I think all attacks with lightsabers should count as melee attacks. no more deflecting lightsaber sweeps etc. and no more combining fire while using a lightsaber.

Mara Jade Jedi
Aurra Sing Jedi Hunter

They would need to specify that when the lightsaber is used you may melee block and when it is not used you may evade. We already know to add the extra in for the lightsaber damage when adjacent. It would not be hard to figure which evasion roll you get.

I've always thought the acceleration should also state strafing attacks only as an extra part of its wording

I sort of agree with this - for all characters with the Lightsaber SA, when they are attacking an adjacent enemy. And likewise for the two characters that have Lightsaber Sweep but not Melee attack - CS Aurra Sing and Luke Skywalker of Dagobah. At the same time, this is a mechanic that, while confusing is also interesting, and not widespread. A unique benefit for certain characters, most of them older minis.

I'm actually kind of on the fence with that one I guess... it certainly is confusing to new players.


@Mickey - Not sure if I'm reading your comment correctly, but my preference would be for Accelerate to work whether declaring a strafe attack or not. Basically would put those pieces on somewhat equal footing with the newer ones, minus the Speed 12 part (which is significant). Also, the RS speeders may be 7+ points cheaper than any of the others, but they only have 30hp and lower attack.

Ugo's cost 5

Lol, when I read this I imagined an audible groan from Sithborg... "oh no, not another one of these threads". I don't have "acceptance" issues per se.

While I agree with his view in general principle, I think it depends on the scope of the "exception". There are bad pieces, and then there are bad abilities. Abilities/CEs have been changed before. Accelerate is not necessarily a bad ability in and of itself (see Wheelform), just seems to me the FAQ on Strafe's interaction with Accelerate could be removed without breaking anything, and 3 (or 2 at least) cool pieces could see a lot more use. The only other character with Accelerate is Maul on Speeder, and he doesn't have Strafe (good thing too!).

Compare the wording of Speed 12 and Accelerate:



See what I mean? It's a very fine line between the two where Strafe is concerned, if not for the FAQ. I don't know when that FAQ originated, but if it is not recent I would argue that it has outlived it's usefulness in the game.

As an aside, I don't think the analogy to Heavy Weapon is a good one based on the wording. To me, the key here is the movement and the wording of Strafe.

Finally, I must admit that the subject of this thread could have been more clear - as in my OP I was talking about small changes that would make some older/little used minis more playable. The conversations are enjoyable either way

Yeah, I'm falling on your side of the fence considering that perspective, along with what I said before - that it's interesting to have a handful of characters that have their own unique way of doing things.

The ruling on Strafe and Accelerate has been around since the beginning. It was how they were designed to work. Other errata to abilities have been to make them work as intended.

I agree that it is easier to understand. And it would take a lot of rewording to have all force powers, special abilities that contain the word lightsaber to count as melee attacks.

However, we now have two special abilities that ignore the type of attack printed on the characters stat card in Blaster 20 on GG DAC and Poisoned Blade on the Geno. I don't think it would take much to have Lightsaber +10 count as a melee attack. Simply adding, "Attacks made while using this special ability count as melee attacks" to the glossary wouldnt be all that difficult.

That being said, I do have a tendency to want things to be more "real" in a sense.
I know we are talking about a fictional universe to begin with, but logic always helps more people understand interactions. If everything worked like it "should" there would be a lot less confusion in my opinion.

Seeing as only 3 characters do this and only one is played a lot, i dont see this as a problem. Mara's main benefit is she fights big melee pieces without getting counterattacked.

Every Faction has their special threat's. New republic has Mara, Jedi. Imperials have Grand Admiral Thrawn who blocks force powers. Rebels have the Speeder thats the fastest piece and it ignores a lot of damage. Vong are immune to force powers. Republic has Obi-wan who blocks most damage that would be done to him. Old republic has one of the best cost vs. damage shooters with atton rand. Mandalorians have non-unique pieces that put out more damage then a lot of unique pieces. And the Seps have GGDAC who has the best commander effect in the game.

I say all that to say that just because one piece is a scary threat that doesnt mean we need to errata the game. Just find the uniqueness in the faction you already play and use it to your advantage like everyone else does instead of whinning that mara just cut you in half.