Played a 2 vs 2 team battle tonight. It was great! I couldnt have c3po on my team due to me splitting up all my stuff for everyone to use, so keep that in mind.

So Han rolls in for an end of round shot against a low health Vader and manages 1 damage. Han has 5 health remaining. Then Vader rolls up. I play self defense to give Vader a damage (awesome). Han plays Run for Cover to make it 1 red die for his end of round attack. We should be good. Vader rolls a 1 pip damage on red, i roll a blank on my white. Feeling good about my chances though. Vader rerolls into 2 damage, 1 surge, giving him exactly 5 damage overall and just enough to kill Han.

Han, the force does exist...

28 minutes ago, TheWelcomeMat88 said:

Played a 2 vs 2 team battle tonight. It was great! I couldnt have c3po on my team due to me splitting up all my stuff for everyone to use, so keep that in mind.

So Han rolls in for an end of round shot against a low health Vader and manages 1 damage. Han has 5 health remaining. Then Vader rolls up. I play self defense to give Vader a damage (awesome). Han plays Run for Cover to make it 1 red die for his end of round attack. We should be good. Vader rolls a 1 pip damage on red, i roll a blank on my white. Feeling good about my chances though. Vader rerolls into 2 damage, 1 surge, giving him exactly 5 damage overall and just enough to kill Han.

Han, the force does exist...

the Vader rolling his attack against Han who might have On the Lam is risky, since the Vader player would have initiative next round i would have Choked him and started with Vader next round and Choked him again

I already used on the lam earlier. Vader still hunted Han down!

1 hour ago, Darth evil said:

the Vader rolling his attack against Han who might have On the Lam is risky, since the Vader player would have initiative next round i would have Choked him and started with Vader next round and Choked him again

I had already used on the lam. Slippery target was in the deck

This is all cheeky lol. HAN is a great figure. He just makes me sad sometimes

2 hours ago, Darth evil said:

the Vader rolling his attack against Han who might have On the Lam is risky, since the Vader player would have initiative next round i would have Choked him and started with Vader next round and Choked him again

If your opponent decides to discard cards then double force choke would still leave Han alive, not a great idea imo

if I was his opponent I'd probably do the same: run Vader up and try to whack him. If Han decides to play "On the Lam" then I'll try again since I have initiative next round anyway (move -> attack)

He's my least favourite of the fixed figures, but when played right, or with some luck he could be the determining factor in some games. Vader definitely seems pretty awesome too, but being melee only does hamper him a little against a good player. I'm currently in love with Chewbacca, so we'll see how long that affair lasts. I think IG-88 is the best fixed figure. Of all of the fixed figures, I think he's the most overpowered. I don't think they took enough away from him, and just added good things.

21 minutes ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

I think IG-88 is the best fixed figure

For now......... Boba and RGC are coming.......

19 minutes ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

He's my least favourite of the fixed figures, but when played right, or with some luck he could be the determining factor in some games. Vader definitely seems pretty awesome too, but being melee only does hamper him a little against a good player. I'm currently in love with Chewbacca, so we'll see how long that affair lasts. I think IG-88 is the best fixed figure. Of all of the fixed figures, I think he's the most overpowered. I don't think they took enough away from him, and just added good things.

Sometimes you cant avoid Vader though. With two officers, urgency, force rush, dark energy, and fleet footed, even the best players cant always hide. Or if you super hide your folks you get in no shots. Its easy to account for a force rush for exampke, but other ones too? Gets tough imo.

IG spikes highest with blaze but melts to Vader, and if chewie rolls well he can wreck IG. Chewie is swingy with no rerolls though.

8 hours ago, ricope said:

If your opponent decides to discard cards then double force choke would still leave Han alive, not a great idea imo

if I was his opponent I'd probably do the same: run Vader up and try to whack him. If Han decides to play "On the Lam" then I'll try again since I have initiative next round anyway (move -> attack)

I agree especially because i had MHD so i could have run up to heal Han and stop palps tempt from killing him. I had already on the lamed this game.

3 minutes ago, ImperialOfficer said:

For now......... Boba and RGC are coming.......

I would agree. They're already playable in my opinion, but not for people that want no-brain lists. Yes, they're expensive in the current game, but with some savvy and a little luck, they can win you a few games. When they get fixed, you'll definitely see them dominate.

4 minutes ago, TheWelcomeMat88 said:

Sometimes you cant avoid Vader though. With two officers, urgency, force rush, dark energy, and fleet footed, even the best players cant always hide. Or if you super hide your folks you get in no shots. Its easy to account for a force rush for exampke, but other ones too? Gets tough imo.

IG spikes highest with blaze but melts to Vader, and if chewie rolls well he can wreck IG. Chewie is swingy with no rerolls though.

That's a very accurate assessment. I do dig Chewy's free slam though. Even when he's stunned, he can hurt someone. I once cleared a stun, moved, and slammed an officer to death right after I played "pickpocket". Seems thematic to me no? Although I'm sure he didn't take any care in stealing the VPs. Probably just ripped the Officers arm off that was holding the VPs.

35 minutes ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

I would agree. They're already playable in my opinion, but not for people that want no-brain lists. Yes, they're expensive in the current game, but with some savvy and a little luck, they can win you a few games. When they get fixed, you'll definitely see them dominate.

I guess I don't see how Boba can contribute his part to a winning list for Mercs. He only attacks once per round -- and Mandalorian Tactics needs a turn full of movement/positioning to be properly effective. Outside of Hunter cards, Boba's Blue/Green/Yellow is not that great for outputting damage, even with his surge abilities. (Jedi Luke at least gets two attacks per round of BGY.) Speed 6 and his defensive abilities ensures that, if you play Boba correctly, your opponent isn't going to score Boba's 13 points before time runs out. But a decent player is just going to rush the rest of your army and control objectives so that your opponent doesn't NEED Boba's points.

I'll admit that I'm not 100% confident in my assessment with Boba. Last time I played him was because of Skirmish Fix Document reasons, and not using his base stats.

RGC is a bit different story. He can get an extra attack when one of his nearby allies is defeated. With his attack dice abilities, he actually can hit like a truck. And now that the skirmish game is tilting back towards getting melee characters involved, there'll soon be more reasons to play him. I still think he needs to be fixed (no surprise coming from That Guy With The Google Document of Skirmish Fixes) but he seems more viable than Boba.

I think Vader proved pretty early this season that he's a dominant force that you can't just "avoid". The end of round mini activation and the use of officers makes him pretty hard to play around.

11 minutes ago, cnemmick said:

I guess I don't see how Boba can contribute his part to a winning list for Mercs. He only attacks once per round -- and Mandalorian Tactics needs a turn full of movement/positioning to be properly effective. Outside of Hunter cards, Boba's Blue/Green/Yellow is not that great for outputting damage, even with his surge abilities. (Jedi Luke at least gets two attacks per round of BGY.) Speed 6 and his defensive abilities ensures that, if you play Boba correctly, your opponent isn't going to score Boba's 13 points before time runs out. But a decent player is just going to rush the rest of your army and control objectives so that your opponent doesn't NEED Boba's points.

I'll admit that I'm not 100% confident in my assessment with Boba. Last time I played him was because of Skirmish Fix Document reasons, and not using his base stats.

RGC is a bit different story. He can get an extra attack when one of his nearby allies is defeated. With his attack dice abilities, he actually can hit like a truck. And now that the skirmish game is tilting back towards getting melee characters involved, there'll soon be more reasons to play him. I still think he needs to be fixed (no surprise coming from That Guy With The Google Document of Skirmish Fixes) but he seems more viable than Boba.

I can agree with all of that. However, I would never play Boba without Jabba. He'll make sure he's focused and can give him that extra attack ("Order Hit") if needed in the game (both if you manage to draw "To the Limit"). I would never use "Mandalorian Tactics" anyway. It's too situational. Assassinate is much better to spend the 3 points on. It's also crazy how effective "Prey on the Weak" is on him. Yes, again it's another point, but man does it ever help him with his limited number of attacks.

RGC with Emperor is insanely good. Like I eluded to before, people want to win (which is cool) so they avoid the figures that "cost too much". Really you can make them work.

7 minutes ago, ThatJakeGuy said:

I think Vader proved pretty early this season that he's a dominant force that you can't just "avoid". The end of round mini activation and the use of officers makes him pretty hard to play around.

Vader is insanely good for sure. I think to take him down you really need hunters or a reliable way to stun. The latter is tougher than it sounds.

1 hour ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

Vader is insanely good for sure. I think to take him down you really need hunters or a reliable way to stun. The latter is tougher than it sounds.

Yup. Funny thing is, I had Lando, Jyn, and Chewie, but he was running unshakable and the way it worked out my Jyn wasnt able to stun him when he activated so he could do his thang.

Han couldn't ever get his Hyperdrive working either, sometimes he disappoints, he also has bad taste in friends

14 minutes ago, buckero0 said:

Han couldn't ever get his Hyperdrive working either, sometimes he disappoints, he also has bad taste in friends

What do you mean, Lando is running a reputable business!

Chewie is my favorite outta the fix bunch. I'm becoming a bigger fan of auto Debts Repaid with every game because of the effect it has on decision making. The free Slam is awesome to finish figures big or small. He can still tank pretty well despite losing dodges.

Han is probably the most frustrating to me. He's very finesse and his fix didn't help with that. The 3PO sitting/smugglers box still limits his mobility. Good players play around the end of round shot not to mention it leaves him in LoS for next round. And he's still too reliant on CCs for his defense. Players aren't scared of Han when they can cripple or even kill him in one activation. I would've loved to have Return Fire replaced with an ability called "Fast on the Draw" which lets Han shoot BEFORE the enemy attacks. Would deter the opponent more if their figure could get fried before they attacked and possibly limits the amount of incoming damage. Oh well. Han is solidified in his role.

I haven't played or faced a lot of Vader to have a solid opinion. The couple times I ran him, I always rolled snake eyes with the dodges or evades even with the reroll. He melted just as fast as Han in my hands. I was admittedly playing more aggressively with him, but rolling the lowest possible defense every time sure doesn't help. There's a reason I've never joined the dark side. Haha!

Boba is only slightly lacking in the damage department. His defense and mobility are excellent. The problem with a Boba fix though is he will still be outclassed by IG-88. The only thing going for Boba will be his Mobile trait. Otherwise, Iggy is just as fast, more flexible with his dice, has a great health pool with a built-in dodge, and Blaze of Glory is arguably the best CC next to SoS. Iggy really is overpowered imo.

RGC just needs a cost reduction and he'll see plenty of table time. Guy is a monster. My nitpick with the RGC is he's basically been a faster Vader in the past. He's a bit different now with Hater Vader running around, so I'm curious to see what FFG does with him.

9 minutes ago, The Archangel said:

Chewie is my favorite outta the fix bunch. I'm becoming a bigger fan of auto Debts Repaid with every game because of the effect it has on decision making. The free Slam is awesome to finish figures big or small. He can still tank pretty well despite losing dodges.

The look on their faces when they forget about it and kill your other figure? Priceless.

Me: "Ya, I'll go ahead and re-activate Chewy then. And I'll go ahead and give him a focus. (followed by a slow)...Yaaaaa"

7 minutes ago, NeverBetTheFett said:

The look on their faces when they forget about it and kill your other figure? Priceless.

Me: "Ya, I'll go ahead and re-activate Chewy then. And I'll go ahead and give him a focus. (followed by a slow)...Yaaaaa"

Yes! I'm always thinking, "I dare you to kill that Alliance Smug. Aaaannnnd, thank you! I'll go ahead and annihilate that figure you thought was safe from Chewie now." The "Yaaaaa!" is pretty much mandatory when this happens.

1 hour ago, The Archangel said:

Han is probably the most frustrating to me. He's very finesse and his fix didn't help with that. The 3PO sitting/smugglers box still limits his mobility. Good players play around the end of round shot not to mention it leaves him in LoS for next round. And he's still too reliant on CCs for his defense. Players aren't scared of Han when they can cripple or even kill him in one activation. I would've loved to have Return Fire replaced with an ability called "Fast on the Draw" which lets Han shoot BEFORE the enemy attacks. Would deter the opponent more if their figure could get fried before they attacked and possibly limits the amount of incoming damage. Oh well. Han is solidified in his role.

My experience has been quite the opposite. I've played a lot of Han since HotE came out, running him in both Regionals I attended. Han has been an absolute work horse for me. With his re-roll on the attack, he dishes out consistent solid damage, and if focused high damage. Return fire can be played around for sure, but so what. If you aren't going to attack my heavy (probably heaviest) hitter, good. I'll get 2 attack per round out of him. I generally run a 7-8 activation list so he's generally in the last 1-2 activations of a round. His ability to access smuggler cards makes him even better (yes Chewie gets those as well haha). His defense is rough, but I find he's still a 2-3 attacks to kill figure (my Han has never been 1 shot.....12+ damage might make me flip a table haha). That said, his range makes being by 3PO pretty easy, but even with out that, cards like Brace for Impact and Stealth Tactics are huge boosts for him.

I absolutely love Han, my problem with him is that there isn't a viable 5-7 pt rebel smuggler to complete a list. Lando doesn't cut it for me (sorry Zion's Finest), as I want a figure not dependent on focus or command cards like he is. While I like Jyn a lot, she struggles outside of the box, and is also near dependent on focus/CCs.

i killed him again in both games my opponent an i played tonight practicing for our Regional this weekend, i seem to have an uncany ability to reroll a defence die into a 3 block. I even used my end round attack to smack Han, then he shot back i added a White die because of Stealth tactics, rerolled into a dodge :), then took his end round attack for something like 4 dmg. Next round i took initiative, and sent Han packing with Force Choke and Force Surge.He is now looking at replacing Han in his list, i think Chewie would fit in nicely.

Han can be great, IF your positioning is perfect. He needs a lot of skill. But a really good player can make him work wonders ...

Vader is great. But Imperials just lack good support. Chopper, Gideon, 3PO, Hera ... they are staples for a reason. The empire has nothing like that. And having played 9act, 4x4 and Stormtroopers for quite a long time, I never thought, I'd ever say that, but the empire lacks strong troops, that play well with Vader. The only good imperial troops are eSentries, but they are to expensive to fit 2 units in a Vader list. I'd always prefer eWeequays or eRangers over any imperial troops.

IG really lacks a reroll. I can't say, how often I rolled a 1 damage on a red die and wished I had a reroll. But he is part of one of the two strong factions right now, so that compensates for his lack of a reroll.

Still waiting for the Boba fix!