Hi All,

hoping you can help I'm having some tactical issues with getting Obi Wan to work effectively.

To get the most out of him I feel like I need to go early to get dodge tokens on him for guardian and soresu but then I find I feel I'm under utilising him for that.

I'm sure when Padme comes out I will use her a lot to generate the tokens early so I can use Obi more effectively.

And I have also found his ability to charge to catch me out more often than not as I don't find his damage output to be that effective.

Any tips and tricks would be most appreciated.

I feel like you should try using him as a beat stick and see what happens. If he can sneak to the front lines and block a couple of shots for his buddies on the way - fine. I've used the Guardian on him once and lost 3 wounds doing it (never tried it again)

Instead, I take him to the front. Hit the biggest, baddest thing in the face and then pop his "hello there" and kill several other things while I'm there. After that it doesn't matter what he does

Padme and C3P0 are more of your generate tokens to keep your guys alive type of figures.

I actually do the exact opposite and use him strictly to defend my clones. I tend to run him with Rex, so I try to keep him as cheap as possible by only taking Reflexes and Battle Mediation. Most people will tell you that Meditation is a waste of points, but he doesn't need a face up token to defend his clones and none of his command cards require him to have an order token himself; however, clones LOVE face up order tokens for Fire Support, Strict Orders, Aggressive Tactics, generating tokens, etc. Kenobi's a sacrificial piece to me, his job is to keep as much of my forces alive through the first 2-3 rounds as possible.

Kenobi is specifically wonderful at removing chip damage from his clones - if the attacker only got 1 hit through, he can just spend one of his stack of dodge tokens to completely negate it. At the very least, he's protecting an entire unit of clones, but he's likely to mitigate far more than the 6 hits it takes to bring him down. Like any other hero, he doesn't lose any offense or defense before you lose him - clones lose a lot of offense for each one they lose. In an ideal situation, your opponent will be close enough and softened up enough when Obi dies for Rex to take over and go on the offensive with the remaining clones and clean up shop.

His command cards should give him his much-needed dodge tokens, as can 3PO & Padmé. On that note, 3PO & Padmé combined are amazing support for your clones: 3PO can "Calculate Odds" on Padmé, then she can use "Quick Thinking" to generate two aim and dodge tokens that any friendly unit within Range 2 can use. After that, Padmé still has a second action to move, attack, or generate a fifth token, e.g. aim, dodge, standby. Yes, 140 points for all three is a LOT, especially in the Clone army, but they can generate up to 5 tokens every round - two aims and a standby can help to mitigate some of the offense you lose to bring them.

Padmé's 1 Pip, "Our Fate is in Your Hands": boosts her defense a little bit with Danger Sense; helps to mitigate the issue clones have with suppression by removing two tokens; and generates two free dodge tokens that "Daddy-Wan" Kenobi loves to help keep his clones alive.

Back to Kenobi specifically, how did he take three damage using Soresu? He has Guardian 3 and has to spend a dodge token to use Soresu, which cancels one of the hits he's absorbing - he should never take more than two damage from any one attack. Unless you were just being hyperbolic, then ignore me.

Hopefully, that helps - sorry if it overexplains things.

4 hours ago, TheSharkJuggler said:

Kenobi is specifically wonderful at removing chip damage from his clones - if the attacker only got 1 hit through, he can just spend one of his stack of dodge tokens to completely negate it. At the very least, he's protecting an entire unit of clones, but he's likely to mitigate far more than the 6 hits it takes to bring him down. Like any other hero, he doesn't lose any offense or defense before you lose him - clones lose a lot of offense for each one they lose. In an ideal situation, your opponent will be close enough and softened up enough when Obi dies for Rex to take over and go on the offensive with the remaining clones and clean up shop.

I guess by the time I've spent that many points on a figure and taking command cards, he's got to do something besides remove chip damage from clones (which are rolling the best defense besides Boba Fett with a token)

His command cards should give him his much-needed dodge tokens, as can 3PO & Padmé. On that note, 3PO & Padmé combined are amazing support for your clones: 3PO can "Calculate Odds" on Padmé, then she can use "Quick Thinking" to generate two aim and dodge tokens that any friendly unit within Range 2 can use. After that, Padmé still has a second action to move, attack, or generate a fifth token, e.g. aim, dodge, standby. Yes, 140 points for all three is a LOT, especially in the Clone army, but they can generate up to 5 tokens every round - two aims and a standby can help to mitigate some of the offense you lose to bring them.

Padme is amazing at support, but having Padme and Obi wan is close to 300pts, more than that if you're taking 3P0

Back to Kenobi specifically, how did he take three damage using Soresu? He has Guardian 3 and has to spend a dodge token to use Soresu, which cancels one of the hits he's absorbing - he should never take more than two damage from any one attack. Unless you were just being hyperbolic, then ignore me.

Guardian 3 - he rolls 3 dice and rolls 3 blanks

I guess for 190pts and command cards (maybe you don't take Obiwan's command cards, but then I would wonder why take Obiwan, just take more clones which may be the answer when ARCS come out) I expect more from a figure that costs that much and uses command cards.

I would like to begin by saying that I'm not trying to troll, demean, or be rude at all.

1 hour ago, buckero0 said:

I guess by the time I've spent that many points on a figure and taking command cards, he's got to do something besides remove chip damage from clones (which are rolling the best defense besides Boba Fett with a token)

1 hour ago, buckero0 said:

Guardian 3 - he rolls 3 dice and rolls 3 blanks

You misunderstand - Obi-Wan's defense matches Fett's when he uses Soresu Mastery - he spends a dodge token to gain Surge: Block *and* can deal damage back to the attacker for every surge result. That is one of the ways he contributes. That is strictly better than what the clones would roll.

Also, you should re-read how Soresu Mastery works: Obi spends a dodge token - which blocks one of the incoming damage. If he uses Guardian 3 to its full effect, he is only rolling 2 defense dice, not 3, and his defense is strictly better than the clones because now his red defense dice increase to the aforementioned surge:block.

I also tend to only take 2 offensive units and two naked Phase I's for token generation. The big guns can potentially attack twice each by spending the Phase I's Standby token and they become far cheaper. Add in Padmé and your offensive line increases further. With Obi protecting the clones, you can be more offensive with the heavy weapons and take an aim before shooting each time.

That's just my $0.02, for whatever that's worth. Hopefully, that helps explain what I was trying to say earlier.

I use him defensively for rounds 1-3 (sometimes 4) rounds. Assuming shooting on no later than round 2 he is worth 8-10 blocks in a game for your clones (crits not withstanding). When doing this yes he wants to go earlier but that isn't true all the time. His 2 pip is beginning of turn (he said not actually looking it up and hoping he's right). Turn 1 shouldn't really matter to much. So right there you already have 2 turns covered where he doesn't have to go early. And as I said late game I don't have him go early unless I need him too.

Obi is a great answer to a lot of common list building questions.
Palp? Obi's 1 pip is a great answer (this takes some practice).
Grevious? again obi is a top notch answer.
Gunlines? Obi may be the best answer.

Then in the rest of the game I move him in and let him start doing his thing, just something to get a feel for on when to go from defensive to offensive with him. I think he is well worth the points defensively and lets not forget he is one of if not the worst offensive lightsaber wielders in the game.

In my uses of him, Obiwan is most effective as a supportive defense unit. He has the worst attack of all the jedi/sith dudes. Technically Luke has basically the same % of hits but with son of skywalker I'd say Luke is better at offense than Obiwan. So if Obiwan is the worst offensive unit but still costs 175 naked, then hes gotta be defensive. He's got the best defensive abilities in the game ATM and if you get dodges on him (which will be easy with padme eventually). Also his command cards are some of the best in the game. However, when using guardian, unless youre keeping something incredibly important alive such as a unit with a crate or maybe R2, then NEVER use guardian over the number of dodges you have. Never roll defense with him on guardian always just spend a dodge or two and that's that. Even though he gets a surge on defense it's not worth it to accidentally take a hit on him instead of one clone dude.

All that said, Obiwan does still have a good offense and this shouldn't be ignored. If there's a Darth Vader or Grevious coming the wreck havoc on your army, take them out with Obiwan. He will usually die in the process of taking down another jedi dude but he will delay them and if you can play it right when he dies you've got a unit of clones ready to fire support an attack and nuke that annoying sith/jedi off the table. Aside from fighting lightsaber wielders though I wouldn't use Obiwan that offensively. He can clean up shop sometimes but if he hops out into the line of fire in front of a buncha enemy dudes, he will melt...unless you played Hello There of course

You absolutely, positively, have to get him onto the high ground.

Cheers all, I think I've just been too aggressive with him and need to play him as the clone protector he is and will look into 3PO never really thought of adding R2 and him into my lists.

well I've got plenty to try out with him and will give him a run out on tabletop simulator at some point and see what happens!!

In my mind, Obi-Wan Kenobi should progress from a defensive unit to an offensive unit throughout any given match. To really get the most out of him you can't put him totally on defense or totally on offense.

Early on (Round 1 or 2 depending on how close the armies deploy to each other), Knowledge and Defense allows him to use Soresu Mastery to deflect several times in one round. Obi-Wan needs to stay close to the rest of the army to provide this protection, so you'll likely activate him late in the round and let him advance towards the enemy once he's provided the protection.

Mid-match, once Obi-Wan had advanced but before getting too close to the enemy, General Kenobi allows you to boost all your Clones. Obi-Wan doesn't need to be terribly close to them at this point. As long as he is within command range to give them the orders and close enough to each other, they can get a ton of surge tokens. Obi-Wan can hang back to Guardian or move up to press the attack, depending on how the game is unfolding.

Late in the game, Obi-Wan can go on the offensive. Hello There allows him to collect up tokens, likely using the Standby to Charge into an enemy to get an additional attack on the round, plus Nimble Dodges to deflect incoming damage. Hello There might not be as straightforward as Son of Skywalker, but it does allow for some big turns.

23 minutes ago, GooeyChewie said:

In my mind, Obi-Wan Kenobi should progress from a defensive unit to an offensive unit throughout any given match. To really get the most out of him you can't put him totally on defense or totally on offense.

Early on (Round 1 or 2 depending on how close the armies deploy to each other), Knowledge and Defense allows him to use Soresu Mastery to deflect several times in one round. Obi-Wan needs to stay close to the rest of the army to provide this protection, so you'll likely activate him late in the round and let him advance towards the enemy once he's provided the protection.

Mid-match, once Obi-Wan had advanced but before getting too close to the enemy, General Kenobi allows you to boost all your Clones. Obi-Wan doesn't need to be terribly close to them at this point. As long as he is within command range to give them the orders and close enough to each other, they can get a ton of surge tokens. Obi-Wan can hang back to Guardian or move up to press the attack, depending on how the game is unfolding.

Late in the game, Obi-Wan can go on the offensive. Hello There allows him to collect up tokens, likely using the Standby to Charge into an enemy to get an additional attack on the round, plus Nimble Dodges to deflect incoming damage. Hello There might not be as straightforward as Son of Skywalker, but it does allow for some big turns.

This is largely how I play him as well and he has been very successful. One of my favorite things is to get him into melee, typically at the end of the second turn, and then play "Hello There!" I always give him a standby and then a bunch of dodge tokens. Since he is based, it is difficult for him to lose the standby, which generally means he ends up taking two attack.

Obi-Wan is definitely different than other commanders. He is both a beat stick and a support figure. You really do have to play him both ways to use him effectively.

As others have mentioned Obi really does have a playstyle switch during the game from a defensive unit to a offensive playmaker and his command cards reflect this and timing them right is important. Sticking with your gunline in the beginning with Obi is important for the clones to survive for the later part of the game. General Kenobi should really be played probably on turn 2 because that's when most units really start to engage at range 3 and Knowledge and Defence is probably a turn 3-4 card that you want to time when you know a lot of fire is about to come your way. After that Obi should probably be making moves on objectives and Hello There is a great turn 5-6 card. Obi's loadout should probably be force push, reflexes, and tenacity every time with aggressive tactics there if you're a solo commander. I like aggressive tactics surges on Obi that way I can still guardian some sniper fire that isn't crits coming into my clones and still have a surge for defence. It's very helpful vs civil war snipers and bx snipers but isn't as great vs ARC snipers because of critical.