I currently collect empire only but would like to expand in to S+V as a secondary faction...

Please give me your opinions on

..

1/most important sets to buy immediately

2/a buying 'strategy' to expand

Please include reasoning. Most interesting post wins - the prize you ask? The satisfaction of draining my wallet!

It sounds silly, but based upon what I normally run, and I rarely run anything but Scum,

1) 3-Most Wanted. Yes. Three. You get a scum Z swarm and the ability to field multiple scum hawks.

2) 1 Starviper for Guri and auto thrusters

3) 2 IG-88's

4) 1 kihraxz for crackshot and Talonbane if you are looking for a headache.

5) 1 YV-666 because the will be good someday.

We will see how wave 8 changes this list.

The Most Wanted pack carries tremendous value. If you see yourself using swarmy zed lists two of those packs would be a good investment but you can get by with just one. The Firespray and HWK-290 both get retrofit tokens and dials that can be used for the existing ships you already have or else expansions that you would buy to use. That is in addition to the 2 Z-95's and 1 Y-Wing contained in the pack. The Scum Boba Fett is a super fun ship to use.

Aggressor/IG2000 aka BroBots lists are popular. You can run a single IG-88 but they are most commonly run as a pair. They are arc dodgers at heart so with a SoontirFel username this could appeal to you.

There is a wide disparity of opinions on the YV-666 aka Hounds Tooth (Bossks ship). It's almost a love it or hate it situation. I think it's fantastic and am ready to finally pick up a second due to the sweet crew cards coming out with the impending wave.

The Star Viper is also has a love/hate type of ship. I think it's fun to fly but for the most part it's not nearly as strong as some other options. You see them crop up occasionally in successful tournament results with either Xizor or Guri. If you plan to play in any tournaments they have a bonus of coming with 2 copies of Autothrusters which are nearly a requirement to use for certain ships in a competitive environment.

The M3-A Scyk Interceptor in my opinion is a fragile hunk of hot garbage. Other people will be deeply offended by this comment but whatever. If you want one go nuts but I would start with one and only one if you want to check it out.

The two new ships look like they will be really cool. The Mist Hunter (Zuckuss and 4-LOM) and Punishing One (Dengar) round out the ships from the ESB bounty hunters. They come with great crew, upgrades and mechanics for the game.

Personally I would recommend buying 1 of everything (although including the Scyk pains me a bit). Tons of fun stuff to use.

Well,if you've already got Firesprays when Most Wanted is a must. After that,it's pretty much up to you.

StarVipers obviously carry upgrades which will work well with the IG-2000 should you decide to go that route, and also with your Imperial Interceptors.

Kihraxz are solid filler ships, have Scum's version of Wedge and some incredible upgrade cards (Crackshot,Predator, Glitterstim).

I would get 2 most.wanted expansions and a K-wing. MW for the core of your scum faction plus all the great upgrades and retro fits. The K-wing so you can TLT your 2 new Y-wings. Then I would.look at the Firespray. Scum Boba and Kath are both great pilots.

After that you can go with what catches your eye. Kihraxz fighters come with glitterstim and crackshot which are very popular upgrades right now. The Houndstooth comes with engine upgrade.

I started out as a Rebel pilot, so my jump into S & V has been slightly easier, though I still need to pick up the Firespray to take full advantage of the all important Most Wanted expansion. And with the controversial Punishing One (Dengar!), you're going to have a fun intro into Scum indeed

Quick question: Do you have any scum ships so far? Maybe Slave 1?

Wave 6 Scum expansions seem to come in buy-together-blocks, each individual purchase is tied with other purchases. These are the blocks and expansions I recommend (No particular order).

1) 2x IG-2000 Expansions - Pair of good high mobility large ships. Good synergy with themselves. If you play Imp arc dodgers, its just a matter of getting used to the base and dial. 2 max (unless you play Epic)

2) 1x Most Wanted, 1x HWK-290, 1x Slave 1 Expansions - Z-95s, Y-Wings and Firespray-31s are great sluggers with good unique pilots; the HWK is a great support/debuff ship. Max 4 Most Wanted, 3 HWK-290, 2 Slave 1 - Z-95 & Y-Wing Expansions instead of more Most Wanteds (unless you play Epic)

3) 1x StarViper Expansion - Xizor and Guri are both great pilots on this ship. Autothrusters benefit both your factions - however you do not need more than 2 at current point.

4) 1x Kihraxz Expansion - Cheap (points and retail price), effective starfighter. Talonbane and Cracked shots are great additions to a S&V squadron. Max 5 (unless you play Epic)

5) 1x YV-666 Expansion - 180 degree fire arc crew carrier - not the greatest now but has potential to become better as more scum crew appear in later waves. Recommended 1 for now; Max 3.

6) 1x M-3A Scyk Interceptor - Decent flanker, poor in pretty much all other roles. No vital upgrade cards. Don't recommend more than 1 for now

The YV666 comes with an engine upgrade, which doesn't come in any imperial packs that I know of.

Coming from empire which, in my opinion is all about mobility... What is Scum shtick?

Coming from empire which, in my opinion is all about mobility... What is Scum shtick?

Coming from a mainly Rebs background, if Rebs are about synergy, and Imps are mobility, in my opinion, Scum are all what sneaky tricks and everyone out for themselves. There are some great pilot abilities and some awesome crew. Reckon its going to get even better when Wave 8 hits stores. I see 4-LOM and Dengar crew becoming standard features of my builds.

It's all about dirty tricks. Z95s with feed backs or dead mans switch, y wings with TLTs, the Brobots dancing around your opponents and laying into them with heavy fire. With the new expansion, you have Boba Fett killing important cards that your enemies list may be relying on.

I would say they aren't competitive with Empire or Rebels, but they are a lot of god **** fun and can ruin the days of people who don't expect them.

Do you own Rebel stuff? Do you proxy? Do you play semi-competitively or higher? The answers to these questions are significant.

I'm going to assume "No", "No", and "Yes". If you fly purely casual, just buy whatever looks cool, of course.

Must-Buys

2x IG-88: These guys are fantastic, and one of the core archetypes of these fleets. Assembling the right cards to fly their most popular builds can be a fiddle, but the ships themselves? Solid. Autothrusters + HLC + FCS is a staple, no matter what else you pile on their chassis (And they come with Manglers, which are also a decent option).

1x StarViper: ... for the Autothrusters. If you proxy, this slips down into the 'maybe' category.

JumpMaster 5000: It's not even out yet, but this thing is going to be great fun... and the upgrades it packs promise to be hilarious too.

Solid Buys

1-2x Most Wanted: This thing gets you Scum Boba, and Kath, both of whom are great fun. It also gets you a pair of Z95s (great filler) and a Y-wing... which is OK, but really needs TLT or Ion Cannons to shine. See also: Rebel cards, so this might be a harder sell to get excited over accordingly. Likewise, the extra cardboard it packs for a spare Y-wing and a HWK are of limited value if you don't already have them!

YV-666: A ship with 180 degree firing arc and 3 crew slots will find a place in plenty of lists if only for its sheer versatility. Also comes with the only non-Rebel Engine Upgrade card to date, which is a boon in itself (Especially for Scum Boba).

Maybe Buys

Kithraxz Fighter: It's not bad, per se, but it's got one Ace pilot that's kinda cool (The other one is dead-on-arrival) and it's fundamentally filler; a 1pt cheaper, non-Integrated-Astromech X-wing. Not a bad choice, especially if you really just want 20pts of 3-attack filler, and has plenty of nifty upgrade cards (including Predator and Crack Shot, baby), so one or two might be worth buying for the cardboard alone.

Mist Hunter: For the cards alone, it's up into Solid, possibly even Must. The ship itself? Well, we'll see. Expensive B-wings haven't been popular for a while, and that's fundamentally what you're looking at here. Does it have enough tricks to outweigh that? I wouldn't bet the farm just yet. (Then again, I'm buying one just because the model's just so **** cool. )

Y-Wings, HWKs: Both are solid enough (Especially the Y-wings!)... but you'll end up buying them in their rebel blisters, and then Most Wanted kits to convert 'em, and then a K-wing for the TLT that makes them awesome. These aren't bad ships... but if you're an Empire-only kinda guy, that might be an investment too far. I can't advise either way 'cuz I'm a one-of-eacher, so it's mostly up to you on this one.

Don't Buys

Scyk: Alas, poor maligned fellow... you can stay in the box. In the shop. Too fragile with a cannon, too expensive to fly without. Fix inevitable; we'll see then. If you're playing casual, go for it! But let's just say they show up even less than the Kithraxz do, and they're marginal to begin with... and a fix is incoming, so buyer beware of the 14pt PS2 TIE fighter. On the other hand, the Defender fix might actually give a (minor) demand for Flechette cannons, and extra Stealth Devices could be handy... ehh. Yeah, I'm reaching. Leave 'em till you know you need 'em.

Extra StarVipers: Once you've got your awesome Autothruster cards, and your Kinda-OK Ace pilots in a positionally-dependant mid-PS Guri, and poor Xizor (who got nerfed from 'modest' to 'mediocre' with the rise of TLTs, thanks guys!), you really don't need much. The ship itself is OK, it's just priced as badly as an E-wing, yaknow? And you only get one with the cool upgrade slots to boot. Yeeaah.

Does this seem all a little... pessimistic? I suppose it might be. Scum has some problems; many of their ships are just a little too expensive, or more to the point a little too lacking in job-description-potency to shine in the way that practically-everything-is-awesome Empire players get to enjoy. In a sense, much of it feels similar to the Wave 1 of X-wing - just about everything there needed buffing in the end too, after a little too much caution on certain units at the time came back to bite 'em in the butts later. Scum's initial release feels a little similar, these days - things may well change as the faction grows (It's crew options, for one, are getting phenominal), but in the meantime... well, expect to see IG-88s in a lot of lists. Frequently in pairs.

...Good thing they're great fun to fly, huh?

Do you own Rebel stuff? Do you proxy? Do you play semi-competitively or higher? The answers to these questions are significant.

I'm going to assume "No", "No", and "Yes". If you fly purely casual, just buy whatever looks cool, of course.

Hey, thanks for the indepth reply (and to the others of course!) - my answers would indeed have been no, no and yes...

I think, at this time I may put off starting Scumm and stick to building up the Imperials - the ships I like the look of (Khiraxz and Scyk) aren't up to scratch and the ship i like the look of least (ig-2000) seems to be top tier...

Get a starviper or 2 - the upgrades cards there have the most synergy with Imps - especially aces.

After that maybe khiraxz and YV-666 - both come with nice upgrades that don't come in Imperial expansions. (Crackshot, Engine upgrade)

The rest later if they still interest you.

The second IG-2000 is only useable in a single list. Why not just start with one, then buy a 2nd if you like it?

Hound's Tooth is hilarious, but you'll have trouble finding storage, it doesn't fit in the typical plano solutions.

#1 starviper, amazing named pilots and two autothrusters which help your empire

#2 I would say most wanted but if you have no hwk or Y wings it is less good. But it still has good illicit upgrades and 2 Headhunters for you and firespray scum pilots, all are fun.

#3 all of the next wave

#4 hounds tooth. (A slaver with gunner, bosk, and what ever is shuttle like)

Skip IG 88 unless you want to play mid PS aces.

Skip scyk until they are fixed. They do have a number of cannons (mangles, ion, fletchette) if you need some.

As an Empire player looking to get the most bang for your buck out of S&V here is my suggestion of what order to purchase in:

1) Starviper - Your Interceptors become very hard to hit with Autothrusters

2) Most Wanted - this comes with 3 ships and scum pilots for your Firespray

3) Starviper - after your Most Wanted purchase, you now have 5 S&V ships! A pair of PS 1 Starvipers and your Firespray of choice is a fun (and deadly) list. Your experience as an Imperial pilot will have you jumping for joy over the Starviper's dial, firepower, and survivability. It's the TIE Fighter you've always dreamed of!

From here it's your call. 2x Agressor will open up the world of Brobots to you. The HWK is a mean Scum ship that just ruins your opponents best laid plans. Hounds Tooth is a great ship for those that are fans of the Raider. It follows the motto of the best defense is a good offense.