This has been on my mind for a few days from scrolling through the "Tactical Evaluation of Troops and Leaders" thread. It started as this gem from Derbaer:
My idea would be to reduce Regular Royal Guards in the Tournament Rules to a legal maximum of 0. Anything else is not enough. Vader plus 2 RGs would be still overpowered.
Now, I'm not 100% on board with this, but it has been interesting to think about list building with the currently available models where regular Royal Guard are completely off the table. I have a few hunches on what would happen but I would love it if better minds than mine chimed in. Anyway, in no particular order:
- Luke would still be a staple, and he may even get better with less common stun on the board.
- You would be less likely to take multiple units of Rebel Sabs, as removing the most common source of "Protector" would slightly reduce the value of both Pierce and Blast. I would still expect to see one unit of the Elites as common to deal with harder targets and dispense stun.
- Vader loses his best friend, but there are also less people to stun lock him. Maybe it's a wash? I think it highly depends on how good Rebel Sabs turn out to be with no RG around
- Elite Royal Guard; will they see more play? I think so, but not a huge amount.
Above is only a few of the models that would be impacted by the change. I would love to hear your thoughts on how the environment would change without Royal Guard in the meta and what lists you would play. I think the first thing I would try is:
Elite Stormtroopers
Elite Stormtroopers
Elite E-Web
Elite Probe Droid
Elite Probe Droid
Imperial Officer
Imperial Officer
And a command deck that would probably start out as:
Grenadier
New Orders
Reinforcements
Reinforcements
Inspiring Speech
Focus
Hunter Protocol
Change of Plans
Planning
Take Initiative
Of No Importance
Deadeye
Element of Surprise
Hard to Hit
Rally
But evolve as I got some table time in the brave new RGless world.
Cheers!