I am inclined to believe that the card has been misprinted and the article refers to the actual card intention. After all, thematically wise, if you are scouted (heroes with bounty tokens are) it gets tougher for you to defend as the attacker has already localised you. The other way around does not make too much sense.

I think the idea might be that since the hero is scouted, the Imperials know how they fight and can prepare for the attack better, thus the reroll. I also agree with everyone above that simply exhausting for dodge removal on any hero seems pretty strong for 1 xp. Also, to me it seems much more likely that the person writing the article has misread/misremembered the card than that the image is wrong.

It's not amazing but it's kind of neat, and I like the other part of the card since as the IP I generally prefer playing a bunch of Scum units anyway. And the Nemeses class deck is a great design idea to enable/encourage the use of unique villains way more, which is super cool.

Edit: I'm curious about the wording of Powerful Foes. It says you 'earn' two villains and can add one 'earned' villain to your open groups after choosing them. Isn't the word 'gain' usually used in this situation? Does this mean that the 'earned' villains are special and can't be brought as open groups normally? I guess all that means is that you can't bring them both at the same time, which you would probably rarely do anyway, but it struck me as a deliberate choice of words to separate it from normal 'gaining' of villains. That might suggest that some of the other class cards could do something fun with those two 'earned' villains specifically.

Does this mean that the 'earned' villains are special and can't be brought as open groups normally?

I personally don’t think so, though I guess it’s worth asking FFG post-release or once we see the rest of the class cards.

RRG states that: “once gained as a reward, villains (such as “Darth Vader”) can be brought into any mission as an open group” and agenda missions for villains state: “receive____as a villain.”

So yes, using “earned” is peculiar. But in order to use a villain as an open group (without powerful foes), it has to earned by purchasing the card AND winning the mission.

Thinking about it is crazy though lol

Earned Villains: Bossk and Darth Vader

Open Groups: 3

Chosen Groups: Officer, Stormtrooper, Nexu + Bossk

Open Groups: 3

Chosen Groups: Officer, Stormtooper, Darth Vader + Bossk

Open Groups: 3

Chosen Groups: Officer, Bossk, Royal Guard champion (which was earned last mission) + Darth Vader

Open Groups: Learn to Play, Page 11: He may choose any Imperial or Scum Deployment cards except unique cards (cards with a • before the name); unique cards must be earned as mission rewards before being used as open groups (see “Allies” on page 15).

Earned is also used in the RRG under Allies, so its not a new phrasing. More like inconsistent phrasing. I think the point is the class gives you any two villains you want at the start of the campaign (without needing Agenda cards, provided its one per faction), but the class buffs ALL villains, and you can add any earned villain to the open group... I'm assuming this includes missions that don't have open groups, like Aftermath - Imagine dropping somebody cheap like Greedo on the heroes in Aftermath...

Personally, I would take somebody cheap, and somebody expensive (which faction is which would depend on the theme of the campaign), but not somebody who appears in the campaign, and not the Inquisitor. For the Inquisitor, I'd add his agenda that lets you bring him in one mission to chase after a particular Rebel. And then I'd add maybe one set to add another villain. Mustn't go too crazy, but every time a villain appears in any mission they'll benefit from the class.

Edit: Actually "Earn" is used also with Experience points and credits. So I think it means you "Earn the reward", and earning the reward means you gain the deployment card, or something like that.

I've got to say: Greedo looks virtually mandatory with nemesis, otherwise you're getting nothing at low threat levels.

I've got to say: Greedo looks virtually mandatory with nemesis, otherwise you're getting nothing at low threat levels.

Not really... the base campaign has Weiss showing up in the second story mission, and Hoth has Dengar in the first mission and every threat mission, there's plenty of villains to make this class worthwhile even without the two you get as a bonus. But yes, I'd make sure one was cheap and one was expensive to use start and end of campaign. But not too expensive, so they're easier to bring into a mission. Bossk and Kayn might be nice... especially since I like troopers... But Greedo would be cool just because he's so cheap it won't hurt your threat.

I've got to say: Greedo looks virtually mandatory with nemesis, otherwise you're getting nothing at low threat levels.

The class desk is a real winner in mini-campaign's when threat ramps up quite quickly.

But yes, time to look up some agenda's that add threat/reduce deployment costs

I've got to say: Greedo looks virtually mandatory with nemesis, otherwise you're getting nothing at low threat levels.

Not really... the base campaign has Weiss showing up in the second story mission, and Hoth has Dengar in the first mission and every threat mission, there's plenty of villains to make this class worthwhile even without the two you get as a bonus. But yes, I'd make sure one was cheap and one was expensive to use start and end of campaign. But not too expensive, so they're easier to bring into a mission. Bossk and Kayn might be nice... especially since I like troopers... But Greedo would be cool just because he's so cheap it won't hurt your threat.

I mean with respect to the starting card.

Can't you only have one villain in your open groups. I could have sworn the RRG said they are like allies in that respect.

Can't you only have one villain in your open groups. I could have sworn the RRG said they are like allies in that respect.

What will make it unlikely though is cost, many of them cost too much. I was never able to deploy Vader because I never had enough threat. Spending it on troopers seemed much wiser than spending 4 rounds to get that much. But in our game ally missions never came up, the rebels scored all their red missions. So there was never a Chewbacca or Han to help me bring out Vader.

So, we haven't seen a 10+ point villain since Twin Shadows, right? And those earlier villains are generally the ones people complain about. The Grand Inquisitor is specifically 9 points - so what's the bet we get some kind of fix for villains that cost 10+ point? Is there a way to balance it to fix the 'really bad' ones like IG-88, while not making the 'sort of okay' ones like Boba too good?

Also, not sure if it's intentional, but I like that Ringleader buffs adjacent figures - which is exactly what Sorin and Kayn want. Would be really cool to see some 'targeted' bonuses for certain weaker villains in the deck, e.g. something for inflicting conditions to buff Dengar etc.

Well, that was awesome. It seems like they listened when everyone said "don't bother buying all those villains because you'll never get to play them and they're too expensive anyway." Problems solved, now you have to buy all the villain packs! I'm a little leery at being able to drop some of the villains on the board during initial deployment for almost no threat... Sorin, I'm talking about you with a couple probe droids stunning everyone.

Jet Pack Troopers may be pushing Hired Guns out of most of my open groups. And just about everyone else too. Wow.

Weequay don't really hit hard enough for the points, but at least they're sort of interesting.

Gamoreans, well, okay, a bit disappointing. I can see throwing them in for flavor sometimes but they're kind of a dumb choice over Troopers/Heavy Troopers. Good for blocking hallways I guess.

Rancor... it's a smart choice to make a campaign version because the Bantha is over pointed in Campaign due to the lack of command cards and Beast Tamer, so needed to have this sort of thing done for it. 10 points is still a huge chunk of points to have all at once so you won't be seeing this guy too often, but he'll be memorable when he shows up.

So the heroes look pretty good, the villains look good. Lets cross our fingers the mission aren't poop.

Open Groups: Learn to Play, Page 11: He may choose any Imperial or Scum Deployment cards except unique cards (cards with a • before the name); unique cards must be earned as mission rewards before being used as open groups (see “Allies” on page 15).

Earned is also used in the RRG under Allies, so its not a new phrasing. More like inconsistent phrasing. I think the point is the class gives you any two villains you want at the start of the campaign (without needing Agenda cards, provided its one per faction), but the class buffs ALL villains, and you can add any earned villain to the open group...

Right, that makes sense. I did check the Allies section in the RRG yesterday but missed that somehow, I guess I didn't read the Rebel part carefully enough.

Can't you only have one villain in your open groups. I could have sworn the RRG said they are like allies in that respect.

Nope, that's only Rebels. As long as villains have been earned, they can be added to an open group. The only restrictions are you can't add two copies of the same villain, you can't add one that's from an initial or reserved group, and you can't redeploy the same mission if they're defeated.

What will make it unlikely though is cost, many of them cost too much. I was never able to deploy Vader because I never had enough threat. Spending it on troopers seemed much wiser than spending 4 rounds to get that much. But in our game ally missions never came up, the rebels scored all their red missions. So there was never a Chewbacca or Han to help me bring out Vader.

And also making it even harder you would have to guess when they are going to bring Han or Chewie as your open groups would already be chosen prior to them deciding. Unless they tipped their hand to you with some table talk. This is why I found it really hard to justify bringing high priced villains any time open groups were limited.