Star Wars X-Wing: Tie-Interceptor expansion pack

[Anatoli]

Another small review of the ship boosters, this time the Tie Interceptor. Just like the X-wing this one comes with two sheets of cardboard tokens, pilot cards, ship upgrade/weapons/astromech cards a dial and a card with the new rule for the "Boost" action (the rules can be seen on the card in the photo).

It is just marginally more expensive in points than the Tie-Fighter so you can play 5 of these in a single 100 points list if you like - it's definitely very deadly especially up close with enought attack dice to match an X-wing. Adding to that it comes with the "boost" action, identical to what you find in the Rebel A-wing, this means it can always go a little further or make that last crucial turn on top of the already highly maneuverable land fast basic movement.

http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.se/2013/06/star-wars-x-wing-tie-interceptor.html

[Col.Stone]

Thanks for reviewing it =)

[Elbows]

Curious (don't have the game yet) what would stop you from simply playing all TIE Interceptors in a game?  Nothing?  Are there limits on certain types of planes in your 100 points (other than a friendly gentleman's agreement)?

[Anatoli]

Curious (don't have the game yet) what would stop you from simply playing all TIE Interceptors in a game?  Nothing?  Are there limits on certain types of planes in your 100 points (other than a friendly gentleman's agreement)?

You can play with whatever you want as long as you keep it within the agree upon points value. It has become the norm for the Imperial players to just go with 6 cheap Tie-Fighters (Academy pilots) or 5 Tie Interceptors. This is called a "Tie Swarm" and is very difficult for smaller Rebel lists to handle, since the low pilot skill drawback is compensated by having a lot of ships and more shots per turn compared to the enemy. From what I have learned the game is starting to degenerate into both sides playing with the cheapest possible pilots in organized games to get as many ships as possible in their lists.

Imo this approach is really repulsive and breaks a fun game. I would rather see characters, weapons and equipment cards being used in mixed lists than just a cheap horde. In friendly games, between two likeminded players this should not be a problem though.

[Elbows]

Yeah, I can see myself far more interested in some story-esque missions etc.  I am sure for the "competitive" players they'll do the min-max stuff as everyone does in a tournament-ready game.  Shame, but not unforeseen.

[Col.Stone]

"Tie Swarm"

Quantity has a quality all its own 

[Thargor]

Thoughts are that with some of the ships and pilots/ upgrades in wave , there will be less likelihood of swarms being as effective.  There are also a few "big ship killers" so having the right build synergy will be crucial to winning competitive games.  For me I'm happy to take Han in the Millenium Falcon with Luke and Chewy as extra crew, and a couple of X or A wings as support.

[superflytnt]

The only problem with this game is that 6 cheap Academy Tie Fighters will almost always beat anything the Rebels can put up. I've played this game extensively and you pretty much rely on pure luck if you're playing Rebs against the Tie Swarm.

Here's a review of the system itself:
http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2013/03/x-wing-lock-foils-in-crack-addiction.html

It's a truly wonderful, remarkable game system, but after maybe 50 games, I'd have to say that it's weighted a little too much on the side of "Min/Max" where the person with the most attacks per turn has a decided advantage against "smarter", more varied squad builds.

[Anatoli]

The only problem with this game is that 6 cheap Academy Tie Fighters will almost always beat anything the Rebels can put up. I've played this game extensively and you pretty much rely on pure luck if you're playing Rebs against the Tie Swarm.

Here's a review of the system itself:
http://superflycircus.blogspot.com/2013/03/x-wing-lock-foils-in-crack-addiction.html

It's a truly wonderful, remarkable game system, but after maybe 50 games, I'd have to say that it's weighted a little too much on the side of "Min/Max" where the person with the most attacks per turn has a decided advantage against "smarter", more varied squad builds.

I agree with that after only a couple of games under my belt, I instantly sensed it when I played a few demo games ran by friends. I'm currently buying a few more ships for both sides so that I can play varied lists with my friends - using named characters, equipment etc and do fun games rather than let it degenerate into Tie Swarms and such.

[robertsjf]

Question for folks concerned with tie swarms: how much terrain do you have on the boards? This is a mini game.

[eptingmike]

I don't think the tie swarm is too rough with a little luck and decent flying.  Good placement of asteroids can help a lot.  I had an experience recently flying against a swarm and the asteroids did a wee bit of damage right out of the gate.  Flying 6 or 8 ships without bonking into another ship or an asteroid can be quite difficult.  I also try and concentrate fire and take out ships as early as possible as I feel the psychological aspect of loosing a ship early is pretty powerful.  I know that I get a little bummed if I have a ship go down quick.  It is often hard to just suck it up and keep playing at full potential.