In a month I will be flying to visit some friends and plan to introduce them to x-wing. Since I'm flying I don't plan to bring all my minis so I was going to create a couple prebuilt squads. I will have anywhere between 2 to 4 people playing the game over the weekend. My idea is to have two rebel and two imperial squads of about 55ish points each. So we could play small 1 vs 1 games or a bigger 2 vs 2 game.

I have 2x core, 1x wave 1, 1x wave 2, and 1x imp aces.

I was thinking Han with marksmanship & gunner as one unit. Wedge/r2d2 and RedSqd/r2 for the second unit.

Vader with squadleader and a couple TIEs.

Howlerunner with swarm tactics and a couple TIEs (probably some named ones).

Do you guys see any glaring problems with these squads? Not sure how well they'd play at the 1vs1 level.

One of the guys just came for a visit and we started basic and added stuff after each game. He said he was much happier once there were asteroids and a couple named pilots. So I'm planning to use 2-3 asteroids, at least 1 named pilot per mini-squad, and full rules.

Those squads sound pretty good for starter squads.

Can anybody think of some basic mini squads (55-60 points) using some of the other wave 1 and 2 ships?

So far these squads introduce x-wing, tie fighter, Vader, large ship, crew, and turret. I don't think you can use a support ship in a small intro squad. Any fun but not overly complex list would be great. Although maybe I should see how much space my first lists will take to pack first.

I'd consider Dutch with an Ion Turret and just about any flavor of Interceptor would be good too. Otherwise pretty solid intro squads

My thought would be to make a couple 50 point "squads" that could combine ships for a 100 point squadron.

I kind of like the matchup pairing a 50 point Chewbacca + Gunner + other vs. three TIEs. Some will complain that Chewie w/ Gunner is "easy" to play as you get to ignore critical and don't need to work so hard to line up firing arcs but that is precisely WHY you use it; just about anyone can use it with some level of success and that good starting experience could carry them through later disappointments.

Complementing a Falcon is pretty easy with two other Rebel Fighters and when it's time to play 100 points you could shift some points around if you want to change things up a little but keep using the same models.

For the Empire you might like to try some of these at 50 points:

Royal Guard + PtL (x2) [a number of other two Interceptor builds could work]

Howlrunner/Backstabber/DarkCurse

AP (x2) + Turr or Jax

AP (x2), OSP (x2) [or just APx4]

Firespray: Bounty Hunter with Rebel Captive or Recon Specialist

TIE Intercepter: Saber Squadron with Push the Limit

60 Pts.

2x TIE Intercepter: Royal Guard Pilot with Push the Limit, Targeting Computer, Hull Upgrade

60 Pts.

TIE Intercepter: Saber Squadron with Push the Limit

TIE Intercepter: Royal Guard Pilot with Push the Limit

I just do what the rulebook recommends as the express version of the game, with a Rookie on one side and an Academy + Obsidian as the other. Teach them to move on turn one. On turn two, explain actions and colored maneuvers. By now, you're probably in combat range so you can start shooting/defending. By now they've got the basics

I started with the basic out of the book setup. I had two buddies playing each other and I was teaching. Before it was over they wanted to add range modifications and crits. I showed them the Falcon and the response was "lets attack that". So I gave them each an academy and obsidian against a barebones Han. They had fun at that but the guy who played rebels first wanted his shields back so I gave him wedge and red against the same tie setup next. once we were setup they looked at the table and said it seemed like something was missing. I dropped 3 asteroids on the table and they said awesome.

The feedback I got from them was to start with a named guy each and at least a few asteroids and range and crit rules for the first game and then into full rules. Plus they loved shooting at Han. This is why I decided to set the mini squad point at a HSF build level. Plus that worked out to 2/3 of a standard squad and seemed like a good start point.

I'm going to demo the game tonight with these 60 point squads:

Luke Skywalker + R2-D2 + Flechette Torpedoes

Red Squadron Pilot + R5 Astromech + Flechette Torpedoes

Darth Vader + Predator + Concussion Missiles

2x Academy Pilot

This makes it easy to demo for up to four players at a time (with one player controlling both Academy Pilots), with me as referee. Unique pilots and no-names are represented. A sampling of upgrades will give players an idea of how the ships are customizable, and these are pretty easy upgrades to use and remember. We'll use the standard asteroid placement rules and tournament initiative (flip a coin).*

For a nearly-instant setup, I've assembled all of the ships and put all of the relevant tokens in two little ziplock bags. It should take no more than a minute to get everything in place, including the game mat.

*Hey, there's an idea for a tournament prize: a coin with the Alliance symbol on one side and the Empire symbol on the other.

I'd consider Dutch with an Ion Turret and just about any flavor of Interceptor would be good too. Otherwise pretty solid intro squads

I'd advise against using ion weapons in a demo, since having control of a ship that can't act is just going to discourage a new player.

So far the builds I'm playing around with are the following:

Han with Marksmanship and Gunner and title (55pts)

Wedge/r2d2 and RedSqd/R2 (57pts)

Vader with squad leader. BlackSqd pilot. Academy Pilot. (57pts)

Howlrunner with swarm tactics and hull. Dark Curse. Night Beast with hull (57pts)

I still have room in my travel case so I was thinking of making up one more squad for each side out of the ships I have. I don't have room for either the shuttle or slave. So that leaves 3x interceptors, a bomber, a-wing, b-wing, and y-wing (i don't feel like bringing the hwk). I'm not sure what to build out of this. I was thinking maybe these:

Fel/PTL and Phennir/PTL (58pts)

Not really sure about the rebel list. Maybe an a-wing and b-wing squad. I don't really want to use any turrets aside from the falcon.

Anybody have any thoughts or criticisms?

No comments? I think my third Imperial mini squad is fine but not sure what to do for rebels. I just noticed that a Gold Y, Prototype A, and Blue B equals 57 points. Not sure how it would work but it would show the guys the ships and dials.