CIS is no longer the innumerable horde of soulless cowardly automatons lead by lightsaber wielding Jedi-killers.

With the release of Cad Bane, there's some new tactics available to us, and there's a lot to take in. I figured I'd wait til I had it all in my hands before I really tried to wrap my head around him--specfically the use of "I'll Make the Rules Now" and Bane Tokens.

Initially, I was impressed by the Divulge version of the card, allowing you to deploy 3 tokens outside of range 1 of all deployment zones. However, when I saw the bit about both players getting the option to flip one at the start of each turn, I cooled off on that use of the card. The "Kablamo!" Token is so good, and your opponent is never going to get hit by it if they get to flip them over at the start of their turn. Assuming you flip Bane on turn 1 then the bomb will be flipped on turn 2 at the latest.

So then I started looking at using "I Make the Rules Now" as a regular command card. I want to blow something up gosh dangit!

I played a battle against rebels yesterday that went very badly for a lot of reasons. We played Recover the Supplies on Long March. I used Cad to rocket-hop over a wall, park next to a crate with intent to grab it next turn, and he shot up some commandos. The plan was to grab it up quick, then set a bomb to cover his escape. And that was all going fine. Elsewhere was disastrous. I bum rushed the center crate with waves of droids. One squad got there and surrounded it. Then an AT-RT strolled up, barely in range of 1 droid with the flamethrower. Squad deleted. Then Dooku's lighting killed one too many rebels in a squad so I couldn't scatter the squad into range 1 and force pull them out of cover with a droid squad on standby. Then Luke took full health Dooku with a dodge token down with Son of Skywalker. We called it there, because his 2 AT-RTs were going to just wipe 2 squads a turn. I could've certainly killed 1 in the next turn, but would be down to just Cad and an AAT--not enough to win the scenario.

I was wracking my brain as to where I failed (other than the inherent risks of running a 7 activation list--just wanted to try all my new toys) . I concluded that I just shouldn't have pushed for the center crate. I should've just grabbed the 2 easy ones, let my opponent grab his 2 easy ones, and let it come down to killing more.

But it occured to me hours later, that the Divulge version of IMTRN would've almost certainly won me the game. I could have put the "Here I am" Token on the center crate, and the other 2 flanking a doorway to a wall overlooking the crate on my opponent's side. I flip Bane, claim, and move for cover on turn 1. My opponent has a 50/50 chance of flipping the bomb, and if they don't, they can't get within range 1 of that door on the first turn. Even if they did flip the bomb on the first try, I'd still have enough distance to get to cover before he could bring Cad down.

So that was my "A-ha Moment" for Cad Bane. I thought I'd share just in case it might help someone else. If anyone else has some nifty tricks they've pulled (or wished they could have) please comment below!

Other gimmicks I want to try:

-Using IMTRN to plant a kablamo token, then later use Dooku to toss a unit into it.

-Using IMTRN to plant a smoke and mirrors token then teleport Bane over to it at the start of activation to get a crucial "free move".

Sorry I couldn't find the bit about the tokens being flipped at the start of the turn in his article. Does his box come with a rules insert or something?

46 minutes ago, Sekac said:

(...)

However, when I saw the bit about both players getting the option to flip one at the start of each turn, I cooled off on that use of the card.

(...)

You misunderstood the insert - it's not that both players get to flip your Bane's tokens.

Starting with the blue player, both players may choose to flip their respective friendly Bane token - it's clarification on who gets to do their shenanigans first.

9 minutes ago, Ryfterek said:

You misunderstood the insert - it's not that both players get to flip your Bane's tokens.

Starting with the blue player, both players may choose to flip their respective friendly Bane token - it's clarification on who gets to do their shenanigans first.

Ohhh, just in the case of both players bringing Cad Bane?

That never crossed my mind. I just assumed it basically meant it was better to be red player if you had Cad Bane, that way your opponent had a 1/3 chance of flipping the token you were going to flip anyway.

Oh Lordy, that's much better than I realized it was!

Or...I guess, exactly as good as I initially thought it was before I got myself all confuzzled...

I am definitely looking forward to Recover the Supplies on my armies that contain Bane, since as you pointed out he seems really good on that one due to his possible deployment on a crate. Also, I really want to use the Duck and Cover/Smoke Grenade combo on him just to see if it would work. 10 points for both upgrades, and he'd feasibly get heavy cover no matter where he was on the battlefield. The downside of course being that he attacks at range 2, so using the smoke grenade might not be viable.

Keeping him out of sight is probably a much better strategy, but I still want to try it.

Edit: Side note, you can always use Kablamo! on their crates as well, possibly getting a free hit on whatever would try to pick it up.

2 minutes ago, Kirjath08 said:

Edit: Side note, you can always use Kablamo! on their crates as well, possibly getting a free hit on whatever would try to pick it up.

That seems like the default strategy to me. Put one token on the center objective (Here I Am in all but some specific scenarios), then put the other two on the opponent's crates. Bane gets one, and someone else takes a big mine hit for trying to grab the other one. And with Kablamo! having four dice, your opponent can't just have a naked Corps unit or strike team grab it or they risk getting wiped out in one hit.

Yeah that's dirty nasty stuff!

I'm looking forward to playing it correctly 😄

So the use in Recover the Supplies seems effective. Do we stick with the Divulge use in other scenarios too, or are there better uses?

Especially curious about people's thoughts on gear cards for him.

To me it seems largely unnecessary. His jump boots give him movement enough on the board I play on, but maybe other things stand out to others?

Recon intel for 2 points seems okay if you think you'd rather keep IMTRN in your hand but still give him some mid-board presence early on. 2 point plan B?

I'm after 4 games with Cad, 3 at 800pt and 1 at 500 points. I'm very impressed how good he is. I think the 3-pip Divulge card is a must have. You can benefit from him in many scenarios. He's cazy good at 500 point where you can"block" entire table and your opponent has no choice but go and check at least 2 of the tokens by his units. I play him with Duck and Cover bacause it helps a lot to stay alive and it's usefull for his 2-pip card. Offensive push is also good on him. I found out that his electro gauntlet is a trap. I don't see any synergy with this weapon and Cad's cards and abilities. I prefer him with training slot only. I see a potential with smoke grenades too.

Got a couple games in yesterday with some more thoughts.

The first game was an unmitigated disaster for a few reasons and we called it partway through turn 1. Not a lot to learn from this game beyond deployment observations.

I built my list to be red player, because it actually increases my chances of getting Recover the Supplies and that part of the plan worked. I set up the Here I Am token on one near to one of my opponent's crate, seeing what looked like a great opportunity to grab it and hop over a wall. I put Smoke and Mirrors on his other near one, and Kablamo! on the center crate. The center crate didn't have good approaches, so I figured I could grab 3, slip away with Bane, and keep my opponent off the center.

What I didn't realize is how completely Scout shuts down a lot of Cad's more aggressive token placement options. My opponent scouted up and discovered Cad Bane, then deployed Obi-wan right nearby, and Cad's death sentence was signed. Absolutely nothing I could do to prevent Cad Bane from dying without a accomplishing anything on turn 1.

So that's the lesson of Game 1:

BE WARY OF SCOUT

So we reset, realizing that even if I managed to win by some miracle, there were no further lessons to be learned. As these are practice games, better to learn and restart to learn more, rather then have 1 lesson echoed for turn after excruciating turn.

Game 2 was Key Positions and I deployed my tokens a bit more conservatively, wary of scout. It ended up being a really good game that slipped away in the end. My opponent had some of the most insane defense dice I've ever seen, no joke, the majority of his red defense dice rolls were 100% blocks. Kablamo token? Blocked. Multiple AAT shots, blocked. The one mine he triggered from Minefield, blocked. Cad's double shoot turn, blocked (except for the pierce). Grievous's Trained In Your Jedi Arts (only hit Obi-wan), blocked. 8 hits with Grievous on Obi-wan, 7 out of 8 blocked (didn't even need the surge).

All that whined about, my opponent played a tight game, and stuck to the objectives. I played what felt like a very good game too. Only felt like I had one command card misplay, and no catastrophic errors.

My main takeaway for that game was actually the value of the Electro-gauntlests on Bane. Unfortunately, this was my first game where I didn't take them, as I was skimming for points. He got stuck with Obi-wan and I desperately needed to get to R2-D2. Playing the command card that allows Cad to transfer his suppression to someone else (Obi-wan) and give them an Immobilize, would've allowed him to walk out of combat, shoot R2, then walk into engagement with R2 to slow him down.

Lesson from Game 2:

The Gauntlets are a little pricey, but they do synergize with his 2 pip I'm In Control card. Keeps him slippery and efficient. Probably could get away without them if Dooku is the commander, since he can shove people away from Cad potentially.

Hope this helps!

34 minutes ago, Sekac said:

Got a couple games in yesterday with some more thoughts.

The first game was an unmitigated disaster for a few reasons and we called it partway through turn 1. Not a lot to learn from this game beyond deployment observations.

I built my list to be red player, because it actually increases my chances of getting Recover the Supplies and that part of the plan worked. I set up the Here I Am token on one near to one of my opponent's crate, seeing what looked like a great opportunity to grab it and hop over a wall. I put Smoke and Mirrors on his other near one, and Kablamo! on the center crate. The center crate didn't have good approaches, so I figured I could grab 3, slip away with Bane, and keep my opponent off the center.

What I didn't realize is how completely Scout shuts down a lot of Cad's more aggressive token placement options. My opponent scouted up and discovered Cad Bane, then deployed Obi-wan right nearby, and Cad's death sentence was signed. Absolutely nothing I could do to prevent Cad Bane from dying without a accomplishing anything on turn 1.

So that's the lesson of Game 1:

BE WARY OF SCOUT

So we reset, realizing that even if I managed to win by some miracle, there were no further lessons to be learned. As these are practice games, better to learn and restart to learn more, rather then have 1 lesson echoed for turn after excruciating turn.

Game 2 was Key Positions and I deployed my tokens a bit more conservatively, wary of scout. It ended up being a really good game that slipped away in the end. My opponent had some of the most insane defense dice I've ever seen, no joke, the majority of his red defense dice rolls were 100% blocks. Kablamo token? Blocked. Multiple AAT shots, blocked. The one mine he triggered from Minefield, blocked. Cad's double shoot turn, blocked (except for the pierce). Grievous's Trained In Your Jedi Arts (only hit Obi-wan), blocked. 8 hits with Grievous on Obi-wan, 7 out of 8 blocked (didn't even need the surge).

All that whined about, my opponent played a tight game, and stuck to the objectives. I played what felt like a very good game too. Only felt like I had one command card misplay, and no catastrophic errors.

My main takeaway for that game was actually the value of the Electro-gauntlests on Bane. Unfortunately, this was my first game where I didn't take them, as I was skimming for points. He got stuck with Obi-wan and I desperately needed to get to R2-D2. Playing the command card that allows Cad to transfer his suppression to someone else (Obi-wan) and give them an Immobilize, would've allowed him to walk out of combat, shoot R2, then walk into engagement with R2 to slow him down.

Lesson from Game 2:

The Gauntlets are a little pricey, but they do synergize with his 2 pip I'm In Control card. Keeps him slippery and efficient. Probably could get away without them if Dooku is the commander, since he can shove people away from Cad potentially.

Hope this helps!

I think Cads tokens are placed after all deployments so Scout will have occurred

1 hour ago, aswitcher said:

I think Cads tokens are placed after all deployments so Scout will have occurred

I wish, but no.

From the rules insert:

Divulge: Deploy Units Step - At the start of the Deploy Units step, you may reveal this card for its specified game effect.

Scout is a very good counter to Bane Tokens, so be wary.

1 hour ago, Sekac said:

I built my list to be red player, because it actually increases my chances of getting Recover the Supplies and that part of the plan worked.

That only works if your opponent actually has Recover in their battle deck. Personally I only include it if I have something with Infiltrate or multiple things with Scout.

1 hour ago, Sekac said:

The Gauntlets are a little pricey, but they do synergize with his 2 pip I'm In Control card.

They can also synergize with his 1 pip. If someone manages to engage Cad Bane before he can activate, he can hit them with the gauntlets, then move away and use steady to make a ranged attack as well.

1 hour ago, Lochlan said:

That only works if your opponent actually has Recover in their battle deck. Personally I only include it if I have something with Infiltrate or multiple things with Scout.

Covid being what it is, I have 2 "regular" opponents. One only has starting missions, the other has multiple things with scout. I put the "me" back in meta. Them also.

It's certainly not a long term plan, but I know there's a 75% chance it's available no matter who is blue or red.

I could have forced Recover the Supplies again in Game 2, but just felt like taking a break from it to try Cad's tokens with a different strategy. Less Russian Roulette, more of an area denial concept, especially since we had Minefields too.

1 hour ago, Lochlan said:

They can also synergize with his 1 pip. If someone manages to engage Cad Bane before he can activate, he can hit them with the gauntlets, then move away and use steady to make a ranged attack as well.

Ooh lala! Very good tactic indeed!

The gauntlets are not a trap per se, but they are a gamble nonetheless. You’re not wasting an action on refreshing them, so it’s 10 points for a single use. It could save Cad from a dire situation, but it could also end up being a waste.

His 2-pip is absolutely a trap. He’s always going to lose a suppression at the end of the round (except in the rare instances of hostile environment), so the one he likely gets from duck and cover is going away. Now in order for his two pip to be effective, he needs a lot of suppression tokens, but if he has that many, he’s probably near dead (or already dead before you can play the card). In the event he has a lot and is still alive, he needs to be able to get under 3 or his action pool is reduced to 1 which is not ideal considering he likely has a bunch of wounds (as he would have taken a bunch of shots already in order to build those tokens). All of this leads to a super situational card that likely means you didn’t take Aggressive Tactics as they other commander is only going to issue 3 orders due to Cad’s 1/3 pips being amazing). I think the correct play is to forgo his 2-pip in order to take push, giving grievous or Dooku 4 turns calling the shots.

Cad seems to excel on missions where can harass flanks (key positions, sabotage moisture vaporators, recover supplies, intercept transmissions). I think he will work best by applying pressure on one side while the rest of the force takes the middle and other side.

7 minutes ago, Mokoshkana said:

His 2-pip is absolutely a trap. He’s always going to lose a suppression at the end of the round (except in the rare instances of hostile environment), so the one he likely gets from duck and cover is going away.

Actually, this isn't true. The relevant portion of Danger Sense reads: You may choose not to remove your suppression tokens . That's it. Nothing about the rally step specifically.

So you may choose not to remove the one in the end phase.

17 minutes ago, Mokoshkana said:

Now in order for his two pip to be effective, he needs a lot of suppression tokens, but if he has that many, he’s probably near dead (or already dead before you can play the card). In the event he has a lot and is still alive, he needs to be able to get under 3 or his action pool is reduced to 1 which is not ideal considering he likely has a bunch of wounds (as he would have taken a bunch of shots already in order to build those tokens).

Bear in mind, he does get to move his suppression tokens both at the start and end of his activation and can move any number of tokens to any number of troopers. So he'll get his full activation on this turn unless there's absolutely no enemy or friendly troopers in range 2. In which case, playing the card is a clear mistake.

The ideal realistic scenario would be basically:

1) Two enemy units shoot at Cad, he triggers Duck and Cover on both, ending with 4 suppression on the turn. He chooses not to clear it.

2) He plays the 2 pip. Passes off 2 tokens in whatever way makes sense. Carries on with unhindered activation.

3) Passes off last 2 in whatever way makes sense.

Of course it could get better than that, if people keep pouring suppressive fire into him and he freezes an entire wing in place, but it gets less and less realistic. But a turn where he utilizes 3-4 shouldn't be too tricky.

All that said, I don't disagree with your conclusion that this is easily his most situational and replaceable command card. Bummer that it's the only one that allows him to activate another. But I don't think I'd take gauntlets if I wasn't including this card.

So what it really comes down to, IMO, is your HQ uplink situation. I think Cad might as well cost 135 because if you bring him you need an at least 1 uplink too. When he plays 2 of his cards, it doesn't matter where he is on the table, you've got a full bag of tokens, the last thing droids want.

I think we can assume we can create a coordinate chain either through the HQ uplink that's included regardless, or through 1 of the pips of either Push or I'm In Control. So, the question is whether the ability to issue orders from your Commander on Push turn and/or the freedom to activate whatever you want with that 2nd activation is better than the ability to immobilize and suppress at the cost of necessarily activating with Bane and issuing orders from him.

I don't know that there's a right answer to that question.

Personally, it's every bit as replaceable to me as Double the Fall.

1 hour ago, Mokoshkana said:

His 2-pip is absolutely a trap. He’s always going to lose a suppression at the end of the round (except in the rare instances of hostile environment),

No, he has Danger Sense 2, so you choose not to remove up to 2 suppresion tokens when you prepare for his 2 pip card.

3 hours ago, Lochlan said:

They can also synergize with his 1 pip. If someone manages to engage Cad Bane before he can activate, he can hit them with the gauntlets, then move away and use steady to make a ranged attack as well.

That would work only if you could kill the unit that engaged you. Cad Bane has no Disengage and his pistols are not Versitile. When you withdraw from melee you can't use Steady.

6 hours ago, Sekac said:

What I didn't realize is how completely Scout shuts down a lot of Cad's more aggressive token placement options. My opponent scouted up and discovered Cad Bane, then deployed Obi-wan right nearby, and Cad's death sentence was signed. Absolutely nothing I could do to prevent Cad Bane from dying without a accomplishing anything on turn 1.

Something similar happaned to me in my first game 😐 , so yes Scout X can be very dangerous for Cad Bane.

3 hours ago, NetCop said:

No, he has Danger Sense 2, so you choose not to remove up to 2 suppresion tokens when you prepare for his 2 pip card.

That would work only if you could kill the unit that engaged you. Cad Bane has no Disengage and his pistols are not Versitile. When you withdraw from melee you can't use Steady.

Something similar happaned to me in my first game 😐 , so yes Scout X can be very dangerous for Cad Bane.

I was under the impression a unit that was fully immobilized could not engage someone in melee? I swear I read something like that in a news article at least, but maybe I'm wrong..

Boba Fett's 1-pip command card explicitly states he can move away from an immobilized unit.

5 hours ago, NetCop said:

No, he has Danger Sense 2, so you choose not to remove up to 2 suppresion tokens when you prepare for his 2 pip card.

No, you can choose not to remove any and all. You only get up to 2 additional dice when defending though, so more than 2 doesn't help you unless you're ready to pop the 2 pip card. Minor difference, but worth pointing out.

5 hours ago, NetCop said:

That would work only if you could kill the unit that engaged you. Cad Bane has no Disengage and his pistols are not Versitile. When you withdraw from melee you can't use Steady.

His gauntlets specifically allow him to move out of engagement when a unit is immobilized, even while they're exhausted. So he can either punch a unit and waltz out of combat, or pop the 2 pip, pass a suppression over, and waltz out of combat. No withdraw necessary.

Slippery little fish!

5 hours ago, NetCop said:

That would work only if you could kill the unit that engaged you. Cad Bane has no Disengage and his pistols are not Versitile. When you withdraw from melee you can't use Steady.

As @Sekac already pointed out, his gauntlets have Immobilize 3, and allow him to perform moves while engaged with a unit with at least 1 Immobilize token*. The one catch is that he has to actually wound a model with the gauntlets for Immobilize 3 to trigger, but with 4 red with surge to hit that should be pretty easy against all but the toughest targets.

*The way this is worded on the card, it sounds to me that if Cad Bane is engaged with multiple enemy units, if even one of them has at least one Immobilize token he could walk away. Do we know if that's how it works for Boba (his ability has the same wording)?

That gauntlet has the same wording as Boba's 1-pip. Was it clarified somehere that it let's you move away from combat just like disengage keyword? Maybe I don't fully understand that card.

From the FAQ thread. I'm going to assume cads immobilize works the same

" Question: If the Whipcord Launcher command card is in play, and Boba Fett is engaged with an enemy unit with one ore more immobilize tokens, can he perform moves even if he is also engaged with another enemy unit that does not have any immobilize tokens?

Answer: Yes. As long as Boba Fett is engaged with one enemy unit that has at least one immobilize token, he can perform moves while engaged if Whipcord Launcher is in play."

Got another game in today.

Long March with Intercept the Transmission. It ended up being a good game but Cad Bane's I'm In Control Now card sealed the victory for me on turn 5.

The situation played out much like I had theorized above for it's potential. On turn 4 I played I'm Your Worst Enemy, moved to contest the objective closest to his DZ, wiped a phase II squad, took 3 damage but tanked a decent amount with Uncanny Luck, and piled up 4 suppression tokens.

On turn 5, I played I'm In Control, but Rex went first and wounded Cad again. Cad activated and immobilized the last clone standing on my opponent's objective with 2 suppression. Then he moved to shoot Rex and hurt him pretty bad. Then he passed the last 2 suppression to Obi-wan and froze him in place.

Obi-wan was going to either kill a B1 squad headed to go kill the immobilized last clone and steal my opponent's objective, or he was going to kill a squad of droidekas who were in position to aim/shoot Rex off the table. Instead he got to do neither.

We called it there because the outcome was certain. My B1s were going to slip away from Obi-wan and claim the back objective. Rex was going to die. 2 more squads of B1s were going to kill either R2-D2 or his last non-immobilized squad of 2 clones who were going to have to leave cover to give him any chance of getting back an objective.

So this game gave me 2 Cad Bane lessons:

1) Deploy "Kablamo!" away from intervening terrain. I had it behind a stack of crates and my opponent cleverly moved a unit so only 1 model was visible around the corner. 2 models would've died, by the rolls, but only 1 could. Even if it makes which token hides the bomb obvious, deploy the mine so a unit cannot limit its damage with terrain.

2) I'm In Control might be the single meanest thing CIS can do to a lightsaber character if you can pull it off. Getting into range isn't hard, you just have to have a Jedi within about range 4 of Cad on the turn you want to play it. Getting the 2 suppression tokens required to freeze them is the part you don't get to control. Don't think I didn't consider running Bane over with droidekas to give him suppression either!

11 hours ago, Sekac said:

the 2 suppression tokens required to freeze them

You only give a unit one immobilise token with his 2-pip, regardless of how many supression you give them. You can freeze Palpatine and Vader, but you can't freeze Obi-Wan unless you hit him with the electro-gauntlets.