Good morning gamers,
We're back in Republic and we're looking at a not-often-seen Commander option: Ahsoka Tano. I'm going to be honest, I thought Ahsoka was going to be an Operative - and then I saw that there were two models in the pack and I was like, "Okay, she's going to be a Commander AND an Operative" . . . and then I was like, "Wait, she's a Commander and a Squad Leader? Why would I ever run the Commander!?!?!?!" Well, that's the question we're tackling today - because it turns out that while her Squad Leader option is very good and incredibly powerful, she's also good as a commander and I think players shouldn't sleep on that option.
Ahsoka Tano, Padawan Commander: The Profile
At first blush, Ahsoka doesn't look like a great Jedi: the distinctive of most Jedi in the Republic faction is that they have access to either Charge or Relentless (either innately on their unit cards, like Anakin and Obi-Wan) or via command cards that come back to them (like Yoda, who can have Charge or Relentless on up to 4 turns of the game) or via an upgrade (like any customizable Jedi Knight who takes a double-bladed Lightsaber - and any Jedi Consular can have Steady, which is like a poor man's version of Relentless). Ahsoka doesn't have Charge or Relentless except on her 1-pip Command Card - and while this card might allow her to perform multiple attacks, anyone that she Charges but doesn't kill has the ability to disengage with her. This means that one way or another, if Ahsoka Charges, she's not going to be engaged when she's done . . . and that is usually not what a Force User wants to do.
Additionally, Ahsoka doesn't have Master of the Force - this isn't unique to Jedi (Commander Luke, Rebel Ahsoka, and the new customizable Operative Jedi Knights don't have Master of the Force either), but Ahsoka is in an interesting middle-ground place in that she has Independent: Recover. On the one hand, this means that, if she doesn't get an order token, she'll reset not just her Force upgrade, but she'll also reset any Training/Command upgrades that she took. Additionally, suppressing her is quite difficult, since the Recover action will also clear any suppression she picked up. All in all, a free recover action looks like a better deal than Master of the Force X . . . and in all but one respect, that's definitely right. What you usually want, however, is order control on your Jedi - you want an order sitting on them so you can go with them when you want to . . . and in order for Ahsoka to get an order token (see what I did there?), she needs to forego the free recover action. It's an interesting trade . . .
The rest of her profile is pretty normal for Jedi - she's got 5 Wounds and Courage 2 (a bit low, but on-par for what we have for our customizable Operative Jedi), she's got an interesting lightsaber pool with 5 black/3 white dice and Impact 2/Pierce 1 (a little low, but not bad), she's got surge for crit and Deflect that's augmented by Shien Mastery (which bounces 1 damage to the attacking unit for ALL surge results that she gets on defense), and she's got the expected Immune: Pierce that comes from having a lightsaber (well, two actually).
She's also got Jump 2 as an action, which is not only really nice to have (and not all Jedi have that), but it also allows her to go over (or on) much higher terrain than Jedi are usually allowed. This gives her incredible mobility and, when paired with her innate speed-3, makes her super potent for threatening others - especially if she's being Guidanced by Yoda to get a free movement action. For 110pts base, she's actually quite affordable and while this may be a controversial statement, I think she hits harder than any of the Jedi Guardian builds for the new customizable Jedi (and by extension, all of the others as well).
Finally, Ahsoka has Scout 1, which not only allows her to get an extra 4" of movement on the first turn (where she can definitely be given an order since you don't need the recover), but also extends her expected movement to about 12" after performing a speed-3 move. While she's unlikely to be able to attack anyone with that kind of movement, it's possible that as a Vanguard unit in the new
Ahsoka Tano, Padawan Commander: Recommended Upgrades and Command Cards
Force x1
Ahsoka is the ONLY Jedi who does not need Burst of Speed - one could make the argument that some Jedi options can get away with leaving it at home, but Ahsoka is the only speed-3 Jedi and gains absolutely nothing by taking it. This is good, since she's only got the one Force slot. If you don't want to lean into the free recover action, then Saber Throw looks like a decent choice, but I'm not sure that she's as good at using it as an Operative Jedi Knight with the Consular upgrade and your choice of lightsaber (with Saber Throw, the twin blades gives the Jedi 4 black dice with Impact 2/Pierce 1/High Velocity, while the double-lightsaber gives the Jedi 1 red/2 black dice with Impact 2/Pierce 1 and the option for Charging instead of using Steady). Ahsoka gets surge for crit on these ranged attacks, which is definitely worth something, but these other guys could have the Peacekeeping Mission training upgrade to give them Reliable 2 . . . so I don't know that there's much gained here. Still, if you want to perform a speed-3 move and then perform a range-2 attack and have order control on Ahsoka, this is definitely the right choice.
If you want to lean into the Independent: Recover special rule, there are a few upgrades that might be good for you, depending on what role you want Ahsoka to play. If you plan to play her aggressively, then Jedi Mind Trick is a great option, as it allows her to suppress a Courage 2 unit that has yet to activate OR panic a Courage 1 unit that has already activated (making it not count towards scoring for the round). My son, Gorgoroth, runs Ahsoka as an aggressive attack piece, so this upgrade is almost always stapled to her.
While you COULD put Force Push on her, she becomes incredibly expensive and I think there are better options for you than that. I'd avoid it unless the price comes down dramatically and if you wanted to skew that direction. The only other Force options that might be useful are Force Guidance if you're running mostly Clone Marksmen instead of Clone Trooper Infantry (which are usually the bread and butter for surge token support in Clones - and giving Ahsoka a surge token allows her to surge once on defense in melee, which is not too shabby) and Force Barrier, which is my default on her when I'm trying to play a defensive gunline list (usually that includes Clone Marksmen and Clone Commandos (foreshadowing of a list we'll look at before we wrap up). Both of these make Ahsoka more of a support piece than a dive-bombing piece - you could, I suppose, use Force Reflexes as well, but unless you plan on using it on the turn you can have Jar'Kai (or unless you really think she's going to be catching strays more than the rest of your guys), I don't think you want it.
Command x1
I often leave this blank, but if you happen to be running her with Bad Batch, you might want to take Trusted Agent. If you have a lot of order diversity, you might use her as your token Improvised Orders caddy, but you may not need that in every list. You could take Inspiring Presence, but it would only be useful on her 3-pip turn if you take it, so I'd skip on this. Often times, I just leave this one blank - unlike the Force slot, I really don't think Ahsoka needs to take anything here.
Training x1
For anyone looking to dive bomb with Ahsoka, there are two very strong choices here: Tenacity (for an extra red die if you take a wound) and Offensive Push (which will reset each turn that she doesn't receive an order). My son usually uses Offensive Push (it's good value, for sure), but I often just leave this blank. Unlike most Commanders/Operatives, I don't think you want Seize the Initiative on Ahsoka, unless you plan to use it on the first turn to give yourself better order control - once she's on the board, she really doesn't want an order.
Command Cards
Ahsoka's command cards are very situational, but two of them can be quite good. Her one-pip (You Are Beaten) is the only way she can get Charge, but I don't like it - yes, Charge on Ahsoka is great (especially when she can make multiple attack actions), but this is only really useful if she's clearing out an activation or two on that turn. Because enemy units are allowed to Withdraw for free, she's not going to end up in combat at the end of the turn, which means the only good time to play it is when you can safely clear out two crippled units (probably ones that have 1-2 guys left and are vulnerable to Pierce). I sometimes take it, but I usually don't.
Revenge Is Not the Jedi Way is an interesting 2-pip, as it has 4-pips on it, issues 2 orders, gives Ahsoka a heap of dodge tokens, and gives her Jar'Kai instead of Shien for the turn. On the one hand, this is a great way to play a 4-pip card on Turn 1 so you can deploy second . . . but because you won't have Charge or Relentless, Ahsoka is unlikely to get anything out of Jar'Kai. If you play it later in the game, you're probably handing initiative to your opponent, which may not be a bad thing on a round where your opponent really wants to win it with some kind of trick (like Cunning or a Command and Control Uplink). I think there might be something here for the deployment knowledge - and regardless of whether you get to use Jar'Kai, Ahsoka becomes a very unappealing target with 3 dodge tokens and Deflect - but if you don't have the space for it, don't worry about it.
Finally, you have Ahsoka's best command card (in my humble opinion), I Go Where I'm Needed. This allows Ahsoka to make a speed-3 move and then reduce her speed to speed-1 for the rest of the round (no improvements allowed, so Burst of Speed is still a wasted upgrade on her). It also gives her Courage 3 (great for not being suppressed), Disengage, and Guardian 3. On the one hand, this card could also be a good Turn 1 command card, as you'd get orders on 3 units (probably not Ahsoka, but you could if you wanted to), it would allow her to move onto the board before the game begins (maybe to support Clone Marksmen who used Prepared Positions?), and she could provide a nice Guardian bubble to keep them alive without a need to advance very far that turn. This would also enable other 3-pip command cards to be used on later turns that would normally come out first.
There are other command cards that Ahsoka really likes - Yoda's There Is No Try allows him to give Ahsoka Relentless if she doesn't need a reset (very possible if you took something like Force Barrier and haven't had to use it OR if you need her to dive in and she won't be supporting anyone anymore), and Luminous Beings Are We gives her access to tokens and gives Yoda more of a support role that round anyway, so he can use Guidance to give her an extra nudge (which, if it's an extra move action, basically gives her Charge). Both of these cards come back, so you might be able to use one or both of these command cards twice if you can keep Yoda alive.
None of the other command cards help her a ton - yes, she might trigger retributive damage from Cody or get 3 extra red dice from Rex, but these sorts of bonuses are really niche and not generally that helpful. Ahsoka's going to do her own thing, regardless of what orders you play . . . and that's not necessarily bad.
Ahsoka Tano, Padawan Commander: Sample Lists and Strategies
The first list we have is a 10-act gunline list that runs Ahsoka with Force Barrier alongside Yoda and Padme - both of whom are great for supporting Clones while being shielded from prolonged exposure. We have 3 Clone Trooper Marksmen, 3 Clone Commandos (including Delta Squad), and 1 Clone Trooper Infantry - and we have 2 Force Barriers and 4 Medics to keep our Commandos/Marksmen in the game:
- Yoda with Jedi Mind Trick, Force Guidance, and Force Barrier
- Ahsoka Tano with Force Barrier
- Padme Amidala
- 3x Clone Trooper Marksmen with Clone Medic and Mortar Clone Trooper
- 1x Clone Trooper Infantry with Clone Medic
- 1x Clone Commandos/Delta Squad with Offensive Push, Katarn Pattern Armor, and DC-17M ICWS config
- 2x Clone Commandos with HQ Uplink, Katern Pattern Armor, and DC-17M ICWS config
Our second list is a bit of a weird one - it's a five Jedi list and it's all about smashing into the enemy with Ahsoka and Anakin! It also runs one of the new Jedi Knight Generals (great for order control on your Clones) and one of the new Jedi Knights (decently smashy, but a bit unreliable sometimes). This list also has 4 Clone Trooper Infantry with the DP-23 and one squad of ARCs with a Jedi Guardian (that fifth Jedi) so you can do some serious damage once you get to range 2 . . . also, the list four copies of Jedi Mind Trick. One could definitely make the case that dropping the Jedi Knight, one of the Clone Trooper Infantry squads, and the Peacekeeping Mission from the Jedi Knight General to get 2 more ARCs would be a better choice . . . make that change it you want, but I've opted for better overall order control:
- Anakin Skywalker with Jedi Mind Trick, Burst of Speed, and Tenacity
- Ahsoka Tano with Jedi Mind Trick and Offensive Push
- Jedi Knight General with General of the Republic, Jedi Mind Trick, Jedi Training/Peacekeeping Mission, and Double-bladed Lightsaber
- Padme Amidala
- Jedi Knight with Jedi Guardian, Jedi Mind Trick, Jedi Training/Master Duelist, and Double-bladed Lightsaber
- 4x Clone Trooper Infantry with DP-23 Clone Trooper
- 1x ARC Troopers with Jedi Guardian
Ahsoka Tano, Padawan Commander: Final Review
I like Ahsoka - she hits decently for her cost (around 120pts), she has some niche ways of getting Force upgrades (and the occasional Training upgrade) to reset without Master of the Force, and if you can build your list to support her, she's super strong. I think they did a good job of not making her too busted in this form . . . though the strength of that Squad Leader option does make this version look like a bad choice overall.
Overall Unit Review: 4/5 stars. I think having more options for Charge would have helped her dramatically - and ideally wouldn't have increased her cost much. However, I'm fine with things the way they are.
Next time, we're digging into ARF Troopers - yet another unloved Republic profile. Figuring out what to do with these guys takes a bit of creativity and we'll see if the new 212th Legion helps players get more out of their ARFs. See what you can do with this really unique unit next time - and until then, happy hobbying!
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