Looking forward to get into the two new factions and am wondering how many squad packs are recommended to buy. Is one sufficient or are two best?

Tried doing a search in the forum/google but couldn't get a good answer, or maybe I didn't dig deep enough.

Servants of Strife:

- The only place to get the Belbullab-22, is it fun to have 2 hit the table?

- The vulture class droid fighter can also be bought separate. Would it make sense to have 5x (4 from 2x squad packs + 1 solo) or get numbers from multiple solo units?

Guardians of the Republic:

- The only place to get the V-19. The question would be if 2x is enough, or do you see flying 4x a fun idea.

- Seems that lists with 3x delta-7 are fun. Wondering if its best to have 2x packs + 1 solo or the other way around, 1x pack + 2 solo.

I own most of the 1st Ed ships and already got conversion kits + 2nd Ed core set. I play mostly casual but am also a big-time solo supporter (created the Tactical Droid solo system for 1st Ed back in the day). I confess the new factions are quite tempting, I am looking forward to the Jedi powers. It am also really considering porting the Tactical Droid solo system to 2nd Ed at some point.

One thing that has me on the fence is the quality of the new ships. I saw a couple of separatist ships on a store, particularly the Sith Infiltrator, that had very sloppy paint jobs on them. Are the new ships lower quality?

Thanks for any thoughts you can share!

I’m pretty happy with my republic ships. My recommendation would be 2x squad packs. 3-4 torrents is always a solid platform. Then buy a solo Jedi fighter and at least one ARC and Y. Probably an N1 as well.

I have had pretty good fun with Plo, Kenobi, and R2 (pilot Ywing). My worlds list was 3x torrents, Kenobi and Ric.

One of the main Republic list types is Sinker swarm. Sinker is an ARC and the swarm is four Torrents. So two on guardians as five torrent lists are not really a thing and the generic Jedi delta comes in both the squadron packs and single expansion.

There are things in the vulture only expansion and the delta only expansion not in the squadron and so if you want at least one of all the options you need both three pack and single.

You can get most all the Republic meta lists with 2x Squadron Packs, 1x ARC, 1x Delta, and 1x Naboo. Throw in a Y-Wing for good measure.

For droids, I do not possess any but if I did I’d probably buy 2x squad pack for dollar to value ratio, and then 2x basic vultures for the extra copy of buzz droids. An infiltrator, maybe 2x nantex. Not sure on the bomber droid

2 and 2 is probably correct.

Folks don't really need more than 4 Torrents. But you also don't need more than 1 solo Delta 7 Aethersprite.

As to Belbullabs, I have 5 (three SoS, two from eBay), and love them even if they're kinda meh (5 HP is pretty squishy when run en masse). Realistically you probably don't need more than two Belbullabs. The reason is that having 7 Vultures is kind of the completionist number of Vultures. Max ship count is 8, and you'd want at least one non-Vulture support ship. So to get 7 Vultures, that means either 3 SOS and 1 Vulture, or 2 SOS and 3 Vulture. The reason 3 Vulture is probably better is that's the only source for Discord Missiles. Having 3 Discord Missiles, 2 Belbullabs is probably better than having 3 Belbullabs and 1 Discord Missiles.

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That said, on a budget, going one of each to start things out is fine. Sinker Swarm with

Also note: if you have any old Rebel ARCs and the Rebel Conversion kit, the dials and ship models (but not tokens and cards) can be used interchangeably. I had 2 ARC from 1e, so with 2 in 2e, I can run 4 in a list, so long as I don't have more than two Squad Seven Veterans, or two 104th Pilots (there's only one copy of the cards).

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As to quality... Sith Infiltrator looks kinda bad, IMHO. Belbullab pegs are often in backwards, but that's not a big deal--Bases are identical front-to-back in any way that matters. Hyena doesn't seem very washed in the lines; a quick go with a Micron pen (or maybe even a pencil... like someone might use for Gundam Lining) can handle it. I think one of my torrents is a bit crooked, too.

I can only speak for the Republic side of things and have an odd affection for Torrents. With that caveat, get a second Guardians of the Republic pack. I keep wanting to putting together squads with three to four Torrents only to fall to my knees, clenching my fists in simmering rage cursing the old gods and new that I've only picked up one GotR pack to date.

For CiS, the main issue is REALLY wanting probes that only come with the Sith Infiltrator

Fortunately, the ship isn't bad at all (just not currently in Vogue) and you can field a perfectly feasible squad with two SoS and one Sith.

Later, you can nab a Hyena or two to run Sear + droids (hyenas carry probes, the second can carry either diamond boron or the infinitely charming 404)

Quote

How many squadron packs should I buy?

Snarky Answer: None, because buying them isn't manditory

Non-Snarky answer: as many as you want, until you are satisfied with the number of each ship you have. This is a personal decision, and you'll have a different limit then others.

There is never enough Vultures. NEVER.

8 minutes ago, Minaith said:

There is never enough Vultures. NEVER.

Sure there is. If you have only one Epic Battles expansion box, then having 24 Vultures has hit "enough" since you can form four whole Wings of them using every Wing ID card and ID token.

EDIT: Of course, doing so would cost 464 points at minimum. As well as a whole lot of money.

18 hours ago, OoALEJOoO said:

Servants of Strife:

- The only place to get the Belbullab-22, is it fun to have 2 hit the table?

- The vulture class droid fighter can also be bought separate. Would it make sense to have 5x (4 from 2x squad packs + 1 solo) or get numbers from multiple solo units?

While I can’t speak much as to flying multiple Belbullabs, it’s effectively a free ship if you’re trying to bulk up on Vultures. As to “would it make sense to have 5,” I think 7 is actually fairly common in the meta. That doesn’t mean you have to buy 7, but my point is that 5 is by no means too many.

Personally I’ve got 2 SoS, 3 Vultures, 2/3? Hyenas, and I think still just one of each of the others.

I find this to be just about perfect, as I love playing droid swarms, and I’ve got all of the Buzz Droids I could run. That said I do intend to get up to 6 of each Vulture Paintjob eventually for Epic play.

Thanks for the responses!

16 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

As to quality... Sith Infiltrator looks kinda bad, IMHO. ... Hyena doesn't seem very washed in the lines; a quick go with a Micron pen (or maybe even a pencil... like someone might use for Gundam Lining) can handle it.

This is exactly what I noticed, plus some of the Fangs having too much wash. A bit of a bummer since I have never seen a 1st Ed ship with similar issues and the 2nd Ed ships are more expensive. Nothing a bit of paint can't fix but the whole idea of X-Wings are to be quality pre-painted.

Seems the consensus is that you can't go wrong with 2x of each of the packs. I'll make sure this goes into my wish list this Xmas. I just hope Santa has the budget!

2 hours ago, Faerie1979 said:

Sure there is. If you have only one Epic Battles expansion box, then having 24 Vultures has hit "enough" since you can form four whole Wings of them using every Wing ID card and ID token.

EDIT: Of course, doing so would cost 464 points at minimum. As well as a whole lot of money.

So you're saying I have room for a pocket ace?

You could probably get away with one Guardians of the Rebublic + another ship buy, but if I'd had the opportunity, I would have gone with two Servants of Strife and two Vulture individuals. The Separatists are a larger buy-in if you're looking at the new factions.

1 hour ago, Punning Pundit said:

So you're saying I have room for a pocket ace?

I would imagine that even with setting them up in 4 wings, fielding 24 Vulture Drones would be a bit much.

5 hours ago, OoALEJOoO said:

Thanks for the responses!

This is exactly what I noticed, plus some of the Fangs having too much wash. A bit of a bummer since I have never seen a 1st Ed ship with similar issues and the 2nd Ed ships are more expensive. Nothing a bit of paint can't fix but the whole idea of X-Wings are to be quality pre-painted.

Seems the consensus is that you can't go wrong with 2x of each of the packs. I'll make sure this goes into my wish list this Xmas. I just hope Santa has the budget!

To be sure, one of each gets a lot of good stuff fairly easily, but two is nice to get eventually.