I am a X-wing player who has just started in on his "Armada Problem." I love the game and hoped to slowly ease into it over the next year. As it happens though, there is a local store championship in 3 weeks and I think I have the bug and want to play.

The problem is, I don't have a lot yet. Only the Core Set, a Gladiator and a Pelta. I figured that gave me enough to putz around with on the kitchen table - but not nearly enough to field a full 400.

So... what would your suggestions be? What is the fewest I need to buy to field something playable? Will lack of cards and squadrons (not sure I can find any ATM) be a huge problem? Keep in mind I understand I won't be super meta, I just want to go and get some experience playing against others =)

My first thought is to buy a ISD to run a ISD, Victory, Gladiator list. Any rebel suggestions?

The Solution to get a big chunk of points all at once is, basically, as you said - Get a Large Ship...

ISD / Victory / Gladiator, using only their supplied upgrade cards and a bunch of Core set TIEs can be a workably fun platform, for sure.

On the Rebel Side, Liberty or Home One... They're straight off a minimum of 1/4 your points before upgrades... Ideally, you'd want to flesh out with at least a Squadron Pack for which side you want, but as you stated, the I version of the packs are hard to come by, being in their reprint cycle... (but on the boat)

A Hammerhead pack can also provide almost 100 points of self-contained badassery as well... Mixing it up with your existent rebel ships to make a nice list of different things that all need different mindsets to work - great for understanding different tactics as a learning experience...

ISDII, ECM, Gunnery Team, Vader, Avenger 175

VSDII, Gunnery Team 92

GSDI, ACMs, Demolisher 73

Howlrunner, 5 Tie-F 56

Total 396/400

2 hours ago, Mad Cat said:

ISDII, ECM, Gunnery Team, Vader, Avenger 175

VSDII, Gunnery Team 92

GSDI, ACMs, Demolisher 73

Howlrunner, 5 Tie-F 56

Total 396/400

Thanks! This is exactly what I was hoping for.

I realize the cards at less than optimal on this build, so if I were to pick up 1 more thing that might have better cards to reinforce this build, what would you all suggest? I noticed that the MC30 has good things for the Gladiator.

The MC30c does actually have a lot of useful upgrades, and a lot of rebel lists tend to use them too, you should probably get it, it benefits both sides.

Any recommendations for which objectives to take with that list?

On ‎29‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 1:06 PM, Doppelganger said:

Any recommendations for which objectives to take with that list?

Precision strike is probably the best of a bad lot for red objectives. There are better options in the Corellian Conflict pack but we are trying to keep your costs down. Opening Salvo could be great or nasty depending on what your opponent brings.

Contested Outpost is a decent Imperial yellow staple. You tend to know where the enemy are going to be, and what route they will take to get to the station (or give you loads of free points). This benefits you two big ships with Gunnery Teams to get the killer front arcs to work for you while the GSD takes on a flanking assassin role. Hyperspace Assault can be really nasty with either Demolisher or the VSD coming in from reserve but it is probably a better bet for a more experienced player. Once you have a dozen games under your belt give it a try.

For Blue missions Dangerous Territory is nice forcing your opponent to take damage and having a reasonable hint at their positioning or early movements while they collect a few tokens. Make sure to grab the base on your side of the board first. Intel Sweep you can arrange a nasty fight for the 5th deciding token, hopefully placed in your killer arcs deterring their objective ship from trying its luck. Superior Positions is ok mainly for the deployment advantage but a list with more bombers would truly benefit more from racking up rear shots.

As for the MC30 APTs and Ordnance Experts are great for Demolisher. APTs are slightly cheaper and probably slightly better than ACMs but ACMs still are good particularly against larger ships. Ordnance experts (and leading shots on the 2 larger ships) are good but you have Vader at the moment so don't really need them yet. when you get more packs you can swap Vader for Jer Jerrod, Motti, Sloane or Konstantine and put OE + 2xLS into your fleet to keep the rerolls. Disposable Capacitors also make VSDs potent so a Quasar or just print off the card.

So here is what I have settled on and why. Please let me know if any of my thinking is misplaced:

• Imperial II - Vader / Gunnery Teams / ECM / Avenger
• Victory II - Yularen
• Gladiator I - Demolisher / Ordinance Experts / ACM
• Howlrunner / TIEs x5

I subbed Gunnery Teams on the Vic2 with Yularen because I only had 1 Gunnery Teams card. I figured if nothing else, it would give me 1 shield regen a turn as I recycle a engineering token. I keep bouncing between ACM and APT for the GladI, and my reasoning with ACM is that the Glad's main task is to get in quick and soften up a target allowing the big guns behind it to lay in the crits. OR, should I take APT and get the crits in early and under the shields?

For objectives I've decided on: Most Wanted, Contested Outpost & Dangerous Territory

Most Wanted was the hardest pick. My thought was to pick the GladI only giving up 56 points, and picking something more expensive on the other side to lay all my guns into.

Thoughts?

There are a lot of upgrades that would benefit this fleet. Most notably would be the addition of a coms net gozanti to up your activation count and make it a little more forgiving to fly. It would also make Most Wanted an objective that couldn't blow up in your face.

Disposable Capacitors on the Victory II would also be great.

Assault Proton Torpedoes in the MC30 gives you a damage straight to hull for less points on the Gladiator, and you could possibly drop Avenger for Relentless as in low activation fleets I find that you are firing Avenger into a lot of green tokens most of the time.

The squadrons are a also a bit reductive and can be improved when you gain some familiarity with how the mechanics work. Adding in Mauler Mithel would be a good start, but investing in the correllian campaign and Imperial Fighters II is a solid choice, as it opens the squadron game wide open for Imperials. As it stands, the only admiral that can functionally and competitively use standard ties is Admiral Sloane.