This is my first Miniatures game so please forgive me if this is too obvious, but is there a way to use all of the pilots that came with the game? It looks like the expansions will all come with pilots, too, so buying expansions doesn't seem to be an obvious solution. 

I have the basic set now that I picked up at CVI. I assume I can't play with both Luke and Biggs until I get some additional models?

Thsnks!

The multiple pilots in the base game only give you options at this point, yeah. In fact, since there are several generic pilots per ship, it's not possible to have enough ships for filling every possible piloting spot, because you can have as many of the generic pilots as you want

The expansions also have unique pilots, and the same generic ones (for X-Wings and TIEs) as the base game. Just mix-and-match as you go

The game isn't meant to have both sides field all available pilots at all, by the way. The tournament rules restrict both sides to 100 points in their fleets, and that's not enough to even field all the unique pilots of the first wave of ships. Find the combos you like between the pilots and equipment, and bring those in your fleet.

You're not really meant to have 1 pilot per ship.  As already stated, you get the generics with every ship as well as a selection of special characters.  It's meant to be a trade off.  Take seasoned pilots and fewer ships or lots of novice pilots or a combo of the two (which is really the most likely).

The nice thing about this game compared to others is that any ship can represent any pilot card you happen to have available.  It makes it much more flexable in army construction than other mini wargames I've played.

-DavicusPrime

I haven't read the rules yet, Davicus (lazy/other irons); are you saying that you can use the X-Wing pilots with the Y-wing, or the TIE pilots with the Advanced?

 No you can't, the card represents both the Pilot and the Ship.

What Karrde said.  The pilots are specific to the ship.  What I was saying is that any X-Wing model can represent any of the 6 existing X-Wing pilots (2 Generics, 4 Named).  And any TIE fighter Model can represent any of the 9 existing TIE Fighter Pilots (3 Generic, 6 Named).

You aren't required to buy unique models to play the unique characters is where I was going with this.  Most Miniature Wargames are not as flexible, or at least have specific models for things like named characters that you're expected to buy when you intend on using them on the table (at least in offical tourneys and such).  FFG's design makes the game much more user friendly to the non-wargamer.  And even though the cost per model is a little steep compared to some games, the flexibility and generally small scale of the game (3-8 models to play the standard 100pt game) makes the cost of entry very reasonable.

I think this is the perfect game for me to use to introduce my kids to the joys of mini wargames.

-DavicusPrime

 Thanks for the clarification all!