I want to start with IA. Is the game balanced? Is the community increasing?

Do I need a lot more than the core set and maybe one or two expansions?

Thank you for all answers

Skirmish, Campaign, or both?

For the campaign you will have everything you need in the core box. You can get 2-3 campaigns easily from the stuff in the core box (I won't go into detail here). Only after playing your first campaign you'll really know what you wan to add. (Well, it may turn out you'll want to add everything even when you don't really need to add anything.)

For skirmish, browse this forum a bit and see the recent skirmish-starter threads (see the skirmish subforum). You always need the core box and can get to playing with that stuff to determine which faction you prefer to play and how, and then decide which way to expand.

Your first campaign, you should probably have the Imperial player play more like a Dungeon Master than a competitor. You want to make sure your rebels have a good first experience and odds are good who ever plays the Imperials and spends more time learning the rules will have a big edge if they go in just trying to win.

I would say yes! It is balanced overall, and the player base (in my area) is increasing. My FLGS is very good at having maps for skirmish so Those that play do not have to have the newest expansion. It is a fantastic game, and I encourage you to give it a try! Btw, do you live in/near north Jersey?

It's probably in best shape in terms of balance among the competitive miniatures games. You'll NEC to make a few purchases though. There are other resources on the forums for which, but you'll need to pick up at least one core, a second is extremely helpful but not always necessary, one of each of the three (and upcoming fourth) boxed expansions (except probably Twin Shadows, not much of use there), and at least a few blisters. It definitely has a fair monetary commitment just like the other two, and because of command cards, you'll often find blisters you want just for contents even if the figure is weak or not in your preferred faction, just like you do with X wing and Armada. There's also the fact that you either need all of the board tiles required for the current maps OR the official playmats. Currently, the competitive maps use tiles from the core set and Return to Hoth, and it is expected that a rotation is coming that will require tiles from Bespin as well. The playmats are a touch pricey, so for the cost I just recommend buying expansions. More stuff for your money. There are third party alternatives available, but they are not technically legal for competition.

Ok thanks for the answers. I just want to play skirmish (not so interested in missions and campaigns).

Yeah I've found a great store and the store and some players have the playmats. I never really found the need for another core, but other than that, nice summary Engine25!

Player base increasing is relative to your area, if you provided that then maybe some posters from around there could tell you. Unless you have no problem jumping around the country for weekly/monthly/kit tournaments?

For Skirmish: There are some figures, that are a little underpowered, especially uniques from the first waves.

But there are no figures that are totally overpowered. There have been some, but FFG took care of that (see FAQ). So the meta is pretty diverse by now.

Glad to hear that there is balance in the force

What playstyle is performed during tournament? Is there just 1 vs 1 where you have just to kill the enemy or is it mission-based?

Mission Based. The current 3 maps (2 missions each) can be found in the Tournament Rules.

Box sets are all recommended (esp Core) just bc of the value and figures you get. You can make competitive army lists just with them. As for exp packs here are recommended lists:

Rebels:

C-3PO & R2-D2

Leia Organa

Lando Calrissian

Rebel Troopers

Imperials:

Agent Blaise

ISB Infiltrator

The Grand Inquisitor

Scum:

Bossk

Bantha Rider

Greedo

Those are my recommended exp packs after the box sets.

Thanks,

~D

Skirmish is mission based, you score victory points for accomplishing certain things, but you also get VPs for killing the enemy.

Each skirmish map has 2 scenarios associated with it, one slanted towards achieving objectives and one slanted more toward straight up fighting. In Tournaments, there are 3 maps, meaning 6 possible missions, and in each round a random mission is picked and everyone plays that mission, so lists need to be somewhat balanced between fighting and being able to score objectives.

If you want to play the Empire, 2x Core Set is all you need to be competetive.

It is also worth noting that they errata'd a few cards from the core set a while ago. Royal Guards, Imperial Officers, and Rebel Saboteurs were all very much over powered in skirmish initially, but the changed them and now they are much, much more balanced.

For the most part, yes.

Can't speak for skirmish, but campaign is the type of game you play to have fun. It's an experience, kind of like Betrayal at the House on the Hill. I wouldn't bet money on winning or losing, but it can be competitive and balanced- I'd just be ready for some seemingly one-sided situations every now and then.

If you want to play the Empire, 2x Core Set is all you need to be competetive.

As to balance, I would say yes, for the most part. The luck of the dice will swing games, but skill is usually the deciding factor.

-ryanjamal

E.g.: I regularly play 2 e Probes. And I wouldn't leave home without 3 to 4 Officers.

The meta is in a healthy place, so if competitiveness is important to you, there are just a few units that underperform for their cost right now.

Problem with the core is that there are no rank-and-file units for rebels and the Scum Units don't really work well together. I second HoodieDM.

If you are on a budget: Best thing to start is to get the core set, play some casual games and see what faction you would like to play competitively and in which play style. In any case, I'd recommend one pack of Rebell Troopers along with the core set, as this has the most important Command Cards for Trooper Lists in General (which means you'd want this even if you play Imperials). R2D2 and C3P0 are also a good idea since C3P0 is also played in all Smuggler Lists right now (together with Gideon from the core set).

I wouldn't recommend to buy two Core Sets – it is certainly the least cost-efficient thing you can do, and I don't think a lot of competitive players decide to do this, especially after the list of nerfs one year ago.

There is no list that dominates the meta, and it's still possible to win in a competitive tournament if you play a suboptimal unit (f.e., Han Solo is too expensive for what he does, so most competitive gamers won't use him, but if you want to use him it won't mean disaster if you balance it off.).

I'd say Factions are balanced, it's more about the theme: Vehicle, Droid, Hunter and Smuggler Themed Lists are not that powerful right now (I think the Hunter and Smuggler part will be solved with the next expansion).

I'd say Factions are balanced, it's more about the theme: Vehicle, Droid, Hunter and Smuggler Themed Lists are not that powerful right now (I think the Hunter and Smuggler part will be solved with the next expansion).

Thumbs up on that. There is also Force-User, Trooper, Spy, Creature, and Wookiee lists that are pretty competitive too. The main thing is making sure the army list you make, the Command Deck is "simplified" in that you are only using 1-2 key words to focus your deck on. There are of course staple cards in 99% of Command Decks like Take Initiative (Core set) and Negation (Hoth set) that you pretty much start your deck off with, but after that, make sure when you put a card in it, that at least 75% of your army can use it. Sure some of them are really cool and powerful cards, but let's say it's a Leader card and you only have 2 single units (out of 6 activations), chances are by the time you draw that card, you may not have a Leader to use it on, or the situation doesn't call for it. But let's say a Trooper card and you have 4 out of 6 activations (3 figures each unit) that are Troopers. That's 12 figures you can use that one single card for and definitely gives you more versatility in using it or having the situation available to use that card.

Themes are good, but wanting some of those Command Cards may come at a price as you might find yourself buying that expansion pack just for that lone single card (which is what FFG wants you to do). Some of us who don't have a budget and just want everything (sometimes two of everything) don't care, we get extras. But those on a budget or looking to gradually get in, will require to piece together stuff (or forced to Ebay single units/cards that they want).

~D