Star Wars X-Wing : Rebel transporter p51

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**weeble1000**

Veteran Sergeant wrote:
Manchu wrote:
Really?

http://swc.fs2downloads.com/reference/Another_Site/CapShip/Corellian%20Corvette/ics456_0405.jpg
Wait, we're going to debate canonicity in Star Wars?

It's the only license on the planet more muddled and contradictory than 40K.

Ah men! Seriously, Star Wars is a convoluted mess of contradictory BS. It is like the DC universe had a love child with The Young and the Restless.

I mean, its fun for sure, and I have enjoyed many a Star Wars universe product in my life, but cannon is not the Star Wars strong suit.

**warboss**

Looks like wave 3 is shipping now from the FFG warehouses and should be in stores very soon.

**Zweischneid**

weeble1000 wrote:

Ah men! Seriously, Star Wars is a convoluted mess of contradictory BS. It is like the DC universe had a love child with The Young and the Restless.

I mean, its fun for sure, and I have enjoyed many a Star Wars universe product in my life, but cannon is not the Star Wars strong suit.

Well, technically I believe Star Wars was the first (only?) IP-universe that introduced / invented / conceived of the notion of canon / non-canon.

The only reason we have this tired debate in things like 40K (where never ever anyone from GW attempted to establish something approximating the concept of "canon", endless fan-boy efforts to create it nonetheless notwithstanding) is because the idea of "canon" was at one point introduced in Star Wars.

The fact that the concept doesn't even work in the IP that did (!) try to implement it should tell people something about the utility of the idea in IPs that don't, however.

**Manchu**

I think Star Trek beat Star Wars to the punch on that score.

**weeble1000**

Manchu wrote:
I think Star Trek beat Star Wars to the punch on that score.

I was thinking that, but I looked it up, and I don't think that's right. It makes sense considering that the original series only ran three seasons and nobody really expected there to be much more than that. TNG did not start its run until the late 80s. The animated series ran from 73-74, sparking a bit of a necessity to describe what was and was not "canon," but it seems that it was not until TNG that anyone was really concerned about what was or was not official Trek canon. You have to have spin offs before you need to decide what is "official," I suppose. Star Wars is very, very, very, very good at spin offs, as in generating them as opposed to keeping them in some unified continuity.

**Manchu**

Nothing was going on with SW when TNG came out -- or hand been for a long, long time. Remember, SW fandom was a ghost town until Heir to the Empire arrived. Nobody cared about canon, it was just you treasured every little thing you could get. Canon/non-canon was already in full swing by then for ST fans.

**Azreal13**

New Aces expansion announced.

New paint jobs on the Interceptors with new pilots and upgrades.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4357

**plastictrees**

Awesome! Glad to see they are going in this direction!

**Zweischneid**

Hmmm

The Aces stuff feels ill-considered. After all, they started with guys like Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles. And now they wanna do "aces".

But the red Interceptor is pretty.

**Hulksmash**

I like the concept, not sure I like the direction....

Granted, something like this was needed if they were going to keep hammering away at it. Wonder how much it will cost...

**plastictrees**

"Some guys" doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

**Eldarain**

Zweischneid wrote:
Hmmm

The Aces stuff feels ill-considered. After all, they started with guys like Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles. And now they wanna do "aces".

But the red Interceptor is pretty.

The Saber Squadron has been established for quite some time now in other games/sources. I terrorized my opponents with the Baron and his squadron in the Decipher CCG.

**Alpharius**

“There is a reason that Palpatine’s guard were called ‘the best of the best.’”
–Kir Kanos

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Imperial Aces Expansion Pack for X-Wing™!

Imperial Aces features two TIE interceptor miniatures with alternate paint schemes, several highly skilled new pilots, a dozen upgrade cards, and all the tokens and maneuver dials you need to field these ships. It also includes a new mission that allows the Empire to utilize new, experimental technology in a high-intensity clash with Rebel pilots.

The 181st Imperial Fighter Wing and the Emperor’s Royal Guard

Fly your TIE with pride! The alternate paint schemes on the TIE interceptor miniatures from the Imperial Aces Expansion Pack allow you to wage your X-Wing dogfights while representing either or both of two of the Empire’s most recognizable TIE units: the 181st Imperial Fighter Wing and the Emperor’s Royal Guard.

Also known as the Saber Squadron, the 181st Imperial Fighter Wing was an elite TIE unit and one of the Empire’s premier fighter groups. Led by Soontir Fel, the group’s aces marked the wings of their TIE interceptors with distinctive bloodstripes as soon as they recorded ten combat kills. Because of the group’s elite composition, nearly all of its TIE interceptors proudly displayed these red, horizontal stripes, and they feature prominently on one of the TIE interceptor miniatures from the Imperial Aces Expansion Pack.

A 360-degree view of the Saber Squadron TIE interceptor

The elite members of the Emperor’s Royal Guard were handpicked by the Emperor to serve as his bodyguards, and did so with absolute loyalty. They were carefully scrutinized for strength, skill, intelligence, loyalty, and any latent Force sensitivity. They received intensive training and became extremely lethal in multiple forms of combat. And when the Emperor traveled in his personal shuttle, they would escort him in their specialized crimson TIE interceptors, and their paint scheme is brought to life in Imperial Aces.

A 360-degree view of the Royal Guard TIE interceptor

Both of these TIE interceptors share the same 1/270 scale sculpt as the miniature from the TIE Interceptor Expansion Pack.

New Pilots and Upgrades

The expansion’s variant TIE interceptors are just the beginning of what it offers players.

For example, players are certain to appreciate the eight ship cards in Imperial Aces, which introduce the unique talents of some of the Empire’s greatest warriors. You’ll find four unique pilots, like Kir Kanos and Carnor Jax, whose special abilities open a wide variety of new strategies and greatly expand your squad-building options. You’ll also benefit from the efficient lethality of the Royal Guard Pilot, the highest skilled of all non-unique X-Wing pilots to this point.

Imperial Aces adds further flexibility to your squad design with twelve upgrade cards (two copies each of six different upgrades). You’ll find a mix of elite pilot talents like Opportunist and new modifications like Targeting Computer and Hull Upgrade. Also, because you can’t normally upgrade a TIE interceptor with more than one elite pilot talent and a single Modification upgrade, you’ll likely find plenty of good reasons to use the expansion’s new Title upgrade, Royal Guard TIE, which permits your most skillful TIE pilots to take the helm of fighters with multiple Modifications.

Cutting the Cord

Imperial Aces also features a deeply strategic and engaging new mission, Cutting the Cord, which drops players into the middle of the Rebellion’s desperate bid to keep the Empire from developing a powerful prototype starfighter. If it gets its new flight system and long-range functionality online, this Imperial prototype would forever negate the individual superiority of Rebellion starfighters.

Throughout the mission, one non-unique Imperial ship serves as the prototype, which the Rebels must destroy, but as the Rebel forces focus on destroying the prototype, the Imperial player can activate any of six different prototype technologies provided by six research facilities. Together, these technologies transform the prototype into a truly lethal weapon – one which may finally help the Empire crush the Rebellion!

Man Your Ships

Get ready to field the variant TIE interceptor miniatures and skillful pilots from Imperial Aces in your dogfights and missions when the expansion arrives at retailers in the fourth quarter of 2013. Until then, keep checking back for more X-Wing news and updates!

**Azreal13**

Hulksmash wrote:
I like the concept, not sure I like the direction....

Granted, something like this was needed if they were going to keep hammering away at it. Wonder how much it will cost...

Pre order is up for $24.95, which will probably translate to £19.99.

No gouging here!

**Hulksmash**

Didn't think they were going to gouge. Just glad to see it's a slight discount on the models individually. Granted I doubt you're able to run them as standard Tie Interceptors but it's still nice to see

And to be fair $12.50 for a super tiny model and some cards isn't exactly cheap, not individually anyway. As a game system is pretty low don

**warboss**

Interesting... Although I knew something like this would eventually be coming, I had hoped that reprints would be a bit later. This may be the first x-wing product that I don't end up buying but rather just printing the cards instead.

**FarseerAndyMan**

Looks great!!
Ill be picking up a box or two...

**Bolognesus**

Hmm, now just to trade off my unopened second interceptor blister before my local group catches on to this release

looks nice, though.

**Azreal13**

I've been umming and aahing about adding a couple of Interceptors, so this is just perfect.

Not sure how I'm finding all the money to pay for these shineys, but...*handwave*

**Sidstyler**

Hulksmash wrote:
Granted I doubt you're able to run them as standard Tie Interceptors but it's still nice to see

...why couldn't you? All you need to do is put the cardboard base insert for the Tie interceptor on one of these models and there you go. It's literally just a Tie interceptor with a different paintjob. In fact it kinda sounds like you would want one of the red-striped interceptors to more accurately represent Soontir Fel, whose pilot cards come with the regular interceptor booster if I'm not mistaken.

Hulksmash wrote:
And to be fair $12.50 for a super tiny model and some cards isn't exactly cheap, not individually anyway. As a game system is pretty low don

They're not super tiny. The average X-Wing ship is, at worst, equal in size to a 28mm Space Marine character, and one of those guys will cost you $30 apparently...unassembled and unpainted. I bought a pair of B-Wings and a HWK-290 this weekend and I'd say they're both a great deal larger than the new SM librarian. They're also good enough to put on the table as they are, in fact probably better-looking than a model I would have taken a brush to myself, so even if you could argue that $15 for a pre-painted ship is on the high side it's still worth it because of the time that I've saved alone.

How much should these things cost? What are you comparing them to when you're calling them "tiny"?

**Hulksmash**

Sidstyler wrote:
Hulksmash wrote:
Granted I doubt you're able to run them as standard Tie Interceptors but it's still nice to see

...why couldn't you? All you need to do is put the cardboard base insert for the Tie interceptor on one of these models and there you go. It's literally just a Tie interceptor with a different paintjob. In fact it kinda sounds like you would want one of the red-striped interceptors to more accurately represent Soontir Fel, whose pilot cards come with the regular interceptor booster if I'm not mistaken.

Hulksmash wrote:
And to be fair $12.50 for a super tiny model and some cards isn't exactly cheap, not individually anyway. As a game system is pretty low don

They're not super tiny. The average X-Wing ship is, at worst, equal in size to a 28mm Space Marine character, and one of those guys will cost you $30 apparently...unassembled and unpainted. I bought a pair of B-Wings and a HWK-290 this weekend and I'd say they're both a great deal larger than the new SM librarian. They're also good enough to put on the table as they are, in fact probably better-looking than a model I would have taken a brush to myself, so even if you could argue that $15 for a pre-painted ship is on the high side it's still worth it because of the time that I've saved alone.

How much should these things cost? What are you comparing them to when you're calling them "tiny"?

Wow man, take a breath. I do like how you jump to the most insane pricing on the market to make your point though. $12.50 for single prepainted mini (that looks worse than if I took a brush to it, YMMV) is a bit high. I get that they need to make money. I understand the economics behind the cost and the models individually. I even own quite a few (though bought at a solid discount). But in relation to other models it's a bit high. I have no problem paying around $10 each (which is the discount I look for) but more seems just to much for what I'm getting. Granted at 20% off at a regular retailer you're now looking at around $10 per model without shipping which is in my wheelhouse. You'll note that I pointed out that the individual price was a bit much, not the pricing to play the game.

X-wing is a fun game, even if it isn't my second coming.

And as far as the Interceptors go I'm sure it would be fine at home. I meant at tournaments. Good news is I can talk with the FFG guys in person since the FFG Headquarters and Event Center is 15 minutes from my house. And they might indeed be fine with what you suggest. If they are it's doubly cool. But we'll see.

**Sidstyler**

So what other models are you comparing them to? Personally I feel like my comparison was appropriate because, while it is the most insane pricing on the market, it also happens to be established by an industry leader. Everything gets compared to GW miniatures so it didn't seem out of the ordinary in this case.

**Manchu**

It's always weird to see people complain that X-Wing is too expensive.

**Pacific**

Hulksmash, I think it's the fact that they're pre-assembled and painted minis. My price-gouging sensors are pretty finely attuned generally (as it's something that does go on in the 'collectables' industry unfortunately, of which wargaming is a part) and personally don't think this deal is too bad. I can't be the only one who would have expected $34.99 and some crap about them being 'limited edition' or something similar - only available from the official website for full RRP, if you can view the website without it crashing...

**Sidstyler**

Speaking of tournaments though, I'm not sure how X-Wing tournaments work since I haven't played in one, but I don't see why you couldn't run the models for the "aces" as regular pilots. It's the same model with a different paint job. If you can't then how does the rule work for players who have repainted their models, like MajorTom with his movie-accurate Red Squadron, etc.?

**Hulksmash**

Sidstyler wrote:
So what other models are you comparing them to? Personally I feel like my comparison was appropriate because, while it is the most insane pricing on the market, it also happens to be established by an industry leader. Everything gets compared to GW miniatures so it didn't seem out of the ordinary in this case.

I call BS on that. Stuff gets compared to PP and Mantic just as often. Reaper for individual models is tossed around. Granted, it does seem to be heavily GW on this board but that's because it's a GW board that dislikes GW

I can grab a decent character model from many ranges in a better material with higher detail for less than $10. Or, if I'm going to have to purchase multiples the price becomes even sillier. Quite a few multi-part plastic figures out there run $2-$4 per miniature (including the industry leader). I like miniatures, I like lots of mini's for my money. X-Wing doesn't provide that. It's a smaller scale game using anything from 2-8 figures for tournaments. The game system is relatively cheap (i.e. $120 at the high end for one build). But that's $120 for 8 models. Which isn't as cheap.

In regards to the Tournament scenario it might end up being one thing to have them painted yourself and another to use a pre-painted that represents another model. But I could be wrong, that's why I didn't say it was a definite thing.

I said the mini's were expensive Manchu, not the game. But I guess reading what I wrote properly wouldn't have let you slip in that comment

Anyway, I'm obviously not allowed to speak to the cost of games other than GW so to get back on topic I like the way these look and while I'm not 100% sure it's a good idea to start reprints yet as long as it keeps a local FLGS in action I'm good with it. I say FLGS because if FFG goes under so does the Event Center next store which is excellent.

@Pacific

I see where people see the value. I thought I pointed it out that I didn't see the same value in pre-assembled and painted figs. I can understand others seeing the value though. Just thought I'd share my opinion

**Manchu**

Hulksmash wrote:
$12.50 for single prepainted mini (that looks worse than if I took a brush to it, YMMV) is a bit high.

Manchu wrote:
It's always weird to see people complain that X-Wing is too expensive.

Hulksmash wrote:
I said the mini's were expensive Manchu, not the game. But I guess reading what I wrote properly wouldn't have let you slip in that comment

But you're not just buying miniatures ... as you must eventually admit. What's important game-wise about this pack is not so much the repaints as the new cards. When you said these minis cost $12.50/model, you failed to take that into account or to bother distinguishing it. My comment therefore stands.

**Anpu-adom**

Yes, this makes my interceptors purchase pretty clear. Just one of the base interceptor and the Ace's box. Myself, I don't have any problems running them as normal Interceptors.

**Manchu**

I reckon I will end up with two of these aces packs.

**Zond**

Two boxes of Imperial Aces for me. Love those Interceptors. Looks like I'll be waiting until the Wave 3 reprints however, I'm strapped for cash.