I trying to get new players into X-Wing and I've noticed a couple of things. In this little group I am terrible at building decent squads, everyone like the 'theme' of Star Wars and the missions look fun.

The missions that come with the two cores have suggested squads. On the other missions a few have a suggested squad or occasionally one side does but the other side does not.

What if we could create a list of well balanced pre-built suggest squads for all of the missions that are missing either one or both squads and/or upgrades.

I would be happy to put up a poll over at BGG to vote for the squads for each mission. If there are close ties and more than one squad is well balanced for the mission we could have alternatives. We need to keep in mind the theme of the mission and not necessarily a killer or overpowered build. Theme, balance and playability are the keys points.

I could put them together via one of the squad builders and put them in PDF.

We could start with Mission 4: Den of Thieves

Note: If you think this is a terrible idea of just don't like it. That's okay there is no harm in not contributing.

Is anyone interested?

I loooove this idea. I would be happy to help out.

Likewise. I have never played the missions (even though they look fantastic). But i love squad building. Count me in.

Mission Title ..........Available Through

Mission 1: Political Escort ..........X-Wing Core Set

Mission 2: Asteroid Run ............X-Wing Core Set

Mission 3: Dark Whispers ..........X-Wing Core Set

Mission 4: Den of Thieves ..........Millennium Falcon Expansion Pack

Mission 5: Preystalker ..... .............Slave I Expansion Pack

Mission 6: Undeniable Assets .........Lambda-class Shuttle Expansion Pack

Mission 7: Cutting the Cord ............Imperial Aces Expansion Pack

Mission 8: Rendezvous ....... ...........Rebel Transport Expansion Pack

Mission 9: Jump To Subspace ........Rebel Aces Expansion Pack

Mission 10: Get In, Get Out ..........YT-2400 Freighter Expansion Pack

Mission 11: Interdiction .................VT-49 Decimator Expansion Pack

Mission 12: Bounty Hunt ...............IG-2000 Expansion Pack

Mission 13: Pursuit ......... ..............Imperial Raider Expansion Pack

Mission 14: Hunting the Hunter ........Hound's Tooth Expansion Pack

Mission 15: Sabotage ...... ..............Ghost Expansion Pack
Mission 16: Payback ....... ...............Punishing One Expansion Pack
Mission 17: Disable the Relays ..........Imperial Veterans Expansion Pack
Mission 18: .......................................... Shadow Caster Expansion Pack

Mission 19:...........................................Heroes of the Resistance Expansion Pack

Mission F1: Ambush .....................The Force Awakens Core Set
Mission F2: Raid ........ ................The Force Awakens Core Set
Mission F3: Rescue ..... ...............The Force Awakens Core Set

Campaign ..............................Available Through
The Evacuation of Hoth .........Rebel Transport Expansion Pack
The Point of No Return ..........Tantive IV Expansion Pack
The Will of the Empire ............Imperial Raider Expansion Pack
Imperial Crackdown ...............Imperial Assault Carrier Expansion Pack

X-Wing Official Missions Compilation

I would like to starting collecting squads for the Mission 1 Political Escort. As above, I'll post links to the squads and have a poll in BGG.

Should I repost the mission setup and requirements or is the link okay?

My greatest issue for designing squads for missions is considering what ships and upgrades people have. Ideally, you assume they only have the expansion that supplies the mission and one copy of a core set. That's another issue -- we don't necessarily know which core set a person will have. Before we just start putting squads together, I think it's worth outlining what a reasonable collection would be so that we can pull upgrades and ships from that pool.

Also, some missions have suggested squads that just don't make sense. I don't remember which mission, but there is one with the Millennium Falcon that just leaves you scratching your head at why certain upgrades were included. Are we interested in altering those as well, or just make an equally head-scratch-inducing squad for the other side?

I'd prefer to avoid: head scratching; over-powered squads; waves that were not out when the expansion was released if it obviously isn't need; power squads; squads that are not themed to the mission; etc.

Balance, theme and making use of the expansion that produced the mission should be the key elements.

I'll take the listed squads and put them in a voting poll on BGG.

We covered this mission in Episode 4 for my podcast. We go into some ideas for list building.

http://shuttletydirium.podbean.com/e/episode-3-b-team-hawks-the-slayers/

If you want to skip the rest of the episode, go straight to 47:30 for the mission discussion.

There is also the idea of using Scum instead of the Imperials attacking. In fact, you can have Imperials defending that mission. I used the Misthunter and had a great time with it, especially with Tractor Beam Cannon. Also, the Ion Scyk was incredibly useful in the mission.

If you want to go straight up...I played against Esege, the K-wing pilot who let others use his Focus Token. Esege had the Recon Specialist crew. This let the Shuttle use that Focus. I think Esege also had an Ion Cannon Turret. Besides that, there were 2 Z-95's and Biggs.

When prebuilding always build both squads together and treat them as an inseparable pair.

If you're doing prebuilt squads you need to take maximum advantage of that format. Don't optimise the squads: the goal is not to attain maximum power but to attain maximum interaction: design holes and flaws into your squads, give the opponent the tools to exploit those holes and the original player the means to situationally cover them. The more strategic depth to the interaction of these two squads you can build in, the better.

It's much harder to make a good pair of prebuilds then it is to design two individual squads for maximum power.

When prebuilding always build both sqauds together and treat them as an inseperable pair.

^ Yes to this. I should have said this up front. Thank you, Also if you build independent squads they may look good but be very imbalanced against a random opponent squad. May I quote you?

Always build both squads together and treat them as an inseparable pair.

When I do the poll it will be in squad pairs.

^ Yes to this. I should have

[Edited for spellin']

May I quote you?

You may want to fix the spelling mistakes if you do.

Alright....in response to the one I suggested, I think I would go with this list: