I just thought of this one. I cant believe it has never come up. I call this hollywood Hill because it is a San Hill Squad, except San has had a face lift, species lift, stat lift and faction lift. Basically, nothing left of the original and all fake (aka hollywood style).

Dodonna
Han GH
Shado Vao
Lobot
x5 ugs
149 points/9 activations

It literally IS a 150pt NR san hill build, except i think it can out do San. Both squads nerf opposing init control, while taking advantage of the MTB engine. Han can out shoot Aurra simply because he can stay alive longer. He gives up base stats, but evade and mobile help where Aurra needs tech or stays in the open.

Jedi wise, Shado is just as good as Sep options. He can do 60 DAM if need be, but he can also move away form targets and can both deflect and block. Riposte can also be another attack.

The huge plus is that you do not have to worry at all about positioning San at the right time. You can choose to use Shado and Han at any time. Thoughts?

I had a chance to play this squad this weekend. I went 4-0 with it. It is a tough squad, but it is as beatable as a San Hill Squad. I basically made a living off of killing the only two ugs in about every squad and then using door control.

round 1 - He tried Roan, Draco, Calixte, x3 shadow stormtroopers, filler. It was a good try, but again i just had too much. I chose Lando for this one. I didnt want to have to press with Shado if i didnt have too. I was afraid a cortosis would cause me the game. I picked off his door control and proceeded to user the doors to control the attacks. He played a good game, but as the day showed, you really need more than two ugs in a squad.

round 2 - I faced AP. He was running a gimmick squad, but it was fairly effective. X3 troop carts, x2 repeating blasters, Ackbar, Twilek spotter dude, JD, x2 ugs, rebel captain, filler. He could lay out a ton of damage, but i had his bane in both a huge number of activations as well, and accurate. I won map with the MTB/4 ugs from Lobot. He played my rd4 opponent and killed Boba, BH in one round, but i countered him too well. Round 1 was set up. He came up the middle of the base. At the end of round 1 i plugged his ugs and locked the door. Round two at the end, Shado and Han killed cannon 1. MTB i win next round and Han killed the second cannon. End of offense. It hurt i could out activate him by just using my ugs. He decided in the future to drop ackbar for R2PO.

round 3 - This was for the championship, i thought, but we went another round. Anyway, he was running Mara Jedi, Corran, Shado, x2 ugs and an ASP. I went with the MTB and four ugs from lobot. I won map and chose my ruined base. I picked off his two ugs early. We both got to gambit at the same time and it stayed tied til lat in the game. I was in the command center and locked the hallway door. He ran around to the hole in the wall. I had Shado one square back from the door so only one character could attack me without giving up an AoO. He ran all three of the Jedi around Shado giving up Two AoOs. Han was staying back with lobot in the commander's office. At this point i need to point out that not only did i miss about every attack, I rolled 8 ones while attacking! Needles to say, my Shado went down fast without dishing as much as he should have. I had Mara crippled, but missed too many attacks to kill her. I took a final shot with Han and locked the door. I ran Han around, manipulating doors. I managed to get a killing shot on her with Han, but missed the one attack and she lived. I killed her next round on the second shot. In chasing me, he lost gambit for one round and that was the difference. If he were a bit more experienced he would have won that game. I havent hated my die that much since Gencon. LOL.

round 4 - I played a kid whose squad i redesigned before we started. He had Boba, BH, Jango, BH, doombot. He was going to use antilles, but i told him to drop it for activations. We added x3 caamasi and two ugs. Had he had more experience he could have faired a bit better, but my MTB engine again was too much. I plinked R2 with two shots (yet another 1 from Han) and then sealed off Boba from Jango. I took out Jango and then his caamasi that were on my side of the door. He managed to kill Shado, but then it came down to Han GH vs Boba BH. We traded shots. He shot me twice at the end and i had to make 1 save to live. I made both. Thanks to my MTB, i win init and base Boba for the final double cunning shot for the kill. Good game.

When i can get the MTB going, this squad works very well. The problem is you have to push, and Shado cant get the force points built up that he needs. Between the 9 ugs, JD, and the MTB, there isnt much that is going to get in your way of Lobot, Han and Shado. It felt very solid. Of course its beatable, but when run well, it can hurt your opponent.

it looks like a decent squad but i think the Mara/han GH variant is probably better mainly due to the immense amount of offense Mara can supply. She just goes so much better with the MTB.

Shado is much more defensive in nature and is probably better running interference in a slow tempo squad backed with big shooters.

Your opponents didn't really have high end meta squads and in this case its tough to know how you would fare against Han GH/ Merc builds or san builds.

Still, its a tough squad but i think you already know its drawbacks.