Hello everyone

I just bought the Core Box-set this past weekend, played quite a few games and missions and I’m very excited about it. I’m a miniatures war-gaming Veteran, WHFB, 40K, FoW, WM/H, you name it and probably I have played it, but this game feels very different and dynamic, I really love it.

The thing is that as you may guess, just like for any other war-gamer, budget is the limit and I’m trying to figure out what would be the best route to expand the game; my first impulse is to get another X-Wing and a couple TIE Fighters, but I’m wondering if it would be better to go for something else to give another flavor to the experience.

I guess that there are more than a few X-Wing experienced players here that if they had the chance to start over again, they might do something different and I would really appreciate if you could share your thoughts on this.

Just as a background, at the moment I’m not aiming for the tournament arena, I’m looking more for a layback game that I can play with friends on Sat nights, having a good fun time.

Thanks all and hope I can be around the board to exchange experiences.

I recomend getting one of each small expansion next. But if you can only buy a couple at a time, i can undrstand. I dont think it really matters though what order you get them in, its pretty much personal preference.

start with getting one of each of the wave 1 expansions.

Tie advanced has Vader, Marek Steel and missiles

Y wing brings Horton Salm, Dutch Vander, ion turrets and dual proton torpedoes

X wing brings Wedge and Garven to your squad.

Tie fighter brings Howlrunner, Backstabber and Gundark pilots to your tie squad.

If you get these 4 I would suggest another core set. Extra dice, ships, templates, damage deck for each side. It works so much better with 2 core sets.

Then go as you will.

Firstly, welcome to the community; personally I have a core set, A-Wing, and TIE Interceptor and find the A-Wing and Interceptor enjoyable because of how quick they are, so would highly recommend getting one each of these. If I had my time again I would have gotten a second core set before them though (will be my next purchase).

I recommend 2 core sets for the start. You get 3 ships for $40 instead of $45, plus spares of everything and extra dice (which have been hard to get extra of for months now…). After that, one of each expansion is a good start after to get used to all the upgrade cards. Hopefully by then you'll know what you like to run with. I wish I would have known earlier that I'd end up with 2 sets. Almost everyone I play with have 2 core sets as well.

As a former and recovering GW customer/collector/addict; I love the price point and quality of the pre-painted FFG mini's not to mention the "pick-up and play" aspect of the X-Wing game. We had a fire three years ago and it turned thousands of dollars in mini's, books and tools into slag and ash so I have been hesitant to get back into a hobby collection. Now I am looking into DUST warfare and might get into that too based on some of the battle report videos I have seen.(Loving FFG's prices and quality)

As others have said, it is definitely worth the purchase of an extra copy of the Core set(Dice ships) at least one of each expansion as they become available.

Great, thanks a lot to all, I didn’t even considered the idea of the two core sets until after I read your answers, you’re right 3 ships for $40 is a no-brainer and in top of that I get additional accessories, I was getting ready to buy three expansion ships (very dumb of me ) and now I have $5 to spare, I’m really happy I asked first and didn’t go for the impulse buy.

I already got my hobby club buddies excited with the game and it looks like there are going to be a few sets to play in our gaming room while I get my second set for home playing with my wife, who is awesome for letting me play and sometimes play with me these games, she also really liked the X-Wing game

RodTheCid said:

You won't have pilots such as (X-Wing) Biggs with a pilot skill of 9 or (Tie Fighter) Howlrunner who has a pilot skill of 8 until you get the expansion packs though…Vader and Maarek are beasts. I hardly use the Y-Wing anymore, but I wouldn't have as many upgrade cards.

Thanks Sprolly G , that’s exactly why I was thinking to buy the expansions in first place, however for a beginner on this game like myself, an investment of $40 for another core set seems more practical versus $45 for 3 expansion ships; I have the feeling that the cards available on the core set could be a very entertaining start point, then later I could go for the expansions one at a time and add variables to the game experience

RodTheCid said:

I agree, and I wish I had done this myself when I first started. (That was only around a month ago, actually, but I tend to get obsessed with stuff )

I got the core set, then I started rushing around and buying expanions before I'd really even played very many games.

If I had stuck with the core set for a while, bought a second core set, then there are a lot of basic rule principles of this game that you learn without having to worry too much about all the pilots' special abilities and upgrade cards and droids, and the new features added later like bombs and ion cannons and so on.

I've switched to using a very basic core set for teaching the game to my friends and playing our first few games.

good advice on here already.

2x core sets is best way to start for sure.

from there just buy what u want to fly. getting one of each small ship expansion is a good idea. dont bother with two or more of same ship (u will have 4 ties + 2 x-wings after core sets) until u have tested them out a bit.

with wave2 i find most players r opting for smaller squads (2-5 ships). if u r just playing for fun u dont need 3 or 4 of every ship, unless u r wanting to build a specific squad. you will find what works best for you. some x-wing players will say you need two of this or three of that but its totally dependent on what YOU like to play in the end so take all suggestions as just that… suggestions. i personally have never flown more than one Y-wing or Tie-Advanced in the same squad, although i have the models to do so.

wave2 has really shaken up the most popular combinations people are playing and the 'metagame' is all over the place. right now large ships are very popular but smaller ships are still competitive against them when they are focused into a swarm or team that has strong synergy (certain pilot abilities and upgrades complement each other really well and therefore become popular because they r so good).

The thing that draws me to x-wing is the massive options and customizability it offers. im currently testing 5 different emperial builds and 4 different rebel builds with a wide range of ship types and upgrades.

welcome to the addiction. have fun!

I agree with pretty much everything posted here. 2 core sets is a great start and the x-wing and tie expansions are still a great addition after that.

Also getting one of each ship before buying multiples. They all handle differently and it sucks to pick up 4 A-Wings when then learn you really like Y-Wings

Hi, I'm fairly new to this as well, I didn't go down the path of two core sets and I can see some merit to it (especially dice!!!) I don't regret going straight into expansions. My aim is to get at least four, or muliples of four, of each of the fighters and probably two of the bigger ships available.

I'd argue that more than 6 dice is pretty necessary from a smoothness if gameplay perspective and I just can't recommend spending the money on a dice expansion when a second core is such a better value.

Jaravak said:

As soon as china gets their stuff together and produces more dice, I'll be picking up 2 packs. 12 red and 12 green is nice when your opponent is using your stuff or for whatever reason…

The other awesome thing about having two Core Sets is it's great for teaching another person how to play because each player can have his own set of movement templates. It's also one of the few components of this game that doesn't seem to be hard to find in-stock depending on where you live, so if you were wanting to end up with 2 X-Wings and 4 TIE Fighters in your collection anyway, then yeah- definitely get another Core Set.

Past that, it's really up to you. If you glance through listbuilding threads or tournament meta threads (I know- you said you're not interested in tournament stuff, but bear with me; I swear I really do have an appropriate point to make here), you'll see all different kinds of builds are viable- 2 big ships, 4 X-Wings, TIE Fighter swarms of 5-8 ships, 2 Interceptors with an Advanced (Vader), Falcon with 2 X-Wings, Firespray with 4 TIE Fighters, … just all kinds of stuff.

Point being- this game really is fairly well balanced for the points. The reason this is significant for new players like yourself is you don't really have to feel like you've got to buy everything to be able to play the game at a competitive level. If you buy only the ships you want to place on the table and have fun with, in all likelihood, you'll be able to make a viable (read: fairly competitive) list with just those ships.

Now, are some builds easier/ more forgiving/ straightforward rules-wise for a new player than others? Oh hells yeah. No question about it. For the Rebels, a 4 X-Wing list is very effective and fairly easy to pick up and learn to use. Does that mean you can't field 4 A-Wings or 2 X-Wings and 2 A-Wings or 2 A-Wings and 2 Y-Wings or a Falcon and 2 X-Wings, etc. if any of those are more appealing to you for whatever reason and still have a shot against other lists? Course not- with all the pilots and ship upgrades out there, you can come up with a ton of different lists that are fun to play and not complete pushovers on the tabletop.

My advice? Buy the models you want to buy because they're the ones you want to play with. This is one of the few miniatures games out there you can still do that and not be a total pushover. What you're going to find as you keep playing is the better you can maneuver your particular list, the better you're going to be at this game. This isn't 40k where you take all the OP units, push them forward as fast as possible, and get a win because your codex is newer. Being able to effectively use your list counts for more than any upgrade, unique pilot, or ship out there.

Welcome to the game and have fun!

Get them all, repeat!

Hey, nice one rod, i'm in exactly the same boat. Bought the core set and wondering where to go next. Some great advice on here so thanks fellas. Gona pick up another core set (and Slave 1 just cos I'm a sucker for the Fett :-)) and get the rules down. I'm new to the community so hi and happy Star Wars day!

tie-fighter booster pack and x-wing booster pack gets you a gr8 selection of pilots as well. wedge comes in the booster. nuff said.

ninjasinthesnow said:

They made Fett useless in this game…go Kath or Trelix and use the extra points for something extra

Great advice everyone! Thanks a lot

My second Core-set is on its way, then when I get some more experience (money) I’ll start getting the expansion packs, then the decision will be tough, Vader, Wedge, YT-1300, all of them attractive options, I guess the plan will be to add two small expansion at a time and a big one by itself.

Also, it was reassuring read Cid_MCDP point about the game being balance and that you can actually make a cool lists with core models or any ships for that matter and without the restriction of overpowered units and still be competitive, who knows… maybe sometime down the road I’d try the Tournament environment.

As you know I’m a vet minis wargamer and I’ve been screwed by impulse buying more than once so I’m glad this is helping to other new players too

I went for the 2 core sets and haven't been disappointed. On a side note for the x-wing and basic tie expansions and pilots, I was able to trade for copies of the tie pilots I wanted without too much difficulty at regionals (I decided to get the x-wing expansion for a squad that needed three x-wings). Duplicates of unique pilots are of little use to their owners, and you might be able to find people that will part with them for a little cash, some of your upgrades, or just to be nice. Some players buy for models and upgrades, leaving them with an excess of pilots that you can pick up.