Han Shot First - Fett Lives!

"I see why they call you the best bounty hunter in the galaxy" - Darth Vader on Boba Fett

Welcome to another edition of Han Shot First and this week we are going to take a look at the galaxies murky underbelly, the Scum and Villainy.

Again as with the smuggler and spies we only have one objective set to look at but what we see gives us a small insight into what we can expect from scum and villainy both thematically and mechanically so let's dive straight in...

The Bespin Exchange (33-1) is a Scum and Villainy objective which has a damage capacity of five and produces one resource with the Reaction: After you capture an enemy unit from play, remove one focus token from a target objective. Now stat wise this seems to be average provide a single resource and having five damage capacity, nothing really exciting there so it must all be about the reaction, right?

Currently there are two cards that can capture cards from play, one is in this set and the other is Detained (32-4) from the Imperial Navy so at the minute this mechanic is woefully under supported to be of any real use to start generating resources on a regular basis. That being said when this mechanic does get support it could turn Scum and Villainy into a real resource rich faction which could start dropping mass amounts of quality units onto the the table to overwhelm opponents.

Which brings me nicely onto the first card from the objective set Bounty Collection (33-6). Bounty Collection is a Scum and Villainy event that cost 0 resources with 1 force icon and reads "Reaction after you capture an enemy unit from play, remove 1 focus token from up to 3 different non-unit cards you control". Basically everything that holds true for Bespin Exchange stays true for this card, with the card just crying out for future support of the mechanic.

The second card we look at is the first of the enhancements Blaster Pistol (33-5). This a neutral enhancement which cost 0 resources and has 1 force icon with the text "Enhance a character unit. Enhanced unit gains (unit damage)". What is there to say about this card, free unit damage is okay I guess, but I'd much rather pay 1 resource for the light sabre equivalent. That's not to say its a bad card, it just leaves me feeling a little underwhelmed.

The second enhancement of this set brings a little more with it. Mandalorian Armor (33-4) is a Scum and Villainy enhancement with a resource cost of 2 and 2 force icons which reads "Enhance a character unit. Enhanced character gains 3 damage capacity. If enhanced unit is Boba Fett, he also gains targeted strike". Now we're talking! Tired of your Darth Vader or Emperor Palpatine getting killed too quickly, slap this on them and let them tear into the fray with 6 or 7 damage capacity. It gets even better when attached to the owner of the armor Mr Boba Fett giving him not only the high damage capacity but also targeted strike, Bonus!

The first unit card of this this set Outer Rim Hunter (33-3) is a scum and villainy unit with a resource cost of 2, 1 force icon, 1 damage capacity, 1 unit damage and 1 edge dependant blaster damage and reads "Reaction: when this unit is declared as an attacker, the defending player must deal 1 damage to 1 of his objectives." I really like this guy, sure he's frail with only one damage capacity but with the reaction being activated when he is declared as an attacker, you can always guarantee that he's going to get one objective damage through, and if you manage to get him through without opposition he deals 3 damage which starts looking pretty good from a two cost unit.

Which leaves the object of many a fan boys affection, the legend that is Boba Fett (33-2). Boba is a unique Scum and Villainy Elite unit with a resource cost of 4, a damage capacity of 2, a unit damage and a edge dependant unit and blast damage and reads "Reaction: After this unit damages a character unit, capture that unit". How thematic is this guy! Now with my fanboy side suppressed its time to look at this guy objectively and unfortunately the Fett comes up a little short. His low damage capacity aside his reaction is somewhat undermined by his low unit damage count if you don't with the edge battle. This can lead to infuriating matches when that Luke or Solo simply can't be captured thanks to that single shield token preventing Boba from claiming his bounty! Admittedly if you manage to get either enhancement from this set on him he starts to look a real problem unit for the opponent to deal with and the Fett can start to deal some serious damage to your opponents side of the board. My other reservation for this unit comes from the actual capture mechanic, which means while capturing units seems a very powerful effect (having to deal only a single point of damage to remove a character unit) it could lead to instances that the light side player smashes the objective your hoarding your bounties on and gets to refill his hand with character units, which could be a real problem if he gets to flood the board with quality units (let's face it you will of been targeting the best units you could). It's not all doom and gloom for the mechanic though as I'm hoping with the accelerated resources it will help Scum and Villainy close out games before this becomes a real problem.

Now usually this where I would talk about how this objective set fits into the current environment and how decks could be bolstered with its addition, however I feel at this current moment in time it saddens me to say it doesn't bring that much to any of the two factions it could be added to. I know there is a deck that came 2nd to TinyGrimes at a recent regional which included a single copy of this objective set as a silver bullet to the "smugglers den" big unit build, but by his own admission he didn't really use Boba Fett at all really. I'm sure further down the line when the deluxe expansion is released for Scum and Villainy and Smuggler and spies this will become a real hose but until that time Mr Fett will be sitting snugly in my folder waiting for his time to shine.

So let us know in the comments how you are putting Fett to work in your decks.