I would absolutely recommend 1 of each core set as others have mentioned.

That being said I just wanted to point out that while many have suggested picking up 2 of the original core if you can find at a discount you might actually find new core sets on sale rather than the old ones. I believe both coolstuff and miniatures market had the new core sets marked down to around $20 a pop. Target recently had them marked down too. I wouldn't expect to find many of the old core sets marked down as they just did a restock of those sets recently but not nearly at the same volume produced for the TFA core.

The point about taking advantage of a deal is valid either way, I just think it will be the opposite of what was stated previously.

Very true. I've seen the new set cheaper in general. Personally though, I don't think the new set is nearly as worth doubling up on compared to the old (which I don't think is worth doubling up on anymore either). For one, none of the new ships feel as spammable as the old. You're going to want to get the individual packs and I feel in general 2 T-70s and 3 TIE/FOs will do. Even if you want 3 T-70's, I think you're better off getting singles for multiple Integrated Astromech cards.

2 new core sets will still get you templates and dice of course, but nothing that you don't get out of the old set, which has some very nice uniques like Luke/Biggs/R2/etc. The only things you get out of the new set are the Wired and Weapon Guidance cards; neither of which feel like a super worthwhile buy, IMO.

to be clear, the new set isn't as "spammable" because

a.) the ships in it are more elite than in the old core, and therefore you just physically can't fit as many in your list

b.) the individual expacs have some essential upgrades in them

• Integrated and Targeting Astromech for the T-70s and X-wing
• Juke and Comms for the FO (it's really strong, actually), + 3 new named pilots

Or that, if you don't appreciate a long, barely coherent ramble.

A curious thing happened tonight...

I went to the local shop that stocks X Wing. He is one of three Comic Book Shops in the area and the other two don't regularly stock the game. This guy had a shelf of X-Wing that he reorders once a week. I held the two core sets in my hand and I couldn't resist buying the original instead of the new one. I'm typically not the kind of guy who goes against people's advice. I believe it would have been the more cost-effective decision to buy the newer one, but that wasn't the only factor.

Tomorrow night I'll be opening up the box and playing with a friend while his father and brother hang around with us. They'll supply the beer and nachos while we all check the game out together. Since none of us have seen the new movie yet, and we all have an attachment to the original, I felt it would be better to invite them to participate in something they're familiar with. It would be exciting for them to fly as Luke Skywalker, significantly less to pilot some unknown pilot from a movie that we've carefully avoided spoilers for.

I'm appreciative of the advice, and if we get into it, i'm sure we'll upgrade when it's time.

I'll update you tomorrow night, but first I've got to finish this paper...

Also... two of my friends shot buck this week. I'll be out in the woods on Saturday.

Hi lunimus,

Welcome to the community!

I hope you and your close group of friends and family can get into it, and enjoy doing so on your own terms.

But - when you find that you've had your little taste of it, and you start to get stronger urges for more - know that there are others of us out here that you can go and play with. Of course, once you start down the plastic crack path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

Of course, once you start down the plastic crack path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

In a lot of ways, I still feel like this the age old cardboard-crack addiction -- I find myself buying expansions for the cards more than for the ships these days.

Alright, I've got the update on my first three games played.

I went to my friend john's house where I met his brother, who has played x wing with friends before. He was able to guide us through any questions we had, but he was intentional to remain unobtrusive and let us learn on our own. He's looking forward to next time we get together, he's going to jump in now that we know how to play.

We played three game, all with normal rules. For the first we used the QuickStart pilot set ups, but retained normal gameplay. The third game we upgraded to luke and the best two named tie pilots, complete with add ons 35v36 squad points. We flip-flopped sides, but the empire lost all three games. Proton torpedoes and especially R2D2 felt broken. We never got below the x wings shields. We think that the ties could have been flown better, they were often separated and only able to fire one or the the other per round.

We had a lot of fun and we're excited to add another core set or two into the mix. We crashed ships three times and my friend forgot his focus tokens regularly. We'll be playing again next week. Maybe I'll have picked up my Craigslist ad by then!

Sounds like a great start.

2 ties vs 1 X at generic pilot level should favour the Tie's if they can focus fire and work together. If each turn turn they both shoot the X but the X has a shot on a different Tie each time they should be good.

Luke with R2D2 vs 2 Ties would be really tough on the Ties though. Even if the 2 are Dark Curse and Mauler. They are both good Tie pilots but Regen is very powerful and Luke is pretty durable with his ability. Plus their higher than normal Ps is wasted due to Luke being PS8. Not surprised 2 Ties struggle there tbh. 3 academy would maybe be fairer but your obviously beyond the base game then. Don't worry, Luke and Artoo is better balanced at 100 pt as as you can overwhelm the defensive ability and regen with more shots in a round.

Yeah, the first two games with genetic pilots were closer even without good formation flying by the ties. We also need to practice individual ship maneuvers. I have a hunch that the right 90 degree turns combined with a barrel roll will do wonders with for tie fighters. I'm gonna practice with them and see if I can't start winning at the generic pilot level. I bet with good formation, it would be much more balance. Still, upgraded Luke felt overpowered. He torpedoed a tie to pieces on turn one and then mopped up the other of the better named pilots. Formation couldn't have changed that as it was the first turn. Glad to hear he balances out later. I'm okay with rookie tie in formation beating rookie lone x wing and Luke beating even the better tie pilots.

If people are interested, I'll keep them posted.

Hey Luminus,

Since you are on the same arc as me in regards to X-Wing only about 3-4 games further along, I would be interested in following your progression. My guess is after Ep. VII comes out and with the holidays we should see a increase in new players frequenting the forum. They too, should find your experience as helpful/interesting.

P.S. Did you get any venison?

There are some interesting ways the templates work with each other for formation flying. Do a YouTube search for Xwing formation flying. In fact YouTube is a great resource for many aspects of the game.

Hey Luminus,

Since you are on the same arc as me in regards to X-Wing only about 3-4 games further along, I would be interested in following your progression. My guess is after Ep. VII comes out and with the holidays we should see a increase in new players frequenting the forum. They too, should find your experience as helpful/interesting.

P.S. Did you get any venison?

That's a good point, I will post our impressions. I'm sure whatever we discover will be common knowledge, but I

Sure people would enjoy seeing it through our experiences and being able to offer their advice.

On another note, no venison today. We saw a doe at 200yards which my friend got excited about and scared off with a clean miss of shot. He had a chance with his .270, but my 12g mossberg wouldn't have had a prayer. We went out before dusk as well and saw another for approaching at a great angle but the sun went down before she was on the property we could hunt. We picked up my friends meat from the button buck that he shot.

Yeah, the first two games with genetic pilots were closer even without good formation flying by the ties. We also need to practice individual ship maneuvers. I have a hunch that the right 90 degree turns combined with a barrel roll will do wonders with for tie fighters. I'm gonna practice with them and see if I can't start winning at the generic pilot level. I bet with good formation, it would be much more balance. Still, upgraded Luke felt overpowered. He torpedoed a tie to pieces on turn one and then mopped up the other of the better named pilots. Formation couldn't have changed that as it was the first turn. Glad to hear he balances out later. I'm okay with rookie tie in formation beating rookie lone x wing and Luke beating even the better tie pilots.

...

The core set pair of TIE Fighters is going to have trouble when you fill up Luke. The TIE are something like 33 points and filling the EPT slot on Mauler doesn't help much in the core set and both are paying a premium for PS that isn't getting used. Luke + R2D2 is already 32 points and if you give him an EPT and/or Torpedo he should totally outclass the TIE Fighters.

When it comes to maneuvering TIE Fighters that speed 1 turn followed by a barrel roll can be pretty awesome. You may find it referenced as a Matador Turn because the end result is almost the ship just turning in place.

On Deer Hunting: 12 ga or .270? There's more difference between those than there is between an X-Wing and a TIE Fighter when it comes to how they are best used.

Yeah, the first two games with genetic pilots were closer even without good formation flying by the ties. We also need to practice individual ship maneuvers. I have a hunch that the right 90 degree turns combined with a barrel roll will do wonders with for tie fighters. I'm gonna practice with them and see if I can't start winning at the generic pilot level. I bet with good formation, it would be much more balance. Still, upgraded Luke felt overpowered. He torpedoed a tie to pieces on turn one and then mopped up the other of the better named pilots. Formation couldn't have changed that as it was the first turn. Glad to hear he balances out later. I'm okay with rookie tie in formation beating rookie lone x wing and Luke beating even the better tie pilots.

...

The core set pair of TIE Fighters is going to have trouble when you fill up Luke. The TIE are something like 33 points and filling the EPT slot on Mauler doesn't help much in the core set and both are paying a premium for PS that isn't getting used. Luke + R2D2 is already 32 points and if you give him an EPT and/or Torpedo he should totally outclass the TIE Fighters.

When it comes to maneuvering TIE Fighters that speed 1 turn followed by a barrel roll can be pretty awesome. You may find it referenced as a Matador Turn because the end result is almost the ship just turning in place.

On Deer Hunting: 12 ga or .270? There's more difference between those than there is between an X-Wing and a TIE Fighter when it comes to how they are best used.

Yeah we're going to take out Luke and put in another pilot. Test maneuvers.

My friend was using a .270 and I was using a 12g mossberg with a scope, sighted to 50yards. We set up where we each had our own field of vision from a hill appropriate for our weapon. Well get out again next week, maybe a few times.

Imperial Aces + 1 TIE Interceptor expansion is going to be the most solid investment you can make for Imperial side.

The 3 Elite Interceptor list is some serious business. 3 hull ships last a lot longer than you think they would when they can all barrel roll and boost out of firing arcs constantly.

It's a list that keeps getting better as you buy more expansions and get more elite talents and upgrades like Predator, Veteran Instincts, Autothrusters and Stealth Device.

Maybe take it easy on your friends though and don't always field them together!

The standard tournament build is for 100 points games, but you can have some fun with 120+ point games that have Boba Fett and Darth Vader with a couple aces.

Question regarding 2 Core. What does the forum suggest as a good pt. limit to play smaller games at? 50? 60? 72? 75? Obviously mirror matches would have to be much lower at 36 or so but what about Reb vs. Imps.? Don't need to use every card or pilot but want to have enough room for variety, (at least as it applies to Red Core/Blue Core) Thanks.

Question regarding 2 Core. What does the forum suggest as a good pt. limit to play smaller games at? 50? 60? 72? 75? Obviously mirror matches would have to be much lower at 36 or so but what about Reb vs. Imps.? Don't need to use every card or pilot but want to have enough room for variety, (at least as it applies to Red Core/Blue Core) Thanks.

It depends on which cores. The first core set says you should play a 31-point game. If you have two, I think doubling that amount would make sense, so 62. The second core set recommends 36-point games. If you have two, you could play 72-point games. If you have one of each, 67, might be a good point to start at.

However, I find that with a small collection, you quickly arrive at optimum builds for a given point limit. You will never use some pilots at certain point limits because it's too expensive to add another ship but isn't as good of a pilot as the more expensive ace. If you change your squad-point limit, you're more likely to experience fun, new combinations, even with just a starting collection.

I think taking Luke out of the equation is going the right direction but consider keeping him in use and just dropping Artoo from him. It's such an iconic combination that absolutely has a place in the game as I said but it's their synergy with each other that breaks low point match ups rather than either card individually. Plus flying Luke is so much more "Star Wars" than using a Rookie. Fly Luke without Artoo or generic X with it to see the difference. Actually, do both.Luke is just so good at evading damage but a generic will have more damage get through meaning The Artoo regen is more easily overwhelmed.

Question regarding 2 Core. What does the forum suggest as a good pt. limit to play smaller games at? 50? 60? 72? 75? Obviously mirror matches would have to be much lower at 36 or so but what about Reb vs. Imps.? Don't need to use every card or pilot but want to have enough room for variety, (at least as it applies to Red Core/Blue Core) Thanks.

Larger point games can still go by pretty fast if you stay away from swarm lists and just stick to named pilots.

Question regarding 2 Core. What does the forum suggest as a good pt. limit to play smaller games at? 50? 60? 72? 75? Obviously mirror matches would have to be much lower at 36 or so but what about Reb vs. Imps.? Don't need to use every card or pilot but want to have enough room for variety, (at least as it applies to Red Core/Blue Core) Thanks.

Using the old Core two sets could let you use the following:

Imperials: 48 points (Academy Pilot x4) to 62+ points (three named pilots plus Black maybe with a couple EPTs)

Rebels: 42 points (Rookie x2) to 71 points (Biggs w/ R2F2 and Luke w/R2D2, Marksmanship and torps on both)

Looking at those ranges I'd say 50-55 points could give you some room for both using two original core sets. I'm not sure how throwing in one of each core set would mess that up although the new ships are more expensive so that could push the numbers up.

Normally when it comes to smaller games I start looking at various breakpoints: 33, 50, 66, and perhaps 75. These don't always work with a limited collection however as some options (Luke w/ R2D2 -32 points) may just overwhelm the potential challengers.

Nevermind.

Not to hijack the thread but thanks for the quick replies. As you can see, right now the only ships I have is new/blue Core. After the holidays I plan on adding an old/red Core as well. Until then kids gotta eat, etc.

Yeah, the first two games with genetic pilots were closer even without good formation flying by the ties. We also need to practice individual ship maneuvers. I have a hunch that the right 90 degree turns combined with a barrel roll will do wonders with for tie fighters. I'm gonna practice with them and see if I can't start winning at the generic pilot level. I bet with good formation, it would be much more balance. Still, upgraded Luke felt overpowered. He torpedoed a tie to pieces on turn one and then mopped up the other of the better named pilots. Formation couldn't have changed that as it was the first turn. Glad to hear he balances out later. I'm okay with rookie tie in formation beating rookie lone x wing and Luke beating even the better tie pilots.

...

The core set pair of TIE Fighters is going to have trouble when you fill up Luke. The TIE are something like 33 points and filling the EPT slot on Mauler doesn't help much in the core set and both are paying a premium for PS that isn't getting used. Luke + R2D2 is already 32 points and if you give him an EPT and/or Torpedo he should totally outclass the TIE Fighters.

When it comes to maneuvering TIE Fighters that speed 1 turn followed by a barrel roll can be pretty awesome. You may find it referenced as a Matador Turn because the end result is almost the ship just turning in place.

On Deer Hunting: 12 ga or .270? There's more difference between those than there is between an X-Wing and a TIE Fighter when it comes to how they are best used.

I did a little rebalancing for our next game. Does this sound like it will be more evenly matched? I still think it was more of an issue that the tie were rarely both taking shots on the same round. Flying is key.

Red squadron pilot w/ proton and r2d2 (31)

Mauler and night beast.(31)

Both come to 31 points. Xwing now shoots last and has no ability.

I don't want to double post, but I figured that I would update every on my progress. I've played a few games with my friend John and several against myself. I'm finishing graduate school in the next few weeks, so I will have some down time. For now, I find that playing a round, even on my own, helps to curb the stress between coming home from work and hitting the books for the evening. I've expanded my collection to 3 original core sets and 8 expansions (x wing, tie, rebel ace, imperial ace, hwk, lambda, e wing, tie advanced) but I've not yet fielded most of the pilots/ships. With our limited time (my friend is applying to doctoral programs with an application deadline of the end of the year) we have taken to practicing with the ships that we've learned so far. We typically play the following match up:

2 Tie Fighter (Obsidian Squadron Pilot)

1 Dark Curse

1 Night Beast

VS

2 Red Squadron Pilots (both w/ R2-D2* and Proton Torpedoes) *Yes i know, double unique. We just wanted to learn the mechanics as simply as possible*

We're playing on about half the normal size map with half the amount of asteroids placed. Typically, Rebels win. We're downgrading both the R2 units and the torpedoes next game in hopes of balancing our practice further. We'll keep the point value even. We're also creating a 3x3 play surface from foam board ($10 at Michael's) because we're noticing that it would help to give the TIE room to boost away and regroup before they come in for another attack. Once we're more free with our time, in January, we will have some bigger 100 pt battles and invite his brother and father to team up with us. I plan to by the Falcon & Slave 1, Y Wing & Interceptor as well as a Most Wanted packages.

If people are interested, I will update this post periodically. If not, I'll just let it bury itself in the forum. Thanks for all of your support in helping me get into this game. I've reached out to local shops, but there don't seem to be any organized tournaments in Lancaster PA.