I have X amount to spend. Not specifying the amount, but the amount is enough to pay for:

EITHER

1x Imperial Raider (brand new)

OR

Complete set of Wave 7 - so that would be 1x each of the K-Wing, the Hound's Tooth, the Bomber-looking thing, and the Kyrgyz Fighter (something like that). These figures will also all be brand new.

My playing habits and style:

1. I am mostly a casual player, playing the game mostly with friends. From time to time, I would participate in a local tournament. There aren't any tournaments coming up on the horizon, as far as I can tell. Regionals is too far away for me, and I don't have time for Nationals.

2. I love the OT and like to play with ships from that era, especially if they are from the movies. I don't know much about Star Wars besides what is shown on TV. I have tried reading SW comics before, but I found many of them to be poorly drawn (just an opinion) so I don't have much interest in reading lots of source material to get to know the ships' backstories. I do like playing with ships and pilots that I know the backstories of - adds more flavor to the game.

3. My favorite faction is Rebels. My second favorite is Imperials. Not a big fan of Scum (see point #2) above.

4. I have at least one of every ship except for the Tantive IV.

5. I have never played Epic before, and I am concerned that playing it might take too long. I usually play 100 point 60-minute battles.

6. I am not a power gamer, but I do tend to play meta stuff because I don't like losing.

7. The timing in which I get the figure(s) does not matter much to me. Simply put, I don't mind if I have to wait until December to get the Raider or Wave 7 (though, like many of you, I strongly prefer that those figures get released sooner).

Given the above, should I get the Imperial Raider or the complete Wave 7?

(Feel free to ask me any additional questions you may have. Thanks.)

If you're not into Scum then get the Raider and two extra Tie Adv. Having 3-4 Advanced wont be as much dead weight as the Hound's tooth and that silly Scum xwing. I'm a Scum flyer, so I'll buy those, but my second favorite faction is Imperial so I'm getting the Raider and two more TA's. I've already made about a half a dozen Tie Adv. lists I want to try.

Go Raiders!

If you don't like scum why not go for 2 each of the k wing and punisher?

Aait until more is known about specific upgrades that come with the ships. Get the most bang for your buck.

I don't think you should bother with Wave7 unless that Twin Ion Engine card is AMAZING.

You can always ask to borrow a friend's wave7. You do have 6 waves of ships already you know ^^.

Epic takes forever: like 3 hours, esp the first few games. If not 5 hours. Then 1 hour of set up and tear down or something like that. Throw in a drink and some food and you'll be there all day.

A better solution: Save your money. Wait til both come out, and how people feel about them after playing with them. Then drop the money.

If you don't have the tantive IV, and have no interest in epic.....I think you have a pretty easy decision. Your choice is between the tie advanced(witch will now be usable) and 4 other ships, 2 scum.

If you like the scum faction the choice is even easier.

I played a game against a guy this week who proxied the new vader and x1 ATC. It was pretty strong, but not more frightening than Fel. I was playing a sub-optimal list, and would have won if the game was standard 75 min....but he outplayed me pretty bad in the end game. I don't think the raider will make a huge power swing towards the empire, even if you include the emperor.

So the question is diversity. Raider--Empire, Wave 7--Empire-Rebel-Scum.

In my opinion neither of the two options fit with your preferences.

If at all, the Raider comes out on top, even if only for the TIE Advanced and its upgrades. These fit your "OT focus", in contrast to everything else from the two choices at hand. The Raider itself doesn't fit in here (it does fit in aesthetically though), and it is usable in Epic play only.

Nothing in Wave 7 fits in with your preferences (apart from the "casual play mostly"). None of the ships are from the OT, half of them are for S&V.

My suggestions to you as a casual player: get the TIE Advanced cards by printing them out yourself, buy the K-Wing and maybe the TIE Punisher if you like the look of them, and spend the rest of the money on something else.

From what you wrote:

- Get as many Advanced as you would want to play in a squad in addition to what you already have

- Play those Advanceds with printed out lists, you dont really need to buy a Raider to play casual with the Adv. Title

- Get one K-Wing and one Punisher for the cards in case you are interested in those; leave out the scum if you dont like them

- Spend the rest of the money for either stocking up your OT fighters (if you need more then one of them); get gaming equipment (like a playmat)

Extra hint: PLAY EPIC: If you have the time to play longer than 60min play Epic, its a nice variation and it enables totally different squads. If you do that, get the tantive and let an imperial player of your group get the raider (as you prefer Rebels). If there are days where you play two normal games in a row you can also play epic without any difficulties.

I also recommend trying epic when you have 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Choose your fleets in advance, so you know what to grab. Another tip is to make a cheat sheet for turn order, both activation and combat phase. Select a time limit and stick with it. Team epic takes less time for dials, but having two extra people in the mix can make up for that time savings, unless you're the kind of person who agonizes over every dial ( in that case, fly 100 point games with double Falcons)

If it seems like it's something you can do occasionally, consider the raider, otherwise, just build up your fleet with more ships you like.

* the double falcon statement was a joke

Get wave seven. When the raider drops in 2019 you'll have saved up enough cash for it by then anyway

If you mainly love the OT ships and want to play the meta builds then the answer is simple:

GET THE BLOCKADE RUNNER

It looks bad ass sitting on a shelf AND C-BLOODY-3PO

BUT Im a wargamer so for me it's get one (minimum) of everything so that way all the options you have.

Also (for me) SPACESHIPS give me MORRR spaceships

If I had to choose for myself, I'd take option 2 (wave 7) in a snap. Based on what you've said, it's a much closer contest, but I'd still swing a bit closer to option 2 than option 1.

One suggestion I have is to get the Imperial Raider, and if you don't see yourself using all of the advanced fixes at once then sell them or trade them to buddies and you can then use that to get yourself the ships from wave 4 that you want.

I have never been a fan of "blanket/carpet" buying entire waves I would recommend just getting what you will use first save the extra money and then if something you didn't buy appeals to you later then get it then, buying something just to have it but not use it is a waste of money (and probably one of the biggest reasons significant others get so frustrated with their tabletop wargamers)

Tough call. Sell some plasma and get all of them. My plan is to hoard my fun budget to get 2 of each wave 7 small base one hound's tooth and one raider.

Get wave seven. When the raider drops in 2019 you'll have saved up enough cash for it by then anyway

I can wait. 4 years is a blink of an eye for an Elf !

Does it make any sense to play Epic Rebel Transport vs. Imperial Raider?

Also, does it make any sense to play a scenario where one side has an Epic ship and the other side uses regular ships (albeit lots of them)? I'm envisioning something like the Battle of Endor with a bunch of A-Wings and B-Wings against a Super Star Destroyer, but with the Imperial Raider substituting for the Super Star Destroyer.