--Handy Maidens--
41 Atris
32 Thrawn (Mitth'raw'nuruodo)
27 Lobot
88 Echani Handmaiden x4 (yes, four!)
8 Mas Amedda
3 Ugnaught Demolitionist

(199pts. 11 activations, + reinforcements, which will usually be Jabba CL and Salacious Crumb)

I played this squad the other day, and it packs a punch! The Handmaidens are each shooting 4x at +15 for 30dmg, thanks to the Cunning/Opportunist boosts (including Jabba). When you really need the shots to stick, then Atris can use Force Meditation. The ranged damage output from this squad is pretty insane. And even if you lose a Handmaiden, there are still 3 more waiting to go to work.

I played against a Vong squad (Warmaster, Yam, etc), and I was nervous. However, even with WM being swapped in, he still went down very quickly. He just couldn't survive with 120 dmg coming at him from each Handmaiden. It would face heavy problems against a Double-Pawned Lancer squad, though.

I dont like the squad because the squad has 100 points of tech. Sorry I had to post that.

Ok really it looks like a vigo squad with swap and a good clean up attacker. I like it a lot.

Yes, and I think it's superior to the Vigos in another way too: the Handmaidens don't need to be within 6 of a Czerka, so they have some excellent range. Playing on Muun Grand Plaza, I often had one of them quite far onto my opponent's side of the map. And Atris is an excellent piece too.

This squad looks pretty fun to play. Wish I had Jabba, Crime Lord so I could run it.

Certainly powerful, but I also think even a single Pawned Lancer or a standard Yobuck squad could give you issues. That 40 HP on the Handmaidens is just asking for them to be picked off one at a time, especially if your only form of defense for them is in swapping or Salacious.

That's a good point, Lobo. I wonder if it would be worthwhile to drop a Handmaiden for a Keldor and then possibly bring in another Keldor with Lobot if needed. The Keldor is a good swapper due to stealth, and he's also a reliable shooter, so that wouldn't be all bad. It's just sad to lose that 4th devastating shooter.

The difficult thing is that, aside from Keldors (which don't do much vs Yobuck anyway), there are not many ways to hinder or stop the Gallop/Strafe squads via reinforcements. Diplomat walls can be useful vs Yobuck to a degree, and BGs can help to keep pieces alive for a while. But unless part of the squad's core build is an answer to Gallop/Strafe (death shots, disruptive, self-destruct, Djem-so/Riposte), it seems like most squads will suffer in those matchups. Maybe that's why there were 4 of them in the Top 8 this year!

Well, actually, thinking about it, Yobuck may not be TOO tough. The problem is you've gotta stay 17 or more squares away from him, because the Yobuck player will gladly burn the FP to Master Speed, hit a Handmaiden twice at the end of it, and then immediately swap Yobuck out for a Rodian Brute, and earn himself a net 19 points. Rinse and repeat as much as possible. And getting your handmaidens into positions where they can shoot stuff but not get galloped will be really tough. So I'm not even sure that Kel-Dors will protect you against Yobuck. 1 Kel Dor would likely be enough against a Lancer crew, especially if it's a pawned lancer, so I don't know if I'd worry about dropping a Handmaiden in that instance.

Perhaps just plan on going with two Twi'lek BGs against Yobuck or something instead. Using Force Meditation to lower Yobuck's attack while galloping might help a little bit too. Might miss a few key shots here and there. Or just play super-defensive, tossing things into gambit and tempting Yobuck to come after those, meanwhile, you do what you can to pick off his swap fodder. Make it so that when Yobuck gallops in, he has to commit to swapping something more valuable than a brute if he wants to swap out. Even Gen Skywalker won't last long against a barrage of +15 for 30 damage shooters.

Yeah, the Keldor would be there for the Lancer, rather than for Yobuck. I'm very aware of Yobuck's strike-and-swap tactics, since I played him non-stop at Gencon this year. That 17-square distance really is key...but it's actually 29 squares if he's attached to R2 and I've already moved that Handmaiden that round. And yes, ForceMed is a good thing to do when I know Yobuck wants to gallop.

The battle vs Yobuck will be difficult, but with a bit of luck and some strategic positioning, it's winnable. The Lancer, on the other hand, will be a pain. Maybe I should just use this squad with the knowledge that it has two really bad matchups, but that many of the other matchups won't be too bad. Besides, with certain new pieces hindering the Gallop/Strafe squads (Jaster, Spaarti death-shots, Bastila), the likelihood of facing them goes down. It could be that this squad's best counter to Gallop and Strafe is...the current meta.

Best way to beat Yobuck? 4 caamasi noble's. Problem solved.

I think going for Ozzel and more swap fodder over the 3rd handmaiden may work. You bring in Jabba when you outact anyway or more fodder to get even in acts. That would get you 15 activations base + Jabba and Crumb so think 17. 17 is a good number to play with cause most (not all) but most act control squads use like 18 activations.

I had the above wi' Ozzel and somehow squeezed Crime Lord in so it was Cunning/Op either way... thought of it while I was out for a nice walk.

I'd run Tarkin instead of Ozzel, unless your opponent has Accurate.

i was also thinking of a similar handmaiden squad but for the o.r. instead.
handmaidens x4 88
atris 41
bastilla j.m. 33
r7 x2 16
mice x4 12
ugh x3 9

15 activations and with bastilla your still getting 30 dam. shots and boardwide disruptive wth battle med.
i still think it has some issues but fun none the less.

Hey, great thought! Bastila's ABM would also serve as an excellent counter to the Gallop/Strafe squads which would cause so many troubles for the Handmaidens otherwise. However, they would still only be shooting at +11 (rather than +15 from Cunning/Opp) until Atris used her Force Meditation. And you'd also lose out on the swap and Master Tactician. But it is certainly worth looking at, nonetheless.

I was going to try and get a tactician in to help with init control cause I was concerned of that but the +11 to hit should be ok for the fodder and to use atris's force med when you need it. Yes it's different with no swap but still it's just a different play style. I only got to play test once against a vong squad. It was good and bad. His yammosk had nothing to steal but my battle and force med was also useless. I still won a drawn out battle due to my fire power and I wonder how your version with thrawn would have handeld it you with more fire power but also giving the vong either opportunist or swap. I in no way think this is perfect squad and have only got to playtest it once but as you said it has some advantages that yours is missing and some disadvantages that yours doesn't have to worry about. I find myself intrigued with o.r. possibilities but still find it a challange to build with. I'm currently working on revenchist, atton rand squad but it seems to just look like another glass cannon squad. So I'm considering putting in a Jedi instructer to give atton more survivability but still doesn't look right.