So after a few matches and a two second glance at the expansions my wife is sold on the Millennium Falcon. She is a new fan, if you can believe that. I got to show her the films for the first time and when she saw that she could fly the Falcon there was no question as to what her next toy would be. I am not sure what to get though! After showing some friends the game the only faction left for me to choose is the Empire, which is fine by me. We have cookies.

Anyways, what do y'all think of the Falcon and an X-Wing for a beginner list? Using a squad builder I was able to come up with a few ideas but is this a viable thing or am I setting her up for failure? I don't even know what I'm doing yet so maybe I'll post some of my lists later for evaluation.

On to the Empire. I have two Ties... Where to go from there? I kind of want to grab another Old core for 4 Ties and base something off of that but at the same time, I wonder what else is out there? I'm gonna be going up against the Falcon and Co. soon and I'm going to need more pewpew!

I'd say I don't want to overwhelm her but I have this funny feeling that won't be an issue...

Honestly, when someone is starting out, let them fly the ships that appeal to them. If she likes the falcon and x wing then do it!! There is no real bad list in this game (casually playing), you can make anything work

For Empire, I'd recommend getting your hands on the Interceptor expansion and Imperial Aces. From there, you should look into getting the TIE Fighter Expansion and TIE Advanced Expansion so you could test out the waters with Imperial pilots.

Oh and for imps, if she is flying a falcon, how about a decimator to go with your mini-swarm of ties?

x-wings are fine now

just proxy integrated astromech

print it out, instant awesome

you could run even two rookies with r2/r5 astro and they'd be great wingmen

might as well proxy c3po while you're at it. It feels like cheating, but that's fun sometimes (esp on Miranda giving Han a taste of his own medicine...revenge is so sweet)

I'm a newb and the best advice I was given about buying new ships is this:

You can never go wrong with any ship in the game. They all are good.

So buy the ships you want to play with (especially for a newb).

Cool, that's kind of what I thought. All the ships have their own personality more than anything and I think that overrides any sort of performance criteria.

If I got her the Falcon and myself the Imperial Aces pack would that be a good match-up? Obviously yes, but from a more competitive stand point how are we looking?

Oh, and she really loves her X-Wing. Even with a rookie pilot and no mods she still smokes my eyeballs!

you're going to have "fun" running your face into uncooperative green dice when you realize you can't dodge the YT

Cool, that's kind of what I thought. All the ships have their own personality more than anything and I think that overrides any sort of performance criteria.

If I got her the Falcon and myself the Imperial Aces pack would that be a good match-up? Obviously yes, but from a more competitive stand point how are we looking?

I'm a newb too, I bought the core set and the battle of Yavin stuff except the falcon( Vader and Y). I went down a completely different route and picked up hounds tooth (large) and then Most wanted (3 ships) which also allows you to repurpose Ys HWKs and the firespray for scum, not to mention coming with loads of upgrade cards. For my money it's the best value expansion out there!

See that's what drove me once I was past my initial splurge was value, us newbs are playing catchup with 8 waves, I'll probably get everything eventually but on a somewhat limited hobby budget I am going for the kits with the most bang and fizz first!

if you go the interceptor route, she will beat you pretty bad with the falcon. The interceptors are made for boost/roll outside of the fire arcs so they don't get shot at. The falcon trumps that because it can fire 360. There are ways around the match-up, but require buying other expansions. If you are looking for the most fun, I recommend a second core set, and one more tie. Its is a lot of fun for both players in my opinion. You could even get the new core for more variety. Plus you get more dice(nice to have), and a second damage deck.

But in the end I agree with other posts....get what you think is cool. The game is pretty balanced, and its all about the cool anyway. Have fun.

i totally understand the need for "bang for bucks" when you're starting out

i notice you said "grab another original core set", i'm assuming you therefore have one already? if so i wouldn't suggest getting another one at this stage. I think you'd be better off getting some expansion packs for variety (you should be able to get 3 basic expansion packs for the same price of a starter set). This will let you get the same physical number of ships but instead of doubling up on pilots you already have you will gain access to the different ones found in the expansion packs (not to mention the upgrade cards).

As far as expansion packs go, for imps i agree with spike (tie fighter/tie interceptor/imp aces/tie advanced) however if you like the look/feel of a particular ship go for it! there is no ship that is to be avoided.

For rebels an X-wing/B-wing would be my first choice newbie expansions although again go with personal preference over anything else...

If you are wanting to get 100pts asap it might well be worth considering a decimator for the imps as you can easily make it 50-60pts on it's own. if you prefer the slave 1 you can upgrade that enough to swallow a fair few points as well...

Alternatively if you want the added value of additional dice/templates/tokens of a core set i'd get a copy of the new one over a second original one as, again, this will give you access to more variety of ships than doubling up on the old one...

In all honesty i wouldn't overly worry what you get at this stage as you will, i promise you, end up with everything in the end unless you have a particular dislike for a certain ship...

(ps i haven't mentioned scum at this point as i'm assuming you're initial goal is to get some playable lists from what you already have...)

Even if they're fragile, an interceptor would serve you well, because those things are just a lot of **** fun to fly. Slave 1 and Lambda Shuttle are also great if you want to go with something a little larger- plus, they're two of the nicest-looking models. (Lambda is also extremely fun with "buzz-saw" build and all the target lock shenanigans you can stack on it.) A Y-wing and B-wing are also highly recommended. If you've got any emotional attachment to Dark Forces, a HWK-290 would also be a good choice. Last, you can't go wrong with more X-wings; think there's a lot of fun to be had with the right combination of rookie pilots and astromechs. Be sure to let us know if you two come up with anything interesting.

The problem with the Falcon (and the PWT (short for primary weapon turret)) design in general is that it ignores maneuvering, which is most of the game. You never have to line up the firing arc of a ship that always has everything that can shoot it in arc. Starting on a PWT could be bad for learning the game, so it's definitely important to either A: give your TIE interceptors Autothrusters (just proxy them, no need to buy a StarViper unless you want a StarViper) so that maneuvering matters for the turret or B: ensure the Falcon player has some arced ships like X-wings along for the ride.

Yikes... I missed the 360 fire arc! That'll make her smile with evil glee...

The MF is a no brainer then. I imagine that will serve as a great entry point for her.

She has also expressed an interest in the Y-Wing. And let me tell you boys, when your wife picks up a Y-Wing and goes "aww wicked!" your heart skips a beat. She definitely wants the Falcon first, but at least I know what to get her after that now.

As for the Empire, well... I been kind of leaning towards an Interceptor or an Advanced to be honest. The reason I was looking at another Old core was simply for more Ties and tokens. I'd like to get a new core too, but I think I want to wait and see if we can get separate damage decks. I know all the ships are good, but I'm a stickler for consistency and I want to limit myself to one faction at first. Besides, they will probably come out with a First Order Aces kit or some such once that faction gets more ships.

Anyways this is all good advice, and I'm glad to know that the Falcon is going to put up some stuff competition. Also I should mention that our friends are going to play S&V, or at least one of them. Funny how girls seem to like X-Wing, I think it has something to do with the 1 page rules summary and the simple dice mechanics. Not to say that the simplicity is what grabs them, but rather how quickly things are resolved. No down time really, especially when you consider the dials. I think that adds a nice element of surprise that people enjoy. Its fun to see where the other player is going to go, its almost like a mini poker game.

I'd like to get a new core too, but I think I want to wait and see if we can get separate damage decks.

Not likely.

Defenders always defenders at least two.

If you are playing at home, you can always print off a bunch of Auto Thrusters. I think that would be ideal if you are going against the Falcon a lot.

One note about Imperial Aces.....the best Interceptor Pilot in the game is only in the Interceptor blister. That's Soontir Fel. He's so good that I get tired of seeing him in almost every Imperial list. There are a few others that are only in that blister.

In addition to what the others have suggested, I would like to point your attention to the good ol Tie bomber.

She's a good wee ship.

Some cluster missiles will come in handy when trying to take down that pesky MF that your wife will be playing.

Also bombs can be fun. Like you said, this game has that poker element of trying to guess what your opponent is going to do, where they are going to go and having a bomb or two in your list can make your opponent second guess their dial planning

Oh and yes, Tie Defender with a heavy laser cannon

Zoom and boom!!

I actually had a few games at the ship today and I got to speak with the owner a bit about his experience. He was about as new as I am though, but he did confirm that the MF is a tough ship. Apparently he flew against one with a Tie Bomber and a couple Fighters so... Maybe the Bomber is a good bet. I always liked the Bomber as I had a micro machine one as a kid, so nostalgia points.

I like the idea of Soontir Fel but I don't want to run the typical lists. That's always been one thing I have steered away from. Plus looking at the squad builder there are a lot of great Imperial pilots out there. I think right now Dark Curse is my favorite, that free focus after a green move is really swell. I think giving him the Ion Engine thingy that makes certain white moves green is a solid choice. A bit a practice with the bank template and barrel rolling and I think he could be a great pilot. Thoughts?

Which TIEs do you have? If you don't have TFA Coreset Episode VII then you should get that next. If you do then what type of build do you want to go for?

Decimators are very popular and they are the counterpart to the Falcon being a large 3 firepower PWT ship. The MOV nerf might not be as big of a factor so big 3 firepower PWT ships should still be good.

Other ships the Phantom is still a good arc dodger. Whisper is pretty good out of the pack.

If you want Soontir then you may want to check into using Scum as your secondary faction as you will want a Star Viper. However to build Soontir you will need quite a few expansions. First is the TIE-interceptor pack as well as either an A-wing pack but for imperials you may want to look at Imperial Aces for PTL instead. The A-wing will be cheaper but Imperial Aces will give you two more interceptors. Lastly a Star Viper for the two autothrusters. So there you go 3 packs to build 1 ship.

If you like bombers consider the tie punisher that can take Autothrusters and a sensor, fire control system gives you a target lock after you attack making it easier to fire torpedoes.

It comes to 40 points but:

Red line 27

Extra munitions 2

Fire control system 2

Autothrusters 2

Plasma torpedoes 3

Cluster missiles 4

Will take a beating and hurt the falcon.

And you have sixty points for escorts.

I have the original Ties, they're purple now, ha-ha.

I will probably end up getting the FA set, but I really don't want to just yet. Its a ship preference, I know its just a flavour thing, but I just don't want to run FO stuff until I have a proper squad built. Same thing for the wife, we'll get her the MF and then she should be able to play that happily for awhile. I know I could proxy the new Ties for old ones but, meh. Its not like GW where you have 15 minutes to buy the set before it goes oop.

I think I am going to try the Bomber first and perhaps another Tie, that should give me a good start. The MF is about $40, and ships are $20 a pop so... I think that may be how it goes! Unless of course I decide on an Advanced or Interceptor!