I wanted to start up a discussion on the new units and see what people think the currently unknown unit traits will be/have a list of what we do know on their traits too.

So, listed here by faction, and in honor of it being Jabba's Realm, starting with scum, are the deployment cards we'll have coming up and then their traits next to them. Known traits will be in bold, and guesses won't be. Feel free to copy and make different guesses/reasons. My main reason for this was that I wanted to try and think through what the three scum heroes will be and see what others think, while also making a list of what we know to help people as they think about command cards for new deployments.

Jabba's Realm

Scum

Rancor - Creature, Brawler

Gamorrean Guard - Brawler, Guardian

Weequay Pirate - Brawler, Smuggler

Shyla Varad - Brawler, Hunter (If they could make anyone else in this wave a leader besides Jabba, it could be her, and that would be awesome!)

Onar Koma - Guardian, Hunter

Vinto Hreeda - Smuggler, Hunter

Jabba - Leader, Smuggler, Hunter

Empire

Captain Tero - Trooper, Creature, Leader

Dewback Rider - Trooper, Creature

Jet Trooper - Trooper, Vehicle

Rebels

Luke Skywalker - Leader, Force User, Brawler

Alliance Rangers - Trooper, Hunter

After typing it all up...all the question marks are in the scum figures. And realistically, I don't know what they can do that would be groundbreaking with them as far as their types. Other than somehow squeezing the second leader in the scum faction (since Jabba's the first). But the mandalorian is the only one that makes sense since the Rodian is described as reckless and the Aqualish is well, you know...

It'd be sweet if they can sneak in a spy unit, but again don't know how/who it would be. I am excited though because it looks like they'll get a lot more smugglers/hunters and so we should get some more good command cards for those types, like "On the Lam" which looks pretty sweet! https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/4f/f9/4ff92398-1592-4512-acde-b652aa357194/swi32_on-the-lam.png

I'm guessing the nifty tricks will come in their abilities and costs.

The Rodian will hopefully bring in his ability from the campaign - "Boltslinger" basically, after you perform a ranged attack, if the target suffered damage, pick a figure w/in 3 spaces and LOS to suffer 1 damage. Make him 3 points, with 6 health, speed 5 and another cool ability and I'll find space for him in my lists.

The Aqualish I could see having 15 health for 5 cost, no defense die but +1 block and +1 surge cancel, surge for recover 2, surge for +2 damage, a furious charge ability and an ability to become the target of an attack instead of one of your other figures. Regardless of whether that's waaaay off base, I do feel like they're going to do something to really make him an aggressively costed and unique to play bodyguard, I hope

And the Mandalorian...2/3 as hard to kill as Boba Fett, 7 cost, flamethrower, knife (and it talks about a whip, that's nowhere to found in the figure though). So let's guess 9 health, a +1 block, black die, a flamethrower ability similar to Tero, and melee attack with a pseudo ranged knife throw. Speed 6?

Anyways, that's a lot of speculation and I haven't even touched the Weequay Pirates, which who knows what role they'll fill since we have Gamorrean's as guardians in Jabba's army already.

All that to say, I'd love to hear more speculation on the 3 heroes in skirmish and the scum units we don't know much about Enjoy!

Edit: Formatting

Edit 9/17/16: Bolded correct traits for three heroes in skirmish. Was correct on Vinto, had an extra guess of leader on Shyla and brawler on Onar that were wrong. Left all my other speculations. Got a few things close. They made Vinto about what I hoped. A little more expensive but they gave him more health and two attacks so I think it's totally worth it

Something that I've thought about, and after coming to terms with the traits Scum then will probably lack, I think would be really awesome if it continued. It seems like each trait is primarily in two factions and almost non-existant in the third:

Leader - Imperial, Rebel

Smuggler - Scum, Rebel

Spy - Imperial, Rebel

Hunter - Scum (and with the Rangers perhaps Rebel?)

Brawler - Scum, Imperial (and some Rebel)

Trooper - Imperial, Rebel

Creature - Scum (and coming into Imperial?)

Force User - Imperial, Rebel

Vehicle - Exclusively Imperial at the moment

Guardian - All three, but maybe less Rebel when Gammoreans hit the table.

Heavy Weapons - Imperial, Rebel

If they make sure to flesh out the Command Cards properly, this will be very good I think. This'll give each faction something of their own, even if they have similar units (Like: Rebel Troopers, Wing Guards and Stormtroopers). Maybe Imperial and Rebel have a few too many in common. But they have other things to set them apart.

Great Topic!

Frankly, I don't think there ought to be a lot of Leaders in the Merc faction. Jabba is maybe more of the exception, more than the rule. The WingGuards almost don't fit as troopers, but they are a welcome addition. The one trait, the Mercs are missing is Spy, I think they would be the most common in the mercenary faction, but instead they show up in Rebel and Imperial. I guess I think of all spies as unreliable and behoven to the largest bidder.

Some traits, I hope they never mix. Mercs should be the creature faction, Imperials should be the Vehicle faction, Rebels have more of the individuals, leaders, etc.

My guesses:

Weequay Pirate - Smuggler Hunter

Shyla Varad - Hunter (I really don't think leader fits, maybe Brawler)

Onar Koma - Brawler, Heavy Weapon (I like to hope that they make this guy what Biv was in my mind, weapons expert with 84 different guns on him at all times)

Vinto Hreeda - Smuggler, Hunter

the design team seems more about well-roundedness (which is good) so there may be a few more tacked on. I'm actually really interested in what position the weequay play as it seems mercs have 1 of everything (except force users) now. How do they stack up to wing guard - hired guns - trandoshans, what role will they play.

I was also super stoked to read that the characters Shyla, Onar and Vinto will be playable as Mercs in skirmish, because I think they have the most flexibility and it adds a new layer to armylist building.

I think every faction should have some limited access to every trait. Splashing in one or two figures of a trait into another faction while that trait is predominantly held by another doesn't dilute faction identity in my opinion. The key to faction identity is making figures with similar functions play differently in different factions.

These are all great points. I do really hope and think they will keep the faction's identities really distinct. Leaders aren't going to be common in the Scum faction because almost all the leaders are full on crime bosses (Like Jabba or Xizor who will probably never make it in) and everyone else is a bounty hunter or expendable and not really a leader. Whereas in the armies of Rebels and Imperial you have tons of mid to high level leaders.

I do hope the Scum get some spies or at least one. I think it'd be cool for their spies to be more support like. For example, make Garindan and he has an ability where "Whenever a friendly figure attacks a hostile figure in your line of sight, the hostile figure suffers one extra damage." or "When friendly figures attack a hostile figure in your line of sight, they may reroll the opponent's defense dice". And make him like 3 points, with 4 move and a rather weak attack or something. But he's a spy for spy cards and his ability has the flavor of a neutral spy.

It's always been a little weird to me that the Saboteurs are spies just because they don't feel like spies really to me. It's also interesting that the Rebel snipers (Mak and Loku) are both spies. I get that they can be but I wish they'd made a trait like "sniper" or "sharpshooter" to be the way to make them (and other units like HK's or the upcoming Alliance Rangers) distinct/better as actual snipers (and don't get me wrong, the HK's are good at sniping so maybe they don't need any new trait).

It's always been a little weird to me that the Saboteurs are spies just because they don't feel like spies really to me. It's also interesting that the Rebel snipers (Mak and Loku) are both spies. I get that they can be but I wish they'd made a trait like "sniper" or "sharpshooter" to be the way to make them (and other units like HK's or the upcoming Alliance Rangers) distinct/better as actual snipers (and don't get me wrong, the HK's are good at sniping so maybe they don't need any new trait).

Hondo could be a leader. He's in Rebels this season, so he's likely fair game. They'll have to get content from somewhere after they finish Return Of The Jedi.

It's always been a little weird to me that the Saboteurs are spies just because they don't feel like spies really to me. It's also interesting that the Rebel snipers (Mak and Loku) are both spies. I get that they can be but I wish they'd made a trait like "sniper" or "sharpshooter" to be the way to make them (and other units like HK's or the upcoming Alliance Rangers) distinct/better as actual snipers (and don't get me wrong, the HK's are good at sniping so maybe they don't need any new trait).

The lack of accurate and more numerous traits is one of the big things I would want to fix if this game ever was rebooted. In another great example: Tuskens should get a keyword so you could make Junland Terror work with to another Tusken card printed in the future. A sniper trait is another great idea.

I think the original designers' idea of a spy is a more broad or general term than you and I are thinking.

Perhaps, the spy trait is more descriptive of a demolitions expert or something. In my mind, the only spies in Star Wars are Leia (shuttling stolen plans under the guise of a diplomatic mission) and Garidan (locating and ratting out the droids or Han or whoever he was exposing)

ISB troopers in scout armor, don't really look like spies. One could argue Lando was a bit of a spy or double or triple agent depending on your point of view.

For Nick, what other Tusken Raider role is there? I was actually suprised Weequay made it into Jabba's realm, but then someone mentioned they play a role in the cartoons more prominantly. I thought Hired Guns were kind of the "catch all" for dudes with guns that work for questionable criminal employers. I really look forward to any info on what role they'd play as far as taking them over an elite tusken or regular trandoshan or your point filler, objective grabbers, regular hired guns. In my mind, they are the random place holders in Merc Skirmish. They all have certain roles or tasks when you play. eTuskens are your smasher melee unit, rTrando are the damage dealer close proximity unit, HK long-distance, frail sniper types, hired guns are the point filler, objective holder, throwaway unit. I've never used the regular wing guard and the elites are a bit more of a point investment, so they really feel like your standard trooper, although I don't feel like they get quite as much use or utility as an estormie because there's never any other troopers around to get rerolls from like in an Imperial list.

I think the original designers' idea of a spy is a more broad or general term than you and I are thinking.

Perhaps, the spy trait is more descriptive of a demolitions expert or something. In my mind, the only spies in Star Wars are Leia (shuttling stolen plans under the guise of a diplomatic mission) and Garidan (locating and ratting out the droids or Han or whoever he was exposing)

ISB troopers in scout armor, don't really look like spies. One could argue Lando was a bit of a spy or double or triple agent depending on your point of view.

For Nick, what other Tusken Raider role is there?

Been a week so I thought I'd bump this up and see if anyone has some more ideas

Have I missed something about the named characters (Vinto and the like)? I notice that they're in the Merc list above rather than the Rebel one.

In the announcement article they said they are rebel in campaign but exclusively scum in skirmish super excited for that!

Just reread it and saw that, sorry! That definitely excites me too!

Just reread it and saw that, sorry! That definitely excites me too!

No worries, it was something I've seen a lot of people miss. It was almost a throwaway line it was so quick. But it is one of the more exciting things to me in the news we have so far and I'm sure more people will see it when they spoil their deployment cards!

You guys are ready to play the all Rodian list right?

Greedo

Vinto prey on the weak

eHired Guns

eHired Guns

Hired guns x4

mix in some last resort and devious scheme to fill in the points

Maybe Rodians with their Hutt overlord

Yup I'd lose two gray Hired Guns and swap for Jabba and two Last Resorts.

I edited the original post with bolds for what's been confirmed. It's fun to come back in here and see there were some close guesses

Especially Vinto

Edit: found a typo

Man, what are we at? 6-8 weeks out from delivery? I don't know if I can wait. I'm dying to see the health on the rancor and the card for the Weequay and the elite jump troopers

It's possible we are 6-8 weeks out. I'll be updating my list of past release and articles when we get our next article I think or when they update that the expansion is on the boat.