Yesterday we had our first skirmish tourney and I had a blast!

Only 4 people showed up but, apparently there would've a few more people except for schedule problems.

One of our group said he's dropping this game because its too unbalanced. I was wondering if anyone here has experienced this opinion.

I love the squad building aspect of IA, it reminds me of Xwing. Too me half the fun is building a well rounded squad that can compete against even a Vader build.

Anyway thanks for reading. Really looking forward to how far this game goes!

The game is actually reasonably balanced. It's all about match ups and knowing what to do when you match up.

Some builds may face vader and decide they need to get a majority of points via objectives and kill the back up units.

Some builds will face vader and confront him if they have enough pierce or dice removal.

There's a lot of good strategies to hitting down all sorts of builds it's all about finding a build you are comfortable with that you understand your tactics for specific match ups.

Yeah, I'd encourage your friend to give the game a deeper look. It is actually very well balanced.

It comes down to what mission your playing. I really do think its balanced also you need to play with the new command cards since they really help balance the game. Also the starter missions in the core are not the best.

It mainly comes down to experience.

There's ways to game the rules but knowing when to go for the mission objective points and when to go for kills is a difficult thing to decide. I've found it easier to find that line playing Imperials than playing Rebels. I ran a Rebel build in our tourney this week and it worked quite well both sides have strengths it's about knowing how to play around your own weakness and make use of your opponents.

If your group is having trouble handling Vader and some of the Navy units I suggest running against a Rebel build with a lot of Pierce.

I ran:

Luke

Jyn

Mak

E Sabs

E Sab

R Sabs

All who have Pierce

and then one Gideon to give them focus and movement. It worked great for hitting down high health targets and mostly negating their defensive rolls.

It mainly comes down to experience.

There's ways to game the rules but knowing when to go for the mission objective points and when to go for kills is a difficult thing to decide. I've found it easier to find that line playing Imperials than playing Rebels. I ran a Rebel build in our tourney this week and it worked quite well both sides have strengths it's about knowing how to play around your own weakness and make use of your opponents.

If your group is having trouble handling Vader and some of the Navy units I suggest running against a Rebel build with a lot of Pierce.

I ran:

Luke

Jyn

Mak

E Sabs

E Sab

R Sabs

All who have Pierce

and then one Gideon to give them focus and movement. It worked great for hitting down high health targets and mostly negating their defensive rolls.

I tried keeping this build on the down low which worked for a long time and shouldn't of posted it anywhere. I know its a little different than mine but I wanted to try and see how a full on spy build would work.

My only worry is that when the new maps are legal some of them are so large a turn 1 attack can't happen which does bring down the threat level of this build a little.

It mainly comes down to experience.

There's ways to game the rules but knowing when to go for the mission objective points and when to go for kills is a difficult thing to decide. I've found it easier to find that line playing Imperials than playing Rebels. I ran a Rebel build in our tourney this week and it worked quite well both sides have strengths it's about knowing how to play around your own weakness and make use of your opponents.

If your group is having trouble handling Vader and some of the Navy units I suggest running against a Rebel build with a lot of Pierce.

I ran:

Luke

Jyn

Mak

E Sabs

E Sab

R Sabs

All who have Pierce

and then one Gideon to give them focus and movement. It worked great for hitting down high health targets and mostly negating their defensive rolls.

I tried keeping this build on the down low which worked for a long time and shouldn't of posted it anywhere. I know its a little different than mine but I wanted to try and see how a full on spy build would work.

My only worry is that when the new maps are legal some of them are so large a turn 1 attack can't happen which does bring down the threat level of this build a little.

It's not really a secret build, you just grab every units you can with Pierce and swarm vader, the command cards can make things unique but with so few units everyone can build pretty much everything.

Any time you play a game and it feels like there is nothing you can do to stop your opponent I think its unbalanced. Now this is a dice game. You would think it would have the same feel as in X-Wing where even at great odds you can make a come back and still win if the dice swing your way. But I ran into 2 games back to back where there wasn't much I could do to stop my opponent from getting a big advantage early on.

The first build I faced was Vader, 2 non elite royal guards, and a bunch of Officers. My opponent used the officers to move Vader. He basically used Vader to pick up objectives turn them in for a early lead of 20 points. Able to get a few shots at Vader that landed no damage. A reroll and +1 block with royal guard there wasn't anything I could do to stop my opponent from getting 30 points at the start of round 3. It was a joke. Top of that he had killed off 7 points of my army with one shots. Down 37 points at the start of round 3 against an opponent who hasn't taken any damage is a joke.

The Second build. Luke,Gideon, 2xElite Saboteur, Elite Rebel Trooper. Played the Sand people scenario. So my opponent just sat there building up his focuses and not engaging while sitting behind a door. While strategically sound it felt very cheap. I play a lot of X wing. It felt as cheap as someone sitting Lamdas in a corner. Or two falcons facing each other sitting still. Nothing in the rules against playing this way but it is what it is. I will admit a very solid build but seemed very over powered. None hero units getting 3 attack dice with a reroll thanks to Luke is amazing. On top of it Saboteurs just seem to over powered with 2 blast damage for 1 surge. It should have a 2 surge cost in my opinion.

I've read on other forums people stating that Vader and Saboteurs are over powered.

I've read on other forums people stating that Vader and Saboteurs are over powered.

These are people that haven't tried to build to beat them.

Vader gets torn up by units with Pierce, even worse Pierce and stun, use the Saboteur on him or Luke and he will feel the pain.

Saboteurs have a difficult time with accuracy, they almost have to bank on their static accuracy, run some lightsaber deflections with Luke and keep them at range, they won't get much done at all.

Both the builds you list are powerful but very beatable. Saboteurs also have a weakpoint to Trandoshans once they've outstrained you they can get a free damage from strain and 1-2 from adjacency. All the characters are powerful some builds are just more obvious than others. Yes some builds have advantadges over others so it's all about playing your builds strengths and knowing the other builds weakness.

I prefer a toolbox team with Luke, Sabs, Gidon, Mak and Jyn, enough Pierce and Stun to handle all sorts of situations but I know a friend who plays almost all Rebel trooper spam and another who runs 4 trando pairs with nexus there's a lot of open group space that people just don't try for fear of Vader.

I'm not saying the builds are unbeatable. The game where I played against Vader the opponent made no attempts to engage me. And the match with Luke , Sabs and Troopers again very little attempt at engaging just sitting still and building up focus. Just leaves me with the feeling things are currently not balanced. And FFG is fairly good at correcting things. Maybe after all the regional results are in and Vader and Sab builds dominate all the top spots they will make some changes.

And if the game is so well balance make a list that can beat both lists that are not these list. If a game is so balance it wouldn't come down to two Metas so quickly. Lets see a no Vader non Sab competitive list. Then maybe you'll change my opinion. Not that I don't have any hopes for this game down the road. Tie swarm for X wing kinda the same thing.

The one scenario where you collect data and turn them in for 10 points. I don't see how your going to stop someone with Vader and a bunch of Officers. No $#^! given that my army was even on the board. Just Vader just strolling threw the field picking up stuff giving my troops the bird.

I'm not saying the builds are unbeatable. The game where I played against Vader the opponent made no attempts to engage me. And the match with Luke , Sabs and Troopers again very little attempt at engaging just sitting still and building up focus. Just leaves me with the feeling things are currently not balanced. And FFG is fairly good at correcting things. Maybe after all the regional results are in and Vader and Sab builds dominate all the top spots they will make some changes.

And if the game is so well balance make a list that can beat both lists that are not these list. If a game is so balance it wouldn't come down to two Metas so quickly. Lets see a no Vader non Sab competitive list. Then maybe you'll change my opinion. Not that I don't have any hopes for this game down the road. Tie swarm for X wing kinda the same thing.

The one scenario where you collect data and turn them in for 10 points. I don't see how your going to stop someone with Vader and a bunch of Officers. No $#^! given that my army was even on the board. Just Vader just strolling threw the field picking up stuff giving my troops the bird.

People complain about powerful builds all the time, that doesn't mean things are unbalanced just that people aren't thinking outside the box. I've seen a Rebel trooper spam build take down Vader with relative ease, especially when it was just Vader with some officers pushing him around. I also hate when people start and argument by saying I'm not saying the builds are unbeatable but the game is unbalanced until you show me a build that can beat them. Seems kind of backwards.

3x Regular Trandos (21)

1x Luke Skywalker (10)

1x Gideon (3)

1x Regular Nexu (4)

1x Ally Card (1)

1x Devious Scheme (1)

Can easily compete with either of the above builds, offers a ton of firepower, pierce, movement, body bocking and alternate victory points in the hunter command cards.

The game is an objective skirmish game some builds won't need to engage the opponent people just need to play against them. As to the data collection mission it's pretty easy to block the path to the turn in spot with a Nexu. Just because you've listed two anacdotal cases where things weren't balanced doesn't mean the game has no balance, it means you had two unfortunate missions.

I'm not saying the builds are unbeatable. The game where I played against Vader the opponent made no attempts to engage me. And the match with Luke , Sabs and Troopers again very little attempt at engaging just sitting still and building up focus. Just leaves me with the feeling things are currently not balanced. And FFG is fairly good at correcting things. Maybe after all the regional results are in and Vader and Sab builds dominate all the top spots they will make some changes.

And if the game is so well balance make a list that can beat both lists that are not these list. If a game is so balance it wouldn't come down to two Metas so quickly. Lets see a no Vader non Sab competitive list. Then maybe you'll change my opinion. Not that I don't have any hopes for this game down the road. Tie swarm for X wing kinda the same thing.

The one scenario where you collect data and turn them in for 10 points. I don't see how your going to stop someone with Vader and a bunch of Officers. No $#^! given that my army was even on the board. Just Vader just strolling threw the field picking up stuff giving my troops the bird.

The Vader build only had 5 acts and it seems you were playing the smugglers good mission. In that mission you need to go for at least two of the crates since he only has 7 guys odds are he will slit up.Just go for the two that are not around vader.

In the raider mission since he is going to sit why not go for all three Raiders thats 12 pts. Then if he you or him had init just control the lower part since he is all the way up sitting your getting the lead and it will take him a round to get to you meaning you should be up by 20 by the time he gets there to fight.

Before the match you need to figure out how much from the missions you will need to get to win and how many kills. Then plan out how you will go about this.

Just the core and wave 1 came out so there is a limit of top builds that being said there are at least 15 builds that are playble. Sabs and Royal guards are good but are support figures.

Imperials:

Imperial Tank with Royal guards then Vader or RGC
Imperial Swarm with Troopers/Guards/probes can use E-web and Nexu too.
Gen Weiss Trooper build
IG-88 Droid build
Trandos and Royal Guards
At-st and officers uses Guards or droids as back up.
Vader and Troopers

Rebels
Rebel blast swarm with Luke
Han/Chewie
Luke/Diala/Sabs
Troopers and sabs with Fenn
Chewie/Gaarakan Troopers or sabs.

Mercs
Trandos/Sabs
Ig/Trandos

Trandos Nexu Luke
Han/Nexu/Trandos

Just the core and wave 1 came out so there is a limit of top builds that being said there are at least 15 builds that are playble. Sabs and Royal guards are good but are support figures.

Imperials:

Imperial Tank with Royal guards then Vader or RGC

Imperial Swarm with Troopers/Guards/probes can use E-web and Nexu too.

Gen Weiss Trooper build

IG-88 Droid build

Trandos and Royal Guards

At-st and officers uses Guards or droids as back up.

Vader and Troopers

Rebels

Rebel blast swarm with Luke

Han/Chewie

Luke/Diala/Sabs

Troopers and sabs with Fenn

Chewie/Gaarakan Troopers or sabs.

Mercs

Trandos/Sabs

Ig/Trandos

Han/Nexu/Trandos

Can you break the builds down more. Especially IG88 Ive been working with him but he seems like a waste of points only having 2 dice vs others having 3 at his cost. Could you also maybe rank them on what you feel is best. Thanks.

Look around iacommand.com and read some of the articles, Also can go to ia-armies.com to start building your own armies.

With IG88 you will want some other Hunters then Gideon so you can focus him. The Elite Trandos are nice since gideon can focus them and they can try and stay focused if they roll well.

I would think about an elite Nexu because he can block line of sight and take on early damage.

The build would be something like this

IG88 12

Reg Trando x3 21

Gideon 3

Mak 3

Tempo for rebel allies 1

If you don't have that many trandos could drop mak for a set Of Elites. I would add a set of Elite Sab to try and make up your low act count. Just take into count that Mercs don't have a lot of support since the Mercs or Rebels don't have the same support that Imperials have right now.

I think IG88 is better in imperial builds with Royal Guards and Officers.

The top builds in no order are Imperial tank, Imperial swarm, Weiss/Trooper, Rebel Blast.

You see Officers because they are great support figures for activates and movement. Rebels use elite sabs to try and get the act count down again they are great support figures. Some people like to swarm with Guards in imperials or use a main like RGC or Vader with support. In rebels its kind of the same way with Luke and Sabs. Luke is great with them because he lets them reroll and a great mid attack. There is not a lot of support for rebels for Han or Chewie right now. Thats why a lot of people are so happy that the wookiees got announcements since it looks like they have a lot of hps. Rebels needed a meat shield.

Hawk was right this is not just a killem game you need to understand the missions and be able to attack your opp at the same time and come up on top. The missions make it so every game is different.

In response to KennedyHawk

First thanks for bidding on my kids creations on ebay. He is very excited to get some bids.

Well opinions are based on experiences. And it wasn't my first match against Vader. The guy I had practice with basically only plays Vader because he thinks it is over powered. I have not played against many Sab builds. The way the opponent was able to sit most of his units and not move and build up focuses is what I didn't care for. Plus 2 blast for 1 surge just doesn't seem right to me. Again my opinion. Those 2 builds are not unbeatable because I'm sure one could beat the other.

These forums are mostly here to debate opinions.

I would like my opinion to be changed. I think this is a great game. Why I requested builds. I think I'm fairly good at making them but maybe there is something I missed.

I appreciate your suggestion and will give it a go. I'm more of a straight up aggressive player and this looks like it will soot me.

Would like to hear more about Weiss and trooper build. I like him just haven't made anything that gelled well.

I would start out with weiss then two sets of Elites and a reg set or a 3 reg officers. Its more of a fun build but it seems people are having fun with it and doing well.

Vader goes down if you can limit the opp acts and just get in a lot of attacks in on vader or stun him. Since this is a mission based game you can kill Vader support most the time and don't even have to deal with Vader.

Vader is slow so in the speed missions like the holocron or the smugglers goods high acts with Officers and guards are great. Since it seems like your friend doesn't play the high act versions of vader and just the tank versions this is were you can take down Vader and use a high act count to help. If you can get early shoots on Officers that helps out a lot since they are a big reason why those builds do so well in the movement missions.

Again please try and build your own squads on ia-armies.com and look around at the articles on iacommand.com before asking anymore questions about builds. I am glad to try and help though.

If you want to take down Vader try this:

Elite Probe droids with an Elite officer and royal guards as back up. The guards can take on the missions and if they do want to attack you should be able to get in a lot of damage with the probes vs his guards or vader. This build should out act the Vader build giving you board control.

I agree, I feel that the game is balanced.

Chewbacca in particular is very good vs Vader. Stun cripples Vader and Slam can push Vader so he is adjacent to noone.