Elite Clone Trooper Commander, from The Clone Wars





His CE is OK, although since it overlaps with GOWK's, it means he's competing with GOWK for playtime. They are completely different pieces, but it's still tough for the ECTC, since his CE only applies to a niche group of pieces and GOWK brings a LOT more to the table for his extra 40 points. The ECTC is a very weak attacker for his cost, and has low hit points. He may be 'Elite' compared to the regular Clone Trooper Commander (see page 8), but on the overall scheme of things he's a high 2/10 instead of a low 2/10.

Please randomizer, I've had enough Clones for a while....

As a sculpt for the much better V-set Klatoonians! Because they are so lousy I got a bunch nice and cheap for just that purpose. And I like this sculpt better than the other lousy WotC Klatooinian



I like Clones, but man WotC made a bunch of terrible ones. I'ved used this piece a bunch in some scenario play that FlyingArrow and I did, and his stats aren't too terrible for a cheaper non-unique commander, and his CE isn't BAD there are just so many better options (specifically as you mentioned GOWK. You know...imagine if he gave clones +4/+4 how incredible that would be.) His highlights are his natural 18 defense, but as a clone he has horrible HP (which I like thematically, in game its just rough.) Is he going to see much play, outside of scenario play? No. Though again, this is one of the better WotC Clone sculpts. Clones and Imperial Troopers got some REALLY bad sculpts at the end of the game cycle, so it is nice to see ones that actually look like clones and have some distinct paint which helps differentiate them from for V-set use.

Bastila Shan, Jedi Master, from Destiny of the Force





I guess it was time to get a power piece after a bunch of filler today, and power pieces don't get much more powerful than this lady.

Canonically, Bastila Shan's Battle Meditation was a Force ability which considerably boosted the morale, stamina, and overall battle prowess of an individual's allies. WOTC represented this with the extremely underwhelming Battle Meditation; Force 2, replaces attacks: For the rest of the skirmish, this character gains the following commander effect: Allies who combine fire grant an additional +2 Attack, and enemy characters cannot combine fire.

Meanwhile, the Rebels were dominating the game - they won GenCon 2008, 2009, 2010, largely by massing commander effects like Rieekan, Dodonna, General Crix Madine, and especially Princess Leia's CE.

Opinions differ on Bastilla, but I think she was a brilliant solution to the two problems - that the original Battle Meditation and the Old Republic faction as a whole were underwhelming, and that squads with masses of commander effects that weren't affected by disruptive were dominating the game. Advanced Battle Meditation does now actually turn the tide of battle, turning off enemy commander effects and granting allies +10 damage. While it may seem overpowerful, it's helped tournament balance a great deal; the +10 damage is necessary since your 33 point piece is tied out the back meditating, and I think she's comparable in power to the similarly costed Thrawns that have anchored Imperial squads for years.

There are counters to her too - force immune Vong can just ignore her, making another previously underloved faction instantly more playable, while Imperials can work around her with a couple of pieces with Ysalamari force bubbles. Additionally, her ABM is interrupted if she takes damage, rolls a save, so deep strike squads can get to her and turn her off - I think it's worth posting the glossary definition here as there has been some confusion about it in the past:



She's certainly not so powerful that you can throw her in a squad and score an auto-win; lots of squads can deal with her just fine, but she does make life a lot harder for a lot of commander effect dominated squads.

Like her or loathe her - and personally I think she's really well done and wouldn't change a thing about her - she's a game changing power piece and gets an 11/10.

I think she should have started with 2 force instead of 3, but overall a positive addition to the game.

No, she does not. She got a 110%. Which is what she is.

Han Solo on Tauntaun, from Alliance on Empire





Do you know what squad went 6-0 in Swiss in GenCon Championships in 2010? It was this:



The Rebels have a great bench of mid-range pieces like this - they got a lot of love from the WOTC designers, and got a lot of well thought out pieces. HanTaun doesn't get a whole lot of play, and it doesn't help that he's the same point cost as Han Smuggler who's a very popular option. But he's still a solid piece for his cost, with Mobile and 90 hit points meaning that he can stand up well as an independent piece, and although his damage output is only 30, he does have accurate shot and access to Rebel Cannon pieces. 8/10.

Ewok Hang Glider, from Alliance and Empire





The Ewok Hang Glider is certainly an interesting piece; one on hand it has awful stats and only 10 hit points, but obviously Flight and Strafe is an uber ability, especially on a disposable 7 point piece. The Hang Glider is a fringe follower, and an ewok, so it's subject to all sorts of commander effects, and as a medium base it's swappable as well. So the Hang Glider definitely has its own niche, as it's easily the cheapest strafer in the game. His best bet is maybe Talon Karrde Information Broker and Jabba Crime Lord getting him up to +10 for 30s on a strafing run, Talon Karrde can use him CE to position him at the start of the round, but he does need a Mouse Droid to get Jabba's CE, so it can be difficult to set up. Since he's a shooter with 10 damage, he's subject to Blaster Upgrade, so he even can get twin with a Czerka.

Anything involving this piece is going to be intrisically fiddly and difficult to set up, and I certainly wouldn't build a whole squad around this piece as it just rolls over and dies to stuff like a Lancer or a piece with Jedi Reflexes. But he does fill a very unique niche in the game and I think he's at the very least a decent option in for Ewok squads or an interesting reinforcement choice for Talon Kardde squads. Traditionally its been regarded as a bit of a junk Rare piece, but with the recent development of Fringe only and stronger Ewok squads, its stocks have risen considerably; it recently featured in the winning FrostyCon squad, albeit while Zygerrians still had Slave Driver. Even so, I still think it has the potential to make the odd tournament appearance, especially with swarm squads becoming more prevalent. 8/10.


Also, this is a breakdown of everything rated so far, broken down to WOTC and v-set. It mainly shows that the v-sets have cut out all the useless pieces (hardly any v-set pieces are getting ranked less than a 6), the graphs actually look comparable in the ratings 6 through 11. So based on the random cross-section of figures we've looked at so far, the main difference in power level between WOTC and v-sets is that v-sets don't have a whole lot of useless filler.

And don't forget:

http://www.bloomilk.com/Squad/50395/lobbin-luke

Part if the 2009 World championship squad.

Dark Hellion Marauder on Swoop Bike, from Bounty Hunters





With Speed 12 and Flight, the Dark Hellion Marauder on Swoop Bike is another piece that has a really big niche that has never been supplanted. The Sith especially have some good uses for this piece:
- Darth Caedus Sith Lord can send this piece in deep, and use it as the target for his Sith Battle Manipulation, to pull Cloaked pieces out of their hidey holes then shoot them. Sthlrd2 used this tactic in his winning Regional squad last year; it can be a great reinforcement choice for a Caedus squad.
- Traditionally it's also been used as a target for transfer essence pieces - this piece can go in deep, and then Exar Kun and Lord Krayt can transfer in and wreak havoc.
- As Timmerb123 points out below, it's also great swap fodder for large pieces, or a target to get Relay Orders up the board fast with the Squib Trader.
It's not a terrible fodder killer either, with +5 attack and Mobile, but its speed and flight means that the Dark Hellion Marauder on Swoop Bike can serve an invaluable purpose in some squads. 9/10.

Imperial Pilot, from Legacy of the Force





Another day, another Imperial piece with Gunner. I just don't WOTC ever realised that it wasn't a very good ability, and if you do want a Gunner, the Elite AT-AT Driver at 12 points and 50 hit points is a much better option as a Gunner piece. The Ugnaught Tech is a cheaper Industrial Repair 10 piece. The v-sets have introduced some pilot boosts, but they don't really help this guy - the Cloud Car Pilot is stronger for the same cost, and the pilot options around 11-12 points are much stronger as well. So this piece is all but redundant - there are better gunners than him, better Industrial Repairers than him, and better Pilot scrubs than him. I guess he gets to a 2, since the combination of his SAs could make him fit in somewhere, but realistically there's always going to be a better option for any individual thing he can do. 2/10.