What kind of Skirmish squads have people come up with? I just played my first few Skirmish matches today with the following army:

• Darth Vader (18)

• Stormtrooper (6) X2

• Elite Stormtrooper (9)

39 points

I really liked how this squad played. With two squads of Stormtroopers to go secure objectives and Vader and the Elite Troopers to run interference and annihilate threats (Vader is a BEAST!), it does very well at racking up 40 victory points very quickly.

What kinds of squads have you guys had success with?

Haven't played skirmish yet but I envisioned a Vader build like this and something with Royal Guard. Both seem really strong

I've got a Vader list I want to test that has Nexu, Trandoshan Hunters, and Stormtroopers. Comes to 40 points.

I just have a hard time running IMP and not running officers. They are just so good.

That's only 4 Deployment Cards, which means that your opponents will likely have more Deployment cards than you, which means that they'll often be able to hit you unmolested at the end of the round, and then (when they have the Initiative Token) do it again to start the next round.

Personally, I'd be inclined to drop the Elite Stormies down to Regular (2nd core set or photocopied card) to make room for a Regular Officer, or else drop one of the Regular Stormtrooper cards to make way for 2 Regular Officers.

And yeah...those Nexus are pretty vicious! Green and Red with auto-Bleed and Pounce.

One thing that might be worth trying out is running 3 Imperial officers rather than 1 group of stormtroopers (or even 4 imperial officers instead of the elite stormtroopers).

Not only will this give you more activation's, it will also give you access to their awesome movement breaking potential to get Vader into the fight better - and the imperial officers dont seem that much of a decrease in damage potential from the stormtroopers.

The mates I am playing with all come from WotC SWM (where movement breakers are king) and so they are considering it almost mandatory to include 4 imperial officers in any Imperial skirmish squad.

Been rocking out two variants of the following list. Has been absolutely fantastic:

Emperor's Chosen (Variant 1) - Imperials

• Royal Guard Champion (15)
• Royal Guard - Regular (8)
• Stormtrooper - Regular (6)
• Stormtrooper - Regular (6)
• Probe Droid - Regular (6)
• Imperial Officer - Regular (2)

Emperor's Chosen (Variant 2) - Imperials

• Royal Guard Champion (15)
• Royal Guard - Regular (8)
• Stormtrooper - Regular (6)
• Stormtrooper - Regular (6)
• Probe Droid - Elite (5)

Another fun one I just ran use the Imperials as a main list, but runs more like an elite Merc team:

Droids and Friends! - Imperial

• Temporary Alliance (1)
• IG-88 (12)
• Nexu - Elite (6)
• Stormtroopers - Elite (9)
• Probe Droid - Elite (5)
• Probe Droid - Elite (5)
• Imperial Officer - Regular (2)

Haven't had a chance to play skirmish yet, but I really want to try out IG-88. It's just lame he doesn't have a miniature yet...

@Nungunz - You and I have been running similar lists for IMPs. I've been going:

RGC

Royal Guard

Elite Stormies

Stormies

Officer

Have you been finding the Droid to be worth it? I like the Elite Stormies, they do a good job of holding down the fort even when left by themselves. The extra health/potential Damage output has been good.

Its funny, where are the Reb lists? Is Han or a Chewie worth the points. Is Daala a steal for her point value going up against Vader?

Its funny, where are the Reb lists? Is Han or a Chewie worth the points. Is Daala a steal for her point value going up against Vader?

we dont really know their command cards so running rebels I kind of feel is really limiting. We dont know the elite Trooper or Saboteur stats. I think they will just be as strong as Imperials once everything is all said and done.

@Nungunz - You and I have been running similar lists for IMPs. I've been going:

RGC

Royal Guard

Elite Stormies

Stormies

Officer

Have you been finding the Droid to be worth it? I like the Elite Stormies, they do a good job of holding down the fort even when left by themselves. The extra health/potential Damage output has been good.

Elite version, definitely. The thing is fantastic. The regular, not so much. For an extra 2 points, you get more speed, more durability (health and recovery surge), more damage, and more options with the re-roll. It's the best upgrade from regular to elite IMO.

The elite troopers are indeed very nice and I have been considering them for a third variant:

RGC

Elite Stormies

Regular Royal Guard

Elite Probe Droid

Regular Officer

One less deployment which hurts once you start loosing units, though. But I reeeaaaaaly like the elite probe droid. Extra health on the stormies has been great, one squad managed to drop Luke and Diala (with some probe droid help) and prevented Jyn from ever getting her interrupt shot in by using the Stormie Leap Frog.

Good stuff.

For rebels, I've tried the following:

Fenn

Mak

Gideon

Regular Troopers

Regular Troopers

Garkaan

Jyn

Did okay, but have been finding the troopers a bit lack-luster. They're pretty decent as a cheap pillbox. Could be great if Fenn's ability could affect more than one trooper per round. Will have to see how the Elite version measures up.

Have also seen Luke and the Sabatuers put to amazing use. Diala tends to get one hit in before dying horribly.

One thing that might be worth trying out is running 3 Imperial officers rather than 1 group of stormtroopers (or even 4 imperial officers instead of the elite stormtroopers).

Not only will this give you more activation's, it will also give you access to their awesome movement breaking potential to get Vader into the fight better - and the imperial officers dont seem that much of a decrease in damage potential from the stormtroopers.

The mates I am playing with all come from WotC SWM (where movement breakers are king) and so they are considering it almost mandatory to include 4 imperial officers in any Imperial skirmish squad.

I agree but I think being able to act 3 guys at once vs one at a time is a big reason why people go with Stormtroopers.

I agree but I think being able to act 3 guys at once vs one at a time is a big reason why people go with Stormtroopers.

Thats a good point, but the ability to out activate someone so you can get a number of 'free' activation's at the end of a round is also quite helpful if you can pull it off

My Rebel list is:

Luke

Fenn

Gideon

Jyn

Rebel Troopers

Rebel Sabotuers

Rebel High Command

It does very well, and it is quite flexible. The only mission I really hate is "Get to the ship!" because its so annoying to get near the VPs and stay there without getting cut in half. I can win, its just hard. That mission pretty heavily favors Vader/RGC/etc. and Rebels don't really have a melee monster like them. Ghaarkhan is really solid if you can keep him alive, but that can be tricky, especially since both Vader/the RGC will outclass him 1 on 1.

I honestly think that mission was poorly designed. It would have been nice if the points were spread out more or if there were some corner Objectives, so it didn't turn into "Melee list goes to town" constantly.

I have not found Diala to be worth it, but if you want you can drop Jyn/Rebel Command for her. It does make your command deck more interesting because you can take a boatload of "Force User" cards.

Luke is honestly your best hope of killing Vader if that's your thing. His Saber Strike is so silly good. I've only killed Vader once (although I rarely try to...) and that was Luke w/Focus->Saber->Gideon to Focus him again->Son of Skywalker->Luke w/Focus->Saber. Innate Pierce 3 hmm? Focus him up and boom he can be a beast. I did something like 12 damage in one round with him alone to Vader. Getting the initiative the next turn to finish him was sweet justice.

Seriously though, Rebels are fine and Vader is not OP. I think Rebels will be even better when their cards/elite chuds come out. The only model I'd say is really, really silly is the RGC. He does so much for his points its pretty crazy.

Its funny, where are the Reb lists? Is Han or a Chewie worth the points. Is Daala a steal for her point value going up against Vader?

I have yet to try Han, hes so hard to fit in. Chewy is definitely not worth the points imo. 15 is a lot. hes got a nice gun, and his push can be really mean, but speed 4 and no real way to not die 1v1 to the RGC is a pretty big drawback.

Rebels can be quite good, but they do take some practice. Their troopers are actually pretty good, but they require you to think ahead a lot. Luke may very well be the best unit in the game currently, he literally does everything if given the chance. Gideon is a really solid unit for 3 pts, and Fenn is like a more mobile E-Web that occasionally goes to town.

I have not had much success with Diala, but I definitely would not advise sending her after Vader. Unless you are really lucky on that white dice, Vader will just cut her in half. Luke/Ghaarkhan are more capable, but you have to be really careful as they are also likely to be cut in half if they don't kill him outright. Honestly its generally better to just ignore Vader.

I agree but I think being able to act 3 guys at once vs one at a time is a big reason why people go with Stormtroopers.

Thats a good point, but the ability to out activate someone so you can get a number of 'free' activation's at the end of a round is also quite helpful if you can pull it off

Yes and no. Vader does need support so if you do max out on officers

Its Vader Officerx4

That leaves you with 14 points. could go Royal guard and a set of Troopers or Two reg probes. I would much rather go with 5-6 acts but better support. With how init is setup going last is not as a big deal when it came to WOTC minis.

I do think in the future or when we all get more games in four Officers could be useful and also to note you need two cores to pull that off not sure how many are going to buy two cores for a few extra cards when in a year or so odds are it will come out in a league kit.

I find myself wanting to essentially duplicate my X-wing 'Royal Flush Gang' with a pure Royal Guard list:

I found myself looking at Royal Guard Champion and twenty-four points of guard - either six 'regulars' or four 'elites' - I'm leaning to the former because I'm not sure that the elites jump out at me as that much better - two points of health isn't that much when you bear in mind you've still got 'defender'. The extra move is nice, but 1 space every time a model goes down isn't going to trigger that often. The big thing the elites have going for them is their permenant result - which sounds good, but I'm not sure if it's worth it - I guess it depends how -dependent your opponent is...

I find myself wanting to essentially duplicate my X-wing 'Royal Flush Gang' with a pure Royal Guard list:

I found myself looking at Royal Guard Champion and twenty-four points of guard - either six 'regulars' or four 'elites' - I'm leaning to the former because I'm not sure that the elites jump out at me as that much better - two points of health isn't that much when you bear in mind you've still got 'defender'. The extra move is nice, but 1 space every time a model goes down isn't going to trigger that often. The big thing the elites have going for them is their permenant result - which sounds good, but I'm not sure if it's worth it - I guess it depends how -dependent your opponent is...

This intrigues me. The command card where you get to move all your Brawlers 1 space would be pretty brutal in this list . I will laugh so hard as you walk down corridors, they kill the guards in front, and like 3 guys get focused because of it.

I may have to try this

Edit: On second thought, this seems way too easy to focus fire down. They are fast, but I could see a ranged list just mowing you down. Only 4 deployment cards too... I might still try it

I've only played the tutorial skirmish so far, but have a proper skirmish event tomorrow night. At the moment I'm thinking of going with this:

1 * Elite E-Web

1 * E-Web

1 * Royal Guard

2 * Storm Trooper

2 * Imperial Officer

It's probably missing a tent pole figure, so may get torn through, but I figure the E-Webs with the officers for maneuverability are plenty of firepower, with the Guards and Trooper to get objectives.

I've gone up against e-webs only once before and they got exactly zero shots on me. Nothing, zilch, nada.

It's very easy to avoid them, but my opponent also didn't have an officer.

However, the e-web basically ended up neutralizing an entire section of the board once it was in position as there is no wsy in hell I'll end the acrivation in LOS.

Think of them more of a lane/map control unit than a damage dealer. Royal Guard are MUCH better at dishing out the pain.

I'd ditch an e-web and an officer for another royal guard deployment.

I'd only go with one e-web. A second doesn't seem like a good plan.

If paired with an officer, they're not bad because the officer can keep them moving. I don't think I'd ever take one without an officer to escort it.

They are superb 'area control', as noted - especially the elite version, with that automatic extra damage.

Whether two e-webs are worth it depends on whether there are two 'choke points' on the map worth dumping the points to control.

The royal guard are nice. A lone royal guard can escort a trio of stormtroopers and substantially improve their toughness thanks to his ability.

This intrigues me. The command card where you get to move all your Brawlers 1 space would be pretty brutal in this list . I will laugh so hard as you walk down corridors, they kill the guards in front, and like 3 guys get focused because of it.

I may have to try this

Edit: On second thought, this seems way too easy to focus fire down. They are fast, but I could see a ranged list just mowing you down. Only 4 deployment cards too... I might still try it

The ranged list will depend on how 'open' the map is. My first thought - a 'regular' stormtrooper force - had 6 stormtrooper squads and two officers. Not especially subtle but devastating fire if you can bring your numbers to bear, and great at nabbing every objective on the board at once.

My concern is that no matter how many stormtroopers you bring to the party, getting more than two squads into the fight in a given bit of the board at once is probably not going to happen. I figured I'd try it the other way and see how a minimised list would work.

I really need to get used to the dice; I haven't got a feel for what an average accuracy roll is on the various ranged dice, and hence how often surges will be needed to get a hit at a given range. That's the big advantage of the elite royal guard - if your opponent is relying on a result to reach you with their attack, then that automatic is ridiculously good. Plus, if wombling around in pairs, their bonus makes them hard to bring down quickly. I mean, charging an elite E-web engineer across open ground isn't going to work, but then that's high on the list of "seriously, don't do that" for anyone in this game...

I think there's a lot to be said for a pure melee list - in addition to the brawler card you mention, it means you get maximum benefit from other melee upgrades like Pummel - which is very nice on a model with reach, meaning you won't waste the second attack if you stab your initial target on blow number one.

A nice, balanced list that you can build straight of a box that I also considered is:

Elite Imperial Officer

Elite Stormtrooper (x3)

Elite E-web Engineer

Mostly agree with the above. However your list is illegal. Can only have 2 elite stormtrooper units