Hey everyone-

I'm trying to reach out to get some people interested in the Skirmish side of Imperial Assault. I'm trying to come up with a variety of Army Lists to explore Skirmish and play with new players.
Being relatively new to IA Skirmish my judgement of balanced lists is lacking. I was thinking of two options. Come up with prebuilt lists to choose from or have 2 lists in groups set up to 1v1. The first option allows new players to choose something that appeals to them. The second option would let me tailor their opposition, as to not be unbalanced or completely countered/unfun.
Would anyone be interested in helping my form some of these lists based on the components I currently own? Looking just for functional lists, not necessarily strong, aimed for flavour, mechanic exploration, then synergy.
Note: This isn't a tournament setting and we could use tokens from the expansions/core
Thanks Tidomann

SUBMISSIONS:

Core vs Core

Vader (18),
2x Stormtrooper (12),
Royal Guard (8),
Officer (2).

Luke Skywalker (10),
Gaarkhan (8),
Rebel Troopers (6),
Jyn Odan (5),
Rebel Saboteurs (5),
Gideon Argus (3),
Mak Eshka’rey (3)

buckero0's Themed

Tattooine
9 Bantha Rider
1 Beast Tamer
7 elite Tusken Raiders
6 elite Nexu
4 Nexu
8 Bossk
5 regular Tuskens or Gideon/TA or Greedo Devious Scheme whatever

Droids
11 eHK
8 HK
1 TempAll
5 eProbe Droid
3 rProbe Droid
3 rProbe Droid
5 eOfficer
2 regofficer
2 regOfficer

The Inquisitor's Hunting Party
9 Inquisitor
9 eStormtroopers
9 estormtroopers
7 regular snowtroopers
5 elite officer with 1 adv comms

aermet69

The Bespin Administration
eWing Guard 9
eWing Guard 9
Temporary Alliance 1
Lando 6
C-3PO 2
eUgnaught 5
eUgnaught 5
rUgnaught 3

Royal Rich's Small Scale Intro / *sejestephan's input

Luke / Gideon / Sabs
or
*Leia / Rebel troopers / C3PO / RHC
[3] Son of Skywalker
[2] Force Illusion
[2] Force Surge
[2] Heart of Freedom
[1] Camouflage
[0] Deadeye
[0] Element of Surprise
[0] Force Rush
[0] I can Feel It
[0] Disorient

vs

Inquisitor / Storms / Officer
*(Add rule by fear)
[3] Force Lightning
[2] Hunt Them Down
[2] Inspiring Speech
[2] Reinforcements
[1] Deflection
[0] Celebration
[0] Wild Attack
[0] Planning
[0] Take Initiative
[0] Urgency

Aermet69/DerBaer Mix

Leia 8
R2-D2 3
C-3PO 2
eRebel Trooper 9
eRebel Trooper 9
Fenn Signis 9*

Vader 18
rOfficer 2
rOfficer 2
rStormtrooper 6
rStormtrooper 6
rStormtrooper 6
or
Vader 18
rOfficer 2
rOfficer 2
eStormtrooper 9
eStormtrooper 9

thereisnotry

Mercenary: Boba, Bossk and Greedo are each very recognizable, as well as fun and thematic in their own way.
13 Boba
8 Bossk
7 rTrandos
7 rTrandos
4 Greedo 
1 Devious Scheme or Prey on the Weak

Imperial: Gotta have Vader!  And Stormtroopers...lots of em.
18 Vader
8 rGuards
6 rStormtroopers
6 rStormtroopers
2 rOfficer

Rebels: As many of the heroes as you can fit (it's got 6 activations vs the 5 of the other squads, but it's also got less figures so it's probably ok).
10 Luke
9 eRebel Troopers
8 Leia
6 Lando
3 R2D2
2 C3P0
2 Rebel High Command

Really, if its that casual then lay your cards out on the table and let the opponent's pick what they want.

You've got more than enough stuff to go around.

I always like themed lists, some of which are really good.

Tattooine

9 Bantha Rider

1 Beast Tamer

7 elite Tusken Raiders

6 elite Nexu

4 Nexu

8 Bossk

5 regular Tuskens or Gideon/TA or Greedo Devious Scheme whatever

Droids

11 eHK

8 HK

1 TempAll

5 eProbe Droid

3 rProbe Droid

3 rProbe Droid

5 eOfficer

2 regofficer

2 regOfficer

The Inquisitor's Hunting Party

9 Inquisitor

9 eStormtroopers

9 estormtroopers

7 regular snowtroopers

5 elite officer with 1 adv comms

The themed lists look great! I think you are right in just laying it out. Some players are swing players. Others who are new to any miniature game could be introduced with the lists in the Skirmish guide.

I know you don't have those boxes, but I'd like to show off one of my themed lists that worked pretty well (as a beginners list too):

The Bespin Administration

eWing Guard 9

eWing Guard 9

Temporary Alliance 1

Lando 6

C-3PO 2

eUgnaught 5

eUgnaught 5

rUgnaught 3

=40

Put in some of the trooper cards and smuggler cards and call it a day. Lots of fun with creating the Junk Droid etc. Another cool thing about this list. You can create it from the Bespin box and Lando pack alone (if you change c-3po with something else).

Some good ideas here.

I tend to run small intro games with:

Luke / Gideon / Sabs

vs

Inquisitor / Storms / Officer

You can do that with what you have no problem and it's been successful for me so far (demo'd to 9 people last month at the local club and 7 now own the game)

I normally play that with a cut down command card list (10 cards, 10 points) then just let them choose what to add to those lists to make it up to a 40pt game afterwards so they get an element of list/deck building and can tailor it to what they like.

It's going down really well so far at least, I've had to give up 3-4 weeks of playing my own games at the club, but hopefully have built a much stronger core of players in the local area (and 4 of us now play from my work so I get to chat IA at work! )

Some good ideas here.

I tend to run small intro games with:

Luke / Gideon / Sabs

vs

Inquisitor / Storms / Officer

You can do that with what you have no problem and it's been successful for me so far (demo'd to 9 people last month at the local club and 7 now own the game)

I normally play that with a cut down command card list (10 cards, 10 points) then just let them choose what to add to those lists to make it up to a 40pt game afterwards so they get an element of list/deck building and can tailor it to what they like.

It's going down really well so far at least, I've had to give up 3-4 weeks of playing my own games at the club, but hopefully have built a much stronger core of players in the local area (and 4 of us now play from my work so I get to chat IA at work! )

Do you pre-build the command decks for the reduced lists? If so, what do you use?

Also, do you find that ~20 deployment point games are still fun? As in, if you just wanted to play a shorter game, is it still interesting if you make ~20 point lists?

Not really tbh Stomp on the "fun" for me at least - I don't think you have to play shorter games once you've played one or two, it only takes an hour anyway so why bother reducing it other than for learning the game?

Yea I use fixed command decks with those demo lists, I've very deliberately chosen a mix of white dice, black dice, something with a special action, focus, etc. as part of the lists so they'll hopefully demonstrate a lot of interesting things. With the Inquisitor there to show how although the white dice is strong, there are counters there.

The command decks are similarly chosen to demonstrate certain things (e.g. camouflage for hide) or just to showcase those two key characters (lots of force user cards for "doing something cool")

These are the decks I normally use, I've deliberately not duplicated cards amongst them so they showcase as many as possible, however when they increase to 40pts I do strongly recommend some staples as well as the cards they choose themselves.

Rebel:

[3] Son of Skywalker

[2] Force Illusion

[2] Force Surge

[2] Heart of Freedom

[1] Camouflage

[0] Deadeye

[0] Element of Surprise

[0] Force Rush

[0] I can Feel It

[0] Disorient

Imperial:

[3] Force Lightning

[2] Hunt Them Down

[2] Inspiring Speech

[2] Reinforcements

[1] Deflection

[0] Celebration

[0] Wild Attack

[0] Planning

[0] Take Initiative

[0] Urgency

Cool. Thanks, this is useful!

Thanks Rich, I've thought about doing something similar, but most of the people I know that are interested, usually already have the core or have played the campaign, so I don't mind making regular lists and just playing a game.

Cool. Thanks, this is useful!

Happy to have helped, I'm going to try and get a demo filmed at some point, it's difficult as I don't want to put off a new player by filming their first game but at the same time I think it would prove useful to have somewhere to direct a new player to where they could watch an intro game, or for anyone interested in running a demo, rather than atm all my video's are for people who know how to play already.

I thought you only played newbies, the way you curb-stomp all the competition on your videos.

;)

I thought you only played newbies, the way you curb-stomp all the competition on your videos.

;)

Haha not quite, 2 of the guys I play most regularly made the top 8 at nationals, 1 was top half, another was the nationals TO

There's some decent competition there I'd say.

Andy is fairly new to the game though if you see my games against him, and Chris managed top half (4-2) through nationals.

My other regular opponent Dave came just behind me in 6th and also went 5-1

Maybe the competition isn't as stiff in the UK, happy to try and prove myself via vassal if your timezones not too crazy though?

When introducing new players to this game, balanced competitive lists are not the main goal.

Players need to get a Star Wars Feeling, when playing Imperial Assault for the first time. The game itself is good enough to convince anyone who has played it. But it's the Star Wars Theme that has people test the game in the first place. Therefore, you should absolutely use iconic figures, like Luke, Han, Boba Fett and/or Vader.

Don't use a Bantha for the first game (or any other too complicated figures), don't use any obscure EU-figures like HKs, don't use Grenadier, don't use too many different conditions, don't use too many figures, that are exclusive to Imperial Assault like Gaarkhan or Jyn Odan (Gideon would be OK).

For Balancing:

Both Teams should have the same number of activations.

Could be fun to use some interior-looking map and play with:

Leia 8

R2-D2 3

C-3PO 2

eRebel Trooper 9

eRebel Trooper 9

Fenn Signis 9*

*Could be something else thematic. Gideon + rRebel Troopers

vs

Vader 18

eStormtrooper 9

rStormtrooper 6

rStormtrooper 6

Battle of Tantive IV

For introducing new players to this game, I wouldn't mix elites and regulars of the same unit. This could be too confusing.

Vader 18

rOfficer 2

rOfficer 2

rStormtrooper 6

rStormtrooper 6

rStormtrooper 6

or

Vader 18

rOfficer 2

rOfficer 2

eStormtrooper 9

eStormtrooper 9

I think that offering one squad from each faction, with some of the most iconic figs in that faction, is a good way to go:

Mercenary: Boba, Bossk and Greedo are each very recognizable, as well as fun and thematic in their own way.

13 Boba

8 Bossk

7 rTrandos

7 rTrandos

4 Greedo

1 Devious Scheme or Prey on the Weak

Imperial: Gotta have Vader! And Stormtroopers...lots of em.

18 Vader

8 rGuards

6 rStormtroopers

6 rStormtroopers

2 rOfficer

Rebels: As many of the heroes as you can fit (it's got 6 activations vs the 5 of the other squads, but it's also got less figures so it's probably ok).

10 Luke

9 eRebel Troopers

8 Leia

6 Lando

3 R2D2

2 C3P0

2 Rebel High Command

Some good ideas here.

I tend to run small intro games with:

Luke / Gideon / Sabs

vs

Inquisitor / Storms / Officer

You can do that with what you have no problem and it's been successful for me so far (demo'd to 9 people last month at the local club and 7 now own the game)

I normally play that with a cut down command card list (10 cards, 10 points) then just let them choose what to add to those lists to make it up to a 40pt game afterwards so they get an element of list/deck building and can tailor it to what they like.

It's going down really well so far at least, I've had to give up 3-4 weeks of playing my own games at the club, but hopefully have built a much stronger core of players in the local area (and 4 of us now play from my work so I get to chat IA at work! )

I'm planning on using the same imperial list and

Leia

Rebel troopers

C3PO

RHC

It's one more point, so you could add Rule by Fear to the empire player. This also shows that there is something called upgrades.

Thanks for the Ideas everyone. I ran the intro skirmish list in the book, then snagged a few of these for the second game. Went over really well with the group. Everyone had a blast! I've picked up a few ally/villian packs too. Everyone is definitely interested in playing campaign. Hopefully this will incentivize them to pick up the game.

Great news mate, all the best

I did exactly this last month as I did a Learn to Play: Imperial Assault Skirmish at my local game store.

I made 4 lists and had 2 maps set up:

Battle for the Ship: (use RGC skirmish map)

Alliance:

eRebel Trooper x2 (18)

Fenn Signis (9)

Biv Bodhrik (9)

Alliance Smuggler x2 (4)

Imperials:

eStromtrooper x2 (18)

Heavy Trooper (6)

Kayn Somos (12)

Imperial Officer x2 (4)

Battle on Hoth: (use Dengar map)

Alliance:

eEcho Base Trooper x2 (16)

Verena Talos (8)

Wookiee Warrior (8)

Gaarkhan (8)

Imperials:
eSnowtrooper x2 (20)

Royal Guard (8)

Imperial Probe Droid x2 (6)

Agent Blaise (6)

It doesn't use the well known named heroes, but it's pretty balanced IMO. I did have to proxy the second eSnowtrooper. But overall it was good and the folks had fun. If I was to make a random scum list I'd do this:

Lizard Scum:

Bossk (8)

eTrandoshan Hunter x2 (20)

Greedo (4)

Hired Guns x2 (8)

Robot Scum:

IG-88 (12)

HK Assassin Droid x2 (16)

Greedo (4)

Hired Guns x2 (8)

That would be good times

~D

Edited the main topic to include the lists posted.

I really liked running Royal's idea of having smaller lists for the first game just to speed up the first game. Less activations really allow me to talk more about the game between explaining rules that come up.