Well, with the German Nationals looming over my head and having a 150 pts. tournament next weekend I wondered what I should do: play something I might want to use at the Nationals or play something completely different to confuse my opponents at the Nationals. Well, I decided on the first to get some practise, so here is the "Storm Swarm":

Lobot - 27 (Reinforcements: Czerka Scientist & 2 Ugs)
Jolee Bindo - 23
Admiral Piett - 20
Admiral Ozzel - 11
Mas Amedda - 8
Wicket - 8
9 Stormtroopers - 45
1 Raxus Prime Trooper (only have 1, but I could get some more) - 5
1 Ugnaught Demolitionist - 3

20 activations

Chancellor's Starship (aka Throne Room)


The idea is very simple: outactivate the opponent (also those nasty Han-Leia/Bothan engines) and rain them with twin opportunist blaster fire. The Stormtroopers shoot at +10 for 20 dmg at activated minis and Wicket can make things even better. With Twin I can afford a few misses, too.

Should I roll the blessed 6 for init I would probably use two RA-7s and a Scout against Stealthers. Should my opponent play without Stealth (on the important minis) I would probably consider playing a Dewback for a whooping +14 Twin attack, dishing out 30 dmg a pop with Momentum.

Especially with the Nationals being AFTER the Clone Wars release and the init change I think that Override will become even more powerful because my opponent can't win init, open the door and kill Lobot in phase 1 of the new round. Another version excludes Lobot and a Stormtrooper, but includes the Czerka, an Ug and the Felucian Stormtrooper Officer instead. I decided on Override instead of the additional +4 defense because of the mentioned init change.

What do you guys think? Can it compete with the top squads? What would you change without changing the squad theme?

And please don't tell me to use Thrawn! I don't have the Smurf.

No real suggestions for it, other then what you already know of course

I'd certainly try to get a few more Raxus Prime Troopers (no more then 4-5 Raxus Prime's total)

I'm not sure I'm a fan of relying so much on Commander Effects; when you'll be sure to see -and face- plenty of squads with disruptive in some form or another (Kyle JBM with Wedge or Han GH come to mind)

Only other thing I could say; would be to watch out for other high-activation armies. The last thing you want to do is activate a Stormie when a mobile shooter can still snipe it, and move back into hiding.

You've created a great squad there, and if it were in any other players hands; I'd doubt it could be done as well as you'll play it

@Fool: As for the FSTO I have to play the squad with Lobot first, then I will try something with FSTO, if neccessary. I too share your concern, but on the other side the Storms are only 5 points a pop.

Wicket and Bindo on the other hand are a different matter: Bindo will stay back until further notice anyway (if I have to use him for fighting, something has gone wrong ^^ ) and Wicket will only be used for bringing down big guys. Until they are in his Traps' reach (which is considerable) he stays hidden. He will only be moved out, when the opponent is outactivated. I am very carefuly and very patient.

@JC: Thank you!

I am not too concerned about Disruptive minis because they usually are very expensive which means that I can usually outactivate them and the Storms are ranged attackers, so I can always move out of the 6 squares range to avoid being disrupted. Indeed the swarm squads are among the worst match-up for me (especially Nom bombs), but if all fails I might consider playing a Rakghoul instead of the Czerka.

I think I will buy a few Raxus Troopers from my LGS. The better attack and Wall Climber can make up for the 1 point weaker defense.

Well, the first test went really well: 4-0. YAY!

I replaced 3 Storms with Raxus Primes, so that I had 4 of them. They really paid off!

I faced a droid squad of an inexperienced player, an Aurra-Tyranus-GenoHaradan squad, an imperial squad with SS and Vader Unleashed (I won this one by time because my opponent played Ozzel, too, but was behind on activations, so in the end I owned him) and in the last round a Smuggler-Bothan-Leia combo with the Landspeeder.

None of the above squads was what I would call tier 1, but there were a few at least competitive ones. The Storms had no problems with any of them really. If the 3rd game against the other Imps had been played out, I very likely would have won that, too, especially since I was lucky enough to roll a 6 on my first init and could get some RA-7s and a Scout Trooper to up the odds in my favour. The most I have lost were 7 Storms/Raxus' in a game (against the Han outfit). My commanders were at no time in danger.

Wicket paid off big time, too! Against the Seps and the Rebels his Traps made a huge difference because I didn't roll very well for my attacks. That is why I am so happy with the squad's showing: even bad rolls couldn't stop it.

It was great fun to play, too, because moving a bunch of twins after the opponent was done activating didn't cause me too much of a headache during the games. I can only recommend this squad to anyone who wants to play Storms on a competitive basis.

~IKG

Looks pretty solid, and nasty.

I know it's quite abit of points, but it fits in with the opportunist attacks, maybe try and fit Lando, HoT in somewhere? As with mas you're then getting mobile/twin/oppo. stormies, which will help them stay alive even longer (plus wall climber and mobile can make for some interesting combinations.)

That's about the only thing I might change...