Marn or Disra can bring a Buzz Droid, but can't bring in the LIN. The LIN isn't useless in the main squad, though, even if there isn't any strafe. It's really tough on melee, too. And even versus shooters, it's at least a roadblock that has to be shot up before getting to the troopers.

Yobuck will probably see a resurgence. He's only going to take an average of 40 damage from running past the LIN and the Buzz Droid does nothing. Well worth 40dmg to run after the rest of the squad. Of course, if the LIN blocks the key door, he's out of luck, though.

There are a lot of different options available to Daala squads, which means that Daala squads can look very different from each other. I normally lean towards including Pellaeon, and I've used him in my last two games; in my game against Daman's Raxus swarm, he was a waste of 16 points - I would have been much better with four Storm Troopers instead. But in my game against Darth Moore, Pellaeon bringing in Ozzel for GARY made the game very straightforward for me. He also is great for breaking down the tanks like Zannah and GOWK with Ysalamari. There are so many possible strong options out there, which allow adjustments to different metas, that I don't think we're ever going to see the precisely optimised Snow Trooper swarm emerge in the same way as we've seen with Roll the Bones for Naboo Pilots. I think there are enough tools out there to create a Daala squad that will be strong in any specific meta, but you can't cover every meta in one single squad.

Daala does feel like a gatekeeper, at the least, from my perspective, based on the success and prevalence I've seen in New Zealand so far. If I'm taking a squad to a tournament, it's got to be able to hold its own against Daala swarms. I guess we've got FrostyCon and HamilCon (NZ 222 point tournament) coming up in a couple of weeks, so we'll see how much of a splash Daala makes there.

Daala will be the top 4 at GenCon. You heard it here first, folks!

How effective will the various Lancer squads be vs a Daala swarm? The Lancers obviously have huge range, but they can't get everything...I figure that the Lancer will need to kill at least 8 troopers (Snow or Raxus) in order to even equal its cost. Now, I realize the purpose isn't just to get points, but to eliminate the damage-dealing potential of the troopers...but still, I'm curious to know if it will be enough to make a difference. But I don't know Lancer squads very well and so that's why I'm asking.

Every single flipping place.

I don't think Daala will out-activate NPE Extreme. I guess she could. Daala will max out at 44 activations. That's just Daala, an ugnaught, and all Raxus Primes - 198pts. No other commanders or Zygerrians. Take Ozzel, and you're at 43 activations (add a 2nd ugnaught at 200 even). That's the max, which is almost certainly not the ideal build.

NPE Extreme gets to 35 activations with San Hill. From my builds, the highest number of activations I've reached with a Daala build I liked was 34 activations (no Ozzel) or 29 activations (with Ozzel).

When it comes to out activating both have tempo control even though seps have it for a point cheaper, which could mean another drone. On another note, the Imps have Grand Moff Tarkin who can allow for a slave drive, slave drive, then charge for a 36 square range charge. With theoretically more range than a lancer in a phase, it will be interesting to see how many daala squads take tarkin.

As a recap, in New Zealand, the two single day tournaments we've seen since v-set 6 have only been 100 and 150 points - point levels where you'd expect Daala squads to be sub-optimal, as I think she starts to really hit her straps and become really nasty at 200.

At the Hutt100, a build with Daala and five Elite Scout Troopers won comfortably. The only tightish game was where Daala wasn't protected properly and an attacker got to her. I don't think she's too much of an issue at 100 - maybe one of the better builds out there, but not dominant.

At 150, in HaweraCon, we saw all 3 Daala builds in the field make the top 4; two Elite Scout Trooper builds, and one Snow Trooper build. The Snow Trooper build went on to win, despite only having 9 Snow Troopers - the 200 builds can squeeze a bunch more in. I played the less optimised of the two EST builds, and I had two very easy wins against good New Republic squads (like 150-15 in 15 minutes), a loss against another Daala squad, and a loss against a well played Republic squad with some ranged defense, which gives me the ignominy of being the only Daala squad to ever lose against a non-Daala squad in a ranked/competitive game in New Zealand. I think Daala squads are fairly strong at 150, but I think it's 200 points where they really start to dominate.

In 200, the Raxus Prime Trooper squads and Snow Trooper squads hit their stride and are very nasty, and it feels like only a small number of squads can hang in with them. In my last two competitive games; I got slaughtered by Dr Daman's build with 15 Raxus, Needa, Flim, and Zygerrians, then I easily dealt with last year's NZ Champion winning Thrawn/Cad Bane/Morrigan squad with a Snow Trooper swarm. We've also seen a Daala squad win the LBB Wisconsin tournament.

Hopefully there are some counter squads out there that people will discover - I think the Raxus swarm will beat a lot of things, including all the other Daala squads, but might struggle with rock squads. I guess we'll see how FrostyCon and HamilCon go, but I think Darth O is echoing a school of thought that a few New Zealand players are feeling that the meta is looking more constrained than it has for quite a while.

^However the new veers is a GOWK counter. Although he'd have to be built into the main squad

...This turned into a gambling site so much faster than I anticipated.