"Set Condition 1 throughout the ship! Launch the alert fighters!"

Recently the four of us finished watching all ten seasons of Friends, and it sparked a conversation about acclaimed television programs that either had a pitch-perfect ending (like Friends) or a complete dumpster fire (like Seinfeld). Of course, one man's trash is another man's treasure -- defending the final episode of Game of Thrones is absolutely a hill I'll die on! -- but in this conversation, Amy and I both agreed that our favorite final episode is from the modern Battlestar Galactica. The boys weren't familiar with BSG, so I provided a little context and then, before I knew it, I was ordering the complete series on Blu-ray. 

It's been a pleasure to revisit this top-notch program, and as soon as I saw the boys starting to design Vipers and Raiders in their 3D-modeling software, I figured it was time to check out the BSG gaming scene. I recalled a semi-cooperative game in which players try to figure out who among them are secretly Cylons (Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game), but I lamented that there was never any sort of miniatures-based game along the lines of Star Wars X-Wing. That would've been super cool! So I ran a quick search to see if I could track down a copy of the aforementioned board game, when I suddenly realized that, yes, Virginia, there is a Battlestar Galactica miniatures game! And it looks frakkin' awesome! Battlestar Galactica: Starship Battles seems to have come and gone without my notice and is no longer being manufactured. Fortunately, there are still plenty of copies of the core set and the various ship expansions floating around. Can't wait to check it out!

Aeronautica Imperialis

So, yeah, Games Workshop just found another way to get my money. Check this out -- it's like X-Wing, but set in the 40k universe!

Great Weekend

Surprisingly, we didn't have anything major on the calendar this past weekend, so it was a perfect opportunity to spend time gaming with the boys. We made great progress on our new futuristic Shattered Realm campaign, started up a gigantic X-Wing battle (the boys are captaining a couple of very large Imperial ships, opposed by swarms of Rebel fighters under my command), and played a couple of Strat-O-Matic baseball games with Nathaniel. I really cherish these quiet times together!

Wargamin'

Sometimes Nathaniel disappears for a while and I'll find him upstairs in our game room, deeply engrossed in wargame strategy. He'll set up a game mat with X-Wing, Tanks, or, most often, Warhammer 40,000, and then play both sides of the battle. He'll test out different tactics, or how certain units play against other units, and he files all that information away in the seemingly limitless databanks of his seven-year-old brain. I need to hurry up and build my Drukhari army for 40k, because there's nothing I can do with the Death Guard that he hasn't already anticipated...

First Gaming Action!

One of the best features of our new house is a big upstairs playroom that's perfect for anything from D&D to wargaming to action figures. Although I was fired up to resume our Shattered Realm campaign, the boys wanted to do some skirmish games, so first we set up an X-Wing scenario that took us all morning to play through. Here's a look at one of the initial engagements...

Note the red TIE Interceptor that came barreling in so fast that he overshot the Rebel fighters! He didn't fare much better in the later stages of the game, when an Imperial traffic jam allowed my Rebels to carry the day...

Next up, we shifted gears for some Tanks action. The battle has yet to be concluded, but this Panther appears to be in trouble...

Escape From Jakku

Like much of the country, we're experiencing ridiculously bad weather here in western Nevada, so the whole family has been cooped up at home. However, it's been a great opportunity for the boys and I to crack open Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game and give it a whirl. Today we ran through about two-thirds of the introductory mini-campaign, and we'll probably finish it up tomorrow. The adventure takes place on Jakku, and thus far we've helped some friendly nomads repel an attack by local gangsters, discovered vital secrets buried in the bowels of a downed Rebel Alliance corvette, and made a harrowing escape from the desert world during a second enemy assault.

What's the verdict? Well, of the three of us, Nathaniel is the only one singing its praises. Of course, he's an easy sell -- he loves learning new game systems and he loves anything related to Star Wars. Matthew and I have a more lukewarm impression. I'm not sure either of us would be keen on picking up another of the Star Wars RPG books any time soon, especially with Tales From the Yawning Portal coming out in a couple of months to get us roaring back into D&D.

There's nothing inherently wrong with the Star Wars RPG system, it's just that it plays kind of slowly. For example, when it's time for an attack or a skill check, you roll a fistful of dice and sort them according to the symbols that come up. (There are no numerals on any of these dice.) At the most basic level, you need to have more Success symbols than Failure symbols (just like the attack rolls in X-Wing). In addition to Success and Failure symbols, you also have Advantage, Threat, Triumph, and Despair. Regardless of whether or not a check succeeds, an abundance of Advantage symbols allows you to "buy" useful side-effects from a list options, whereas Despair symbols allow the Gamemaster to screw you in some way even if your check succeeded. So, for every check, there's a non-trivial follow-up period where everyone is interpreting what just happened. It's fine if you're rolling to fix a broken hyperdrive engine or hack (sorry, "slice") into a computer system, but for combat encounters, the action moves so slowly that players (especially a couple of six- and nine-year-olds I know) tend to wander from the table when it isn't their turn.

If you don't mind the pace, though, the system gives you a fine Star Wars fix. We all cheered heartily when Nathaniel's character clambered into a rusty old turbolaser turret and blasted a landspeeder to smithereens with a single shot. The Force was with us on that one!

Star Wars RPG

It's a new year, so I thought it would be a good idea to kick things off with a post about a new game. Well, it's not exactly new, but it's new to me!

I recently picked up Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game, the latest entry in the Star Wars RPG game line. This series is produced by Fantasy Flight Games, the makers of Star Wars: X-Wing, arguably my all-time favorite miniatures game. It's obvious just by looking at the dice that the RPG and X-Wing share some DNA in their core mechanics, but I won't have a good feel for how the game plays until I succeed in getting a few players on board. Amy has zero (or even less than zero!) interest in anything related to Star Wars, and the boys are focused on increasingly complex feats of Lego engineering, so it may be a while before I can give this one a proper assessment. Stay tuned!

Tanks

Tanks is a hot new World War II miniatures skirmish game from Gale Force Nine. People usually describe it as Star Wars: X-Wing but with tanks instead of spaceships. Indeed, the mechanics are similar enough that if you know how to play X-Wing, you basically know how to play Tanks.

Here's a look at all the goodies that come in the box...

As you can see, the models come unpainted and unassembled, which is great for artistically-inclined Warhammer 40k fans, but not so great for folks (like yours truly) who prefer their games to be playable right out of the box. In any case, a core set gives you enough bits to build two American tanks (Shermans) and one German tank (Panther). Other tanks (including those from the UK and the USSR) are available in reasonably-priced expansion sets.

And now a closer look at one of the two identical sprues containing the Sherman pieces...

Finally, here's an image of one of the sprues that contains the pieces you can use to build either a standard Panther or a Jagdpanther...

Amy and the boys come back tomorrow after a week-long trip to Los Angeles, and I can't wait to introduce them to Tanks...as well as Oregon Trail! How about that? Two games to help teach the boys about history!

Snowy Sunday

It's a lazy, snowy Sunday here in western Nevada, so while we're waiting for the Pro Bowl (yes, some people still do watch the Pro Bowl!), we're playing King of New York and Star Wars: X-Wing. Just wish I had more takers for Zombicide and Ghostbusters.

Wedgie

Whew! Wedge got behind the Imperial Raider and gave it a wedgie, so to speak. With Wedge shooting it from behind, and my other ships tight up against its starboard side, the Raider was unable to fire its powerful forward guns or any of its aft-mounted weapons that can only be used at long range. We ran the risk of crashing into the Raider, but it was preferable to getting caught out in the open and obliterated by a turbolaser. Flying along with the slow-moving Raider, then, my three remaining ships -- two X-wings and one Headhunter -- strafed the aft section until it was crippled, and then the Raider was toast. I had some very lucky dice rolls on my side, though, so I won't gloat over the victory!

Ouch!

I'm playing X-Wing against Matthew and his new Imperial Raider, and my poor Rebels are really taking a beating. We shot down the TIE Advanced fighter escort, but the Raider's ability to unleash multiple long-range weapons is proving...troublesome. I went into battle with a full squadron of X-wings -- top-notch pilots and astromech droids for each -- and a few Z-95 Headhunters for cannon fodder, and already I've lost a third of my forces. My only hope is to get a ship or two behind the Raider, where it can't return fire. Come on Wedge, let's see some fancy flying!

Imperial Reinforcements

It was a Star Wars Christmas at our house, with the boys scoring a Lego Star Destroyer and TIE Fighter along with a TIE, TIE Advanced, and Imperial Raider for Star Wars: X-Wing. The Rebel Alliance is in serious trouble now!

Ignore the fact that the Lego TIE and the Star Destroyer are really, really not to scale...

Holiday Game Action

It's going to be a fun holiday vacation. We aren't going anywhere this year (staying home for Christmas for the first time in eight years!), but we'll have plenty to do. We'll have The Cloud Dungeon and Ghostbusters for new tabletop options, an old Lego Heroica game that Matthew desperately wanted for Christmas, some new Imperial ships for X-Wing, Shadowrun: Dragonfall (thanks, Matt!) on the computer, and, if I can muster the fortitude, the last round of battles in the iPad Injustice: Gods Among Us. Can't wait to get started!

I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable holiday season!

Star Wars Prep

I'm taking the boys to see The Force Awakens tomorrow, so today we're doing a bit of X-Wing action to get in the mood. Well, as if we actually needed to get in the mood!

This battle is taking place in a "graveyard" of destroyed ships. We'll see how it goes, but so far there's been a lot of stalking and not much heavy-duty combat. I think the odds currently are tilting in favor of Nathaniel's Imperial Decimator and TIE Interceptors. Matthew brought in the seldom-used Hawk to support his Millennium Falcon and A-Wing, and so far it's been a non-factor. Of course, anything can happen in a galaxy far, far away...

T-70

So...I hear there's some big fancy-dancy movie coming out this weekend. But now does this mean I'm going to have to replace my fleet of X-wings with the new T-70 model?

Raider Envy

My parents just ordered the Star Wars: X-Wing Imperial Raider set for Matthew for Christmas. Totally awesome? Yes, of course. But I'm wondering how Nathaniel is going to react. Granted, he didn't have any X-Wing sets on his own Amazon wishlist, but I foresee a five-star freak-out when he realizes that he'll only be able to use the Raider when his big brother allows it...and how often is that going to happen?

Star Wars Saturday

First an epic game of X-Wing (won handily by Nathaniel's Imperials), followed by some Lego Star Wars ship-to-ship combat, followed by setup for tomorrow's X-Wing battle, capped off by an episode of the amazing Star Wars Rebels. It was a Star Wars Saturday to be sure, and poor Amy was left out of everything!

Battle of Attrition

The boys have had a big X-Wing game going this afternoon, and ships are falling left and right. Nathaniel's Imperial fleet has lost all its TIEs, and Matthew has lost his beloved Luke/R2 combo. The Imperial Decimator and Boba Fett's Slave I are now hammering a lone B-Wing, but the remains of Matthew's Red Squadron X-Wings are just a turn away. This one is still anyone's game, but my money is on the Imperials...

Game Time!

Kevin is in town for the weekend, and already we've inundated him with games. He squared off against Nathaniel in X-Wing and then we all played a game of King of New York, in which Kevin's giant robot was the last monster standing. Next up, we'll bring out Forbidden Desert, Ticket to Ride, and probably some form of Catan.

Force Friday

It's Force Friday, so I stopped by my local Target this morning to take a peek. There was indeed more Star Wars stuff than you could shake a lightsaber at. However, I'm soon to invest a lot of money in new fencing gear -- taking up an activity I abandoned many years ago -- so I resisted the urge to grab the new Lego Millennium Falcon and X-Wing sets. (Christmas is coming, boys!) I was pleasantly surprised to find the new Force Awakens-themed core set for the X-Wing miniatures game, with new pilot cards and upgrade cards, and new paint schemes to correspond to the ships' appearance in the upcoming film. I already have two of the original core sets, though, so the likes of Poe Dameron and BB-8 will have to remain a mystery to me until some Rebel (now Resistance?) player fields those cards against me someday...