Hello fellow commanders,

I just watched videos upon videos of reviews and gameplay for X-Wing. My only question and concern is:

What should I buy? How many of each preferred? Possible tactics for ensuring victory in an all out dogfight?

I understand there may be a forum already posted with this information, but I am running on redbull and can't possible read everything. So please give me your best insight for I am about to fully involve myself in the X-Wing Universe!

Hi there.

First off, buy a core set.

Then buy a second one.

Then buy four of each expansion.

Then file for bankruptcy.

That's the short answer.

But really: core set first and then slowly expand from there. A second core set is a good buy because it will not only give you two more TIE's to get you closer to a swarm, and a second X-Wing, it will also get you more templates, dice and another damage deck, all of which will come in handy and the dice are really a necessity.

Then look at a site such as http://xwing-miniatures.wikia.com/wiki/X-Wing_Miniatures_Wiki which has a separate page for all released expansions and what they ship with in the manner of upgrades so you can decide where you want to branch into.

Upcoming releases are Rebel Aces which is an expansion pack of 1 A-Wing and 1 B-Wing, so don't buy too heavily into single expansions just yet. Next year a third faction will be released but that's still a long ways off.

Buy one Advanced for Vader, more only if you are daring or foolhardy.

Will you be providing for your opponents as well or will they use their own ships?

It depends on your budget.

One or two starter sets is a good start. Then the x-wing and TIE Fighter. This gives you all pilots for those ships, and a few upgrades to use.

From here start by choosing a ship you want and get 2. Having 2 of each ship gives you options when buimding squads.

A few ships you can start out with only one. HWK -290 and large ships is less common in multiples in standard 100 points.

There are also ace packs that can bomster a single expansion, and give you more upgrades.

In the end you probably will end up with at least 2 of each small ship and by then you havw a food idea of what you want more.

Getting two core sets is good cause it gives you enough dice to throw in all but the most extreme cases, gives you two x-wings and 4 tie fighters.

Beyond that there is no singly "Winning" team. A lot comes down to play style and preferences and there is a lot of rock, paper scissors going on right now.

I went Imperial Heavy at first and found I could field some pretty decent squads with 2 core sets, Imperial Aces and one phantom and one defender. I eventually paired up the Phantom and Defender. Now I'm buying way too many rebel ships, since they seem to offer a much larger swing in play style.

That being said, every time I've bought a single of a ship, I end up wanting/buying a pair for it, either to get 2 of the cards for another team idea or just cause I found most things fly better in wings. Exceptions are large ships and maybe the Defender (I don't think you can get a solid two defender team, but I paired it up for the upgrade cards.)

I do note that some of the ships like the A-wing or Z-95s and the basic tie fighter, are often run in teams of 3- 4 so that may be a ship to look into getting more of as you set expands.

With all that said, I'd say use the wiki to see the upgrade cards, movement dials and abilities of the ships, then expand your ships one or two at a time as your experience with the game grows.

As has already been said, the best option from a gaming perspective is to buy two cores first. However, if money is an issue, there is nothing wrong with 1 Core + Favourite Ship, just be aware that if your favourite ship is Rebel, you are really going to struggle to have balanced games with only two TIEs.

The best way to learn what's best isn't to ask about it on the Internet, it's to actually play and see what about the game you enjoy the most. The core set is a very good way of finding out if you prefer swarms of expendable ships, or ships you customise and beef up.

X-Wings are great all around ships, so you can determine what you like to fly that way. Like, if you would happily trade manoeuvrability for toughness or vice versa, you can go from there.

B-Wings are good tanks. They don't have much agility but they can take a beating and hand it right back. If you like being the Goliath to their David you want some of these.

A-Wings and Interceptors are crazy space ninjas, if you like staying just out of reach you'll want these. Go for the Imperial Aces set if you want Interceptors.

Hello fellow commanders,

I just watched videos upon videos of reviews and gameplay for X-Wing. My only question and concern is:

What should I buy? How many of each preferred? Possible tactics for ensuring victory in an all out dogfight?

I understand there may be a forum already posted with this information, but I am running on redbull and can't possible read everything. So please give me your best insight for I am about to fully involve myself in the X-Wing Universe!

ONE core set is a given.

After that, it all really depends on how you want to play the game. Rebels are slower, less maneuverable, but are generally tougher with their shields. Imperials are faster, more agile (nearly everyone can barrel-roll), but only a few ships have shields.

The best advice I can give you is learn how to play the game, learn how the mechanics interact with each other. Then decide how you want to proceed. Once you understand the stats and abilities, have a look at THIS PAGE and check out what ships catch your fancy either with their stats or with their abilities. Then see if you can borrow a ship or two for a few games. Proxy if you must. See how it plays out in the table vs. various list types. Most of the time, things look good on paper but don't really materialize in the gaming table.

Once you have a rough idea of how you want to play, it'll be easier to select ships to complement your play style.

I took the SIMPLER approach though. I bought one of each ship, looked at how they would work, and decided I liked how the Tie Interceptors looked so I started playing with them and got the first shock of my life. In the core set, you get 1 X-Wing and 2 Ties. Jousting 1v2 is okay at this point, but when flying 100pt fights with roughly the same number of ships, well, the Imperials go down really fast so I learned how to arc-dodge, and my learning and buying choice went from there. I have only had to buy a 2nd copy of Imperial Aces (to get 4 Royal Guards and 4 PTLs) and a 2nd copy of the Phantom (to fly both Whisper and Echo at the same time).

Hope that helps!

Follow the link in my signature for a guide to the fundamentals of movement in X-Wing.

I'll second some of the comments already made.
- Core Set is pretty much essential. It's also good value for three models.

- (If you and a friend are getting into the game together, consider getting a core set each and splitting the models between youse)
- Either/Both of the X-Wing/TIE Fighter expansions (these are both great sets for reasons already listed)

- After that it's dependent on your budget and whether you're buying for yourself only, or for yourself and a friend.

I had to buy both fleets because my housemate spent all his money on Warmahordes, so I got two Core sets and went from there.
I play casually and my background is miniatures gaming, so I've tended to buy ships based on how much I like the look of the model, or the characters on the cards.

Um... There is no way to ensure victory. I recommend learning to fly well (an education that will continue for the rest of your life), building squads that include ships and strategies that you feel comfortable flying with, remembering to take actions, and prodigious use of the Force. And please get back to me on how to use it.

Buy 2 core sets, trade the xwings to a friend who also bought 2 core sets. This will give you 8 TIE fighters.

That's all you will ever need

My advice is to buy your heart. Whatever ship you think is the coolest go with that, they are all really cool. (caveat, if your heart says TIE Advanced, just get one, the ship has problems, Vader can be fun, just don't think you can win with one of them.).

I agree with two core sets, but depending on how much you want to spend and at what speed, you may want to put that off until after you have picked up a few additional ships.

A great guy basically sent me this as my starter to the game:

Core set

X-wing

Falcon

Interceptor

Imperial Aces

It gave me 2 Xs and Han to fight 3 Interceptors and 2 Ties. It was a pretty well balanced place for me and a friend to learn how to play both sides. Like Just_Chris, I eventually started buying the game for me and my mates. They all have kids and wives and apparently I was the only one smart enough to realized the financial drain from those decisions.

I bought another Starter for the same reason everyone has said. I now have enough expansions that I can field about 4 very solid lists from both sides, so six of us can play games at the same time. (We have to share the flight markers and damage decks and dice and the Rebels get locked in pretty hard to named pilots as I start getting short on models.) There are enough tokens to choke a horse on, and enough mission gear that you can simulate asteroids.

Here's what I'd suggest, in rough priority order (feel free to pick just one faction; you only need the first three items in each list below to get some viable list options):

2x Core Sets (the second set has $45 worth of models, plus extra dice and templates; I wish I'd done this instead of bought the dice pack). If you're short on cash, you can wait a bit on the second set.

1x TF

1x Imp Aces

1x Firespray (at this point you've got the capability to make some reasonable lists, the rest is gravy)

1x TI

2x TD

2x TB

1x X-Wing

2x B-Wing

1x Falcon (XXBB is a thing, and a falcon in the mix gives you some options)

2x Z-95

1x E-Wing

Really what will happen is that after you've gotten the first couple items on each list you'll know the game well enough to not be overwhelmed by all the stuff you don't have, and can instead pick out what you're interested in experimenting with next.

All of this assumes that you're playing in an environment where you can proxy cards. A squad builder can tell you where to get cards you're missing (I use https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/ for that). Once you want to start playing in tournaments you'll have to pick up enough sets to get the upgrade cards you need (or buy singles from Team Covenant or Ebay).

Note that the TF and XW blisters have different pilot cards from the core set, which is why they're both first on the list of things to pick up (so that you have different options for named pilots).

If you've got a FLGS that has an X-wing night, go there and ask some of your local players. They'll be your primary competition and should give some insight into your local metagame. I'll always suggest two Core sets, if you don't want to build up both Rebel and Imp you can always find someone to trade your leftovers with.