Hello fellow SWM fans!!!

This past weekend at my LGS we had a 150 point event.

Now I want to take a second to apploigize for the back story, but its important to me saving face once I actually tell you all what squad I played.

I was having trouble before the event thinking of what to play. There are two brothers who have been playing at my LGS for about the last 2 months. One always plays Han Sc, Princess Leia and normally Boba Fett Bounty Hunter and R2. The other brother always plays a squad with Han Solo GH, BFBH, and Aurra Sing. They both have the same strategy that they like to hide in a room and pop out and take shots at your guys for lots of damage. So when I was thinking of squads to play, I wanted something that can kill any of those characters in one turn (or at least do a lot of damage), and still be able to stand up against shooters. The last month I played an AA swarm, but those two did not show up, but I ended up going 3-0 with it. I didn’t want to play the swarm again so that was out. So the past week I went to two different LGS on three different nights to play some different squads against some different people. I really wanted to play a 150 San build with the new Tyranus, but I was worried about him being eaten alive by the shooters. I ended up building a 150 goof squad with Loda Wed. night and gave it to another to play against some heavy shooters. Loda destroyed the shooters and I was in love. So I had been playing SWM for three nights straight, before I saw how awesome Loda was against shooters, but what I failed to mention is the past weekend I got a new apt and had a roomie moving into town from my hometown. So needless to say my week was jammed packed with events. I planned on putting together my personal squad (tweaked from the one I gave the kid on Wed.) on Friday night. BUT when you have a cute female roommate that wants to celebrate moving to NC, building SWM squads gets pushed to the back burner. So I wake up 2 hours before the event on Saturday with no squad built yet. So I find Loda, and I decided to use Han Solo RH so I could crank out more damage against someone if I could stay within 6 of Han and I won init. Now I am going to list my squad, you have to promise not to laugh. Here we go:

Loda 70 pts
Han Solo RH 35 pts
Bothan Nobel 17 pts
Human Bodyguard 11 pts
Dodonna 9 pts
Mynock 5 pts
Ugg 3 pts

Ok ok, I know this does not look like much, but if Loda bases someone and wins init, I can crank out 120 damage under the right circumstances. As far as a Dodonna squad goes the activations where light, but I figured I would just have to play really well to position myself. Now I know what you are saying, “why a mynock?” Well I will tell you why. I used to play SWCCG in Florida when I lived there and we where jokingly called “Team Mynock” (we suck). So when I was building and I saw I had 8 points left over I thought, 2 grans, 2 ugs, or something else. Then I said “oh snap Mynock and Ug!” So I laughed to my roomie (she has no clue about minis) but I told her I wouldn’t win a single game probably, then I ran out and headed to my LGS!

Oh I hadn’t mentioned my map choice yet. I planned on playing the Throne Room map (or is it called imperial base) from the 2007 starter set. I wanted to play that map because I could protect myself easily in the gambit area. So we had four people show up. The two brothers plus Mike (or was it matt). The brothers where paired up against each other and I got Mike.

Mikes Mando Squad:
BF MC
Cando
Ayy Vida
Gotal Merc
Kel Dor

Mike asked before hand if Echo base outpost was legal at 150 I didn’t care, and no one else did (they where playing shooters) so we let him play it. I had never played on it before so I wanted to see what all the hype was about. I lost map, but I won side, which I declined to him so he could set up first. I set up on the left side with all my guys clustered behind the base, but with Han all the way at the bottom where he could get LOS on Ayy first turn. Mike had left her out away from everyone else, so I figured that would be safe if I won init. We rolled for intitive and I won, Han shot Ayy and put 30 damage on her then ran towards everyone else. Now I hadn’t said I only wanted one activation so I moved my mynock forward. I had never played the map before and I wasn’t thinking so I went up and opened the door. Well his next move he opened his door and his guys had straight LOS on my squad. However he thought I was trying to come after his squad so he shot my mynock closing the door!!! It was bittersweet, I lost my mynock but no one else died. I kinda played the first two rounds slow. He did take a shot at loda with his Kel dor and failed the reflect save. So the Kel dor had 30 left when I won init, so Han poped him and blew up the adjacent gotal. I chased down BF with Loda and chopped at him a bit. I lost my bothan and han was chipping away at cando, so it took Loda 3 turns to kill fett. I lost my bodyguard the bothan and the mynock but no one else. I got the win and I had about 4 rounds of gambit, mike never got to the gambit.

Next round I was matched up against the older brother. As I had forseen his squad consisted of 3 characters.

Han GH
BF BH
Aurra Sing

When we set up he said he only took 20 damage while beating his brother and was talking about how he disintegrated Han. We where both playing the same map, I won side and set up on the left of the map. He sets up in the top hallway with all the difficult terrain. I outactivate him and collect first turn gambit with my mynock who was holding the door open for me and han a few spaces below the mynock. At the end of the round he had BF holding open the door at the top hallway. I win round two init, and take the cunning shot on Fett (which he evades) and back up both characters so the door closes. At the end of round two I had gone backwards back into my hall out of LOS and he had moved his guys around the corner. Next turn he gets a LOS on loda with BF and of course he rolls a 20. I laugh and say that’s why the body guard is in the squad. So I lose the guard but keep the keystone of my squad. I run up with Loda and base Han, and hit him twice. He had taken 10 from a deflection so I need to hit him four times. Loda hits twice and I move the bothan up trying to get off two more attacks. Darn disruptive kept han alive another turn. After Loda took out his han, my han and Loda made quick work of Aurra, Fett had started running backwards, and loda tracked him down for a twin. Somehow fett had 50 HP left, I won init, and crited with Han, he missed the evade save and it was game. I had around 4 or 5 rounds of gambit collected as well.

So much to my surprise I was 2-0. We only had 4 players so I had to play the little brother who had a losing record, but since we had 4 players that’s how it worked out. I was actually worried about losing to him.

His squad was:

Han Sc
Yoda of Dagobah
Princes Leia
Kel dor
Luke on Taun Taun
Dodonna
R2

Once again I win map, and side, I set up first taking the same side. He sets up exactly like his brother. We took about two turns setting up our pieces. I moved slowly up the hall and turned the corner. I had the bodyguard between Luke and Han incase he came out and twined either of them. However he did make a mistake which gave me cunning LOS on Luke turn two. I was able to hit with Han, then a follow up attack provided by the bothan killed his luke. He did come out with his kel dor and moved so he was adjacent to Han and Luke. Then he made provoked an AoO and popped the kel dor adjacent to both of them. Loda then went after Yoda next round. He was able to get off an advantageous twin, followed by another one from the bothan which killed the little guy. However I ran Loda out of force points deflecting all the shots that followed that. Force Spirit 6 on Han sucked hard. I was in a tough position where if I would lose the next init, it was possible that I could lose Loda. He had taken some damage a turn earlier when he ran low on force points. However I won init, and finished off his han. I then reflected a shot back at both Leia and Dodonna on their attacks, and he saw the writing on the wall and said he had enough. I had 5 or 6 rounds of gambit at that point so the game was probably over then anyway. I got my third win of the day.

Well I laughed when I talked to my roomie later, I thought it was funny I didn’t think I would win a single game, but ended up going undefeated. Loda is an insane piece against shooters. I had only ever played against melee opponents and got eaten alive before.

In my last 3 events at that shop I am up to 9-0. I have only been playing since the beginning of this year and I am now 10-4 overall!

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Nice job! Sounds like you have the right idea when it comes to working against the 'local meta'. The only thing I noticed in your report, it sound like in that third game you used your Bothan to give Han RH an extra attack against Luke on Tauntaun, and you can't do that because he's not a follower. Too late now, but just something to remember.

Also remember that you can use Force Defense to stop Force Spirit 6. Oh, and you don't HAVE to take an Attack of Opportunity just because you can. Not sure if you did or not, but it sounded like that's what happened in the 3rd game. You can let a KDBH harmlessly pass by (well, 10 damage is nearly harmless), and then kill it later, which is what I do 90% of the time.

In the squad that you built, I would probably drop the Human BG for a Twi'lek one instead, and then swap out the Mynock for 2 Ugos. Gets you an extra activation and a bit more door control. From the sounds of things, it wouldn't matter too much for your local meta, but I think that might make it a bit more competitive in the overal meta. Also, locally, you should run more door control (i.e. Override). That alone would screw over that one guy's squad.

good catch....my bad on that one!!!!




grrrrrrrrrr



wait so what you are saying is just because someone passes by an AoO is not manditory??? I thought you HAD to take the attack!!!



yeah one of the biggest problems about being a newer player is that I do NOT have a lot of the old pieces. I do not have a bodyguard pre-Lotf!!!!! Actually now that we are talking about it, MAYBE I picked one up in a lot I bought, but IDK. I dont even have an R2!!! I have R2PO but that was way too few activations.

Oh well that is why I wrote this. Now I know for next time!!!

Yeah, that was a really popular misunderstanding back when Universe came out. Nom Anor and a slew of Gran Raiders was THE pimp squad at the time, because you could practically force people to kill themselves with Self Destruct 20. But that was only if you misunderstood the rules. I believe the current FAQ discusses AoOs and specifies that they are not mandatory, but a choice.

The cool thing about them being a choice is that you can also choose WHEN to make your AoO too if an enemy character moves through multiple squares adjacent to your character. Sometimes you can use this to your advantage in order to kill a piece at a certain point. If it's something with Self-Destruct, you might choose to kill it when it finally moves so it is only adjacent to one of your charaters and not several of them.

I suggest you find that in the FAQ and take it with you next time. If you guys have been playing this other way, I'm surprised somebody hadn't run a squad full of KDBH's yet, lol.

yeah as soon as you said that I went and looked in the FAQ's about AoO. There was nothing under that heading about the subject.

I just got home...maybe its in the real rulebook....I have to look!!!

It is. In bold.

p23 under Attacks of Opportunity.

Not sure exactly which FAQ he's looking at, but in Chuck's MiniManager I could not find it under the FAQ that he has installed in there, so it's obviously WAY out of date. But, I assume it is in the official FAQ on the WOTC site.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's not. It's plain as day in the rulebook--not something the rulebook is ambiguous about.

yeah I found it in the rulebook!!!

I was at work when I wrote that originally so I didnt have a copy with me.

the thing that did throw me was it said "no special abilites" and "only one attack"

does that cancel out a "twin attack" of opportunity? Or do you still get two attacks (twin).