First off, I honestly feel that these specialists upgrades are easily the best expansion packs that have been released. They offer a lot of versatility, and options for the game. For anyone just picking up the game, from this point, I would say these are a ‘must buy’.

The adding of generic non named commanders helps with immersion in my opinion. You can easily get a 3d printed analog to add yourself into the game, or write your own little character bio if desired, by no means is this a necessity, but for many it will be fun.

The expansions add in more universal command cards, further diversifying the choices when building an army, as well as personnel upgrades to make your units perform an extra role, which opens up tactical options for a game. All of these are great things.

Now, as the title says, this thread is for theory and conjecture with the underlying idea that another specialist pack will be developed, and here is where we can theorize what it should contain.

My first hope is that the second specialists pack contains another generic officer commander. I would personally be fine with a reprint of the generic commander card (and personnel upgrade), but an alternate sculpt.

I have no doubt that more generic command cards would be included as well.

Now comes the fun! What further personnel upgrades could be included? We have repair droids, medic droids, comms technicians - these are all great, but, what we dont have are some generic heavies. This is where the specialist 2 pack could find its niche. For the empire a T-21 repeating blaster would be a great option. The blaster was seen being used by sandtroopers in A New Hope, so it makes it a viable option. Having a choice between A DLT trooper and a T-21 would be great. I imagine the t-21 would be similar to the rebel z-6

Rebels could get an analog for the DLT, and with no better option, in my opinion, than using A gigoron (The white shaggy alien, named Moroff, from Rogue One). A long range heavy for rebel corps would be great.

Now, the above examples, I wouldn't want to see a straight copy of each opposing corps units weapons, but a unique take on the weapons. The imperial t-21 might roll three black.

Now if we go by the current specialist packs, we still have a couple minis to work out. What I think might be useful, and seen in many video games, is a unit (likely another heavy) that puts down a portable shield generator this could provide heavy cover but require a unit to be immobile, and/or a recover action to ready. You sacrifice attack power for a defense upgrade. Good for imperials, as well as rebels.

This would leave one mini left to decide. While the previous examples have been heavy units, I don't think that should be a requirement. A personnel upgrade that offers a training upgrade could offer some unique options, though that may step on the special forces/operative toes a bit too much.

Another option, is another heavy, but one that can fire grenades at a longer range, perhaps requiring a grenade upgrade to be purchased.

I think one of the imortant things is, for the rebel specialists, they include some more non humans. Droids are great, but with the multitudes of aliens on the rebels, this would be a great place to include different sculpts.

I'm betting that the next specialists will likely be something more specific, such as C-3po and R2 (if they aren't made into an operative team). Or we might get the chance to add ISB agents to a squad to "improve performance."

Aternate heavy weapons for corp units would be awesome. Rebels need a rocket launcher. t 21would be a nice suppression weapon- as it is called T 21 light repeating blaster-like you said, similair to z 6.

Under barrel grenade laucher, like the m203, for leaders. How about a binocular gear card that adds spotter1? tactical battle map/ ipad type

I am all for alternate sculps for officers, as I have to get them on shapeways right now.

Alternate sculps for corp troops, like hoth troops would be nice as well

i like the theory's and like the idea heavy's being the way to go but i would not limit them to core and have them open to be added to any unit that has heavy slot, like maybe you want to have a commando unit that has rocket launcher. I like the shield idea but i think they flesh that out more for clone wars.

My hopes for Specialists 2:

Generic Operative.

Another generic commander, but using the other factions "theme" (Spotter for Rebels, Take Cover for Imperials.

Generic Heavy weapons (almost exactly like the OP, but without the "albino wookiee").

Personnel that adds a training upgrade, but with a higher point tax for equipping them.

New training upgrade: Gives the equipped unit Danger Sense 2.

Edit:

New command cards issuing to single units and doing "big things", but worse than the "big things" of the named characters.

25 minutes ago, Fistofriles said:

i like the theory's and like the idea heavy's being the way to go but i would not limit them to core and have them open to be added to any unit that has heavy slot, like maybe you want to have a commando unit that has rocket launcher. I like the shield idea but i think they flesh that out more for clone wars.

The only issue with that is now they would have try and maintain balance for both all Corps and Special Forces units so that something good on a Commando group or corps unit just isn't outright broken on a Strike Team or Melee focused unit, not to mention that if they are cheaper than the Electrostaff Guard or Bowcaster Wookie they become the easy choice to add health to the unit + whatever weapon keywords they add.

I'd kill for a Rebel DLT-19. It was my original plan to field a bunch of Rebel infantry with a lot of supporting heavy blasters mixed in, and I was supremely disappointed to see the DLT-19 be Stormtrooper-only and the Rebels get a Z-6 instead. Nothing would make me happier than a Fleet Trooper-style mini wielding a DLT-19, and I wouldn't mind standard Trooper/Commando minis with the same.

7 hours ago, Indy_com said:

My hopes for Specialists 2:

Generic Operative.

Another generic commander, but using the other factions "theme" (Spotter for Rebels, Take Cover for Imperials.

Generic Heavy weapons (almost exactly like the OP, but without the "albino wookiee").

Personnel that adds a training upgrade, but with a higher point tax for equipping them.

New training upgrade: Gives the equipped unit Danger Sense 2.

Edit:

New command cards issuing to single units and doing "big things", but worse than the "big things" of the named characters.

This.

I'd love if they keep them different. If the rebels get DLT and the stormtroopers get a rotary, even at different points i dont care for it, it makes the factions too alike. I'm all for heacy weapon specialists but make them different. If the rebels get a DLT, he better be unique so only one unit can take him/her and I'd still prefer it not happen

Rebels could use a rocket launcher heavy infantry. Maybe give it only impact 2, range 2-4 but also give it blast. Cumbersome and exhaust to keep it balanced.

5 hours ago, buckero0 said:

I'd love if they keep them different. If the rebels get DLT and the stormtroopers get a rotary, even at different points i dont care for it, it makes the factions too alike. I'm all for heacy weapon specialists but make them different. If the rebels get a DLT, he better be unique so only one unit can take him/her and I'd still prefer it not happen

But the factions were, in that regard, alike. In some regards, Star Wars has to be viewed more through the lens of historicals than sci-fantasy; the GCW is not a setting where there are hard boundaries between what equipment the sides will use, just many sensible reasons why some are more common than others - the Rebels don't routinely use AT-ATs because they rarely have access to them and even when they do would struggle to keep one maintained, supplied, and to transport it around, nevermind a whole army's worth; the Imperials don't use a lot of Clone Wars era gear because to them it's old military surplus and they have better or more available options open to them - but when you get down to the scale of personal arms there's very little reason they wouldn't have fairly easy access to most weapons, since most of the weapons they're using are ones they stole off the Imperial military, or got from militias and planetary armies with the same suppliers as the Empire, or were made for them by sympathetic elements within corporations which do or did supply the Empire.

The factions would be much better differentiated through broader force composition than through implausible hard limits on what rifle the soldier on each side carries. Rebel armies should naturally bias towards characters and small elite-but-ragtag teams using creative tactics, while the Empire should naturally bias towards larger forces more reliant on the blunt force of superior numbers & equipment. Those shouldn't be the only ways to play them obviously, but those should, IMO, be the trends for each faction.

Yodhrin nailed it. It's a minor frustration I have with both Armada and Legion; the practical 'reality' of Rebel equipment and hardware is that they're using anything they can get their hands on, including tons of stuff just straight-up stolen from the Empire. But both games have sacrificed a bit of that classic GCW feel in the name of stark, diametric, factional opposition. It always bugged me that Empire never got its own Nebulon-B in Armada, and the particularly frustrating, arbitrary case of what was traditionally the Alliance escort carrier being made an Imperial ship (which it is, but like the Nebulon it's always been more associated with Rebel usage), and the classically Imperial Ton Falk-class carrier being nowhere to be seen. This is made even more perplexing by X-Wing, which has had no problem duplicating the same hardware in other factions' hands, correctly nodding to the fact that Rebels are using stuff that is also used by pirates and crime-lords, and that Boba Fett isn't exactly an Imperial loyalist just because his ship was originally released as an Imperial unit.

Why wouldn't Rebels pick up a DLT-19, or even more frustratingly, an HH-12? Both are seen in Rebel hands in the movies, with the HH-12 being seen only in Rebel hands... making it another escort carrier situation. In-universe it might technically be an Imperial design, but aesthetically it's associated more with its use by Rebels... 'cause that's what the Rebels do, they use Imperial stuff when it's available. And it's not like this is some arcane secret buried deep in old EU lore: the ion launcher mini in the Rebel Trooper unit has an E-11 on her back instead of an A280! Which is a great little detail, and I have no problem with it being abstracted away into the squad as a whole firing black dice A280s, but I'd like to see that kind of mentality applied to more meaningful heavy weapon options, too.

To be clear, I'm not arguing for some massive, exclusive buff to Rebels only. By all means, give fun toys to the Empire too that Rebels don't necessarily have access to (*cough* AT-AT). I'd just like to see the GCW given a messier, more robust feel (with the nice side effect of deeper gameplay, IMO). As Yodhrin said, Star Wars in the context of the GCW has an undeniable "historical" feel to it. There's an inherent militarism to Star Wars, especially the original trilogy and the GCW of the 90s EU, and the overlap between it and military/historical wargaming is pretty significant. I'm glad FFG has taken a reasonably granular approach to some of the game's technical design (modelling the specifics of an A280 vs an E-11, for example), but I wish they'd relax on the fixation on competitive tournament play with its rigidly-defined faction identities. I enjoy faction asymmetry very much, but that doesn't mean diametric opposition. In fact, I'd argue that diametric opposition is just another type of symmetry, and not asymmetrical at all.

Make it messy. Give us the Galactic Civil War in all its chaos.

(mostly, gimme Rebel DLT-19s! because that blaster looks cool af)

That's nice in the movies and in books and artwork, but in gameplay if every faction (we'll have 4 at the end of the year) has the exact same weapon configuration as the next, there is no real difference between the armies.

Give t he rebels the model, if they can't think of any more weapons, give them the DLT in name, just don't give it 2 red dice and impact 1. I'd like the armies to play differently. If they have a DLT you'd never take another weapon. Rebels already have 2 red dice weapons available to them

Yeah I think with the Imperials getting 2 more ways to equip the DLT (death troopers and occupier hardpoint) it wouldn't break faction identity if the Rebels got to use it too on one unit. The Empire would still have easier access to it so it would still feel like 'their' weapon

9 hours ago, buckero0 said:

I'd love if they keep them different. If the rebels get DLT and the stormtroopers get a rotary, even at different points i dont care for it, it makes the factions too alike. I'm all for heacy weapon specialists but make them different. If the rebels get a DLT, he better be unique so only one unit can take him/her and I'd still prefer it not happen

I get the dislike of having the sides feel too similar, my desire for the t-21 is that it was actually showed in screen. I'm not suggesting that it be a direct copy if the z-6, far from it.

T-21 trooper

2 black, range 1-4

Gunslinger (while attacking, if all the weapons in the attack pool have gunslinger, you may make an extra attack)

this allows the weapon to be a repeater of a different sort, and not be terribly overpowered as it, like the dlt-19x, cannot be effectively combined with a units basic attack, but still allows them to supress more targets.

For the rebel heavy, rather than a straight dlt copy, why not give that gigoran a stouker concussion rifle (as seen in Dark Forces 1 and 2)

three white, range 2-4

exhaust

Attack gains blast, suppressive, immune (deflect)

this is a weapon that sends people flying, but you cant use up close and has a very long range.

So, there are two very different heavy weapons that are based around a similar theme; long range suppression. The t-21 can attack multiple times, the concussion rifle has blast and suppressive.

Now as an imperial player, I would probably still prefer my dlt stormies, but an occasional t-21 stormie would show up.

18 hours ago, Indy_com said:

My hopes for Specialists 2:

Generic Operative.

Another generic commander, but using the other factions "theme" (Spotter for Rebels, Take Cover for Imperials.

Generic Heavy weapons (almost exactly like the OP, but without the "albino wookiee").

Personnel that adds a training upgrade, but with a higher point tax for equipping them.

New training upgrade: Gives the equipped unit Danger Sense 2.

Edit:

New command cards issuing to single units and doing "big things", but worse than the "big things" of the named characters.

I have often thought FFG should make a Generic Operative for each faction. Though, given they way they handle the generic commanders, I would think a generic operative could maybe have the option of being added as a heavy weapons option to a corps unit (or maybe even a special forces unit) in place of the normal heavy weapon options.

It would be nice to maybe get some specialists that could be added to commando units, but they do tend to already have a lot going on as it is.

A personnel specialist that allows a corps unit to get a training upgrade card could be interesting, representing a veteran corps unit or the like. (Would give FFG a chance to use some of their original characters from Imperial Assault, like Finn Signis for the Rebels or Kayn Somos for the Empire), although, admittedly Somos is indistinguishable from the normal Stormtrooper unit leader).

While a training card that provided Danger Sense 2 might seem nice, I think there could be some serious balance issues with it. Could you imagine Han with Danger Sense 2 on top of his Uncanny Luck 3?

1 hour ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

I get the dislike of having the sides feel too similar, my desire for the t-21 is that it was actually showed in screen. I'm not suggesting that it be a direct copy if the z-6, far from it.

T-21 trooper

2 black, range 1-4

Gunslinger (while attacking, if all the weapons in the attack pool have gunslinger, you may make an extra attack)

this allows the weapon to be a repeater of a different sort, and not be terribly overpowered as it, like the dlt-19x, cannot be effectively combined with a units basic attack, but still allows them to supress more targets.

For the rebel heavy, rather than a straight dlt copy, why not give that gigoran a stouker concussion rifle (as seen in Dark Forces 1 and 2)

three white, range 2-4

exhaust

Attack gains blast, suppressive, immune (deflect)

this is a weapon that sends people flying, but you cant use up close and has a very long range.

So, there are two very different heavy weapons that are based around a similar theme; long range suppression. The t-21 can attack multiple times, the concussion rifle has blast and suppressive.

Now as an imperial player, I would probably still prefer my dlt stormies, but an occasional t-21 stormie would show up.

I like this idea. I could see a use for the T-21 in an Imperial army, as being able to shoot at two Rebel units out to Range 4 could be very good, even if it is only for 2 black dice.

Not sure I like another exhaust weapon for the other Rebel heavy, but I do agree that it should not just be taking the Imperial weapon and giving it to the rebels.

If you want a model that is equipped with the T21 or DLT or whatever, that's fine, Rebels have 2 Red dice weapons, but they are incredibly different in their use and application One is the Ion gun that comes with the Troopers, but it costs more, has different range and exhausts, and the Fleet troopers have the scatter gun.

Veteran sergeants to add a training upgrade (Shore Troopers fit this role according to the R1 Ultimate Visual Guide.)

Alternate Heavy Weapons for Storms - the T-21 light (white dice?) repeating blaster and DLT-19d as a squad sharpshooter weapon.

And something to fix exhaust weapons - a power droid.

6 hours ago, buckero0 said:

That's nice in the movies and in books and artwork, but in gameplay if every faction (we'll have 4 at the end of the year) has the exact same weapon configuration as the next, there is no real difference between the armies.

A) That's not what I'm arguing. I think a few blasters and other bits and bobs shouldn't be locked to some gamey, rigid interpretation of faction identity, not "every faction has the exact same weapon configuration." Do you get upset that both factions have access to Impact Grenades? Because that's all I'm looking for, some minor duplication of hardware between the two extant factions. If these Clone Wars rumors are true, are you going to get bent out of shape that Republic Clonetroopers will get the Rebels' AT-RT?

B) Even if that was my argument, what you say would still be categorically untrue. A huge amount of the faction differentiation in this game exists in the keyword themes of the different units. Rebels could get E-11s, DLT-19s, flamethrowers, HH-12s, and so on, but they still wouldn't have an analog for Snowtroopers. Likewise, Imperials could get DH-17s, scatterguns, and grenade launchers, but they still wouldn't have Fleet Troopers. They still wouldn't have Han, Luke, Leia, Jyn, or Chewie. They still wouldn't have Wookiees. And they still wouldn't have Rebel command cards. And so on and so forth. The factions are plenty different, even if you magically duplicate every single weapon option in the game, which, again, is not what I'm arguing for.

2 hours ago, Jedirev said:

Veteran sergeants to add a training upgrade (Shore Troopers fit this role according to the R1 Ultimate Visual Guide.)

Alternate Heavy Weapons for Storms - the T-21 light (white dice?) repeating blaster and DLT-19d as a squad sharpshooter weapon.

And something to fix exhaust weapons - a power droid.

Ammo Bandolier (Equipment Upgrade)- 2pts

(Free Action Icon) Unexhaust an equipped (Heavy Weapon Icon) upgrade

Exhaust

Basically 2 shots before you need to Recover and ever Recover gets you 2 more shots.

37 minutes ago, MasterShake2 said:

Ammo Bandolier (Equipment Upgrade)- 2pts

(Free Action Icon) Unexhaust an equipped (Heavy Weapon Icon) upgrade

Exhaust

Basically 2 shots before you need to Recover and ever Recover gets you 2 more shots.

I like the effect, but how about making it have a limited number of uses.

For example, upon activation, you may refresh everything but you can only do that twice per game.