Season 6 Preview: I’m Just Sayin’

The Steering Committee had two real themes we wanted to push in Season 6 of IACP; a focus on Troopers, and on bringing more of the characters from the Mandalorian, especially as we know them in Season 2, to life in this game. These two themes come together in the form of a fan favorite character who first appeared in Chapter 6: The Prisoner. An ex-Imperial sharpshooter, Migs Mayfeld is portrayed by comedian Bill Burr, who notoriously hated and mocked Star Wars, before being encouraged to take this role by The Mandalorian showrunner, Jon Favreau, in spite of and because of that fact. The character was already popular after his brief appearance in Season 1, but his arc in Season 2 allowed us a real glimpse into the mindset of Migs Mayfeld.

[Disclaimer: There are spoilers for Season 2 of The Mandalorian in the rest of this article.]

A Real Piece of Work

Mayfeld is, as he says, a survivor. He does what he’s gotta do to make it through the day and sleep through the night. We wanted to encapsulate that in his card by making a scrappy character that is difficult to kill, and punishes his opponents for trying.

The first thing I want to discuss about his card is the ability about which I am most excited: Droid Arm. In the show, we see Mayfeld use this backpack-mounted extra blaster to shoot around corners from a position of safety, and we see that reflected here. It’s easiest to think of as an inverse of Drokkatta’s Arcing Shot command card, but instead of targeting an adjacent space, it shoots from an adjacent space.

No, we’re not changing Arcing Shot, it’s just being included here for reference.

This ability has a lot of significant tactical applications that make Mayfeld a blast to play. He can hide further behind a wall, or behind a body blocker. He can even shoot through an adjacent blocking terrain, or an Energy Shield created by a Clawdite Shapeshifter. The defensive play applications are obvious, but it has its aggressive use as well, acting as a sort of extra movement point in order to see around a wall when he can’t quite get to that perfect spot.

Mayfeld is nothing if not resourceful, represented by his ability to generate power tokens for himself, with the unique ability to gain a damage power token innately every time he attacks. He can use these tokens as normal, of course, or to fuel his abilities, such as for the above Droid Arm, as well as his defensive Fast Talker. This ability allows him to discard any power token during the Add Modifiers step in order to grant himself a block or an evade, in addition to any defensive power token he might’ve already spent as normal on declare.

When everything goes haywire, then it’s Guns Out. Essentially a debuffed version of Han’s Return Fire, this ability is a familiar yet powerful one that encourages Mayfeld’s opponents to focus on a different target and just leave him be. It pairs particularly well with his Droid Arm, allowing him to punish his assailants even when they think they’re safe from his ire.

The game’s first Smuggler/Trooper, and one of the only Scum troopers overall, Mayfeld fits into several different lists. On the Lam pairs just as well with Guns Out as it does with Return Fire, and Call the Vanguard can sort of act as a second unique command card for Mayfeld in a list of Scum Smugglers and Hunters. Speaking of unique command cards…

Everybody’s Got Their Lines

Migs Mayfeld has seen the horrors of war. When he was an Imperial sharpshooter, he was on the planet Burnin Konn when it faced decimation by orbital bombardment at the hands of the Empire during Operation: Cinder. The same Operation: Cinder caused Iden Versio to defect. Mayfeld lost many comrades to this horrible war crime, committed by his own Empire, and his reaction in the tv show to hearing Officer Valin Hess brag about it inspired our next card, Mayfeld’s unique command card.

With Mayfeld being an inconvenient target, he has a tendency to survive later into the game as other friendly figures are defeated. Honoring the Fallen is the payoff for this style of play, and a looming presence over the game. Can your opponent really afford to ignore Mayfeld in order to avoid compromising their positioning and eating Guns Out shots, when they know that eventually you might draw and play this card? With this, Mayfeld looks to force his opponent into the unenviable position of deciding whether to focus him down, or leave him be.

I’m a Survivor, Just Like You

So that’s Migs Mayfeld and his unique command card. Scum now has a powerful and versatile new unique figure with which to take command of the battlefield. How will you make use of this audacious new addition to the IACP catalog?

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