Geek Syndicate Issue 5 | Page 110

Geek Syndicate
provides pre-painted minitatures alone was enough to get our attention but, given the horrendous pre-painting jobs we’d seen from other companies, the work on these models is considerably better than we’d expected. “High-end tabletop quality” probably best describes it. Committed painters will probably want to give them a once-over for customisation purposes, but for most gamers they’ll be good to go straight out of the box. Over and above the paintwork, the models themselves are gorgeous. It’s obvious that a great deal of time and attention has been put into nailing the scale and details of the pieces – a practical necessity when dealing with a much loved and well established licence. The game’s other components are also nicely turned out. The range rulers have both a Rebel (red) and an Imperial (green) side, which has precisely zero effect in-game but is somehow unspeakably awesome anyway. Damage cards and the various counters needed for play are all functional and distinct and everything seems to have been calculated for the greatest ease and enjoyment of use. The idea appears to have been to remove as many barriers to that enjoyment as possible right out of the gate and it’s very hard to fault Fantasy Flight’s execution here. Looking at the actual mechanics of the game, this is even more apparent. Where Star Warriors was a game of hurlImage © Fantasy Flight Games, 2012

ing dice, scribbling notes and crunching numbers, X-Wing pares all of this down to something surprisingly elegant and impressively streamlined. It’s a game without charts or tables, and with virtually no ingame mathematics. You don’t even have to track the speed of your ships, thanks to the brilliantly conceived manoeuvre dial mechanism. Squadron creation is mediated entirely through the selection of cards, so there’s no book-keeping and even ship damage is handled through the physical components of the game. Basically, anything the designers felt could kick a player out of the essential “Star Wars” atmosphere was either eliminated entirely or transformed into something fitting and fun. The move/action/shoot turn structure is easy to grasp and works well in play and, along with the simultaneous secret planning system (again, we have to give credit for those deeply cool manoeuvre dials), prevents any sense of “you-go-I-go”. Given the relative simplicity of the game, the designers could have got away without the additional quick-start rule-set, but it was impressive to see it included. There are only three missions included in the book, with varying objectives and challenges (asteroids to avoid, satellites to scan, etc.), but the internet is already flooding itself with new material from players and there’s a lot of fun to be had from just flat-out dogfighting as well.

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