Ministravaganza 3

AMG’s third Ministravaganza took place this past weekend after being delayed. We got quite a bit of new information. We got to see some previews for upcoming releases as well as plenty of cards and rules.

The upcoming releases seem to mostly revolve around the Mandalorian show. This does provide some interesting characters to the rosters. The Mandalorian show also exists on the Star Wars timeline after the defeat of the Empire. This will mean that some units and characters might feel a bit odd in the faction they are assigned.

A couple random notes before we really start digging into the previews. AMG has committed to the new website launching at the end of August. AMG has also stated the next world championship will be held at Adepticon 2023.

Ahsoka and Ventress

Starting with the last reveals first.

We now have models for Ahsoka and Ventress. While we knew Ahsoka was coming to Legion as she was confirmed at the last Ministravaganza we now can see a prototype resin model. We also get to see a resin model for Asajj Ventress as well, a character that we could’ve presumed was coming to Legion but one that we didn’t know about till now.

We have limited information for the rules of either of these characters. We do know that both of these characters will be operatives for Rebels and Separatists respectively. They have committed to more versions of Ahsoka in the future, they mentioned both a Padawan and Commander version for GAR. Both characters seem to have four command cards each with one being a ‘team-up’ card. Ahsoka will be focused on protection whereas Ventress will be more aggressive and ‘murdery’. Both will use Jar’Kai mastery.

Ewoks!

We have seen some images of the ewok models in the past but we have some really good quality ones now. We weren’t given very many specifics, but were given some interesting nuggets of information at this Ministravaganza.

Ewoks it seems will be a mercenary force, able to be fielded as mercenaries in rebels or in their own battleforce. This battleforce will include the forces that were present at the battle of Endor, rebel commandos, the main characters and even Chewie in an AT-ST! The AT-ST in this battleforce seems to have both incognito and inspire, both good keywords. They also seemed to imply that ewoks will be heavily affected by suppression in this battleforce but the characters will have ways to mitigate this. The battleforce will be a very potent ‘anti-infantry’ army but may lack some options for dealing with armor.

The actual units that ewoks will have available will come as either a melee or ranged unit. There will be an axe wielder heavy weapon option, as well as a trapper personal option. Wicket and Logray will both be named characters available.

One of the most interesting tid-bits they gave was that there will be a card called ‘insatiable curiosity’ that will allow ewoks to take heavy weapons from other units and destroy them. This is an upgrade that will be incredibly interesting.

Other Battleforces

There were two other battleforces discussed. Imperial Remnant and Tempest Force.

The Imperial Remnant battleforce will be a ‘mishmash’ of units and will not follow typical imperial doctrine.

Tempest Force will be the battleforce that represents the imperials at the battle of Endor. It will feature storm troopers, speeder bikes, scout troopers and AT-STs. There will be a new named AT-ST character, a pilot presumably.

Dark Troopers and Moff Gideon

The first unit that we have some solid rules for from this ministravaganza, Dark Troopers, will release along with the Mandalorian wave and Moff Gideon.

The unit card for Imperial Dark Troopers was fully previewed for us. This card is quite unique and brings back some old rules and introduces some new ones.

The first thing I was immediately interested by is that this is a droid trooper unit that also fits in the Heavy slot. This is the first trooper that will fit into the heavy rank and could lead to some interesting list building.

The most prominent feature of this unit card however is the Unstoppable keyword. The reminder text is very wordy but the TLDR version is that this unit can activate twice per turn. This basically gives them Darth Vader’s Implacable command card every turn. This is an incredibly powerful keyword that will see some very interesting uses. This unit also has another new keyword, Unconcerned, this keyword prevents the unit from getting cover or being repaired or restored. This is one of the drawbacks for having the Unstoppable keyword. The other big drawback is an old keyword, Plodding. This keyword, assuming it’s the same as it was before, limits the unit to one move per activation. This is a good choice, the unit can still move twice over its two activations, but prevents a quadruple move.

This unit is quite beefy, featuring full armor and red defense dice. It also features three slots for additional troopers, bringing the unit to a maximum of twelve health.

There are three heavies we have some information for. The first is the Frag Launcher, it features 2 Red 1 Black dice, Range 1-2, Exhaust, Cycle and Blast. This seems like a solid close range weapon. The next heavy is the XS-IV Assault Cannon, it has 4 Black dice, Range 3 and Crit 1. This weapon also looks like a solid heavy, especially because this unit doesn’t surge offensively, Critical is especially valuable. The last heavy is a big sword, we don’t know any stats about it.

The only solid information we have about Moff Gideon is this one command card, You Have Something I Want. This card is pretty powerful, offering only the second mid-game teleport option, the other is Cad Bane. This card allows Dark Troopers the ability to be placed anywhere on the battlefield outside of range 2 of enemy units. The cost for this teleport is one activation of the Dark Troopers. This is certainly a great ability that will see some hyper aggressive play possible.

IG Assassin Droids

The next unit cards we will look at is the IG droids. These two characters will come in one box. Both of these characters offer some interesting abilities.

Both of the IG droids offer some shared stats. Both have Armor 1, Sharpshooter 1, Impervious, Speed 2, 5 health and red defense dice. These stats are reminiscent of a certain K2-SO.

The biggest differing factor between the two droids is that IG-88 has Arsenal 2 and IG-11 has Gunslinger. This offers some interesting choices, IG-88 will have an easier time doing damage to one target, whereas IG-11 has an easier time doing damage to 2 targets. Another big difference is that IG-88 has surge to crit and IG-11 has surge to hit. This shows that IG-88 is likely the more ‘killy’ of the two droids and IG-11 has some more unique possibilities with his programming slot. IG-88 also has a single rainbow in melee with pierce whereas IG-11 has 4 dice with no possibility of pierce.

The other card we can see is IG-11’s ‘Nanny’ Programming. This is for use in rebels only and allows IG-11 to take Grogu as a Counterpart, as well as gives IG-11 AI: Dodge and Move. IG-11 does have the Programmed keyword meaning you have to take a Programming upgrade card. Grogu is a very interesting Counterpart, we will discuss him more down below. With this card we can presume that there will be at least one more programming upgrade that will be able to be taken in Empire as IG-11 can go in Rebels or Empire.

While we didn’t see any of the IG command cards at this ministravaganza, we were told some information about them. The first thing is that there will be a total of five command cards in the box.

The cards that we know about are: IG-88 1-pip, Focused on the Kill. Permanent, While attacking a unit marked as the bounty, that unit can’t spend tokens. If IG-88 would suffer wounds greater than or equal to his wound total, he is not defeated until the start of the end phase. This is an interesting card that makes IG-88 more deadly to characters marked with a bounty. IG-88 also gets an extra powerful Emergency Stims of sorts.

IG-88 2-pip, Independent Programming. Permanent, Each Time IG-88 issues himself an order, he gains 1 aim token, and IG-88 gains Independent: Dodge 1. This card gives IG-88 an Independent keyword as well as the possibility of aim tokens when he issues an order to himself. This gives us a clue that the IG droids are going to be very command card hungry.

IG-88 or IG-11 2-pip, A Machine Made for Killing. Until the end of the round, the nominated IG unit gains 1 aim token, Demoralize 3, and Steady. This card quite powerful. Making an IG droid more deadly, able to ‘peek-a-boo’ and even throw a ton of suppression. Importantly, AMG stipulated that the effect only applies to the nominated IG droid, meaning you can’t give the effect to both droids if you have them. You still can use this card with either IG droid though which gives flexibility and the opportunity to use the card even if you lose one of the IG droids.

The last card we know about is called Self Destruct. This seems pretty self-evident.

Din Djarin and Grogu

We have the card of the Mandalorian himself. This is an incredibly exciting unit card both because the unit looks really solid, but also because of how much of a beloved character Din Djarin is. Din comes with a suite of Keywords that all seem pretty standard, importantly Din brings the possibility of Bounty to a ‘light-side’ faction, the rebels. Hit weapons seem solid especially combined with the ability to get a fair number of aim tokens between Independent, Tactical and command cards. This is important as Din really wants aim tokens to operate his weapons.

Along with Din we have the Counterpart of Grogu.

Grogu has 2 very important Keywords, we will start with the bad one, Hunted. This keyword dictates that if Grogu ever dies then when he is removed he is replaced with an Asset token. This token can be claimed by any trooper unit. If an enemy trooper has the token claimed at the end of the game they get an extra victory point. This is the big downside of Grogu, the possibility of giving up a victory point.

The good keyword for Grogu is incredibly powerful, Latent Power. This ability says that you may roll a red defense die at the end of your activation, if you do so you must take a suppression token. If the roll is a surge result then an enemy unit at range 1 of this mini gains 2 suppression tokens and 2 immobilize tokens. Suppression is good to give out, immobilize is amazing to give out. While this roll is fairly rare, in many circumstances it could be game winning. The other effect happens on a blank result. On this result you can remove a wound token or take of a poison token from a friendly non-droid trooper at range 1. This is also really powerful, especially because you are likely pairing Grogu with Din who, like all Mandalorian heroes, really likes to be healed.

To review, for a suppression you can roll a die at the end of your activation that has a 1/3 chance of healing and 1/6 chance of immobilizing the enemy. The downside is you need to protect Grogu or risk giving up a victory point. Also remember that IG-11 can also take Grogu as a Counterpart.

We were also given a look at some of Din’s gear and command cards.

The biggest headline of this spread is Din’s Amban Rifle. This rifle is very interesting, first, it doesn’t actually give a ranged attack. It is 3 black dice in melee, this combined with Din’s knife gives a good melee attack. Especially because you have Lethal and Immobilize 2 on the same weapon, guaranteed immobilize tokens is really good. However, the more interesting part of this rifle is its ability. First off, it has two arrows to use it, this means you need to use two actions to use this ability. When you do use this ability you can perform a speed-1 move, then choose an enemy unit in line of sight, (nothing about range or whether they are in melee etc.) then roll a red attack die. On a hit or crit result (75% chance) the target suffers 1 wound and gains 1 suppression token. The enemy has no opportunity to prevent this damage, it just happens. This makes Din amazing at dealing with Jedi, or other high defense units and characters. This ability alone has seen many say that Din is overpowered, we will see how he does in the future. This ability does seem especially good against Force Users, especially very valuable and low health Force Users, like Yoda and Palpatine.

The next weapon, (that is actually a gear upgrade) is Din’s Flame Projector. This is a standard flamethrower, Spray, 1 red die, Blast and Suppressive. It doesn’t have the expend icon, however, AMG did say that is a mistake and it does expend. The other Gear is a Jetpack. This gives Din the more standard Mandalorian stat line of speed-3 and Jump 2.

The command card we saw was Din’s 3-pip, Whistling Birds. This card has more possibility of doing automatic damage. For an action, you can choose up to 3 enemy units in range 1 and line of sight. Roll a white attack die for every mini in the unit, for any paint result that unit suffers 1 wound. This card is especially good at dealing wounds to high defense units, such as Clones, Death Troopers or Mandalorians. But, even a 3/8 chance of dealing a wound to a Jedi as well as 2 other units is really good.

We were also told about Din’s other command cards.

1-pip, This is the Way. This card give Din an order, a Dodge token and Relentless. A simple but effective card that can turn Din into a aggressive cannonball. A double speed-3 move into an attack is quite the range, and gives him a great opportunity to get into melee. Remember that Din has Tactical, so Din will also be attacking with at least 2 aim tokens here.

2-pip, I Like These Odds. Din gets an order and an aim token. When Din preforms an attack he may perform an attack against a different enemy. Basically gives Din Gunslinger, while still using his Arsenal 2. A hypothetical play with this would be to attack something in melee with 5 Black and Lethal 1, and then do a second attack again in melee, or use Versatile to shoot out of melee into another unit. Second attacks are always a powerful command card effect.

Grogu also will be coming with a command card, The Hand Thing. The effect we know for this card is a discard ability. When a friendly trooper trooper at range 1-2 is declared the target of an attack you may discard this card to give the defending unit 2 dodge tokens and Deflect.

Some things that were mentioned at ministravaganza but not shown is that Grogu is Rebel only. The Beskar Spear will be an upgrade card, and that Din’s rifle and whistling birds are the first cards to be produced with ‘AMG’s Design Philosophy’

Overall Din looks like a solid unit that has some incredibly powerful effects.

Boba Fett

Old Man Boba!

The older Boba Fett comes with interesting abilities as well as a suite of new command cards, which AMG has stated can be used by the younger Boba Fett.

This Boba features some great abilities, probably the most interesting is that he has Independant: Standby. Boba also has Sentinel meaning he can spend those free Standbys at range 3. This Boba also has Tactical 1, giving Boba Aim tokens, which he always wants.

AMG has also stated at ministravaganza that this is the first 100% AMG mini.

Boba’s new 1-pip, A Simple Man. This card has two ‘options’ interestingly the order just says 1 unit so can go anywhere. If Boba doesn’t get an order then Boba gains Marksman, 1 aim token and increases the range of his ranged weapons by 1, (to a max of 5). This is a solid effect making sure that Boba can really apply pressure from afar and confirm a kill. The other effect is applied if Boba receives an order. This effect is that a unit at range 1 of Boba (which includes Boba) can perform a speed-1 move. A free move on a 1-pip is quite a powerful effect, all free moves command cards currently are on 2 or 3 pips. The possibility of a free move and also winning priority gives some great play options.

2-pip, Making His Way in the Galaxy. This command card is a solid splash damage command card. At the end of his activation Boba can perform a decent attack against all units in melee or range 1. This attack includes Blast so should be a solid way of forcing some saves and spreading suppression. Because this is an end of activation attack, you can double move (getting 2 aim tokens) to get into position before unleashing this attack. Tenacity could also benefit this attack.

The most interesting new command card. This card allows units at range 1 and line of sight of Boba, while he has a faceup order, to add 1 Black die to their attack pool when performing a ranged attack. This ability has some very interesting consequences. Probably the biggest boon will be to get a third die on Sniper attack pools, especially rebel snipers who will have a pool of 2 Black and 1 White surging to hit at range 5. This has the possibility of doing some reliable and serious damage in the opening turn or two. You could also pair this card with Cassian’s Sniper for some more damage, especially in doubles where Cassian could use his 1-pip in conjunction with this card.

Final Thoughts

This ministravaganza starts to show us AMG’s design philosophy and approach to the game. This set of releases will bring some beloved characters and some new amazing abilities, we are excited to see what this will do to the game. Make sure to tune into Notorious Scoundrels this week to hear all our thoughts. And if you want to go back and check out any of the streams check out AMG’s twitch channel.