Community Edition Squadron Changes
Hey Everybody! I am here to talk about some of the changes to squadrons you will see in the coming release!
We mostly focused on squadrons that were significantly underutilized, and in need of an adjustment that couldn't be addressed through points alone. There were also some squadron keywords that were in need of some tweaks. Today, I will cover the thought process behind the changes for one of those keywords and two squadrons.
Strategic
One of the bigger changes in this release is an adjustment of the Strategic keyword. Strategic is a very powerful effect, and its presence can sometimes entirely lock out certain objectives. While many objectives are getting a look over, we decided that this squadron ability also deserved attention in parallel to those efforts.
Strategic: During your activation, instead of attacking, you may choose 1 objective token at distance 1 of you, and move that token so that it is at distance 1 of you.
That’s right - rather than move a token at the end of movement, now you move a token instead of attacking. This change is intended to limit the number of times objective tokens can be moved per turn down to a more reasonable quantity. This prevents excessive movement, such as when paired with Fighter Coordination Teams or Squall, from completely locking out the first player on certain objectives. This change will hopefully limit some fortress style lists that have historically been able to safely score large wins even if the opponent does not engage.
Kanan Jarrus (HWK-290)
Kanan is a fun and thematic squadron that is extremely good at handing out raid tokens. This is a rather dangerous job that tends to attract a lot of attention on a squadron with only 4 health and two brace tokens. When compared to many other Rebel squadrons at this price point, he often doesn't make the ace cut. Swapping out one of his braces for a scatter will significantly improve his durability into flak and make him a little more appealing.
Kanan Jarrus (Changed)
YV-666
An older squadron, the basic YV-666 does have a few nice things going for it. Seven health is a lot, its anti-squadron armament of two blue and two black dice are very consistent, and it has two very useful keywords, Rogue and Grit. Unfortunately, it does have two major downsides. The lesser of its sins is its speed. Speed 2 is not going to get you anywhere fast, but this can be worked around. The main problem is Heavy. This keyword has meant this squadron has rarely seen the light of day. Removing the Heavy keyword means this squadron will actually have a purpose, and give those nice traits I talked about a chance to shine.
YV-666 (Changed)