With heroes of the Republic coming out and 1^stOrder getting new ships in Wave 9 & 10 I was thinking of trying out a new format just to shake things up a bit. As we all know X-wing which in thematic wise has 5 factions but in game mechanics only 3 factions. So I was thinking of some way to separate a Rebel Alliance Squadron list from a Resistance Squadron list in a way that is just as balanced. AS OF NOW BOTH THE RESISTANCE AND THE 1^ST ORDER DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH SHIPS TO BECOME THEIR OWN FACTION. Sorry just had to clarify for those who only read the subject line and post. So this is my compromise idea to have ally limits on list using the other subfaction in the primary faction. So A Resistance list will have most of their points(over Half) spent on resistance ships and a Rebel Alliance List will have most points spent on their own ships.

So here is how it works.

Allied and Mercenaries Format

Factions and Allies

Everyone pick one subfaction instead of a Primary Faction as their faction for their list. Primary factions are as everyone knows Rebels, Imperials, Scum The subfactions are:

• Rebel Alliance
• Resistance
• Galactic Empire
• 1^stOrder
• Scum & Villainy _{more to follow see mercenaries down below.}

Now for most of the list it has to be composed on ships from that subfaction but may take ships from the other subfaction in their primary faction. (So Alliance can take Resistance allies and Empire can take 1^stOrder and visa verse) However there is a limit on how many points can be spent on allied ships. That limit is based off of the total squadron list point value (in faction and allies combined). Any upgrade equipped to an ally ship counts to that point limit. So if a 1^stOrder ship takes an Academy Pilot and equips Shield Upgrade on that Academy pilot that would be 16 points spent on allies. The point limits as follows.

• List value of less than 60 squadron points up to 15 squadron points of allies
• 60-89 points up to 20 points of allies
• 90-99 points 30 points of allies
• 100+ points 40 points of allies

In-Faction and Allies.

Any pilot card whose faction is part of the selected subfaction and all equipped upgrades are considered in-faction and does not count to the allied point limit but still counts to the squadron point value. Any pilot card who is in the primary faction but is not part of the selected sub-faction and all upgrade cards are considered allied and counts to both the allied point limit and squadron list value.

Faction Restricted Upgrade Cards.

As all Faction Restricted Upgrades are tied with their primary faction they are considered to be the faction of any ship they are equipped to. So putting emperor Palpatine on Kylo Rens Shuttle in a 1^stOrder list will count as in faction (even though Emperor Palpatine was Empire in story). However if you place Emperor Palpatine in his traditional Omicron Group Pilot in a 1^stOrder list he would count as allied and count towards your allied point limit. Also Faction restricted upgrade cards cannot be place on mercenaries but more on that to follow.

Mercenaries

Now since Scum only has one Subfaction, Scum & Villainy here is and idea to shake things up a bit. Allow Scum to act as mercenaries for the other 4 factions. Mercenaries act just like Allies in terms of points spent and the point limit. Your Allied point limit becomes your mercenary point limit and upgrade cards placed on mercenary ships count to that limit. However there still are a couple of catches. ​If you use mercenaries you cannot use allies. Furthermore faction restricted upgrades cannot be equipped to mercenaries. Sorry Imperials who were hoping to score on using Boba Fet <crew> but you cannot put him in your list. Nor can you put Emperor Palpatine on a YV-666. Also I don't think I need to explain that you cannot have 2 Boba Fets in your squadron list because one is Imperial and one is Scum. Which brings an interesting choice because now for Imperial and Rebel Players not only do they have to chose which subfaction to focus on but also whether or not do they want to stay within their primary faction or take on a lucrative deals with Scum and Villainy ships. So out of all the combinations of faction list you now have.

• Rebel Alliance with Resistance Allies
• Resistance with Rebel Alliance Allies
• Rebel Alliance with Scum Mercenaries
• Resistance with Scum Mercenaries
• Scum & Villainy
• Galactic Empire with Scum Mercenaries
• 1^stOrder with Scum Mercenaries
• Galactic Empire with 1^stOrder Allies
• 1^stOrder with Galactic Empire Allies

So addressing some concerns which may come up in foresight.

​So what about the balance between the factions if mercenaries can cause faction mixing?

What about it? Besides with all the cross faction ships and pilots there will be some restrictions that can keep things under control (like unique cross faction pilots). But the big thing that I believe preserves the balance with this format in the factions is that by taking mercenaries you are giving up something. Your allied subfaction, and that is the whole concept of balance a take and a give. If you are flying Empire and you want to take Scum Boba Fet you are giving up the ability to take Omega Leader. Another thing that I believes preserves the balance in this format is the tight point limit for both allies and mercenaries. If you are underbidding for initiative you immediately cut out 10 points to spend on mercenaries. Further more if you want to spend more than 30 points (to a maximum of 40 of course) you have to fill up your list to 100 points total in a standard 100 point match. Which means throwing on some 1 or 2 point upgrades you would have never considered otherwise for the initiative bid. So with most competitive lists with mercenaries you might find that no more than twenty-something points spent of Scum ships and the rest in their own sub-factions.

So if any faction can take Scum mercenaries why would I ever play as the Scum & Villainy faction?

First of all you get to spend more than 40 points on scum ships. Second of all this is the only way to get access to Scum Only Upgrade cards. So those wonderful upgrades like Boba Fet <crew> and Attani mindlink can only be found in one place HERE. Just because Scum and Villainy are offering their services doesn't mean they are giving up their best toys. I'd had thought about the illicit upgrade slot but with rebels getting illicit slots I don't see the point in restricting it on mercenaries. It is likely that both Rebels and Imperials turn a blind eye to the Inertial Dampeners on Slave 1 when hiring his services, as long as he doesn't upgrade to hotshot blaster he's fine.

Won't this break the theme? After all Scum are not Imperials or Rebels and it would be funny to see Boba and Han on the same list.

Well we do have a game where Biggs flies against Rexler Brath in a TIE defender. If anything I think this format enhances the theme. After all the Imperials did hire bounty hunters to help find Han Solo in cloud city. SO yeah I think it works perfectly.

Epic Allies and Mercenaries Format

For Epic formats right now there is no Huge Ships for TFA and Scum, but still I think this format could help out for those who might be a little shy of the 200-300 points they need to complete their squadron list. So much like with standard Allies and Mercenaries Format you select a subfaction and if it is a Rebel or Imperial subfaction you chose weather to have Allies or Mercenaries added to your list. The point limit for Allies and Mercenaries in Epic are as follows.

and for epic

• Less than 100 points (see standard point limits)
• 100-149 points 40 points of allies
• 150-199 points 50 points of allies
• 200-299 points 75 points of allies
• 300+ points 100 points of allies

Huge Ships

Since the TFA factions do not have huge ships (or a fully fleshed out faction) Huge Ships are considered part of their primary faction; Imperial, Rebel, or Scum(whenever they finally get a huge ship). The ship and all upgrade cards equipped to that ship always count as in-faction and never count towards your ally point limit. Furthermore to future proof this Scum Huge Ships cannot be taken as Mercenaries much like other Scum Only faction Restricted upgrade cards.

So what do you think of this idea for a format. Would you tweak anything in it? What could be done better? Comment on it below.

Next you'll want to differentiate Garm's Rebels vs Mon Mothma's.

If I had a question about this it would be "why would anyone play as anything but scum & villainy?"

They're the only faction that retains undifferentiated access to all their ships, and they're not exactly a weak faction to begin with.

I think there may need to be some kind of artificial split in the scum faction to balance this out.

this seems like an incredible amount of effort for no real gain

which is almost certainly why we have subfactions and not this

this seems like an incredible amount of effort for no real gain

which is almost certainly why we have subfactions and not this

But why did FFG bother with sub-factions at all then? Was it just for theme? Were they giving themselves design space for later? Does anyone really know? or care?

Literally just for theme or to tie in better with the new movies

Unless we introduce Rebellion and Resistance only specifically to give the Xwing upgrades that the T70 can't take

Rebel Alliance Only and Galactic Empire Only have yet to materialize, and all TFA restricted upgrades are just Rebl or Imperial only instead of First Order and Resistence only. It would seem that yes the subfactions are only for decoration. The only real difference in the game is the back of the plot cards...

Maybe if we had some pilots or abilities that gave bonuses or penalties when going up against a particular faction or subfaction. Something like extra dice when attack or defending against Imperials or Galactic Empire. Tournament people would hate it, so let's do it!

If I had a question about this it would be "why would anyone play as anything but scum & villainy?"

They're the only faction that retains undifferentiated access to all their ships, and they're not exactly a weak faction to begin with.

I think there may need to be some kind of artificial split in the scum faction to balance this out.

Well the split is allowing them to be mercenaries but I see your point. With Allies it does have limitations on the primary factions that the Scum Faction does not have. However looking at most of the 100 point Poe Dameron Lists on List Juggler would still be playable in Allies and Mercenaries Format. So even if Rebel and Imperial lists did have the split in the way it was mentioned you still would see most of the top lists that use both OT and TFA ships.

Rebel Alliance Only and Galactic Empire Only have yet to materialize, and all TFA restricted upgrades are just Rebl or Imperial only instead of First Order and Resistence only. It would seem that yes the subfactions are only for decoration. The only real difference in the game is the back of the plot cards...

Maybe if we had some pilots or abilities that gave bonuses or penalties when going up against a particular faction or subfaction. Something like extra dice when attack or defending against Imperials or Galactic Empire. Tournament people would hate it, so let's do it!

It would be nice if there were something that identifies the subfactions a little bit more flavor than say vanilla and vanilla bean. Maybe if there were a bounty hunter that says pick a subfaction and reroll one dice when attacking or defending against a pilot from that subfaction. But still in the meantime I would like to explore options in making a Resistance list different from an Alliance list. It is a shame that there is no difference between a 1^stOrder or an Empire list. So far this is the best idea I came up with. If someone can come up with a better one I'll be willing to listen.

Sorry for chain posting. Issues with multi quotes.

this seems like an incredible amount of effort for no real gain

which is almost certainly why we have subfactions and not this

Don't you mean Primary Factions? subfactions as of now play no part in X-wing.

The gain is reducing the amount of faction mirror matches and also have some cross faction lists with the Mercenaries mechanic. I think everyone can agree that 3 factions are better than 2 in a competitive environment but still the mirrors tend to be the most frustrating to play and least entertaining to watch. Sort of like TvT in Starcraft. Once you see that you want to skip to the next match.

Next you'll want to differentiate Garm's Rebels vs Mon Mothma's.

Depends, which one will hire Mercenaries?