When all we had to play skirmish with was the core box, there were only three cards - one skirmish upgrade and two command cards - that directly affected victory point totals, rather than helping you win either by defeating figures or completing objectives.

When the Bespin wave (specifically the Lando ally pack) hits stores tomorrow, we will reach double-digits for cards that directly fiddle with the win condition:

To what extent do you use these cards? I know On a Diplomatic Mission gets played a lot, although not strictly for its VP ability, and I Can Feel It kind of falls into the same camp.

Does anyone run Price on Their Heads, Celebration, or Merciless in a hunter list, either trying to rush VPs or strain out a command deck for some late Merciless VPs? Has anyone made good use of Smuggler's Run?

I still think that these cards are spread a little too thin across different factions and or traits etc to really have too much of an impact, but they're getting close.

Bobby whiskey is right that these cards are spread out between factions and types a lot now, and I 100% agree. But, FWIW, there are usually a good number of Skirmish games in tournaments that are decided by score when time is called rather than one side getting to 40 points, so these types of cards can be an edge in close games. Celebration, in particular, is commonly played because it's an easy 4 points in most local metas (crucially it doesn't require an action).

I'm sure we'll continue to see more effects that award extra VPs in the future and a VP rush strategy will emerge. Currently it looks like the Merc faction is the most attuned to this strategy though Smuggler's Run could be powerful for the Rebels in the right meta (with close deployment zones).

I've used Price on Their Heads to good effect before, but that one does seem kinda iffy. It's most useful to put out in the same round you think you can kill your target so they have no time to respond to the price on their heads.

But it also can disrupt your opponent if you put it on them early, since they might alter their strategy with that figure group to keep them alive more than the originally would have.

For a 2v2 skirmish I played a while back, I built a hunter list that used both Price on Their Heads and Celebration. I ended up getting 24 VPs from General Weiss that way.

Is there ever a reason anyone would use First Strike?

I've never really understood this one... Strikes me that the player running it is just impatient and wants the match to be over with.

I've been toying with it on and off, and it's hard to justify paying 2 points for it when you could have had something useful instead - however, I do think at some point it could be interesting in a unique scum list with maybe Boba and Bossk who both hard to take down. In a list where everyone costs more than 4 points, it shouldn't give your opponent as much advantage and with Celebration and Price On Your Head you can potentially have 12 points without shooting a single group. Along with the new smuggler card and a few others, I see potential to do some crazy stuff - good though? Not sure.

I think you'd only ever take it if you had all the other VP boosting cards... the hunter ones, the smuggler ones, celebration etc... Then you can probably get something like 8-12 points by just killing one unit (plus the cost of that unit). Combined with some map objectives you could be looking at 20-30 pts pretty quickly with minimal combat required. Then you can play more defensively or rush one more kill for the win.

Yes, you'd probably have to go all in. Perhaps it could also make sense in a squad where you spend 5 points (or more) on upgrades (First Strike [2], Under Duress [2] and Temporary Alliance [1] for instance). That way, your opponent still cannot get to 40 without getting objective points. Hm. Thinking in my head while writing, you just need for instance First Strike, TempAll and say C-3PO. With this, they cannot win on 40 without mission points (since you lose anyway if they wipe you). It's hard to give up those 2 points, but I think there is something useful in it, somewhere. At 1 point, I'd play it regularly I think. Scum just have so many really cool upgrades, but it's costly to have them all