***…INCOMING TRANSMISSION….***
Code 8152009 - Classified
General Skywalker,
In the wake of the destruction the second Deathstar we have received reports of insurgent activities stemming from a number of Rebel splinter groups raiding important sections of the Galaxy. We believe the goal of these splinter groups is to destabilize these regions and capitalize on the disruption to use the system trade routes for illegal smuggling operations. It is vital that these splinter groups be suppressed for a successful transition into a new republic.
Our Intel indicates heavy presence of Modified Incom T-47 speeders that were apprehended from hidden storage locations created after the Hoth evacuation a number of years ago. With your experience piloting the T-47s there is little need to emphasize the threat of these crafts with their high speed, mobility and power. It is due to this Intel that we have assigned General Madine and his elite commando unit to control these threats with their Ion cannons. We would like you to accompany the commando unit under the direction of General Madine to ensure this missions success. While we want you to defer command to General Madine, we feel your powerful use of the force, telekinesis and levitation in particular, will allow the commandos the speed to match and apprehend the T-47s.
Our Intel also confirms that some sorties will require combating rogue Jedi and Jedi cavalry that have resurfaced after the death of the Emperor and allied with these splinter groups. For these duties we have assigned Princess Leia and Han Solo to the mission for the added fire power they bring. The Jedi are strong and will most likely be accompanied by r2 units, residual clone wars soldiers and smugglers with heavy firepower. We cannot rule out the presence of Bounty Hunters in these missions as our Intel is often compromised and this may mean a mission could be a trap set by the infamous Boba Fett who apparently survived the encounter at Jabba the Hutts palace. His interest in General Solo has not diminished.
We expect these sorties to occur in systems such as Taris and Teth where these groups thrive but we strongly advise you apprehending the insurgents when they board their on-world transport to hinder the T-47 movement. These insurgents were men and women who once fought along side us and as a result share the same technology and tactics we do. For this reason we need to be extremely cautious.
We have appointed General Reiken to the mission whose exceptional strategies will serve as the defense of your group. As always, I will be overseeing the mission utilizing my experience to look for the correct opportunities to attack.
We trust you will take along your personal R2 unit who always serves us well.
Rendezvous with your group on the base at Endor in one week and wait further instructions.
May the force be with you Commander Skywalker and may the influence of Obi-Wan Kenobi push you to mission success.
General Dodonna
***…END TRANSMISSION….***
The above is a fictionalized account of the meta I was expecting to face in the championships and it led to the construction of the squad below
--lobbin' luke--
27 Han Solo, Smuggler
27 Luke Skywalker, Rebel Commando
20 Princess Leia
16 Elite Rebel Commando
16 General Crix Madine
14 General Rieekan
9 General Dodonna
9 R2-D2 with Extended Sensor
8 Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Spirit
3 Ugnaught Demolitionist
(149pts. 10 activations)
http://www.bloomilk.com/squads/View.aspx?ID=50395The build is essentially a Smuggler Cannon with Commando support. Someone mentioned to me on the weekend that the Luke RC/han/leia combo is called a hover cannon but I’ve not really seen it described anywhere much. The surprised looks most of my opponents gave when Luke set up Hans shots led me to believe that many hadn’t figured out how powerful the gimmick is. I think the fact that this Luke is sorely underplayed gave me a great advantage in a lot of matches.
I had actually started to use Luke in order to levitate Obi Ghost to gambit so that he would provide a visible trigger for diplomat enabling me to control gambit with a diplomat + ghost combo on the 1st round. However, I realized that the ghost/diplomat combo is not as strong as I first thought and with everything else I felt I needed in this squad to compete, I could no longer fit the diplomat in. By this time though, I had really gotten to grips with Lukes levitation that can put Han into position, have Leia make Han fire and then he himself can fire moving out of LOS so that he isn’t a sitting duck at the start of next round.
I dropped the diplomat and kept the ghost so that Luke could levitate without depleting force in the early rounds meaning he still had force left when he is forced to engage later on. With his low attack score, mettle helps him. With the game being so shooter dominated force for deflect sand evade rerolls are vital especially when luke is pressing. Not to mention that having force for Djem So saves also improves his dmg output.
Lukes levitation is his big trick, but he can easily punch above his weight with greater mobile cunning. Levitate allows safe shots in the early rounds but in a lot of games Luke had to drop his support roll and rush to get a cunning double off. The fact that he is both a tech and an offensive piece in one package makes him fun to run but also forces you to assess your options carefully before committing to his attacks.
Everyone expected speeders, but I wanted to run Commando Luke and that took Lukes Speeder out of my squad possibilities but I still had to prepare for the inevitable speeder presence.
Rebels have probably the best counter to the speeder out of any faction.
The idea of the commando support I got from Shinja (Aaron Shockley) who played it in his regional squad. The leia/ERC/crix Madine combo gives the ERC a one turn 110 dmg on mounted weapons. For my squad this was an obvious inclusion as I already had a Commando and leia. Bringing in Crix and the ERC gave me serious anti-speeder tech, disruptive, 2 extra threats and an additional +20dmg to lukes power output.
I chose to add General Reiken as I felt that giving most of my squad mobile and evade was better than adding in a more expensive Commando Strike leader who would only affect 2 of my characters. Reiken is probably the best commander in the game at the moment and helps Han Smuggler become the best source of accurate shot the game currently has. Reiken also gave me an extra recon which came in handy to win inits for Crix’, ERC and lukes cunning bonus. The fact that Crix becomes a mobile evading stealth disruptive piece is Icing on Reikens cake.
Dodonna is an auto inclusion when you need to protect fragile pieces and I had enough points left to fit him in. R2 extenze gave me a 2nd override and recon option. I had 4 points over and chose an uggie as my last fodder because of the power of door control.
The map I chose was Train Station. The large number of doors meant that my double override coupled with levitation gave me a lot of unseen attacking options and a strong defensive bunker. Often I opened doors and levitated the override piece away so that the opponents pieces were exposed to mobile fire from a doorway that was held open by hidden pieces.
The train station has difficult access to gambit 1st round for many squads but levitation allows you to get it should you feel you need to.
The gambit is open on the map so long as you can get into the central platform. Again, levitation and door control coupled with stealth pieces and a meta that has few accurate shot options means that this squad can clear the gambit area using mobile attacks.
The biggest advantage to using train station is the hindrance the environment provides to the speeder. A number of single square paths that the speeder can’t fly down exist on the top and bottom platforms allowing guarded advance on opposing speeder squads.
It is an unusual build in that its highest point character is 27 and it has 4 commanders but there is a large amount of power in it.
Luke can do 80 (50 with Leia for a total of 130 a round)
The commando can do 60 (70 with leia for a total of 130) to normal figs. For Mounted weapons and droids this goes from 100 to 210 dmg a round.
Han is the consistent hitter of the group giving you an accurate 40-90 dmg a round. He really deters the rush and allows the commandoes to get their cunning as people avoid activating figures fearing Hans opportunist onslaught.
Crix, while being a commander, is a fair gun of himself being able to do 30 dmg with cunning.
Every piece in the squad is important, but the squad still functions strongly even when a piece is defeated. Several times I lost Han and finished with the commandoes and vice versa.
You can see it being run here in the final.
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1995266This match is unusual for the squad because I chose to be aggressive with Luke and the ERC rather than stay defensive. It doesn’t showcase Lukes Levitation much and actually only one figure got levitated (the ERC) with the intention of getting to the middle of one platform rapidly. The side Bill chose for the speeder allowed me to get my ERC close to both the speeder and Lobot. In the crucial end rounds I chose to sacrifice Luke to kill the bodyguard netting no points but giving the ERC a chance to base the speeder. My reasoning for the aggressive move with luke was that if Bill chose to go for Luke he would need to base him with the speeder and use both the speeder and Leia to ensure the kill. This would leave the speeder there for the ERC to base it and twin twice, one due to Leia’s CE. It was high Risk with the ERC needing 13s with each shot but basing it removed evade and there was a chance that even if I didn’t do a lot of dmg with the 1st 4 attacks I could defeat the speeder should I win init with recon.
The dice favored me and gave me the kill. The rest of the match I used double override to hider Bills Han and tried to pick off his fodder pieces.
The game is not without mistakes. I made a position error with Crix that allowed Bill an early kill shot with Han/Leia that probably would have been very hard to recover from. You can see my relief and Bills disappointment after the evade save (it was a 20).
Hope you enjoy it.
