I highly recommend starting at the 500 point skirmish level. You can just get one box of a bunch of different things and mix and match to get a good feel of the game. Because its smaller you can get more games in during the course of a night and there are less models which means less rules interactions so definitely new person friendly. An e-web is always a fun addition in my book for casual games and they are cheap dollar wise to boot!

You run 4 B1, 3 with the 3b heavy weapon, aggressive tactics on Grievous and his gun and a few other upgrades here and there. Right now this probably isn't the way to go, no argument here. I think the list will be much more viable once CIS gets a cheaper commander and some other army slots like the rumored commando droids and such. I'm just saying I think they'll have a home, at the very least in skirmish, its just a question if its right now or later.

They could potentially work well in pairs. Its a huge point sink to be sure but, especially with an AAT providing covering fire, when the lines close they'll be devastating. Its also possible that range 2 will be much more valuable with some of the new deployment cards that are coming out in vital assets. Have them moving up the field behind a tank for that heavy cover or something. I think they have play, it'll just take time to find a home (plus a generic droid commander probably).

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2020/1/29/new-and-improved/

I think these lists speak heavily to the quality of activations over quantity. Being able to delete a unit off the board cause you had 3 aims and got 8+ hits is a huge deal. The days of activation spam seem to be at a close, with 9-10 solid activations outperforming 11+ spam. The prime in NC this past weekend had a 9 activation list win as well.

The big question now is will this pack be out before worlds and if so how will it shake up the scene. Will we see crazy high bids again to be blue player just to take some of the cards out of the deck?

I don't think it does. I think it enables fast armies much better. When this card was spoiled it was discussed that vehicles could start with the bombs. Throw that thing on an air speeder and it can take 3 moves turn 1 into opponent's deployment, free action drop the bomb, and not suffer any hits cause its a range 1 weapon. Now sure that's a corner case but a similar thing can be done with speeder bikes. Suddenly that clumped opponent is getting bombs dropped on them from the skies while the opponent is gaining victory points. I think once we know that the other objectives in the set are bombing type lists might become very popular and result in more aggressive play.

https://imgur.com/gallery/VAExbCh So these three got spoiled by 5th trooper yesterday. What do people think about the new deployment and mission? Will it be enough to see a huge jump in vehicles once again?

I can understand that. I too enjoy the answers being given cause it gives us insight to design process and things that may be coming in the future, which is great. But for newer players watching the stream it could give them misinformation about how the game is played which is unfortunate. I guess I just expect a higher quality from the company/producers of the game than what we are getting. I wish they would do more interviews with the developers without games going on so that could be the sole focus.

I love getting new information about upcoming units and seeing them in action but I really wish they would have people who know how to play on the stream. So many basic rules that got messed up during the stream. Takes a lot away from watching and gives a really skewed view of what the new stuff can do when its simply played wrong. All this while a developer was actively watching them play on stream to boot.

Tell me about it. The only faction I don't play is rebels, so seeing this list makes my inner child very happy but my wallet very upset.

There are some really interesting things on that list. Looks like operatives for republic and CIS along with special forces and additional support choices. Inferno squad is very exciting. Maybe Inferno and Clan Wren are unique units? ARC troopers and commando droids are very very exciting!

Flexibility is another big reason to take the Operative Vader version. You can throw him at half the board and use him to tie up/lock down whole areas with minimal support. And since he is an operative as opposed to your commander you can have the rest of your army elsewhere. It is a huge threatening piece that your opponent will have to focus down and thus draw fire away from the rest of your army with the added bonus of if he goes down your army won't break/be down a commander.

The conclusion I've come to is that melee is very potent in the 500 point skirmish version of this game. Gun lines, especially imperial range 4 ones, don't have enough room to get their normal work done. Personally I've adapted to this by diving face first into the melee game and currently run Vader, double IRG and double storms. When in doubt guardian helps protect and the best counter to a lightsaber wielder is another lightsaber wielder.

I think the article would be helped with mention of his synergy with Chewie. A good general write up overall.