Custom Campaigns: Getting More Out Of Imperial Assault

Good morning gamers,

We’re starting a new series on custom campaigns, where we’ll show you how to use the side missions you already own to make the campaign game more fun (so you don’t have to play the same. Campaign. Over. And. Over. Again). While we won’t be providing any campaigns today, we’ll go over the general rules for these short campaigns and the rules of thumb for them.

Short Campaigns: The Fantasy Flight Games Rule

Short campaigns were released by Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) in the Twin Shadows and Bespin Gambit expansion boxes. All of the missions included in these two expansions are side missions, joined together with story text (and a different rewards section), and united around a common theme and location. The general layout of a short campaign according to FFG is as follows:

·         Pre-game:

o   Rebel players receive cash/hero and XP/hero and resolve a Rebel Upgrade stage (access to basic gear);

o   The Imperial Player (IP) receives XP and may purchase upgrades (but doesn’t get any Influence to buy Agenda cards);

·         Mission 1: GREEN Side Mission

o   Regardless of which side wins, both the Rebel heroes and the IP each gain the same XP;

o   If Rebels win, they get access to the hero in the GREEN mission, but if the IP wins, a Villain that was present in the mission is awarded to the IP;

o   Rebels get cash/hero, IP gets a tiny amount of Influence;

o   Rebels can purchase basic/medium gear, IP can now purchase Agenda cards;

·         Mission 2: RED Side Mission

o   Both Rebel heroes and IP gain XP – winning side gets +1 XP;

o   If the Rebels win and the hero that the RED mission is for is present in the group, that hero receives their reward card (per usual) – otherwise the heroes get additional cash/hero. If the IP wins, additional Influence is received;

o   Rebels get cash/hero, IP gets a tiny amount of Influence;

o   Rebels can purchase medium gear, IP can purchase Agenda cards;

·         Mission 3: GRAY Side Mission

o   Both Rebel heroes and IP gain XP – winning side gets +1 XP;

o   If the Rebels win, one hero receives the GRAY reward card (per usual), but if the IP wins, additional influence is received;

o   Rebels get cash/hero, IP gets a tiny amount of Influence;

o   Rebels can purchase advanced gear, IP can purchase Agenda cards;

·         Mission 4: Imperial Agenda Deck Mission

o   Win/Lose the Campaign (per normal for campaign finale)

If you’ve played any campaign game for Imperial Assault (and as should be visible above), you know that the Rebels get a lot out of their credits – they buy gear and stuff to make them better and kill things faster. The balance for the IP is that they receive Influence, but for whatever reason, the short campaigns starve the IP for Influence (while not starving the Rebels for credits). This is the only thing I draw issue with for their short campaigns (and something I’ve changed in the rules below). Without further ado, here are the rules for creating a custom campaign according to Tiberius from the Wretched Hive blog (specifics highlighted in green for Rebels and blue for the IP):

·         Pre-game:

o   Rebel players receive 300 credits/hero and 3 XP/hero and resolve a Rebel Upgrade stage (access to T1 gear – draw half the cards rounding up).

o   The IP receives 3 XP and 3 Influence and resolves an Imperial Upgrade stage.

·         Mission 1: GREEN Side Mission

o   Rebel players receive 300 credits/hero and 2 XP/hero (cumulative of 5 per hero). If the Rebels win the mission, they are awarded the Ally from the mission to use in future mission (if there are no other allies included in that mission). Rebels can purchase T1/T2 gear – draw half the cards rounding up.

o   The IP receives 3 Influence and 2 XP (5 total). If the IP wins, he is awarded a Villain from the mission OR a Villain of his choice based from the faction that had the majority of the deployment cards in the mission if no Villain was present (e.g. if the IP used 4 Imperial deployment cards and 3 Mercenary deployment cards, the IP would choose an Imperial Villain and not a Mercenary Villain).

·         Mission 2: RED Side Mission

o   Rebel players receive 300 credits/hero and 2 XP/hero (cumulative of 7 per hero). If the Rebels win the mission, they are awarded +1 XP/hero (cumulative of 8 per hero) and either a) the reward card for the mission if the hero associated with the mission is being used, or b) 100 credits/hero otherwise. Rebels can purchase T2 gear – draw half the cards rounding up.

o   The IP receives 3 Influence and 2 XP (7 total). If the IP wins, he receives +1 Influence and +1 XP (8 total).

·         Mission 3: GRAY Side Mission

o   Rebel players receive 300 credits/hero and 2 XP/hero (cumulative of 9-10 per hero). If the Rebels win the mission, they are awarded +1 XP/hero (cumulative of 10-11 per hero) and receive the reward card for the mission. Rebels can purchase T3 gear – draw half the cards rounding up.

o   The IP receives 3 Influence and 2 XP (9-10 total). If the IP wins, he receives +1 Influence and +1 XP (10-11 total).

·         Mission 4: Imperial Agenda Deck Mission

o   Campaign finale – the winning side wins the campaign!

We’ve tried to correct the Influence-starving of the IP: even if the IP loses every mission leading to the finale, he will receive 12 Influence, which is on-par with what he’d receive in a long campaign. One of the big problems with starving the IP for Influence is that you can’t get through the cards that are in your Agenda Deck, making it incredibly difficult to find anything that you want in it. With a reasonable amount of Influence, the IP is actually able to compete with the Rebel Heroes (which is pretty hard to do in most side missions once the Rebels get access to Tier 3 weapons). If you want to view our rules at-a-glance, check out our short campaign page here on the blog! With the basic rules understood, let’s look at the heart of a short campaign: the theme.

Short Campaigns: Finding A Theme

Anytime you string independent things together, you run the risk of not having a cohesive story. Since side missions are meant to be interspersed within a long campaign, there isn’t a lot of unity between them (at least as far as planets, characters, etc. are concerned)…or is there? I’ve found that there are several ways that you can get a story to gel cohesively:

·         Center it around certain characters: Some missions (especially in the Core Set) involve the same Villains/Allies – usually based on those available in the core/expansion set. While this doesn’t help you very much for waves where there were only Ally/Villain packs included, you’ll find side missions for Agenda decks that were released in/alongside expansion packs using the same villains/allies, providing you a cohesive story.

·         Center it around a planet/location: The Twin Shadows/Bespin Gambit campaigns have the advantage of occurring on the same place, but you’ll find missions on Tatooine scattered all over the place. If you make it more generic and stick to locale types (forest, desert, interior-nice, interior-dingy, snow), you can ignore the printed planet and weave into the story that you’re located somewhere else.

·         Center it around the themes of the missions themselves: In many side missions, you’ll be asked to steal something (supplies, secret plans, prototype hardware) OR perhaps you’ll be asked to destroy something. What if you can find multiple missions from the various side mission types and allow your players to do a mass smuggling operation (or sabotage campaign)? Want to rescue prisoners or hunt down bounty hunters? There are PLENTY of missions for you to choose from if you work based on theme.

However you want to set up your campaign, think about what you want the characters to do: do you want to follow the lives of an ally/villain that you hate? Is there a super-secret project that you’re running to ground? Are you stuck on a lonely planet waiting to be rescued (and picking up odd jobs along the way)? Pick a theme and run with it – writing up the blather between the missions can be fun and it adds a weight to the story that your Rebel players will enjoy.

Short Campaigns: Stream-lined vs. Alternative Missions

With all that said, there is an aspect of the short campaign that you can skip altogether if you want it to be simpler: Missions 2 and 4 have alternative options based on whether the Rebels win/lose Missions 1 and 3. I’ve found that this is generally unnecessary – you can change the blather based on the outcome if you want (celebrating victory vs. licking wounds), but the actual missions need not change. Those longing for additional complexity (or who have created a short campaign, walked through it, and want to make some changes for variety and re-playability) are welcome to use it, but the short campaigns you’ll be seeing here won’t have that in them. That said, if you don’t like one of the missions included in my set (or just think there’s a better one), do a quick substitution – I won’t be offended.

Short Campaigns: Starter List

Here are the first six campaigns we’ll be viewing over the next few weeks (as a means of helping you get started at thinking about your own campaigns) - I've ordered these from least required number of purchases to the most number of purchases (purchases required in brackets):

·         Balance of the Force: Homecoming, Temptation, Sympathy For The Rebellion, Dark Obsession [Core]

·         Sabotage: Brace For Impact, Brushfire, A Simple Task, Means of Production [Core, Rebel Trooper]

·         The Solo Story: Sorry About The Mess, High Moon, Imperial Entanglements, Wanted [Core, Han Solo]

·         Valuable Supplies: Precious Cargo, A Hero’s Welcome, Luxury Cruise, Impounded [Core, Jabba’s Realm, Alliance Smuggler]

·         A Smuggler’s Life For Me: The Spice Job, Shady Dealings, Perilous Hunt, Breaking Point [Core, Twin Shadows, Jabba's Realm]

·         Allies In Kashyyyk: Brute Force, Indebted, Celebration, Back-Room Bargains [Core, Chewbacca, Wookie Warrior, Hired Gun]

I hope you get some great ideas for how to work these campaigns into your gaming sessions – until next time, happy gaming!

Character Review: Drokkatta

Good morning gamers,

We just concluded a series on "splash" characters in the Campaign game (with Gaarkhan, Fenn Signis, and Vinto Hreeda). As we move from "splash" characters to sharpshooters, we're going to address Drokkatta, who could easily be classified as either a splash or a sharpshooter character. Instead of locking her into one of those two builds, I wanted to highlight her flexibility and give her a section all to herself.

Drokkatta: Why Can't Blast Be Precise?

Drokkatta has one of the best upgrades in the game: Shrapnel Rounds. Prior to her release, there was only one weapon upgrade that gave you the opportunity to add Blast (making it only exist in the realm of Fenn Signis and a handful of Imperial figures). Not only is Shrapnel Rounds a cheap upgrade (only 2 XP, allowing you to get it early), but it allows you to turn your Blast into precision splash damage (working kind of like Vinto's Boltslinger ability) - great for not damaging your own figures. Drokkatta is able to use Blast more effectively with her starting weapon OR her 3 XP Repeater Cannon (more on this later), making her in many ways the queen of Blast. Her ability to do Blast is further supplemented by her Demolish ability, doing damage to people on/adjacent to a space nearby - perfect for softening up figures before you unload on them with your gun. Given all this, I know what you're thinking...

Why isn't she in the "splash" characters section?

Well, here's why: while Drokkatta certainly can do splash damage (with Demolish) and it's easy to purchase upgrades (or just use her starter weapon) to gain Blast...

Drokkatta doesn't need to do splash damage.

Drokkatta's Blast options are tied to gear that she needs to spend valuable XP in order to gain. Even if she purchases cards that use Blast, she can turn those into more precise attacks (though they're still technically splash attacks). As such, Drokkatta lives in a realm all her own with flexibility that you won't find in any of our other splash characters (Gaarkhan might also qualify). 

End-Game Weapon #1 - Flexible Blast: MGL-9 "Boomer" with Shrapnel Rounds

Let's get this straight: a Red-Blue attack pool for a range weapon is really good - fairly reliable damage with reliable range. The "Boomer" doesn't have any innate ways of dealing additional Damage to the target via surge, but so long as Drokkatta stays healthy, she can turn 1 Damage into 1 Surge with Dispersal Shot. To ensure you get the damage you need, be sure to take Charging Up which is not only the cheapest upgrade in the game to add health to a hero, but also gives you a Damage Power token at the end of each activation - perfect for generating additional damage (or a surge). You can further increase your damage potential with Structural Exploitation which gives you a static Accuracy 1 + Damage 1 + Pierce 1 (and bonus Damage and Pierce against objects). To supplement your accuracy, consider taking Bank Shot which will not only open up new targets for your blast attacks, but will also guarantee you a minimum of 3 Accuracy to your attacks!
With effectively 3 automatic Damage and 3 automatic Accuracy BEFORE you see your attack results, it's not that hard to damage single-defense-dice figures. The Shrapnel Rounds, however, makes this a "flexible blast" build, as you can either go the Blast route (ala Fenn) or the special ability damage route (ala Vinto). If you need to be precise, you can be with this weapon and since both your weapon and your upgrade are upgrade based, you didn't pay any money for this - so splurge on accessories! Get some Laminate Armor, get some Extra Ammunition, or get some of those Concussion Grenades that allow you to do more area-of-effect damage whenever you feel like it!

Upgrades to purchase - 8 XP: Charging Up (1), Bank Shot (2), Shrapnel Rounds (2), Structural Exploitation (3)

End-Game Weapon #2 - Blasting Overload: Repeater Cannon with Shrapnel Rounds and Under-Barrel HH-4

If you REALLY want to Blast people, you want to trade out your MGL-9 Boomer for the Repeater Cannon. This weapon gets an automatic Damage to assist the Green-Blue combo. The power of this, of course, is that alongside the Damage Power token you can get with Charging Up, you can basically guarantee that you do damage to your target - the Green will further ensure that good things happen. For our supporting equipment, we've chosen to go full-on towards blast by picking up the only two upgrades that provide Blast benefits: the Shrapnel Rounds and the Under-Barrel HH-4. If you can get 2 Surge (1 from the Green die and 1 from Dispersal Shot, perhaps), you can improve your static Blast 1 to become Blast 3. If performed with Demolish, you can do 4 Damage to a bunch of people, which is pretty good at clearing out most regular Imperial units with a single attack. With a static 1 Accuracy from the Under-Barrel and the Green-Blue combo, you're guaranteed 4 Accuracy (which will allow you to hit the space you targeted with the Demolish ability). As awesome as this is, you aren't guaranteed to make this work - you're limited to 2-3 Damage coming off the Green-Blue attack pool and while you might be able to surge for Pierce 2, you're not THAT likely to break your opponent's attack (especially if you get a bad roll). To solve this problem, we turn to our final upgrade.
Drokkatta has this beautiful 4 XP upgrade called Thermal Explosives: the idea is pretty simple: do a little more damage with Demolish (awesome) and exhaust the card to add a Yellow die to a range attack you're performing (more awesome). This changes the Repeater Cannon to the same dice pool as a Pulse Cannon, except that instead of surging for 2 Damage and Pierce 1, you can surge for Pierce 2 and Blast 1. The Yellow makes it far more likely that you can trigger both Blast abilities you have AND get the Pierce 2 at the same time. So long as you're shooting at Black die, you shouldn't have a problem cracking the defenses of your foes. EVEN IF you get the worst possible result of Surge 1 on the Green, Damage 1 on the Blue, and Damage 1 on the Yellow, you're still looking at Damage 4 + Surge 1 + Blast 1 (with static Damage 1 and Damage Power token), which means:

• Against 3 Block, you surge for Pierce 2 and use Dispersal Shot to do Damage 2 + Blast 2;
• Against 2 Block or 1 Evade, you still surge for Pierce 2 (or don't surge at all with an Evade) and use Dispersal Shot to end up with Damage 3 + Blast 2;
• Against 1 Block, you use Dispersal Shot to do Damage 2 + Blast 3.

Getting that extra die makes all the difference for triggering your blast results. It's important to note that the example above is the WORST possible case - if we started with 2 Surge (or if the Green gave us 2 Damage), we might not be able to surge for more Blast, but we'd definitely be doing damage to the target (triggering the static Blast 1 anyway). All told, it's powerful. And ultimately, if you have a bad round and you just need to do a single Blast to your target, you can always just shoot a second time...

Upgrades to purchase - 10 XP: Charging Up (1), Shrapnel Rounds (2), Repeater Cannon (3), Thermal Explosives (4)

End-Game Weapon #3 - Smacking Time: MGL-9 "Boomer" with Charged Ammo Pack and Polearm with Extended Haft OR Vibrogenerator 

We've already talked about the Boomer - it's good. Since you can't surge for damage, we've added the Charged Ammo Pack to give you a little extra kick. Since there's nothing that says you can't have two of the same Power token, you can start a round with 2 Damage tokens (though you can only spend one token in each attack). This is powerful without a doubt, but when I looked at one of the upgrades for Drokkatta (Wookie Wrath), I asked myself the following question:

Can you run Drokkatta as a melee character?

Thanks to Wookie Wrath, Drokkatta can do a Red die worth of damage to an opponent WITHOUT SPENDING AN ACTION! She can then push the figure if she wants to shoot him (which you can do with the Boomer if you want). Alternatively, you can also just get a weapon with Reach and push him so that he's within Reach range and hit him there. Since the Polearm comes in the Heart of the Empire expansion with Drokkatta, it made sense to include it here. Thanks to Leave No One Behind, you can give yourself a free movement point during your activation, allowing you to lead off by dealing some damage and shoving someone 2 spaces (even beyond Reach range), then moving 1 space to stay within Reach range, then twacking him with the Polearm for precision damage (or with the Boomer for splash damage). We've put the Vibrogenerator on the Polearm (you'll have to wait for T3 for it - I recommend picking up the Extended Haft before then) because the Red-Red combo won't surge very often (and because it's unreliable - you might end up with only Damage 2 from the die - far better to guarantee Damage 4).
But it gets even better: do you recall from the Fenn Signis post where we talked about Trench Fighter helping both with melee weapons and range weapons? Well Structural Exploitation does the exact same thing! When attacking with the Polearm or the MGL-9 "Boomer", you can add a static Damage 1 + Pierce 1 to your attack results (and Accuracy 1 with the Boomer). Taken with the free Damage Power token from Charging Up, and you can do a TON of damage. 

Upgrades to purchase – 9 XP: Charging Up (1), Leave No One Behind (1), Structural Exploitation (3), Wookie Wrath (4)

Drokkatta in the Skirmish Game

Let's start with this: Drokkatta's a Wookie. As such, she belongs in a Wookie list. With a static Damage 1, Accuracy 1, and Block 1, she gets more static bonuses than anyone else (except Bossk). Drokkatta's attack pool is great - Yellow-Green-Blue - and she can surge for Damage 2 and Blast 2, making her damage output fantastic. With plenty of health to back up that static Block 1, Drokkatta's pretty hard to clear from the board without some powerful units focusing on her. If you put her in a Wookie list, her blaster attack type is a welcome relief (as most Wookie units have melee attack types). Use her to clear chaff units OR soften hardened units for your Wookie Warrior squads (or Gaarkhan) to cut to size.

In many ways, Drokkatta is both a precision character AND a splash character - she can use weapons that are incredibly precise OR she can use weapons that splash everywhere. It didn't feel right to put her only in the splash characters (though she dominates there) and it didn't feel right to avoid putting her with them either. So, we gave her a place all her own. With this interlude complete, we're moving on to the Sharpshooter group - Jyn Odan, Mak Eshkarey, and Loku Kanoloa. These shooters don't splash into other people, but they tend to find ways to gain free actions, perform free attacks, and generally make a mess of things. Until then, happy gaming!

Skirmish Upgrades: Prey On The Weak

Good morning gamers,

Today we dig into one of the most straight-forward skirmish upgrades available to date: Prey On The Weak. When it comes to the skirmish upgrades we’ve viewed so far, there are two basic kinds of upgrades:

• Attachments that encourage the figures for the attached deployment card to behave in a certain way (Advanced Com Systems, On a Diplomatic Mission, Vader’s Finest, Smuggler’s Run);
• Non-attachments that provide some benefit for the team as a whole OR for one specific character on the team (Black Market, Under Duress).

So far, the only Mercenary skirmish upgrades we’ve looked at fall in the second category, so it’s about time we look at an attachment skirmish card for a change. J

Requirements for Finalists:

This skirmish upgrade is pretty straight forward: increase the Pierce and Accuracy of your attacks. The nuance comes with guessing how high the figure costs of your opponent are going to be (players who run Trooper swarms are likely going to have most of their army composed of deployment costs with figure costs of 2-4 points, while Jedi/unique-character teams will have figure costs well at or above 6). Given this guesswork, here are the assumptions we’re making about finalists today:

• The figure must be a Hunter (as that’s a requirement for the upgrade);
• Figures should have a deployment cost above 4 (sorry, Greedo) and no more than 10 (sorry, Boba Fett and IG-88); and
• While Accuracy isn’t required, figures who benefit from both the Pierce bonus and the Accuracy bonus will receive a higher preference.

I know what you’re thinking: why did you choose the range that you did? Here’s what my rationale is: there are many, MANY players who believe that Trooper deployment cards are the most competitive deployment cards in the game right now. And they would probably be right. Rebel or Imperial (or Mercenary hybrids), Troopers do reliable damage against the majority of units and reliably get Accuracy (and you tend to get a lot of them). You can also regrow them, heal them, and boost their damage. What’s not to like? Most Trooper choices, though, have a figure cost of 2-4 points. As such, if you’re facing an army of Elite Troopers, you want to cost at least 5 points (hence my floor value).

On the other extreme, the most expensive Hunter figure to-date costs 13 points (all hail Boba Fett), but there are very few figures that have a figure cost above 10 (many vehicles and a lot of the named characters from the Core Set and Twin Shadows – hence my ceiling). As such, figures who cost a bit less than 10 points will free up more space for you to flesh out the rest of your army while still getting the bonuses provided by Prey On The Weak. Does this make Boba Fett or IG-88 a bad host for this upgrade? No - though I think you want Focused On The Kill for IG-88 more than Prey On The Weak. As with many of my reviews, this is one man’s opinion – feel free to disagree if you want (but read the article first – I want the views). J

Honorable Mention: Elite Clawdite Shapeshifter (Senator/Streetrat Form)
I don’t usually do “honorable mentions,” but (SPOILER ALERT) seeing as how we don’t have very many Mercenary cards in this post, I figured I needed to give them a bit of an edge in the final tally. J The more I look at these guys, the more I’m impressed with them: at 6 points a model, they’re kind of expensive, but with a Red-Yellow-Green attack pool (my personal favorite in the game) and the ability to become long-range killers, up-close killers, or self-healing token-distributors, they’re fantastically flexible. I’ve not included the Scout form because I don’t think it needs the Accuracy buff (though the automatic Pierce 1 certainly makes up for swapping the Red die for a Blue die), so we’ll just be looking at the Senator and Streetrat forms today.

Both of these forms have great surge abilities (which of course only trigger if you get enough damage to breach the target’s defenses). With a figure cost of 6, pretty much any unnamed character is a fair target and you’ll be getting at least 1 Accuracy from Prey On The Weak and at least 1 Accuracy from the Green die. For a Streetrat, this means you will definitely hit someone adjacent to you (though minimum range is technically 2 spaces away) with a maximum range of 6 (which is kind of hard to hit seeing as how you can’t surge for Accuracy). The Senator also can’t surge for Accuracy, but does get a static +1 Accuracy, changing the range to Min 3/Max 7 (bonkers).

For both of these characters, you should be able to break through the toughest Black die (thanks to the free Pierce 1 and the Green die), drilling into the target with the full weight of the Red and Yellow – both forms can surge for Damage 1, so most of your surge is going to be dedicated to other endeavors (like sneaking out your knife or Recovering health). Whichever form you’re using, Prey On The Weak opens up your options and gives you the boost you need to be great - all for a single deployment point.

Bronze Medal: Biv Bodhrick (with Temporary Alliance skirmish upgrade)
I’ll admit, Biv is one of my favorite characters (we’ll write up the post on him when we talk about tanks): Biv in the skirmish game has a decent amount of health and the ability to perform more than one attack in a given turn (although both must be directed against the same person). Biv is great for tearing down heavy units and with his high figure cost (a whopping 9 – just made it under our limit), he can use his brutal attacks against basically any unnamed character and many named characters (which you won’t see from anyone else in this post). Since you purchased the Temporary Alliance upgrade to bring Biv in, you might consider also bringing another Rebel character to supplement Biv (and the rest of the army) – Gideon Argus or C-3PO come to mind, though if you want Hunter/Brawler synergies, Jarrod Kelvin is a good choice too.

Silver Medal: BT-1
Ah yes, we view yet another non-Mercenary figure. Unlike Biv, you can’t ally in Imperial figures into a Mercenary force UNLESS they’re Droids and you have an Elite Jawa Scavenger. This increases the overall army cost from 6 points to 9 points (which is slightly lower than Biv), but you get a lot out of this guy. First off, BT-1 always becomes Focused right before attacking (ouch). While he can shoot with his traditional arsenal (Red-Yellow-Green-Blue including the Focus die), you can alternatively fire three times with a single Red, Yellow, and Blue die (each of those getting the benefit of the Green as well). Like we said with Biv’s Close and Personal attacks, each of these attacks would benefit from Prey On The Weak, giving each not only a free Focus, but also a free Accuracy 1 + Pierce 1 (more ouch). You’re not going to find any other figure (besides Boba Fett in the turn that he gets to use Mandalorian Tactics) who can push out 3 attacks in a given round to benefit from this card (and most Hunters are hard-pressed to get 2 attacks out). As such, I feel that BT-1 must be granted some measure of respect for the sheer volume of attacks he can deliver with the card and so he claims second place today.

Gold Medal: Onar Koma

Onar has shown up before on our blog in our discussion of best figure to use To The Limit and in that post, I gave him the silver medal but admitted he could have won the gold. Today, Onar finally gets the coveted gold for several reasons. First and foremost, he’s cheaper than most of your other Hunter options. “Cheap” here is a relative term – costing too little (4 or 5 points) makes you more expensive than most units, but certain elite units (and most named figures) will be more expensive than you or at the same cost, which means you don’t get a bonus against them. Very few elite units cost 6 points or more, so you’ll be able to use Onar to focus on the chaff of the army (leaving his compadres to take care of the more elite and heavy models).

Even if you ignore the cost advantage of using Onar, there is another boon to putting this upgrade on Onar: there is a non-zero probability that you will get both the “Accuracy 1 + Surge 1” face on your Green attack die and the “Accuracy 2 + Surge 1” on the Blue attack die. When this happens (assuming your opponent gets no Evade results), you can’t use both of your surges for damage because you have to sacrifice all the Accuracy you gained (and range attacks without any Accuracy miss). With Prey On The Weak, Onar automatically gets +1 Accuracy, guaranteeing maximum damage from his surge results against the person he shoved with Rush. While the other characters get great bonuses from Prey On The Weak, it is most beneficial to Onar because it guarantees he does stuff.

In our next post, we'll be switching gears to non-attachment skirmish upgrades and viewing the Imperial ugprade Zillo Technique. I consider this to be the most powerful Imperial skirmish upgrades (and quite probably the most powerful of all skirmish upgrades) available to date. Until then, happy gaming!

Command cards: Force Users

Command Card Review: Force User Command Cards

Let's face it: on some level if we're playing a Star Wars game, we want to be able to be a Sith or a Jedi. It's just a fact. Since Wave 7, all factions have had access to the Channel The Force skirmish upgrade, which allows you to forego drawing a Command card at the end of a round and instead pick a Force User card instead (at the cost of Strain equal to the Command points of the card). This begs the question - and this is a Command card question, not a skirmish upgrade question - what cards are worth fetching based on the Strain they're going to inflict?

Force User Command Cards: What Do They Do?

There are a variety of different kinds of Command cards that are dedicated for use by Force Users, but if we're to over generalize a bit, they fall into five categories:

• Movement/mobility cards (very helpful for figures with predominantly melee attack types);
• Niche-situation control cards;
• Non-Attack-Action Damage cards (so you can attack with one action and do more damage on your next action);
• Augmenting attack/defense results cards (rerolls, bonus damage, etc.); and
• Perform additional action cards (rare but present and oh-so-helpful).

We’ll look at each of these types of cards in a moment, but since there are alliance restrictions to keep in mind, we’ll be starting off by examining the generic Force User cards (ones that can be used in Rebel, Imperial, or Mercenary Force User lists) and then look at each faction individually (wrapping up the Mercenary choices with the Imperial choices to save space). It’s important to note that while you can have a lot of Force User cards to choose from, don’t underestimate the power of non-Force User cards. Cards like Pummel, Recovery, Camouflage, Urgency, or Deathblow can easily fit into any deck with at least a few melee characters in it - you can get a lot of mileage out of them.

Generic Force User Cards: The Flesh Of Any Force User Army

In the Core set, you get two generic Force User cards: Deflection (two copies) and Telekinetic Throw. These cards cost 1 Command point, which means the Strain inflicted on your characters will be small to pull them up for use. Deflection is most useful when defending against a range attack and particularly useful if your figure is Hidden (Davith Elso is a prime candidate for that). Telekinetic Throw is one of the best cards you can include in your Force User army (my opinion) since it allows you to do damage via a Special Action and can supplement the damage from your attack action. Since most Force Users are melee figures (non-Jedi Luke and sometimes-Leia being the notable exceptions), being able to do damage at a distance is also quite nice. For only 1 Command point, pull it up as soon as you can!

Outside of the Core Set, we didn’t get too many generic Force User cards until recently. The Leia Organa Ally Pack (Wave 5) gave us a Command card that is probably better than the Telekinetic Throw card with I Can Feel It – a great way to improve your offensive results, your defensive results, OR just gain 1 VP. As a free Command card – yes, 0 points – you can pull this card up without taking any damage at all! Thanks to the Bespin Gambit (Wave 6), you also have access to the Force Illusion Command card, which allows the defender of an attack become Hidden if a Force User can see the attacker. This not only makes Deflection more powerful but can save one of your figures from being hit by a long-range shot (though at 2 Command points it's a big toll if you use Channel The Force to fetch it).

With Wave 7 and Wave 10, we got three additional generic Force User Command cards: Force Surge, Force Rush, and Force Jump. All three give you movement options for your characters. Force Surge is the most expensive at 2 Command points, but allows you to move 1 additional space after your activation ends and deal 2 Damage and 1 Strain to a nearby hostile figure. If you’ve already attacked that figure this round, it’s a great way to finish someone off or bring someone that much closer to death (and in all likelihood, keep them from healing up any of the damage they took from your original attack). Force Jump costs only 1 Command point and allows you to perform a mobile move as an action – which will be better than a normal move, but doesn’t give you any damage for the action. Finally, Force Rush is a free Command card and allows you to gain 2 movement points at the start of your activation – great for closing distance during your turn (or making a quick get-away).

These cards are pretty cheap (most are 0-1 Command points) and they can give your team much-needed resiliency, mobility, and supplementary damage output. With these cards as the background, let’s look at Rebel Force User cards.

Rebel Force User Cards: Getting More Out Of Your Heroes

The Core Set provides us with two unique Command Cards for your Rebel Force Users:  Knowledge and Defense and Meditation. For those looking for more defensive capabilities, it doesn’t get much better than Knowledge and Defense – adding an extra White die is great for stopping Surge abilities and getting that much needed Dodge. Since this lasts all round, you want to use this on a character who is going first (or the last character you have if acquired late in the game). Meditation allows you to effectively bank an action this turn to take an additional action next turn. In a two-player skirmish game, this is invaluable – use it at the end of a round when you don’t have initiative and then go first with three actions the following round when you do have initiative! While both of these cards are incredibly powerful, they’re also 2 Command points each, so I don’t recommend pulling them up with Channel The Force.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano Ally Packs have provided two other Command cards to supplement these choices: Force Push allows you to pick a small figure (friend or foe) and push them up to 2 spaces – great for getting an ally into position (especially if they have a lightsaber) or moving a hostile figure out of position (like keeping a figure from controlling a Terminal). The A Powerful Influence Command Card allows you to focus on the control game and keeps hostile figures from counting for the purpose of control around one of your figures (or interact with stuff), which is really, REALLY powerful in certain scenarios where VPs can be claimed by interacting with neutral mission tokens or Terminals. 

There are six Jedi characters (technically seven since there are two versions of Luke) available to the Rebels and most of the Command cards associated with these figures are fantastic. While none of these cards can be pulled up by Channel The Force, they will compete for Command point space with your other Force User cards. In the Core Set, you get Diala’s Sarlaac Sweep – this is one of the few cards that allows you to perform multiple attacks and is best used after you use Meditation in conjunction with Pummel (prepare for four swings bad guys!). You also get Son of Skywalker, which is an expensive but simple Command card to allow Luke to go twice during a game round (which is awesome for recovering damage with non-Jedi Luke OR doing lots of damage with Jedi Luke). Davith Elso’s Vanish Command card is great for making sure he doesn’t take damage in a given round and then high-tailing it to escape retribution afterwards.

The Leia Organa Ally Pack gives you the There Is Another Command card, which not only allows Leia to be a Force User for the turn (why we’re talking about her in the first place here) and gives her a free Surge, which means you can fetch a Command card you’ve already used (like one of those Force User ones you wish to get with Channel The Force) back into your Command deck. Ahsoka Tano’s Right Back At Ya! Command card is a great way to do damage to a figure who attacks you – making any figure close to death wary of attacking you.

Finally, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s I Must Go Alone Command card is highly situational but can make you immune to long-range attacks (which is helpful early in the game when the maneuver game is important OR late in the game when figures are being chased across the board). While inexpensive (1 Command point), I don’t recommend taking it – it’s very niche and generally speaking it’s okay if Kenobi dies (focusing one of your power hitters after all).

Imperial/Mercenary Force User Cards: Give In To Your Anger!

If there’s anything that typifies Imperial Force User cards, it’s the word “Damage.” Imperial cards are very, VERY offensive focused and are incredibly painful. They’re also very expensive (many are 3 Command points), which makes drawing them with Channel The Force a bad plan (especially since none of your figures can Recover Damage when attacking). In the Core Set, this is evidenced by the Force Lightning and Lure of the Dark Side Command cards. Hey, want to borrow that Jedi that you’re fighting for a moment? Lure of the Dark Side is your friend. Want to mass apply Stun and do a little Damage while you’re at it? Force Lightning! It’s straight-forward, simple offense.

Thanks to the Grand Inquisitor and Emperor Palpatine Villain Packs, Imperial Force User lists also have access to the Deadly Precision and Dark Energy Command cards, both of which are blissfully cheap and make your offensive game even better by allowing you to ignore Dodge results and pushing/lightly damaging a hostile small figure nearby respectively. While the previous two Command cards were not worth pulling up with Channel The Force, these ones definitely are worth it – especially Deadly Precision since it doesn’t require a Strain.

The Imperial/Mercenary Force User unique cards are also great: Lord of the Sith allows Darth Vader to wade through enemy units with ease – and this card is made even better now he can receive the Driven by Hatred skirmish upgrade. The Emperor’s Unlimited Power Command card is a little less impressive – it extends the range of his Emperor power (anywhere on the board is a nice bonus), making the ability more niche and less damaging. In a Sith deck (where you have few figures and they’re not likely to be close together), it’s kind of nice. The Grand Inquisitor’s Hunt Them Down card is beastly – adding an automatic Accuracy 2 + Cleave 2 is literally a killer.  Finally, Maul can use the Wreak Vengeance Command card, boosting his special attack power by giving him Focus AND Reach AND Cleave 2. For only 1 Command point, you want it. Every time.

Sample List: The Last Of The Jedi

Deployment Cards:

·         Luke Skywalker, Hero of the Rebellion

·         Ahsoka Tano

·         Obi-Wan Kenobi

·         Diala Passil

·         Davith Elso

·         Channel the Force

·         Balance of the Force

Command Cards:

·         Force Jump

·         Force Rush

·         Force Surge

·         I Can Feel It

·         Knowledge and Defense

·         Meditation

·         Pummel x2

·         Recovery

·         Right Back At Ya!

·         Sarlaac Sweep

·         Son of Skywalker

·         Telekinetic Throw

·         Urgency

·         Vanish

I should note before we begin that we couldn’t get Jedi Luke into this list and still get Channel The Force without losing one of our other Jedi. Since we’re looking at Channel The Force in particular, we’re keeping regular Luke (besides, he can Recover 2). I’d recommend the following priority for picking cards – and I’ll also recommend that you not pick up any other Force User cards with Channel The Force:

·         I Can Feel It (0 Strain)

·         Telekinetic Throw (1 Strain)

·         Force Rush (0 Strain)

·         Force Jump (1 Strain)

So I know what you’re thinking: why not pick a card like Meditation or Force Surge with Channel The Force? I can Recover 2 with Diala or Luke – isn’t it worth it? Not really – here’s why: you can pull up a 2-3 Command point card if you want to, but if you pull up a 0-1 point card instead, you’re still working through your deck and you don’t need to spend your Recover surge to just get back to where you were before you used Channel The Force. Health is the most valuable asset to any Jedi army – almost all the Jedi roll White die which basically take all the damage they’re given (unless they get a Dodge). By getting a cheaper card that’s not as great as one of the higher cost ones, you save your team the valuable health it would cost to get that card (and you don’t want to discard up to 2 cards from the top of your Command deck just to get it sooner rather than later, right?).

Once you’ve picked these four, I recommend you not use the Channel The Force skirmish upgrade and instead rely on drawing cards normally. That being said, there will probably be a case where getting a Meditation, Force Surge, or Knowledge and Defense is worth it – if that’s the case, you can always take the chance and risk the damage.

This concludes (for now at least) this series on Command cards – while I may pick this up again in the future, I think I’ve exhausted the interesting cases for Command cards. For the full list of posts in this series (and others), look at our Getting Started page! If you have ideas (or cards you’d like to see evaluated), leave a comment on this post – or any of the posts in the series. Lest you think we’re out of content, next week we’ll be starting a new Friday series dedicated to creating your own short campaign, using the template provided to us in the Twin Shadows and Bespin Gambit expansions. For the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at campaigns you can run with the skirmish missions you already have to allow you to skip playing that one campaign you’ve played too much and instead get new and exciting adventures. It should be great - until then, happy gaming!