Saturday, August 24, 2019

Wave 7 Boarding Teams (Weapon Team + Offensive Retrofit)

Okay, so again I've been a bit lazy about getting around to looking at upgrade cards like I should have back in Wave 7.  Fortunately for me, the SSD only came with new Imperial officers so I have some time to clear out my backlog now that I'm back from vacation!

Anyways, let's look at the Boarding Teams that came with Wave 7!  For a reminder, here's all the ships that can take them:

Rebels:
- Hammerhead Corvette
- Assault Frigate MkII
- MC-75 Cruiser

Imperials:
- Raider-Class Corvette
- Quasar Fire-Class Cruiser-Carrier
- Victory-Class Star Destroyer
- Imperial-Class Star Destroyer
- Star Dreadnought Prototype
- Executor-Class Star Dreadnought

So yeah, a lot more options with the Imperials than the Rebels.



Jyn Erso - 4 points - Rebel


When you reveal a command, you may discard a [squadron] dial or token and this card to choose 1 enemy ship at close range.  If that ship has no raid tokens, it gains 2 raid tokens of your choice.  If that ship has an objective token, you may also gain 1 victory token.

This is definitely a sleeper card of Wave 7.  It's a card that just has not seen use at all in Wave 7 and for good reason.  The "may also gain 1 victory token" part of the card isn't actually something that you can set up even as Second Player.  Instead you can only get the full benefit of this card with very specific objectives - Capture the VIP, Intel Sweep, and Blockade Run (the most fun objective).  Capture the VIP is a 50 point swing if you pop it on an opponent's ship, so cool!  Intel Sweep gives you a chance to add to your objective total, and can be a 75 point swing if you pull it off!  But Blockade Run, while the most fun objective to play, only gives objective tokens to the Second Player, so you lose the chance to both bring that objective and have Jyn Erso used to her best ability.

But with Rebellion in the Rim coming out there are now 3 more Red Objectives with Objective Tokens assigned to ships, specifically Ion Storm (15 points - ships gain objective tokens if they are more than distance 1/2 from an obstacle), Marked for Destruction (15 points - ships gain objective tokens as a crit effect at Close-Medium Range), and Rift Assault (10 points - spend a die if a ship is not at distance 1 from an obstacle to give it an objective token).

Plus Yellow Objectives gain Fleet In Being (15 points - all enemy ships start with 1 token), and Blue Objectives gain Hyperspace Migration (20 points - gain a token for a turn if you're next to a purrgil token).  This brings the number of Second Player Objectives that work fully with Jyn Erso to 3 Red, 2 Yellow, and 2 Blue, giving quite a number of objectives to use her with.

She's also a quiet all-star for campaigns and their Green Objectives.  I guess her raid tokens are okay too in disrupting your opponent's plans.  Look for her after Rebellion In The Rim finally comes out.




Darth Vader - 3 points - Imperial


When you reveal a command, you may discard a [squadron] dial or token and this card to choose 1 enemy ship at close range.  Choose and discard 1 non-[Commander] upgrade card equipped to that ship.

Another card you don't see all together very often.  Vader (Boarding Team) does offer quite a bit of versatility though, specifically his ability to break key parts of your opponent's strategy.  A lot of ships are reliant on specific upgrades, and Vader being able to erase those upgrades is a huge advantage.  Probably the best on a smaller ship that isn't reliant on Squadron or Engineering value to deliver a big payload. 

He's also the only way to peel away key defensive upgrades like Electric Countermeasures, Captain Brunson, Damage Control Officer, or Targeting Scrambler.

That being said, he lacks the splash of a Avenger / Boarding Team combo, which leads to him being looked at infrequently at the top levels of play.

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