I have been thinking about how Allies and Strain interact and create a disappointing expierience for Rebel Players for a while now. So I came up with a rules modification to not only make recruiting Allies easier but also give the Side Mission Deck more importance for both players. Since it's a bit more elaborate, I wrote a document for it and also just now published an article outlining the thoughts behind the article on our website.

So if you are interested in how you can make Strain less of a burden on fun, read here:

http://boardwars.eu/allies-strain-and-side-mission-deck-meta-gaming/

Of course I am open for feedback!
And don't forget to listen to our podcast where we talk about the game and mostly about the campaign side of the game: http://boardwars.eu/

While I agree Subversive Tactics is strong, strong against Allies? Just wondering what you mean since Allies can't take strain, and therefore strain inflicting abilities can't convert to damage (Surgical Strike only does 1 damage to allies) as far as I'm aware, or is there something else?

If allies take str, they suffer damage instead

My mistake, someone I know insisted that was the case. Atleast now I don't feel bad they lost Flying Solo.

Like Hatting said strain inflicted on allies converts directly into damage. This means Surgical Strike is +2 damage after the attack each round. Prey Upon Doubt usually prevents allies from spending surges, further weaking them. Also Luke can't recover that easily that way. Combine that with the fact that the Ally Missions for all 3 major allies feature at least regular Trandoshan Hunters and these missions can get pretty frustrating for Rebels. If the Side Mission deck then only spits out green cards, motivation is hard to come by. This leads in directly into the opening paragraph of the article I wrote