So a lot of my friends are getting into this game now, which is to say, its become a pretty big phenomenon in my gaming group. I like it quite a bit too though I haven't actually bought any miniatures as it seemed silly since all my friends where going nuts. Still I'm finding that the game has grown on me more and more, in particular as player skill at the table improves and the game becomes more challenging and fun but naturally not having access to miniatures and cards I'm at a pretty big disadvantage so I pretty much mostly lose all the time. The players who own the miniatures and have access to all the material clearly have an edge over those that don't.

I have stacked some chips and I'm ready to buy in but advice on the topic of how to start is largely based on early release. I suspect the game has changed a lot (it has changed a lot at our table). I'm seeing a lot of bigger ships being used, a lot of the new stuff E-wings and stuff like that.

In any case, since I'm planning to buy into the game I was wondering if there where any good "do this, don't do that" tips in terms of what to buy first and what to avoid at this stage in the games development (if its different then early stage). I should stress that we don't do tournament style play, so I'm not looking for tournament advice and I need to be able to fly both Imperial and Rebel ships. We typically go between 100-200 points (occasionally we do epic 300 pointers but not so often, so that's not a target) The players in our group tend to do objective based games and they are pretty creative so the usual "the best squad to build is" type probably won't work, I think I need to be a bit flexible. I guess I'm trying to find out if there is something I should be focusing on. I have about 2,000 crowns to spend (Swedish money, about 150 dollars or a couple of million Rubles).

Now the standard advice is buy 2 core packs and I think that this seems like a good idea. 2 X_Wings and 4 Tie Fighters seems like a good base in the game, its a rare game in our group where at least 2 X-Wings or 4 Tie Fighters are not chosen. Is this still a good method?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

Absolutely, go with two core sets; I bought 3 myself. You can't go wrong with Interceptors or Phantoms depending on how and what you want to play. The Firespray is a lot of fun and two are even better. As you can see I lean towards the Imp side of things lol.

2 starters and the TIE fighter and X-wing expansions are still a solid starting point.

A Falcon and a Firespray are next in line.

Avoid the Shuttle, and HWK until you're more familiar with maneuvering

Only buy 1 TIE advanced for Vader, or skip it entirely.

Beyond this, it really comes down to what kind of play-style you prefer.

I recommend reading through this post so you'll know the strengths and weaknesses and roles of the various ships and pilots:

Overview of X-Wing Units

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/109440-overview-of-x-wing-units/?hl=rating

two core sets is great. though, if your friends let you borrow that stuff, you can choose to get 1 instead.

Pick out a few ships you like the most and learn them like the back of your hand. Its so much fun! They'll really feel like your own squadron.

My personal favorite is the Shuttle. And I really want the Tie Defenders. Currently though, I happened to pick up 5 interceptors by chance and i fell in love with them. I wanted to hate them at first cuz theyre theoretically easy to kill, but theyre just so fun and nimble and consistent.

A friend of mine only plays Defenders. When they're flown well, theres no disadvantage at all, they're incredibly scary.

A lot of people like the E-wing too. Maybe try that and the two X's from the Core for now. Or 1 core, 1 xwing exp, and a bwing that makes an incredible trio for rebels.

2 core sets like yout said

Not only for the ships, but nice to have the extra dice

A really good deal when you compare to what it costs to buy the small ships individually.

Then I say a xwing and tie expansion

Firespray

Falcon

Bwing

Interceptor

Id avoid getting a tie advanced or at least until the last ship you buy. Vader is nice but doesn't see the table much

Is nice to have one of each ship if anything for the upgrades

two core sets is great. though, if your friends let you borrow that stuff, you can choose to get 1 instead.

Pick out a few ships you like the most and learn them like the back of your hand. Its so much fun! They'll really feel like your own squadron.

My personal favorite is the Shuttle. And I really want the Tie Defenders. Currently though, I happened to pick up 5 interceptors by chance and i fell in love with them. I wanted to hate them at first cuz theyre theoretically easy to kill, but theyre just so fun and nimble and consistent.

A friend of mine only plays Defenders. When they're flown well, theres no disadvantage at all, they're incredibly scary.

A lot of people like the E-wing too. Maybe try that and the two X's from the Core for now. Or 1 core, 1 xwing exp, and a bwing that makes an incredible trio for rebels.

Your friend has great taste the defender used properly is deadly.

OP just give in and buy everything there's no resisting it the games too much fun

There are no truly terrible ships fly what you like.

2 core sets.

What to do after that depends on how much you want to spend on this game.

If you want to go deluxe, then you can buy both Rebels and Imperials. Otherwise, pick a side and stick with it.

Ships you should get (roughly in order)

Rebel

Falcon

X-Wing

Z-95

B-Wing or E-Wing

Y-Wing

A-Wing

HWK

The upcoming Rebel Aces looks good.

Empire

TIE Interceptor

TIE Fighter

Firespray

TIE Phantom

Lambda Shuttle
TIE Defender

TIE Bomber

TIE Advanced

Go watch a bunch of Youtube videos on that game. There's loads of them. See what you think *you* would like to play with, instead of getting each person's personal viewpoint on what ships are, or are not, any good. It's very personal.

For myself, I own two Falcons, and I think that in all the time that they've been out, I've flown a Falcon maybe 2 or 3 times. Ever. It just isn't that exciting a ship for me. It comes with some fun cards though, so I bought it for them. I also love the HWK-290. One of them is probably in 20% of my squads. And yes, I with with them quite often too. Likewise, I use the TIE Bomber fairly frequently and the Firespray less often.

It comes down to what you like, and how you fly... and yes, how much you can afford.

Good luck!

Cheapest competetive list is Falcon and two core sets. But if you want the best the game has to offer then you need to give in to hate! Join the dark side. The imperials have the best assortment of ships to fit any need after wave 4.

Thanks for all the advice and links, it was extremely helpful.

My initial decision was to buy 2 Core Sets, 1 X-Wing and 1 Tie Fighter. It seemed to me like fundamentally this is a good base for a self contained game and a descent start to a collection. One issue I kind of wasn't expecting to have but it appears I will be having regularly is availability, certain ships simply weren't available unless you go the E-bay route which I rather not, its always a headache and usually more expensive in the end.

I don't think my collection will ever be faction specific, I want this to be a self contained game and collection so that I can pull it out and play it without one side of the collection clearly being better then the other, so Im going to be going for even purchases if that makes sense.

Though I have already discovered that in terms of preference I clearly lean to the good guys (The Empire), so I think for my first round of purchases pick up a Firespray which I assume is balanced out by a Falcon (perhaps not exactly but I realize that Imperial collections tend to be larger then rebels due to point count in most lists) so I will probably buy that.

In terms of balancing out both sides in my collection would it make sense to buy Tie Interceptors and A-Wings to keep things (availability wise) equal?

for Imps Start out with:

2 core sets

1 TIE fighter expansion (for the other pilots)

1 TIE interceptor expansion

1 Slave-1 expansion

1 Imperial Aces expansion

the key point to remember when purchasing two sets (a must - as you have heard), it is vital that you DO NOT mix your damage cards.

They need to remain intact, I'd even suggest getting those little plastic sleeves just for the damage cards. You don't want to mark them.

Happy hunting.

for Imps Start out with:

2 core sets

1 TIE fighter expansion (for the other pilots)

1 TIE interceptor expansion

1 Slave-1 expansion

1 Imperial Aces expansion

That all sounds like good advice,

but I'll add in another thing that I don't think has been mentioned before:

Go play around in a Squadron Builder!

there are great ones online and even a Free Android App that I use alot for messing around with ideas when I have some spare time on the move

You'll get yourself familiar with the upgrades and pilot abilities and it can help greatly with figuring out wich expansions you'd like for the upgrades you like using most

Other then that, watch alot of video's of games and pick the ships YOU think you'll love to fly, if you're friends are that friendly they'll gladly let you borrow some of their stuff to try out and take for a test spin before buying in

That all sounds like good advice,

but I'll add in another thing that I don't think has been mentioned before:

Go play around in a Squadron Builder!

There's this one, run by Voidstate: http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build

and

This one, run by someone else who's name I forget... https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/

Go nuts, and enjoy the game!

If you're having trouble finding some ships Miniature Marketp has everything other then Y-Wing and Wave 2 in stock.

Cool Stuff Inc has everything other then A's and the Falcon in stock.

It was a bit odd however looking at the MM page and seeing a huge add for Frozen dolls listed...

Falcons are apparently really hard to find right now. I wonder why?

/I don't actually

//I know why.

Find a build you like.

Buy accordingly.

Don't like it?

Buy to build your next build.

Other than that, starter sets are worth money. Even the ships that seem bad now, could make a come back with future upgrade cards so really the choice is yours.

Probably the cheapest way into it would be to go buy 2 falcons and just borrow (or proxie) upgrade cards you want to use.

If you go into tournament play however, you'll obviously need to own the actual cards.

Best of luck!

If you're looking to fly Imperials, the quickest way to get a swarm is 2 cores, and a Tie Expansion (or two). From there, the Interceptor is an absolute must as far as I'm concerned, as is the Imperial Aces Expansion (or two if you can afford it).

The Imperial Aces expansion comes with 2 Interceptors, and some must have upgrades for them (Push The Limit, Royal Guard Title, Targeting Computer, Hull Upgrade and Shield Upgrade). You just can't go wrong with this set. You may also want to (you WILL want to) pick up a couple of Tie Bombers eventually. They're tanky (can take a beating), can deal a lot of hurt with their combination of missiles, torpedoes and bombs, and can help flesh out a mini-swarm or a small Interceptor swarm.

I've seen a lot of opponents have to decide which is the bigger threat - the Bomber with a load out of missiles, or that fast, nimble, flanking Interceptor about to come at them from behind.

But, all of that being said, you really can't go wrong with any of the ships - though as some have said, you really only need 1 Advanced (I still don't have one yet, and I don't miss it - yet..)

Thanks for all the advice and links, it was extremely helpful.

My initial decision was to buy 2 Core Sets, 1 X-Wing and 1 Tie Fighter. It seemed to me like fundamentally this is a good base for a self contained game and a descent start to a collection. One issue I kind of wasn't expecting to have but it appears I will be having regularly is availability, certain ships simply weren't available unless you go the E-bay route which I rather not, its always a headache and usually more expensive in the end.

I don't think my collection will ever be faction specific, I want this to be a self contained game and collection so that I can pull it out and play it without one side of the collection clearly being better then the other, so Im going to be going for even purchases if that makes sense.

Though I have already discovered that in terms of preference I clearly lean to the good guys (The Empire), so I think for my first round of purchases pick up a Firespray which I assume is balanced out by a Falcon (perhaps not exactly but I realize that Imperial collections tend to be larger then rebels due to point count in most lists) so I will probably buy that.

In terms of balancing out both sides in my collection would it make sense to buy Tie Interceptors and A-Wings to keep things (availability wise) equal?

The shuttle is getting more interesting options in the near future with two crew and a system. Its a really customizable ship with multiple loadouts.

The firespray is rather customizable too, but tends to reward simply good flying versus good list building. And somehow, the blind spots on that darn thing seem larger than the shuttles. I don't know what it is. Probably that the additional cost on the firespray means i get some twerpy kid (academy tie) to go cover my shuttle, meaning an increase in variable arc power: my moving my other ships around and the extra escort from the 12 point difference means I can focus my other arcs on making a certain area really unviable to move into, then parking the shuttle net to an asteroid and using the asteroid will seriously limit the enemy's ability to move past the shuttle, which means they may have to choose to enter the shuttles' arc. This is a win. As long as the shuttle has a target, its being an incredibly good use of 21-32 points.

In contrast, the firespray works more alone and focuses on using the rear arc. Something I now know I'm terrible at.

Also, feels less customizable to me.

--

I applaud your choice to go both sides =) Hope you and your friends have a lot of fun.

if you get a falcon, you might want to get a defender and a phantom for the imps. This is literally and would be my next choice. Haha, its my next wave of stuff to get when rebel aces comes out, the falcon is back in stock, and hopefully the wave 4 stuff will still be in stock.

awing and interceptor balance out nicely.

I just watched a youtube vid from the UK, some Y-Wings ion cannoned an E-wing off the board.

Don't just go for the hot flashy stuff, some of the older kits still have some real punch to them if used well.

B-Wings always disappear in my timezone. Rare as hen's teeth.

It's great that you want to go both sides, but you should maybe focus on getting a decent collection of ships for one side first and then branch out into the other side when you have a little more money.

Falcons are apparently really hard to find right now. I wonder why?

/I don't actually

//I know why.

Yeah, my friendly local online gamestore told me at the end of June that they were out of stock on the Falcon and their distributors (the two largest in the states) told them they didn't expect any back in-stock until August-September.

I started out (before consulting the forums, mind you) with a core set, that quickly became two, an X and a Y, a TIE and the Advanced. Part of it was that those were the most abundant at the FLGS where I bought the stuff, but the rest of it was that I just enjoyed the Ep. 4 ships.

In hindsight, I'm glad I picked up the Y in my opening purchase, as this rounded out my astromech collection that was available. When your Rebel fleet consists of 3 X-Wings and a Y, the more options to customize your list, the better. In more hindsight, I should have gotten an Interceptor over the Advanced, but I stocked up on those eventually anyway.

The extra core set is good value, but I really don't think it's much of a no brainer or at least immediate purchase anymore. There are so many other ships to fit into lists and try out it's not a bad idea to hold off. If you find you aren't wanting lists that will contain 3-4 X-Wings or 4-5 TIEs it won't hold as much value. You'll likely want a copy of TIE and X-wing expansions for those pilots (and maybe a transport for those X-wing pilots) and your second x-wing and third TIE, so a second core set gives you three and five.