X-Wing miniatures

I had recently been looking for a miniatures strategy game that was quick to set up, fast placed, and not overly expensive.  I eventually decided on trying out X-Wing miniatures.

One game I considered was Robotech RPG tactics.  For the price, you get a lot of miniatures, and the theme is awesome, but one reviewer said that he spent so much time putting the miniatures together, that he hasn't even played the game.  The new Star Wars Armada also seemed to be a lot of value for the price, but reviews said that it took longer to play than X-Wing.

The core mechanic of the game is that each player chooses a maneuver in secret for each of their ships.  Movement is revealed and then weapons are used if ships are in range of each other.

So I purchased the starter set at an FLGS (friendly local game store), and my son and I played it using the introductory rules.  His opinion was that the rules were too simple and there weren't enough moving parts (the starter set only comes with one X-Wing, and two Tie Fighters). Our second play session used the full rules.  He still had the same opinion though, not enough moving parts.  I agreed and purchased more ships.

So we now have an A-wing, B-wing, and Tie Advance in addition to the core set.  Now there are enough moving parts, but the teams are not balanced.  The B-wing  has more shields and armament than any other ship we have.  It can single handedly take down all of our imperial ships. 
It also takes longer to play.  My friend Bryan and I were unable to finish a battle between the two teams in under 40 minutes.

I'm going to experiment with different teams and game structure to see if we can get a battle down to twenty minutes or less.  Overall, I do enjoy the game the theme and game play.  You feel like you are in a dogfight.

Our Imperial Squad

People playing at our local FLGS