Good morning gamers,
Today we're continuing our series on skirmish upgrades by looking at a niche Imperial attachment: Advanced Comm Systems (ACS). There are only a few units that can use this card (and the Grand Inquisitor isn't one of them... even though you get the card in his villain pack). This card is unique in that it extends the range of special abilities from 1-2 spaces away to 3 spaces away. Our qualifications for finalists today will be:
Without further ado, let's get into it:
Bronze Medal: Elite Imperial Officer
The Elite Imperial Officer is one of a handful of units that can enable a friendly figure to attack out of turn. With an original range of 2 spaces for his Executive Order special ability, ACS gives that occasionally required extra range to make a better figure look good.
The Elite Imperial Officer is only third in our list because while he's very useful, he only provides a once-per-turn benefit and if you lose your power figures, the effectiveness of this card goes down.
Silver Medal: Kayn Somos
Kayn is expensive for a trooper, and while his expected range rivals most units, his damage (and surge) output is not great. When you do surge, you can use his Squad Commander surge ability make a friendly adjacent Trooper Focused. With ACS, you can choose a Trooper within 3 spaces, which is far better.
In addition, Kayn can spend his non-shooting action to use his Firing Squad special ability to call in the firepower of two friendly Troopers within 2 spaces (with ACS it's within 3 spaces) to attack a single model (which means you can attack the same guy three times if Kayn shoots too).
While all this is great your not that likely to surge more than once in a fight and if you do, your damage output is greatly diminished. Still, if you have strong Trooper units (the elite Stormtrooper variants are great), you don't need to attack - just call in the shots and move to where you are needed most.
Gold Medal: General Sorin
Today we're continuing our series on skirmish upgrades by looking at a niche Imperial attachment: Advanced Comm Systems (ACS). There are only a few units that can use this card (and the Grand Inquisitor isn't one of them... even though you get the card in his villain pack). This card is unique in that it extends the range of special abilities from 1-2 spaces away to 3 spaces away. Our qualifications for finalists today will be:
- The model must be able to be included in an Imperial force (while you can include Mercenary models in your force with Temporary Alliance, none of the Mercenary deployment cards can use this power);
- The model can affect friendly models nearby;
- The benefits of this upgrade will prioritize static bonuses over situational bonuses.
Without further ado, let's get into it:
Bronze Medal: Elite Imperial Officer
The Elite Imperial Officer is one of a handful of units that can enable a friendly figure to attack out of turn. With an original range of 2 spaces for his Executive Order special ability, ACS gives that occasionally required extra range to make a better figure look good.
The Elite Imperial Officer is only third in our list because while he's very useful, he only provides a once-per-turn benefit and if you lose your power figures, the effectiveness of this card goes down.
Silver Medal: Kayn Somos
Kayn is expensive for a trooper, and while his expected range rivals most units, his damage (and surge) output is not great. When you do surge, you can use his Squad Commander surge ability make a friendly adjacent Trooper Focused. With ACS, you can choose a Trooper within 3 spaces, which is far better.
In addition, Kayn can spend his non-shooting action to use his Firing Squad special ability to call in the firepower of two friendly Troopers within 2 spaces (with ACS it's within 3 spaces) to attack a single model (which means you can attack the same guy three times if Kayn shoots too).
While all this is great your not that likely to surge more than once in a fight and if you do, your damage output is greatly diminished. Still, if you have strong Trooper units (the elite Stormtrooper variants are great), you don't need to attack - just call in the shots and move to where you are needed most.
Gold Medal: General Sorin
I don't like most of the models in Return to Hoth, but I like Sorin. Sorin has great Droid and Vehicle synergies, and like our two previous finalists, his Bombardment special ability can cause another model (adjacent originally, within 3 spaces with ACS) to interrupt to attack (with a static Blast 1 added to the results). Sorin is also healthier than the Elite Imperial Officer (though not as healthy as Kayn Somos) and cheaper than Kayn Somos (though not as cheap as the Elite Imperial Officer). But Sorin comes into a realm all his own in a different way...
Sorin originally allows adjacent friendly vehicles and droids to borrow his surge abilities with his Advanced Firepower skill, which not only allows for more damage, but also can Focus the Droid/Vehicle or Stun the target. Since Imperial Droids and Vehicles can't use more than 2 surge for damage (and none can Focus themselves or Stun their opponents), Sorin provides the ability to turn more surge into damage and makes it impossible to waste surge in an attack (assuming you get enough accuracy). Ordinarily, you'd need to create a "Sorin Ball" with up to 8 figures surrounding Sorin (which not only makes your army vulnerable to Blast, but also limits your ability to move around the board). With ACS, the range for this borrowing rule is increased to 3 spaces and your army is less vulnerable to Blast AND can move around the map more easily.
This upgrade is one of the few upgrades available to Imperial players, but it can be well worth it. Even if you're not running a Droid, Vehicle, or Trooper list, it's still useful on an Imperial Officer (and for 1 point, it's probably not breaking your point limit). In our next post, we'll be switching to the Rebels and examining On a Diplomatic Mission. Until next time, happy gaming!
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