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!

Command cards: getting the most out of Endless Reserves

Ever since I started playing Imperial Assault, I’ve loved General Weiss. He’s expensive to be sure – second only to Darth Vader – but he’s fantastic. General Weiss has the ability to choose his attack pool based on the situation he needs: with a little automatic accuracy, you can often use a Red-Red-Green attack pool if you want straight-up damage at close range OR you can run a Blue-Blue-Green if you need to reach out and touch someone really, REALLY far away (automatic hit at 7 spaces away, reliably 9-10 spaces away). If you want to Blast 3 (which is AWESOME!), you can do that pretty well with a Green-Green-Yellow – you get the picture: flexibility!

One of the other advantages of taking Weiss in your army is that you can keep your figures on the board longer via his Command card Endless Reserves. This Command Card is one of my favorites – from a collector’s point of view, it helps you keep the Trooper models you bring to the fight on the table longer. Unlike the Reinforcements Command cards, there isn’t a figure cost associated with this card – you just need to have a figure from the group still alive.

Requirements For Candidates – Endless Reserves

The Empire has many Trooper choices in its arsenal, but there are a few that stand out more than the others. When choosing good candidates to accompany Weiss, there are a few requirements for “the best” figures to include:

·         High health – your last figure in the group needs to be able to last until General Weiss’ next activation;

·         Multiple figures – while having high health is great, having two or three figures in the squad is required to use Endless Reserves. Having three figures allows you to leave one figure behind and have two in the field – which is basically the same as having both figures in a two-man squad in the field but without the need to keep either of them alive;

·         Synergies with Weiss – let’s face it: if you’re going to have General Weiss along, it wouldn’t hurt to bring Troopers where were also Heavy Weapons, Vehicles, or Leaders.

With all this said, let’s look at our finalists…

Bronze Medal: Elite Stormtrooper

Since the Core game was released, we’ve all had our fair share of loathing for Elite Stormtroopers (and in early missions, regular Stormtroopers can be a pain too). Elite Stormtroopers not only have the ability to reroll an attack die, but they can become Focused if you kill off one of their friends. While they don’t share any synergies with General Weiss, they do provide numbers to your army, great firepower, and can be regrown easily with Reinforcements OR Endless Reserves, which allows the surviving Stormtroopers to become Focused AND you get one of their fallen comrades back. It’s awesome.

Gold Medal: Elite Heavy Stormtrooper

I have to say, I’ve always liked these guys. Both Regular and Elite Heavy Stormtroopers are amazing – Heavy Weapon upgrades are excellent, these guys have lots of health, a Red-Blue attack combo, bonus defense when being shot at from far away, and are only marginally slower than other infantry figures. While these guys only have two figures in their group, they work better with General Weiss and any non-vehicle units you choose to synergize with him. Want to include some E-Web Engineers and make it a Heavy Weapon list? Don’t forget your Heavy Stormtrooper to support them. Want to use regular (or even Elite) Stormtroopers? Don’t forget their heavier cousins. These guys are fantastic AND are some of the only infantry figures available to the Empire to have Blast – cheap Blast shouldn’t be overlooked (especially when you have options like Explosive Weaponry to add to your list). While Heavy Stormtroopers are fantastic, they only get the silver today because they were eclipsed by…

Gold Medal: Elite Jet Trooper

Perhaps the thing I like the most about the Jabba’s Realm expansion is that it gave us Jet Troopers. Vehicles on the whole in Imperial Assault are expensive – you can spend almost all your cash on General Weiss, an AT-ST, and an AT-DP. Jet Troopers provide us with cheap Vehicle options – and since Vehicle cards tend to be defensive in nature, it gives you the ability to do wonders with them. If you purchase the General Weiss Villain pack, you also get the amazing Command card Overrun, which is not that great for Massive figures (as you need to end your movement when you step on someone), but it’s great for Jet Troopers (we'll talk about this more in a bit). Elite Jet Troopers also have the ability to attack with 3 dice when shooting at someone close by (and gain some extra movement afterwards).

Elite Jet Troopers have good health (regular Jet Troopers have decent health) and share Vehicle synergies with Weiss, but there are only two of them (and the Elite versions can’t be regrown with Reinforcements). Still, they pack a punch on offense and can more adeptly use the cards available to Vehicle units. And you can have a lot of them…

Sample List: The General’s Cohort

Deployment Cards:

·         General Weiss

·         Heavy Stormtrooper

·         Sentry Droid

·         Elite Jet Trooper

·         Jet Trooper

Command Cards:

·         Cruel Strike (0)

·         Deadeye (0)

·         Endless Ranks (2)

·         Heavy Ordnance (0)

·         Maximum Firepower (3)

·         Overcharged Weapons (0)

·         Overrun (2)

·         Planning (0)

·         Ready Weapons (0)

·         Reinforcements x2 (4)

·         Repair x2 (4)

·         Take Cover (0)

·         Urgency (0)

Some of the Command cards we’ve added here are intended to supplement Endless Ranks and regrow your Troopers. Reinforcements can be used on all troopers EXCEPT the Elite Jet Troopers (though you could substitute them for Elite Riot Troopers if you want to be able to use Reinforcements on all your Troopers). Endless Ranks can of course be used to regrow all of them – and it gets re-shuffled into your deck after you use it!

Since we’re running two squads of Jet Troopers and Weiss as Vehicles – as well as a squad of Droids – the addition of Repair is obvious: use some Trooper unit near any of these figures to keep the damage from accumulating too quickly. Only your Heavy Stormtroopers are unable to benefit from these cards, though you could replace Take Cover with Recover if you needed.

Some of your figures are Heavy Weapons (Weiss and Heavy Stormtroopers) – these figures are able to use Heavy Ordnance (great free card that gives you bonus damage) and Maximum Firepower (which prevents you from moving, but also helps you do a TON of damage). Generally speaking, I like Heavy Weapon cards better than Vehicle cards – they make your Heavy Weapons do even more damage.

The troopers you brought benefit from Ready Weapons, which passes out a Damage Power token to each figure in a deployment group. While this has obvious benefits for the Heavy Stormtroopers or Elite Jet Troopers, it also can compensate for the damage penalty that might be suffered during one of the two attacks by a Sentry Droid. Either way, it's a little extra damage for a 0-cost Command card.

Your Vehicles (Weiss and the Jet Troopers) benefit from both Overcharged Weapons and Overrun. Overcharged Weapons is a little tricky to use - you basically get to interrupt and perform a devastating attack at the price of exhausting your deployment card (aka you can't do anything else this turn) and you become Weakened. I highly recommend that you use Command card with a Jet Trooper team (Elite preferably) that has only one figure in it - if you are close to your target, you not only get extra movement (and an extra attack die if you're Elite), but the Weaken is not that painful since you're rolling a Black die (not that likely to get Evades as it is). 
But then you have Overrun, which is much less tricky to use. This upgrade got a HUGE boost when Jabba's Realm came out and Jet Troopers became a thing: prior to the release of Jet Troopers, all Vehicles were Massive and Massive units (according to the rules) need to stop their movement as soon as they enter a space containing a hostile figure. Overrun back then only allowed a vehicle to plunge into 1-2 figures and deal 2 Damage to each of them. The key difference with Jet Troopers is this:

Jet Troopers aren't Massive - they're Mobile.

If a Jet Trooper squad (ideally two of them are active) plays Overrun at the start of their activation, they can perform a move (Speed 4 Mobile) and perform an attack against a figure within 2 spaces, which gives them 2 additional movement points. This allows them to move over 6 spaces with up to 4 of them being over hostile figures. While you can't deal more than 2 Damage to a figure via Overrun in a given activation, you have two guys - so you can potentially run over 4 hostile figures and deal 4 Damage to each of them AND SHOOT TWICE (ideally with 3 attack die if you're using Elite Jet Troopers). I will say that this becomes even more painful if you use Urgency as well (which ups your speed by 2).
For your other units, we've included other niche upgrades - Planning (which we've talked about a lot - it's best used by General Weiss), Cruel Strike (great way to get more of your surge translated into damage of a kind - best used by Jet Troopers), Deadeye (great way to add a little Accuracy to an attack - especially if you can't surge for Accuracy, best used by General Weiss and Heavy Stormtroopers), and Take Cover (good little pip of defense to keep your soldiers alive - best on Jet Troopers who can convert that free Block to an Evade if necessary). All told, this is a powerful deck with lots of survivability and firepower - I like it a lot. :)

In our next post, we’ll be wrapping up our series on Command cards and look at Force User options – specifically within the context of the Channel The Force Skirmish Upgrade. But it’ll be good. Until then, happy gaming!

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!

Command cards: best ally/villain packs to get

Good morning gamers,

As more and more Ally/Villain packs are released for the Imperial Assault game, it’s hard for newer collectors to determine what packs to prioritize getting. I’ve been playing this game since mid-2015 but only started seriously collecting for a little over a year. I own some of the Ally/Villain packs, but as new packs are released, I identify which packs of the new lot I want and which ones I don’t. I’ve also spent quite a while determining which of the older packs I want (or don’t want). If you also are trying to determine which Imperial Assault Ally/Villain packs you want, this post is for you.

What Makes a Good Ally/Villain Pack?

Let’s begin by getting the following caveat taken care of up-front:

We’re only evaluating Ally/Villain packs here based on their Command cards.

Are there other factors that contribute to whether or not an Ally/Villain pack are good besides its Command Card makeup? Of course. Are Ally/Villain packs not mentioned here worthless? Not at all. When it all comes down to it, while most of the content in the Ally/Villain pack are exclusive content, if you only want the character, you can usually get the token for the character in the core box or an expansion box.

While having the actual model is nice, the Command cards provided are the bulk of the new content provided by the pack…so that’s why we’re using it as the standard. Furthermore, you’ll usually get Command cards that support more than just the character purchased – even cards that are neutral in affiliation and may not cost any Command card points (allowing you to include more expensive cards in your deck that favor a particular class of characters). Command cards make a big difference and should not play a small role in determining the priority of getting Ally/Villain packs for your collection. That all said, if you don’t see your favorite listed here, it’s not because I don’t like it…it’s because the overall utility of their Command cards is not as good as the packs listed here.

Honorable Mentions: Chewbacca, Bantha Rider, Grand Inquisitor, and Maul

I used a simple qualitative assessment to determine the utility of each Command card provided in each pack and found the weighted average of their utility scores. The following packs all ended with an average score of 0.750 – their cards (on average) are not needed by their users, but are helpful and above-average in value. Let’s take a look at these honorable mentions by affiliation:

·         REBELS: Chewbacca: These packs provide valuable allies in the campaign game, but in the Skirmish game, their cards are incredible. Chewbacca’s deck is more useful to Wookie decks than the Wookie Warrior pack – with two copies of Wookie Rage that allow Wookies to deal damage to nearby foes based on the damage they’ve already taken (not based on a die roll) and the Debts Repaid card that allows Chewie to ready his deployment card when a friendly figure is defeated. You also get cards like Roar and Adrenaline, which are more situational but still quite valuable (applying Stun en masse is great as is getting a temporary boost to your health).

·         IMPERIAL: The Grand Inquisitor: If you like Force Users (especially the Imperial kind), you want this ally pack – both DeadlyPrecision and Force Rush are 0-cost Command cards and they provide the ability to ignore a Dodge result in each attack you make this round and the ability to gain a little more movement – invaluable if you’re running someone like Darth Vader. Hunt Them Down is great too (though at 2-cost, it’s a bit pricey along with all the other Imperial Force User cards you’ll include in your deck).

·         MERCENARY: Bantha Rider: Let’s face it: Banthas are fun to run – they’re big and nasty and squish stuff. Cards like Crush and Jundland Terror (two copies!) are great for getting the most out of Bantha rules (though you can use Crush with your Imperial Walkers and Jundland Terror with your Tusken Raiders too). Add to that the Opportunistic card, which can give any Mercenary figure additional movement after you deal damage (either making a big escape or furthering the advance). Keep in mind, though, that if you stomp on someone (let’s say as a move action before an attack action) that you can’t move anymore that turn – so coordinating this if you’re planning on stepping on stuff is tricky.

·         MERCENARY: Maul: Maul’s pack provides excellent cards for Brawlers instead of Force Users. Melee characters will get a great boost from Deathblow, while your favorite Brawlers (I like Trandoshans, Tuskens, and of course Maul) will get free movement out of Face to Face and Looking for a Fight. While many figures have expensive unique Command cards, Maul’s Wreak Vengeance card comes in at 1 point and allows him to be Focused AND use Reach AND Cleave 2. All told, Maul is fantastic.

These packs are fantastic – they have some cards that provide huge benefits to your skirmish squads and make for brutal teams. But now, we get into the real power players – characters whose Command cards really shine!

Bronze Medal: Jabba the Hutt

Jabba’s already gotten lots of press on this blog, both as an excellent candidate for using To The Limit and as a user of On a Diplomatic Mission. Included in this incredible Villain pack are three Command cards that are very helpful to your skirmish lists (he scored a 0.833 on our rating scale). First, the Assassinate card allows you to just add 3 damage to an attack performed by a Hunter. While this will generally be done by a Mercenary army, you can also use the card to beef up the first attack of Close and Personal by Biv Bodhrick (for you Rebel players out there). Hunter units who already dominate the damage output (IG-88, Trandoshans, and Shyla) become even more dominant when you (essentially) add a red die to the attack results. It’s very, VERY brutal.

Blood Feud is a relatively cheap unique Command card, but don’t underestimate its power: being able to add a static 1 damage to your attacks against a particular deployment card is HUGE. If your opponent has static block on that figure, forget about it. Can the figure heal himself? Mob him with attacks. Perhaps the best thing about it is that you can use units with relatively low damage ceilings (Weequay and Hired Guns for example) and it gives them the edge they need to really cut through their opponent’s defenses.

Finally, Jabba’s Villain pack gives you Shoot the Messenger, which is one of the most painful ways to burn through your opponent’s Command deck. If you also include two copies of Merciless (credit due to the IG-88 Villain pack), you’ll find that you can rake through your opponent’s cards (or force him to give you victory points). All told, life is good.

Silver Medal: Stormtrooper and Alliance Smuggler

Tying for second with a score of 0.875 are the Stormtrooper and Alliance Smuggler packs. While Mercenary lists got a huge boost with Jabba the Hutt, these packs include a lot of neutral cards that can be worked into Imperial, Rebel, or Mercenary lists. Let’s look at the contents.

In the Stormtrooper pack, you get two copies of Reinforcements. These cards (also available in the Rebel Trooper pack) are a must-have if you’re running a Trooper list – you need to be able to regrow your Troopers if you’re going to get the most out of them. If you’re running Elite Stormtroopers or regular Heavy Stormtroopers, this is a definite must (though it also applies to Elite Wing Guard and Elite Rebel Troopers…and regular Echo Base Troopers…and regular Alliance Rangers…you get the picture). The Stealth Tactics card is also really good – being able to just add a White die to your defense results is HUGE (even if you don’t get the Dodge result). The pack also comes with Set for Stun, which I don’t find to be as useful as the others, but Stun results require the target to remove them, which does limit actions, so…

The Alliance Smuggler pack also provides good bonuses: Without a doubt, the best two cards provided in it are the Heart of Freedom card and the Smuggled Supplies card. Heart of Freedom is a must-have for any Rebel list – you get movement points, healing, condition removal – it’s fantastic. Smuggled Supplies works much the same way (and can be found in the Hired Guns pack), except you get healing OR extra Surge OR extra Evades (all of which are very useful) so long as you’re a Smuggler. The pack also includes Self-Defense – a neat little 0-cost Command card that allows you to just do a damage to someone who moves next to you – and Smuggler’s Tricks – a niche card that allows you to make sure enemy figures don’t control terminals or don’t have units on map tiles that are important to the scenario objectives. Everyone should have a copy of this pack – it’s just really, REALLY necessary.

But for all the benefits that you get from the Smuggler and the Stormtrooper packs, there is one that beats all, and that is…

Gold Medal: LukeSkywalker, Jedi Knight

Ok, let’s get one thing straight: I don’t like this pack for Jedi Luke. Luke is great – he does a lot of damage and he can attack twice each turn (and one of those doesn’t count as an action). But the reason Luke wins this contest is because his cards help basically anyone and they provide things that make normal units in the skirmish game better than they should be. Want a free Surge? Here’s Blitz. Want a free damage? Here’s Positioning Advantage. If you’re a Guardian/Brawler (very popular classes across all three affiliations), try getting a free Block with Parry. Total Command cost for all three of these cards? 1 point. ONE POINT! Yeah, the cards aren’t earth-shattering. Yeah, they’re lame and they aren’t flashy. Yeah, they’re not as powerful as pretty much any of the other cards that we talked about. But this is why it’s the best pack to get:

It doesn’t matter what your favorite affiliation is – you can use it NOW.

Do you like running bounty hunters that hack through things? All three cards will help your deck. Like running Wookies? Here are three more cards. What about those Royal Guard-Imperial Officer swarms that were so popular when the Core game came out? Yep, all three of these help them too. No matter what you run, two of the cards will help you and quite possibly all three will help you. And that, dear children, is why it’s the best.

And it comes with Jedi Luke. There, I said it. Happy?

In our next post, we’ll be looking at two Command cards and examining some great combos to use with them: Strength in Numbers and Squad Swarm. Until then, happy gaming!