Here is the background to this question: We are having a huge, 6-week long tourney at the LGS with as many as 12 players involved. Galaxy at War cases are at stake. It seems inevitable that someone will try to mess us up by playing a GMLS build. That's why I want to know: How do you reliably beat an Uber-Luke squad without playing Vong hate? For example, the players at the LGS love their droid squads. If I am playing a IG/HK squad, how can I beat Luke? I am not saying that it is impossible; I just want to know some tactics to win. Or, if I am playing an NR Anti-CW type Kyle build, based around melee, how do I beat Luke? Have you seen a squad out there that roughed up GMLS pretty good? If so, post it here. This thread is devoted to the killing of GMLS.

Well, at 150 points, it's really not that tough. Just overwhelm him with attacks. Even at 200 points, it's roughly the same. Run him out of FPs however you can do it. Force Push is really nasty against him too. If he bases you, there's a couple different options. You can attack him several times, trying to get him to burn through FPs on Lightsaber Defense or re-rolling Djem So. Get him down to 2 or less FPs. Then use Force Push to move him away from your pieces so he can't get the big Triple/Twin. OR, you can try using Force Push EARLY in the round, and see if he'll bite on using Force Defense to cancel it. Then he has less FPs to use on Lightsaber Defense.

Basically, drain his FPs. Once his FPs are gone, he's an easy kill. Overwhelming him with lots of attacks works best. I beat him without too much trouble with a separatist build a while back that had Aurra JH, Assaj Sep Assassin, Jarael, and a Twi'lek BSV. Even though Assaj got screwed up because of Djem So, she still put some damage on Luke. and Aurra is tough because he can't use Djem So against her, and she has 130 HP, which means she can survive a full Triple/Twin as long as he doesn't roll a crit.

Mara Jade, Jedi is also good against Luke.

Droid squads are also excellent. For Luke's 115 points, you can run Grievous and 3 IG-86's. That's 7 shots per round, each for 30 damage. Luke will burn through FPs faster than he can think.


Oh, and kill Leia ASAP, or at least kill the Mouse Droid(s) following Luke around so he can't get Leia's CE for LS Defense/Djem So re-rolls. That helps finish him off easier as well.

I went up against a player with GMLS and Leia in our weekly league (in our Famous Pairs format). Before we started, I wasn't relishing the fact of facing him. I had a bunch of week-to-middle shooters like Greedo with Han Smuggler as my strongest figure. Because Luke needs to get up in your face to be effective, he had to try to move in. I maneuvered to have him come up a hallway where I could get some shots in.

I shot and luckily hit a few times with the weaklings. He'd spend a FP and/or use Leia to reroll to avoid most damage. So Han shot Leia with Accurate Shot. That helped A LOT. Then I scattered my team in a fairly open area. Yes, Luke would walk up to a figure each turn and take it out (like Greedo who had Cunning and Bounty Hunter). But my many shooters would hit him sometimes. My opponent had to decide between taking 10 damage or spending a FP. Then Han would pop him. I whittled Luke down in HP while he whittled away at my team. In the end there were a couple weak shooters left with Han who took him down.

I was surprised that GMLS could be beat by such a midling team.



It didn't go so well for me when we did the melee-only game a few weeks later. GMLS and GOWK have changed that format a lot. And not for the better.

Mandos Mandos Mandos.

a balanced part of any GMLS death.

Use a Bo'marr monk or sly morre to dominate him (or one of his teammates) to destroy him from the inside out

Vader Scourge of the Jedi with Mithrawn. Vader almost single handedly deals with Luke, and if you can throw in a Disciple of Ragnos as well (not sure if you are doing 150 or 200 here), that pretty much takes him out. On top of that, shooters with lots of shots, like Dash, Cade, even TBSVs with Xizor, Tarkin and so on do well against him. You can also try the old Thrawn force bubble trick if you want to prevent him from using either defenses, which should work long enough to take him down.

Melee actually do well enough against him if you do it right. The trick is, recognizing that you can use up to 115 pts of figures to take him down. So losing a 30-60pt melee piece in the process isn't a big deal if the damage you land is enough, and timed correctly. A while ago, I took him down in 150 with a Yoda GM, Rex, Czerka, Jawa Scavenger and Human Scoundrel (had Wicket in with reinforcements to help them all hit). I used R2 as bait, got Luke in the open, and once the shooters had landed enough dmg (Luke at 60hps), I had Yoda do the double twin aturu hits. Djem so is meaningless if I am all but guaranteed the kill, and all I lose is a 55pt piece to his 115. As it was, he failed his last Djem so and for fun I canceled the reroll so Yoda ended with 20hps left or something like that :) All I lost killing Luke was R2.

Untrue. Most players make this mistake. While you might not want to always charge in and start swinging on round 2, there is nothing wrong in most situations with giving up a 40ish melee figure for 60-80 dmg on Luke. Especially if you have one who can really pound out the high damage, and perhaps has evasion of their own. The critical part to remember, is that you can afford to lose several pieces taking Luke down. To win the game, generally that just has to be less than 115pts worth of your minis to do it. If it costs you 75-100, and they lose 115, guess what, you are winning.

No, it's called careful strategy and timing. For example, using your shooters to burn up his fps, or using a cheap direct damage source to force him to use force defense, etc. Then when he has 0FPs, you slam him with the big damage from your melee figure. If you are hitting for 30 a pop, and he has 0fps for defense, it's a good trade. 60 dmg for even the lucky moments of 100 coming back at you, is totally worth it, especially if you already hit him with non-melee shots, or have another beat ready to attack as well. Again, it's about staying ahead in the damage game. He isn't that tough to kill, even with melee figures. People just need to learn how to do it right, and understand the principle of breaking eggs.

Should you go attack with your 100hp melee figure with twin or double, when Luke has 6FPs, and Leia alive and is at full health? Probably not. But when Luke is at 80hps, has 1FP, and Leia has already been offed? Sure. That's the point. Don't be afraid of DSM when it puts you ahead in the damage game. Heck, in a decent enough melee squad, you should have little to fear from Luke. I would take 3 JWMs with support over Luke any day, and come out the winner in almost all scenarios.

As I said above, Vader Scourge in the right squad simply owns him, Anakin of Nelevaan can land some nice damage as well, especially in a squad with either Yoda GM or Yoda CS. It doesn't matter if I lose a 49pt beat, in trade for 60-80 dmg on your Luke. I will win the game because of it. People who refuse to attack Luke will lose more often then not because of it. You just have to think about the tactics.

Luke just does not have enough health to hang with the big boys, especially at 150 points. A squad like TBSV's or GGDAC droids can bury him under a tsunami of firepower; if he ever fails those lightsaber defenses, he takes 20-40 damage a shot. If he had 250 health, he could withstand those hits and still close for the kill. Instead, each attack is carving off 15-20% of his health. The most damage he is ever going to do to someone is 40 in his turn and 40 in their turn (as they run away in lieu of getting humongously beat down). In the process you end up using a significant percentage of your Force points just moving. Having to burn a Force point to stick 40 damage on something is rough.

I love Luke, and have had a lot of fun trying to play him competitively. But no matter how careful and conservative you are, your opponent is going to out-activate you easily and can put easy pressure on you by killing your scrubs and daring you to send Luke out into the killing ground. Just shoot him every chance you get. When he comes after you, just pile it on. Keep shooting. He'll die.

We are playing 200, and no gambit.