I thought it would be interesting to see and discuss what Command Cards people think should be awesome but never seem to work out that way. Would love to hear what cards you have trouble with or ways that you have effectively used my troublesome cards.

I'll start things off with a couple I'm running in RIT Season 3.

I'm running two sets of E. Jetties + Capt. Terro so the upside for Covering Fire seems really high and for whatever reason I've drawn it quite a few times in both practice and tournament matches. I included it mostly in anticipation of facing IG-88 and Jedi Luke but feel like the stun/extra damage potential could be useful across the board. On paper this card is great. In play it is less than great. For starters, putting this card into play somehow affects your dice so that they roll surges only for non-Trooper figures. Futhermore (and more seriously) the magical combination of one attacker putting a Stun on a figure and then everyone else piling on with an extra +2 dmg rarely happens, requires more setup than you think , and involves a sustained focus fire which is not always tactically the best option. Lastly its just not worth 3 points when I could take Grenadier, some combination of 1 and 2 pointers, or even Max Firepower for BT-1. Meh. You have been very meh for me, Covering Fire.

Change of Plans seems like a pretty decent card for only 1 point especially since the E.Jets and Terro are the same cost. I must admit that I have used it once to pretty good effect but most of the time I struggle to find the right time to play this card. The issue here most likely lies more with the card holder (me ) and less with the card. I took it mostly for the scenario when I have lost a single Jet and can exhaust the remaining Jet to ready the other two but in fact I have never used it that way. I have used it effectively to get another turn out of Terro and that turned out nice... once. More often though, playing this card basically puts a sign on your readied group that reads "Focus fire here. Bring it, you suckas!" And then they die. Sadly.

I've used Change of Plans to good effect in a droids/hunter list that includes Onar and BT-1, and I will use change of plans on one of them to activate the other again near end of 1st round to get in a surprise attack. If I have initiative coming up then I can play them super risky and throw them in the fray, especially Onar because he is likely to survive 2 attacks (barring a string of amazing command cards or the best dice rolls possible) and still get to activate again and wreck enough havoc to get his money's worth. I've tried it in the Reddit Season 3 tournament to exhaust the Grand Inquisitor and ready BT again, but I think that's kind of putting 9 points of your list to waste. I find in half of my games this card is great but in the other half it's just okay. I like it in Imperial Lists though since you can always use it for Zillo. And you have to be patient to make sure you don't use it "just because I have it and it's cool." Honestly I need more practice with it, but I often find "Strength in Numbers" (activating Onar and then BT, for example, or a set of Weequays and then Vinto or Greedo) is more effective.

Covering Fire is a toss up. I find you need it round 2 or 3 to really get any meaningful effect out of it (though I suppose a well timed stun in later rounds could mean the game). I honestly think it's better with Rebels because you can throw Focuses around, Hera can give you that guaranteed extra surge you need, and of course the command card "Blitz" helps as well. I think that some of the need command cards that let you get power tokens (especially if you could get surge power tokens) could help this card become stronger. I also think that Heart of the Empire will make "blast" come back into the game more prominently (Drokkata, for example) and figures like the Emperor who can do unmitigated damage to adjacent figures will make people more likely to spread out their forces enough to avoid that free damage when possible. That means that cards like Grenadier may see less effectiveness in the future (but who knows).

My vote goes for set a trap and against the odds.

As for change of plans I really like it. It is esepecially good for some sneaky round 1 attacks with ejets/eweequays/erangers (if u play double rangers list).

For me it is Flurry of Blades (RGC's card). Yes it lets you do three attacks and it can be against the same target, but you can't move. You already have to be in position to use it and you can duck back into cover. Sure I've used it to 100-0 a full health ig-88, but I can't justify the card for 2 points (even though i took it for shiggles in RIT 3).

You are describing my experience with the entire card system. I seem to have a hand of cards that don't do anything all the time... I always get great cards for my already-dead-guys, or what have you. Shootin' cards when I can't see anyone, movin' cards when I am parked on an objective... I get the right cards at the wrong time!

25 minutes ago, TauntaunScout said:

You are describing my experience with the entire card system. I seem to have a hand of cards that don't do anything all the time... I always get great cards for my already-dead-guys, or what have you. Shootin' cards when I can't see anyone, movin' cards when I am parked on an objective... I get the right cards at the wrong time!

I've seen many players at end of game question why they took Covering Fire, but I've never seen anyone take Change of Plans. Change of Plans does seem pretty strong, but I suppose it's very situational. Which brings me to your comment...I can't stand when I'm stuck with cards, unless I'm using a Zillo list. LOL. However, I'm going to try Dalia in my next list to see how often I toss cards to get rid of their defence die. Otherwise I'm not at that point where I like to only carry cards that are useful at any time, like not as situational.

17 hours ago, MadFuhrer said:

For me it is Flurry of Blades (RGC's card).

YES! Such a great ability but it is too bad that Jyn's card already had the "One in a Million" name as that perfectly describes your chances of pulling off the Flurry of Blades.

46 minutes ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

However, I'm going to try Dalia in my next list to see how often I toss cards to get rid of their defence die.

Shattering Blow is an excellent ability, especially for turning those already-dead-guys cards into a free Element of Surprise. It's just frustrating that most times you will only get one attack from her before she evaporates. Maybe the tokens and Brawler cards due in the next wave will make her a little more viable?

3 minutes ago, leacher said:

Shattering Blow is an excellent ability, especially for turning those already-dead-guys cards into a free Element of Surprise. It's just frustrating that most times you will only get one attack from her before she evaporates. Maybe the tokens and Brawler cards due in the next wave will make her a little more viable?

Agreed! I'm hoping that pairing her with Ashoka will make the force user cards more useful and maybe take some agro off of her. Still Diala's white re-roll on defence is also awesome. So ya, I'm hoping the tokens and brawler cards will help too.

I hope you guys are right about Diala but I'm doubtful- 8 health is just so swingy (I feel like Weequays and Tough Lucks will still be around post HOTE to take away that "good" reroll opportunity), and she does still only have a 2 dice attack. Her shattering blow mostly removes the need for the Pierce 3 (except on Vader, or ATSTs if they ever make a comeback) anyways- I wish she had a surge for extra damage then I'd be more confident. But I really hope you're right. She's my favorite non-movie character in this game and I want her to be good so bad!

Single purpose, I just love the card, but something always take its place on the command deck.

1 hour ago, Mantis731 said:

Single purpose, I just love the card, but something always take its place on the command deck.

Maybe some of the sweet new special actions will change this. I'm thinking a double Force Lighting from Palpatine would be pretty spectacular.

2 minutes ago, TheUnsullied said:

Maybe some of the sweet new special actions will change this. I'm thinking a double Force Lighting from Palpatine would be pretty spectacular.

Shapeshifter with Senator would be another good one.

On 9.10.2017 at 10:43 PM, MadFuhrer said:

For me it is Flurry of Blades (RGC's card). Yes it lets you do three attacks and it can be against the same target, but you can't move. You already have to be in position to use it and you can duck back into cover. Sure I've used it to 100-0 a full health ig-88, but I can't justify the card for 2 points (even though i took it for shiggles in RIT 3).

It used to be INSANE with the old Imperial Officer. Good times.

covering fire is something I put into a mass non elite trooper army and worked pretty well. you need lots of troopers for it to work though.

Playing straight out of the box(es) is there any way to know if I'm using old or new versions of things? Like is that why I have 2 different cards of R2-D2 or whatever from the clampack and the boxed expansion?

the FAQ document. also R2-d2 has a skirmish card and a campaign cards look for the symbol next to his name.

5 hours ago, TheUnsullied said:

Maybe some of the sweet new special actions will change this. I'm thinking a double Force Lighting from Palpatine would be pretty spectacular.

Yes, I tought about that, 6 damage straight on. I was thinking with jabba at the beginning, but I don't have the figure and I'm already discarding from the command deck.

Single Purpose is great with 3PO, Gideon, Chopper and the EUgnaught.

On 10/11/2017 at 0:09 AM, DerBaer said:

Single Purpose is great with 3PO, Gideon, Chopper and the EUgnaught.

Bantha (with Beast Tamer of course) + Single Purpose is even better than any of those. But yeah looks good for Palp like @TheUnsullied said

I recently was taking a look at the Elite Sentry Droids and how Hunter Protocol might work with them:

Quote

Hunter Protocol

Droid

Use while attacking. You may trigger the same SURGE ability up to twice.

The best-case scenarios would be using Hunter Protocol for one of the Rapid Fire attacks... to add +4 Accuracy (producing a minimum of 6). Deadeye would do about the same for Cost 0, but you wouldn't have the flexibility to do Pierce 4.

If you're running a combination of IG-88, Probe Droids, 0-0-0 and/or BT-1, Hunter Protocol might be interesting with SURGE TOKEN, Hidden or Blitz.

Change of Plans was an amazing card in old school trooper lists. Wait until one of your elite stormtrooper groups was down to 1 figure, then activate the other full strength group and use CoP to ready them immediately. It's definitely not as good with groups that only have single figures, but I'm currently including it in a list that uses Terro and eJets with Cross-Training and elite ISBs, and it's pretty sweet to exhaust a lone ISB agent to get an extra activation out of Terro.

I used CoP this weekend! I had a set of jets and two sets of eRiots. My jet trooper was down to like, 2 health and the other was dead, so i exhausted the jets so one of my riots could go again while I had two pummells in my hand. 4 attacks with riot troopers is pretty sweet!