Im brand spanking new to the X-Wing game. I spent about a week looking at it, and on Thursday me and my friend have decided to toss some disposable income at the game instead of... other activities.

Like a lot of Imperial players I loved me the heck out of the Tie Interceptor since I saw it in RotJ, but Im worried that I may have gotten myself into some hot water. As of Thursday my entire fleet will consist of the Interceptor expansion, Imperial Aces, a Tie Defender, and the two core Tie Fighters.

Reading up on Interceptor strategy has given me the impression that these ships require some precision handling even if I deck Fel out with titles, upgrades and push the limit.

And SO! (He said finally getting to the point) I was wondering what other Imperial players think about the line up. I do have more cash to throw at the game (and since most of my friends are getting into it with me it's not a problem to pick up some more stuffff and I am planning on picking up the Decimator and a battle matt)


General advice, positive ciritcism, negative criticism and even insults are all appreciated.

You have enough ships to build a good list. I can immediately think of 3 Tie Interceptor lists that work. There is a whole sub forum for list building and I'd spend a bit of time looking at that.

Many people will say the Tie Defender is terrible, but someone did very well in a Regionals with a list that was only 2 Tie Defenders. They are just different than what a lot of people are used to.

Tie Fighters are always good ships to throw in. If you wanted to have a list that was a Tie Defender, 2 Tie Fighters, and then a beefed up Soontir Fel, it could work. You would have all the other ships act as the anchor to draw in your opponent while Soontir tries to flank them.

Look at lists and the various upgrades. One of the things that FFG does that frustrate players is to put good upgrades in specific ships. So...if you want the AutoThrusters card, you will need to buy either the Scum Starviper or Scum IG-88 ship. Those cards are great for Tie Interceptors.

Look to pool your upgrade cards with your friend, if you can. That way you can build more interesting lists.

You can have a lot of fun with the ships you have (especially if you have a friend who has other stuff for you to fight against). Yeah, Interceptors take some fancy flying to reach their full potential, but a little practice on your own (there are threads around here with practice recommendations- one of my favorites is tossing your asteroids onto the table and flying your ships there-and-back while slaloming the rocks) will really help. Good luck and have fun! Welcome to the game!

P.S.- The IG-2000 Aggressor doesn't include Autothrusters. If you want it, you'll have to buy the Starviper or wait and see if it appears in a future product.

Forget the difficulty of keeping them in one piece or being competitive, which can for sure be tough with a pricey ship that has just 3 hull.. the PTL squint is truly a thing of great beauty and incredibly fun.

If it's just mates playing you guys should consider allowing proxies for cards. It is expensive to get all the cards you want for each squadron but that's only needed if playing tournament rules.

Fel, PTL, royal guard title, stealth device and auto thrusters. Ridiculously fun ship till the green dice fail you. The practice it will give you trying to have a shot yourself while dodging arcs will be good for you to 'learn to fly' too.

You did right by purchasing Imperial Aces and getting at least 2 copies of elite pilot talent "Push The Limit".

You'll love the ship once you figure it out. I know my first many games were tough, but an Interceptor, especially Soontir Fel, with Push the Limit is fantastic.

I'd recommend buying a Starviper expansion for the Autothrusters card next, though that means you're going to want to invest in the Scum faction, but you can honestly get a one of Scum every ship and multiples of a couple for about $100 on Miniature Market or Cool Stuff Inc.

The Interceptor sets contain some truly excellent pilots - Turr Phennir, Soontir Fel, Carnox Jax - and Imperial Aces gives you the upgrade you need to use them to their maximum potential (Push The Limit). TIE Interceptors and TIE Fighter are the ideal ships to learn the most important basics of the game in movement and arc-dodging.

At the same time, the TIE Defender gives you access to some useful talents as well (Outmanuever and Predator) alongside a tanky jouster of a ship. Colonel Vessery also pairs well with the upgrade from Imperial Aces.

Finally, the Core set models give you two cheap TIE Fighters to use as blockers.

In short, you've got everything you need to come up with some nasty little lists.

Edit: I would suggest your next purchase be a StarViper though, so you can add Autothrusters to your Interceptors and run the Indestructible Soontir build.

Oh and it's not just Fel. Carnor Jax can really mess with an opponent and the loaded Royal Guard might not have a fancy pilot ability or skill of the named guys but has all the post manouver repositioning fun at a reduced point cost. A Royal guard would find life tougher against a rebel ace like Wedge though due to moving before him.

The high pilot skill is probably the better introduction to the ship but not the only option.

Autothrusters is only really a priority if you're going against a lot of turrets, and it's just an upgrade card so unless you're planning on going into high level tournaments where you both need that card and can't get away with using something else it's not really worth buying a ship you won't otherwise use for it.

The good news! My friend already picked up a Star-viper for his squad and we are pooling our resources. So we can trade things around. (He's running with an 88, a Star Viper and 2 of the S&V (.... one of these days I am going to mistype and abbreviate it S&M. This is going to happen and it will be hilarious.) cannon fodder.

From what I've seen maneuverability and placement can either make or break an Imperial line and action economy is pretty important. (I saw more then a few Imperial teams get absolutely shredded because their player kept running into asteroids, other ships and even their own ships while the Rebels or S&V ships got extra actions and maneuvers in. Probably the MOST pathetic example was a Phantom and a Decimator that were dominating a S&V line up with great maneuvering... until the Decimator basically allowed itself to be ran off the board. Leaving the Phantom woefully outnumbered. and then it got teabagged by the S&V Y-wings. Also it basically allowed itself to get grounded on an Asteroid. )


The bad news, I still have to wait till Thursday to play.
Also I really like the advice to practice maneuvers on my own and post Thursday I will be doing that... because my friend and I have decided we want the first engagement to be at skill 0.

I will finish with another noob, but I feel good, question. Are there good scenarios for S&V vs Imperial?

Interceptors are still my favorite ship to fly. Try out a couple of Royal guard pilots with push the limit (stealth device with autothrusters or hull upgrade are not bad choices either.)

it will seem a little backwards, but you need to fly defensively. your highest priority is to avoid the firing arcs of enemy ships. boost and barrel roll are your friends. Never joust, ever. Don't have the mindset of "I'm gonna take some to give some."

Don't be afraid to break off the attack and live to fight again. Rock fields are better for you than your opponent, once you know how to fly.

In most instances, you really need the higher pilot skill for interceptors to take advantage of all those extra movements. soontir, turr, and carnor jax are all excellent choices, your buddy's 88 will likely be PS 6, so you will want to build above that, or initiative bid to move last, so you are moving after his PS 6.

Interceptors are still some of the most fun to be had in this game. Win or lose, you chose well. Also, don't underestimate the basic tie fighters, they are a solid addition to your fleet.

Interceptors are still some of the most fun to be had in this game.

Absofrickinlutely. There's nothing more satisfying than boosting and barrel rolling out of arc then into range one...

As an Imperial Veteran that only builds "Squint" lists Welcome the squadron, pilot! With that said What you currently have is all you'll need really to fly the best Interceptor pilots available. Soontir, Turr, and the third is a toss up to personal choice of either IMO Carnor, or Tetran. It's a good thing your buddy picked up the S&V StarViper. Because since it's release it provided the "Squint" with a piece of equipment that can not be left at home, and that is the Auto-thruster card. In the past the Interceptor had the "glass cannon" tag applied to it, and trust me it was very fragile. It was tough to run interceptors effectively, turrets would just own them, and having no shields... well, a well placed X-wing/B-wing shot, or close ranged A-wing hit and you are done. I'll tell you now, do not look at the green dice to save you. They will fail you. The Interceptor is one of those ships with a brief learning curve, but once you master it and are dodging firing arcs like nobody's business you will quickly realize that the Interceptor is probably one of if not the best Imperial air superiority fighter. Boost and barrel roll then add autothrusters for added range 3 and or turret protection, and suddenly you are a feared player. Add the elite talent of "push the limit" and you'll quickly see that it wont be easy for those Rebels to take you out.

Don't worry rook the dark side has guided you well you can make some fun lists from what you have.

Interceptor + PtL: 5 forward, boost bank, barrel roll opposite direction of boost. You just flanked them in round one.

As an Imperial Veteran that only builds "Squint" lists Welcome the squadron, pilot!

Sir yes sir!

Do you think the Interceptor, Defender and 2 fighters is a solid line up? The buzz around the Defender is worrisome for me. I think it looks like a great all around ship even if it is a little pricey and I hear that someone ran Defender's to some decent effect in the regionals this year.

Buuuut I also feel like I should have something meatier to run against my friend's squad like a spit fire.

As an Imperial Veteran that only builds "Squint" lists Welcome the squadron, pilot!

Sir yes sir!

Do you think the Interceptor, Defender and 2 fighters is a solid line up? The buzz around the Defender is worrisome for me. I think it looks like a great all around ship even if it is a little pricey and I hear that someone ran Defender's to some decent effect in the regionals this year.

Buuuut I also feel like I should have something meatier to run against my friend's squad like a spit fire.

Son take it from the tie defender ace hiself those whiners are wrong, the defender is the most deadly fighter in the galaxy when used correctly, report to the simulators for training.

Don't let the naysayers put you off, the Defender's a great ship once you get used to it. With what you'd got so far you could put out a mean little list like:

Soontir Fel - Push the Limit, Royal Guard Title, Autothrusters, Shield Upgrade (or Stealth Device if you have one)

Rexler Brath - Predator

2 x Academy TIE Pilots - (your blockers/deniers)

Gives your opponent a difficult decision - focus down Soontir or Rexler first. Both can do massive amounts of damage, and you don't want to be facing either one in the end game.

Against an IG-2000, StarViper and support, that could be pretty good. Both your named pilots have the high Pilot Skill necessary to arc dodge your opponents, so it could be a pretty even match up.

illl echo what others have said.

You've made a good choice.

Three interceptors is one of my fave 100 point imperial lists.

Usually soontir fell, turr phenir and the last pilot varies, all with autothrusters and stealth device and PTL. (i'd also agree that if its mates games ask if they will let you proxy cards before you buy stuff just for the upgrades.

Unless you get blocked you're very hard to hit, its important to make sure you can practically 'glue' the evade token to your ship as first action.

Get used to the fact that even when stressed you have a lot of options to clear it, many ships have to cruise forwards or bank slowly to clear stress but you can hard turn and boost which nearly spins you right round AND leaves you with a second action as you'll have cleared your stress.

The only thing i'll say against this list is its hard to play anything else once you get good with it as its so much fun and pretty effective.

I usually take this list if im playing someone new and i dont know how much of a git they might be or what 'surprises' to expect. Once i know the other player i'll play more varied lists to stop me getting in a rut but three ints is well dependable.

The main thing is to avoid losing your actions, practice running through rock fields, get good at knowing where your ships will end up and try not to do 'predictable' moves where your enemy can block you.

3hp isnt much (and before autothrusters i used to add a shield upgrade instead) but it is if you can keep out of arc, keep focussed and keep evading.

Good luck!

A comment and (maybe) an answer:

You mentioned playing your first engagement at skill 0. Be careful with this, as knowing how to manage pilots of different skill levels is important, on both sides of the table. If you do this, I'd suggest noting as you play, "This guy is printed as pilot skill 2, so he would normally move after this guy," etc., to ingrain the patterns in your mind. You can play while ignoring the printed special text on the pilot cards without much consequence, though.

As for scenarios, you can swap Scum in for Rebels in most of the printed scenarios (some allow you to build your own squadrons, or play a 100-point game by scenario rules). Also, check out the "Mission Command" section here on Fantasy Flight's page. It's a scenario creation tool for X-Wing (and maybe Armada at some point- not sure). It has a lot of stuff, so prepare to wade through a lot before you find what you're looking for, but some of the guys here (DagobahDave is one, I think) do a lot of work with scenarios and crank out some quality product.

Good luck, and welcome to the flight line!

Don't worry about the bad opinion of any of the ships. I believe every ship has made it into the top tables at Regionals at this point. Some people just don't know how to fly them and claim them bad. People said Tie Bombers were lame, but I went undefeated into finals at Store Championship with 4 Tie bombers. Came in 3rd due to Phantoms.

Tie Defenders are fun and you can do well if you practice with them. Since you don't know how to fly other ships, I recommend you learn to fly this one well! You won't have the hang ups that it can't do what other ships can (even though you can white K-turn).

I will also say that Tie Fighters are great ships, even beyond the generics. They can be a lot of fun.

Don't let the naysayers put you off, the Defender's a great ship once you get used to it. With what you'd got so far you could put out a mean little list like:

Soontir Fel - Push the Limit, Royal Guard Title, Autothrusters, Shield Upgrade (or Stealth Device if you have one)

Rexler Brath - Predator

2 x Academy TIE Pilots - (your blockers/deniers)

Gives your opponent a difficult decision - focus down Soontir or Rexler first. Both can do massive amounts of damage, and you don't want to be facing either one in the end game.

Against an IG-2000, StarViper and support, that could be pretty good. Both your named pilots have the high Pilot Skill necessary to arc dodge your opponents, so it could be a pretty even match up.

Im really liking the looks of this set up. I just want to make sure I know how Autothrusters works. If I am range 2 or further I get to make a blank die roll an evade (but not a focus) And any weapon that fires outside the normal firing arc no matter the distance is the same?

And do i want to keep at range two, or go into range 1 so I can hammer at them but keep out of their arc?

Next: Important point of me putting my foot in my mouth. I meant player skill level. We want to come at this with out having played a real game. So what we can learn about our ships and figure out without playing is fine but we want our first game to be nothing but knowledge and bravado, no skill from having played the game. We're going to make a lot of mistakes of course but that's fine.

Finally: I am going to put together a 3 interceptor team as well, it looks like a solid line up and it looks like a lot of fun.

Aesthetically I think that all of the paint schemes on the Interceptors are gorgeous so seeing them all flying in formation would be fun. But the Defender and Fighter are fun to and seeing them get some action would be great. (If we end up getting 2 core sets I may very well sey up a Defender and as many fighters as I can manage.)

I'm currently having a lot of fun with 4 Alpha Squadron Pilots, each with Autothrusters, and a Naked Howlrunner.

Auto thrusters are for range 3 or when out of arc against a turret.

Ideally you would approach from a flanking position and only close when they won't have a shot. It can be well worth sacrificing a shot this turn to stay out of their arc and play a patient game. If you get caught in arc and barrel roll/boost won't get you out, turtle up. This means focus and evade. In the case of Fel, his ability would then mean he has an evade and two focus tokens. All this is to mitigate the incoming damage.

Range one and in their arc is a bad bad idea but range one and out of arc is when the sweet sweet goodness happens.

Getting out of arc is where having a jousting component helps. Ships

I,e the Defender and basic Tie's present a direct threat from one direction that is hard to ignore. If the opponent ignores the jousters and heads for the interceptor, the interceptor gtfo while the other guys come in and bring a hammering of their own.

Playing Interceptors:

Playing Fat Turrets:

You chose wisely, OP.

Im really liking the looks of this set up. I just want to make sure I know how Autothrusters works. If I am range 2 or further I get to make a blank die roll an evade (but not a focus) And any weapon that fires outside the normal firing arc no matter the distance is the same?

And do i want to keep at range two, or go into range 1 so I can hammer at them but keep out of their arc?

You need to be at range three, but apart from that you've got it. Autothrusters is very usefull against turret lists, but from what you've said your opponent will be running (StarViper, IG-2000 & chaff) you'll only really get the benefit at range three (unless they're using turreted Y-Wings or HotShot blasters). It can still help keep him alive though.

In fact, Soontir at range 3 with Push the Limit, Autothrusters and a Stealth Device can be almost impossible to take down one-on-one. I played a game recently where Soontir was on one hull, and fact a full health Kath Scarlett. Approximately 12 turns later, Soontir won. I just couldn'tget a finishing blow on him.