Anyone like the idea of cards for the overall commanders for battles, like Thrawn, Akbar, ect. for overall effects, squadron wide abilities, and such? This could reflect their participation in planning the action or their role as a commander in a larger battle that the engagement is part of.

I think it'd be awesome. I want some further customization options than I've got right now. I feel like most of the upgrades are either kind of 'meh' or are auto-includes. Especially with Imperials I would love some extra options that allow me to set my force apart a bit. There's tons of great options for commanders, and plenty of room to add interesting effects or different options for force organization.

I'd rock Tarkin for sure if he were available as a commander, if not, probably Piett or Ozzel.

 Great idea! 

Imp squadrons including Vader will need some sort of mechanic for choking out ineffective commanders… :)

There's support for this idea in Star Wars, with the commander at the Rebel base calling out new waves of incoming fighters and such.

I like this idea a lot.

I would be a little worried about balance though.  Often times when such a feature is added to an ongoing game, only a few of the abilities are worth the cost, or one become way overpowering.  It would be cool though to have different commander and admirals that we could play that would buff a team.

 A fun Admiral type card would be to be able to force all your opponents to place their maneuver dials face up, so you can see their moves before you commit to yours. This would have to be discarded after using it once per game though (like a missile), or would be way overpowered. It would also have to cost an appropriate amount.

These types of effects would be easy to play test at home though without official sanction as variants, but they would be cool and add a lot of variety to squads.

Right now, I like the idea that the upgrades seem to be gentle little touches, and this sounds interesting, but would concern me if it was anything less than subtle.  Maneuvering is still the key element in each of the games I've played, and that's how I want the game to stay.  If you employ the talents of a commander, what would an example of their abilities be, and how would they be eligible for play?  Just saying 'I'd like Commander cards' does not really tell me much.  My assumption is that they'd be simply Limit 1 per squad/build? 

CaptainRook said:

Maybe one free focus action per turn or raise a piolet skill by 2 or let a piolet that can't take skill upgrades have one. Those are just some random ideas. I am sure there are a million that people can come up with. I agree that it shouldn't be overbearing. Just a little extra flavor and a small advantage.

 Admiral Akbar: X points

commander 

ability

ITS A TRAP! : once per turn can give an extra defense die to a ship that is being fired on from outside its front fire arc. 

Thoughts?

I just don't see the need for, or the point of this. It's not like the fleet admiral is directing individual dogfights in a space battle.  Especially not with the speed these fights occur at.  An entire game probably lasts for a couple of minutes for the fighters involved, tops.  Probably the most the fleet commander would be involved would be to direct a certain squadron of fighters against a specific target group or enemy ship and then he'd trust them to do their assigned task.  He certainly isn't going to be on the radio to Wedge telling him to take out Howlrunner, etc…

I'd much prefer to see cards/upgrades stay limited to things that are actually on the playing surface.  Admirals and Generals are very rarely capable of micro-managing all the various portions of a battle.

Jim

Emrico said:

I agree.  I wouldn't mind seeing something such as 'Squadron' cards, and if you build your team a certain way you may get a special slight benefit reflecting that squadron's 'personality'.  It would have some general prerequisites, and then provide a bonus that they may not otherwise be eligible for.  This would not be cheap, though.

CaptainRook said:

Now this, I think would be very cool!

Jim

 Squadron bonuses would be cool too. :)

It was one of the few things Mechwarrior:  Age of Destruction got right in my opinion.  It rewarded you for building something towards a theme.  I think HeroClix now does this, somewhat, too.  Granted, we don't really have that cobbled-together problem of a collectible game that has dozens of factions, but it'd be nice to see getting a reward for building an 'Escort Flight' or 'Combat Air Patrol' or even just getting a bonus for all the pilots being from the same squadron. 

so what squadrons would you go for ?

Rogue squadron

181st

Red squadron

bomber wave?

interceptor squadron?

Hardrainfalling said:

Some of them would be like that, and perhaps some would be more organic based upon their role.  So you would see a Bomber, Interceptor or Superiority Flight alongside the more obvious Rogue, 181st, etc.  I would like the abilities to reflect their similar training or cohesion in subtle but masterful brush stroke.