If you have fond memories of playing battleships on the dinner table back in second grade, a huge star wars fan, or just simply into strategy, I think I have a good game for you: X -wing Miniatures Second edition.

Take control of a fleet of your favorite starfighters and wipe out your friends in a game of strategic prowess. The most iconic ships and characters from star wars are all here, going from the smaller ships like X-Wings and TIE Fighters to Iconic aces with cool abilities like Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. You can play as one of the 7 factions in the game, each with its strengths and weaknesses, and the game is surprisingly balanced with no clear side coming out on top, which means that it comes down to a game of skill. Either attempt to save the Galaxy and be part of the light side with the Resistance, Rebels, or Republic or Embrace the Darkside playing as the Empire, Separatists, or First Order. If none of those suit your liking you can play as Scum and Villainy, who are neutral bounty hunters offering their services to the highest bidder. I like playing as the Republic, playing as clone troopers and Jedi knights such as Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, although my friend likes to play empire and out-swam his opponents to win. Either way, I promise there is a faction (or 2) for you.

Gameplay-wise, it is surprisingly easy to pick up, with the game boiling down to a few steps:

1. Plan your moves for the turn on your maneuver dial and place it face down when you are done.
2. Reveal your dial and move your ships 1 at a time.
3. Engage the enemy and the last player with ships left wins.

Of course, it’s a lot more complicated than that but that is the general gist of it. The game is mostly about prediction, trying to predict where your opponent will move instead of yourself. The strategy is very intense in the game and turns can last a while, which is one of the downsides. A big part of the game is creating your fleet beforehand, optimizing every ship and pilot with the proper upgrades to make sure that none of your points are being wasted and that your fleet is operating at its fullest potential. If you want, you can create larger fleets and split them up into multiple squads for more than 2 players, or you can have an all out free-for-all with each person taking aside. However, I find these take a long time so I would recommend sticking to the first option.

Price-wise, the game is both very affordable and expensive. The base set can be found for 25-40 dollars (depending on where you look) and comes with an X-wing and two TIE fighters to start you off. After that, it’s about getting expansions for your favorite ships. I won’t sugar coat it, this gets expensive with a small ship costing around 15 dollars, medium ones costing around 20-25, and the largest ships going for even more than that. It is certainly possible to play with just the base set, but in my opinion, buying your own fleet and customizing it to make it your own is where the real fun is and I love my Republic ships more than anything (I even custom painted some of my own with various degrees of success). If you want to play a faction that is not rebels or empire, I would recommend getting a squadron pack. These squad packs give you 3 ships, enough to start, for a certain faction and that’s what started my love of playing as the Republic when I bought the Guardians of the Republic pack coming with 2 clone V-19s and a Jedi Delta-7. These packs also vary in price (depending on the pack and where you look) to around 30-40 dollars,the closer to 30 the more value you will get.

Overall the game is a lot of fun and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good time with friends or wants to play something strategic.

Final review

Gameplay:  5 / 5

Strategy:      5 / 5

Skill floor:    3 / 5

Price:          3 / 5 

Recommend:  Strongly