Hi, I'm planning to get into x-wing for the first time with the wave 3 expansion, will collect republic and confederacy units for a while until I figure out what I want to stick with. And I suspect I'll need two factions to practice with on my own a bit to get up to speed to try to minimize making a fool of myself :)

My question is if the wave 3 release will contain any starter kits so I'd have the components needed to play the game? (talking about things like range rulers, templates, tokens, dice, ...) If not, is there a way to pick up that stuff without getting the official starter set (since if I'm getting both the Republic and Confederacy units for a while I don't think I'd particularly want to purchase ships and stuff only used by other factions).

Please let me know if I'm misunderstanding anything. Also (another question), if someone collected just one faction (after they somehow got the components), would all the cards they'd need for that faction come with future releases for that faction? Or would you need to purchase releases from other factions in order to get some of the cards that you'd want to use with your other faction (in case I want to get into tournaments and stay competitive, wanted to know up front what to expect)?

Thanks!

Hi. A few thoughts:

• You need at a minimum:
  • Templates
  • Dice
  • Damage Deck
• Templates
  • You can get nice acrylic templates from places like etsy
  • FFG are releasing their own soon as well
  • Make sure you get 2.0 templates (line down the center)!
• Dice
  • Easy to buy separately
• Damage Deck
  • I'm not sure where you could buy this (other than ebay)

In all honesty, I'd buy the core set. For $30, it's going to be the cheapest & easiest way of getting the stuff you need to start out.

Thanks, I suspect I'll do that then (buy the core set). Regarding future releases (once you have the components), is collecting just one faction an option? Meaning the cards and everything for your faction to stay competitive would be contained purely in the releases for that one faction, right?

11 minutes ago, fionn5 said:

Thanks, I suspect I'll do that then (buy the core set). Regarding future releases (once you have the components), is collecting just one faction an option? Meaning the cards and everything for your faction to stay competitive would be contained purely in the releases for that one faction, right?

FFG has said it will be possible to get all generic upgrades by only collecting 1 faction. This doesn’t mean you will have access to them at the same time as they may be in future waves.

3 minutes ago, fionn5 said:

Meaning the cards and everything for your faction to stay competitive would be contained purely in the releases for that one faction, right?

I wouldn't count on that. Most of cards - yes, but rarely there will be a card available only in expansion for other faction, that you would like to include in your list. I know 2 ways of dealing with it.

1. If you want to play competitively, you will need practice, which means you will play regularly with a local group of players. One of them can usually lend you the card you need for a tourney.

2. You can buy those single cards you will need on ebay or some facebook group.

sounds good. (glad FFG is trying to keep it contained, I think it makes it easier for new players to take the plunge, and I suspect it might help keep the different factions balanced)

3 hours ago, fionn5 said:

My question is if the wave 3 release will contain any starter kits so I'd have the components needed to play the game? (talking about things like range rulers, templates, tokens, dice, ...) If not, is there a way to pick up that stuff without getting the official starter set (since if I'm getting both the Republic and Confederacy units for a while I don't think I'd particularly want to purchase ships and stuff only used by other factions).

You can find such things available broken out from the core set on eBay or in upgraded acrylic aftermarket stuff you can find on Etsy . I think though once you start totaling it all up you're better off just getting a core set if cost is your major hurdle. What you might lose in price you'll gain in convenience. Plus you'll get the additional models for down the line if want to play Rebels or Empire or perhaps to resell those and cut your cost that way.

Dice are the easiest to get outside of a core set being their own accessory product and also being the same as first edition dice (dice were in two first edition core sets and were their own accessory product.) There will be plastic accessory templates but that isn't till after Wave III.

Also the core set has several generic upgrades and force upgrades your prequel era pilots might like and the quick-build system makes much use of core set upgrades. You can get around getting a core set but I don't really recommend it.

Excellent, I'll definitely get the core set (convenience is a major plus and like you say it doesn't hurt to have the extra ships)!