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Hey guys,

I have recently been looking into new war games to pull myself away from Warhammer 40k. I tried Warmachine but the very competitive nature of the player base deterred me from investing more in the game. I am a big fan of the military elements of Star Wars, having read all the X-Wing series as a kid, and I think FFG churns out some stellar products (Dark Heresy, etc). I don't want to make a similar error with X-Wing as I did with Warmachine, where in I end up purchasing the standard force (15-30pt for example) and then find the game isn't for me. Unfortunately my FLGS is only starting to draw in a X-Wing crowd, and none of my 40k/WM friends want to explore other games, or at least not Star Wars. Due to this, I am resistant to purchasing the Core set because I only intend to field an Alliance force, and even then I think thematically I want to focus on the "Wing" ships, and only the models I am familiar with (A, B, X, Y). I don't know if enough players even exist in my region to trade off two TIE Fighters, for example.

I have read the rulebook and watched a few battle reports, I've even dug up as many unboxing reviews I could to understand what each expansion really carries. My question is what advice can be offered for a new player starting out with Alliance? As an extensive 40k collector, I don't want to find myself eventually buying two of every ship to compete. I want to know what a good idea is, compared to a bad idea.

For example, I love the Y-Wings. I like the look, the design of having a gunner and a pilot, having that ion cannon (which never seems to come up in the trilogy, but was amazing in the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter games); but ultimately from what I read, it is a bad ship to run with. Seeing as I don't know much about the game, I don't know if those articles I've read are even accurate.

Thanks for any help that can be offered!

Disclaimer...another Lancer drunk post (posts by me are 90% drunk).

So far from what I've read...you like Star Wars and play 40k. Which means 1 thing...if you buy X-Wing miniatures game...you will be sucked in. Hook, line, and sinker. The end. You are now a committed customer. If you don't want that type of uber suckage into collecting...run now...runnnnn....

That being said. Buy the core set. Then a second.

Compared to 40k, it's a nice break. The cost in building an Imperial and Rebel fleet pale.....super pale.....compared to anything 40k. If you truly play 40k, it's mere pocket change.

I love collecting. It's fun to collect from a collection stand point as well.

Like you, I love the Y-Wing. It will not stop me from flying them. FFG is great at releasing additions to the game to augment / bring-up-to-speed older releases. No fear if you read Y-Wings suck.

Don't trade away the Imperials...before you know it. Whatever your bias is...you'll want both sides.

Just beware...once you start...impulsive buying begins. But it is definitely much easier on the wallet then 40k by far.

Do yourself a favor. Go try it out. It will scratch an itch somewhere.

In general terms, how do upgrades work? For example Shield Upgrade is a card that comes the Falcon set or the Imperial Aces, but can be used by many different ships. Do you need the physical card to take those upgrades? That is, must you buy all these different expansion packs for use the various upgrades?

Ok. First off welcome to this amazing game. o answer your questions, ill say that in order to use an upgrade card, that pilot must have the icon on its card to let you use it.
lets say i bring an X-Wing and i'm using Luke to pilot it. Luke can equip a proton torpedo, an astromech droid and an elite pilot talent.
To get new upgrade cards, you must get the expansion pack that it comes in to use it.

Use this site to look at which cards come with what ship. Its also a squad builder to help organize.
http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build



Hope that helped.

Good morning,

We are alike. I love the original trilogy (OT)! I was in a very similar position to you. Played some 40K (I more enjoyed painting than playing) but spent A LOT over the years. A mate introduced me to X-Wing and I have not looked back.

The only downside, if you enjoy the model making / terrain building side of the hobby .. 40K is a little more rich. Every other element is better in X-Wing.

I asked a similar question to you here. The responses helped me a lot.

I am still learning.

A valuable resources is www.themetalbikini.com

To save cash, look to websites such as www.miniaturemarket.com and www.bookdepository.com/. However,if you play at / utilise the services of your local gaming store. Buy from there.

Hope this helps!

A lot of sources suggest buying two Core sets, but if truly want to stick with Alliance wouldn't I be better off buying one Core set and one X-Wing pack? Especially if I (definitely) want to field Wedge.

I don't see the benefit of extra dice and extra movement sticks.

 Smashotron wrote:
A lot of sources suggest buying two Core sets, but if truly want to stick with Alliance wouldn't I be better off buying one Core set and one X-Wing pack? Especially if I (definitely) want to field Wedge.

I don't see the benefit of extra dice and extra movement sticks.

If you genuinely intend to only ever collect rebels then a second core set may not be for you but you'll see why you want the extra dice the first time you attack something at range one (or fit an HLC to a b-wing). Three of each is not enough dice.

If you're not sure how many other local players you can find who you could trade the extra imperial ships to you should consider that a second core set would give you a small imperial force you could loan out to play your rebels against and maybe get some more players into the game (or at least get some friends to practice against). Get the x-wing pack for Wedge anyway though. You can never have too many x-wings.

Just be prepared for your careful plans on what you are going to collect to go completely out of the window. It is horribly, horribly addictive once you are in (and yes I did just buy the rebel transport pack for the x-wing and its cards - Hobbie Klivian + R2-D6 + PTL for every-turn focus+target lock hilarity )

Not to get off topic too much, but what's the exact order of operations for Hobbs + R2D6 + PTL? For example, Hobbie activated and completes a maneuver, his action would then be to Focus, then R2D6 allows him a free action. Hobbie would choose to Target Lock. Now, does R2D6 give him a stress token, then Hobbie's text clear it off immediately; or does Hobbie's text clear off a current stress token immediately after acquiring a Target Lock, then R2D6 gives him one more stress token? How is the timing established?

 Smashotron wrote:
A lot of sources suggest buying two Core sets, but if truly want to stick with Alliance wouldn't I be better off buying one Core set and one X-Wing pack? Especially if I (definitely) want to field Wedge.

I don't see the benefit of extra dice and extra movement sticks.

I was of similar thinking when I was just buying a few ships to look at; then I played my first game and went straight out to buy a second Core Set.

Sure, you can make do with one set of movement templates, but as soon as you need to roll four dice (and you will -a lot!) and do re-rolls on them, you'll want the extra dice.

Of course, you could just buy the dice separately, but as soon as you compare the prices, the second Core Set starts to make sense.

I'm sure it has all been said already above, but Xwing is extremely addictive, and buy in is nothing compared to 40k. I originally thought I'd be a rebel player, but there is just too much fun to be had on either side - the different ships play quite differently considering how close some stats are. I now have at least two of every small ship, going up to 5 x wings, 8 TIE fighters etc. I have one of each large ship and the new huge transport, and I've STILL spent less than any of my 40k or WHFB armies.

And there are no 'bad ships', only bad pilots. The game is very well balanced, and if you want to run 4 Y wings, then you can, and still kick ass. I'm not saying you'll win tournaments with 4 Y's, but you can still smash imperial faces.

Buy the core set. It's not a big investment, and there's a remarkable amount of fun to be had with just 3 ships. But then buy more. Then buy them all. Twice...

 Smashotron wrote:
Not to get off topic too much, but what's the exact order of operations for Hobbs + R2D6 + PTL? For example, Hobbie activated and completes a maneuver, his action would then be to Focus, then R2D6 allows him a free action. Hobbie would choose to Target Lock. Now, does R2D6 give him a stress token, then Hobbie's text clear it off immediately; or does Hobbie's text clear off a current stress token immediately after acquiring a Target Lock, then R2D6 gives him one more stress token? How is the timing established?

The astromech just gives Hobbie an elite pilot slot he wouldn't have otherwise have (so he can equip PTL). Unfortunately, PTL lets you perform a second action then you gain a stress token so if the second action is target lock you can't use Hobbie's pilot ability to lose the PTL stress (since his ability resolves on the target lock aquisition action, before PTL gives you the stress token). However, his ability does trigger again when you attack and use the target lock so I always use it, even if I don't want to re-roll anything (you are allowed to use the token and reroll no dice, same as using a focus token when you've rolled no eyes to trigger a focus based special ability).

Oh of course I see now! Thanks for the clarification. I was so focused on the trigger being the acquisition of the target lock, not the use of it to shake stress. I was also reading how to create a stress token and ion token situation on an enemy ship and it makes the Y-Wing sound even more effective.

Thanks for all the advice guys. Despite it soundly like FFG pays you all handsomely to promote them, I think I'll pick up a Core set this weekend and give it an honest try. Thanks again, and I'm sure I'll be hitting this forum section much more often!

Yiiisssss, He shall be powerful ally. *Hehehe*

We have many a joke at our FLGS about how awesome X-wing is at pulling in new players. Three of our group started giving out demos, our demo player would buy a starter, come in two days later and buy a second, then over the next week drop like another $90 on blisters. And no one ever regrets it. I wanted to do more Rebels than Imperials too, but once I had two starters(which other than the ships and dice gives you all the components to setup a second player with their own stash of templates and a rulebook for reference, so value, such wow) and a TIE blister, well heck three more ties just had to happen. And now with Epic play...oh crap I'm in trouble, I could in theory buy four more TIEs! I legit just realized that as I was typing But FFG in their awesomeness made the two player 400pt game so I guess you don't need to as long as you have 12 between you? Sweeet!

So preemptively assuming you buy 2 starters and an X-wing and a Y-wing blister, here's a scenario and a pair of lists I've used for demos and have honestly had serious fun in every game of it.

Cue opening scroll!