Tinkerer focused decks are weak to Jabba + Vinto or rider shock lances as easy ways to kill the droid

however after the new errata, you get a bit more mileage out of the droid if the opponent doesn't take it out. Rebels actually have a hard time doing this and their white dice is weak to the junks attacks. I've found 1 to be quite useful as an objective figure and the droid easily can contest any terminal early. It can follow up with some attacks, I had it net me a few points of damage on a JK Luke and did the killing blow to an eRanger while my tinkerer went to interact with objectives

On 6/27/2016 at 2:09 PM, nickv2002 said:

It's fine for the kitchen table but I would look elsewhere if you want to win even a small event.

He says to the world champ.. lol

2 minutes ago, FrogTrigger said:

He says to the world champ.. lol

Wasn't the world champ when I said it.

That is why it is even more funny

While initially I was of the thought that it is weak vs Jabba... I've been rethinking that... unless they are running an actionless way of killing it- it still takes an action. In a game with limited actions like IA is... that might be worth giving up the 1 VP.

BTW- what errata to the Junk Droid?

To be clear I'm happy that this list proved viable. It's better to be wrong about something like this than relegating the Ugs to the Skirmish no-play bin. And it's great that there are so many options for good lists instead of just 1 or 2.

Since our original discussion, the list has also been helped by some rules clarification that allow the droid to activate before & after an Ug if the Ug creates a new one (this is the errata NuSair asked about) and confirmed that the Junk Droids do count for control. My initial estimation of power level was based on the opposite in both cases.

I'm not sure this list as remains viable after Jabba's realm dropped but thumbs-up to DT for creating it into a regional-tournament winning list.

I think it's actually still potentially viable.

Only way to be sure is to play... so hop on Vassal and get some matches with me sometime!

NuSair, if you look in the Rules forum, there's a topic about the junk droid/ugnaughts where I posted a response to a rules query I had sent ages ago. They didn't answer it before Worlds, so I had to get the ruling at Worlds regarding exactly how "place" works with the junk droid.

Now, they have answered the question, and said that they will be errata'ing "Place" to "Put", which effectively triggers the "Ready the junk droid when you put it into play" rule, meaning you can use it before and after an ugnaught figure if you put a new one into play.

This makes them significantly stronger in that you can get more safe attacks, or just more attacks period if they get close enough to shoot too.

I actually don't think I want to see more people playing ugnaughts, so maybe I'll just stop talking about it there, haha.

Thanks.

LOL- I know what you mean- there was a local guy who was playing an ugnaught list right after they came out. It was a huge PITA.

I have played against the list. It's definitely viable.

Think about it this way, you'll pay 7 pts for elite Weequays for 2 two green dice attack. An elite ugnaught and regular ugnaught is 8 points and can get you 2 one green die attacks in round one before the battle begins (sending the junk droid to the opponent's deployment zone with regular then Overclock + droid's activation on elite's turn) Then depending on position, as your opponent gets closer, 3 to 4 attacks in the following rounds (especially if the elite spot welds and moves a new droid up 8). The droid is reinforceable and gives a safe way to contest terminals. If your opponent wipes it out, it is a wasted attack, which is as good as a stun, especially if the attacker had to get out of position.

I do think it's important to make sure your other points compliment the strategy and handle guys like the Rancor that can roll double defense dice.

I will say that while I'd like to see Ugs be competitive, the biggest problem pre-Jabba was that killing the droid earned you no points, but ignoring it meant you lost. It severely limited options as a player. Moving forward meant the droid would kill you faster. Hanging back, you'd lose by attrition. Ultimately you lost units before getting a glimpse of the Ugnaughts. It was not particularly rewarding or fun to play against and, moreover, it didn't feel like Imperial Assault. With the shift towards earning points for each figure killed, not earning points for the droid if you're not playing Jabba seems counter to the game's design.

That said, as ho-hum as Rancors are in a pierce heavy meta, trained Rancors would likely put Ugs out of luck. The droid has an 8% chance of 1 damage on a trained Rancor.

just noticed this and figured I should eat my crow

I spent some time misunderstanding the rules and then misreading the rules. After figuring out the actual rules in the fall, I noticed this had potential to be pretty strong, but never had the stomach to play it vs someone.

DT ate me alive several times with this on Vassal. It is terribly strong. I do think it should do fine in most local tournies still, as they are usually small and well represented by Rebels and Imps. Jabba does hurt a little bit, but its still only 1pt per droid killed and I think it still messes with getting your figures where you want them and surviving the junk droid onslaught. I think Vinto would help as well as Luke's deflection and terro's flamethrower, so there are some counters sprinkled in now

Did Vassal ever get an update with the new stuff?

Yes, both the Vassal skirmish module and campaign module are up to date with wave 8.

My worry with them now is that there's a lot of extra damage like Vinto and the Dewbacks that can be thrown around without using the attack. I'm sure they'll still work against some lists though, and particularly if Jedi Luke + eRangers gains traction then they would really struggle to spend one of their few attacks on the Droid.

There are some matchups it'll find really tough though so I'm not sure I'd want to take it to a tourney

Hi guys, just to be sure I got the rules right.

I can have only one droid deployed at any time, right? even if I have 2 or more Ughnaught.

Thank you in advance

Each player can have only one copy of each companion at play.

See FAQ for the Companion rules. If an effect would place a second copy, the companion is removed from play first.

(But the same Junk Droid activates as-if belonging to each Ugnaught Tinkerer group, and Scrap Batallion readies the Junk Droid for each Ugnaught Tinkerer group.)

I played a friendly game yesterday with the following list: 4x r Ugnaughts, 2x e Ugnaughts, Jabba, IG-88 w/ Focused on the Kill. The list I played against was Rebels with eAlliance Rangers, e Rebel Troopers, e Sabs, Gideon, C-3PO, Mak, Loku, and others that I don't remember. The Ugnaught swarm seemed really powerful, so long as I could protect them from getting dived and slaughtered (which Iggy did very well, his new skirmish upgrade is awesome and he hits like a truck at close range). I am super excited for when the droid wave arrives; Iggy is so much fun and Shared Experience seems like it was just made for Ugnaught swarms -- either they kill the droid and I reliably get multiple focused attacks with it each round (Shared Experience + Jabba), else they ignore it and I get even more attacks per round!

I really hope not to see Ugs, honestly. There are a few lists that are obvious counters (rancors), but they're overall an NPE to play against. Like, I straight up would stop playing if Ugs became a thing. Most lists have no choice but to rush the deployment zone to kill the Ugs, losing their units in the process. The alternative is to stay put and kill a droid for no points, then die to papercuts.

I think there is enough counterplay and hard/soft counters with units like the Rancor, Jabba, JK Luke, and Vinto to keep the match interesting and not a NPE. As for macro strategy diving the Ugs is one option, but if they stay safe and holed up in their deployment zone, that means you have mostly free reign of objectives. The droid can contest just 1 objective or terminal, and of course can't interact.

Bantha crushes tinker in deployment zones still

What errata are people talking about? did I miss something regarding junk droids?

The one in the next FAQ 2.3 (and reported already a long time ago in an e-mail) where Spot Weld puts the Junk Droid into play (making a new one, thus readying it and removing damage and conditions) instead of placing it (not readying it, keeping damage and conditions).

Cheers,

I missed that clarification, though I never liked the "it teleports" reasoning anyway. I've always assume that's how they worked but I don't think I've ever actually played with or against an Ugnaught so it never came up lol.

2 hours ago, frotes said:

Bantha crushes tinker in deployment zones still

Only if there isn't another Bantha.

2 hours ago, turkishvancat said:

I think there is enough counterplay and hard/soft counters with units like the Rancor, Jabba, JK Luke, and Vinto to keep the match interesting and not a NPE. As for macro strategy diving the Ugs is one option, but if they stay safe and holed up in their deployment zone, that means you have mostly free reign of objectives. The droid can contest just 1 objective or terminal, and of course can't interact.

Rancors, yes. Jabba helps. Jedi Luke, maybe, with the right draws. I mean, sure, you can take the objectives, but the closer you get to the droid, particularly with the errata, the more attacks it gets. Not focusing your attention on the Ugs will leave you no figures left to finish with. Might as well walk up a to a melee unit and say "hey, hit me twice." Or up to twelve times in this case.

I personally think if the changes to the game, in its current state of earning points per figure killed, were intended to discourage a points-denial style of play, then mass ugs are an NPE. When there is no consequence for losing a droid, no reward for killing it, and you have forced your opponent to enter your deployment zone or die (while they take massive damage to even get in range), you've taken away player choice. That's an NPE if I've ever had one.

Jabba gives 1VP for defeating the Junk Droid.