There’s a number of different schools of thought when it comes to
playing games at conventions, on the one hand, it’s an excellent way to test
your skills against people you’ve never encountered before, and on the other
hand, it’s an excellent way to get your ass handed to you by people you’ve
never encountered before...
Maybe that’s why it’s not for everyone...
I have no problem with getting beaten by someone else, but it’s not why
I play games, I do understand the Rabid Kill/Win (RKW) mentality of high level
tournament players, it’s not something I’ve ever got into and I don’t think
that I ever will.
It’s a game, I just don’t take it that seriously...
X wing for me fits that criteria quite nicely, because when you sit
down for a game, you can tell in minutes if the person in question is an RKW or
a casual player who just likes playing the game and by extension, you can
usually tell if you’re pitching at the right level with your own game. Then there’s the subject matter, dogfights in
space between iconic spacecraft, it doesn’t get much better than that, and
finally the system itself...
Now I’m not saying that X wing is the most accurate representation of
space combat out there at the moment, but it’s the one that accurately captures
the feel of how I like to see space combat being played out, fast and sharp
with no forgiveness for bad decisions. There’s a lot of comparisons to be made to
games like Wings of War/Wings of Glory, and there are reasonable grounds for
comparison, both systems use move and battle orders and both deal with what is
essentially the same subject, but for me, X wing has the edge because it’s
simpler to play.
I don’t always agree with Fantasy flight on a number of things that
they get up to, but I do believe that they nailed it when it came to this
one. The simplicity of the orders and
template systems, and the ease with which a basic game can be played (I know, I
know, no one plays the basic game anymore), but for getting new players in, you
want something that’s easily picked up and easily played, and while there are
other games out there that do the job better in my estimation, a big part of
getting people into games is in giving them things that they can relate to that
will draw them in want to play the game in the first place.
Admittedly I’m of the generation that went to see the original Star
Wars films at the cinema (or East Dene Working Mens club depending on what we
were doing at the time), but who wouldn’t want to be zipping around the board
in an X wing or if you’re one of those that roots for the empire, a couple of
Tie fighters?
It’s not often I get to play at conventions anymore, but I usually
bring along a few of my favourite games so I can get up to something if there’s
a spare five minutes in the day. So any
X wing players out there who aren’t in the RKW category, if you see me at a convention with a
spare five minutes, bring some asteroids...
I’m up for it...
