It's a combination of flavor and gameplay reasons.

Flavor because the Triumvriate used a Thrawn imposter and directly opposed Pallaeon's faction in the remnant.

Gameplay because the combo between the Triumvriate and Trawn/Pallaeon would be too strong. Imagine a combo of Tirce's and IE Thrawn's CE's, or using Distra to bring in clones and bribery, then using Pallaeon to swap him out.

As for Vader/Xizor, keep in mind that we haven't gotten a version of either since the ability was introduced, and the designers will never retroactively change a WotC card.

Also, it also gives you an interesting set of options to try. Who'da thunk it - an Imperial squad without Thrawn...? It's not easy, but things that aren't easy often bring the best reward...

Hehe... breaking Thrawn dependance... It was either producing new minis with Rival, drugs or some serious counselling.

I think it will be nice to see how Imperials work without swap. Majority of Imperial squads use it and it almost seems like a crutch, as if you have to have it to succeed. We're hoping with the Triumvirate we can introduce other options.

Good point. All Vaders from now on will have Rival with Xizor.

Seriously though, Imperials weren't chosen to get lots of Rival for any reason other than the desire to present new squadbuilding options for them. Basically every Imperial piece must be created with Thrawn and Pallaeon in mind, which does limit options for design. Rival is a way around that, and it can let us make strong characters while avoiding broken interactions.

As has been said, it's also a flavor addition. The first character to ever get it was actually Tyber Zann, and we added it to him mostly for flavor since he was a major player in a subfaction we were strengthening.


I'm sure there will be plenty of Rival in the future in other factions. An idea that I've always been fond of is a Garm Bel Iblis with some amazing CE, but with Rival for any other commanders, representing his independence as a leader. It was used on the Triumvirate for a specific reason (to create squad options in Imperials without Thrawn mostly), which is why they got a heavy dose of it, but that's not the end of it.

Yep, but Imperials don't have any movement breakers beside Swap , unless u count crazy clone of Joruus and his Domination/force domination, but that's really costly. Sure, Republic does have swap as well but they have doombot and Foul as well. Now, I'm not saying that Imps need tow cable, but with current meta being dash out as much damage as you can do as fast as possible, since swap is out of option when I want to play with IT Imps need this "push" to get there.

Don't forget that no Thrawn and no Palleon leaves the Imps with no force resistance. So, it isn't just movement breakers.

It might be for You, but how can defend your statement by saying that If you can do it, every1 else should be able as well?
Show me a good, competetive squad without either Thrawn or Pellaeon.


I guess you're reffering to Moff Disra? He might let Imps spread a bit more, but he really isn't worth 25 points. Ok, given the circumstances he basically gives out to other Imp commanders Disciplined Leader, but he is waaay to fragile. 30 hp on a 25 point piece- Moff Tarkin has 40 hp-costs 11 points, Imp Gov Tarkin 40 hp- costs 22 points..I could give other examples ? blasted, even his defence is below average Imp commander (average being 14). In order for him to survive to use his CE player has to invest in at least 1 bodyguard... and that's costly.
His bribery if VERY circumstantial. Of course you can have 2 stormies waiting or 1 mice and 1 r-7 but is he really worth it? I doubt it.

So let's see again - Thrawn costs 32/37 points and his light substitution meaning Grodin costs 26 but let's not forget about Disra -25 points, and like I mentioned before, Disra is waaay to fragile so he needs bodyguard (that's 11 points for human bdg or 10 for Twi'lek).
Thrawn can't be alone so we count in Pelleaon-16 points.
[I'm not counting Mas because he might be in both squads for other commanders which would need his help]

So what do we get? Thrawn's squad costs 48/53 depending on which Thrawn we choose, and for those points we get master tactitian, swap, ysalamiri and +3/+3 for non-uniques or Opp to allies.
Good deal.

Let's see our other option: Grodin- 26, Disra-25 and bodyguard -10/11. That gives us 61/62 points and for that we recieve +2/2 non-uniques,+6 to initative, bribery (so extra 10 points of imperial or fringe) and light version of disciplined leader, given the right circumstances.

The result is obvious- combination of Thrawn/Pelleaon is still better. Of course I could add to IT Flim but it bumps up cost so high that I can only imagine no1 would choose it/beside trying it, of course.

I'm not saying that breaking up from Thrawn "addiction" is bad. I would, if only I was given right tools. So far I haven't seen it, IT is a failed experiment for me, but who knows maybe in future sets situation will change. Loosing Thrawn for now at least means loosing a good bump in firepower and not having the only "movement" breaker which Imps have. Maybe it is time to bring other MB than swap to Imps in order for us to give up our Thrawn "addiction" ?

Honestly, I think Rival will make the most sense for Imperials going forward. They did have a lot of warlords for a while. I can't say how widespread it will be, but I don't see it hurting the faction.

Going forward, when we get around to Knight Errant stuff, I expect to see Rival or a varient of it on all those crazy Sith.

You aren't forced to play without Thrawn or Pellaeon, the Triumvirate just gives you a new option for the Imperial build. No matter what happens, I'll wager Thrawn and Pellaeon are around for a long time.



I really don't think that is a fair statement to make just over a week after the set has been released. I think we have to give it time, see what people do with them.

And I like Disra, bribery for the Empire? That is huge! Plus a way to bring in Clones that isn't super expensive? Love it.