A small box expansion containing around 30 miniatures or so, 2 new leaders for the Rebel and Imperial factions and the new faction.

Rebels:

-Gran Bel Ibis (Space)

-Kyle Katarn (Ground)

Though with the scum faction maybe Dash Rendar might fit better in, especially since Xizor would be a Scum leader.

Empire:

-Grand Admiral Thrawn (Space)

-Mara Jade (Ground)

Scum Leaders:

(Starting)

-Jabba the Hutt (Ground)

-Prince Xizor (Space)

-Talon Karrde (Ground)

(Recruitable)

-Dengar (Space)

-IG-88 (Space)

-Bossk (Ground)

Zuckuss (Ground)

-4-Lom (Space)

-Guri (Ground)

-Bib Fortuna (Ground)

-Tyber Zahn (Space)

-Kath Scarlet (Space)

Scum units:

-Gamorian Guard (Ground Triangle)

Figured they would be more distinct then Black Sun guards.

-Rancor (Ground Circle)

-Starviper (Space Triangle)

Though I guess Z-95s could work if not.

-Action VI Transport (Space Circle)

My idea would be to have the Scum player unable to really win combat against either factions and is rather trying to manipulate the other two factions with maybe their win condition being to support either one of the two factions. So say that the Scum acts against the Rebels they gain favor with the Empire, if their marker on the favor track is on the Imperial icon when the Empire wins they win too.

Other ideas being that they want to use remote planets to further their cause, maybe they even have hidden bases, maybe two or three, similar to the Rebels.

So what does everyone want to see in an expansion or in a potential scum faction?

I rather like the idea. Scum's political objective would be intra-galactic political dis-integration so that they could set up shop as local fiefdoms.

The thing is, Scum are not 'a' faction, but a lot of smaller cartels. So, while I generally like the idea of their inclusion, I think it would be challenging for FFG to engineer without significant changes to the basic nature of the game while remaining true to what Scum are in the SWU. Also, it seems like they would need a new map with Hutt Space on it.

I was thinking the Scum faction would just kinda represent the different factions as a whole. Maybe they can even have a recurring mission where they bribe to steal the leftmost production icon, but limiting the action to Rebel or Imperial loyal worlds. The idea being a subjugated planet would be under too tight of security to allow them to bribe local officials. It would also be interesting if they could provide information in exchange, now if this information is true or not could be either an interesting or frustrating bit to explore, for putting their forces on a planet. Potentially with them not starting a combat unless they have certain number of forces or type of forces on the planet.

Early on I was thinking about expansion ideas. More planets, more units, more factions.

But honestly, the way things are laid out, it just wouldn't work.

The game is a race against time for both factions. Those factions are also limited by total actions they can take. Introducing a third faction would completely mess with the game balance. They could sap what little military the rebels have, or slow down the Imperial search.

Adding planets has the same issue. Once the rebels have more places to hide, it becomes much too hard to track them down.

Additional units don't really fit in between the existing units well at all.

About the only thing I could see working as expansions would be leader expansions. A small expansion with another 8-10 leaders (4-5 for each faction). It would also include new mission/objective/etc cards that tie to those leaders and open up some new options in gameplay. This wouldn't throw off the balance of the game as you still gain the same amount of leaders. It would just grant you new options.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see this as a 3 player game, but it would need to be built from the ground up to accommodate it. If you are looking for that style of game right now, there was an old star wars risk game that offered 3 factions which wasn't too bad.

I'm really hoping that they release new version of this game.

After Ep9 hits, they could do Star Wars: Resistance. New leaders, events, missions, units, win conditions and some new rules that adjust gameplay to fit the new movie. This game would give the First Order a large military advantage, but the Resistance might have more production. The first order has to sweep in and gain control from the resistance and new republic.

As little love I have for Ep1-3, I could even stand a version of this game set in that time period. Or better yet, a clone wars cartoon series version. Two massive armies and the Republic has to win prior to Order 66. A lot more combat in this one.

Scum victory conditions should be nothing like the Alliance or the Empire. They should not even get production of ships and troops like the other two. Perhaps via cards they could carve out a fiefdom on Tatooine with some guards and ships, but only as a deterrant, not with true offensive capability. Through card play and leader deployment, Scum could win by taking control of a certain number of planets. (While the Empire and Alliance duke things out, law and order ceases in the galaxy. The Empire and the Alliance are blamed for the rampant influx of the criminal elements of Hutts, Black Sun, etc...) The Alliance and the Empire cannot afford to ignore the scum, and new missions and objectives could be added to integrate the three-way battle.

Look for the old video game Star Wars Empire At War and the expansion Forces Of Corruption for some ideas.

Scum victory conditions should be nothing like the Alliance or the Empire. They should not even get production of ships and troops like the other two. Perhaps via cards they could carve out a fiefdom on Tatooine with some guards and ships, but only as a deterrant, not with true offensive capability. Through card play and leader deployment, Scum could win by taking control of a certain number of planets. (While the Empire and Alliance duke things out, law and order ceases in the galaxy. The Empire and the Alliance are blamed for the rampant influx of the criminal elements of Hutts, Black Sun, etc...) The Alliance and the Empire cannot afford to ignore the scum, and new missions and objectives could be added to integrate the three-way battle.

I agree that victory conditions would be different, but I think you're confusing victory conditions with modes of production.

I agree that the mode of production of the Empire is different, but why should the modes of production of the Rebellion and Scum be that different from one another? Both are are underground movements that have to get what they can outside of the Empire's capacity for surveillance and control. In our world criminal cartels and terrorist/separatist/revolutionary movements get their resources in very similar ways; the difference is in what motivates them.

The difference would be victory conditions, as you say. The Empire rules when the populaces of the systems fear them (or have loyalty to the New Order) more than they are angered by the Empire. The Rebellion's strength is the reverse, where opposition to the Empire (or disgust with the New Order) is their fuel. In the case of the cartels, it is the modest failure of centralized institutions of law and order, or the replacement of those institutions by those dominated by the cartels.

Yes, Fantasy Flight might need to be very inventive in how the game would be altered in order to accommodate a Scum faction, but I think they've already proven themselves to be inventive by creating this game that captures the asymmetric nature of the Galactic Civil War.

Scum victory conditions should be nothing like the Alliance or the Empire. They should not even get production of ships and troops like the other two. Perhaps via cards they could carve out a fiefdom on Tatooine with some guards and ships, but only as a deterrant, not with true offensive capability. Through card play and leader deployment, Scum could win by taking control of a certain number of planets. (While the Empire and Alliance duke things out, law and order ceases in the galaxy. The Empire and the Alliance are blamed for the rampant influx of the criminal elements of Hutts, Black Sun, etc...) The Alliance and the Empire cannot afford to ignore the scum, and new missions and objectives could be added to integrate the three-way battle.

If you are going to go with a scum/cartel angle then it should be all about credits. Credits have zero impact on the rebs and imps but you could build the entire scum mechanics around credits. Making spice runs, offering 'protection', etc. Use that as their main mechanism over any influence and allow them to just straight up buy themselves some ships.

Why would the scum work together?

It would be more of a theme for a different game, like Hutts vs Black Sun vs Zann.

I think a third faction could be implemented like they did in Empire at War: Forces of Corruption.