Command cards: Force Users

Command Card Review: Force User Command Cards

Let's face it: on some level if we're playing a Star Wars game, we want to be able to be a Sith or a Jedi. It's just a fact. Since Wave 7, all factions have had access to the Channel The Force skirmish upgrade, which allows you to forego drawing a Command card at the end of a round and instead pick a Force User card instead (at the cost of Strain equal to the Command points of the card). This begs the question - and this is a Command card question, not a skirmish upgrade question - what cards are worth fetching based on the Strain they're going to inflict?

Force User Command Cards: What Do They Do?

There are a variety of different kinds of Command cards that are dedicated for use by Force Users, but if we're to over generalize a bit, they fall into five categories:

• Movement/mobility cards (very helpful for figures with predominantly melee attack types);
• Niche-situation control cards;
• Non-Attack-Action Damage cards (so you can attack with one action and do more damage on your next action);
• Augmenting attack/defense results cards (rerolls, bonus damage, etc.); and
• Perform additional action cards (rare but present and oh-so-helpful).

We’ll look at each of these types of cards in a moment, but since there are alliance restrictions to keep in mind, we’ll be starting off by examining the generic Force User cards (ones that can be used in Rebel, Imperial, or Mercenary Force User lists) and then look at each faction individually (wrapping up the Mercenary choices with the Imperial choices to save space). It’s important to note that while you can have a lot of Force User cards to choose from, don’t underestimate the power of non-Force User cards. Cards like Pummel, Recovery, Camouflage, Urgency, or Deathblow can easily fit into any deck with at least a few melee characters in it - you can get a lot of mileage out of them.

Generic Force User Cards: The Flesh Of Any Force User Army

In the Core set, you get two generic Force User cards: Deflection (two copies) and Telekinetic Throw. These cards cost 1 Command point, which means the Strain inflicted on your characters will be small to pull them up for use. Deflection is most useful when defending against a range attack and particularly useful if your figure is Hidden (Davith Elso is a prime candidate for that). Telekinetic Throw is one of the best cards you can include in your Force User army (my opinion) since it allows you to do damage via a Special Action and can supplement the damage from your attack action. Since most Force Users are melee figures (non-Jedi Luke and sometimes-Leia being the notable exceptions), being able to do damage at a distance is also quite nice. For only 1 Command point, pull it up as soon as you can!

Outside of the Core Set, we didn’t get too many generic Force User cards until recently. The Leia Organa Ally Pack (Wave 5) gave us a Command card that is probably better than the Telekinetic Throw card with I Can Feel It – a great way to improve your offensive results, your defensive results, OR just gain 1 VP. As a free Command card – yes, 0 points – you can pull this card up without taking any damage at all! Thanks to the Bespin Gambit (Wave 6), you also have access to the Force Illusion Command card, which allows the defender of an attack become Hidden if a Force User can see the attacker. This not only makes Deflection more powerful but can save one of your figures from being hit by a long-range shot (though at 2 Command points it's a big toll if you use Channel The Force to fetch it).

With Wave 7 and Wave 10, we got three additional generic Force User Command cards: Force Surge, Force Rush, and Force Jump. All three give you movement options for your characters. Force Surge is the most expensive at 2 Command points, but allows you to move 1 additional space after your activation ends and deal 2 Damage and 1 Strain to a nearby hostile figure. If you’ve already attacked that figure this round, it’s a great way to finish someone off or bring someone that much closer to death (and in all likelihood, keep them from healing up any of the damage they took from your original attack). Force Jump costs only 1 Command point and allows you to perform a mobile move as an action – which will be better than a normal move, but doesn’t give you any damage for the action. Finally, Force Rush is a free Command card and allows you to gain 2 movement points at the start of your activation – great for closing distance during your turn (or making a quick get-away).

These cards are pretty cheap (most are 0-1 Command points) and they can give your team much-needed resiliency, mobility, and supplementary damage output. With these cards as the background, let’s look at Rebel Force User cards.

Rebel Force User Cards: Getting More Out Of Your Heroes

The Core Set provides us with two unique Command Cards for your Rebel Force Users:  Knowledge and Defense and Meditation. For those looking for more defensive capabilities, it doesn’t get much better than Knowledge and Defense – adding an extra White die is great for stopping Surge abilities and getting that much needed Dodge. Since this lasts all round, you want to use this on a character who is going first (or the last character you have if acquired late in the game). Meditation allows you to effectively bank an action this turn to take an additional action next turn. In a two-player skirmish game, this is invaluable – use it at the end of a round when you don’t have initiative and then go first with three actions the following round when you do have initiative! While both of these cards are incredibly powerful, they’re also 2 Command points each, so I don’t recommend pulling them up with Channel The Force.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka Tano Ally Packs have provided two other Command cards to supplement these choices: Force Push allows you to pick a small figure (friend or foe) and push them up to 2 spaces – great for getting an ally into position (especially if they have a lightsaber) or moving a hostile figure out of position (like keeping a figure from controlling a Terminal). The A Powerful Influence Command Card allows you to focus on the control game and keeps hostile figures from counting for the purpose of control around one of your figures (or interact with stuff), which is really, REALLY powerful in certain scenarios where VPs can be claimed by interacting with neutral mission tokens or Terminals. 

There are six Jedi characters (technically seven since there are two versions of Luke) available to the Rebels and most of the Command cards associated with these figures are fantastic. While none of these cards can be pulled up by Channel The Force, they will compete for Command point space with your other Force User cards. In the Core Set, you get Diala’s Sarlaac Sweep – this is one of the few cards that allows you to perform multiple attacks and is best used after you use Meditation in conjunction with Pummel (prepare for four swings bad guys!). You also get Son of Skywalker, which is an expensive but simple Command card to allow Luke to go twice during a game round (which is awesome for recovering damage with non-Jedi Luke OR doing lots of damage with Jedi Luke). Davith Elso’s Vanish Command card is great for making sure he doesn’t take damage in a given round and then high-tailing it to escape retribution afterwards.

The Leia Organa Ally Pack gives you the There Is Another Command card, which not only allows Leia to be a Force User for the turn (why we’re talking about her in the first place here) and gives her a free Surge, which means you can fetch a Command card you’ve already used (like one of those Force User ones you wish to get with Channel The Force) back into your Command deck. Ahsoka Tano’s Right Back At Ya! Command card is a great way to do damage to a figure who attacks you – making any figure close to death wary of attacking you.

Finally, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s I Must Go Alone Command card is highly situational but can make you immune to long-range attacks (which is helpful early in the game when the maneuver game is important OR late in the game when figures are being chased across the board). While inexpensive (1 Command point), I don’t recommend taking it – it’s very niche and generally speaking it’s okay if Kenobi dies (focusing one of your power hitters after all).

Imperial/Mercenary Force User Cards: Give In To Your Anger!

If there’s anything that typifies Imperial Force User cards, it’s the word “Damage.” Imperial cards are very, VERY offensive focused and are incredibly painful. They’re also very expensive (many are 3 Command points), which makes drawing them with Channel The Force a bad plan (especially since none of your figures can Recover Damage when attacking). In the Core Set, this is evidenced by the Force Lightning and Lure of the Dark Side Command cards. Hey, want to borrow that Jedi that you’re fighting for a moment? Lure of the Dark Side is your friend. Want to mass apply Stun and do a little Damage while you’re at it? Force Lightning! It’s straight-forward, simple offense.

Thanks to the Grand Inquisitor and Emperor Palpatine Villain Packs, Imperial Force User lists also have access to the Deadly Precision and Dark Energy Command cards, both of which are blissfully cheap and make your offensive game even better by allowing you to ignore Dodge results and pushing/lightly damaging a hostile small figure nearby respectively. While the previous two Command cards were not worth pulling up with Channel The Force, these ones definitely are worth it – especially Deadly Precision since it doesn’t require a Strain.

The Imperial/Mercenary Force User unique cards are also great: Lord of the Sith allows Darth Vader to wade through enemy units with ease – and this card is made even better now he can receive the Driven by Hatred skirmish upgrade. The Emperor’s Unlimited Power Command card is a little less impressive – it extends the range of his Emperor power (anywhere on the board is a nice bonus), making the ability more niche and less damaging. In a Sith deck (where you have few figures and they’re not likely to be close together), it’s kind of nice. The Grand Inquisitor’s Hunt Them Down card is beastly – adding an automatic Accuracy 2 + Cleave 2 is literally a killer.  Finally, Maul can use the Wreak Vengeance Command card, boosting his special attack power by giving him Focus AND Reach AND Cleave 2. For only 1 Command point, you want it. Every time.

Sample List: The Last Of The Jedi

Deployment Cards:

·         Luke Skywalker, Hero of the Rebellion

·         Ahsoka Tano

·         Obi-Wan Kenobi

·         Diala Passil

·         Davith Elso

·         Channel the Force

·         Balance of the Force

Command Cards:

·         Force Jump

·         Force Rush

·         Force Surge

·         I Can Feel It

·         Knowledge and Defense

·         Meditation

·         Pummel x2

·         Recovery

·         Right Back At Ya!

·         Sarlaac Sweep

·         Son of Skywalker

·         Telekinetic Throw

·         Urgency

·         Vanish

I should note before we begin that we couldn’t get Jedi Luke into this list and still get Channel The Force without losing one of our other Jedi. Since we’re looking at Channel The Force in particular, we’re keeping regular Luke (besides, he can Recover 2). I’d recommend the following priority for picking cards – and I’ll also recommend that you not pick up any other Force User cards with Channel The Force:

·         I Can Feel It (0 Strain)

·         Telekinetic Throw (1 Strain)

·         Force Rush (0 Strain)

·         Force Jump (1 Strain)

So I know what you’re thinking: why not pick a card like Meditation or Force Surge with Channel The Force? I can Recover 2 with Diala or Luke – isn’t it worth it? Not really – here’s why: you can pull up a 2-3 Command point card if you want to, but if you pull up a 0-1 point card instead, you’re still working through your deck and you don’t need to spend your Recover surge to just get back to where you were before you used Channel The Force. Health is the most valuable asset to any Jedi army – almost all the Jedi roll White die which basically take all the damage they’re given (unless they get a Dodge). By getting a cheaper card that’s not as great as one of the higher cost ones, you save your team the valuable health it would cost to get that card (and you don’t want to discard up to 2 cards from the top of your Command deck just to get it sooner rather than later, right?).

Once you’ve picked these four, I recommend you not use the Channel The Force skirmish upgrade and instead rely on drawing cards normally. That being said, there will probably be a case where getting a Meditation, Force Surge, or Knowledge and Defense is worth it – if that’s the case, you can always take the chance and risk the damage.

This concludes (for now at least) this series on Command cards – while I may pick this up again in the future, I think I’ve exhausted the interesting cases for Command cards. For the full list of posts in this series (and others), look at our Getting Started page! If you have ideas (or cards you’d like to see evaluated), leave a comment on this post – or any of the posts in the series. Lest you think we’re out of content, next week we’ll be starting a new Friday series dedicated to creating your own short campaign, using the template provided to us in the Twin Shadows and Bespin Gambit expansions. For the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at campaigns you can run with the skirmish missions you already have to allow you to skip playing that one campaign you’ve played too much and instead get new and exciting adventures. It should be great - until then, happy gaming!