So a lot of folk have felt FFG missed a trick not allowing the DF-90 Mortar Trooper to fire indirect. This is a proposed Operative, with order cards, and a Comms Upgrade, that might provide that utility in a balanced way.

Imperial Forward Observer - Fire Support Coordinator (Operative Rank, 1 mini) - 50 points
White Defence Dice, surges hit and defensive (as Imperial Officer)
Unit Keywords: Low Profile , Scout 1 and Mortar Observer (When determining line of sight for a DF-90 Mortar Trooper equipped with a Dedicated Comms Net , if this mini has a face up order token, you may use it to draw line of sight.)
Upgrades: Comms x1, Gear x1

1-pip - Victor Target
Orders: Imperial F.O.
Effect: Friendly DF-90 Mortar Troopers may ignore the restriction that only one unit may use the Fire Support keyword, if they are the only units to use Fire Support to contribute to the Imperial F.O.'s attack this round. The Imperial F.O. gains an Aim Token for each DF-90 Mortar Unit using Fire Support in this attack.

2-pip - Special Munitions
Orders: Imperial F.O.
Effect: All friendly DF-90 Mortar Troopers replace the Suppressive weapon keyword with Poison 1 this round.

3-pip - TIE-Bomber Strike
Orders: Imperial F.O.
Effect: At the end of the Imperial F.O.'s activation, it may perform up to three attacks using the following weapon:
Weapon Profile: Range 4+, 2 Red, Immune: Deflect , Suppressive .

Dedicated Comms Unit - 5 points
DF-90 Mortar Trooper Only
When determining line of sight, this unit may use an Imperial Forward Observer with a face up order token to draw line of sight.

I welcome comments or refinements. I don't think its undercosted (a frequent complaint about home brews!) because it's really build-specific. But maybe worth more, I donno.

I think something like this is a much better idea than giving a straight indirect fire keyword, but I wonder if it wouldn't be a bit simpler as a personel upgrade or something. I like it though 👍

20 minutes ago, Xclbr1 said:

I think something like this is a much better idea than giving a straight indirect fire keyword, but I wonder if it wouldn't be a bit simpler as a personel upgrade or something. I like it though 👍

Yeah. There's the simplest route, a comms upgrade. Then a trooper upgrade. I was wondering about a heavy weapon upgrade for Scout troopers.

I'm certainly a member of the "FFG missed the boat" fan club, and I don't hate the idea you're presenting. I will say that I think the command cards are a bit much for my tastes, but if the FO has to be an operative rather than a simple comm upgrade or personnel upgrade, they make sense.

14 minutes ago, Alpha17 said:

I'm certainly a member of the "FFG missed the boat" fan club, and I don't hate the idea you're presenting. I will say that I think the command cards are a bit much for my tastes, but if the FO has to be an operative rather than a simple comm upgrade or personnel upgrade, they make sense.

Its not the first time I've used a sledgehammer to crack a nut. 😯

[I have a thought about a generic rebel operative to go alongside this as part of a release too. A more fully fleshed out Forward Air Controller to utilise X-Wing anti-armour strikes, U-Wings bringing in reinforcements, etc. I'm not a rebel player, so not that interested in it - just a way of justifying my indirect fire fantasy!]

Make it a probot.

On 9/30/2019 at 2:01 AM, TauntaunScout said:

Make it a probot.

That's certainly an option. I think the probe droid might work best as an Operatives. Now that we have Droid Trooper rules, it's likely in the pipeline - particularly with the R2-D2 Operative being released.

A few ideas:

• Should he ESB Probe Droid have an Armament or Hardpoint upgrade to turn it into the Viper Sentry Droid in Solo? The fluff all seems to point to them being the same series of droid.
• If it was an operative, what Command Cards would it have? I was working to a real-world analogue of a forward fire controller, but probe droids don't really appear to have as broad a role as that, in relation to other battlefield units.
• Would you give them "Secret Mission" - or is that a bit unfair, as "Secret Mission" looks like a rebel answer to "Bounty".

I really like the concept. I agree it can be accomplished as a trooper upgrade + comms upgrade without command cards, but I almost like this better (with some command card refinements perhaps) now that it’s out there.

Perhaps the forward observer is a new sculpt of the scout trooper armor with some ghillie material attached in places? Totally not canon but super cool - although I don’t think we’ve seen a canon forward observer.

21 minutes ago, ScummyRebel said:

I really like the concept. I agree it can be accomplished as a trooper upgrade + comms upgrade without command cards, but I almost like this better (with some command card refinements perhaps) now that it’s out there.

Perhaps the forward observer is a new sculpt of the scout trooper armor with some ghillie material attached in places? Totally not canon but super cool - although I don’t think we’ve seen a canon forward observer.

Yeah, Alex Davey was saying in the AMA that a spotter isn't really that Star Wars-y - all the shooting tends to be eyeballed.

Any recommendations about the command cards?

35 minutes ago, Jedirev said:

Yeah, Alex Davey was saying in the AMA that a spotter isn't really that Star Wars-y - all the shooting tends to be eyeballed.

Any recommendations about the command cards?

I’d probably drop the bomber strike, because it feels similar to Leia or Veers. I’m not sure what I’d place in it’s stead though. I’m also less sold on the “all fire supports can go in one shot” concept in the 1-pip.

I dare say, I may actually borrow your idea from the 2 pip and have multiple munitions and / or special attacks for each mortar shot (and I would link it to a comms upgrade so it doesn’t say “mortar only”). The poison 1 gain is pretty cool. Maybe one of the other card payloads is “all droid troopers and all vehicles in range 1 of the targeted enemy gain 1 ion token” - if it can be done only once in the turn it’s not broken but it’s still fairly powerful. Could make a nice 1-pip