Now for the advanced rules!

We have moved to the advanced rules for the X-Wing miniature game, and man does it become an completely different game.

Pilot skill is huge! The ability to move by ascending order and then shoot in descending order of pilot skill is huge. It really makes the higher skilled pilots shine. It also balances the elite few vs. the faceless horde games fairly well. Luke, Vader, Han, and  the Fett are all great. I have a personal hatred for Wedge and look to wipe him out every chance I get when playing against him. He is a bastard!

Then you add in the use of focus, evasion, boosts and barrel rolls and the game gets even nuttier. The ability to re-roll missed shots, add in an extra evasion to keep from getting hit, boosting/ barrel rolling to get into/out of position is great. There is nothing better than the opponent lining up a shot and you rolling out of their firing arc before they get a chance to fire.

Damage with criticals is also a big change. Having your ships take critical damage that can reduce movement, pilot skill, negate upgrades, etc. is great. Well, great when it isn't happening to your ships. It is sometimes better to get the critical than take damage too. You can still fly and function with some critical damage. However, once your hull points are gone, then so is your ship.

There are a ton of upgrades and we have started using more of them. R2D2 is a bastard! Having the ability to throw shields back up on an ship is annoying or awesome depending on who is using him. Actually, most of the astromech upgrades are good for adding survivability to the rebels. The torpedoes are meh, but we haven't used them a ton. Anything that makes the pilot better is also a great upgrade. Then there is the ion cannon. The giant screw you or Cryx-ish upgrade. This gun doesn't do damage (unless using the Slave I version), but it keeps a ship from moving anywhere, but the minimum distance forward. It is great for neutering good pilots and fast ships. It was recently instrumental in my ruining the Millennium Falcon and Chewbacca's day. I now see why the Y-Wing is useful for such a slow crummy ship.

The downside is that the missions are pretty lame, and I have more fun just flying around and blasting the opponent. We did add asteroids to the last game and that did have some effect. Well, only effected me as I flew into them a few too many times.