Finally dipped my toe into this game, and I have to say I am having a blast painting the models. I bought 3 core sets as a starting point since it felt like the best place to start with the added bonus of getting a couple of my friends into the Clones factions. That being said, this is what I came up with for my first list:

General Grievous (175 + 15 = 190)
--Aggressive Tactics (10), Esteemed Leader (5)

Count Dooku (205 + 20 = 225)
--Force Choke (5), Force Push (10), Esteemed Leader (5)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 36 = 72)
--E-60R B1 Trooper (20), B1 Battle Droid (6), HQ Uplink (10)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 36 = 72)
--E-60R B1 Trooper (20), B1 Battle Droid (6), HQ Uplink (10)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 24 = 60)
--E-5C B1 Trooper (18), B1 Battle Droid (6)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 24 = 60)
--E-5C B1 Trooper (18), B1 Battle Droid (6)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 24 = 60)
--E-5C B1 Trooper (18), B1 Battle Droid (6)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 24 = 60)
--E-5C B1 Trooper (18), B1 Battle Droid (6)

Commands:
Trained in Your Jedi Arts (1), Fear, Surprise, Intimidation (1), Supreme Commander (2), Double the Fall (2), Crush Them! (3), You Disappoint Me (3), Standing Orders (4)

Seemed like the most straightforward thing to build, both commanders and as much of B1 as I can get. I am told this archetype is known as Double the Fall. Now I have a couple of questions:

1) For my commanders is there some upgrade missing that is more essential that the ones they already have. Is there a "correct" setup when building the Double The Fall list?

2) Are the additional B1 models for each unit worth it? I went with them since I wanted to see how much models I can get into the army, but if I remove all 6 of them I can get back 36 points, maybe enough for the Droids Strike team or some additional upgrades on the commanders?

3) Is there a better combination of Commands, I just chucked in all the ones I got with the two commanders?

4) What do people use for the Battle Plans, some are obvious like "avoid the separated deployment one" but I was looking for general input on what to pick. Any good resources I can use to read up on it?

5) Are 2 HQ Up-links enough to ensure all the Droids are always functioning as part of the chain?

6) In general are 8 activations enough or should I aim for more?

Thanks for reading and I am grateful for any input you can give me.

I am far from an expert so take my takes with a grain of salt. One thing I will recommend, use the "recent lists" feature on tabletop admiral ans peek at what others are doing. Honestly, any advice we give you before your first game will be limited in value, but here goes.

1) For my commanders is there some upgrade missing that is more essential that the ones they already have. Is there a "correct" setup when building the Double The Fall list?

After playing mostly rebels, these very aggressive commanders are new to me. I am going to recommend going to The Fifth Trooper blog who has some great advice, especially on Dooku.

2) Are the additional B1 models for each unit worth it? I went with them since I wanted to see how much models I can get into the army, but if I remove all 6 of them I can get back 36 points, maybe enough for the Droids Strike team or some additional upgrades on the commanders?

Droids tend to go down fast under enemy fire. Generally the extra b1 a great cheap upgrade, but not necessary. They tend to be my default if I have the points upgrade, but if you need the points, scrap em.

3) Is there a better combination of Commands, I just chucked in all the ones I got with the two commanders?

Honestly, the generics don't do a lot for the droids at this point compared to the cards that come with the commanders. Just keep in mind that you need to issue orders from the commander on the card.

4) What do people use for the Battle Plans, some are obvious like "avoid the separated deployment one" but I was looking for general input on what to pick. Any good resources I can use to read up on it?

Not my strong suit. I will let others answer this. I would again recommend going to tabletop admiral and using the "recent lists" feature to see what people are building.

5) Are 2 HQ Up-links enough to ensure all the Droids are always functioning as part of the chain?

Because you only have 2 types of tokens, and the droids have the coordinate rule, I would not put the HQ up link on them. Those tend to be better for specialized units or units that operate far from the commanders. Sure, two orders from your uplinks will get you through 1 order turns, but your 2 and 3 pip cards will give them a good chunk of orders anyway. Staps, commandos, tanks, maybe Droidekas that won't necessarily benefit from coordinated. For B1s, I would spend the points elsewhere. the 20 from these, 36 from the extra b1s get you half way to say a unit of droidekas or all the way to a commando strike team.

6) In general are 8 activations enough or should I aim for more?

In general, 8-10 is the right range. Some lists will skew for more activation and I would at least consider a 1 commander list to add a couple more (Dooku and Greiveous are both really expensive commanders) but 8 will do the job. As a general rule I would not do less than 8 unless you have a very specific plan.

Hope this helps.

Having never played against or as the Separatists, and having only played 2 games of Legion so far, take everything I saw with the largest grains of salt you can find. Maybe one of those giant salt licks for horses?

Personally, if I ran that list, I'd be worried of getting terribly bored or limited in my strategy. There's 3 units in the entire list. Would adding something else like Droidekas or Super Battle Droids be a good idea? My main faction is Imperial, and I feel if I ran a Krennic + Vader + tons of Stormtroopers, I'm putting too many eggs in one basket, and I'd lose a lot of versatility in a list. But maybe Separatists work better this way, throwing waves of cheap droids at the enemy?

Looking at the point cost of adding an extra battle droid to the squad, 6 points for an extra attack roll and hit point seems like a bargain to me, so I'd say stick with that.

For your first few games, I'd recommend going pretty simple on the Battle Plans. For the first game or 2, I'd recommend just running the Battles Lines deployment card, something simple like Break Through or Intercept the Transmissions for Objectives, and Clear Conditions, Fortified Positions, or Limited Visibility for Condition Cards.

As a primarily-CIS player, here are my thoughts:

1) For my commanders is there some upgrade missing that is more essential that the ones they already have. Is there a "correct" setup when building the Double The Fall list?

I would suggest replacing Esteemed Leader on Grievous with Strict Orders. Ideally Grievous won't be getting shot at much, and for at least some of the game he probably won't be within Range 1 of any corps units. Plus his 2-Pip gives other units Guardian as-is. Strict Orders isn't strictly (ha!) necessary, but with 2 melee commanders there will be times when you have units not within command range of either commander, so it helps to prevent potential panics.

2) Are the additional B1 models for each unit worth it? I went with them since I wanted to see how much models I can get into the army, but if I remove all 6 of them I can get back 36 points, maybe enough for the Droids Strike team or some additional upgrades on the commanders?

As others have said, the extra B1s are fine, but not necessarily amazing. But to tie this into the first question, I would recommend dropping 5 of them (off of the E-5C squads plus one other) to free up points for the DT-57 and Endurance on Grievous (suppression is a serious issue with him), and to give Dooku Force Reflexes.

3) Is there a better combination of Commands, I just chucked in all the ones I got with the two commanders?

What you have is perfectly fine. Some people drop some of Grievous' cards for generics so they can get more use out of Aggressive Tactics, but that requires putting AT on Dooku and I prefer Esteemed Leader since he has less health and tends to hang back for more of the game as he is less mobile.

4) What do people use for the Battle Plans, some are obvious like "avoid the separated deployment one" but I was looking for general input on what to pick. Any good resources I can use to read up on it?

This is kind of personal preference for a lot of them, especially for Objectives. But here are some I would generally avoid: Disarray , Long March , Roll Out , Bombing Run , and War Weary .

5) Are 2 HQ Up-links enough to ensure all the Droids are always functioning as part of the chain?

2 is exactly as many as I would recommend. There will almost definitely be times when you can't give all the droids orders anyway, but that can happen even if all of the B1s had uplinks.

6) In general are 8 activations enough or should I aim for more?

8 is fine (I definitely wouldn't want to do fewer than that), but more is generally better. At the moment, CIS can't do more than 9, but once we get BXs that will go up.

Awesome guys, that was a bunch of useful info. I started playing Legion over TTS and it's definitely scratching that wargames itch I was craving since I've stopped playing Warhammer.

Next set of questions. I've painted everything I need for the above list and was considering expanding.

What would you consider to be the best purchases after the core set?

Do B2s see play?

Is Cad Bane too expensive until we get a cheaper commander?

Are the commando droids worth it as just as strike team with a sniper?

AAT overcosted or not?

Personally I was debating switching one of the commanders for a Tank and a Sniper Strike Team just not sure which one yet. Need to play more.

What would you consider to be the best purchases after the core set?

This depends on preference and availability. But my first suggestion for someone just starting to collect would be to get a second core set, especially if you have a friend who wants the Clones you can split the cost with. But even if you don't have someone like that available, I would still recommend it, as that gets you 2 more B1s and another Droideka, which on their own would be $80, and you also get more dice, movement tools, and range rulers. And then you have a small clone army you could let someone borrow to try out the game. After that, I would get Dooku and 2 more B1s.

Since you already have everything in your list above, the only other things currently released are the AAT and B2s. Either of those would be good options, if you can find them.

Do B2s see play?

Yes, but from what I have seen not in large numbers. Most people (myself included) seem to be running 0-1 of them, though I have seen lists with up to 3. Part of the reason for their low numbers are low availability in stores, and that B1s are the only cheap option CIS has currently so it's hard not to take a lot of them.

Is Cad Bane too expensive until we get a cheaper commander?

He's definitely not too expensive to use (though not having tried him I think he might be a bit overpriced). It's not too hard to field a 9 activation list with him just using what will actually be available when he is released. And he does looks pretty strong, though I am worried that he has some negative synergy with other CIS units (his command cards give out only 1 order to something other than himself, in a faction that needs faceup order tokens).

Are the commando droids worth it as just as strike team with a sniper?

I haven't used them yet, but signs are definitely pointing to yes. They don't have automatic Pierce, but their sniper is incredibly accurate (76.5% chance for 2 hits with no aim, vs. 25% for the Imperial sniper and 23.5% for the Rebel's), plus the Red save with Impervious means they will hang around longer than their Rebel or Imperial counterparts (on average).

AAT overcosted or not?

No, but it is currently not super easy to fit into a list. Tanks generally benefit from cheaper support commands so the list can still have a good number of activations, but our cheapest commander currently costs more than the tank itself. But the AAT is definitely pretty good.

On 7/9/2020 at 11:53 AM, Flurpy said:

What would you consider to be the best purchases after the core set?

Do B2s see play? I play them, they are what you think they are. They really shine in skirmish, they are good in Hostage situations, they also can be body guards for your commanders. They can also hid behind a tank marching up the line until they're ready to pop out and shred something

Is Cad Bane too expensive until we get a cheaper commander? we won't really know until he's released. I think he'll be fun to play. One commander and Cad is still cheaper than 2 commanders

Are the commando droids worth it as just as strike team with a sniper? strike team is probably going to be the answer, but play the others for fun (this has been true for every commando unit though)

AAT overcosted or not? I think it's the best Heavy released so far, they finally got one right. It's good at 170pts, I like the OOM droid though and HE shells are sweet.

Personally I was debating switching one of the commanders for a Tank and a Sniper Strike Team just not sure which one yet. Need to play more. NEED TO PLAY MORE - this is my problem as well. I just don't get to play as often as I like.

On the subject of B2s, are they better off as an assault unit with the B2-ACM or as a general purpose/anti armor using the B2-HA? Rolling three of the rainbow appears quite solid but ignoring cover is incredibly strong and having an AA option in your backpocket is always appreciated. "Cycle" increases its availability, but I worry how much I'd be able to use the rocket I've invested in in practice.

55 minutes ago, TheSharkJuggler said:

On the subject of B2s, are they better off as an assault unit with the B2-ACM or as a general purpose/anti armor using the B2-HA? Rolling three of the rainbow appears quite solid but ignoring cover is incredibly strong and having an AA option in your backpocket is always appreciated. "Cycle" increases its availability, but I worry how much I'd be able to use the rocket I've invested in in practice.

The HA is definitely strong, but it has a lot of drawbacks. Even with Cycle it can only be used every-other turn, so at most 3 times without using recover. AI: Attack can also be really bad if you are at range 3 of something with nothing at range 2, as you will be forced to attack with just the HA before you can move the rest of the unit into range. It's also more expensive. Personally, I never take it. For trooper Impact I rely on the E-60R on a couple B1 units with HQ Uplink.

Here is the list I took to a 20 player tournament two weekends ago and came 3rd:

CIS

797/800

General Grievous (175 + 33 = 208)

--Aggressive Tactics (10), Strict Orders (5), Endurance (6), DT-57 Annihilator (12)

B2 Super Battle Droids (48 + 42 = 90)

--B2-ACM Trooper (26), B2 Super Battle Droid (16)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 30 = 66)

--E-5s B1 Trooper (20), HQ Uplink (10)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 24 = 60)

--E-5C B1 Trooper (18), B1 Battle Droid (6)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 24 = 60)

--E-5C B1 Trooper (18), B1 Battle Droid (6)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 24 = 60)

--E-5C B1 Trooper (18), B1 Battle Droid (6)

B1 Battle Droids (36 + 24 = 60)

--E-5C B1 Trooper (18), B1 Battle Droid (6)

AAT Trade Federation Battle Tank (170 + 23 = 193)

--T-Series Tactical Droid Pilot (5), Armor-Piercing Shells (10), High-Energy Shells (8)

Commands:

Ambush (1), Trained in Your Jedi Arts (1), Push (2), Supreme Commander (2), Assault (3), Crush Them! (3), Standing Orders (4)

Deployments: Major Offensive, Battle Lines, Hemmed In, Danger Close

Objectives: Recover the Supplies, Key Positions, Intercept the Transmissions, Hostage Exchange

Conditions: Rapid Reinforcements, Limited Visibility, Hostile Environment, Fortified Positions

I was quite happy with how it played out, having 100% activation control almost every round was pretty amazing. A lot of people prefer the OOM droid pilot for the Tank but I found the Tac Droid suited the army very well, almost every turn the order tokens went out the Tank was the only token in the bag so I could activate it whenever I wanted and with no AI it really allowed the tank to aim + Fire or Move + Fire as it pleased. The field commander on the tac droid was also very useful for turns where grievous might have ventured too far to issue orders to the start of the order chain.

Haven't played with the BX Droids , Cad Bane or STAPS as I don’t play TTS but I'm sure they will all add their own unique attributed to the army, though you will lose quite a bit of the perfect activation control adding them to this army specifically.