Well, not *literally* new, I did play a very, very little bit about 3 years or so ago, but it was so little I don't think its even worth mentioning :P

Anyway, in this past week I've purchased the Clone Wars starter and three Clone Wars boosters, and managed to pull Captain Rex, Commander Gree and the Clone Trooper on Gelagrub, which seems to point me in the direction of the Republic.

May I ask:
1) Which Republic figures should I look for? (Would appreciate a mention of set and rarity as well)
2) General army building advice
3) General playing advice

Thanks!

Welcome relatively new person!

Well, if you buy Clone Wars you are likely to get alot of Republic pieces, and if you like them that's good.

1) there are a lot of potential good peices for the republic faction that you could get. I would say the top two to get that work well with many other republic pieces are R2D2 Astromechdroid and Mas Amedda. R2's flight, towing, and override capabilities make him a solid 9 point figure and Mas' Booming Voice SA helps many commanders be more effective.

2) Good army advice would be trying to create good synergy fro everyone in the means of boosting their capabilities with either SAs or CEs.

3) is more difficult to answer because of the different number of potential tactics you could employ. But the most general advice I can give is to enjoy the game.

I would look into getting some republic help from the Galaxy at War set. The new Obi Jedi Genarl is great, and the General skywalker is awsome. Really good clones in that set as well. If you can find R2D2 astro, get it. he is an amazing piece to use with Rex. You will want to get some Ugnaught Demolisionist, and mouse droids also. They are great support pieces...You may want to search the squads page for Rex squads also. I could go on and on....but I will stop here.

PM sent...

It depends on if you're going to be highly competitive or not. If not, practically all of the minis are still quite playable and will still do well in a casual or semi-competitive environment. Still, I'd say any of the minis from the newer sets (Clone Wars and newer) will be good places to start a republic collection.

As for the older sets, I'd keep an eye out for the following:

General Kenobi (Clone Strike, R, found in set's starter) - While not as durable as the most recent Kenobis, he's still durable and has an excellent CE.

Yoda (Clone Strike, VR) - While not the powerhouse he once was, his CE is still excellent, especially when you know you'll be making a lot of saves.

Captain Antilles (RotS, R) - He's a hate piece, but if you know you'll be fighting big fringe units like Boba or Cad Bane, he'll make it so much easier to take them down.

Mon Mothma (RotS, VR) - She's great if you're using a squad with many activations as her CE allows followers to take a final stand of sorts and get off one last shot before they die. Always fun when used with characters with Twin.

R2-D2, Astromech (RotS, VR) - He has Tow Cable and Override, allowing him to transport an ally up to 12 squares and lock a door, all for only 9 points.

Clone Commander Bacara (CotF, R) - He's a supersteath commander, allowing your clones with stealth in cover to not be able to be targeted unless the enemy is adjacent. Then he boosts the damage for any trooper that's adjacent to an enemy as well.

Clone Commander Gree (Cotf, R) - He lets you bring in non-unique Wookiees of any faction, and the Wookiee Freedom Fighter and Elite Wookie Warrior are both nightmares when given access to the Republic's toys. His other two CEs are also quite good for troopers as one is a movement booster for them and the other lets them move away from enemies without provoking attacks of opportunity of they have Mobile Attack (Mobile Attack only, Greater Mobile Attack does not work for his CE)

Jedi Weapon Master (Cotf, UC) - The melee unit upon which all others are measured. His accidental low cost obsoleted almost all melee units from previous sets, but wound up paving the way for increased playabilty and competitiveness for all future melee units. He's the complete package: Low cost, Excellent stats, and a variety of Force Powers to adapt to any situation. His only downside is he only has 3 FP, but he'll have made his mark by the time those are spent.

Queen Amidala (CotF, R) - Another excellent commander for larger armies. She gives all non-unique republic followers Mobile Attack then reduces their cost by one, making her quite cheap to field in a trooper based squad.

Qui-Gon Jiin, Jedi Master (CotF, R) - He's half red-shirt, half scouting party. With the combination of his Force Powers, he'll help you win initiative, then run in, mess stuff up, die, then give a massive boost to one of your other force users.

Republic Commandos (Sev, Fixer, Scortch) (CotF, C) - Good versatile clones. Sev has Accurate Shot, Fixer opens doors, and Scortch blows them up. While Sev's the best of the three, the other two can be quite useful if played well.

Republic Commando Training Sergent (LotF, UC) - If you like using the Republic Commandos, you'll like using this guy too. He makes the commandos a pain to kill by giving them Shields 2, as well as giving your Grenadiers a massive beef-up.

Captain Panaka (Kotor, R) - He's a swapping commander, perfect for getting you big units where they need to be fast. He also makes for a handy bodyguard in a pinch.

Captain Tarpals (Kotor, R) - If you like Grenades, Missiles, etc. He's your gungan. His CE lets characters use replace attacks abilities twice, making them quite powerful. Combine him with a Bacta Tank and even the most inept medic will heal for 40 damage.

Gungan Artillerist (Kotor, C) - He's cheap and has missiles that also stun droids. Use a crapton of these with Tarpals and Queen Amidala and your opponent's hate could power a small country.

That's very lucky you pulled CW Rex. He's one of the best and most expensive Republic pieces, and a great mini around which to build a faction!

It sounds like You've already received some sound advice, but I'll just add a few things.

1) Check out the Character Ratings section on Bloomilk (http://www.bloomilk.com/Characters/Ratings.aspx). You can sort by faction and instantly see what the highest rated Republic minis are. However, there's bias that goes into these ratings, so look at them in general. For instance, I'd rate Yoda on Kybuck (an excellent VR that can be bought pretty cheap) higher than several of the minis above him.

2) You may want to consider splitting a case of Galaxy at War boosters with a friend (and preferably a friend who wants to play Separatists). You would be guaranteed 2 of each common, 1 of each uncommon, 4 rares, and 2 very rares. Overall, it's a good way to amass a variety of minis and the initial investment (~$55) is modest (at least in terms of collectible miniatures ).

3) Most of the highest rated squads have certain characteristics in common that you may want to emulate when building your own squads. Here are several reoccurring themes that are often incorporated:

--A large number of minis in the squad (e.g. 12+ for 150 pt. squads) and/or the ability to control the tempo of activations (not an option for Republic)

--A decent amount of hit points for your squad as a whole

--At least one door control piece (e.g. minis with abilities such as 'Override' and 'Satchel Charge' such as R2 Astromech and the Ugnaught Demolitionist)

--The ability to move farther than normal or move other minis when it's not their turn (e.g. R2D2 Astromech's 'towing' ability, Panaka's 'swap' ability, and Yoda on Kybuck's 'Speed 10' ability). This can allow you to move a mini out of danger, set-up a particularly deadly attack, or set-up an attack against a specific mini.

--The ability to attack any mini you want via abilities such 'Accurate' (e.g. Republic Commando - Sev). To some extent, movement pieces also allow you to do this.

--The ability for 1 mini to attack multiple minis in order to kill your opponent's smaller support pieces and reduce his/her number of activations (e.g. Yoda on Kybuck's Galloping Attack' ability or Anakin on STAP's 'Strafing' ability; to a lesser extent, minis with a ton of attacks can also serve this purpose)

--The ability to avoid damage or attacks via abilities such as 'evade,' 'stealth', and 'Mobility/Greater Mobility.' Defense against shooters is particularly useful. (e.g. the Bith Black Sun Vigo grants 'Evade' to followers with 'Stealth,' Queen Amidala grants 'Mobility' to Republic non-unique followers, and the Twi'ilik Black Sun Vigo grants 'Greater Mobility' to followers with 'Evade.')

--The ability to dish out a ton of damage in one activation via pieces with multiple attacks (e.g. 'Double Attack' and 'Triple Attack') and 'Twin Attacks.' (see Captain Rex). Certain Commander Effects can also increase damage or attacks (see General Skywalker, Admiral Yularen, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi General)

--Good attack values so your minis can hit consistently (e.g. an 'Attack' of at least 10; higher is preferred), or alternatively, the ability to deal damage without the need for an attack roll (via abilities/powers such as Force Push, Force Lightening, Flamethrower, etc.).

--Commander Effects (CE) that have a range greater than 6 to allow for universal effect coverage and greater flexibility in movement. CEs with a limited range can be extended via pieces like Mas Amedda or the Mouse Droid.

And the real trick is figuring out how to combine as many of these traits as possible on your squad given the points allowed!

If Republic ever gets boring, you can track down a Palpatine, Sith Lord, which allows order 66 characters into the Empire. While he himself is not a top tier piece, some combos with Rex and other O66 in the empire are nasty.

those are some decent pieces.
i will suggest ARF troopers, Clone commander Bacara, clone commando Sev (4 of them)
senate commandos, capt Argyus and some elite senate guards.
they hit really hard.

There is this: http://www.bloomilk.com/Characters/Ratings.aspx

Just change the filters to just Republic and Show All

you may want to PM Hydrowhip, he doesn't collect his republic pieces and will have lots to trade or sell