Hi all;

I am an armada player considering starting to play some X-wing scum and villainy as a very casual player, and I have a few questions:

1) Do I really need to get the rebel/imperial starter set? Is what is in it useful?

2) I want to get one each of the 4 bounty hunters in the R+V armada set (Bossk, Dengar, IG-88, Boba) and the S+V starter set. What other ships should I get? Is one each of the other assorted menagerie of scum fighters enough?

4) Is it worth getting an extra rebel HWK-290, Y-wing and Z-95 for any non-faction specific upgrade cards?

5) Can I field a CR90 or the rebel transport as a scum player?

I'm not going to win worlds, I know, but will what I am considering buying allow me to have a good variety of different and interesting lists?

1: Rules, Movement Templates, Dice, Damage Deck... yes, what's in the starter sets is pretty important.

2: So Slave One, IG2000, Hounds Tooth and the Punishing One (when it arrives). A second IG2000 is a good call, and obviously if you want to complete the Empire Strikes Back set so will be the Mist Hunter (when it arrives). As for the Starvipers/Kihraxz/Scyks - it's entirely up to you. The Kihraxz has some awesome upgrade cards and makes great filler in a Scum list. So does the Scyk in my opinion (not everyone shares that opinion, though).

3: ...appears to be missing.

4: The Scum HWK pilots have pretty good abilities, but there's no real reason to pick up Rebel Z's or Y-wings unless you plan on running a lot of them.

5: Not at present (at least not officially - they're Rebel only).

1) Can you make a decent list with 2/3 of the named bounty hunter packs?

2) Would it irritate opponents / make them tailor against you if this was all you cared to enter the game?

4) Sorry, I suck at counting. History teacher and all....

1: Yes - 2 x IG-2000's is a very popular Scum list, and a Firespray/YV-666 with small ship escort work quite well too. A typical 100 point list would see around 3-4 ships on the field, so you'd still have plenty of options. Have a play around with voidstate's excellent squad builder ( http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build) - it'll give you a good idea of what you can fit into a list.

2: No, I wouldn't think so at all. There's a lot of players on the forum who focus primarily on one particular faction; collect and play what you want to collect and play, it's your hobby!

3: No problem, history is much more fun than maths anyway!

My recommendation for new Scum players is always start with the Most Wanted and Slave I Expansions first. That gives you a Firespray, 2 x Z95s, and a Y-wing which can get you to 100 points after proxying some upgrades. All of those ships are decently competitive yet represent the Scum faction very well.

Starting with that will help you decide if you want to go for the dual IG-88, Hounds Tooth, HWKs, or another Most Wanted kit.

1. A Starter set is exactly that, You can't play Armada without the starter core set and X-wing is no different since most of Armada's business model was based off of X-wing.

I would add the "most wanted" pack.

One Y-wing miniature with an alternative, Scum-themed paint scheme ◾ Two Z-95 Headhunter miniatures with Black Sun paint schemes

◾ Four Scum faction Firespray-31 ship cards

◾ Four Scum faction HWK-290 ship cards

◾ Six Scum faction Y-wing ship cards

◾ Six Scum faction Z-95 Headhunter ship cards

◾ Nineteen upgrade cards

◾ Maneuver dials and tokens for your Scum Firespray-31, HWK-290, 2 Y-wings, and 2 Z-95 Headhunters

At this time I do not recommend the Scyk I call it "one shot" because it usually only gets one shot before it dies.

Thanks for the help.

I am not interested in starting the most aggressive, cheesiest list possible. I am more of a painter, and my gaming group is very casual.

Your advice has been very helpful.