So, I took the plunge with this. I have already played a few games, and am more into Star Trek Attacking Wing, but I love sci-fi, the flightpath system, and not having to retain more info from various game systems.

I'm starting with the rebels, I have so far gotten: Headhunter, E Wing, the Hawk (whatever the proper name is, couldn't be bothered calling it the proper name, even though I do realise by the time I finish typing this deliberately ironic and overlong sentence with bad grammer that I could have already looked it up and remembered the correct name, ce la vie), and the A wing (love these little ships!).

I know very little about the game in the wider sense, I have only played games to learn the that were a little basic. If anyone can fill me in or provide info that would be great: builds, meta, tactics, pitfalls to avoid with purchases, etc.

Right now I am eyeing up my next purchase (roll on payday, Friday): starter set, a pack of dice, a B-wing and an A-Wing. I won't be getting the Millenium Falcon, Y Wing, or X Wing packs as they are out of stock from where I will be buying them. That's just the idea for now, depending on the advice I get I might alter what I get.

I'm also tempted to get some of the differently coloured flight stands/bases that you can get as well as doing alternative schemes on some of the ships.

Thanks in advance

I know very little about the game in the wider sense, I have only played games to learn the that were a little basic. If anyone can fill me in or provide info that would be great: builds, meta, tactics, pitfalls to avoid with purchases, etc.

Welcome to the X-Wing Family. There is so much information to cover with just this little sniping. We are in the mist of exploring the Newly released Wave 4 ships, so much of this is in flux. For a look at the Meta and Builds, look for a thread called regional results. This thread being run my community member MajorJuggler, is collecting all the results for the regional tournament season. There are only a few weeks remaining for regionals before nationals takes place.

As far as what to buy next after getting a core set is always another core set! You want the dice and ships.

Thanks!

Regional results, got it. I just ordered a starter set and a pack of dice, not sure I want a second starter, as I did that with Star Trek (bought two starters), and am happy with that because you can't by the dice seperate for that game.

I'm gonna try and get a couple of games in and then attempt a proper list for a 100 point local tournament in the next couple of weeks.

Well, it will be hard to make any meta based recommendations with your limited selection, but I can share a list with you that I used recently and was very impressed by:

19 Airen Cracken

2 Swarm Tactics

25 Biggs Darklighter

32 Etahn A'baht

22 Blue Squadron Pilot

You should already have (or be getting) everything on this list except Swarm Tactics, which comes with the TIE expansion. Since that wasn't on your no-buy list I can only assume you have ready access to it.

If you can wait, hold off on the B-Wing and A-Wing and get them when "Rebel Aces" comes out in the next month or so. "Rebel Aces" includes both a B-Wing and an A-Wing (with interesting paint jobs) and some great cards (e.g. Chaardan Refit for the A-Wing) and is no more expensive than buying the two ships separately. ($15 per ship x 2 = $30 vs. $30 for the "Rebel Aces" set)

Another option, if you're willing to grab a second B-wing, would be:

24 Dagger Squadron Pilot

2 Fire Control System

24 Dagger Squadron Pilot

2 Fire Control System

25 Biggs Darklighter

19 Green Squadron Pilot

3 Push the Limit

B-wings bring the hurt, Biggs grants them some extra HP, and the A-wing runs around the flanks making a nuisance of itself.

If you can wait, hold off on the B-Wing and A-Wing and get them when "Rebel Aces" comes out in the next month or so. "Rebel Aces" includes both a B-Wing and an A-Wing (with interesting paint jobs) and some great cards (e.g. Chaardan Refit for the A-Wing) and is no more expensive than buying the two ships separately. ($15 per ship x 2 = $30 vs. $30 for the "Rebel Aces" set)

Whoa, slow your roll there chief. A month is still a bit optimistic for Rebel Aces, and there's nothing wrong with buying the regular expansions now and picking up Aces later.

Welcome! Welcome!

The YT-1300 is a very good ship. That aside it is also the only source for some very good upgrades.

But with what you have/plan I'd try:

Blount with Ion Missiles.

Biggs.

Ibti

Knave Squadron

But downside is you have alphabet soup and a bunch of different maneuver dials to learn.

Hi guys,

Thanks for the list suggestions and thoughts, I appreciate it. It has given me a lot to think about. I need to give the cards a serious read over and gain a better depth of understanding of what your telling me.

My starter and dice was shipped out today from the UK, so should arrive by Friday, fingers crossed.

The second starter is still the "better" way to get the extra dice you'll need. You also get an extra damage deck (in tournaments play each side is supposed to supply its own) which is handy for a number of reason (DO NOT MIX THEM!) An extra set of templates means you have spares should something unfortunate happen. And finally the three ships you get are pretty darn good and actually some that having multiples of is a good thing. There are so many squadrons that use at least two X-Wing and often three that they are almost never a waste; for the TIE Fighters you may see EIGHT fielded at a time and it is so cheap, but "good", that you'll often see three to five used in supporting roles.

If you can wait, hold off on the B-Wing and A-Wing and get them when "Rebel Aces" comes out in the next month or so. "Rebel Aces" includes both a B-Wing and an A-Wing (with interesting paint jobs) and some great cards (e.g. Chaardan Refit for the A-Wing) and is no more expensive than buying the two ships separately. ($15 per ship x 2 = $30 vs. $30 for the "Rebel Aces" set)

As great as the Rebel Aces pack will be I believe you REALLY want to have an A-Wing and B-Wing expansion before you even get Aces. From what I've seen is sure looks like RAces will have TWO upgrade cards but only one model to put them on so having the expansions gives you something to use the "extra" cards on.

You will be glad you have an extra damage deck the first time you realize that some of your cards must have gotten mixed into the deck of one of your regular opponents.

I realized a few weeks back that I'd apparently been playing a 32-card deck for who-knows-how-long. One of my Stunned Pilot cards got mixed in with someone else, who was unknowingly playing with a 34-card deck.

I would strongly advise getting a second starter and an X-wing expansion, then practice with the squad known as Three Amigos:

Wedge Antilles

Luke Skywalker
Biggs Darklighter

Recommended upgrades: R2 Astromech and Push the Limit on Wedge, Draw Their Fire and R2-D2 on Luke, R2-F2 and Stealth Device on Biggs (you'll have to proxy Stealth Device and Draw Their Fire until you can get a Slave I and Millennium Falcon, respectively).

The X-wing is one of the most well-balanced ships in the game and is a joy to fly, but you need to practice maneuvering with it so you know what it's capable of and what it's weak against. Keep flying it until you know it like the back of your hand, then branch out into other ship types. The reason you want to start with the X-wing is because it's very forgiving, making it easy to get used to maneuvering and how ships interact with each other in this game (FYI, very different from how Star Trek works).

Speaking of maneuvering, there are a few things you need to know:

A ship's base is exactly the same length as the forward 1 template, which is very handy to know when you're planning maneuvering. You can use this knowledge to guesstimate how far you'll end up. Large ship bases are 2-forward long, which in fact means that they are faster move-for-move than small ships.

When you have ships in formation (i.e., side-by-side or arranged in a box), you can use the same speed for a turn maneuver, but you have to stagger banking maneuvers. What I mean by that is when you are trying to bank two ships that are next to each other, the one on the *inside* of the turn needs to move slower than the one on the outside of the turn by one speed level. A ship on the inside banking at speed-2 necessitates that the ship on the outside bank at speed-3. If you don't do this, you will collide.

Practice, practice, practice.

Along those lines, practice formation flying. It is a VERY important skill if you're an Imperial player, but the Rebel players need to know this as well. If you don't fly in formation, then it's hard to get all your ships to focus fire on a target.

When firing on another ship, don't ever ignore a ship just because it's at range-3. You might just hit him if you fire on him. I was once completely blown away by Rookie X-wings at range three in one shot when flying a Stealth Device-equipped, damage-free TIE Interceptor! Through an asteroid!

Don't be afraid to stress yourself to set up a good shot. It sounds like a bad thing to gain stress, but it can be advantageous in some circumstances.

Don't ignore a ship just because you don't think you'll like it. Try them all out and see what they can do and what they can't. All ships have a purpose, from the ordinance capacity of the TIE Bomber to the turret-mounting capability of the Y-wing. In fact, I ignored the Y-wing for a while, but then I decided to try it more often and was surprised to discover a ship that lasted a long time and caused plenty of chaos with its ion cannon. On the flip-side, don't assume that just because you like a ship that it doesn't have a weakness. All ships in this game have a weakness of some kind.

Don't just set up ships randomly or in a line in the staging area. This will make it harder to get into formations, which allow focus firing, so group ships together according to their abilities. Things like having a group of TIE Fighters surrounding Howlrunner to take advantage of her ability to give out a single die reroll to an infinite number of ships, or Biggs and his ability to force enemy fighters to fire at him. The exception to this are ships which are more maneuverable being flown with ships that are slower, like the TIE Interceptor or A-wing. Shackling them to ships like TIE Bombers or Y-wings will negate their usefulness.

Never forget abilities and upgrades. I know this sounds like obvious advice, but it happens to the best of us. This is also the reason why you don't want to put more than one or two upgrades on a ship, unless you have a good reason for it. For instance, in larger games Kyle Katarn+Recon Specialist+Blaster Turret+Moldy Crow is a good support ship, because not only can it pass of a lot of Focus tokens, but it has a pile of them by the endgame and can fire Blaster Turret with a Target Lock+Focus every time.

Don't take a bunch of named pilots every time. I know the squad I recommended has all named pilots, but there's something to be said for having one or two ships with named pilots and then filling in the rest of the list with vanilla pilots. You can squeeze an extra set of guns on the table this way, which is never a bad thing (unless you decide for some ungodly reason to use the Hawk as your extra gun).

When in doubt, Focus. Focus is the most versatile action in the game and is the reason why you have pilots like Kyle Katarn and Garven Dreis. You can use it on attack or defense, and it increases your hit percentage from %50 to %75 instantly. Target Lock works great with this because if you roll and spend your Target Lock to re-roll all non-hits, you can then spend your Focus on the remaining non-hits afterward and in most circumstances get all hits. Note that this works best on offensive ships like the X-wing or TIE Interceptor. Ships with 2 attack dice do okay with this, but ships with one attack die never need that much boost, especially since they have very little damage potential in the first place. Also, extra Focus always trumps extra attack dice unless you can guarantee Focus amd/or Target Lock. Jan Ors plus Garven Dreis or Kyle Katarn with Wedge Antilles is a very offensive list (though it's weak defensively, so be careful with this one).

Hi guys,

Sorry for the late reply. Been quite busy lately. Got a couple of games in, did some painting to customise a couple of my ships, and am still tinkering about with list building.

@ StephenO

I’ll get the other starter at some stage but I have priorities with other games now. That and I want the Outrider, cos Shadows of the Empire rocked. LEE-BO!

I’ll be careful with the damage decks when I get them. Ah yes, I’ve heard of the Thai Fighter swarm horde.

I don’t have a B Wing yet but played twice with cheap A Wings and I love the manoeuvrable little guys. I think I’ll paint a yellow beak on the front of my one as a campaign badge, as it survived some amount of firepower in my last game.

@ PhantomFO

That’s good advice, thanks J

@ MilleniumFalsehood

Woo, that is one loooong post, thanks for all the info and effort. Just skimming it real quick, I’d say half it won’t make any sense unless I have particular cards out in front of me.

I only have one x wing right now, so can’t do a 3 amigos list.

Thanks for the manoeuvring tips, I was told that range 1 thing before but didn’t realise it to be the case with the large ship and 2s. With the staggered movement I made a massive screw up last game and I kept stepping on my own toes and missing actions. Thanks for the tips with the templates, that’s good advice!

I’ll give the rest of your post a proper read later to get a more in-depth understanding of it, but the advice on focus I took on board for my previous game. If in doubt focus! J