As many X-wing players know, there was a multiplayer format released called Aces High where players took 1 ship at a certain point value and took on other ships in a battle royal format.

With the change in points to have ship values and loadout points due to the transition to scenario play, the old way of creating your ship no longer applies. We have gotten creative locally in our Aces High Variants, and I would like to share them below.

Below you will find the standard rules for Aces High based around the now obsolete squad building points and ‘Threat Builds’. If you refer to the top right corner, you can see it references the old points and threat build systems.

Option 1: Aces High; Dead Mans Hand – with ship points only
As you can guess, it is a simple matter of choosing a point level and letting your players choose any ship at that cost, regardless of loadout value. Nice simple, load up your squad builder of choice (mine is YASB.app) and play ships as they are. We most commonly do this with 7 points, enough to get some strong contenders, and and not overwhelm players with all the ships at lower values.
You will find that you may have duplicate ships in this situation, so be prepared for a lot of the same gameplay.
Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.

Option 2: Aces High; Loaded Aces – ship points and loadout points
For this variant, you issue players with a total points to spend on both ship and load out.
With this one, it requires a little more work on the individual’s part, but makes for some interesting builds. For example, if you set squad building to 20 points, an individual can take Luke Skywalker in the T-60 X-wing (6), with Instinctive Aim (2) and Proton Torpedoes (12) or Darth Vader in the TIE Advanced x1 (7), with Lone Wolf (3), Fire Control System (2) and Afterburners (8) or any number of possible combinations (please note – these points may not be accurate at the time of reading).
Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.

Option3: Aces High; Escalation Aces – Normal squad building rules apply
The Escalation Aces variant is a great last-minute option, especially on a night with odd numbers, or a surprise event for your regular night at a friendly local game store.
You take a standard 20pt list and start with your lowest initiative ship as your first ship that you play. After you lose a ship, you restore with the next lowest initiative ship and continue on until you have restored every ship in your list at least once. From then on, you can pick any ship from your list to restore with, as long as it wasn’t the ship that was destroyed in the previous round. If you have multiple ships with the same initiative, you decide the order in which to restore a ship to the board.
So as an example, this list would proceed in the following order: Keo Venzee (i3), then the player can choose between Ahsoka Tano (i4) or Jan Ors (i4), they would then play the other i4 ship, followed by Fenn Rau (i6). After Fenn Rau is destroyed, he cannot be immediately restored, he must wait, until another ship from the same squad has been destroyed.
You can also pre-designate the number of ships per list, and if they must all be different initiatives before the game if you wish.
Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.

Option 4: Aces High; Random Aces – Prebuilt ships and load-outs
For this variant, it is recommended that the organiser arrange for prebuilt ships and load-outs. You can use standard load-out cards, or use the Infinite Arena’s printouts for ships. Players draw a ship at Round 0, and draw a new ship to replace their previous ship every time they restore.
Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.

Option 5: Aces High; Stitch Up – 4 players, 2 ships & no ship point limit, standard load-out limits apply.
This is straight-up survival for 4 players and requires an objective marker. This is a last-squad standing gametype.
In it, you bring any 2 ships you like from the same faction. Squads are set up by placing ships in initiative order, and ships are placed at range 1 from the edge, but range 3 from the corner (see image above).
You are required to have at least 1 ship range 2 of the objective marker during the end phase, if you do not, you must pick one of your ships still in play and it will take a Critical damage hit.
Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.

Option 5.2: Aces High; Stitch Up – 6 players, 2 ships & no ship point limit, standard load out limits apply.
This is straight-up survival for 6 players and requires three objective markers. You will also require 10 obstacles of any kind. This is a last-squad standing gametype.
In it, you bring any 2 ships you like from the same faction. Squads are set up by placing ships in initiative order, and ships are placed at range 1 from the edge, but range 3 from the corner, or range 3 from the centre (see image above).
You are required to have at least 1 ship range 2 of any of the objective markers during the end phase, if you do not, you must pick one of your ships still in play and it will take a Critical damage hit.
When the first entire squad is eliminated, the player must choose an objective marker and remove it from the play area. When the second squad is eliminated the player must choose one of the 2 remaining objective markers and remove it from the play area.
Player order is determined each round with ROAD, the ‘winner’ being the first player, and ‘2nd place’ determining whether the direction is clockwise or anti-clockwise, depending on their location to the first player – play moves in their direction. If a direction is not determined due to player seating, it will be the same as the previous round.

The above are variant game formats for X-Wing Miniatures by Atomic Mass Games.
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