I've recently gotten into X-wing and am really enjoying it (maybe a little to much). So far the games have all been dog fighting which is a lot of fun, but I am itching for more. Currently, I have the starter set and then one additional x-wing and two tie fighters.

I'd like to keep things balanced as we expand the fleet but I do want to add some missions and such. As much as I would like to pick up the Falcon, I imagine it would throw the balance far to the rebels. Would the lambda shuttle be good to add? Maybe an A-wing or E as well? Also, in what situations do the bombers like the Y-wing, B-wing and tie bomber work well?

Thanks

If you already have two X-Wings, one Falcon will easily fill up a 100 point list. Don't be afraid to go with your gut; there's always time to augment your collection later.

Well, the Falcon is a good purchase because, as mentioned, it, combined with your two x-wings, already makes a nice tournament-grade list and it's balanced as long as you counterweight it with a Decimator and an Interceptor! In a thread I started there was a nice empire list that I had lots of fun with:

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (46)
Rebel Captive (3)
Intelligence Agent (1)

Turr Phennir (25)
Veteran Instincts (1)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 100

Not an ultra-competitive list, but still easy to fly and learn maneuvering on big vehicles (decimator), TIEs with their barrel rolls that sometimes make the game for you and very maneuverable, fast ace with some neat tricks (Turr in a TIE Interceptor), so you get to practice it all and it's simple enough for you to figure it out properly after a couple games!

The biggest pro of this list is that all those miniatures look awesome both on the table and on your shelf..

As for Lambda.. it's extremely hard to fly, I have one, tried it, it's terrible for new players.

The Falcon is an excellent choice as it has an important upgrade that you'll find handy as you build your fleets .

Engine upgrade

Cheers and Welcome aboard!

Sounds like the Falcon may be a good addition then (and it might get me the imperial ships back from my son). What would balance it out for the empire? Maybe a couple of tie/interceptors, perhaps the imperial aces?

Unfortunately, there really isn't a simple answer to that. List parity is a difficult proposition between the factions, especially for a beginner with a fledgling collection. If I understand you correctly, and you already own 4 TIE fighters, then the simple answer would be to just pick up another core set. It's a bargain for all the items you get, and a 6 TIE swarm is a fairly competent list. The only problems I foresee are that it might be too good against the Falcon, and the fact that it requires just a bit more skill to pilot. So, I'll give you the typical answer to your question: buy what you want, try as many different ships as you can afford, and once you start to get a feel for how the different ships operate you can begin to make up your own mind.

Eh, Falcon is a way but I wonder if you wouldn't be better off with the YT-2400

I personally find I more enjoyable (and I ******* hate turrets, so that's a feat) because of the large ship barrel-roll and the cannon slot, but it's also great for newer players because Dash's maneuvering is very forgiving and the expansion is already packed with very effective cards whereas the Falcon heavily skews future purchases towards ******* goldenrod

The easiest way to expand imperials would be ace + mini-swarm, an incredibly solid list type that doesn't require the purchasing of too many ships. You have some options here, but even post-errata the phantom will most definitely be the easiest to utilize (2 tie fighter expansions, 1 Phantom expansion for phantom + 4 ties). Soontir's also getting very popular recently, but you'll have to find another source of PTL (A-wing expansion, imperial aces), most likely the Starviper for auto-thrusters, and another tie fighter expansion (soontir + 5 ties).