I tend to use Luke as an aggressive Rebel hitman. I know when I send him in against anyone but Vader and maybe a mirror-match Luke, he can usually come out on top. Of course, he usually takes a beating in the process and will not be long for this world afterwards, so I have to pick my target and time it well.

But has anyone tried to run Luke as defensively as possible? Force reflexes, dodge action (and recovering when able for more force reflexes), staying out of combat and staying in command range of his troops? I think this sets him up to be a very strong late game contender. It should also let you save some low-pip command cards for late game as you will be biding your time and daring your opponent forward.

The drawbacks

• the enemy (especially Mirror-Luke and Vader) will go unchecked from Luke, and will focus their fire on your other units.
• Dodges don't block crits, so he is still at risk even when playing defensively.

The upside:

• Luke will have a lot of health by round 5-6, and can start playing more aggressively as needed at that time.
• He will be alive (and his command cards available), and your corps units will be relatively safe from panic.
• Even if you lose some other units since they aren't targeting Luke, Luke is still there to do targeted damage on the enemy's objective defenders when it matters most.
• He is the most mobile trooper, and can cover ground quickly.

Other non-attack Luke Tactics:

• Force Push enemy units off an objective
• Pull enemy troops off an objective into melee with you mid-game. Fight them with dodge and no aim, and don't convert your surges (can you do this?? I think so!! RRG p 42). Enjoy being safe from ranged attacks while still providing your courage bonus!

1 hour ago, Big Easy said:

But has anyone tried to run Luke as defensively as possible? Force reflexes, dodge action (and recovering when able for more force reflexes), staying out of combat and staying in command    range of his troops? I think this sets him up to be a very strong late game contender. It should also let you save some low-pip command cards for late game as you will be biding your time and daring your opponent  forward    . 

I play Empire, so I don't have experience with Luke myself, but most of the rebel players I've played rush Luke in to wipe out a unit, leaving him exposed to the rest of my army, who can focus him down without incident. Sure, I lose a unit and maybe a second one gets hit hard, but then Luke is dead and not a threat. The aggressive Lukes are generally dead by round 2-3, leaving the command cards on the table. A patient, defensive Luke sounds scary, actually.

43 minutes ago, Qwrety77 said:

A patient, defensive Luke sounds scary, actually.

"I will not fight him. I am a Jedi like my father before me."

I only just Luke out to take down an AT ST even then I've got troopers and maybe an ATRT in support, anytime I have I tend to use son of Skywalker either immediately before or after he is meleeing the the ATST. So I usually soften up first with a ion shot engage with Luke, hit the AT ST 3 times using son of skywalker, so either engage late in one turn then hit with the free attack action , and then try and win prioirity next turn and but twice with the command card, most often this is enough to finish the ATST, ideally he is often less than 50% wounds, other than that I play him defensive using his 2 red to finish off any stragglers left over from my units hitting them, rather than have whole units waste their dice trying to finish them off. I

I'm not playing him leading from the read either, but I'm not piling him into combat unless I'm sure of his "relative" safety. I've lost him twice, once in the beginner game.

Edit- for those that might make the same mistake I did, remember Luke is a trooper when issuing orders which means you can get a dodge token when issued an order with the pip 2 command card (name escapes me), I played several times before I realised I could do that.

My general rule is: Luke should be dead on round 7 and no earlier.

He is someone you want coming in on Rounds 5 or 6, wiping out a unit or two, and tying up your opponents remaining units (like his father) in order for the rest of your troops to claim the objective. At that point it doesn’t matter if he’s overextended, because the game will end before he dies (or before it matters that he’s gone). For me that means Luke is often hiding behind LOS blocking terrain, dodging and “wasting actions” in the early rounds, so that I can set up his final push.

The one game I’ve lost my opponent knew to gun for him and forced him out into the open too early (although I made plenty of other mistakes that cost me that game, that certainly didn’t help).

6 hours ago, WAC47 said:

My general rule is: Luke should be dead on round 7 and no earlier.

He is someone you want coming in on Rounds 5 or 6, wiping out a unit or two, and tying up your opponents remaining units (like his father) in order for the rest of your troops to claim the objective. At that point it doesn’t matter if he’s overextended, because the game will end before he dies (or before it matters that he’s gone). For me that means Luke is often hiding behind LOS blocking terrain, dodging and “wasting actions” in the early rounds, so that I can set up his final push.

The one game I’ve lost my opponent knew to gun for him and forced him out into the open too early (although I made plenty of other mistakes that cost me that game, that certainly didn’t help).

This is exactly what I try to avoid. I actually try to bait Luke out of cover by putting a squad within charging range of him as a juicy target, then focus him down if I can. Luke is troublesome in the late game, like Vader. I like Veers better than Vader though, so anything that attracts Luke is probably going to die.