To add to that, playtesters can only think of and test so many combos and matchups. It's not until the product is out to the masses that people are going to try every possible combo.

add the SA: Honest This character may not be bribed. (or whatever that wording would be I'm tired.)

That one is arguably not even broken.

I'm really interested to see what becomes of the Zygerrians through play testing. I honestly don't think they are the primary issue when it comes to Daala. The biggest difference between the Elite Scouts and the Raxus (or Snowtrooper) variants is the sheer number of activations and spamming 4 point grunts who have too high an attack, too high of damage output (individually not collectively) and have a movement breaker for each one.

I'm not saying the Zyggerian can't be abused because it can, even outside a Daala squad but I don't think it's required.

If through play testing it's determined that Daala isn't entirely broken w/o the Zyggerian then she may not need a whole lot of tinkering.

Actually, I was originally thinking of running Scouts too (4 Elites, the Sc Officer, 2-3 normal Scout, and 2 Raxus)...it had deep strike capability and also the ability to handle Gerry's Naboo Deathshot squad (via superstealth). But then I realized that a Raxus can be driven multiple times to base the Elite Scout, and then proceed to pulverize it with free attacks, so I abandoned that idea. I don't like the low attack of Raxus troopers (I prefer reliability over spamming weak-ish attacks), so I had settled on a Snowtrooper build.


However, I also had a secret weapon, which I never had a chance to playtest. I ran it against myself the other night though, and it didn't pan out as well as I’d hoped. Here it is:

--Screw you, Daala!--
48 IG-88A
43 IG-88, Assassin Droid
39 HK-47, Assassin Droid
27 Lobot
19 BX Commando Droid Spotter
15 Veteran Ugnaught
9 Mouse Droid x3
(200pts. 9 activations)

The Spotter’s Energy Shield makes the Troopers kill themselves half of the time. And Iggy's 28 Def in cover means that Raxus troopers need 15s to hit, at best (bring in a Caamasi via Lobot to stand in front of Iggy). Furthermore, Iggy has Shields 1, to reduce the damage that does get through. And Disruptive means that it's not going to work to base any of these pieces in order to negate Energy Shield.

However, here's what happens with the math:
15 Snowtroopers, needing 12s to hit (+16 vs 28) will hit 45% of the time. So let's say 7 hits. Half of those shots will kill a Trooper, which means 3 or 4 dead Troopers--yay!--but also 3 or 4 shots (40dmg) will get through, which means that Iggy dies (either this round or right away next round)--boo!--which results in a points trade of 43-16~. And these calculations don't include the change that happens when Squad Assault/Firepower starts to kick in, so that the Snowtroopers need 8s to hit and do 50dmg (where 3 hits will kill Iggy outright). In order for the squad to work, Iggy needs to last at least 2 good rounds, so that he can make attacks and also have troopers suicide themselves on him. I considered adding a BG, but it would only absorb 2 shots at most. Furthermore, once the Spotter dies (he'll die next after Iggy does) then it's just a shooting gallery and the droids can't possibly win that matchup. I had considered getting lots of mice to put beside the Spotter, but in that case the Snowtroopers will just shoot the mouse that's in front of the Spotter, and once that mouse is dead, it's open season on the Spotter. The Snowtroopers’ high attack and damage output is what does the job.

Now, one part of the matchup that I didn’t get into yet is the fact that any Trooper who shows his face to take a shot is also available for return fire next round. That means that up to 5 troopers will die right away the next round from Iggy, IggyA, and HK-47 (depending on how many had to show their faces in the first volley). Will that be enough to turn the tide? Who knows? Maybe the answer is to use a Gamorrean BG to absorb 2 attacks, which will hopefully allow Iggy to last into that crucial 2nd round. I originally had the Veteran Ug in there to repair Iggy, but that was assuming that Iggy wouldn’t take as much damage as he will.

I'm confident that it could reliably beat a Raxus swarm; their best chance would be to base their target at +9/20 (Prideful), which is not great odds when all the droids have +4 Def. I'd still like to play a full test, but I'm not confident that it can reliably do the job vs Snowtroopers. And a counter squad by definition must be able to reliably beat the squad in question or else it's not a true counter. So yes, theoretically it works, part of the time.

Additionally, part of my hesitation is that this squad has no movement breakers whatsoever (other than the Spotter's Intuition), so it'll be very difficult to handle lots of other squads, and it’ll also be very difficult to get 3pt wins with this squad. It’s not like people will come out and say, “Hi Iggy, please shoot me 4x at +19 for 120dmg, and have your friends finish the job afterward for 60dmg (80 w Spotter’s combined fire).” Lol

Anyway, now that I know I won’t need this squad, I figured I might as well share it for discussion. What are your thoughts?

Dr Daman's Raxus squad gets up to +17 with Needa's reroll, but that's a risky reroll if shooting at 28def. A Raxus would charge into Disruptive at +9/30dmg. Still, I think your squad would beat the Raxus pretty regularly.

Gamorrean BG only absorbs one Snowtrooper hit anyway if they have Squad Firepower/Charging+10/Prideful/CunningOpp.

I really like this idea, just like the buzz droid sorts out the lancer gong show. Come out with something like this. Maybe even make it 11 points so he can't be stolen by bribery. And have:

Special Report: (replaces turn, enemy characters with slave driver lose slave driver for the rest of the round)

Opposition (As long as this character is in play, an enemy named Daala has her commander effect suppressed)

Once Charging Fire is initiated, you don't lose it from Disruptive.

I take it Thon wasn't able to get close enough for a repulse? Although I guess he wouldn't catch more than 4 or 5 anyway. Probably wouldn't matter.

Would it have been possible for the OR squad to win this? If it was impossible, is it just a bad matchup? Paper (swarm) usually beats rock (big beats). Thon Song is not a tank squad, but with fewer than 10 activations I'd say it's closer to rock than anything else.

With the repulse, I have Pellaeon, and he doesn't really have a way of killing Pellaeon unless I do something silly. And Repulse replaces turn, so he's going to sit and take fire for nearly a whole turn in order to pull it off. It was hard for my opponent to find a role for Thon - probably he did do the right thing by using him as melee interference for the shooters.

I don't think the OR can win that matchup. I agree that the trooper swarm should take the big beat squad most of the time (although Bastila in there changes it a little). But the margin/ease of victory is the concern for me. I think he maybe took down about 6-7 troopers, so I still had another 11-12 running around at the end.




Playing against Thrawn swap in my tournament game last week, I was comfortable dropping GARY for Ozzel - I'd be happy to give up Squad Firepower too, if I still have Prideful, for some matchups. Access to Ozzel is really helpful.

I agree that it wasn't necessarily the best test, as it's a tough matchup from the get go. But if we all run tests it's a good thing - it'd be good to see lots more!