This weeks cards!

Deployment Cards - Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker

Command Cards- Planning, Fleet Footed

Also here are the links to our previous WSS threads

Week 1 - Stormtrooper, Gideon Argus - Urgency, To the Limit

https://community.fa...gy-1/?p=2063998

Week 2 - Nexu - Take Intiative, Take Cover

https://community.fa...gy-2/?p=2076973

Week 3 - Probe Droid, Fenn Signis - Recover, Rally

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/204822-weekly-skirmish-strategy-3/?p=2089137

Darth Vader: 18 points, 16 health, 4 movement that can be 1 place on the board, 9 attack dice over three turns, melee, reroll defense

6 eStormTroopers (a good baseline since its a profile that shows up for both imperials and rebels [Gideon]): 18 points, 30 health, 4 movement that can be 6 places on the board, 36 attack dice over three turns, ranged, reroll attack

I think Vader is about as good as one unit of eStormtroopers, so you're paying a 9 point tax to play Star Wars. Not really worth looking at more: throw him in the trash.

Grade:F

Now lets look at his son, Luke:

10 points, 10 health +1 built in armor... lets call it 16 health since he can regain, 5 movement, 9 dice over three turns, ranged, Targeting computer utility

3 Gideons:

9 points, 15 health, 4 movement, but can be in 3 places at once, 18 dice over three turns, ranged. Focus utility

I think luke is more durable than 3 Gideons, better at the "staying alive" objective, but he doesn't hit as hard as the Gideons. I think Focus wins more games than rerolls, but worth keeping around. Not really an auto-include, but a worthy centerpiece for Johnny the combo player.

Grade: B

Planning: more cards is great! lets you draw more useful cards.

Grade: A

Fleet Footed: a move that doesn't cost an action? useful! only 1 movement, only playable during your activation, and a whole command card? less useful.

C+

Wow, I couldn't disagree with that assessment more.

Vader might "only" have 18 health to 2x eStormtroopers 30, but (a) two black dice defence means that very often he won't take any damage at all from an attack that might wound or finish off a trooper, and (b) that's 18 health that all has to go before he loses effectiveness. It's true that it's sometimes useful to be in more than one place at once... but it's also sometimes useful to concentrate on a particular location, e.g. when trying to hold an objective, or even just when trying not to block line of sight to a single target. You completely ignore choking and Brutality, not to mention synergy with rOfficers or eOfficers, and given that for a long while the meta was basically "use Vader if you don't have the models/cards for 4x4", your suggestion to throw him in the trash just seems misguided. Have you ever actually played against him?

Comparing Luke to something you can't actually take (three Gideons) is pointless. Indeed, consider that Luke and Gideon synergise really well together (focussed Luke FTW), and that Luke synergises with everything else nearby (it's not just a Targeting Computer for himself, but for everyone). You can build a whole list around him - or the two of them together, for that matter. Incidentally, adding up the total number of dice across multiple attacks isn't actually very meaningful in isolation. To give an extreme example, 9x 1-dice attacks might easily do nothing at all; but a single 9-dice attack, if there were such a thing, would be guaranteed to be devastating against a single target. So, Luke attacking three times could easily do as much or more damage as three Gideons (again... no such thing) attacking three times each, despite rolling half as many dice in total - because his opponent will get one third as many defence dice. I realise that your grade of B for Luke is hardly a condemnation, but it's still an underestimate of his worth IMO, and the reasoning behind it is facile.

I'd look at it from the point of view that Luke is fast, tough (extra block, 1/6 dodges, healing), does a lot of damage, has good surge abilities and an alternate melee attack when Pierce is needed, and benefits everyone around him. Then there's Son of Skywalker, which lets him do all that twice in the same turn. Well worth 10 points and the 3 point Command Card.

Planning is an OK card. It does let you get more Command Cards into your hand, but you give up one such card to the role of simply drawing more cards, so there's an opportunity cost. Much more importantly, it also costs an action to use; granted, many Leaders (e.g. Gideon or rOfficers) might not have better options at various stages of the game, but you need to have that Leader alive and with no more important actions to take, otherwise it's a waste. (If Gideon needs to focus someone and move someone in the turn you drew Planning, which is very possible, Planning becomes a dud card). So, yes, it's a good card - it gets more Command cards into your hand (very occasionally a poisoned chalice, e.g. when playing a Trando strain list, not that that should put anyone off) but comes with a cost: you effectively stun your own Leader. Useful sometimes, for sure, but needs more qualification than just "great".

I agree with your assessment of Fleet Footed more, to be fair. It's situationally useful (e.g. when you really need to move exactly one square and perform two non-move actions) but those situations don't seem to occur very often and, as you say, it's an entire Command card for that one occasional situation. I don't think I've ever taken it, I've certainly never missed not having it, and I don't imagine I ever shall.

I'd look at it from the point of view that Luke is fast, tough (extra block, 1/6 dodges, healing), does a lot of damage, has good surge abilities and an alternate melee attack when Pierce is needed, and benefits everyone around him. Then there's Son of Skywalker, which lets him do all that twice in the same turn. Well worth 10 points and the 3 point Command Card.

I agree, I think Luke is well worth the points. I think he's easily one of the best units in the game. His health, built in block, recover, surge for +2 damage, three dice attack, powerful melee when needed, and high speed alone make him great. Then you have the added benefit of him allowing everyone around him a reroll, giving your whole team a boost. Luke and Gideon are always auto-includes for any rebel list in my opinion.

I really like Vader, but have a hard time using him. He has the best offense and defense in the game, but his speed of 4 with no reach just makes him so hard to use, especially with the officer nerf now. If he's not dealt with he's incredible, but if you can just land a stun on him at the beginning of a round you've pretty much taken care of him.

I played Vader a lot last year (won my Regional, placed 10th at GenCon), and he was a beast. However, he needed the Officer-given movement in order to be effective. Now that the rOfficers are hindered it's a lot harder to use him.

The RGC also received a nerf, because the Royal Guards can no longer Protector him. The interesting thing is, though, that the RGC is still more effective than Vader right now, and that's pretty much entirely because of his better movement; movement is that big of a deal.

Oh, and Planning: this discussion has come up again and again. Basically, here's where I come down on it:

Planning can be useful in a Leia squad, where you can cycle through your cards quickly (especially with the help of Rebel High Command), in order to draw your big command cards more often.

Planning can be useful in a General Weiss squad because it can make Endless Reserves come up more often.

Apart from that, I think that Planning is a wasted card slot. Here's why:

1. It's one of your 15 card slots. I value my Command Deck very highly, so I want every card to be valuable.

2. It's only a net gain of 1 card. "But you draw 2 and keep them both!" Yes, and you spent 1 to do that...thus a net gain of 1. Furthermore, and this is the kicker: if you draw Planning at the end of a given round, that's another card that you didn't draw. You could have used that card (Element of Surprise, Rally, etc), but now you instead have to wait to draw it after using a Leader's action (for Planning) to do so. Unless you're in the first round of the game, you don't have time to delay using your big hitters so that your Leader can use Planning first, hoping for that important card that you need.

3. It requires an action. Because IA is a fast-paced game with a short duration (usually 3-4 rounds, but hopefully more now that the time limit is 65 minutes), each and every action you take is important. Gideon is almost always busy focusing and moving people. Leia is busy attacking (Battlefield Leadership) and moving (so that she doesn't die), so she has no time for Planning. Imperial Officers could have time for Planning, if they're sitting in the back holding a terminal...but apart from that, it's kinda huge to require an action in order to have no direct benefit on the battlefield; usually I prefer to be moving/attacking/ordering with my Officers anyway.

Yes, command cards win games. That's precisely why I don't use Planning; I want all 15 of my command cards to be effective.

Vader is just so slow. It's hard to do damage with him, let alone really use brutality. His usefulness totally depends on the mission. If it's something where you fight for control over an objective, he's a beast, if you need movement, he will just run after the action. I feel melee needs reach or at least 5 movement.

I think he's just not versatile enough. I still ask what I can do against Vader though when building a list.

Luke is good. I really like him. I think he really gets to his best with Leia.

Planning.

It's good for an imperial player. There's not that many ways to get more cards and the officer back at the terminal is usually bored.

It's a waste for mercenary lists.

While Rebels usually have Gideon sitting back, his options to order at LoS and focus at Range as well, he doesn't use that as much, also with R2D2, you should have enough card draw as well and if you include the Skirmish upgrade, there's no reason for it.

It's only netting 1 card and you basically want it on your starting hand as drawing it at the end of the round instead of the take initiative you could have used, is suboptimal as well.

Fleet Footed

I prefer this card so much to urgency. Usually one MP more is enough, it rarely needs 2 and not using an action is very helpful. Maybe it's different if you run Vader, but with ranged units, 1 extra space usually is enough. I usually play it.

Yes, Fleet Footed is fantastic. Anything that doesn't require an action is worth considering. And movement is always important in any skirmish game, including IA. Put the 2 of those together and you've got a very useful card.

Vader is just so slow. It's hard to do damage with him, let alone really use brutality. His usefulness totally depends on the mission. If it's something where you fight for control over an objective, he's a beast, if you need movement, he will just run after the action. I feel melee needs reach or at least 5 movement.

I think he's just not versatile enough. I still ask what I can do against Vader though when building a list.

I'm not sure I'd agree that he's not versatile. He's certainly very good at what he's best at, and his low movement can be mitigated. With good initial positioning and supported by Officers (regular or elite), Urgency, Fleet-Footed, Field Tactician etc. he's quite capable of getting amongst it and start smashing out Brutality. It does put all your eggs in one basket (and means he often needs support from other models or cards - Rally being another obvious must-have; Stun hurts him bad), but quite often that can work.

Sending him into the thick of things means he's going to get shot at, but he's very tough (and for the same reason, he's also an absolute bugger to shift off an objective). When talking about his two black dice earlier, I forgot that he can re-roll one of them as well! A number of times I've played against him and found that he just would not die. I'm going from memory here, but I think two black dice with one reroll average around 3.5 blocks, while (say) a green and a blue - perhaps the most common shooting attack - average only about 2.5 damage, i.e. will do nothing most of the time... he just soaks up fire from ordinary models, and has very good resistance against hero-types. I'm not sure there's much in the game that's harder to kill; Chewie, maybe, or a pair of eWookies?

Let's not forget Choke, either. Dishing out (effectively) 3 points of Damage, with no limits on range and with no chance of the victim blocking or defending against it, potentially in addition to a non-Brutality melee attack, is not to be ignored. Opponent laughing because you can't get into position to use Brutality this turn? Just say "I find your lack of faith disturbing" and guarantee to finish off that badly-wounded-but-not-yet-dead high-value enemy, or present your opponent with a simple choice between burning a precious Command card or letting a full-health Stormtrooper die.

So, he's slow, but that can be mitigated to a degree. He's also obviously expensive, which is admittedly harder to work around. Otherwise, he's excellent in melee, good at unlimited range, and superb at holding objectives. I'm not sure how much more versatility than that is expected... the only thing he doesn't really do is buff others.

He's not the best thing in the game by any means (and I personally never get on with lists relying so heavily on one model, so I hardly ever take him myself), but I completely agree with you that he's good enough that every list has to ask itself what it would do if it came up against him.