I love Imperial Assault, but I'm thinking about getting into X-Wing for quicker and different types of games on the side. Everything I've read says you can jump into this game FAST and that it's easy to explain. I thought about Armada, but it's a long game - whereas this one looks like it's fast and edge of your seat.

Anyways, if I wanted to drop $100, and only $100, using eBay/Amazon - what would you guys recommend getting?

Also, as a side note, I have Star Wars the Card Game along with the Edge of Darkness and Balance of the Force expansions that I've only played about 4 or 5 times. They're all still in excellent condition. I'd consider trading them if someone gave me a good offer (PM me).

Thanks!

Core set first. Buy whatever else you want. It really doesn't make a huge difference. A lot of people recommend the Falcon and Slave I expansions early

Are you looking to make just one faction?

You'll need a core set £25 you could swap the faction ship(s) you don't want.

For rebels: falcon is a good option with a budget £20

Rebel aces gives some good pilots £20

E-wing gives a solid ace £10

That gives you 100 points and beyond.

For imps:

Core £25

Imp aces and one interceptor expansion £30

Tie defender is good with practice and about to get better in a few months £10.

Decimator is a solid big ship easy to learn £20.

Tie advanced are good as long as you don't mind proxying the upgrade cards from the raider set.

Now that would let you play casual but it wouldn't give you everything for a tournament list.

Core of your choice + $60 of ships of your choice (ideally of one faction), and you are pretty much good to go.

VERY casual only, just to play with family and friends. Most likely they won't be buying the game, so I couldn't be limited to only one faction. I know, $100 probably isn't enough, but right now that's all I could justify.

Core set, rebel aces, imperial aces, Get the Force Awakens core set and that'll give you more than enough for two casual lists.

Do! or do not.

Core set, rebel aces, imperial aces, Get the Force Awakens core set and that'll give you more than enough for two casual lists.

For what you want this is the best start IMO. You end up with aces from two factions plus a healthy range of cheaper support ships. I'd add Most Wanted to that list along with a starviper and a firespray (on my FS kick today lol). That will give you an excellent range of options across all 3 factions plus many card staples and the z95s and Y wing from most wanted can cross straight over into rebels while the firespray will cross into imperials.

Just be aware it ain't gonna stop here brother..

If you're looking to avoid spending a lot, avoid netdecks (copying squads off the internet) like the plague. They're made by people with all the upgrade cards and thus pull from a lot of different expansions.

It's also worth, if you're fully casual and playing with family and friends, using the squad builders and heavily proxying most upgrade cards (rather than getting the cards out you write down/print out what they do). This gives you a lot of build freedom and all the balance fixes without having to buy multiple copies of every expansion to date. All most upgrade cards do is add rules text to a ship.

Once you've eliminated upgrade cards as a financial obstacle, it's then a matter of picking the ships you want, and there you just pick the ones you like.

Also, if you're going for a small set of ships for each side (so you'll probably have to run all the ones you have to make the two squads) don't get the turrets.

I would get both core sets actually, and spend the remaining cash on a Millenium Falcon and a Firespray to have 2 iconic big ships as well. Expand from there!

TFA Core set: $40 (Alt. Original Core, but the rules in that version aren't as clear)

Millennium Falcon: $30 (Alt. Rebel Aces: $30)

Firespray (Slave 1): $30 (Alt. Imperial Aces: $30)

That gets you a T-70 X-Wing, the Falcon (or an A- and B-Wing) for Rebels, which are all iconic ships and some reasonable diversity for casual play. Similarly, for Imperials you'll have a Slave 1 and two TIEs as escort (or two Interceptors, which are a lot of fun).

Not sure if you can put together full 100 point lists with that, but as long as you're willing to use a squadron builder site and print your list out (so that you can use upgrade cards you don't have yet), you should be fine. I use YASB: https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/but Voidstate and Fab have popular builders too.

Note also that my prices are MSRP; I don't typically buy online, so I'm not sure what kind of discount you can get. Have fun!

This is great advice, thanks guys.

Is the TFA starter set considered to be better than the original X-Wing starter set? Do they both have R2D2? I'd prefer him over BB8.

My thoughts are to get cheap ships at first, and once the addiction grows start buying Han and Boba's ships, etc.

I also read online some folks, like Sarcon, have recommended getting 2 cores - more cheap ships and extra dice. If I got two cores, should one be the original X-Wing and one be the TFA one?

Thanks again for the advice.

This is great advice, thanks guys.

Is the TFA starter set considered to be better than the original X-Wing starter set? Do they both have R2D2? I'd prefer him over BB8.

My thoughts are to get cheap ships at first, and once the addiction grows start buying Han and Boba's ships, etc.

I also read online some folks, like Sarcon, have recommended getting 2 cores - more cheap ships and extra dice. If I got two cores, should one be the original X-Wing and one be the TFA one?

Thanks again for the advice.

The old core has R2D2 and the old damage deck, and the new TFA core has BB8 and the new damage deck. Both have advantages and disadvantages, but having 6 dice of each is always a bonus (sometimes you're rolling up to 5 dice).

Getting both cores, a Firespray and a Falcon for under 100 is tough (core sets are 30 each, the other 2 ships go for around 25 if you find a good online discounter, so that would put you 10% past budget), but it is a very solid base to start from. Both the larger ships have very good upgrade cards, plus they are very iconic for the movies. At least, they were the 2 I remembered best!

Only the old starter has R2D2. The two sets are mostly comparable, though I think the gameplay in the new box is better than the old one.

If you're sticking to $100 (and MSRP), I think your best best is new core plus the "Rebel Aces" and "Imperial Aces" packs. Tons of cards to mess with and good variety. If you just buy the two starters and a single ship, you won't get as much variety, as you'll just have basically two different ships with some slight variations.

If I was starting again and then stopping before going down the money sinkhole this game can become this would be the path I would take:

• Core Set (new if you want to fly with Poe and original if you wan to fly with Luke)
• Tie-fighter or TIe/FO and X-wing or T-70 (pilot variety based on aesthetics only)
• Falcon and Decimator (a large ship for each side. Recommend NOT the Slave I. I personally don't like it, think it looks funny in an imperial fleet and is harder to fly than the decimator)
• Rebel Aces / Imperial Aces (more and different ships but your game will still have an Return of the Jedi feel).
• An imperial ship (Phantom or Defender) and a rebel ship (E-wing)
• A second core set

You can jumble the order around as much as you want. The imperial lists at first will be a bit harder to fly and suffer the most from not having the upgrade cards they need to be effective but proxing fixes this.

I'd go with the Core Set, Rebel Aces, Imperial Aces suggestion. That gives you plenty of variety, plenty of ships, and you might still have a bit of $$$ left over for a single ship expansion if you can find a good deal (I believe Rebel Aces were on sale recently for under $20 somewhere online?).

Shop around online, see what prices you can find, and have fun!

I disagree with the suggestion that you buy the Falcon and Slave I or Decimator if you're only spending $100. That gives you less variety and introduces large turrets into the equation. Stick with small ships and maximize your options. Pick up large-based ships when you decide to break your initial price limit.

Core, TFA Core, and the Aces packs are a great way to start.

If he is playing casual with a mix of what may be beginners and possibly more experienced players the large ships give an easy mode option for the noobs.

Do you have a way to proxy cards? I have a nice high quality laser printer and unless you really get close you can't tell between my proxies and the real thing. So many ships this far in have been made better and some downright good because of releases from other expansions. If you can proxy I would absolutely get the tie advanced and the tie interceptor for the imperials. This gives you access to Vader and Soontir Fel arguably the best two aces for either side but they require things that come in other sets like auto thrusters and the Tie x1 title. The top of the forum has a sticky which has links to popular builds that can maybe familiarize you to what's good and which way to best spend money. Some ships are just flat out better then others so if you want games that are more balanced it takes more planning now then it used to.

Just make a list on a squad builder and print it out, no issue as long as everyone can see what's been taken.

When I started only six months ago, I dropped $300AUS to start as I had some money begging to be spent. Since then I have spent around $50 a month building up my collection. I can now run a good selection of tournament lists for rebels and imperials and some basic S&V lists.

Once you have the two cores and a few other ships it doesn't take long to build up a varied selection of ships. The aces packs and most wanted should be on your list along with one each of the large base ships.

Not knowing the UK prices I would suggest the following:

Original core

New core (two sets of dice templates asteroids and damage decks)

One of each expansion for the cores (X Wing T65 and T70 Tie ln and fo)

One Millennium Falcon

One Decimator or Firespray

Earmark the ace packs for next purchase, followed by one each of A Wing B Wing and Tie Interceptor.

That said buy what you like but start with rebels and imperials then branch out into scum later.

I think you should buy whatever ships you like but if you wanna go for bang for your buck this is mostly likely your best bet.

Both core sets gives you plenty of dice, two sets of movement templates so both players don't have to share the one set and all the space rocks. I wouldn't worry too much about upgrade cards because these can be just proxies when your just starting out and learning. Rebel player gets a good mix of an A-wing, B-wing and the new and old X-wings. Imperial player gets a heap of ties 2x old, 2x new and 2x interceptors.

Amazon prices.

X-wing core set $30.45

TFA core set $24.28

Rebel Aces $22.99

Imperial Aces $22.18

$99.90

Great advice everyone, I'm definitely going to stick with Rebels and Imperials first - not enough money for Scum yet.

For Imperial Assault, I've found that www.coolstuffinc.com is arguably the best to buy from. What do you guys think?

Coolstuff or MiniatureMarket are both good for getting stuff cheap. You should be able to get a lot for your $100 at either of those. If you have a Target nearby, you might be able to find the new starter at a good price. If you end up with an extra $7 after getting the ships, throw in a dice pack. No real need for a second starter yet. It's great value, but only get it once you want a few duplicate ships on the cheap.

I would actually disagree with those saying to use squad builders and proxy cards. Play with whatever comes in the ship packs you buy and don't worry about whether there are different or better cards out there just yet. It can quickly lead to overspending and frustration, and it's a much more visually appealing game when you have all the proper cards laid out in front of you.

Two more questions:

1) Are there scenarios for this game, or is it just straight up death matches?

2) Are there ways to include more than two players?

Thanks again.