Command cards: Strength in Numbers and Squad Swarm

Command Card Review: Strength in Numbers and Squad Swarm

In a normal skirmish game, you need to choose a single deployment card to activate on your turn. In many cases, you’ll find yourself torn between two figures that you want to activate (e.g. fighting on two fronts, saving one unit while sniping an enemy figure, getting a great combo). While this will mostly be the case, there are two skirmish cards that allow you to break the normal tempo and steal an additional activation (opening up many, MANY opportunities). We’ll be talking about both of these today: Strength in Numbers and Squad Swarm.

Requirements For Candidates – Strength in Numbers

Strength in Numbers is the more generic of the two cards: after you resolve one deployment card’s activation, you choose another card to activate that one. The only restriction is that the sum of the two deployment cards’ costs is 12. This means that certain figures (Darth Vader or Chewbacca) will never be able to use this card and you’ll need to have some low-cost cards to include it in your list. For the purposes of this post, our objective will be to find units that complement each other well and benefit you greatly by having them activate back-to-back. I’ll admit that there will be situations where you need to get two units out of harm’s way at the same time (and you should use Strength in Numbers in those cases too), but we’re only looking to synergistic lists today.

Bronze Medal: Elite Jet Trooper and Regular Riot Trooper

While Stormtroopers have always been decent, some of the recent Imperial Trooper choices have been very good. Two of these are the Elite Jet Troopers and the Regular Riot Troopers (not to say anything negative about the Elite Riot Troopers – they’re fabulous too). Jet Troopers have several advantages over other Stormtroopers: first, they’re mobile, granting their commanders incredible deployment flexibility and the ability to quickly hide behind impassible terrain (or cross hindering terrain to escape pursuit by melee models). All Jet Troopers are also able to convert a Block result into an Evade result, which is perfect for keeping that annoying “Surge for Pierce 3” from completely negating your Black die. Third, Jet Troopers can gain movement points after attacking so long as they were within 2 spaces of their target. Elite Jet Troopers come into a field all their own above their regular cousins by giving you a free Blue attack die as well, increasing their damage and guaranteeing damage against Hidden foes nearby.

Once these guys perform an attack and retreat a few spaces, the Riot Troopers are able to march in and assume defensive positions OR attack the targets of the Jet Troopers’ attacks (if they started close enough to reach them in melee). Riot Troopers have the happy ability to turn all of their Surge results into 1 damage and will tack on 1 Strain result if their attack does damage (which is all but guaranteed). Then, they’ll each claim a Block token to throw an extra Block into any attacks that target them before their next turn. This not only allows them to provide excellent cover for the Elite Jet Troopers, but also allows you to clear out some room for your next activation (if you can finish a figure or two).

Silver Medal: Onar Koma and Elite Clawdite Shapeshifter

There are a few Deployment cards that cost 6 or less points and have three attack die. For Mercenary lists, they’re basically non-existent. However, Onar and the Elite Clawdite Shapeshifter are two of them. Because of the nature of the Clawdites, their synchronicity is heavily dependent on the form they choose. For today’s post, we’re going to be focusing on the Streetrat (though we’ll briefly talk about both the Senator and Scout forms).

Onar is pretty straight forward: use Rush to move towards someone (and deal some damage on the way), then shoot when you’re really close. Onar requires Accuracy beyond the required total in order to use his Surge abilities, so shooting people really close to you is a must. As a Hunter, he can use cards like Assassinate or Tools for the Job to further boost his damage profile, while on Defense, don’t underestimate the power of Take Cover or Camouflage (which not only protects him from being shot, but also makes surging more likely).

The Clawdite is also a Hunter, so she (just assuming it’s a girl – play along) can use all of the same Command cards that Onar does in addition to those with the Spy attribute (my favorites are ??? and ???). With the Streetrat form, she can turn a single Surge into a red die attack after the attack resolves that ignores defense bonuses – great for taking down a multi-defense figure that you don’t want to have to crack with a normal attack. In addition, you can get this surge result pretty easily, since you roll a red-yellow-green on attack (though you’ll want to be close to your target to make sure you don’t miss (guaranteed 1 Accuracy, maximum of 5 Accuracy).

The plan for using these two is simple: make sure that when they end their activations they are adjacent (or within 1 space) of each other. Onar activates first the following turn and uses Rush, pushing his target one space closer to where he started. The Streetrat Clawdite then gets 2 movement points at the start of her turn, getting her close to the target (potentially within 2 Accuracy of the target). You can then declare a Move action if you’re not adjacent to get adjacent to the target and perform your attack – surging for the Assassin’s Blade to do even more damage than you do on your attack. Between Onar’s Red-Green-Blue, the shove damage he caused, the Red-Yellow-Green attack from the Clawdite, and the Red die that deals unblockable damage afterwards, even double-digit health figures (like Gaarkhan or the Emperor) will have a rough time staying alive.

If you’re using other Forms for your Clawdite, the strategy changes a little: your damage output will be lower with the Senator form, but you can skip moving and instead pass out tokens to yourself, Onar, and other figures nearby. When you shoot you can Recover damage (which is rare in the skirmish game) and makes this unit more like an E-Web Engineer and less like a melee brawler. Since you can’t surge for Accuracy, I highly recommend taking the Deadeye Command card just to give you the extra oomph you need to hit the target (though you can Recover and gain a token even if you don’t hit).

The Scout is a little different – you basically have a Pulse Cannon, except that your accuracy is outrageously good – with a Yellow-Green-Blue and static 2 Accuracy (and the ability to surge for 2 Accuracy + 1 Damage), you’re guaranteed to get 6 Accuracy (though the average expected Accuracy is around 10 Accuracy) AND you can ignore figures in your line of sight. This means you don’t need to keep up with Onar – you just let him go ahead of you and you shoot around him. It’s pretty sick. Your damage output does drop a bit, but if you can keep 5-6 spaces between you and your target, there are precious few melee figures that will be able to move and attack you (and if you rely on the 9-10 Accuracy you should get, even range-attack figures will have problems hitting you).

Gold Medal: Gideon Argus + Fenn Signis

I’ve mentioned in a previous post that Gideon Argus is one of the best characters available in the skirmish game. Part of this is because he’s so cheap, but it’s also due to the strategic benefits he provides to his teammates. So long as he doesn’t need to move, you can spend both of your actions granting a friendly figure 2 movement points and making that figure Focused. This is particularly good if the figure can’t Focus themselves normally (making a character who can become Focused on their own is nice, but it’s not necessary for Gideon to do it unless that character happens to go next). For today’s post, we’re pairing Gideon Argus with Fenn Signis.

Fenn is one of a handful of characters who has Assault (allowing him to attack multiple times in an activation). Normally figures can only attack once, but Fenn is able to rapid-fire with his blaster and Blast 1 into whoever steps in his way. With a Red-Blue-Green (and the ability to surge for a little Accuracy), he can hit targets a few spaces away from him without much worry, but this range is increased a bit for the first attack thanks to the Focus die. If you have Fenn in your list, you don’t want him moving, so gaining a little extra speed from Gideon is a must-have, while the Focus die just makes your already impressive attack that much more powerful (and your probability of Blasting that much more likely).

I will say that you can also use this strategy with the likes of Gaarkhan, Diala, or Davith – all of whom have the ability to attack multiple times in an activation AND move. Fenn, however, doesn’t have the ability to move and attack twice, so I chose him (greatest benefit).

Requirements For Candidates – Squad Swarm

The Squad Swarm card works in a similar way with two exceptions: first, the deployment cost limit is increased to 15 (instead of 12). Second, the two deployment cards need to share the same name. This means you can use an Elite/Regular pairing, but they need to be the same unit. All of the previous combos won’t work with this upgrade. Hence, we’re going to create a new list of front-runners…

Bronze Medal: Elite Jet Trooper and Elite Jet Trooper

This particular Command card comes in an Imperial Villain pack, so I figured I’d include some bucketheads. J We’ve already talked about Elite Jet Troopers, but one of the advantages of using these guys is that they cost less than 8 points, allowing you to activate two elite squads at the same time. While you won’t be able to move up the Riot Troopers to shield these guys from attack, you will be able to rush in a number of troopers to triple-attack-dice-smash enemy figures and then back up a bit to gain some protection. It’s not fancy, it’s not flashy, but it is definitely effective.

Silver Medal: Trandoshan Hunter + Trandoshan Hunter

If you’ve ever started out with Imperial Assault by playing the Core campaign, you’ve met a Trandoshan or two. If your experience with Trandos is anything like mine, you don’t like to face them. Sure, they can’t surge for damage (and they occasionally waste their surges), but they hurt. A lot. And so when I was thinking about what pairings happen to fall at or under 15 points, it was an easy choice to add two regular Trandoshan Hunter squads. It’s important to note that while you have the models to run two regular squads, you don’t start with two copies of the card from the Core box so you’ll either need to borrow someone else’s deployment card OR just have a reasonable opponent who knows you don’t want to drop another $80-100 to get a core box just to get some of the models.

While using Trandos on different parts of the board is useful for dealing lots of damage on both sides, I find them to be a bit fragile – 6 health each with a Black die doesn’t last very long – especially if you’re facing three-figure deployment cards (Rebel Troopers or Stormtroopers in particular). While you can eat these guys for lunch if you want, if you’re not the one striking first, you might find yourself outclassed. As a result, I tend to run my Trandoshans together, so my opponent never escapes the pain they bring on one side of the battlefield. You can use other units to hold ground if the scenario requires, but don’t break the power of your offensive tools by splitting them up.

Gold Medal: Elite Tusken Raider + Elite Tusken Raider

Now I know I just got through talking about regular Trandoshans…these guys one-up Trandos. Trandoshans have the ability to “Surge for Pierce 2,” which is useful in making sure your attack does maximum damage. Trandos also have the ability to apply a Strain result before the attack if they’re attacking figures within 3 spaces (which is awesome – especially with Under Duress, which we posted on earlier this week). Tuskens, however, add a static Damage result to their attacks and they trade in that finicky Blue die with a  slightly-less-finicky Red die. Their surge options change from hurting their attacker to hurting nearby foes, making them more useful for splashing damage against low-health enemies nearby. Activating four at the same time is a HUGE game changer (especially if they’re together – their health is roughly the same as the Trandos we just viewed). If you can’t get in melee range, their Tusken Cyclers allow them to shoot at figures with a Red-Blue, which will probably do about the same damage as the Green-Blue that you’re going to see from Trandos who aren’t adjacent to their foes. All told, Tuskens are more reliable and more menacing than their Trandoshan cohorts and if you have the option of taking two of these Elites (see notes above on what to do with only having one deployment card above).

Is it cheating to talk about both Trandoshans and Tuskens as two of the entries? Maybe. Shouldn’t we have some Rebel figures in this section instead of all these bad guys? Perhaps. There are many combos you can use and most generic figures do fit the bill, but when you’re looking at pure offensive firepower, it’s hard to rival all three of these combos. It’s painful if these combos come against you and you really, REALLY love it if you can pull it off. In our next post, we’ll be looking at the Endless Ranks Command card and what Troopers to include in your list alongside General Weiss. Until then, happy gaming!