I am new to X-Wing and am wondering which ships I should get. So far, I haven't bought any X-Wing yet. My budget is around $100-$150, and I want to build one Rebel fleet and one Empire fleet.

Some general criteria for ships:

* I prefer ships that are meta (that's because I might be playing in tournaments)

* I prefer ships that are more versatile to ones that are less versatile, mostly because I could use the more versatile ships in a wider variety of fleet builds

* If there is set rotation for this game (I don't know if there is), then I would prefer ships that are still tournament legal and are likely to remain tournament legal for the foreseeable future

* This is a very minor consideration, but I do like ships from the movies over ships that have never appeared in the movies

Please recommend me a purchase list, including quantities for each ship you think I should purchase. Thanks.

Core set x 2 ($60) (best deal for bulk quantity ships, extra dice,decks, templates)

Tie fighter expansion ($15) (pilots and upgrades for Ties)

X-wing expansion ($15) (pilots and upgrades for X-wings)

Imperial Aces ($30) (2 interceptors and good upgrades for ties)

Falcon ($30) (really good rebel ship and good for tourney starting squad building)

Total: $150

Nets you:

Extra dice, templates, damage deck for each faction

3 X-wing, Falcon for rebels

5 Tie Fighters, 2 Interceptors for empire

Pick up expansion packs as you would like. Lots to add.

Tourney builds you could do.

Wedge, Luke, Biggs with upgrades

Han with 2 rookies

Modified tie swarm

If you would like to have more tourney options with the Empire then get the Firespray next.

There is no rotation, but the next wave is looking to shake up the meta a bit. If you're on a limited budget, and keeping an eye toward competitive events, take a look at this thread:

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/105107-2014-regionals-results/

Juggy has done an excellent job of collating all of the pertinent data. Whether or not that's meaningful to you at this point depends on your understanding of the game. Here are some easy recommendations, to cover all the bases:

2 Core sets

1 each TIE and X-Wing expansion

1 Millennium Falcon

1 Slave I

That gives you enough ships to run a HSF variant for the Rebels, and a Firespray + mini-swarm for the Empire. Both are fairly competitive lists. Where you go from there is a matter of choice, but I'll highlight for you an import piece of data from the thread I linked above (taken from post #3):

Overall ship usage

TIE Fighter 32.00%

X-wing 16.25%

TIE Interceptor 13.07%

B-wing 12.79%

So, after X-Wings and basic TIEs, the two most currently used ships are the Interceptor and B-Wing. Interceptors can be good as a stand alone fighter (also accompanying a mini-swarm, for example) or in multiples, and any four ship combination of Xs and Bs is usually pretty good.

2 x Core Sets

1 Imperial Aces

1 Y wing

1 B wing or A wing

1 TIE Bomber or TIE Advanced.

I would AVOID the TIE and X-Wing expansion, as least to start.

Frankly you already would have those ships. The only thing you get is a couple of pilots for those ships who move exactly the same and have the exact same stats as the ones you already have. Unless you REALLY plan on being a competitive player, avoid it... you can just print out and cut out cards for those ships and save yourself thirty bucks for different ships. I think the vast majority of players on this board are competitive players and cannot imagine playing without tournament-legal Wedge and Howlrunner, and so will recommend those two. I would say wait until you've played a bit, and then pick those up as you decide on entering your first tournament.

I am also not a huge fan of the big ships... their firing arcs are just so much easier, and I feel like they undermine the dogfight aspect of the game... especially the Falcon.

I would instead get the Imperial Aces set... the Interceptors are mean and fast and aggressive, if a touch fragile.

The Y wing so you get some ships with very different movement options/dials, and you get the Y wing which features turrets.

You could pick between the A and B wing depending on whether you want a fast, agile, demanding ship or a short-range tank.

I would finally get the Bomber so you get some interesting secondary weapons, or the Advanced if you just want to fly Darth Vader... although Vader isn't very competitive:)

If you don't mind shopping online, Miniature Market makes a great place to start. I'd recommend this:

2 Core sets - 46

Slave 1 - 20

Millienium Falcon - 20

Imperial Aces - 20

X-Wing - 10

TIE Fighter - 10

B-Wing - 10

Its a solid list of choices, all fairly strong ones, and is $130 (which passes their 99 for free shipping mark). You could add the Lambda Shuttle, it has a some great uses on its own, and has great upgrades for other ships. That'd make it $156.

As mentioned prior, there is a fairly exciting wave dropping any day now, so you may want to save some for that. I think all the ships in it are viable in both casual and tournament, with the defender being the least exciting (Though my personal favorite).

Should I get ships that are currently available or should I wait for the ships in Wave 4 or Wave 5?

Also, could someone please give me a basic rundown of some common archetypes?

Thanks so much for all your help!!!

Should I get ships that are currently available or should I wait for the ships in Wave 4 or Wave 5?

Also, could someone please give me a basic rundown of some common archetypes?

Thanks so much for all your help!!!

Click on the link I posted above. Then scroll down to post #3, or press Ctrl + F and type in "Squad Archetypes." Look for anything numerically significant, probably around 5% or higher. If you have questions about the particular dynamics, play style, or strategy of a given archetype, feel free to ask more specific questions here. The biggest ones to keep an eye out for are TIE swarms (6+ TIEs), four ship Rebel lists (like the combination of Xs and Bs I mentioned above), and large ships with support.

I would buy your ships now. There is nothing that has already been released that won't still be relevant in the coming weeks, months, or years.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/105107-2014-regionals-results/page-16

That link will take you to MajorJuggler's post where he gives all the builds that are top finishers in the Regionals of this year. It's a lot of data but that is what your after.

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/105107-2014-regionals-results/page-16

That link will take you to MajorJuggler's post where he gives all the builds that are top finishers in the Regionals of this year. It's a lot of data but that is what your after.

I'm pretty sure that's the exact same information posted in the thread I linked above.

Thanks. Is there any way I could find out which cards, etc. come with each Expansion Pack? e.g. I see a card named "Howlrunner" that is quite popular, where can I find it?

Thanks. Is there any way I could find out which cards, etc. come with each Expansion Pack? e.g. I see a card named "Howlrunner" that is quite popular, where can I find it?

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

Scroll down, and click on each individual expansion to see what comes with it.

Should I get ships that are currently available or should I wait for the ships in Wave 4 or Wave 5?

Also, could someone please give me a basic rundown of some common archetypes?

Thanks so much for all your help!!!

Click on the link I posted above. Then scroll down to post #3, or press Ctrl + F and type in "Squad Archetypes." Look for anything numerically significant, probably around 5% or higher. If you have questions about the particular dynamics, play style, or strategy of a given archetype, feel free to ask more specific questions here. The biggest ones to keep an eye out for are TIE swarms (6+ TIEs), four ship Rebel lists (like the combination of Xs and Bs I mentioned above), and large ships with support.

I would buy your ships now. There is nothing that has already been released that won't still be relevant in the coming weeks, months, or years.

Personally, I generally run with either Chewie or Han. With Chewie I want to take two other self sufficient ships, like B-Wings or X-wings, and then make Chewie hard to kill, using things that make him durable, like C3-P0 from the Tantive IV expansions, the Millienium Falcon title included in the Falcon expansion, and other such things. With Han I generally like to give him things that make him very consistent damage like the Gunner crew from the Slave 1 expansion, and Marksmanship from the Core set, and Push the Limits from the Imperial Aces expansion. Then I try to fit in 2 ships with him, 2 X-Wings, or possibly an X-Wing and an A-Wing if I went hog wild on upgrades for Han.

Bear in mind I am also fairly new to the game, but the above is back by what play I've had and a fair bit of research.

The Falcon is indeed a great ship with which to get started! I'd recommend picking Chewie; he's probably the single most durable ship in the game and very forgiving especially with that 360 turret.

One point of caution though! Manouvering, defensive/offensive unit positioning and working an enemy into your firing arcs are huge aspects of the game. For Interceptors, Tie Fighters and many other ships, these are the key components of competitive gaming. You wouldn't stand a chance if you don't practice those elements.

They are also where you'll find the most challenge, the greatest rewards and have the most fun with the game. If you only use a falcon-themed 'super-list' right from the off, you may get way too used to having a super-durable unit flying around with a 'can't miss' Han/Gunner-ed up 360 turret that, frankly, takes some of the skill and fun out of the game.

You need to get the basics down, so I would recommend taking the falcon AFTER you've got used to the mechanics of the game. It's certainly true that there is no list you can rely upon for a competitive edge if you don't know what you're doing in tourney play; the veterans will bring out all kinds of action combos and fancy-flying tricks and they'll have seen the classic net-lists and know how to shut them down. You need to know what tricks and tactics they're going to use, and the best way is to practice the basics yourself.

A classic starter list would be a Wedge/Biggs/Luke combo or XXBB. You can chuck on a lot of upgrades on the first and it teaches you how to fly in formation (to use Biggs' ability). You also get to see the advantage of having higher Pilot skills, get used to using some unique pilot abilities and get to really know the X-wing which is still a very popular and customisable ship. The second list gives you a bundle of ships so you have some redundancy and can cover plenty of the board, and you get used to B-Wings which are likley the most popular rebel ship around, and you have to rely on the basic strengths and abilities of the ships without resort to as many fancy upgrades and 'crutches'. Give the TIE swarm a go (you're very likely to face a swarm or mini-swarm at some point) and then you'll have a very good understanding of the basics of the game.

Of course, if you want to do things in a less procedural manner, chuck together a list with the most fun-sounding pilots and upgrades and put it on here for us to critique!

Hydraface has some great points, but I have one minor disagreement. While you wont leran arcs and positioning in quite the same way as some lists when you are using the Falcon, you still get to practice it. If you don't fly your escorts well, they can get blown right out the game early, and you will be at a disadvantage. I actually found the Chewie build to be good for learning those, as it still stung when I misflew an escort, but Chewie meant I still had game.

The swarm and formation bits are right on. The falcon precludes any ability to learn this, generally.

2 core sets are the way to go. It also helps if you loose a turn template or something, and you get the most value for price to model.

I would say the X-Wing and Tie-Fighter Expansion gives you some real good pilots along with another Tie and X-wing which are the staple fighters. I have seen 4 X-wing squads and even an 8 tie squad so you could never have too many tie fighters.

The big bad ships known as the Millennium Falcon and Slave 1 can give you allot of flexibility and some tanky ships but they tend to get focused down. However the modification upgrades that come with each ship can be applied to any fighter if you are looking to pad those 1 or 2 points in a list that is stuck at 96-99 points.

All other ships seemed to be utility ships as in they are there for a specific purpose to some strategy. Imperial aces does give you allot of flexibility with 2 push the limits, also an a-wing pack gives you another push the limits.

I have seen allot of B-Wing squadrons there because it is hard to argue with 3 firepower and 5 shields. They tend to be tougher than Tie Bombers who are tough as far as Imperial ships go but are soft and squishy with no shields and only 2 agility. We will see how the new imperial ships with their shields and cloaking devices go.

I would tell you 1 of each and find what you like. The order for me would be,

Start with 2 core set

If imperial

1- Phantom

1- Shuttle

1- Imp Aces

1- bomber

1- Defender

1- Firespray

1- Advance

1- Intercepter

1- Tie fighter

Rebels

1-B

1-E (only for advance sensors)

1-X

1- Falcon

1-Y

1-A

1-Z

1-Hwk

Then move onto 2 more of each small and 1 of each big. After that the transport and the cr followed by preorder of 2 boxes of rebel aces, 2 YT 2400 and 1 Dec

It's like 200 for one of each ship and 27 for a core set. 227total for everything at min market.

^ Yes, so that's why I need to choose carefully which ships I buy.

Here you go (base off min market)

55.14 for 2 core sets

19.98 for 2 Bwings

19.98 for 2 ewings

Total 39.96

19.99 for Imp aces

9.99 for 1 phantom

9.99 for 1 defender

9.99 for 1 tie fighter

Total 49.96

Grand total 145.06

2 b-wings and 2 x-wings are very strong. The e-wings provide adv sensors and are worth the cost of the buy.

5 ties and 1 defender is a great build. And the phantom just wrecks people (again you need an e-wing) the Royal guards are beast and give you a lot of upgrades.

Overall 9 imp ships and 6 rebels, very nice. ( if needed drop a core set and your closure to 120)

I take back what I said buy

7 z95

6 Tie fighters

1 core

You can run slap fights all night long.

Which, if any, of the newer ships (Wave 4 on) should I get?

Which, if any, of the newer ships (Wave 4 on) should I get?

Honestly, all of them. The E-Wing comes with some great upgrades, even if you don't want to fly the ship. Z-95s will be go-to Rebel filler for the foreseeable future. Both the Defender and Phantom are breaking the mold on vassal with their maneuverability.

What I think I might buy (please critique and recommend additional ships I should get):

2 Cores ($60)

1 Millennium Falcon ($20ish)

1 X-Wing Expansion ($15)

1 TIE Fighter Expansion ($15)

Total: $110

Possible Builds:

Rebel:

Chewie/Han + 2 Xs

3 Xs (the Wedge, Luke, Biggs build)

Empire:

5 TIEs (with one Howlrunner from the TIE Fighter Expansion)

Potential Additional Purchases:
Slave I (Firespray)

B-Wing Fighters

Ships I don't think I will get for now (read bad reviews about them elsewhere):

Y-Wing

Rebel Transport

Tantive IV (for regular play, I understand it's good for scenarios)

Lambda Shuttle

TIE Advanced (good for Vader but not much else)

HWK