I recently aquired a Falcon and Slave one from someone who needed money. I had always thought about starting this game so I've come here to ask what a good starting amount of ships should be. Also, I've noticed that Target has put the starter on sale so this makes me worry about the game living or not. If this doesn't bode badly for the game and I'm able to come across these marked down starters how many should I buy?

Most people will tell you to buy two Starters (Cores) for the extra ships and dice etc. (its cheaper to get a core than an X-wing and 2 ties separately). If you can get a good deal at target go for 2 of them. People have reported clearance cores at target as much as 70% off ($12). But you will eventually want 1 tie fighter and 1 x-wing expansion pack as well because the come with unique pilots that are awesome.

Then you will want to start getting other expansions as your wallet and availability allow. Some people go crazy and buy 4+ of every ship. Personally if i don't think i will ever play 4 A-wings in my 100 pt squads I only buy a couple. It really depends on the ship and how you like to play. But at least 1 of everything is a good start. And this game is not on its way out. Quite the contrary, it is selling so well that FFG can't seem to keep it stocked. They don't sell very well at Target in my opinion because people who are into this game either support their local game store or can find them cheaper online (when not on clearance)

Your best bet for expansions is to look at Local game stores, and Barnes and Noble for availability. For the most bang for your buck, you can find the ships cheaper online than in actual stores, but those online retailers sell out fast when they get a new stock (miniaturemarket.com and coolstuffinc.com are 2 of the best for prices). Hope this helps you out. Happy gaming.

Ok, thanks for the information. I was at a Target that had several of the starters so I picked them up, partly for me and my son and partly for friends who would want them as well. A couple of questions though, I keep hearing that the falcon is often copmlained about, is it to good to play? So how many starters should I keep? How many are on a normal force? What is the tournament normal point value?

Tournament normal is 100 pts.

Forces can range from 8 12point academy tie fighter pilots, to 2 Yt1300 (Falcon's). That's part of the beauty of the game. You can make just about any type of squad you want. Right now there are 8 ships, with 4 more being released in the next few weeks (hopefully). And a new wave featuring even larger ships was announced today.

I would keep at least 2 cores for yourself. Keep an extra one if you want to run the 3 x-wing or 6 ties or whatever. But since you will want to get the tie and x-wing expansion pack eventually you are ging to be adding one more of those ships to you total when you get those expansions. So its your call what you want.

I think you will find that someone somwhere will complain about just about anything. I don't think the falcon is over powered. It cost a lot of points. If you want to fly Han Solo in the falconhe is awesome, but he cost nearly 50 pts without upgrades. So although the falcon and its pilots are really good, you have to dedicate half your points to get them in your squad. The falcon is a fun ship but it is really easy for a beginner to use because it can fire in a 360 degree arc. That may be the isuue people have with it. When they are first playing and a falcon stomps them because they haven't learned to fly well and figured out good ways to destroy a list featuring a falcon.

Tournaments are usually 100 point battles. Its not that the Falcon is bad or good. It's that some people use it so well and others not so much.. Larger ships tend to get bumped (touch other ships) or fly into asteroids. And yet others have balls of steel and roll with a two Falcon/Slave One 100 point list, it's all a matter of personal taste.

For your personal forces, keep 2 starter(Core) sets. 4 Tie Fighters and the 2 X-wings are gold, and as stated previously cheaper than buying them separately. Not to mention the extra dice, damage deck, move templates. and upgrade cards.

Typical Rebel lists will either be three really good named pilots, or one or two named pilots and a couple Rookie x-wings/Gold squadron Y-wings.. ect, ect. The later is more popular in most cases because More Rebel ships equals more firepower on the board to combat those Swarms.

Imperials usually run what Most would call "Tie Swarm" which simply put is a list of mostly really cheap 12 point Tie Fighters, mixing a couple of the Named Ties in like "Howlrunner, or Mithil. Usually numbering around 6-8 ties. That once all lined up and concentrated can rain some serious laser fire down on the enemy.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg, with Large ships like the Falcon and Slave One.. it can get really interesting quickly.

Hope this helps, man.

Welcome to the most addictive game your wallet will ever meet.

May the Force be with you, always.

LOL, damnit.. I write a big post.. and someone has already posted almost exactly what I'v written....

like all games players are drawn the new... dont be discouraged by reduced starter sets, snap one or two of them up!

wave4 is only a few short months away from stores (by x-mas? early next yr?)

Your question is a common one here on these forums

the best starting point is a starter set (two is recommended) as you get dice, movement templates etc... everything u need to play the game. From there it depends what faction u prefer to play (if u r the only person in your area who plays u might need enough ships for both factions... the good thing about getting into both factions is YOU can play both yourself which is recommended for getting to grips with the strengths and weaknesses of each faction.

Lots of experienced x-wing players will tell you you need a minimum of 6 tie-fighters, 4 x-wings and two of every other expansion ship. You need to get the booster expansions to get all the upgrades.

Depending on your budget, and depending if u were keen to expand into BOTH factions at the same time id go with this...

2x starter sets (2 x-wings, 4 ties included)

2x tie fighter expansion (wave1)

2x X-wing expansion (wave1)

1x tie advanced expansion (wave1)

1x Y-Wing expansion (wave1)

2x tie intercepter expansion (wave2)

1x A-Wing expansion (wave2)

this selection of ships will give u all the needed name pilots and a solid base of ships from which to build almost every squad. Then if you really want to build a squad with more ships eg. 8 tie- swarm, 2 Y-Wings and 2 A-Wings, then buy them. Honestly tho, the above selection will give you enough replay and options for all of the 'most played' squads.

Wave2, with its addition of large ships and the intercepter changed many squads and made them smaller with less ships required to build a competitive squad... while the tie-swarm was still viable, many players who opted for less ships and squads that included at least one large ship (Slave1 or Falcon) now could no longer afford as many support ships... some players even opted for running multiple big ships eg.(Hothies 2x Slaves + Howlrunner, Han Shoots First = Han+2 Rookie x-wings, or even 3x Bounty Hunters! )

Wave3 is going to shake things up again, its looking like two of each new ship (Lambda Shuttle, Moldy Hawk, Tie-Bomber, B-Wing) will be a must for x-wing players to add to the mix of possibilities for squads.

LOL, damnit.. I write a big post.. and someone has already posted almost exactly what I'v written....

Haha. That's ok. Yours privided some info i was too lazy to write out.

LOL, damnit.. I write a big post.. and someone has already posted almost exactly what I'v written....

yup. same. lol

Well, atleast all our posts provided some slightly different info, lol.

And as you can see, people on this forum are really eager to help. Spend some time scaning/reading through these forums (and rules section of forums too). It will help you greatly in understanding how the game works and in coming up with good squads and combo's to get the most out of your game. And watch the tutorial videos in the support section of the X-wing product page. Check out themetalbikini.com too. Great resouces for learning the game

Wave3, with its addition of large ships and the intercepter changed many squads and made them smaller with less ships required to build a competitive squad... while the tie-swarm was still viable, many players who opted for less ships and squads that included at least one large ship (Slave1 or Falcon) now could no longer afford as many support ships... some players even opted for running multiple big ships eg.(Hothies 2x Slaves + Howlrunner, Han Shoots First = Han+2 Rookie x-wings, or even 3x Bounty Hunters! )

Wave4 is going to shake things up again, its looking like two of each new ship (Lambda Shuttle, Moldy Hawk, Tie-Bomber, B-Wing) will be a must for x-wing players to add to the mix of possibilities for squads.

I think you got your waves mixed up a little bit. Wave 2 brought the Falcon, interceptors, a-wings and firesprays. Wave 3 is what is now coming out: the Lambda, Moldy Crow, Tie Bomber and B-wing. (And they're being sold at GenCon as we write)

The Starter set was part of Wave 1, but it wasn't only wave 1. Wave 1 was the Starter, X-wing, Tie Fighter, Y-wing, and Tie Advanced.

I guess it doesn't Really matter what you call the waves, and your info was solid, so whatever.

This game is AWESOME! My son is 8 and we are addicted! So much fun, esp. as a father and son activity!

I bought 3 Starters....never can have too many templates and tokens! If I find 'em cheap at Target, I would buy another in a heartbeat!

Have fun and play scenarios...either the book one OR make some up...the movies/books offer so much material for homemade scenarios that it's crazy, not the mention already written!

Wave3, with its addition of large ships and the intercepter changed many squads and made them smaller with less ships required to build a competitive squad... while the tie-swarm was still viable, many players who opted for less ships and squads that included at least one large ship (Slave1 or Falcon) now could no longer afford as many support ships... some players even opted for running multiple big ships eg.(Hothies 2x Slaves + Howlrunner, Han Shoots First = Han+2 Rookie x-wings, or even 3x Bounty Hunters! )

Wave4 is going to shake things up again, its looking like two of each new ship (Lambda Shuttle, Moldy Hawk, Tie-Bomber, B-Wing) will be a must for x-wing players to add to the mix of possibilities for squads.

I think you got your waves mixed up a little bit. Wave 2 brought the Falcon, interceptors, a-wings and firesprays. Wave 3 is what is now coming out: the Lambda, Moldy Crow, Tie Bomber and B-wing. (And they're being sold at GenCon as we write)

The Starter set was part of Wave 1, but it wasn't only wave 1. Wave 1 was the Starter, X-wing, Tie Fighter, Y-wing, and Tie Advanced.

I guess it doesn't Really matter what you call the waves, and your info was solid, so whatever.

oh yeah, ur right. subtract one wave from everything i said. i guess im just looking fwd to the next wave. lol

Well, atleast all our posts provided some slightly different info, lol.

yep. ur right there. i was just wanted to include some generic onfo about how squads r changing with each new wave

Thank you for the help guys. My main question was how many of these starters should I keep. I didn't realize that the xwing had different pilots than the starter itself. Do you think that these pilots and upgrades are needed or will they be outclassed by the new ships and I could "get away" without them? I also didn't know whether to do this game or the wizkids one, seeing as I play heroclix.

Wedge comes in the X-Wing Expansion, he's one of the best pilots in the game.

Wedge comes in the X-Wing Expansion, he's one of the best pilots in the game.

Thank you for the help guys. My main question was how many of these starters should I keep. I didn't realize that the xwing had different pilots than the starter itself. Do you think that these pilots and upgrades are needed or will they be outclassed by the new ships and I could "get away" without them? I also didn't know whether to do this game or the wizkids one, seeing as I play heroclix.

assuming u already have two starter sets, id recommend getting one expansion pack for each of the fighter ships in this order...

x-wing (biggest priority for rebel players... Wedge is crazy good)

tie-fighter (biggest priority for imperial players... Howlrunner/swarm tactics)

tie-adavanced (vader)

tie intercepter (id probably get two of these but see what u think first)

y-wing (some players love them and play 2, id say buy just one for now, solid support ship)

a-wing (Push The Limit upgrade comes with this... =weakest rebel ship imo)

u will want the name pilots for the ships, just buy the ones you want to play with the most.

darth vader is a beast but not to everyones tastes at squad pts.

wedge is a must have imo, he sees lots of play in my squads

intercepters are crazy good with 3 attack dice AND 3 defense dice but they r pricey so dont go for these unless u r a serious imperial player (which i am).

y-wings are nice but like the tie advanced are not for everyone (they are a gr8 support ship but you hav to be a serious rebel player to play them alot.

the a-wing is the least popular ship imo (some reading this will disagree of course) as its quite fragile and therefore requires finesse to fly well. you do get Push The Limit with the a-wing expansion which arguably makes it a must by even if u dont use a-wings much you will likely use Push The Limit.

Again, thank you for all the help guys,just a few more question. You mentioned being a hardcore faction player, it was my understanding that you had to build both factions to play in a tournament. Also, what do you guys use to store your stuff in?

Thank you for the help guys. My main question was how many of these starters should I keep. I didn't realize that the xwing had different pilots than the starter itself. Do you think that these pilots and upgrades are needed or will they be outclassed by the new ships and I could "get away" without them? I also didn't know whether to do this game or the wizkids one, seeing as I play heroclix.

2... Definitely 2..... You don't have enough dice otherwise even for small games. You only get 3 Attack - 3 Defence, and I'm finding even with the choices in the starter set I need up to 4 or 5 of each for a lot of shots.

Again, thank you for all the help guys,just a few more question. You mentioned being a hardcore faction player, it was my understanding that you had to build both factions to play in a tournament. Also, what do you guys use to store your stuff in?

A lot of people have the foam inserts that are pre-cut for the different ships. Thus far, I have a set of four plastic Plano trays from Wal-Mart. One for each faction, which fits all of them (so far), one for the tokens, dice and templates, and one for the upgrade cards (to keep them neatly divided by type). Haven't completely decided what I'm going to do with wave 3. The Lambda shuttle won't fit in the trays I have, but I'm toying with the idea of getting a tackle box that the trays will fit in, with a storage area on top deep enough for the shuttle.

This is definitely a better game than WizKids.

I know you are on the FFG site so obviously the people here are fans of this game, but objectively this is a superior game in pretty much every way. The components are much, much, MUCH higher quality. Take one of your X-Wings from the core set and put it next to an X-Wing from Wiz-Kids. If that doesn't say everything that needs to be said about quality and attention to detail, I don't know what will.

The rule set is both deeper AND mechanically simpler than WizKids. The rules work very well, and what initially appears simplistic becomes something much richer as you master the interactions.

The company support has been great so far. FFG is committed to continued updates, 1 or 2 per year, and so far has been able to not only put out new expansions but has managed to avoid "power creep" and obsolescence of older models in the way other companies do (think 40k).

The only real knock on this game is that it has been so extraordinarily popular that it can be hard to find ships to buy. Hopefully FFG is able to expand its production, but realistically I would prefer a game that is much more popular than expected than a marginally popular game. At least this way, you know for sure FFG is going to be committed to updates and expansions for the foreseeable future, especially when the new movies start coming out.

As for carrying your ships, go to Wal-Mart and head into the crafts section. There are a couple different "bead boxes" that will hold the ships nicely, including the Millenium Falcon and Slave-1 (save the plastic from inside the ship boxes when you open them, and use that plastic to line your bead boxes so the ships wont rattle around), and you can buy an inexpensive carrying case there that is designed to hold those boxes. I suggest the craft department because you can find identical boxes to the ones in the fishing section, but at half the price. I am guessing that is because most men don't bother to shop through the whole store and just pay full price for the first thing they see that will work.

Welcome to the game, enjoy!

Again, thank you for all the help guys,just a few more question. You mentioned being a hardcore faction player, it was my understanding that you had to build both factions to play in a tournament. ...

My understanding of tournaments is that you just need to build one squadron and certainly do not need, or can't even use, squadrons from both factions. You can Red on Red and Blue on Blue; just think of them as training exercises if you have a hard time seeing why one faction would fight its own kind.

Again, thank you for all the help guys,just a few more question. You mentioned being a hardcore faction player, it was my understanding that you had to build both factions to play in a tournament. Also, what do you guys use to store your stuff in?

you only need one faction to play in a tourney, rebels or imperials. to practice with friends tho u might want them to use the faction u r not using remember that in a tourney u can be paired against either faction too so rebel vs rebel and imperial vs imperial matches are possible too.

Again, thank you for all the help guys,just a few more question. You mentioned being a hardcore faction player, it was my understanding that you had to build both factions to play in a tournament. Also, what do you guys use to store your stuff in?

A lot of people have the foam inserts that are pre-cut for the different ships. Thus far, I have a set of four plastic Plano trays from Wal-Mart. One for each faction, which fits all of them (so far), one for the tokens, dice and templates, and one for the upgrade cards (to keep them neatly divided by type). Haven't completely decided what I'm going to do with wave 3. The Lambda shuttle won't fit in the trays I have, but I'm toying with the idea of getting a tackle box that the trays will fit in, with a storage area on top deep enough for the shuttle.

yep, tackle box works well. just leave some room for more ships you dont own yet but will in the future