History TabletopGame / XWingMiniatures

A second edition was announced in May of 2018, to be released around GenCon that year.

** There are also a few characters assigned as pilots to fighters they were never associated with in canon. This was somewhat inevitable given, for example, the lack of named E-wing pilots in ''Legends''. Corran Horn has always been primarily an X-wing pilot (and even personally owns his X-wing), while Etahn A'baht is not known to have been a pilot at all (his sole known connection to the E-wing was commanding a fleet that used them as their main fighter); oddly enough, Luke, who ''did'' own an E-Wing for a while (he gave it back) is not one. The upcoming ARC-170 expansion also contains entirely pilots who are not yet known to have ever flown one. Surprisingly enough, Airen Cracken is not one of these; while he's better known in both Legends and the new canon as the head of the Rebel spy network and it's his son Pash (not yet in the game) who's known as a fighter ace, he really did (at least in Legends) fly a Z-95 Headhunter in the early days of the Rebellion.

*** Of course, FFG purposefully designs expansions this way: each ship only comes with about 2/3 to 3/4 of the upgrades needed to perfect it, with the last necessary upgrade(s) packaged with at least 1 other ship, so you'll end up buying tons of extra ships.

* PowerCreep: Averted - Wave 1 ships and upgrades are just as relevant to the game as Wave 6 ships and upgrades, and if an older ship falls behind in the metagame, Fantasy Flight Games will most likely release new upgrades and pilots for that ship to make it relevant again.

A miniatures game by Creator/FantasyFlightGames based on ''Franchise/StarWars'' and inspired by the star fighter battles within. The game is focused on the Galactic Civil War of the original trilogy and features most of the fighters from the films and many of the fighters from [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse various other sources]], including comics and video games. It is the sister game to ''TabletopGame/StarWarsArmada''.

** Arc dodging requires you to be good at

* MightyGlacier: The ARC-1300, YT-1300, Lambda shuttle, [=TIE=] Bomber, Y-Wing and B-Wing all have fairly poor movement without upgrades, but a lot of HP and/or shields. For example, both Y-Wings and B-Wings have a total of 8 hull and shield points, but very few green manoeuvres (making it hard to recover stress) and lots of red ones (making it easy to gain it).

* ActionGirl: Quite a few. Rebels have [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Hera Syndulla (the 'Ghost'' and ''Phantom'') & Sabine Wren]] (the ''Phantom'' and TIE Fighter), [[Film/TheForceAwakens Rey (YT-1300), Jessika Pava (T-70 X-Wing)]], [[ComicBook/XWingSeries Ibtisam]] and Nera Dantels (B-Wing), [[VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga Jan Ors (HWK-290)]], [[Literature/BlackFleetCrisis Miranda Doni (K-Wing)]], [[Literature/StarWarsAftermath Norra Wexley]] and [[ComicBook/StarWarsShatteredEmpire Shara Bey]] (ARC-170), and [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars Ahsoka Tano]] and Sabine Wren again (Sabine's TIE Fighter). The Empire has ([[VideoGame/StarWarsGalaxies Kath Scarlett (Firespray-31)]], [[VideoGame/StarWarsGalaxies "Howlrunner" (TIE Fighter)]], "Echo" (TIE Phantom), [[VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed Juno Eclipse (TIE Advanced)]], [[VideoGame/StarWarsGalaxies Countess Ryad (TIE Defender)]], and "Quickdraw" ([[Film/TheForceAwakens TIE/SF]]). And the Scum have Serissu ([=M3-A=] Interceptor), [[Literature/DarkDisciple Latts Razzi (YV-666)]], Kath Scarlett again, [[Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire Guri (StarViper)]], [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Ketsu Onyo, Sabine Wren again]] and [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars Asajj Ventress]] (all on the ''Shadow Caster'') and [[Literature/TalesOfTheBountyHunters Manaroo (Punishing One)]]. Not always obvious due to the 'pilot cards' showing only the ship, but can be seen on the 'crew' cards and Armada cards. A number of the crew cards also count, including Leia herself and Mara Jade.

** Taken even further with the TIE/fo, TIE/sf, Upsilon Shuttle, Quadjumper, and T-70 X-Wing. [[AnachronismStew You can mix and match ships from both the Original Trilogy and the new films]], and indeed some benefit greatly from this (Poe Dameron's Focus-based talents combo very well with a fully upgraded Kyle Katarn's ability to generate tons of Focus and hand them out like party favours).

** The TIE Striker pilot "Duchess", unlike every other TIE Striker with Adaptive Ailerons, gets to choose whether or not to apply their free range 1 straight or bank move, meaning that if she's not stressed she can be in four different positions before she even starts properly moving.

*** ''Scum'': Strange effects and Illicit upgrade slots (that give them access to other factions' unique tools like SLAM or Cloaking).
* FixedForwardFacingWeapon: The default, although a few ships have auxiliary firing arcs out the rear (the Firespray-31, ARC-170, VCX-100 and TIE/sf) or the flanks (YV-666), a few others have either integrated turrets (K-Wing, YT-1300, YT-2400, Jumpmaster 5000, and VT-49 Decimator) or a turret slot (VCX-100, HWK-290, Attack Shuttle, Y-Wing, and the K-Wing again), or can rotate their guns to face in any direction with an action (Lancer-class pursuit craft). Taken UpToEleven with the Kimogila fighter, which has a secondary "bullseye" firing arc inside its normal firing arc, that allows it to do more (depending on the pilot's abilities) if it lines up perfect shots.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: The Rebellion only has a handful of retrofitted ARC-170 fighters. How does Fantasy Flight represent this? By not including any generic pilots, meaning that even an entirely ARC fleet can't contain more than four of them.

** The TIE Interceptor has three attack dice and three evade dice, but only three hull and '' zero'' shields, making it as fragile as a bog-standard TIE. Interceptor builds focus on staying out of enemy firing arcs completely, because a single attack can easily cripple or destroy the ship.

* {{Nerf}}: Fantasy Flight is not shy about releasing errata to weaken overpowered builds. The March 2017 errata, for example, depowered Palpatine (you now declare you're using him ''before'' rolling, meaning you can't rely on him for a success just when you need it), Manaroo (her ability to give free stuff to allies now has a harsh range limitation, preventing her from churning out buffs from the other side of the board), the Zuckuss crew card (he now can't be used if you're already stressed, meaning you can't use him on every attack), and the x7 title (it's now an ''action'', not a free token, which means you need to keep an eye on stress and can't pull it when going through asteroids). They also clarified away the Kylo Ren/Darth Vader crew combo (Kylo Ren's ability specifies "during an attack", Vader takes effect after one.)

A miniatures game by FantasyFlightGames based on ''Franchise/StarWars'' and inspired by the star fighter battles within. The game is focused on the Galactic Civil War of the original trilogy and features most of the fighters from the films and many of the fighters from [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse various other sources]], including comics and video games. It is the sister game to ''TabletopGame/StarWarsArmada''.

* FixedForwardFacingWeapon: The default, although a few ships have auxiliary firing arcs out the rear (the Firespray-31, ARC-170, VCX-100 and TIE/sf) or the flanks (YV-666), a few others have either integrated turrets (K-Wing, YT-1300, YT-2400, Jumpmaster 5000, and VT-49 Decimator) or a turret slot (VCX-100, HWK-290, Attack Shuttle, Y-Wing, and the K-Wing again), or can rotate their guns to face in any direction with an action (Lancer-class pursuit craft).

** The Concord Dawn Protectorate Starfighter has primary weapon 3, agility 3, but no shields, 4 hull, and according to Fantasy Flight, about half of its possible upgrades focus on being nose-to-nose with the enemy.

* SpamAttack: Ships with the Gunner crew member or Luke Skywalker on board can make a second attack if the first attack misses. IG-88B can also perform a similar attack with an equipped cannon weapon, and [[PowerCopying can share that ability with every other version of him in your squad]]. And the TIE/D title allows a TIE Defender to shoot twice (with both its cannon upgrade and its regular attack) every turn, limited only by being restricted 3 point or less cannons so the most devastating ones aren't available.

** On a smaller scale, the [=StarViper=] is a Scum-only ship that costs a bit more than others of its scale, but the Autothrusters modification that comes in it is considered virtually mandatory for any ship with the Boost action, such as the T-70 X-Wing and especially the TIE Interceptor. The situation will be somewhat improved with the release of the TIE Silencer, an Interceptor-like ship which comes with two copies of Autothrusters.

* AcePilot: Numerous. Every ship has at least two named pilots, each boasting a [[ActionInitiative higher Pilot Skill value]] than the generics and a unique pilot ability. The highest base Pilot Skill value is 9, which is held by ten pilots: Darth Vader (TIE Advanced x1) and [[ComicBook/XWingSeries Soontir Fel (TIE Interceptor)]] for the Empire, Han Solo (YT-1300) and Wedge Antilles (X-wing) for the Rebellion, Dengar ([=JumpMaster=] 5000), [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Fenn Rau (Concord Dawn Protectorate Starfighter)]] and [[VideoGame/StarWarsGalaxies Talonbane Cobra (Kihraxz Fighter)]] for Scum and Villainy, the "Heroes of the Resistance" version of Poe Dameron (T-70 X-wing) for the Resistance, Kylo Renault (TIE Silencer) and "Quickdraw" ([=TIE/sf=]) for the First Order. Thus, every faction has three or four options for Pilot Skill 9 - although with Heroes of the Resistance, the Rebels get two different abilities for Han.

** On a smaller scale, the [=StarViper=] is a Scum-only ship that costs a bit more than others of its scale, but the Autothrusters modification that comes in it is considered virtually mandatory for any ship with the Boost action, such as the T-70 X-Wing and especially the TIE Interceptor.

* AcePilot: Numerous. Every ship has at least two named pilots, each boasting a [[ActionInitiative higher Pilot Skill value]] than the generics and a unique pilot ability. The highest base Pilot Skill value is 9, which is held by nine pilots: Darth Vader (TIE Advanced x1) and [[ComicBook/XWingSeries Soontir Fel (TIE Interceptor)]] for the Empire, Han Solo (YT-1300) and Wedge Antilles (X-wing) for the Rebellion, Dengar ([=JumpMaster=] 5000), [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Fenn Rau (Concord Dawn Protectorate Starfighter)]] and [[VideoGame/StarWarsGalaxies Talonbane Cobra (Kihraxz Fighter)]] for Scum and Villainy, the "Heroes of the Resistance" version of Poe Dameron (T-70 X-wing) for the Resistance, and "Quickdraw" ([=TIE/sf=]) for the First Order. Thus, every faction has three options for Pilot Skill 9 - although with Heroes of the Resistance, the Rebels get two different abilities for Han.

*** Corran Horn had a 50/50 chance of flying an E-Wing in the ComicBook:CrimsonEmpire series, when Rogue Squadron was using B-wings and E-wings together for a short while. Assuming that the time period didn't overlap with [[Literature:JediAcademyTrilogy I, Jedi]].

* CloseRangeCombatant: Anyone at range 1 gets attack bonuses, but there are pilots and upgrades that encourage closing beyond this, whether it's bonuses (Mauler Mithel, for example, or virtually anyone in a Protectorate Starfighter), obnoxious penalties for the other side (Carnor Jax, Mara Jade), or just a plain short-ranged, high-damage secondary weapon (Proton Rockets, which get up to ''five dice'' when mounted on a sufficiently agile ship).

* JackOfAllStats: The[=TIE=] Advanced and [[Film/TheForceAwakens T-70 X-wing]]. The classic T-65 X-wing from the original trilogy tries to be this, but because it lacks any sort of reposition ability and is too expensive to be used as a blocking ship, it's mostly limited to the role of jousting. [[MasterOfNone Prior to Wave 8, the generic pilots weren't even good at that.]]

** Because a ships base is part of it's movement, all large ships become Lightning Bruisers with the engine upgrade. This is particularly important for the Lambda shuttle, as otherwise the ship boasts a very poor turning ability.

** When the TIE Phantom proved to be too much of a GameBreaker, the decloaking mechanic was changed to happen at the beginning of the turn instead of just before the Phantom moved. This particular fix has proven to be wildly popular, in part because it actually makes the ship seem more like it's actually cloaked as opposed to it's previous LastPlaceYouLook approach.

** Most ships can equip a Stealth Device that doesn't grant full cloak but does temporarily enhance agility...until they're hit. It's particularly popular on TIE Interceptors.

*** Compare this to other miniatures games, like Warhammer40K, where $100 will get you only ''part'' of a ''SMALL'' army.

** Fantasy Flight Games prefers to update its weaker (or just overpriced for their strength) ships with more powerful options than to nerf existing gameplay options whenever possible. Examples include the Chardaan Refit upgrade for the A-Wing (which lets it ditch the missile upgrade slot to save 2 points to spend on other stuff) and the [=TIE/x1=] title upgrade for the TIE Advanced, which lets it equip any systems upgrade with a discount of up to 4 points. The TIE Defender can be taken in both directions, either upgraded with the TIE/D title card (allows an extra primary weapon attack after a secondary cannon is used) or downgraded with the TIE/x7 title (loses the cannon and missile upgrade option, but saves 2 points and adds an evade token after speed 3 through 5 movements).

* {{Nerf}}: Fantasy Flight is not shy about releasing errata to weaken overpowered builds. The March 2017 errata, for example, depowered Palpatine (you now declare you're using him ''before'' rolling, meaning you can't rely on him for a success just when you need it), Manaroo (her ability to give free stuff to allies now has a harsh range limitation, preventing her from churning out buffs from the other side of the board), the Zuckuss crew card (he now can't be used if you're already stressed, meaning you can't use him to defend against every roll), and the x7 title (it's now an ''action'', not a free token, which means you need to keep an eye on stress and can't pull it when going through asteroids). They also clarified away the Kylo Ren/Darth Vader crew combo (Kylo Ren's ability specifies "during an attack", Vader takes effect after one.)

** The twin laser turret upgrade specializes in this. It makes two highly accurate attacks at each opportunity, but each attack can only deal one damage..

* TheEngineer: Several droids (and most notably, R2-D2) have the ability to repair damage or restore shields to their ships in the middle of combat.

* SupportPartyMember: the Lambda-class Shuttle, U-Wing, Upsilon Shuttle, and HWK-290. The Quadjumper can also do this for the Scum, although in their case it's more of a debuffer for teh enemy that tractor beams the living hell out of anything that comes near it.

* FragileSpeedster: A-Wings, TIE Interceptors, and from early previews, the Concord Dawn Protectorate Starfighter, are capable of blistering speeds, but only have 3-4 total hull and shield.

* MightyGlacier: The YT-1300, the Lambda shuttle, the [=TIE=] Bomber, the Y-Wing and the B-Wing all have fairly poor movement without upgrades, but a lot of HP and/or shields. For example, both Y-Wings and B-Wings have a total of 8 hull and shield points, but very few green manoeuvres (making it hard to recover stress) and lots of red ones (making it easy to gain it).

* OldSchoolDogfighting: Every ship (except the Lambda-class Shuttle and Scum ships with Inertial Dampeners) must move forward during each turn, creating a SpaceIsAir simulation - just like in the movies!
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Quite a few of the unique TIE pilots are only given nicknames (indicated by their "name" being in quotation marks). While some never had their real names identified anywhere in canon ''or'' Legends (the only other "name" being an operating number like DS-61-3 or OS-72-7[[note]]"Backstabber" and "Winged Gundark", respectively.[[/note]]), some such as Civé Rashon ("Howlrunner") and Dodson Makraven ("Night Beast")[[note]]Incidentally, Rashon/Howlrunner's wingman in Legends.[[/note]] simply never have their real names mentioned in the game.

** Chopper as a pilot of the Ghost gets to dispense stress tokens to any ships that he's touching.
** Inverted when your large ship has Anti-Pursuit Lasers, meaning your strategy is based around encouraging others to crash into you.

** The TIE/SF pilot "Quickdraw" is able to get off a potential ''four'' 2-die shots a turn in exactly the right circumstances: if she's got front and rear line of fire, she gets one shot in each direction from the Special Forces Title upgrade, then gets another one when she loses a point of shields (or just flies through an asteroid or exploits some equipment combo to ensure losing a point of shields). Of course, she can only do this a maximum of three times, but it's still a staggering number of shots for someone who costs less than a baseline TIE Defender.

* SupportPartyMember: the Lambda-class Shuttle and the HWK-290.

* ZergRush: The TIE Fighter and Z-95 Headhunter are cheap enough to field in swarms of 8, letting their pilots use a DeathOfAThousandCuts approach or simply spread their firing arcs in as many directions as possible.