Great breakdown, love the work. I'm curious what might shake up the vehicle scene - if some of the edges from the Heavies will be enough, for instance.

I do think though there may be a possibility about Sabotage you're forgetting to consider, unless you've got a lot of evidence it isn't the case - you have to pay an extra 25 bucks to access Sabotage the Moisture Vaporators - it's in Priority Supplies, not the Core. So unless there's a lot of players including cards like Advanced Positions and Minefield and leaving out Sabotage, it's entirely possible some people just didn't buy the set to have the Sabotage.

I will say, playing Sabotage is an acquired skill. Most players will simply put theirs as close as they can to their DZ. Most players also don't quite realize how big the exclusion zone is, not within range 2 of another vaporator or range 1 of a DZ. To quote Lando, you can run out of space real quick. By using these factors, you can push enemy vaporators into very exposed positions.

Practicing this definitely seems to offer an edge because of how few opponents will be practiced with it.

TL:DR it's always a good strategy to practice what nobody else does.

One question I have is if the full potential of the specialists hadn't been realized yet. I've seen some good 2 AT-RT + 2 repair mech lists and I think they have some legs, but they were so new at the time (I think just 1 or 2 weeks) that I am wondering if players hadn't played with them/painted them yet. Maybe we'll see a few more AT-RTs now that people have got some practice in?

17 hours ago, UnitOmega said:

Great breakdown, love the work. I'm curious what might shake up the vehicle scene - if some of the edges from the Heavies will be enough, for instance.

I do think though there may be a possibility about Sabotage you're forgetting to consider, unless you've got a lot of evidence it isn't the case - you have to pay an extra 25 bucks to access Sabotage the Moisture Vaporators - it's in Priority Supplies, not the Core. So unless there's a lot of players including cards like Advanced Positions and Minefield and leaving out Sabotage, it's entirely possible some people just didn't buy the set to have the Sabotage.

There definitely were a few that just didn’t have Priority Supplies, but that was fairly uncommon. Advanced Positions and Minefield were not cut very often (and usually not in conjunction with Sabotage).

I think folks are just generally uncomfortable on Sabotage for some reason, which is fine; but folks need to practice it. It definitely leans blue player advantage.

We have plenty of fix AtSt and T47 threads. Do you think support vehicles like bikes and AtRts need a buff @Orkimedes

Personnly I think they just need another objective card which they can claim or have other end game win conditions they can achieve. The prevalent sniper spam seems to be really hurting bikes, doesn't take much to remove 3 wounds and render one bike pretty irrelevant and wonder twin lists seems to limit points for AtRts generally fitting in an replacement instead.

17 hours ago, DarkTrooperZero said:

We have plenty of fix AtSt and T47 threads. Do you think support vehicles like bikes and AtRts need a buff @Orkimedes

Personnly I think they just need another objective card which they can claim or have other end game win conditions they can achieve. The prevalent sniper spam seems to be really hurting bikes, doesn't take much to remove 3 wounds and render one bike pretty irrelevant and wonder twin lists seems to limit points for AtRts generally fitting in an replacement instead.

I can't speak for bikes, but the RT is in a good spot. Flamethrower RT forces the opponent to deal with it or risk losing core squads quickly. Laser Cannon is great if you're expecting armor, but you really should run them in pairs then as they'll beat out all other armored units that way (for current releases). The only weapon that's in a weird spot is the rotary gun, but it's still a decent choice if not bland.

They RT is still common to see outside of wonder twin lists. Despite it being a solid rebel list, it isn't the only one viable and I would hate to see FFG trying to balance things around a single meta list. When tauntauns get released, RT use will likely go down due to the competition, but I'm okay with it because the RT can still do things the tauntauns can't and vice versa.

11 minutes ago, thepopemobile100 said:

I can't speak for bikes, but the RT is in a good spot. Flamethrower RT forces the opponent to deal with it or risk losing core squads quickly. Laser Cannon is great if you're expecting armor, but you really should run them in pairs then as they'll beat out all other armored units that way (for current releases). The only weapon that's in a weird spot is the rotary gun, but it's still a decent choice if not bland.

They RT is still common to see outside of wonder twin lists. Despite it being a solid rebel list, it isn't the only one viable and I would hate to see FFG trying to balance things around a single meta list. When tauntauns get released, RT use will likely go down due to the competition, but I'm okay with it because the RT can still do things the tauntauns can't and vice versa.

I actually agree... I think RTs are fine. They are the most viable vehicle at the moment, in my opinion. The others all have their own problems; the T-47 is made of peanut brittle and hits like a wet blanket for its cost, speeder bikes get shredded by sharpshooter (which there is a lot of now), and the AT-ST is very durable but offensively inefficient.

Part of the problem is the variable turn limit in tourneys. As non-flamer RTs and AT-STs are tough to kill but generally somewhat offensively inefficient, they need a full slate of turns to make their impact properly felt. Shorter games favor units that are more efficient offensively but may not last a full six turns in a war of attrition.

The objectives also tend to favor troopers. I don't think that's a problem with the vehicles themselves, per se.

59 minutes ago, Orkimedes said:

The objectives also tend to favor troopers. I don't think that's a problem with the vehicles themselves, per se.

Yeah I think vehicles need a Priority Supplies II with some vehicle friendly objectives

I am a very big advocate of AtRts being efficient. Just I would like to see another objective card where vehicles can contribute other than just shooting things.

I play 3 AT-RT in my list. 3 Flamers. And oftenly, they are winning all my games, even against a 5 squad DLT-19 Empire.

Some people do not seems to understand the raw power of those little thing for "only" 90pts. They oftenly kill as much as they cost, and I already hit twice their points. 3 AT-RT rushing can't be ignore at all, as if a single hit rang 1, they just vaporize a unit (stat wise. Not like when your flamers kill 4 guys in 3 turns )