Either way I hope Thrawn does NOT reduce command dials. I tend to set my dials exactly the way I want. It's not hard to predict when I'm going to be within firing range and plan ahead. Giving Thrawn that ability would feel like a waste.

I've got another cool idea -

At the beginning of the game, set aside an asteroid obstacle. At the beginning of each status phase, you may place that obstacle anywhere in the play area that does not overlap another ship.

-Cloaked Asteroids!

Thrawn will hopefully be less expensive then Vader. 28 - 32 points would be good.

And hopefully you don't need to build your list around him.

It should also reflect his character. I imagine him as the Desert Fox in space. If you know what I mean.

So I would have him something like this:

"At the start of turn 1 you may place one of your ships to a different position within your start area and choose its speed."

This reflects the ability to mislead opponents and to attack from where it wasn't expected.

Thrawn will hopefully be less expensive then Vader. 28 - 32 points would be good.

And hopefully you don't need to build your list around him.

It should also reflect his character. I imagine him as the Desert Fox in space. If you know what I mean.

So I would have him something like this:

"At the start of turn 1 you may place one of your ships to a different position within your start area and choose its speed."

This reflects the ability to mislead opponents and to attack from where it wasn't expected.

What about a different strategic boon?

Once per turn any one ship may use a Command Token as if it were a Command Dial.

-has the ability to make any ship better

-still requires the player to plan ahead

-adds that element of surprise that we expect from Thrawn

Thrawn will hopefully be less expensive then Vader. 28 - 32 points would be good.

And hopefully you don't need to build your list around him.

It should also reflect his character. I imagine him as the Desert Fox in space. If you know what I mean.

So I would have him something like this:

"At the start of turn 1 you may place one of your ships to a different position within your start area and choose its speed."

This reflects the ability to mislead opponents and to attack from where it wasn't expected.

That would be sick with a double ISD list, talk about a no win scenario.

What about a different strategic boon?

Once per turn any one ship may use a Command Token as if it were a Command Dial.

-has the ability to make any ship better

-still requires the player to plan ahead

-adds that element of surprise that we expect from Thrawn

Ad in a verbiage to require the actual command dial to be discarded, and I'd be all about that admiral.

Thrawn will hopefully be less expensive then Vader. 28 - 32 points would be good.

And hopefully you don't need to build your list around him.

It should also reflect his character. I imagine him as the Desert Fox in space. If you know what I mean.

So I would have him something like this:"At the start of turn 1 you may place one of your ships to a different position within your start area and choose its speed."

This reflects the ability to mislead opponents and to attack from where it wasn't expected.

That would be sick with a double ISD list, talk about a no win scenario.

What about a different strategic boon?Once per turn any one ship may use a Command Token as if it were a Command Dial.

-has the ability to make any ship better

-still requires the player to plan ahead

-adds that element of surprise that we expect from Thrawn

Ad in a verbiage to require the actual command dial to be discarded, and I'd be all about that admiral.

I would rather add in verbiage that requires the dial and token must be different if anything. Otherwise, it just an ability to change one ship's command dial requiring a token of the same type. While a useful ability, Thrawn's ability should be more potent when activated.

Just a repost but here is my take on Thrawn in Armada

I was thinking of how they could create a Thrawn that does him justice but does not break the game.

This is what I came up with...

[unique] Grand Admiral Thrawn
When a friendly ship resolves a command
[Navigation]: It may increase 1 additional yaw value by 1.
[squadron]: It may activate 1 additional squadron.
[Firepower]: It may reroll 1 additional die.
[Engineering]: It gains 1 additional engineering point.
Faction:[imperial] Cost:[38]

I wanted his ability to reflect that under Thrawn's command the Imperials were just more effective

at everything they did. I don't know if the cost is a little high given that you don't gain tokens (Tarkin)

or dice (Ackbar) or any new ability (Vader).

But his ability triggers for dials and tokens, so every turn for every ship so no matter what you do you

with Thrawn you can do it a better.

Yeah that is better than tarkin or terribar

That is madine, the redemption title without a range restriction, the liberty title, and a free reroll all for 38???? o_0

Thrawn will hopefully be less expensive then Vader. 28 - 32 points would be good.

And hopefully you don't need to build your list around him.

It should also reflect his character. I imagine him as the Desert Fox in space. If you know what I mean.

So I would have him something like this:"At the start of turn 1 you may place one of your ships to a different position within your start area and choose its speed."

This reflects the ability to mislead opponents and to attack from where it wasn't expected.

That would be sick with a double ISD list, talk about a no win scenario.

What about a different strategic boon?Once per turn any one ship may use a Command Token as if it were a Command Dial.

-has the ability to make any ship better

-still requires the player to plan ahead

-adds that element of surprise that we expect from Thrawn

Ad in a verbiage to require the actual command dial to be discarded, and I'd be all about that admiral.

I would rather add in verbiage that requires the dial and token must be different if anything. Otherwise, it just an ability to change one ship's command dial requiring a token of the same type. While a useful ability, Thrawn's ability should be more potent when activated.

Hmmm. "Before you reveal a command, you may discard 1 command token to change that command to match that token."

That would indeed be a terrible admiral ability, but for a couple of points it would make a half-decent officer, especially with Garm or Tarkin.

Grand Admiral Thrawn:

At the beginning of the Status Phase, you may choose one enemy ship at Range 1-5 of one of your ships. You may look at the top Command dial of that ship. If you do, you may change the top command dial of one of your ships.

Dunno what point cost that sort of admiral ability would be. This was just the first idea for Thrawn that popped into my head when I tried to think of an Admiral ability that might be good and thematic to Thrawn without making it too good. Knowing your opponent's next move and changing your tactics accordingly felt Thrawn-like.

I don't design cards, so I have no idea how good or under-powered this ability might be. I'll leave that up to the forum to decide.

Thrawn will hopefully be less expensive then Vader. 28 - 32 points would be good.

And hopefully you don't need to build your list around him.

It should also reflect his character. I imagine him as the Desert Fox in space. If you know what I mean.

So I would have him something like this:

"At the start of turn 1 you may place one of your ships to a different position within your start area and choose its speed."

This reflects the ability to mislead opponents and to attack from where it wasn't expected.

That would be sick with a double ISD list, talk about a no win scenario.

What about a different strategic boon?

Once per turn any one ship may use a Command Token as if it were a Command Dial.

-has the ability to make any ship better

-still requires the player to plan ahead

-adds that element of surprise that we expect from Thrawn

I had a hard counter to Interdictor trickery in my mind.

Maybe reduce the effect to small - med ships only + squadrons up to the squadron command value of this ship. Similar to Hyperspace Assault.

Your idea is not bad as well. Works also excellent with an ISD or Interdictor and Wulff ... and then its not surprising any longer, but expected

OK, this one came to me. I'm having trouble translating it into rules-speak, so I'm gonna give my intent:

On spending a concentrate fire token: Exhaust Thraw, do not re-roll a die. If this ship attacks only from it's front arc, another friendly ship may attack the same target ship with it's front arc.

On spending a concentrate fire dial: Exhaust Thrawn; do not add a die. If this ship attacks from only one arc, another friendly ship may attack the same target ship with one arc.

Originally, I was thinking it should only be the first one, no matter weather a token or dial spent, but I stumbled over the "don't use the command" wording, and thought that it might be better to benefit more from a dial than a token.

I suspect this would be worth some 30 points or more.

Thrawn is probably going to give you some sort of setup advantage. Because he was able to predict his enemies' actions. So if he could take you by surprise I could see him possibly stopping an enemy's ability to react to an attack.

Thrawn : 32

Once per round, while attacking, you may exhaust this card. If you do, the defender can not spend defense tokens this attack.

I added the Once per Round caveat just in case someone put him on the Interdictor. Basically he gets one surprise attack per round. Could make it a once per game thing too, like you may discard this card to gain 2 additional attack dice of any color AND force the defender to not use any defense tokens. That might be crazy though.

Thrawn is probably going to give you some sort of setup advantage. Because he was able to predict his enemies' actions. So if he could take you by surprise I could see him possibly stopping an enemy's ability to react to an attack.

Thrawn : 32

Once per round, while attacking, you may exhaust this card. If you do, the defender can not spend defense tokens this attack.

I added the Once per Round caveat just in case someone put him on the Interdictor. Basically he gets one surprise attack per round. Could make it a once per game thing too, like you may discard this card to gain 2 additional attack dice of any color AND force the defender to not use any defense tokens. That might be crazy though.

I sort of like the idea of a one-time crazy move. In a six-turn game, that might be too much.

all depends on how much you cost him though. He could have an officer card that allows his SHIP to do it, and since most of those cost only 10 or less, imagine he costs 40 for just that - PLUS you'd still need a commander. So now you've got a 200+ point Star Destroyer that gets one amazing attack per game.

It's something worth thinking about but either way it might not be the best idea for this game. If you are going to do a once per game effect, it would probably be better to restrict it to round 5 or round 6 - this way your opponent has a chance to destroy you before you can use it. Now it's instantly more balanced.