It's a very... eclectate mix of minis. Seems like a more coherent 'rebels' wave would have been better. Not read the Vader comics, I may have to give them a look.

The power creep is real. When you look at Hera and you compare it to a figure like Kayn Somos or Fenn Signis (skirmish), you wonder what's happening.

Well, those two have never been competitive. Hera seems in line with other recent figures. BT-1, though, does seem quite beastly. Look forward to seeing how they play!

EDIT: ninja'd by masterchiefspiff :-)

-ryanjamal

Yeah you can't use over priced figures add a benchmark for figures going forward because then we just get more overpriced garbage. The downside is that a lot of the iconic characters were released too early and as more correctly or aggressively priced figures are released, their value continues to wane.

Like this wave a fair bit, surprised to see 0-0-0 and BT but cool. I hope we can see a R5 or R4 astromech at somepoint. I'll probably end up buying a good two to three packs of the Jawa and three for Hera and Chopper to paint, though might end up modding the chopper model if the model doesn't grow on me.

"they also dramatically expand your options by letting you include Droids from other affiliations in your strike team."

So Jawas in skirmish will let you bring in Probe Droids or R2, 3PO, or MHD into your Scum team?

That is awesome and scary and awesome if true. I really want this to be true.

I wonder if we could bring in multiple with multiple jawas? It could also mean rebel droid in an imperial list? Temp Alliance a jawa to have him bring in a rebel droid?

There doesn't seem to be any affiliation-unlocking ability on the grey Jawa card, but apparently the pack includes four deployment cards, only two of which are shown. I wouldn't be surprised if the mechanic was a skirmish upgrade that allowed you to include x off-affiliation Droids, kinda like a variation on Temporary Alliance.

It's kind of redundant to bring Waves 1 and 2 into the power creep discussion. Obviously, pricing back then was not very accurate. Recent waves have been much better, though, and while Hera's certainly good, I'd not call her broken.

I like the Jawa but I feel like that box should have included 3 of the little guys.

I am not familiar with Rebels not comics so most of these figures other than Jawas don't many anything to me but I am willing to consider their inclusion in the game. However, I am concerned about BT-1. Isn't this droid an example of power creep? Too strong for the cost/health ratio. 4 attack ranged die?! Looks like it is too much. What is the logic behind this droid from the game balance design perspective?

I like the Jawa but I feel like that box should have included 3 of the little guys.

Agreed.

I guess the point is that these packs usually contain one full deployment group, and since the Jawa group only contains one unit, that's all that's in the pack.

We're gonna want a regular and elite, though.

Thrawn! Thrawn! Thrawn! Thra-... sorry.

These look fantastic. Hera is very cool, and the first Twi'lek model for the game, I believe? [EDIT: my mistake, totally forgot about Diala]

I was just reading about 0-0-0 for the first time last night, from a mention in the Edge of the Empire forums. He sounds fun, and it's great that they're looking for interesting characters from the EU to add.

Plus I finally have a Jawa mini for my Edge character.

I am not familiar with Rebels not comics so most of these figures other than Jawas don't many anything to me but I am willing to consider their inclusion in the game. However, I am concerned about BT-1. Isn't this droid an example of power creep? Too strong for the cost/health ratio. 4 attack ranged die?! Looks like it is too much. What is the logic behind this droid from the game balance design perspective?

His surges aren't exceptionally powerful. Try comparing him to a squad of rStormtroopers.

Both are 6 points.

10 health on one figure vs 9 spread over 3

4 or 6 attack dice vs 6, one of BT-1's combinations is the same as a stormtrooper (with more innate range), one is slightly better relative to his surges, and the third is weaker offensively but higher on utility.

Trooper vs Heavy Weapon/Hunter/Droid

1 damage/2 accuracy surges vs 1 blast/1 recover/2 pierce surges

While BT-1 is individually powerful, his overall power for his cost is relatively balanced compared to something from the core box. His real strength is his traits, it allows him to fit into multiple archetypes. You could even compare him favorable to something from the most recent wave, the Dewback Riders.

As someone who doesn't watch Rebels or isn't familiar with the Imperial droids in this wave... mixed feelings all around.

Not sure what to think!

And the Jawa is giving out some serious ugnaught vibes. It's not really a combat unit.

Utter, raging and bursting excitement is what you should be feeling.

Honest.

Purely from a miniatures standpoint, the imperial droids are little underwhelming since we already have a protocol droid mini and an astromech mini. At the very least, BT-1 can replace the junk droid token.

Also disappointing to see that are no campaign item cards included in these expansions, especially since these figures aren’t tied to a corresponding boxset. Hoping the Greedo/Inquistor/Obi-Wan format wasn’t a one and done type of deal.

And again, especially for campaign, heroes will have to cut down innocent little scavengers roaming about. Ain’t that nice?

You bring up good points, especially about the lack of item cards. I am a campaign player myself. Although I am very excited about these minis, I can see your point of view.

The agenda set with hera is a mistake I think. That is the tuskan raider agenda set. From what we see i think the jawa and hera look good for their points, but i'm anxious to see how BT-1 pans out. Who would be a good to compare him to from new releases? I think the self focus is a little over the top and that he will be a bargain for his points.

One thing that is also interesting:

The jawa has a campaign only elite card, one normal card for both.. and 2 unspoiled cards.

So there might be an elite skirmish jawa and an upgrade card?

I wouldn't be surprised if the Skirmish Elite haggled for VPs (or maybe even 2 VPs, gain two per [HIT])

The article mentions Jawas being able to bring droids from other factions into scum somehow, I'm guessing the skirmish version has an ability for it in place of haggle.

I would more expect to see that from the Skirmish Upgrade, but I may be wrong

It's not power creep when you make things that are more powerful than something that wasn't being played. By definition, power creep is only when you make something more powerful than what is currently being used, and set a new standard power level by which all future things will be judged. The fact that it doesn't make sense to play IG-88 when you could play these new droids instead is irrelevant, because it's never made sense to play IG-88. They would have to make something more powerful than Stormtroopers, Probe Droids, HK's or something else commonly used for it to be real power creep.

There's a good video explanation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3b3hDvRjJA

I think the Jawa didn't get an item card because clearly this is meant to be a multi buy pack, but the other two definitely could have included a little something more.

I guess we get less because they are multi-model packs.

I am not familiar with Rebels not comics so most of these figures other than Jawas don't many anything to me but I am willing to consider their inclusion in the game. However, I am concerned about BT-1. Isn't this droid an example of power creep? Too strong for the cost/health ratio. 4 attack ranged die?! Looks like it is too much. What is the logic behind this droid from the game balance design perspective?

His surges aren't exceptionally powerful. Try comparing him to a squad of rStormtroopers.

Both are 6 points.

10 health on one figure vs 9 spread over 3

4 or 6 attack dice vs 6, one of BT-1's combinations is the same as a stormtrooper (with more innate range), one is slightly better relative to his surges, and the third is weaker offensively but higher on utility.

Trooper vs Heavy Weapon/Hunter/Droid

1 damage/2 accuracy surges vs 1 blast/1 recover/2 pierce surges

While BT-1 is individually powerful, his overall power for his cost is relatively balanced compared to something from the core box. His real strength is his traits, it allows him to fit into multiple archetypes. You could even compare him favorable to something from the most recent wave, the Dewback Riders.

Yeah, he's about at the power/cost level of a unit of Stormtroopers, but his surges are a little worse, he doesn't have rerolls and he's a little less flexible (he can only be in one place at a time, and he either has to attack 3 different units or one unit; he can't split with 2 attacks against 1 unit and 1 vs another). He's more susceptible to harmful conditions, and he doesn't benefit at all from abilities that focus. His 4-dice attack is good, but without the best surges it's not going to be that insane for damage.

On the plus side, he has some great traits (especially with the new hunter and droid cards in the latest sets) and he is tougher to kill with more health + recover. Also, he has the single-unit advantage that his firepower doesn't go down in health as you deal damage to him (unlike a group of stormtroopers).

So, seems pretty balanced to me.

Maybe see elements of the SCAR SQUAD...from the comics?

Hera is very cool, and the first Twi'lek model for the game, I believe?

There's this girl Diala in one of the obscure early boxes.

Note that each figure can only have one of each condition, so figures that provide focused to other figures do not add to BT-1's power level. In that way BT-1 is easier to evaluate in isolation from the fielded list.

Yay! Jawa swarm!!

I`m so excited.

It's not power creep when you make things that are more powerful than something that wasn't being played. By definition, power creep is only when you make something more powerful than what is currently being used, and set a new standard power level by which all future things will be judged. The fact that it doesn't make sense to play IG-88 when you could play these new droids instead is irrelevant, because it's never made sense to play IG-88. They would have to make something more powerful than Stormtroopers, Probe Droids, HK's or something else commonly used for it to be real power creep.

There's a good video explanation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3b3hDvRjJA

This video was awesome! Thanks for sharing

Definitely a surprising wave, but cool. I love that they've given people a little bit of everything - something from Rebels, a classic SW alien, and the left field pick from the comics.

I'll agree that getting the Jawa as a one of rather than a group is a little weird, though I guess no different from the Ugnaughts. Also a little strange to get the droids without Dr. Aphra, so we can probably expect her coming down the line at some point?

Love it. At first I didn't like the fact that I'm going to have to buy multiple Jawas, but that's balanced out by the fact that Hera AND Chopper are together as well as BT AND 0-0-0.

As far as balance, the old stuff is just overcosted. Twin Shadows and especially Bespin forward is correctly coasted.

I'm hoping that they release new skirmish-only cards for the old stuff. The old cards can be used in campaign still I suppose.