A little backstory: I like playing squads composed of a single model of imperial unit. 3/4 squints, 7/8 ties, 4/5 bombers, 2/3 firesprays. I’ve gotten lucky and avoided buying any excessive number of advanced and shuttles, though I do own them. My purchasing plan for collecting imperials so far has been to get as many as I would need for a 100 pt game using the cheapest pilots and no upgrades. Its pretty flexible and I can compose almost anything I could want on the fly, compared to playing previous tabletop war games, its a somewhat reasonable task to accomplish.

I’m bringing this up because I’m thinking it might be best to break this pattern of purchasing. I like the idea of 4 defender squads and 4 phantoms and 2 decimators, and I’ll probably just go for it, but the catch is that now FFG has released my favorite ship ever: the Outrider. I like the idea of just getting one and 2 b’s and calling it a day, but I know that isn’t going to happen and I’ll probably get sucked down the rebel rabbit hole.

Which types of squads have people run (either faction) and discovered really need to be in mixed compositions to be effective? What are some defining characteristics of single unit type squads that are good or bad? Should I avoid buying 4 hawks like I’m avoiding buying 4 shuttles, or is there something to that type of squad that could make it attractive to 'max out'?

Interceptors are a lot of fun, but matches with them tend to be high risk high reward. Bombers is super forgiving and somewhat well rounded, 3 firesprays feels super balanced once you learn to use the large base, and everyone knows the tie swarm. I can’t say, but I’d imagine that advanced’s are great but have a hard time closing out games with too few attacks, and 4 shuttles gets flown around.

I am 99% certain I have never run a 100 point squad of the same ship. Balance and diverse roles allows for better lists. Personally at least. Start running a few non-mono lists, focusing on unique tasks and roles for each ship.. Maybe you'll like it.

^{"Spending is a natural part of life. Rejoice for dollars around you which transform into your Forces. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not."}

^{(Sorry, just goofing off. I dont' have any useful advice, heh)}

I like the idea of 4 defender squads and 4 phantoms and 2 decimators

Well you can't do that with Defenders since the cheapest pilot is 30 points, so max is 3 in a 100 point squad anyway. 4 naked Phantoms doesn't seem like a good idea either. You could do it, but I don't think you'll have much luck with 4 low PS phantoms without any sort of upgrade.

So I'd stick to no more then 3 each of those.

I like the idea of just getting one and 2 b’s and calling it a day, but I know that isn’t going to happen and I’ll probably get sucked down the rebel rabbit hole.

Do you still have the X-Wing from the core set? If so the YT-2400 + 2 X's would work well, so that means 1 X-Wing expansion. If you were to do that, you could pick up 2 more B-Wings, then you could fly a 2400 version of HSF with either X's or B's, or you could fly the Bloody Daggers list.

That means for $50 or so you'd have access to 3 pretty good Rebel lists.

Should I avoid buying 4 hawks

Yes, yes you should. 1 HWK is good, maybe 2, but 4 in a list doesn't really work well.

Honestly, the X-Wing is probably the only ship I have seen successfully run as a single fleet of ships. And the Tie Swarm of course.

I've seen people try and run 4 Blues with Adv S, but they suffer from a serious lack of agility, even though they're unpredictable with the Adv Sensors and their crazy dials. Y-Wings with ICT are great as well, but again, anything with a high agility can pick them off fairly easily.

As much as I love Interceptors, I have yet to successfully run 4 of them in a game and get consistent wins. I'll get off a couple of wins in a row maybe, but then I'll have a string of defeats due to their fragility.

And I think that's where the X-Wing really shines. It isn't the most maneuverable, but it does deal out consistent damage, and can take a few hits, and thus they're very survivable..

4 X's can play, 4 B's, 4 A's, 4 Y's. They could all be viable. Rebels tend to do better in mixed roles though. 2 and 2 is more common than 4 of any 1 ship.

4 Hwks is just asking for misery.

Rexler Brath, predator, HLC, engine upgrade

Colonel Vessery, predator, HLC, engine upgrade

go big or go home

Ok so I stand corrected at 3 defenders, and I agree that 4 phantoms can't be worth it either--that makes it at least a little easier.

To be clear, I'm not afraid of spending money, I just don't want to feel like I wasted it, and I like the look of the uniform imperial squad facing the ragtag rebels, as long as the game doesn't get super rocks paper scissorery I feel like I can make silly aesthetic decisions like that while jumping into tournaments and doing well.

I have 4 x-wings, so I guess I'd only need to pick up an expansion.

Trying to plan for every build requirement will make you go crazy, poor or crazy AND broke.

Aces proved the" buy the 100 pt squad" method is wasteful never mind pointless with the meta's. I have 8 or 9 interceptors now because I initially bought 100 pts of the first release and wanted a squads worth or RG titles. Lets forget I will have 6-7 A-Wings soon, when at most I field 3.

I am now lessening my purchase to what I think would be useful. Right now my plan is 2 of each Wave 4 ship, though I honestly believe 1 phantom or E-wing will probably be more then enough for 100 pt matches.

Then there is other considerations... tourney player? What cards do you need? if you play at home just print some extras.

EPIC player? Thank god I like Epic cause my wasteful purchases can be used.

Basically I would get 4 X-wings, 2-3 b-wings, maybe 1 of each other ship to get a rebel squad going. Then add based on what you play.

Trying to plan for every build requirement will make you go crazy, poor or crazy AND broke.

Aces proved the" buy the 100 pt squad" method is wasteful never mind pointless with the meta's. I have 8 or 9 interceptors now because I initially bought 100 pts of the first release and wanted a squads worth or RG titles. Lets forget I will have 6-7 A-Wings soon, when at most I field 3.

I am now lessening my purchase to what I think would be useful. Right now my plan is 2 of each Wave 4 ship, though I honestly believe 1 phantom or E-wing will probably be more then enough for 100 pt matches.

Then there is other considerations... tourney player? What cards do you need? if you play at home just print some extras.

EPIC player? Thank god I like Epic cause my wasteful purchases can be used.

Basically I would get 4 X-wings, 2-3 b-wings, maybe 1 of each other ship to get a rebel squad going. Then add based on what you play.

Yeah, I got two aces but only had 1 interceptor at the time, so I escaped that one.

Sounds like Rebels doesn't get to play the same way imperials does (duh), I hadn't quite noticed in the meaningful ways its being pointed out to me now.

I have 4 x-wings, so I guess I'd only need to pick up an expansion.

I wouldn't bother with getting an X-Wing expansion, unless you want Wedge. HSF even if you're using the 2400, you'd use rookie X-Wings, perhaps Reds, but nothing you need the expansions for.

So at most, if you aren't interested in Rebel lists other then the YT-2400, is the 2400. If you want some B's, perhaps wait until Rebel Aces come out and get 2 packs of those.

The expansion is good for more than Just Wedge. Not every match is a tournament. In fact I have played dozens and dozens of fun friendly games and only 1 tournament. ( Where I won a TIE Defender)

I have 4 x-wings, so I guess I'd only need to pick up an expansion.

I wouldn't bother with getting an X-Wing expansion, unless you want Wedge. HSF even if you're using the 2400, you'd use rookie X-Wings, perhaps Reds, but nothing you need the expansions for.

So at most, if you aren't interested in Rebel lists other then the YT-2400, is the 2400. If you want some B's, perhaps wait until Rebel Aces come out and get 2 packs of those.

The expansion is good for more than Just Wedge.

In the expansion you get Wedge, Garvin, R5-K6, R5 Astro and Expert Handling. None of those things are needed if you're going to run a variation of HSF and already have 4 X-Wings.

To the OP, I am the exact same way! I still do it, I'm not ashamed!

I fly 3 or 4 Interceptors fairly often. It can get tricky, but I just love the maneuverability squints offer.

@cuban, I actually sort of only get to play tournaments and not friendly, so I have no basis for comparison--its all simultaneously competitive and casual to me.

I'll probably get the expansion just for the options anyway, I just don't really know anything about rebels except how to kill them.

There's a good discussion on the exact opposite of this question, namely Khyros' XYAB List thoughts thread.

That thread may help you get some insight on the problem/opportunity.

Personally, I like uniform or near-uniform squads and I'm not (yet) convinced of extremely mixed squads the way that Khyros is advocating. Especially for the Empire, I feel that uniform squads work really well thematically, but there are also some tactical benefits. Obviously, there are also downsides, but this is the case with anything. The TIE Swarm remains a very powerful build.

I find that if I am building multiples of the same Species of Ship, I HAVE to kit them out identically. It drives me nuts otherwise.

I find that if I am building multiples of the same Species of Ship, I HAVE to kit them out identically. It drives me nuts otherwise.

Yes. If you're new to the game (or, like me, are somewhat demented), it helps to run identical ships because it helps you remember what each of them is capable of.

I have run multiple interceptor-only lists and done fine with them. Generally speaking, I do tend to have at least 2 different ship types per squad, but rarely 3 (or more).

I'm pretty sure I have flown all x, all b, and all tie but that's it. Of those only swarm and quad x are worthwhile.

Realistically I don't imagine you'd need more than 2 of most ships for 100pt games (again, tie xwing, awing post refit, and z95). Triple BH is something sometimes, 4 bombers is gaining popularity (and are useful for epic).

For Rebels I really like ABXY or any "alphabet" list. Each ship has a thing to do and a job to finish.

4 X's can play, 4 B's, 4 A's, 4 Y's. They could all be viable. Rebels tend to do better in mixed roles though. 2 and 2 is more common than 4 of any 1 ship.

4 Hwks is just asking for misery.

No, SIX HWK's is asking for misery!

Which is why I only own 4.

4 X's can play, 4 B's, 4 A's, 4 Y's. They could all be viable. Rebels tend to do better in mixed roles though. 2 and 2 is more common than 4 of any 1 ship.

4 Hwks is just asking for misery.

No, SIX HWK's is asking for misery!

Which is why I only own 4.

5 with Blaster Turrets. Very fun unless you face Carnor Jax or Dark Curse.

When Rebel Aces comes out I think you'll see some people attempting to run a squad exclusively composed of A-Wings in several configurations. You may also see someone trying to run a sleep squad full of Zs.

What's wrong with owning 3 shuttles?