Fantasy Flight Games

An Important Star Wars Announcement

Published 16 November 2020 | Star Wars: Armada

An Important Star Wars Announcement

News About the Future of Our Star Wars Miniatures Games

For the full press release, click here .

Atomic Mass Games Takes Its First Steps Into The Star Wars™ Miniatures Games Galaxy

Development of Star Wars: X-Wing, Star Wars: Armada, and Star Wars: Legion Moving from Fantasy Flight Games to Asmodee’s Miniatures Games-Focused Studio

SEATTLE, WA, November 16, 2020 – In a strategic reorganization of its Star Wars miniatures titles, Asmodee is announcing today that oversight of its three Star Wars miniatures titles will be moving to their dedicated miniatures games studio, Atomic Mass Games.

Development of all future miniatures games will be handled by Atomic Mass as well. The move to a specialty studio positions Asmodee’s miniatures titles for even greater success in the future.

“Atomic Mass is committed to bringing people together through fun games, and Star Wars has been bringing people together through the power of myth and story for over 40 years,” Steve Horvath, Head of US Publishing, said. “Combining their talent with the strength of our current Star Wars miniatures games and the limitless possibilities of a galaxy far, far away is going to lead to incredible new experiences for tabletop gamers and Star Wars fans to enjoy.”

Simone Elliott, who has shepherded Fantasy Flight’s relationship with Lucasfilm Licensing since 2015, will lead Atomic Mass Games during this time of expansion as Head of Studio. Will Shick assumes primary creative oversight as Head of Product Development. Joining them will be key members of the teams involved in the creation and evolution of Fantasy Flight’s current Star Wars miniatures games, Star Wars™: X-Wing, Star Wars™: Legion, and Star Wars™: Armada.

About Atomic Mass Games

Composed of veterans from the tabletop miniatures games industry, Atomic Mass Games is committed to delivering immersive lifestyle hobby games that combine industry leading tabletop miniatures and fast, fun, kinetic game rules to create lifelong collectors and players.

About Asmodee USA

Asmodee USA is a sales, marketing, and distribution arm of the global Asmodee Group, a leading international company dedicated to bringing great games and amazing stories to all corners of the world. Asmodee USA represents the strongest portfolio of board games in the industry, including such favorite titles as CATAN®, Ticket to Ride, Spot It!, Pandemic, Just One, Dixit, Dead of Winter, and many more.

About Asmodee Group

Asmodee Group is a leading international games publisher and distributor committed to telling amazing stories through great games with over 34 million games sold in more than 50 countries. Through our portfolio of iconic game titles, including CATAN®, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Dobble/Spot it!, Arkham Horror, Splendor, KeyForge, and Star Wars: X-Wing, we create a dynamic transmedia experience for players across a variety of digital and physical platforms. Asmodee also creates inspiring and innovative products in partnership with leading entertainment and technology companies. Asmodee operates in Europe, North America, South America and Asia and is headquartered in Guyancourt, France. Learn more at corporate.asmodee.com.

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Flying for a Cause

Published 14 July 2020 | X-Wing

Flying for a Cause

The Community Giving Back

“I feel that because I can fight, I have to. For those who cannot.”
–Leia Organa, Star Wars™: Rebels

2020 would have marked the seventh year for Campaign Against Cancer, a tabletop charity event focused on Star Wars™: X-Wing. While the dozens of in-person events around the world won’t be happening this year, the dedicated crew at Twin Suns Charities will be hosting a telethon instead, again raising money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. We spoke with Chad Hoefle, president and founder of Twin Suns Charities, to get some background on the organization and their mission.

Chad Hoefle (center) with Twin Suns Charities Board Members Chris Brown (left), and Pasquale Mazzei (right).

How and when did you get into X-Wing in the first place?

I got into X-Wing in Wave 1 of first edition. There was a display at my local game shop, and I was looking for something that I could do with my young nephew while he was staying with me. The store attendant at the time assured me that it was easy enough to understand, and the fact that it was Star Wars-themed with detailed ship miniatures was a huge selling point for me. I took the Core Set home and immediately fell in love.

What is Campaign Against Cancer?

Campaign Against Cancer (CAC) is quite literally a community effort to come together for a single cause, benefiting the fight against cancer. On one day of the year, we all come together to play games and donate money towards a cause that we really believe in. This is just one of the ways in which we can impact the world and help someone else. Whatever we raise, as much of that goes to the beneficiaries like St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Telethon Kids Institute as possible. Every gamer, staff member, and store owner who participates in CAC does so as a volunteer to ensure that we can help the cause as much as possible.

The 2019 attendees of the South Bend event

What was the impetus behind starting Campaign Against Cancer?

The first Campaign Against Cancer event was in 2014 and was brought about by my shared loves of volunteerism and gaming. At the time, I was stage managing for our local Relay for Life event for the American Cancer Society as a volunteer. After attending FFG events at the local, regional, and national levels, I was impressed by the quality and character of the new friends I was meeting and thought that it would be a nice idea to organize a charity X-Wing event to benefit the ACS. I put together a small team of gamers who had knowledge of graphics, gaming, events, and software development to help me put together the first CAC in South Bend, Indiana. After that, we spread to more and more cities each year.

What’s been the most surprising thing you’ve encountered running CAC?

In a single word, growth. In no way did I ever expect this event to grow beyond South Bend, let alone span into multiple countries. As the event has grown from one location in the US to 35 locations in five countries over the years, we have continued to draw in more and more players who have raised more and more money for the benefit of others. In six years, we have raised nearly $130,000, with 2019 bringing in over $47,000, all because of this fantastic player community. There was no way I saw any of that coming and I am amazed by what they do each year. Our success has been such that we were even able to have a booth at the 2019 Star Wars Celebration in Chicago to talk about X-Wing gaming for charity, which was an incredible honor for me.

Campaign Against Cancer's growth over time

Tell me about how you chose St. Jude as the charity to work with.

For the first four years of CAC, we worked with the American Cancer Society, but in 2018 switched to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as our primary beneficiary. St. Jude has a great reputation for the work that they’re doing directly to benefit children and families struggling with cancer. We made this decision to refresh some of the enthusiasm for CAC among the player base and St. Jude is an organization with a mission that we can all believe in. In our three years of working with them, they have been absolutely amazed by our results and very responsive to our needs, and we have been proud to be their partner! As a note, while St. Jude is our primary partner here in the USA, we do try to keep money raised at a CAC event in the country it takes place in. For example, last year all of the money raised by our Australian locations went to support the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth, Australia.

With the usual in-person events off the table due to current events, what do you have planned for the telethon?

The telethon gives our community members an avenue to watch some exclusive content such as exhibition X-Wing matches, painting demos, and discussions with members of the community. This also allows us to still band together to help places like St. Jude.

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us Chad, and we wish you and Twin Suns Charities continued success!

If you’d like to tune in for the Campaign Against Cancer telethon, or contribute to the cause, be sure to check out www.twinsunscharities.org or https://www.twitch.tv/goldsquadronpodcast, starting at 10:00 PM Central Time on July 17, and ending at 10:00 PM on July 18.

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Flight Academy: The Galaxy's Greatest

Published 18 September 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Flight Academy: The Galaxy's Greatest

An Interview with the 2017 X-Wing™ Coruscant Invitational Champion

Welcome back to X-Wing™ Flight Academy, cadets. At ease.

We are now racing full-speed toward the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, and that means we're nearly due for some explosive combat. Our patrols are at high alert, and we have to expect that enemy squadrons are too. After all the engagements we've witnessed during the course of the 2018 System Open Series, we expect the battles at the Coruscant Invitational to be fast and furious, and we expect there to be casualties.

How can you play your part? That's why we have you here. You have to prove yourself at a System Open Series event to qualify for the Coruscant Invitational, and that means flying like a true ace. Our special sessions of Flight Academy are designed to help you take your game to the next level—one that should help you survive the challenges before you, offer you greater insight into the action you witness during our livestream on Twitch, and might even help you win a berth in next year's Coruscant Invitational.

What's the difference between flying a routine patrol and emerging victorious from a dogfight with laser blasts erupting against shields and hull plating in every direction? Skill is part of it. But so is preparation and the right mentality.

Whether you'll be joining the action at the Fantasy Flight Games Center or following the games on Twitch, it's always good to learn from the aces—to understand how they've risen to the top. Today, we're happy to bring in our guest instructor, last year's Coruscant Invitational Champion, Jeremy Chamblee.

2017 X-Wing Coruscant Invitational Champion Jeremy Chamblee shown with the trophy from his victory at the Mustafar Open.

Interview with the 2017 Coruscant Invitational Champion Jeremy Chamblee

FFG: How did you get started with X-Wing?

JC: I've played with miniatures since I was a kid. First with LEGO men battling over the toy box, then on to the big stuff. One day I walked in to my friendly local game store, an army of minis in tow, and I saw some folks surrounding a table with TIE fighters on it. I immediately asked them what they were playing, they said it was a new game called X-Wing, and I asked to play. One game in, and I was hooked.

FFG: What hooked you?

JC: The imagery first. I've always been a fan of Star Wars, and one of my favorite video games was Rogue Squadron on the N64. Tabletop games are my passion, so when someone told me I could play with TIE fighters in a tabletop game I wanted in.

Once the childlike wonder faded a bit, the game itself was gripping. Planning maneuvers, strategy, the whole bit.

FFG: You mentioned TIE fighters instead of X-wings. Does this mean you're an Imperial player at heart?

JC: Yes, I've always enjoyed the aesthetics of Imperial ships. And I do enjoy playing the bad guy.

Palpatine is probably my favorite character in Star Wars.

FFG: Interesting. I mean, you don't root for him, do you? How is he your favorite?

JC: No, he's pretty clearly the villain here. But I enjoy the character for the conflict he creates in Luke and Vader. The throne room scene is my favorite part of any Star Wars film.

FFG: What sort of tournament experience did you have prior to the 2017 System Open Series?

JC: I had played in lots of local tournaments, though I had never gone much further than Austin to do so. I had attended Regionals in Dallas for the past four years. No premier level events, though.

FFG: How confident did you feel going into the 2017 Mustafar Open, where you qualified for the Coruscant Invitational?

JC: Considering Regionals was only a week prior and I had turned in a somewhat disappointing 4-2 performance, I wouldn't say I was too confident. I really was just happy to be there to enjoy a nice X-Wing vacation with my friends. I wasn't really that concerned about the actual games. I approached them the way I approach casual game night at home.

FFG: Why do you think things turned out differently, then? Did you change your list? Did you benefit from the added experience?

JC: I think it was a combination of changing my list and just being relaxed. At Regionals I played Chiraneau and "Quickdraw," more focused on finishing games quickly than anything else. I switched to Parattanni because I couldn't think of anything else to play that week and had enjoyed it in my testing.

The "Parattanni" list was popular throughout much of 2017.
It consisted of Fenn Rau, Asajj Ventress, and Manaroo, all with Attanni Mindlink.

FFG: Were you more anxious during the Regional tournament?

JC: Yes, I definitely wanted it more at Regionals. I had gone four years in a row and only made the cut twice. Each time, I got bounced in the first round!

FFG: So you’re saying it's kind of like the mentality they always encourage before big tests: "You can't do much to prepare the night before. You're either prepared, or you're not. Get some sleep so that you're fresh in the morning." That idea?

JC: I think so. I felt much more relaxed at Mustafar than at Regionals.

FFG: What were some of the tougher moments you faced at Mustafar?

JC: Every game had tough moments, even the ones where I had the "better" list.

FFG: Did any stick out in which you remember making choices about how you were going to fly through them?

JC: My Top 8 game was against my friend Raul, who I drove down with. He had “Whisper,” “Countdown,” and Yorr. I had to get rid of “Whisper” to have a chance, so we got tangled up in it, and I had a decision to make. Asajj is in the corner and can either go for a hard turn or bank with "Whisper" looking right at her. I take the bank to leave my options open and hope for a collision. Raul reveals a Speed 4 Koiogran-turn, which is excellent on a TIE phantom normally, but thanks to Yorr would be no issue.

He just barely clipped my base and collided, swinging the game. Had I turned instead, “Whisper” would have ended up behind me with no arcs pointed at her.

FFG: Once you qualified for the Coruscant Invitational, you knew you were going to have to fly some wildly different squads. How did you go about preparing yourself for the challenge of flying each faction and having to draft a portion of each of your squadrons?

JC: I had no idea what to expect at Coruscant, apart from having to fly very different squads, so my preparation was just flying a little bit of everything as much as I could. Something like knowing the Quadjumper doesn't have a Speed 1 bank maneuver could be very helpful.

FFG: The format for 2017 Coruscant Invitational required you to bring squadrons of no more than 77 points and then fill out your squadron in a draft. Did you practice all the different 24-point builds you'd be looking to draft?

JC: Before the draft picks were revealed, I asked my friends to build me mini-squads to play around with. We erred on the side of janky and oddball squads to make things more interesting.

Once all the mini-squads were revealed, I'd build my 77 point squad and before each game I'd roll an eight-sided die to determine which mini squad to add that game. It kept me on my toes and forced me to adapt to a new addition each game.

Because I couldn't plan on having any one ship, I built my 77 points to be self-contained and considered the draft ship to be a fun add on. Also, I knew there would be at least one lower pilot skill generic ship in every game, so I skewed towards a slightly higher pilot skill so I could potentially destroy a ship before it could fire back. Oh, the irony… In the finals, my drafted TIE Striker, "Paul Jr.,” was destroyed before he could fire.

FFG: What moments stand out from your games in the Coruscant invitational?

JC: Three of them stand out as pivotal moments in three of my games. First, against William, I had Rexler Brath on one hull against Miranda with three hull as our only remaining ships. Rexler was facing away from Miranda, hiding behind an asteroid as he prepared to K-turn. Miranda could not turn in to shoot because of asteroids, so she did a Speed 2 bank, then slammed for a Speed 2 hard turn, triggering Advanced SLAM to fire off her seismic torpedo. All William had to do was roll a hit, and it was over for me and Rexler. But the dice did not favor him, I survived to K-turn and finish off Miranda.

Second was against Jesus. Miranda again, actually. Miranda was his key to winning that game, as Fenn Rau is generally my key to winning. I focused exclusively on Miranda, bringing down her shields. She moved, then slammed to drop bombs right in front of Fenn Rau, who, in turn, collided with her to avoid them. Miranda was near an asteroid and I had my drafted Quadjumper prepared to tug her onto it. I flew up and was millimeters short!

Instead, I opted to focus, figuring he would not move Miranda so he could bomb Fenn Rau. He did, dealing two damage with a Sabine-boosted Conner Net. Fenn Rau then tried his best to navigate the Cluster Mines, only barely clipping one. I rolled two crits and Fenn Rau was gone in one turn. I thought it was over. Then I remembered my Quadjumper at Range 1 of Miranda who had three hull left. Three focus results later, and she's gone as well.

Last, but not least, in the final game with Zach, I got the dream result with Rexler Brath versus a Bandit Squadron Pilot. My three hits landed with no evades, and using Rexler's ability I got the facedown damage card converted to a Direct Hit!

It was the Imperial dream.

Sadly, there were no pivotal moments in my game with Mishary. He just slapped me around. I think he's pretty good at X-Wing.

FFG: I know you were at the 2017 World Championships not long after the Coruscant Invitational. What can you tell me about that competition? How did it compare to the Mustafar Open and the Coruscant Invitational?

JC: The competition is stiff. It was my first Worlds, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But the one thing I noticed more than anything was how well prepared and how sharp everyone was. Even when I was going up and down in the middle tables, players were playing very deliberately, not making a lot of mistakes, and punishing me severely for mistakes I made.

FFG: You say the competition was stiff. Were the games like stand-offs, or what was your sense of the community?

JC: The community was great! I had a blast meeting lots of new people or putting faces to names. All the players I got games with were very friendly and fun to be around.

FFG: Okay, final question. What advice would you offer anyone looking to raise their game to the next level?

JC: I think the best advice I can give to a player looking to improve their game is to simply play a lot. Play more games with more ships to just learn how things move, how they fight, and how they work together. Try out successful lists or ones that give you a hard time. The easiest way to learn how to beat something is to fly it. Then you'll know how it loses.

Talk your games out with your opponent or other players. They might see things you don't and vice versa. Draw experience from as many sources as you can.

I would recommend variety early and focus later on. Knowing the various ships' capabilities can help determine what you want to play, what fits with your play style, and can help just knowing your potential foes' capabilities. Once you find what works for you, get comfortable with it. Refine it, practice against as much as you can. It's often more important to just not make mistakes than always make the perfect plays.

FFG: All right, that's all I've got. Anything you want to add?

JC: Just one thing. My absolute favorite part of the tournament experience—be it for a summer kit or Worlds or the Invitational—is the community. Interacting with other players, seeing old friends, making new ones—that is the best part of going to events like these. At Worlds, I got to see five of my fellow System Open Champions, and it was great to spend more time catching up with them, encouraging each other in our games, and congratulating or commiserating after it was all said and done.

We're lucky to have such an open and inviting community filled with really great people to not just game with, but to simply be around. If anyone hasn't gotten the chance or taken the opportunity to go to an X-Wing tournament and meet these great folks, I would highly recommend it.

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Flight Academy: Flying in Formation

Published 11 September 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Flight Academy: Flying in Formation

A Look at Formation Flying by 2012 World Champion Doug Kinney

Welcome back, cadets. We have another vital lesson for you in today's X-Wing™ Flight Academy!

Over the past weeks, we've seen a lot of you hitting the flight simulators, and many of you are looking as though you're just about ready for battle. You know how to fly to your ship's strengths. You understand how your squadron is a fighting unit that's more than just a bunch of ships flying on their own. And we've seen you applying the latest lessons from our look at the "Rule of 11," timing your attack runs so that you're getting the better of the opening engagements in your simulations.

Now, as you're nearly ready to fly into battle, we want to talk about formations. After all, you and your wingmates are supposed to be supporting each other… so you definitely don't want to stall each other or push each other into asteroids as the enemy's closing in!

We'll get you some video on this one soon—you'll see the concepts we're addressing today put into action during the 2018 Coruscant Invitational. But until that time, you'll want to absorb the principles of formation flying and then put them into practice, practice, practice.

Your guide through the advantages, disadvantages, and practicalities of flying in formation is none other than 2012 World Champion Doug Kinney.

Doug Kinney plotting a maneuver en route to his World Championship victory.

2012 World Champion Doug Kinney on Flying in Formation

Since the beginning of X-Wing, community members have written and shared many great articles about formation flying. A guide for understanding movement—which has been largely regarded as must-read information—was posted to the X-Wing community forums by user "Osoroshii."

Rather than rehashing his post, I'll just direct you to either read or re-read it. It provides highly detailed descriptions and graphics that help you anticipate where your ships—and your opponent's ships—will end their maneuvers. He outlines many useful tricks for eyeballing distances and describing how to keep ships tight together and maneuver them without having them overlap each other.

A key point to remember is that if two ships start a round side-by-side with each other and both want to bank, the "inside" ship will have to choose a smaller bank than the "outside" ship. For example, the inside ship in the graphic below executes a speed-one right bank maneuver, while the outside ship executes a speed-two right bank maneuver.

Knowing the ways that the individual ships maneuver is essential information if you wish to fly your ships in formation, especially if you want to fly different types of ships together in the same squadron. Another consideration is whether you wish to fly your ships in a tight formation or a loose one.

Flying in Tight Formations

When I talk about tight formations, I am referring to ships, generally small-based, that fly together, keeping within one ship base of each other. One such formation is the pinwheel formation identified by the user Klutz on Team Covenant's forums. This is a tight formation of four ships, offset from each other just enough to allow for banking and turning in tight spaces. It is a very effective design for flying four ships very close to each other.

Swarm players typically fly their ships in tight formations to benefit from advantages that tight formations have to offer. One of the key advantages is being able to train all of your guns on a single enemy ship. Firing all your guns at one ship after another in this way can quickly burn down your opponent's squad.

Ships flying in tight formations will often choose the same maneuver in order to keep their spacing. For example, if one ship in the formation dials in a speed-two straight, all the other ships in the swarm will likely execute the same speed-two straight. This means that over the course of a tournament, flying tight formations can be less mentally taxing. Another key advantage is that if your forward ships move before your opponent's ships move, you can maneuver your formation so that you force your opponent to overlap your front ship while the rest of your formation will have Range 1 attacks against it.

There are disadvantages to these tight formations, as well. If your opponent moves before you move your ships, he or she can quite easily place a ship directly into your lead ship's flight path and cause your entire formation to collide with each other. Also, flying a tight formation around obstacles without overlapping them is extremely difficult. This is one of the main disadvantages of flying in a tight formation, as your opponent can place obstacles to obstruct and control your flight paths before a single ship is placed on the board.

As we saw in our article about "The Rule of 11," a squadron that gets lured toward an asteroid field must make a difficult choice—fly past the field and leave its ships exposed to incoming fire, or turn into the field and break formation in order to face the approaching enemy.

Another major disadvantage is that when you fly against arc-dodging ships, the fact that all your ships are pointing in the same direction makes it easier for the arc dodger to avoid your arcs, leaving you with an entire round of zero shots. Also weapons with "splash damage" effects, like Seismic Charges or Concussion Missiles , have a higher likelihood of hitting your entire squad.

You have to keep these disadvantags in mind, alongside the advantages, if you choose to fly in a tight formation. For this reason, when I fly a swarm, I prefer to fly in loose formations.

Flying in Loose Formations

When I talk about loose formations, I am referring to ship proximities that are measured in range bands instead of ship bases. Pilots with a range-based effect, like "Howlrunner" or Biggs Darklighter , allow you to fly your ships a bit looser while still flying in formation.

Here's an example of a loose formation:

Both Garven Dreis and Corran Horn are within Range 1 of Biggs, and are thus able to benefit from Biggs's pilot ability, but they are more than one range band away from each other.

One major advantage of a loose formation is that you can navigate through obstacles much more easily than you can in a tight formation. Also, loose formations fare better versus arc dodgers, as you can cover more area, making it much harder to avoid all your firing arcs. Similarly, overlapping your opponent's ships—or your own—becomes far less of an issue while flying in a loose formation. Each of your ships has a little more freedom of movement if you are simply trying to stay within a single range band, so you can be a little more unpredictable with your maneuvers.

This unpredictability can, however, become one of the drawbacks to flying a loose formation. Often, your ships will perform different maneuvers each round, and over the course of a match or a tournament, loose formations are far more mentally taxing than tight formations. You also have to be better at judging maneuvers and distances in order to keep your optimal spacing each round, so loose formations are more difficult to fly and maintain.

A Sample Formation

Back in first edition, during the Wave IV meta, traditional TIE swarms that flew in tight formations had an extremely hard time defeating the TIE/ph phantoms that could then decloak right before they activated, allowing them to begin their maneuvers with a speed-two straight template to the right, to the left, or forward.

As I was determined to find success versus the TIE/ph phantoms that I faced, I developed an opening that took advantage of TIE/ln fighters broken into two tight groups, flownly loosely.

This setup allowed me to be unpredictable with my opening maneuvers, especially when I combined my maneuvers with the barrel roll action. By the end of the Activation Phase on round two, I could keep my ships in two separate groups, making it difficult for my opponent to decide which group to target, or I could merge both groups into a single unit, flown loosely around "Howlrunner."

As an example, if my opponent set up his or her whole squadron on my right, I could bring the left group over toward the right group. After a single round of maneuvering, they could start to look like one large, loosely flown swarm.

In the diagram below, you can see how the front two TIEs from the left group executed bank maneuvers, while the back two TIEs of that group performed straight maneuvers. The right group's front TIEs went straight forward, while the back TIE turned to stay behind the other two. After maneuvering, all my ships were able to perform the focus action, except for "Howlrunner," who was at the back of the left group and performed a barrel roll to get closer to the right group.

Knowing that my opponent and I would likely start firing at each other on the next round, the diagram below illustrates how, although I started out with two separate groups, I have brought the groups together to form a single formation around "Howlrunner," with all of my TIEs able to perform their actions before battle begins.

In addition to granting me the flexibility of bringing my TIEs together into one big group or keeping them apart in two separate groups (for better flanking and area control), spreading my ships out into the loose formations of this opening allowed me to block my opponent's TIE/ph phantoms' decloak options while still maintaining firing arcs, often with the bonus from "Howlrunner."

Having Fun Is the Most Important Part of Flying

Whether you choose to fly in tight or loose formations, you can find success and gain satisfaction from knowing you have flown your ships well, regardless of the outcome. Just be sure to get plenty of practice!

Have fun!

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Flight Academy: The Rule of 11

Published 4 September 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Flight Academy: The Rule of 11

Guest Writer Kris Sherriff on Planning Your Initial Engagement

Welcome back, cadets, to another session of X-Wing™ Flight Academy!

Over the last couple of weeks, we've talked about what you can expect from your ship and your wingmates. You need to know what role your ship is designed to play, and you want a good idea of how you're supposed to help your squadron. It's no good to try flying your A-wing like it's a bomber, and you won't be helping your squadron if you're exposing yourself early when you're supposed to be the closer at the end of a battle.

These are vital pieces of information to absorb and process and carry with you deep in your gut whenever you fly to battle. However, they are just that—information.

When the enemy jumps out of hyperspace and you're locking your S-foils in attack position, all that information is great, but it won't help you actually fly your ship. How do you approach the enemy? Do you race in full throttle? Do you spread out and approach slowly? Do you and your wingmates split up and try to flank your foes? Sure, you know the role your X-wing is meant to play, and you know that you're supposed to draw fire away from your squad leader so that she can swoop in at the end… but how do you get there?

Well, that's what we're starting to cover today with a look at that initial engagement. It's vital that you start the battle on the right foot, and that means getting the most from your opening shots. You want all your guns firing, and you want your opponent to land as few shots as possible. It takes skill to set that up, and so we're going to start by going over something we call "The Rule of 11."

Taking you through the lesson is today's guest instructor and longtime X-Wing enthusiast Kris Sherriff.

Kris Sherriff surprised his opponents at the 2017 World Championships by flying the squad he designed for his X-Wing 101 article.

Kris Sherriff on "The Rule of 11"

The Rule of 11 is a fundamental X-Wing concept, and many among the game’s community assume that all players understand it—no explanation needed. But if you’re newer to the game, you may not yet have heard of this rule, so what is it, and what does it mean?

The Rule of 11—Ships deployed directly opposite each other at the Range 1 line must close a total of 11 base lengths to end their movement within Range 3 of each other.

Simple, right? It is, but the ramifications are profound.

The Rule of 11 on the Table

The Rule of 11 relies on the understanding that maneuver templates in X-Wing are placed at the front of a ship’s base and slot into the ship’s rear guides at the end of its movement. It also demands that you remember a small ship’s base is the same length as a straight speed-one maneuver. A large ship’s base is the equivalent of a straight speed-two maneuver, twice that of a small ship, and a medium ship’s base is 1.5 times as long as a small ship’s base, placing it squarely between a speed-one and speed-two maneuver.

Also worth noting is the fact that each range band is 2.5 small bases in length, and this means a few things in relation to the Rule of 11:

If you and your opponent both deploy your ships so they touch the back edge of the board, your engagement is now based on the “Rule of 14.”
If your small-based ship has not passed the Range 2 line from the board edge—the point at which you can first deploy obstacles— it can complete its speed-four Koiogran-turn without falling off the board. (Remember, though, that your nubs count as part of the base!)
To put an extra range band between yourself and an enemy pursuer, you need to perform a maneuver at least three base-lengths faster than your opponent.

That's a lot of numbers, so how about an example?

If an X-wing reveals a speed-two straight maneuver, it will travel three base lengths forward. Let’s say it is flying directly at a TIE bomber that executes a speed-one straight. Between them, the ships will move a total of five base lengths. Given our understand of the Rule of 11, we know that there are still six base lengths to go until the ships will be at Range 3 of each other.

This basic math forms the core of the Rule of 11 and it's particularly vital when you fly a list that aims to deal the majority of its damage in the opening engagement, such as if you were flying a squad of ships with torpedoes or missiles that are restricted by limited range bands or that require you to lock on your target before you fire them.

The Rule of 11 and Initiative

A deeper understanding of the Rule of 11 leads us to the idea that pilot initiative matters for more than just who moves and shoots first. It plays into our considerations of when a ship will activate and if it can complete its movement unobstructed.

If we continue our earlier example, our X-wing and TIE bomber still have six base lengths to travel before they are at Range 3 of each other. If the X-wing moves first, it cannot fly far enough that it will end within range to acquire a target lock. The X-wing’s fastest, speed-four straight maneuver would still leave it one base length outside of Range 3.

If the X-wing pilot executed a straight speed-four maneuver, that would allow the TIE bomber to perform any of its straight maneuvers and land in the correct range band to obtain a target lock and launch its Concussion Missiles . Meanwhile, the unfortunate X-wing, which was unable to acquire a target lock, must fire its primary weapon instead of its Proton Torpedoes . What we learn is that a better understanding of the Rule of 11 and the two ships’ maneuver dials may have led the X-wing to open with a straight speed-four maneuver, allowing it to end turn two at Range 3 of the TIE bomber and acquire a target lock.

What if You Don’t Fly Straight?

The above example relies upon both players opting into a joust, in which they line up their ships, fly directly at each other, fire, turn around, and repeat—until someone’s ships have exploded in a hail of laser fire and “pew pew” noises.

It’s trickier to take the information that we gain from the Rule of 11 and apply it to more typical scenarios, in which you need to approach the fight from a different angle. If you are flying against a ship with a turret or against an arc dodger and your opponent lines up this ship directly opposite your entire list, something is not right.

These ships are highly unlikely to opt into a joust, and this is where some patience and understanding of the asteroid field can set you up for success in tournament play. In fact, asteroid placement is a topic worthy of discussion all on its own, but recognizing the areas of the table in which you want to conduct your engagements is vital. (In fact, three-time World Champion Paul Heaver actually addressed asteroid placement in his first “Turn Zero” article.) Simultaneously, we need to recognize that because we have 75 minutes to play our tournament games, we really don’t need to be attacking as early as turn two.

A slow approach that avoids early commitment can go a long way to helping you find a favorable engagement. Committing to a speed-four or speed-five straight maneuver may seem like it will allow you to jump on isolated prey, but this is where you should ask your opponent about the ship’s dial and actions. The chances are that the isolated ship will have a speed-one or speed-two turn, plus an action that allows it to reposition after its maneuver. If you commit too hard to the chase, your opponent will just retreat that ship, and you will be left flying into a corner of the table while the rest of your opponent’s squad maneuvers in behind you.

Here we see how the Rebels have successfully baited the Imperials into chasing a single X-wing. When that X-wing turns away from the Imperial squadron, however, the Imperial pilots face a tough choice: continue to pursue the isolated X-wing or fly into the asteroids in order to face the incoming ships.

Alternatively, if you turn too early, you could leave space for that ace or turret ship to get behind your guns.

A better option might be to look at the paths through the obstacles and plan where we can turn into them to cut off the enemy ship while using the rocks to protect our ships when the enemy comes back around. Here, banking toward a gap in the asteroid field could be better than plotting a turn into the same gap—if it leaves you more options in later rounds.

The Maneuvers Are Relative

As we can see, even once the Rule of 11 becomes a more complicated string of variables, it’s useful in the way it encourages us to consider the worst outcome of any given maneuver in relation to where our opponent’s ships could end their maneuvers.

Kris has been playing X-Wing since the first wave of the first edition and shares his unique analysis of the game's newest and most interesting squadrons on YouTube.

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Flight Academy: Getting More for Less

Published 28 August 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Flight Academy: Getting More for Less

Guest Writer Paul Heaver on Action Economy in X-Wing™

Welcome back to X-Wing™ Flight Academy, cadets. At ease.

You're all here because you want to be pilots. More than that, each of you has expressed interest in earning a promotion to squadron leader. Well, the good news is that we recognize your potential. We think you've got a real shot of flying with the best. The bad news? There's not really any bad news at this time, but the truth is that you don't just become an ace after one or two lessons. There's a lot of skill—and practice—separating the new recruits from the aces you'll find at top events like the X-Wing World Championships and the 2018 Coruscant Invitational.

But you can make it there. We've seen it time and again that raw recruits apply themselves in the academy and then find themselves battling for the fate of the galaxy against ace pilots like Darth Vader , Han Solo , and the Grand Inquisitor .

So how can you get there? Well, we started you on your journey last week with an introduction to the different types of ships you might fly. After all, it doesn't matter how great a pilot you are, you'll never transform a HWK-290 into an A-wing. The ships aren't really comparable. They're built for different roles, and if you want to fly either one successfully, you need to use it appropriately.

That said, you can still learn to push your ships harder, to get more from them, and to fly them more effectively. And after you learn how to get more from each ship individually, you can look for ways that your whole squadron can fly more effectively. So where do you start? For that answer, we turn to one of the most successful aces ever, three-time World Champion Paul Heaver!

Paul Heaver in action during the 2016 North American Championships at Gen Con Indy

Three-Time World Champion Paul Heaver on Assembling a Top-Notch Squad

When you want to build a squad, there are many questions to ask. The first is: what do you want the squad to do?

For example, you might be looking to test out some new ships that just came out, you might want to experiment with an idea for a thematic list, or you might just want to win a tournament. After answering that first question, more questions will arise. For this article, we’re assuming you want to build a competitive list to bring to an event. Whether this is a small league night tourney, the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, or the World Championship—the process always involves similar lines of thought.

The next step is to figure out what kind of list you’ll be running. These come in two main styles.

More of the Same, or the Variety Pack

The first option for your list uses all, or almost all, of the same type of ship. Seven TIE/ln fighters, six Binayre Pirates , and five X-wings are all examples of this kind of list. These lists don’t have “closers,” ships that are stronger in the late game with fewer ships on the board. Instead, they concentrate on overrunning their opponent with their early game strengths. If your opponent can overcome your advantages, though, you might find yourself falling apart in the endgame. As a result, these lists try to take out opposing endgame ships quickly to minimize their impact.

The next style of list uses different ships, carefully selected to cover for each other’s weaknesses. Usually, these lists will designate one ship as a “closer” that they prefer to have as the last ship standing against whatever the opposing list has left.

For example, in first edition, there was a once-popular list consisting of Manaroo, Asajj Ventress, and Fenn Rau. These were, respectively, a support turret ship, a durable "tank" that could provide stress control, and a heavy hitting arc dodger. All three ships fulfilled different roles, and they made it hard for your opponent to attack one ship’s weak point without getting crushed by the other two ships in the list. Additionally, Asajj and Fenn were both great at being endgame ships.

The math and the ships changed slightly in the later waves and with the introduction of second edition, but the principles have remained the same. Balanced squads include some ships that cover for the weaknesses of others—helping to ensure your endgame ships don’t get destroyed in the first few rounds of combat.

Both styles of list can do well in competition, so there’s no right answer. One type of list tries to magnify the strengths of the individual ships to overwhelm, while the other tries to minimize the weaknesses of the individual ships. When building a list, you need to find a balance of increasing the strength of the list versus decreasing the weak points.

Balance Through Action

Similarly, you can take the same view while picking your upgrades. Do you want to magnify the strengths of your ship and squad or minimize weaknesses?

An example of magnification would be running effects that assign tractor tokens in a list that packs a large alpha strike, such as a missile salvo. You were already hoping to deal a lot of damage in the beginning of the fight, and assigning a tractor beam token to a ship before you launch your missiles means your missiles will hit more often, and you’ll be doing even more damage. However, the addition of the Tractor Beam or similar effect doesn’t counter any weaknesses of a large alpha strike list—such as the opposing ships dodging your missile arc. If you wanted to minimize that weakness, you could put in an upgrade to counter their movement, such as Ciena Ree .

Serissu uses a Tractor Beam to pull the X-wing closer, allowing all of the Black Sun Soldiers to target it with their missiles.

Speaking of upgrades, they are generally the best way to improve your action economy. Action economy is your ability to get extra actions, above and beyond the one your ship is naturally allowed. Very few pilots innately have extra actions, such as Darth Vader, who can gain extra actions by spending Force tokens. A slightly larger group of pilots grant bonus rerolls or tokens, like "Howlrunner," Horton Salm , and Garven Dreis —provided you meet their requirements. However, the largest source of action economy is upgrades. Upgrades like Lone Wolf , Predator , and Fire-Control System can boost the action economy of any pilot with the matching upgrade slot, and when you're building a list, inserting these upgrades is almost always a reasonable choice.

What Is an Action Worth?

An action to modify dice is often worth more than an extra die, which explains why extra free actions are so good.

Rolling four attack dice without any modifiers results is an average of two damage. Now compare that to rolling three attack dice with a focus, which yields an average of 2.25 damage. When you have two actions to modify your dice with a reroll and a focus, then you only have a 1 in 16 chance of missing on an attack die!

A focus token is usually a better addition to your three-die attack than a fourth die.

Even if you can't pair both tokens for a full reroll and focus, the upgrades we mentioned earlier significantly reduce your odds of getting stuck with blank dice. So getting those extra rerolls and actions is important for consistent good rolls and avoiding bad luck.

Action economy comes with a cost, however. First of all, the action economy upgrades cost squad points and upgrade slots. Then, they usually have some limitation on their use. Lone Wolf only works if you can position yourself farther than Range 2 from all friendly ships, Predator requires you to catch your target in your bullseye arc, and Fire-Control System requires you to acquire a target lock—and then not spend it.

So, how do you use the action economy cards? You want to minimize the limitations. You put Lone Wolf on a ship that flies well alone, and in a list that doesn't expect to fly in formation. The TIE Advanced x1, Millennium Falcon, and Outrider are all strong flankers that could benefit from this upgrade. Similarly, Predator goes best with high-initiative pilots like Soontir Fel , who can line up their shots with repositional actions. When you are creating your squad, make sure to think about how to work around the limitations that your upgrades bring.

From Theory to Practice

The final thing to do when building a squad is to steal the best and most popular squad lists and try them out!

X-Wing has a very active online scene, composed of people who track all kinds of useful data and lists. There are streams and recorded video of many popular lists. Picking up a list someone else created will give you a good idea how it flies and why it is so good. If you like a list, you can stick with it. Even if you don't feel a list fits your style, flying it will help you if you have to fly against it in the future, as you will be better at guessing your opponent’s movement and target priority.

Another benefit of exploring other people's lists is that you might see a few tricks that you can take back into your own lists. For example, you might see a lot of people making use of Thane Kyrell's X-wing , so try it out in a list. Maybe you decide to change a few upgrades and build a different list around the new ship you have assembled for Thane. You might even surprise your opponents with the changes you made. It’s never bad to get flight time with popular lists. You can learn a lot from them!

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Flight Academy: Know Your Ships

Published 21 August 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Flight Academy: Know Your Ships

Guest Writer Zach Bunn Explores the Four Pillars of X-Wing™

Attention! Okay, cadets, you've made the grade. You're all in X-Wing™ Flight Academy, and that means you're all going to be pilots someday.

Sooner or later, you'll graduate, you'll get into your fighter's cockpit, and you'll fly to battle. But will you help us win the war? Will you find glory at the battles of the Coruscant Invitational? Or will you explode in a fiery heap? If you want to be part of our eventual victory, then you had better listen up!

One of the first things you're going to have to learn is that all fighters are not created equally. They're not all built the same, and they're not all meant to play the same roles in your space battles. If you don't pay attention to this basic fact, you're going to fly your ship wrong, and you're going to end up on the wrong side of some other pilot's laser cannons.

In X-Wing, each ship doesn't just come with its own range of possible maneuvers and actions. These things grant each ship its own distinctive style. This was true in first edition, and it's true, now, in the upcoming second edition. And while each ship has its own style, we can group them into four larger archetypes—or pillars. Understanding these pillars is key to approaching your battles successfully.

To that end, we're happy to bring in your guest instructor, Zach Bunn, a founding member of Team Covenant and a perennial contender on the championship circuit.

Team Covenant co-founder and perennial X-Wing contender Zach Bunn

Zach Bunn on the Four Pillars of X-Wing

If a Blue Squadron Escort and an Academy Pilot fly directly at each other and repeatedly attack, perform Koiogran-turns, and attack again, who would you predict to win?

This sequence is an example of jousting, the first pillar of X-Wing, and any would-be pilot should know the answer.

The First Pillar: Jousting

To calculate who we would expect to win a joust, we can follow five steps:

1.   Calculate the odds of the attack dice (50% chance of each die hitting).
2.   Calculate the odds of the defense dice (37.5% chance of each die evading).
3.   Calculate how actions like Focus and Evade change these outcomes.
4.    Multiply those odds for each attack die and defense die involved in an attack.
5.   Determine, based on average damage, how long it would take for each ship to blast through the other ship’s shields and hull.

This may seem complex at first, but after a bit of practice these calculations will become second nature… Stick with me. Learning the odds can even help you win your battles!

Let’s go forward with our dogfight between the Academy Pilot and Blue Squadron Escort. If we go to the board, we can work out the odds of these ships dealing damage to each other. The probabilities below assume no actions, tokens, or range modifiers.

Ship (Dice)	0 Damage	1 Damage	2 Damage	3 Damage
Academy Pilot (2 attack vs. 2 agility)	59%	31.25%	9.75%	0%
Blue Squadron Escort (3 attack vs. 3 agility)	40%	33.9%	20.5%	4.8%

Even without considering how the X-wing’s two shields impact the outcome, we can see that the Blue Squadron Escort is much more likely to do damage. It even has a 4.8% chance of dealing lethal damage on the first shot! Once you’ve seen the math, it becomes obvious that the Blue Squadron Escort is heavily favored to win this joust.

But what happens if we upgrade the Academy Pilot to a Black Squadron Ace ? Who wins? This brings us to the second pillar of X-Wing—arc dodging.

The Second Pillar: Arc Dodging

Arc dodging references a ship’s ability to slip out of enemy ships’ primary firing arcs. So why does upgrading to the Black Squadron Ace force us to reconsider our hypothetical winner?

It may not seem significant, but this shifts the TIE/ln fighter pilot’s initiative from one to three. The Black Squadron Ace can therefore better take advantage of its positional action, the barrel roll. The Black Squadron Ace moves after the Blue Squadron Escort, meaning it can use its barrel roll to create turns that it can shoot at the X-wing while the X-wing cannot shoot at it. This reduces the Black Squadron Ace's chances of taking damage to 0% whenever the Blue Squadron Escort cannot fire, and this changes our math completely, especially if the Black Squadron Ace still gets to attack!

Our example illustrates two key components of arc dodging—initiative values and positional actions. The most legendary arc dodgers also tend to have highly mobile movement dials and access to not only positional actions, but the capacity to use multiple positional actions on the same turn. Classic examples of arc dodgers include Soontir Fel with his Autothrusters and the Grand Inquisitor with Supernatural Reflexes . Both ships have mobile dials, initiative values of five or higher, access to boost and barrel roll, and the ability to use both positional actions in the same turn.

If these highly agile ships can avoid attacks completely, arc dodgers must be the best ships in X-Wing… right? Well, to answer that question we arrive at the third pillar—turrets.

The Third Pillar: Turrets

Some ships can rotate their turrets to shoot enemies outside of their primary firing arcs. Therefore, it is much harder to arc dodge attacks from these ships.

There are two ways to acquire turrets in X-Wing. The first is to field a ship that has a native turret, like the Millennium Falcon . The second is through the turret upgrade slot, which can hold upgrades like the Ion Cannon Turret . While both options allow their ships to line up shots outside their primary firing arcs, the Falcon can fire in two directions at Range 1-3, while the Ion Cannon Turret can only shoot enemies in a 90-degree turret arc at Range 1-2. Not all turrets are equal.

While turrets are powerful, and while they offer some interesting combinations with the game's gunner upgrades, they also have their drawbacks. The first is that rotating your ship's turret arc requires an action, taking away from your chance to focus, lock, or perform a positional action. Additionally, ships with turrets typically cost more squad points, have less mobile movement dials, and have lower agility. The Y-wing is a perfect example, as it sports only one agility and a less-than-maneuverable dial in exchange for its turret upgrade, shields, and hull.

So, if jousting is countered by arc dodging and arc dodging is countered by turrets, what counters a turret? You may have guessed it… jousters!

Joust-based lists do not spend their squad points or upgrade slots on turrets, gunners, or arc dodging capability. Instead, they spend their points on raw efficiency, consistency, and quantity. Just imagine a list packed with expensive turrets engaging a list that never had any intention of arc dodging! Uh-oh…

The Fourth Pillar: Bombers

Late in the game's first edition, we saw a fourth pillar emerge in the form of bombers. A bomber is a ship that carries munitions, like Seismic Charges or Proton Bombs . Bombers turn the traditional math of X-Wing attack sequences on its head, because they don’t need to attack to do damage. Direct damage counters ships that spend their points on defensive efficiency, and dropping munitions on the board limits the maneuverability of enemy ships. Because of their unique capabilities, bombers offer an entirely different way to think about X-Wing.

While the first three pillars naturally counter each other, bombers lie somewhere in the middle. If they can predict the maneuvers of jousters and turrets, bombers can lay munitions accordingly. Against arc dodgers, they can drop bombs in the lanes required for positional actions like barrel roll or boost, and the direct damage is often lethal to these ships.

If bombers can be used effectively against all three of the other pillars, are they the ultimate weapon in X-Wing? Not quite.

While being in the middle of the pillars has benefits, it also has costs. Using munitions effectively is difficult, because it requires predicting enemy maneuvers. Bombers still rely on dice when defending or performing standard attacks, and, like turret ships, bombers tend to have low agility. Also, bombers generally have lower than average attack values, as well as limited maneuverability, and they must spend both points and actions on their munitions.

Like the rest of the pillars, bombers have advantages and disadvantages. They are unique in that they don’t specifically counter a pillar, but they aren’t easily countered by the other pillars.

Using the Pillars

How do we make use of our understanding of the different X-Wing pillars?

Learning how the archetypes interact with each other gives us a starting point for every list, engagement, and maneuver. Some squads focus exclusively on one pillar, while others attempt to bring tools from each to the table. You'll see this at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, and if one archetype gives you headaches consistently, you can start running ships to counter it.

Your consideration of the pillars begins with squad design. If your entire list focuses on a single pillar, you should have a major advantage against the pillar that you counter, as well as against lists that use the same pillar as you. This is a good route when you are new to X-Wing, as you’ll want to maximize every advantage as you go into your first few games. But this also means you shouldn’t feel bad if your arc dodgers get trounced by turrets or if your jousting list just can’t pin down an arc dodging ace.

If you choose a more balanced approach to squad construction, you’ll find there isn’t really a direct counter to your list. This leads me to the second way you can use knowledge of the pillars—in your macro-level strategy. If you have a list that includes a jouster, arc dodger, turret, and bomber (even if some of these roles overlap on a single ship), your list has no direct counter.

Beyond squad design, your knowledge of the pillars can also help you fly against your opponents. When you watch the Coruscant Invitational on Twitch, you might start to recognize how players prioritize their attacks against enemy ships based on how the pieces of each squadron fit together. As an example, I really like flying Darth Vader as an arc dodger. When I get to the table, I immediately analyze my opponent's list to decide who I will target first. If I can eliminate their turrets and arc dodgers, they stand little chance in the end game against a Darth Vader who never gets shot.

Equipped with Supernatural Reflexes, Darth Vader can barrel roll either before or after he performs his maneuver, granting him tremendous freedom to react to his opponent's final position.

In the end, though, the best way to understand X-Wing is to get your ships on the table and discuss your games with the new friends you make along the way.

Fly casual, my friends!

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Join the Blue Squadron

Published 20 August 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Join the Blue Squadron

See the Prizes for X-Wing™ 2018 Season Three Organized Play

“Red and Gold squadron, attack formations. Defend the fleet. Blue squadron, get to the surface before they close that gate.”
–Admiral Raddus, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Upgrade your shields, take evasive maneuvers, and fly with Blue squadron—a whole new series of thrilling dogfights awaits you with the third season of 2018 X-Wing™ Organized Play!

This is a season of massive changes. In September, we'll see the release of X-Wing Second Edition, and in October, we'll revel in the new edition at its first major competitive event, the 2018 Coruscant Invitational. The introduction of second edition also means the conclusion of Organized Play support for first edition. To that end, the 2018 Season Three Tournament Kit is the last to offer first edition prizes—even as it simultaneously offers second edition versions of the same prizes.

First edition or second edition, the prizes from X-Wing 2018 Season Three Organized Play have got you covered, so strap on your flight suits, scramble your fighters, and fly to battle. With all the buzz surrounding second edition and just a little bit of time left to explore all the possible first edition squads, there's never been a better time to enjoy the galaxy's greatest battles!

Fly to Battle Before the Gate Is Closed

There's only a short time to enjoy the last of your first edition Organized Play battles before the transition to second edition, so use it to the best of your advantage!

Perhaps you'll want to experiment with your latest Resistance or First Order squadrons before their ships and pilots go on temporary hiatus until they reemerge as distinct factions in second edition. Perhaps you'll want to practice arc-dodging ahead of the transition to the second edition's heavily reinforced emphasis on maneuvering and firing arcs. Perhaps you'll want to dedicate as much table time as possible to your favorite first edition pilots and upgrades.

However you approach your final Organized Play events for first edition, you'll want to be sure to have fun with them, and you'll be able to add to your enjoyment with the new prizes you can win during Season Three.

The X-Wing 2018 Season Three Tournament Kit features seventeen Core Prize Cards, three Elite Prize Cards, and two Elite Prize Sets to reward you and the other members of your local X-Wing community for your participation—both in your final first edition battles and in the earliest of the second edition battles that follow!

One copy each of the Core Prize Cards and Elite Prize Cards are intended for the event organizer—to keep or distribute at their discretion—but the rest are meant as prize support for your local Stay on Target Tournament or X-Wing league. And it's up to your organizer to decide whether yours will be an event for the game's first or second edition!

Core Prize Card

Ready your squad for future victories with the double-sided, extended-art Shield Upgrade card available to the Top 16 participants of your Stay on Target Tournament or X-Wing league. With the ugprade's first edition text on one side and its second edition ability on the other, this Core Prize Card is a valuable addition to your squadron no matter the edition!

Elite Prize Card

Whether you're looking to the future or trying to race your Blue squadron through the shield gate before first edition support comes to a close, you'll find the double-sided, extended-art Blue Squadron Pilot card to be a valuable addition to your collection.

Like the Shield Upgrade Core Prize Card, this Elite Prize Card features the B-wing's first edition version on one side and its second edition version on the other.

Elite Prize Set

To claim one of the Season Three Elite Prize Cards you need to place among the Top 4 at your Stay on Target Tournament or in your X-Wing league. However, if you place among the Top 4, you might not even opt for the Blue Squadron Pilot Elite Prize Card; you might want to claim an Elite Prize Set of five arcade-style evade tokens.

Importantly, even though these tokens are metallic and not actually colored green, they count as "green" tokens in second edition, just like all your other evade tokens, and you can still use them in Organized Play events even after the transition to second edition.

Stay on Target, Wave Leader

Whether you want to enjoy the current edition as long as you can or you're hoping to usher in the new edition as early as possible—or both—the prizes in the 2018 Season Three Tournament Kit offer you plenty of reason to participate in X-Wing Organized Play.

But as we said earlier, this is a season of massive changes, and even the seasonal Tournament Kit is soon destined for change. The 2018 Season Three Tournament Kit is the last of its kind, and we'll release a new style of kit for future seasons of X-Wing Organized Play, along with the additional support provided by the Deluxe Wave Kits meant to celebrate the arrival of each new wave of X-Wing starfighter expansions.

We'll share more details about the first of these newer kits in the weeks and months to come, so be sure to check back. In the meantime, put on your flight helmet, check your systems, and talk to your local retailer about how you get involved with X-Wing 2018 Season Three Organized Play. You are cleared for launch!

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Essential Upgrades

Published 14 August 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Essential Upgrades

Your Choice of Rebel, Imperial, and Scum Upgrades for the 2018 Coruscant Invitational

The release of X-Wing™ Second Edition is rapidly approaching. We're now just under a month from the game's September 13 release date, and we're racing toward its first major event at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational.

The climactic conclusion to the 2018 System Open Series, the Coruscant Invitational will feature talented aces from across the globe. These players will have all earned their invitations thanks to their success with the game's first edition, and they will come ready to demonstrate their mastery of the game's second edition—including its renewed focus on skillful maneuvering, strategic use of actions, and clever squad building.

In fact, this focus on clever squad building takes on a special role at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational. Participants will all face a unique squad building challenge—how best to incorporate one mandatory, faction-specific upgrade. Players will be able to draw upon all the second edition components in the Core Set, Conversion Kits, and Wave I expansions, and each list must include at least one copy of its "essential" upgrade.

Over the past few weeks, we reviewed the different faction-specific upgrades included in the Conversion Kits for the Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire, and Scum and Villainy. You cast your votes for each faction's essential upgrade—the upgrade that would appear at least once in each squadron for that faction—and now the stage is set.

Rebel Alliance — Leia Organa
Galactic Empire — Ruthless
Scum and Villainy — Boba Fett (crew)

Notably, for the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, all copies of these upgrades will cost 0 squad points!

Participants: We will be contacting you shortly with further instructions.

What does the selection of these upgrades mean for the action you're likely to see on our Twitch.tv livestream? We won't know for certain until the tournament starts, but we can hazard a few guesses.

Rebel Alliance — Leia Organa

Leia Organa will find her way into every Rebel squadron at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, having won the Rebel vote with a whopping 52% of the four-way vote.

This means that every Rebel player at the event will need to find room for at least one ship capable of carrying a crew member, and since Leia Organa's ability affects her whole squadron simultaneously, players will be certain to look for ways to get the maximum value from her inclusion:

"At the start of the Activation Phase, you may spend 3 charges. During this phase, each friendly ship reduces the difficulty of its red maneuvers."

While there's no shortage of Rebel ships that Leia could potentially crew, the challenge awaiting Rebel players will be to make the best use of her ability—an ability that applies to friendly ships anywhere on the table, has an impact multiplied by each ship it affects, and which can be used multiple times per game, provided Leia's ship survives and her ability can recharge.

For these reasons, Leia's inclusion in the Coruscant Invitational is likely to encourage Rebels to fly squadrons of three or more ships, potentially crewing Leia aboard a HWK-290, Sheathipede-class Shuttle, or Attack Shuttle, in order to leave as many points as possible available for other ships.

On the other hand, we might see Rebel players investing a bit more heavily in Leia's ship. The fact that Leia doesn't offer her ship the same offensive or defensive options as other crew means we might see Rebels flying her aboard an Auzituck Gunship or UT-60D U-wing. On these ships, Leia's crew mate can focus on immediate combat while Leia remains focused on coordinating the larger squadron.

Leia's selection also offers some hints as to the ways we might see Rebels flying their squadrons. The fact that Leia can reduce the difficulty of her entire squadron's Koiogran turns or Tallon Rolls means that she's an excellent addition to any Rebel squadron that wants to fly straight at the enemy ships, hammer them with Proton Torpedoes or other ordnance, and then turn 180 degrees as they fly past the enemy. Executed perfectly, this approach could result in two subsequent barrages of missile or torpedo fire, and we may very well see one or more players placing Leia Organa in charge of a squadron full of Z-95-AF4 Headhunters, loaded with missiles.

But while such a direct and confrontational strategy might appear to be the most efficient use of Leia's ability, it's also the most obvious. We're just as likely—if not more likely—to see Leia's ability put to use in the later stages of a battle. When every ship on the table has engaged in close-quarters fighting and the ability to surprise your foes might spell the difference between a perfect shot or no shot at all, Leia's presence can dramatically improve the options available to Rebel ships like the X-wing, B-wing, VCX-100 Light Freighter, and HWK-290. In fact, for this reason, we shouldn't be too surprised to find Leia aboard Hera Syndulla's Ghost, as the two Rebels synergize quite nicely, and the Ghost can carry another crew member dedicated toward the ship's immediate offense and defense.

In the end, there are simply too many ways to make use of Leia Organa's inclusion to predict exactly which Rebel ships we'll see or how they'll be flown, but we're confident that the community's desire to see Leia in action will result in some highly creative, team-based Rebel squads and some carefully considered squad-based strategies for approach and engagement.

Galactic Empire — Ruthless

What can we expect of the Imperial players at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational? They'll all be a bit Ruthless.

The vote for the essential Imperial upgrade was much tighter than the essential Rebel upgrade, and the talent Ruthless ended up overtaking early leader Admiral Sloane with 30% of the vote. Admiral Sloane just missed the cut at 29% of the vote, and Emperor Palpatine finished a strong third at 27%.

There are far fewer ways to modify your dice in X-Wing Second Edition than there were in the game's first edition. This is a good thing, as it reinforces the importance of your ships' actions, and places greater importance on each maneuver you assign. Nonetheless, you'll still find a number of action-free upgrades to modify your dice. Most require you to fulfill certain conditions before you gain their benefits, like Predator and Fire-control System . And then we have Ruthless.

Ruthless allows Imperial players to modify their dice without taking actions, without locking onto their foes, and without catching an opponent in their bullseye firing arcs. Similarly, the limits it places on your maneuvers are relatively light; you only need to keep your Ruthless pilot's wingmates at Range 0-1 of them. But the talent comes with its own cost—you'll be damaging your own ships to improve your accuracy.

As a result, Imperial players will be looking for ships they can add to their squadrons to absorb the damage their aces will be handing out. We'll almost certainly see a number of swarms built around a Ruthless "Howlrunner," and these may include a Scimitar Squadron Pilot or two to take advantage of the TIE/sa bomber's six hull points.

In any case, Ruthless plays clearly toward the Galactic Empire's superior numbers. So long as Imperial players start their games with more shields and hull, they'll be able to leverage the damage from Ruthless toward an ongoing barrage of punishing hits.

Finally, we might see Ruthless used to improve the accuracy of Ion Cannons, Ion Cannon Turrets , and other weapons that assign ion tokens when they hit. In such squadrons, the single point of damage these Imperial players assign to their own ships could easily be mitigated by the damage they avoid when their opponents can't shoot back.

Scum and Villainy — Boba Fett (crew)

One of the great things about X-Wing Second Edition is the way it reinforces each faction's unique identity. And there's likely no better example of this fact than the selection of Boba Fett as the essential Scum and Villainy upgrade.

Boba Fett claimed 41% of the community vote—a jetpack-powered leap ahead of Fearless , which claimed second place at 28% of the vote. This is likely a testament both to the bounty hunter's enduring popularity and to the way his crew upgrade will impact Scum setup during the 2018 Coruscant Invitational.

Boba Fett's first line of text demands that Scum players look for ways to take advantage of the new rules for ships in reserve: "Setup: Start in reserve."

New to X-Wing Second Edition, reserve is a place where certain ships can be assigned where standard game effects cannot touch them. Docked ships go to reserve in second edition, along with whatever ship Boba Fett decides to crew. In reserve, ships can only be impacted by effects that specifically target ships in reserve, such as Boba Fett's second line of text:

"At the end of Setup, place yourself at range 0 of an obstacle and beyond range 3 of any enemy ship."

This means that Boba Fett's ship will only be in reserve for a short period of time, but it's still a significant impact! Whether he crews a Firespray-class Patrol Craft, a Lancer-class Pursuit Craft, a YV-666 Light Freighter, or some other ship, Boba Fett gives it the element of surprise, allowing it to deploy with perfect knowledge of the opponent's side of the board and in position to cause problems immediately from the first round—whether by dropping bombs, forcing enemy ships off the table with a Tractor Beam, or performing attacks that land ion or stress tokens and prevent the enemy from turning to face Fett on the next round!

As a loose collection of opportunistic individualists, the Scum and Villainy faction is often difficult to predict, and Boba Fett's versatility certainly doesn't make it any easier to predict the Scum squadrons we'll see at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational. All the same, we might expect to see Fett placed aboard a variety of aggressive, high-impact ships, and we can expect to see Scum players approaching their games with strategies that are wildly different than those employed by Rebels or Imperials.

Assemble Your Squadron

These three "essential" upgrades will soon play major roles in the battles of the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, and the ways that players decide to incorporate them may play a critical factor in determining their success at the event. However, the selection of these upgrades needn't affect only the Coruscant Invitational attendees—you, too, can dream of the best ways to incorporate them into your second edition squadrons!

You can head to our forums and share your thoughts and theoretical builds. You can reference the printable lists of all second edition cards and their points costs available on the game's support section. Then, when the game is released on September 13, you can put your theories to the test, racing your squadrons into battle and seeing how well your upgrades serve your larger strategy!

How will your choices compare to those made by the attendees of the 2018 Coruscant Invitational? You can judge for yourself as you follow the action live on Twitch.tv. The streaming coverage begins Saturday, October 6 at 10:00 AM Central Time!

In the meantime, keep your eyes open for more news about X-Wing Second Edition and its Organized Play!

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Qualify for Worlds in Less Than Twelve Parsecs

Published 13 August 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Qualify for Worlds in Less Than Twelve Parsecs

Talk to Your Retailer About Hosting a Hyperspace Trial

"You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?"
–Han Solo, Star Wars: A New Hope

Hello, X-Wing™ fans. Do you want to attend the 2019 X-Wing World Championship? Then pay attention. We have big news for you!

Starting in 2019, the X-Wing World Championships will be invite-only. If you want to take part in the galaxy's greatest starfighter battles, you will need to earn your way to the Fantasy Flight Games Center. And then, once there, you can expect top-level, high-energy competition from your very first volley, all the way through your final engagement.

How do you earn your invitation? With the introduction of X-Wing Second Edition, there are now two competitive tracks that both lead toward the X-Wing World Championship—the System Open Series and the Hyperspace events. The top players at each of these events will earn their invitations!

The Top 8 players at each System Open.
All undefeated players in a System Open Hyperspace Qualifier.
The winner of each Hyperspace Trial.
The Top 2 players at each Hyperspace Cup.

Keeping the Systems in Line

First introduced in 2016, the X-Wing System Open Series has proven to be a tremendous success. Each year, the System Open Series features a limited number of massive, high-energy events. These events are held at various locations around the world and draw hundreds of players looking to celebrate the game and its fan community.

In addition, the System Open Series has historically featured an array of side events, a display of all the game's top strategies, and a wealth of exclusive prizes, including the opportunity to qualify for the Coruscant Invitational.

Now, as we look forward to all the action of the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, we are happy to announce that the System Open Series will continue to offer you the chance to test your favorite second edition builds against massive fields of enthusiastic players. It will continue to feature side events alongside the main tournament. And the winners will still be invited to wrap the series at the Coruscant Invitational, which the community will continue to shape.

But this is not all the System Open Series will offer.

Starting in 2019 and going forward, the System Open Series will offer a gateway for all top participants to attend the X-Wing World Championship. Similarly, the Coruscant Invitational will take place at the Fantasy Flight Games Center, the day before the X-Wing World Championship, and the System Open Champions in that event will compete for a set of prizes that include paid flight and lodging for the next year's X-Wing World Championship.

The result is that the System Open Series is better integrated with the rest of the X-Wing Organized Play program, and your participation will set you on the path toward the game's ultimate competition—the X-Wing World Championship!

You can look for more information about the 2019 System Open locations and prizes in the weeks to come.

Making the Jump to Hyperspace

If you don't qualify through the System Open Series, there's another way you can get to the World Championship—by making the jump to hyperspace!

As we stated in our first look at X-Wing Second Edition Organized Play, the Hyperspace Trials are the broadest level of competition leading to the game's World Championship. Large events held at qualified retailers, these Hyperspace Trials allow you to meet and compete with players from throughout your region, and you'll enjoy a level of competition that's a step up from the tournaments supported by the game's seasonal Attack Run Kits and Deluxe Wave Kits.

With an invitation to the World Championship on the line—as well as a slate of additional prizes—these Hyperspace Trials bring out the ace squad leader in everyone attending. You'll find yourself up against the Empire's most disciplined fighter pilots, the Scum faction's brashest mercenaries, and the Rebellion's most inspiring heroes. You'll fly against squadrons that are veterans of numerous battles, and you'll encounter pilots and strategies hoping to drop out of hyperspace and catch the field completely by surprise.

The result is that the Hyperspace Trials are an excellent opportunity to discover all that is possible within X-Wing, even as you make new friends among the players who have traveled great distances to discover new battlefields.

Importantly, there are several key details that further distinguish these Hyperspace Trials from other X-Wing events:

There are two periods of Hyperspace Trials each year.
Each period of Hyperspace Trials will introduce new challenges and refresh the metagame with event-specific squad-building requirements. These will be communicated through the app.
There is no pre-set limitation on the number of Hyperspace Trials. Each qualified retailer will be able to host one of these events, but only once per year.
Hyperspace Cups are upgraded versions of Hyperspace Trials that come with additional prizes and offer an experience befitting a premier level of competition.

The U.S. and Canadian application deadline for these Hyperspace events is tomorrow, so be sure to talk to your local retailer today about hosting one of these exciting X-Wing competitions!

Join the Fight

Are you one of the galaxy's greatest aces? Then we want to see you at the 2019 X-Wing World Championship!

The time has come to plot your path. We'll soon see the first players qualified at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, and you can battle for your invitation at the Hyperspace Trials and 2019 System Open Series.

Keep your eyes open for more information about these events—including locations and prizes. For now, be sure to talk to your favorite local retailer about applying to host a Hyperspace Trial!

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The Essential Scum and Villainy

Published 7 August 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

The Essential Scum and Villainy

Vote for the 2018 Coruscant Invitational's Essential Scum Upgrade

"Soon you will learn to appreciate me."
–Jabba the Hutt, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

X-Wing™ Second Edition blasts into its first major competitive event at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational!

Scheduled for the weekend of October 5th – 7th, the Coruscant Invitational is the capstone of the 2018 X-Wing System Open Series. Invitees will converge on the Fantasy Flight Games Center from all across the globe to lock in their dials, execute their maneuvers, acquire their targets, and vie for the title of 2018 Coruscant Invitational Champion.

Participants will fly to battle in games where clever maneuvering means more than ever before. They'll use the Force. And they'll assemble squadrons that reflect the newly reinforced Rebel, Imperial, and Scum faction identities. In fact, these squadrons will reflect the "essential" nature of their respective factions as much as any X-Wing squadrons ever have, and for one reason—you, the community, will have selected one "essential" upgrade for each faction, an upgrade that must feature in every squadron in that faction!

Over the past couple of weeks, we've looked at the Rebel-only upgrades from the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit and the Imperial-only upgrades from the Galactic Empire Conversion Kit. You cast your votes, and you selected Leia Organa as the "essential" Rebel upgrade and Ruthless as the "essential" Imperial upgrade.Today, we invite you to cast your votes for the "essential" Scum upgrade, and to make sure you'll be properly informed when you cast your vote, we'll start with a look at the Scum and Villainy Conversion Kit!

A Wretched Hive

While the Galactic Civil War and its battles spread from world to world, dividing the galaxy's citizens between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, there were some who avoided letting themselves be drawn in. They stayed in the shadows and hung back at the fringes, opting out of the ideological conflicts—choosing only to involve themselves in matters of business.

It wasn't an easy thing to do—avoiding involvement. The Galactic Civil War raged across countless star systems and represented a real crisis—a true fight for the fate of the galaxy. On one side, you had the Galactic Empire and its oppressive law and order, ruling by fear and military might. On the other side, you had the ragtag Rebel Alliance, sorely outmatched, but forever hopeful, fighting for the cause of freedom and inspiring worlds everywhere to rise up and fight against injustice.

But the mercenaries, pirates, bounty hunters, and crime lords didn't concern themselves with the Empire's law or the Rebellion's freedom. They had always found ways to live outside the galaxy's laws, and freedom didn't pay as well as crime. So they stuck with their smuggling and gambling. They continued to traffic in illicit goods and services. They honed their skills and kept alert; in a business where nothing is legal, everything is permitted, and that means loyalty can be bought… and lost.

In X-Wing Second Edition, these Scum are every bit as self-serving and scummy as you could hope. Among the 99 ship cards and 167 upgrades in the Scum and Villainy Conversion Kit, you'll find plenty of ways these characters aim to keep themselves one step ahead of their competition—and their current allies.

Who Are the Galaxy's Scum and Villainy?

When we reviewed the faction-specific upgrades from the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit, we found plenty of abilities that reflected the faction's heroic selflessness. We also found plenty of abilities rooted in clever leadership and dedicated teamwork. Then we saw how the Galactic Empire Conversion Kit and its upgrades played to the strengths of the Empire's superior numbers and swarm tactics, and we saw how they reinforced the focus provided by the Imperial Navy's chain of command.

By contrast, the Scum don't take well to self-sacrifice or orders from their superior officers. They prefer looking out for themselves and their bottom lines and negotiating their contracts toward those ends. Accordingly, many of their upgrade abilities center around the sorts of risks and rewards that drive economics, and many of these risks and rewards come in the form of stress and damage.

Of the 167 upgrades in the Scum and Villainy Conversion Kit, 24 are unique to the Scum and Villainy faction. This includes nine title upgrades, twelve crew upgrades, four gunners, three astromechs, and three copies of the talent, Fearless.

Each Conversion Kit in the first wave of X-Wing Second Edition expansions comes with three copies of a faction-specific talent. The Rebels get Selfless, which allows pilots to absorb damage meant for their wingmates, preventing your opponents from concentrating their fire at full strength. The Imperials get Ruthless, which allows their pilots to damage their wingmates to convert their misses into hits. As you can see above, the Scum get Fearless, which also allows their pilots to convert their misses into hits, but only if they fly squarely into their opponent's forward firing arc at range 1.

While it's entirely possible your Scum and Villainy pilots might finish off their opponents fast, or that your opponent may have rotated a turret firing arc out of position, it's also just as likely that flying straight into an X-wing's primary firing arc—or that of a VCX-100 like the Ghost —may see your fighter crippled or destroyed in the return volley.

But that's how the Scum play this game—high-risk and high potential reward.

The same perspective on risk and reward features prominently on the Scum-only astromech R5-P8. This droid comes with three charges that you can spend to reroll dice whenever you make attacks against foes in your forward firing arc. Given how valuable—and rare—action-free dice modifications are in X-Wing Second Edition, this ability catches the eye immediately.

However, R5-P8's ability also comes with a nasty potential price. If your rerolled result is a critical hit, then you must suffer a critical hit as well!

Because of how neatly R5-P8 plays into the faction's balance of high-risk abilities with high potential rewards, we're setting him ahead of fellow astromechs "Genius" and R5-TK, and you will—if you choose—be able to vote for R5-P8 as the card you'd like to see every Scum player use at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational.

As we move from the Scum-specific astromechs to their signature gunners, we find a trio of notable bounty hunters and an assassin droid from the Darth Vader and Doctor Aphra comics.

Often seen as the dark counterpart to R2-D2 , BT-1 has quickly become a fan-favorite character and frequently appears in the comics accompanied by his droid companion, 0-0-0. Even though he's dangerously homicidal and packs a surprisingly large and deadly arsenal—or, perhaps, because of those things—BT-1 has proven a powerful ally to the humans he has served and hasn't killed, namely Darth Vader and Doctor Aphra.

BT-1 is similarly lethal in X-Wing Second Edition, where he adds to the Scum faction's unique take on granting, spending, and taking advantage of stress tokens. Whenever his ship performs an attack, BT-1 allows you to convert a number of hit results to critical hits up to the number of stress tokens on the defender.

The other Scum-only gunners include bounty hunters, Bossk, Dengar, and Greedo, all of whom received some memorable screen time in the original Star Wars trilogy.

Bossk and Dengar were among the assortment of bounty hunters that Darth Vader infamously invited onto the bridge of the Executor in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, but of course, it was Greedo who saw the most screen time of these three bounty hunters—only to be shot by Han Solo in the cantina at Mos Eisley. Despite his early demise, Greedo played an important role in the development of the Star Wars mythos; his pursuit of Han Solo helped establish the smuggler's checkered past and lent an extra dimension to the galaxy's conflicts. Up until Greedo's moment on-screen, the galaxy was a place divided primarily by the Galactic Civil War. But when Greedo arrived, trying to collect the bounty on Han, audiences were immediately made aware of a whole criminal realm that lay outside the law, didn't care about the rebellion, and exerted influence throughout multiple star systems.

As a gunner in X-Wing, Greedo's ability recalls his brief appearance in the Mos Eisley cantina, even as it begs the question, "What if?"

What if Greedo had shot Han, rather than the other way around? With the Greedo upgrade, you have an answer—you can spend a charge to convert a hit result into a critical hit. But in a fashion sure to please longtime fans, Greedo's charge backfires if his opponent shoots first, and the Rodian inadvertently allows his attacker to convert a hit to a critical hit.

Another high-risk card with high potential reward, Greedo certainly belongs on a ship piloted by someone with high initiative.

Finally, there are twelve Scum-only crew upgrades in the Scum and Villainy Conversion Kit, one of which occupies two crew slots all by itself. These crew include bounty hunters, pirates, crime lords, a junk boss, and even a protocol droid. They represent a broad swath of time, as well—the lot of them having influenced the events in the Star Wars galaxy before, during, and after the Galactic Civil War. And while many of them—like Ketsu Onyo, Cad Bane, Zuckuss, 4-LOM, IG-88D, and Maul —were remarkable for their talents, the only thing that's true about all twelve of these crew taken together is that they present the Scum faction with an array of interesting squad-building possibilities.

For example, Cikatro Vizago lets you swap the illicit upgrades on two friendly ships at range 0-1 during the End Phase, further complicating your opponent's efforts to guess if you'll use your Inertial Dampeners or Contraband Cybernetics, or putting you in better position to activate your Feedback Array or Deadman's Switch. Meanwhile, the sadistic protocol droid 0-0-0 offers your opponent a twisted bargain—at the beginning of the Engagement Phase, your opponent's ship at range 0-1 can either take a stress token or give your ship a free calculate token. And Latts Razzi can take advantage of any stress tokens that do find their way onto your opponent's ships. While her ship is defending, Latts Razzi can spend one of your opponent's stress tokens to convert one of her blank or focus results to an evade.

Adding even more dimensions to the abilities provided by these characters, you've got the junk boss Unkar Plutt, who allows you to bump into an enemy ship and still take an action—but at the cost of a point of damage. It's an expensive ability, but one that can pay handsomely at the right moment.

You also have Jabba the Hutt, the renowned crime lord, whose focus on illicit activities is represented in X-Wing Second Edition by his ability to spend one of his four charges in the End Phase to recover a charge on an illicit upgrade equipped to a friendly ship at range 0-2. Need your Cloaking Device recharged? Jabba knows somebody. Running into trouble with Imperial ships on your back? Jabba's ability could allow you to recharge your Rigged Cargo Chute as many as four times, making it possible to choke off nearly every flight lane on the board!

While Jabba the Hutt would certainly be a worthy candidate for the "essential" Scum upgrade vote, we're going instead with another fan-favorite character—Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett.

It's true that if you vote for Boba Fett, you won't see him piloting any ships at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, but you will instead see him promote one of the second edition's newer mechanics—the ability to place ships in reserve. Ships that are placed in reserve are placed on their ship cards and are inactive for all purposes, except when targeted by an ability like Boba Fett's.

During setup, Boba Fett pulls his ship off the board until all obstacles and other ships have been placed. Then, with a clear view of his enemy's position, Boba Fett can pull his ship adjacent to an obstacle and beyond range 3 of any enemy ship. He can start facing your opponent's ships, ready to swoop in for an early shot, or he can start on a ship that's ready to bolt away, dropping loose cargo right in your opponent's preferred flight path. Either way, he helps you get the drop on your enemies. We're happy to include Boba Fett as one of the options for the "essential" Scum upgrades.

What's Your Kind of Scum?

Over the last couple of weeks, you cast your votes for the "essential" Rebel and Imperial upgrades. Now's your chance to select the final piece of the puzzle that is the 2018 Coruscant Invitational—which upgrade will appear in every Scum and Villainy list at the event?

Which card do you feel best embodies the faction in the game? Which speaks to the essence of the Scum faction like Leia Organa speaks to the essential nature of the Rebel Alliance and Ruthless speaks to the essence of the Imperial Navy?

Fearless
R5-P8
Greedo
Boba Fett

Head to Twitter @FFGOP to cast your vote now. Then, be sure to check back next week when we reveal the results of this final poll and take a look at what it means for the ships and pilots we might expect to see on the livestream at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational!

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Essential Galactic Empire

Published 31 July 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Essential Galactic Empire

Vote for the Essential Imperial Upgrade to Appear at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational

"Fear will keep the local systems in line."
–Grand Moff Tarkin, Star Wars: A New Hope

This October 5th – 7th, X-Wing™ Second Edition will make the jump to hyperspace with the 2018 Coruscant Invitational—the first major competitive event for the game's second edition!

The culmination of the 2018 X-Wing System Open Series, the 2018 Coruscant Invitational promises to draw hundreds of squadron leaders from across the globe for their first shot at top-level second edition tournament play. They'll come with new squads for the Rebels, Imperials, and Scum and Villainy, eager to prove their skills in a game that reinforces the importance of clever maneuvering and a strategic use of actions.

And while we won't know everything these players will have in their squads, we'll know at least one thing in advance—each attendee at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational will need to incorporate one at least one copy of his or her faction's "essential" upgrade.

Last week, we opened the voting for the essential Rebel upgrade, and you decided that each Rebel player needed to play with at least one copy of the Leia Organa crew upgrade . Today, we turn our attention to the Imperials, again asking you to help us determine, "What is the essence of the Imperial Navy in X-Wing?"

What Defines the Empire?

The Galactic Empire used fear and intimidation to exert its tyrannical influence over countless star systems. This required the maintenance of a vast military force, of which the Imperial Navy was a major component.

At the height of the Empire, the Imperial Navy boasted more than twenty-thousand Imperial-class Star Destroyers, each of which boasted enough firepower to make its arrival in a system a notable event—one to embolden the Empire's allies and dissuade would-be dissenters. Additionally, these Star Destroyers frequently carried small armies and dozens of nimble TIE/ln fighters, which they could deploy at any sign of enemy activity.

The design of these TIE/ln fighters favored economy over durability. Given the constant stream of new recruits from thousands of worlds, the Empire enjoyed a steady influx of new talent, and its Academies turned out pilots trained in the Empire's favored swarm tactics, taught to ignore their own well-being in favor of completing their missions. The mass-produced TIE/ln fighters were perfect for these untested and unproven pilots who might have proven a risk in more expensive craft. And while their fighters lacked shields and were relatively fragile, these Imperials were frequently able to overwhelm better armed and better trained enemies simply due to sheer numbers.

Of course, the Empire had plenty of resources and ambition to develop more advanced fighters, as well, and though these weren't produced on anything near the scale at which the TIE/ln fighters were produced, the TIE/d defender and Darth Vader's TIE Advanced x1 offer two excellent examples of superior Imperial engineering. These deadly fighters were easily a match for any of the Rebel designs of the same time.

Just as in the Star Wars canon, the Imperials in X-Wing are defined by their vast numbers, their extraordinary resources, and their fantastic, tyrannical ambitions. Players can field swarms of TIE fighters or invest in more experimental and powerful craft such as the TIE Advanced x1 or the TIE/ph phantom. Likewise, the field of Imperial pilots runs straight from the newly recruited Academy Pilot all the way to aces like Maarek Stele , "Mauler" Mithel , and Darth Vader .

Imperial Upgrades

Narrowing the contents of the Galactic Empire Conversion Kit to one essential upgrade is no easy feat. In addition to its bases, pegs, and punch, the Galactic Empire Conversion Kit contains 248 cards—two condition cards, 93 ship cards, and 153 upgrades. Of these 153 upgrades, seventeen serve the Empire loyally, refusing to work with the Rebel Alliance or the galaxy's Scum and Villainy.

Breaking these seventeen upgrades down even further, we find two title upgrades, one gunner, ten crew (one of which occupies two crew slots), and three copies of the talent, Ruthless.

Exemplifying the Galactic Empire's willingness to overcome resistance by way of numbers and attrition, Ruthless allows your aces to force damage on their opponents by dealing damage to their wingmates. And while damaging your own ships might seem dirty or, at the least, somewhat counterintuitive, these are exactly the sort of tactics you might expect from an Imperial squadron that might outnumber its opponents by a margin of two to one.

The additional offense provided by Ruthless is obviously the talent's main draw, but there's a secondary benefit, as well—one that aces like "Howlrunner" and "Scourge" Skutu are certain to have recognized. By pumping a bit of damage into an Academy Pilot or two to cripple or destroy one of your enemy's ships, you make that Academy Pilot a more tempting target for retaliatory fire, and as your aces would have noted, each shot directed toward an Academy Pilot is one less shot fired at your aces.

While both the Dauntless and ST-321 title upgrades add interesting options to any squadron that incorporates them, they are each restricted to just one ship, and for that reason, we're opting not to include either of these cards in our vote.

On the other hand, the sole Imperial-only gunner upgrade in the Galactic Empire Conversion Kit will be able to play on any of five different Imperial ships immediately upon the launch of second edition. This makes Fifth Brother an interesting way for you to add a point of Force capacity to ships like the VT-49 Decimator, TIE/ca punisher, and TIE/sa bomber that enter second edition with a gunner slot but no pilots capable of using the Force.

Given the newly centralized importance of the Force in X-Wing Second Edition, the versatility that he lends a wide array of Imperial starships, and the increasingly prominent role the Order of Inquisitors has been playing in materials like Star Wars: Rebels and the Darth Vader comics, Fifth Brother stands as an excellent option for any Imperial fleet—especially one looking to dig into the Galactic Empire's origins and the dark side of the Force.

With two of our four options for the vote already selected, we turn to the difficult task of selecting our last two options from the ten crew included in the Galactic Empire Conversion Kit. These include such notable characters as Moff Jerjerrod, Seventh Sister, Minister Tua, the Grand Inquisitor, and Agent Kallus, as well as the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader.

However, name recognition is only part of what makes an upgrade "essential," and the vast military machine of the Imperial Navy consisted of countless pilots, crew, and officers, many of whom played fantastically important roles, even if those roles didn't feature as prominently in the conflicts featured in the original Star Wars trilogy. A couple such officers appear in the Galactic Empire Conversion Kit with abilities that almost perfectly embody the Imperial Navy's tactics, translating to two abilities that lead to wildly different gameplay options.

Ciena Ree was a pilot who rose through the ranks to eventually command a Star Destroyer, the Inflictor. In X-Wing, Ciena Ree's crew card combines her love of flying with her leadership skills. When her ship performs a coordinate action, if the allied ship performs a boost or barrel roll action, Ciena Ree lets it gain a stress token to rotate 90 degrees. Because Ciena Ree's ship will coordinate on its initiative, this ability could mean that she allows a lower initiative pilot to change its facing or set up an ace pilot for a speed-one or speed-two turn that might catch an opponent completely by surprise—after that enemy thought it had flown out of the ace pilot's firing arc.

Meanwhile, Admiral Sloane was another human female, like Ciena Ree, whose drive and talent saw her rise swiftly through the Imperial ranks. Thanks to the fact that her first experience with the Galactic Empire was when it drove out her world's criminal groups, she saw the Empire as a force for good in the galaxy—one that brought law and order. Her commitment to this cause served her well as she unraveled several conspiracies fueled by corrupt Imperials, and she was largely responsible for the Empire's survival after the Battle of Endor.

Even though Admiral Sloane understood the need to use force and harsh tactics to crush her enemies, she was no proponent of squandering the lives or resources at her command. In the end, it was her decision to retreat from Endor that held the remaining Imperial forces together and allowed for the eventual construction of a new Empire, which would become the First Order.

In X-Wing Second Edition, this driven and visionary officer is represented by a crew upgrade that ensures your squadron's losses are never in vain. Whenever a friendly ship at Range 0-3 is destroyed, Admiral Sloane assigns two stress tokens to the attacking ship, limiting its ability to respond to your squadron's ensuing maneuvers. Simultaneously, she enhances your squadron's offensive power, granting all friendly ships at Range 0-3 the ability to reroll a dice while attacking a stressed enemy.

Along with her commitment to the Imperial cause, this ability—which fits perfectly into any swarm strategy—makes Admiral Sloane a fantastic representative of the Galactic Empire within the game, one we're happy to add to our shortlist of "essential" Imperial upgrades.

With only one spot left on our shortlist, we feel compelled to provide Grand Moff Tarkin an honorary mention.

Easily one of the most pivotal figures in the Galactic Civil War, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin was responsible for the Tarkin Doctrine and the Tarkin Initiative, an Imperial think tank that developed much of the work behind the construction of the Death Star. He was responsible for using the Death Star to destroy the planet of Alderaan, believing that this demonstration would lead the rest of the galaxy to fear and obey the Empire.

In X-Wing Second Edition, we find Grand Moff Tarkin's crew card reflects his beliefs in shows of power and the ability to rule through fear.

Grand Moff Tarkin comes with two charges. By spending these charges during the Systems Phase, he allows each friendly ship to acquire a lock against a ship that his ship has locked. While those friendly ships still need to be at Range 0-3 of the ship they're locking, Tarkin's ability lets them acquire the locks even if they can't normally perform the lock action. In this way, Tarkin can single-handedly transform a swarm of Academy Pilots into a singularly accurate strikeforce—and those TIE pilots don't even need to take an action to get their locks!

Still, despite Tarkin's prominence in the Galactic Civil War, and despite the fact that he can potentially lead your squadron to frighteningly lethal bombardments every other round, the Grand Moff is ultimately trumped by his superior, Emperor Palpatine.

The Sith Lord responsible for the downfall of the Republic and the rise of the Galactic Empire, Emperor Palpatine was powerful enough to keep his ambitions secret from the Jedi Council even as he manipulated events throughout the galaxy. He engineered whole political crises, played factions against each other, destroyed the Jedi, seduced Anakin Skywalker to the dark side, and duped the Republic Senate into granting him the powers that would later allow him to reshape the Republic as the Galactic Empire.

As a crew upgrade in X-Wing, Emperor Palpatine lends your squadron similarly far-reaching powers. First of all, he adds a point of Force capacity to any ship transporting him, but the Empreror isn't just any Force user. He's arguably the most powerful individual in the galaxy, and he can use his Force powers to alter the fate of any ship in your squadron, regardless of its position.

Even from the opposite side of the battlefield, Emperor Palpatine could convert one of Darth Vader's focus results into either a hit or an evade. Or, if he saw that Vader was going to evade his attacker even without his interference, Emperor Palpatine could wait to see if another friendly ship might benefit from his assistance. And because the Emperor's ability allows you to react to the dice on table, it frees you to think about your other ships' actions differently.

In most situations, a focus token might be more useful than an evade token, but when you have the Emperor on the table, a pilot like "Howlrunner" might perform the evade action, knowing that the evade token could modify a blank result and the Emperor could modify a focus result. Similarly, the Emperor's ability to interfere on your other pilots' behalf can make it easier to decide whether or not to spend a focus token to modify your attack, knowing that you can modify one of your attack dice with the Emperor's ability and save your focus tokens to modify your defense dice.

Time to Vote

What truly defines the "essence" of the Galactic Empire in X-Wing Second Edition? Is it the leadership? Is it the sheer size of its military force—one comprised of countless pilots, crew, and officers, all committed to the same cause? Do we find the Navy best represented by its ships and the upgrades that most accentuate their capabilities? Are we united behind some Ruthless Imperial spirit? Do we want to see the Empire using its numbers to its advantage, getting as much as possible from each sacrifice in a war of attrition?

With its renewed focus on faction identity, X-Wing Second Edition promises to introduce plenty of unique game elements that feel truly "Imperial," but choosing the upgrade from the Galactic Empire Conversion Kit that best represents the "essential" Imperial experience? That's up to you!

Find us on Twitter @FFGOP now to cast your vote for the "essential" Imperial upgrade.

Ruthless
Fifth Brother
Admiral Sloane
Emperor Palpatine

We'll share the results next week when we return with a look at the Scum-only upgrades from the Scum and Villainy Conversion Kit!

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The Essence of Rebellion

Published 24 July 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

The Essence of Rebellion

Vote for the Essential Rebel Upgrade to Appear at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational

"You know of the Rebellion against the Empire?"
–Luke Skywalker, Star Wars: A New Hope

This October 5th – 7th, hundreds of the world's top X-Wing™ squadron leaders will make their way to the Fantasy Flight Games Center for the 2018 Coruscant Invitational, the first major competitive event for the game's second edition.

The Coruscant Invitational serves as the culmination of the 2018 System Open Series. Attendees will all have been invited thanks to their performances at the different System Open Series events held around the world. And you—the community—will have a say in how these players fly to battle!

Each participant in the 2018 Coruscant Invitational will need to incorporate one "essential" faction-specific upgrade into his or her squadron. What that essential upgrade might be, though—that's up to you.

Will you choose an upgrade that invokes one of your favorite scenes from the movies? Will you vote for one that you feel speaks to the essence of what makes your favorite faction unique? Will you target an upgrade that stresses a certain playstyle?

Today, and over the next couple weeks, we invite you to review the faction-specific upgrades headed to X-Wing Second Edition in the three Conversion Kits, and then we'll ask you to vote from four options for each faction to decide which upgrades you'll get to watch players use when you catch them on our Twitch stream during the Coruscant Invitational!

We start with a look at the faction-specific upgrades from the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit.

What Makes a Rebel?

The members of the Rebel Alliance were freedom fighters who banded together to confront the Galactic Empire's tyrannical rule. But where the Imperial Navy boasted a fleet backed by thousands of Imperial-class Star Destroyers and countless TIE fighters, the Rebels were rag-tag underdogs.

The Rebellion was woefully outnumbered and outgunned—but its members were never without hope. Even though the odds were stacked against them, they risked their lives on daring missions because they believed they could make a difference. Like Jyn Erso in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the Rebels looked to take advantage of each chance that presented itself—and then to press on to the next chance, and the next, until they had either won or all their chances were gone.

You'll find this sort of hope, bravery, and selflessness reflected among the Rebel pilots and upgrades in X-Wing Second Edition. You'll find pilots willing to risk their lives for the cause of galactic freedom. Leaders clever and daring enough to find or create chances for their squadrons to strike. And a host of recognizable characters, all of whom remain committed to the fight—driven by the hope and belief that their actions will help restore freedom to the galaxy.

The result is that the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit gives us a Rebel faction built around individual talent and team spirit. Its members are used to fighting against horrific odds, and they're willing to risk damage to help each other. You see this time and again among the 84 ship cards in the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit, and among its 162 upgrades, 27 of which are considered so essentially "Rebel" that they have been designated for use only with the Rebel faction.

Reserved for the Rebel Alliance

Of the 27 Rebel-specific upgrade cards in the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit, five are title cards. While these named ships—the Millennium Falcon , Ghost , Phantom , Outrider , and Moldy Crow —are all immediately recognizable as Rebel cards, we're not including them in the voting as they would limit list-building too heavily were one of them to win. Sure, we all love the Millennium Falcon… unless, maybe, if we have to play five games in a row against the same basic squadron that features the ship.

That leaves us with one astromech, four gunners, and fourteen crew to consider—as well as three copies of the single Rebel-only talent, Selfless.

In many ways, Selfless epitomizes both the Rebel playstyle in X-Wing and the Rebel cause in Star Wars. The talent allows a pilot to draw critical hits away from his or her wingmates at range 0-1, risking his or her life for the sake of others.

In effect, Selfless prevents your opponent from concentrating all fire on a single ship and works best when you can absorb a critical hit on another ship's shields, rather than seeing the card dealt faceup to the ship your opponent had targeted.

The gunner upgrade type, meanwhile, is new to the game's second edition and introduces some fantastic new possibilities. There are four of these gunners in the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit, and they all pack a punch.

You may have already seen the new Luke Skywalker upgrade, and—given how we've stated X-Wing Second Edition reinforces the importance placed on maneuvering—we've seen these veterans express their concerns that Luke's ability undercuts that importance.

Luke's ability is certainly powerful. However, it also comes with a hefty cost. Luke's ability is priced higher than those of Bistan, Ezra Bridger, and Han Solo—even though all those other pilots make it possible for their ships to fire twice in a round.

Given the boost in firepower that these gunners can bring to your squadron, it's no surprise that they're among the most expensive upgrades in the game. Apart from Luke, however, each of these gunners does, in fact, reinforce the importance of clever maneuvering. None of them allow you to fire twice from the same turret arc, so they demand that you line up shots from both your turret and primary firing arcs or from different turret arcs… or else they sit silently in the gunner's seat, playing the role of the most expensive and underused addition to your squad.

From these options, we're promoting Han Solo to the vote. Not only does Han come with impeccable pedigree, having appeared in both the first Star Wars movie and the most recent cinematic addition to the Star Wars universe, but he allows you to shoot first—at least most of the time. Since pilot initiative caps at 6, Han's ability to shoot at initiative 7 makes him quicker on the draw than any pilot not equipped with tricks or Force powers of their own.

We're also allowing you to vote—if you so desire—for the sole Rebel astromech featured in the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit. "Chopper" is one of the best-loved characters from Star Wars: Rebels, and he adds a welcome measure of resilience to your Rebel fighters—at a cost. In typical "Chopper" fashion, this astromech can power up your failing shields, but only if you strip that power from your other upgrades. In a pinch, he can even strip your shields to power up other upgrades, such as your Proton Torpedoes.

In the end, "Chopper" is a dynamic and versatile upgrade that bristles with all the cantankerous character you'd expect from the astromech.

With three of our four options already before us, we have the daunting task of selecting one final voting option from among all fourteen of the Rebel-only crew appearing in the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit. These include such immediately iconic characters as Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, C-3PO, Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor, and Hera Syndulla, as well as such fan-favorites as Baze Malbus, Sabine Wren, "Zeb" Orrelios, and Nien Nunb.

While the "Chopper" crew offers another great in-game integration of this droid's role and pesonality, we don't want to fill half your voting options with the same character. Similarly, while the R2-D2 crew promotes the Rebellion's core theme of shield regeneration, adding R2-D2 to the vote as a crew upgrade would potentially preclude players from running R2-D2 as an astromech.

As one of the most notable figures from Star Wars: Rebels, Kanan Jarrus provides an interesting option. He's the only crew upgrade in the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit who can add a Force rating to your ship, meaning that if you don't use his Force point to trigger his ability, Kanan will allow you to change one focus result each round into either a hit or an evade result.

Ultimately, even though Kanan's ability works for any friendly ship within range—and not just the ship he's aboard—it doesn't evoke the same sense of pioneering leadership that the Leia Organa crew can offer.

In the Leia Organa crew card, we have one of the most central figures in the Galactic Civil War and one of the best-loved characters in the Star Wars galaxy. We have, also, a far-reaching ability that begs for the exploration of squad-based tactics. At the start of the activation, Leia allows you to spend all three of her charges to reduce the difficulty of red maneuvers for every ship in your squadron.

In other words, Leia makes it possible for all the ships in your squadron to perform Koiogran-turns or Tallon Rolls to get behind their targets and still perform actions—to once again lock on target and fire Proton Torpedoes, or to barrel roll into position for a better shot.

Leia's ability is a difficult one to use effectively, but it reflects her inspirational presence in the Rebellion. It also reflects an upgrade from her first edition ability, as Leia can potentially trigger her ability multiple times in one game. She recovers one charge at the end of each round, meaning that if the game plays out long enough, you'll be able to trigger Leia's ability twice—possibly even three times—per game.

Finally, there's the matter that Leia's ability doesn't just allow ships to perform stress-free Koiogran-turns or Tallon Rolls. She also reduces the difficulty of the Sheathipede-class Shuttle's one-speed reverse, the HWK-290's zero-speed maneuver, or the E-wing's red one-speed turns. Accordingly, even if you don't have a full squadron of X-wings laden with torpedoes by the time Leia recovers all three of her charges, you might very well find tremendous benefit in the ability to plot a cunning maneuver in the tight spaces of close-quarters combat at the end of the game.

All told, the Leia Organa crew card doesn't just draw its inspiration from one of the saga's best-loved characters; the card translates that character into a leader who permits a wide range of daring and surprising tactics.

Which Will You Choose?

It's no easy feat to choose just four "essential" upgrades from the dozens of thematic abilities and iconic characters represented among the Rebel-only upgrades in the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit, and reducing these options to just one? That's too much for us alone—we need your help!

Find us on Twitter @FFGOP to vote for the Rebel upgrade you most want to see in action at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational. Will it be a character you love? A show of Selfless heroism? Or a card ability you want to see used at the highest levels? Your options include a talent, gunner, astromech, and crew. Whichever you choose, it will feature in every Rebel squad at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational!

Selfless
Han Solo
"Chopper"
Leia Organa

Vote now. Then come back next week for a look at the Imperial-only upgrades from the Galactic Empire Conversion Kit!

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Special Modifications

Published 17 July 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Special Modifications

Learn How You Can Modify the First Major Competition for X-Wing™ Second Edition

"She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid. I’ve made a lot of special modifications myself."
–Han Solo, Star Wars: A New Hope

This October, the world's top X-Wing™ players will once again make their way to the Fantasy Flight Games Center in Roseville, MN to compete in the 2018 Coruscant Invitational. For these players, it's a chance to enjoy top-level matches, to test their skills, and to vie for fantastic prizes. For everyone else, it's a chance to see how X-Wing Second Edition captures the essence of fast-paced starfighter battles in the Star Wars galaxy.

The first major competitive event for the game's second edition, the 2018 Coruscant Invitational is both the culmination of the 2018 System Open Series and an opportunity for fans everywhere to come together and share their love of the game. And this is an important point to reinforce: the Coruscant Invitational's nod to the X-Wing community is more than lip service; you—as members of the community—are being invited to shape the event itself.

Then, after you help us shape the event, we're inviting you to follow the action via Twitch, and we'll reward some of you with prize giveaways. So how exactly does this work? Keep reading.

You Define the "Essence" of Each Faction

If you're an X-Wing veteran, you're almost certainly aware that your conversion to the game's second edition will be facilitated by three different Conversion Kits—one for each of the game's three initial factions: Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance, and Scum and Villainy. These kits come with the punch board, ship cards, and upgrade cards you need for your first edition squadrons to make the jump to second edition.

If you've been paying attention to our previews and the second edition cards that have already appeared in the 2018 System Open Series, you also know that many of the second edition pilot and upgrade abilities differ from their first edition counterparts. Most of these honor their roots closely, making them immediately recognizable, even as their abilities reflect changes meant to improve gameplay. Some of the ship and upgrade cards in these Conversion Kits, however, are completely new to second edition.

Over the next few weeks, we'll review dozens of the faction-specific upgrades for the Rebel, Imperial, and Scum factions, starting next week with a look at the Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit. Then, we'll post a series of three Twitter polls, presenting you with four options from each faction, and we'll ask you to vote for the upgrades you feel best reflect each faction's "essence."

What defines the essence of a faction in X-Wing Second Edition? That's up for you to decide. Do you gravitate toward the most recognizable characters? Do you aim for the upgrades that best reflect a faction's playstyle? Do look for game effects that no other faction can claim? Will you simply vote for the game effect you'd most like to see incorporated into the squads for your favorite faction?

However you cast your vote, you'll be doing your part as a member of the larger X-Wing community to help tailor the 2018 Coruscant Invitational. Each participant in the 2018 Coruscant Invitational will be required to equip at least one copy of his or her faction's "essential" upgrade.

Watch. Learn. Vote.

Play your part in the first major competitive event for X-Wing Second Edition. Over the next few weeks, stay tuned for a series of closer looks at the upcoming Conversion Kits. We'll look at dozens of faction-specific upgrades, and in so doing, we'll be highlighting some of the coolest changes between the game's first and second editions.

Then, be sure to cast your vote for each faction's most "essential" upgrade. Make sure, though, your vote's for the upgrades you'll most want to see people play at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational—because the winning upgrades will feature in each squadron list for the factions they belong to!

After the voting's finished, we'll post the results, and then—on October 6th and October 7th—you'll get to see how X-Wing Second Edition rewards skillful play when we stream select matches at Twitch.tv/FFGlive!

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The 2018 Coruscant Invitational

Published 10 July 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

The 2018 Coruscant Invitational

The Climactic Conclusion of the 2018 X-Wing™ System Open Series

"What did you have in mind for your next move?"
–Leia Organa, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

The time has come for the world's greatest X-Wing™ aces to plan their next moves.

For nearly half a year, the game's top bounty hunters and squadron leaders have been flying to battle in the 2018 System Open Series, looking to claim both prizes and fame. We've seen fantastic starfighter duels waged everywhere from PAX Unplugged to Portland and from Kraków to Birmingham. We've seen players adapting to the ever-evolving metagame. And as much as we've seen some truly top-level competition, we've also seen these events turn into fantastic celebrations of all the different things that make X-Wing such a great game: the detailed miniature starships, the intuitive maneuvering, fast-paced combat, and—above all—the enthusiastic and welcoming player community.

Now, as the 2018 System Open Series draws toward a close with the event in Seattle, we look forward to the culmination of these tournaments at the 2018 Coruscant Invitational.

Scheduled for the weekend of October 5th – 7th in Roseville, MN, the 2018 Coruscant Invitational will be not only the culmination of the 2018 System Open Series; it will be the first major competitive event for X-Wing Second Edition!

The Details

Open only to those players who qualified through the 2018 System Open Series, the 2018 Coruscant Invitational will serve as a thrilling transition to the game's second edition. As such, the event will feature everything that makes the second edition such an exciting prospect—refined gameplay, a renewed emphasis on maneuvering, reinforced faction identities, the game's new app, and the integration of the Force and Force powers!

The main event will begin on Saturday the 6th and feature six rounds of Swiss. Everyone with four wins will qualify for Day 2 on Sunday the 7th, which will jump straight into single elimination play. Byes will be awarded to the top players from Day 1, and the end of the day will see the crowning of a new Coruscant Invitational Champion!

There will be a number of side events, as well. Before they launch into the second edition fighter battles of the main event, players will enjoy one final, massive battle. A Team Epic tournament on Friday the 5th presents an opportunity to field all manner of first edition starfighters—as well as a huge ship or two. Then on Sunday the 7th, there will be a special side tournament for all those players who were eliminated on Day 1, as well as those who are eliminated during the earlier rounds of Day 2.

Event Schedule

Importantly, although the physical event is invite-only, we are once again inviting everyone to participate in the 2018 Coruscant Invitational. Building upon the tradition of community involvement that has become such a central component of the whole System Open Series, we plan to offer everyone a few different ways to get involved:

We'll stream featured matches throughout the weekend—hosting them on our Twitch channel and aiming toward a wide range of different ships and squad builds.
We'll build toward the event with a series of articles that will help newer players learn from our veterans and better understand what they'll later see on the stream.
And we will once again invite everyone to participate in a series of Twitter polls that will help to shape the event itself… Even if you can't attend, you can help steer the fate of your favorite faction.

The Prizes

Of course, there will be prizes, too! All the squadron leaders and bounty hunters who fought their way toward qualification during the 2018 System Open Series will find themselves rewarded with a cascading cache of prizes that keeps coming throughout the tournament—round by round.

Naturally, these prizes will keep with the year's focus on the Scum and Villainy faction, even as they feature some of the newer and cleaner designs from the game's second edition.

Main Event

Participants in the 2018 Coruscant Invitational will win new prizes in every round they play on Day 1, and they'll claim additional prizes for every round they win on Day 2—whether in the elimination brackets or in Sunday's side tournament.

Day 1 – Round 1

Commemorative damage deck reinforcing the year's focus on the Scum and Villainy faction. The alternate card back features the skull-shaped Mandalorian symbol known as the kyr'bes, and each card is marked with the 2018 Coruscant Invitational's event icon.

Day 1 – Round 2

Alternate art Zuckuss ship card.

Day 1 – Round 3

Alternate art IG-88B ship card.

Day 1 – Round 4

Alternate art Dengar ship card.

Day 1 – Round 5

Alternate art Bossk ship card.

Day 1 – Round 6

Alternate art Boba Fett ship card.

After the conclusion of Day 1, everyone with four or more wins will qualify for the elimination rounds on Day 2. Top players will be awarded first-round byes; the exact number of byes awarded will be determined by the number of qualified participants.

Day 2 – All Participants

Set of five extended art Title upgrade cards: Slave I, Hound's Tooth, Mist Hunter, Punishing One, and IG-2000.

Day 2 – Top 16

Set of five acrylic calculate tokens.

Day 2 – Top 8

Set of six alternate art crew cards: Boba Fett, Bossk, Zuckuss, 4-LOM, Dengar, and IG-88D.

Day 2 – Top 4

Set of five commemorative maneuver dial covers: Firespray-31, YV-666, G-1A Starfighter, JumpMaster 5000, and Aggressor.

Day 2 – Top 2

Scum-themed template tray.

The 2018 Coruscant Invitational Runner-Up will also receive a 2nd place art plaque featuring Boba Fett.

2018 Coruscant Invitational Champion

In addition to everything else he or she has already won, the 2018 Coruscant Invitational Champion will receive a Champion trophy, as well as a flight and lodging to the 2019 X-Wing World Championships!

We will reveal more details about the 2019 X-Wing World Championships in the weeks to come.

Side Events

The side events will have prizes, too, as the players in Sunday's side tournament will have their chance to to claim the same prizes that the Day 2 competitors can win through the first three rounds of elimination play. And the players in the Team Epic event will each walk away with an alternate art Jabba the Hutt crew card.

But the prizes don't stop there!

As part of our celebration of X-Wing Second Edition and the fantastic X-Wing community, we'll be giving away a handful of second edition prizes over the course of the weekend—everything from single ship expansions and conversion kits to complete copies of the X-Wing Second Edition Core Set intended to welcome new players to the party. The details of these giveaways won't be broadcast until we go live during the event, so be sure to follow our Twitch coverage and to follow us on Twitter @FFGOP!

Join the Celebration

The 2018 Coruscant Invitational is coming to the Fantasy Flight Games Center this October 5th – 7th, and it promises to be one truly epic celebration of X-Wing Second Edition!

If you've qualified through the 2018 System Open Series, head to our registration page now. The main event is completely free, and we hope you'll attend to help us usher in the new edition in style.

If you haven't qualified, be sure to check our 2018 System Open Series page for the details of our last qualifying event. Then, be sure to stay tuned as we share more event details, including the way you'll be able to influence the shape of the event and improve the chances of your favorite faction. Along the way, we'll take a look at some of the coversion kit upgrades that are brand new to X-Wing Second Edition!

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Built on Hope

Published 21 June 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Built on Hope

X-Wing Wave XIV Is Available Now

“We call it the Death Star. There is no better name… and the day is coming soon when it will be unleashed.”
–Galen Erso, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The Death Star is one step closer to being fully operational and the Rebel Alliance must act quickly to counter this menace before the Empire tightens its grip on more star systems. X-Wing™ Wave XIV—the Saw’s Renegades Expansion Pack and the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack—are available now from your local retailer or online through our website!

Order your own copy of these expansions at your local retailer or online through our website today!

These expansion packs take you back to the very beginning of the Galactic Civil War, putting you directly in the desperate struggle over the plans to the Death Star. On one side, you can join up with Saw Gerrera and his partisans to take whatever actions you deem necessary to stop the spread of Empire. On the other, you could patrol the skies over Scarif in a TIE reaper, giving even the most experienced Rebel pilots pause before entering the fray.

No matter which side you choose, these expansion packs will help you usher in the next chapter of fast-paced space battles in the Star Wars galaxy with content from X-Wing Second Edition. Both the Saw’s Renegades Expansion Pack and the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack contain everything you need to convert their ships to second edition, giving you the opportunity to experience their raw power from launch.

Fight for Freedom

While other members of the Rebel Alliance debate their next move, Saw Gerrera takes action. He has been fighting tyranny across the galaxy since the Clone Wars and won’t stop until every trace of the Empire has been eliminated. Reflecting the rebel spirit of Saw and his band of freedom fighters, the Saw’s Renegades Expansion Pack puts a new spin on some classic Rebel ships. Both the T-65 X-wing and U-wing miniatures found here feature the striking black-and-white paint scheme particular to Saw and his freedom fighters and are accompanied by ten ship and fifteen upgrade cards that give them a distinct edge when compared to other Rebel starfighters.

For example, you can now outfit your T-65 X-wing with the Renegade Refit upgrade included in this expansion. Filling the T-65’s torpedo upgrade slot, this upgrade gives you even more flexibility when customizing your ship and adding more ships to your squadron. The Renegade Refit gives you the room to equip two different Modifications, one of which could be the new Servomotor S-foils, granting you additional benefits depending on whether your s-foils are open or closed. What’s more, this upgrade has a negative squad point cost, giving you the freedom to further customize your other ships—or even squeeze in another T-65 X-wing.

On top of this first edition content, you’ll also find ten ship cards and twelve upgrade cards along with all the maneuver dials, tokens, and bases you need to bring Saw and his partisans into X-Wing Second Edition. Among these, you’ll find an updated version of the U-wing’s Pivot Wing that gives you a greater degree of control over your ship's facing, potentially rotating in mid-air.

You can find a full preview of the Saw’s Renegades Expansion Pack here and a preview of the X-Wing Second Edition content found in this expansion here!

The Ultimate Weapon

The Death Star is a weapon of immeasurable power and the Empire will go to great lengths to keep the plans for this battle station out of Rebel hands. Among the security forces on Scarif, the TIE reaper is uniquely designed to strike fear in any Rebel forces who would dare mount an attack.

Largely doing away with the speed and maneuverability that are the trademarks of so many Imperial starfighters, the TIE reaper makes use of a unique action bar and the ability to carry two crew members to keep enemy ships off guard. The four different ship cards and eleven upgrade cards you’ll find alongside the TIE reaper miniature in the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack enhance the ship’s ability to take the jam action, making the reaper wholly unique among Imperial starfighters.

Captain Feroph, for example, gains a defensive bonus when the ship attacking her is jammed, an effect that can be spread to multiple ships if she adds an ISB Slicer to her crew. But the reaper can do much more than jam other ships. For a slow, heavy ship, it is surprisingly adept at avoiding enemy fire, especially if it’s equipped with Multi-Spectral Camouflage. This upgrade gives the reaper the rare ability to avoid target locks so long as it can roll an evade result, giving it an even greater chance of coming out the other side of a confrontation unscathed.

The TIE Reaper Expansion Pack also contains X-Wing Second Edition versions of all four of its ship cards as well as ten upgrade cards that can be used to customize your TIE reaper or other ships. The reaper itself gets an upgrade in second edition, coming already equipped with Adaptive Ailerons that give the ship an extra burst of speed before you reveal its maneuver dial.

You can find a full preview of the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack here and a look at the X-Wing Second Edition content found in the expansion here!

On the Verge of Greatness

The events of Rogue One determined the fate of the galaxy and set the events of the entire Star Wars saga in motion. Now you can add three more ships from these pivotal battles to your X-Wing squadrons and get a glimpse into the future of space combat.

Join the battle for the Death Star plans with the Saw’s Renegades Expansion Pack (SWX74) and the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack (SWX75), available now from your local retailer or our website!

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Transporting Terror

Published 15 June 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Transporting Terror

Preview the X-Wing Second Edition Content of the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack

"We need a statement, not a manifesto."
–Grand Moff Tarkin, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

As we saw in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, stealing the Death Star plans was no easy task. One of the biggest challenges the Rogue One team faced on Scarif were the waves of Death Troopers ferried into the heat of battle by the imposing TIE reaper. These menacing fighters pose a multipurpose threat to Rebel forces… and the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack gives you everything you need to add one to your games of X-Wing™.

Order your own copy of the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack at your local retailer or online through our website today!

In addition to adding a new starfighter to the Imperial ranks, the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack will help usher in X-Wing Second Edition by including components that are compatible with both the first and second editions. The beautifully painted TIE reaper miniature included in this expansion will be accompanied by second edition versions of all the ship cards and tokens you need to incorporate one of these terrifying ships into your Imperial squadrons, as well as its own complement of ten upgrade cards.

These cards will give you an early glimpse of the refinements made in the new edition and, when X-Wing Second Edition is released on September 13th, 2018, they will join the upgrades already found in X-Wing Second Edition to give you an array of options for building your first squadron. We’ve already taken a look at the first edition content you’ll find in this expansion. Join us today for a preview of the second edition content in the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack!

Advanced Tech

On the cutting edge of Imperial weapons technology, the TIE reaper is a surprisingly nimble ship for its size. It can pull off some impressively tight turns and quickly reposition itself, daring opposing pilots to underestimate its abilities. Part of this added maneuverability can be attributed to the Adaptive Ailerons that give the reaper a little extra speed before its dial is revealed.

A standard feature of all TIE reapers, Adaptive Ailerons are the first instance of ship abilities in X-Wing Second Edition. These abilities represent systems built directly into ships, rather than the abilities of the pilots who fly them. Sometimes, such as with "Vizier," a ship ability and pilot ability synchronize to provide extra benefits. In this case, “Vizier” can perform a coordinate action after fully executing the speed one maneuver required by his Adaptive Ailerons, giving another pilot the chance to take an action.

If this pilot you coordinate with happens to be Major Vermeil, he could always take the jam action to remove a green token from an enemy ship at Range 1 or force that ship to break one of its locks. At the very least, Major Vermeil can assign a jam token to the ship, preventing it from gaining a green token or lock later in the round. If he can successfully keep his target from gaining any green tokens, Major Vermeil can then change a blank or focus result to a damage result while attacking later in the round.

Captain Feroph has a similar ability, guaranteeing her an evade result so long as the attacker does not have any green tokens. In either case, the coordinate action from “Vizier” ensures that Major Vermeil and Captain Feroph can both jam and focus in the same round, putting them at an advantage while limiting the enemy’s options.

Lethal Cargo

When the TIE reaper darkens the skies, enemy pilots know they’re in for a difficult fight. This ship packs quite the punch, rolling three attack dice with its primary weapon. While this fact alone should be enough to give enemy ships pause, the reaper becomes even more frightening when carrying specialized crew members into battle. Originally designed as a troop transport, the reaper's two crew upgrade slots give you plenty of options for enhancing its abilities.

For example, you could fill both of those slots with a group of Director Krennic’s Death Troopers and fly into the heart of the battle. Once there, enemy ships at Range 0–1 cannot remove stress tokens, forcing them to move out of range if they want to perform any actions. Similarly, having an ISB slicer on your ship prevents nearby enemy ships from removing jam tokens at the end of the round, ensuring they’ll have difficulty gaining locks or green tokens for at least another round.

Rather than place limits on what enemy ships can do, other crew members, like the Tactical Officer, enhance the reaper’s built-in capabilities. One of these officers takes the pressure of interfacing with other ships off the pilot, turning the reaper’s red coordinate action white. But if you want a truly commanding presence on your ship, you can always add Director Krennic himself. In addition to adding the target lock action to the ship carrying him, Krennic turns another friendly ship into an Optimized Prototype from the very beginning of the game. Krennic’s ship can then work closely with the Optimized Prototype, with his ship obtaining locks on enemy ships and the Optimized Prototype quickly draining these ships’ shields or exposing their facedown damage cards.

Death from Above

Whenever an enemy is foolish enough to launch an attack on an Imperial facility, the TIE reaper will be there to carry elite troops into battle. And when X-Wing Second Edition launches on September 13th, 2018, the TIE reaper will be ready to enter a new era of interstellar combat.

Look for the TIE Reaper Expansion Pack (SWX75) in stores late in the second quarter of 2018. You can pre-order your copy at your local retailer or online through our website today!

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Optimize Your Squadron

Published 6 June 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Optimize Your Squadron

See the Prizes You Can Win at the 2018 X-Wing™ Store Championships

"We're on the verge of greatness."
–Director Krennic, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Greatness awaits you with the upcoming X-Wing™ Store Championships!

Your favorite local game store plays many roles in your X-Wing community. It's your supply depot. Your headquarters. The site of your weekly starfighter battles. It's a training ground where you can test new squadrons, and learn how to fly the newest ships. And once each year—during the Store Championships season—your store becomes your proving ground, the battlefield where you'll test yourself against the best local competition.

What's at stake in this annual Store Championship? Local bragging rights, for starters. Store Championships take place only once per year, meaning your victory is always a memorable and lasting triumph. But the lasting nature of your triumph is amplified in 2018 by the fact that the Store Championships will be replaced in the future by the Wave Championships coming with the game's second edition. Win this year, and you'll be your store's final X-Wing first edition Store Champion!

For those of us who don't like to brag (much), the Store Championships also provide a chance to win some of the coolest prizes you'll see at your store all year long. In fact, as you enjoy the battles of this year's Store Championships—and look forward to the renewed conflicts of X-Wing Second Edition—you'll find this season's prizes are ready to serve double-duty: the extended art and alternate art cards that you can win at this year's Store Championships are double-sided so that you can use them in both the game's first and second editions!

Top 32

As a game of starfighter dogfights, X-Wing handsomely rewards your ability to outmaneuver your opponents, and there are few feelings in the game quite so sweet as slipping out of your enemy's firing arc to line up a perfect Range 1 shot with focus and target lock.

One of the feelings that might compete with lining up the perfect shot, however, is the feeling you get when your ace pilot stares down your opponent's whole squadron and emerges from the volley of fire completely unscathed.

And then there's the feeling you get when you pair your attack and defense options perfectly—such as when your evasive action allows you to catch an enemy ship completely unprepared for the retaliatory fire. Juke and fire. And you can capture this feeling with the extended art Juke available to the Top 32 players at each 2018 X-Wing Store Championship!

This double-sided upgrade comes ready for play in both first and second edition—with a game effect that works the same in both editions, albeit with wording that reflects each edition's specific language conventions.

Top 8

To battle your way toward the top tables at your Store Championship, you'll need to demonstrate a good eye for distance. Failing to bring one of your biggest ships into the opening engagements can prove disastrous, as can losing the synergies from your range-dependent ship and upgrade abilities.

As a reward for your keen eye—and to help you refine your ability to judge those distances—everyone who makes the Top 8 at a 2018 X-Wing Store Championship will win a complete set of three range rulers—Range 1-3, Range 1-2, and Range 1.

While the standard range ruler for Range 1-3 is great for lining up most of your shots, the shorter range rulers are great for checking exact distances when ships are—maybe—at Range 1 of each other. And they make placing your obstacles during setup all that much easier and quicker.

Top 4

What can you say about the Top 4 participants at each 2018 X-Wing Store Championship? Well, they all stand on the verge of greatness. Only one will end up claiming the title of Store Champion, but at the point you make the Top 4, you've earned the right to quote Director Krennic's line about being so close to bringing "peace" and "security" to the galaxy.

You'll also have earned a double-sided, alternate art version of the Director Krennic upgrade for both first and second edition.

A self-important genius in both editions, Director Krennic allows you to enhance your Imperial fleet by assigning the Optimized Prototype condition to one of your ships. The condition functions a bit differently in the different editions, but in both editions, it improves the ship it modifies—optimizes it, you might say—affording it greater offensive potential and linking it to Director Krennic and his ship's target locks.

Also, it just makes your squad look better when you enhance it with this alternate art version of Director Krennic.

Top 2

Just as the Top 2 players at each 2018 X-Wing Store Championship find themselves greatly outnumbered by all the players they had to beat to keep going, the members of the Rebel Alliance were always outnumbered by Imperial forces. Nonetheless, they kept fighting, and that fight translates to the Top 2 prize in the form of a plastic Cavern Angels Zealot ship card.

Arguably the most iconic of Star Wars starfighters, the X-wing proved to be just the fighter the Rebel Alliance needed. Its speed and firepower gave it a good measure of versatility, and the introduction of the Cavern Angels Zealot ship card in the Saw's Renegades Expansion Pack carries some of this versatility back into X-Wing.

Along with the Renegade Refit upgrade, the Cavern Angels Zealot ship card provides you the option of running a squadron with as many as five X-wings at a pilot skill value of either one or two. You can use the lower pilot skill value of one on the Cavern Angels Zealot to block your opponent's flight paths, or you can fly the Rookie Pilot to shoot slightly earlier in the combat phase, potentially firing ahead of your opponent's Academy Pilots or Zealous Recruits.

Store Champion

After all is said and done, each store will name only one X-Wing Store Champion, and this Champion will truly be able to look with pride upon his or her accomplishments, having claimed the title of Store Champion forever.

Instead, as we mentioned earlier, the Organized Play program for X-Wing Second Edition will replace the annual Store Championships with the Wave Championships supported by our Deluxe Wave Kits. Similarly, Regional Championships will be replaced by two separate seasons of Hyperspace Trials and Hyperspace Cups.

Nonetheless, if you claim the title of 2018 X-Wing Store Champion, you will still be able to leverage your victory toward success at the next level of events. Your victory will earn you a Regional Championship Prize Bye, and though you won't be able to redeem this Prize Bye at a Regional Championship, you will be able to apply it toward a future Hyperspace Trial.

Pursue Greatness

X-Wing remains the greatest tabletop starfighter game in the galaxy, and the 2018 X-Wing Store Championships are your chance to pursue greatness and glory within the game. Enjoy fantastic, high-speed starfighter duels. Claim local bragging rights. Blaze a trajectory toward success in the game's second edition.

At the 2018 X-Wing Store Championships, anything can happen. Any ship can find its way to the top tables. So talk to your local retailer today to find out when they'll be running their Store Championships!

Note: The 2018 X-Wing Store Championship season was moved to incorporate the second edition prize materials. All 2018 X-Wing Store Championships will utilize the game's first edition.

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Savor Your Achievements

Published 1 June 2018 | Star Wars: X-Wing Second Edition

Savor Your Achievements

Preview the Prizes You Can Win in X-Wing™ 2018 Season Two Organized Play

"We stand here amidst my achievement. Not yours!"
–Director Krennic, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

X-Wing™ is fun.

It's fun to fly your starships across the table and make laser noises as your they attack your friend's ships. It's fun to experiment with new squad builds and see what each ship is capable of doing. You can test your skills as a pilot, seeing how close you can fly to the rocks without hitting them. And you can line up the perfect shot, catching your opponent squarely in your firing arc at point-blank range.

It's fun to play the game because it reminds us of Star Wars and all our favorite pilots, and it's fun because it challenges our spatial awareness and our tactical aptitude. It's fun if you win, or if you lose. Although, admittedly, it's probably more fun when we win.

It's also more fun when your games can win you prizes. This is part of the reason X-Wing Organized Play is thriving. You take a great game, make it easy to find new players, and reward people for participating. And as we approach the beginning of 2018 Season Two, we're happy to reveal the prizes you can win!

It Is the Future You See

One of the more remarkable truths about 2018 Season Two Organized Play for X-Wing is that it finds the game in a transitional phase. The game's second edition has recently been announced but won't be available for some time. Even so, some first edition players have been giving thought toward the coming edition and what it will mean for their favorite ships and pilots.

In keeping with the spirit of the Conversion Kits that were announced in May, the 2018 Season Two prizes for X-Wing will offer you a glimpse of the second edition future… Each of the cards we're including with the 2018 Season Two Kit is dual-sided—first edition text on one side and second edition text on the other.

Altogether, the 2018 Season Two Kit comes with prizes to support an event of up to sixteen players—including participation cards for the Top 16 players, two Elite Prize Cards, and two Elite Prize Items.

Top 16

The X-Wing 2018 Season Two Kit comes with seventeen copies of an extended-art Scarif Base Pilot.

This double-sided ship card features the TIE reaper pilot with the lowest squad-point cost, leaving you the most room for other ships and impactful upgrades like Emperor Palpatine, Death Troopers, and Director Krennic.

Sixteen copies of the card are for players. The seventeeth copy is intended for the event organizer, who can either hold onto the card or distribute it according to his or her discretion.

Elite Prize Card

Win some games, destroy some Imperials, and you may earn yourself a reputation—maybe even a mixed one like that belonging to the Rebel extremist Saw Gerrera.

We hope you won't resort to the same sort of ruthless tactics for which Saw was infamous, but if you manage to battle your way into your event's top four participants, you may have a shot at one of the 2018 Season Two Kit's double-sided, extended-art Saw Gerrera cards.

This future-proofed ship card features one of the U-wing's top pilots to use right now—and to keep flying in vibrant, extended-art even after second edition releases.

The kit's third copy of this card is intended for the event organizer.

Elite Prize Item

To come out of your battles a victor, rather than a casualty, you need to stay focused at all times, and the 2018 Season Two Kit offers you a way to stay focused in style—with a set of six focus tokens!

Commemorate Your Achievements

The Star Wars films aren't just full of dramatic events. They're also full of reminders that those events deserve notice. Characters like Director Krennic boast of their accomplishments and demand recognition. Other characters are given medals or promoted for their deeds.

These acknowledgements aren't just for show, either. They resonate throughout the galaxy. For example, it matters when Vader recognizes that Luke has built his own lightsaber. "Your skills are complete," he says. "Indeed, you are powerful, as the Emperor has foreseen."

So talk to your favorite local game store about getting involved in X-Wing Organized Play. Have some fun. Fly some ships. Enjoy your X-Wing dogfights. And take your best shot at the cool, future-proofed prizes coming in Season Two!

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Best Pilot in the Resistance

Published 21 May 2018 | X-Wing

Best Pilot in the Resistance

See the Prizes for the 2018 X-Wing™ National Championships

"I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance on board."
–Kylo Ren, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

We'll all soon discover who is truly the Resistance's best pilot… The 2018 X-Wing™ National Championship season begins soon!

The 2018 National Championships are top-level tournaments held around the world. They are designed to celebrate the game’s top players and strategies, and they feature some of the game's coolest prizes, including a chance to win free seats at the next X-Wing World Championships for you and a friend!

Top 64

The Top 64 participants in each 2018 X-Wing National Championship receive an alternate art ship card for the dark side Force user Kylo Ren.

Illustrated by Jake Murray and hidden behind his cloak and mask, this Kylo Ren is an unknowable and intimidating figure—one who can easily fly his TIE silencer to flank his foes and destroy them at point-blank range!

Top 32

The Top 32 players at each 2018 X-Wing National Championship earn a set of mirrored green Focus and Evade tokens—three of each.

Every X-Wing veteran knows the importance of using actions to modify your attack and defense rolls, and these high-quality tokens add extra value to each of your focus and evade actions.

Top 16

We knew Poe Dameron was the Resistance's best pilot because The Force Awakens told us. Even Kylo Ren acknowledged Poe's talent during his interrogation.

But we would have figured out that Poe was the best pilot even if we hadn't been told directly—from the scene in which he led the strike against the First Order at Maz Kanata's castle to the fact that he was the only Resistance pilot with a signature ship: his very own black-and-orange T-70 X-wing.

Soon, however, the black-and-orange pattern from Poe's X-wing can represent not only his skill, but yours, too. The Top 16 players at each 2018 X-Wing National Championship win an acrylic black-and-orange range range ruler to line up their shots from round to round.

Top 8

The Top 8 add to their set of Poe Dameron-themed range rulers with custom range rulers for Range 1 and Range 1-2.

These additional range rulers are perfect for setup and for measuring the distance of your pilot abilities and Range 1 shots—especially when you're as good at close-range combat as Poe Dameron!

Top 4

The Top 4 players from each 2018 X-Wing National Championship continue to measure up, winning a complete set of black-and-orange maneuver templates with which they can race effortlessly through asteroids and debris fields, swoop behind their foes, and boost into position for the final shot!

Finalists

Finalists, your fellow competitors will be rooting for you to represent them in the battles to come… at the X-Wing World Championships!

The Top 2 players at each 2018 X-Wing National Championship will earn a free seat at the next X-Wing World Championship.

National Champion

Win a 2018 X-Wing National Championship, and you'll have truly proven yourself among the galaxy's elite! You'll deserve to take the cockpit of Black One and you'll be able to do so with your 2018 X-Wing National Championship trophy.

Additionally, you won't just get to play at the next X-Wing World Championship; you'll get to race right for the top competition—flying deftly through the first round with a Prize Bye.

Take Your Shot

Can you prove yourself the best pilot in the Resistance—or your nation? You won't know until you give it a shot. Even if you come short of the top, you'll still enjoy a high-energy event shared with plenty of other friendly and enthusiastic X-Wing aces!

Check our 2018 X-Wing National Championships page to see if there's an event you can attend, and be sure to check back as we update the list!

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