Customizable Commanders, Part IV: The Separatist Alliance

Good morning gamers,

This is our third post in reviewing the new customizable commanders and operatives for the four factions in Star Wars Legion. We've already looked at the Rebel and Imperial options and today we're tackling my beloved Republic and the customizable Jedi heroes that you can field. If you haven't seen the article yet, you can view it here.

Like the previous article, we'll be looking at the four doctrines provided in the new kit and how that shakes out with the SEVEN different Jedi builds you can have (max of four, of course, since the doctrines are unique . . . some might say max of two, depending on whether you think two of the doctrines are playable). We'll start off with the one that is unique to Commanders . . .

Super Tactical Command Droids: What's The Difference?

In the previous three posts, we looked at the minor differences between Rebel Officers/Agents (Inspire vs. Independent: Dodge and Nimble), Imperial Officers/Agents (Inspire vs. Relentless), and Jedi Knights (Master of the Force 1) - there are sometimes stat differences (Courage or Wounds) as well and it translates into differences in cost, but by and large, the points cost difference isn't the biggest difference between models. The doctrines you can take are also different - some doctrines are unique to the Commander or Operative choice or can be shared between the two with a maximum of one per army.

The Super Tacs . . . don't really work this way. The difference between the Commander and Operative Super Tacs is incredibly small - the Commander is 10pts more expensive and has -1 Courage (huh?), +1 Hardpoint upgrade, +1 Command upgrade, -1 Armament upgrade, and doesn't have Aid: Droid Trooper. In short . . . unless you want 3 Hardpoints or a Command upgrade, the Operative variant is cheaper, has high Courage (that can't be used to cancel AI/prevent panicking), and has the ability to shuffle tokens to friendly Droid Troopers (like Kalani?).

In addition, there are only two Super-Tac doctrines and they can both be used by both variants . . . also, all of the Hardpoints can be used by both variants . . . so if you prefer the Operatives, take them with whatever combo you want. If you prefer the Commander variants (though I feel like the Commanders lot is in a LOT of contention between Dooku, Wheelbike Grievous, Poggle, and Kalani), take those. I don't think it matters - take whoever you want. As a result, this article is going to be a lot shorter than the previous ones because I'm only going to evaluate the two doctrines against a universal "Super Tactical Command Droid", as I don't think the differences matter that much.

Super Tactical Command Droid with Seek and Destroy: 65+ pts

The cost above reflects an Operative taking the 5pt doctrine (limit 2), but I actually think this is better on the Commander variant. The boosts from this is Demoralize 1, Marksman, and Target 1. The combination of Target and Marksman is great if you're using this guy with the Optimized Task Flow upgrade (8pts) to get Direct: AI Unit. This is cheaper than an HQ Uplink on B1s and can be used to spin the Coordinate chain and he'll end up with an order token at the end if you play it right. With an aim by default, you can guarantee 1 hit from your 3-die attacks makes it through, which gives you reliable suppression output between Demoralize 1 and your shooting attack if you didn't pay for a weapon - and very reliable damage if you paid for an Electrostaff (10pts). Doctrine Rating: A-.

While you could certainly compare the Tyrannical Taskmaster to Kalani, I think the real person he's competing with is the T-Series Tactical Droid. Both are "budget Droid commanders" and they're both capable of adding Direct/order control into your army, providing a courage buff to prevent panicking/AI from triggering, and they're working in a support role. The damage output of this guy (without the Electrostaff) is going to be better than the T-Series, he's harder to kill than the T-Series, and he's still fulfilling all of the same functions as the T-Series for "only" 23pts more (or 33pts more if you gave him the Electrostaff).

Decision Analysis: this is a support Commander who can be run for less than 100pts and gets you relatively cheap access to orders and a reasonably survivable Commander. You could say that he's worse than Kalani, but seeing as how you could run them both together, you could just as easily say that running one of these WITH Kalani would be a super strong plan. Commanders are important in Droid lists to prevent certain AI units from mucking up your plans (specifically B1s, specifically not Aquas and Droidekas) and these guys are very durable and affordable. You could run these units as Operatives (the increased Courage will make sure that they aren't panicked, like, ever - and Aid: Droid Trooper means that they can pass aim tokens to other Droids with Target 1 if you think that will be better).

My recommendations for upgrades are simple: Optimized Task Flow (8pts) so you can get orders on important AI units (like Aqua Droids), an Electrostaff (10pts) if you want to do greater damage, and your choice of Overclock, Sliced Comms, or Limiter Override (more on those in the next section, 5-8pts) if you want one-off tactical options - though I will say that taking these upgrades with this doctrine does limit your action economy. You can also consider getting Strategic Programming (8pts) if you have the points - though without Exemplar on someone, this can be hard to use well.

Super Tactical Command Droid with Tyrannical Taskmaster: 68+ pts

While I recommended the Commander take Seek and Destroy to support your B1 squads, I think the Tyrannical Taskmaster doctrine (limit 2). Taken on two Operatives, you can have a one-two punch of whatever Hardpoints you want to use OR get a mix of upgrades so you can adapt your strategy to what your opponent brought to the fight. This variant is going to be more expensive than the previous version not only because the doctrine itself is more expensive, but also because you really need to take an exhaustible Hardpoint to get any real value out of the doctrine itself. The Hardpoints you have to choose from are awesome, though - and since the doctrine allows you to take an extra Hardpoint, you can have 3-4 Hardpoints equipped, depending on whether you're an Operative or a Commander. Doctrine Rating: A.

Photo Credit: Tabletop Admiral

I decide to compare the Commander and Operative Super Tacs in this one, as there's really two different approaches you can take to this doctrine. The first is that you pick one of three different exhaustible Hardpoint upgrades (there are technically four, but I'm not going to assume that Targeting Relay is one that you want - it gives an Observation token to all enemy units within range 4 and LOS of the Super Tac, but that will often mean that Observation tokens will go to waste if you're focusing fire on specific units). The three that you want to look into, then, are:

• Overclock (limit 2): this is my preferred option and for 5pts, it gives another allied unit with the AI keyword within range 2 (no LOS required) a speed-2 move and an Immobilize token (which they will shed at the end of the round if they've already gone OR which will reduce their overall speed by 1 if they haven't gone yet). This is best used on a unit that's already gone and allows you to reposition them - fantastic for allowing you to move away from an objective to get a vital shot in AND get back to the objective you were previously contesting/securing.
• Limiter Override (limit 2): this is my next-favorite option and for 5pts, you can choose another allied unit with the AI keyword within range 2 (no LOS required) either an aim/dodge token (could be good), remove up to 3 suppression or 1 Immobilize token (like from Overclock?), or to ready an exhausted Upgrade Card (like one of these Hardpoints).
• Sliced Comms (limit 2): this is a powerful upgrade that costs 8pts and allows you to choose an enemy unit within range 2 and LOS of the unit to receive 2 Suppression tokens. You can also shuffle an Order token on the unit back into your opponent's Order Pool - which is nice to do, but also isn't the most critical part of this upgrade. Having a range-2-equivalent of Jedi Mind Trick is pretty sweet and if you have it every turn, you can really work the suppression angle against non-Droid units quickly.

If your intention is to save points, buy one of these upgrades and reset it each turn with the Tyrannical Taskmaster doctrine. Alternatively, you can take two or even all three of these upgrades (I still think you want one of your Hardpoints to be Optimized Task Flow for Direct: AI Unit) and lean hard into the abilities here and pick one each turn to reset (kind of like running Force Push and Force Choke on a Master of the Force 1 character). 

Decision Analysis: this is a very useful support character who can manipulate enemy units or buff your own units to make up for bad plays or allow you to do more risky plays than you could otherwise. I really like this doctrine on the Operatives as a) I think you can take two of these and not compete with other options unless you're really tied to Sun Fac or a Force user, b) their cheaper base cost offsets the extra points you're going to put into the Hardpoint upgrades, and c) they can escort whatever AI units you want to keep moving (like Aqua Droids) without having to worry about where your anti-panic bubbles are.

My recommendations for upgrades are simple: choose which of Overclock, Sliced Comms, and Limiter Override you want (5-8pts), choose additional ones if you have plans for Recover actions or want more options on a given turn, and then pick up Optimized Task Flow (8pts) so you can get orders on important AI units (like Aqua Droids). You might also consider getting Electrostaffs (10pts) on these guys, since they won't have the Marksman/Target 1 combo to make a smaller die pool more effective.

Okay, let's wrap up this last post of the year with some lists!

Sample Lists

Our first list is my Dooku/Aquas list that I'm testing right now and it has 12 activations with Dooku, 3 Super Tacs (2 Taskmaster Operatives, 1 Seek Commander), 3 bare-bones B1s, 3 bare-bones Droidekas, and 2 Aqua Droids with heavies (one with Spotter Uplink): 

• Count Dooku with Force Push, Force Choke, and Burst of Speed
• 1x Super Tactical Command Droid/C&C Droid with Seek and Destroy and Optimized Task Flow
• 2x Super Tactical Command Droid/AC Droids with Tyranical Taskmaster, Optimized Task Flow, and Overclock
• 3x B1 Battle Droids
• 3x Droidekas
• 1x Aqua Droids with Heavy Aqua Droid
• 1x Aqua Droids with Heavy Aqua Droid and Spotter Uplink

The one thing I don't like about this list (something's gotta give) is that the B1s are all six-man squads and are super easy to kill. Hopefully, if your opponent is focused on blowing those off the board, they're not dealing with any of the good stuff in your list (Dooku, Droidekas, and Aquas - to say nothing of the Super Tacs). If you want stronger B1 squads, you can take a similar 12-activation list with Kalani (and I upped the tactical options of the Taskmaster Super Tacs):

• Kalani, Super Tactical Droid
• 1x Super Tactical Command Droid/C&C Droid with Seek and Destroy, Optimized Task Flow, and Electrostaff
• 2x Super Tactical Command Droid/AC Droids with Tyranical Taskmaster, Optimized Task Flow, Overclock, and Sliced Comms
• 3x B1 Battle Droids with B1 Battle Droid Squad
• 3x Droidekas
• 1x Aqua Droids with Heavy Aqua Droid
• 1x Aqua Droids with Heavy Aqua Droid and Spotter Uplink

Our final 12-act list features Poggle the Lesser, Sun Fac, two Super Tacs, and leans harder into Geonosians than droids:

• Poggle the Lesser, Public Leader of the Geonosians with Improvised Orders
• 1x Super Tactical Command Droid/C&C Droid with Seek and Destroy, Optimized Task Flow, and Electrostaff
• Sun Fac, Ruthless Lieutenant
• 1x Super Tactical Command Droid/AC Droid with Tyranical Taskmaster, Optimized Task Flow, Overclock, and Electrostaff
• 3x Geonosian Warriors with Geonosian Warrior Squad
• 3x Droidekas
• 2x Aqua Droids with Heavy Aqua Droid

Conclusion

I think these Droids are affordable and provide a lot of options for Separatist generals - more importantly, with a growing number of things that have AI, they provide spammable, survivable, and affordable Direct options for Separatist players. If you like these units, let us know your builds in the comments below! Next year, we'll be digging back into the Empire before returning to Rebels and Republic. Until then, happy hobbying!