Coming soon to a galaxy near you – the first 3++ X-Wing Tournament.

Fantasy Flight’s X-Wing continues to grow in popularity, and if you haven’t yet it is probably time you gave it a try. What I have seen locally is that players are drawn to the game are three things: it’s Starwars, it has great models, and everyone who plays it seems to be having a good time.

I don’t know if I’ll personally ever take a game with a mere two to eight models as seriously as a grand-scale tabletop wargame, but when it comes to pure, simple unadulterated fun X-Wing really has got it right.

To kick X-Wing’s coverage up a notch for the tournament-gamers who frequent 3++ we will soon be running our very own first Tournament, using the latest Vassal software to allow people from diverse locations to play. Entry is free, commitment is low at just 1 Game per week over 4 weeks, and do not worry about winning or losing – this is just an invitation to have some fun!



The new Vassal X-Wing

X-Wing on Vassal has come a long way – a really long way. Thanks to the tireless efforts of some really talented designers and progammers (credits below, but especially Muon) who put tens of man-hours into this in order to make it workable for international tournaments and gamers from around the world, X-Wing on vassal is extremely playable. It’s about 20 times easier and smoother to play than 40K ever was on Vassal, which is to say it’s almost user-friendly.

It’s not as good as playing with the actual models on an actual tabletop with actual people, but as a way to try your luck against a greatly expanded “meta” of players it is a terrific tool.

Since my original article Diving in to X-Wing it has been improved, tweaked and streamlined in every way.

Old and functional:

New and gorgeous:

The Tournament Format

The initial 3++ Xwing tournament will consciously be kept to a minimal size as a test case for future events. I hope to get 12-16 players to sign up for 4 games (1st round random, from then on seeded) for a tournament that will require them to play just 1 game per week.

To be eligible you must:

Own a physical copy of the X-Wing rules and some official Fantasy Flight models

For legal reasons, but also because you’d be mad not to own at least the X-Wing starter box

Have the latest version of Vassal

See links below

Have played X-Wing on Vassal at least once before the event begins

Some people don’t like playing on vassal; I’d rather they found this out before signing up.

Be in the GMT+7 to GMT+10 Time Zones

(eg Perth and China are +8, Sydney is +10, Indonesia is +7) This is to facilitate ease of arranging matchup times. Apologies to international players this will exclude, but Australia and Asia haven’t really been catered for as yet. And these time zones do include a fifth of the world’s population.

The time-zones are key to making the games easy to organise; you need to be in that time zone band, or make a very convincing case for your availability during them.

Guide to playing Xwing on Vassal

Guide to playing Xwing on Vassal

Note that this guide is a little out of date, but everything that has changed has been made simpler so it is still a great place to learn the ropes.

Where to get the latest files

Module:Star Wars: X-Wing

Star_Wars_X-Wing_Miniatures_Game-5.0.1.vmod

If you’d like fancy background maps to play on (note: you do) also get:

Gabriel’s_Map_Pack_-5.0.0.vmdx

Crazy_Toms_Playmats_-5.0.0.vmdx

Yagyu’s_Map_Pack_-5.0.0.vmdx

Credits: Mu0n, Gabriel Velasquez, silentubiquity, Theorist and others

As mentioned, the number of places in this initial event will be limited. Sign ups will open on Wednesday the 2nd April, but feel free to register interest in advance.

If you’d like to arrange a test game to try it all out, you can also post below, or get the software and go looking for opponents online. Be warned, many of them will be regional finalists and tournament winners and the games will be harder than you may be used to at a local club, but that’s what makes it such a great opportunity to improve your own piloting skills.