Yo.

Well, in six weeks time, we will be hosting the First Ever New Zealand SWM Tournament! If that in itself was not cool enough, we are going beyond the Save11 borders and introducing players who have been playing for year to the modern game - namely Vsets! However, as you can imagine, in to their LGS walks some weirdo from the Hutt telling them that there's 200 new characters to the game that are legal despite the fact that WotC stopped making the game two years ago and that they've got 6 weeks to understand this! Hmmm.

So, my quest is to give them the best info I can to bring them up to speed. Obviously they are not going to be able to learn everything in that time, nor try out the myriad of permeatations that the Vsets are presenting, but I can try to tell them some highlights, what to run or look for, how factions have changed etc.

That is where you fine fellows come in. I'd like 10 volunteers to take a faction each and write a quick 'this is what has happen to the faction since the introduction of the Vsets' which includes the top 5-6 pieces that have changed it, so that I can circulate this to our extra-Save11 players. Who wants to help? It doesn't have to be a novel! Just what to look out for. How you write it is up to your!

With much appreciation,
kez(zamachine)

OK - let's keep going in order.

Sith

Like the Old Republic, the Sith were not competitive at 200 points before the v-sets, and they've had to be rebuilt from the ground up. They've received a lot of great new pieces in the v-sets, with cheaper and more sturdy attackers replacing the obsolete 80 point Sith Lords that Wizards of the Coast produced.

A typical Sith squad uses a few of these medium to large attackers, often backed up by one of the force pieces (Darth Sidious Hologram or Exar Kun Dark Force Spirit), and with fringe support (Lobot from the WOTC Universe set is a good idea, as he allows you to customise your Fringe support. The uniques the Sith have received in the v-sets are almost universally very good, so it's hard to pick favourites, but some key ones are:
- Darth Revan, Sith Lord - his self-swap and master tactician allow him to control a game.
- Darth Zannah - a very difficult to kill piece
- Darth Bandon - a good fighter anyway for 27 points, with a great commander effect, giving ellies +10 damage against adjacent enemies
- Atton 'Jaq' Rand - an Old Republic piece with Sith affinity, generally the best option for a shooter for most Sith squads. It's popular to give him Sith rage and force renewal with....
- Exar Kun, Dark Force Spirit - can steal force points, his Dark Aura makes the opposing team have to roll 4 higher on saves, he gives out Sith Rage and Force Renewal to an ally.

In squad-building, there are a few different directions you can go with Sith - these are some:

i) A Darth Revan Sith Lord squad - based around Darth Revan, Sith Lord, and his initiative control and his hit and run style (where he can run 12 squares, hit a piece for 60 damage then swap himself out for an Ugnaught, or run 18 squares then swap himself out for another scary attacker like Darth Maul, Sith Infiltrator or Lord Kaan):
Example squad:--'JAQ'ed up!-- by TimmerB246
62 Darth Revan, Sith Lord
36 Atton "Jaq" Rand
36 Lord Kaan
27 Lobot
16 Grand Admiral Rulf Yage
14 Exar Kun, Dark Force Spirit
6 Mouse Droid x2
3 Rodian Brute


ii) A Sith Sorcery squad - based around Naga Sadow, Marka Ragnos, or Freedon Nadd's ability to mass activate enemy pieces, paired with Exar Kun Dark Force Spirit's Dark Aura, which requires pieces to make a save of 15.
Example squad:
--Sith Sorcery Greatness-- by Billiv15
64 Naga Sadow
62 Darth Revan, Sith Lord
27 Darth Bandon
27 Lobot
14 Exar Kun, Dark Force Spirit
6 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2



iii) A Darth Zannah squad - based around Darth Zannah's ability to take a lot of damage without dying. In the below squad she's joined by bunch of other hard to kill pieces like Darth Traya and The Huntress.
Example squad:
--Meh-- by Weeks
48 Darth Zannah
38 The Huntress
36 Atton "Jaq" Rand
36 Darth Traya
14 Exar Kun, Dark Force Spirit
7 Ugnaught Droid Destroyer
6 Mouse Droid x2
15 Ugnaught Demolitionist x5

Imperials


Weir and Pelleaon

In case you didn't read my above post about Rebels, the jist is OR is king. Yes Old Republic. Yes the Faction that only had one Unique for two years. Yes and then they got a bunch of Uniques in KotoR and they still really sucked. Now then, because what makes OR king is what is called a Force Ability, Force Immune characters can ignore it. Their cool Force Ability shuts off CE's and gives +10 Damage to everyone, even Droids. Anyway characters with Ysalmiri can thumb their noses at it and carry on business as usual. Luckily for the Empire Admiral Pelleon has Ysalmiri so you can still use the good Thrawn, or you can use the old Thrawn and do what is called the Double Bubble. Also Pelleaon lets you change up your squad at the last second, so you can use Ozzel when it won't hose you or any of the other Imperial Commanders who you would probably wish you had in your squad depending on the match up.
Now back to the Force Bubble. Who to keep in this protective Force bubble you might ask? The answer would be General Weir.
Remember Storm Commandos? They were called the Swiss Army knife because Rob just filled up their stat card with SAs, and they only cost 17 Points. Remember how with a Czerka Scientist you could get them to do upwards of 120 Damage except they died too fast. Well General Weir gives them boardwide Twin and Sheilds 2, like the Destroyer Droid. He also gives Speeder Bikes Twin Attack but there is only one freak in Chicago who can make that work so just stick with the Commandos. Weir also has Pilot, Twin Attack, Doctrine of Fear, Stealth and Opportunist 20.

One other vset mini of note for the Imperials is GARY. Not exactly like your Uncle Gary, his name is Grand Admiral Rulf Yage but around here he just goes by GARY. GARY gives Pilot and Trooper allies Cunning Attack and costs 16 points. Yeah that misprint on Darth Vader Legacy of the Force's card means he can now get Cunning Attack as well as Opportunist from Thrawn, so the high school co-op student that Wizards of the Coast had doing the SWM proofreading back in 2007 can sleep easy at long last. Don't even think that this means you must be able to combine GARY, Vader LotF, Weir, Speeder Bike and Dash Rendar RS, and Thrawn into a super squad because the points don't work. GARY also has Cunning 20.

This is gold. R5... you could extrapolate on the Rebel-Imperial options a touch more, I think.... but all good!

Posts updated.

Separatists

The Separatists have only changed subtly since the introduction of the v-sets - living Sep squads still aren't widely played, despite some strong additions like Sora Bulq and Darth Maul, Sith Infiltrator, and previous staples like Whorm Loathsom, General Grievous DAC, Lancer, and IG-86 are still right among the key pieces. IMO, the most notable additions to the faction are:

Poggle The Lesser - makes Geonosian Drones only cost 2 points, and gives them self-destruct.

A-Series Assassin Droid - accurate shot and advantageous attack makes these a valid alternative to the ubiquitous IG-86 in a droid squad.

Do you not think the Red Squadron Aces are good? Like lots of other CE reliant squads, they're going to struggle against Disruptive/Bastila, but I think they're one of the better swarm squads out there.

Yeah that's the pretty much the Rebel Vset equivalent of Master Tactician, MotF2, Master Speed, LS Assault, Cunning Attack and Self Swap or 6 attacks at +19 for 30 from 12 squares with Parry and Deflect or Quad Death shots for 130 damage etc. If you want to hang your hat on the Ace wet noodle go ahead. If that squad comes out on top it will definitely be the pilot not the Pilots.

You know, I could just drive twenty minutes and tell them this in person, but:

Mandalorians

Two important pieces the Mandalorians got in Destiny of the Force were hard counters for their previous bad matchups:
Jaster Mereel - gives followers death shots, plus squad flexibility through his 30 points of Mandalorian reinforcements.
Mandalorian Counter-Intelligence Officer - suppresses tempo control (eg Dodonna, Ozzel, San Hill etc)

They've also got a couple of really nice, in-faction door control pieces:
Mandalorian Gunsmith - override, on a good attacker with mobile and cunning
Death Watch Saboteur - satchel charge on a cloaked attacker

Also of note:
Mandalorian Scientist - is a good alternative to the Mandalorian Captain, giving allies within 6 Blaster Upgrade, so that their damage output isn't limited by Bastila's Advanced Battle Meditation and by disruptive.

They've received a bunch of more flavourful, specialised commanders recently, that might have potential: Pre Vizsla (who works nicely with the Death Watch Saboteurs) and Cassus Fett (who has won a Regional this year)

The three squads that have placed in Regionals so far this year are all quite different, so there isn't really a clear pattern of what's best yet, but they do all utilise Cloaked shooters (Mandalorian Scouts or Death Watch Saboteurs) with twin attack (from the Mandalorian Captain, a Czerka Scientist, or a Mandalorian Scientist).

Yuuzhan Vong

Before the v-sets, there were only 16 Vong pieces; as a comparison there were the same number of different Luke Skywalkers in the Wizard of the Coast sets. As a result, the Yuuzhan Vong needed a lot of help, and they have done well out of the v-sets, turning from one of the lesser factions to a reasonable option for competitive play, especially if lots of people play Jedi-based squads. Their biggest single gain, and an auto-include for almost every competitive Yuuzhan Vong squad now, is the Yammosk.

The Yammosk does two things:
i) Special abilities that grant bonuses to Yuuzhan Vong within 6 squares or commander effects normally limited to 6 squares of characters in your squad have unlimited range. This is very helpful, as it means that characters giving out Special Abilities, like the Praetorite Vong Priest, can be kept in safety, rather than having to be within 6 squares of the recipient, while it also means they don't have to use Mouse Droids, which always felt a bit weird given the Vong's canonical hatred of droids.
ii) It steals a commander effect from the enemy squad - so if the other player is running Rieekan, all your Vong get Evade. Nasty....

So the Yammosk is the big game-changer for the Vong, but they've also got a bunch of other cool stuff:
- Yuuzhan Vong Hunter on Quednak - a cloaked, galloping attacker
- Yuuzhan Vong Worker - a cheap piece with Stealth, useful in "Nom Bomb" squads with Nom Anor
- Prefect Da'Gara - gives the Vong an in-faction door control option with Firejelly, and gives squad customization options with Reinforcements 20.

The Vong have got a bunch of useful other non-uniques that have potential too; the Yun-Yammka Fanatic has charging assault and twin, the Chazrach is a bargain at 10 points, and the Yuuzhan Vong Slayer can access evade through the Klatooinian Captain. Also of note are a couple of scary new uniques; Warmaster Nas Choka can take down almost any Jedi in one activation if he starts adjacent to them, while Shedao Shai is tough to kill for 30 points with Crab Armor 6 and Embrace of Pain.

Several squads based around straight-up fighters like Jedi Hunters have done well in Regionals so far this year, but this squad, based around Nom Anor and Yuuzhan Vong Workers, went all the way and won the 2012 Missouri Regional:
--Jake K's 2011 squad-- by TimmerB123
54 Cad Bane
34 Nom Anor
27 Lobot
19 Yomin Carr
15 Yammosk War Coordinator
12 Advance Scout x2
36 Yuuzhan Vong Worker x9
3 Ugnaught Demolitionist
(200pts. 17 activations)