Yes, it was 2011. I remember the squads I played in the Champs for every year, and it was Solo Charge for me that year. Which means it was Ricky with his stinkin' Houjix that year too.

And it's 180dmg from each of them (6x 30dmg shots). I had to be very, VERY careful with my placement in the opening rounds of that game. And even after the UTF, it still took me a while to finish off his 3 main attackers and Bastilla. It was a very inventive squad (as is usually the case with Ricky).

i remember playing against this squad in 2011 and it was Rueben Kaller who played it, without a doubt. Him and Ben Johnson were talking to me about the decision to add the Houjix after the game because it was the 1st time i'd seen anyone run a Dejarik piece competitively. I was running a Kyp solo charge variant that never proved to be as effective as i hoped.

I think i might have spaced the force defense on the Exile at a crucial time.

Ricky may also have played it but I faced Rueben.
Also, this wasn't Alaskan Rueben of the dual uggernaughts of death fame but Missouri Rueben.

Actually, I think you're right: it was Reuben. Sorry about that. Both had "R"s in their name...yeah, that's it.... Regardless, it was a really cool squad. And deadly in certain metas. Actually, it wouldn't do badly in this meta, if not for Zam and her missiles of doom (which would nerf the Houjix pretty badly).

It's interesting what sparks lots of discussion on this thread - I certainly wasn't expecting to wake up to a page of posts about the Houjix.


Darth Malak, Dark Lord of the Sith, from Knights of the Old Republic





Hey, it's a good WOTC Sith piece. Good, not great - Malak DLotS looks amazing next to most of the other WOTC Sith efforts, and he's attained a stratospheric 8.89 rating on Bloomilk. But the best frame of reference for him is the Republic fighter/commanders in the same price range - pieces like GOWK, Grand Master Yoda, and General Skywalker, and measured up against them, Malak is the weakest of the bunch, with his lack of shooter defense. Malak does have some good offensive force power options and a high attack - Sith Rage, Stun, and Lightning 2 are all useful offensive tools and Lightsaber Duelist helps against melee, but he is relatively weak against shooters. His attack CE boost does help the Fringe usual suspects like Dash Renegade Smuggler and Jarael, who also benefit from the force renewal CE from Darth Sidious Hologram, also a fixture in most Sith squads; a decent Sith squad could look something like this:



The Sith weren't really competitive at high end tournament play before the v-sets, they just didn't have the cheap movement breakers and tempo control the premier factions enjoyed - but between them, Malak and Sidious Hologram were the best foundation a Sith squad could access. Malak DLotS is a good piece, but it feels like his time has gone; most competitive modern Sith squads tend to build around the movement breakers like Caedus Sith Lord or Revan Sith Lord, and it's hard to cram 49 points of Malak in those builds, especially when he's also weak against shooters. 7/10.

Clone Trooper, from Clone Strike





Ehh. Clone Troopers are subject to lots of boosts, since they're a Republic non-unique with Order 66, but 9 points is too much of an investment for a piece with 10 hit points, 13 defense, and no defensive abilities whatsoever. For 1 extra point, you can get an Utapau Trooper, which is identical apart from the additions of wall climber and sniper. The Clone Trooper is an iconic piece, with lots of Fett DNA, but I've never seen one on the table, 2/10.

He seems down the list a little bit - by my count Darth Malak Dark Lord of the Sith is the second best WOTC Sith unique.

Yeah, Holosid's amazing for 11 points. He's the only WOTC Sith piece I own, apart from a Sith Mutant.

Yeah, I haven't really thought that through - might lift them a little bit. I don't know if they're all that great at 6 points, given you need 52 points on Cody and Amidala to make it happen, but they might at least be playable. It'd be cool if Clone Troopers had an SA like "Safety in Numbers" - it could be something like "when this piece has at least four allies with the same name within 6 squares, when defeated it may return to the place it was defeated with a save of 11."

Elite Stormtrooper, from Rebel Storm





The Elite Stormtrooper is strictly worse that the 501 Legion Stormtrooper, which has exactly the same stat line, but with Squad Assault, Squad Firepower, rapport with Vader, and a faux-moustache. And since they both have Stormtrooper in their name, they're both eligible for the same boosts. Until there's a specific boost for Elite Stormtroopers, there's no reason to use this piece ever and it's a 1/10.

Thrawn (Mitth'raw'nuruodo), from Imperial Entanglements





Mitth'raw'nuruodo is the second version of Thrawn to be released; Grand Admiral Thrawn from Universe was already an important meta piece with his Master Tactician, Swap, Ysalamari, and CE stat bonus for non-unique followers. Upon release however, Mitt'raw'nuruodo quickly became the premier Thrawn choice - mainly because his CE gives a huge punch to Uniques like Cad Bane and Lord Vader. With the help of Admiral Ozzel for tempo control and Mas Amedda for Booming Voice, a Thrawn squad can outwait its opponent, then swap in a big attacker to put a huge dent in an opponent's key piece. On winning initiative with Master Tactician, the Thrawn player can swap the big piece to safety, then rinse and repeat. Builds with Thrawn and a big attacker have been hugely successful since Thrawn's release - making the final of GenCon in 2010, winning the NZ National tournament last year, as well as numerous Regionals. The emergence of Daala in Command of the Galaxy is the first thing to challenge the sovereignty of the Thrawns in tournament Imperial squads; it's a refreshing change after years of Mitth'raw'nuruodo dominance, and he's still 11/10 with a bullet.

Some successful Thrawn builds:

GenCon Runnerup, 2010:


Stealth and Blue


NZ Championship Winner, 2013