Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Greetings all. I've got friends who like to play the X-wing game, but they're a bit financially strapped, so I've taken it upon myself to assemble enough stuff to make two semi balanced forces that would be fun to play. Currently this is what I've got that I picked up from a sale...

X Wing
2x Tie
Lambda Shuttle
Millennium Falcon

I do have one friend that has the starter set, and sometimes we just combine everything to make a 2 xwing+falcon/4x tie+Lambda force. So far the imperial force seems to have an advantage over the rebels, but we're not sure. I know tie spam is seen as competitive, but it's far from fun for anyone to play. I'm just kind of curious which direction to go next in my collection.

For the rebels, you can do Han Shot first, which is Han in the falcon with upgrades and two rookie pilots. For the Empire, hate to say it but you need more ships. A Firespray would be a good investment as would an interceptor and a bomber.

 Necroshea wrote:
I know tie spam is seen as competitive, but it's far from fun for anyone to play.

I disagree. TIE spam is the "fluffy" imperial list. Sure, you might not want to go with a perfectly optimized swarm, but why not reenact the video games and have 3x elite rebel pilots against the endless horde of basic TIEs?

Well, during the last game, it ended up with my 4 ties vs his falcon. I had marksmen and elusiveness on two... Can't remember the names, the ones beneath the most expensive, and two rookies. Literally was 4-5 turns of me throwing dice that he mostly ignored aside from the occasional 2 shots that made it through (he had r2-d2 and lando).

I'm pretty sure more than half if the game was just following him slowly scoring one or of damage here and there. Idk, I'd rather have quality over quantity, but I guess you can't have that with and empire force.

Also, so are we right in understanding that unless a card says otherwise the empire goes first on every pilot rating tie? I guess that's to balance the fragile nature of empire?

What should I get for rebels? Another x wing?

Honestly just get 2 of each ship, If you dont want to throw down that much cashola, 2 -3 xwings are fine and ties / inteceptors are really good and you can make lots of different combos with them. Imperial always as intiative unless rebels points are less than the imperials force. (so if rebels are 98 points and imps are 100, Rebels would shoot first and imperials move first - if you have the same pilot skill)

 Necroshea wrote:
Well, during the last game, it ended up with my 4 ties vs his falcon. I had marksmen and elusiveness on two... Can't remember the names, the ones beneath the most expensive, and two rookies. Literally was 4-5 turns of me throwing dice that he mostly ignored aside from the occasional 2 shots that made it through (he had r2-d2 and lando).

I'm pretty sure more than half if the game was just following him slowly scoring one or of damage here and there. Idk, I'd rather have quality over quantity, but I guess you can't have that with and empire force.

Also, so are we right in understanding that unless a card says otherwise the empire goes first on every pilot rating tie? I guess that's to balance the fragile nature of empire?

What should I get for rebels? Another x wing?

The YT-1300 can not take droids so that list was wrong. Was Lando the main pilot?

 guardpiper wrote:

 Necroshea wrote:
Well, during the last game, it ended up with my 4 ties vs his falcon. I had marksmen and elusiveness on two... Can't remember the names, the ones beneath the most expensive, and two rookies. Literally was 4-5 turns of me throwing dice that he mostly ignored aside from the occasional 2 shots that made it through (he had r2-d2 and lando).

I'm pretty sure more than half if the game was just following him slowly scoring one or of damage here and there. Idk, I'd rather have quality over quantity, but I guess you can't have that with and empire force.

Also, so are we right in understanding that unless a card says otherwise the empire goes first on every pilot rating tie? I guess that's to balance the fragile nature of empire?

What should I get for rebels? Another x wing?

The YT-1300 can not take droids so that list was wrong. Was Lando the main pilot?

Indeed

 Necroshea wrote:


Also, so are we right in understanding that unless a card says otherwise the empire goes first on every pilot rating tie? I guess that's to balance the fragile nature of empire?

What should I get for rebels? Another x wing?

Your currently using the squad builder rules (having graduated from only using the core box and into the realm of madness adding " "one or two ships" " to your collection...) and as such the player with the lowest points total has initiative. If points are tied, the Imperial player has initiative. Pg 16 Core Rules.

Another X-Wing would be one of the better ships to buy. Maybe a B-Wing for variety? A-Wings, Y-Wings and the HWK-290 would probably serve you well later, being a little tricky to use well.

If you have only the X-wing and TIE from the core set, I'd recommend getting one each of those in the expansions. You can make a lot of fun and simple lists from those 2 X-wings and 3 TIEs with all the new cards and such. After that, just add what you like.

Are their any bad choices? I'm certainly not liking the lambda

I can't comment on the Lamda, being the only ship I don't own (yet?). Its ability to fly like a cow being the number 1 reason, but would like to give it a bash one day and see how it goes for me.

The only other ship that I would advise against getting, is the TIE Advanced. Apart from Darth Vader (who is ok, and will probably not get used that much anyway), there's nothing of value in the booster.

I agree in avoiding the TIE Adv. Ranking wise the ships that are the most useful to add to your collection are:

X-wing, TIE Fighter, TIE Interceptor, B-wing, A-wing, TIE Bomber, Y-wing

At least that's the rank I'd put them in.

 Necroshea wrote:
Are their any bad choices? I'm certainly not liking the lambda

The Great White Space Buffalo isn't an easy ship to use. But on the FFG forms a few people have devoted some time to figuring it out, and have come up the name I used.

One of the key things to making the shuttle work, is an engine upgrade, with that it becomes a good bit more maneuverable. It's still not an Interceptor or A-Wing by any means, but it's also doesn't quite feel like it's chained down.

Yeah, I get the feeling that its sole tactic is creeping barrage, then once it gets close it gets focus fired to hell. I'm not entirely sure the transferring target lock skill is worth the premium you pay for the pilot.