X-Wing Imperial Raider Expansion [Table Top Game Review]

Click for larger size... it's very nice.

It has been a while since I've reviewed an expansion for X-Wing Miniatures Game.
That needs to change.
Now.

Everything you get with the Imperial Raider

A long long time ago, on this very blog...
I wrote about how FFG was going to release huge ships for X-Wing. The first was the GR-75 Rebel Transport, the one seen during the evacuation of Hoth. Then came the Tantive IV, the Corellian Corvette. Now at long last the Empire gets its very own huge based ship - the Imperial Raider.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Now that you've seen my rating, let me justify it. First off this expansion is not about the Raider... the Raider is actually just a very pretty, very expensive display piece.

Here's the reason. I do not expect Epic play (300pts) to take off. Even with two of the three factions having huge ships, the game length just seems too long. 100pts already takes 60 - 75 minutes easy. While I do not think that 300pts would be triple the length, it would easily be double. Not exactly a good length for tournaments. And as much as I hate to say it, one of X-wings big drives is the competitive tournament play. It is quite satisfying to fly in big events. 

All of the current Epic scale ships.

What this expansion pack actually does for the game is it resurrects an old and almost totally unused ship. The TIE Advanced, a ship from the very first wave, has been patched. It gained 4 new named pilots (75% of which are actually good), and two awesome upgrade cards. These cards fix the Advanced, returning it to play. Two pilots shine with the new updates, Darth Vader and Juno Eclipse. It is nice to see the old TIE Advanced return to the battlefield.

The other good thing about this expansion was the creation of a brand new starship for the Empire. FFG sat down with the LFG to create this new ship. FFG needed a ship that existed at a scale similar to the Corellian Corvette, and the Empire had none. They had smaller ships like the VT-49 Decimator and much larger ones. Thus the Raider was born. That is cool.

Sadly, play wise this thing may not hit the table very often. The TIE Advanced will... and that is the reason why most people are buying the Raider.

To read more about the Raider, visit the FFG website HERE.