I've been putting up some homebrew packs here and there for submissions I'm working on for Babaganoush's Custom Card League.
My latest custom project has been a Sentinel Shuttle, most recently seen as the go-to Imperial shuttle on the Rebels series. I doubt we'll ever see this ship in the Imperial faction, given its similarity to the Lambda, but since Hondo has stolen one and made it his gang's new ship it seems like an interesting choice to include for Scum. Considering the amount of excellent Scum crew on offer, a cheap crew carrier is always going to be a viable option in one way or another, and it's certainly quite a different option to the large based ships we've recently seen for Scum - a very support focused ship that will rely on your other ships for protection rather than being an offensive powerhouse and linchpin like Asajj Ventress or Dengar.
The Sentinel is larger than the Lambda, and we see that here with a heavier Hull/Shield total but a lower Agility value. I'm still working on the exact specifics of the dial but it shouldn't look too dissimilar to its cousin's. An important difference between the Sentinel and the Lambda is in upgrade slots, losing the System in return for an Illicit slot, though it has a lot more flexibility in secondary weapons from a free upgrade card that you'll see below.
The generic Weequay Pirate is actually one of the highest skill pilots in the expansion - a lot of the current Ohnaka Gang are somewhat comically inept, spending more time infighting than achieving their disorderly schemes.
The Last Chance itself is a title that has undergone a dozen revisions, some completely unrecognisable from the last. As we know little about the exact modifications that Hondo has done to the shuttle, I wanted something that felt evocative of the name of the ship. In this case, it is literally offering you a last chance to improve any roll you make, at the risk of completely ruining your existing results. If you've rolled out three hits, is it worth pushing your luck for that fourth result, knowing that you could just be wasting your shot? If you're taking a defensive roll that's obstructed or at range 3, it becomes a little more reliable as you can use it as backup in case of a blank die but that is a far less common situation. It also interacts cutely with asteroids and mines - you can take the risk of rolling additional hits/crits for the offchance that you might roll a blank and escape without a scratch. Probably a bad idea, but if you're going to die it might be worth a shot!
As well as the unique title, the shuttle features a modification to help it stand apart from existing ships.
The Sentinel had a whole slew of retractable turrets, cannons and missiles, and having seen the direction taken by Citakro Vizago and the Azmorigan crew card in creating a "sideboard" for X-Wing games, this seemed like a fun option to help make this ship feel a little different. If you're willing to splash out some points for an initial secondary weapon you can really adapt and respond to whatever your opponent decides to bring, or even on the fly depending on the in-game situation.
On the whole it's part "Heavy Scyk" and part Citakro Vizago. It gives you flexibility in squadbuilding and also flexibility on the table.
Speaking of Azmorigan, he's the lowest skill pilot for the Sentinel and one of the lousiest pilots we have ever seen in the game with a very selfish pilot ability.
There's a running theme in this expansion that the Ohnaka Gang don't play by the rules. Each of them twists them in their own way.
Azmorigan is about the worst ally you could ever hope to have, and you'd better believe he'll shoot you down if it helps him succeed. The most obvious synergy here is with Dead Man's Switch, but the main reason you'll want to include Azmorigan in your squad is for his price point. After all, a greedy man is easily bought.
Hondo's Ugnaut henchman Melch has learned the hard way that he needs to rely on himself to survive. Working around Hondo will do that to you. As such he trusts no one around him and is much happier to see them get shot than to take the shot himself.
While not much use for a 'party minivan' type build featuring Zuckuss or other aggressive crew members that's going to want to hurl itself into peoples faces, any sort of support crew build will be happy with the extra defence and discouragement as they hide behind their friends.
Hondo himself is a liar, a cheat and a scoundrel who can't think of anything worse than having to fight fair.
To this end, for his pilot ability he literally cheats and changes the order things happen in. Hondo will not make you an offer until he knows your side of the deal. After all, the best way to bargain is against a desperate man.
For the crew version of Hondo, I really wanted to capture the idea that he is a terrible and untrustworthy ally. So I wanted an ability of dubious benefit that could hurt you as easily as it could help you.
After all, if you are including Hondo in your squad that means you care about initiative, and if you care about initiative then Hondo is going to be hurting you at least half of the time. An opponent with an initiative bid still gets an advantage - they get to choose where it starts, which will help with the initial engagement even if it doesn't afterward.
As I'm putting together a pack for what amounts to a Scum Lambda Shuttle, it seems obvious to include a strong support crew card to mirror Palpatine.
This was actually originally a design for Prince Xizor, but I think it's a near perfect fit for Rebels-era Maul, who is the most perfect scheming mastermind I've seen in a long time.
Here we see his diabolic scheme slowly coming to fruition. Where Palpatine offers constant and reliable support all game, Maul encourages one or two big turns, where your action economy goes crazy and you really screw a couple of opposing ships. But you've got to orchestrate those moments to happen at the right range of your shuttle or his ability will be of dubious usefulness at best. Maul is a surly and complicated Zabrak.
An issue with the Retractable Weapons mod is that switching to Missiles generally means losing your secondary weapons for the remainder of the game after you discard your ordnance. With that in mind, this is a perfect place for a dual card I've had in my back pocket for a long time, waiting for the right place to drop it in. Repeater rockets offer an option for a heavy, punchy attack that can easily be swapped back and forth with Twin Laser Turret as the situation demands. Another good pair for retractable weapons to swap in and out are Ion Cannon Turret and Mangler Cannon, or if its necessary there can sometimes be good utility in dropping to niche effects like Autoblaster Turret and Thread Tracers.
Beyond the shuttle, this card gives great options to missile-carriers like the Kihraxz, A-Wing and TIE Advanced, which can suffer a little in the modern metagame against some of the very defensive ships they can face. A repeatable, high dice attack can really help crack a difficult target like a TIE Defender or Assajj Ventress.
I still have space for another upgrade card in the expansion, and my initial thought is that it should be a Crew or Illicit option to help encourage the type of game that Azmorigan wants to play - either a card that provides a bonus for your ship when friendly ships die, or a card that offers an effect when your ship is destroyed. It will be pondered on.