“Then man your ships. And may the force be with you.” -General Dodonna
So you want to play some X-Wing? Well, that’s great! It’s an incredible game that puts you in the cockpit of your favorite starfighters!
I’m writing this in collaboration with Jim Bob of Infinite Areas. Jim Bob has an X-Wing Hub website with many useful resources. This buying guide was written by request for the Hub. The Hub is great for new and veteran players, so check it out!
What is X-Wing?
X-Wing is a fast-paced tactical space combat game. Normally 1 on 1 play. Each player gets a squadron of Star Wars starfighters. You can build out your ‘list’ with whatever pilots you’d like and then fill out their upgrades. You can choose violence and try to blow up the opponent’s ships, try to steal some objective points, or do a little of both.
This guide is here to help you make informed decisions about what to buy. I’ll go over some basics that every player needs. Then I’ll go faction by faction and give some summaries about the ships and play styles.
Before we get into it, I’d like to mention a few things.
Editions
There are two and a half editions in X-Wing. 1.0, or First Edition, came out in 2012 by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG). Then, in 2018, FFG came out with a Second Edition, 2.0. They revamped the design, points system, and fixed a few mechanics that desperately needed it. Quite a bit of the components needed to be updated, but overall it was an improvement. In 2022, Atomic Mass Games (AMG) took over as the game’s proprietor. AMG did a soft reboot for the game. A “2.5” edition, as they call it. All physical components from 2.0 work with 2.5, but there were many rule changes. Mainly, adding scenarios with objectives and how list building is done. For more information on the editions, Dylan Jones of Exile Squadron has a great article on his blog.
This guide is going to be focused on buying into 2.5. But that’s not to say that the other editions aren’t worth playing. You can find some big 1.0 lots on eBay and other places that are great deals. You can play that edition or use conversion kits to bring the collection up to date (more on those later). I know many people prefer to buy models new, but this was the route I took. Most of my collection was bought used and for the budget I had it was perfect.
Format
There are two main formats in 2.5. Standard and Extended. The biggest difference is that Standard enforces the ban list. The ban list has pilots and upgrades that are not allowed in Standard. It also has all ships that were not reprinted from 1.0. Again check out Dylan’s article for the differences on that.
20 Point List
Something else I’ll mention a bit is building your squadron, or lists as we call them. In a standard game of X-Wing, each player gets 20 points worth of pilots to add to their list. Less powerful ships and pilots tend to be cheaper. If you want an ace in your list, you’ll have to pay more for it.
!Big note with list building!
Standard and Extended list build rules are one faction per list. This means no cross-faction shenanigans. You can’t take Anakin, Kylo, and Boba in the same list. If you’re at home, do whatever makes you and your friends happy. If you’re going to a store or tournament, they will probably be following the normal list-building rules. Please have this in mind while buying ships. It’s a big feels-bad moment to buy a ship and then not be able to put it in your list.
How to Play Links
There’s more to it than just what I’ve shared. I tried to keep it to what’s necessary for this guide. If you’d like to know more about how to play please check out these links.
AMG’s offical how to play Rulebook
ReconPaint’s Learn to Play AMG’s X Wing The Miniatures Game
First Thing to Buy: Game Components
There are a few things every player needs to play. Maneuver templates, dice, obstacles, objective tokens, and a damage deck. Everything else needed comes in the ship expansions.
There are four ways to acquire them.
1. Core Set: Comes with everything you need (execpt objective tokens) for 2.5 minis the objective tokens. Also comes with a rebel X-Wing and two imperial Tie Fighters.
2. Starter Set: Comes with everything you need to play. There is a Rebel set and an Imperial set, each comes with four ships and is a good deal if you’re planning on getting into these factions.
3. Buy the components individually. Maneuver templates, dice, obstacles, and damage decks all have official individual sets that can be purchased. This way isn’t the most cost-efficient, but works well if you’re planning on buying a faction that’s not rebels or empire. Also if you’re getting maneuver templates this way, better to head over to Etsy and get some nice acrylic or wooden ones. Objective tokens cannot be purchased individually offically. But there’s plenty of options on Etsy.
4. The last way is getting them as part of a lot from eBay or a Facebook buy/sell/trade group. This is usually the most cost-efficient. Getting everything for a faction in one purchase is great, though you are getting them used.
Factions
There are 7 factions in X-Wing. Each with its fleet of ships, pilots, and upgrades. Each with a unique playstyle or two.
But before I get into the nitty-gritty, there’s something very important to tell you. Fly what you think is cool first. This is one of, if not the most important rule in X-Wing. If you’re a big fan of the Rebel heroes, get yourself the Millennium Falcon and an X-Wing. If you like the way Tie Fighters look, get some of those. If you think clones are the greatest part of Star Wars (like me! ), get yourself a Republic fleet.
You’ll have more fun flying ships you like than chasing what’s good and meta. As you play, you’ll learn what works better and what combos there are. Take it easy at first and make sure you’ll enjoy what you get.
Below are links to a post for each faction.
Scum and Villainy Buying Guide
Galactic Republic Buying Guide
ObiWing.XWing 