Hey guys, I just picked up X-Wing and Imperial Assault. For X-Wing, I got the Coreset + a TIE Advanced + a Y-Wing.

On the Imperial side, should I get another Core Set to get 2 more Ties, or the Firespray, if I want to make a decent competitive list? Or something else? I'll probably get a lot more in the future, but I want to jump into some of the local 100 point games, and am looking to spend around $30 before the next time I play. What would be the most cost effective way to go here?

The Core Set, Advanced, and Y-Wing don't quite give you enough to work with at 100 points. On the rebel side you could run with by adding anything more than an A-Wing, HWK, or Z-95 expansion but the Falcon would get you to competitive points the fastest. On the Imperial side you're kind of in the same boat except they have more light ships and/or want upgrades from more ships; adding a Firespray could get you to a viable list but I figure you're still looking for about 40 points of Imperial ship assuming you are running Vader.

An Imperial Raider. Obv.

Currently for Rebels, the YT-1300, YT-2400, E-Wing and B-wings are the most common ships used for competitive play. You don't have any of that, so getting into Imperial might be easier.

Getting some Tie Interceptors could get you there - a regular Interceptor and an Imperial Aces pack. Also getting the Firespray and another Core for more Ties would help, but there are some good Tie Pilots in the regular expansion as well. Getting a Phantom, Interceptor, and a Decimator could give you two options for competitive Imperial lists.

If your environment is casual, and you don't care if you lose much, get what you can afford now and worry about learning how to fly the ships first. You don't need to get competitive, but what's above here is what seems to be currently competitive around the world.

Jacob

Oh, and I should mention that if you're going to get into interceptors you will want the cards called 'auto thrusters.' These come in some of the Scum and Villiany packs. If your local scene requires you to have those cards, it might be better to get a YT and an E-Wing. If your local scene is okay with proxy cards (a piece of paper instead of the actual cards) you can try out the interceptors.

Also, dual IG-2000s is pretty good right now too. But that's if you want to try scum, and you didn't indicate that you did.

Jacob

Seriously, for Imperials the best way to get yourself to an effective 100pt list with what you've already got would be to pick up the Imperial Aces set. Two Interceptors and PtL will open up a world of options. You could also immediately get a useful (if not super competitive) list out of it:

Academy TIE (12)

Academy TIE (12)

Sabre Squadron Pilot, Push The Limit (24)

Sabre Squadron Pilot, Push The Limit (24)

Storm Squadron Pilot, Shield Upgrade or Cluster Missiles (27)

Trust me, once you'd had some practice with the Interceptors, you'll love flying them. The TIE Advanced is there as filler until you've picked up a few more options, but with Shield Upgrade (comes with Imperial Aces) it's pretty hard to take down. Alternatively, Cluster Missiles isn't the best choice, but might be useful to cause some early damage to a low agility/high health target.

So yeah, Imperial Aces.

Second Core set is always a good. Gets you a second set of dice and other goodies. Also a good value if you plan on doing a swarm of ties. If swarm is something you like the idea of then also get the tie expansion pack for the other named pilots.

From a couple of years back, a friend and I calculated the rough cost of top-8 lists for national tournaments. The price was generally in the range of $150 MSRP to $210, with outliers as low as $120 and as high as $250 or $300 (I don't recall exactly). We didn't include the cost of the core set unless pilots or upgrade cards from the core set were used. We haven't gone back to check and see how well this data has aged.

Since you've got about $30+15+15=$60 already spent, and another $30 ready, you'll probably be about halfway to a truly competitive list, if you only buy strict minimums to get there (and frankly, I don't think that's any fun; I want options first).

If you've got the ability to proxy upgrade cards for casual games, or borrow them for tournaments, I would suggest:

- TIE Interceptor expansion pack: the single ship gets you Soontir Fel, though you'll need to borrow a Push The Limit upgrade (also available in A-Wings, Imperial Aces, and the participation prize in 2015 Spring Kit tournaments at your FLGS).

- TIE Defender expansion pack: while I love the defender, they're 2nd tier overall. However, they're a ton of fun to fly (white 4K turns for days!), and it comes with the Predator upgrade, which is very, very useful.

That would let you (again, assuming you can get a PTL):

Soontir Fel (27)

Push the Limit (3)

"Night Beast" (15)

Academy Pilot (12)

Rexler Brath (37)

Predator (3)

Ion Cannon (3)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Of course, if you want a Firespray (and can find one; they were hard to locate for a while), go for it. If you're like me, you're going to end up with at least one of everything anyway.

Just buy more models of those you like.

Thats how I did it.

I started when wave 2 was available and soon I got 4 Ties and a Firespray ready for action.

My first imperial squad was:

Krassis Trelix, Heavy Laser Cannon, Seismic

Dark Curse

Night Beast

2 Academies

Well more Ties does make the Imperial side more competitive. The Tie Advanced unfortunately is not that competitive and if you are on a budget don't buy the raider. Considering with what I have seen from the raider in all the spoilers doesn't convince me that the Tie Advanced will become the new pre-nerfed Tie Phantom.

If you are going for Tie Swarm then another Core Set and a Tie Fighter expansion will prop you up to a modest 5 Tie fighters but you really want 7 or 8 for the true swarm.

The Firespray could add some stealth devices but if you are going for interceptors then a couple of Tie interceptor packs and a single Imperial Aces expansion pack will help you out enhanced by the stealth device modification upgrade cards from the slave-1. However if you are going Interceptors you would want to pick up a Star Viper over the Slave-1 for Autothrusters to help you with those pesky super dashes and Fat Hans which can shoot you even if you arc dodge them.

On the Rebel side well another core set will give you 2 X-wings and a Y-wing which will be enough to squeeze out 100 points. But a 2X and a Y list wont' be propelling you to top 8 of regionals anytime soon. If you are going for Y-wings then a most wanted pack will help. However might I suggest looking into either some B-wings or the Millennium Falcon expansion pack if you are interested in rebels.

A balaclava, map of the local sewers, map of the local banks adjacent underground vault, cutting tools and a thermal lance.

Selected four man team and getaway car optional.

That should get you enough money to last until wave 7.

Good luck.

Ignore everyone else in this thread and buy a second core. You get a second X Wing, 2 more TIEs to use as a base for Imperial lists, and enough dice to play the game in a non awkward manner.

Falcon isn't very good without Predator and C-3PO and those are cards you don't have if you're playing on a budget.

This game isn't very expensive to run one or two good 100 point lists. It's when you want to run multiple different lists that it get expensive.

IMO if I was starting out again the first things I would buy would be 2 cores, a standalone TIE Interceptor expansion, a standalone TIE Fighter Expansion, and a Phantom. This gives me access to Soontir with a mini swarm, and super phantom with a mini swarm. Then I would buy/trade for the handful of upgrades I needed to run those builds optimally, like Stealth Device and Autothrusters and VI. Then I'd have the option of getting two additional TIEs to do a full swarm if I wanted in the future.

Just make peace with the fact you will own everything, sell organs or a child if you have to.

Also you want tie defenders lots of em!

Hey guys, I just picked up X-Wing and Imperial Assault. For X-Wing, I got the Coreset + a TIE Advanced + a Y-Wing.

On the Imperial side, should I get another Core Set to get 2 more Ties, or the Firespray, if I want to make a decent competitive list? Or something else? I'll probably get a lot more in the future, but I want to jump into some of the local 100 point games, and am looking to spend around $30 before the next time I play. What would be the most cost effective way to go here?

While at some point a second starter is handy, it sounds like you are trying to get an imperial list going, and 4 Ties and a Tie Advanced can win, but it will be a steep learning curve. If you like flying swarms a second or even third starter box is an economic way to get a lot of Tie fighters, but at some point you will want a single TIE expansion for Howlrunner (although someone may have an extra card/carboard) but for $30 we can't get you a swarm yet. the extra box is a good value in the long run, but to get 100 imperial points quick, maybe another path. I recommend some variety at first, but keep the starter in your wish list.

The Slave 1/Firespray can easily shoot you up to 100 points, and is fairly easy to fly. You will eventually want some options from other expansions, and people like the firespray better in Scum & Villiany lists these days, While their are lists and players that can wreck it, the Firespray is a solid choice.

As you noticed people are recomending Interceptors to you a lot. They are poplar and competitive, but take some practice since they are still fragile. People love the Autothrusters on them, especially against turreted ships but what they don't mention is that the Autothrusters come with the Star Viper expansion, which is Scum and $20. So again, add the viper to you wish list, but for today lets focus on getting you $30 of interceptors. There are two ways you can do this.

1) Buy 2 single interceptor expansions. This will give you some great pilots, Soonter Fel and Terr Phenner are fantastic pilots, and I recomend a single expansion to have them later, but you will get relatively few upgrades dollar for dollar which is why i recommend adding the interceptor to your wishelist and getting:

2) buy the Imperial Aces expansion - There are a lot of advantages to this, and no matter which way you go you will want this on you wish list (yeah, the wishlist grows quick). You still get some fantastic pilots, but you also get some handy upgrades. When you only have a few ships upgrades are great and for $30, you will only have a few ships. Plus you get the red one, and the red one is awesome.

So, in you budget to build an imperial list I recommend either the Imperial Aces, but the Firespray is not a bad investment either. Hold off on the second starter until you want more TIEs and more dice. And don't be afraid to ask if someone has extra cards, especially pilots. If you see that guy with 23 TIE fighters, or 10 Interceptors they may have extra pilots, since you can only have 1 Vader. Once you have a few games in, it will get easier to decide what you want next, if only because your opponent will be punching you in the head with it.

Hope that helps.

Just make peace with the fact you will own everything, sell organs or a child if you have to.

Also you want tie defenders lots of em!

I would plan to purchase at least 6 to get started. After that you can slowly add some more to become truly competitive.

I would suggest a couple things:

1) TIE Fighter Expansion - pretty much exclusively for Howlrunner

2) X-Wing Expansion - for Wedge

3) Second Core

($47 total from miniature market, up to you to shop around for other deals or support a FLGS at $70 retail)

With what you have plus the above, you can run some fun lists from the Wave 1 days. Vader, Howlrunner and 4 academies on the Imperial side and Luke, Wedge, Biggs on the Rebel side. These are not competitive tournament viable lists in the current meta (although with the raider, the Vader + Mini Swarm may see some play again).

What this does do is build up the ships you have slowly and doesn't overwhelm you with options. You learn how to fly lower ship count ace squads as well as formation flying mini swarms. If you can fly a formation well, you can fly anything well. It starts you with a grounding in the basics so you can branch out into other stuff later. Think of this as your liberal arts degree in X-Wing, you can move on to a masters or doctorate later, but get the basics down pat.

After that, build up slowly. You like the maneuverability of the imperial ships? Get interceptors, a-wings, that sort of thing. Like the comparative bulkiness of the x-wings? B-Wings are here for you. Also try and find folks who will let you proxy cards before you dump $40 on starvipers to get autothrusters only to find out that no one in your area plays turrets.

Also, the Falcon can be EXCELLENT even without C-3PO. Don't let people convince you that you need a $90 ship for one card. I would suggest the above style first though. I have seen players starting out go for the Falcon. They learn to fly a turret ship but when they get bored and try something else they have real problems with maneuvering for firing arcs. Learn the basics first.

EDIT: If you really like the Advanced (or really want to) I suggest thinking about saving up for a raider somewhere in the future. Beyond epic play, the new upgrades and pilots for the advanced look like game changers. On the rebel side, if you aren't interested in epic, skip the corvette entirely. C-3PO is good, but $90 for one card is absurd. The Rebel Transport, however, gives you some awesome X-Wing pilots and astromechs. At $60 retail ($42 on miniature market), its a far better deal. Just remember, epic ships and the upgrades they come with are fun, but NOT NECESSARY. Save up for them if you like, but don't ever think you need to get them. Also, proxy and playtest the stuff you want from them so you don't end up wasting that kind of money.

2) buy the Imperial Aces expansion - There are a lot of advantages to this, and no matter which way you go you will want this on you wish list (yeah, the wishlist grows quick). You still get some fantastic pilots, but you also get some handy upgrades. When you only have a few ships upgrades are great and for $30, you will only have a few ships. Plus you get the red one, and the red one is awesome.

As mentioned above, possibly the biggest benefit to Imperial Aces (other than two Interceptors for less than two regular expansions) is access to Push The Limit - a VERY useful upgrade card for most named pilots which otherwise only available with the A-Wing expansion set.

....

Falcon isn't very good without Predator and C-3PO and those are cards you don't have if you're playing on a budget.

This game isn't very expensive to run one or two good 100 point lists. It's when you want to run multiple different lists that it get expensive.

....

Only certain parts of that are worth replying to.

A second Core Set is certainly a good idea and it would get the OP to two X-Wings and a Y-Wing which could make a 100 Rebel squadron. However until additional purchases are made just having an Advanced and four Core Set TIE Fighters really isn't enough to make a 100 point Imperial squadron. The Core Set is good but not enough to make 100 points really work with just two sets.

The Falcon isn't very good without Predator and C-3PO? Since when? Here I remember complaints about it since it first came out which was long before those two upgrades were around. IF you consider how some consider C-3PO to be BROKEN when on the Falcon it either means C-3PO is the Golden God the Ewoks said he was or the Falcon was already pretty good before getting that added push.

Getting started with more basic, yet perfectly usable, 100 point lists isn't too expensive. Adding more options adds cost and when you start fielding all sides in multiple configuration the price goes up even more. Wanting to field anything at a moment's notice along with another anything else and it can become very expensive.

I suggested X-wing pack, and tie fighter pack. you already have the models so you unlock a bunch of great pilots.

A balaclava, map of the local sewers, map of the local banks adjacent underground vault, cutting tools and a thermal lance.

Selected four man team and getaway car optional.

That should get you enough money to last until wave 7.

Good luck.

Someones been playing...