Affinity can change a character's faction, but what about a commander effect like Clone Commander Gree ("Your squad may include non-Unique Wookiees of any faction") or Emperor Palpatine, Sith Lord ("Your squad may include characters with Order 66")?

In these cases, do the characters that join the squad retain their original, printed factions?

Incorrect.

Affinity specifically says that it changes the faction in the full glossary defination. CE's that allow you to bring in figures from other factions allow you to break the faction building rules, but doesn't change the faction because they do not specifically say that. Remember, many powers in this game break the rules.

Unless you made a Sith squad with Ulic and Mandalore the Ultimate then you could add Jaina SotJ. Unless there is something wrong with the squad builder.

Mandalore's mandalorian conscription would maker her a mandalorian and negate her new republic faction status. At least thats how I understand it from the glossary text. I didn't find anything in the faqs either but I may not be searching for the right thing. So once you add Mandalore the Ultimate not only does Jaina become mandalorian but so does Ulic since it states all characters (kinda like Rieekan's CE is applied to allies and not just followers).


Glossary Text

All characters in your squad are considered to belong to the Mandalorian faction for the rest of the skirmish. If they were not already Mandalorian, they no longer have their original faction.

You have Ulic (sith squad) you add MandUlt and now Ulic is a mando (His SA doesn't have a specific trigger so according to the rule book its alwas active). The question is now that Ulic is a mando and he is according to MandUlt's SA Ulic nolonger has his orginal faction (think of MandUlt's SA as a cancer cell reproducing it goes in changes a normal cell then makes it cancer cell also) so now that Ulic your faction starter is no longer a sith is it still a sith squad. Can it be a sith squad at this point with no sith in it. I think this SA breaks the normal rules for squad building. Can Grand Master Luke be in an Imperial squad? Not normally but if he attacks Emperor Palpatine Sith Lord and rolls a 1 you now have GML in an Imperial squad.


Just to clear something no he wouldn't be able to pull any character into a Mando or Sith squad (ulic) they would have to legally be able to be in a mando squad first.

This is swrogue57's answer to the Jaina question:

"I think the problem most people are having with this question is knowing which SAs go into affect during squad building and which ones go into affect once the skirmish begins.

Mandalorian Conscription does not affect squad building. It basically says that all characters in your squad, including fringe characters, are considered Mandalorian for purposes of CEs and SAs that affect only Mandalorian characters. For example, Boba BH could get twin from the Mando Capt. which he would not be able to do without Mandalorian Conscription.


Affinity affects squad building. It allows specific characters to be in a squad they otherwise would not be allowed to be in. Jaina Solo, Sword of the Jedi is a New Republic figure who is allowed to be in a Mandalorian squad. Ulic's CE also affects squad building. It lets Mandalorian characters be in a Sith squad. For purposes of squad building, Jaina Solo, Sword of the Jedi is a New Republic character, not a Mandalorian. She cannot be in a Sith squad for this reason.

Hope this clears things up.

Roy (drkjedi35 on swmgamers.com)"

Very clear and concise. (page 2 in the rules forum)

When you have Ulic Qel-Droma in a squad with Mandalore the Ultimate, you will have a Sith squad with all Mandalorians.

Things that will affect squad building will reference your squad, usually with the term "part of your squad" or "in a [faction] squad". So far, the only abilties that affect squad building are: Unique, Affinity, and Order 66 technically (and I guess the upcoming Omega Squad, in a fashion). Mandalorian Conscription in no way mentions what can or cannot be in your squad, only changes faction.

And the squad builder is wrong, because of the way affinity is handled on the site. Whether it will be fixed, who knows, but Ulic can only bring in characters who BEGIN in the Mandalorian faction. The trouble with saying the squad is now a Mandalorian squad after you add Mandalore the Ultimate, is that you can then justify any faction, not just Ulic, being in the squad.

I don't know if it helps resolve things for you, but Mandalorian Conscription DOES actually have a trigger, I think, although it's implied rather than stated: All characters in your squad are considered Mandalorian for the rest of the skirmish implies that the ability "triggers" for the duration of the skirmish, and the skirmish does not start until squadbuilding is complete.

On the other hand, if Ulic's commander effect read more like "Your squad may include Mandalorian characters or characters with Affinity (Mandalorian) of any faction," Jaina would then meet the criteria (the commander effect, unlike Mandalorian Conscription, implies impact on squadbuilding with it's phrasing).



This actually brings up another angle. How does Rapport factor in to all this?

If there were a character who had "Rapport (Mandalorian characters cost 1 less)," would ManUlt's Mandalorian Conscription make EVERYONE in the squad cost 1 less? swrogue57's answer seems to imply no.

You see in Sithborgs comment that it doesn't say anything about what can or cannot be in your squad only that it changes the faction. Now that ulic's faction is changed from sith to mandalorian can he be in a sith squad? No because he's madalorian now. So since he's not able to be in a sith squad what kind of squad is it?

Juice mans comment about it saying it only affects CE's and such. Where does it say that? It's not like independent outfit on kotas elite where it says for the purpose of commander effects. If its not printed in the rule book (the offical sw miniatures rule book) or on the card then you do not add it.

Also gwek in the glossary the definition of skirmish implies that building the squad is in fact part of the skirmish. At least about as much as Mandalorian Conscription implies that its duration to the end of the skirmish also means it's triggered by the start of a skirmish.

I think the problem with the rules is that when people ask a question about a rule their getting an answer based on interpretations from too many sources that have different reasons for their interpretation. As a result things are getting thrown together and jumbled up. DCI have their own rules and interpretation WOTC has their rules and their interpretation throw in a few rules that people have changed along the way and what do you get a bunch of rules that have changed the core of the game. Look at SSM if some joe that had no idea what DCI was or what an errant was was playing GWOK how do you think he would play SSM just like it says on the card or in the rule book. Not what DCI or WOTC has changed. It maybe helpful in the future to state according to and list your source for an interpretation so that people can see where its comming from. I play some DCI rules like the one for SSM because I see the reason behind it and agree with it as do the people I play with. But we also have some of our own rules like mouse droids not providing cover for other characters. We're even toying with one for Booming voice but I would never expect someone else to just agree with rules like that and if they didn't we would just fall back onto whats on the card and in the offical rule book.

That being said come my lil vultures and start your picking.

I probably shouldn't respond because I sort of feel like you're not actually reading the responses anyway...

It IS a Sith squad, assuming that's what you've chosen as your base squad (and in the current rules, a Sith squad is your only option if you're fielding Ulic). To the best of my knowledge, there is NOTHING that can change the faction of your squad once the decision has been made, only the faction of individual characters within that squad.

Your choice of squad faction defines your initial set of character choices: Selected faction + Fringe. Additional factors, such as Affinity or "may include" commander effects can add to your choices (or, in a few rare cases, limit them).



Juiceman is quoting a response that elaborates on the use of Mandalorian Conscription, which is limited (as implied by its definition) to using DURING a skirmish. Not before. Not after. During.



The rulebook, which you rightfully cite as the primary source, does not actually define "skirmish" in the glossary. It does, however, define "rounds": "A skirmish is played in rounds. At the start of a round, players roll initiative. During the round, each player activates his or her characters in phases. When all characters have been activated, the round ends and a new round begins." Since squadbuilding does not occur in rounds, this definition implies that squadbuilding is not part of the skirmish proper.

The rules further state "After you set up your squads, roll for initiative to start the skirmish." Again, this pretty clearly defines squadbuilding as a step that occurs PRIOR to the skirmish.

Although there are a few statements that might oversimplify things ("In a skirmish, one player builds a squad associated with the light side of the Force, the other a squad attuned to the dark side"), they are in portions of the rules book acting as an overview, not explicitly detailing the step-by-step rules of the game.



No offense, but I think you;re mistaken in this interpretation. DCI rules vs "standard" rules are very well-defined (and generally consistent for the most part).



I could be mistaken, but I believe SSM has received official errata. Certainly, not everyone playing is aware of the errata, but since we have not yet invented a reliable way to go back in time, there is no way around that. If you're aware of the errata and want to use it, great. If you're unaware of the errate (or chose not to use it), no harm done... unless you're playing at a larger venue, in which case you should familiarize yourself with THEIR house rules.