There is certainly a sad irony when considering that there are cards in the core set that don’t have miniatures (rReb Sabs etc.) that when you buy the expansion you have too many cards vs. minis, yet there are in the same core box not enough cards to play with the minis you get (4 Royal guards but only 1 of each version of the card etc.)

Having only just gotten into the game I really hope I can build a strong competitive skirmish community in my area with the errata having levelled the playing field somewhat, though as others have mentioned it's hard to sell the game after the stigma of 4x4 still lingers both in being overpowered in game as well as the clearly unintended but massively impacting cost of requiring content from 4 core sets to build the list as well.

Also slight tangent but FFG really do need to allow printed Maps to be allowed in sanctioned tournament play, the hassle of 5-10 minute puzzle building prior to every match is a massive chore of which many potential players would just rather go back to playing X-wing.

Speaking anecdotally, I never would have gotten into IA if not for X-Wing--a better game, imo. Sorry. ; ) And I never would have gotten into IA if a guy I knew hadn't offered to sell me his Core Set, with Kayn and Stormtroopers expansions, for $50 (Canadian).

As a recent convert--I do like the game!--I can speak to a number of things already mentioned in this thread that turn me way off. These points have made me decide that I am (currently, at least) -only- playing Imperial-centric lists; I am not going to buy any Rebel or Scu--err, that is, Mercenary expansions.

1) Not enough cards for the figures. Really? In X-Wing, FFG makes a point of providing enough tokens, chits, and cards that every pilot can be applied to their ship. (To the point where clues can be sought over unreleased ships just from the fact that extra tokens are released with it...) It would have taken maybe 6 - 12 more cards to have one of each extra printed. And getting extras is not cheap! Big thumbs down, with an even bigger frown.

2) Game imbalance. Honestly, compared to X-Wing, this game's balance is a joke, even after the nerf. --Compared with other miniatures games, it's really quite good, though. ; ) But any experienced gamer that does a bit of research is going to be discouraged by the current state of the game.

3) Twin Shadows and RGC being required for Skirmish play. This -really- sticks in my craw. FFG doesn't require X-Wing players to each have their own mat (last year they -may- have tried to, but the players all raised a pretty-much universal, might roar of WHAT?!?? and FFG rather quickly reversed that ruling). If I weren't interested in Campaign mode as well, I would probably have flipped FFG the middle finger over this and resold what I bought for a profit. Who -cares- whether I have the map pieces, so long as there are enough maps to go around?

Perhaps ironically, I'm actually rather much of a FFG fanboi, though it may be hard to tell from this post. In X-Wing, they do a *LOT* right. They seem to genuinely care about their products. And their customer service is divine. The few Skirmish games I've played have been a heluva lotta fun, and admittedly there has been a good variety of lists I've seen people playing in my local meta. I'm starting a Campaign mode series this Friday, playing as the Evil Imperial Overlord, and I anticipate having a blast with it.

But for the reasons I list above, some of the other reasons already mentioned in this thread, and a few more I'm forgetting off the top of the my head, I've already decided that IA will never be more than my second choice. A fun and engaging alternative to my main game, X-Wing.

I actually find with all the expansions Xwing has now, all the cards and lists possible, it's harder to teach someone how to properly play the game of Xwing. My explanations of Xwing Strategy become stupidly long and theoretical. Imperial Assault has beautiful strategy that boils down easily enough. I will state that I think the game needs a kick to get out of it's obscurity right now, but with the Errata and the new meta, I can see it quickly drawing people's eyes.

Xwing pulled in a lot of first timers to the Miniature scene, by I can see IA giving Warhammer converts some fun in playing a simplified and fun game system and excite people bored with Xwing.

I wonder if painted miniatures in the X-Wing games vs. the non-painted ones in IA have had an impact on sales. Since X-Wing comes with fully pre-painted ships, did FFG set an expectation that may have turned some people off from IA? I have negative artistic ability, so my IA minis stay grey/beige. Would I like my minis painted? Very much so, but I don't have the time or talent to do it myself (If anyone wants to paint some minis on commission I do have the money for it, PM me). There must be some people out there that won't buy IA because of the lack of paint, and whether or not the precedent set by X-Wing has an effect on that or not, we may never know.

I think IA would be much more popular than it if it was out for 2 years before X-Wing as it would have been the only current SW minis game in town for a while, and that would have helped.

But, I think X-Wing would have more quickly caught up and exceeded IA for lots of reasons, including it has more curbside appeal (I demo both all the time and folks are much more drawn to X-Wing).

did FFG set an expectation that may have turned some people off from IA?

Honestly prepainted mini's would of killed the game. X-Wing and Armada paint jobs are all fairly simple, a stripe there, a dot there, ect... That or stuff that can be masked off and painted with a spray perhaps.

But to paint IA mini's so they look as good as X-Wing stuff, would of easily doubled the cost of everything. Imagine trying to convince people to spend $200 on a core set and $20 for a Han Solo...

Speaking anecdotally, I never would have gotten into IA if not for X-Wing--a better game, imo. Sorry. ; )

Welcome to the forums! You must understand, that if you come into Imperial Assault's house and instantly say that X-Wing is better, you will get some guff for that.

X-Wing MAY be better based on skirmish alone (debatable), but after 4 years it still has no official FFG campaign, doesn't come close to the level of theme, isn't as affordable, has fewer components in total, has much few individual missions, the models aren't as cool looking or varied as painted Imperial Assault figures, the starter set contains FEWER than 1/10th the figures in an Imperial Assault starter set, and without some quirkiness is really limited to two players unlike Imperial Assault's 2-5.

And I LOVE X-Wing!

It costs more money to be competitive in X-Wing than it does Imperial Assault.

Competitive X-Wing can be very cheep. Falcon, core set and a T-70 X-Wing and you have a list that can be competitive. That's way cheaper then the 4x4 which required four core sets.

But to the overall point, no X-Wing has a lot of advantages, but being first isn't really one of them.

It only costs 2 x core sets as you get 3 of the 4 Officers and 2 of the 4 Royal Guards in each set. So in effect you would have a 6x4 list. There is nothing stopping you from just picking up the extra 4 RG figures and a couple of deployment cards from somewhere else, ie Team Covenant in the US or Big Orbit Games in the UK (£9 including postage for 4 x royal guard figures and 3 regular command cards, instead of around £60) amongst others for a lot less than another core set. You already have the tiles and command cards so no need to double up on them which will never get used.

It only costs 2 x core sets as you get 3 of the 4 Officers and 2 of the 4 Royal Guards in each set.

Which is still way more than a simple Han shot First list. 2 Cores cost $200MSRP. For the X-Wing list you need 1 core $40, 1 YT-1300 $30 and 1 X-Wing $15, that's only $85, $15 less than a single IA core set.

Yes you can get the core set for less. But you can also get X-Wing stuff for the same discount, so the difference is still the same.

It only costs 2 x core sets as you get 3 of the 4 Officers and 2 of the 4 Royal Guards in each set.

Which is still way more than a simple Han shot First list. 2 Cores cost $200MSRP. For the X-Wing list you need 1 core $40, 1 YT-1300 $30 and 1 X-Wing $15, that's only $85, $15 less than a single IA core set.

Yes you can get the core set for less. But you can also get X-Wing stuff for the same discount, so the difference is still the same.

This is all based upon the premise that you'd need two cores to make a competitive list. You don't anymore. Here's a solid Imperial only list from the core alone, and I know others could come up with their own:

8 - Royal Guard

2 - Imperial Officer

2 - Imperial Officer

9 - Elite Stormtrooper

6 - Stormtrooper

3 - Probe Droid

3 - Probe Droid

5 - Elite Probe Droid

1 - Rule By Fear

This is all based upon the premise that you'd need two cores to make a competitive list.

The post I was replying to stated that you only needed 2. But even if you only have 1 core set, you can still make a number of competitive lists for X-Wing for less than the price of a single IA core.

Is there expensive lists out there for X-Wing? But the point was that someone said it costs more to be competitive in X-Wing then IA and I've shown that isn't really true.

Edit: And also to be competitive in IA as in going to Store Championships you need to buy Twin Shadows for the titles.

That's if you want to buy the 2 core. I only have 1 of everything.

If I want figures or cards I will go to a company that sells them individually for a lot less than buying another set that I will not use 90% of the components.

I have ran a competitive trooper list from the starter set + kayn and stormtrooper boosters. 3 Winter event wins, 2nd in another, 1 store champ win and 7th in another. So you don't need to spend a lot to do well. Dice cost me 1 winter event and could of got at least top 4 in the other store champs were it not for the bloody X on the white dice in those 2 games.

Good luck finding individual cards for sale however. More often than not they are out of stock.

Speaking anecdotally, I never would have gotten into IA if not for X-Wing--a better game, imo. Sorry. ; )

Welcome to the forums! You must understand, that if you come into Imperial Assault's house and instantly say that X-Wing is better, you will get some guff for that.

X-Wing MAY be better based on skirmish alone (debatable), but after 4 years it still has no official FFG campaign, doesn't come close to the level of theme, isn't as affordable, has fewer components in total, has much few individual missions, the models aren't as cool looking or varied as painted Imperial Assault figures, the starter set contains FEWER than 1/10th the figures in an Imperial Assault starter set, and without some quirkiness is really limited to two players unlike Imperial Assault's 2-5.

And I LOVE X-Wing!

It's all a matter of taste and personal opinon. Here's mine.

Because it doesn't need one. That's not what the game is about and was never advertise as is. But if you are looking for a campaign, there is actually one coming with each huge ship, a serie of 3-4 missions with objective for each side. I never was interested in those so I never looked closely into them, but I believe that what happens in your mission has an impact on the next one. There is also different path depending on if the rebels or Empire win. It's not as long as an Imperial Assault campaign, but there is official FFG campaign. And I could argue that the lenght is just perfect. I personally have a hard time running a IA campaign, because it's too long and it's hard to get together regularily. With X-Wing Campaign, you only need a second player and 3-4 night together, much easier to set.

Really a matter of opinion. Personally, I've always prefered the space battle of Star Wars. X-Wing Miniatures game transpire with theme. You feel the excitment of dogfighting, the intimacy of it. The way you maneuver your ship, you can easily picture it, if you are alone against 2-3 fighter, you will feel the despair as there is no place left for error. You find yourself humming Star Wars music while playing: Asteroid chase, Into the Trap, Star Wars theme. Not that Imperial Assault doesn't have the same level of theme, both actually share it. FFG nailed it in both games.

Not true. It's as affordable. The idea that you need to spend a lot of money to make a competitive game is false. With FFG SRP, you can make yourself a 4 B-Wing and 1 Z-95 list for 115$, including the base set required for the maneuver templates and damage deck. That's 15$ more than Imperial Assault. And it is competitive. It made Top 2 in the last Store Championship I went. And I'm sure you can make list for less than that. The idea that you can buy card individually on the secondary market is also true for X-Wing. And there is also the fact that you can actually borrow cards from a friend or two, it happens all the time around here.

Of which component are you actually talking about? Tokens or figures? But regardless, number of components is not really important to determine if a game is better than another one, or good at all. Quality over quantity.

Just like with the campaign, that's not what the game is about. There is missions coming with every large ship with various objective, but X-Wing is mostly about the 1 on 1 deathmatch, just like Chess is.

Really a matter of opinion here. I prefer the quality of the X-Wing models and it's not because they come pre-painted that you can't repaint them. Just look at this thread: https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/182942-the-concisecollected-repaints-thread-keep-them-all-here-keep-em-visible/page-1?hl=paintingAlso, not everyone like or want to paint their miniatures. Having good looking prepainted miniatures out of the box is a great value over playing with unpainted miniatures. Of my 100+ ship I own, I only felt the need to repaint 3 of them, and it was for fluff value: N'Dru, Nashta Pup and Poe. Other than that, I'm fine with the paint job and REALLY please to never have to face an opponent with unpainted miniatures or badly done, because that's far from cool looking.

X-Wing starter set is 40$ Vs Imperial Assault 100$, so I certainly hope that there will be more figures in the IA starter set. And see what I said about components, quality over quantity. X-Wing come prepainted and there is a price to it. But the thing is, X-Wing doesn't need as many figure as Imperial Assault. You can have a competitive team with only 3 figures, even only 2 if you include the large base ship. Axis and Allies come with oh so many figures, does it make it a better game than Imperial Assault? A better value? Judge a game by its mecanic, not the number of figure included in the Starter Set.

There is an official Team Epic mode for 4 players, so it's not limited to only 2 players. I played some great 6 players Epic game, some of my best gaming moments actually.

...

And I love Imperial Assault!

I would add, Xwing is a lot more streamlined and quite frankly simpler to pick up and play. I think the overall IA game is simply more complicated to play skirmish. You have character powers, command card powers, and scenario rules on top of the game rules in a skirmish game.

Yes, the older game costs more money. But don't act like IA isn't catching up very quickly. An updated IA collection is going to surpass similar from X-wing in a not too distant future, as far as cost goes. Between the packs and deluxes IA is going to be a bigger money sink then X-wing will be over the same time span. That is not to say it isn't worth the money, but saying IA is more affordable is disingenuous.

Yes, the older game costs more money. But don't act like IA isn't catching up very quickly. An updated IA collection is going to surpass similar from X-wing in a not too distant future, as far as cost goes. Between the packs and deluxes IA is going to be a bigger money sink then X-wing will be over the same time span. That is not to say it isn't worth the money, but saying IA is more affordable is disingenuous.

Sigh, I have five kids to feed and I'm totally hooked on BOTH games!

Yes, the older game costs more money. But don't act like IA isn't catching up very quickly. An updated IA collection is going to surpass similar from X-wing in a not too distant future, as far as cost goes. Between the packs and deluxes IA is going to be a bigger money sink then X-wing will be over the same time span. That is not to say it isn't worth the money, but saying IA is more affordable is disingenuous.

Sigh, I have five kids to feed and I'm totally hooked on BOTH games!

Sell the one you like least for parts?

Yes, the older game costs more money. But don't act like IA isn't catching up very quickly. An updated IA collection is going to surpass similar from X-wing in a not too distant future, as far as cost goes. Between the packs and deluxes IA is going to be a bigger money sink then X-wing will be over the same time span. That is not to say it isn't worth the money, but saying IA is more affordable is disingenuous.

Sigh, I have five kids to feed and I'm totally hooked on BOTH games!

Sell the one you like least for parts?

Yeah, but how do you actually choose which child to give up?

Lol, fortunately with FFG giving us previews it allows me to save and plan so I can buy expansions and what not. I have a ton of Imperial Assault stuff and my X-Wing collection is rapidly growing. The thing I lack right now is playtime. Been working a ton lately and sick a lot too, so when I do have time to play I'm wiped out. Kinda a bummer.

I've found both games to be great to play with kids, especially X-Wing. In my experience, Imperial Assault is harder to play with kids than X-Wing, but still doable.

First of all, IA is 2 years behind X-wing.

They screwed up the competitive scene a bit with 4x4 and elite Sabs but Xwing wasn't that huge for the first few waves either.

The important thing now is that you can buy a core set and one or two A/V packs and have a great competitive side.

While certain command cards, found in other packs are helpful, they aren't as important as say AutoThrusters, or having to by the bloody Rebel Transport for the stressbot. Anyone who says X-wing competitive builds are cheap needs their head checked. Almost all the current top lists need stupidly expensive cards like Palp, Autothrusters, dual IG88, regen astromech, stress astromech and before that it was C3PO, royal guard title etc...

Really poor stock availability was/is the other major problem.

I think popularity will sky rocket once we get enough options for good list variety (which I think we've reached now). We're seeing lots of different competitive lists and lots more stores starting to run competitions and actually getting stock in.

Availability in general plays a huge part.

As for cost, I think it's much cheaper than X-wing.... It doesn't look like it initially because the core set is so much more expensive, but you get HEAPS more value out of IA. The X-wing core set is terrible. You get a bunch of cardboard templates and rulers... IA gives you two full games, enough models and cards to make 2-3 solid skirmish squads with lots of variety and options.

The only real downside is you can't buy certain core box units separately (yet). That's the biggest let down right now.

Otherwise, I think IA is in a good place right now and it seems to be quickly picking up steam. I hope the Bantha doesn't break the skirmish meta, but either way, we're still very early in the release cycle.

Also X-wing does have painted models which is a big drawing card. It's a shame IA isn't painted but it's understandable why.
On the other hand, IA (currently) has less and cheaper expansion sets.

For example. It takes $903.30 to buy one of everything for X-wing (34 boxes) and $423.95 for IA (21 boxes).
That's not including any doubles like IG88 or Y wings, not including accessories like dice, and not including two core sets which is pretty standard for X-wing.
Averaged out, IA stuff costs $20 per item. while Xwing is $26.5.

For IA, you're far less likely to buy multiples of anything. You can only have 1 of most of the powerful cards, and you can only have one of all the named characters like Leia, Dengar etc...

That's US prices from the FFG online store. It get's even worse in different regions because in Australia for example, the Falcon costs $30USD or $40AUD online or $50+ in store. Where as IA stuff like Wookie Warriors are $12USD or $20AUD. The core set expansions like Twin Shadows and Return to Hoth cost less than the X-wing Epic Ships

First of all, IA is 2 years behind X-wing.

They screwed up the competitive scene a bit with 4x4 and elite Sabs but Xwing wasn't that huge for the first few waves either.

See I have wondered about this, you might not need all the big boxes to build your list, but you need the expansions to build the maps, no?

If you show up to a tourney and its your turn to build and you are missing say a TS or Hoth tile needed for that skirm map, won't you be disqualified?

See I have wondered about this, you might not need all the big boxes to build your list, but you need the expansions to build the maps, no?

Right now you must own a Core set and a Twin Shadows set to play at a tournament, since you need tiles from both boxes. You don't need Return to Hoth, but odds are you will at some point.

See I have wondered about this, you might not need all the big boxes to build your list, but you need the expansions to build the maps, no?

Right now you must own a Core set and a Twin Shadows set to play at a tournament, since you need tiles from both boxes. You don't need Return to Hoth, but odds are you will at some point.

I'd expect that after SCs wrap up and Regionals start, we'll very an update eliminating Space Station and adding one from RtH or one of its associated blisters, which all require RtH tiles.