The big announcement this week was Fantasy Flight revising its cash cow, X-wing Miniatures game to a shiny 2.0.

X-wing has been so many things to me over the years but the game system was getting long in the tooth and I welcome the overhaul.

News about the new edition is coming out fast and furious and here are the bits of info that excite me the most:

  • All the old ships will be relevant in 2.0. Existing players can be faction-specific conversion kits ($50 for multiple copies of all that faction’s existing ships).
  • Full faction separation and identities.  This includes making sure that collecting one faction will gain you all the cards available for that faction. No more grabbing a random Imperial ship because it has a single card that is awesome for your favorite Rebel ship.
  • Official online squad builder app. This might be hit or miss depending on how well it is developed.  They are removing costs and some of the stats from the physical cards so they can control that balance on the fly via the app. The app is going to be free but you will need it to build customized squad lists.  Casual play can use ready made forces that come in the box and bypass any app usage.
  • General design tweaks and revisions including revising how turrets work, making the game more about maneuvering skill.

There is a ton of additional info out there about the new system and everything I’ve read just has me nodding my head in approval.  The full release of 2.0 will be in mid-September but FFG plans to pre-release at Gen Con in August.  I’ll have to decide if I want to join in on the crush of attendees bee-lining to the FFG booth line or just be patient and wait for September to roll around.  Knowing FFG, they will underestimate the demand or be shackled by slow production woes and that September launch will likely delay out later but I’m patient.

Speaking of Gen Con, the event registration kicks off this Sunday at noon eastern.  I have several events going on and was lucky enough to chosen as a “Premiere” Group so I’m excited to see if I can live up to the standard.

I have four events worth checking out if you’re up at Gen Con this year:

  • BGM18126355 PitchCar: Death Race 2018 – Friday @ 5pm
  • BGM18126359 Catacombs – Friday @ 8pm
  • BGM18126360 2018 Loopin’ Chewie Casual Tournament – Sunday @ 11am
  • NMN18130648 X-Wing Miniatures: Uglies Free-For-All – Sunday @ 2pm