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For my birthday a few weeks ago my wife got me the core-set for X-Wing. Over the past week or so I've finally been able to sit down and play both a few open games and some of the scenarios in the book; despite being limited to the contents of the core-set I really enjoy the game and have decided to get a few expansions to move up to the 100 point level for both factions Ultimately I want to concentrate on fielding an imperial force but would like to have enough rebel ships to host a game and give the rebel forces a decent squad. With that being said I found an amazing Christmas eve deals on a gaming site and got the following for just a little over $60 before shipping (and should be here tomorrow fingers crossed).

Imperial Aces Expansion
Rebel Aces Expansion
X-Wing Expansion
Tie-Fighter Expansion
Dice Pack

From what I've read on the forums everyone says a second core-set is the way to go but just wanted to know if you all think that with my purchases I'd be able to host a balanced game as I can field up to 3 Ties and 2 Interceptors vs. 2 X Wings, an A Wing and a B Wing

Secondly as previously stated I'm going to want to expand my Imperial forces and have come up with a wish list that is as follows:

1 - Tie Intercept Expansion (want to field 3 of these and might need some of the cards, that are not included in the aces)
2 - Lambda Shuttle Expansion (interested in running a support and swarm, I could also see this being a nice honey pot to allow my interceptors to concentrate fire)

Not really sure about any of the other expansions for the Empire, I see nothing but bad news about the Tie Advance and Tie Bomber and I don't know enough about phantom or defender to make a call. Also the VT-49 looks very interesting as possible option in lieu of my Lambda purchase, but I haven't seen much about it and the role(s) it plays.

Either way any advice is appreaiated

 DocCheech17 wrote:
Not really sure about any of the other expansions for the Empire, I see nothing but bad news about the Tie Advance and Tie Bomber and I don't know enough about phantom or defender to make a call. Also the VT-49 looks very interesting as possible option in lieu of my Lambda purchase, but I haven't seen much about it and the role(s) it plays.

The TIE advanced is the worst ship in the game right now, but getting a huge boost when the imperial epic expansion arrives next year. If you can proxy the Vader card just buy the epic ship, if you can't use proxies you'll want to get a TIE advanced expansion to have a legal copy of Vader.

The TIE bomber isn't as bad as the advanced, but it's not all that popular and doesn't have any important cards you can't get anywhere else. If you don't want to use one you can safely skip it.

The TIE phantom is incredibly powerful with the named pilots and advanced cloak (arguably overpowered, but certainly top-tier at least) but requires a lot of player skill to avoid having your 40-point ship explode in one turn. If you want to play at all competitively you'll need to get one so that you have it available and practice with it, even if you usually go with other options.

The TIE defender itself is average (a little too expensive, but can work in some lists) but is a must-buy unless you can proxy the predator card (one of the best EPTs, and it only comes in the defender).

The VT-49 is almost always better than the shuttle. The decimator is more expensive, but the shuttle has an awful dial and often spends half the game desperately trying to get back into the fight while your opponent ignores it. I'm not entirely convinced about the value of the decimator compared to the rebel YTs as a turret option, but if you want an imperial big ship your choices are the decimator or firespray and the decimator is probably the winner.

Peregrine pretty much nailed it, but I will give a little love to the Bomber, Defender and Lambda.

The Bomber is a weird ship. It's got a beefy 6 hull but 2 agility and 2 attack. It's got a ton of ordnance options but ordnance isn't terribly efficient. It does have bombs and bombs are quite useful. Unfortunately, the best bomb option for Bombers now is Seismic Charges, which come with the Firespray. Dumping 3 unanswered red dice on anything you fly over is brutal, all for the low low cost of 19 points. Bombers are in a bit of an awkward spot, but they fit in as bomb-caddies or "fat" TIEs with extra hull.

The Defender is a rounded ship with 3s in every stat and a rather unique dial. It has difficulty turning, but the white K-turn can be a godsend. The generics are a little overpriced in my estimation, overpaying for the awesome K-turn, but the 2 named pilots are very solid.

The Lambda, otherwise known as the Alabaster Space-borne Disaster, is an often misunderstood ship. It's cheap, has a ton of hull/shields and a solid attack. What makes it confusing for most is its dial. The Shuttle has a low cost and tons of options, making it incredibly versatile. A naked shuttle with Vader is a wonderful finisher, one loaded up with engine upgrade, gunner, fire control and tacticans is debilitating and even as a basic HLC platform it can cause problems. The key to the shuttle is its dial. The shuttle can't K-turn and its hard turns are red, but it has the 0 and it largely excels at staying in place. Crash into friendlies, pull the handbrake and just create a zone of denial. Alternatively, go nuts with an engine upgrade and cover a tremendous amount of ground quite quickly. Or just dive into an enemy formation with Mara Jade and Anti-Pursuit Lasers. Shuttles are awesome.

Thank you both very much for the input, it is greatly appreciated. I actually just pulled the trigger on a NIB Lambda ($19.07 w/ shipping from Amazon if you are looking for a deal!!!) and I am actually looking forward to the challenge of learning to fly it with the aforementioned "dial of an 18-Wheeler"; I really see it working well with my Ties and Interceptors as while it might be slow and a lumber-some my fighters are not and I like the idea of modding it out to find a role that works for my playing style. Right now i'm thinking heavy gun/ blaster sponge, but I have a feeling that could change as soon as I start playing it.

Next purchases will probably be a defender or phantom once I get the mechanics of the game down better as they seem extremely powerful and carry the cost that comes with that, I'm leaning towards the phantom but can see the perks of the defender as well. The VT-49 is also in my future but not sure i'm ready to sink that much points into something quite yet.

Also now that I got my first expansions in the mail I've been running a list that is as follows (remember im VERY new to the game and only playing with my neighbor and wife who are even newer):

Academy Pilot
Obsidian Squadron Pilot
Howl-Runner - Swarm Tactics

Sabre Squadron - PTL
Carnor Jax - PTL, targeting Computer

to make room for the lambda i'll either drop a Tie and downgrade one of the TIE-Interceptors, even though I really like Jax

thanks again guys!!!

With regards to the shuttle, I think it recently saw use in the top list at either nationals or worlds. However, I believe what they were running was a naked Captain Yorr, mostly to sponge any excess stress off of Soontir and Echo. At this point cost (24pt) there isn't much else good to get (2 Academy Pilots), so it was a pretty good choice.

As for a kitted-out shuttle, what I don't like is that it starts approaching the Firespray and Decimator in cost, but with massively inferior recovery. It's good as long as your opponent stays in front of you, but if they get out of your arc, it will be a couple turns at least before you see them again.

Kitted out shuttles only really work with Engine Upgrade giving them a big boost in mobility. Shuttles boosting around can get into and out of fights surprisingly quickly. Combine that with the 0 or a bump and the shuttle can easily stay in a fight or maneuver around. On top of that, with its low base price, a kitted shuttled ends up cheaper or similar to Firesprays and Decimators.

"Buzzsaw/Hacksaw" Lambda w/ Gunner, Tactician, Fire Control System, Engine Upgrade (34)

1 point more than a Bounty Hunter, 6 fewer than a Patrol Officer. You now have an incredibly consistent damage dealer, extra debilitation from the stress, plus the boost to get back into the fight or close quickly.

"Shuttle Claus" Lambda w/ Tactician, Tactician, Ion Cannon, Fire Control System, Engine Upgrade (34)

Same price, but now instead of maximum damage it's maximum control. Potentially putting 4 tokens (2 stress, 1 ion, 1 target lock) on one hapless ship is brutal. Same mobility solution.

"Sniper" Lamba w/ Mercenary Co-Pilot, Mercenary Co-Pilot, Heavy Laser Cannon, Fire Control System, Engine Upgrade (38)

This one's a bit pricier, but can use its 0 and bumping to stay at long range and do hurt with the critting HLC.

"Doomshuttle" Lamba w/ Darth Vader (24)

Cheap and cheerful, this guy's job is to die. Start him in the middle and amble into combat, preferably with a whole squad sporting higher PS to strip shields and tokens. A shieldless ship is food to the Dark Lord of the Sith. It doesn't matter how many evade dice or tokens you have, so long as shields are out Vader is critting you. At Regionals this year, the Doomshuttle accounted for double digit kills, finishing off such problems as Whisper, Echo, Han Solo, an ion turret Y-Wing, Royal Guard Pilots, etc.

"Red Bull" Lamba w/ Mara Jade, Enhanced Scopes, Anti-Pursuit Lasers (27)

A big old disruptive force, this guy just runs into an enemy formation and prevents them from K-turning while doing damage when they invariably bump into him since he moves at PS0.

Shuttles are pretty awesome.

I liked the lambda the moment I got it out of it's package. Then I flew it around and considered adding some black splotches to accurately ID it as a space-cow. It's slow and clunky, but I still have <3's for it, thanks for sharing all of those variants Chumbalaya. I had already discovered the Doomshuttle, but the others give me some food for thought

Seems like if you were going to get either the Lambda or the Decimator, the shuttle is cheaper and could probably be shoehorned into more lists, but if the Decimator really does come out that much further ahead perhaps it is the safer bet.

 GrimDork wrote:
Seems like if you were going to get either the Lambda or the Decimator, the shuttle is cheaper and could probably be shoehorned into more lists, but if the Decimator really does come out that much further ahead perhaps it is the safer bet.

I think it's the opposite, really. The Decimator is a bit more expensive, but it takes care of itself and doesn't make any real demands on the rest of your list other than spending points. The shuttle, on the other hand, requires you to think carefully about how you're going to win the game (or at least keep your ships alive long enough to regroup) with the rest of your list when your shuttle inevitably ends up pointing the wrong direction for half the game.

Fair enough, I'm still a n00b in terms of X-wing and mostly an armchair general so I'll defer to your experience in the matter. The Decimator is awesomely chunky anyway and would make a great centerpiece for a smaller imperial fleet too. Glad I'm gonna end up with both though as the choice might drive me mad.

The Decimator is in my future purchase plan (probably after the phantom and a base interceptor) but right now as I'm in the infancy of the game I don't want to sink a minimum of 40% of my points in single model; YET... Plus for $19 i couldn't say no to the lambda,as I like the model and also fondly remember shooting them down as a child playing tie fighter in DOS .

I can see the pitfalls of dumping so many points into it especially now since there are bigger point ships available; think that for the time being i'm going to be running it bare bones as a honey-pot or doom-shuttle and then trying some of the aforementioned mods once I learn to fly the thing (which I've heard they didn't have wookies in mind when designing it) but keeping the price below that of a base decimator.

One thing that I have realized while getting into this game is that just buying the model does not make it an optimized play as many of the upgrades are only available in other expansions; i.e. the all powerful "engine upgrade" which is only available in the Falcon expansion which seems to be out of stock about everywhere and only available on E bay for over $80.00.

The best bet there for home games is to print out your own. Many of the cards can be found on the XWing wikia page as jpgs.

 DocCheech17 wrote:
The Decimator is in my future purchase plan (probably after the phantom and a base interceptor) but right now as I'm in the infancy of the game I don't want to sink a minimum of 40% of my points in single model; YET... Plus for $19 i couldn't say no to the lambda,as I like the model and also fondly remember shooting them down as a child playing tie fighter in DOS .

I can see the pitfalls of dumping so many points into it especially now since there are bigger point ships available; think that for the time being i'm going to be running it bare bones as a honey-pot or doom-shuttle and then trying some of the aforementioned mods once I learn to fly the thing (which I've heard they didn't have wookies in mind when designing it) but keeping the price below that of a base decimator.

One thing that I have realized while getting into this game is that just buying the model does not make it an optimized play as many of the upgrades are only available in other expansions; i.e. the all powerful "engine upgrade" which is only available in the Falcon expansion which seems to be out of stock about everywhere and only available on E bay for over $80.00.

It's getting re-printed in Q1 2015. Falcon and Slave 1 both are. I think some other stuff too. I believe they are doing what they can to keep the game from becoming collectible.

For 46 points I like to run a Decimator (40) + Vader (3) + Ruthless (3).

Seems like a nice tough ship to endure Vader's force choke backlash. Plus, unlike the shuttle, you should be able to force choke almost any turn due to the turret on the Decimator. I noticed that about the shuttle, once it gets into that awkward 'forever turn' to try to get back into the fight... Vader starts to seem like a bad/wasted choice.

 GrimDork wrote:
Seems like a nice tough ship to endure Vader's force choke backlash. Plus, unlike the shuttle, you should be able to force choke almost any turn due to the turret on the Decimator. I noticed that about the shuttle, once it gets into that awkward 'forever turn' to try to get back into the fight... Vader starts to seem like a bad/wasted choice.

However, unlike the shuttle it is not cheap, and only has 4 extra hits to take. It costs 76% more, at 43 points vs 24 points. While I might not personally like the shuttle, I would rather run it than a Decimator as a "ship I want to blow up myself". The Shuttle leaves points for a couple good shield breakers, and is less likely to be focused down (because no-one considers it a threat).

^This is true! I had to think about it for awhile but it's also started to sink in about how much damage the decimator is liable to take too, from anything that gets close or something like heavy laser cannons. Unless you take that one crew or the pilot that gives you an evade after you take hull damage... it can get messy fast.

Just a follow up folks:

I wound up getting the shuttle a few weeks ago and you were not joking about the dial and flying that thing, it took me 3 games just to get the hang of it as it moves like a Winnebago with wings. Despite its maneuverability shortfalls it has been a fun addition to my fledgling fleet. I've had the most success running it with Tie Interceptors and using it as bullet sponge and area denial ship keeping it cheap and letting my Interceptors do their thing. The doom-shuttle is also a fun play and also works well with the interceptors as they can strip shields and Darth can hand out a critical hit later on hopefully finishing something off.

I have really taken a liking to the game and I am surprised how easy everyone I show it to seems to pick it up and wants to play again or contemplates buying a starter set themselves, With that being said I just ordered my second wave of ships (YT 1300, Slave I and Tie Phantom) from Barnes and Nobel, which surprisingly seems to have most of the older stuff below MSRP. Not sure where I'm going to go next but I still like VT-49 and the new Star Destorey'esque corvette look amazing



Thanks again for all the help!