The pilots of Whiskey Squadron could tell by the look on Bake Travnor’s grey stubbled face that their leader was not bringing good news along with the pitcher of Jawa beer he was carrying. The older pilot placed the grog in the middle of the table at the Steamline Tavern, a drinking establishment housed in a space barge cruising through the lawless Outer Rim of the galaxy.
“What is this swill?” asked Howe Hackett, one of the young pilots Travnor had recruited to help the Steamline side in the Tavern Wars, an ongoing dispute over supply shipments with a nearby rival space boozer. “Jawa beer may be fine on Tatooine, but isn’t their anything better behind the bar?”
Travnor’s dour expression didn’t change as he filled the squad’s glasses.
“Get used to it for now boys,” he said. “Lew says he’s short on funds. No fancy beer, and, more worryingly, no new astromechs, missiles or other toys until we successfully guard a few more supply runs from enemy attacks.”
Lew the Hutt was the joint’s owner, and all the pilots knew better than to bring their complaints to the angry green giant. Whiskey Squadron sipped their beers slowly, knowing the perils of mercenary life were now even more dangerous.
Are you tired of forgetting those upgrades? Angered when you realize you paid for Outmaneuver and didn’t deploy it on a key engagement? Well, this is the practice scenario for you:
*Each player gets 150 points to build a list with NO upgrades. You’ll be flying naked, with only the pilot card abilities to save you in a tight spot. There’s a minimum of 3 ships per list. Fly casual.
X-WING TAVERN WARS 
My son and I always play like this, only using the pilot cards and 0-point ‘characterful’ upgrade cards that are meant more for flavour than power. We also play using face-down damage cards. The multitude of cards, counters, upgrades and other stuff I find bewildering as an adult so smeg knows how my 10-year-old finds it. Its like playing large games of 2nd edition WH40K again.
The irony is modern WH40k is just as complex as X-Wing (if not more so) but easier to remember because everything is in easy-to-digest faction books which lend themselves to rereading (and thus commitment to memory) better than a pile of cards does.
If AMG really wanted to modernise X-Wing they would release a characterful book for every faction alongside the usual plethora of cards to make learning the minutae of the game a lot easier.
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