Hutt Cartel Star Wars Miniatures Strategy Guide

Set 20 introduces Jabba Desilijic Tiure, who brings a new look to the Hutt Cartel subfaction. Building Hutt Cartel squads is a little tricky due to the restrictions built into the subfaction. Let's take a deep dive.

Primary Hutt Cartel Leaders
Why build a Hutt Cartel squad? Let's first take a look at what the primary Hutt Cartel leaders can do for a squad:

Jabba Desilijic Tiure (43pts): +4atk/+10dmg, dual cannon shots, Bodyguards, Lookout, Tight Security

Bib Fortuna, Majordomo (20pts): Close-Quarters Fighting & Death Strike (conditional +4/+10), "Pinball" movement breaker, Rapport 8 and Forward Positioning for Jabba

Hutt Cartel Kajidii on Hoversled (21pts): +4def, Traps, Hostage Shield for one Hutt Cartel ally, Pellaeon-style swap

If you take all 3, it's effectively 56pts (84pts - 8 Rapport - 20 Reinforcements). That's a lot of points for tech and it doesn't cover door control or Relay Orders. But you also get a lot for it.

The Hutt Cartel boosts are valuable, but the subfaction presents a bit of a jigsaw puzzle that you need to solve in order to overcome two hurdles: making sure your attackers are Hutt Cartel to be eligible for the boosts, and making sure the squadbuilding restrictions are met.

Joining the Hutt Cartel
In order get any of the boosts above, a character has to actually have the Hutt Cartel special ability. The special ability doesn't do anything - it is just an identifier. Currently, these are the only ways to be Hutt Cartel:

1. Have built-in "Hutt Cartel" already on the card. There are about 20 such characters. (Note that all Jabbas gain Hutt Cartel by definition.)
2. Fringe Followers can gain "Hutt Cartel" through Bib Fortuna, Majordomo's Camaraderie.
3. Fringe non-Uniques can gain "Hutt Cartel" through Ortugg's Camaraderie.
4. One Bounty Hunter (doesn't have to be Fringe and doesn't have to a follower) can gain "Hutt Cartel" through Jabba Desilijic Tiure's Hired Gun.
5. Malakili gains "Hutt Cartel" through Crime Lord's Rancor

Notice that this leaves some characters out entirely. These characters cannot gain Hutt Cartel at all:
* There is no way for a Unique commander to gain Hutt Cartel unless it is a Bounty Hunter or Malakili.
* There is no way for a non-Fringe character to gain Hutt Cartel unless it is a Bounty Hunter. Even if a character has Independent Outfit, it still can't gain Hutt Cartel unless it is a Bounty Hunter.

Squadbuilding Restrictions
A character has to be Hutt Cartel to get the Hutt Cartel boosts, but non-Hutt Cartel characters are allowed to be in the squad - they just won't get the Hutt Cartel boosts. This can be useful if you want to boost your attackers with both a Hutt Cartel leader and another character who doesn't gain Hutt Cartel itself. For example, Bib Fortuna Majordomo and Celeste Morne can stack to potentially give Crime Lord's Rancor bonuses of +8att and +20dmg. That's legal, but Celeste cannot gain Hutt Cartel herself. As another example, the only way to give Hutt Cartel to the Chiss Captain is through Ortugg. However, even without Ortugg in the squad, the Chiss Captain can be in a squad with Bib to hand out Deceptive and Backlash to a squad of Hutt Cartel followers

Bib Fortuna, Majordomo has Rival for non-Fringe characters and Talon Karrde, Information Broker. Independent Outfit does not get around his Rival. That means that if Bib and JabbaDT are in the same squad, Jabba's Hired Gun ability can only be used on a Fringe Bounty Hunter. Since non-Fringe characters can't even be in the squad with Bib.

Bib Fortuna, Majordomo has Specialization, which is how he hands out Close-Quarters Fighting and Death Strike. Specialization requires that no characters in the squad have the same name. It is legal to ignore Specialization, but of course if you do, you don't get CQF and Death Strike. (Pote Snitkin is another Hutt Cartel leader, and he hands out Overload through Specialization.)

Jabba does not have Rival, so it is legal to add him to a squad of any faction (as usual, you cannot mix factions). However, in order for Jabba to get his commander effects, everyone has to be at least one of Fringe, Independent Outfit, or Hutt Cartel. Ziro is currently the only non-Fringe piece that naturally has Hutt Cartel. Hired Gun can give Hutt Cartel to one other non-Fringe, but it has to be a Bounty Hunter. Beyond that, any non-Fringe piece would not have Hutt Cartel. So it's legal to play Jabba with whoever you want - for exmaple, Bastila Shan Jedi Master. But if you play Jabba with Bastila, he loses his CEs in that squad.

Jabba's dual cannon shots go to one Unique and one non-Unique. If you want to maximize the use of both cannon shots, you will want to balance your attackers between Uniques and non-Uniques, but you don't have to.

Hutt Cartel Kajidii on Hoversled does not have Rival, so it is legal to add him to a squad of any faction, but his Pellaeon-style swap can only be used if all characters in the squad have Hutt Cartel.

Examples
For a simple Hutt Cartel squad, take the 3 main leaders and then any differently-named Fringe followers you want. They all gain Hutt Cartel from Bib, and the Specialization requirement is met. So you have all your boosts with no worries.

--Simple Hutt Cartel--
52 Bossk, Ultimate Predator
50 Boba Fett, Assassin for Hire
43 Jabba Desilijic Tiure (35 after Rapport)
21 Hutt Cartel Kajidii on Hoversled
20 Bib Fortuna, Majordomo
14 Guavian Death Gang Soldier
12 Rodian Assassin (Reinforcement)
8 R7 Astromech Droid
5 Killik Drone (Reinforcement)
3 Ugnaught Demolitionist (Reinforcement)

(228pts. 10 activations)
http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/219053/simple-hutt-cartel

If you want to include a non-Fringe piece, you cannot use Bib at all due to his Rival. If you want to use your Jabba boosts, any non-Fringe characters need to have Hutt Cartel. Currently only one non-Fringe character has Hutt Cartel, and only one per squad can gain Hutt Cartel (through Jabba's Hired Gun). In this squad, Ziro has Hutt Cartel naturally and then Ventress is Jabba's Hired Gun. Ortugg has Hutt Cartel naturally and gives it to the rest of the squad, who are all non-Uniques. Since everyone is Hutt Cartel, the Kajidii's Pellaeon-style swap is available for use.

--Non-Fringe Hutt Cartel--
43 Jabba Desilijic Tiure
35 Asajj Ventress, Nightsister
27 Ziro the Hutt
21 Hutt Cartel Kajidii on Hoversled
20 Bith Black Sun Vigo
18 Twi'lek Black Sun Vigo
17 Ortugg, Gamorrean Leader
16 R7 Astromech Droid x2
3 Mouse Droid

(200pts. 10 activations)
http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/219054/non-fringe-hutt-cartel

The next squad has Bib, Jabba, and the Kajidii. Bib gives Hutt Cartel to all the followers. Jabba isn't using Hired Gun. The Chiss Captain, Weequay Leader, and Rodian Hunt Master do not gain Hutt Cartel. They are Fringe, though, so they do not violate Bib's Rival, and Jabba's CEs are still active. Everyone has different names, so Bib's Specialization is active. However, the Kajidii is not able to use its Pellaeon-style swap since not everyone in the squad has Hutt Cartel.

--Hutt Cartel but not the whole squad--
43 Jabba Desilijic Tiure
34 Nico Okarr
22 Rodian Hunt Master
21 Hutt Cartel Kajidii on Hoversled
20 Bib Fortuna, Majordomo
16 Chiss Captain
14 Guavian Death Gang Soldier
13 Weequay Leader
10 TC-70 Protocol Droid (Reinforcement)
8 Nautolan Soldier
8 R7 Astromech Droid
5 Killik Drone (Reinforcement)
5 Weequay Mercenary (Reinforcement)
3 Mouse Droid
3 Rodian Brute
3 Ugnaught Demolitionist

(228pts. 16 activations)
http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/219055