I'm trying to make a deck with focus on winning through Trench run. The main idea is to get the mission up early and then set things up so that it can be attacked more than once per turn. This should be possible by using Wookie navigator. Note that the deck has to be Rebel fleet, because Mobilize the squadrons (which includes Trench run) is a Rebel only objective.

My initial plan was to have Fleeing the Empire (with Leia) and Questionable Contacts (for Swindled and Han). This makes it possible to get quite a lot of focus removal. Double Strike would have been great to have as well, but is in a Jedi only objective set.

The deck is then:

Rebel fleet
2*Mobilize the Squadrons
2*Decoy at Dantooine
2*Fleeing the Empire
2*Questionable Contacts
1*Hit and Run (mainly for fate cards)
1*Rumours at the Cantina (for playing it safe with the resource matching, but may not be necessary)??

But for this deck, having A Hero's Journey (with Trust Your Feelings) seems like a great option to include. But then it gets hard to choose what to do away with (and the deck becomes a 3 affiliation deck). Am i going overboard with trying to include this set too? I'm thinking about this option:

Rebel fleet
2*Mobilize the Squadrons
1*Decoy at Dantooine
1*Fleeing the Empire
2*Questionable Contacts
2*A Hero's Journey
1*Hit and Run
1*Rumours at the Cantina (which is now more or less a must I think)

But with this I only have 1 Wookiee Navigator which means that the focus of the deck has shifted a bit from what I started with. This is not a big problem, the deck is thematically awesome . But is it now completely useless? And what about the first version, what do you think?

Having three affiliation deck seems really difficult to control at this point with the card pool we have available. I think this could be a viable option if there were more cards that allowed you ignore affiliation cost of units, however doing so would just gimp the effectiveness of the factions in question. I think your best bet for this deck would be to keep it at two and try to maximise what you have available from those.

Wookie Navigator specifies engaging an objective. Trench Run doesn't make the dial an objective, so I'm not sure WN's ability would let you engage it a second time.

DailyRich said:

This is definitely a tough call. I'm leaning toward saying he can allow you to engage it twice. Trench Run says you can engage the Death Star dial as though it were an objective and Wookiee Navigator says, "you may engage this same objective an additional time this phase." To me, Trench Run is basically saying that the Death Star dial is not an objective except when engaging it, and since Wookiee Navigator does mention engaging it, it would be fair game.

It'll be nice to see the official word on this one. . . unless it's already been posted and I just missed it.

Budgernaut said:

I'm sure the FAQ will be along soon enough.

To expand your argument, see also Home One;

"…After this unit is focused to strike as an attacker, deal 1 damage to each enemy objective not currently engaged."

You could not use Home One to target Trench Run, because Trench Run is "not an objective", and Home One's ability deals damage to each enemy objective not currently engaged.

With that same logic, Trench Run states that "…You may engage the Death Star dial as though it were a dark side objective (it is not an objective). If the dial has 10 or more damage, the light side wins the game."

So Trench Run allows you to engage it like an objective (so you could declare attacks against it), but does not classify it as being an objective, so you could not play direct damage Fate cards, or use Home One's ability to get it that way.

When I look at these cards, and look closely at the wording of Wookie Navigator, I would have to say that Wookie Navigator cannot be used to attack Trench Run a second time that turn;

"After this unit survives an engagement as an attacker, you may engage this same objective an additional time this phase."

I bolded the text for emphasis; since Trench Run states that it is not an objective, I don't feel that Wookie Navigator applies, because you are not engaging "this same objective", because the card in question is very clearly stated as not being an objective.

Those are just my thoughts on it, based on wordings. I'd like to hear more on the subject either way. It's a new game, and we're all learning here, so until we get a FAQ up, we need to really work together to get through these rules lawyerings.

From a thematic point of view (which counts for nothing as far as rules go), it sort of makes sense that the Trench Run wouldn't be so easily dispatched. It would seem kind of cheap to have Home One fire a laser blast from a mile away down this tiny vent shaft, because it sure as hell can't get close enough in the trench to do it that way, and all the Death Star's laser batteries would rip it to shreds.

It ultimately took Luke's use of the Force to get that missile down the shaft, when Red Leader failed with his fancy-pants targeting computer, and considering the Trench Run is an instant win condition for the Light Side, I think the strategy is more about bolstering that big offensive of Fighters and such to go in there in one big attack and end it, not unlike the movie.

We've just been reading it as all Trench Run does is allow you to engage the dial, following the same rules as engaging an objective. Since it doesn't make it an objective, any card effect mentioning "objective" doesn't apply to it.

It could go either way I think. You are engaging Trench Run as if it were an objective. For me it then naturally follows that engagement rules for objectives apply (i.e., only once per turn and so on). I then also assume that any cards that applies to the actual engagement of objectives will also work. But I can certainly see the points against.

I have submitted a rules question on the issue, which will hopefully be answered soon. I will post here when I get an answer. Home One or Rebel Assault are a lot more clear-cut than this situation, mainly because both cards use the term engage. But having the Wookiee Navigator ability apply is not an autowin either, he still needs to survive the first attack.

Actually, I'm not even sure the Wookiee ability is that important in the deck, the focus removal abilities can be used during one attack to get more attacks out. Hmm, need to think more.

Evazorek said:

I've been working through the combinatorics now and if I got it right there's a ~70% chance that I will get resource matches for all three affiliations in the 4 drawn objectives at start (taking Rumors at the Cantina into account). I kind of agree that this is a bit low, but there will be more chances in getting the needed matches when taking the 3 command cards giving matching in the Rumors set into acount. I think I'll try the deck and see, possibly changing the Decoy at Dantooine set to another Fleeing the Empire.

The Rumors at the Cantina set is not that bad for this deck I think. Rescuing Leia from capture is a great thing, since it allows for even more focus removal goodness. It Could Be Worse is also good, the deck does not have much other stuff that can protect the characters. Rebel Sympatizers work okish as well as cannon fodder.