modified Aggressor assault fighter, IG-2000 was the signature vessel of one of the galaxy’s deadliest bounty hunters, the Assassin Droid IG-88.

Because IG-88 had no need for life support systems and no reason to fear the gravitational effects of maneuvers that would kill organic pilots, the majority of the space within the IG-2000 was devoted to engines and weapon systems, making the starfighter every bit as fearsome as its ruthless pilot.

In X-Wing, the IG-2000 is a powerful, large-base starfighter with three attack, three agility, four shields, and four hull. It can boost, it can evade, it can target lock, it can equip two cannons simultaneously, and it can whip through space at high speeds while performing the demanding Segnor’s Loop maneuver.

The IG-2000 Expansion Pack features one carefully detailed and pre-painted IG-2000 miniature at 1/270 scale, along with four ship cards, twelve upgrade cards, a maneuver dial, and all the tokens you need to hunt down your prey and obliterate it.

Notably, the IG-2000 Expansion Pack is the first X-Wing expansion that doesn’t feature any non-unique ship cards. Instead, each of its four ship cards represents one of the four identical IG-88 models that share a single mind. They all share the same pilot skill value of “6,” and the non-unique IG-2000 Title upgrade allows you to link their abilities. The more IG-88s you bring into battle, the more lethal they become.

Strike from the Shadows

“You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”
    –Obi-Wan Kenobi

Throughout the classic Star Wars trilogy, we catch several glimpses of the galaxy’s Scum and Villainy. We see them in Mos Eisley, gathered aboard the command deck of the Executor, and amassed at Jabba’s palace on Tatooine. They may do their best to remain outside the conflicts of the Galactic Civil War, but they form an integral part of the Star Wars universe, exerting profound influence over the lives of millions, including many of the Rebel Alliance’s greatest heroes.

Likewise, the galaxy’s Scum and Villainy will soon form an integral part of yourX-Wing experiences, exerting a profound effect upon the game’s evolving metagame. How will TIE swarms fare against squads led by IG-88 and theVirago? How will X-wing and B-wing pilots used to the TIE’s limited firepower cope with Scum squads that equip the nimble Scyk with potent laser cannons? What will happen when the Black Sun outbids the Empire for the services ofBoba Fett, the galaxy’s deadliest bounty hunter?

You’ll soon have the opportunity to explore these situations in your games of X-Wing. The Most Wanted, StarViper, M3-A Interceptor, and IG-2000 Expansion Packs are all scheduled to arrive at retailers in the fourth quarter of 2014. In the meantime, keep your eyes open for previews of these new Wave VI expansions and other X-Wing news!

examples of the fleet i'm planning

 I'm looking for Clone Wars Era ships but it's hard to fins ships that meet the eyeball scale for the game as you can see Star Wars Command games has ships that I need but they aren't even in scale to each other more or less to the X-Wing game the ARC170 I repainted meets the eyeball scale for the X-Wing game but the other two ships are to large to use as proxy ships for my Fleet. So the hunt goes on for a Eta-2 and Delta 7 fighters.

Revell EasyKit Republic Attack Shuttle Scale Model Review

really nice set of models by Revell

Ak interactive weathering products

there seems to be two ways to do this I use a brush with hair spray and salt and this is a product you can buy to get the same effect

I've added a new radar dish like AWACS planes have and covered the missing deck plating

The Lando Gold a work in progress

This is my first repaint of a concept I had when I played the RPG game back in the 80's

Things I would like to see in any up coming fantasy flight X-Wing games

What is the number one thing you would like to see in X-wing?  A expansion of the use of the prequel ships as a basses for the models examples :