The third faction for Bare Bones* is Scum and Villainy.
On the whole, the Scum ships are slower than Imperials, lean more towards hull and manoeuvres over shields than the Rebels. Overall, the Scum faction has by far the most upgrades offering exclusive Illicit, Salvaged Droid and plenty of Crew upgrades, combined with a variety of ship give them an unpredictable feel.
Marauders prey on a hapless C-Roc Cruiser.
M3-Scyk
The Scyk interceptor is slow for an interceptor and is often considered to be the “poor mans” Tie fighter. Cheap and with plenty of Pilot options, it needed lots of help in full X Wing to be of any interest, including purchasing a C-Roc Cruiser for two titles and upgrade cards (unpopularity made picking up lots cheaply, easy to do). A hair too dear to do a full 8 ship swarm the ship still has something to offer in BB. Unlike the Tie, it has a Target Lock, can K5 turn and is a little tougher (1 shield/2hull vs 3 hull).
Strengths; A Scum Tie with benefits.
Weaknesses; A slow swarmer.
Z95 Headhunter
The Headhunter (sounds cooler than Z 95), is a better ship for the Scum than the Rebels. The addition of an Illicit slot opens up a heap of nasty tricks, so when faced with a big or small swarm of them, an opponent is unsure whether to stand of or get close. They can also be fielded as a slower, tougher 8 ship semi-X Wing swarm. A lack of manoeuvres (no mod or EPT upgrades hurts these guys), can be partially off-set by Inertial Dampeners, EMP, Cloaking and Deadman’s Switch to add to the fun. Beware the 7 ship swarm! Where did the points go?
Strengths; A cheap swarm or platform for all sorts of Ordnance + Illicit combos, plentiful.
Weaknesses; Not many top tier pilot options, slow and weak X Wing.
Kihraxz Fighter
The Kihraxz is very much like the X Wing, predictable but solid. Two K-turns with Illicit + Missile slots make a less predictable ship than the X Wing and it has some interesting Pilots. For flavour, Harpoon missiles are only available to Scum (nasty things), which boosts the Kihraxz a little against it’s natural enemies.
Strengths; A solid work horse, Illicit, Pilots.
Weaknesses; Predictable, bit boring to fly.
Fang Fighter
My favourite Scum ship, the Fang (or Protectorate) fighter is the Scum Interceptor with bells on. Not many ships are equipped to deliver the Advanced Proton Torpedo (potent 5 attack) as it requires the ability/desire to get in close. With most of it’s Pilot’s skills leaning towards head to head, range 1 confrontations, it can and actually wants to get close.
Strengths; Fast, Talon Roll, Boost+Barrel Roll, Range 1 Pilot skills + Torpedoes.
Weaknesses; Brittle, predictable tactics
Star Viper
The beautiful Star Viper, like the Fang Fighter, has a BB trick up it’s sleeve. It is one of the few ships in BB that can S-Loop and the only small ship that can. Like a slower, slippery version of the Fang, the Viper likes to get close and dart around it’s opponent. In BB it pretty much has this to itself. Suffering in full 1e from losing it’s uniqueness (the common problem with full 1e), the Viper got some added uniqueness, but in BB, it needs no such help.
Strengths; Boost + Barrel Roll + S-Loop, Pilots.
Weaknesses; Expensive.
Y Wing
The arrival of the Scum Y Wing breathed new life into the much ignored Rebel Y Wing, adding new options and coming at the perfect time to mount the Twin Laser Turret. Even without some of it’s specific new upgrades, it is still worth considering. Not only is it still a tough brawler, it also allows you to field large numbers of Salvaged Droids, that are similar, but different to the Rebel Droid options.
Strengths; Tough ordnance platform, cheap, Salvaged Droid.
Weaknesses; Slow and un-manoeuvrable, needs a Droid to fix that.
Scurrg Bomber
The Scurrg is an interesting ship. A bomber that acts like a fighter, it has a Talon Roll, Barrel Roll and lots of Ordnance choices. Flying a few of these can be fun, flying one as a finisher, even more fun.
Strengths; Moves like a Butterfly, Stings like a Scorpion.
Weaknesses; Not many.
HWK 290
See the Rebel entry, except the Pilots and Crew lean more towards dirty tricks than support.
Jump Master 5000
This ship reigned supreme for a time, as both multi ship “U-Boat” squads and in mixed teams. The nerf was massive and has carried through to 2e, but I like to play it as originally made (minus title). A ship similar to the YT 2400, the JM 5000 moves like a smaller ship, including a lop-sided S-Loop. It has the only Illicit + S/Droid + Crew combination in BB, making for some quirky combinations. Taking some of sting out of it’s power is the fact I only have one.
Strengths; Moves cleverly, lots of options.
Weaknesses; Expensive, unique.
Aggressor
One of two Scum ships in BB with the System upgrade, the Aggressor is an odd bird. It loves to get close as it can S-loop and Evade, has lots of green manoeuvres, but it only moves at speed 3 so getting close can be tricky. 2 Cannons, can offer lots of punch. The ability to synch with another ship’s pilot through IG-88D cannot be ignored.
Strengths; Lots of close manoeuvre options, 2 Cannons + Systems.
Weaknesses; Slow as a Lambda space cow, that likes to dance.
Fire Spray
The Iconic Scum Slave-1 (and many others), the Fire Spray is simplified in BB, lacking 2 titles, it still offers plenty of options. Sporting several interesting Pilot, Ordnance, Illicit and Crew combinations, a multi arc Primary and Evade, gives it the character it deserves.
Strengths; Versatile, Pilots.
Weaknesses; Not many.
GA-1
Considered by many to be the Scum B-Wing, the GA-1 is a a heavy fighter with a Crew + System+ Illicit slot combination, making it one of only two ships with Systems in the Scum fleet and the only Illicit + System ship in BB. It also has Evade.
Strengths; Versatile.
Weaknesses; Mixed Pilots.
Lancer
The Lancer pursuit ship is a contradiction, so probably typical of a Scum ship. Tough and fast, it has a rotating primary weapon (not a full turret), the highest hull of any Scum ship, Evade and 15 non-red manoeuvres, so it looks on paper like a small ship with too much hull.. 2 Illicit slots and a Crew slot make for some interesting options. Without it’s title, it is slightly less efficient, so the rotating weapon becomes more like a dual arc option. For added factional flavour, only Ketsu Onyo has access to Tractor Beam, making her crew card irrelevant.
Strengths; Tractor Beam, Rotating Primary, Dual Illicit, strong, fast.
Weaknesses; Expensive.
M12-L Kimogila
The Kimogila is a heavy fighter/ordnance platform. It’s “Ace in the hole” is the ability to reload it’s ordnance, effectively giving it an unlimited, if sometimes disabled supply. It flies like a cow, so good luck getting the Bulls Eye arc to work for you. It sort of acts like a Ninja. A big, fat, slow, brown Ninja. Have you picked up on it being my least likes Scum ship?
Strengths; Pilots, Reload.
Weaknesses; Boring to fly (but fun getting the Bullseye to take), ugly.
YV-666
The big lump of a tramp freighter which is the YV-666, made famous as the “Hound’s Tooth”, but also known as the “Party Bus” in X Wing circles, is the ultimate support ship. Horribly un-manoeuvrable, it does sport a 180 degree front arc (which it needs) and plenty of crew slots.
Strengths; 3 Crew, wide primary arc.
Weaknesses; Big, predictable and expensive.
C-Roc
The C-Roc is one of three single card Huge ships and only two that we have included in BB. This ship is not much more powerful than a VCX-100 or Decimator, nor a lot bigger**, but adds a lot of options, including Cargo, Team and Hard-point upgrades with Jam and Reinforce on their action bar. I have two, thanks to a luck buy (so cheap, the included M3-A alone was only slightly over priced), so it is a shame not to use them (and the characters they support). My second will eventually be re-painted. The Huge ships also add energy mechanics to the game, which is handled differently to 2e and in moderation, I quite like them.
Strengths; Lots of upgrades only available to Huge ships, Great scenario driver, re-usable shields.
Weaknesses; Ultimate space cow, adds Energy and Huge ship movement to the mechanics.
*
The Quad Jumper is outside the purview of this form of the game, introducing Tech, unless this is swapped out with a Systems or Illicit slot.
*Bare Bones uses original movie or early extended universe ships (what were available before the new movies), with inherent Pilot skills, basic Ordnance and Crew load-outs, with Illicit, Droid, Salvaged Droid and System upgrades as a point of difference. There are deliberately no title, Modification, Tech (TFA era) or Elite Pilot Talents.
The reasons for this are two fold. EPT’s especially “break” the game, add too many layers of synergy for casual players and too much advantage to more experienced ones, make some classic ships sub-par and rob the game (in my view) of it’s natural balance and feel. The excluded upgrades, I feel, are game based, not simulation based.
**Originally, I intended to only get the single card Huge ships, because both (GR-75 and C-Roc) added new small ship options and were “tame” enough to fit in a small ship dynamic. I eventually lusted after the Raider, so the good guys had something truly intimidating (mini Death Star scenario) to take on and it had some Tie Advanced options.
Originally, Bare Bones excluded all ships with actions that fell outside of the norm (Rotate, Reload, Cloak etc) and some weapons (Tractor Beam), but this excluded a lot of interesting options that did not break the Bare Bones idea.