http://www.bloomilk.com/Character/1373/talon-karrde--information-broker

I think the new Talon Karrde, Information Broker is a very interesting piece. For the first time in SWM history, a piece has been created that pushes for a solo fringe faction. I think its safe to say that they aren't anywhere near tier 1 yet, but I think they have taken a first step in the process.

If you manage to keep your faction fringe pure, you gain a force bubble and board wide +4/+10 to all your characters. It is interesting to note, Talon does get to keep his force bubble if non-fringe characters are brought into the squad who have independent outfit, but he does lose the attack bonus portion of his CE. This is an interesting restriction, and one that I assume was not simply oversight, but that I don't really understand. Your only Independent Outfit options are WOTC's 2 Kota' Militia's pieces, and the new alto Stratus. I don't think the Militia's are a competitive option, and Alto, while a powerful piece in his own right, is somewhat useless in a Alto/Talon build, as Alto's CE cannot be used without losing Talon's force bubble, at which point i don't believe Talon's 34 cost is justified.

So, for competitive builds, it sounds like your best option is to avoid Indy Outfits, and stick with pure fringe.

The CE is useful, but I question how useful. A similar build could be designed in a mixed faction using Xizor. While Xizor has a restriction limited to Black Sun allies and range 6, he also allows for non-fringe commanders to synergize.

It's clear that we have a start, but I'm not sure what more we would need to form a truly competitive fringe fraction. Fringe pieces just need a lot more support, and their pieces are already more expensive (typically) due to their lack of faction restriction. This was the idea since the very first set. We have seen some exception to this this (*Kel Dor BH*), but generally speaking, fringe characters come at a cost.

For the designers, was Talon created with the idea of making fringe squads feasible, or was he simply a theme character for fun battles?

I can see some nice black sun squads being made with talons or even some zann consortium squads.

Didn't we have this discussion at various times in the past? I'd always thought that a Fringe only squad could do well (Tier 1 doubtful) yet it was always decided that its better to use them as filler for the other Factions missing links. Has the V-Set group really changed their thinking on that now?

I suppose the referencing to Independent Outfit in the wording for "My Pets from Myrkr", but the omission of Independent Outfit in the wording of the CE confused me. That makes much more sense now, and makes for a very brutal combo!

No one to my knowledge ever said that all-Fringe shouldn't be competitive. It was probably said that all-Fringe wasn't competitive, and that you could always use other factions to make the Fringe squads better, but that isn't as true anymore with Talon.

Nobody changed their thinking about anything, it's just that something that was true before (all-Fringe squads were crap) is no longer true (all-Fringe squads have some actual options now).

This happend with my group all the time too. In fact some of my favourite squads are pure fringe usually a mix of Bounty Hunters and Black Sun with lots of Vigo love.

What about the second part of alto's CE "Non-Unique Separatist followers gain Independent Outfit." would they count toward Talon's CE? (at least while alto is alive) No Droids of course

Fringe has always been its own faction??? That's why the cards have their own symbol and color. :D

There is the solution of the muun tactics broker with a room full of ewoks in the back
Effectively the cheapest master tactician in the game by the way

Muun is a great piece, but he suffers from the problems I brought up in the "Make Trooper squads feasible" thread. A muun, squad, especially with v6's new galloping pieces, is suicide in most games.