From the minion thread :

Minions, to me, are the extras and bit parts in a cinematic campaign, and therefore are essential to a realistic setup.

But I houseruled, that minion groups are Linked, making multiple hits from a group possible.

Maybe consider giving them something like Autofire instead? That way you can spread the damage out among the group, rather than smiting one guy really hard.

Autofire has no predetermined limit on the number of shots. hence, and autofire can mow down many of players/NPCs. Linked X caps the number of extra hits. Making it much more manageable and less deadly.

Well, you could give them "Autofire 1" which gives a max of one extra hit. I mean, if you're going to house rule anyway...

Well but... they are minions.

Against 700 point characters, they should miss a lot and get devastatingly destroyed. I suppose I would ask why you need a house rule. If your goal is to drop a PC using minions, just have a 30 man minion group. 2 yellow and 28 green on a blaster rifle shot should do it...

I'm not suggesting it, of course, and nor do I think you want to drop a PC. You want to challenge them. Given that, just start adjusting your minion groups upward until you reach a level that works. They will notice what you are doing, and some may complain that it's merely using a mechanic to make it so that stormtroopers remain a threat no matter how high a level the PCs are, but yes, that's the point. Thematically, once the PCs start drawing crowds of stormtroopers, it may make sense to start including officers among their opponents just for the sheer value of seeing them direct all the stormtroopers, and maybe giving the stormies setback dice once the officers are killed by the PCs.

2 yellow and 28 green on a blaster rifle shot should do it...

It's an upgrade per minion, so it would be about 15 yellows (I'm not going to do the exact math).

2 yellow and 28 green on a blaster rifle shot should do it...

It's an upgrade per minion, so it would be about 15 yellows (I'm not going to do the exact math).

It caps out at 5 upgrades, doesn't it?

I can't find support for that. I guess I've been doing it wrong!

Well, yes, there is a cap, but if we're talking 30 minions in a group we've already broken the system.

2 yellow and 28 green on a blaster rifle shot should do it...

It's an upgrade per minion, so it would be about 15 yellows (I'm not going to do the exact math).

Aren't Minion group sizes capped as well? I don't have access to my books, but I thought there was either a cap on group size or their dice pools. Though I could be thinking of a completely different game honestly!

2 yellow and 28 green on a blaster rifle shot should do it...

It's an upgrade per minion, so it would be about 15 yellows (I'm not going to do the exact math).

Aren't Minion group sizes capped as well? I don't have access to my books, but I thought there was either a cap on group size or their dice pools. Though I could be thinking of a completely different game honestly!

I could have sworn the cap was to the dice pool not to the group size, but I couldn't find that in any of the three core books.

There is no technical cap, however, since skills cap at 5 for individuals and attributes at six, one could use............dare I say it........common sense.............and use that as a guide for a cap. It is not spelled out in the book though.

Against 700 point characters, they should miss a lot and get devastatingly destroyed. I suppose I would ask why you need a house rule. If your goal is to drop a PC using minions, just have a 30 man minion group. 2 yellow and 28 green on a blaster rifle shot should do it...

I'm really starting to warm up to this houserule. I think it's best use for tougher PC groups or for really challenging fights.

Maybe we could water it down to a simple NPC ability.

Elite - All combat checks made by this NPC or Minion group gains the linked-1 property.

Throw that on your Stormtrooper group and you have the 501st after your NPCs.

I wouldn't use it for the average minion group, but the Elite trait idea for special minions sounds good. I may use it.

BANANA!

BANANA!

Once you have 6+ minions in a group, any minion skills they have are treated as being rank 5. Skills don't go above rank 5. Their stat is what it is. So For example, a 30 man group of agility 3 minions with ranged(heavy) as a minion skill would still only roll 2 green 3 yellow.

I'm saving this for later use.

+1 to "Elite" trait house rule. I would add that a minimum of 3 Minions are required in the group to trigger it, though. Or something along those lines. Else a super lucky Stormie could double-hit.

Once you have 6+ minions in a group, any minion skills they have are treated as being rank 5. Skills don't go above rank 5. Their stat is what it is. So For example, a 30 man group of agility 3 minions with ranged(heavy) as a minion skill would still only roll 2 green 3 yellow.

? Upgrades don't work like that. If all the dice are upgraded, you add a green. If you have a green you replace it with yellow, irrespective of the stat. Each minion continues to upgrade, so if the max stat is 6 and the max skill is 5, you'd end up with a max of YYYYYG. This would be accomplished with only 8 minions.

Or have I been doing it wrong all this time?

Once you have 6+ minions in a group, any minion skills they have are treated as being rank 5. Skills don't go above rank 5. Their stat is what it is. So For example, a 30 man group of agility 3 minions with ranged(heavy) as a minion skill would still only roll 2 green 3 yellow.

? Upgrades don't work like that. If all the dice are upgraded, you add a green. If you have a green you replace it with yellow, irrespective of the stat. Each minion continues to upgrade, so if the max stat is 6 and the max skill is 5, you'd end up with a max of YYYYYG. This would be accomplished with only 8 minions.

Or have I been doing it wrong all this time?

No, pretty sure that's right. I think the rule is that any minions beyond the dice cap are meat shield.

Once you have 6+ minions in a group, any minion skills they have are treated as being rank 5. Skills don't go above rank 5. Their stat is what it is. So For example, a 30 man group of agility 3 minions with ranged(heavy) as a minion skill would still only roll 2 green 3 yellow.

True story.

Once you have 6+ minions in a group, any minion skills they have are treated as being rank 5. Skills don't go above rank 5. Their stat is what it is. So For example, a 30 man group of agility 3 minions with ranged(heavy) as a minion skill would still only roll 2 green 3 yellow.

? Upgrades don't work like that. If all the dice are upgraded, you add a green. If you have a green you replace it with yellow, irrespective of the stat. Each minion continues to upgrade, so if the max stat is 6 and the max skill is 5, you'd end up with a max of YYYYYG. This would be accomplished with only 8 minions.

Or have I been doing it wrong all this time?

Minions add skill ranks to the group skill, not upgrades to the check.

Gotta hand it to FFG, they keep you on your toes...

Once you have 6+ minions in a group, any minion skills they have are treated as being rank 5. Skills don't go above rank 5. Their stat is what it is. So For example, a 30 man group of agility 3 minions with ranged(heavy) as a minion skill would still only roll 2 green 3 yellow.

? Upgrades don't work like that. If all the dice are upgraded, you add a green. If you have a green you replace it with yellow, irrespective of the stat. Each minion continues to upgrade, so if the max stat is 6 and the max skill is 5, you'd end up with a max of YYYYYG. This would be accomplished with only 8 minions.

Or have I been doing it wrong all this time?

We may have all been doing it wrong! In the adversary chapter is specifically states that the Minion group gain Skill ranks (in the skills they have listed) for each Minion after the first. it definitely doesn't say Upgrades

Lets go to the book! Page 390 of EotE:

"A minion group gains one rank for each member of the group beyond the first. So a group of four stormtroopers would count as having three ranks (for the three troopers after the first) in any checks the group is called on to make."

So with an Agility of 3 and a squad of 10, considering the cap in skills, you'd have a dice pool of 3 yellow and 2 greens and you'd have to kill 4 troopers before you started removing yellows.