The Rebels didn't know a lot about Warfare at first. Hell, the entire Republic didn't really know much about Warfare, so were very happy to have a bunch of cloners breed and train expendables for war. Bail Organa was just a Diplomat from a peaceful planet.

The Rebels were able to band resources together in order to build all those X-Wings, but by and large they didn't have a proper Military until ESB when they started to amass their forces near Sullust before the attack on the second Death Star in RotJ.

At most, they were ill equipped terrorists that got lucky.

Knowledge Warfare would only come in handy for the Empire or Imperial forces that defected to the Rebellion, which wasn't many. The Rebels were very happy to use spies, smugglers and anyone else who was willing to work for them, at a price. Rebels were more hit and run than warfare, so I don't think warfare really describes Rebels at all.

Knowledge Galactic Civil War easily covers the political and freedom fighting angles of the Rebellion.

At most, they were ill equipped terrorists that got lucky.

And the designated protagonists of Age of Rebellion and most Galactic Civil War-period Star Wars products!

Like I have said before, I think you will find it a very hard sell to get anyone to take part in a game where they play terrorists.

But that is okay. The only things we see the Alliance do in the movies are operate fighter squadrons and a battle fleet, neither of which is typical terrorist MO.

I think you will find it much easier to get people to play in a game where they are these guys:-

Rebelling against these chaps Empire:-

Nice going Internutt . You pretty much just invoked ErikB, all but ensuring this thread will get derailed and eventually closed because of his typical antics.

As for the Rebels having "no knowledge of warfare," there's plenty of EU to paint that conclusion as completely and utterly wrong . Plenty of the Rebel's top brass had plenty of tactical knowledge, from General Jan Dodonna (the old guy who gave the Yavin briefing in ANH) to Admiral Ackbar, who learned a whole lot about warfare and general Imperial tactics from Tarkin. Plus plenty of other folks that had participated in the Clone Wars in some fashion or another, whether on the side of the Old Republic or the Separatists. Even before the formal formation of the Rebel Alliance, you had resistance groups such as Kota's Militia that were carrying out tactical military strikes against the Empire, so they'd certainly be well-informed when it came to the various aspects of warfare. A large part of tactics is making effective use of what resources you have, and the Rebel Alliance was very adept at ensuring they got the most mileage out of their limited supplies in the bulk of their tactical engagements, to the point where a standing rule was "when in doubt, hightail it out of there" as they knew that they'd lose to the Empire's superior resources, thus sticking to "hit and run" operations. The Endor Assault was an exception because the situation as presented was simply too good to pass up (too bad for them it was a trap), and even then, Ackbar was ready to get his forces out of there rather than stay and get slaughtered by the numerically superior Imperial fleet.

There were also plenty of Imperial officers that got their rank through political connections and thus only had the faintest grasp of combat and tactics, so lack of tactical knowledge by the command staff (your prime justification for not changing the skill to Warfare for a game based on members of the Rebellion) isn't limited to one side or the other.

Trivia : The guy who took a shot at the exhaust port but whose torpedoes didn't go in and he got shot down by Darth Vader? None other than one of Anakin Skywalker's war buddies, though neither realized who the other was in Episode IV.

Even before "reconciling prequels with original trilogy" via the Clone Wars and the Dark Times through anecdotes like this, as Donovan Morningfire details above me, there was a long history in the EU of war veterans (that is, outside of the Alliance vs. Empire conflicts -- though sometimes non-Alliance vs. Empire) and Imperial defectors in the Star Wars EU who were not only utilizing their knowledge "directly in the field" but teaching it to others.

The Endor assault was also exceptional in that the Rebel fleet massed up like that instead of their usual dispersion.

Indeed, it was the inability of the ponderous and unwieldy Imperial fleet to pin down the highly mobile Rebels that forced the Emperor to take the gamble of using himself and the incomplete second Death Star as bait to draw them out. A gamble which ended so disastrously for the Sith Lord and his New Order.

...Its all about how you sell it.

I suppose that I am in the minority with respect to maintaining the skill as Knowledge (Galactic Civil War). It simply fits the focus of this particular game (and the era it is promoting).

I suppose that I am in the minority with respect to maintaining the skill as Knowledge (Galactic Civil War). It simply fits the focus of this particular game (and the era it is promoting).

It fits the focus for this one game, but there's also the matter of the various games being inter-connected, especially if FFG decides to branch out into settings outside of the Rebellion Era. GMs have already started running campaigns outside of that era before the AoR Beta book was announced.

And I strongly suspect that FFG will start looking outside the Rebellion Era once Force & Destiny has been published.

I agree that Galactic Civil War is too specific; changing it to Warfare doesn't cause the skill to lose anything, but instead allows players to get more sound for their pound.

I suppose that I am in the minority with respect to maintaining the skill as Knowledge (Galactic Civil War). It simply fits the focus of this particular game (and the era it is promoting).

It fits the focus for this one game, but there's also the matter of the various games being inter-connected, especially if FFG decides to branch out into settings outside of the Rebellion Era. GMs have already started running campaigns outside of that era before the AoR Beta book was announced.

And I strongly suspect that FFG will start looking outside the Rebellion Era once Force & Destiny has been published.

Perhaps, but for the moment, that is speculative at this point. Asking anything more of these efforts in this regard is wishful thinking, imho. At the least, you are not serving the spirit of the game well by desiring to generalize this particular skill. Recall that AoR and EotE are purposed to fit a particular type of character base and for a particular timeframe especially in the case of AoR. It may help to think WEG before the advent of the pre-quel movies or the video games such as KotoR, et al.

I prefer Knowledge (Warfare) because it could then cover military history and strategy as well. If it's just tactics then you'd need other skills to handle those.

The question is, what is the tactics skill?

I agree there should be a general knowledge of warfare, but I also think a skill covering the current trends in the conflict is a good thing. The risk being skill proliferation.

But, generally, I'd rather see Knowledge (Warfare) for much the same reasons.

But also, a knowledge of current tactics and fronts - but not so strongly tied to the rebellion era, for those (unlike myself) who plan to run in other eras.

Perhaps something like a Knowledge (Current Events) skill as seen in some other games is in order? I'd rather not add more skills, but that might be what you're looking for.

I can understand using Education to know about the Imperial government, and I can understand using Warfare to know the location of the brig on a Star Destroyer and military tactics, even using it to recall the history of different wars; but the RAW say that Galactic Civil Wars can be used to know the passwords for Rebel cells in the area. I absolutlly cannot see how a generic Warfare skill could be used in an application such as that, unless they drop that sort of use from the skill.

As much as I am for era neutrality, I kind of think an application like that would work best as a Knowledge Rebel Alliance. It would cover knowing passwords, the locations of Rebel cells, identifying Rebel agents, etc.

Looks like Knowledge (Galactic Civil War) has been officially changed to Knowledge (Warfare), as per the beta update.

Looks like from the skill description for Knowledge (Warfare) in the Week One Update, it still covers a good deal of what Knowledge (GCW) covered, it's now just no longer limited to the Rebellion Era.

I'd say that other Knowledge skills could come into play for things not directly covered by Know (Warfare).

I like the re-write for Knowledge (Warfare). In almost all RPGs, I enjoy having my characters work with/have knowledge of tactics, military history, and the application of both to real world (galaxy?) conflicts. One of the reasons Revan was my favourite Jedi/Sith was because of his military genius.

Well, one thing with this change...

Gonna have to tweak my Word-based character sheet, as well as a few sample PCs that took Know (GCW). Oh, the horror

For shame FFG! You've forced Dono to have to tweak ! >=/ For shaaaaame.