A year ago when I was getting into this I wanted to run a loaded trandoshan list. Now that I'm getting back into it I'm looking at the cards and the trandoshans just don't seem to hold up against the weequay and hks.

Maybe if you get in close they can add that bonus damage. The lack of surge abilities feels like it hurts them as well.

I feel like at range I'd rather have hks. In close I'd rather have weequays.

I think a Strain list can be still viable. lead by Bossk, they can be real trandoshan terrors.

1 hour ago, LegionThree said:

A year ago when I was getting into this I wanted to run a loaded trandoshan list. Now that I'm getting back into it I'm looking at the cards and the trandoshans just don't seem to hold up against the weequay and hks.

Maybe if you get in close they can add that bonus damage. The lack of surge abilities feels like it hurts them as well.

I feel like at range I'd rather have hks. In close I'd rather have weequays.

I think you're right, unfortunately: Trandoshans are just not good enough to be strongly competitive.

They need more health or survivability, perhaps a bit more movement, and more overall bang for their buck. Relentless and Scattergun are a great combo of abilities, but unfortunately the Trandos tend to die before getting to use them, or else they die immediately after using them.

I'd like to see a strain-focused squad do well, but if I'm across the table from such a list, I immediately think differently about my command deck: rather than seeing it as a goldmine to dig through as fast as possible, I instead see it as a limited pool of money that I need to save for as long as possible. That's because my command deck vs a strain-focused squad is actually a virtual Health pool: it is a stack of 15 1-Block results, and I need to shrink my opponent's squad (and therefore his strain-output) faster than he can shrink my virtual Health pool. If I'm successful at that, I will win. Therefore in that situation I simply forego terminals so that my virtual Health pool can last longer.

A strain-focused squad simply forces your opponent to play differently than they normally would. I certainly hope that this style of squad can work well in the future, but right now I don't think we have enough competitive strain-givers to build it, IMHO.

9 hours ago, thereisnotry said:

I think you're right, unfortunately: Trandoshans are just not good enough to be strongly competitive.

They need more health or survivability, perhaps a bit more movement, and more overall bang for their buck. Relentless and Scattergun are a great combo of abilities, but unfortunately the Trandos tend to die before getting to use them, or else they die immediately after using them.

I'd like to see a strain-focused squad do well, but if I'm across the table from such a list, I immediately think differently about my command deck: rather than seeing it as a goldmine to dig through as fast as possible, I instead see it as a limited pool of money that I need to save for as long as possible. That's because my command deck vs a strain-focused squad is actually a virtual Health pool: it is a stack of 15 1-Block results, and I need to shrink my opponent's squad (and therefore his strain-output) faster than he can shrink my virtual Health pool. If I'm successful at that, I will win. Therefore in that situation I simply forego terminals so that my virtual Health pool can last longer.

A strain-focused squad simply forces your opponent to play differently than they normally would. I certainly hope that this style of squad can work well in the future, but right now I don't think we have enough competitive strain-givers to build it, IMHO.

I do wonder if we see a strain centric list doing well in lieu of the amount of Hunter cards out there now that those figures crave. Haven't drawn Heightened Reflexes or Assassinate yet? Do you risk losing them? Its going to likely take a few more strain figures or cards to really put it together though.

I don't necessarily disagree with thereisnotry , but you can't allow the strain opponent free reign of the terminals, they'll have command cards that work well and the faster they get their command cards, the quicker your figures may die, especially with the new Hunter command cards.

there's no hiding the fact that the trandoshans were designed for campaign and not for skirimish, whereas the Weequay (medium range shooters - not close range) were designed with both in mind. Of course the newer, more balanced stuff is going to perform better. It has more options. HKs were designed as surge multipliers and long range snipers, the weequay (elite) are similar and both have multiple attributes which make them more flexible. I think a strain trando list could still perform well against other lists, its just not going to be top tier and you'd need a little luck on your side and all the movement cards or gideon tagging along (there are quite a few movement cards now.)

12 minutes ago, buckero0 said:

I think a strain trando list could still perform well against other lists, its just not going to be top tier and you'd need a little luck on your side and all the movement cards or gideon tagging along (there are quite a few movement cards now.)

Do you think a strain Trando list requires/wants Under Duress and/or Headhunter in there, or would those points be better spent on Gideon and/or Motivation for more movement? Could Trandos, Wing Guard, and Under Duress mesh well in the current meta?

11 minutes ago, buckero0 said:

I don't necessarily disagree with thereisnotry , but you can't allow the strain opponent free reign of the terminals, they'll have command cards that work well and the faster they get their command cards, the quicker your figures may die, especially with the new Hunter command cards.

there's no hiding the fact that the trandoshans were designed for campaign and not for skirimish, whereas the Weequay (medium range shooters - not close range) were designed with both in mind. Of course the newer, more balanced stuff is going to perform better. It has more options. HKs were designed as surge multipliers and long range snipers, the weequay (elite) are similar and both have multiple attributes which make them more flexible. I think a strain trando list could still perform well against other lists, its just not going to be top tier and you'd need a little luck on your side and all the movement cards or gideon tagging along (there are quite a few movement cards now.)

Correct. I never meant that I would allow my opponent to have free reign of the terminals...I was just saying that I don't want to be drawing extra cards every turn because I control terminals myself. I'd definitely want to keep my strain-squad opponent from controlling both terminals, for the exact reasons that you describe. Basically, it's an attitude of "I don't want it, but I don't want you to have it either, so nya nya nya!" lol

But that shouldn't be too difficult on most maps because--at least with the strain units available now--the strain units are not long-range attackers, and so if they camp at a terminal then I can shoot them in relative safety from range...and if they try to close the range then they're leaving the terminal.

Things will become far more dicey if we ever get some units that can reliably dish out strain from a distance. Maybe a sniper with this ability:

Quote

Surge: The defender suffers 1 strain.

That would actually be a thematic and interesting gameplay mechanic, which I think would really go a long way in helping to make Strain squads competitive. That deployment group, paired in a squad with the excellent Under Duress card, would really be an interesting squad archetype to see developed in the game.

6 minutes ago, Smashotron said:

Do you think a strain Trando list requires/wants Under Duress and/or Headhunter in there, or would those points be better spent on Gideon and/or Motivation for more movement? Could Trandos, Wing Guard, and Under Duress mesh well in the current meta?

I think that Under Duress is key to a successful Strain list.

A friend of mine is running a Bossk, eTrando x2, Jabba, Hire Gun list.

It is quite fun and can be competitive in some of the maps

29 minutes ago, draco193 said:

I do wonder if we see a strain centric list doing well in lieu of the amount of Hunter cards out there now that those figures crave. Haven't drawn Heightened Reflexes or Assassinate yet? Do you risk losing them? Its going to likely take a few more strain figures or cards to really put it together though.

Yep, and this is one thing that may be worth exploring. Those big Hunter cards really do shape the meta right now, and so anything that hinders them would be interesting to see. The question is where things would balance out in the end: would it be worth it for the Hunter player to draw as many cards as possible so that he can use those big cards to burn down the Strain-ers, or would it be better for him to forego his command cards because he'll take too much damage from strain? Right now I think the Hunter cards would probably win out, simply because the Strain-er groups just aren't strong enough for their cost, while many of the Hunter groups are plenty strong (even without their cards).

I think that the new IG-88 fix card will really open up some options here, since it will turn Iggy into a serious contender and 1) he is a Hunter himself and 2) he can also dish out strain. So he'll be pressuring his opponent to manage his Command Deck and thus possibly preventing the use of the deadly Hunter cards, while at the same time using them himself.

The Trandoshan's are one of my favourite units for campaign and just thematically. My Rebels absolute dread seeing them, but my skirmish opponents almost delight in it. They are an easy target, slow moving hammers that you just need to keep range from. I feel like the strain skirmish upgrade was meant to buff them up but just fell short as again they are so slow. Not completely useless, in the right hands any unit is dangerous, but there are a lot 'easier' or 'effortless' units to play compared to them.

2 hours ago, blackholexan said:

I think that Under Duress is key to a successful Strain list.

A friend of mine is running a Bossk, eTrando x2, Jabba, Hire Gun list.

It is quite fun and can be competitive in some of the maps

This is what I had in mind for something now, those trandos still are probably overpriced a bit or under-healthed. Their abilities want them to be close which is great thematically, but not as practical in skirmish (think how small some of the maps are in campaign)

2 hours ago, thereisnotry said:

Surge: The defender suffers 1 strain.

This would be fantastic and I think we're going to see it eventually.