These questions will be a little out of the ordinary. Exclude the Millennium Falcon Expansion Pack, Slave I Expansion Pack, and Lambda-class Shuttle Expansion Pack from your responses.

1) Which two Rebel ships would you consider the most durable? When I mean durable I am talking physical handling not gameplay attacks from the opposition.

2) Which two Empire ships are the most durable using the same criteria as above?

3) Of the 2 Empire ships and 2 Rebel ships which would be most evenly matched in a basic game?

I am thinking of picking up a couple for my boys and am looking for a couple ships that can take a little abuse.

A wing is probably the most solid rebel ship as it doesnt have any spindly bits protruding anywhere and is basically just a chunk of plastic. The tie bomber / advanced are probably the most durable IMP ships because the curved wings will help when dropped and they have more internal mass.

I am still too new to comment on how these would balance vs one another, but I *think* Awing vs tie advanced would work pretty well.

I would agree. The 2 guns on the a wing are a little delicate, but the rest is rock solid. The y-wing is pretty durable overall being fairly chunky. 100% agree with the bomber and the advanced. I think for new/young players the a-wing - tie advanced match up would be the best since the 2 ships have very similar stats, and are fairly straightforward to fly.

I'd say the A-Wing is a better analog to the TIE-Interceptor (Green Sq. vs. Saber).

For the OP, A-Wing and Y-Wing for the Rebels. For the Imperials, I'd say Bomber is the most physically durable. It is pretty well put together. Advanced next.

Bomber vs. Y-Wings would be a decent match-up I think.

I'd say the A-Wing is a better analog to the TIE-Interceptor (Green Sq. vs. Saber).

For the OP, A-Wing and Y-Wing for the Rebels. For the Imperials, I'd say Bomber is the most physically durable. It is pretty well put together. Advanced next.

Bomber vs. Y-Wings would be a decent match-up I think.

what he said. my vote would be tie-advanced vs y-wing

The A-Wing is almost certainly the most "durable" rebel fighter. Not only does it have few parts "sticking out" it is also compact which should reduce accidents.

I'm not sure you could call any Imperial ship durable as all of those TIEs have wings to worry about damaging. Here I'd also give the Advanced the nod with curved, but relatively solid, wing panels.

When it comes to match up the Interceptor may be the "opposite" of the A-Wing when it comes to the dial but I'd say the Advanced is actually the closer pairing. The A-Wing's 2 Hull:2 Shield is one off or each the Advanced 3:2 and Interceptor 3:0 except the Interceptor has no shields. When it comes to firepower the Advanced and A-Wing are identical with 2 dice and a missile slot to the Interceptor's 3 dice. The A gets boost, the Advanced gets Barrel Roll, and the Interceptor gets both but the INT lacks the Target Lock each of the others has.

If you're trying to set up a "mirror match" with ships from each side I'll say the A-Wing vs. TIE Advanced is the most balanced although the A's need a little help with their durability.

Thanks all. This will help alot. The boys are too young....much too young but I wanted to get them ffamiliar with the movement, at least. Looks like I have a good start now lets see if i can get them from the card-shop.....BTW what is the proper name for a store that carries all this awesome geekdom?

If you're worried about durability, give them only one peg power ship. They'll fly a bit lower but they're the most fragile part and you can keep the other as a spare.

I have a 4 year old and he always wanted to move the ships when I play.

What I did was took some of my old micro machines and mounted them on some third party stands (corsec engineering) for him to move around on the play surface. The old MM are very durable and he gets to play with the rest of us. I just give him a couple of spare templates and he is good to go.

Not sure how much it would cost you to get the MM's on ebay but it is another option you could go with.

My son is 2 and when I get out my toys he gets to play with the Y-wing, A-wing and TIE advanced. He's not playing with any bases or pegs just flying the ship around, pew pew pew.

Or you could just get them their own starter box, and let them try out 1 X-wing vs. 2 TIEs, you will need to have one anyway for the templates and markers.

You should check out Book Stores, ComicBook Stores, Modeling/ Hobby Stores, or even Game Stores, if they don't play/run the games themselves, perhaps they can point you in the right direction.

All great ideas, and with all this brainstorming i just came up with one myself I will share. I can use Mini Lego ships and make pedestals for them. This way the still break but if they want to play they need to learn to be handle them with care.