Hey there, I am a new player and looking to build a legit imperial squad.

So far I have 2 core sets, 1 tie/in expansion, and 1 tie advance expansion. I am looking for recommendations on a good relatively simple build and also possibly what ships are a must have to complement what I already own.

Thanks in advance.

Tie/in is a tie interceptor, is that what you meant?

it will be wise to hold off buying any more sips until the points rebalancing is announced but id recommend getting...

1x tie punisher (redline is awesome)

1x tie intercepter (soontir fel is a boss)

2x bombers (barrage rockets on these guys is really strong and major rymer is a fantastic enabler for ordnance)

1x lambda shuttle (as awesome support ship that gives u coordinate and ability to take some of imperials most powerful crew)

1x phantom (the most evasive and tricksy ship in the faction and arguably the entire game... vader crew and juke on whisper is a staple in many imperial ace lists and for good reason)

those are the most imp ships to get imo...

If you're new I'd keep it relatively simple.

TIE Advance - Vader (Supernatural Reflexes, Fire Control System, a special weapon you can afford)
TIE Fighter - Black Squadron Ace (Crackshot) x4

This will give you exposure to flying multiple ships together and flying a powerful pilot with abilities.

Essentially, once you learn how to fly well and how to utilise your actions, you'll find getting shots off second nature.

With what you have rn:

Vader (Supernatural Reflexes, FCS)

Howlrunner

Iden Versio

Del Meeko

8 hours ago, Blast Tundra said:

If you're new I'd keep it relatively simple.

TIE Advance - Vader (Supernatural Reflexes, Fire Control System, a special weapon you can afford)
TIE Fighter - Black Squadron Ace (Crackshot) x4

This will give you exposure to flying multiple ships together and flying a powerful pilot with abilities.

Essentially, once you learn how to fly well and how to utilise your actions, you'll find getting shots off second nature.

this is great advice. intercepters are awesome but they are not easy to fly well. im crappy with them. too impatient. phantom is even harder to master. its decloak ability is very hard to predict when u play against them but they will expose an inexperienced player if flown poorly. my suggestions are really long term ones, further down the track. ull obviously need the imperials conversion kit too but use a go slow approach and maybe even borrow some ships for now until u find what u like.

Thanks for this advice. This seems like a good build to get familiar with the game and keep learning! I may also toy around with that howlrunner and iden versio build here and there as the combos seem legit.

One more clarification, in order to get older ships such as bombers and punishers I would need to get the 1.0 expansion and then an upgrade kit correct?

35 minutes ago, Wynthrop said:

Thanks for this advice. This seems like a good build to get familiar with the game and keep learning! I may also toy around with that howlrunner and iden versio build here and there as the combos seem legit.

One more clarification, in order to get older ships such as bombers and punishers I would need to get the 1.0 expansion and then an upgrade kit correct?

Yes you will need to buy a conversion kit for any ships that are not released in 2.0, so anything that isn't a 2.0 TIE/LN, TIE/X1, or TIE Reaper for Empire. That's why I was asking you to clarify what you meant by TIE/in because if you meant TIE Interceptor that means you'd have to spend $50 on a conversion kit just to fly it.

Thanks again, ya I got the 2.0 TIE/LN. I plan on just getting the 2.0 ships unless there is a must-have ship such as the lambda class shuttle (I saw it was in the worlds tournament last year) then I will cough up the dough to upgrade it.

Imperials Conversion Kit contents

ull get all the movement dials and pilot bases/cardboard for the pilots listed here.

quite a bone of contention for us older players is the lack of generic ship cardboard there is in all conversion kits.

many of us have the ships to play 2.0 because they are all playable again in the newer version of the game but without the dials and cardboard you cant field enough of them which is annoying but despite this the conversion kits are still pretty good value. Mots ppl will by default end up buying extra stuff they will never use when converting from 1.0 to 2.0 as well as be a little restricted by what they can play versus what they really like to play.

once u own a conversion kit you can just tailor make ur own squads and buy expansion packs accordingly.

i think the biggest mistake u can make (and many of us from 1.0 made this mistake) is to buy more ships than you can comfortably play. ive still got 3 single ship expansion kits that are unopened more than a year after i bought them. one is a tie-punisher (the only one i own) so i think it might actually see some play in 2.0 now that ships aces are super good

no need to buy one of every ship either. some will not be suited to ur play style or list building.

sticking to one faction is going to help you stay in the game and give u time to master the ships in that faction b4 u can branch into a new faction. For example im a Scum player but also enjoy imperials. I have enough rebel ships to play with but have stopped buying every faction except scum. in time i may jump into the Republic because the jedi starfighter pilots r going to be awesome.

-Thanks for the advice. I was starting to get overwhelmed trying to buy ships, but now that I have this set I felt like I should be able to make a fun squad to learn with. Just played the vader/4 black squadron ace one and it was GREAT, gotta get way better at maneuvering though. Any advice for flying a swarm kind of build like this? I feel like I should try and stay close and barrel roll into bullseye arc shots.

-True that on the starfighter pilots. Any idea when those will drop? This website seems to be vague with release dates.

Here’s a thematic Black Squadron list that isn’t bad. You can play as the brave pilots of Black Squadron desperately trying to defend the Death Star.

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - •“Mauler” Mithel - 33
•“Mauler” Mithel - Black Two (32)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE Advanced x1 - •Darth Vader - 85
•Darth Vader - Black Leader (70)
Fire-Control System (3)
Supernatural Reflexes (12)

Total: 199/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

30 minutes ago, Phelan Boots said:

Here’s a thematic Black Squadron list that isn’t bad. You can play as the brave pilots of Black Squadron desperately trying to defend the Death Star.

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - Black Squadron Ace - 27
Black Squadron Ace - (26)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE/ln Fighter - •“Mauler” Mithel - 33
•“Mauler” Mithel - Black Two (32)
Crack Shot (1)

TIE Advanced x1 - •Darth Vader - 85
•Darth Vader - Black Leader (70)
Fire-Control System (3)
Supernatural Reflexes (12)

Total: 199/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

This will definitely be my next run. I really liked the mauler mithel card and that's is why I bought another Tie/LN expansion. Ill let you know how it goes!

Remember that Vader is I6, so moves last and shoots first. 199 points only leaves you 1 point for a bid, which means you might end up becoming first player (which is only really an issue if you're facing someone else with an I6 pilot - Poe, Wedge, Rau etc) If you run the list I suggest and don't include a missile on Vader you're at 193, leaving 7 points to bid, which still isn't loads.

In an ideal world you'll let your opponent move first so you can then decide where you want to reflex barrel roll to before activating and actioning, to try and stay out of arc.

It's a great game to get into, don't get bogged down too much with the "best list" - I like to run themed lists outside of my FLGS tourneys and regularly do well. Fun > Winning for me. Cool ships doing cool things, I have a lot of time for that!

It's also worth looking into both Hyperspace and Extended formats. All of my lists currently are Hyperspace compliant, but you need to ensure your game is using the same game mode so there is any potential unfair advantage.

Don't get annoyed if you lose, there is a learning curve to the game and every ship works in its own way - which in turn might be different to the way another player uses the same ship due to our individual play-styles!

Have fun!

Thanks for the tips, they are all very much appreciated. Ya that is why I chose imperial I love the idea of a tie swarm and that whistling noise as they dive in!

Is the bidding the same as the first player token?

On 1/11/2019 at 4:23 PM, Wynthrop said:

Thanks for the tips, they are all very much appreciated. Ya that is why I chose imperial I love the idea of a tie swarm and that whistling noise as they dive in!

Is the bidding the same as the first player token?

The bid is for the decision to be first player or not. Sometimes you want it, sometimes you don't!

While understandable, still kind of sad that Ved Foslo isn't in the conversation. What he does with the X1's dial is nuts.

X1 dial: X1 dial on Ved:

Yah he's I4, he still makes a good scalp hunter against most support ships.

I don't know if you listen to podcasts or not, but the Mynock Squadron podcast did a good one (their first one of the year) that had some nice tips on what to do to get better as a new player. Worth a listen.

3 hours ago, Force Majeure said:

I don't know if you listen to podcasts or not, but the Mynock Squadron podcast did a good one (their first one of the year) that had some nice tips on what to do to get better as a new player. Worth a listen.

+1 for Mynock Squadron!

On 1/10/2019 at 3:01 AM, Wynthrop said:

-Thanks for the advice. I was starting to get overwhelmed trying to buy ships, but now that I have this set I felt like I should be able to make a fun squad to learn with.

If you buy a conversion kit, which I don't say you have to, just if... you can easily fly the ship you like without ha ving to buy the 1.0 model yet, since you have dials and base tokens. If it turns out you like it, you can still buy it

On 1/9/2019 at 9:01 PM, Wynthrop said:

-Thanks for the advice. I was starting to get overwhelmed trying to buy ships, but now that I have this set I felt like I should be able to make a fun squad to learn with. Just played the vader/4 black squadron ace one and it was GREAT, gotta get way better at maneuvering though. Any advice for flying a swarm kind of build like this? I feel like I should try and stay close and barrel roll into bullseye arc shots.

-True that on the starfighter pilots. Any idea when those will drop? This website seems to be vague with release dates.

Learn the pinwheel and the box formation. Just set them on the table and figure out how to move them from set up to banking/turning

Apparently, you can buy 'separate' coversion kits online.

They give you ship cards, dials, ID marker, ship tokens but no upgrade cards (they sell separate upgrades as well) and plastic ship bases.

On 1/15/2019 at 9:54 AM, JBFancourt said:

Learn the pinwheel and the box formation. Just set them on the table and figure out how to move them from set up to banking/turning

This video (and his second video were both super helpful) thanks a ton