11 hours ago, Methantilus said:

The trigger for Masterstroke and Fearless Leader would happen in the same timing instance... the player would get to choose the order they resolve, with the latter first making the most sense:

1. Gideon performs Command
2. "After Command resolves" Targeted hero recovers 1 strain via Fearless Leader
3. "After Command resolves" Gideon gains 2 movement points via Mobile Tactition
4. "After Command resolves" Gideon exhausts Masterstroke to perform a second Command
5. "After (2nd) Command resolves" Targeted hero recovers 1 strain via Fearless Leader
6. "After (2nd) Command resolves" Gideon gains 2 movement points via Mobile Tactition

Conversely, in a1bert's example... spending movement points can only be done before or after actions, not during. If he chooses to spend the movement points, this happens after the "After Command resolves" trigger has occurred. Until then, the movement points are just added to his pool.

The only thing I could see, and I'm sure it's probably been discussed and ruled against somewhere... is there anything out there to say you must perform the second Command immediately after exhausting Masterstroke ? The card itself says "You may perform...", which could possibly be read as either "do it if you want to" or "you're allowed to do it". The latter in my mind would simply "unlock" the ability to use Command a second time for free, which in turn would allow you to spend the movement points from Mobile Tactition before hand. But, like I said... it's probably been discussed already. It's late and I didn't want to go digging through the forums (I did check the FAQ, didn't see anything in there).

Just to be clear, Gideon is getting a total of four movement points in this situation, but he can't apply any of them towards movement until after the 2nd Command is resolved. Correct?

22 minutes ago, Pollux85 said:

Just to be clear, Gideon is getting a total of four movement points in this situation, but he can't apply any of them towards movement until after the 2nd Command is resolved. Correct?

What about this, from the "Actions" section of the RRG -

"Movement points can be spent before or after performing
an action. If movement points are gained as part of a special
action, they must be spent immediately during that action."

36 minutes ago, Pollux85 said:

Just to be clear, Gideon is getting a total of four movement points in this situation, but he can't apply any of them towards movement until after the 2nd Command is resolved. Correct?

Correct.

12 minutes ago, TeethAlmighty said:

What about this, from the "Actions" section of the RRG -

"Movement points can be spent before or after performing
an action. If movement points are gained as part of a special
action, they must be spent immediately during that action."

The movement points are not gained as part of a special action, but rather from a hero ability (The source is Mobile Tactition ).

1 minute ago, Methantilus said:

Correct.

The movement points are not gained as part of a special action, but rather from a hero ability (The source is Mobile Tactition ).

Ah, nice catch!

That being said... I can't find any special actions that grant movement points in order for that blurb in the rules to even be relevant. Everything either falls under an "interrupt" (to perform a move) or grants movement points to another figure (which then must be spent or lost immediately due to not being the current activation), or moves spaces rather than granting movement points. Am I missing something? (looked through all deployments, hero cards, class cards, and rewards).

1 hour ago, Methantilus said:

That being said... I can't find any special actions that grant movement points in order for that blurb in the rules to even be relevant. Everything either falls under an "interrupt" (to perform a move) or grants movement points to another figure (which then must be spent or lost immediately due to not being the current activation), or moves spaces rather than granting movement points. Am I missing something? (looked through all deployments, hero cards, class cards, and rewards).

The 2 most common ones are Imperial Officer's "Order" and the "Urgency" command card

In the case of urgency you must spend all of the MP at once or else it's forfeit. Normally if you have 5 MP you may move 2 -> attack -> move 3. With Urgency you must move 5 (if you only choose to move 2 then you forfeit the leftover 3)

On 27/02/2018 at 3:02 PM, TeethAlmighty said:

Diala:

Stunning Diala is not overly effective if she is in a support role. On *one* turn she can remove stun, rest (or attack, or move), focus another hero, force throw a hero or an imperial and provide multiple rerolls. That's some crazy action economy.

Any thoughts on defending against Diala's force throw? Just played Homefront and she was force throwing the rebel target around the board like a yo-yo, followed by precise strike and stun to make things even more aggravating.

Imperial Officer's Order wouldn't need the rule blurb, as the figure getting the movement points is receiving them outside of their own activation, which is already covered by other rules.

I don't play much skirmish, didn't even think to look through the command cards. Urgency is the first thing I've seen that this rule would apply to (that isn't already covered elsewhere). Thanks for the info!

24 minutes ago, TeethAlmighty said:

Any thoughts on defending against Diala's force throw? Just played Homefront and she was force throwing the rebel target around the board like a yo-yo, followed by precise strike and stun to make things even more aggravating.

Diala might be the first character to warrant two guides, one for her damage dealer build, and the other for support build. Let me chew on this.

3 hours ago, Pollux85 said:

Diala might be the first character to warrant two guides, one for her damage dealer build, and the other for support build. Let me chew on this.

Yes indeed!

On 3/5/2018 at 12:42 PM, TeethAlmighty said:

Any thoughts on defending against Diala's force throw? Just played Homefront and she was force throwing the rebel target around the board like a yo-yo, followed by precise strike and stun to make things even more aggravating.

I mean, I guess this is obvious, but lay on that strain on her.

1 hour ago, subtrendy2 said:

I mean, I guess this is obvious, but lay on that strain on her.

Yes, good point. With the TS deck not really any strain options (and MHD's medical shenanigans really hurt as well) , but maybe employing Trandoshans once my threat level gets higher...Regardless, in our last match her typical turn was rest (recover all strain), force throw, precise strike, stun. If out of range, she was usually able to strain move into position before force throwing, and then forgo the precise strike, while using force adept to ensure the stun ?

However, it was a unique circumstance as the rebel target only had one action after each hero activation. I suppose in a more traditional game he could remove the stun and then try to flee out of her range.

I lost the mission you are referring to because I forgot about that little combo, and she did exactly that. She started the turn on max strain, but it didn't matter.

Wounding her makes a difference - unwounded she's almost guaranteed to succeed, but wounded it's less likely enough that the Rebels do have a decision to make because it's an expensive ability to fail at using. If Diala ever activated early and finished a round at max strain, I'd go after her.

I can see Diala being a much less effective hero in the LotA app than in the regular game, because if I have understood the rules, she can only have one of Force Adept and Force Throw. I've never seen a campaign where she doesn't take both of those skills.

2 hours ago, udat said:

I lost the mission you are referring to because I forgot about that little combo, and she did exactly that. She started the turn on max strain, but it didn't matter.

Wounding her makes a difference - unwounded she's almost guaranteed to succeed, but wounded it's less likely enough that the Rebels do have a decision to make because it's an expensive ability to fail at using. If Diala ever activated early and finished a round at max strain, I'd go after her.

I can see Diala being a much less effective hero in the LotA app than in the regular game, because if I have understood the rules, she can only have one of Force Adept and Force Throw. I've never seen a campaign where she doesn't take both of those skills.

In the app you can take both but you sacrifice a higher xp card, eg you wouldn't be able to take way of the sarlacc

Diala - I'll start with my strategy for Damage Dealer Diala, as that's the one I have experience fighting. This is assuming the player makes a truly pure damage dealer and takes hardly any of the support options. If the player takes Way of the Sarlacc, Dancing Weapon, and Snap Kick, you're looking at a serious damage dealer. With those 3, they'd likely also take either Force Adept or Force Throw to round things out. To counter this, you'll want to once again lay on the Bleeding and do a strain drain with Trandoshans. For God's sake spread these guys out and give them some Assault Armor, Experimental Armor, or Arc Blasters if you can. If you've got tight corridors, then use a Nexu instead. This version of Diala is more vulnerable to Stun, so you can pair the Trandoshans with either Royal Guards or Imperial Officers. The combo of Royal Guards and Trandoshans can be quite expensive, but you can substitute an Elite Imperial Officer if you need to. The one nice thing about this build for Diala is that it takes a LONG time to create. Diala is at a real disadvantage until she gets both 4 XP cards in this case, by which point you'll be 2/3rds through the campaign and may not have as much to worry about. There's unfortunately not much you can do to stop Diala from being able to use Force Throw, but what you can do is learn to anticipate it and position yourself accordingly. Sure, you may take 1 damage and have your unit's position screwed up, but with an Elite Officer, you can counter that movement pretty easily.

Support System Diala - I'm gonna get it out of the way. If you really wanna wreck this version of Diala, just pick Subversive Tactics. If you are a merciful IP who heeds your Rebels pathetic mewling, read on.

This version of Diala typically has Force Throw, Force Adept, Defensive Stance, and Battle Meditation. That's only 6 XP, so you can expect her to round things out with Dancing Weapon and either Snap Kick or Art of Movement. She is much more likely to be the first to activate in a round so that she can rest and hand out Focus right away, and she's also more likely to hang back from the action, whereas damage dealer Diala is obviously going to be right up in the thick of it with Gaarkhan. At first glance, the Trandoshan/Royal Guard combo might look even more effective than with the damage dealer, as they can stand shoulder to shoulder and take advantage of of the Guardian defense buff without fear of being hit by The Way of The Sarlacc. The number of rerolls that Diala can dish out kind of negates this advantage and together you just have a low damage slogfest that ends with Fenn or Gaarkan coming along and ruining your day. There are cheaper ways to do this and besides - this is supposed to be a guide on how to kill Diala, not on how to not get killed by her. It's also less helpful to Stun this build Diala, as many of her abilities don't even require an action.

Trandoshans are still effective at sapping her strain and limiting her mobility, but you'll perhaps want some other heavy damage dealers backing them up or marching with them. If she activates at the top of the round, that strain will also be converted into pure damage. I'd say either stormies, heavy stormies, or (if it's early game and you need the threat points) probe droids. It can also be very effective to give one of these units Failsafe or Hidden Detonators, to help overcome Force Throw. She's hearty enough at 12 health, but that white die still means that mass unit attacks can bring her down.

Someone had asked for a Mak strategy, so here we go...

The classic Mak build has Disengage, Jeswandi Training, Expertise, and No Escape. That's a total of 10 points, so it's entirely possible he may throw another ability in there depending on how the campaign goes, but none of those abilities should change the basics of this guide. We'll also assume that he has the Shadow Suit.

The nice things about Mak for you is that his starting weapon is awful, he's got low health, and a white defense die. Mak is a total glass cannon. Once he gets those high end abilities though, he can zoom all over the board and devastate single units with high hit points, meanwhile you will have a hard time just getting close to him thanks to Disengage and Covert. Mortar is a great choice if you've got Armored Onslaught from RtH, and any unit with Blast is a good workaround to this, but may not get you the two or three solid hits you need to wound Mak. Attacking with yellow die units isn't usually very effective since the white die and Shadow Suit will cancel most surges, but that also means that certain units can be a great way to fake him out and get him to trigger Disengage, allowing you to pin him down for the rest of the round. Having an officer order in a probe droid or hired guns can be good. Hired guns work especially well because even if he doesn't take the bait and waits for another hero to kill them, their parting shot can still target him even though he wasn't the one to kill them. Once Disengage gets triggered, you'll need to rush him with stormies and heavy stormies. These less surge dependent units can give you the damage you need.

And we round out the Core Box with...

Fenn - Oh man. This jerk. Screw this guy. Fenn is my least favorite hero in IA to play against. Between Veteran Prowess, Rebel Elite, Adrenaline Rush, and Take Cover, Fenn can be even more tanky than Gaarkhan. Especially if Diala is giving him rerolls. Expect a solid Fenn build to include Tactical Movement, Trench Fighter, and Rebel Elite. In a normal campaign, that would still leave the Rebels with enough XP to pick up two of the following three - Take Cover, Adrenaline Rush, and Suppressive Fire.

Sending in large numbers of troops flat out won't work with this guy. Blast will destroy you if you bunch together. When I first started, I thought that Nexu or Wampas would absorb Blast and prevent units directly behind them from getting the Blast damage. This is NOT the case, but Nexu and Wampas can be helpful for at least blocking Line of Sight.

Your best bet/only prayer to fight a fully powered Fenn is to use Officers to order in Nexu or Royal Guards and Stun his butt. That might not help with his tankyness, but it will at least cut down on his attacks and buy you time to wound him. Probe droids can also be effective. I admit this post is not my best. If anyone has any other advice for Fenn, I'd appreciate it.

Yeah, Fenn is just all round solid with no real weaknesses. Hit him hard and often was my only real tactic. Stun is also good. When I had the "Distractions" bane in play, it pretty much always landed on Fenn.

Adrenaline Rush and Take Cover mean that you probably want to be able to attack him 2 times at least to actually hurt him. Or hit him with unblockable damage, like Mortar.

I wonder if anyone has ever taken Superior Positioning over Rebel Elite. Nobody in my group ever has.

I find Guild Hunters and Empire's Reach to be effective against Diala.

Data Security helps boost the difficulty of some skill checks (and adds strain, I guess), which should slow down the rebels by one activation. I basically view this as a delaying mechanism for her re-rolls. Not bad for 2 influence since it is reusable mission to mission. I like interrogation protocols too on the wannabe jedi; the swapping in a red die for a mission certainly helps when trying to wear down white die defenders - so long as they do not evade the attack.

Speaking of which, Called Shot in Guild Hunters lets one of your heavy hitters ignore an evade roll. This is the bane of any white die defender. It is a bit expensive at 2inf for a one-shot, but it is well worth it on the later missions. Shoot First is, of course, awesome too. But is more all purpose than anti-Diala.

6 hours ago, Glaucon said:

I find Guild Hunters and Empire's Reach to be effective against Diala.

Data Security helps boost the difficulty of some skill checks (and adds strain, I guess), which should slow down the rebels by one activation. I basically view this as a delaying mechanism for her re-rolls. Not bad for 2 influence since it is reusable mission to mission. I like interrogation protocols too on the wannabe jedi; the swapping in a red die for a mission certainly helps when trying to wear down white die defenders - so long as they do not evade the attack.

Speaking of which, Called Shot in Guild Hunters lets one of your heavy hitters ignore an evade roll. This is the bane of any white die defender. It is a bit expensive at 2inf for a one-shot, but it is well worth it on the later missions. Shoot First is, of course, awesome too. But is more all purpose than anti-Diala.

You mean dodge. Evade is the one that cancels surges.

34 minutes ago, neosmagus said:

You mean dodge. Evade is the one that cancels surges.

yeah, that.

Regarding Fenn, one particular upgrade that can reduce his effectiveness is Power to Shields in the Armored Onslaught deck. Fenn without Blast is still decent but his real strength is his ability to apply Blast 2 or Blast 3 (with Under-barrel).

33 minutes ago, machfalcon said:

Regarding Fenn, one particular upgrade that can reduce his effectiveness is Power to Shields in the Armored Onslaught deck. Fenn without Blast is still decent but his real strength is his ability to apply Blast 2 or Blast 3 (with Under-barrel).

Gasp! How have I never noticed this card? It's like the anti-Fenn card!

34 minutes ago, Pollux85 said:

Gasp! How have I never noticed this card? It's like the anti-Fenn card!

Yep, that and Mortar are pretty much the only good cards in AO deck

btw it's not just anti-Fenn, it's anti-all-keywords at a cost of 1 threat/use