So I am just getting into the game and I was wondering where I should start on the Imperial route. I have a limited budget so I would prefer having to buy two core sets(I have the original which I realize in hindsight was not a good choice) and ideally I would only buy one or two expansions a month. Currently I have the core set and 1 of the TIE FO expansions. I think I like going the swarm route but I am not entirely sure if that is still viable. I would like to avoid the large ships for now.

Thanks!

So I am just getting into the game and I was wondering where I should start on the Imperial route. I have a limited budget so I would prefer having to buy two core sets(I have the original which I realize in hindsight was not a good choice) and ideally I would only buy one or two expansions a month. Currently I have the core set and 1 of the TIE FO expansions. I think I like going the swarm route but I am not entirely sure if that is still viable. I would like to avoid the large ships for now.

Thanks!

The FO brought Swarm back with the ability to do a Crackswarm. Usually Imperial lists bring one or two aces but you can always do swarm with Imperials.

What is your goal as an Imperial player? Targeted competitive lists? Eventually getting one of everything? Being able to build a beautiful-looking Epic fleet? Supplying ships for yourself and several friends for casual play together?

The answer you'll get will be wildly different depending on how many of the above apply to you.

Don't beat yourself up over getting the old core set. Those ships are still really good.

If you just want to sporadically buy a ship here and there without worrying to much about what upgrades cone with what and are best on such and such....

Then a nice tie swarm is a strong ( with enough practice) choice.

Just tie fighters.

No shields. All guts.

Buy the small imperial ships that you like when you can.

BE WARNED: you will get all ships of all factions--you will covet the precious things of the shop. These ships are plastic heroin.

My advice: RUN. STOP PLAYING AND BUYING NOW WHILE YOU CAN.

Otherwise, prepare to buy all the shipses.

If you are looking at only Imperials, think about selling/trading your Core Set Xwing. Slowly buy more Ties, maybe get that second Core Set (TFA) and trade/sell the T70. Watch for deals on used Ties. Lots of ways to build your swarm, just be patient and inventive.

Each core

The tie fo expansion

And for people on a budget I recommend the decimator.

After that imperial aces and soon imperial vets.

The tie advanced prototype is also good cuz it's moderately self contained.

Yeah. As an imperial player you'll have trouble with a lot of upgrades being in rebel and scum packs.

Get a tie advanced and print out the Tie x1 cards and the other upgrades from the raider because you MUST have Vader!!! Also buy the Tie Interceptor pack for Soontir Fel. With those two and Omega leader you have a top tier Triple ace squad for probably the cheapest you can spend.

I picked the game up about six months ago. I found a second core set to be really valuable and we are fortunate that there are two different core sets - I think both are great. Based on my experience the swarm looks good on paper but the skill is flying them in formation. If you have not got much gaming experience like me (before this I played 40K in the 1990s ) you will find it easier at first with less ships. I've found the TIE Defender a lot of fun with a printed TIE/D card, the TIE Advanced Prototype is a laugh too and TIE Advanced with TIE/X1 is a beast. You could run one of these with a mini swarm of 3-4 TIEs.

A lot of the upgrades Imperials like are in other expansions:

Engine Upgrade is with the Millennium Falcon and Hound's Tooth.

Draw their Fire is in Millennium Falcon.

Autothrusters are with the Starviper.

Conner Net is in the Ghost and K-wing expansions.

So instead of telling you to buy any ships that need the above upgrades to function (TIE Advanced, TIE Interceptor) just grab up some TIE Fighters.

Buy a single regular TIE Fighter expansion.

Buy the other core set you didn't purchase.

This way you will have 6 different TIE Fighters you can field.

"Mauler Mithel" (17)

"Backstabber" (16)

Obsidian Squadron Pilot (13)

"Zeta Leader" (20)
Wired (1)
Comm Relay (3)

Epsilon Squadron Pilot (15)

Epsilon Squadron Pilot (15)

Total: 100

Those 3 named TIE Fighters can frequently get 4 attack dice at range 1, the other 3 are good for harassment and blocking. This is just an example of a list you can build with very few additional purchases. It isn't really in the meta, but 6 TIEs can be a furball that many other lists will struggle to deal with.

As an added benefit, you will have more Dice and Templates for when you play with a friend. I highly suggest instead of trading stuff away to strangers, hold on to your Rebel ships, or give them to a sibling or friend, so they will be motivated to start collecting too. Then you'll have someone you can play with often on the spur of the moment. When my brother and I started, we just split up a core set. I got the Tie Fighters, he took the X-wing, and we each slowly built our squadrons up.

Then:

Buy a Single TIE Defender and Imperial Veterans when it comes out.

Buy the Imperial Assault Carrier, it comes with 2 more TIE Fighters and new pilots.

Wait for the Imperial Raider to go down to $60.

Be careful with things like Vader (TIE Advanced) and Soontir Fel (TIE Interceptor). Now you can run these straight out of their expansion boxes but to get the most out of them you really need upgrade cards that, for Vader especially, come in very expensive expansion.

It's really up to you how you want to play the game and collect stuff. If you play at home and don't mind proxy upgrade cards then just buy the ship models you like. If you want to go to store tournaments and beyond then a top tier list will always cost you more than the ships as you will want specific upgrade cards.

You can have a lot of fun with the core set and some more TIE's (actually both core sets is really not a bad idea. I was hesitant at first but it's good value for money). If you have friendly local players then try to borrow some stuff from them to get a feel for what you like to play. A swarm plays differently to an Aces list.

Also, because of the way things are packaged you can concentrate on a faction (I have with Imperials) but you will end up with ships from other factions just because you needed the cards. It's not really avoidable (yes you can buy upgrades from the secondary market but most times they are expensive enough that you might as well just get the ship expansion new) so just embrace the fact and slowly build lists for other factions too.

For example both core sets and a T70 actually get you quite a nice triple X-wing 100 point list. No it will not set the tournament world alight but it's not horrible either.

Oh and welcome to X-Wing, you will love it.

(Enjoy life!)

It really does depend on what type of gaming you want to do. If you are NOT planning to go to tournaments, you can just print out or proxy things like the X1 title or spare Tie Fighter pilots that come in other expansions. If you DO plan on going to tournaments, you can't do that. Also, there are only a few tournament lists that are brought these days. It's kind of sad and repetitious, but that's what tournaments are now.

There are different pilots in the Tie Fighter blister pack than the ones in the standard Core Set. Same for the FO pilots and the Tie FO blister. If you buy Soontir Fel, then you will most likely want the Imperial Aces box. Soontir Fel isn't in the Imperial Aces and you have to buy the single blister for Tie Interceptor. There are also some more Tie Fighter pilots in the Gozanti epic ship.

So...if you want to play non-tournament games, you can just print out the extra stuff and not worry about it.

There is also the Imperial Vets coming out soon that comes with a Tie Defender and Tie Bomber. They both come with some cool "fixes" for both ships that you would want. You don't get all the named pilots, though, and would probably want to at least buy the Tie Defender blister if you want Col. Vessery officially. Still, two Tie Defenders can take up a lot of the points of your list and be pretty nice. One Defender and some Tie Fighters is also pretty good.

One of my favorite types of lists is a heavy hitter and a mini-swarm. That can be a Tie Defender, Tie Interceptor, or similar type ship. Lots of people on these forums will point you towards the hardest tournament lists as what you "have" to use to be competitive. You don't have to play that way and you can build your own list and have fun with it.

Tie Adv. Prototype is a pretty nice ship. Tie Adv with Vader is really cool to have, as well. I love Tie Bombers, too.

I would recommend self-contained expansions, rather than ships that got fixed later on. For Imperials that means TIE FO, TIE Fighter, TIE Punisher, TIE Adv. Prototype, Decimator, Lambda and to a certain extent Slave-1 (it's not very good) and TIE Phantom (kind of needs Veteran Instincts from the Slave-1 expansion).

The TIE Advanced/Bomber/Interceptor/Defender all need other expansion to work properly, and in the case of the Interceptor you kind of need both Imperial Aces and the Scum Starviper.

I think I would start with the TIE FO, since Omega Leader is a strong ace right out of the box. If you have the core sets you can run him with Dark Curse, Night Beast, Omega Ace and Zeta Ace for a decent beginner squad. Then I would probably pick up Imperial Veterans (should be out by the end of the month) and maybe another Defender.