Ladies And Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space...

Dean brought his newly purchased copy of  X-Wing over the other night. I know I am bit slow to the X-Wing party, but I have been itching to play it since its release yet I've been slightly put off by the price and what I see as a limited amount of ships.


I know that there are already quite a few models on the market already, with more to come, but I would rather stay within the 'real' Star Wars universe than buy models that are from the later novels and comics and whatever else is pumped out with the Star Wars™ logo on it:

And when I say 'real' Star Wars, I mean the original trilogy as I refuse to acknowledge that those other overblown toy adverts even exist.

And I know that saying Star Wars is 'real' is akin to saying the Hobbit is a documentary, but I think you get my drift...

I digress, I have had discussions about the ship issue on TMP where it has been pointed out to me that the ships and pilots can receive upgrades which changes gameplay, so not everything is the same. I just can't shift the nagging doubt that I am playing with essentially the same models. I think something that may get me out of this mental funk is the simple exciting fact that they are X-Wings and TIE Fighters!

Anyway, enough of me pontificating about a game I hadn't even played yet. Dean arrived and as every rocket ship needs rocket fuel, he brought some with him:

He also brought a home burned CD packed with Star Wars quotes and sounds from the films. We believe in total immersion... Using two black towels as the universe (total immersion, remember...), I took the Rebel scum and Dean used four TIEs. As this was my first game he gave me a level 4 and 2 pilot and took four level 1 pilots himself. It didn't mean much to me at this stage, but soon made sense as the game progressed. We went head on:

 "Accelerate to attack speed."

 "Keep up your visual scanning. Here they come."

 "Switch power to front deflector screens. Switch power to front deflector screens."

 "Switch to targeting computer."

"Watch your back, Luke! Fighters above you, coming in."

 "I'm hit, but not bad. R2, see what you can do with it. Hang on back there."

 "Good shooting, Wedge!"

 "Red Leader this is Gold Leader. We're starting our attack run."

 "Luke, at that speed will you be able to pull out in time?"

"This is Red Two. Flying toward you." 

"Keep your eyes open for those fighters!"

"They've coming in! Three marks at two ten."

"Loosen up!"

 "You worry about those fighters! I'll worry about the tower!"

"I've got a problem here."

"Stay on target!"

 "R2 that stabilizer's broken loose again! See if you can't lock it down!"

 "Fighters coming in, point three."

"I can't see it! He's on me tight, I can't shake him." 

In the first game Dean brought down my two X-Wings, with the loss of two TIEs. A good result for him, given that the TIEs are weaker overall. We played again with the same ships, unfortunately I have no photos of this game as my phone battery died, but this shot from early in the game shows that I had already lost an X-Wing through some lucky Imperial academy shooting. Yet, four against one and the Rookie pilot managed to turn the game around and I came out on top after destroying all the TIEs! "The Force is strong with this one."

Overall, I really enjoyed the games, it was fast paced and I could hold the rules in my head, even after half a bottle of rum. Although we didn't have any advanced rules in these games, I don't think they would slow the pace down from what I have seen. It was great fun, but I think that was mainly because it involves my beloved Star Wars ships blasting away at each other. We'll have to see how much repeat play it has for me!