Now my plan was when I got to the store I would buy a gladiator. Little did I know it sold since I was last in.

So my collection.

One starter complete.

One starter imperial only.

One raider

One imperial fighter pack.

So I put down.

Victory 2

Enhanced armaments.

Victory 2 enhanced armaments.

Grand moff tarkin

Raider 2

Tie fighter x3.

I won. My victory 2s werent terrible. What kind of list should I have crafted? Does a victory expansion add more to my build choices than a gladiator. I wanted to go carrier. Demolisher. Raider and have some fun. But models are a limiting factor somewhat locally.

I would recommend sticking with the II-s on the Vics for now, because the blue range is easier to line up until you get the hang of it. The Raider is kind of a enigma to me still but seems to me that it can handle a lot of different builds. For now, I would keep him cheap as he's liable to get blown up pretty easy.

I personally really like H9s on the Vics, but many on here like gunnery teams so try them out.

As far as whether or not to go glad or victory expansion, I would go glad for now just because it gets you another ship type. Plus, if you like carriers, the glad comes with admiral chiraneau which is great for squadrons (though if you use him, put him on a Vic). I do like the cards the Vic expansion comes with though, so I do think it is a viable buy at some point (motti is alright, flight controllers is really cool, intel officer and the titles are great).

As for what kind of list you SHOULD run, I wouldn't worry about it. The biggest joy for me was trying stuff I thought would be good and seeing what would stick. My personal meta shifted a LOT and cards I thought were trash ended up becoming staples for my strategy.

Somewhat veteran tip though, Don't go overboard on air superiority with squadrons. Yes, you will crush Rebel fighters with your synergy, but the TIEs don't hit ships all that hard (especially without Rhymer). Hope this all was somewhat helpful. Good hunting!

I will say that the Raider with a Single Tie fighter for support ran down a Nebulon and wrecked it. Its a minnow hunter, and the cheapest way to move a fighter or two into the right position as its "long range weapon"

However, in EVERY other game I have seen, a Raider gets too frisky and dies in an amusing splat.

I am not sold on the Enhanced Armaments on the VIctory IIs, but it definitely make the CR90s less able to dance against my flanks. I was throwing harder dice then they were.

I definitely see why squadrons are over looked in a lot of lists, even with only 3 TIE fighters on the board and Grand Moff Tarkin handing out a free token a round I rarely felt like I had enough orders to really use my fighters effectively.

That having been said... turn 4 my raider was hammered but had emerged victorious against the Nebulon and my flagship was a mess from turn 4 onward before finally dying on his last shot of 6. So engineering tokens were the order from the Grand Moff every turn in the 2nd half of the game.

That's pretty normal for a tarkin build. A free shield a turn isn't that bad. I pretty much have the same stuff as you, except I also have a nebulon and cr90 expansion. I'd highly suggest you get at least 1 nebulon to get xi7 turbolasers for a victory or imperial star destroyer, as it really helps against both sides bigger ships. And cr90s too. I just ran a 2 Vic 1 raider list myself, with Vader thanks too a friend giving me an extra he had.

1 vic2 -85

Darth Vader -36 (I think)

Gunnery teams - 7

Total: 128

1 vic2 - 85

Dominater title - 12

Xi7 turbolasers - 7

Gunnery teams - 7

Total - 111

Raider 1 - 44

Assault concussion missles - 8

Admiral montferrat - 5

Impetuous - 4

Total - 61

Total list - 300 I might be a couple points over, doing that off memory. But the list uses the raider as shot bait, with montferrat giving extra survivability, and acms to provide a genuine threat. The dominater vsd shoots waay over its weight class, tossing up to 9 dice out of its front arcs, 6 out of its side. With Vader to reroll blanks and excess accuracy, and xi7 to negate redirects effectiveness. Was basically gaurenteed to get 4-5 damage and an accuracy base, about 6-8 out the front.

Vader stays on the other one to nspread the points around, which is important so you don't get too crippled by losing one