I often use Salacious in my base squad, especially if I'm running high activations where I can outactivate and base enemies to distract them. He's also the best choice for triggering impulsive abilities, since your opponent will want to kill him.

Dressellian Commando, from Universe





The Dressellian Commando isn't too bad - as a Rebel Commando it can pick up twin from Lieutenant Page and Cunning + 20 from General Crix Madine, although it's a shame that it can't benefit from Twin and Loner at the same time.

But like almost every other Rebel Commando, the Dressellian's main issue is that its overshadowed by the uber-ness of the 16 point Elite Rebel Commando, which has similar stats, and while it doesn't have deadeye and loner, it does have Override and built in Twin, as well as Ion Gun. So the Dressellian is barely ever going to see play when it's competing against the ERC for game time. 2/10.

The Dressellian is interesting, because it only really deserves a 2 - you're basically never going to choose it over the ERC, but at the same time, it could easily be a really good piece with a boost or two. If it could get opportunist, and have access to twin and loner at the same time, I think it would be useful.

Luke Skywalker, Galactic Hero, from Galactic Heroes





Apart from the 10 point Force Spirit, the WOTC New Republic Lukes were extremely underwhelming - Grand Master Luke was too pricey at 115 points, and the 74 points Jedi Master is one of the worst points/value pieces in the game. So it's great that this version brings Luke into the spotlight in the New Republic, as an extremely good fighter/commander. Giving melee pieces Greater Mobile is always a good thing, while this Luke also boosts Fringe pieces with a force rating with an extra 2 attack. While he's very effective as a cleanup piece with Ataru Style Mastery, it also makes Luke's Lightsaber Throw 3 a major threat - Ganner Rhysode's levitation can set him up for a big throw, and it's important to remember that while he needs an enemy within 6 to trigger Ataru, he can target any enemy in line of sight for the throw.

Luke won GenCon in his first year out, with Ricky Heck's build Professor Luke's Art Class:


He also enjoyed major success in the 2013 Regional season with Universe Kyle Katarn in this type of build:


With this level of success, he's a Tier 1 piece, which is great, as it's excellent to see a Luke Skywalker leading the New Republic, and opening up some new builds for them. He's not an auto-include for the faction in the same way as General Dodonna or Ganner Rhysode, but he's a really tough piece, and a great iteration of Luke as a New Republic commander and strong fighter. The v-set design team did a great job on this piece, 10/10.

I also took Luke's Heroes to the top 8 at GenCon last year, finishing 6th with a quarterfinal loss to Professor Luke's Art Class. If we hadn't been paired against each other, he could have potentially made up half of the top 4 at GenCon.

Agen Kolar, from Clone Strike





Infamously, there are a bunch of Jedi in Clone Strike with only a single attack, despite costing in the 20s and 30s. If Agen Kolar had double attack, he'd be a solid mini, even by today's standards, since he's packing good stats, 120 hit points, block, and deflect, but only getting 20 damage out of him per round is too low. While the v-sets have provided one solution, with Master Yoda's CE providing an extra attack for single attack Jedi, it's still an expensive trick that's probably not quite tournament ready. Apparently, this version was supposed to be Eeth Koth, which explains why eerily similar Agen Kolars were released in two consecutive sets. With 120 hit points, and good stats, Agen Kolar is vaguely respectable for 29 points, but even with Master Yoda's (or Commander Ahsoka's) help for an extra attack, he's still not especially powerful either. 4/10.

I've now covered 79 of the 790 WOTC pieces - that's 10%. Can I give myself some kind of badge?

As an update to Kota's Elite Militia, I reckon they should have got Splash - they have nail guns which must spray stuff all over the place - and it would have made them into a reasonably good piece. Anyway:

Republic Commando - Sev, from Champions of the Force





Someone posted something very intelligent about Delta Squad last week... let's see if I can find it.....



I mentioned in the Boss review that Boss is arguably the best of the Delta Squad pieces (while giving him a 2), but the title does realistically belong to Sev. He's too weaksauce to build an entire squad around, but if you want a throw-in accurate shooter, he's not too bad - although with only 9 attack he's going to struggle to hit anything big, and with Deadeye he doesn't synergise very well with Captain Rex's Greater Mobile Attack CE, which is one of the best things Clones have access to. I've met people who still swear by Sev, but the game's moved on, and he's firmly a Tier 3 piece nowadays. 4/10.

Update - with the new Elites, old school Sev is a decent backup attacker with accurate, 7/10.

Cade Skywalker, Bounty Hunter, from Legacy of the Force





Cade may have been useful for a short while, but he looks very overpriced compared to the Greater Mobile Attack double/twin turrets like Dash, Rex, and Cad Bane who appeared on his heels. With double, twin, and a high attack, along with Splash, he packs some power, but with no built in mobility, he's reliant on Commander Effects to make him on par with the turrets who appeared after him. He does have more hit points than any of them, and splash is very useful, but between his relatively high cost and his lack of GMA, he's barely ever going to be the Fringe shooter of choice. He can pick up GMA either from Luke Galactic Hero/Cin Dralling or from the Evade/TBSV combination, but given he's so expensive already, it's hard to build a competitive squad around. He's not a bad piece, but he simply got priced out of the market by the Fringe shooters that followed him. 5/10.

*******SPOILERS AHEAD*********
He might be better with the Wolf Sazen. Double twin backlash and +4 to his own splash saves sounds like a nice boost to me.

Darth Talon, Sith Assassin, from Galactic Heroes





I think the most on the money opinion on this piece is:



For a 28 point piece, she has an intimidatingly long list of force powers and special abilities, which can freak people out.



But when you break it down, she can't really access use all her abilities without some serious support. She has a couple of abilities that rely on Darth Krayt being in a squad - unless we get a new Krayt down the line this isn't optimal; the WOTC Krayt is too expensive to be a tournament level piece, while Talon doesn't synergise very well with crazy transfer essence Krayt. She has some very good force powers, but to get the most out of them she really needs a source of extra force points, like Sidious Hologram or Exar Kun Dark Force Spirit. And Ataru Style Mastery is great, but she'll generally need some help from a movement breaker like Caedus, Revan, or Backlash from Wyrrlok to pull it off. Her stats and hit points are solid for a 28 point piece, but certainly not off the charts, and stealth and access to force cloak mean that she has great ranged defense.

Despite my quibbling above, Talon is a really strong piece, and the Dash Rendar Renegade Smuggler comparison is a good one; she's a mid-cost follower who can be bolstered in all sorts of ways, and pick up all sorts of commander effects, and like Dash's opportunist, she has a situational ability in Ataru Style Mastery that can seriously boost her damage.

I was really looking forward to using her when Galactic Heroes came out. On my first game with her, I was playing against a Caedus squad on Simulation Deck. Before Talon could do anything, Caedus Sith Battle Manipulated her into a pit. She failed her pit save, she failed her reroll, and she was gone. One day I may forgive her and play her again, but you can all enjoy her in the meantime; she is a nice option for a third or fourth string attacker in a Sith squad, 9/10.

Kyp Durron, from Imperial Entanglements





Kyp Durron is an interesting design, with his 4 force points, no conventional force renewal, and force push 5. Instead of force renewal, Kyp has Impulsive Savagery and Impulsive Force Renewal. All of this makes it hard to use Force Push 5, which is a really strong force power - unless you set him up with a Varactyl Wrangler, he's going to have to base the opponent's pieces and end up Force Pushing himself. But he can access force renewal with Luke Skywalker Force Spirit, with Anakin Solo Galactic Hero, or get the Force Spirit from the upcoming Wolf Sazen, so he can Force Push 5 without the annoyance of Impulsive Savagery. Ganner Rhysode's levitation is also essential to set up Force Push 5, but you should be packing him in every New Republic build anyway.

While Force Push 5 is his most interesting ability, since it can make a big dent in an opponent's squad, he also has Lightsaber Assault. His attack of +10 is a limitation, but since I've had my 80hp Yobuck cleaned out by Kyp in a tournament I wouldn't overlook it. Impulsive Savagery also opens up synergies with Celeste Morne, who can make his Lightsaber Assaults deadly, and turn Savagery into a perk, not a disadvantage.

So Kyp's a strong piece, with some interesting possibilities, but he does face some competition in his price range. Often Anakin Solo is the preferred piece, because Unleash the Force can be so devastating, while Jaden Korr offers the option of Force Push 5 without the trouble of Savagery or a force point provider. But Kyp's still a tournament-capable and flavourful piece for 26 points, and earns an 8/10.