“Only the Honor Guard of Lasan may carry a bo-rifle!”

–Zeb Orrelios, Star Wars Rebels

Through adversity and trials, a small group of heroes has gathered in the aftermath of the Republic’s fall. They each come from different backgrounds. They each have different reasons to hate the Empire. But from their unique and disparate backgrounds, you’ll see the first sparks and the kindling flame of a rebellion. Soon, you’ll be able to join this growing movement yourself with A Wretched Hive, the second Force Pack in the Opposition cycle for Star Wars™: The Card Game, available at your local United States retailer on Thursday, September 29th!

Like the other Force Packs of the Opposition cycle, A Wretched Hive truly taps into the rivalries that flare up between factions and define so much of the Star Wars saga. Whether it’s Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker battling in a lightsaber duel or Han Solo on the run from Jabba’s bounty hunters, certain factions have always been more likely to clash and battle. Now, with the objective sets in this Force Pack, you can play up those battles and bring them to the spotlight of your games of Star Wars: The Card Game.

Today, we’ll take the time to preview one of the new objective sets appearing in A Wretched Hive, featuring a hero from Star Wars Rebels.

Specter

Throughout the Opposition cycle, you’ll find objective sets to support a deck that stretches across affiliations—inviting you to bring warriors, pilots, daredevils, and rogues from entirely different backgrounds together in a single deck. In a worldview that’s directly opposed to the monochrome doctrine of the Empire, these young members of the Lothal resistance believe that their differences only make them stronger, and together, they can face anything the Empire throws at them. Within A Wretched Hive, you’ll find another piece of this deck.

As one of the few survivors of the horrific Imperial massacre on Lasan, Zeb Orrelios (A Wretched Hive, 1152) is a fearsome warrior who’s well suited to taking down Imperial targets. Zeb’s combat icons have already predisposed him to attacking objectives, but he also gains a unit damage before he strikes, unless your opponent discards a random card from his hand. Extra unit damage would be bad enough, but to make it even more punishing, Zeb also gains targeted strike while you control more enhancements that your opponent, making it easy for you to pick off priority targets and open a path for the rest of your team. You may even pair Zeb Orrelios with Sabine Wren (Ancient Rivals, 1128) to give Zeb an extra blast damage and edge (1)!

Because Zeb only gains targeted strike while you control more enhancements, it’s understandable that many cards in the rest of this objective set are focused on those enhancements. You’ll find another unit in this set, the Freelance Slicer (A Wretched Hive, 1153)—an Engineer who’s especially adept at bringing enhancements into play. Every turn, the Freelance Slicer allows you to look at the top card of your deck, and if it’s an enhancement, you can put it into play! Not only can this accelerate your resources dramatically, it can give you extra information for taking advantage of objectives like Along the Gamor Run (Knowledge and Defense, 552).

You need enhancements to get the full benefit of the Freelance Slicer, and this objective set won’t disappoint. First, you’ll find a Bo-Rifle (A Wretched Hive, 1154), the traditional weapon of the Honor Guard of Lasan. This enhancement can be given to any Specter or Smugglers and Spies Character, and it dramatically increases that unit’s effectiveness during an engagement. More importantly, you can take an Action to play this enhancement from your discard pile, ensuring you don’t lose this enhancement if the attached unit is destroyed.

You may also support your objectives with Improvised Defenses (A Wretched Hive, 1155). This enhancement can be placed on any friendly objective, and it immediately boosts the objective’s damage capacity—while providing a resource to increase your economy. Then, if the enhanced objective is destroyed, you can return Improvised Defenses to your hand, allowing you to play it on a new objective or use it in an edge battle for its three Force icons.

The enhancement theme of this set is also supported by a copy of Well Equipped (A Wretched Hive, 1132), one of the new fate cards introduced in the Opposition cycle. Well Equipped allows you to remove a single token of any type from one of your units or objectives with at least one enhancement. Whether you prepare for battle by removing focus tokens or save your objective from an imminent demise by removing damage, Well Equipped can play a vital role in the hands of a skilled commander.

Although the objective of this set doesn’t support the theme of enhancements, it does play into an essential Specter specialty: emptying your opponent’s hand. You would remember that your opponent can cancel Zeb’s extra unit damage by discarding a random card from his hand. He may do this thinking he can redraw with some other cards, but with The Last Warrior (A Wretched Hive, 1151) in play, your opponents can’t draw cards through card effects as long as you control a Specter unit. And as an added touch, this objective bears the influence keyword, helping you create a deck that truly spans all backgrounds and all affiliations.

Take Down the Empire

The Lothal Rebels are entering the galaxy of Star Wars: The Card Game, and it’s up to you to decide whether you’ll fight alongside them or work to destroy them. Look for A Wretched Hive at your local United States retailer on September 29th!