With Scenario play becoming standard with X-wing, we have found the requirement to spice up our local game sessions less frequent. Having said that, breaking up competitive games with fun variations is a good way to keep gameplay fresh.
This mode can be played in either Standard or Extended, and the game itself is played exactly the same as per normal rules, with one exception, players will be trading 1 or more ships with their opponent.
When list building, the list is to comprise of three squads of equal value, my recommendation is 7 points, making your list 21 points in total when combined, but you can adjust the list building points depending on what you want to achieve. The idea is that one of the three squads will be traitors.
Before Round 0, players will review their opponent’s three squads, and at the same time, reveal the traitor(s) that they wish to play with. This means that both players will have two squads that are their own and one squad that was brought by their opponent.
A normal scenario game is played, and the squads used by a player, including the traitors, are all considered friendly to each other. The game is played to time, rounds, or points equalling the total value of the lists (in the above case, 21 points).
At the end of the game, players return their opponent’s ships back to them.
I recommend getting players to print their 3 squads on separate sheets using the Infinite Area’s squad printer found at https://infinitearenas.com/xw2quick/, this is for convenience of selection and ease of lending squads to opponents.
The above are variant game formats for X-Wing Miniatures by Atomic Mass Games. New to X-wing Miniatures? Check out X-wing Hub for everything you need to know about playing and joining the community.
As many X-wing players know, there was a multiplayer format released called Aces High where players took 1 ship at a certain point value and took on other ships in a battle royal format.
With the change in points to have ship values and loadout points due to the transition to scenario play, the old way of creating your ship no longer applies. We have gotten creative locally in our Aces High Variants, and I would like to share them below.
Below you will find the standard rules for Aces High based around the now obsolete squad building points and ‘Threat Builds’. If you refer to the top right corner, you can see it references the old points and threat build systems.
Option 1: Aces High; Dead Mans Hand – with ship points only As you can guess, it is a simple matter of choosing a point level and letting your players choose any ship at that cost, regardless of loadout value. Nice simple, load up your squad builder of choice (mine is YASB.app) and play ships as they are. We most commonly do this with 7 points, enough to get some strong contenders, and and not overwhelm players with all the ships at lower values. You will find that you may have duplicate ships in this situation, so be prepared for a lot of the same gameplay. Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.
Option 2: Aces High; Loaded Aces – ship points and loadout points For this variant, you issue players with a total points to spend on both ship and load out. With this one, it requires a little more work on the individual’s part, but makes for some interesting builds. For example, if you set squad building to 20 points, an individual can take Luke Skywalker in the T-60 X-wing (6), with Instinctive Aim (2) and Proton Torpedoes (12) or Darth Vader in the TIE Advanced x1 (7), with Lone Wolf (3), Fire Control System (2) and Afterburners (8) or any number of possible combinations (please note – these points may not be accurate at the time of reading). Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.
Option3: Aces High; Escalation Aces – Normal squad building rules apply The Escalation Aces variant is a great last-minute option, especially on a night with odd numbers, or a surprise event for your regular night at a friendly local game store. You take a standard 20pt list and start with your lowest initiative ship as your first ship that you play. After you lose a ship, you restore with the next lowest initiative ship and continue on until you have restored every ship in your list at least once. From then on, you can pick any ship from your list to restore with, as long as it wasn’t the ship that was destroyed in the previous round. If you have multiple ships with the same initiative, you decide the order in which to restore a ship to the board. So as an example, this list would proceed in the following order: Keo Venzee (i3), then the player can choose between Ahsoka Tano (i4) or Jan Ors (i4), they would then play the other i4 ship, followed by Fenn Rau (i6). After Fenn Rau is destroyed, he cannot be immediately restored, he must wait, until another ship from the same squad has been destroyed. You can also pre-designate the number of ships per list, and if they must all be different initiatives before the game if you wish. Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.
Option 4: Aces High; Random Aces – Prebuilt ships and load-outs For this variant, it is recommended that the organiser arrange for prebuilt ships and load-outs. You can use standard load-out cards, or use the Infinite Arena’s printouts for ships. Players draw a ship at Round 0, and draw a new ship to replace their previous ship every time they restore. Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.
Option 5: Aces High; Stitch Up – 4 players, 2 ships & no ship point limit, standard load-out limits apply. This is straight-up survival for 4 players and requires an objective marker. This is a last-squad standing gametype. In it, you bring any 2 ships you like from the same faction. Squads are set up by placing ships in initiative order, and ships are placed at range 1 from the edge, but range 3 from the corner (see image above). You are required to have at least 1 ship range 2 of the objective marker during the end phase, if you do not, you must pick one of your ships still in play and it will take a Critical damage hit. Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.
Option 5.2: Aces High; Stitch Up – 6 players, 2 ships & no ship point limit, standard load out limits apply. This is straight-up survival for 6 players and requires three objective markers. You will also require 10 obstacles of any kind. This is a last-squad standing gametype. In it, you bring any 2 ships you like from the same faction. Squads are set up by placing ships in initiative order, and ships are placed at range 1 from the edge, but range 3 from the corner, or range 3 from the centre (see image above). You are required to have at least 1 ship range 2 of any of the objective markers during the end phase, if you do not, you must pick one of your ships still in play and it will take a Critical damage hit. When the first entire squad is eliminated, the player must choose an objective marker and remove it from the play area. When the second squad is eliminated the player must choose one of the 2 remaining objective markers and remove it from the play area. Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.
The above are variant game formats for X-Wing Miniatures by Atomic Mass Games. New to X-wing Miniatures? Check out X-wing Hub for everything you need to know about playing and joining the community.
About a year ago, I heard that HeroQuest had been re-released. The nostalgia hit pretty hard with this one, as many an afternoon was spent with me guiding my younger brother’s team of warriors throughout the different quests. We played this a fair bit, accumulating a few expansions and even making up our own quests as we went.
When I heard that there was a re-release, I knew I was going to get it, $280AU pricetag be damned.
Once I got it, I set up a crew of warriors from my mates and we ran through the first mission or 2 (or 10).
Looking at the miniatures, they differed from the original designs, a bit more intricacy was put into them. Additionally, instead of carboard poked into plastic bases for the doors, furniture and set pieces, they were fully molded miniatures.
As a result of the new design, I have been encouraged to try my hand at painting the components for this new version. After overcoming my intial fear of ruining my components (as I am an extremely amatuer painter), I tried my hand at a couple of pieces – including my first attempt at fire.
I have even 3D printed, assembled and painted trapdoors. secret doors, trap blocks and stone blocks for blocking passageways to replace the cardboard. I am looking forward to seeing what other cardboard I can replace.
I have to say I am having a great time getting back to the stories and quests I enjoyed as a kid.
Recently I have started in a new job, the new role I have is more customer service focused than my previous job, but it has me thinking back to the job prior where I dealt with the returns and repairs of faulty computer products sold where I worked.
This reminds me of several different incidences that occurred over my time there, and I thought that I would share them.
This one is quite funny, and why it is important to keep your cool. I had a customer come up to the counter, already frustrated, and before I could utter a word, they began their tirade. They were upset because they had been provided with an ‘Asian power supply’ for their laptop. They continued to berate me and the company, without allowing a response, for what seemed a long time but was very likely close to 5 minutes. “[Company] Should know better than to sell cheap Asian crap.” “You should inspect your products so people don’t waste their time.” “I am too busy to waste time dealing with your shitty service” There was not too much I could do to interrupt the rant, as I was there solo, and a couple of customers waited for their turn to deal with me. At one point the customer held the power supply still enough for me to remove a little plastic cap that covered the prongs on the power plug. The customer stopped speaking, looked at the plug and left without saying a word (or an apology). I held my composure, but the customer behind them found it hilarious.
As a standard, all items booked in were given a book-in sheet that was signed by the customer, and the customer had to return in order to claim their goods. Alternatively, as long as we could verify that the person collecting was the same person, we would allow them to take the item. One day I had a tradie come in to collect his PC. As per normal, I asked for his documentation, he didn’t have it. Nor did he have a wallet, phone or any other method to confirm he was who he said he was. His reaction when I declined to release the PC because I could not confirm he was the owner was to knock everything off my counter and threaten to ‘smash’ me if I did not give him his PC. The training I had taught me that sometimes something ludicrous can break a rage, so I decided to implement it, though I must iterate, if you ever decide to try this, please ensure you evaluate the person you are dealing with. I responded with: “Go for it, there are camera’s everywhere and I could use the extra money.” The customer literally did a double-take and walked away. They came back later with their book-in sheet and apologised. After they calmed down they were glad that I would just not hand over their laptop to anyone.
The company I worked for offered different products that had certain guarantees with them, staff were well versed in what products offered what and what to recommend. Some covered the same things as warranties and some covered the products with insurance. In this particular instance, the salesperson involved started as someone who was notorious for returns, but then took the time to work with me and improve himself to the point where it was very rare for me to return any of his products. So a lady showed up at the counter, with her laptop covered in vomit demanding a replacement, in this particular case she had purchased an extended warranty, not a product that would have covered a replacement claim. It was escalated to me, and upon seeing who the salesperson was, I knew it was not a matter of him providing the wrong information. I managed to calm the customer down after explaining that the extended warranty was essentially an extension of all the things the warranty covered. Still not happy with my response, I agreed to take on her case and raise the issue as far as I could. I didn’t want to take the PC, but as the client wouldn’t leave with it, I double-bagged it and shelved it. I tried to argue the customer’s case, but it was not successful (as was my job) and in addition to that, my staff member that dealt with the customer originally and I both ended up with gastro.
A very tired looking customer came in with a laptop that, from their description, clearly had a manufacturer defect. The main issue was it was outside of the manufacturer’s time period for DOA replacement (Defective on Activation). The client explained that they had just had a baby, and even had a doctor’s note on hand. I explained to the client that I was required to run tests to confirm the defect and though I could not guarantee replacement, I would do what I could. The client got very upset, demanded an instant replacement and became unreasonable. I listened to their demands as I booked the item in. I explained that I could not do an instant replacement, as it was outside of the DOA window, and that I could do not anything without first running the required tests on the computer to confirm the fault and that seemed to placate them. I took the laptop into the workroom and began the tests, then picked up the phone to call the manufacturer’s representative, but due to amazing timing, I had actually answered a call from the same customer, not more than 2 minutes after having seen them leave. They went on a tirade about having bought the computer in good faith and that I should have instantly replaced the computer. I had been on the receiving end of this customers tiredness and frustration for the better part of 20 minutes and lost my cool. “Sir, that is enough. I am doing what I can to help you, now stop carrying on and let me do my job.” I received a very quiet “Okay,” and the call was ended. I called the rep, and whilst on the phone to them, the computer errored. I explained the situation and the rep was more than happy to authorise the replacement. I left a voicemail for the client and organised the replacement. My boss stepped into the workroom about 20 minutes later and asked about the job, and I handed him the relevant paperwork for the replacement computer. My boss organised the replacement with the client and ensured they were happy and saw them on their way. I was then called into the bosses office. I was informed that the customer had told my boss how unreasonable they had been and how amazingly I had handled them. In fact, the client was too embarrassed to come to me directly after not only sorting out the issue but getting them the replacement even after how they had treated me. My boss told me he had never in his life experienced someone so grateful, yet so embarrassed at the same time.
As mentioned in a previous post, I have joined a community of tabletop gamers playing X-wing Miniatures.
Since that time, the game itself has undergone a number of changes. There was at first a new points and balancing system with a number of introduced features, and the game increased from 3 factions (Rebels, Empire and Scum) to 7 factions (adding Resistance, First Order, Republic and Separatists) which created much more diversity in games and gameplay styles in the dogfight format.
In the early part of 2022, the game underwent a significant change. Asmodee moved the miniatures game from one child company, Fantasy Flight Games, to another child company, Atomic Mass Games (referred to as AMG), in 2020, and they worked to resolve a lot of the stagnancy, and negative play experiences that the game had developed in its competitive scene.
Their solution was to introduce scenario play, change how player order works and adjust the way list building is conducted.
List building has been a shock to the system for me. Ships now have a separate point cost and then a loadout spend depending on pilot/ship. As someone who liked to build lists light on upgrades to reduce the load on my brain, it is taking some adjustment to get used to. It also seems wasteful to either not take upgrades when points allow, or worse, forget to use them in combat.
I am still yet to get to a point where I am confident in my list building without referring to resources to see what other players are doing.
Scenarios are great, it has prevented a lot of issues people had with fortressing and stalling to prevent players holding up gameplay until the optimal moment. The scenarios themselves are not perfect and already we have seen one tweaked from 5 objectives to 3.
The objectives themselves are standard fare; Assault on the Satellite Array (king of the hill with 5 hills), Chance Engagement (dog fighting whilst remaining within the centre area of the board), Salvage Mission (oddball with 5 balls) & Scramble the Transmissions (a flick the switch control type with 3 switches).
Since the change to points and scenarios, I have felt that scenarios are not a way to win, but a way to not lose a match. Yesterday that opinion changed for me.
Playing in a tournament, I was having terrible dice luck. It did not matter what I did, I was failing to defend a lot of damage. As for my attacking, I dealt a total of one critical damage (a direct hit which deals 2 damage total) the whole game.
About 3 rounds before the game ended, I realised that rolling dice was not going to be the way I would win this match. I made the conscious decision to compensate by picking up objectives and by positioning firing arcs to encourage my opponent to avoid being in range of the objectives.
When the match was over, I had lost one ship, managed to avoid further ships dying with creative positioning and taken more objectives to win by a point, 12-11.
I still have so much more to learn about this game…
If you would like to learn more about playing X-wing, I am happy to point you in the right direction. You can start for yourself by checking out AMG’s documents, my preferred list builder or my main X-wing communities (Perth Jawa’s & Fly Better).
My story of getting into Halo is pretty simple. I was a Playstation Fanboy. I had decent collection of games, and literally wrote off Sundays as a teen/young-adult to play video games. After a trip to the other side of the country to attend a mates wedding with my girlfriend (now wife), I was introduced to a co-op game of Halo while there. I was hooked, literally bought an Xbox over there and brought it home, just for Halo (2003).
Here in Perth I became part of a community that started with friends (old and new) having LANs at our homes, to then hiring halls and hosting Halo events monthly. It was great, I was part of a community that enjoyed the games and played regularly. I even collected the books and spoke about the lore of the universe with my friends, we shared in the joy that was all things Halo.
It hasn’t been the same since Halo 4 (2012). With the release of Halo 4, the game went from Bungie’s lovingly crafted game to 343’s business investment, and it felt like it. Rather than introduce elements to Halo that felt organic and part of the universe, they took ideas that were popular in other games and tried to skin them in Halo. In hindsight, and something I didn’t want to admit to myself at the time, Halo 4 was a poor effort.
This left our local community divided. Some stayed with the existing Halo games, others (myself included) pushed on with 343’s offering in the hopes that newer is better. But our community was divided, and that meant the end of the way things were. LAN attendance dropped and we held out for a new hope, the hope that Halo: MCC (2014) would save us.
The launch of MCC was dismal. The game was so broken at launch, we couldn’t get matches online, let alone get matches to work when holding LANs. It ended our community. A number of people even got refunds. A number of us turned to Destiny, but the community did not exist as it was, and never would again.
Halo 5 (2015) had a very good avertising campaign leading up to its release, I was expecting to be the MC taking on the remnants of the Covenant, the Promethians, and next Gen Spartans that were hunting the MC. It was far from accurate. In what can only be described as outright falsehoods, the game did not reflect the advertising. Warzone had some redeeming features, but it was not enough to bring the old community I once had back to the fold.
With the run up to Halo: Infinite (2021), we saw a lot if interest from my player group when it was released, and honestly, I felt like it was going to be like it was, but even after getting the game to play as it should and having the old Bungie feel to it, it was missing content. No Co-op on the release of the game, unbeleivable. Next to no multiplayer content with the release either (forge?), obscene, 343 again took something the community held out hope for and wasted it. I honestly have a hard time trying to get my friends to consider playing it anymore, and right now, I am even questioning why I play it.
Then what really hurt me was the Halo TV series (2022). It literally felt like a spit in the face. They took the universe we love and told us it wasn’t good enough and then proceed to make trash. Don’t get me wrong, I felt that Pablo Schreiber was an absolutely fantastic choice to play the role of Master Chief, but what they did to the story and the universe was a travesty.
There are so many existing stories to be told or that could be told that can be kept in the universe, and they instead chose to disregard the entire community and do what they wanted, and it failed, because at its core, they didn’t understand the characters or universe nor appreciate it the way the fans do.
Since 343i took the helm of Halo, I have been repeatedly disapointed with every release. It is also very cutting that the first time we get a proper Master Chief story in film or television, that they make such a mess of it.
I don’t know if Microsoft, Xbox or 343 can undo the last 10+ years of poor helmsmanship of the franchise. I think another poor release could see the game suffer from the same infamy earned by the last season of Game Of Thrones. For that reason, I am not sure if I even want them to try.
I wish I could be more optimistic about the future of Halo, but the “Fool me once…” quote doesn’t go up to “Fool me six times”, and someone should definitely be ashamed.
With the changes in online console gaming meaning less interest in people wanting to LAN, I found that in addition to playing Xbox, I had some time available.
My friends and I started to fill that time with poker nights and game nights involving games like Cards Against Humanity, Joking Hazard, and Exploding Kittens, with games like Magic The Gathering and The Jackbox Party Pack thrown in.
On one occasion, I looked at the X-Wing Miniatures game, and with the shared interest of another friend, ventured forward and spent the money on picking up a Core set. I played a couple of intro games, purchased a couple of extra ships, and I was hooked.
For me, it was a lot of fun to try to strategically position my ships for attack whilst trying to avoid being shot at, and having versatility in pilot cards and ship upgrades to vary gameplay, the game had a surprising amount of depth.
But soon, just playing with a friend wasn’t enough, and the store I had been buying X-wing Miniatures from was holding a tournament (this is an unsolicited plug, but Stratagem Cards and Games are amazing for new players), so I thought I would enter, unbeknownst to me It was the Regional tournament.
I had my collective exhaust ports handed to me, but one of the most amazing things was that my opponents saw I was new and coached me through my games. This was a regional tournament for placings nationally and my opponents took the time and care to help me learn the finer points of the game.
This encouraged me to come down and experience League. The community were so welcoming and encouraging, I didn’t care I was losing, I was learning and at the same time, learning what a great group of people I was playing with.
I can honestly say the game of X-wing Miniatures is quite enjoyable, but the fact that the community behind it is so amazing was something I had not anticipated and has become the real drawcard for me.
I honestly not would be in this position if it were not for the wonderful team at Perth Jawas – check them out!
So anyone that knows me, knows I gave up on Destiny a while ago, but recent developments saw me with access to a copy.
Let me start with the reasons I liked playing Destiny – playing with my mates, the challenges we faced together and the mutual sense of accomplishment when completing a task/raid/strike. What drove me away was the constant financial investment for a month or so of content coupled with carrying players through the game that didn’t put in the same effort on raids/strikes as others (reading the shared guides, understanding techniques to pass elements, and following strategies).
Let’s start with the into to Destiny 2, like most sequels, after an initial intro where you kick arse, the game strips you of the abilities you acquired in the previous game that made you the powerhouse you needed to be to complete the game. From here begins the levelling up required to become the powerhouse again. There is a lot more variety available now in terms of content for leveling that it does not seem like a grind at all, and add to that the included story elements that a lot of people lampooned the first game for missing, they seem to have listened to a lot of the criticisms of the first game and developed an enjoyable experience to play whilst reaching the levels required for the more challenging aspects of the games.
The multiplayer, Crucible, seems to have had some tweaks that have made every one on one contest seem like an unfortunate turn as opposed to being dominated, which is a big change from my impression of the games previous incarnation. You end up finishing a multiplayer game not really feeling the sense of wanting to rage quit you can experience when being decimated by opponents of superior skill.
Lastly, Bungie have included all the little aspects they are known for, where they include easter eggs and items to hunt down and search for purely for the fans and those that are the fan of game lore.
Again, not being a fan of rating systems, I can say that this game, upon release is definitely enjoyable, especially if you have the right people to play with. I am concerned going forward about the spend of additional DLC and content, but the launch is a solid offering from Bungie, and one I am enjoying.
Farreg 