Kessel Run – Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game Wave 2 Review

Kessel Run – X-Wing Miniatures Game Wave 2 Review

“You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon?…It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.” Han Solo

Prior to the release of the second wave of X-Wing Miniatures Game releases, Fantasy Flight Games released a pre-release tournament pack for bricks and mortar stores to allow players to see the new models, test them out and possibly win them.

The kit that was sent out to retailers contained the following:

• One Millennium Falcon™ Expansion Pack
• One Slave I™ Expansion Pack
• Two A-Wing™ Expansion Packs
• Two TIE Interceptor™ Expansion Packs
• A promotional poster featuring art from the expansions
• An instructional letter detailing how to run a Kessel Run tournament

Full tournament reports can be read online from the many stores that held the competitions as well as a host of articles, forum posts and features on squad builds and the opportunities and options that wave 2 opens up.

This article won’t look at squad builds or the Kessel Run event itself, it is merely a look at each of the four ships released in Wave 2, what the boxes contain, the options that are now open and their value for money.

Millennium Falcon

What’s in the box?

In the Millennium Falcon (YT-1300) expansion pack, you get the following:

• 1 Millennium Falcon Model (plus base, dial and boost action reference card)
• 16 assorted tokens
• 6 mission tokens
• 18 Cards (4 ship and 14 upgrade)

Ship Cards:

• Han Solo
• Lando Calrissian
• Chewbacca
• Outer Rim Smuggler

Upgrade Cards

• Concussion Missiles
• Assault Missiles
• Elusiveness
• Draw Their Fire
• Veteran Instincts
• Luke Skywalker
• Nien Nunb
• Chewbacca
• Weapons Engineer
• Shield Upgrade (x2)
• Engine Upgrade (x2)
• Millennium Falcon

 

Slave I

What’s in the box?

In the Slave I (Firespray-31) expansion pack, you get the following:

• 1 Slave I Model (plus base, dial and Bomb and Ion token reference cards)
• 22 assorted tokens
• 17 Cards (4 ship and 13 upgrade)

Ship Cards:

• Boba Fett
• Kath Scarlet
• Krassis Trelix
• Bounty Hunter

Upgrade Cards:

• Homing Missiles
• Assault Missiles
• Ion Cannon
• Heavy Laser Cannon
• Veteran Instincts
• Expose
• Seismic Charges
• Proximity Mine
• Gunner
• Mercenary Copilot
• Stealth Device (x2)
• Slave 1

 

A-Wing

What’s in the box?

In the A-Wing expansion pack, you get the following:

• 1 A-Wing Model (plus base, dial and boost action reference card)
• 18 assorted tokens
• 9 Cards (4 ship and 5 upgrade)

Ship cards:

• Tycho Celchu
• Arvel Crynyd
• Green Squadron Pilot
• Prototype Pilot

Upgrade Cards:

• Concussion Missiles
• Homing Missiles
• Cluster Missiles
• Push The Limit
• Deadeye

TIE Interceptor

What’s in the box?

In the TIE Interceptor expansion pack, you get the following:

• 1 TIE Interceptor Model (plus base, dial and boost action reference card)
• 19 assorted tokens
• 8 Cards (6 ship and 2 upgrade)

Ship Cards:

• Soontir Fel
• Turr Phennir
• “Fel’s Wrath”
• Saber Squadron Pilot
• Avenger Squadron Pilot
• Alpha Squadron Pilot

Upgrade Cards:

• Daredevil
• Elusiveness

Star Wars X-Wing Minatures Game Wave 2 Review

For those coming at the sets from the core set, you can see that the expansion packs are not simply additional ships, they add extra options to all available units.  The pilot cards that come with each expansion are for those ships only, but the upgrade cards can be used across your squad (some cards are Rebel Only or ship specific and a ship can only have one card listed as a modification or title).  For those who have already upgraded with the Wave 1 ships after the core set, the A-Wing and TIE Interceptor are very much like the X and Y Wing and Tie Fighter and Advanced sets.  The big changes to both those with Wave 1 access and those straight from the core sets come with the two large ships, the Millennium Falcon and Slave I.

The first thing I will address for both the Millennium Falcon and the Slave I is the price, as it will be a huge factor for a lot of people.  Both of the large ships in Wave 2 will retail around £24.99 and the A-Wing and TIE Interceptor will retail in the same price range as Wave 1 at £9.99.  Some will look at the price of the large ships as a simply £5 cheaper than the core set and ask why isn’t it better priced, after all, the core set is everything you need to play, rather than just a ship, and they would be right in their question.  A single model coming in at a price nearer the core set rather than the other models in the range should be a cause for concern were it simply another model, but both large ships (as well as actually being large ships, they are both nearly the same size as all three ships included in the base set combined) are true expansion packs rather than just another ship.  Both contain upgrade cards, additional rules and a mission each as well as the tokens to go with it.

Fantasy Flight Games have posted previews of both the Slave I and Millennium Falcon, which are both worth a look if you are intending to purchase these expansion packs.  Both articles look at some of the options for the Millennium Falcon and Slave I as well as explaining the new Boost action and Boba Fett’s unique ability.

Aside from the price, which will be an issue to some, locking the cards in to certain sets also creates its own problems.  The Slave I expansion gives players access to 2 Stealth Device cards, if you want more, you’ll have to buy another £25 Slave I set.  Fantasy Flight Games have in the past produced Print on Demand expansions for their games, but were they to do this, it could reduce sales of the higher priced expansion packs that players might only pick up for the upgrade options.  In home games, with house rules, the multiple use of a single card might be an option, but for serious players, especially those in the tournament scene, multiple set purchases will be the norm for them.  Of course, limiting the amount of access people have to upgrade cards also limits their use on the table, which could reduce the number of generic squads you will see as players use different ship fits rather than every game you play being against the same fitted three ships.

Judging by the initial sales of the X-Wing Miniatures game, the Wave 2 sets will sell very well, so if you are interested at all in picking these sets up, I advise you to get them early.  The Wave 2 products are due for release towards the end of this month, and hopefully a restock of the Core Set and Wave 1 products will happen soon too.

I think I would have been happier seeing a Wave 2 expansion pack done in the same style as the Core Set, with the two large ships and all the new rules and counters for one price with the A-Wing and TIE Interceptor packaged, as they have as the Wave 1 expansion packs, but splitting the two large ships into separate packs does give cost flexibility to those who only play Rebel or Imperial.

Although the sets are great and add a huge amount to an already very decent miniatures game, the cost will be an issue to everyone and that is the only thing that drops the review score for the Wave 2 expansion packs.  The Core Set is still a fantastic buy, but to add a model from each of Wave 1 and Wave 2, you’re looking at spending around £110 plus the core set at RRP, which would give you a huge amount of models and flexibility for organising games, but will be out of the price range for some.  If you’ve got that money to spend, or it has to come out of a different budget, I can’t think of a better way to spend it.  For non-franchise fans as well as life-long fans, the Star Wars miniatures game is a serious contender for the tabletop hobby, and the Wave 2 Expansion Packs are only the beginning.

4 out of 5 Nerds

Read FTN’s review of the Star Wars X-Wing Minaitures Game Core Set.

Did you play in the Kessel Run events?  How did you get on?  What are your thoughts on the Wave 2 pricing and models?  Let us know on Facebook or in the comments here.