A friend and I have a board game play date upcoming, and based on all the good things I've been reading I want to try out X-wing. However, while I'm planning for our intro game to be just the core set, it seems pretty limiting (particularly for the rebel player) to be restricted to a single X-wing. If I were going to buy a couple of extra expansions to make playthroughs after the first more enjoyable, what would you suggest?

I was thinking I'd pick up 1 Y-wing and 1 TIE advanced in addition to the core (so 1 X-wing, 1 Y-wing, 2 TIEs, 1 TIE advanced total to start), but am not sure if that would allow for a balanced match or not. The benefit of that plan, of course, is that Y-wings and TIE advanced are readily available, while just about every other small ship seems to be sold out most places.

What do you folks who have actually played the game think? Would I be better off with a different selection of ships? We're unlikely to want to go beyond a 60 point match initially, but since I've never played before I'm a little unsure what a good small-game selection entails.

Lastly, curse the fact that I discovered this game *after* the TIE Interceptors were sold out everywhere! That's hands-down my favorite Star Wars ship. I hope Fantasy Flight is able to get a reprint going soon.

If you intend to expand your collection to many ships, I don't see the harm in choosing the X-Wing and TIE fighter expansions to bulk out your basic fleets. X-Wings and TIE Fighters are never bad selections in a list, and in the case of the TIE Fighters the Empire performs the best while flying many of them.

Y-Wings and TIE Advanced fighters will give you more options, but they are largely support fighters. Y-Wings will give you access to the ion cannon and the dubious benefit it provides, while the TIE Advanced gives you access to Vader, who is the most powerful ace on the Imperial side presently. I've tried flying multiple generics of both but wasn't really satisfied with the results.

A-Wings and TIE Interceptors are really cool dogfighters. Grab some when you get the chance, since I think they're more fun to fly than added wave 1 ships.

I'm starting to think two core sets gives the best starting experience honestly. You have enough equipment for both sides and are able to fly ships in bulk. One step below that is an X-Wing and TIE Fighter expansion, giving you two more ships and more options to spruce up the pilots.

Interesting; I'm a little hesitant to get double core sets straight out the gate because although the extra ships seem nice, I don't want duplicates of all the cards and so forth unless we end up liking the game enough to warrant a larger investment.

I'll have to see if I can find a vanila X-wing and TIE fighter in stock anywhere. Based on the things I'm reading around these forums, it does seem like a Y-wing wouldn't necessarily add all that much interest for the Rebel player in a really small fleet (and the TIE advanced seemd like a good way to bulk up the points used by the empire thanks to Vader, but if it too is more of a support vehicle that might be premature).

There are several advantages to getting a second core set, like Norsehound says. The main one is cost effectiveness, since you get three ships more cheaply than you could by them individually. The second advantage is that you also get all the movement boards, the dice and a second set of some really good upgrades. That's all pretty handy.

I like the X-wing expansion and the TIE Fighter expansion for the fact that you can get extra pilots and some other upgrades that mix things up a bit for the games. I'll also disagree with Norsehound here and say that both the TIE Advanced and Y-wing are solid ships and fill out a roster points-wise that otherwise would be quite limited (highest points a TIE can get to from the Core, X-wing and TIE Fighter expansions is 21, which is also the lowest an X-wing can go…). Having Vader to play with is fun; having a cheap Rebel ship is also fun.

A second core set will also give you another set of dice (which you WILL need) and a second set of maneuver templates (which is very handy). You will be doubling up on the named pilots, but that is somewhat offset by getting more ships at a lower price point. Having said that, the X-wing and TIE expansions are also good, since they introduce more pilots, some that are considered top tier. The Advanced is a must, if only for Vader. Personally I like the Y-wing as well, and find the Ion Cannon far from dubious. It may not be suitable for every list, but it certainly has its place.

Barnes and Noble still had pretty much everything still in stock on their website last week. Now Interceptors are $34.99, A-Wings and X-Wings are unavailable.

For what it is worth, TIEs are cheap swarm pieces while Rebel ships tend to be more expensive and a little more powerful per ship, so generally speaking the Imperial squads are more likely to have more ships than the Rebels. The core set has a beginner's scenario where you run 2 Academy Pilots against 1 Rookie Pilot. I've played it around 5 times (with 5 different people). Its fun, feels pretty balanced, and definitely leaves people wanting to play more.

2 core sets is a great idea. You get 2 sets of templates and range rulers, and enough dice to roll range 1/3 attacks with ships that have 3 attack or agility without having to use one of the die you already rolled.

ziggy2000 said:

In order of purchases I would try the following:

1. Coreset – duplicates of all the templates and dice – extra dice and three ships for the price of 2 normally along with every thing else is your best buy.
2. Wave one (X-wing and Tie Fighter) – Provide more good ships and new pilots and abilities
3. Wave one (Y-wing and Tie Adv. Fighter) – Support ships, Vader, named Y-wing pilots and more abilities and equipment
4. Wave two (Interceptor and A-wing) – good ships filling holes in both sides squad building ability
5. Wave two (Falcon and Slave 1) – Large based support ships with generic ships upgrades and new ordnance load-outs

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I was downtown last evening, and stopped at the local Barnes and Noble to check for the game (since they were one of the few outlets online that showed up as actually having stock for the wave 1 ships), and they had the core set and all wave 1 ships in stock and sadly gathering dust, so I picked up core, an X-wing, and a TIE fighter. I'm currently planning on starting with the intro scenario, and then we'll likely want to try doing something with a bit of actual customization, and I suspect the additional ship will make the Rebellion much more interesting for whoever is playing that side (and hopefully the extra TIE fighter will help prevent the Rebels from being totally overpowered).

If we enjoy the game enough to keep playing, I will definitely pick up another core set. Now that I have the cards for the TIE and X-wing expansion, the core set looks like a far better way to quickly expand my available fleet options (and getting it online will cost a lot less; B&N was of course listing them at full MSRP, so grabbing two cores last night wasn't really an option).

In that instance I'll probably pick up a TIE advanced sooner rather than later, because VADER. The Y-wing looks nice if only to offer a little more diversity for the Rebels (and is easy to get, until FantasyFlight reprints things), and as soon as I find a TIE interceptor in stock anywhere I'm buying that sucker because I've loved that ship since I first saw it on-screen all those years ago. :-)

Thanks again for the help! Looking over the rules (and particularly the quick start scenario), I might even be able to get my wife to play this with me. That would be quite the coup; she's normally very hesitant about strategy games.

Welcome to the wonderful world of X-wing miniatures.

Once I started playing it, I can't stop playing anything but X-wing miniatures.

Well, a little EotE beginner game too. Can't wait for the full on RPG.

Ended up getting 4 cores.

Target has some great sales and B&N with 25% off coupons and another 10% off for membership.

Call me old fashioned, but I like to inspect what I'm getting at an old brick & mortar store.

Good Times.

I just party for fun so take that into account. Its cool to have all the the ships.I would buy them in the order they were released. If nothing else you learn it the way every one else did. The ships get a little more complex with each release. I may be way off on this but….

i would go for

1- 2x Core sets

2- 1x y-wing 1x tie Advanced

3- 1x x-wing 1xTie-Figther

4 - 1x y-wing

5 - Falcon, Slave -I

5- 2x A-wing 2x Tie interceptor

If you are just getting into the game to try it, then the cheapest way to get a good amount of ships would be 1x core, 1x each of the wave 1 expansions (X-wing, Y-Wing, Tie Fighter, and Tie Adv)

That gives your imperial players access to all the unique TIE pilots, as well as 3 TIEs and an advanced to fly around in. It also gives your rebels access to all the X-wing pilots, with three ships of his own to pilot. You can make several 66-point and 100-point lists with those combinations of ships that are competitive and will really show off the game for you.

After that, if you really enjoy the game, a second core set, and more copies of all 8 expansions will virtually sell themselves to you, whereas if you dislike the game, you have at most spent $120 USD for the experience and can probably re-sell the stuff on EBay to recoup most of the cost.