Hi.

I’m an Armada player and have been hesitant to jump into X Wing primarily due to cost and space.

However I recently saw the Gozanti Cruiser has the ability to attach tie fighters and now it’s a must buy for me. (I just need to wait for that to rerelease in 2.0?)

Yet I have the age old problem of too many hobbies and don’t need another one bleeding me dry. 😁

I have three goals:

1) First and foremost - get want I need to be competitive in local tournaments as an Imperial.

2) Secondary - eventually get what I need to be competitive as a rebel so I can play with family/friends who don’t collect .

3) Finally lay out a path of what to buy after I get the essentials, should I want to continue to invest in this game overtime (For instance The Ghost is an especially gorgeous looking model).

-

Other than the core set, what should I get? Much thanks in advance.

Hate to say it, but strapped for cash, competitive, and Imperial don’t go together.

Most of the best lists involve converted content.

The best 2.0 only ones I can think of are Vader + friends, and tie swarm (6 or 8 tie fighters based on which variant you are flying, I prefer the 6 ties)

11 minutes ago, Forresto said:

1) First and foremost - get want I need to be competitive in local tournaments as an Imperial.

2) Secondary - eventually get what I need to be competitive as a rebel so I can play with family/friends who don’t collect .

3) Finally lay out a path of what to buy after I get the essentials, should I want to continue to invest in this game overtime (For instance The Ghost is an especially gorgeous looking model).

1. Competitive Imperial lists are plentiful. Hyperspace limited formats are easier on the budget than Extended, for obvious reasons since it limits the ship pool. A TIE Interceptor and TIE Advanced give you two of the best aces in the faction, if not the game. Vader and Fel. You can fit another piece or two into that and have a decent list. An alternative, and more thematic, is a 7 TIE Fighter swarm... but yeah, that gets pricey fast. Heads up though, the Gozanti is not tournament legal, so hopefully that wasn't an expectation. You will also need dice, a damage deck, maneuver templates, and obstacles. These all come in the core set, but you might be able to find these cheaply through a secondary source... balance that against the cost of two TIE Fighters and an X-Wing and the core set remains a deal.
2. Rebels... Hrm. I'm still trying to unlock something I feel strongly about since the last point change. Lets put that on the backburner? Luke (core set only) another couple of mainline fighters seem fine. (X-Wings/B-Wings are more rounded) - I'm not a list builder and there isn't something burner up the charts right now.
3. Future path - do what you want? We don't know what the next point change will bring, and what's powerful today may not be tomorrow. I'm more of a "get what you like" type of buyer.

I suggest you'll want 4 basic TIEs a.k.a. the TIE/ln to start. Also a pair of TIE Bombers, one TIE x1 (Vader's TIE), and one TIE Interceptor**.

A very capable list is Darth Vader, Soontir Fel (Interceptor) and a pair of Bombers loaded with Barrage Rockets.

Having said that, the ships I've listed give you a decent variety in list builds. Keep in mind that competitive players have been at it for quite some time now, so temper your tournament expectations while you get a handle on the ins and outs of the game.

Other things that are nice to have are TIE Strikers and a Reaper** (both from Rogue One). Three of my favorite Imperial ships to fly are the VT-49 Decimator, the TIE Defender** and TIE Advanced v1* (Inquisitor's TIE).

*Wave 5 - Releases this month, purportedly the 13th of September.
**Wave 6 - Release Q4(?)

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A cheap-ish way to get what you need is to buy an Imperial lot off of someone getting out of the game that never converted to 2nd ed. (ebay or facebook are good for this) and purchase a conversion kit to make their collection viable.

I'd suggest getting your feet wet and borrow some ships to see if you like the game enough before you get too deep. The game is arguably in the best place it's been ever. More winners are winning because of player skill versus "auto-win" or "easy" lists.

Something else to consider :

Your interest seemed to be hinged on using the Gozanti Cruiser; card packs for Epic play are coming soon ™ (probably before Christmas).

What that means is you're going to have folks flying Huge ships and multiple squads of the smaller ships in the near future. Not quite like Armada, but you'll likely get more games in! Look into it, it may just be the style of play that's right up your alley.

A Larger World
Bigger Battles
The Weight of the Empire

Tomorrow , September 5th on FFG's Twitch channel ( link ) will feature Epic ship play at 1 pm Central

"Hop into a cockpit on September 5 and witness an epic battle in X-Wing Second Edition! This stream will highlight the upcoming huge ships coming to X-Wing with developers Brooks Flugaur-Leavitt and Max Brooks!"

I would buy the conversion pack and check the second market for ships.

For Imperials, you're probably just going to want to pick up a Conversion kit and then you can pick up whichever ships you want in most reasonable quantities and you'll be fine - the catalog of Imperial ships is pretty large at this point and some of the more popular options haven't gotten 2.0 releases yet (most notably the TIE Interceptor). If you're planning on doing Imperials as your main faction, it doesn't take long for the discounted cost of 1.0 packs over 2.0 packs to add up (particularly if you are buying used/discounted).

For Rebels, most of the good/popular ships have already gotten re-releases so if you're only looking to have enough to field a few loaner lists then I'd probably stick to 2.0 releases unless you're into some of the more obscure ships that are unlikely to get a re-release anytime soon (E-Wing, K-Wing, Auzituk). Again though, if you are planning on getting a lot of ships, the conversion kits start making sense pretty fast. It's also worth keeping in mind that 2.0 releases have often involved re-sculpts/redone paint jobs which are a noticeable step up in quality - X-Wings and B-Wings now have moving S-Foils, Y-Wings have much better defined turret details, etc.

For the Gozanti specifically, we haven't gotten a release schedule for the 2.0 re-release but judging by the Raider/CR-90/C-ROC, you can expect it to probably involve a considerable price increase and no longer have any small ships included. The Epic conversion kit MSRP is $25 and covers 1x of all epic ships released in 1.0 so all indications are that it's a good bargain.

In terms of "what should I buy?" I would say pick up stuff you think looks cool, try it out, see what you like about it and let your collection grow from there. There is a huge back catalog so you can get by with being pretty choosy or go crazy depending on your budget/interest level.

Another thing I just thought of:

If you buy the Conversion Kit, (plus core of course) you can pretty much play the game with almost all the ships, and in multiples but without the models.

For casual play most folks tend to be cool with a missing model or two. I've never seen anyone fly their list with all the models missing, but the models don't have anything that they do except look nice, get in the way, or break. You may be given a pass since you're starting out.

A benefit of going this route is that for cheap, you get to figure out what you like to fly. For tournaments, you can borrow a friend's ships as well.

Most folks are nice in X-wing.

Realtalk?

Core, FO conversion, Resistance Conversion, and their ships.

Good ships, strong factions, you don't need that many ships- for either one.

Yeesh... it’s like nobody reads what the OP writes...

I'm not sure I agree with the groupthink here on conversion kits. You also run into the format problem of hyperspace vs extended. This game is much more balanced than Armada or X-Wing first edition, so a lot more things are good. Almost any list, when practiced enough, can do decently. So the bigger problem when buying isn't balance, it's format. Conversion stuff is often not tournament legal and it sucks to practice with your list a ton and then find out it won't be allowed at a particular event.

I would recommend waiting a little bit until wave 6 so you can get an interceptor and a reaper. Until then, get two cores and a TIE Advanced and there'll be a decent Vader+Miniswarm list you can build - gets a lot better if you get a standalone TIE Fighter pack as well.

1 Advanced x1 expansion and 2 TIE/Ln expansions and you have the makings of a reasonably decent list iirc.

14 hours ago, Forresto said:

1) First and foremost - get want I need to be competitive in local tournaments as an Imperial.

2) Secondary - eventually get what I need to be competitive as a rebel so I can play with family/friends who don’t collect .

3) Finally lay out a path of what to buy after I get the essentials, should I want to continue to invest in this game overtime (For instance The Ghost is an especially gorgeous looking model).

-

Other than the core set, what should I get? Much thanks in advance.

1) the core set gives you 2 ties, definetly get the tie advanced for vader then the choice is yours, get a few more ties (a bit pricier) for a swarm or wait for the tie interecptor, defender or inquisitors tie to come out. any one of those will complement vader and 2 ties to give you a few decent options for lists. is it competitve? thats another debate, and a lot of it will be down to skill and practice.

2) get a second x-wing (primarily for wedge) then maybe a falcon as well, 2 x-wings and a falcon should provide a few decent enough list options though. you could wait for saw's renegades to come out and that gives you another x-wing (but no wedge) and a u-wing instead of the falcon.

3) thats a very very open question. and the only sensible answer is: What you think you'll enjoy the most. after a few games though you'll start to understand what you enjoy flying and what you dont. maybe you'll fall in love with swarms, maybe aces, who knows. what i would advise against doing is buying expansions just for one card (not so much of an issue in 2.0 though) or bulk buying a ton of ships (at least initially) when theres a good chance you'll never put them on the table, later on, if you do decide to invest some more money into x-wing, those bulk buys on e-bay can be a great deal. as i said, id hold off for now and just get yourself a few ship expansions until you know what youll enjoy playing.

1) it is not easy with imperials.

Without convertion kit you culd do a

vader + 4ties (not bad, very thematic but not very competitive.... good to start)

To do this you need only 2 core sets and a tie x 1 expansion (100 euros)

(Before chek if in the core set there are all te tie pilots that you need)

In this way you should already have 2 x wings (1 from each core set) and can complete also your rebel squad with only 1 or 2 expansion more. (20/40 euros)

So reach also objective n.2

Otherwise to be competitive now with imperials the conversion kit is the way to go.

If you don'want to convert + buy 1.0 models and don't like tie fighters another possible formation is vader + 3 strikers (i really like this) or vader + decimator.

These are funny but not really competitive

As you see There are options also avoiding to buy the 1.0 stuffs.

Tie interceptor should be avaliable il few months so you could fly imperial aces vader soontir duchess if you can wait a little...(competitive)

In the next wave they will release also tie v1 (actually very popular and competitive....).

It's on you.

If you are on a budget, the last thing you need is the Gozanti. Cool looking ship, but useless in competitive play.

16 hours ago, Force Majeure said:

I suggest you'll want 4 basic TIEs a.k.a. the TIE/ln to start. Also a pair of TIE Bombers, one TIE x1 (Vader's TIE), and one TIE Interceptor**.

A very capable list is Darth Vader, Soontir Fel (Interceptor) and a pair of Bombers loaded with Barrage Rockets.

I'll nitpick this, only because Bombers and Interceptors are only 1e ships, require conversion kit stuff at the moment (and the Bombers aren't even coming soon), and the individual ships might not be easily acquired. Buying the collection of someone who is getting out of the game, plus a core set, might be a cost-effective way to get a really big collection, but there's a probably a large initial buy-in, and I think there's a decent path to competitive Imperial play through only 2nd Edition releases.

A Striker can probably swap in for the TIE interceptor (coming soon, but not out yet, so certainly not budget friendly right now ). Duchess isn't quite as good as Soontir, but isn't bad.

The two bombers can be replaced by 2 strikers, or by 3 TIE Fighters. Vader (with Sense), Soontir, and 3 Academy Pilots is a list which exists, so swapping in Duchess (and maybe Wampa?) would probably be a solid budget list that isn't too far off of a standard one.

17 hours ago, Forresto said:

Other than the core set, what should I get? Much thanks in advance.

Core Set, basic TIE Fighter, TIE/x1, TIE Striker is a $100 MSRP, and can build some decent lists. Of course add the TIE Interceptor when it releases, but I wouldn't get 1e and convert it. Maybe add another Striker. Decimator is lower priority, but I think it's kind of fun. The out-soon TIE/v1 are also really fun, but I don't know if they're top-tier competitive. without Jendon, who isn't out in Second Edition yet.

//

For Rebels, harder to say. Getting one of everything, maybe 2 B-Wings, maybe skipping the large-base ships, probably goes a long way. However, the best U-Wing Pilots and Crew are conversion-kit only, so kind of a pain.

My budget path would be Core, X-Wing, 2x B-Wing, Y-Wing (MSRP $80 over the Core Set). You can fly everything in cheapest configuration, or mix and match higher pilots.

*edit*
Is it just me, or does this look like a thoroughly reasonable squad?

• Vader (Sense, Fire Control System, Afterburners) 80
• Duchess (Predator) 44
• Wampa (-) 30
• Academy Pilot (-) 23
• Academy Pilot (-) 23

All the released Empire ships are pretty decent, and all except possibly the Reaper are decently easy to learn how to fly. I think I'd just pick up one of each, in the order you prefer, and try out different combos. Netlisting is nice and all, but you'll learn faster by actually trying things out, and who knows, maybe you'll uncover a combo or a pilot that's been overlooked by the forum and the meta, which, to be honest, is a bit of an echo chamber. You can make lots of interesting lists with 2-3 TIE Fighters, an x1, a v1 and a Striker.

I think that if you're going to end up at the destination of providing both sides for large games and that this "just an Imperial list for now" is denial or to make it palatable to your budget committee you need to examine a big spend upfront for a 1E collection and conversion kits versus adding it up in dribs and drabs. Just make sure you aren't kidding yourself about how much of this stuff you're going to end up wanting and buying.

To get going with Imps and an eye toward providing both sides for Imps and Rebels games from only 2E retail product: 2x Core set, 1x TIE Advanced, 1x T-65 X-wing, and the Rebel Falcon.

That should get you some fun Imps/Rebels games and be the base of your number 1 and 2 criteria. I'm saying 2x Core since you're going to want the four TIE/ln for your Gozanti, and you'll really want two sets of dice (3 of each attack and defense isn't quite enough) and you'll want the additional templates in such when providing material for two players. That is good value for an Imp player.

Then you just need to find yourself a competitive Imp list and add the things you need beyond 4x TIE/ln and 1x TIE Advanced. If you're going with Hyperspace just get any another Imp expansion and make a list and go fly. Playing extended is a little tougher but by the time Wave VI shows up, supposedly by the end of the year, you'll be able to pick from eight imperial expansions and should be fine even without access to the bombers.

Go use the squad-builder and make some lists. If you go to the "my collection" tab you can click "more info" on one of the expansions and it will show you what is in it.

19 hours ago, Forresto said:

I recently saw the Gozanti Cruiser has the ability to attach tie fighters and now it’s a must buy for me. (I just need to wait for that to rerelease in 2.0?)

Yet I have the age old problem of too many hobbies and don’t need another one bleeding me dry.

If you’re worried about X-Wing bleeding you dry, turn back now—it’s good at that. But that’s because the game is fun, the models look great, and there’s such a huge variety of things to fly that it’s awfully tempting to get just one more ship ...

I don’t actually know much about competitive flying. What I do know, however, is that different kinds of ships lend themselves to different play styles and personal preferences. I’m also loosely aware of the differences between Hyperspace and Extended, in the sense that they might limit your choices.

Where I’m going with this is that you should probably determine whether your local scene focuses on Hyperspace or Extended before you buy anything beyond the core. If it’s Hyperspace-only, I’d consider buying just enough of a variety of legal ships for the format to start practicing and seeing what you like. (Personal example: I have learned that I dislike and am not good at flying glass aces like Interceptors; I never went deeper than one, and I eventually even got rid of it.)

If your scene focuses on Extended, though, then I’d plush for a conversion kit and start trawling Amazon & eBay for bargains. Again: you probably don’t know what you’ll enjoy flying yet, and a few games with some diverse ships will start helping that. And while 2.0 is generally less upgrade-dependent than 1.0 was, it’s super nice to just start out in the faction with a load of upgrades at your fingertips.

Good luck, have fun!

Buying used ships and a conversion kit is a good option. Alternatively, Vader/Soontir/Duches is a pretty solid list, and they are all available in 2.0 releases currently (Tie Advanced, Tie Interceptor, Tie Striker), that said it's a pretty difficult list to play so be ready for a bit of a learning curve. You might still need to buy some upgrade cards online, but you could also proxy them to try it out.

2 minutes ago, JaxonEvans said:

they are all available in 2.0 releases currently (Tie Advanced, Tie Interceptor, Tie Striker

The Interceptor is not out until wave 6, by the end of the year.

1 minute ago, PanchoX1 said:

The Interceptor is not out until wave 6, by the end of the year.

Well, never mind then.

The benefit to conversion kits for Imperials is that two conversion kits will get you pretty much everything it's even possible to build in Imperial. (There are a couple of weird exceptions.). Then you can buy used models at $5 to $10 each (be sure they include bases and pegs), a damage deck, dice, and templates, and really be set, for either Hyperspace or Extended.

One thing I did was buy a very discounted Force Awakens core set from 1.0 It gave me extra dice, more obstacles and markers, a fall-back maneuvre tool set, and 3 ships that can easily pass as their Imperial and Rebel counterparts. I usually fly the TIE f/o as stand in for any other type if TIE and works wonders as they really stand out from the Imp regular TIEs.

8 hours ago, LUZ_TAK said:

One thing I did was buy a very discounted Force Awakens core set from 1.0 It gave me extra dice, more obstacles and markers, a fall-back maneuvre tool set, and 3 ships that can easily pass as their Imperial and Rebel counterparts. I usually fly the TIE f/o as stand in for any other type if TIE and works wonders as they really stand out from the Imp regular TIEs.

Thank you to everyone for being so incredibly helpful!

I’m really excited now. There’s several viable paths to take and I’m likely going to stitch together a plan from everyone’s suggestions.

This seems like a great community and I’m glad i’ll be more involved in it!

Cheers! 😁