Tabletop gamers are always looking for their next game.  A game to show up on the scene and take the miniature gaming world by storm with new miniatures, exciting rules, and options for expansion.  The good folks at Fantasy Flight Games seem to have struck a chord and thus The Force is strong with Star Wars: X-Wing and the even more recent, Imperial Assault.

X-Wing History

Released in 2012 in a small starter set, Star Wars: X-Wing has now exploded into a large scale game that has become quite popular in many parts of the country. With expansions that include new ships and pilots, and tournaments that are held all over the country, it made quite the splash when it entered the scene. It garnered such recognition that in 2012, it was nominated for, and won, the Charles S. Roberts Best Science-Fiction or Fantasy Board Wargame Award. One year later, Star Wars: X-Wing would go onto win the Golden Geek Award for Best 2-Player Board Game, and the UK Games Expo Award for Best Miniatures Range. Suffice to say, this game has won over the general public with it’s quick and exciting gameplay, as well as its line of highly detailed, pre-painted miniatures representing both the Rebel Alliance and the Empire. In this fashion it appeals to gamers and collectors of all ages, and with 27 different expansion packs, each with a new ship or pilot, the game keeps on changing and growing.

X-Wing Gameplay

The game can be played with 2, 3, or 4 players, each controlling their own squadron of ships, cruisers and/or fighters. The ships in any given player’s fleet can be upgraded using special cards and a points system, by adding the upgrade cost to the ship cost. These upgrades alter the stats of a ship to make it faster, more maneuverable or give it special abilities or weapons. The games lasts a series of rounds until one player has eliminated all others or a certain mission objective has been completed. Each round contains 4 main phases that the players go though: Planning Phase, Activation Phase, Combat Phase and End Phase. The phases proceed smoothly and intuitively, much like the game as a whole. From our own experience with the game, it is fun and very competitive, as well as true to it’s source material. The Rebel player always feels the pressure of the Empire and is, more often than not, out numbered due to the points gap between ships. It’s that special edge that makes you feel like you are in the Star Wars universe, helping the Rebels fight for Galactic freedom, or furthering the goals of the Empire.

X-Wing Starter Box

The starter box in stores now contains all you need to start a game between two people. Inside the $35 box set are 2 TIE Fighters, 1 X-Wing, a bevy of ship upgrade cards, damage markers, movement rulers, dice, terrain markers, range indicators and, most importantly, a rule book. Everything in the box, besides the ships and dice, is made out of a robust cardboard that doesn’t seem like it will warp or tear easily. The miniatures themselves are made of a durable plastic and are finely detailed. Everything is well made and ready for a game, though my X-Wing did have an S-Foil slightly bent out of shape, but it’s not noticeable unless you really stare at it. The starter box is quite the bargain for what’s inside and serves as the perfect point to begin your own collection of Rebel or Imperial forces. This reviewer highly recommends this game both from a collector’s point-of-view and a tabletop gamer’s point-of-view.

Imperial Assault: The New Addition

We have not yet experienced the latest addition to Fantasy Flight Games’ line of George Lucas influenced tabletop combat but the reviews by others are positive and the interest from the community is certainly not lacking.  We look forward to getting our gaming mitts on this game soon to test the waters.

For now, we suggest you go out, collect and start playing Star Wars tabletop games! May the Force be with you!

The Pre-orders are available for the NEW 7th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 and to celebrate we are prepared help you SAVE! Beginning today and continuing until Monday May 19th The Battle Standard will be awarding ALL PRE-ORDERS an increasing discount based on the total pre-orders sold! Here’s how it works…

1. Visit or call TBS from now until 5/19 to… Pre-Order 7th Edition WH40K ($50 Deposit).
2. Tell everyone you know to do the same!
3. We will adjust the purchase price of your Pre-Order (at final payment) by the discount reached in the stretch goals below!

Stretch Goal #1: 10 Pre-Orders – All Pre-Ordered rulebooks will be sold at a membership stackable 5% off

Stretch Goal #2: 20 Pre-Orders – FREEBIE DRAWING! One lucky, randomly selected, Pre-Order participant will receive the new 7th Edition Rulebook for FREE

Stretch Goal #3: 30 Pre-Orders – All Pre-Ordered rulebooks will be sold at a membership stackable 10% off

Stretch Goal #4: 40 Pre-Orders – All Pre-Ordered rulebooks will be sold at a membership stackable 10% off AND include a membership stackable 10% off any one additional item.

Stretch Goal #5: 50 Pre-Orders – All Pre-Ordered rulebooks will be sold at a membership stackable 15% off AND include a membership stackable 15% off any one additional item.

Stretch Goal #6: 75 Pre-Orders – All Pre-Ordered rulebooks will be sold at a membership stackable 15% off AND include a membership stackable 15% off on ALL ITEMS sold in this transaction!

Stretch Goal #7: 100 Pre-Orders – All Pre-Ordered rulebooks will be sold at a membership stackable 20% off AND include a membership stackable 20% off on ALL ITEMS sold in this transaction! 3 randomly selected Pre-order Participants will receive the 7th Edition WH40K Rulebook for FREE!!!

DON’T WAIT, PARTICIPATE TODAY!

The Flames of War tournament on Saturday, April 20^th was great fun for all involved. Three rounds of intense action found an even match up of Axis and Allied forces clashing across the great tables at The Battle Standard! There were dramatic assaults, tough defenses, and the shock and awe of a German Gliderborne led assault dropping onto the table in round 1!

Congratulations go out to our top two winners!

• Phil Messier led his Italian Mitraligieri from victory to victory, and 1st place
• Sean Maloney secured a great 2nd place finish with his German Luflandsturmkompanie (Glider assault company), including a dramatic Airborne assault on turn one against a dogged British defense!

In the end there was great fun had by all and plans are in the works for our next tournament. So if you missed this one, don’t panic. We’ll be back on the high ground at The Battle Standard soon enough!

– Chris Kadish, TBS Flames of War Tournament Organizer

On Saturday June 16th, The Battle Standard hosted another “Dystopian Wars” event with the following “Commodores” in attendance:

All fleets could be a maximum of 500 points, consisting only of elements from the “Naval Starter Box”.

Terrain for all Missions was determined randomly. (Rolling once for each 2’x 2’ section of the table. 1-3 = Terrain, 4-6 = Open Water. A minimum of 1 piece of terrain must exist on each half of the table.)Each Mission Round was pretty much a straight up fight with equal deployment zones on opposite sides of the table (4’ x 6’).In addition, Tiny Flyers were allowed the ability to retreat from the player’s “starting edge” in order to refuel and re-arm, then return in the following game turn.  Alternately, any Model attempting to leave the board from any edge was considered “destroyed”.

As outlined on Page 44 of the Version 1.1 Rulebook, Victory Points were assigned as followed: ·   DOUBLE Points value for enemy models that have been claimed as PRIZE ·   FULL Points value for enemy models that have been DESTROYED or left DERELICT ·   HALF Points value for enemy models that have HALF or less of their initial Hull Points remaining
The described levels of success were then used to award “Mission Points” for each round of play.

All games lasted until either Player had no models remaining on the board, either through withdrawal or enemy action.  Alternately, the games also ended at the conclusion of the players’ current turn when “TIME” was called.  (TIME was set to 90 minutes.)

Some special “CARGO” rules were implemented in an effort to add some atmosphere to the event. ·   Models could transport a number of CARGO units equal to its initial Hull Point (HP) value. ·   Models could pick up an unclaimed CARGO unit within 4” range on a roll of 4, 5, or 6. ·   CARGO on a “Destroyed” Model had a 50% chance of sinking. Otherwise, it would float to the surface once again “unclaimed” ·   CARGO on “Prize” Models became the property of the controlling player. ·   CARGO on “Derelict” Models became “unclaimed” ·   Each CARGO was worth 10 Victory Points

MISSION 1: RECOVERY AT SEA Preparations:   A total of ten (10) CARGO units were placed in a 3 x 3 grid at the center of the board, spaced 8” apart.  (two (2) units at the exact center of the board, with the remaining eight (8) surrounding them.) Deployments:

MISSION 2: WHEN CONVOYS COLLIDE… Preparations:   Each Player had a total of five (5) “Loaded” and five (5) “Empty” CARGO units to place on board his or her deployed fleet.   Deployments:

MISSION 3: BLOOD IN THE WATER Preparation:   After terrain was placed, each Player took turns placing their six (6) CARGO units, one at a time.  No CARGO unit placed within 8” of each other, or within 12” of any board edge.  (CARGO units could NOT be placed on terrain, but could be placed adjacent to terrain, so long as they remained accessible from the main body of water.) Deployments:

Congratulations go out to all “Commodores” for a “Jolly good day on the High Seas!”  I look forward to seeing all of you and more at the next event!   (The next event has yet to be scheduled.  There have been a couple of individuals who mentioned the possibility of running the next game and given some upcoming restrictions on my time and schedule, it is likely that the organizational duties may be handed off for a while.  More details will follow.)

SPECIAL THANKS:

To all the returning players who once again participated in the event, as well as to all the new players who joined in this time around.  (There wasn’t another “Diablo 3” release to interfere with turn-out, nor was the “day-before-Father’s Day” enough of a deterrent to keep some away!)

To the staff of TBS for their support and encouragement of the game in general, as well as providing the environment in which to play.

To Bob S for once again providing additional prize support. (Custom cut, Hull Point damage tokens.)

– Commodore E. L. K.

This month TBS and Tournament Organizer, “Black Ops” in-training David Koske (Lycane) bring you MERCS, a tactical team-based miniature combat game. In MERCS you command a small elite security force that has been issued orders by the corporate entities on high to complete various missions. This may include scenarios where the mission is to secure an  objective, or resolve a border skirmish or perhaps eradicate an existing threat before it’s too late!  The open-ended theme behind MERCS allows for countless exciting game opportunities.

Let’s break it down…

Each faction consists of 6 architypes of which the player selects the best 5 to suit their own preferences and tactics. Combat is resolved using a d10 system that is simple enough to understand yet still develops the interactions well between the miniatures.  In the end, this makes gameplay effective without being too complex.  The game is played on a 3′ long by 2′ wide gamespace where the terrain elements are crucial to planning a successful strategy.  This is because MERCS incorporates a snap-to-cover system that allows you to use the terrain in various ways. You can use it to boost forward a bit, or move into a slightly better line of sight position for your next turn. You can also “snap” to claim cover to protect yourself from taking fire, or claim a pieceof cover to negate the effects your enemies would otherwise get. The snap-to-cover system is a uniquely fun game mechanism and single-handedly sold store owner Jared Brodeur (DaBrode) on the game when engaging in a demonstration at Templecon this year.

Once you have the rules down, and the terrain setup, gameplay lasts only 30-45 minutes.  This makes for quick matches with the potential for multiple rounds and therefore several opportunities for varying outcomes.   A very exciting prospect to say the least. There are already 8 players for MERCS at The Battle Standard and we are just getting around to officially announcing it’s arrival today.  In conclusion, MERCS is a very affordable, easy-to-learn, quickly-played game and we’re very pleased to have it in stock at The Battle Standard.

Play MERCS on Thursday nights at The Battle Standard or get a free demo with our Tournament Organizer David Koske on Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons.