X-Wing Miniatures Buyer's Guide & Purchase Order Part II: The Competitive Rebel

This is the second post in the X-Wing Miniatures Buyer's Guide series, and it focuses on players that want to get into competitive X-Wing while playing for the Rebel faction. The first focused on the initial purchases a Casual Player should make -- read it here!

A Competitive Player is one that intends to bring their ships to tournaments, either local store events, or larger, official events that are recognized by Fantasy Flight Games (the company the puts out X-Wing... And a good number of other things I own/enjoy).

If you're a competitive minded person, OR think your only chance to really play a miniatures game is going to be during events (this is how I started out as a competitive player!), this post is to help you figure out what you need to buy to get started for as low a cost as possible, while still having the ships and cards you'll need to do well.

Things to Consider

1. Choose one faction to start.
1. There are the factions in X-Wing: Rebels, Empire, and Scum & Villainy. As you cannot create lists (X-Wing lingo for "teams") using multiple factions, you'll want to start off by buying ships that help you build competitive lists in your preferred faction. This guide will give recommendations for all three.
2. The cost.
1. Generally speaking, buying competitively can be a bit cheaper than the casual player -- you're hole intent is to attend events where others own enough ships to build their own lists, you only have to buy enough for you yourself to play.
2. On the other hand, FFG specifically makes it so some of the most important upgrades (cards you equip to pilots, to give them a variety of benefits) are only found in a specific faction -- when important, I'll address that during this guide.
3. To help, I'll be including prices for each item I recommend, strictly based off of Miniature Market's prices. Miniature Market is an online retailer for board games, and will almost always have what you're looking for in stock. THAT BEING SAID, as a competitive player, please consider purchasing your X-Wing at your FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Shop), or wherever you'll be playing in X-Wing events -- you're relying on these folks to host events/purchase tournament kits, so show your support!

For the following sections, I'll break down my recommended purchases based on the primary faction you want to play. If you're planning on getting multiple factions, wait to see my Wave by Wave posts, as they'll identify which items are most useful to get first -- this post is specifically targeting people who want to save money and play competitively quickly.

With a Rebel Yell

You've chose to take the side of the Rebellion, and fly alongside some of the greatest heroes the galaxy has ever seen! To best jump into this faction, and take them to tournaments, you'll want to buy the following:

Original Core Set (Red Core Set) $29.99

Honestly, you could go either way for Rebels. From the Force Awakens Core Set, Poe Dameron and BB-8 are solid options. However, there is a newer version of Poe coming out in the Heroes of the Resistance Expansion Pack, and the Original Core set gives you Biggs Darklighter, the staple of many older Rebel lists, and one that's been seeing more play of late. Biggs' ability, honestly, will always be relevant, it's more the list you build to support him that may or may not be effective. The other card of note is the R2-D2 astromech, which is one of the few ways to gain access to shield regeneration. Honestly, though, you're not likely to run either in most of your lists, at least, not starting out.

Dash trying to skirt around some Bounty Hunter scum...

YT-2400 Freighter Expansion $22.49

In my opinion, Dash Rendar, the most expensive pilot in this pack, is the best Rebel pilot in the game. His ability is EXTREMELY nice for newer players, as he allows you to hit obstacles without much concern, and he can be run without owning too many other expansions... Though my suggestions include purchases that fully allow you to kit the ship out. The Heavy Laser Canon and Lone Wolf upgrades are also useful in general.

I'm not much of a Rebel player myself, but, when I do, I always fly a version of Dash. The current build for Dash is:
Dash Rendar (Pilot)

Outrider (Title)

Heavy Laser Canon

Push the Limit (from the A-Wing expansion)

Kanan Jarrus (from the Ghost expansion)

Engine Upgrade (from the Millennium Falcon expansion)

Ghost Expansion   $39.99

This is an expensive ship, but you're really getting two for the price of one. And, better yet, the upgrades in this expansion will be useful in a variety of lists. An additional bonus is that the Ghost's model looks fantastic... even if it is a bit cumbersome on the table (you'll notice that mine had to be jury-rigged after the special peg broke, after I used the ship the first time).

Outrider (Dash) & Ghost (Lothal Rebel or Chopper pilots) lists are very prevalent in the current meta, and I don't honestly think you'll see them going anywhere. And you get a bit more tools for your future toolbox, due to grabbing this expansion early.

A-Wing Expansion $11.29

This ship is a fun little ship, though not the most balanced when it was initially released. The only reason you're picking it up now is because it's the cheapest and only in-faction method of getting one of the best upgrades in the game: Push the Limit.

A pair of A-Wings... with Dash.

Millennium Falcon Expansion $22.49

When it hit, it completely changed the game. So much so, that it eventually led to changing how tournament scoring was done. I won't go into that too much, but I will say this particular ship isn't seen terribly often in tournaments at the moment. There are some builds you can make, especially with the other ships I've listed above, but, for the most part, you are buying this expensive upgrade solely to get access to the Engine Upgrade upgrade. Sad, but the only other place to get it would be the Imperial/Scum Firespray Expansion pack.

Total: $126.25 dollars.

Yikes! In my opinion, Rebels are the most expensive group to make meta-viable, and this is mostly because their big lists require so many composite pieces. Most of the Rebel "out of the box" options were victims of ruling nerfs or shifts in the meta.

Check out this recommended list, which utilizes only items found in the above purchases. As you pick up more ships, you will be able to kit out your Ghost differently, or even swap out partners for Dash. The E-Wing Expansion was a staple companion for a long time, though it's lost favor in the current meta.

One of my takes on a Dash & Ghost list.

... And yes, there are Rebel lists that don't feature Dash, but not many considered competitive at the moment. A good player can make anything work, but new players will find it easier to stick with innately stronger lists.

Alternative opinion: If you wanted to break into two factions at once, Rebels and Scum & Villainy are your best bet. The Z-95, Y-Wing, and HWK ships are cross-faction, as long as you've purchased the Most Wanted Expansion. ... Though not as many of those ships are actually competitive in the current environment.

For the upcoming releases, the most exciting expansion will be the Heroes of the Resistance pack, which includes new Millennium Falcon pilots, new skills on the repeat pilots, and a host of new upgrades. It also has a new T-70 X-Wing model, with some pretty interesting pilots and a new Poe Dameron (Pilot Skill of 9, for two more points). Honestly, the only reason I'm not recommending it and the Force Awakens Core set are because you don't need to have two Falcons, and the original comes with Engine Upgrades...

If you have some thoughts on the above recommendations, or want to share some of your own lists, please use the comment section below! Next post will detail your options when utilizing the might of the Empire!