Back to your question about other ideas - I have thrown a few at Johnny before. My best idea would be granting some sort of pass once/round to certain factions. I see that as a band-aid, not a real fix though. It makes the problem that exists be diminished, but creates its own problems.

In general, I think it is better to address the problem card/rule than it is to try to make it less relevant somehow, since it introduces a new issue. Its like If a single house on my street is bringing down property values. We can fix the house in question or try to cover it with a nice-looking tarp/fence. Both might bring up the property values but one solves the problem and the other just covers it up so people don't see it as much.

Not the greatest analogy, but you get the idea.

Unfortunately, FFG tends to band-aid individual issues rather than change fundamental rules, even if the consequence of the latter would be to have a stronger, more intuitive rule set going forward. I think a minor rework of the stun condition is a valid - but indirect - fix, or they could just change how special actions function in skirmish. Skirmish already has its own set of discreet rules, why not place a team wide limit on a given special action while we're at it?

How about a skirmish upgrade card that allows you to discard a command card to pass on an activation if your opponent has more groups remaining than you do? Perhaps discard more than 1 command card or limit the number of times it can be done per round if needed.

I thought Fantasy Flight's motto is "All game, no chase." Guess it's just another silly slogan brewed in false advertising. 4 Royal Guards 4 Imperial Officers means either someone at FFG didn't play test the idea of their rules approach or wanted people with money to beat people without.

A more likely solution is to label the Imperial Officer as "limited" with the definition that only 2 limited deploy groups can activate each round. Limiting the inclusion of certain figures by changing restriction limits or point costs will just drive away players who spent money to build up their skirmish army. That's not FFGs style, anyway.

I have to admit that I "believe" the 4X4 is the meta squad at the moment. I am pretty sure that you will see it in numbers at Nationals. I "believe" nothing that is coming out that we know of will tip it in another direction.

Our game is still in its infancy. I am hopeful that the designers see what is happening in the skirmish environment and will compensate hopefully without errata or banning anything. I would love to see something that would enhance Rebel movement the way the Officer does for Imps.