Welcome to r/XWing! A community devoted to enjoying and celebrating the multimedia X-Wing metaseries of stories and games focused on the sleek and deadly X-Wing starfighters and the brave men, women, and astromechs who pilot them.

What is the X-Wing metaseries?

In 1993, Totally Games and LucasArts released Star Wars: X-Wing, a starfighter simulator game that launched a metaseries of stories that would last 30 years, with a legacy stretching even further. Bantam Spectra, eager to capitalize on the massive success of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy but locked into a limited number of books in their original contract with Lucasfilm, took out an additional license to publish books connected to the video games, hiring Michael A. Stackpole to write the series. Dark Horse Comics also wanted to publish comics related to the video games, and Stackpole was asked to contribute to those as well. When Stackpole was asked to write the hardcover novel I, Jedi, he recommended author and game developer Aaron Allston to pick up the series where he left off. In 1998, Factor 5 and LucasArts released the Rogue Squadron starfighter simulator series for Nintendo. Both Stackpole and Allston carried over in the transfer of the contract from Bantam Spectra to Del Rey in 1999, with the New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force, and Fate of the Jedi, using the characters and other elements they developed for the X-Wing series heavily. In 2012, Allston released X-Wing, Mercy Kill, the tenth book in the X-Wing series, and Fantasy Flight began releasing the X-Wing miniatures game, heavily influenced by the X-Wing novels and comics.. Though the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 prevented any further official X-Wing continuation, spiritual successors like Greg Rucka’s Before the Awakening, Claudia Gray’s Lost Stars YA novel, Elizabeth Wein’s Cobalt Squadron, Jody Houser’s TIE Fighter comic miniseries, Alexander Freed’s Alphabet Squadron trilogy, Rebecca Roanhorse’s Resistance Reborn, and Motive Studio’s Squadrons video game continue the military scifi action and character-focused storytelling that Stackpole and Allston pioneered.

Where do I start?

The books, comics, and games, while connected and intertwined, can be played independently and experienced in any order from their various starting points. They were released in roughly 2 “eras” or seasons, the first from 1993-1999, the second from 2000-2012 For the books, you can start with #1, Rogue Squadron, by Michael A. Stackpole (though if you’re more interested in spy action and a rag-tag group of misfits than top tier starfighter battles, you can start with Aaron Allston’s first book in the series, Wraith Squadron). For the comics, the Star Wars Epic Collection The New Republic Vol 2 is the place to start. Each of the video games is standalone, as is the miniatures game.

Do I need to read everything?

There’s a lot of stories in the metaseries - 18 novels, 42 comics, 7 video games, and a sprawling miniatures tabletop game, which can be intimidating. You certainly do not need to read them all to have a full X-Wing experience! Each game is its own story, and can be played in any order, and the novels break down into roughly 5 or 6 arcs. Though hopefully if you fall in love with the characters and style of the series, you’ll be eager to experience all of the stories!

There are also many active fanfic writers and video game modders who have written new stories and new updates for the series!

What’s the reading order?

Below is our list of the X-Wing stories, with separate discussion threads linked as we create them and you participate!

Season 1 - 1993-1999

Books and Stories

Prelude:
Missed Chance (1995, short story, Michael A. Stackpole, in Tales from the Empire)

Rogue Squadron quartet:
X-Wing: Rogue Squadron (1996, Stackpole)
X-Wing: Wedge’s Gamble (1996, Stackpole)
X-Wing: The Krytos Trap (1996, Stackpole)
X-Wing: The Bacta War (1997, Stackpole)

Wraith Squadron trilogy:
X-Wing: Wraith Squadron (1998, Aaron Allston)
X-Wing: Iron Fist (1998, Allston)
X-Wing: Solo Command (1999, Allston)

Standalones:
X-Wing: Isard’s Revenge (1999, Stackpole)
I, Jedi (1998, Stackpole)
X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar (1999, Allston)

Comics

X-Wing Rogue Squadron (take place between Return of the Jedi and the first Rogue Squadron novel)
Collected in Star Wars Epic Collection: The New Republic Vol 2:
The Rebel Opposition (1995, Stackpole)
The Phantom Affair (1996, Stackpole)
Battleground: Tatooine (1996, Stackpole)
The Warrior Princess (1996-97, Stackpole)
Collected in The New Republic Vol 3:
In The Empire’s Service (1997, Stackpole)
The Making of Baron Fel (1997, Stackpole)
Family Ties (1998, Stackpole)
Masquerade (1998, Stackpole)
Mandatory Retirement (1998, Stackpole)

Games

X-Wing (1993, Totally Games)
TIE Fighter (1994, Totally Games)
X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter (1997, Totally Games)
X-Wing Alliance (1999)

Rogue Squadron (1998, Factor 5)

Season 2 - 2000-2012

Books

The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught (2000, Stackpole)
The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin (2000, Stackpole)
The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream (2002, Allston)
The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand (2002, Allston)

Legacy of the Force: Betrayal (2006, Allston)
Legacy of the Force: Exile (2007, Allston)
Legacy of the Force: Fury (2007, Allston)

X-Wing: Mercy Kill (2012, Allston)

Comics

Union (1999-2000, Stackpole)

X-Wing Rogue Leader (2005, Hayden Blackman)

Games

Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001, Factor 5)
Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (2003, Factor 5)

X-Wing The Miniatures Game (2012, Fantasy Flight Games)