Like many, I was totally a case of "Mistakes Were Made" when starting out with X-Wing and I read somewhere that 3 of each ship was a good starting point and a a result, my wife bought me my first X-Wing core set for Christmas 2014 and by the New Year I had another core and 3 copies of all of Wave 1. Now I have multiples that I can't see me ever fielding except as an experiment and before I dive headlong into Armada I thought I would ask for guidance.

So - if you were starting out with what you know now, what would you consider to be a good sized fleet on both sides, which ships did you regret buying multiples of, or should I just stop worrying about it and buy 2 of everything?

Thanks in advance!

A lot of people got two coresets. I think it is a good idea. The extra game gear is cool to have. You should get one of everything else first for the rest.

I haven't bought more than 1 of everything and I'm doing fine.

A 2nd core set isn't nearly as good of a value for Armada as it is for X-Wing. I don't think most people want 3 VSD and Neb B's typically so you may be better off buying another maneuver template and more dice.

You might want two of some of the other ships like the Assault Frigate or even a 2nd ISD. But I'd stick with 1 of everything first and see what if any holes you notice in your collection.

I agree with VanorDM. I've just bought into Armada after receiving a Neb B in an X-Wing trade and falling in love with it! My big advantage though is I've managed to convince myself I'm only flying Rebels. I too made the 'mistakes were made' mistake with X-Wing to the point where part of the reason I'm now playing Armada is I can't settle on an X-WIng list any more! Too much Choice spread across three factions. With Armada I'm limiting myself to one side only. Since receiving the little Neb in January I've expanded my fleet to include a core set, the Rebel half of another core set (I've swapped my Victory and TIE's to help me resist temptation!), an Assault Frigate, an MC30, an MC80, a Rebel Fighters pack and a Rogues and Villains pack... More than enough toys to keep me occupied while I learn the game!

Like many, I was totally a case of "Mistakes Were Made" when starting out with X-Wing and I read somewhere that 3 of each ship was a good starting point and a a result, my wife bought me my first X-Wing core set for Christmas 2014 and by the New Year I had another core and 3 copies of all of Wave 1. Now I have multiples that I can't see me ever fielding except as an experiment and before I dive headlong into Armada I thought I would ask for guidance.

So - if you were starting out with what you know now, what would you consider to be a good sized fleet on both sides, which ships did you regret buying multiples of, or should I just stop worrying about it and buy 2 of everything?

Thanks in advance!

Have you tried Vassal? It's a great way to experiment before you commit to purchase!

Rather than give you what I would buy (which is largely a play style preference thing and won't really translate from me to you) I'll just tell you what I observe.

-Most people generally won't use more than one MC80 (unless you're running two for carriers- in that case, that's all you'll run).

-Most people generally won't run more than 2 MC30C's at a time

-AFmkII's are butt ugly and I'll never buy one, but I find they come in pairs or 3's in a lot of lists. They tend to go well with Ackbar and the Home One MC80. I think the MC80 Home one, 2 AFmkII list is a very common rebel build.

-Nebulon B's are either Yavaris, Salvation, or both (i.e. 1 or 2. This is one of my favorite ships so I have 5.)

-CR90's I often see come in 2's or 3's or 7+ (swarm build. I have 6 because of that Amazon sale. Mistakes made indeed!) CR90's equipped with Turbolaser Reroute Circuit (from the MC30c expansion) are like everyone's favorite list filler.

-ISD's I see in pairs quite often. I have 3 because I just really, really like them. I'm not alone.

-VSD's are not as popular nowadays because they're the least maneuverable/slowest ships in the game. If you can learn to fly it well, it is very points efficient. IMO, just the core set one is good enough for most and you can always trade for the unique cards from people who own multiples. The only other reason to pick one up is flight controllers upgrade card.

-Gladiators: I think at least one is great, if only for access to the Demolisher title. 2 or 3 aren't a bad idea.

-Raiders: some would argue that they're mostly harmless, but it is the cheapest ship available for the Imp's and it's nice to have the option when you're list building to know its there.

One of each expansion is more than fine. You'll be caught up in the action in no time.

Welcome Bojanglez

Well, thing is, FFG distributes upgrade cards in a way that sooner or later, you want to own at least one of everything... but as a starter 400 point fleet, I recommend these:

Rebel:

at least one MC80 - must have

at least one Assault Frigate MK2

at least one Neb-B - great upgrades (XI-7 turbolaser) and great title cards for Nebs.

Fighter pack

Imperial:

at least one Imperial Star Destroyer

at least one Gladiator Class

Fighter pack

And a heroes&villains pack.

After you have these and start to play, you can expand based on your playstyle. You like nimble little harrassers? Get CR90/Raider. You like squadron play? Get more fighter packs. You're looking for more upgrades for your mighty ISD? Buy a Victory class. And so on. Generally speaking, none of the available ship expansion packs contain bad ships.

Bo Bo forget some of the comments that decry the lack of maneuvering STAR DESTROYERS... that is why you get two coresets for the million TIE Fighters which guard these huge Capitol Monsters.

Like in the movies.

I love the Joe Boss, but two Cores was for when I needed more when there wasn't enough.

Two Cores is NOT needed. You will get more TIEs and XWings when you buy the Fighter Expansions.

Look into my eyes...two Cores is NOT needed...you are going to benefit more from buying the other expansions (VSD, CR90, and Nubulon B)

I don't really want to turn this into a huge thing but...

A 2nd core set just isn't a great value for Armada. The reason why a 2nd X-Wing core was a great value was you really wanted 5-6 Tie Fighters and 3+ X-Wings. That was $45 worth of models for $40.

However the same is not true of Armada. How many people really want a 3rd VSD, Neb B and CR-90? So that's $80 worth of models you may not want for $100. As opposed to a single core set, 3 expansions which have cards you do want, and if want the extra tools, it's $18 for an extra maneuver tool and more dice.

You want to get a Rebel and Imperial fighter pack so you don't need the extra fighters either.

Now if you really think you need a 3rd VSD, CR-90 and Neb B then it's still a questionable value... For $98 you can get those and the extra dice and tool vs $100, because again those extra fighters really aren't very useful.

I would specifically avoid buying a 2nd core set and instead invest in the extra expansions, they have cards that are great to have multiple of.

otherwise 1 of everything is fine 2 is fantastic. It is also probably worth it to have 3-5 corvettes for each side

I will say buying a couple of maneuver tools is a wise move. By default out of the core set, it's length '4' as it turns out for your ships moving at slower speeds it's better to buy a couple extra and then make lengths 1, 2, 3 and 4 maneuver tools or approx that.

Ship wise, I'm with everyone else. First don't buy two core sets, and buying sort of one of everything will leave you with lots to try out. You'll find as you play depending on what you play you'll suddenly talk yourself into a 2nd of one thing, or a 3rd etc.

I'm holding at 3 Glads ...Barely....

I will say buying a couple of maneuver tools is a wise move. By default out of the core set, it's length '4' as it turns out for your ships moving at slower speeds it's better to buy a couple extra and then make lengths 1, 2, 3 and 4 maneuver tools or approx that.

Ship wise, I'm with everyone else. First don't buy two core sets, and buying sort of one of everything will leave you with lots to try out. You'll find as you play depending on what you play you'll suddenly talk yourself into a 2nd of one thing, or a 3rd etc.

I'm holding at 3 Glads ...Barely....

I made 3 maneuver tools. Then I realized you can notch the ship at 3 on the full sized one when you're kind of close. i don't use my other 2 shortened tools very often now.

Dual Core... at the time there was holiday sales so I grabbed two for the price of one. If you had to go full price then yah if you want to save $$$ just get the one.

I think two of each (except the MC80) is a good way to go. That way if you wanted to pair any of your ships, you have that option. Paired A/Fs, Gladiators, MC30s, Nebulons, even Star Destroyers form chunks of very good list building options. For Corvettes (Raider, CR-90) there's an arguement to supply three. I've been running two of each faction fighter pack well, and I have three R&V packs but only the Firespray sees being run with more than 2 fighters.

I do know of one player who keeps running two MC80s, but I keep beating him...

I think almost everyone here has explained the basic ideas. I'll reiterate a few absolutely key points, as voices add emphasis.

1. One core set is plenty. The ships are available elsewhere, and there are some key upgrades with those ships outside of the core set. If you want more Nebulon-Bs, Corvettes, and VSDs, buy the individual packs.

2. You can field fleets that can fight fairly against each other with a fairly limited number of packs. If you're on a very tight budget, Fighter packs are some of your cheaper, most cost effective ways to expand your fleet. From there, I look at what ships you like. A lot of fleets right now seem to settle on the 3 ship standard. So keep that in mind with what you buy. Most of us start small on a budget, and only later expand out to more ships when we see what we like most, what upgrade mixes are effective, and what we might need more of.

3. I'd buy a few ships, build some fleets with them to try out, and only then go from there. The trouble with owning everything quickly is that you don't have any game experience and don't know how to run it. It is probably better to play the starter scenario once or twice to get used to how those ships play, then play a couple of the starter "180 point standards." Then buy a ship or two for a faction you want to play. Play some games, then buy another ship or two. One benefit to this game is that you've only got five rebel and four imperial ships, plus the fighter packs, so you get to "one of each" pretty quickly.

I just bought in a couple weeks ago with the core and one of every expansion. After playing a bit, I felt like it was more or less enough, but I bought another ISD because I wasn't quite happy with my fleet composition options on the Imperial side.

I also picked up a second Nebulon B expansion mainly for the XI7 Turbolasers card for my ISDs.

If I buy more, I feel like just one more of each ship not included in the core set is enough, for 2 of each ship total. One more of each fighter pack for two of each, maaaybe one more rogues and villains pack but I'm not that keen on running multiple generic firesprays or whatever. I definitely want two MC80s to match my dual ISDs at least for games at home, the big ships are where it's really at thematically for me and the friends I will be playing casual games with. If wave 3 were to reveal the winged mon cal cruiser that might end up being a bit of a waste though

I'm not really excited to buy a second Gladiator other than for the expanded launchers card. Expanded launchers and IX7 Turbolasers seem to be the two most inconveniently dispersed upgrade cards in armada so far, although at least the Nebulon B is cheap. The Gladiator isn't too much more but I probably wouldn't ever run it outside of a "use everything" epic-scale game at home once or twice.

It is convenient that the smaller models are also worth less points, so if you want to run more of a swarm-style list you are investing in cheaper models compared to something like X-wing where the 12 point TIE and the 30 point TIE Defender are the same price.

Agreed with lots of the good advice above. On top of one of everything, if you have a faction and style you prefer you might add:

Imperials:

- 1 extra Gladiator for nimble, hard hitting but more fragile ship.

- 1 extra ISD, because they are awesome both game wise and looks wise.

Rebels:

- 1 extra Assault Frigate, for a tough but mobile broadside ship. The backbone of most Rebel fleets.

- 1 extra MC30, for the amazing upgrade cards (assault proton torpedoes and turbolaser reroute circuits). Also a fun ship to play, if difficult to master.

I wouldn't personally buy a second MC80 as one is enough for a Rebel fleet.

great feedback, thank you all for your responses!

so, totaling this up on CoolStuffInc and it looks like 1 of everything would "only" cost me $300 - genuinely and pleasantly surprised that it's so inexpensive, relatively spoken.

Thanks again for the feedback!!

Brand new too, got the MC-80, MC-30, Assault Frigate, Corvette and fighter expansion. Now I will probably have to start getting some Imperial stuff.....