42 minutes ago, subtrendy said:

Now we're really getting into speculation land, but a Call of the Dark Side card might be fun:

Discard this card to gain 1 Unique Rebel ally as a villain. If this ally has already been gained by the Rebels, they lose it.

This is fun but I'd rather not take the Rebels ally away given they are already hard enough to earn and heavily costed. I'd rather have an XP card that reads something like the Nemeses starting card:

At the start of any campaign choose one rebel ally that has not been included in the rebel side mission deck or included in the campaign's story/ At the start of each mission add the unique rebel deployment card to your open groups/When deployed this card is an imperial figure.

Or: you could just model Call of the Dark Side after Murne's false orders where you could Exhaust this card to interrupt and order a rebel figure (or any force user ) to perform a move or attack.

20 minutes ago, VadersMarchKazoo said:

Or: you could just model Call of the Dark Side after Murne's false orders where you could Exhaust this card to interrupt and order a rebel figure (or any force user ) to perform a move or attack.

I'd prefer not to have this model- seems kinda gimmicky. It works for Murne's diplomat theme, but with the Dark Side... well...

15 hours ago, General Zodd said:

I think that's just because he could find a large number of little people and children a **** sight cheaper than lots of 7' plus actors! Ironically, there may have been a shortage of them...

I don't know if that is true, but in 1980 when they were planning the film, it would be a realistic problem to have to have dealt with.

So....it is almost May.

Do you think they will hold until May the 4th to give us any insight on the next expansion?

Or...are they waiting to have more reliable updates on the Companion App?

I still think that Endor is the Small Box, but not that sure on the wave that comes with it.

Emperor? Yoda? General Solo?

2 hours ago, blackholexan said:

So....it is almost May.

Do you think they will hold until May the 4th to give us any insight on the next expansion?

Or...are they waiting to have more reliable updates on the Companion App?

I still think that Endor is the Small Box, but not that sure on the wave that comes with it.

Emperor? Yoda? General Solo?

Well, if the product codes are to be believed (and they probably should be) then there likely are three figure packs released alongside the smallbox. As with most waves, one of them is probably going to be a unique, original Imperial officer (hopefully on a speederbike!). Another is likely a unique Rebel ally (not sure who, but I'd bet against Yoda). The final one could either be an Imperial or Merc unique villain, but will likely be merc.

As for an announcement- at this point, I wouldn't view it as "hold off until May the 4th", but rather I'd be happy to get an announcement that soon.

23 hours ago, VadersMarchKazoo said:

I'm still waiting for the Ewoks to be re-imagined a bit. I think they could be badass if they looked a little more wild and wolverine-like. Sort of how the TMNT comic made the the turtles look much darker and cooler than the cartoon. I actually have a kids book (5 minute star wars stories) that I read to my boy. Even the art in the book makes them look a lot cooler than in RTJ.

Well that's kind of the point of this hobby. You can paint and convert the models to look the way YOU want them to.

Even just converting an ewok to wearing a stolen helmet and blaster is something I've been meaning to do.

If we are really getting a "standard" wave then I would think a small box Endor, and three-ish clampacks makes sense. Given that we already have a lot of forest-y map tiles, and lots of ally models that would fit into the theme, it might make more sense to make Endor a big campaign like Hoth later on though. If we get a small box for not-Endor, it is unlikely to center around stealing the info about DS2 though in my opinion. Historically, the license owners shy away from letting 3rd parties tell those kinds of stories.

31 minutes ago, TauntaunScout said:

Well that's kind of the point of this hobby. You can paint and convert the models to look the way YOU want them to.

One of my favorite simple paint conversions I've seen is making the Wampa to be Sully from Monster's Inc. Not sure if it was on these forums or somewhere else, but I thought it was great.

I've never been quite so down about the ewoks as many others are.

I completely agree that the end result is a bit too much cuddly teddy bear, but I think if you look at some of the costumes you can see some of the concept was a little more darker.

Some elements made it into the film - the fact they were about to barbecue the heroes, the empty stormtrooper helmets at the end hints at a similar fate, and the medicine men - but unfortunately, either by design or by accident, too many of the costumes ended up as cutesy little teddy bears.

(wicket obviously being the exception to the darker ewok theory! )

I'm not a hater of Ewoks either. They definitely made it believable that the Empire underestimated them.

I'd love a graphic novel that describes how the imperial troops were disappearing due to the man-eating natives! If I didn't have enough hobbies, I'd probably take a stab at some fan fiction. Again, catering to the idea of the darker Ewoks.

I'm totally with you guys. I think a lot of the people who complain about how they fought pretty successfully against the Empire are missing the irony that the Rebels themselves were also hopelessly outgunned and outmanned. And ell is totally right, while the Ewoks are cute, they're cute in a bear cub kind of way- just because they have cute faces doesn't mean they aren't ferocious.

It's not their ferocity, it's the technological plateau. Stone aged warriors with spears vs a space aged organized military. It isn't the Zulu against the 24th South Whales Borderers, its the Zulu against the 101st Airborne. The rebels were outgunned, but they still used projected energy weapons, had starships, and pretty darn good space-fighters; not rock axes and stone spears.

2 minutes ago, Rikalonius said:

It's not their ferocity, it's the technological plateau. Stone aged warriors with spears vs a space aged organized military. It isn't the Zulu against the 24th South Whales Borderers, its the Zulu against the 101st Airborne. The rebels were outgunned, but they still used projected energy weapons, had starships, and pretty darn good space-fighters; not rock axes and stone spears.

Sure, but again, that's kind of the point of Star Wars in many ways. The Death Star was leagues ahead of any technology the Rebels had. In fact, the only reason that Red squadron wasn't completely and hopelessly swarmed by TIEs was because the Empire viewed their snub fighters as little more than a minor annoyance- yet one of those little tiny snub fighters managed to blow up the moon-sized space station nonetheless.

One on one, if an Imperial stormtrooper had to fight an ewok in the Geonosian Arena, I'd put my money on the trooper every time. But we're leaving out a lot there-

1) The ewoks' "traps"- catapults, battering rams, etc. that proved effective enough against Imperial vehicles and troops

2) The ewoks' numbers. There were a lot of these little guys.

3) The element of surprise. This is a big one. Remember, the ewok attack was a surprise attack against an Imperial force that thought it had already won. The ewoks had the element of surprise. Plus, they were creatures of the jungle- they knew it well and could blend in well. If you've ever played any of the Battlefront games, you'd know how stormtroopers stick out like sore thumbs on Endor maps, with their blindingly white armor.

Finally- the ewoks didn't win. Not really, anyway. They did some damage, and were successful in luring the bulk of the Empire away from the bunker so Han and the crew could get in, but the Empire hunted them down into the forest. The movie shows a lot of the destruction of the ewoks. People tend to forget that.

2 hours ago, subtrendy said:

Sure, but again, that's kind of the point of Star Wars in many ways. The Death Star was leagues ahead of any technology the Rebels had. In fact, the only reason that Red squadron wasn't completely and hopelessly swarmed by TIEs was because the Empire viewed their snub fighters as little more than a minor annoyance- yet one of those little tiny snub fighters managed to blow up the moon-sized space station nonetheless.

One on one, if an Imperial stormtrooper had to fight an ewok in the Geonosian Arena, I'd put my money on the trooper every time. But we're leaving out a lot there-

1) The ewoks' "traps"- catapults, battering rams, etc. that proved effective enough against Imperial vehicles and troops

2) The ewoks' numbers. There were a lot of these little guys.

3) The element of surprise. This is a big one. Remember, the ewok attack was a surprise attack against an Imperial force that thought it had already won. The ewoks had the element of surprise. Plus, they were creatures of the jungle- they knew it well and could blend in well. If you've ever played any of the Battlefront games, you'd know how stormtroopers stick out like sore thumbs on Endor maps, with their blindingly white armor.

Finally- the ewoks didn't win. Not really, anyway. They did some damage, and were successful in luring the bulk of the Empire away from the bunker so Han and the crew could get in, but the Empire hunted them down into the forest. The movie shows a lot of the destruction of the ewoks. People tend to forget that.

I accept your final point. I did like Return of the Jedi. I saw it opening day when I was 14. I just think that the power of the Ewoks was very plot dependent and lacked verisimilitude, though I didn't understand it in those terms at the time. The traps were ok, if you accept that a Scout walker was so thin that it could be collapsed that easy, but more importantly, where did the Ewoks have time to set up these elaborate systems? I'll even go so far as to attempt to explain it myself by saying they were traps already in place for hunting large prey.

My bigger point is, I enjoy Star Wars IA as a battlefield strategy game, and I start to get annoyed when every creature in the IP has to be represented, like Jawa, Ugnauts, and Ewoks. I feel they are out of place. Ewoks at least engaged in combat. Jawa were wiped out by precise imperial blasting. And Ugnauts?

The developers need to consider which figures appear in the campaign setting. Ugnaught Tinkerers are from Bespin Gambit, and the Cloud City does not have much alternatives to pick from. What could the Ugnaught Tinkerers have been replaced with? We already had Darth Vader and Boba Fett. (Lobot is probably the only one, and he made a cameo in one of the missions, but he could not considered to be a mercenary or imperial.)

2 minutes ago, a1bert said:

The developers need to consider which figures appear in the campaign setting. Ugnaught Tinkerers are from Bespin Gambit, and the Cloud City does not have much alternatives to pick from. What could the Ugnaught Tinkerers have been replaced with? We already had Darth Vader and Boba Fett. (Lobot is probably the only one, and he made a cameo in one of the missions, but he could not considered to be a mercenary or imperial.)

I understand that, but an entire campaign for non-characters on Bespin? Much as I think it is a good expansion, it seems to be more about the map tiles than the story. But, I can see if you are making strictly a Bespin story, you don't have much canon non-unique examples to work with.

You pretty much summed up why I didn't' get the Bespin Gambit. It's the only boxed expansion I skipped. I don't think ewoks "have" to be added but they were lots of fun to paint in the WEG days and I hope to get them in this iteration of Star Wars minis gaming.

The thing about the ewoks not actually winning is also pointed out by George Lucas in ROTJ dvd commentary. Something to the effect of "They don't have to win, they just have to not-lose long enough for the shield generator to be blown up". Obviously if the Empire wanted to permanently take over all of Endor, the ewoks couldn't stop them with sharpened sticks. They were just there to point out that a motivated, intelligent opponent can be a threat no matter what.

As far as other unrealistic depictions of ground combat go, how come no one ever notices Hoth? The rebels were a decently equipped, veteran army. They knew where their opponent was headed and what their general goals were. And they could only slow them down for a couple hours? If they even impacted their travel timeline at all? Ridiculous. But that is what made for a dramatic story, so it works.

I'll tell you what I do NOT expect in the new boxed expansion. Cross-references to anything except the core game. FF has been good about that.

We always get a new rebel movie character or two in a box. At this point they have run out of those, except Yoda, who wasn't very fighty in the OT. I'd guess a new version of Leia is the most likely option if it's Endor.

If it's not Endor, other likely settings seem to be drying up? What else is there, the halls of star destroyers/death stars? Dagobah? Something non-OT?

7 hours ago, TauntaunScout said:

We always get a new rebel movie character or two in a box. At this point they have run out of those, except Yoda, who wasn't very fighty in the OT. I'd guess a new version of Leia is the most likely option if it's Endor.

I don't see Leia being done again, she doesn't have *that* much character development in the OT, not like farmboy turned Jedi Luke, or arguably scoundrel turned General Han or Lando, either of which are more likely than Leia, though my money would be on Han, as he's one of the most popular characters and sees virtually zero play.

However, as the Rebel heroes yet to be seen, what about Nien Nunb? Or Wedge? I'd say Nien Nunb is most likely, he's in the new film, and he's one of the hero characters in Battlefront. Plus he'd be the first Sullustan in the game, which would be nice!

4 hours ago, General Zodd said:

I don't see Leia being done again, she doesn't have *that* much character development in the OT, not like farmboy turned Jedi Luke, or arguably scoundrel turned General Han or Lando, either of which are more likely than Leia, though my money would be on Han, as he's one of the most popular characters and sees virtually zero play.

However, as the Rebel heroes yet to be seen, what about Nien Nunb? Or Wedge? I'd say Nien Nunb is most likely, he's in the new film, and he's one of the hero characters in Battlefront. Plus he'd be the first Sullustan in the game, which would be nice!

I can see wedge. What I would like to see is Endor combined with Kashyyyk. Then we might could get another Wookiee NPC character. The tiles would be largely interchangeable, since both live in tree houses with bridges. A series of missions to retake Kashyyyk as well as minor support for the canon character in ROTJ would be a good campaign, albeit better as a full campaign and not a small box one. Still a couple missions on Kashyyyk, maybe one inside an Imperial facility or Star Destroyer, and one on Endor (as lore breaking as that is).

On 4/29/2017 at 10:00 AM, Rikalonius said:

I can see wedge. What I would like to see is Endor combined with Kashyyyk. Then we might could get another Wookiee NPC character. The tiles would be largely interchangeable, since both live in tree houses with bridges. A series of missions to retake Kashyyyk as well as minor support for the canon character in ROTJ would be a good campaign, albeit better as a full campaign and not a small box one. Still a couple missions on Kashyyyk, maybe one inside an Imperial facility or Star Destroyer, and one on Endor (as lore breaking as that is).

I totally agree with this.

I've been saying for a while that I think a smallbox with some treehouse tiles and some forest to beach tiles would make a great Endor/Scarif/Kashyyyk box. We already have a ton of forest, so it'd be like Jabba's Realm really only needing to add a few choice desert tiles here and there (though, ultimately, JR still added a lot more to the tile bloat anyway).

I hope there will be no Rebels Box but a RO-box will be cool, especially the deathtroopers.

But a few charakters from Rebels would be nice, Ahsoka Tano or Sabine.

redacted

Is there anything special about the black stormtrooper costumes from R1 other than blackness? Can't you just paint regular stormtroopers black and call them your elites?

The Deathtroopers have a cooler, fresher look. ; )

14 minutes ago, TauntaunScout said:

Is there anything special about the black stormtrooper costumes from R1 other than blackness? Can't you just paint regular stormtroopers black and call them your elites?

I think they're a little taller.

Other than that, I have an awful eye for detail, but I'm sure some fans out there could tell you 103 differences between Stormtrooper and Deathtrooper armor that don't involve color.

Well you could in the same sense you can put a bow on a baby boy and call it a girl. If you look closely enough you can tell the difference, but from a table top stand point they certainly could be death troopers.

The helmets are completely different for starters, and the list goes on, but for the purpose of table top play there would be no reason you can't pull it off.