The Rebel commander lineup is large — not quite as vast as the Empire’s (thanks, SSD expansion), but broad enough that most archetypes should have at least one admiral to support them. The catch is that Rebel options are more uneven. Where the Empire has a deep bench of broadly viable leaders, Rebels have fewer competitive standouts and a couple of commanders whose designs are either outdated or outright problematic.
Let’s dive in.
Admiral Ackbar
Still one of the most iconic commanders in Armada. Worth his sky-high cost? Yes. But Ackbar’s design is old-fashioned and warps design space. Every ship with a side arc (so, everything, including flotillas) must be designed/priced with Ackbar in mind, which locks the Rebels into a narrow slice of fleetbuilding. You end up with potato fleets of Assault Frigates and CR90s — not because players love them, but because cheap, efficient side-arc ships can’t exist in an Ackbar world.
Verdict: Ideally, he’d be redesigned to limit his effect (e.g., once per activation, or only on medium+ bases, or banning flotillas), but realistically, he’ll stay as is.
Admiral Raddus
Old Raddus was utterly busted — he should never have cleared playtesting. The current version is toned down, but the mechanic remains dangerous. Dropping a pile of firepower into a tiny slice of the table within one or two activations is still game-warping. Counters exist, but the concept itself limits Rebel design space, just like Ackbar. That said, he’s thematic and unique, so I don’t want to see him gone.
Verdict: Perhaps a small cost increase, or banning his drop from overlapping obstacles, would add meaningful counterplay.
Commander Sato (ARC)
Old Sato was fun but non-competitive. The ARC revision makes him much stronger, offering black-dice at long range plus more flexible dice mods. Sure, he doesn't work on Salvo anymore, but that's a minor tradeoff given the sorry lack of Salo across the Rebel faction.
At 400 points, he’s still tricky to build around — balancing squadrons and ships is hard — but in 600+ sector battles, he’s excellent. For standard play, he’s now playable, which is already a big win.
Verdict: Keep as is.
Garm Bel Iblis
Token gimmicks were interesting in wave 1. Now, with abundant token generation across factions (and Rebels have Ahsoka), Garm feels obsolete. Even at 20 points, he’d be lackluster. The “non-consecutive rounds” clause only makes him clunkier. He’d need a proper redesign — still token-based, but more flexible — to be relevant again.
Verdict: Drop to 20 while we wait for a redesign.
General Cracken
Still viable, still competitive, especially with MSU fleets. The restriction against large ships could be lifted without fear; you won’t see double-Liberty or MC75 spam suddenly break the game.
Verdict: Leave as is or remove the Large restriction.
General Dodonna
Cheap and cheerful, but not much more. He shines when crit fishing is reliable — APT in particular — but those effects were nerfed and Rebel squad builds now lean heavily into rogues, who rarely deliver the crit volume to make him sing. Fine in isolation, overshadowed in practice.
Verdict: Introduce other changes to make rebel bombers pop again.
General Draven (ARC)
Third time’s the charm. ARC Draven makes raid fun and viable, boosting Rebel squads in ways that didn’t exist before. Unlike Sato, he doesn’t require squadrons, but enhances them if you bring them. At 22 points, he’s a bargain without being oppressive. He has counterplay, he’s interactive, and he makes raid matter.
Verdict: A great redesign.
General Madine
The 1.5 rework made him simpler, always handing out yaw. Ironically, this makes him less of a true navigation admiral than before, since old Madine offered more potential with tokens and dials. Now he’s more of a utility/squadron enabler. At 30 points, he feels a touch expensive. Adding an extra yaw when resolving a nav command would put him back on the map.
Verdict: Reduce cost or unshackle his bendiness.
General Rieekan
Once the terror of the Rebel meta, Rieekan was hit three times: one ship/squad per round, a cost increase, and the ace cap. That’s overkill. At 34 points he’s no longer worth it. If adjusted, I’d either let him trigger once for a ship and once for a squadron per round, or once per Ship Phase and Squadron Phase.
Verdict: Points decrease or mild unnerfing.
Kyrsta Agate (Commander)
Potent, flexible, and fairly priced at 25. Agate breaks all the rules around defense tokens, which makes her one of the “problematic” Rebel commanders. She props up weaker Rebel chassis and basically makes the Starhawk viable, which shows how poor that ship’s baseline design was.
Verdict: Sigh. Keep as is.
Leia Organa (ARC)
Finally out of the trash compactor. Old Leia was overcosted and restrictive; ARC Leia allows command tokens and her ability, which makes her playable.
Verdict: Not top-tier, but no longer binder fodder.
Mon Mothma (ARC)
ECM on every evade is a powerful ability. The ARC rework makes her better, and Rebels love her in MSU and rogue-ball fleets. Is she balanced? In isolation, yes. In practice, she pushes Rebels even harder into the same archetypes they were already leaning on — MSU + rogues. Expect her to be both popular and annoying (hello, Foresight).
Verdict: Fine, I guess.
Final Verdict – Rebel Commanders
Rebels have a broad lineup, but fewer truly competitive options than the Empire. Ackbar and Raddus dominate design space, Agate props up Starhawks (and everywhere else), and Mon Mothma feeds into the MSU/rogue ball meta, same as Craken. The ARC reworks gave Sato, Draven, and Leia new life, while Garm and Rieekan languish.
The Rebel problem isn’t that they lack good commanders — it’s that too many of them either reinforce narrow archetypes or sit on outdated mechanics. Compared to the Empire’s healthy roster, Rebel leadership feels more constrained.
Next Up: GAR & CIS Commanders. This should conclude our tour of every single upgrade card in the game. But fear not! We'll take a look at squadrons and ships too!
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