My squad:
--Daala Code 11S-P2EC-2V (GenCon 2014 5th place)--
27 Admiral Daala
16 Admiral Gilad Pellaeon
32 Security Officer Stormtrooper x2
14 Snowtrooper Commander
12 Snowtrooper Officer
22 Veteran Snowtrooper x2
8 Mas Amedda
8 R7 Astromech Droid
55 Snowtrooper x11
3 Mouse Droid
3 Ugnaught Demolitionist

(200pts. 23 activations)
http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/142150/daala-code-11s-p2ec-2v--gencon-2014-5th-place-

My map was Great Library
I normally did not use any swap with Pellaeon, but used Ozzel once and a Felucian Stormtrooper Officer once.

Round 1

Versus Mike (I have forgotten his screen name)
Opposing squad: Mandalorian Protectors with Fenn Shysa and Mandalore the Resurrector
Final score: 214-47 (3 pts, 3 pts total)

I won map roll so we played on Great Library. He chose the left side (as did everyone else when I won map).

My general approach to most games was two Snowtrooper squads, one at the north of the map and one at the south. The two Veterans and the SOS's went in the center door to the main library.

The bodyguards did not have Accurate Shot, so the basic approach was to shoot things while the attacker was not a legal target. On my map, there were enough walls that this was often possible by finding the right angle where I could shoot the target but be out of line of sight of the adjacent bodyguard. In other cases, I had a blocker in front so the shooter was not a legal target.

Round 2

Versus Darth Jim
Opposing squad: Walking Karrde Pet
Final score: 210-75 (3 pts, 6 pts total)

I won map roll most of the day, so we were again on Great Library with me on the right. Jim either underestimated my squad's firepower or felt that he had little chance and had to take a big risk. First round, he charged Embo through the library to open the door on my side. I had enough unactivated troops to take out Embo, but if he had survived and Jim won init, Daala would have died. That put me out to an early lead, but Jim closed the gap and took the lead with two rounds of gambit, both of my Veterans, and a couple of Snowtroopers. The latter were turned into Rakghouls, which was really scary. Once he got the first, it came in unactivated and immediately produced a second, so the Rak Warrior and two regular Raks were in the Library with the newest one unactivated. I stopped the Rak pandemic in one phase, but a bad roll or two at that spot could have tipped the game. The odds were definitely in my favor and I got the rolls, but there were other Snowtroopers nearby, which could have been Rakghoul-ized if the Raks weren't stopped immediately.

Round 3

Versus Weeks
Opposing squad: Movin Mandos
Final score: 148-48 (0 pts, 6 pts total)

I lost map roll, so we played on Anchorhead (Desert Outpost). I took the left side (which was the right side to me since I was playing upside down). I brought in a Felucian Stormtrooper Officer since the Mandos' attacks didn't top out all that high and I'd be happy for those Cloaked pieces to come close to base me. I split my squad with half coming through the southern cantina and the rest in the courtyard west of gambit.

Overall, the approach was just murderous. With the Tactician and Kelborn, he could move his whole squad 6 and then activate 3, which lets him attack 8 different troops, with 5 of them (Kelborn and Mandalore's shots) being near-autokills. So showing my face was not much of an option.

The southern group tried to trade some Snowtroopers for Mandalorian Demolitionists (1 point in my favor) but with missed rolls Weeks won that excahange. The line of sight was way too long to have a hope of basing the Cloaked pieces, so the rest of the southern group then sprinted up to join the northern group. Everyone went up through the northern buildings.

I didn't discover it until too late, but Mandalore the Vindicated has an ideal choke point in the eastern courtyard coming out of the northern buildings. From that one square, he disrupts basicaly anyone that can see him, unless you spend 2 rounds trying to run all the way through gambit and outside, but the rest of his squad would kill you if you tried that. And from his perch there's only one square where you can attack him without taking an AoO along the way. Brilliant placement by Weeks. I won't say that alone won him the game, because he was already ahead, but that placement certainly sealed it. I managed to kill all his door control and a a single scout. Mandalore and Kelborn had at most minimal damage on them, so this wasn't even close.

If we had met again in the Top 8, I would have played differently. For one, I would take his side so he doesn't get that chokepoint. And my map would have been very helpful since there are fewer low objects on my map. I don't think it's an unwinnable game, but I don't like this matchup for my squad even in the best of circumstances. I also rolled reserves in this game, but it didn't help.

Round 4

Versus countrydude
Opposing squad: Durge on Lancer, Cad Bane Bounty Hunter, Vset Assaj Ventress
Final score: 141-108 (2 pts, 8 pts total)

Played on my map again.
Summary: I was stupid. Then I got unlucky. Then I got lucky. Period.
I did not bring in Ozzel so I was outactivted by 1 since he had San Hill. He used that last one to move Durge all the way to my side of the library and open the door. Big init: he wins it. I have a door open and he can reach Daala and the Snowtrooper officers. He barely reaches, so if I had the commanders in the back corners I would have been okay. If I had the door closed I would have been okay. (I would have locked a door if I won init.) But he won init and charged in at the commanders. He took out 3 Snowtroopers along the way, with one luckily surviving the Twin Attack. More luckily, he missed one attack on EACH of my Snowtrooper officers. Durge took out Mas and hit Daala hard, but the living officers were the key. All the surviving troopers were able to take down Durge, but they needed the officers' boosts and the officers themselves also contributed to the onslaught. If he made those two attacks, the game would have been over.

The rest of the game played out like a chess match. I had to work hard to get any bonuses. I still had a Mouse Droid, so I could propagate the CEs even though Mas died, and of course I brought the commanders out to help attack right away. By the end he had killed 7 Snowtroopers, but I still had 4 more plus the 2 vets, 2 override troops and the 2 officers. Cad BH could have possibly gotten off a good Furious Assault but I think I still had the advantage. In any case, I had the point lead when time ran out.

Round 5

Versus thereisnotry
Opposing squad: GOWK, Mace Legacy
Final score: 150-146 (2pts, 10 pts total)

Played on my map again. All the conflict happens right in the center of the map. Early on, GOWK sits and avoid an absurd number of shots even though he gets no rerolls due to Pellaeon. What does get through is immediately healed by Evazan. My troops manage to work their way around the top to take out the support in the back. Most importantly, Klatooinians and Evazan. Mace and GOWK are sitting in low objects, so they hardly have to move - I move in to base them with troops to get no cover shots. The Jedi in turn slaughter the troops the next round. GOWK avoids and avoids, but Mace eventually falls. I forget how much damage GOWK had on him. Some was getting through, but obviously not enough by the time the game was called. The score here was really, really close, but GOWK was the only damage dealer left, and I'm pretty sure (but not positive - never know with SSM) that I had it if we went all the way to 200. I rolled Reserves in this game and probably would have lost without them.

Round of 8

Rematch with countrydude's Durge on Lancer
Final score: 148-82

Same map, same sides. Two big changes in my setup: I split the Snowtrooper officers away from Mas/Daala. I bring in Ozzel for an Override, but now he has a 4-2 Override advantage. Because I now out-activate by a lot, his advance is a lot more difficult.

Assaj goes to gambit but takes a lot of damage there before she cloaks. I try to pour in some damage all over the place while he's outactivated and then lock the doors, but eventually he blows open enough doors and then Durge comes in and sweeps through about a third of my troopers. Durge is left vulnerable and I line up my troops to kill him, but to do so they are all literally in a line and are sitting ducks for Cad to follow up and mow them down, which he does. I'm pretty much ready to concede at that point but then realize that although my firepower has been whittled away, they weren't worth all that many points and it's near the end of the game. If I can kill Cad, I'll be back ahead. I'd need all the remaining troops to hit. Maybe even a crit to kill him that round - I don't remember exactly, but it was a long shot in any case. They don't all hit and he wins.

BUT... if I had slowed down and looked a bit more closely I had a much better chance at this win and in fact the odds were in my favor. Looking at the board immediately after the game, I realized I should have ignored Cad and gone to take the last 20 hit points off of Assaj, which I could have done with a not-too difficult roll. And then charged all the way through the library and hit Lobot, who is always an easy kill (right?). With Assaj dead, he would have lost his last round of gambit. And with Assaj and Lobot's points, I would have won 144-138! BUT... once I realized my mistake I went ahead and made the rolls after the game was over. Dead Assaj. And a 2! I would have missed Lobot in cover, needing only a 3 to hit. So if I had done what I could have done... what I should have done... then I still would have lost.

If we had played out to 200, I'm not sure what would have happened. Cad was basically untouched, but Assaj was nearly gone. I only had 3 or 4 troopers left plus my commanders. I suspect that with Hostage Shield, Cad would have won the whole thing.




I had a blast at my first GenCon. It was great to meet so many of you in person finally!

(Opponents: If you have links to your squads I'll edit this post to include the full squad lists.)

Great report, enjoyed reading it! Nice work against the Mando Protectors. Never thought of hiding around the corner from the bodyguards or using a blocker to create an illegal target. Clever.

Also don't forget you hit Reseves vs me. So I took out the main group + 4 extra dudes. And still didn't get a 3! So many dudes.....

11? I played against FlyingArrow's Daala squads for a year leading up to GenCon. 11 is nothing. This is one of his lowest Snowtrooperfull Daala squads. ;)

*shrug*

Moving 24/38/72 squares and attacking everything you touch is also obnoxious. So is 30 defense in cover or SSM to avoid absurd amounts of damage. Or having an entire squad that is Cloaked, can move all at once at the beginning of the round and activate its 3 most powerful pieces. (Same effect as out-activating and unloading but the onslaught all happens at the beginning.) Or doing damage when your opponent does what he's supposed to do: defeat your pieces (i.e. death shots and self-destruct).

@AndyHatton - this one is only 11 plain Snowtroopers, but 15 overall with the SOS's and the 2 Veterans.

I nearly ran 26 Snowtroopers. In retrospect, it probably would have worked out better for me since I didn't face Yobuck anyway.

This is very late, but I would like to respond anyway.

It is perfectly fine for you to want to have swarms as a viable option. However, for the sake of game balance, we should never have a tier 1, or 1.5, extreme version of any 1 squad type. That includes Rock, Paper and Scissors... we have already seen how when one of those is top tier what it does to the meta and the community. I am not sure why we would want that again...

Man I am so glad you agree and I think you are spot on that the biggest issue is that they were shooters. When the errata talks were going around I was one of the few people that wanted daala to be errated to charging assault as upposed to charging fire. Takes always the potency of raxus/snow troops, but allows the elite scout troops to be tier 1.5. However, if people play the extreme Scizzors piece squads than they aren't an issue anyway.

Seems as though this squad is still really quite solid. Daala got nerfed but all you lose is 11 points (so one veteran I guess) and the reserves that only came in handy one time.