[SolemnGolem]

I have done the obsessive game-designer-wannabe thing, and I have bought a second copy of both the SWR base game, and its expansion ROTE. Also, 3 packs of FFG code-green card sleeves and 2 packs of FFG code-yellow card sleeves, all for around US$150.

Send help, this is serious.

Also, I have started making modded cards. A few modest examples can be found here.

Discussion: (disclaimer: no idea if any of this is balanced or even particularly fun)

• Admiral Thrawn is intended to replace Director Krennick, Mara Jade is intended to replace Krennick's Finest.
• Thrawn's space tactics score of 4 is intentionally the best in the game, but I do not recall his ground tactics to be nearly as consistently brilliant, so I gave him a score of 1. He pulls off a few fun gambits in the Marooned Castaway episode, but by and large most of his famous strategies are space combat.
• Thrawn has 1 Diplomacy, as he is shown to engage in that during the books (but clearly slips up here and there). He has 2 major Intel and 1 minor Intel, so that he won't make Yularen obsolete (in the books he is clearly focused on intel, but he also makes a few key mistakes when going up against worthy opponents). He has 1 Logistics, which means he can do some research projects (in keeping with his performance in books and TIE Fighter - my exclusive Thrawn-favored mission below also requires 1 Logistics to initiate). I gave him 1 minor Special Ops so he can try to oppose or support, but ideally you'd keep him out of direct fights.
• I've drafted up two Action Cards for Thrawn (one of which he shares with Mara Jade).
• Thrawn's own exclusive Action Card (Artistic Insights) is played during the Assignment Phase, i.e. after the Rebel player has placed their missions, and either before or during the Imperial's mission placement response. It requires Thrawn to activate an Imperial system, meaning that he essentially loses his turn during the Command phase (he can't spend time moving fleets, as he's sequestered in his art gallery analyzing the psychology of his foes). This power allows Thrawn to reveal all Rebel assigned mission cards, meaning that for one turn, the Empire can predict the Rebel strategy with more or less 100% accuracy. (This card may be too powerful - future drafts may reduce this to let the Imperials select a limited number of Rebel missions, perhaps based on a number of dice rolls.)
• Thrawn's shared mission with Mara Jade (Tantiss Trove Uncovered) also immobilizes the assigned leader for the turn. It basically functions as a second "Research and Design" card, so if the Imperial player wants to look at 2 cards and choose 1, and then repeat it (e.g. if they're trying to cycle through the Project deck looking for Superlaser Online or what have you) this gives them another chance.
• Thrawn's favored mission is "Grav Well Gambit", and it showcases one of the tactics that first appeared in the Thrawn trilogy under his invention. An Interdictor Cruiser most obviously can force enemy ships out of hyperspace and into combat. But it can also force friendly ships out of hyperspace into combat. If the Interdictor's gravity wells are properly calibrated, it can pull an incoming friendly fleet out of hyperspace at a precise location and precise battle-ready formation, so that the friendly fleet can immediately engage the enemy. Mechanically, this card essentially allows the Empire one single exception to the "you can't move ships out of a system which has a friendly leader in it" rule - although any other leader except Thrawn must treat it as an attempt (incidentally, making it one of the only Logistics based mission that is NOT a resolve mission). It's not easy to pull off, because you need an Interdictor in the frozen system, and you need this card, and if you don't have Thrawn, you need to roll an attempt (using the Logistics skill, which no leader ever possesses at a level greater than 1). The Rebels can oppose this roll, and as with all opposed rolls, they can even assign an unskilled leader to oppose, which means the Rebels have 0 successes, but which still forces the Imperial player to actually roll at least 1 success. So although this does break the "Imperials are slow and can move their fleets only one system per turn" rule, it is highly circumstantial and basically relies on drawing a Mission card, Thrawn, and building an Interdictor (itself a Project card dependent on luck).
• I don't have any Mara Jade missions or actions yet. I'm not sure how to both give her a bonus to fight against Luke, and also account for the fact that (in true Star Wars convoluted interpersonal relationships style) she ends up marrying him. It is conceivable that this could perhaps change her in-game loyalties. I may consider just kicking her out of the game and putting in Joruus C'boath instead.