I'm planning to get X-Wing as a Christmas gift for a couple of boys. I'm currently thinking of purchasing a Starter set, the YT-1300 expansion and the Tie Advanced. This should allow them to play Luke and Han vs Darth Vader.

The big question is what do I need to purchase in order to make this a potentially balanced game? My initial though was to purchase a second core starter set - 3 Tie, 1 Advanced Tie vs X-Wing and YT-1300 looks balanced and the extra starter set this would give them this but also provide a couple of extra ships for their collection. In addition they'd have an extra set of rules, dice, markers etc.

However I've never played the game. Without investing a small fortune what is a suitable set of starting components to allow an X-Wing, YT-1300, Advanced Tie fight?

Also, are the Space tiles worth investing in. Do they offer anything a piece of black felt baize cloth wouldn't ?

I'm doing the same thing, and I plan on just giving them two core sets and maybe a couple of expansions.

definitely a second starter, it would balance out the imperial side and the extra dice + templates which would be a big help for newbies for it's price.

if you got some more cash to splurge get an additional tie and x-wing expansion, this way they would have the extra pilots and upgrades that are not in the core. and maybe a slave1 this way both sides got access to medium class ships(only you really have the extra cash).

i wouldn't recommend the others though since if they are new to minis gaming the interaction and abilities might be a little difficult for them to comprehend at first, and you never need a second tie advance (well for the moment at least).

on the other hand if you're really loaded get 2 core and one of everything it's the gamers way of doing things

A Firespray would help by partially balancing out the Falcon.

imo if you buy a falcon you pretty much have to buy the slave I, at least in the early game. Two core sets + the falcon gives you enough ships to run one of the most infamously effective (and easy to use) Rebel squadrons in the game, whereas an early budget imperial squadron will be hard pressed to match it.

The falcon is a tricky ship, as it is one of the most iconic ships and everyone wants to fly it, and yet its so powerful and easy to use that it can almost ruin games for beginners with a small collection.

my advice - two starter sets and a sprinkling of small fighter expansions.

tie-advanced, y-wing, tie-fighter maybe b-wing, even the x-wing expansion to get wedge

actually if u only get two expansion id recommend y-wing and tie-advanced - these r the order they were released in because imo they keep the game balanced. once u get into large ships and tie-intercepters and bombers and stuff like that its harder to keep things balanced.

I think that you have the right idea with two core sets. Garth is right. Buying the xwing and tie fighter expansions gives them better pilots. The game is based on a point system to try to balance the game. Each person uses the same number of maximum points.

The YT costs more points than most tie advanced pilots, so you might want to consider adding a tie interceptor or slave 1 expanion.

I started with the core and Falcon and while you can do a bit with the two Rebel ships the Imperial ships lag FAR behind. My next step was to add an Advanced but even with Darth Vader in the mix just having a couple T/F wingmen, even if they are Mauler and Darkcurse, doesn't give you near the points it takes to match the YT-1300 plus X-Wing potential. Just using the Core + Falcon you can make a two ship squadron for a 100 point tournament if you wanted but with your Imperials you aren't going to be close. Now if you're willing to forgo many upgrades on the rebel ships you can play rebel vs. Imperial with just those ships but those TIEs could be tricked out.

A second started would definitely be a good choice to expand on beyond those initial three. That would get you up to four TIE Fighters and while you are missing some of the pilots from the T/F Expansion (Howlrunner and Backstabber being the most noted) they would meet up with Vader to reach 100 points. The second X-Wing also allows expanding your Rebel fleet giving it a bit more to do.

This may be my opinion but the Firespray is really the only single ship you could add to a small Imperial collection and bring a big increase in its combat options. I mean even fully decked out Vader has a hard time getting to 40 points yet the minimum a Firespray comes it at is 33 points.

Two core sets and 4 expansions (any 2 Rebels, any 2 Imperials) would be a fine way to get into the game, providing lots of fun options and replays.

It really depends on how much you want to spend. 2 starters is defiantly the way to start. Double the dice, tokens, and templates means they don't have to share one set. Or if 1 gets lost you still have a back up. From there it really comes down to what they want. You can make almost anything work especially in friendly games. Personally I'd get all the small ships before the big ones. It's pretty much a 2 for 1 deal dollar wise.