So, background: I've played a lot of X-Wing, and strategy games in general, but not a lot of other miniature games. I recently got Imperial Assault Core, plus the Stormtrooper and Kayn Somos expansions, for way too low a price at a board game swap. I've played a few skirmishes on Vassal with a buddy quite a few months back, so I'm not quite a complete n00b. Unfortunately, work has also decided to get insanely busy these past few weeks, so I'm short of time to do proper netlisting (heh) to get me started, and I also don't have time (yet) to research the cards for some good combos--but I really want to be able to play this Sunday at my local FLGS. So help me forums, you're my only hope!

I've seen "Vader's Fist" tossed around, which seems to be some variation of Vader, Royal Guards, (Elite) Stormtroopers, and Imperial Officers.

I've also seen posts that praise Kayn, and posts that say he's overcosted. The praise post recommends:

Kayn
2x Elite Stormtroopers
Royal Guards
2x Imperial Officer

--Which, admittedly, I do like the synergy of. So, finally, to my questions:

1) I understand they used to be omgwtfbbq b0rken, but have Royal Guards and Imperial Officers now been over-nerfed, or are they still reasonably good? (As in, would either of these lists still be reasonably usable in a relative n00b's hands?)

2) Is Kayn any good? Debatably good? Really not that great unless you know what you're doing?

3) What cards should I particularly consider including in my Command Card Deck? What cards should I watch out for because they might look good to green eyes, but in play are really rather meh? (Some cards of course would only be good with some builds.)

Just looking for some initial advice to get me going, until work calms down and I can spend some time to look into this on my own.

Thanks in advance, and have fun! : )

https://m.soundcloud.com/vadersfinest

This is a link to a podcast by Vader's Finest who do a ton of stuff on skirmish. Episode 7 came out a few days ago and they discuss the current meta post nerf. With what you have available I'd say your list is definitely a workable one though unless you want to spend some more $ already.

Switch out Kayn for eSnowtroopers and you end up with the exact list I have been playing lately. And it's pretty good, if I do say so myself.

RGs and Officers are still good and IMO still mandatory. With how the maps work, for every mission other than Deception Game you need both Sp5 and movement manipulation to stay ahead in the mission VP race. And RGs have the added bonus of Stun access and Sentinel for your troopers.

I consider Kayn to be bad. Completely useless and pointless kind of bad, and I have expanded upon that several times on this board if I remember correctly. Long story short, two elite officers cost the same and do the exact same stuff as Kayn, but better, and also do a lot of other stuff Kayn cannot do. And there's still better stuff you can take in a trooper list than two elite officers.

The obvious cards you should start with are Take Initiative, Reinforcments and Grenadier. After that, go with what you like. I like to stack my deck with most of the movement cards and a lot of Focus (Urgency, Fleet Footed, Inspiring Speech and Focus in particular). I also never build a deck wihout Celebration, but YMMV depending on the local meta. One card I was disappointed in so far is Covering Fire, up to this point I have played it several times, but never once managed to get any mileage out of that play. Not worth 3pts in this list (as opposed to a Rebel trooper list, in which it is very good) IMO and I'll be taking it out for the store championship on saturday.

Regarding the VF podcast, they have a lot of useful observations, but I think that their comments are very much coloured by their local meta, so bear that in mind and make corrections according to what people in your area are playing. For example, Leia hasn't been a big deal in my local environment, to the point that she usually gets fragged on every outing without doing much. The comments on Diala that I relayed to the local playerbase at a tournament on monday were received with... let's say 'amusement'.

So always take into account your local meta first, then genious ideas of people on the internet second. And obviously that goes for my ideas as well, I won't pretend to go above that.

Kayn, like most uniques, is overcosted. Royal Guards and Officers are still good.

Kayn may be overcosted but he is fun and thematic to play, so think about what is more important for you.

Also : with what you got I would suggest trading kayn for 2 elite probe droids. You would only need 1 elite droid card and for fun play you could just proxy it and if it is official play you could borrow it.

Thanks guys, this helped! So, no Kayn. I'm probably going to avoid Vader as well, since a n00b putting half his list points into one guy seems...not a good idea. ; )

I'm thinking 2 eStormtroopers, 2 Stormtroopers, Royal Guards, and an Imperial Officer to start. Quantity has a quality all its own? Once I play it, I'll see if/how much I like it.

I've had a lot of fun with:

Elite Heavy Troopers w/Targeting Computer

Elite Stormtroopers w̶/̶ ̶T̶a̶r̶g̶e̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶C̶o̶m̶p̶u̶t̶e̶r̶

Elite Snowtroopers

Elite Royal Guards

Most opponents had a lot of trouble chewing through the list, have 2 x Reinforcement in the Command Deck which helps

Elite Stormies can't equip Targeting Computer. Only Heavy Weapon, Droids or Vehicles. So maybe your heavys could equip them.

Elite Stormies can't equip Targeting Computer. Only Heavy Weapon, Droids or Vehicles. So maybe your heavys could equip them.

Yeah my bad. Of course it was on the Heavies