Please help a new guy choose a starting lineup!

By Modal Node, in X-Wing

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So, I've got some money burning a hole in my pocket, and I've been wanting to try this game out. After reading too many reviews to count, I'm ready to take a big plunge. I've been thinking of just getting the ships I would enjoy playing (Core Set + B-Wing, Y-Wing, Firespray, Rebel Transport, and some TIE defenders, a TIE Bomber, possibly a Falcon in there, too).

Initially, I'd be playing with my son, who is nuts about SW, but I have some other interested friends too.

As a recovering 40k player; however, I suffer from the past trauma of buying the models I like, or the ones that look cool, only to find out I should have spent my money on a whole different set of models to actually enjoy the game.

So for you experienced players out there, does the above list have any glaring holes? Also, are there ships that you should really, really have multiples of?

Thanks in advance for your help/advice!

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B wings are beast - make y wings almost obsolete. More than one x wing is clutch, especially to get Wedge in the mix. TIE interceptors are fun to fly in a non competitive setting. Bombers are tough to fly successfully in a squad.

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I've been thinking of just getting the ships I would enjoy playing...

Until you know what you're doing and can make up your mind for yourself, this is all that matters. Enjoy the game, learn it, and ideas will come to you.

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Well said. Especially in a casual setting.

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For the most part everything is viable, and more skill based especially compared to 40k (I too am a recovering 40k player who switched to X-wing), a good player with a "bad" list will crush a bad player with a "good" list unlike 40k. Of course I admit some builds are more optimized than others but it still is fairly close. Just be careful not to fall for the trap of a ship with alot of upgrade slots (While you can give a B-wing a cannon, 2 torpedoes, sensors, modifications and EPT, adding all of that up is another ship[or 2] you could have had)

Y-Wings could be better (if they Horton and Dutch had EPTs for example) but they aren't quite obsolete, because they are probably the most maneuverable ships capable of turrets.

The biggest hole is just that certain pilots and upgrades are only available with certain ships so eventually you may want one of everything anyways

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Welcome!

As a dedicated rebel player almost all the ships are generally good. Buying at least one of each is smart if for no other reason than for all the upgrades.

They've done a great job with balancing the game. I'd say get things that look appealing and try them out (within the confines of your budget). Unless your play group turns into a shark tank you guys should be able to field most things in a casual context and still have fun.

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I've been thinking of just getting the ships I would enjoy playing...

Until you know what you're doing and can make up your mind for yourself, this is all that matters. Enjoy the game, learn it, and ideas will come to you.

It is also worth pointing out that some X-Wing and Tie pilots are only available in their single pack expansions and that it's common to buy two core sets as a cheap way to get more dice, ships and another set of rulers.

Edited by AlexW
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I would tell you too,

Make sure you have 1 of each ship for the upgrades.

After that get a 2nd core set for ships and dice. (I started with 4 core sets which was perfect for tie swarm and 4 x-wings)

After you play with the ships get dups of the ones you want.

I will tell you I personally wanted enough ships to run 100 points with each type. (I still need 1 bounty hunter, ty1300 and shuttle)

Edited by Cubanboy
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PS if you never play Star Wars all the models look amazing.

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My advice

Get 2 core sets

You get 3 ships for a total of 6. (2 ties and an X wing in each) plus you get 6 attack and defend dice.

For the price and what it get 2 core sets is really good.

You'll probably want another xwing expansion and tie expansion.

The xwing expansion gives you wedge which I'd really good and the tie gives you Howlrunner,which is a must if you ever intends on flying tie swarms.

Bwings are sweet. Highly recommend.

One of each large ship. Falcon, Firespray, and imperial shuttle.

The shuttle Imo is one of the best ships in the game. Though it's like a giant space cow, once you get use to it, is really nice.

Y-wings are kind of an individual preference. I'm not a big fan, but others are.

Same with the hwk, I'm not overly fond of it, but others swear by it.

Tie interceptor are awesome and the imperial aces are pretty sweet too.

The interceptor has different pilots that come with it over the aces, but aces has some really good pilots and two of my favorite upgrades. Opportunist,and push the limit.

If you want to play with alpha strikes, then I suggest bombers and a wings,

Eventually you'll want to get one of every ship, at least to get upgrades and try other strategies.

Sorry for typos, phone does **** auto correct, makes no sense half the time

Edited by Krynn007
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Thus far, the only ship that isn't really run competitively is the Tie Advanced. Most folks still pick it up, though, for Darth Vader's awesomeness, and for the upgrade suite.

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Thanks for all the helpful replies! I hadn't thought about two core sets, but it does seem like the best way to get a TIE swarm. I also really appreciate that the B-wing is such a viable option--I loved to fly them back in the old WEG D6 rpg days, but they were, if I remember, kind of nerfed compared to the other fighters. Thanks for the encouragement--now to start looking around for some deals.

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Thanks for all the helpful replies! I hadn't thought about two core sets, but it does seem like the best way to get a TIE swarm. I also really appreciate that the B-wing is such a viable option--I loved to fly them back in the old WEG D6 rpg days, but they were, if I remember, kind of nerfed compared to the other fighters. Thanks for the encouragement--now to start looking around for some deals.

In THIS game, they're bonkers.

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Get one of everything and decide from there

it is possible to buy "too many" of certain expansions but that partly comes down to your preferences as well. Just because, say, 5 a-wings is not considered a competitive unit does not mean you won't necessarily want to do it if that's your thing. Trying one of everything will help you figure out what you like and even if you don't love a ship every expansion comes with upgrade cards that can be used by other ships as well

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As a recovering 40k player; however, I suffer from the past trauma of buying the models I like, or the ones that look cool, only to find out I should have spent my money on a whole different set of models to actually enjoy the game.

As a former 40k player myself, I am very pleased with the viability of every ship in this game. Some individual pilots and upgrades are lackluster, and some ships fill a small niche, but you won't have a problem with one copy of every ship. Just keep in mind that Imperial ships are generally cheaper points-wise, and so to keep options even you'll probably want a couple more TIEs.

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As a casual player I will tell you that interceptors are the most fun to fly! And as krynn mentioned imperial = more interceptor shenanigans!

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Be warned - it might be cheaper to just get addicted to crack instead...

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Well, lately I've been getting this question quite often, and since there are some new players, might as well write this short thingy.
Basically, "What should I be buying?".
Rebels only:
You would definitely start off with a core set, so yeah. Now, your very first purchase should be a Xwing expansion + Falcon. Instantly, you get access to the super strong 1 Falcon 2 X type of lists, and your Xwing expansion gives you people like Garven and Wedge. Basically, right now not only do you have a competitive list, but also you are able to pull off some sick combos which you would be using quite often even at higher level gameplay. Things like Luke + R2D2 + DrawFire + ShieldUpgrade. Biggs + Wedge suckcockbuddies. Lando + Garven is also actually quite sick for those who tried.
After this, what now? I recommend a HWK actually, it is a very good support ship with plenty of options, and allows you to try out the ion turret. Also, the slower ship speed would let you get more comfortable with the other slower ships like the Ywing and Bwing, and the HWK's crew upgrades help give you a lot more variety and options for your Falcon. Also, at this point, you should consider getting a 3rd Xwing, so that you can start to move to 4 ship Rebel lists, which happen to be the more competitive Rebel lists out there that are not Falcon + 2 ships. So right now you should be able to pull off 3 X 1 HWK lists for your 4 ship Rebels.
Next, your purchase depends highly on what you want. I would actually recommend avoiding the Bwing, because by itself, it is missing a lot of key pieces to make it work (eg. HLC, all the sensors). Instead, go straight for the Awing + Ywing. The Awing is solely for the PTL only, so you can slap that **** on your Wedge. Something like Luke PTL R2D2 would work as well. Afterwards, the Ywing is next, simply because of the R2 astromech to pair with the PTL. Yes, it is a bit sad, but the main point of getting these 2 ships is purely because of their upgrade cards.
Finally, get the Bwing, and then follow it up with any other ship that you want multiples of. You MIGHT want to buy 1 TIEadvanced, simply for the cards (swarm tactics / squad leader), as these 2 are actually pretty powerful on the rebel side.
Total tally: 3 X 1 Falcon 1 HWK 1 A 1 Y
Optional: 1 B 1 TIEadv
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Imperials only:
You need to prepare quite a bit of money. Straight away, start off with 2 core sets. No way to run from this. You need TIEs, and you need lots of them. 2 core sets will give you 4 TIEs, which is about the number you need.
Next, grab a TIE fighter expansion. You need this because of Howlrunner and Backstabber. These 2 TIEs are so commonly played, you may think that FFG only released 2 named TIE pilots. You really cannot do without them, and you need the 5th TIE anyway.
The last piece you will need is the Slave I. Yes, the Slave is strong and mightly, tanky, great all around, imba good support cards like Stealth Device, etcetc, but honestly you are buying it now because it is the cheapest (irl $$$) way to get you a working 100pt squad. Howlrunner + 3 TIEs, 1 Firespray and you have quite a formidable team already. Unfortunately, this team does require a bit of experience to play properly, since both the Firespray and the TIE swarm arent exactly newbie friendly in terms of flying.
Next up, what should you get? I highly recommend Imperial Aces + TIE Interceptor pack. The TIE Interceptor is quite a good ship, and cost high enough points to give you actual gameplay options without breaking the bank. You will still need the normal TIEint pack because of Soontir and Turr, who are still the strongest TIEint pilot in the game. If you do not have enough $$$ however, grab the Imperial Aces pack 1st. No PTL means you cannot play your TIEint unless you are really **** good or super lucky, and the Imperial Aces comes with 2x PTLs.
Ok so now what? I would say grab TIEadv, because Darth Vader, and squad leader is still a very strong upgrade card. If you are going this route, your next follow-up purchase COULD be a 2nd Firespray, because 2 Firesprays + 1 or 2 supporting ships is actually quite a strong team, and squad leader is often essential in these double Bounty Hunter lists.
If you are not going the TIEadv build, do consider 3 TIEbombers. 1 TIEbomber by itself does not give you much options at all, you can really only field Rhymer, and well honestly for his kind of pointage I am a lot more inclined to pump a Firespray (which you already own) than to bring him, since he dies so quickly and is really only good for the 1st 2 shots. With 3 TIEbombers, you can do the Jonus builds, which is really very very powerful. Metagame changing level strong. Something like Jonus + 2 TIEbomb + 2 TIEs + munitions is a very powerful competitive squad.
Not very recommended, but if you love TIE swarms, simply buy your 3rd core set. You now have a total of 7 TIEs. Not recommended because TIE swarms are extremely difficult to play, and there are increasing number of bad matchups that the pure swarm would face. Soontir PTL Stealth is practically untouchable, and Biggs + R2F2 + Stealth protecting a Luke R2D2 is a super uphill battle, and Jonus Bomber build can dismantle the swarm very quickly via assault missiles, etcetc.
Leave the Shuttle for absolute last, it is ****. The sole purpose of its miserable existence is to make a single useable Bwing cost a grand total of $75 SGD left right. Since you not gonna be using Bwings, I say fukkit. Whatever the Shuttle can do combat wise, the Firespray can do A WHOLE LOT better. Whatever the Shuttle can do support wise, 1x Black sqd TIE + squad leader probably can match already, and even does it better in some cases. The Shuttle is still a pretty fun ship though, once you have a solid established Imperial collection.
Final Tally:
Basic set: 5 TIEs 1 Firespray 3 TIEint
+ TIEadv set: 1 TIEadv +1 Firespray
+ TIEbomber set: 3 TIEbombers
+ TIE Swarm set: +1 core set
Optional: Shuttle
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Both sides:
So you want to build both sides as evenly as possible. I say, go straight for 2 core sets, 1 falcon, 1 TIE exp, 1 Slave. You can skip the Xwing expansion pack first, since 2 cores give you 2 Xwings leow.
Now, what do you do? You simply build your collection according to your preference, and try to follow the recommendations above. Of course, since you are now playing both sides, you have new buying combinations that you can consider.
Bwings + Shuttle, since you now have access to the sensor cards, you can get your Bwing a lot earlier (like immediately after the basic set mentioned here). Ideally you should buy 1 Shuttle for every 1 Bwing, simply due to the HLC and the sensors. 2 B 2 Shuttles should be the maximum you buy (actually can consider only 1 Shuttle since the Slave already give you HLC, and the wave 4 Ewing inside got advanced sensors.)
If you are getting Imperial Aces, you can consider skipping the Awing until like your very last purchase. Imperial Aces gives you 2x PTL, which is honestly the only reason for why you are buying the Awing. You can also skip TIEadv unless you really need the squad leader upgrade, or you a bit vader fan, or both.
Once again, try to balance out the purchases. When you buy rebels today, remember to buy imperials tomorrow, etcetc.
Basic set: 5 TIE (1 is expansion) 2 X 1 Falcon 1 Slave.
Possible sets:
>>Imperial aces + TIEint
>>2 B 2 Shuttle
>>3 TIEbomber
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I hope this helps.
Edited by Duraham
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I got by with one core set, an X-wing, a Y-wing, a TIE Advanced, and two TIE Fighter expansions for the longest time.

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I got by with one core set, an X-wing, a Y-wing, a TIE Advanced, and two TIE Fighter expansions for the longest time.

Dark times were those.

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IF there are no monetary issues I'd recommend buying simply one of each and every expansion.

Play each and every single ship at least once. See what you like. Buy more where and when 'needed'.

Many good suggestion for specific sides were posted above. Read them carefully.

All ships are viable in some way. (except the Advanced whom is well and truly shafted IMO)

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Above poster makes an excellent point: you can easily get by with one of each expansion in this game without hurting in any real specific area, except for some Imperial lists which tend to favour lots of the same craft together (Looking at you, TIE Bombers). The one thing I'll give you for advice: you don't really need more than one of the large ship expansions unless you really want to run something specific. Firesprays, Shuttles and the YT-1300 are all great, but you can get away with not having multiples of them. If you're interested in specific cards for pilots and upgrades, the X-Wing Wikia is the best resource I know of for direct and mostly complete information on what's been released.

http://xwing-miniatures.wikia.com/wiki/X-Wing_Miniatures_Wiki