Hi all! New to IA but been playing X-Wing (and other wargames) for a while now. I've just picked up a core set and a few expansions and haven't got a skirmish game under my belt yet so I'm very interested to see if some of you good folks would be happy to explain a few list archetypes to me, how they work and what to consider with the Command deck.

I've seen lots of reference to 4x4 and Rebel Blast as top tier lists but don't really understand the composition or synergies as an IA "noob". Thanks!

4x4 is four gray Royal Guard with 4 gray Imperial Officers.The Officers allow another figure to move their full move value out of turn. That makes the Royal Guards extremely quick. Even when the Officers don't need to be granting extra movement to Guards, they bump up your number of activations to let you open doors (so you Royal Guards don't waste an action), park away from the action next to a terminal, or sacrifice their activation for cards like Take Initiative.

I don't know that Rebel Blast is as rigidly defined as 4x4. It's got some variations. The one thing that they all have is a lot of Rebel Saboteurs.

Something like:

Luke Skywalker

Gideon Argus

C-3PO

2 x Elite Rebel Saboteurs

2 x Rebel Saboteurs

The list tries to take advantage of the blast ability on Rebel Saboteurs to deal a lot of splash damage to enemy units that want to remain adjacent. Forcing a squad like 4x4 to space out lowers their defense and.

Rebel Blast and 4x4 are the Tier 1 lists right now, but you will occasionally run into one of the Tier 2 lists:

General Weiss' Immortal Legion uses Philosopher's Stones Weiss' Command Card and Reinforcements to order around and keep reviving a combination of Elite Stormtrooper and Heavy Stormtrooper units.

Sample List:

General Weiss

2x Elite Stormtrooper

1x Heavy Stormtrooper

Relentless Assault uses IG88 and Trandoshans to stack Relentless triggers to burn through command decks and then do extra damage through strain.

Sample:

IG-88

4x Trandoshan Hunter

Or

IG-88

2x Elite Trandoshans

2x Hired Guns

Kayn Troopers is a potentially nasty list that passes focus tokens and bonus attacks to Elite Stormtroopers with Royal Guard and Officer backup.

Sample:

Kayn Somos

2x Elite Stormtrooper

Royal Guards

2x Imperial Officers

Vader's Fist can be fielded effectively out of one Core Set and so sees fringe play from budget players.

Sample:

Darth Vader

Royal Guards

2x Stormtrooper

2x Officer

Smuggler Deathball has Han Chewie, Jyn, and C3PO all stand together to provide defensive bonuses to each other. Resilient and hard hitting, the list lacks severely in mobility.

Sample:

Chewie

Han

Jyn

Gideon

Mak

C3PO

Finally, a new list has been raising since attention: Wookiee Death Charge. Featuring massive amounts of health and strong melee attacks, this list lacks in mobility and has no ranged weapons, but may see some fringe play because it is new.

Sample:

4x Wookiee Warriors

Gaarkhan

Hopefully that is a good overview of the Tier 2 and Tier 3 lists that you may see at Worlds

I don't know that Rebel Blast is as rigidly defined as 4x4. It's got some variations. The one thing that they all have is a lot of Rebel Saboteurs.

Something like:

Luke Skywalker

Gideon Argus

C-3PO

2 x Elite Rebel Saboteurs

2 x Rebel Saboteurs

+ Balance of the Force

Variants are:

Luke Skywalker

Gideon Argus

C-3PO

2 x Elite Rebel Saboteurs

Rebel Saboteurs

Jyn Odan

Balance of the Force

(all little bit more budget-friendly)

Luke Skywalker

Gideon Argus

C-3PO

2 x Elite Rebel Saboteurs

Elite Rebel Troopers

+ Upgrade Card

(even more focus)

Focussed Elite Saboteurs using Luke's rerolls are devastating ...

General Weiss' Immortal Legion uses Philosopher's Stones Weiss' Command Card and Reinforcements to order around and keep reviving a combination of Elite Stormtrooper and Heavy Stormtrooper units.

Sample List:

General Weiss

2x Elite Stormtrooper

1x Heavy Stormtrooper

I'd rather go with the following list for more mobility:

General Weiss

2x Elite Stormtrooper

3x Officer

Vader's Fist can be fielded effectively out of one Core Set and so sees fringe play from budget players.

Sample:

Darth Vader

Royal Guards

2x Stormtrooper

2x Officer

The current version of the Vader's Fist looks like:

Darth Vader

2x Royal Guards

3x Officer

Vader's Fist can be fielded effectively out of one Core Set and so sees fringe play from budget players.

Sample:

Darth Vader

Royal Guards

2x Stormtrooper

2x Officer

The current version of the Vader's Fist looks like:

Darth Vader

2x Royal Guards

3x Officer

Yeah, I've been seeing this around and thought it looked pretty cool and it can be played easily if you borrow from a friend. I might give that a try after worlds.

Thanks for all the replies! Without spending loads of cash to build a top tier list; I'm thinking of trying out Kayn Troopers of Vaders Fist for my first skirmish game. There's a couple of guys at the local club looking for people to play with and I love Star Wars and X-Wing miniatures so I thought I'd take the plunge. Played through the tutorial campaign mission and that's it so far.

I picked up a core set, Kayn Somos, R2 & 3PO, Boba and IG-88 mainly because I'll enjoy painting those minis. Glad to see there's a few viable builds I could have a play with to find a fun play style. I really wasn't looking forwards to buying as many expansions for this as I have for X-Wing let alone storing them safely

[...]

Vader's Fist can be fielded effectively out of one Core Set and so sees fringe play from budget players.

Sample:

Darth Vader

Royal Guards

2x Stormtrooper

2x Officer

[...]

Good summary, but Vader (18) + RG (8) + 2xStormtroopers (12) + 2xOfficer (4).- That's 42 points

Rest of archetypes ok