Thus far I was simply buying everything X-wing the moment it was available.
But given the price hike and the 4 extra/new factions I'll have to stagger my purchases or risk sacrificing too many "wife-points". 😉

So I intend to get the Separatists first and was wondering if -and how- to make an entrance in this faction gently.

At a guess you need the 'servants of strife' box and the Sith Infiltrator. Plus one Vulture droid fighter.
Can you make a decent (enough) list with this lot to get properly started?

Thoughts?

If you want to lean into the swarmier aspects of the faction, you could do 2 squad packs and a Vulture for the same price. Just spit ballin

18 minutes ago, Elkerlyc said:

At a guess you need the 'servants of strife' box and the Sith Infiltrator. Plus one Vulture droid fighter.
Can you make a decent (enough) list with this lot to get properly started?

Thoughts?

Skip the infiltrator for now. Get two squad packs to start out. That will keep you under $100 msrp, give you 6 ships with plenty of options. If you want buzz droids you will need to pick up a single vulture pack. Get infiltrator last, it is $40 MSRP and eats heavily into how many vultures you can take thus reducing the unique feel that Separatists have with a bunch of droids swarming around.

Yeah, unless you're really interested in flying the Interceptor for itself, I'd agree with the others. It can play a support role, but if that's the direction you want to take it, you're going to want the Vultures first. And Vultures really seem to want the numbers more than anything else.

I tried playing some with just my SoS and Infiltrator, but I was mostly left with the feeling of wanting access to more Vultures So I say this from experience. Now that I've gotten my second SoS and a pair of Vultures, I'm eagerly awaiting the opportunity to fly 6 of them. And the opportunity to buy a couple of the metallic paint job at Adepticon, I hope! That way I can try flying 8 ❤️

IMO, 4 Vultures and a Bellyrub (so 1 SoS + 2 Vulture packs) is just barely enough to fly a workable list. Not really a good list but you can get into the ballpark of 200 points.

If I had a do-over of last Thursday, I'd buy 2 SoS and 1 Vulture.

Maul + Grievous + 2 vultures is okay. Probably not the best list, but something flyable.

Darth Maul (65)
Hate (3)
Chancellor Palpatine (14)
Count Dooku (9)
Scimitar (4)

General Grievous (47)
Daredevil (3)
Impervium Plating (6)

Trade Federation Drone (20)
Energy-Shell Charges (4)

Trade Federation Drone (20)
Energy-Shell Charges (4)
Total: 199

Its an expensive Maul, but it can dish out a butt load of damage. 5 force charges is pretty fun.

2 minutes ago, Jo Jo said:

Maul + Grievous + 2 vultures is okay. Probably not the best list, but something flyable.

Darth Maul (65)
Hate (3)
Chancellor Palpatine (14)
Count Dooku (9)
Scimitar (4)

General Grievous (47)
Daredevil (3)
Impervium Plating (6)

Trade Federation Drone (20)
Energy-Shell Charges (4)

Trade Federation Drone (20)
Energy-Shell Charges (4)
Total: 199

Its an expensive Maul, but it can dish out a butt load of damage.

Trade out Dooku crew for Soulless One, IMO?

3 minutes ago, SpiderMana said:

Trade out Dooku crew for Soulless One, IMO?

I agree. He's not going to be triggering much with his requirement that the ship be at full force for him to use his crew ability. Honestly as crew he's better on O-66 or the Courier.

17 minutes ago, Hiemfire said:

I agree. He's not going to be triggering much with his requirement that the ship be at full force for him to use his crew ability. Honestly as crew he's better on O-66 or the Courier.

I mean Hate does help? I kept my force charges up pretty much constantly the game I played with Palp/Hate Maul. But I was also flying poorly, as I was trying to coordinate Grievous rather than put Maul where he wanted to be.

Dooku crew might work fine too, but I’d probably still drop Palp if you wanted to go that route.

57 minutes ago, lordvorkon said:

IMO, 4 Vultures and a Bellyrub (so 1 SoS + 2 Vulture packs) is just barely enough to fly a workable list. Not really a good list but you can get into the ballpark of 200 points.

If I had a do-over of last Thursday, I'd buy 2 SoS and 1 Vulture.

I feel Grievous + Soulless One + k2B4 + Treacherous, Sear, and 4 x ESC Trade Federation Drobes might be a thing.

I feel like this answers all the questions in the title

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_law_of_headlines

22 minutes ago, Octarine-08 said:

I feel Grievous + Soulless One + k2B4 + Treacherous, Sear, and 4 x ESC Trade Federation Drobes might be a thing.

Yeah, I really want to try double bellyrub and friends.

6 minutes ago, lordvorkon said:

Yeah, I really want to try double bellyrub and friends.

My version of that includes 6 Vultures and everyone is PS1 😅

(With K2-B4, I'm thinking? TV is an option to make it more offensive, but the Belballubs don't gain anything from it, and at i1 I wouldn't count on the bullseye. Rather keep them alive longer and/or the enemy can strain themselves, which would also allow for a more offensive approach.)

1 minute ago, SpiderMana said:

My version of that includes 6 Vultures and everyone is PS1 😅

If I waited a bit with purchase of the Sith infiltrator I could go for 2 boxes of SIS and one blister vulture droid.

With this you can get 2 Bellyrubs and 5 Droids with energy shells with 6 pts to spare. (K2B4 perhaps?)

1 minute ago, Elkerlyc said:

With this you can get 2 Bellyrubs and 5 Droids with energy shells with 6 pts to spare. (K2B4 perhaps?)

I had to look up what I'd had in that list, which I edited in as you posted this.

5 with ESC might be the better route, but I'm interested in trying pure numbers, first, personally.

3 minutes ago, SpiderMana said:

I had to look up what I'd had in that list, which I edited in as you posted this.

5 with ESC might be the better route, but I'm interested in trying pure numbers, first, personally.

True. Anything counts in large amounts.
But if I can do with 5 I'd save one blister initially.
And leave a second blister plus the Sith Infiltrator for a few weeks later.

Alternatively, if you really liked Sith, you can make an ~200 pt list with two Infiltrators.

Something like:

Maul + Hate + Palpatine + Proton Torpedoes + Scimitar + Shield Upgrade + Tractor Beam/Ion Cannon + Proton Bombs
O-66 + Dooku + Shield + Proton Bombs + Tractor Beam/Ion Cannon

Dooku is fantastic, but doesn't want to bog Maul's freedom in spending Force Points for Modifications. Maul + Palp + Hate basically means Maul has near perma-Focus, which is good for a ship that shoots twice per round. Also, having 4 Force + Force Regen on a ship carrying Palpatine makes him an absolute nightmare to kill, because almost everyone that shoots him gets stressed, which is painful.

I have NO IDEA if it would be any good, but it looks a bit like the "BroBots" of old, but now with more Sithy Force Power fun.

It's also about the cheapest Separatist list you can make at "only" $80 ... but it has almost no flexibility in list-building options.

2 hours ago, Hiemfire said:

I agree. He's not going to be triggering much with his requirement that the ship be at full force for him to use his crew ability. Honestly as crew he's better on O-66 or the Courier.

Dooku crew is there mainly to max out the force pool. As Maul goes through force charges like crazy. If you get Dooku to prox 1 or 2 times a game you are doing fine. Hate should help keep your force level up to maximize your damage output.

1 hour ago, Jo Jo said:

Dooku crew is there mainly to max out the force pool. As Maul goes through force charges like crazy. If you get Dooku to prox 1 or 2 times a game you are doing fine. Hate should help keep your force level up to maximize your damage output.

Yea, if nothing else, a Maul + Hate + Palp + Dooku Scimitar sports 5 Force Points with Hate-regen. It means Chancellor Palpatine becomes Rebel Captive on steroids. People are excitedly running Palpatine in Republic lists, and there it's impossible to put on a ship with innate Force, meaning he's capped at once per turn. On Hate-Maul, with or without Dooku... egads, man.

I think you'd want Kraken on Maul with 2x Infiltrators. That lets both Maul and O-66 load up on and hold on to a Calculate token on turn 1, almost like adding +1 Force to both but without messing with Dooku's ability if you need to spend it.

Every separatist game I always feel like I would trade in everything for more vultures by the end.