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Posted

I am an X-Wing noob.  I would like some help on lists and such.  Currently, I have 2 starter boxes and a tie fighter bomber.  I have the basic game mechanics down for the most part and now I am interested in 'upping my game'.  I would appreciate any help guys.  

 

If anyone is willing to toss some good 'starter lists' that would be awesome, my goal is to have a 100 pt list together by the 8th.

Posted

So to clarify you have:

4 TIE Fighters

1 TIE Bomber

2 X-Wings

 

Is this correct or did you mean you had another TIE Fighter too? Are you mainly thinking Imperials or did you want to consider Rebels too? How many additional purchases are you looking to make? With what you have right now, you'll need to pick up at least 1 or 2 more ships to be competitive on either side. If you're looking to be competitive, here are the main competitive builds for both sides:

 

TIE Swarm

The staple Imperial competitive build is generally characterized by Howlrunner and up to 6 TIE Fighters. The idea is that Howlrunner and her squadron fly in close formation to take advantage of her rerolls and just blast anything they encounter to pieces. There are a lot of variations on this build with different upgrades/pilots on the individual TIEs, sometimes switching some of them out for basic Interceptors or Bombers, or sometimes dropping one altogether to bring some sort of more elite ship or something. A few examples:

 

[22] Howlrunner + Determination + Stealth Device

[16] Dark Curse

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

(2013 World Championship finalist)

 

[22] Scimitar Squadron Pilot + Advanced Proton Torpedos

[18] Howlrunner

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

(Upcoming finalist in an ongoing Vassal tournament)

 

[30] Soontir Fel + Push the Limit

[22] Howlrunner + Determination + Stealth Device

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

(My list from Saturday's tournament)

 

The modability of the TIE Swarm is pretty great as there are a lot of different variations on the central theme. Currently this is the most popular competitive build for the Empire, but there are other more elite options that can still be competitive (more on those later).

 

Han Shoots First

A very successful Rebel build is commonly know as Han Shoots First, or HSF for short. This list usually contains Han Solo in the Falcon with two fighter escorts of varying types. The list can sub Han for Lando or Chewie, but the general idea of a Falcon with escorts is the same. The big advantage of this build is that the Falcon is crazy good with 360 line of sight and a ton of hit points while the other Rebel ships are no slouches themselves. Here are a few example builds:

 

[52] Han Solo + Expert Handling + Chewbacca

[25] Blue Squadron Pilot + Advanced Sensors

[23] Gold Squadron Pilot + Ion Cannon Turret

(My version of HSF with Han very hard to kill, the Advanced Sensors B-Wing providing heavy firepower, and the Y-Wing ionizing targets of opportunity)

 

[46] Lando Calrissian + Nien Nunb + Millenium Falcon

[29] Dutch Vander + Ion Cannon Turret + R2 Astromech

[25] Blue Squadron Pilot + Ion Cannon

(Kevin's variation on the theme emphasizing squad synergy with Lando and Dutch giving free target locks to everyone)

 

[42] Chewbacca

[29] Wedge Antilles

[29] Biggs Darklighter + R2-D2

(Just threw this together. Biggs and Wedge are a good combo as Biggs soaks damage while Wedge lays down the hurt and Chewie is cheap and survivable)

 

4 Guns

This is a Rebel concept that basically boils down to taking 4 ships. The combinations are pretty endless here with a lot of good options. Rather than give a big summary, I'll go into a little more detail on the variations.

 

[27] Dagger Squadron Pilot + Advanced Sensors

[27] Dagger Squadron Pilot + Advanced Sensors

[25] Biggs Darklighter

[21] Rookie Pilot

(The 2013 World Championship list. Advanced Sensors B-Wings are really good and upgrading to Dagger Squadron is nice for the PS4. Biggs hangs back to force opponents to split their fire with range 3 shots at him while everyone else lays down the damage.)

 

[27] Dagger Squadron Pilot + Advanced Sensors

[27] Dagger Squadron Pilot + Advanced Sensors

[23] Gold Squadron Pilot + Ion Turret

[23] Gold Squadron Pilot + Ion Turret

(Popularly called Golden Daggers, this list packs in a ton of hit points, great killing power, and the always deadly ion cannon turret.)

 

[31] Wedge Antilles + Expert Handling

[25] Blue Squadron Pilot + Advanced Sensors

[23] Gold Squadron Pilot + Ion Cannon Turret

[21] Rookie Pilot

(I played this list once. It was pretty cool.)

 

Other Imperial Options

While the TIE Swarm is the Empire's best competitive build, they do have some other options available to them. A few that I've played around with:

 

[33] Soontir Fel + Push the Limit + Stealth Device

[29] Turr Phennir + Veteran Instincts + Stealth Device

[22] Scimitar Squadron Pilot + Concussion Missiles + Seismic Charge

[16] Backstabber

(I've had some fun with this list. I do love my elite Interceptors.)

 

[38] Bounty Hunter + Gunner

[38] Bounty Hunter + Gunner

[12] Academy Pilot

[12] Academy Pilot

(I read a tournament report of this list doing well. Bounty Hunters are tricky to fly, but they can be pretty deadly.)

 

[27] Kir Kanos + Stealth Device

[26] Turr Phennir + Veteran Instincts

[24] Saber Squadron Pilot + Push the Limit

[23] Lieutenant Lorrir

(An all-Interceptor list that I'm thinking about trying out. Interceptors are cool)

 

In Conclusion

The nice thing about X-Wing is there aren't a lot of objectively bad lists, but it is easy to fall into the trap of over-upgrading your ships and some upgrades are objectively better than others. My personal recommendation is to keep at least 4 ships on the board unless you're running a Falcon or multiple Firesprays. Aside from that, go hog wild. Try out new ships by borrowing models or using proxies, post lots of new lists for critiques, play around on squad builders, get lots of games, watch tournament matches on youtube, and have fun!

  • Like 2
Posted

Pretty much. It's currently FFG's biggest selling product, is cheap to get into, easy to learn, has great list-building elements, great tactical gameplay, and works great in both casual and tournament gaming. I'm doing my best to make it a bigger thing here in town and Nathaniel even mentioned that he's considering setting aside a separate weeknight solely for X-Wing play.

  • Like 1
Posted

I like X-Wing.

 

I also like the variety of games going on each Tuesday night. I love that there are 4 or 5 game systems going (40k, Fantasy, X-wing, sometimes Infinity, often a boardgame or two). It feels like a bit of nerd heaven.

  • Like 3
Posted

Brad, will you be up for a couple late-evening rounds of Mahjong? 

Also, can we borrow knucklebones from you so I can have Julia try it and see if she likes it before we buy it.

 

By 'knucklebones' I mean Quarriors.

Posted

Fo sheezy I can do tohaa. I want to play my fantasy daemons at some point this coming week or next tues though. For this week though my AsariDrell will kill you with bug weapons.

Posted

One more week and I will be ready to get back into 40k with the guard/orks. I am not really liking the deamons for fantasy so it's going to be a while before I can get back into that. This week anyone down to try out Rivet Wars or Deadzone? Ill be down about 5:30 or so.

Posted

Brad, Kevin, Jim, and Joey:  here is the bit from the Infinity rules that shows why you are allowed to flame back someone who flames you through smoke:

 

In an active turn, miniatures with a Special Skill or Equipment which ignores the blocking of LoF created by Zero Visibility Zones, can perform a Ballistic Skill attack or Forward Observer before his target. His adversary, if he survives the attack (Succeeding at an ARM roll or corresponding reaction) and all enemy figures with LoF to the attacker can perform their ARO despite the Zone, because the attacker has revealed for a moment his location. If the reply is a Ballistic Skill attack, or Forward Observer, they must apply not only Distance and Cover Modifiers but the –6 Modifier for the Visibility Zone. So in this case, for a BS combat in, or through, a Zero Visibility Zone there is no Face to Face Roll, just Normal Rolls.

 

The Direct Template Weapon here is the Equipment which allows you to perform the attack in the active turn despite the ZVZ.

 

Intuitive attack is a BS Attack which requires no roll, but auto hits.

 

Falmethrower shoot is an ARO, you are allowed to declare it despite the zone. Intuitive attack doesn't come into it, because it is it's own special exception to the rule which covers doing stuff in the active turn. There is no reason to conflate the two, as they are two distinct instances wherein one can perform an order despite a ZVZ.

Posted

I thought I could but I could see the reasoning of me not being able to do it since intuitive attacks seemed like the only way to perform it and that was a long skill thus not allowing it to be done in ARO. Thanks for looking stuff up Nathan. I was really rusty today. It didn't help that I didn't know any of my stats.

Posted

Oh hey, it's that thing I looked up at the bar and mentioned but you guys were talking about other things.

 

Also Joey, the blast from those Fire missiles should have been drawn from the center of the template so no cover for your fishmen.  Bang boom.

 

There was another thing I looked up, but I'm sure it went my way because you didn't come out to beer so nyer nyer.

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