So I had the core set for a while now, but fell into xwing and didn’t really pay attention to imperial assault much, and played xwing a lot more. A friend came over and we were bored, so we, with my brother decided to play it. It’s actually pretty fun and we're getting into campaign. We're talking about getting into skirmish, but we have no clue where to start. The friend picked up a core set with palp, Ben kenobi and jabbas realm, meanwhile my wallet is full with air, but none of that green paper. I managed to pick up a leia set tho. What are some good, solid meta lists for all three factions? Don’t need to say all, just drop your two cents and that’ll be great.
New Player. Need help
For the lists that are considered really efficient at the moment, you'd have to spend a bit more.
But you can get pretty close.
Jabba's Realm has the Elite Weequay Pirates, which are the staple unit for a lot of hunter lists. If you buy the "Jawa Scavenger" pack, you'd have the IG-88 "fix" card. EQuays, Onar, and IG would give you a very solid Hunter foundation, and you can add Jabba as support, or use Temporary Alliance to add Gideon from the Rebel faction. Jyn is a decent hitter if you want to include another smuggler with your other rebel points (assuming you don't want to shell out for the C-3P0/R2-D2 pack). If you want to buy the Greedo pack, he's a staple in Merc lists. Shyla and Vinto are decent characters, if not all the way top tier. Between the utility cards from the basic set (element of surprise, urgency, deadeye) and the hunter cards from Jabba's Realm, you should be able to put together a basic command deck and experiment from there.
With Palp and EJets, you've got some basic Imperial staples. Again, you could take Temporary Alliance and add in Onar and Elite Weequays to use the hunter meta. EJets are very nimble troops and give good objective control, and can take advantage of some very good trooper cards.
With just the core set, your biggest rebel hitter would probably be Jyn, although Luke (Hero of the Rebellion) has a good support power (re-rolls on attacks) and 5 speed -- he's just not as efficient as some things that have come out since. If you're willing to buy the Heart of the Empire box, you'd pick up "fix" cards for Han and Chewbacca, and you could get most of a smuggler list out of Han/Chewie/Jyn with support from Gideon -- tough to play in the current meta, but possible (you have to do a ton of positioning and activation-economy -- making sure you know when and how to use your figures). "On the Lam" is a staple smuggler command card from Jabba's Realm that you might be able to borrow from your friend. And the Chewie fix needs you to run Chewie's personal command card (Debts Repaid), which is in his pack, I think.
Meanwhile, welcome back to IA Skirmish! It's in an incredibly healthy and balanced point right now, with lists from all three factions winning tournaments. To get a super precise command card list takes a lot of collecting and spending, but it's still a dice game, and the basic set can give you some tricks and traps.
Actually, one of my favorite units is still Elite Rebel Saboteurs (though with rules errata, their blast surge is down to "blast 1"). For 7 points, you get 2 5-speed units (good for objectives) that have a red/yellow attack for stun. Against anyone but Vader, that's usually pretty good. They have "priority target," letting them shoot past a meat wall into the pack, and they synergize really well with both urgency (7 speed move) and deadeye (+2 accuracy, and they have 3 built in, so 5-range guaranteed shot), which are both in the basic set. And both of those cards work with any ranged attacker in the right circumstances.
Oh dang, sweet dude. Thanks for taking ur time to reply and clearing things out. I’m thinking maybe I can shell out a couple more expansions by the summer. Do you recomend buying the Hoth base set? Or is it a better idea to get the other expansions. Thanks again dude ??
Also, which faction is the most recommended for new players? Which faction do you prefer and which faction is lighter on the wallet? Dang. I’m feeling overwhelmed with the loadout of questions
I'd save Hoth for later.
I'd buy Jabba's Realm first. You'll get Alliance Ranger tokens (the figures are in their pack), which are a rebel staple. You'll get Elite Weequay Pirates ("EQuays"), and Onar which are merc staples. You'll get Elite Jet Troopers, an Imperial Staple, and Onar Temp-Alliance's into Imperials well. And Jabba himself is a decent leader -- maybe not as effective now, but still playable. If you're game to play Mercs, this is definitely your first buy. Add in the Greedo pack, and you've got most of the good figures.
Heart of the Empire has the Han, Chewie, and Vader fixes, and a Palp card and token. You could easily run Palp/Vader/Sentry Droids out of this box. If you want to use Elite Riot Troopers, you might want to buy the Rebel Troopers pack to get some Reinforcement Command Cards, along with Grenadier. This would be the box to buy if you want to play Imperials.
Building for Rebels is a bit harder. There are a lot of command cards in odd places, and the good figures are spread out. Elite Echo Base troopers are in the Hoth set, but you can also just buy their pack ... which also includes "Call the Vanguard," which is a pretty powerful command card. Han is very popular right now, along with Drokatta (a new wookie hero), so the Heart of the Empire box is potent. One of the standard rebel lists in the meta is Han/Elite Alliance Rangers, so you'd have to buy Heart of the Empire and the Alliance Rangers pack or Jabba's Realm. Plus the trooper/hunter cards you'd need to run the ERangers effectively are spread out quite a bit. And C-3P0, who's a great rebel staple (2 points for a good support troop and an extra activation) is in a pack with R2-D2, or as a token in the Bespin expansion, so there's some cost.
You can look up a given card on tabletopadmiral.com or another list builder, or you can look over online buy lists to try to get a sense of what's where: http://boardwars.eu/ally-and-villain-packs-for-star-wars-imperial-assault/
May the Force be with you!
If you're looking at Skirmish tournaments, Cry, you'll need Jabba the Hutt, Jawa Scavenger and Alliance Rangers for the skirmish maps and missions. All tiles for them come from core and Jabba's Realm.
You could pick up the maps that FFG sell, but they're pricier than buying some model packs 
wow. Guys you don’t know how much I appreciate your time and effort. This is amazing... thanks again ??
We've been working on some list building challenges that also might help you:
Thx