Definitely start with the Force Awakens core set. Next purchases depend on how you plan to play.

If you're providing for friends: Next purchase is the Original Core Set, then Rebel Aces, Imperial Veterans, Imperial Acecs, and Heroes of the Resistance.

If you plan to play Rebels: Next purchase is Heroes of the Resistance, a T-70 expansion, Rebels Aces, then go from there.

If you plan to play Imperial: Next purchase is TIE/FO expansion, Imperial Veterans, an Upsilon Shuttle, then go from there.

If you plan to play Scum: Next purchase is Most Wanted, a Protectorate, a Jumpmaster, a Firespray, then Guns for Hire.

15 minutes ago, Zazaa said:

I would just go one Force Awakens Core Set, later on for some reason or another you might end up buying second Core, but until then I would just go with one.

20 minutes ago, ScummyRebel said:

Start with the "force awakens" core set unless you really just don't like Ep7. Play the missions included with it.

In comparison, the classic core set contains R2-D2 and BIggs, which are not only more loved characters, they're the two best cards in the rebel faction. Aside from that you get Academy Pilots, which are way more useful as filler than Epsilons. It also contains ancillary cards that are circumstantially more useful - marksmanship is bad, but wired is worse.

In other words, the classic core set is better in every way (normally cheaper too), so it's the first port of call unless you specifically want to fly Poe as soon as possible.

4 hours ago, Astech said:

I'd go with the following expansions after the original core set:

1. Rebel Aces + Imperial Aces. They're exactly balanced, while also providing crucial cards in large quantities.
2. Most Wanted and a Shadowcaster. Give you the scum "starter kit" with which you can win games.
3. E-wing, TIE Phantom and Protectorate Starfighter.
4. Starviper. Autothrusters may be the best card in the game, and this pack has the only way to get it.

With these you have the essential building blocks (and mechanics) of the three factions - Rebel Regen, Imperial Arc-Dodging and Scum Shenanigans. I'd recommend the following lists:

Here's a scum starter list that could win you can mess with your friends with. Try to end a game in a tie with dead man's switch.

Here's a rebel list that has their greatest pilot - Corran Horn, alongside Biggs and a B-wing. That's pretty much most of the Rebel competitive scene...

Here's an Imperial list with two powerful aces and a couple filler TIEs. Carnor and Whisper are both devastating end-game ships (Whisper more so).

You can fly any of those three against each other and they'll work out fairly well. I'd say the Imperial list is most competitive for tournaments. Don't feel obliged to buy everything, and play whatever you want, not what will guarantee a win.

Not sure if he should be buying yet parts of all the three factions. I highly recommend staying with one faction and if you start to get into the game maybe then expand more. But if you start to attend in tournaments and want to compete then most likely you end up buying pretty much all the stuff for X-Wing.

I started with Rebels and bit later got few Imperial ships to play against my other friend and slowly I expanded till I had all from those two factions, then came Scum and I knew I will be playing them so I bought all of them slowly. Now I play in competitive level more and I have pretty ridiculous collection, for an example I got three Core Sets, go figure!

1 minute ago, Astech said:

There is literally only one useful card in the FA core set - BB-8. Every other card is either eclipsed by expansions that are compulsory regardless (TIE/fo fighter expansion), or flat out 1-upped (PS 9 Poe in Heroes of the Resistance). Even then, BB-8 has maybe 2 useful builds, as opposed to maybe 4 for R2-D2.

In comparison, the classic core set contains R2-D2 and BIggs, which are not only more loved characters, they're the two best cards in the rebel faction. Aside from that you get Academy Pilots, which are way more useful as filler than Epsilons. It also contains ancillary cards that are circumstantially more useful - marksmanship is bad, but wired is worse.

In other words, the classic core set is better in every way (normally cheaper too), so it's the first port of call unless you specifically want to fly Poe as soon as possible.

You have a good point, but maybe you also put too much mind into the squad builds for new player. I never really cared about most effective squads until much later, but you have good reason, old Core Set is also very good.

2 minutes ago, Zazaa said:

Not sure if he should be buying yet parts of all the three factions. I highly recommend staying with one faction and if you start to get into the game maybe then expand more. But if you start to attend in tournaments and want to compete then most likely you end up buying pretty much all the stuff for X-Wing.

I started with Rebels and bit later got few Imperial ships to play against my other friend and slowly I expanded till I had all from those two factions, then came Scum and I knew I will be playing them so I bought all of them slowly. Now I play in competitive level more and I have pretty ridiculous collection, for an example I got three Core Sets, go figure!

That's fair, and will depend on the OP's situation. Specifically whether he's got people around to play with frequently. The series of purchases above is about $300 in America, ($400 where I live), which is fairly insubstantial for a new miniatures game.

The best part about it is that $100 ( 1. in the list) gives you two perfectly balanced factions to play at home, (2) gives you a full third faction, also balanced. (3) gives you competitive lists that you can fly at tournaments without getting totally wrecked, and (4) is $20 for a crucial card.

53 minutes ago, Astech said:

That's fair, and will depend on the OP's situation. Specifically whether he's got people around to play with frequently. The series of purchases above is about $300 in America, ($400 where I live), which is fairly insubstantial for a new miniatures game.

The best part about it is that $100 ( 1. in the list) gives you two perfectly balanced factions to play at home, (2) gives you a full third faction, also balanced. (3) gives you competitive lists that you can fly at tournaments without getting totally wrecked, and (4) is $20 for a crucial card.

Yes, X-Wing Is actually pretty cheap to start with, I got into GW miniatures way back and that is huge investment, not only miniatures but also paints and all the other stuff. X-Wing has also sweet thing that all the miniatures are painted and they are pretty decent quality.

I love painting, one good reason to be playing Scum faction, can do pretty much any color theme you like.

1 hour ago, Astech said:

There is literally only one useful card in the FA core set - BB-8. Every other card is either eclipsed by expansions that are compulsory regardless (TIE/fo fighter expansion), or flat out 1-upped (PS 9 Poe in Heroes of the Resistance). Even then, BB-8 has maybe 2 useful builds, as opposed to maybe 4 for R2-D2.

And the new set has the new damage deck, as well as a t70 fighter. In my theory list for him, the t70 models are superior and if he picks up HotR he has multiple pilots to fly the two t70s easy.

I guess it's all preferences and where you want to go first on a starting list.

1 hour ago, Zazaa said:

Well I would not worry about the most effective pilots, nor all the upgrades that you could end up buying from opposite factions. I admire the casual games that he will be enjoying for some time, just fly what is fun and appealing.

I said Star Viper just for the reason that my opinion is it is insanely beautiful design, not for the upgrades that it would hold in. Just wanted to offer him an Scum option, if he decides to go with them.

I see. Misunderstood then, because the overwhelming majority of people recommend the Starviper because Autothrusters.

28 minutes ago, LordBlades said:

I see. Misunderstood then, because the overwhelming majority of people recommend the Starviper because Autothrusters.

Yup, I just think it is one of the most appealing ships in Scum fleet. Autothrusters are good also, but for beginners they really won't matter that much. I know that many competitive players recommend some crazy stuff for beginners, like they should go all in and get the best squads to play, it kinda beats the purpose of the game for beginners, I still like more casual games, more relaxed and way more diverse squads.

I got one friend who is always playing with "meta" lists and it really sucks to play against him, not because they would be OP, but they are so darn boring lists honestly! He really lacks creative mindset! But yeah, hands down casual games are the best!

So one core set because the ship is not as good as the T-70 expansion pack? But the core gives me both damage decks and I need enough for 2 players.

We came up with a pretty awesome multi-player variant for Destiny. Is there one for X-wing?

Many ... from Team Epic to multi-player furballs to cooperative Heroes of the Aturi Cluster.

1 hour ago, DJRAZZ said:

We came up with a pretty awesome multi-player variant for Destiny. Is there one for X-wing?

As much as you can dream up.

Cooperatively, there's Heroes of the Aturi Cluster. You all pilot one rebel ship each in a campaign against an AI (stat cards, rules, and a d6) empire. We are playing that now and having a blast.

You can also do limited point free for all (furball). Every man for himself up to a set point limit.

You can do team games where it's 2v2 or something like that as well. Team Epic is an extreme example but an officially supported one where teams of two pick a faction and build a 400 point fleet and go head to head on a double wide mat (6x3). That's a ton of fun but expect it to be a day long affair -- I tried team epic once and we only got through 3-4 turns in 3.5 hours!

Don't forget about mission control - Babaganoosh has a really fun 3 player mission in there called Honor Among Thieves. You basically have each player as a faction in the game and everyone has their own agenda.

Very Nice!!!

1 hour ago, DJRAZZ said:

So one core set because the ship is not as good as the T-70 expansion pack? But the core gives me both damage decks and I need enough for 2 players.

I guess people don't seem to like all the pilots that comes from the Force awakens core set, but I'm sure that there is interesting pilots, maybe not if you think through competitive gaming, but yeah I would do buy that one. There is better type of a X-Wing, new version of damage deck and new TIE/FO's. If you buy also on top of the core set one T70 X-Wing then you will have plenty of pilots and decent upgrades. You probably need third ship to get in 100p game, so pick up one that you think is cool.

If your friend wants to play with Imperial then he needs maybe two ship on top of the core set, if you guys are sharing it, maybe TIE/D, Interceptor or TIE Advanced. This faction tend to be bit cheaper in points, but they lack some hit points, especially shields, but they are very agile ships with almost always with evade.

And yes!!! There is "multiplayer" options, called team play and it needs 3-4 people, core set has rules for that, basically same but with few technical differences.

Enjoy!!

7 hours ago, Zazaa said:

Yes, X-Wing Is actually pretty cheap to start with, I got into GW miniatures way back and that is huge investment, not only miniatures but also paints and all the other stuff. X-Wing has also sweet thing that all the miniatures are painted and they are pretty decent quality.

I love painting, one good reason to be playing Scum faction, can do pretty much any color theme you like.

I got into miniatures a few years ago, and the deciding factor was the buy-in price between GW and X-wing. I think that's why it's such a hit - you really can, with informed decisions, fly and win after only $100 of purchases.

My purple X-wings beg to differ...

7 hours ago, ScummyRebel said:

And the new set has the new damage deck, as well as a t70 fighter. In my theory list for him, the t70 models are superior and if he picks up HotR he has multiple pilots to fly the two t70s easy.

I guess it's all preferences and where you want to go first on a starting list.

T-70s are not superior in general . The generics have a better stat line, but only PS9 Poe is competitively viable. If you're flying two T-70s then you're flying Poe and a bad pilot as a wingman. The new damage deck is appreciable (I still use the old one because of some synergy with a lot of my builds), but not entirely necessary.

6 hours ago, DJRAZZ said:

So one core set because the ship is not as good as the T-70 expansion pack? But the core gives me both damage decks and I need enough for 2 players.

We came up with a pretty awesome multi-player variant for Destiny. Is there one for X-wing?

Pretty much. In casual play, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using one damage deck for two players. Unless your two lists have a combined hull value of over 32 or so, you'll be fine.

Multiplayer is very doable with any number of players in a casual setting. I've played with three players, and four - to teams, either. You just need clear rules for initiative and enough ships to go around.

7 hours ago, Astech said:

T-70s are not superior in general . The generics have a better stat line, but only PS9 Poe is competitively viable. If you're flying two T-70s then you're flying Poe and a bad pilot as a wingman .

Huh? PS8 Poe sees more success than PS9 Poe, Jess Pava is all the rage right now (and Nand Torfs got 2nd at Worlds with her), Nien Nunb is great fun and competitive, "Snap" Wexley is being flown competitively with success, and the good old Blue Squadron Novice is also rather effective (albeit a bit below tier 1 maybe). There's definitely more to the T-70 than PS9 Poe.

With new core set and Heroes, you can put up this squad:
Jess Pava (27) T-70 X-Wing (25), BB-8 (2), Integrated Astromech (0)
Rey (46) YT-1300 (45), Millennium Falcon (Segnor's Loop Version) (1)
Blue Squadron Novice (27) T-70 X-Wing (24), M9-G8 (3), Integrated Astromech (0)

Or this one:
Jess Pava (28) T-70 X-Wing (25), M9-G8 (3), Integrated Astromech (0)
Resistance Sympathizer (38)
Poe Dameron (PS8 Version) (34) T-70 X-Wing (31), Black One (1), BB-8 (2), Trick Shot (0), Integrated Astromech (0)

Both of them pack a pretty decent punch. You can also go Rey and Poe more maxed out, but the upgrades in those two packs are a bit on the weak-ish side so I think I would advice against that.

The blue core is a much better starting point and a more enjoyable out of the box experience. However, there is no reason to get more than one , as the TIE/fos really want to be expansion bought and the good upgrades are all unique. The red core is excellent value when bought twice, as it bolsters your fleet with TIE Fighters who don't need any upgrades and whom you will enjoy having a lot of.

If you want to play casually with your friends while slowly growing your collection, I'd recommend the blue core first, then playing a few games just with that box to see if you like the basis (especially try the missions, they are an excellent introduction and really help spice up the game with only 3 ships). Then it depends a bit on what you want to do. Personally, I'd recommend 2 red cores to be able to match up 3 X-Wings versus 6 TIE Fighters, both mixed between eras. Then get a TIE Fighter expansion for a great pilot, Howlrunner. I do see that only having TIEs might seem boring, though, so at this point a different ship (a TIE/sf, for example) is also a reasonable choice. Do get what you feel looks like fun, though, there aren't many (even any) purchases that are wrong (TIE Advanceds and TIE Punishers are aweful out of the box for the former or in general for the latter). For Rebels Heroes of the Resistance is the way to go for more diverse T-70s and the option of fielding a very different fleet.

I wouldn't recommend getting into scum early, but if you do stick to the large ships as they are all pretty strong, while some of the small ships are rather rather bad.

Step 1: convince a friend to play with you.

Step 2: buy both core sets.

Step 3: play a game of 2X vs 4Tie

Step 4: get hooked, spend all you money on plastic crack.

Seriously: After step 3 you will understand muuuuuch better what you actually want.

On 6/4/2017 at 2:02 AM, Velvetelvis said:

One of each core set or two force awakens cores is a general standard for a good start in.

After.thay just get whatever ships you think look cool. When you want to get more serious those ships can be kitted out to be more competitive with add one. But at first just fly what you like and have fun with them.

It will.matter less about what's hyper tuned out when you have become good with a ship.

People.here say ...such and such is a bad ship... But then there's always SOMEONE who just KNOWS how that ship works and is a monster with it.

I'm.tellimg you...fly.what you love...a lot. And sweat the tuning later on

This. So much this.

You'll have much more fun flying ships you love rather than flying some ship you've never seen or heard of just because the interwebs said it was good.

I've been playing just over a year, mostly casually with my son, and I am very glad we started with 2 starters - the red and blue. It gave us the components for two players but also gave us more variety of ships and cards. This made list building so much more fun because it gave more options and variety.

When starting, I found that variety was more fun than worrying about competitive; if you are playing casually, everything can be competive. The variety is what makes the Aces type packs with two ships so appealing. You get more with them. It's a bonus that they also tend to have the better upgrades since they are essentially fixing previous ships. If you really like the ships in Aces packs, you can then get the individual ship expansion.

Keep in mind that most of the discussion on forum about the best ships and upgrades Is a much bigger factor at the high level events. I've only ever played competively at the local level and see a lot more variety than what you see frequently discussed on the forums. Virtually everything is viable at the local level.

So for specific recommendations, this is what I would suggest:

Red and blue core

For Rebels:

Your favorite ship

Heroes of the Resistance

Rebel Aces

For Imperials:

Your favorite ship

Imperial Veterans (I like the options in this a lot more than Imperials Aces, just because the two ships are different)

Imperial Aces

Scum - get Most Wanted, but only after you have some of the other crossover ships that have components in the pack but not (Y-wing, Hwk, Slave I). One of the first ships I got was Slave I, so Most Wanted had a lot of extra value.

Edit: The only thing I don't like about having one of each core is only having one of the TFA damage decks. It really is the only part of the blue starter that is superior than the red starter. Well, that and the rules are more clearly written.

What about multi player. How many cores to get three quads together? Maybe rebel, Imperial, scum? How many damage decks for 3 player? To get my son interested I will need to build a 3rd team for his friend as well. I will pull the trigger next month when I get my Destiny collection done. That way we will be freed up until October to buy X-wing. I can probably spend about $200 on the game to get started and then buy some cool accessories from TC.

So I have continued my research. Is there any reason other than price bargain and extra materials to buy the original core set. Are there cards from the original core that are used in new builds? Is two of the newer cores redundant? it seems like one Awakenings core some extra dice and jumping right into the expansions seems the most fun.

14 minutes ago, DJRAZZ said:

So I have continued my research. Is there any reason other than price bargain and extra materials to buy the original core set. Are there cards from the original core that are used in new builds? Is two of the newer cores redundant? it seems like one Awakenings core some extra dice and jumping right into the expansions seems the most fun.

I can't stress enough that R2-D2 is essential to the rebel strategy, and he's only available in the red core set. In addition, Biggs is a crucial escort for an enormous number of rebel ships.

Two new cores is absolutely redundant. One of each is heaps better. You can get new dice by winning regional events...