Haven't had a chance to play the map yet so take all this with a grain of salt, can't wait to get my hands on this map but wanted to get some strategy discussion going. I made some Line of Sight (LOS) images to go along with this post but they are not uploading right now. So without further ado here are my first impressions:
This map is a lot more symmetrical than
Anchorhead Bar
but the deployment zones are different enough to give each side different strategic advantages.
For clarity I'm dividing up this map into 4 areas: Deployment zones, the Throne Room, the back halls, and the rancor pit.
Terminals : The most glaring difference between the two sides is that the red's terminal is only 3 spaces away from the deployment zone compared to 4 for blue. 3 spaces to a terminal is a big boost to R2-D2 who can move 3 and scomp on turn 1, or 3P0 who can focus a figure and hold the terminal for you. You have to move 9 spaces from the blue deployment zone to get line of sight to a figure holding the red terminal compared to 8 spaces for red to get LOS to blue, both spaces are pretty safe, but red is slightly more secluded. Advantage Red.
Deployment Zones
:
The deployment zones are fairly similar, each has easy access to the throne room and the side hallways. Red's zone is a little easier to see into because it's more square than Blue's, but not majorly so. I'd say Blue has a slight advantage if you're trying to snipe into your opponents deployment zone. Both sides have a nice little cove next to where you deploy, the Red zone in particular has a very defensible side niche.
Throne room : This is the most important room in the map, controlling the quickest route to your opponent's deployment zone and the rancor pit. The first thing you should notice for the throne room is the two lines of impassable terrain on the Red side next to the stairs. these two lines might not seem like much, but they give Blue a slight advantage moving out from your deployment zone. They also slow down Red if you are trying to get into the side hallways from your throne room door, or up onto Jabba's throne itself. Ranged figures have a big advantage on this tile because of all the impassable terrain. Snipers can sit back in the deployment zones and have clean shots to the whole room. I also have to give a slight mention to figures that can push. I don't think pushing people into the Rancor pit is going to be very common, because the room is big enough to play around the pit, but when it does happen it'll be fun. If you can push a figure like Luke into the pit, you are basically taking him out of the game for the next 2 rounds.
Back Hallways : This seems like the most interesting part of the map to me. All the walls and tight corners make this area a nightmare for large non-mobile figures like Captain Terro and Dewback Riders. Small melee units like Obi-wan and Gamorian guards should do well here, lots of spaces to hide to sneak up on your opponents without getting sniped. The fastest way to get into the back hallways from the deployment zones is from the throne room, but if you're playing against snipers, you may want to keep your deployment door closed and run the long way. If you're playing against a Bantha list, you're also going to want to go this route, it's going to be a lot easier to avoid the beast with all these twists and turns. Only problem with keeping your door closed is that you cede control of two of the three objectives to your opponent for the "New Ownership" mission.
Rancor Pit : I have heard a lot of people talking about rushing into the Rancor Pit, but I don't see any reason you'd want to rush to split up your forces by pushing them down there. I can see putting one alliance smuggler or some other cheap objective getter down there early to try to control the objectives, but any attackers you're probably going to want to keep in the other two areas for the first round or two, maybe using the rancor pit as an escape route when you're hurt. Anything that falls into the pit is going to take a round or two to get back to the action. Seems like encounters in this map could develop 2 separate fights, one in the pit and one in the throne room. You're going to want to win the fight in the throne room.
Objectives
: For Spoils of Crime, 2 victory points for carrying a crate at the cost of 2 speed does not seem worth it at all. I'm going to guess that this is going to be another "ignore the objectives" type of mission. This is not a good mission for lists built around gaining VPs from sources other than kills. For New Ownership the objectives will definitely come into play. 4VPs each is too much to let your opponents control even 2. The objective in the back hallways seems like the preferable one to control as it's pretty secure, and it's in the middle of the action at the same time. As I said before you're not going to want to dedicate too much of your force in contesting the Rancor Pit objective, or your opponent will kill your army that you leave behind. Use a cheap objective grabber or hide your wounded figures down there, or ignore this one completely. The Throne Room objective is very exposed. You'll want to wait till the end of the round to try to contest it, so as to not leave too many figures vulnerable to fire.
Good/Bad Figures:
GOOD:
R2 is decent on this map, especially on the red side.
Sniper units like HK's, Rangers, and Pirates should be good for holding down the very important throne room and threatening your opponent's deployment zone.
Mobile figures like Jet troopers and elite Nexus.
Figures that can control large areas like the Rancor.
regular alliance smuggler can open the door and pop down into the rancor pit
Figures that want to be in the action in Round 1 like the Bantha
BAD:
I'd say terro because of the side hallways, but I think he'll actually be good for controlling the throne room, so it depends on the mission.
the junk droid can't go down the rancor hole without discarding a card, although the red side has a nice place to hide your tinkerers.
4 speed melee figures because it's going to be hard to get into the action until round 2, whereas snipers will have good options in round 1.
Conclusions
: This seems like a very even match between the two deployment zones. "New Ownership" seems like the more interesting mission, forcing players to push their figures into compromising positions or concede 4 VP objectives. You'll want a list that can contest the throne room to win this one. "Spoils of Crime" could play a lot more slowly, letting both players sit back and wait for the command cards they want.
Mobile
figures should enjoy this map, getting easy access to shortcuts all over the map. Melee figures should be good in the back hallways because there are lots of ways to sneak up on your opponent, although they will have a hard time in the throne room because of all the impassable terrain.
Those are my first impressions! Cant wait to try out this map, but in the meantime I'm excited to get everyone else's take on this map!
-Brett
Edited by brettpkelly