Review of X-Wing Miniatures Game (Expansion Packs + More Ships)

Hi all, this is a continuation of the X-Wing Miniatures Game review. There is a fair amount written about this game and expansion sets all over the internet (including Amazon, MiniatureMarket, BoardGameGeek, Wikia, etc). I’m trying to discuss some things that may not easily found on those reviews. This includes more detailed photos, comparison to other miniatures, a discussion about scale, and finally my own take on a review.

Review of X-Wing Miniatures Game – More ships!
Released by Fantasy Flight Games
Designed by Jay Little
Review by Edward Nam (aka “the Hubby”)

If you become an X-Wing Miniatures Game fan, be prepared to drop about $12 per small ship and as much as $60-$90 for the Tantive IV, the largest ship made by the folks at Fantasy Flight Games. Personally, I only purchase the ships shown in the movies (and perhaps the animated shows), I just have to draw the line someplace.

No two ships are the same. Each fighter or bomber has special/unique maneuver dials, pilots, weapons, droids, and other special abilities. The photos below show a series of Imperial ships: TIE Advanced (Darth Vader’s fighter), TIE Bomber, and TIE Interceptors (still in box). Shown with TIE Fighters for scale. Note, If you want to see a close up of an image, just click on it, and a larger image should pop right up.

Here is a closeup on the TIE Bomber.

The next series of photos show the rebel ships including a Y-Wing flanked by an A-Wing (right) and a B-Wing (left). B-Wings kick butt, and are one of my favorites! All of these ships are beautifully molded and painted. The battle paint gives it a more realistic look.

The photos below show a Millennium Falcon, Slave 1 (Boba Fett’s ship), and an Imperial Shuttle. Shown with an X-Wing and a TIE Fighter for scale. The Imperial Shuttle wings fold up and down, though in battle, I recommend leaving them up so they don’t take up so much space on the table and get in the way of other ships. The one criticism I have for the Imperial Shuttle is that the wings don’t fold down to their cruising position, it only goes as far down as horizontal. At least I don’t think they go down further, I didn’t want to force it and risk breaking it.

Closeup on the Falcon reveals an impressive paint job.

Some very nice details on the “bottom” of Slave 1.

The following two photos show the very large Rebel Transport and the Tantive IV (Senator Organa and Princess Leia’s ship). Check out the detail on the bottom of the Transport, you can see each cargo container colored differently. This kind of attention to detail on a part of the ship that will never be seen in a game (or even in the movies) puts Fantasy Flight Games in high esteem in my book. They are nicer than the Wings of War or Wings of Glory planes, though the latter has some amount of die cast metal, whereas the X-Wing miniatures are all plastic. As a bonus, the Transport comes with an escort X-Wing. These large ships sit higher off the table, so small fighters can pass underneath them. Please note that FFG has announced that the huge ships are not built to 1/270th scale. To do so would have made them prohibitively large (I guess they’ll never build a Star Destroyer! 🙂

Impressive Rebel Transport.

One of the first things we see in the Star Wars IV: A New Hope.

A Note about Scale:

As a kid, it was very important to me that my toys be scaled properly. I found it astounding that the other kids didn’t seem to care about this at all! I was happy when toys were released at a consistent scale, and upset when they weren’t. My wife tells me that I was pretty … “unusual” (that’s one of the more polite adjectives she uses to describe me!).***** I am a Physicist after all, so I guess mathematical accuracy was important to me, even in my play! As mentioned earlier, the scale of X-Wing Miniatures Game is 1/270th with the exception of the Transport and the Tantive IV. FFG doesn’t publish the scale on those ships, however from looking at the movies and animated series where the Tantive IV is shown again, they are probably not that far off. I guess if it’s close enough to fool me, it’s good enough for me! For comparison, I dug up every X-Wing I could find in my base (neglecting the large Lego model which would take up too much of the image). From largest to smallest (roughly): Micro Machine Action Fleet (1995), Hallmark Christmas Ornament (1998), Hotwheels (2014), Lego 75032, Lego Advent Calendar 7958, FFG X-Wing Miniatures Game, Micro Machine (two are pictured), Hallmark Mini X-wing Ornaments (1996, not the full size ornaments). When I hold the smallest Hallmark ornament up to the Tantive IV or Transport, it just seems too small, so my guess is that the actual scale is closer to the FFG X-Wing size than the Hallmark ornament, which is half the size.

One may be tempted to want to get the cheaper Micro Machine toys released by Galoob. As can be seen from the photo below, the ships are nearly the same size! I had once wondered if these were made from the same mold, but I now see that this cannot be. The Micro Machine X-wing is just a millimeter or two shorter, the Y-wing and the Advanced Tie (Darth Vader’s Tie) are a few millimeters shorter. The Falcon (not shown) and larger ships are WAY off on size, so this toy line is not to scale. You can substitute most of the fighters, but it would be very challenging to play without the maneuver discs, pilot cards, and base (which give the firing arc). If the X-Wing miniatures are lost or broken, these may be used as substitutes. The peg holes on the bottom of the Micro Machines are round so will fit into both the X-Wing and Wings of Glory pegs (though loosely). The Micro Machines are wonderful for giving to the children who want to play with the X-Wing miniatures. The Micro Machines are much more durable, though of a cheaper material. Hey, I remember when I was a kid, I pretended that jacks were X-Wings! Comparisons are shown below.

A note on maneuver and scale: The scale of the ships may be pretty accurate with respect to each other, but they are nowhere near accurate in terms of their maneuvers. With the maneuver tiles on the order 1”-7” and fighters on the order of 2”, that would make the 90 degree turns (for example) incredibly tight, or VERY slow speed. So, as in the Wings of Glory game, the scale of the ships (and planes) is not equivalent to the scale of the maneuver. To use the correct scaling for maneuver would make those tiles many feet in length! Or one could make the ships miniscule in size. Since this is not practical for a table top game, I suppose even I must be willing to make some concessions! It is after all an abstraction of a space battle in 2 dimensions. Hey that reminds me, didn’t Spock criticize Khan for 2 dimensional thinking in his maneuvers in the movie “Wrath of Khan”?

Review:

I’ve only played with the huge ships a couple of times. I found them to be beautiful to look at, but extremely clumsy in this game mechanic. They are (or should be) slow lumbering beasts, compared to the fighters. And given their size, and the scale of movement, they are awkward to have in a battle. However, given the right mission, they could make for a fun game. I’m already thinking of ways to modify the movement rules such that movement is more static for the much larger ships and more fluid for the smaller ones.

The small fighters are great to add to your combat. A squadron battle is fun, the tabletop quickly becomes a mess of jumbled ships shooting at each other. The larger ships like the Falcon, Slave 1, and the Imperial Shuttle are also nice to include in combat, but I prefer the game with just the small fighters. These larger ships are costly to purchase (point-wise), and while they can take a lot of hits, they can only shoot once, so I don’t find that they are worth it. I’d rather have a bunch of fighters in combat than 1 Millennium Falcon. For example, the Falcon piloted by Han Solo is worth 46 squadron points. For that cost you can X-wing piloted by Luke plus a rookie wingman. It’s also equivalent to 4 rookie Tie Fighters. If Falcon could fire from both turret guns, then it would be pretty deadly (but also more costly)!

FFG has released the small fighters in individual packs and as “Aces” expansion packs (typically in pairs). These Aces packs have new pilots, abilities, weapons, etc. Personally, I don’t particularly need the ace expansion packs if I have the normal expansion ships. I’ve only purchased the TIE Interceptors Ace pack. FFG also makes a number of ships from the broader Star Wars universe (books, games etc.) that I don’t collect. These include the Z-95 Headhunter, E-Wing, TIE Defender, TIE Phantom, and many more. I am looking forward to the Rebels (animated series) ships that are currently on pre-order. They have the Inquisitor’s TIE and Ghost.