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Alliance Smuggler, painted and photographed by Matthew of www.oldenhammer.com

Campaign

The Alliance Smuggler doesn’t seem exciting at first. Though, you have to consider that bringing him to a mission only gives the imperial player 2 Threat to deploy an additional group. The only imperial group so far that costs 2 or less is the Imperial Officer. Not only does the Smuggler look stronger than that, it also gives you an additional activation that you can use to delay. With his surge abilities it can also stun, which can be nice, but is unreliable late campaign. Because of his lowly 3 I, his Slippery gives him an extra boost by subtracting 2 Accuracy from every attack against him. Also, if you have some unlocked doors or terminals that don’t need attribute tests, the Smuggler can help you out too with Smuggler’s Instincts. It’s not a flashy ally, but at least one you can use during all stages of the campaign without empowering the imperial player too much.

To recruit the Alliance Smuggler as an Ally for your campaign, you need to win the side mission Precious Cargo included in this ally pack. This mission is playable with just the tiles from the Core Box!

Skirmish

The Alliance Smuggler seems a bit too weak to withstand the onslaught in Skirmish. I guess the elite Alliance Smuggler will fare much better. 5 Health for 4 Deployment Points and a white die isn’t too impressive. His Slippery and 5 movement points still could make him worthwhile, especially if you can give him the Hidden Condition. Also, Smuggler’s Instincts might come in handy in some special missions like Training Ground, where you need to get to the far side of your Deployment Zone to pick up a remote. If future missions feature even larger distances between objectives, his stock might rise.

The pack also expands on the Smuggler trait and their Deployment Zone shenanigans. The Skirmish upgrade Smuggler’s Run can only be attached to a smuggler and be depleted in a hostile deployment zone to gain 5 Victory Points. Currently, this mechanic isn’t really a thing, but it is expected that future releases will expand on this.

The highlight in the included Command Cards certainly is Heart of Freedom. Having your Leia, Luke, Han or Chewie stunned and hurt? How about recovering 2 damage, discarding the stun and gaining 2 movement points without even spending an action? The only bummer is that you can only include one of these in your deck. Smuggler’s Tricks can be used to win over terminals or objectives. Self Defense is a very miniscule effect and doesn’t have very clear applications as of now. It also comes with a copy of Smuggled Supplies which you might remember from the Hired Guns villain pack.

The included skirmish map Imperial Command Hub only uses tiles from the core box.

Model

The model and its pose are alright. It is just nothing special, and it blends in well with other similar models. Thematically it fits because he really can go around unnoticed, but if you want something flashy, it is probably the wrong pack for you.