Not everyone likes the Scum & Villainy faction. Me I got them for the cards (please let's not get into that on this post). But what if the Empire or the rebellion could hire mercenaries? What if you could add Scum & Villainy to either side with restrictions such as:

• Either side may take up to the full amount of their forces from the S&V faction. Only the S&V can be used as mercenaries.
• Any ability and/or upgrade that refers to a friendly player is still limited for use within that faction. That is to say even if you have both Howlrunner and an S&V ship, she (Howlrunner) DOES NOT allow rerolls on S&V ships. Nor do S&V abilities and/or upgrades that refer to a friendly player or ship affect the side for which they are acting as mercenaries. There isn't any ability synergies/buffs between factions even if they are playing for the same side. Biggs just doesn't want to risk his like for scum.
• If both sides choose the same unique card and/or pilot then the side who pays the highest in points can use that card. Otherwise all cards squad cost are the face value.
• You need at least one surviving ship from your faction to win.
• When the last ship of your faction is destroyed you loose the game. Even if you have 6 (six) S&V Z-95s remaining on the board they are still mercenaries and cannot win the game for you.
• If you start with only ships from the S&V faction you forfeit the game. If you start with all S&V ships they are pirates not mercenaries and that would be is regular X-Wing.

What are your thought?

Any problems?

Does it sound interesting?

No. Just no.

I was going to say "almost certainly unbalanced", but with the destruction of faction ships causing defeat, it's a powerful incentive to moderate hiring mercs.

Certainly there's nothing wrong with it in casual play.

"If both sides choose the same unique card and/or pilot then the side who pays the highest in points can use that card. Otherwise all cards squad cost are the face value."

How does this work? We both took n'dru with lone wolf, but you had glitterstim on him. So I'm out 19 points of my list?

I was going to say "almost certainly unbalanced", but with the destruction of faction ships causing defeat, it's a powerful incentive to moderate hiring mercs.

Certainly there's nothing wrong with it in casual play.

That's exactly what I was thinking. If you took too many mercenaries then the opposing side could focus fire on your faction ship. It's never safe hiring mercenaries.

"If both sides choose the same unique card and/or pilot then the side who pays the highest in points can use that card. Otherwise all cards squad cost are the face value."

How does this work? We both took n'dru with lone wolf, but you had glitterstim on him. So I'm out 19 points of my list?

Okay I'll need to put some thought into this one. I was thinking more in a casual play so you'd get to redo your squad and not loose the 19 point. Or you could say 'I'll pay 20 points for N'dru' and force the other guy to redesign their squad, who of course could bid even higher. How important is that unique to you're strategy?

"If both sides choose the same unique card and/or pilot then the side who pays the highest in points can use that card. Otherwise all cards squad cost are the face value."

How does this work? We both took n'dru with lone wolf, but you had glitterstim on him. So I'm out 19 points of my list?

Okay I'll need to put some thought into this one. I was thinking more in a casual play so you'd get to redo your squad and not loose the 19 point. Or you could say 'I'll pay 20 points for N'dru' and force the other guy to redesign their squad, who of course could bid even higher. How important is that unique to you're strategy?

Or maybe some way to put your points towards a betrayal strategy card where you can change on your opponent's mercenaries' dials for one turn.

"If both sides choose the same unique card and/or pilot then the side who pays the highest in points can use that card. Otherwise all cards squad cost are the face value."

How does this work? We both took n'dru with lone wolf, but you had glitterstim on him. So I'm out 19 points of my list?

Okay I'll need to put some thought into this one. I was thinking more in a casual play so you'd get to redo your squad and not loose the 19 point. Or you could say 'I'll pay 20 points for N'dru' and force the other guy to redesign their squad, who of course could bid even higher. How important is that unique to you're strategy?

Or maybe some way to put your points towards a betrayal strategy card where you can change on your opponent's mercenaries' dials for one turn.

I've always like the idea and have been pondering this for some time. I just couldn't think of a good and balanced mechanic for it to work well. Ships that change sides is better scenario based than straight up play.

But I'd be open to ideas and I really like the idea of being limited to changing the dial as you suggested.

I don't think you need special rules for unique in the different squads. One of them is just an imposter.

No, it does not. But, I am against the factions losing their identity by sharing ships.

I thoroughly enjoy the identity of the rebels, imperials, and scum factions as they are- 100% separate and distinct from one another.

Bu there is nothing keeping you or anyone else from running casual games with this idea in place. Go for it.

Yeah the Rebel Alliance could use guys like Dash Rendar and the Imperials could hire Boba Fett, just like in that thing that never happened in between ESB and ROTJ!

... Oh wait...

Sounds fun for casual games, it fits the lore very well. But don't imagine seeing anything like it becoming legal in tournament play.

Scum Y-Wings, Z-95s, HWK-290s and Imperial Firesprays say hello.

We have done this multiple time in Epic battles. My 12 year old son own the Scum faction but loves doing Epic so we came up with hiring them out to either side. We usually only use the for one side at a time. It was a pain when he used the Raider and a pair of Brobots. He loves doing huge 500pt battles that usually take a couple of days for us to play.

Sounds fun for casual games, it fits the lore very well. But don't imagine seeing anything like it becoming legal in tournament play.

I thoroughly enjoy the identity of the rebels, imperials, and scum factions as they are- 100% separate and distinct from one another.

Scum Y-Wings, Z-95s, HWK-290s and Imperial Firesprays say hello.

Hello scum Y-wings, Z-95s, HWK-290s and Imperial Firesprays, none of which are exactly the same in either faction!

Both the Rebels and the Empire have plenty of variety already. Scum works best as its own faction.

"Bounty hunters... We don't need that scum."

Entirely against. House rule it.

I don't mind it as a house rule for a campaign, although I'd wave the provision about unique ships- I see what you're going for there, but Corran vs. Corran matches or Fel vs. Fel matches are common enough, so there's no reason why we should arbitrarily impose a different ruling for "merc" ships. I suppose you could have a points bidding phase pre-campaign for unique scum pilots, representing additional resources being spent to hire the mercenaries over the competition, though.

Imperial Assault has this already. For Skirmish battles (so not Campaign), the Empire can spend one Build point (out of a max 40 point squad total) for Temporary Alliance, which allows them to take 2 Scum Deployment cards. The Scum have the same card, but it allows them to take 2 Rebel Deployment cards.

So, it's possible (though probably not terribly effective) to have IG-88, Han Solo, and Chewbacca as your mission team for 40 points. You could also have Boba Fett, with an AT-ST, and 2 squads of Stormtroopers all for your entire 40 points.

So, the concept already exists in the FFG/Star Wars universe.

House rules. In fact, now is the time to prune the firespray off the imperial faction and replace it with the Delta JV-7.

The best mercenaries charge more than the bad ones. "Pay squad points equal to the normal cost, plus extra points equal to the pilot's skill" You can get a Binayre Pirate for cheap, but if you want Talonbane, it's going to cost you. This might help with the balancing.

I thoroughly enjoy the identity of the rebels, imperials, and scum factions as they are- 100% separate and distinct from one another.

Scum Y-Wings, Z-95s, HWK-290s and Imperial Firesprays say hello.

Hello scum Y-wings, Z-95s, HWK-290s and Imperial Firesprays, none of which are exactly the same in either faction!

So...you don't understand what 100% means then?

You have 4 ships that are almost the same across multiple factions. That is not 100% separate and distinct.

The best mercenaries charge more than the bad ones. "Pay squad points equal to the normal cost, plus extra points equal to the pilot's skill" You can get a Binayre Pirate for cheap, but if you want Talonbane, it's going to cost you. This might help with the balancing.

I thoroughly enjoy the identity of the rebels, imperials, and scum factions as they are- 100% separate and distinct from one another.

Scum Y-Wings, Z-95s, HWK-290s and Imperial Firesprays say hello.

Hello scum Y-wings, Z-95s, HWK-290s and Imperial Firesprays, none of which are exactly the same in either faction!

So...you don't understand what 100% means then?

You have 4 ships that are almost the same across multiple factions. That is not 100% separate and distinct.

Each faction also uses the same maneuver templates, tokens, actions, etc., so if we are gonna be "those guys" and debate this, then I'll quickly admit my grammatical failure and state that obviously no faction is 100% distinct. But I believe my point was understood in the context that each faction has a very distinct play style and feel which separates each of them from the other (and please note the sarcasm here)- 100%...