This endless non-stop Focus spamming is completely destroying what little strategy there is left in this game.

This is now the 3rd straight Store Championship that I personally have seen... the top 3 were ALL Focus Spamming StormTroopers. I pulled 4th today with my list.. had 2 losses to 1st and 2nd Place...

Dont give me "oh Banthas!" bs either.. they arent doing jack to them. They get ONE round.. (MAYBE 2 if the Imp Player rolls crappy..) and they're just as dead as everything else under repeated and endless focus shots. Banthas SHOULD Have been given SOME kind of Defense. But no.. FFG wussed out and couldnt force something new when spamming focus stormtroopers is all the rage and selling product.

The sad part is.. its not even the Stormtroopers themselves that are so broken... its the god AWFUL focus mechanic, and how blatantly abused it has become.

The really great news.. it's only getting worse.

There was an active discussion tonight regarding how "amazing" Bossk is supposed to be. I stopped the conversation cold with the simple "How many focused Stormtrooper squad shots will it take to kill him? 2? Ooooo he's so worth the points! .. no."

Focus was SUPPOSED to be a Ace in the Hole type deal allowing you to turn the tide of a desperate battle.. now it might as well be printed on every ******* card the game has.

My last hope was that SOMETHING in the next expansion COUNTERS Focus and REMOVES it.... because right now, nothing in the current game touches that overabused overpowered Focus Spam Lists. I for one have already said no more. They aren't getting 1 more dollar of my money until Focus is changed, or something is put in to actively counter it.

It needs to stop.

*edited to fix missing word, and help ease the sand in Union's vaginal canal.*

But not to worry... 15 pts in Stormtroopers deals over 30 damage in 1 turn... but that 2pt Blast on Sabs... TOTALLY OVERPOWERED!!!

This endless non-stop Focus spamming is completely destroying what little strategy there is left in this game.

This is now the 3rd straight Store Championship that I personally have seen... the top 3 were ALL Focus Spamming StormTroopers. I pulled 4th today with my list.. had 2 losses to 1st and 2nd Place...

Dont give me "oh Banthas!" bs either.. they arent doing jack to them. They get ONE round.. (MAYBE 2 if the Imp Player rolls crappy..) and they're just as dead as everything else under repeated and endless focus shots. Banthas SHOULD Have been given SOME kind of Defense. But no.. FFG wussed out and couldnt force something new when spamming focus stormtroopers is all the rage and selling product.

The sad part is.. its not even the Stormtroopers themselves that are so broken... its the god AWFUL focus mechanic, and how blatantly abused it has become.

The really great news.. it's only getting worse.

There was an active discussion tonight regarding how "amazing" Bossk is supposed to be. I stopped the conversation cold with the simple "How many focused Stormtrooper shots will it take to kill him? 2? Ooooo he's so worth the points! .. no."

Focus was SUPPOSED to be a Ace in the Hole type deal allowing you to turn the tide of a desperate battle.. now it might as well be printed on every ******* card the game has.

My last hope was that SOMETHING in the next expansion COUNTERS Focus and REMOVES it.... because right now, nothing in the current game touches that overabused overpowered Focus Spam Lists. I for one have already said no more. They aren't getting 1 more dollar of my money until Focus is changed, or something is put in to actively counter it.

It needs to stop.

How the hell are you killing him in 2 shots? You need to focus 2 troopers then roll max both times and he would need to roll blank both times. News flash for you, that isn't broken.

If your idea of playing skirmish is to sit there and do nothing except roll blanks all day while your opponent plays cards and rolls max all the time, yeah, you're both unlucky and you suck, so you're going to lose.

Thank you for COMPLETELY Missing the ENTIRE point of my post to throw insults and troll!

Gold Star for your stupidity.

Dude...

First calm down. This is only a game.

Second : why do you call this a focus spam? There is no generic way to focus the stormies if your opponent plays a little bit with tactics.

About your statement "15 points of stormies deal 30 dmg". So, 15 points is a elite and a regular squad. Lets assume all have 3 dmg +1 surge, so elite 5 dmg and reg 4 dmg. That are 27 dmg. If the elites are ALL focused that are in the best case 6 additional damage, so 33 damage. But the opponent has to roll 6 blanks ! Have fun calculating the chances for that but that should happen once in a lifetime.

How the hell do you reliably get focus on stormtroopers? I keep getting shredded by rebel troopers because the Rebs have so many ways to get tons of focus and the imps have none.

Should have seen the one game at the tourney tonight. The rebel side had 8 focus tokens on the board, the imps had none. (Oh, and the imps won that one anyway).

Hello everyone, here are the top two lists from this particular event.

1st place: Elite stormtroopers x2, Elite snowtroopers, Royal Guards, Imperial Officer x2. He has 28 points of troopers.

2nd place, me , Elite snowtrooper w/Vaders Finest x2. (Double action to discard a harmful condition and become focused. Elite stormtrooper also with Vaders Finest, Imperial Officer x2, rule by fear. I have 35 points of troopers.

Admittedly,my first turn is spent not moving troopers to focus them. Then, snowtroopers can almost always maintain the focus because they have surge for focus, weaken. Then, I have the Elite Stormtroopers move in and attack and surge for +2 damage. Also, Vaders Finest let's you attack and gain 2 movement.

So, by the time an opponent gets within 8 spaces, I only have to move three, attack and move three back. It's called the Hit and Fade.

Last, 1st place and I had a blast of a time shooting each other up and then playfully scowling as we went back and forth playing reinforcements. He had no way to spam focus since he did not have Vaders Finest in his list.

Just thought everyone would like the actual lists for analysis and commentary! Have a great evening!

Furthermore, I would like to add as someone else who was at that tournament, pretty much every list has a way to focus and yes each faction has multiple options with which to do so... That having been said, while focus is powerful, it isn't the strength of the trooper list, and both of the guys who placed first and second were two of the better players that I've ever had the pleasure to have played against.

The troopers are a strong list but they are far from unbeatable. The regenerative factor of the snow troopers is incredibly strong but it can be mitigated with an actual strategy and a little luck. There's also the idea of playing the mission as opposed to just trying to kill'em all.

I do understand that it can be frustrating, believe me, I've thrown my hands up in disgust at "unbeatable" lists, but I went against the Wonder Twins + Sabs list tonight and that's possibly the strongest list in the game right now and I beat it handily. You will find a way, just be patient, exercise caution, and find a way to use the meta against itself.

Thank you for COMPLETELY Missing the ENTIRE point of my post to throw insults and troll!

Gold Star for your stupidity.

I didn't throw any insults, but you just did retard. You're obviously blaming the game for your own lack of ability to play due to your mental deficiencies.

You've now had two people point out to you your statements are ridiculous. If you're expecting every trooper to regularly put out 5 damage through enemy defense, including bossk and his automatic block, you're not even playing Imperial Assault. Maybe you should find the right forum for the game you're playing.

Huh. First test of the FFG forum's ignore function. Works quite well, thanks for the motivation, "nazgull2k1"!

(Your rant in the otherwise intelligent discussion regarding SCM tanks in that other thread was the final motivator...)

Lol. You are the same guy that was crying about rebel troopers being OP some time ago.

Yeah. I think this game is not for you

This endless non-stop Focus spamming is completely destroying what little strategy there is left in this game.

This is now the 3rd straight Store Championship that I personally have seen... the top 3 were ALL Focus Spamming StormTroopers.

Actually, I don't get it. How do you focus spam Stormtroopers? Haven't seen that before, please explain.

Dude, please stop, you'll overload my BS internet drama detector.

Thank you for COMPLETELY Missing the ENTIRE point of my post to throw insults and troll!

Gold Star for your stupidity.

I didn't throw any insults, but you just did retard. You're obviously blaming the game for your own lack of ability to play due to your mental deficiencies.

You've now had two people point out to you your statements are ridiculous. If you're expecting every trooper to regularly put out 5 damage through enemy defense, including bossk and his automatic block, you're not even playing Imperial Assault. Maybe you should find the right forum for the game you're playing.

I'm not going to get involved with this discussion, but I can't abide the use of the word "retard". It is offensive and it shows lack of civility and sensitivity. You can find better ways to insult someone.

Where does rolling come up in play against a bantha? Several times people keep referencing "rolling blanks"? Bantha gets no defense. We are still talking a potential 33 damage with no defense on 1 squad that costs 9 points.

People are still missing the entire point of the post. I don't care who has it, or how, or even why. Focus is over abused and overpowered. You can insult all you like. You can bring up blank dice all you like... it doesn't change the fact that 1 squad should not have a 30+ dmg potential due to an easy to use, broken mechanic

Lol. You are the same guy that was crying about rebel troopers being OP some time ago.

Yeah. I think this game is not for you

Negative. The annoyance was not with the model, but with endless focus spam. RE-read post.

Lol. You are the same guy that was crying about rebel troopers being OP some time ago.

Yeah. I think this game is not for you

Negative. The annoyance was not with the model, but with endless focus spam. RE-read post.

Fight fire with fire.

Where does rolling come up in play against a bantha? Several times people keep referencing "rolling blanks"? Bantha gets no defense. We are still talking a potential 33 damage with no defense on 1 squad that costs 9 points.

People are still missing the entire point of the post. I don't care who has it, or how, or even why. Focus is over abused and overpowered. You can insult all you like. You can bring up blank dice all you like... it doesn't change the fact that 1 squad should not have a 30+ dmg potential due to an easy to use, broken mechanic

And exactly which one squad can do that? Which one deployment card? Even if you take the eStormies all to be focused and have their best roll against blank defense it is still 3x 7 = 21 damage.

Greedo was focussed, that's why Han shot first.

The little numbers on the dice are range. The little blast symbols are damage. Blue-Green-Green has a max range of 11 not a max damage of 11. Also at 9 points I don't see how you can get constant focus. If you want to take Vader's Finest that turns them into an 11 point unit that can be focused every other round and do nothing on the other rounds. That seems rather inefficient. But, hey, whose talking logic here, keep on with the rant.

This endless non-stop Focus spamming is completely destroying what little strategy there is left in this game.

This is now the 3rd straight Store Championship that I personally have seen... the top 3 were ALL Focus Spamming StormTroopers. I pulled 4th today with my list.. had 2 losses to 1st and 2nd Place...

I'm going to have to side with everyone else, ultimately, here. But I certainly understand your frustration AND think you may be onto something for future game balance concerns.

Focus is powerful but not unbeatable. The skirmish game meta is now revolving around getting focused and while that may not be to your liking, it is not over-powered. The reason why trooper lists are good now is not about focus. It's focus in combination with the incredible efficiency of most elite trooper units.

3 attacks, high HP/point spent across 3 models, reinforcements and grenadier, synergy with RGs etc. That's what's making the lists good. The focusing is simply gravy.

The counter to this is, as always, more figs. Cheap Hired Guns waste focus tokens... Say it with me One Mo' Time! Hired Guns waste focus tokens. So do rTuskens.

Hello everyone, here are the top two lists from this particular event.

1st place: Elite stormtroopers x2, Elite snowtroopers, Royal Guards, Imperial Officer x2. He has 28 points of troopers.

2nd place, me , Elite snowtrooper w/Vaders Finest x2. (Double action to discard a harmful condition and become focused. Elite stormtrooper also with Vaders Finest, Imperial Officer x2, rule by fear. I have 35 points of troopers.

Admittedly,my first turn is spent not moving troopers to focus them. Then, snowtroopers can almost always maintain the focus because they have surge for focus, weaken. Then, I have the Elite Stormtroopers move in and attack and surge for +2 damage. Also, Vaders Finest let's you attack and gain 2 movement.

So, by the time an opponent gets within 8 spaces, I only have to move three, attack and move three back. It's called the Hit and Fade.

Last, 1st place and I had a blast of a time shooting each other up and then playfully scowling as we went back and forth playing reinforcements. He had no way to spam focus since he did not have Vaders Finest in his list.

Just thought everyone would like the actual lists for analysis and commentary! Have a great evening!

I've been testing what I call Two by Two by Two:

2x eSnowtroopers

2x Royal Guards

2x Officers

It's really deadly. You could sub out an RG for some flavor but the basic set up is gold, because in every way that matters, eSnowies are BETTER than eStormies. 1.8HP/point, auto-rolling-focus on Round 1 shooting against a black die or (better) a door. Backup with the RG's for survivability, cross-healing if needed and better movement overall.

Oh and they practically can't be One-shotted by a Trooper! 6HP >> 5HP.

Then you add in a Trooper-focused command deck and go. Two equal squads to pincer move and pressure both objective paths. 12 figs, 6 activations. 84 HP.

I think the most annoying list I've played so far is Jyn Odan, Gideon, Han, 3PO, Maak and Chewbacca. He just keeps his figures in a block with Jyn in the front using distraction on Han and 3po with her natural cunning ability to make her almost impossible to shoot. Even if she rolls a blank. It was pretty annoying but I was able to counter it by changing my approach.

I'm not so sure about the eStormtroopers being worse than eSnowtroopers. They aren't guaranteed a focus off the bat, though the odds are in their favor (just under 2/3rds if no defense). Once they are focused, they actually are just about equal in terms of damage output to eStormies against no defense, such as Banthas. Again Focused, they are better than unfocused eStormies against White dice, and much better against Black dice, WHEN THE REROLL ISN'T ACCOUNTED FOR. Unfortunately, I don't have a way to incorporate the effect of the Squad Training reroll, but I've found that to be mighty. Plus, getting Focused through Vader's Finest or through losses that can be replaced via Reinforcements makes eStormies significantly better.

the problem with eSnowtroopers is that they just don't do enough damage. The 2pierce is worse than 2dmg, and they don't get a reroll.

That reroll is a very big deal. It's the difference between getting a surge and not, it's the difference between making the range or not.

The focus/weaken is quite nice I'll admit, and they are flat out tougher, but I find the heal ability is rarely worth the action unless you're healing some sort of blast or grenade damage.

Even then, having them near royal guard is probably enough. I'd prefer the rerolls and +2dmg of the stormtroopers. The extra health is significant but between with reinforcements I rarely lose whole units of stormtroopers anyway.

It's really a fairly simple toss up between a bit more damage (stormtrooper) or a bit more survivability (snowtrooper).
More damage is almost always good.... more survivability is situational. You always want to kill things, being able to take a lot of punishment in return is nice, but not as useful if you can't kill anything in return.
This is mainly due to the speed of the game.... limited time and usually only 3-4 rounds means the slightly lower killing power is significant. In a long drawn out fight the snowtroopers are heaps better... but it usually doesn't work like that. Most of the time you need to get that extra 1-2 damage through to finish something off on the last turn for the points. Granted the extra health/healing can do the same thing, but if you're defending and denying points then you may as well run away.... it's easier and safer.