FFG posted a great article about getting started in X-Wing and what to buy. I can't help but think this same kind of article for IA would be a huge boost to our own player base and give us something to direct people towards when they come here. Not that I am discouraging questions but always good to have additional info around.

As someone who has never played X-Wing I found the article well laid out and informative. For those who do play is it accurate? Could we possibly write a similar article for IA ourselves and sticky it here in the forums?

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/8/17/x-wing-for-beginners/

IA newbie steps:

1) Buy core set

2) Forget everything you thought you knew about doors

3) ???

4) Profit

Yup. That's basically it.

1) Buy the core set

2) Start the campaign, read the rules reference guide after each mission, don't worry about making mistakes.

3) You will learn that resolving abilities is easy when you interpret them literally and know your rules. (Including FAQ/Errata.)

Going over the often-misunderstood rules that have big impact in how the game plays would be good. I think we have a good view of the most important things that get played wrong.

For the Campaign, I agree with everyone. Just get the core box and actually run the campaign. If all you're interested in is skirmish. And I used to be like you. Then I'm sure there are some skirmish guides out there.

What makes IA so great for new people is ALL YOU NEED is the core set and you can have about 30 hours of fun. 12ish campaign missions x 2ish hours each + 6 hours of dinking around with skirmish and maybe some painting. AFTER THAT you 'll start looking for more toys.

X-Wing core? Yeah, that will get you about 2 hours of fun and you'll be looking for more ships.

assault causal

Sorry I meant this to be about skirmish, not campaign. I am not sure what the numbers are for drawing people in specifically with skirmish.. most people (like myself) probably pick it up for the campaign and never think of the skirmish until later. But maybe this guide could help those people who are now starting to turn their attention to skirmish, OR are thinking to start from scratch for skirmish.

Picking up the core and playing is great for campaign, but is it enough for skirmish? Definitely not enough for the maps.. but I would enjoy watching FFG explain that sales model in an article Maybe 'rationalize that model' is the term I am looking for

Well, the X-Wing article focused on starting small with what you have in the starter box - and then getting what you want from there. You can build a few different squads with an IA core, although not many nor competitive. However, the fact that you actually can field a 40 point squad is still better than X-Wing's core. That's not to slam X-Wing, it just is what it is.

I think getting a core, experiencing skirmish with it, then having the fun of researching what you like from there is the way to go.

Too bad that's not what actually comes in the box. I think a lot of people are majorly turned off by gray and beige plastic. I think that's the major mass-market appeal that X-Wing has that IA is missing. Making the models look like that is a huge extra cost on top of the base price, financial and time wise, that I think a lot of people just aren't willing to pay. I think the designers could have easily taken a deployment group off of each unit type and still had almost the same campaign experience while reducing the cost enough to supply all the miniatures at least partially colored.

Too bad that's not what actually comes in the box. I think a lot of people are majorly turned off by gray and beige plastic. I think that's the major mass-market appeal that X-Wing has that IA is missing. Making the models look like that is a huge extra cost on top of the base price, financial and time wise, that I think a lot of people just aren't willing to pay. I think the designers could have easily taken a deployment group off of each unit type and still had almost the same campaign experience while reducing the cost enough to supply all the miniatures at least partially colored.

X wing ships are assembled after they are molded and painted, and in general the components or entire ships are relatively flat. In a convention panel I saw with Jay Little, he mentioned that space ships easily lend themselves to mass spray and stamp painting methods that production machines can handle en masse. Other figures don't so much do that. The only thing in the IA Core Set that is not molded as a unit is the ATST. Otherwise, they'd have to be hand painted, which makes the process costly and impractical.

Vaguely related, I know several players that started as hobby gamers and a large reason they play IA is the figures are unpainted. X wing is a turn off for them because of the prepainted models. Not me, the painted ships were a draw, and I love this game but I'm with you. I do wish it came painted, but there are reasons that that's near impossible and it even attracts a different style of gamer.

To each his own.

Thanks to Sorastro and the great community in the paint forum, many of us have been able to paint our figures and have not just be colorful but actually look good to.

Without him my army would be drab and depressing.

Ask and ye shall receive?

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2016/9/2/you-will-pay-for-your-lack-of-vision/

Team Covenant is a little homerish for my liking but in the case of a puff piece editorial you want the cheerleaders waving their pom poms. Good write up by Zach Bunn about getting started with the Imperial Faction in Skirmish, sounds like more are to follow. Paste this link in your facebook groups to help promote skirmish in your local area and draw people back in who may have faded away!

Yea a decent write-up, I'm guessing he's been pushed towards 1 snow and one storm as 2 storms would definitely be a better start if you're just aiming at a competitive trooper list.

Other than that though it's a great beginner article, might reinforce the belief that troopers are the only power atm so I'd have started with rebel/scum but I get why they've done imperial given that's what a lot of stuff in the core set is.

I'm not convinced on urgency as a great beginner card, particularly given the confusion it causes about spending movement points as part of a special action, but it's all personal choice I guess.

Rich

Yea a decent write-up, I'm guessing he's been pushed towards 1 snow and one storm as 2 storms would definitely be a better start if you're just aiming at a competitive trooper list.

Other than that though it's a great beginner article, might reinforce the belief that troopers are the only power atm so I'd have started with rebel/scum but I get why they've done imperial given that's what a lot of stuff in the core set is.

I'm not convinced on urgency as a great beginner card, particularly given the confusion it causes about spending movement points as part of a special action, but it's all personal choice I guess.

Rich

It wasn't written as a beginner article. Reading through it, it sounded more like a review for Zilo Technique.