I am still newish to the game and would like to put commander or operative Vader on the table. Any lists suggestions? I have the following:

Vader operative and commander

Veers

Emperor

Imperial officer

Krennic

Iden

Boba Fett

Bossk

Stormtroopers x 3

Shore troopers x 1

Snowtroopers x 1

Scout troopers x 2

Imperial Royal Guards x 1

Speeder bikes

Dewback

ATST

Tank

Well, let's start with your preferences as far as other stuff. Aside from Vader, do you have any particular favorite units that you love putting on the table?

I will tell you right now, the answer(s) you give for that will decide whether you go commander Vader or ops Vader. The former is more spendy and so works better witch cheap stuff like corps and strike teams, while the latter will allow more room for like a heavy or some dewbacks.

I've only played a handful of games and so far I have really liked the ATST, Bossk and Boba Fett.

I really the scout trooper sniper strike team as well.

Commander/agent Vader will always be pretty expensive. This axiom means you are seldom going to field him with other expensive units, because otherwise your total unit count drops to unsustainable levels.

Also, he's ABSOLUTELY hungry for command card slots and orders, so that rules out both bounty hunters, Palpatine, Iden Versio and possibly Kreenic.

So you're going to pair the Vader agent with inexpensive commanders (since you're forced to have a commander) that don't really rely on having CC: Veers, or the generic one.

The question, then, is mainly if the rest of your list needs to have a frontline commander (in this case you pick commander Vader), or a backline commander (in this case you pick agent Vader and Veers/generic).

Frontline lists would include snowtroopers, IRG or dewbacks. Backline lists would consist of snipers, shores, mortars, deathtroopers...

In my experience, Vader doesn't need much support. It's black menace, even while hidden behind a wall, is enough to put the enemies to a halt. Still, I think it's better to play it fully to his strenghts and go for the frontline.

Operative Vader is much better IMO.

Commander Vader is way too slow. Spending 200+ points on a model that can be easily kited around is no good.

I would like help also, as Vader is pretty cool, but using a list with him and his new 3 pip cards seems hard.

On 7/10/2020 at 10:03 PM, Khobai said:

Operative Vader is much better IMO.

Commander Vader is way too slow. Spending 200+ points on a model that can be easily kited around is no good.

I mean, maybe I'm just biased here because I'm a rebel player, but Commander Vader is pretty difficult to kill for me. Granted, the guy who I've played against who uses him has had a lot of practice, but I think that doesn't disqualify his longevity/durability.

On 7/11/2020 at 3:57 AM, ppnoir said:

I would like help also, as Vader is pretty cool, but using a list with him and his new 3 pip cards seems hard.

Not too hard really. You just gotta not deploy him in a way that he'll get surrounded or have to defend against 5 different attacks at once. Vader works his best when he can go from one enemy to the next to mowing them down in 1v1 matchups. That Pierce 3 Impact 3 is no joke and with that plus 5-6 red on his ATK rolls, he's easily one of the scariest single-mini units in the game.

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I mean, maybe I'm just biased here because I'm a rebel player, but Commander Vader is pretty difficult to kill for me. Granted, the guy who I've played against who uses him has had a lot of practice, but I think that doesn't disqualify his longevity/durability.

You dont have to kill commander vader. You can just kite him around. Hes only speed 1. the best he can do is derp around chasing after you and throwing his lightsaber for half damage. its laughable.

I feel operative vader is slightly better because spur makes him speed 2. And with speed 2 he at least has a chance of getting into melee on turn 1.

Although both versions of vader are absolutely terrible compared to luke. Vader is a complete joke in this game.

FFG seriously needs to buff the **** out of both versions of Vader because hes supposed to be the strongest character in the game not the weakest.

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Also, he's ABSOLUTELY hungry for command card slots and orders, so that rules out both bounty hunters, Palpatine, Iden Versio and possibly Kreenic.

Ive actually run commander vader, Iden, and an AT-ST all in the same list. The idea being that vader and iden infiltrate and then the opponent has to deal with both of them in their backfield on top of an AT-ST barreling down on them.

I still think the list has some merit. if only Vader wasnt so awful or if imperials had other infiltrate options...

Janky low activation lists can sometimes work. You dont always need to have 9+ activations.