One thing I love about some other battle games, is the ability to have a good generic commander, and customize them to suit your play-style.

If FFG decide to go with sprues, this would be a good opportunity for customization. You could have one pack per faction.

Rules:

You have a base unit card with the following stats:

Speed 2

White defence.

Surge to crit on attack.

4 HP

2 Bravery

Melee - 1 black

30pts base.

Upgrades: (you have five 'special character upgrade' slots, and one command slot, one gear slot)

Speed 3 20pts

+1 Bravery 15pts

+1 HP / +2 HP 5/10pts

Surge on defence 10pts

Red defence die 15pts

+1 black / +2 black melee 2/5pts

Weapons: Pistol / Blaster / Lightsaber / big gun etc.

Inspire 1 / Inspire 2 5/10pts

Spotter 1 (or dodge, or whatever, depends on faction) 5pts

Sharpshooter 1 5pts

1 Jedi Power slot (then allow for jedi power upgrade as per normal cost) 8pts

Unhindered 5pts

Expert Climber 5pts

Indomitable 10pts

Charge 8pts

Low Profile 5pts

Scout 2 5pts

Nimble / Precise 1 5pts

Guardian 2 10pts

Gunslinger 20pts

Relentless 20pts

Jump 1 15pts

Enrage 2 10pts

Arsenal 2 15pts

The main reason I want this is because I want to make a character that specifically suits my play-style. I think these custom characters should never be as strong or unique as the main characters.

I haven't considered command cards yet, but I think something generic-ish. Maybe something like the officer, but not quite as powerful.

Anyway, this is a rough idea.

The new campaign for Armada will give players the means to have customer admirals if I am not mistaken. (Someone correct me if I am wrong) It would be interesting to see how it turns out, but I do like the idea of a custom character with preset abilities and such to build. It is definitely an interesting and good idea.

I see the idea, and for a campaign, it's a great one. For normal play, I'm far less interested in a stats customization than I am in getting mini customization from extra options on sprues. The Imperial generic is extremely "meh," and I've nearly completely replaced her with a Skull Forge mud officer. Be nice to have an "official" way of doing that, especially if/when we get generic Clone Commanders and Jedi. Having the option to kit out a Clone just the way we want or give a generic Jedi a second lightsaber would be awesome.

Speaking of which, does anyone have a source for 3D printed Clone trooper heads? Want to convert a spare Death trooper to a Clone Commander/ARC trooper.

I like this for a campaign, but not so much for standard play. For one thing, this requires a bunch of single use cards. For another, it can lead to unintended rules interactions, and replace the "named" characters, which are a big part of "Star Wars" to many people. This also leads to a complication of Command Cards, which can do more for the flavour of the commander than their own equipment and special rules. If they only have access to the generic cards then certain builds aren't as good as others. This sort of customization is typically easiest in systems that use paper and pencil for list building rather than cards.

As it is, if you want your commander to be a Smuggler, just use the rules for Han Solo, a rebel Jedi use the rules for Luke. Don't let the name limit how you model the unit if you don't want it to for instance my "Leia" isn't even painted as human.

Plus, sprues do not innately mean the re-releases will have a significant increase in options. For example, many of the plastic characters from 40k are single pose sprues, with one or two pistol options.

I like the idea for a campaign system. I’d say “make a campaign with custom commanders” where at the end you have a fully fleshed out commander for use in casual open play (standard games or narratives, just not tournaments).

I’d happily play and develop a commander for each GCW era, then use them in casual games (the kinds I play anyway). I see where it could get a bit messy for tourney play though.

I'll drop this in here. I've not gotten to try but i know of a few groups that are enjoying the Gathering Legion campaign created by Impact X. https://www.legionimpact.com/campaign

It has custom unit and commander trees to help build your custom units to your heart's content.

I made a custom commander for Crabbok.