On Thursday I'm going to a game night at my newly opened local game store - and I've booked an X-wing table to run for the evening.

This will actually be the first time I've attended anything like this, until now I've only played with friends and acquaintances.

I'm pretty much exclusively a Rebel player and I've put together a few lists to try out, but it occurs to me that if I'm going to practice what I preach about no mirror faction games (see: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/125870-3-faction-no-mirror-match-tournament/ ), then I'm really going to have to come up with an Imperial list or two just in case I come up against any other Rebel only players.

Can anyone recommend any simple but effective Imperial lists that would be good for a player who's new to the Imperial side? (check my sig for what's in the collection)

Also - are there any unwritten rules of game night etiquette that I'd need to keep in mind ?

I'd say that you'd want to use the Firespray or the Defenders as the center of your list, they're the most similar to rebel ships, so you won't have to worry as much about figuring them out, and then you can slowly figure out other ways to fly by branching out from there. Coming from a fellow "both sides, but usually rebels" player.

I would take the chance to enjoy the Phantom. Whisper, ACD, Vi and a group of Academy Pilots led by Howlrunner is pretty simple.

yeah howlrunner lead mini swarm is powerful, thematic and fun.

The three tie, three interceptor list is pretty solid - very maneuverable, lots of guns, and much flexibility on arranging your pilot skill levels.

That being said, I think a Defender is a really solid choice for a mostly-Rebel player. I know it's my favorite Imperial ship to fly.

Mercenary with recon specialist and two onyx defenders, plenty of shields and hull and the ships all work well together thanks to the rear arc and white K turn.

Why fly something similar to rebels? You always play rebels, this is an informal friendly night, if you're going to be forced into a situation you wouldn't normally be in (I.e. Playing imperials) then embrace the situation and enjoy the deifderent experience they have to offer! So what if you make some mistakes. You might just learn a thing or two and have fun doing it.

When I first got into this game I only had access to limited ships due to stock issues but I still had a blast running the following

Vader

Howlrunner

Academy x 4

That leaves you 9 points for upgrades, which can also be used to upgrade those academies to named pilots of you like. It's thematic and hard not to get into the spirit of the game when you're flying the dark lord and his every present accompaniment of disposable riff-Raff.

If you really hate the thought of the advance dispute the awesome-cool factor of flying vader, switch him out for soontir fell instead. They fulfil the same roll really.

Go nuts and have fun. And always find having the imperial march on your phone drastically improves favour with the dice gods when playing this list of you play it in the combat phase

I'd fly tie fighters, maybe interceptors and for recognizability Darth Vader.

Vader

Howlrunner

Academy x 4

I always flew:

Vader

Backstabber

Dark Curse

3 Acedemy Ties

That gives you 3 pts for a good upgrade on Vader.

The strategy is to have Dark Curse and regular Ties be the main force to occupy their attention. Vader and Backstabber are the flankers. Try to get the first pass to have just Dark Curse in range. They will forget about not using Focus or TL (hopefully). Then you can sneak in the sides with the flankers. I've won several tournaments in Wave 1 and 2 with this list and strategy. If you don't want to give Vader a 3 pt EPT, you can always bump some Academies up.

Firespray

Howelrunner

Fill in the rest of your points with Academy Pilots.

= 100 Points

Anybody?

Firespray (bounty hunter+recon specialist)

4x Bomber (scimitar)

100 pts.

Bomber (jonus+predator) or (jonus+swarm tactics+seismic charge)

2x Defender (delta+HLC)

99 or 100 pts.

Firespray (krassis+HLC+recon Spec)

Tie Fighter (howlrunner+PTL)

3x Academy pilot

100 pts.

If you are setting up two lists meant to demo and teach the game, I'd stay away from anything with many upgrades as well as anything that increases the number of rules being used. Since you are building both lists you can make sure that there's no kryptonite in either list. You also want to stick with iconic ships and pilots when you can.

With that in mind I'd avoid large base ships and Phantoms, since those have some different rules around them. On the rebel side I'd only use X, Y, A, and B-Wings to build the lists and on the Imperial side I'd stick to TIE Fighters, Advanced, Interceptors, and maybe Bombers. Luke and Vader are mandatory for a demo game.

For the Imperials:

Vader w/Swarm Tactics and Proton Rocket

Royal Guard w/PTL

Backstabber

2 X AP

Rebels:

Luke w/R2-D2 and Predator

Gold Squad w/Ion Cannon Turret

2x Rookies

Those are a couple of really fluffy lists that will let you introduce all of the common types of actions, secondary weapons, and a couple of pilot abilities and upgrades without anything that is too crazy for a newish player to try to keep track of every round.

Here's a link to an article I wrote about hosting demonstration games.

http://www.themetalbikini.com/2014/05/hosting-demo-game-by-cliff.html