The Emperor has dies.  (Somehow he will return, but not in this set.)
The Imperial fleet is scatters.  Moffs and Admirals declare their own territories.  Warlords fight each other for control.  
The Rebellion is becoming the New Republic.

Since A Lawless Time has just been released, it’s of course time to speculate on what we might see from this crazy time period that will likely be covered in the next set, Ashes of the Empire.

Set Abbreviation

So far the set abbreviations seem pretty easy to guess but at the same time haven’t actually followed any kind of pattern. Some are first letters of words (SOR, JTL, LOF), while others are the beginning of one word (TWI, SEC, LAW), and yet others are Shadow of the Galaxy.

Spark of Rebellion
Shadows of the Galaxy
Twilight of the Republic
Jump to Lightspeed
Legends of the Force
Secrets of Power
A Lawless Time (Could easily have been ALT instead of LAW.)

The porgs are not going too far out on a limb to suggest that the three character abbreviation for this set will be “ASH”. Just keep an eye out for the possible curveball “AOE”.

Jakku

We know a bit about the planet of Jakku from the novel Aftermath: Empire’s End which detailed the dramatic final battle that ended the Galactic Civil War.  For the non-readers, we meet the planet in Episode 7 where Rey is scavenging components from downed Star Destroyers in an effort to survive the harsh climate.

Given that this planet played an important role as the site of the Empire’s final stand it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see it show up in Ashes of the Empire.  At an absolute minimum it will likely be a base location or two.

Mandalorian and Ahsoka

These two shows are set after the fall of the Empire and before The Force Awakens.  That’s pretty much the time frame where it’s expected that Ashes will mostly take place and the bulk of the cards would be from.  Any character from those shows not already on a unit card easily could be.

Mechanics

Returning Functions

It is very unlikely that we will see the return of things like Smuggle, Coordinate, Piloting, etc.  Many would love to see it happen.  That many doesn’t seem to include the game designers just yet and that trend is probably going to continue.

Fragmented

To play off the Imperial remnant being scattered with no real central command, there could be cards that play into the “If you control fewer units than your opponent, gain X”.  The X of course could be bonuses to individual units right in their game text, or events that impact the entire board.

Scavenger

FFG designers seem to like making sets where the theme is along the lines of “Random Thing now matters”.  This could be the set where Defeat matters.  We could be looking at numerous cards with When Defeated effects.  This could go well with the scavengers of Jakku themes.

Scrap

We just got credit tokens and we really don’t need another type of resource.  However, going along with the “defeat matters” component we could get cards that create scrap tokens when they are defeated.  Granted it would work just as well to use credit tokens but that would basically be the first time a set mechanic crossed over to another set.  Readying a resource could be a stand in for something along these lines.

Basically units getting defeated somehow becomes a resource.

Design Space Opportunities

Obviously the FFG developers are constantly thinking of new things to throw at us.  Here are some ideas outside of simple mechanics that could be ripe for exploration.

Base Upgrades

Every upgrade so far has been something deployed onto a unit.  Well what about bases?  No reason why there couldn’t be a Defensive Cannon card that does damage back to an attacking unit.  There could also be Deflector Shields that reduce the damage taken from attacking units.

Will be cool when this design space is explored, although potentially a more likely for Homeworlds.

Split Aspect Payment

We’ve seen cards now that share multiple colored aspect symbols.  A Cunning and a Command required on the same card.  What if there was an aspect that could be either a Cunning OR a Command?  That card could be played in a deck with either aspect but no penalty since as long as you had one of them it would be considered within your deck’s aspects.

Potential Leaders

Villain

• Rae Sloane
  • Appeared heavily in the Aftermath trilogy of novels and was one of the top surviving Imperial leaders after the Empire’s collapse.
• Gallius Rax
  • He was pretty much the Emperor’s secret contingency planner whose job it was to destroy what remained of the Empire, purge the weak officers, and prepare for the coming of the First Order.
• Grand Admiral Thrawn
  • Originally introduced in the Heir to the Empire novels, this tactical genius was one of the primary antagonists.  Plus FFG has already made him a leader in 2024 and 2025, so may as well toss him into a 2026 set as well. 
• General Veers
  • Finally, one of the most competent Imperial commanders still has yet to receive a leader card. Maximilian Veers remains one of the Empire’s most effective battlefield tacticians, and notably, there is no confirmed death for the general. Plus if the Empire truly lies in ashes, who better to restore order than the officer who calmly executed the successful assault on Hoth?

Hero

• Wedge Antilles
  • He was present at the Battle of Jakku, and became an instructor of other pilots including Poe Dameron.  It wouldn’t be shocking to see another leader for this character.
• Mon Mothma
  • Instrumental in getting the new government off the ground.  She is literally the architect of the New Republic.
• Norra Wexley
  • After flying a Y-wing into the Death Star II’s superstructure in the Battle of Endor, she eventually became a bounty hunter for the New Republic tracking down Imperial war criminals.
• R2-freaking-D2
  • Let’s go already!!!  #WheresR2Leader?

Other Wild Things

Mara Jade

The Emperor’s Hand.  In the original Thrawn trilogy of novels that have now been relegated to legends, Mara was introduced as the Emperor’s personal assassin that was responsible for carrying out his final order, kill Luke Skywalker.  If the set is happening in the aftermath of the Empire’s downfall due to the Emperor’s demise, then Mara could easily be a character that shows up in the set in some form.  Just slap her card with that gold legends part of the border and good to go.

Prestige Cards 

Made with an “Ash” treatment.  This could be similar to the 2024 convention exclusive cards that had basically no color in them.

#WheresR2Leader?

Did we mention that R2 should have a leader yet?  Yeah, pretty sure we’ve been hammering this point for quite some time already including higher up in this post.