Finally I played with:

Krassis Trelix — Firespray-31 36

Heavy Laser Cannon 7

Stealth Device 3

Captain Jonus — TIE Bomber 22

Determination 1

Proton Torpedoes 4

Ion Pulse Missiles 3

Munitions Failsafe 1

"Mauler Mithel" — TIE Fighter 17

Predator 3

Stealth Device 3

Played against 2 Vanilla X-Wing and X-wing + Y-wing with 2 pilot combo (free Focus and free Target Lock)

Was great, I managed to kill 3 x-wings, and finally my Firespray was killed by the Y-wing due to my poor choices with the manouvres. At least, I managed to not eat any asteroid, and not go off the table ^^

My jonus was obliterated in turn 2-3 with a focus attack of all 4 enemy ships >_< so I lost the re-rolls on Firespray Laser Cannon. Surprisingly, my MVS was Mithel, at range 1 he managed to kill 2 X-wings alone I learned to respect the cheap TIE Fighters.

Next day I want to try your proposed list, or maybe some Seismic charges...

The game is fast and furious, but is too much dice-based for my taste. I want to buy Lambda soon and try it, that ship looks amazing.

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Other than Jonus supporting a Heavy Laser Cannon, any recomendation of a succesful list that uses only 1 TIE Bomber? Maybe next day I will try Rhymer, but I don't know if his Special Skill is worth it. The Adrenaline Rush is good??

A bit too dice based never try warhammer 40k then.

haha

2nd game I tried:

Vanilla Firespray 33

Obsidian Squadron TIE Fighter + Stealth Device 16

Obsidian Squadron TIE Fighter + Stealth Device 16

Major Rhymer TIE Bomber + Push the Limit + Adv. Proton Torp. 35

VS Scum and Villainy with 2 M3a and 2 Vipers.

Was much more fun than 1st game and more succesful. 4 ships is more enjoying by far. The TIE fighters again were awesome, seems fragile but with Stealth device are surprisingly strong. The torpedoes killed a M3a in 1hit, at 2nd turn of the game, amazing. Then rhymer was chased all map xD poor me cause with some Mines that would have been AWESOME.

The firespray is fun to play, but difficult to master, asteroids are a big threat xD But is a versatile ship. I like it. The Vipers were tough to kill, but finally I managed to win.

I want the Punisher for the Extra munitions card, and I want to try the Mines. The problem is that with extra munitions, I need to buy an extra Firespray to have an extra mine token..... meh

Overall I'm enjoying the game a bit more each time, and I still need to try my Interceptors. After seeing the Boost action (Vipers) in play I loved it.

Whichever primary faction you go for i strongly suggest collecting a reasonable '2nd faction'.

For a start the core set gives you 30% of a viable imperial of rebel list anyway.

Buy two more ships for rebels (ideally 3 or 4 for variety and the upgrades) or two or three for the empire and you've got enough models to not only have a change now and then, diversify your upgrades etc. But you've also got a force to loan to a friend to play against if they come over.

If you had 30 imperial ships and 1 xwing you're going to be shooting yourself in the foot if a mate comes over and says 'whats that then, lets have a game'

sure you could do imperial vs imperial but thats not 'star wars' is it?

Another game. I wanted to try a fat named pilots list for compare to a vanilla pilots list that I played in last game with succesful result. I tried Kath Scarlet with Marksman and Gunner, and Vessery with HLC and Outmanouver. Was excelent. Another win for the Imperials.

I'm very pleased with the Defender. I wasn't sure because lots of people are complaining about it and his price, but was amazing, those white K-Turns are f...ng great.

I'm enjoying the firespray more and more. Now I'm more used to the auxiliary fire-arc and is very useful. Only 1 turn without shooting in entire game, very good.

I still want to try the bombs/mines (Punisher, come soon! >_<), and the Interceptors. This week I will buy the TIE Phantom also :3

Overall the more I play, the more fun I get. Nice.

Another game. I wanted to try a fat named pilots list for compare to a vanilla pilots list that I played in last game with succesful result. I tried Kath Scarlet with Marksman and Gunner, and Vessery with HLC and Outmanouver. Was excelent. Another win for the Imperials.

I'm very pleased with the Defender. I wasn't sure because lots of people are complaining about it and his price, but was amazing, those white K-Turns are f...ng great.

I'm enjoying the firespray more and more. Now I'm more used to the auxiliary fire-arc and is very useful. Only 1 turn without shooting in entire game, very good.

I still want to try the bombs/mines (Punisher, come soon! >_<), and the Interceptors. This week I will buy the TIE Phantom also :3

Overall the more I play, the more fun I get. Nice.

If your playing with friends for fun there aren't any truly bad ships. Some not great, but nothing unworkable.

That's the fun of the game, and worst case if you do pick a terrible squad, so what?

You just at worst wasted 30 mins of your time.

Competitively things are a bit different, but stuff competition.

Also, download the Vassal engine and the X Wing module for it. Once you've learned how to use it, it is a great way to play games with people when you can't get to a game store and what not.

Also, buy everything, not just one faction. You'll probably want enough so you can share and play with other people, as well as practice against yourself etc.

"Which faction?" has always been a strange question from my point of view, I think because the only two miniatures games I've played -- Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures and X-Wing Miniatures -- have neither been games so expensive that someone on a reasonable budget had to pick a subset of the game to play. (From what I understand, games like Warhammer are so expensive to collect and paint that some people can only afford to get one faction, or even just one army. But I never played. It's not a coincidence that both my games have involved pre-painted minis.)

I genuinely enjoy playing all three factions, and it would be incredibly difficult for me to pick just one.

DL-44 blaster to my head, MFK being forced on me, I guess I'd say:

M - Imperial

F - Scum and Villainy

K - Rebel

But even just typing that hurts me. I would miss Rebels fiercely.

I think I will have all 3 factions also, just give me time xD

Today I was brutaly destroyed by a dual IG list. Was a mix of fear (I don't know how to beat those monsters), failures with my movements, and that he said to me that the Autothrusters (both IG had them) can be used at range 2 also, due to FAQ (false, but I didn't know).

I used my Firespray with Kath Skarlet, Gunner and Marksmanship + Vessery with Ion Cannon, Outmanouver and Ion Missile (I wanted to try Ions for first time, but I noticed my lack of big damage).

A failed kiogran with the defender (finished over an asteroid by some mm) cost me half game. The defender needed a lot of turns to recover good positioning, and did almost nothing in entire game.

Skarlet was nice with the Stress combo, but almost no damage on the Agressors (3dice + Evade + range 2 autothrusters). Eventualy he destroyed my both ships.

Things I learned:

• I need at least one real shooter to deal damage.
• The Ions are very difficult to use. (Even more against big ships)
• Critical errors in early game can cost you the game. I risked a lot with Defender the firsts turns to get in a great possition, and it backfired me, leaving my poor defender almost out of the game.
• Autothrusters only works at range 3 or outside Firing arc, just as the card says.
• Double IGs are a headache.
• I'm hooked to the game

Now I own a Phantom and a Decimator. Don't know what to try next. I need to train for the next time I face double IG.

I don't know if with the cards I own I can make a competitive list. Seems like most of the Decimators use the Engine Upgrade. And still I don't have Soontir fel (but I have Whisper now, that seems good and fun).

Any Tips/Recomendations?

When facing brobots you want to stay close to obstacles to limit where they can s loop, when you know roughly where they'll end up and that they'll do a green it becomes much easier to get shots in.

Also they are good against two ship lists but struggle against three or more ships.

I will give you the inevitable real answer:

All of them. You will get all of the ships.

(This is only half in jest: many of the best upgrades to various ships come exclusively with other ships, though you can probably borrow them from other players)

But for starting out: Imperial Aces, an Interceptor pack, and a Starviper gives you just about everything you need to make a really strong, really fun Imperial list.

Notice that this list includes a StarViper, a ship exclusive to Scum. That's the thing - if you're worried about 'competitiveness', it only really matters in competition events. And if you're in competition events, you're going to need the cards... and these are scattered all over the different factions.

Further, X-wing isn't really like most other wargames - there's little reason beyond cost to want to 'stick with' a single faction. I'll cheerfully play Scum and Imperials for preference, but I've got the Rebels as well, and will frequently hand them to my opponents. Each faction has enough of an identity that it's fun to mix things up - not only to master it, but to better understand what you're up against.

Actually the first 2 factions are really the dominating factions. The 3rd faction (thus the hardest to start with) only has 1 build that is seeing the top tier of the meta.

For starting players I usually say go for the core set and 4 small expansion packs (2 for rebel and 2 for imperial) or the 2 large expansion packs (1 for rebel 1 for imperial) just to start then build up your collection from there with like a secondary core set and 2 more expansion packs once you got the jist of the gameplay down.

For scum if you are interested only in competitive play than it is easy as you would jsut get 2 aggressors and 1 Star Viper and you got most of what you need for the IG-88 B+C/D builds. However I must caution that even if you do get everything to make the top winning build from nationals you won't necessarily win any of your games at first. You have to get into practice at judging distance and maneuver templates so you can figure out where to put your ships without landing on a rock or facing completely the wrong direction. Even if you do grab stuff like $100 Tantive-IV for the C-3PO card doesn't mean that your Han Solo will not go down.

The TIE Advanced is the only ship in the game that we consider unplayable.

The Raider, which is on the boat, makes it possibly the best ship in the game.

Empire. Geddon it.

The TIE Phantom is the first ship in the game to directly require a Nerf, but its still pretty danged effective.

Alternatively, grab a few random ships; we'll be happy to build you a viable fleet out of....whatever.

• I'm hooked to the game

Good, let it flow through you...

Colonel Vessery (35)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

Royal Guard Pilot (22)

Push the Limit (3)

Autothrusters (2)

Targeting Computer (2)

Royal Guard TIE (0)

Royal Guard Pilot (22)

Push the Limit (3)

Autothrusters (2)

Targeting Computer (2)

Royal Guard TIE (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

You would need to proxy autothrusters though.

Fun list. I'm currently playing with this one:

Vessery+VI

2x Sigma+FCS+IA+ACD

100 Points

When the Raider comes out I'm thinking about swapping Vessery out for Vader.

Swap the RGPs for TIE/Advanceds, surely.

One of whom is Vader.

Marinealver's point is pretty spot on. With that said, I suppose it would be helpful to suggest 'sensible' numbers of the various ships as the 'sensibel maximum' you'll likely need in most builds. I mean, if you want to fly a TIE Swarm, get 7 or 8 of them; BBBBZ obviously takes 4 B-wings, too, but some of the other stuff is less obvious - a Defender is going to be just fine for Vessery or Carnor Jax, but a second one is less critical, and a third one (as it currently stands) is fun, but certainly not competitive, as it were.

So, with that rider in mind, what you'd want as a ballpark for 'competitive' builds:

Base Set: 1-2, each with 1x X and 2x TIE. You can justify an extra set just to get the spare rulers and dice along with extra ships, but you may quickly find that you have 4 X-wings, potentially a fifth if they decide to do an X-wing Aces pack or something in the future. You probably don't need it immediately, but it's not a bad pick.

X-Wings: 2, though you'll likely end up with 3-4 anyway. The expectation is that the X-wing fix will come as an ace for your 4th or 5th, so it's hard to say where to go here. At the moment, Wedge, Luke, and Biggs all have their places in a squad, and Biggs+Wedge is a potent combo, so a pair will do you well.

A-Wings: 3-4 can make a potent miniswarm; make sure the 4th is a second Ace box, and 6 is a full swarm.

B-Wings: 2-4 is solid. Fourth B-wing wants to be another Aces box for the extra upgrades.

E-Wings: 1. Corran is great.

Y-Wings: 1-2. Warthogs are fun! I tend to fly a pair of 'em, though all four is apparently a lot of fun.

HWKs (Rebel): 1. They're situationally useful, but rarely does more than one excel.

YT-1300: 1, maybe 2 depending on how badly you want to try double falcons. Fat Falcons are more popular at the moment, so save your money unless you're determined.

YT-2400: 1 is probably enough; double turret often goes better with a second YT-1300, though I'll grant that their generic is actually worth using, unlike they YT-1300.

Scum is trickier, because it cannibalises so many other Rebel ships and the Firespray. Get a base set, a pair of IG-88s, and a StarViper, then work out what you want from there; it'll be a sufficiently solid baseline to work from.

I've now got two base sets, but that's because R4 Agromechs make phenominal Warthogs, and 4x Z-95s is great filler... and I keep having to fly against my wife who likes using my Rebel Z-95s at the same time.

The TIE Advanced is the only ship in the game that we consider unplayable.

The Raider, which is on the boat, makes it possibly the best ship in the game.

Empire. Geddon it.

The TIE Phantom is the first ship in the game to directly require a Nerf, but its still pretty danged effective.

Alternatively, grab a few random ships; we'll be happy to build you a viable fleet out of....whatever.

I do find the Scyk to be a little rough. Not only is it a bit inefficient to start with, other than the HLC heavies and Serrisu, it's also just not that... interesting. The naked ship? Fly a TIE Fighter. Mangler Scyk? Pretty similar to Interceptors.

And I've been flying those imperials for ages, so a dial distinguished mostly by the presence of 1-banks, health identical but for slightly fewer crits and a Target Lock... really isn't that much of a selling point for me. I've still got one, but I don't think I've done much with it.

Welcome to X-Wing! I also only started playing about a month and a half ago and I'm hooked!

I went Imperial because my best mate went rebel scum so i just had to join the dark side!

I have bought 2 Core Sets, Decimator, Shuttle, Firespray, 2 Defenders, 3 Interceptors (Ace and blister), 2 Advanced, 3 more Ties and 2 Phantoms.

Still need a Bomber and at least one more shuttle because i love that alabaster space whale.

Also my partner has gone Scum and Villainy so I also have bought a few of her ships for her as well. I don't want to know how much money I've spent already lol.

The TIE Advanced is the only ship in the game that we consider unplayable.

The Raider, which is on the boat, makes it possibly the best ship in the game.

Empire. Geddon it.

The TIE Phantom is the first ship in the game to directly require a Nerf, but its still pretty danged effective.

Alternatively, grab a few random ships; we'll be happy to build you a viable fleet out of....whatever.

I do find the Scyk to be a little rough. Not only is it a bit inefficient to start with, other than the HLC heavies and Serrisu, it's also just not that... interesting. The naked ship? Fly a TIE Fighter. Mangler Scyk? Pretty similar to Interceptors.

And I've been flying those imperials for ages, so a dial distinguished mostly by the presence of 1-banks, health identical but for slightly fewer crits and a Target Lock... really isn't that much of a selling point for me. I've still got one, but I don't think I've done much with it.

Agreed that Scyk's almost as bad as the TIE/A at the moment.

It's honestly quite good with an Ion Cannon.

Also, the Scyk is passively buffed with every Cannon that's released, as it's the cheapest vector for them.

Last game I played a TIE Phantom for first time... and its amazing! Powerful, and fun, I loved it. I wish my TIE Defender could be equally efficient.

It's a pitty that half of the Imperial ships doesn't see much competitive scene now. Rebel ships are well represented (Dash Rendar, Corran Horn, Han Solo, Bwings, Awings, Z95 and even HWK, Ywing and Xwings). Can't wait to see those Twin Ion Engines that comes with the Punisher :3

I still want to try Mines. But next time maybe I try "Oiocunn suicide machine" xD

We have started a league for new players like me in our Local Store. Lets see if I can bring the glory to the Empire.

Welcome to the Dark Side, remember we have cookies!!! Those Rebel Scums cookies are covered in love and sprinkles, savages!!

To echo what others have said, play what seems fun to you, and keep practicing. I would suggest to any new player getting into the game, buy two core sets. Extra dice and another set of templates never hurt. Plus now you have four Tie Fighters for a mini swarm.

I flew for the first time a rebel squad in Escalation, it was a team that seems to be dominating our local place and I put my own twist on it. I got 2nd place so I must have done something right!!

I too love the firespray, its biggest hurdle is its big base, which you will get use to. I suggest you look at the pinned "Most useful" thread and check out the maneuver guides there, VERY helpful for new and veteran players to see how you can plan better dials.

I ran a Fett Firespray with Push The Limit and I'll tell you I was quite disappointed with the Push the limit on that ship, with so little green, it made my maneuvers very predicable.

Hope you enjoy the game as much as the rest of us!!

The factions tend to be the following:

Rebels: Simple ships that often boost each other that are tough and have lots of fire power. Great for a player who wants to focus on lists that don't depend outmanoeuvring opponents and would rather fire back and forth.

Imperials: Fast and agile ships that are hard to hit. Great if you enjoy chipping away at opponents with hit-and-run or flanking tactics while staying moving in ways that stop your opponents from being able to fire at you.

Scum: Annoying ships with lots of dirty tricks and abilities that. Great if you enjoy dirty tricks that interfere with an opponent's strategy.

Keep in mind however, that these are merely guidelines and all factions do dabble in each others' footsteps.