I'd love to get all the Hoth Rebels, General Riekkan and Bren Derlin and all, but I think that may be likeliest in a deluxe expansion, a Battle of Hoth bonanza style thing. Getting to use tauntauns instead of the usual tech, and having to avoid the odd wampa or two. Maybe the preceding cycle of Force Packs could involve some sort of theme for scouting for bases and being attacked by the Empire as they do.

I think it's going to be difficult for this game to do what Lord of the Rings does, using throwaway lines and half-mentioned characters to form the basis for thematic storylines, as this is exactly the sort of this Star Wars has been built on since the late 80s when West End Games had the licence. Literally everyone in the Mos Eisley Cantina, or any other location in the original three films, has a fully-realised back story that is as good as canon now, after all. I'd like to see FFG taking a leaf from WEG's book, though, and creating their own locations in which to adventure. Or even if they start by using established locations and just throwing their own characters in. Sort of the Tapani Sector, or the Kathol Sector, of the modern Star Wars age.

I would love them to switch out the Imperial encounter deck in one expansion for a Jabba's Palace themed one. Or something similar. Let us take a swing at the big slug! Exactly how they're going to work the Fringe faction convincingly into this game is really a big concern of mine...

All the fringe characters will be in their respective places depending on the timeline i would have thought. To class them as a faction is wrong as they do not have one big organisation.

It should also be pointed out that star wars video games do not count as canon according to george lucas. Im not sure if the novels based in the video games do or not. I did watch a video from the force unleashed makers saying they were really limited in what they could do, and any new thing they wanted to add had to be approved by george, which meant anything they wanted to do original took a long time. I can see it being even longer for board game makers as there isnt as much money flying around. From what has been announced it also looks like the license is only for original trilogy stuff.

IF they do expand and have other chararcters Kyle Katarn would be pretty cool, but Mara Jade would have been imperial at this point. Also rogue squadron.

You bring up a good point, Ironman. I do hope video game characters are free game. WotC was able to use them for their SW Miniatures line. I wonder if the licenses are different in that regard. Also, Hasbro seems to have no trouble making toys of video game characters (e.g. Bastila Shan, Darth Nihilus, Darth Malak, Darth Revan, Kyle Katarn, Republic Commandos). 

Spalanzani, that's something I've been thinking about, too. "The bounty hunter we ran into at Ord Mantell changed my mind," seems like the perfect kind of reference for FFG to run with, based on how they're doing LotR, but with the new video game, players will get intimately familiar with Ord Mantell, so even if video games weren't considered canon, as mentioned above, it would be strange for FFG to ignore it since I'm betting a lot of the SW:TCG players will be familiar with SW:TOR as well. At least in this case there is a large time gap for things to change, so FFG wouldn't be too constrained.

Oh, I didn't mean using the Fringe as a cohesive faction, more like just having the presence of some fringers. I think I was lost in a reverie over the SW minis line from WotC! Something like Jabba's organisation, or Black Sun, would be easier to produce as factions, though. Did someone mention Xizor earlier in this thread? Well anyway. I suppose it would be difficult, of course, to produce some characters because they play both sides against each other. Karrde, for instance, assisted the Empire when it suited him but ultimately threw more towards the Rebels/New Republic. But at the time of the original trilogy, Karrde would only have been a navigator on Car'das' ship, or whatever he was, so not exactly the most interesting character to go to the trouble of producing a card for. But you never know!

I suppose it could be the same reason why we have yet to see a Saruman card as the third Istari in the LotR game. Now, I don't know nearly as much about LotR as I do about SW, but wasn't he good during the timeline the game is meant to be set within? So it'd likely confuse a lot of folks who only really know of LotR from the films. Having Jabba and his henchmen as a definite villain of the encounter deck could work, I think, as a break from the monotony that could creep in from having constant Rebels vs Imperials games, also the official announcement made some mention of being pursued by the Empire and Bounty Hunters, so I'd expect at least someone like Boba Fett to pop up in the encounter deck, most sensibly as some sort of neutral villain. Which could perhaps grow into a Bounty Hunter subtheme over time. Maybe.

It'd definitely fit in with the line of "the bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mantell", yeah! I'm sure there have been at least three separate run-ins with bounty hunters on Ord Mantell, but the specific one Han is meant to have referenced turned up in the Marvel series, his name escapes me but I'm sure it begins with a S. Skorr, I want to say, but that was one of Dooku's dark acolytes, I think.

I digress :)

Aren't video games classed as "c-canon", whereas anything that George creates directly is "g-canon", or something? I'm sure the games, like the novel and comics, are recognised as a specific history of the universe, even given their more fluid approach to continuity. Such as, "officially, Revan is a man, and the Exile is a woman" etc.

I'd like to hope that they do include guys from the EU in the game, both Imperials and Rebels alike (with some neutral fringers too, of course!) Mara Jade would have to be Imperial of course. I'd like to see that Grand Moff Trachta from the Empire series, he was a character with so much interest going for him. I hope we get to see Isard and the ISB, a whole series of cards that can specifically target the Operations strategy or something. Baron Fel could be difficult because of his shifting loyalty, though I suppose he was Imperial during this specific timeframe, so him and his 181st would be nice. Tycho Celchu, Winter, Garm bel Iblis... Basically, I want to see everyone, I guess!

Keep in mind its a living card game. So it moves in chapters. Just cuz Mara starts out imperial in this time frame, doesnt mean if waaay down the line they finally get to the EU New republic era and beyond they cant turn her into a hero or ally, because in playing during that time frame we wouldnt need to use the specific force pack scenarios that included her during the classic era.

Force Unleashed is considered cannon now since its been novelized as much as the clone wars tv series is. Pretty much the stuff that really isnt cannon was like the glove of darth vader and the other books in that series, and some of the comics. The games really didnt have anything that could disrupt the continuity except of course for games like empire at war, battlgrounds, where u can affect the whole galactic outcome, and yoda and vaders guest slots in soulcaliber lol.

As i stated before I am confident we will see everyone who appeared, even as background extra, in the movies. I just am really hoping that, like with lord of the rings, they really delve into giving us characters we could never get had they used screen caps. While i love screen caps cards, it limits what we can see in a game. Granted decipher was able to make thrawn, mara, corran, and xizor cards, but it still massively limited them in what they could add to the game by using screen caps. By using original art theres so much potential in what they can use, and really no limit until they lose or give up the license.

Allies
Garm Bel Iblis
Mon Mothma
Bail Organa
Bothan Spynet

Enemies
Maarek Stele
Sly Moore
Sollaine
Wullf Yularen

The Ops strategy intrigues me, because diplomacy and espionage are vital elements of civil war that, while abundant in the Expanded Universe and Prequel Trilogy, are completely overlooked in the Classic Trilogy. I also want the Imperial Deck to be loaded with counter-intelligence agents capable of disrupting the Alliance's efforts at securing a power base.