EDIT: I'm going to just report in on games I play as the Republic faction.

For our sixth season here, we're running an Escalation League, which allows Clone Wars folks to gradually play their forces instead of having to rush into buying 800 points immediately. We've gained a few new players, and a lot of us are switching to Clone Wars armies, now. We're up to 24 players for this season.

First round follows the Imperial Discipline format for 500 points, and this is the first time I've played it. Last night, I played a friendly game to practice both the ID rules and my new Clone army, as well as newly-released Rex. These are the details.

Here is my list ( Rex and the Boys ) 497

• Clone Captain Rex (90+20=110)
  • Aggressive Tactics; Electrobinoculars; Recon Intel
• (Squad Blue) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+27=79)
  • Z6; Recon Intel
• (Squad Red) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+27=79)
  • Z6; Recon Intel
• (Squad Green) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+30=82)
  • DC-15
• (Squad Orange) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+30=82)
  • DC-15
• (Squad Yellow) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+13=65)
  • Phase I Clone Trooper

Deployment

I was aware of keeping my clones all within Range 1 of one another, and, with Rex's Scouting Party ability, I knew I had to deploy him last. So I deployed, effectively, in a simple gun line, with the DC-15 squads on the outside of either flank, the two Z6s in the center, using Scout 1 to move forward a bit, and then, the last squad dead center, as they were going to be my Fire Support/Token farm.

Rex deployed in the center, and with Scout 2, moved up further allowing the two Z6 squads to move forward as well, putting Red Squad firmly behind a barricade on the left flank, and Blue Squad behind a large container that fully concealed them on the center right, allowing them to pop out and fire later.

My opponent played Leia, two squads of Tauntauns, one on each far flank, and a few Rebel Troopers with only the extra troopers, no heavies. The objective was Breakthrough.

Round One

I knew I could have perfect activation control with a simple Standing Orders, and I wanted to let my opponent go first, so that he would start coming to me, I had hoped, especially with the aggressive Tauntauns. So I ordered Rex, who gained a Surge token from AT. My opponent played Push and ordered both Tauntauns. However, he drew from his bag and moved a Rebel Trooper unit up behind a barricade and fired on the squad I had used with Scouting Party to position behind a barricade (now within Range 3). I didn't lose anyone; thank you red dice .

My first move was to send Rex forward, and he hid in base contact of a building near the dead center of the map. He gained an aim token from Tactical 1, and I used his second action to Spotter Yellow Squad. I planned to have that squad move into the center of the formation, within range 1 of all others.

The Tauntauns rode up on my left, with a double move and fire. I lost only one mini from Yellow Squad; thank you red dice . I resisted the urge to activate Red Squad, and went with Yellow, which could not remove its suppression, so with only one action, I went with aim, giving them a second token. My opponent moved another Rebel Trooper squad up and fired at Red Squad, giving them a second suppression, only; thank you red dice .

Now the time was right for Red to activate, since the left flank for the Rebels was totally activated. I failed to roll off the suppression, so with only one action, I just fired into the Tauntauns, which had 2 dodge, but no cover. This was an incredibly lucky salvo, as I rolled 4 natural crits on the white dice, and using Rex's surge token, his aim token, and an aim token from Yellow Squad, I totaled 8 hits, which went down to 6 after dodge. I eliminated one of the minis in that squad as he rolled 2 saves.

I used Orange Squad to fire into the remaining Tauntaun on the left, and removed that as well, as he made no saves, and I shared an aim token from Yellow Squad. Seeing his Tauntauns and two squads of troopers coming to my right, I moved Green Squad in toward the center taking a dodge token, and Blue Squad did not take the bait, and stayed put. He took a shot at Rex, but I dodged with Green Squad's token, and saved the rest.

Round Two

Since the fight was going to be brutal on the right flank, now, I used We Are Not Programmed, to give Rex Inspire 2, two surge tokens, and recovery when he activated, in case he was shot multiple times and had a lot of suppression. With AT, I had 3 surge tokens on Rex, and one on every trooper Squad, except Orange and Red, I think. Because I expected my opponent to play Coordinated Bombardment, with Fog of War lifted, I wanted all my troops to effectively have surge on defense, with this card plus AT. However, he surprised me, and did not play it, opting instead for Ambush, which he issued to his Tauntauns.

Being quite aggressive, he double moved them in and used Ram against Yellow Squad, hoping to knock me down an activation. But, I saved the commander! I immediately used Yellow's activation to just move out of melee, so I could start the shooting gallery on the Tauntauns. He moved a trooper squad up behind a large crate and shot into Green Squad, which didn’t lose a man; thank you red dice.

Now I needed to take out the Tauntauns and I chose to activate Green Squad. I did not roll off their suppression, so with one action, I thought it was a good opportunity to try out the Fire Support, thinking an overwhelming number of dice could compensate for the lack of the aim token, plus, the DC-15 has Critical 1. Blue Squad used Fire Support, giving me a full Z6 squad and the full DC-15 squad right into the Tauntauns, to take one of the minis down. Rex finished the other off with his activation, using Gunslinger to shoot the Tauntauns and the trooper squad that had moved up on my right.

Round Three

By now, we deemed the game was really decided, but wanted to keep practicing. Here I used Call Me Captain, planning to march forward and give Rex the chance to Fire Support without flipping his token. My opponent played Bombardment and won the roll. He took only a couple minis aways with it (thank you red dice), and then, I was up.

As I had moved Rex out from cover of the building in the last round, he had two squads in his range on that flank. I activated my troopers and Rex used Fire Support on all of them, and I eliminated both squads on the right. Finally, as a squad on the left moved forward, Rex was in range of them as well, and with a DC-15 squad, took them down. Ultimately, this meant there was little to do for the remaining turns. I did finally lose Yellow Squad, though, on this turn, the only activation I lost.

I did not write up a report for my first League game, a 500 point, Imperial Discipline game, so I will summarize in brief here. I actually played my 2nd League game today, so I will get to that one, also.

League Game One (W; 1-0)

I was playing "Rex and the Boys" as mentioned above. My opponent played Krennic, Shoretroopers with a Med Droid, a Mortar, Boba Fett, and a unit of Death Troopers.

Our objective was King of the Hill, and in deployment, I ran my guys up with Scouting Party very near to the objective. Boba was on my right flank. The Mortar was positioned in his center.

Turn One was obviously Annihilation Looms for him, and that set the stage for the battle. I could not roll off a single suppression, so every squad was basically limited to one action for the entire game. It was awful. However, my guys saved well. I scored 5 points to his 3 in the first scoring round (Turn 3). I put 1 wound on Boba, which was healed by the med droid, but, and I am not exaggerating or being dramatic, he saved every single hit. I took no minis off the board and did not wound Boba or Krennic further.

In the final round, I used my token sharing to great effect, with all of my units piled it within range 1 of the objective, which was on a large circular building in the center. He had to come around the building to attack me, so his Mortar could do nothing late game, and I dodged with every unit, allowing me to share them around. Rex fell, allowing him to take the Bounty. However, I suffered no further losses, and scored 10 points to his 10 in the final round (Turn 5). I won 15-14, thanks to my aggressiveness in getting all but 1 of my units within range of the objective on the first scoring round.

Can't believe I won a game in which I inflicted one (1) wound in total, and that one single wound was healed by the droid. It was baffling.

League Game Two (L; 1-1)

• Obi-wan Kenobi (175+34=209)
  • Force Reflexes; Force Guidance; Aggressive Tactics; Tenacity
• (Squad Blue) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+25=77)
  • Z6
• (Squad Red) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+25=77)
  • Z6
• (Squad Green) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+30=82)
  • DC-15
• (Squad Orange) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+30=82)
  • DC-15
• (Squad Yellow) Phase I Clone Troopers (52+21=73)
  • Phase I Clone Trooper; Electrobinoculars

Our league is Escalating this year, so this round was a 600-point game, but still followed Imperial Discipline rules, and still played on a 3x3 battlefield. I switched to Obi-wan as my commander, because I wanted to give him a spin. He was equipped with Force Reflexes and Force Guidance, as well as Aggressive Tactics and Tenacity. The rest of my army was the same, except without the Recon Intel upgrades, and I put the Electrobinoculars on Squad Yellow to increase their token-sharing/giving potential. My opponent played Darth Vader, two units of Shoretroopers, a Dewback, and E-Web, and a Sniper Team. Our objective was Breakthrough.

Turn One

I played Standing Orders and he played Assault. He ran the Dewback forward with Spur, and moved his Shoretroopers ahead as well. Snipers took refuge in the 2nd story of a building, and the E-Web plodded forward just a bit. Vader moved up on my left flank. I sent Squad Green to my right flank, hoping to full a larger flanking maneuver with them, Obi-wan, and another squad, which would get me out of his sniper fire, and further from Vader's heading. It would also swing me to the side of all his troops.

Two of my squads managed to kill 2 Shoretroopers in one squad, and 1 Shoretrooper in the other squad.

Turn Two

He played New Ways to Motivate Them and I played Knowledge and Defense. Obi-wan gained 2 Dodge tokens. ( I now realize that the actions taken by the Dewback on this turn were against the rules, as he performed two attack actions.) The Dewback came in and with New Ways to Motivate Them and Spur, he got within range 1 of Squad Orange. He used Relentless and the flamethrower to hit them (10 dice), but Obi-wan used Guardian to save some wounds, but Squad Orange was down to the leader and the DC-15. Next, he moved into melee with Squad Blue and melee'd them, again with Relentless. ( This was the attack that he could technically not perform, but I blitzed this rule. ) He didn't hit them as hard, but I still lost some minis.

This distracted me from my plan to flank with Obi-wan and others, and I charged Obi-wan in and killed the Dewback. Squad Green continued their flank, though, and hit his E-Web for a few wounds. Vader continued plodding forward.

Turn Three

I played General Kenobi to his Master of Evil, I knew that card was coming from him, as Vader had reached range 2 of all but two of my units, Orange and Green. He won the roll, so he went first, and all of my guys received 3 suppression. Obi-wan at this point, was up to 4.

Vader came in and charged a unit and took 3 guys down. He then Force Pushed another unit into melee with him, blocking him in so Obi-wan couldn't get in there, so I used an activation to simply Disengage one of the squads in melee with Vader. This allowed Obi-wan to get in there and he hit Vader pretty well. Squad Orange managed to run up the right flank with Squad Green, as I now saw them as my only play to win the objective race. One of my remaining Z6 squads took down the E-Web, which was clutch, as it opened that right flank. I was pretty scared of moving far up that way with the E-Web lurking.

Turn Four

I played Hello There! to his Implacable, but I only manage to gain 1 Dodge because killing the E-Web meant I only had 1 enemy unit within range 1-2 of Obi-wan. But, I could at least tie down Vader some more, I thought to get my guys out of there, possibly. Squad Green completed their flank by moving ahead and into a spot where a 3-man unit of Shoretroopers no longer had any cover, and I wiped them out. Orange continued moving up behind them, and there was a 2-man unit of Shoretroopers lurking nearby on this flank, we were converging around my Downed AT-ST terrain piece.

It was Obi-wan's time to fall, as he succumbed to Vader, who was on 6 wounds. He had an amazing defense roll with Vader, and he kept my Yellow and Blue squad tied down back there. It would come down to whether I could get Orange and Green squads into his deployment zone on the final turn. He sneakily moved his Shores into base contact with Squad Orange to tie me down.

Turn Five

We both played Ambush, and Green Squad was nominated as my commander. I wanted to make a run for the objective with Green, since they had more bodies. He put Vader into my deployment zone, and I had to use a double move to get into his with Green. He tried to melee Orange to death, but they lived, and I tried to kill the Shores, which could free me up for a Speed 2 move into the zone. Unfortunately I did not kill the Shores, so I could not move Orange.

This meant that I lost the game on points, since he had a lot of points left on the battlefield, thanks to Vader.

TRAMPLED

Played a non-league game last night, the first time fielding 800 points for the Republic. I was able to finally buy a sixth Clone Trooper unit last night, as well, which will eliminate the need to play the BARC when building at 800 points. This game was ugly. Not only was I playing the best player in our league, who has won, I think, all but one of our 5 seasons so far, it showed that honestly, Republic has no answer for Tauntauns that are skillfully commanded.

(794)

• Obi-Wan Kenobi (175 + 24 = 199)
  • Force Reflexes (10), Saber Throw (5), Strict Orders (5), Tenacity (4)
• Clone Captain Rex (90 + 12 = 102)
  • Aggressive Tactics (10), Recon Intel (2)

• (Squad Blue) Phase I Clone Troopers (52 + 25 = 77)
  • Z-6 Phase I Trooper (25)
• (Squad Red) Phase I Clone Troopers (52 + 25 = 77)
  • Z-6 Phase I Trooper (25)
• (Squad Green) Phase I Clone Troopers (52 + 30 = 82)
  • DC-15 Phase I Trooper (30)
• (Squad Orange) Phase I Clone Troopers (52 + 30 = 82)
  • DC-15 Phase I Trooper (30)
• (Squad Yellow) Phase I Clone Troopers (52 + 30 = 82)
  • DC-15 Phase I Trooper (30)
• BARC Speeder (75 + 18 = 93)
  • BARC Twin Laser Gunner (18)

My opponent played Leia (no upgrades), Sabine (Recon Intel, Darksaber, Cord thing), 3x Tauntauns (HQ Uplink, Comms Jammer, no upgrades), and 3x Sniper Strike Team (no upgrades), and 3x Rebel Troopers (no upgrades).

We played Advanced Positions, Recover the Supplies, and Clear Conditions. I was blue player, and this setup was a horrible mistake by me, but I don't think any objective would've helped me, or been better than what we got.

I deployed Obi-wan and all my DC-15 troopers on the long edge of my deployment zone. Rex, both Z6 squads, and the BARC deployed on the short edge. Rex used Scouting Party to move one Z6 squad forward, and one DC-15 squad forward.

Round One

Legacy of Mandalore v We Are Not Programmed

I moved Obi-wan into base contact with the center building, which could put him within striking distance of the center box. Green quad moved forward to the center of my half of the battlefield, and took a standby, as I knew the Tauntauns would have to get within Range 2 of me, as they all were pushing toward his center of the battlefield. Squad Yellow took a risk and moved forward and fired at a Strike Team in the open. I killed only 1 of them. He returned fire and I lost two troopers from Yellow. Orange moved around a large container where one of my boxes was positioned, and Rex moved straight ahead. Squad Red moved into light cover and fired but I don't think they did any damage, cannot recall. The BARC also sped toward the center and put two wounds on Sabine, who by now, had grabbed the box. Squad Blue claimed by other box, behind a building in the back corner.

Round Two

No Time for Sorrows v Knowledge and Defense

I probably should've played Hello There! But, I would have received the same number of tokens, anyway, he moved Sabine with No Time for Sorrows, and two Tauntauns, which encircled her, making it impossible for Obi-wan to charge Sabine. So, that basically was the play that sealed the deal, as I could not chase her down. The BARC got some shots on her, but only put 1 wound down. She ran further away, and the Tauntauns charged into my lines and began whittling away Red Squad, but Obi-wan used a lot of Guardian successfully.

Round Three

Coordinated Bombardment v Hello There

Obi-wan went first, and sliced some Tauntauns, but couldn't kill a unit. He at least killed one mini in the unit. The BARC continued chasing Sabine, but it hit the Resilience threshhold and was on its last legs. The Tauntauns continued doing their stupid shenanigans, moving, displacing, and charging everyone, so I could effectively not get away from them and my guys collapsed.

Round Four

Call Me Captain v Somebody Has to Save Our Skins

I used Obi-wan to charge into a Tauntaun unit and with Rex's fire support, rolled 7 hits, but of course, the Tauntauns didn't die (they have way too much going for them ). The rest of this round unfolded like the others. The Tauntauns just ran wild over my guys, but Rex did get to eliminate one, as it killed a unit of my troopers, and were exposed to fire, finally. After the BARC speeder went down, and I lost two more units, I conceded as I wanted to get home and eat dinner LOL.

Played round 3 of this season today, and achieved victory against the Rebels! Our season escalated from 500 points up to 800 points in Round 4. So, this round was limited to 700 points.

League Match Three (W; 2-1)

(696/700)

• Obi-Wan Kenobi
  • Saber Throw
  • Force Reflexes
  • Tenacity
• Clone Captain Rex
  • Aggressive Tactics
  • Recon Intel
• Phase I Clone Troopers
  • Z-6 Phase I Trooper
• Phase I Clone Troopers
  • Z-6 Phase I Trooper)
• Phase I Clone Troopers
  • DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• Phase I Clone Troopers
  • DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• Phase I Clone Troopers
  • DC-15 Phase I Trooper

My opponent played Luke with Force Reflexes, Aggressive Tactics, and Force Push. He also had the T-47, which he just got for Christmas, equipped with Wedge, the Ground Buzzer, and Linked Targeting Array. He had 2 Sniper Strike Teams, 2 Rebel Trooper squads with Z-6 and Recon Intel, and 2 more Rebel Trooper squads with Z-6.

Our cards were: Long March, Intercept the Transmissions, and Clear Conditions. The center objective was on top of a small building in the center as we had measured it out to have that building right over the center of the battlefield. The objective on my side was out in the open, while his was right next to another building.

Deployment

I deployed pretty evenly across the front line of my zone, with Obi-wan on the left along with 3 DC-15 trooper squads (Blue, Red, and Yellow). Green (Z-6) and Orange (DC-15) deployed on the right behind a house, while Pink (DC-15) deployed in the dead center. I deployed Rex last and scouted ahead, bringing along Orange and Yellow as my Scouting Party.

He deployed a sniper team on top of a building in his deployment zone, the same building where his objective was located. The other sniper team was deployed inside a tall building on my left flank. Luke and the other troopers deployed mostly on my right flank, and the T-47 was deployed to come along my left, toward the center.

ROUND ONE

Knowledge and Defense v. Push

My orders went to Obi-wan, Rex, and Yellow Squad. He issued orders to a Sniper team and to the T-47. I was anticipating the T-47 coming in and bombarding my troops, so I wanted to get shots on it as quickly as possible. He activated the Sniper team first and took one guy out in Yellow Squad. I moved Green and Orange forward on the right flank and put some fire down on Rebel Troopers there, who were in the trees. I made an aggressive push with Rex to the center, hiding behind the center building. Our forces generally began to converge on opposite sides of that building.

He realized the high building on my right flank where he deployed one Sniper team was actually out of their max range 5 (we forgot the errata on the first Sniper shot, which was also out of range 5, but I didn't want to put a trooper mini back on the board after several activations). So that Sniper team vacated that position and moved forward behind some crates.

The T-47 finally came forward and put fire down on Yellow squad, but I used Obi-wan's Guardian, taking 2 wounds, (he rolled 2 blanks). Red Squad fired on the T-47 and managed to hit it for 2 wounds.

ROUND TWO

Call Me Captain v. Covering Fire

My plan to take down the T-47 was now revealed. Rex could Fire Support every clone unit and we could pump enough fire into it to hopefully bring it down, with good dice and Critical 1 on the DC-15 squads. I drew a corps from the bag and used Red Squad, with Rex, but only hit for 1 damage on the T-47. He shot up Green Squad, so I had to pull them back, and they were limited to only 1 action. Next I drew Obi-wan from the bag, so he used Saber Throw, plus Rex's Fire Support, to roll 4 crits, and with Pierce 2, the T-47 crashed. Although it was a ranged attack, I imagined Obi-wan did a maneuver like Rey in Rise of Skywalker

Obi-wan's move to get within range 1 of the center objective put him within sight of a Rebel trooper squad, which managed to hit him for one additional wound, putting him up to 3. Luke actually moved into Orange Squad and cut 3 of them to pieces. The rest of the round we ran troops near the center objective, but I managed to get more within range 1, so I was ahead 2 - 1 at the end of the round.

ROUND THREE

Hello There! v. Son of Skywalker

I knew with Luke in position, he would play Son of Skywalker, since he could kill a squad and then had many targets for his second attack. I hoped to win priority, but did not. Obi-wan was within range 2 of 3 enemy units, so I gained a Dodge, Aim, and Standby. He activated Luke and finished off the two men of Orange squad. I used my Standby to Charge and melee Luke for 3 wounds. Luke attacked Obi-wan for his 2nd attack, and Obi suffered two more wounds, putting him at 1 health remaining. I activated Obi-wan and finished Luke off.

He tried to move his Rebel troopers over to get shots at Obi-wan and eliminate him, but with two Dodge tokens + Nimble, the Jedi survived the round.

ROUND FOUR

Knowledge and Defense v Sabotaged Communications

Obi-wan gained 2 Dodge tokens with the command card, and due to Sabotaged Comms, I only issued an order to Obi-wan. This round consisted of mop-up, as the game was ultimately decided with the loss of Luke and the T-47. His Snipers hit Red squad down to the unit leader, but my clones moved in, and with Rex gun-slinging, I took down his remaining troopers. He conceded with only his Sniper teams remaining.

To be honest, I was a little concerned with seeing the T-47, as Clones don't have any Impact, and Critical 1 can be a toss-up. I felt OK with Obi-wan vs. Luke in that eventual match-up. Call Me Captain was actually a brilliant solution to the T-47, since the overwhelming number of dice I could throw at it, meant the Critical 1 was at least more likely, as well as some natural crits. I was pleased to have finally pulled off the full Hello There! standby move. Also, it was nice to get off the slide and get back to a winning record. This could put me in a tough match-up for Round 4, but I try to finish Top 10 in our league of over 20 players!

Prime Championship: Fall of the Republic

Ah, on Saturday my local store hosted a Prime Championship, with 26 players. I did not expect to place, but was aiming for a Top 16, or at least a .500 finish. I brought my standard Republic build that I've been using lately, and the day did not favor me. I do not have pics, as the tournament was a 12-hour affair that nearly broke my brain. But, it was on-schedule and everyone was very positive and a joy to play against! A successful event for our store, and it was great to see the guy who almost always wins our regular league, get his world's invite.

This was my list:

793 points

• Obi-Wan Kenobi (Force Reflexes, Force Push, Tenacity)
• Clone Captain Rex (Aggressive Tactics, Recon Intel)
• Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)

Commands : Call Me Captain (1), Hello There! (1), Take That, Clankers! (2), Knowledge and Defense (2), General Kenobi (3), Were Not Programmed (3), Standing Orders (4)

Deployments : The Long March, Major Offensive, Battle Lines, Advanced Positions
Objectives : Sabotage the Moisture Vaporators, Intercept the Transmissions, Breakthrough, Key Positions
Conditions : Rapid Reinforcements, Clear Conditions, Minefield, Limited Visibility

Round One (0-1)

I nearly conceded when I saw two AT-STs being set up across the table. He used a generic officer, Boba Fett, two Shoretroopers with mortars, and I think that's it. We played Advanced Positions, Key Positions, and Clear Conditions.

While I deployed on my long edge, with Scout and Scouting Party pushing me toward the center behind cover, his AT-STs deployed on the short edge, in the corner to my left. So I had to keep running my troops toward the center or they would get clearly annihilated. Boba deployed on the opposite side, and his bounty was on Rex. I marched across toward the center, hoping to survive long enough to at least make a final, desperate push on the objectives near the end of the time limit. When that became obviously not possible, with the Shoretroopers and Mortars doing little but laying down suppression and Comms Relaying orders to the AT-STs, I just threw Obi-wan at Boba and wrecked him. Obi-wan withstood the AT-ST barrage for a turn, but succumbed on Turn 5, which was the last turn we could finish in the allotted time.

Round Two

A little defeated, I was pleased to see myself matched up with a guy who I love to play against in our league. He's just generally a joy to play with, and we're about on the same skill level. Although, he played triple Tauntauns, 2 Wookiee Warrior squads, Leia, 1 sniper team, and bare Rebel Troopers. I knew I was in trouble and didn't think very much how Rapid Reinforcements heavily favored him, as he put a Tauntaun squad, and a Wookiee squad in reserve. Our objective was Transmissions and we played Advanced Positions.

I deployed around a huge mountain, and on the short edge, putting me very close to the objective with Scouting Party. I had men on the mountain for a good bit of elevation and cover. I completely survived the Coordinated Bombardment without casualties, and almost took down his sniper squad, but he saved the leader. I also put 3 wounds on Leia as she was in the open from the Bombardment.

Later, his Tauntauns came in and started wreaking havoc. Even shooting at them on the approach did little to stop them since they of course had dodges. It took me using Fire Support with Call me Captain to eliminate one of them, and Fire Support between two Clone Trooper squads to eliminate another.

His reserves deployed on the backside of the mountain, on my long edge, and came swooping over and around the mountain, totally encircling me. I lost Rex and Obi-wan, and that was that.

Round Three (1-2)

Finally played a list without a unit that I absolutely hate playing against, but surprise, another Imperial Bounty, Shoretrooper, Deathtrooper list! He played Krennic, Bossk, two Shoretroopers with mortars, and two Deathtroopers. He put his bounty on Rex, and we played Advanced Positions (sigh), Rapid Reinforcements (oops), and Vaporators.

I think this was a very inexperienced players as he made many placement mistakes. He had one mortar within range of my entire army on the first turn, and I took a couple activations to eliminate it. I laid down heavy fire on Shoretroopers as well, as Krennic, a Stormtrooper squad, and another mortar were back away from my deployments, heading for the far vaporator. He repaired it to 0, but found one of his Shoretrooper squads was out of Krennic's command bubble, and my concentrated fire made them panic, sending them almost off the battlefield.

He deployed his Deathtrooper reserves in a forest near my forces, and one away on my left, at one of his vaporators. The first one, I used Call me Captain to annihilate with Fire Support from Rex with other trooper squads. The second, he repaired the vaporator and began charging up my left flank. I had a squad of troopers in trees in the DT's path, but they held in there so long, distracting him. He tried to panic them, as a panic move would send them clear off the edge, but they held on and never broke.

Obi-wan ran into Bossk, and they duked it out. I messed up my Hello There, as usual, and put a Standby on him, when he was already in melee. He took two swings at Obi, who lived, but was badly wounded. Obi took Bossk out, and suffered some shots thereafter. At this point in the day, my brain was suffering and with Obi on 1 wound, a single Shoretrooper shot him, while he had 2 dodge tokens. He rolled a crit, and I rolled a surge, and assumed I had spent the dodge token to give me Surge-Defense, but realized I had not. So, Obi-wan died. I knew I needed the points, as we were even on vaporators, and so I picked apart the rest of his forces to earn the points victory.

Round Four (1-3)

I played another Krennic, Shores, Bounty, DTs list, this time with some Speeder Bikes, too. Bossk was the bounty hunter, and he bountied Obi-wan. I was not blue player this time, and my deployment side was incredibly, and woefully sparse on terrain, as we played Long March and Breakthrough, with Limited Visibility. I was a little upset at the table, as he had a very clear advantage, with his mortars and a sniper team on a high ridge near his end, and a large mountain feature on the opposite long edge from me, for his troopers to hide behind. My troopers had little stone spires and only light cover, and a wide open swath in between a rock in the center. So my advance would've been totally out of cover if I had pushed ahead.

His bikes were deployed on my long edge, and came at me quickly, turn one getting a shot in on some troopers that I moved too far up, just to try and find some cover on my end. They survived with the unit leader and DC-15. I concentrated my fire on the bikes, as the rest of his forces were unable to shoot at me due to Limited Viz, and I took the bikes down in a couple turns without suffering too many losses.

I felt safe from breakthrough now, and played cagey, keeping my forces out of his sniper range, and mostly out of his mortar range. He moved DTs and Bossk up behind that center rock I mentioned, and from there, they lobbed ranged 4 shots at me, and we traded those kinds of attacks. His shots slowly wore me down, as I put multiple, full blasts into the DTs late, even rolling 5 hits, and he saved all 5. I rolled well on those attacks, but he saved them consistently. The DTs killed Rex, but panicked after; however, it was too late for me to do anything else to them.

In the end, I just wanted to go at it for fun, and ran Obi-wan toward the center rock. I was down 2, or 3 trooper squads at this point, so I was down on points. I thought, maybe if I killed Bossk on the final turn, and Obi-wan survived thanks to Hello There and dodges, I could manage a win. I used Obi to Jump 1 onto the center rock, I then used Force Push to bring Bossk up onto the rock with me, into melee contact. I hammered him, but for only 4 wounds. He tried to Reptilian Rampage me, but Obi survived.

I lost on the points.

—

The guy I lost to in Round 4 ended up as 16th, so I figured I was just that close to achieving my goal. I could have likely played the last game very defensively, and forced him to move ahead, since I killed his bikes, for a couple turns, I was ahead on points. But, that seemed boring, and I actually wanted to do things instead of stand around and force him to leave cover and come toward me.

It was a fun day, overall, even though I will be recovering from the people interaction and marathon gaming for a few days lol

Great read.

League Match 4 (L; 2-2)

I got to play against two units for the first time, and play some of the new Clone Upgrade minis for the first time as well. I modified my list away from the 6 DC-15 squads to include the DP-23 heavy weapon and the Phase I Clone Specialist.

(792/800)

• Obi-Wan Kenobi
  • Force Reflexes, Force Push, Strict Orders
• Clone Captain Rex
  • Aggressive Tactics, Offensive Push, Recon Intel
• (Squad Green) Phase I Clone Troopers
  • DP-23 Phase I Trooper, Fragmentation Grenades
• (Squad Orange) Phase I Clone Troopers
  • DP-23 Phase I Trooper, Fragmentation Grenades
• (Squad Yellow) Phase I Clone Troopers
  • Phase I Clone Specialist, Electrobinoculars
• (Squad Pink) Phase I Clone Troopers
  • Phase I Clone Specialist, Electrobinoculars
• (Squad Blue) Phase I Clone Troopers
  • DC-15 Phase I Trooper
• (Squad Red) Phase I Clone Troopers
  • DC-15 Phase I Trooper

This time I was up against Palpatine, the first time I've faced him, and the new Operative Vader, which was the first time my opponent had played him, so we were all trying out new things! Vader was equipped with Endurance, and Palpatine had Battle Meditation and Force Guidance. He had 3 Snowtrooper squads with Frag Grenades, two plain Stormtrooper squads, an E-Web, and a plain IRG unit.

We played Major Offensive, Minefield, and Intercept the Transmissions. (The center objective was inside the very center domed building; this was dead center of the map, and the roof closed perfectly over the transmitter mini, so it's never seen, but it's there lol)

My deployment, here. Obi-wan and one of the DP-23 squads were part of Rex's Scouting Party.

He did reveal Darkness Descends, but ultimately, he felt nervous about deploying Vader too far forward. With my DC-15s, if he had put him out in the center, I likely could've managed some early shots on him, and with Spur + Pull the Strings, he knew Vader could easily move forward quickly.

ROUND ONE

Darkness Descends v. Standing Orders

I knew he had to play that card, of course, and I wanted him to have priority, since he had 1 more activation than I did. I issued my order to Obi-wan, to get 1 of my 2 Commander tokens out of the bag. He first moved a Snowtrooper squad into the light cover of the crates next to Vader. I activated the Specialist squad Pink, using Spotter to give an aim to Squad Red, and then taking a Dodge with their 2nd action. With the free action, I tapped the Specialist and used the free action to gain another dodge.

He moved a Stormtrooper squad forward and set off the mine, losing 1-2 of them, I can't exactly remember. I activated Red Sqaud, moving them forward just enough to get a Range 4 shot with the DC-15 on the Snowtroopers he moved earlier. However, this would trigger the mine, it exploded and rolled 2 hits. I used Squad Pink's two dodges to avoid them altogether! The DC-15 rolled two natural crits and he lost both minis, so a lucky start to the game for me. He moved more Snowtroopers into the same cover later.

I performed the same actions with Squad Yellow, spotting Squad Blue, then taking a couple dodges. Blue set off the mine on my right, and Obi-wan used Guardian, taking 1 wound, so Blue remained unscathed. They piled into the light cover crates next to the tall building with the blue roof. I ran Rex forward up the middle and his DP-23 squads followed. Obi-wan leapt up onto the roof of the building next to him, and he began marching troopers toward the center building. Vader moved all the way into contact with that building, so I knew the next round would prove decisive, one way or the other.

ROUND TWO

Vader's Might v. General Kenobi

This is where the game really tightened up, and a few decisions proved absolutely game-altering. I issued my orders to Obi-wan, Rex, and a DP-23 squad. He began piling his troopers behind Vader, and we traded some shots back and forth. Squad Yellow and Pink performed Recover actions to get the Specialist back up. They used their second actions to Spotter or Dodge, and also used the Specialist again to gain another token.

With so much about to happen, I moved Squad Green up on the right and put them on Standby. They were issued the order, so they had a lot of Surge tokens. Obi-wan leapt down from the building and moved to the center, then, went on Standby, also, gaining a Dodge from Force Reflexes. I also moved up Squad Orange and put them on Standby. This is where I miscalculated: I was aggressive with Rex and tried to set up a Gunslinger move, with Offensive Push, so he gains 2 Aim tokens, but I actually didn't get him within range of a 2nd target. He took a shot at the E-Web, but he saved all three.

After some other moves, it came down to Vader's activation. I had tried to prepare for it, with the Standby tokens, the tokens from Rex, and the Specialist squads. I had dodges, aims, Standbys all over the place. Vader used a Spur move to come around the center building toward Rex. We measured and measured and measured, and Rex was within Range 1 by literally millimeters. A casual, accidental nudge from a speed movement tool, or of course, a less aggressive play by me, and he would've been outside Range 1, which would've been crucial and life-saving. Also, we measured multiple times, and Obi-wan was beyond Range 1 of Vader, and I knew I couldn't charge him. Squad Green used their Standby token and shot at Vader, hitting 1 wound on Vader. Then, Vader used the free action on his Command Card and pulled Rex into melee. He rolled 5 hits, and there was nothing I could do, but hope to roll some surges to use my Surge tokens, but at Pierce 3, I would've had to save at least 4 to not lose Rex, and...I saved none of them (after Pierce).

He also scored 2 points to my 1 on the Objective this round.

ROUND THREE

Hello There! v. Master of Evil

Losing all of Rex's command cards, and having already played 1 of Obi-wan's, I was about to be in "Standing Orders every turn" territory lol. I had to play Hello There to get priority and to tie Vader down, or hopefully kill him. Obi-wan gained 3 Dodge tokens and 3 Aim tokens, and charged in. However, he only did 2 wounds. I used Force Push to toss a Stormtrooper unit out of cover on the other side of the building, which my troopers wiped out later.

Vader gave 3 Suppression to Obi-wan, Squad Orange, and Squad Green. This basically ended the game, as that Suppression ruined those Clone trooper squads. The IRG charged into Obi-wan, and he dodge a lot and dealt wounds back to them with Soresu, killing an IRG. Squad Green and Orange just could not clear their Suppression, but Green helped eliminate the Stormtrooper squad that Obi-wan threw into the open.

I think he used Pull the Strings with Palpatine later in the round to kill Obi-wan, or Obi-wan died the next round, I cannot remember. Sigh.

THE LATER ROUNDS

The rest of the game was academic, to be honest. Whenever Obi-wan managed to die, I think it may have been this round, but I can't remember, Squad Orange and Squad Green were totally screwed. I know he played Give in to Your Anger , and gave Squad Orange 4 more Suppression, since they couldn't attack. They panicked and ran toward the edge nearest to me. Green also panicked without Obi-wan, and they ran to the far long edge.

Squad Red continued to perform well, taking down the E-Web, and Squad Blue also took out some Snowtroopers. Honestly, my Corps were winning that battle, but he kept Vader out of sight. The IRG also got shot, but he saved just enough to keep 1 alive on 1 wound. Vader wound up coming back for more in Round 5 and 6 and chopped up Squad Blue in the end. Orange panicked off the board, as did the unit leader of Squad Red, who was the only one left there.

IMPRESSIONS ON THE NEW STUFF

This was a tough match-up with Vader and Palpatine. I definitely should've not tried to take that shot on the E-Web with Rex, as it ultimately, cost me Rex. If he hadn't been within that range to shoot at the E-Web, Vader would not have been able to use Vader's Might to pull Rex into melee. The game turned on that moment. Also, Obi-wan rolling poorly against Vader, and Vader being HOT on his Red Dice didn't help.

The Specialists provide so much action economy for the Clones. I could've done a better job with them, moving them into better positions. Squad Pink was in position to only support Squad Red, which I think limited Pink's effectiveness. Yellow was far more effective as they were within Range 1 of Blue, Orange, and Green most of the game. Moving them forward with the line would've been preferable. Even when the Specialist is tapped, you get 2 tokens out of that turn with a Recover + Specialist tap/token + token from a 2nd action. Or, you can move, Recover, to set up for the next turn. But, I think they will be a mainstay of my Republic forces.

I give the DP-23 an Incomplete grade, since they didn't get to shoot much. Green did get to fire on some troopers, but once they were loaded with that Master of Evil suppression, they couldn't do anything else. Against a different list, they may have shined, but their Pierce is obviously useless against Vader. Also, losing Rex's command cards early meant I couldn't ever issue enough orders to Clones to use Fire Support or anything like that.

Talking with players after the game, we wondered if the Clone Captain would be a good addition to the DP-23 squads, since he could prevent them from being panicked or suppressed for one activation. But, adding that many additional points, I think would drastically alter my list, and would require me to rethink my commanders, and etc.

In short, the Specialists are great, and I look forward to trying the DP-23 guys again to see if they can do more in a better match-up!

Saber Rattling

I put the Saber tank and the Phase II Clones on the field for the first time last night in a friendly pick-up game. Interestingly, this is also the first time I've played against Clankers! We have several CIS players in our league, I just rarely get matched up with them lol. Here is my list:

799/800

• Clone Captain Rex (Aggressive Tactics, Recon Intel)
• R2-D2
• [Squad Orange] Phase II Clone Troopers (Phase II Mortar Trooper, Overwatch)
• [Unpainted Squad] Phase II Clone Troopers (Phase II Mortar Trooper, Overwatch)
• [Squad Yellow] Phase I Clone Troopers (Phase I Clone Specialist)
• [Squad Blue] Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• [Squad Red] Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• [Squad Pink] Phase I Clone Troopers
• TX-130 Saber-Class Fighter Tank (Veteran Clone Pilot, TX-130 Twin Laser Turret, High-Energy Shells)

Commands:
Call Me Captain (1), Ambush (1), Take That, Clankers! (2), Push (2), Were Not Programmed (3), Assault (3), Standing Orders (4)

My opponent played Grievous, Dooku, 1 Droideka unit, and filled out the rest with B1s. One of the B1 squads had the E-60R rocket launcher and HQ Uplink, the rest were equipped with that E5-C rifle. Dooku had Force Push, Force Reflexes, and Esteemed Leader. Grievous had his Annihilator pistol.

We were both 799 points, so rolled off and I won the roll and selected Blue. We wound up with Major Offensive, Key Positions, and Minefield. Key Positions were the crashed escape pod terrain in the center of the battlefield, a small house near his deployment zone, and a crate pallet on my end.

I deployed three squads on the long edge, Squad Yellow behind the tank, with both Phase II squads there as well. Squads Blue, Red, and Pink deployed in the large square of my zone, and Rex dropped down between everybody. The Unpainted Phase II squad used Rex's Scouting Party to start in base contact of some stairs on the large building, and Squad Red was the other Scouting Party member, and it moved all the way up toward the crate pallet objective. The Saber deployed at the very edge of my deployment zone on the long edge, with R2 behind. This gave it full view of the center of the battlefield.

He deployed Grievous on his long edge, my right flank, behind a house. The droidekas were deployed near the same house, but facing the center objective. His B1s he crowded in, with Dooku deployed on my left flank, toward the tank.

ROUND ONE

Standing Orders v Standing Orders

I issued my order to the tank, and he issued his to the Droidekas, I think, and used HQ Uplink on the one B1 squad to trigger his Coordinate chain. I planned to activate the Saber last, or at least until after he did something with Dooku. This was when we realized that my Scouting Party move with Squad Red had put me within Range 1 of a mine, oops. So, we rolled and it triggered, and killed two of my Red boys .

He had won this roll-off for priority, and activated his Droidekas. They marched forward and tried to trigger the mine, but surprisingly, it did not go off (this will be a theme lol). I moved the Unpainted Phase IIs up the stairs, and a second move fully onto the roof, overlooking the center. This put them in range 1 of a mine, and...it did not detonate. My Red Squad managed to shake off that mine suppression and moved onto the objective crate pallet, firing at the Droidekas, but he spent 3 shields. Rex moved onto the pallet as well with a double move, but did not have a range 2 shot. I moved Squad Blue over near them as well, and they went on Standby. I was aiming to keep an eye on that Grievous move on my right flank. I knew he'd be coming that way soon.

He used an E60-R shot on the tank, but I took only 1 wound from it. He moved Dooku to my left, within range of a mine, but it did not detonate. He moved again, and was still within range 1, and it did not detonate! I moved Phase II Squad Orange up a little bit and put them on Standby. He moved a B1 squad up near the Droidekas and set off the mine, losing 2 droids. Finally, I moved forward with the Saber a little bit and took a shot at the Droidekas. He spent one shield and took 1 wound. Grievous crept around the house on the right flank, staying just outside range 2 standby from Blue, and that was the turn.

ROUND TWO

Take That Clankers v Trained in Your Jedi Arts

I knew that card was coming from Grievous, but I wanted to focus on other targets with the increased range. I issued my orders to the Unpainted Phase IIs on the roof and Rex. He went with Grievous first, of course, and came into Red Squad. He finished them off with the Trophy Lightsabers. Then, he had Rex and Blue Squad in range 1, with Pink just outside range 1 (what a relief). Rex took only 1 wound from the whirlwind, and Blue lost two guys.

Now was the time to take Grievous on, since he was not in melee. Wiping out Red Squad was not the worst outcome, since I could shoot back at him! So I went ahead with Rex, who aimed, and used Gunslinger on Grievous and the Droidekas. He killed a Droideka, and put a wound on Grievous, and I don't even think I spent his aim token. Blue Squad rallied off one suppression and shot Grievous too, putting him up to 3 wounds. Pink Squad shot him, putting on another wound. Finally, Yellow Squad ran over, just enough to get range 3, though the unit leader could not see Grievous, so he had heavy cover. I cohered the other four guys out in clear sight of him, and used the Specialist to gain an aim token. They put him up to 5 wounds, and he was now heavily suppressed!

My Unpainted Phase IIs put a full range 4 barrage into a squad of B1s, taking some of them down. My Painted Phase IIs did a Standby maneuver, hoping to pass it over to the boys on the roof later. Dooku wanted to come for the Saber, but after some intense eyeballing, he determined that he would not be able to get into base contact, so he played it a little safer, moved Dooku once, and hid him behind a building to the left of the Saber, ready for next turn. He moved a B1 squad to the center objective, and I triggered the Standby! The boys on the roof shot them, and killed 2 droids and put down 2 suppression. The Saber took more shots at the Droidekas and B1s, and I think it took down some B1s, hard to remember with all those dang droids! The Droidekas, however, were being annoyingly tanky. They turned and shot Rex, putting him up a few wounds, and giving him suppression. I began to worry about that right flank. Hold on boys!

ROUND THREE

Call Me Captain v. Fear, Surprise, Intimidation

He won priority thanks to Dooku's Cunning, and activated the old man first. He came into the tank and put three wounds on it; he also used Lightning from his Arsenal 2 and went after R2, who took two wounds. Now, I needed the order token bag to shine on me and draw a Corps unit, so I could get a Fire Support off from Rex before he drew Grievous!

Alas, I drew R2 lol he rallied 2/3 suppression, so I elected to remove them, which still kept me safe with Inconspicuous. R2 repaired the Saber, which was a mistake on my part, as it only repaired 1 wound (more on this later). I really thought about using my shock on Dooku lol I did not, and that was all R2 did. Then, he drew from his bag, and of course, it was Grievous. He charged into melee with Rex (F), but Rex survived!! He was on 1 wound remaining, though. Next, I of course drew a Corps, and with Rex in melee, was totally confused on what to do! Finally, I just moved Blue Squad into melee and punched Grievous with 3 black dice. He saved both hits, unfortunately.

Elsewhere, some of his B1s started shooting at my Phase II boys on the roof, and I lost two of them. The Saber kept whittling away at his corps units, putting one squad on the far edge at range 4, down to only a few minis thanks to the HES and main gun. Finally, I activated Rex and punched Grievous for two more wounds!! I rejoiced, but alas, he was down to only 1 wound left. I forgot he had so much health. I started to feel the game hinge on the outcome of this Grievous v. Clones battle on the right flank. He had a B1 squad, and the remaining Droideka mini near the center objective. I had to kill Grievous so I could free up my boys to run for the objective in the late game.

ROUND FOUR

Ambush v. Double the Fall

I wanted to have Priority this round, because of the importance of this Grievous skirmish, and I knew both of his 1-pips were spent. So, with Double the Fall, I avoided giving an order to the tank, so he couldn't shuffle it back in, and just issued my order to Rex. He punched Grievous and took him down! I felt relief, but, he had the 1 Droideka and a B1 squad poised to hammer Rex, who still only had 1 wound.

He activated Dooku and this time used a lightning attack on my Painted Phase IIs, which killed all but the leader and the Mortar. Yikes. With my troops free on the right flank, they moved around the crate pallet to take shots at B1s and the Droideka mini. That thing would not die . It used wheel mode to run up and touch the crate pallet.

The B1 squad with the E60-R hit the Saber pretty good, but R2 repaired 2 wounds, and could no longer repair this game. Somewhere, the Saber was hit again and got up to 6 wounds, and became Disabled. I wasn't moving it at all, so that was fine by me. The Saber hit a corps unit of B1s down to the leader mini, and the Phase II mortar hit another squad down to 2, as it could only see the leader mini on the far edge. He replaced the unit leader mini, and they were on high suppression now. When they activated, they panicked off the battlefield!

ROUND FIVE

Assault v. You Disappoint Me

He had priority again (Cunning is good), and gave orders to Dooku, the Droideka, and the center squad of B1s on the objective. They all had dodge tokens, and he went with an attack on my Saber (my recollection of all the damage it took is hazy), which was on 6 wounds by this point (so someone did more damage to it after R2 repaired it). He got 4 crits through, and I tapped the VCP to use a Surge token from my Phase IIs, and rolled three blocks, but with Dooku's Pierce 2, I saved only 1/4 and the tank went down. (If I had repaired 4 total wounds with R2, and not use him earlier when he only repaired 1, the tank would've survived this hit, I think? It would've needed 4 wounds to die, and it took 3 here.)

Dooku used Force Push to bring my Squad Orange Phase IIs into base contact with him. Here, I spent a lot of time shooting at the dang Droideka, which, with a Shield token, a Dodge token, and cover, simply wouldn't fall. The Phase IIs on the roof took down the leader B1 remaining in a squad, and put more suppression on the rocket launcher squad, which was still a healthy 4 minis.

Rex managed to hang on from shots by the Droideka, and I moved Pink squad over there and farm a Dodge token for him. However, I recovered with the Yellow Squad this round and moved them over, too. I was getting in position to rush the center objective on the final round.

ROUND SIX

We're Not Programmed v. Push

I gave orders to Rex, Yellow, Blue, and Pink squads on the right flank. He gave his orders to Dooku and the Droideka. He activated Dooku first, used Force Push to get my Phase IIs out of base contact, and then double moved toward the center. His first move triggered the mine, though, and not only did it finally detonate, but detonated twice! It rolled 3 total hits, but Dooku only took 1 wound. He managed to get into base contact just barely, with the escape pod. So I needed to kill that B1 squad, or get 3 squads into contact there.

First, I needed to kill that **** Droideka. I used Rex for this, and he aimed and shot it, finally bringing it down. His E60-R squad panicked, but didn't run off the field, it just ran behind his objective house, and that was it. I used Orange Squad of Phase IIs to kill 2/3 minis left in the B1 squad on the escape pod, but could not see the third. Squad Yellow double moved up to the escape pod, and tapped the Specialist to gain a dodge, just in case. Squad Pink also moved up and into base contact. Squad Blue moved up and onto the objective crate pallet, then managed to get the last B1 squad off the escape pod, and that finished the game!

I scored 2 points to his 1.

Official League Match 1 (W; 1-0)

Last night I played my first league match of Season 7 in our league. Ironically, I was matched up with the same player in the previous report. Although, he changed his list up because he got some new droids! My list was exactly the same haha

799/800

• Clone Captain Rex (Aggressive Tactics, Recon Intel)
• R2-D2
• [Squad Orange] Phase II Clone Troopers (Phase II Mortar Trooper, Overwatch)
• [Unpainted Squad] Phase II Clone Troopers (Phase II Mortar Trooper, Overwatch)
• [Squad Yellow] Phase I Clone Troopers (Phase I Clone Specialist)
• [Squad Blue] Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• [Squad Red] Phase I Clone Troopers (DC-15 Phase I Trooper)
• [Squad Pink] Phase I Clone Troopers
• TX-130 Saber-Class Fighter Tank (Veteran Clone Pilot, TX-130 Twin Laser Turret, High-Energy Shells)

Commands: Call Me Captain (1), Ambush (1), Take That, Clankers! (2), Push (2), Were Not Programmed (3), Assault (3), Standing Orders (4)

My opponent played Dooku, fully loaded with Force Choke, Force Reflexes, and Force Push, 2 units of Droidekas, 1 unit of B2 Battle Droids with the rocket launcher heavy upgrade, then the rest were B1s, and he used some of the upgrade pack minis, with the OOM droid and E5s Sniper droid in the same quad, and the radiation trooper in another squad. The other B1 squads simply had the E-5C trooper.

Since he changed his list, he was Blue Player, and the battle card setup was not great for me. He passed and if I eliminated any of the cards, it would've gotten worse for me, and he passed again, so we wound up with Battle Lines, Breakthrough, and Limited Visibility. I was fine with this because if I eliminated Limited Viz, I likely would've had to play Hostile Environment, which I did not want to do, since his droids don't limit actions from Suppression. If I eliminated Breakthrough, it would've likely meant we played Recover the Supplies, which I didn't want. And eliminating Breakthrough would've led to Disarray, which I didn't want. So we just stuck with the first choices in each row lol.

Deployment

Battle Lines is always an interesting deployment strategy, and I was planning ahead with here I wanted to drop the Saber, based on where he was deploying the bulk of his troops. He started deploying at the center of his long edge, so I started being a little off-center with my Yellow and Blue Phase I squads. Then his B2s deployed closer to me, and I just decided to command that corner of my zone. Rex, Blue Phase II squad, and Red squad of Phase Is moved with Scouting Party, and he put one Droideka squad in the corner, so I dropped the Saber in my corner.

ROUND ONE

Standing Orders v. Standing Orders

With Limited Visibility, the shooting would be limited this round, so I gave my order to the Saber, and he gave his to Dooku and then used HQ Uplink on the OOM squad to trigger his droid chain, with the droidekas in his bag. He won the roll-off for priority. He began to advance in a sweeping formation to the center of the battlefield (the Downed AT-ST). In response, I vacated my position with Blue Phase I squad, and moved them toward the house, and the Orange Phase II squad moved into their position behind the tall grass for cover. I wanted to have Orange Squad there for Overwatch position as he advanced on my flank. Yellow Squad also vacated their position and moved toward the house. I would use that for cover before hopefully, springing around it for shots on his troops.

His B2 squad moved ahead into the trees across from me and went on Standby. I moved my Red Phase I squad up to the crashed escape pod and put them on Standby, waiting for his Droideka move. Later, I made an aggressive move as I measured it out and saw that one of his minis in that B2 squad was positioned ahead of his unit leader's mini, so I could get him into Range 2 while he could not trigger his Standby. So I moved Rex out and put a shot on the B2s, for 1 wound after Armor. Then, we noticed I made the same mistake he did, and put a mini further ahead of my unit leader in the Red Phase I squad. So, he moved the Droidekas and he shot my Red Squad, but I saved the hits. Then, I moved the tank ahead and hammered the Droidekas with Arsenal 2. They spent all their shields and took 2 wounds.

ROUND TWO

Take That Clankers vs You Disappoint Me

I wasn't sure what card he would play this round, as he moved Dooku up to the edge of the trees. I did think he was going for Rex, though, since I made that aggressive play with him in the first round. I decided to stick to my plan, and not try to counter his card play, especially since any match for pips would be won by Dooku's cards. My idea with TTC was to give Rex a range 3 shot, and Fire Support with the other unit that had a face-up token. So I ordered Rex and the Red Phase I squad.

Rex moved back while being certain I could get range 3 shots on the B2 droids and a B1 unit on the other side of the trees, which had the Radiation Cannon. He gained an Aim from Tactical, so he could get the range boost for TTC, and he had two Gunslinger targets. I thought which attack pool to Fire Support, and opted for the B1 squad, since I didn't want to possibly waste hits on all the health in the B2 squad. So with Red Squad Fire Supporting, Rex fully wiped that B1 squad. Then, his second gunslinger shot went at the B2s and I did enough to take out a mini, and have 1 wound on the squad.

With this maneuver, Dooku could not get within Lightning range of Rex (so grateful Dooku doesn't naturally have Relentless). However, he moved, and went for my Orange Phase II squad. He put the hurt on them from Lightning, and performed a Speed 2 move, which put them out in the wind, and he Force Choked my mortar trooper. That squad was down to the leader and in serious trouble. I needed to save that activation, so I drew from my bag and luckily pulled a Corps. That guy rallied, and high-tailed it out of there, back to his brothers.

He started putting pressure on my left flank and moved his Droidekas up to get a range 3 shot on Yellow Squad. I saved all hits, but they gained 2 suppression. I kept pulling Corps so I moved that Yellow Squad out of danger. He was pushing that flank and I had to retreat, but I liked my position and cover behind the house. However, I noticed that a lot of my troops would be exposed without cover once they needed to move toward the endzone for scoring.

I cut the Droidekas down to 1 mini, with 1 health, and 1 shield remaining and positioned the Saber between them and my troops. His B2s put 2 wounds on the Saber, but R2 Repaired them away. The Saber's Impact ripped through the B2s, and I was whittling away the droid squads that he moved up on the other side of the trees, and Round 2 ended with us having some weak units and with Dooku poised to crash into my troopers.

ROUND THREE

Push v. Assault

He activated Dooku first and hit my Red Phase I squad with lightning, putting them down to the unit leader. I used the Saber's Laser Turret to finally kill the Droideka mini, and the main gun killed off his last B2s. I started moving my troops toward the endzone, firing at his B1s along the way. With Dooku having a Dodge token, I didn't want to risk my troopers suffering wounds.

His Droidekas tried to chase me down on the left flank, but once I got all my troops around the house, they couldn't get shots on anyone, until I came around the other side, which opened me up to some fire from his units, without the benefits of cover. But my units rolled some great rallies, and I saved well. I started utilizing some dodge actions to keep my guys around.

With the Droideka out of the picture, R2 began making his sprint for the endzone and the double-scoring Secret Mission/Breakthrough!

ROUND FOUR

Fear, Surprise, Intimidation v. We're Not Programmed

I knew he would get to activate Dooku one way or the other, and I didn't want Rex to die and lose out on using those command cards. Plus, the free Recover would help if Rex was still alive after Dooku activated. The Inspire would also be nice on whoever he hit with his Lightning attack. He put 3 wounds on Rex, and 3 Suppression with the lightning, and melee'd Yellow squad entirely to death. Then he used Force Push to pull Rex into melee and Force Choked the Red trooper mini.

Rex activated and recovered, then aimed and punched Dooku, but dealt no damage. With Rex in melee, I was happy to have him "protected" for the rest of this round. The Saber moved ahead and hammered a droid squad on the roof of a building, where the OOM and Sniper mini were. The Sniper mini, at Range 4 max, was out of range of all my troopers for basically the entire game. It also put the turret into another squad of doids, and near the end of the round, he only had 1 B1 squad near the house at my deployment zone, and the untouched Droidekas there. My troopers had wiped all of his other sqauds.

ROUND FIVE

Call Me Captain v. Double the Fall

Rex was definitely going to die this round, so I got his 1-pip out of the way, so that I could have a 1-pip to play on Round 6 if needed. He elected not to shuffle in the tokens, since Rex wouldn't be able to use Fire Support anyway. I kept drawing my tokens and moving my troopers toward the endzone. I wiped out the B1 squad on the roof with the Saber, which saved the sniper mini from shooting my Phase II Orange squad leader, who could've died from that shot. I almost thought about Strafing to see if it could get into the deployment zone, but I suspected the base would overhang the edge at the end of the strafe, so I did not do this.

Dooku killed Rex, but, since he used all of his Force powers last round, and with Master of the Force 2, he readied Force Choke and Force Reflexes, he could not use Force Push on one of my troopers. Instead of attacking Dooku, they ran to the endzone, and with it evident that he could only score 3 victory points at most (Dooku, Droidekas, B1 squad), and I had R2, the orange Phase II leader, and Pink and Blue Phase I squads remaining, it was clear I could gain more victory points in a sixth round, so we called the game here.