There are scenarios in the core sets, and you also get scenarios to play in the large and huge ship packs. The standard game is 100 point death matches, however. There's also Escalation (tournament play with increasing point values per game).

We've played 2 vs 2 before with good effect, especially when introducing players to the game or (one ship each etc) or playing larger scale matches (150, 200, 300 points).

Looking at Amazon right now, you can grab a core set, Rebel Aces, Imperial Aces, an Advanced or a Bomber and a Y-Wing for about $100 (depending on which core set you pick, even less than $100). That will give you nearly all of the iconic fighters from the movies and a good variety of ships with different play styles.

There are some scenarios in some of the boxed products (core, aces boxes, large ships) but that's honestly one area where the game could use some additional development. What's there is fine, but there's just not enough of it.

As for expanding past 2 players, it's definitely plausible. One good way to do it would be to split into teams and divide squad points accordingly.

Great stuff! Glad there's scenarios.

What's this whole "epic play" thing I keep seeing?

Epic play is 300(+) point matches, usually including the Huge ships (Tantive IV, Rebel Transport, Raider and Gozanti). Large scale matches outside the game's normal 100 point parameters.

300 point games where special large ships join the fun.

Great stuff! Glad there's scenarios.

What's this whole "epic play" thing I keep seeing?

300+ point games, usually using Huge ships (CR-90, GR-75, Imperial Raider, Imperial Assault Carrier). It's definitely an investment to get into, both time-wise and monetarily (the CR-90 and the Raider retail for about $100, though obviously they're cheaper if you look around online).

If you're looking for a casual start and will be supplying everything for the players I recommend you buy each for the 2 cores. Then, buy an expansion pack of your choosing for both the Rebels and the Empire. Don't worry about how many points you play with. All that is important for balance is that both teams have the same maxim point number they are working with.

Might I recommend you looking around to see if there is someone selling their collection? You can often pick up a good deal on stuff when other's check out. I've seen a few people want to check out here and there locally. You can also look on bartertown.com. Most likely they will have a good selection to use.

Great stuff! Glad there's scenarios.

What's this whole "epic play" thing I keep seeing?

Well.....there is Epic and Cinematic. Epic is a set of rules that uses the huge ships and is set at 300 pts deathmatch...with lots of stuff. Cinematic is just kind of "whatever you want to do". I prefer Cinematic, but usually just call it Epic. I use the huge ships and make scenarios and all sorts of stuff. I've even made a space station out of some plastic plates, a big gulp cup, and a yogurt container. It's basically there to play over 100 pts and not be tied to 300. You don't even have to make them the same points!

One example of Cinematic is Dagobah Dave's Trench Run scenario. He made up some rules to replay the Trench Run from Star Wars. Very fun.

New starter beats old in most respects. The ships are better balanced against each other, the damage deck is better, and the T-70 is more useful than the T-65.

Avoid the TIE Advanced unless you're willing to proxy.

You only need one E-Wing, Defender, Phantom, or Starviper. You could get one of each but I wouldn't double up on any of these.

Rebel Aces is a better value than buying the two ships individually. It has better upgrades and pilots.

Interceptor is love, Interceptor is life.

Oh, learn to proxy. It's much more affordable and keeps up the variety in the game. It's fine if it's just you guys.

You only need one E-Wing, Defender, Phantom, or Starviper. You could get one of each but I wouldn't double up on any of these.

You don't really need two of any of these, but some of them can be fun, especially if you aren't trying to be competitive and just want some fun. You probably don't need 2 Phantoms and I'd even recommend avoiding it all together. It will skew your games a certain way that's pretty annoying. The rest are fine, though.

I suggest using Amazon for anything that you purchase regardless due to their below MSRP pricing.

Amazon depends on where in the world you are. Great for the US, exhorbitant postage charges for most other countries. Same for Miniature Market.

Try Book Depository if you are in the UK or Australia. Free postage and up to 20% off every other internet supplier I have looked at. Only problem is they often have limited stocks.

Just now I was price comparing for a Z95. From 4 to 10 dollars cheaper than any other supplier.

For multiplayer, you can just give each person a ship at about 30-points each and just do free-for-alls. I did that at Christmas with about 8 people and we had a blast. With fewer people you can try to do team deathmatches.

The scenarios that come in the core set are quite fun and really change the game from its typical deathmatch format. If you get both Core sets, you get 3 scenarios in each one, so 6 total! Also, each of the large ships comes with a scenario (they're called missions).

Rebel Aces is a better value than buying the two ships individually. It has better upgrades and pilots.

I don't agree with this at all. It's great for A-wings, but not so much for B-wings. Basically all it does for B-wings is provide a crew slot and 2 crew members -- Jan Ors and Kyle Katarn. You get no cannons, no torpedoes, and the only systems upgrade you get is one that makes you pilot skill 0 during the activation phase. B-wings really want systems upgrades like Fire Control System which comes in the B-wing expansion pack. For the A-wings, Rebel Aces gives you Chardaan Refit to make your A-wings cheaper if you don't equip a missile, or Proton Rockets which are amazing missiles for A-wings. It also comes with a title that lets A-wing pilots equip two elite upgrades, but when you're just getting started, you don't really have enough Elite upgrades to make it worth the purchase. I firmly believe that Rebel Aces is really worth it once you have the B-wing and A-wing expansions already and have a few other expansions for more Crew and Elite upgrades.

before you buy online, take a look at minituresmarket. great prices.

Got nearly all the imps stuff from here.

For multiplayer, you can just give each person a ship at about 30-points each and just do free-for-alls. I did that at Christmas with about 8 people and we had a blast. With fewer people you can try to do team deathmatches.

The scenarios that come in the core set are quite fun and really change the game from its typical deathmatch format. If you get both Core sets, you get 3 scenarios in each one, so 6 total! Also, each of the large ships comes with a scenario (they're called missions).

Rebel Aces is a better value than buying the two ships individually. It has better upgrades and pilots.

I don't agree with this at all. It's great for A-wings, but not so much for B-wings. Basically all it does for B-wings is provide a crew slot and 2 crew members -- Jan Ors and Kyle Katarn. You get no cannons, no torpedoes, and the only systems upgrade you get is one that makes you pilot skill 0 during the activation phase. B-wings really want systems upgrades like Fire Control System which comes in the B-wing expansion pack. For the A-wings, Rebel Aces gives you Chardaan Refit to make your A-wings cheaper if you don't equip a missile, or Proton Rockets which are amazing missiles for A-wings. It also comes with a title that lets A-wing pilots equip two elite upgrades, but when you're just getting started, you don't really have enough Elite upgrades to make it worth the purchase. I firmly believe that Rebel Aces is really worth it once you have the B-wing and A-wing expansions already and have a few other expansions for more Crew and Elite upgrades.

Fair point, although I stand by the pilots being better in Rebel Aces. Gemmer is better than Arvel and Jake is as good or better than Tycho...even if Psycho Tycho is basically a button labelled "fun" that you press every time he moves. Nera has an interesting ability with interesting possibilities and Keyan is basically God mode for B-Wings. Rebel Aces and an E-Wing gets you most of the way there, but then you don't have Push the Limit. Imperial Aces would be a solid pick, though doubling down on Interceptors is a bit questionable given the budget.

Following up on my previous post, I strongly recommend both the Phantom and the E-Wing. Corran Horn is a very strong pilot that rewards on unusual strategy of switching between pure attack and pure defence each round, although he can be used more conventionally if that's how you want to play him. The Phantom is a teleporting murderer that challenges you to predict your opponent and rewards you greatly if you're right. Also has a couple of very good upgrades included in the pack. I'm also a huge fan of the T-70, so if you do go for the old core set I would suggest getting one. The best pilot for it comes in the new core but Red Ace and Ello Asty are really cool and Red Ace synergizes well with R2-D2.

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.

This might be a worthwhile idea, it's a fan made co-op game that is supposed to be quite good. Not gotten around to trying it myself though.

Heroes of the Aturi Cluster... http://dockingbay416.com/campaign/

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.

This might be a worthwhile idea, it's a fan made co-op game that is supposed to be quite good. Not gotten around to trying it myself though.

Heroes of the Aturi Cluster... http://dockingbay416.com/campaign/

Wow! That looks amazing!

I'm going to try it soon. I have heard great things about it.

Before you buy online, I would again look to see about buying used from someone. You can sometimes get great prices. Is there a local Facebook group? Or look on ebay. Or bartertown is good.

My personal advice is, don't spend $100 yet. One of the things I love about X-Wing is that, if you treat it like a compact board game, the starter box is a blast. It will let you get a feel for the game and learn the language. I compulsively buy one of almost everything (some of the EU stuff is not to my tastes) because I love the models and if my friends quit playing right now, I would just spread them out as a display but as a gamer I would say grab a starter box or two so there is no purchase I will regret. But if you are playing the game, instead of collecting models that happen to have a fun game to play included, start with the starters. I like the Force Awakens version as a stand alone, but both are fun and have a number of scenarios.

I would also recommending holding off on the big ships to start. In my personal experience, the Falcon has been a much easier ship for new players to fly than the other big ships, and in general is able to stomp around the board until people start learning the tricks.

My personal advice is, don't spend $100 yet. One of the things I love about X-Wing is that, if you treat it like a compact board game, the starter box is a blast. It will let you get a feel for the game and learn the language. I compulsively buy one of almost everything (some of the EU stuff is not to my tastes) because I love the models and if my friends quit playing right now, I would just spread them out as a display but as a gamer I would say grab a starter box or two so there is no purchase I will regret. But if you are playing the game, instead of collecting models that happen to have a fun game to play included, start with the starters. I like the Force Awakens version as a stand alone, but both are fun and have a number of scenarios.

I would also recommending holding off on the big ships to start. In my personal experience, the Falcon has been a much easier ship for new players to fly than the other big ships, and in general is able to stomp around the board until people start learning the tricks.

I'm thinking along those lines. I'll probably sell my Star War Card Game and get TFA and original starter boxes. Then I'll play with those and see how the force leads me from there... oh, by the way, Boba Fett is one of my favorite characters - is he Scum or Imperial in this game?

The BIGGEST reason I'm interested in this game is because I want a game that is lighter and faster than the current Star Wars FFG games I have: Imperial Assault and SW Card Game. Is that a fair assumption?

Boba is both Imperial and Scum, although the Scum version is generally considered to be the better of the two. Unfortunately the Slave 1 expansion only has the cards for the Imperial versions of the pilot. To play the scum version you need to pick up the Most Wanted box and the Slave 1.

List building or even scenario building is part of the fun of this game. I do it all the time throughout the day with various phone apps to remind me of details. If you can do that portion ahead of time, it's usually not too bad to just do set up for the game.

Tournament rounds are 70 minutes per game just to give you an idea. If you have your minis out and taking your time, it could go a bit longer, but I've rarely had a game go 2 hours.

I just started less than a month ago. In same boat as you, basically need both factions for me and family to play. And wanted to get ships that we know from the films, so its more fun. We don't know the EU too great.

Got all my gear on Amazon:

CORE SET: FA = $25

Falcon $20

Slave I $24

Then ordered

Imperial Aces $23

Awing $10

Z-95 $12

TIE Punisher $12 (although probably should have got TIE advanced or Defender now that I think about it)

$126 total. Enough for both sides to mix it up a bit. Then every month I might get a ship or two to build on. Probably get Ghost and Inquisitor next month. Make some squads on squad builder and then just print the upgrades you need. (I ordered some off ebay for .99 cents/each, like cards in the Shuttle expansion and rebel transport that I wont be buying anytime soon.)

TIP:

-Amazon has great prices (click on the "new" link to see all third party sellers, some don't charge tax.)

-Miniaturemarket.com has awesome prices and cheap shipping (free over $100). I was about to place my order with them, then Missouri flooded and that is where they are located, so shipping would be delayed.

-Ships are sold on ebay without the upgrade cards (but with all tokens,stands,pilots) for under $10/each. So, if you do plan on just printing upgrade cards, then is a great solution to save some money.

Good luck have fun.

If you're buying online, get both Cores, Imperial and Rebel Aces. That's 4 TIE, 2 Interceptor, XXAB. You get great variety and can learn the game running combinations of those easily. Also enough dice to not have to reroll all the time, and 2 sets of templates, 1 for each player if needed.

I find this game a lot faster than Imperial Assault. Imperial Assault has a much, much longer setup time than X-Wing. It's fun, but it's kind of a commitment to play a few missions or skirmish battles unless you somehow know which maps you'll need next and set them all up in advance. The LCG can be faster if both players had decks ready to go and play very quickly but generally X-Wing will take about the same amount of time but feels much faster than the card game does.