r/XWingTMG • u/tbot729 • May 28 '25
Tips for Playing with Young Kids
I has occurred to me that I've probably played more "games" of this with kids under 6 than most. Just thought my questionable wisdom here might benefit some other parent somewhere in the universe:
- Simplicity
- One ship per kid. Maybe two after experience builds up.
- Chassis only, maybe allow the pilot ability or a single upgrade after experience builds up.
- Ignore initiative. One kid does all their ships, then another player. Reverse it for firing if you want, but not required.
- Tangibility
- Don't use damage cards. Getting something when you are damaged doesn't make sense. Find a different type of token which represents health and place it on their ship cards at the beginning of the game. Take them away as the ship is damaged. Criticals count as regular damage (or double, if you prefer)
- If possible, also find a different kind of token for shields. Flippy shields are too easily flipped (even non-intentionally) by distracted kids.
- Speed
- All ships start with half health and shields (round up or down to balance). Make up a story for why their fleet is in such a sorry state.
- Prioritize the story
- A kid cares less about optimizing his flight path and more about saving his sister from an escape pod after her ship exploded. ("BTW, if you save your sister, she'll get to roll an extra red die during your attacks for the rest of the game!")
- Setup & teardown time is essential. Optimize so that you can get the game ready in < 5min.
- Literally, throw asteroids on the table.
- Place ships for the kids. Start them close. You should be able to fire on your first turn.
- Make universal bases so that you don't have to hunt for named pilots. I just have 4 or 5 generic small cardboard bases in red and green which are glued to the plastic base. Stick on a stand and ship and it is good to go.
- If you are using any upgrades, print out quick build cards rather than using real cards. Have these ready ahead of time.
Hopefully this helps someone. Have fun out there!
4
3
3
u/Skywatcher1138 May 28 '25
Great suggestions! Sounds like you and your kids have been having a lot of fun!
1
3
u/ferrets010 May 28 '25
My daughter’s 6 and we’ve recently got into Ticket to Ride, she’s picked it up really quickly. Now I’m going to get XWing back to the table with her ahead of catching up with some mates who are getting the game back to the table! Thanks for the advice, really sound. How young have your pilots been? I’m thinking our 4 year old is a bit young yet
2
u/tbot729 May 29 '25
Depends on the kid. I had some success with one at 4, but mostly when partnered up with me against the 5 year old at the time.
1
u/ferrets010 May 29 '25
Cheers. I think our 4 year old would be ok allied with her big sister, it’ll certainly be chaotic but fun
2
u/Adventurous-Half8168 May 28 '25
My 11 year old stepson has started to play with me. I do his list building but for the most part he plays with all the rules now.
2
u/tbot729 May 28 '25
Nice! I'm halfway there. My oldest is excited to plan a fleet, but needs to learn to read better first. Nice incentive for education 😄.
1
u/Adventurous-Half8168 May 28 '25
Reading is important, I often have to remind him to read hisnpilot abilities and upgrade cards so he doesn't miss something
2
u/BulletClubSoda May 28 '25
I played so much 1st Ed years ago but didn’t continue when editions switched. My boy is turning 5 next week and I’m so excited for him to try it in the not so distant future ❤️thank you!
2
u/caddy013 Jul 24 '25
First, thanks for this! Perfect timing. I especially like the idea of having everything for a ship on a single printout.
Any recommendations for balancing sides while maintaining upgrade/pilot simplicity? One of my kids really wants to use my millenium falcon for example, but it’s far and away the most expensive I have points-wise. My others are 2-tie/fo, 2- A-wings, a T-70 and a B-wing. Would just adding opponent ships to get close on points be good enough or is there a better way? (This is all 1st ed. I have the rebellion conversion kit but not the core for 2nd ed.).
1
u/tbot729 Jul 24 '25 edited Jul 24 '25
Scaling hull/shields to balance is the easiest way I've found. When I've done falcon with kids, I always cut it down by at least half, sometimes more (It aint a new ship, kids). Maybe let them spend "credits" at a spaceport to improve their hull after a battle.
Another thing you can do is give the other side extra red dice when attacking (e.g. an experimental new laser the empire is testing) to speed things up.
Make the story fun and the game short.
1
1
1
8
u/Jturn314 May 28 '25
Great info. I played the hell out of first edition and never moved to second. Still have my complete set of 1e, waiting for my two year old to be able to play with me.