I'm compiling a list of technical balance fixes for house rules for casual play, and I'm stuck on Boba Fett. We all know he almost never gets used, and his ability is useful even less, so I'm looking at buffing his ability. I would rather keep the mechanics of his ability of the same kind, meaning I'm not simply looking to give him Scum Boba Fett ability.

So first, for reference here he is stock.

An obvious crew consideration for him is Navigator:

So for 42 points you get a Firespray that can choose any bank maneuver. Unfortunately that's still not that useful.

My initial reaction is to change his ability to:

When you reveal a maneuver, you may rotate your dial to the other maneuver of the same speed and type.

So this would let his ability work with both banks and turns. Going from +90 degrees to -90 degrees is nice when you have a rear arc. So this could be a nice buff, and I would consider this the minimum that I would do to house rule improve our beloved Fett.

So this also got me thinking, what if we went full-out and let him choose any maneuver with Navigator, by using this wording instead (and revealing any straight):

When you reveal a maneuver, you may rotate your dial to another maneuver of the same speed.

So, the main question here is, do you think this 2nd option would be overpowered?

He's useful when your opponent is running him, so that you are facing a list with wasted points....

I've thought about Outmanuever on him with Navigator. That way you can move to anywhere on one of those banks and can use either forward or backward for your firing arc. Hope to get someone in one of those arcs without being in in theirs. It's the only thing I could think of.

I don't use his ability very much, but he's the highest PS firespray pilot and only one of two with an EPT, so he has his uses in that regard.

I certainly see the use of his ability, especially along with the back arc on the Firespray. Its issue isn't usefulness, its cost. I'm almost sure this would get play if it were on a much cheaper ship. Maybe an interceptor or A-wing ability, they love mobility advantages. Not to mention, it's not thematic... Boba Fett is a killer. His Scum card is reflective of the awesomeness that is the Fett.

I don't use his ability very much, but he's the highest PS firespray pilot and only one of two with an EPT, so he has his uses in that regard.

Never mind.

Jim

He's useful when your opponent is running him, so that you are facing a list with wasted points....

I wish I could argue this, but I've been struggling to find a place for Boba it Kath and they are just too expensive for their mediocre abilities. This is compounded by a lack of cards to synergize.

nah, I vote for "Before you reveal your maneuver dial, you may rotate your dial to any other maneuver. That maneuver is now treated as a red maneuver"

then "stay on target" would be a poorer version of his ability

His ability is most useful when there are no asteroids and minimum amount of enemy ships on the board, with lower ps. Unfortunately that rarely happens. Try fettigator with stay on target. That should open up his dial some.

I don't find his ability un-useful. I've used him to pretty good effect in my games. Obviously others have a different opinion. I know some of the mathwingers here will probably argue as to his usefulness vs cost but for me personally he works. The last time I used him I took the Navigator and Engine Upgrade, which really gave my opponent fits trying to figure out where I was going. Yes, I sunk a few points into him but it worked and was fun to play. And in the end, that's good enough for me.

nah, I vote for "Before you reveal your maneuver dial, you may rotate your dial to any other maneuver. That maneuver is now treated as a red maneuver"

then "stay on target" would be a poorer version of his ability

So, that's an interesting idea, because it basically keeps his crew slot free from taking Navigator, but it costs him his action. The problem with this approach is that it is less versatile and still probably wouldn't get used all that much.

Try fettigator with stay on target. That should open up his dial some.

• If you reveal a bank maneuver and wish to change it to the other bank, then you will use Fett's ability, and not use Stay on Target.
• If you reveal anything other than a bank, you can use Stay On Target to switch it and gain a stress. Any other pilot can do that too.

Either way, there is no synergy between Boba Fett and Stay on Target. The only advantage that Boba Fett has when using Stay on Target vs any other pilot with an EPT is that he doesn't have to treat the maneuver as red if it's a bank. But he can do that anyway.

I don't find his ability un-useful. I've used him to pretty good effect in my games. Obviously others have a different opinion. I know some of the mathwingers here will probably argue as to his usefulness vs cost but for me personally he works. The last time I used him I took the Navigator and Engine Upgrade, which really gave my opponent fits trying to figure out where I was going. Yes, I sunk a few points into him but it worked and was fun to play. And in the end, that's good enough for me.

Agreed. Fettigator w/EU is squirrely as all hell.

Honestly, the existence of the Phantom really ups his utility. It's not always about directly boosting the pilot itself...

Boba's ability probably works better for newer players or against ships that are very maneuverable.

As far as Boba Fett his card represents him well, an overrated character that does swan dives into pit monsters.

Honestly, the existence of the Phantom really ups his utility. It's not always about directly boosting the pilot itself...

I have 571 squads recorded from Regionals. Boba Fett showed up twice.

In wave 3 Regionals, he showed up twice:

• Eliminated in Top 8 round in a 24 player tournament
• #26 in a 116 player tournament

In wave 4 Regionals, he never even showed up in Final Cut or Top Third.

So, I don't think the Phantom is making people want to take Boba.

A 3 point cost reduction or, allow him to use his ability on hard turns as well.

He's useful when your opponent is running him, so that you are facing a list with wasted points....

He has +5 PS relative to the fairly aggressively priced Bounty Hunter, so it's hard to argue that he's worth less than 37-38 points.

His ability is most useful when there are no asteroids and minimum amount of enemy ships on the board, with lower ps. Unfortunately that rarely happens.

Et tu, hothie? He's PS8 or PS10, so you place your asteroids carefully and deploy Fett so that he doesn't have to run traffic.

I don't find his ability un-useful. I've used him to pretty good effect in my games...

Yeah! This guy knows what's up.

I think part of the problem is that (Imperial) Boba Fett and Kath Scarlet really are a bit overpriced. They both have "kicker" abilities: the kind that's nice when it happens, but shouldn't really be relied upon. In the more recent releases, the designers have relaxed their pricing a little bit to reflect that some abilities are more useful than others. That's given us Rexler Brath, who has a similar "kicker" ability and is at +7 PS and +7 points in comparison to the base Defender. Applying that model retroactively to Imperial Fett would make him 38 points instead of 39, and I think that's a good start for a fix.

If you test it out a few times and find out that it's not enough, I'd suggest holding on to the theme of unpredictable maneuverability, but doing away with the dial manipulation (which relies on having both the need and ability to make a different maneuver than the one you planned). Something like this:

After you execute a [bank] maneuver, you may perform a free barrel roll action.

I've been over a couple of versions of this in my head, but this seems like a plausible way to increase his maneuverability further. It might be too powerful--that is, it might justify a cost of 40--but I'd have to have it on the table a few times to decide how I really feel about it.

Well, im impressed by this negativity of his ability here...

I think, and yes it is expensive, that a Fett with Navigator and EU is very squirly put Outmaneuver on it as well and you really can hurt.

I ran him then with 3 Black Squads with Pred.

Actually works pretty nicley

Honestly, the existence of the Phantom really ups his utility. It's not always about directly boosting the pilot itself...

I have never used him until the Phantom came out. With VI, EU and Gunner he can be deadly to them and stay out off arc. But yes, it's more the high PS than his ability which gets rarely used. But then with EU becomes more useful. Gunner helps mitigating using the action to boost. Large number of enemy ships and asteroids are the killer.

In all honesty, his ability is such that I more or less run him as a PS8 generic, which becomes challenging to afford at 38 base points. Outmaneuver has been very good with him from what I've seen, though I may up preferring Lone Wolf and Engine Upgrade long term.

I find the Slave 1 title decidedly underpowered, might I suggest changing it to: Slave 1, title, Boba Fett only, [advanced sensors text].

After all, Boba really customized his ship.

That way, you can really use the upgrade slots for stuff like EH, PTL, SoT, EU.

I've thought about Outmanuever on him with Navigator. That way you can move to anywhere on one of those banks and can use either forward or backward for your firing arc. Hope to get someone in one of those arcs without being in in theirs. It's the only thing I could think of.

That's how I run him, and it's always been working well for me, wish I could run outmaneuver with Veteran Instincts...

I certainly see the use of his ability, especially along with the back arc on the Firespray. Its issue isn't usefulness, its cost. I'm almost sure this would get play if it were on a much cheaper ship. Maybe an interceptor or A-wing ability, they love mobility advantages. Not to mention, it's not thematic... Boba Fett is a killer. His Scum card is reflective of the awesomeness that is the Fett.

I disagree, I actually think it is thematic. He's a tricky pilot who does what you don't expect. Tracking and beating the falcon to Bespin was pretty tricky, plus he's pretty good with doing the unexpected like in shadows of the empire when IG-88 was trying to surprise attack him and he was able to outmaneuver him using different tricks and beating the super logical thinking droid... I for one actually enjoy the ability and think he's an awesome counter to phantoms and big enough to do some heavy damage to the falcon and still take a beating... disclaimer though I don't play in tournaments and I know I'm in the majority... I'm actually not that big on his scum and villainy text to be honest... I feel like it's a really limited predator being only range one... am I alone on that?

nah, I vote for "Before you reveal your maneuver dial, you may rotate your dial to any other maneuver. That maneuver is now treated as a red maneuver"

then "stay on target" would be a poorer version of his ability

So, that's an interesting idea, because it basically keeps his crew slot free from taking Navigator, but it costs him his action. The problem with this approach is that it is less versatile and still probably wouldn't get used all that much.

Try fettigator with stay on target. That should open up his dial some.

• If you reveal a bank maneuver and wish to change it to the other bank, then you will use Fett's ability, and not use Stay on Target.
• If you reveal anything other than a bank, you can use Stay On Target to switch it and gain a stress. Any other pilot can do that too.

Either way, there is no synergy between Boba Fett and Stay on Target. The only advantage that Boba Fett has when using Stay on Target vs any other pilot with an EPT is that he doesn't have to treat the maneuver as red if it's a bank. But he can do that anyway.

Slight wording correction. He won't gain a stress, you just treat that maneuver as red, but you can then navigate it to another maneuver that isn't red, so he wouldn't actually gain a stress token for using SoT. Although admittedly, that ruling is in flux right now, so I guess we will see what happens when it becomes official. If you're going to house rule his ability, it should be something along these lines.

[Et tu, hothie? He's PS8 or PS10, so you place your asteroids carefully and deploy Fett so that he doesn't have to run traffic.

Yes, me too. I have tried, Lord knows I have tried more than most to make him work, and I just so seldomly ever use his ability that you will never talk me out of Kath over Boba on the imperial side.

I am just waiting patiently with everyone else until Most Wanted becomes available.