So it looks like the first 3 errata'd cards are here:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/12/21/great-change-in-the-galaxy/

But are there hi-res versions of Hired Guns and Leia?

Also, post-Wave 1, the must-buy blister packs are R2-D2 & C3P0; Kayn Somos; Leia Organa; Aliance Smuggler; Bantha Rider; Bossk; ISB infiltrators and all of wave 7? But do you need command cards from other packs? And what about the 3 other box sets, are those a must buy? We're getting into the $500 range here.

Finally, is there a thread that has the 2-3 dominate lists per faction?

All of those above are good worthwhile buys, (with the exception of Somos and ISB Infiltrators in my opinion but there may be great command cards in there that I don't recall

Somos is useless, but his pack comes with Rule by Fear which is a card that, while not essential, automatically makes any list you can fit it in better. Infitrators are inferior to Cross Trained Troopers, but the Infitrator pack actually is the one that contains Cross Training, so...

As well as all the best Spy command cards

So it looks like the first 3 errata'd cards are here:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/12/21/great-change-in-the-galaxy/

But are there hi-res versions of Hired Guns and Leia?

Also, post-Wave 1, the must-buy blister packs are R2-D2 & C3P0; Kayn Somos; Leia Organa; Aliance Smuggler; Bantha Rider; Bossk; ISB infiltrators and all of wave 7? But do you need command cards from other packs? And what about the 3 other box sets, are those a must buy? We're getting into the $500 range here.

Finally, is there a thread that has the 2-3 dominate lists per faction?

All of those above are good worthwhile buys, (with the exception of Somos and ISB Infiltrators in my opinion but there may be great command cards in there that I don't recall

Somos is useless, but his pack comes with Rule by Fear which is a card that, while not essential, automatically makes any list you can fit it in better. Infitrators are inferior to Cross Trained Troopers, but the Infitrator pack actually is the one that contains Cross Training, so...

As well as all the best Spy command cards

See that's the thing... the fans rewards buying as many packs as possible.

I would say Agent Blaise is more important than ANY of those, because he includes Zillo Technique, the best upgrade in the game.

The Agent Blaise pack is pretty much a required buy for an Imperial Player at the moment.

I feel this is outdated after the recent changes to counting victory points

He comes with Zillo. It helps you protect your victory points.

Turns out that i have the Wave 2 blisters as well.

To summarize, to play the skirmish somewhat competitively, I should have:

Wave 2

• Twin Shadows (Big Box Expansion)

Wave 4

• Alliance Smuggler Ally Pack
• Bantha Rider Villain Pack

Wave 5

• Return to Hoth (Big Box Expansion)
• Leia Organa Ally Pack
• Echo Base Troopers Ally Pack

Wave 6

• ISB Infiltrators Villain Pack
• Agent Blaise Villain Pack
• Bossk Villain Pack

That seems like way too much if you just want to test the waters. If you want to spend less, pick a faction first and then we can narrow the field.

-ryanjamal

ryanjamal is spot on. Different factions are competitive from different packs.

Rebel:

Leia Organa Pack

Echo Base Trooper Pack

Alliance Smuggler Pack

Agent Blaise Pack (for spy cards?)

Alliance Rangers Pack

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight Pack

Imperial:

Twin Shadows Box

Return to Hoth Box

Agent Blaise Pack

ISB Infiltrators Pack

Scum:

Twin Shadows Box

Return to Hoth Box

Jabba's Realm Box

Jabba Pack

Bossk Pack

Bantha Rider Pack

The skirmish game itself is brilliant and the meta seems in a great place - but let's not kid ourselves - as great as the game is, it'll never have much of a tournament following or player base like X-Wing/Armada - that's nothing to do with the quality of the game, mechanics or meta - it's to do with the delivery of the product and how it translates into an organised play game.

If campaign mode had never existed and FFG had released it as a straight up competitive skirmish game, then every deployment card (barring the core set) would be it's own expansion pack - the barrier to entry would be lower, and it'd certainly be a bigger game - but the main problem is the tiles. X-Wing/Armada are played on a blank space. IA is obviously, completely tied to the tiles/maps/missions.

I'm not sure there would have been a way around that, even if the game had never had a campaign mode.

ryanjamal is spot on. Different factions are competitive from different packs.

Rebel:

Leia Organa Pack

Echo Base Trooper Pack

Alliance Smuggler Pack

Agent Blaise Pack (for spy cards?)

Alliance Rangers Pack

Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight Pack

Imperial:

Twin Shadows Box

Return to Hoth Box

Agent Blaise Pack

ISB Infiltrators Pack

Scum:

Twin Shadows Box

Return to Hoth Box

Jabba's Realm Box

Jabba Pack

Bossk Pack

Bantha Rider Pack

At this point you could even slim this down in my opinion. Most of the figures can be played competitively, but you don't need certain sets to be competitive.

Rebel:

Most of the figures here are useful except the actual Rebel Troopers, I think Gideon is still one of the best figures in the game and would have a hard time leaving him in the foam, if playing Rebels, so I think the Core is still useful.

Imperial:

Agent Blaise is great and a great buy, but the Core has great pieces as well, its hard to imagine running Imperials without a few officers, you can do it, but the officers add quite a bit of usefulness. Spies are very competitive, so you could look at getting the ISBs for the cards

Scum:

Jabba's Realm Box

Jabba Pack

Bossk Pack

you could be competitive with just this or even without Bossk. If you want to play Mercs, get Jabba's Realm, you're pretty much set, other items are good to have, but you could do it without.

Yeah, I agree. For Rebels, I would pick up R2D2/C3PO and the Sabs, and I'm quite partial to Lando, but Leia is great (for the typical Twins list), Jedi Luke is a beast, and the Alliance Smuggler is great for the Heart of Freedom card (and the current maps reward having a disposable objective-filling figure, so I use him in my lists). But there isn't a whole lot that you need to have.

Mercs are probably easiest to get into, with just Jabba's Realm and Jabba (and I would get Bossk, but he certainly isn't necessary since you'll have Shyla). If you want to use the Rancor, you'll need the Bantha pack as well.

Imperials have a lot of different routes you can take, so it just depends on the list. The only mandatory pack is Blaise for Zillo.

-ryanjamal