Rapid Reaction: Director Orson Krennic 1

“We were on the verge of greatness. We were this close to providing peace and security for the galaxy.” – Director Orson Krennic

Director Orson Krennic, and all of his lovely quotes, is here!! Compel is a new keyword and it will allow friendly units in range 1 to 2 of you gain a free move action, at the cost of a suppression token if not panicked, which is pretty good. (Actually really good, considering Krennic’s 3 Pip Command Card) Cunning allows you to throw down a Krennic Command Card and if you tie for initiative, you can treat Krennic’s card as if it has one fewer pip. This seems to be an answer to some Han Solo cards, and it’s pretty good to have hanging around. He has Entourage: Imperial Death Troopers which makes it easier to build some lists, and you’ll probably want to run those DT’s with him as it stands. As for his health and attack: he has a healthpool of 6, suppression threshold of 2, throws white dice on defense with a surge to block. His attack seems decent at range 1 to 2, throwing one of red, white, and black, surges to crit and has Pierce 1 and Sharpshooter 1. His role, however, will be supporting the troops. His base cost of 90 is cheap and it seems like some Veers/Krennic lists may be a thing going forward. Running Vader with Krennic could also open up a world of possibilities with all of the suppression, keep in mind Troopers in range of Vader won’t panic. At first glance, Strict Orders might be something you toss on Krennic to keep up with all the Suppression tricks. It’s important to have two Commanders in a list and the Imperials can finally afford to do so.

Command Cards

Rapid Reaction: Director Orson Krennic 2

This card gives you more control of what tokens you pull. You won’t have FULL control, but some control is better than none! When you need a unit to activate and you happen to have that token on Krennic’s card, it’s going to come in quite handy!

Rapid Reaction: Director Orson Krennic 3

“What are we blind?! Deploy the Garrison!” If you don’t yell this when dropping this Command Card, are you even playing with Krennic? All jokes aside, this seems to be a good fit for Krennic’s buddies the Deathtroopers, or any trooper for that matter. Giving stand-by tokens at the start of the round ensures a few things: One your enemy needs to think long and hard about their approach if they’re not in the 1 to 2 range already. OR the alternative is that the enemy is already in the range, and going to take the shot no matter what. In theory, it could/should give you a free attack on your opponent, if played correctly, and then you have the ability to have two more actions when you actually activate.

Rapid Reaction: Director Orson Krennic 4

For starters, this artwork is absolute beautiful. Second, it’s really, really good. It’s actually scary at first glance. You’re looking at one to two suppression tokens on ALL troopers on the table, depending on the round. The Death Star is here and Tarkin is stealing Krennic’s glory. Suppression all around! What an unbelievably thematic card. I love it. Jyn and her Complete the Mission card is starting to make a lot more sense!!

Final Thoughts

Really need to hand it to FFG here with the Rogue One releases. Jyn and Krennic seem like very well thought out units that run extremely parallel with each other. Krennic seems to fit really well into the Empire’s existing units and it will be interesting as to what kind of lists people will conjure up! Not to be lost in all of this, the models in this mirror wave are beautiful sculpts.

Even as a Rebel player, but collects both armies, I’m really excited for Krennic and what he brings to the table. I hope Imperial players are excited, too. He’s a great addition to this great game. Suppression is coming and it’s coming at full force with Krennic’s Command Card, the Death Troopers with Suppressive weapons….better prepare yourselves! Don’t choke on your aspirations.

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-GrandAdmiralThrawn