Star Wars Tabletop Miniature Games

[Warden]

I came across this article while researching Star Wars X-Wing, and I figured I would post the link here in the hopes of getting your opinions.

Here are the summarize pros and cons of each of the three games for those of you who don't want to read the whole article:

1. Star Wars X-Wing



Summary: features tactical ship-to-ship dogfighting between various types of starfighters (Rebels/Resistance versus Empire/Order)



The good

• Affordable, fast fun
• Stunning pre-painted miniatures
• Massive game support and catalog of options

The Bad

• Mostly deathmatch play makes the game feel lacking in focus at times; the 1 vs 1 battle that seems to go on forever

The ugly

• Can be daunting for new players who wish to be competitive in leagues

2. Star Wars Armada



Summary: scales up the previous X-Wing game to include a more strategic approach to capital ship space combat.



The good

• You get to command a freaking Star Destroyer and blast your foes from the stars
• Turns and actions resolve more smoothly than X-Wing
• The maneuver tool is a clever addition to the game
• Six fixed rounds lead to some great emergent gameplay
• Objectives keep every game fresh and focused

The bad

• Takes up a lot of real estate to play

The ugly

• The core set MSRP of $99.95 does not get you much to play with
• Unpainted tiny squadrons make the investment feel somewhat cheapened

3. Star Wars Imperial Assault



Summary: skirmish game between ground-based units



The good

• Tons of replay across multiple mixtures of elements and two distinct modes of play
• RPG-lite elements of campaign play let you upgrade your hero and become more powerful
• Skirmish play is quick and exciting
• Deceptively simple rules provide a low barrier of entry for more casual players

The bad

• Unpainted miniatures
• The Imperial player has more pressure to know the rules and setup of each campaign mission; this might feel like a thankless job

The ugly

• A $99.95 MSRP buy-in is rough, especially if you’re only interested in one mode of play

I also love X-Wing - the miniatures are so detailed and the play style is very realistic, although I wish they would do miniatures for Republic and Separatists, considering they have done the Original Trilogy and are doing the Sequel Trilogy which are basically remakes with a few added extras on. I am very pleased with the TIE striker for Rogue One though - noticeably different than the standard TIE in gameplay as well as looks.

I also play Star Trek attack wing, which I thoroughly recommend for all X-Wing players who also like Star Trek, as the rules are similar but noticeably different for the lore, science and tech for Star Trek.

Vastly different wargames I play include Warhammer Invasion (although I only have the core set), Shadow War Armageddon/Necromunda (I have the rule books for both, SWA in book form and Nexromunda as a PDF, and have played Necromunda several times, looking forward to play SWA) Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game (use the older rules before GW released the ugly warband format) and D&D.

In terms of Board Games, I recommend Heroquest, Heroscape, Risk: Godstorm (Risk meets Age of Mythology) and Warcraft: The Board Game. I have Heroquest and Risk Godstorm (along with Risk original although I prefer Godstorm), and have played Heroscape and Warcraft at my university's games society.

I also found this quote from a different thread by @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl , I will need to look into Star Trek Attack Wing as well. And I think @n810 has a set of Imperial Assault minis?

I have never played any of these games, but X-Wing has some interest for me. Something like this would be an awesome project to put together: surface of the Death Star!





Edit: Updated to add more pictures

 

[n810]

Yep I have perinatal assault, and one of my friends has the other two.
All of them are quite fun.

Ps. X-wing also has some mission based matches as well as death match.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I came across this article while researching Star Wars X-Wing, and I figured I would post the link here in the hopes of getting your opinions.

Here are the summarize pros and cons of each of the three games for those of you who don't want to read the whole article:

1. Star Wars X-Wing

View attachment 37957

Summary: features tactical ship-to-ship dogfighting between various types of starfighters (Rebels/Resistance versus Empire/Order)

View attachment 37956

The good

• Affordable, fast fun
• Stunning pre-painted miniatures
• Massive game support and catalog of options

The Bad

• Mostly deathmatch play makes the game feel lacking in focus at times; the 1 vs 1 battle that seems to go on forever

The ugly

• Can be daunting for new players who wish to be competitive in leagues

2. Star Wars Armada

View attachment 37953

Summary: scales up the previous X-Wing game to include a more strategic approach to capital ship space combat.

View attachment 37952

The good

• You get to command a freaking Star Destroyer and blast your foes from the stars
• Turns and actions resolve more smoothly than X-Wing
• The maneuver tool is a clever addition to the game
• Six fixed rounds lead to some great emergent gameplay
• Objectives keep every game fresh and focused

The bad

• Takes up a lot of real estate to play

The ugly

• The core set MSRP of $99.95 does not get you much to play with
• Unpainted tiny squadrons make the investment feel somewhat cheapened

3. Star Wars Imperial Assault

View attachment 37955

Summary: skirmish game between ground-based units

View attachment 37954

The good

• Tons of replay across multiple mixtures of elements and two distinct modes of play
• RPG-lite elements of campaign play let you upgrade your hero and become more powerful
• Skirmish play is quick and exciting
• Deceptively simple rules provide a low barrier of entry for more casual players

The bad

• Unpainted miniatures
• The Imperial player has more pressure to know the rules and setup of each campaign mission; this might feel like a thankless job

The ugly

• A $99.95 MSRP buy-in is rough, especially if you’re only interested in one mode of play

I also found this quote from a different thread by @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl , I will need to look into Star Trek Attack Wing as well. And I think @n810 has a set of Imperial Assault minis?

I have never played any of these games, but X-Wing has some interest for me. Something like this would be an awesome project to put together: surface of the Death Star!

View attachment 37958

View attachment 37951

Edit: Updated to add more pictures

Also in X-Wing there is the neutral Scum and Villainy faction which represents criminals and Bounty Hunters of all stripes who will eagerly fight either the Rebels or the Empire.

Probably the ugliest thing about all the Fantasy Flight Star Wars games is that none of them feature the prequels era, only X-Wing supports the Sequels era and only X Wing and Armada support Rogue One because it is evident that the people at FFG are Original Trilogy fanatics, which is one way in which Wizkids' Star trek Attack wing is better as it caters for all eras. Nevertheless, I've produced my first unofficial Republic cards for Captain Jag's ARC-170 and a Republic Gunship - more on that later. A scenario I've been cooking up for X-Wing is the Battle of Scarif, complete with rules for accidentally crashing into Palm trees!

Also, a life hack for X-Wing - If you want more ships but don't want to buy more of the expensive Expansion packs which give you cards you already have, then look at Star Wars Micromachines - their Starfighter ships are about the same scale as X-Wing ones and you can get packs of 5 or 6 of them for about £8, compared to £12 for one FFG ship. You can easily make more of the dials by photocopying the pieces of an existing one and using split pins to fix the parts together, and you can create more cards and base cards by photocopying them too. The only other thing you will need to buy is more bases, but FFG supply packs of these for decent prices.

 

[ravagekitteh]

I play X-Wing and really enjoy it. They've just released some Last Jedi sets if anyone's feeling hyped for that as well

 

[n810]

I believe they also have a few units from video games and the animated series's.

 

[Padre]

They will also be coming out with another SW minis game later this year, Star Wars Legion. It's a mass ground combat game. I'm interested, but not sure if I need another game to play.

 

[Warden]

Also, a life hack for X-Wing - If you want more ships but don't want to buy more of the expensive Expansion packs which give you cards you already have, then look at Star Wars Micromachines - their Starfighter ships are about the same scale as X-Wing ones and you can get packs of 5 or 6 of them for about £8, compared to £12 for one FFG ship. You can easily make more of the dials by photocopying the pieces of an existing one and using split pins to fix the parts together, and you can create more cards and base cards by photocopying them too. The only other thing you will need to buy is more bases, but FFG supply packs of these for decent prices.

I have seen the Micromachines models before, it looks like they were a lot cheaper to get en-mass.

I was wondering how hard it would be to cast these miniatures out of resin? I have had moderate success with some of GW's Bretonnians, and those TIE fighters don't look like they would be too hard to mold and cast. The x-wings might be more difficult, having those really thin, tiny pieces on the wings...

Photocopying more cards shouldn't be too difficult, glad someone else has tried that already. I am guessing and more cards/base cards that you make yourself wouldn't be able to be used in anything other than in friendly games?

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

I believe they also have a few units from video games and the animated series's.

There are Star Wars Rebels ships definitely. @ravagekitteh will be pleased with this - I don't know if you've discovered them yet?

They will also be coming out with another SW minis game later this year, Star Wars Legion. It's a mass ground combat game. I'm interested, but not sure if I need another game to play.

Again, it seems that it's only going to be set in the OT. I would only be really interested in the Galactic Civil War setting if they introduced the Rogue One characters, in which case I would have them as my leaders and theme a Rebel army around them with mostly Special Forces troops.

I have seen the Micromachines models before, it looks like they were a lot cheaper to get en-mass.

I was wondering how hard it would be to cast these miniatures out of resin? I have had moderate success with some of GW's Bretonnians, and those TIE fighters don't look like they would be too hard to mold and cast. The x-wings might be more difficult, having those really thin, tiny pieces on the wings...

Photocopying more cards shouldn't be too difficult, glad someone else has tried that already. I am guessing and more cards/base cards that you make yourself wouldn't be able to be used in anything other than in friendly games?

Yes, I don't think unofficial ships and cards would be allowed at tournaments. I recommend photocopying only if you want more of a particular ship and pilot, say, more Black Squadron TIE Fighter pilots. If you want to have a go at doing unofficial pilots, I would recommend this card creator website. It's French, but with Google Chrome you can easily translate the page into English.

http://cardcreator.atelierdufaucon.com

 

[ravagekitteh]

There are Star Wars Rebels ships definitely. @ravagekitteh will be pleased with this - I don't know if you've discovered them yet?

Yeah, there's the Ghost, the Phantom and Phantom II, the Inquistor's TIE, the Imperial Assualt carrier, C-ROC Cruiser, the Shadow Caster, Stolen TIE and Fang Fighter. All of which are really nice ships, although not part of my collection - yet at least

 

[Aginor]

Hmmmm are those Imperial assault models roughly the same size as GW models?
And can you buy those models separately?

 

[n810]

I believe they are 25mm scale as compared to GW's 28mm models.

 

[Aginor]

I believe they are 25mm scale as compared to GW's 28mm models.

I just wondered because those Nexu beasts would make pretty decent Razordons IMO.

 

[n810]

They are about the same size.

 

[Warden]

Yes, I don't think unofficial ships and cards would be allowed at tournaments. I recommend photocopying only if you want more of a particular ship and pilot, say, more Black Squadron TIE Fighter pilots. If you want to have a go at doing unofficial pilots, I would recommend this card creator website. It's French, but with Google Chrome you can easily translate the page into English.

Thanks for the tips and the links. Odds are any Star Wars/Star Trek miniatures projects would be strictly for home and friendly games.

 

[Warden]

Found a nice review on the differences between Star Wars X-Wing and Star Trek Attack Wing, was a pretty good read.



Note: picture is a dramatization; the models can't actually shoot lasers

The pic shows that the games aren't 100% compatible with each other either; the Star Trek Ships are way too small in comparison to the Rebel fighters. Unfortunate if you wanted to devise the ultimate Star-Franchise smackdown between these two universes. Maybe Star Wars Armada would work better...

 

[n810]

It would be closer scale with armada, but of course the ST ships would be a bit to big at that scale.

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

Found a nice review on the differences between Star Wars X-Wing and Star Trek Attack Wing, was a pretty good read.

View attachment 39287

Note: picture is a dramatization; the models can't actually shoot lasers

The pic shows that the games aren't 100% compatible with each other either; the Star Trek Ships are way too small in comparison to the Rebel fighters. Unfortunate if you wanted to devise the ultimate Star-Franchise smackdown between these two universes. Maybe Star Wars Armada would work better...

It would be closer scale with armada, but of course the ST ships would be a bit to big at that scale.

But it would be more accurate than Attack Wing vs X-Wing. I don't know why so many people try to play Attack Wing vs X-Wing - the rules system is similar but that's about it. Certainly Armada vs Attack Wing would work better. In fact why not make it 3-way and bring Battlefleet Gothic into the mix as well?

 

[n810]

... lol, to get battle fleet gothic to scale properly, you would need car sized models.

 

[Warden]

But it would be more accurate than Attack Wing vs X-Wing. I don't know why so many people try to play Attack Wing vs X-Wing - the rules system is similar but that's about it. Certainly Armada vs Attack Wing would work better. In fact why not make it 3-way and bring Battlefleet Gothic into the mix as well?

That would be neat, but I agree with @n810 the scale differences only get even worse once you bring Battlefleet Gothic into the mix

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

There are some really nice looking Rogue One ships coming out in X-Wing soon - Saw’s Renegades expansion pack which contains a black and white Partisan U-Wing and X-Wing and the TIE Reaper expansion pack.