Howdy everyone!

I've had IA since it first came out now, and while interest waxes and wanes, I always get pulled back in, and I'm especially interested in exploring Skirmish more. There isn't a community at all to speak of in my area, so this is going to be a kitchen table project at first, to gain experience, and then hopefully move on to the FLGS to try and drum up some interest.

My question is: Could someone help me with list building? I'd like to make two forces that are reasonably balanced against each other, will look cool on the table, and if at all possible scale up easily to something competitive. Tall order, I know! I'm not opposed to making a few additional small purchases, if there is something essential I'm missing, but I'd prefer to get what I already own on the table. The toughest part for me is getting two solid Command decks together without a bunch of card overlap.

My collection is made up of:

Core, Twin Shadows, and Hoth

Leia, Obi-Wan, R2-D2 and C-3P0, Rebel Sabs

Bossk, Greedo, IG-88, Jawas, Bantha Rider

Kayn Somos, Agent Blaise, The Grand Inquisitor

Any help is greatly appreciated. And my apologies if this has already been covered. If it has just kindly point me in the right direction and I'll be on my way.

I love trying to build lists with constraints. I will say a couple of things up front.

If you want to be top tier competitive with the Mercenary faction or Imperial Faction, you need to get Jabba's Realm. It includes characters Onar, Vinto, and Shyla (not as good as the other ones but still really solid choice) and it has the Weequay Pirates- the elite version is one of the best units in the game right now. For Imperials it includes the Elite Jet Troopers which are the centerpiece for most any Imperial list (including the new ones that play with Darth Vader and the Emperor). It also has some really powerful command cards. Darth Vader/Han Solo/Chewbacca all got skirmish upgrades in the Heart of the Empire set, so if you want to run them competitively you need that. A top tier imperial list would also consider Sentry Droids from that set as well, and riot troopers are solid in some lists. The older Imperial units just don't hold up as much now (heavy stormtroopers are too slow, even regular stormtroopers are good but easily 1-shoted in the current meta)

Anyways I don't want to go off on a tangent, so here's an attempt to make a list that could win some games with your current collection

I- Mercenary

12 IG 88 w/ Focused on the Kill upgrade (from Jaws pack)

8 Bossk

4 Greedo (focusing him round 1 is always a good choice)

8 HK Assassin droids (outclassed by Weequays now, but still a nice "glass canon" unit)

2 Regular Jawa (for getting objectives/sitting on a terminal)

3 Gideon

2 C3PO

1 Temporary Alliance

Command cards for this list it the tricky part. The best Hunter cards come in Jabba's Realm, the Jabba pack, and the Alliance Rangers pack, so without those the list is significantly weaker. But you could try this:

2 Blaze of Glory

2 Dirty Trick

2 Trandoshan Terror

1 Hunter protocol

1 Single Purpose

1 Negation

1 Primary Target

0 Element of Surprise

0 Planning

0 Opportunistic

0 Take Initiative

0 Greedo's Card

You really want these though...

3 Assassinate

2 Tools for the Job

2 Heightened Reflexes

Not sure what you could throw in for the 7 points otherwise.

If you get Jabba's Realm, you could switch out Bossk/ HKs/Jawa for a set of elite Weequays/Onar/ and Vinto

Wow cool! Thanks for the insight. Jabba's Realm is definitely on the short list of upcoming purchases.

Do you think I have anything that could be built along side the above list? Getting the lady to play along with me makes justifying the extra purchases down the road a lot easier

Now lets try for a semi-competitive Rebel list.

I really think right now that the best Rebels lists have either Jedi Luke, Han Solo (fixed version) or Chewbacca (fixed version). Ahsoka is solid but it's too early to see where she stands overall- but the other Heart of the Empire rebel single units are great. Alliance Rangers are solid. Most of the older stuff was out of the game for a long time, but old figures like Jyn Odan are seeing a resurgence with high-cost figures like Vader running around (to get off stun and such). So building strictly with what you have right now, here's a list you could try- though there isn't a lot of command card synergy. Get the ISB Infiltrators pack so you could get some good spy cards for this list:

2 C3PO

3 Gideon

(these first 2 figures are in most every rebel or mercenary list- their ability to focus and give other benefits is just THAT GOOD).

3 R2D2 (command card draw is huge)

7 Rebel Saboteurs (I'd recommend focusing them round 1 so you can try to have them stun someone, then let them run objectives after that. 5 speed is huge for picking up crates and reaching objectives)

7 Obi Wan

5 MHD

5 Jyn Odan

8 Leia

Some command card ideas

1 intelligence leak

2 slippery target (I know it comes in the Han Solo pack, but I think it comes in other ones too)

2 Comm Disruption

1 Strategic Shift

2 One in a Million

2 Miracle Worker

2 Force Surge

3 Maximum Firepower

0 Element of Surprise

0 Planning

0 Hard to hit (to help get those dodges- especially crucial for Leia to survive)

0 Deadeye (you have range struggles with this list)

0 Take Initiative

0 Urgency

0 Wild Attack (combo it with Jin's one in a million card, and if she is focused= amazing)

Could also consider other 0 cost cards like Leia's command card (letting her use force surge if need be- and an extra surge for her is always good), fleet footed, celebration, or set a trap.

If you could somehow get Leia to put miracle worker in the deck and keep redrawing it that would be bonkers.

The first list is definitely stronger than the 2nd one, but you could have some fun matches. Leia dies fast in the current meta, so you need to be careful with her. Also, I recommend putting a focus token underneath Obi-Wan's card, so if he is defeated you can flip the card over and then remember that he can focus anyone after he dies.

Hope this helps get you started in the right direction. Most of all, have a blast playing :)!!!

7 hours ago, Click5 said:

Wow cool! Thanks for the insight. Jabba's Realm is definitely on the short list of upcoming purchases.

Do you think I have anything that could be built along side the above list? Getting the lady to play along with me makes justifying the extra purchases down the road a lot easier

Both Jabba and the newly released HotE expansion have great cards. Do note though if you're only playing at home/casual you can just print out proxy cards. It is only at official FFG events that you're required to own the "real" stuff. Depending on your FLGS owner they might even allow proxies to slide by at Store-level but definitely no-no starting Regional-level (Store -> Regional -> National -> World)

15 hours ago, Click5 said:

My collection is made up of:

Core, Twin Shadows, and Hoth

Leia, Obi-Wan, R2-D2 and C-3P0, Rebel Sabs

Bossk, Greedo, IG-88, Jawas, Bantha Rider

Kayn Somos, Agent Blaise, The Grand Inquisitor

Until you own everything, there will always be a card or so you wish you had - don't let it bother you, that's how they sell you more stuff, just play and figure out the rules.

Imperial

8eHeavy troopers

4rImp Officer x2

6Blaise (hide the heavies for blast or +2)

9Inquisitor

Kayn or elite stormtroopers or snow troopers or temp alliance bossk or whatever you want (i like probe droids)

1 Zillo

Rebels

Obiwan, Luke, eSabs, gideon, droids, saska + bossk or Biv

both of these are fun lists to get started.

I like beast mercs too

Bantha 9

Beast tamer 1

2x eNexu 12

you can throw in Ig88 and a jawa and some trandoshans or eSandPeople with Gideon and 3po if you want for a Tatooine themed party.

Just broke down and bought Jedi Luke and an Alliance Smuggler. It was on sale at the FLGS.

I have a feeling Jabba's Realm might be next

1 hour ago, Click5 said:

Just broke down and bought Jedi Luke and an Alliance Smuggler. It was on sale at the FLGS.

I have a feeling Jabba's Realm might be next

elite Alliance smuggler is my favorite all time figure. I'd rather watch a movie about him over any of the last 6-7 SW movies they've put out.

To get someone interested in your FLGS, I'd advice you to take 2 lists, that are at least a little bit comparable to the current meta.

Each and every Merc and Rebel list starts with Gideon and 3PO. If you don't want to buy those two figures a second time, play empire vs one of those two. In my experience, people are most interested in Empire vs Rebels. And they want to see iconic heroes on the board.

Vader and Jedi Luke are must haves, to get people's interest. To use Vader, you need a card from Heart of the Empire.

Oh, and both squads should have the same number of activations.

Empire:

Vader 13

Zillo 1

Rule by Fear 1

Unshakable 1

Officer 2

Officer 2

+ 20 points of troopers. Elite Stormtroopers, Elite Jet Troopers with Targeting Computers, Elite Sentry Droids. Something like that.

Rebels:

Gideon 3

C-3PO 2

Jedi Luke 12

Rangers 12

R2-D2 3

+ 8 points of fillers, Elite Echo Base Troopers, Leia, Elite Rebel Saboteurs with Targeting Computer, Obi-Wan + Balance of the Force ...

On 12/28/2017 at 9:55 PM, buckero0 said:

elite Alliance smuggler is my favorite all time figure. I'd rather watch a movie about him over any of the last 6-7 SW movies they've put out.

The e-smuggler is so underused. I'm surprised more rebel players don't use him. So annoying.

18 minutes ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

The e-smuggler is so underused. I'm surprised more rebel players don't use him. So annoying.

he's a solid figure. i picked up a second pack, and have a tough time justifying the elite over a pair of regulars though

4 minutes ago, Fightwookies said:

he's a solid figure. i picked up a second pack, and have a tough time justifying the elite over a pair of regulars though

Same here. I bought 2 as well. LOL. I also agree that I would rather have 2 regulars OR 1 elite on the table for a given squad.

Other than Hired Guns and jawa, they're the only other double I own.

If there was a reliable way to Hide the elite smuggler outside of command cards though, think about -4 accuracy on a speed 5 figure

Gives me goosebumps every time

murnie sanders can hide people and adds to the spy count

Yeah, she's not as reliable as Gideon is to the Focus. I always want to use my command cards, especially with white dice figures needing some reliability in thier defense or attacks.

In two of the three maps now, Smuggler's Run becomes a lefit strategy though. The swamp is still rough

ESmuggler should cost 3 just like the difference between rjawa and ejawa. Then he would be played more often. Double rsmuggler are almost always better than one elite because you get more activations, actions and units to carry stuff