Full disclosure, I’m a Republic player, but I started playing Empire, then switched to Rebels and eventually to Republic. I have heard a lot of people complaining that the Republic is too powerful and that brings me back to playing Rebels against Empire and how one sided it seemed (especially pre-Tauntaun). That being said, I thought I would help by giving the tactics that have been used against my Republic lists by higher level players so that no one has a negative play experience. Personally I don’t believe that the Republic is OP, but they do need to be played against differently than any other faction and not everyone is aware of what tactics need to be used. I will start with the few I can remember and have shared on these boards before, but if anyone can think of more, please feel free to share and I will try to keep this top post up to date.

It is also my hope that threads for the other factions will be started as a fair play idea and that each gets pinned so they’re easy to find.

Tactics to use vs Republic forces:

1. Chip Shots: a chip shot is an attack from a unit that has very few dice to attack with (usually 2), and so can’t do much damage. This is why it’s called a chip, because you’re only chipping a little off the unit you’re attacking. Sniper Strike Teams are the best at this and can even remove Standbys from units (If a unit gains a Suppression token, it loses the Standby). Don’t forget to keep moving your snipers though, so you can get that angle on the hidden units with the Standbys on them. Also if you fire at the clone corps troops, the clones don’t have a very high mini count, so losing even 1 mini per attack not only reduces the attacked unit’s dice to attack, but weakens the clone army as a whole.

2. Range 4+ Weapons: much like in #1 above, range 4 (or 5) weapons can do the same thing. Every faction has a range 4 weapon and you should think about including at least two in you list. They only roll 2 dice generally (Shore Troopers roll 4 and Rebel Troopers 3), but if one hit goes through cover, that’s one less attack die that will be rolled against your troops and being at range 4, no Standby can be used against you. Be very careful of Rex’s 2 pip. It is a very dangerous card and can do a very powerful alpha strike out to range 4, and after their attack the clones can move behind line of sight (LoS) blocking terrain. So try to anticipate that card being played and know when to have your units further back or out of sight.

3. You must be patient: Get you back objectives done, but if there is a center objective, you shouldn’t start moving on that till round 4 at least, so you can spend 3 rounds of doing chip shots and range 4 or 5 shots to reduce the Republic troops. If you spend 3 rounds just doing chip shots, you will find that the Republic units will be reduced to one or two minis per unit for the big show down in rounds 4-6 and if you have stayed out of range, your troops should be largely untouched (except sniper fire, but see #9).

4. Critical: though I’m talking about the keyword, rolling a critical is good too. Crits get past cover, doges, even Obi Wan’s Soresu, so using that with the above tactics in #1 and #2 and the clone player will slowly start to lose minis and this will make his army manageable when you both have to make a play for an objective at rounds 4-5. If a single hit gets through to a clone, there is a 50% chance that the mini will be removed (33.333333% if they have surges), so they should be losing a few minis each round.

5. Standby Rules: just to make sure that you are playing the rules correctly, keep in mind that the Rules Reference Guide (RRG) was updated months ago limiting the amount of Standbys a single unit can spend per instance. So if your unit moves into the standby range of 2 clone units, both of those clone units can only spend 1 Standby each, even if there are more than 2 Standby tokens available to them. Generally speaking most Republic players only have 1-3 Standby tokens per round. If they have more than that, they are planning to play a VERY defensive game, so use that to your advantage with the above tactics.

6. Terrain Scoping: this one is a good tactic to use on any army. Terrain Scoping is done by using the terrain to limit either the attacker’s or defender’s views, so that only specific minis can see and thereby participate in an attack exchange. In this case you will use LoS (Line of Sight) blocking terrain so that the clone unit you are attacking is the only unit that can see your attacking unit. This way if there are Standbys to spend, only that one clone unit can spend it. Even better is if you can use the terrain so that half of the clone unit you want to attack can see your unit. That way, if the clone unit does spend a Standby token, they can only roll 3 black against you instead of the usual 4 black, 6 white. Again this tactic reduces their numbers by chip damage and it also reduces the amount of dice they can use against you. Defending against a 3 black die attack is fairly easy especially if you have cover. Note that this tactic can also be used to take out the heavy mini in the unit you want to attack. This is usually because the targeted player didn’t put their heavy mini more in the center of the unit and has its heavy hanging out at the tail end of the unit.

7. Other Units: The AAT is incredibly good against clones. Not only does it have the Critical keyword, but it also has High Velocity, so that even normal hits that make it past cover can’t be negated by dodges (that includes Soresu too). There is also the Stap Riders, Speeder Bikes, Landspeeder (though a bit overpriced) or even the T-47, which can flank the clones, but if you do use them, be patient with them. Don’t just run them up to enemy lines, try to move them around and behind and also don’t forget to use Terrain Scoping for them so there’s not as much retaliatory attacks from Standbys and inactivated units. Stap Riders and Speeder Bikes can get heavy cover if you place one of the two minis behind LoS blocking terrain, giving them heavy cover, which can be useful if they get fired at when trying to get in position for a flank attack. Speaking of which Tauntauns can also play with cover and are very effective, but just like the Bikes and Staps, you have to be patient and not just charge in. Though it is true, being in melee will protect you from most of the Republic forces, but don’t forget they do have red defense dice and with P2s and the Aggressive Tactics upgrade, they will have a lot of surges to use against one or two alpha strikes from your Tauns, and they will be using black dice to attack back if you attack doesn’t do much damage to the unit. It’s best to use the terrain as in #6 to scope your opponent’s units and to use the terrain to give you heavy cover while using your ranged attack. The AT-ST is also quite effective against clones. Though they do have weapons with Impact, the Republic players almost never bring them. The AT-ST also has a commanding view and throws a lot of dice, so if you attack their corps units, they won’t have much to punch back with. There are many units that are good vs Republic, but some are older units not used much anymore because they didn’t do well when there were only two factions. Having 4 factions brings new dynamics, so what was once old and considered useless, may still be useful yet.

8. Suppression: It’s no secret that the Republic doesn’t do well with suppression, so including units that give extra suppression is always helpful. To date there are only 3 things that the Republic can do to get rid of extra suppression. 1. They can include the Endurance upgrade. This is easily avoidable by firing on other units without Endurance on them, but it shouldn’t be an issue anyway as most competitive Republic lists don’t include that upgrade. 2. The Force upgrade Hope can give Inspire 1. Since Force slots are so precious, Hope is almost never included in lieu of Force Push or Reflexes. 3. Padme’s 1 pip command card can remove any number of Suppression from troops, but it’s transferred to her, so it’s unlikely that more that 6 will ever be transferred to her. Also it is a one time deal, so Suppression can still be very effective. Most lists currently only include Rex as the commander and the P2s and ARC’s all have 2 courage, so 2 hits from units with the Suppressive keyword will put them at their limit, a third hit has them running for the hills.

9. ARC Strike Teams are not as good as you think: by that I mean they don’t have High Velocity, so with the 2 point Situational Awareness upgrade and a dodge, the ARC sniper attack can be negated entirely. So if Republic snipers are doing a lot of work on your units, dodge up.

10. Saboteurs Are Deadly: though any saboteur in a strike team or in a full unit can affect clones more than any other unit, the BX droids can do a much better job. With a Deflector Shield and the Scale keyword, they can do an incredible job. Also don’t forget that bombs are easier to use with terrain scoping. You only need to see a flat area beside your target within range 1, you don’t need to see the target unit itself. Only the bomb, when placed, will need to be visible to your target. Also don’t forget that clones need to be in range 1 of each other to share tokens and that’s the same blast range of a bomb. So happy hunting.

Again, I’m sure there are more tactics that can be used, but I haven’t played in a while, so they’re not fresh in my mind. If you know of more, please share, and I’ll add it to the list.

Wait, I thought the best tactic to use against the Republic was to go on the forums and whine until they get nerfed.

Best tactic:

Ask your opponent to play a different army.

Because clones are so OP.

I agree with most of this. As a Republic player, I've found that leveraging timing to interrupt when/where standbys can be triggered really messes with that tactic. If you're facing someone who's really playing those meta, near-mythical high activations lists that support just a couple of heavy hitters, focus on them. Those units won't be able to hide behind terrain because they need every mini able to fight. Hit them enough, especially with Pierce/Sharpshooter units, and lists that are long on tail and short on teeth like this will fall apart. Picking away at Range 4 is a great way to do this if possible.

If you don't have those options, Hero Hammer lists are hard to deal with if played well. Triggering standbys with Tauns or Sabine to open the door for OP Luke to come in and wreck shop works wonders. If they don't fire on Sabine or the Tauns, they're opening themselves up to Explosions and Tauns getting into their lines, not a fun time for them. Bombs and area effect weapons also tend to wreck murder balls because of how close Clones want to stay together for token sharing.

14 hours ago, KommanderKeldoth said:

Wait, I thought the best tactic to use against the Republic was to go on the forums and whine until they get nerfed.

its definitely the best tactic right now. normally tournament results would be enough to demonstrate how unbalanced GAR is and force FFG to expedite fixing the problem. But unfortunately tournaments (other than online ones) arnt really happening right now so the only way its going to get fixed is to constantly remind FFG its a problem.

GAR is certainly not unbeatable. And thats not the core issue. The core issue is that playing against GAR is simply not fun. Its not fun to play against them competitively or casually. GAR getting to dictate how you have to play or what units you have to bring to maybe have a chance of beating them doesnt make the matchup fun. The problem is that GAR's game mechanics are downright miserable to both play against and play around.

Conversely, even though CIS is stronger than imperials, playing against CIS is still tons of fun for imperial players. Because CIS doesnt prevent you from playing the game with oppressive game mechanics like standby token sharing. CIS got it right in every way. While GAR got it wrong in every way.

16 hours ago, Khobai said:

The core issue is that playing against GAR is simply not fun. Its not fun to play against them competitively or casually. GAR getting to dictate how you have to play or what units you have to bring to maybe have a chance of beating them doesnt make the matchup fun. The problem is that GAR's game mechanics are downright miserable to both play against and play around.

That’s in your estimation, though I have to ask, what makes you the one and only expert? Most people enjoy a challenge, and as I’m sure I’ve pointed out to you before, a faction that forces things to be played differently can be viewed as a good thing. It means that the same few objectives that we have are played differently and gives us more variation and thereby more fun as it’s not the same old, same old.

Ive offered to personally help you in many posts, but you have just insisted that everything must be your way or nothing. At some point you may realize, it’s not the world that’s so wrong, it’s your view point. But I still wish you luck and would still encourage you to try the tactics I’ve mentioned or as I also mentioned to you before, switch miniatures with a Republic player for a couple of games. That more than anything may change your perspective enough to see what others are trying to tell you.

2 hours ago, JediPartisan said:

That’s in your estimation, though I have to ask, what makes you the one and only expert? Most people enjoy a challenge, and as I’m sure I’ve pointed out to you before, a faction that forces things to be played differently can be viewed as a good thing. It means that the same few objectives that we have are played differently and gives us more variation and thereby more fun as it’s not the same old, same old.

Ive offered to personally help you in many posts, but you have just insisted that everything must be your way or nothing. At some point you may realize, it’s not the world that’s so wrong, it’s your view point. But I still wish you luck and would still encourage you to try the tactics I’ve mentioned or as I also mentioned to you before, switch miniatures with a Republic player for a couple of games. That more than anything may change your perspective enough to see what others are trying to tell you.

dont bother Jedi, he is too invested in being the victim to ever consider that he is in the wrong here

I don't think GAR is completely outside the realms of balance, just slightly. We will see if the points adjustment helps. If they adjust points properly it could easily bring the factions very close to each other.

I do kinda feel for Empire though, GAR really seems to be wrecking them lately and does what they do, just better.

Actually it is quite easy to play against clones:

1) Get a red Permanent Marker.

2) Distract your opponent.

3) Run the marker along their standby tokens in the green sections.

4) The standby tokens are no longer green, they cannot be shared.

5) ???

6) Still lose because you suck at the game.

Getting force users/lightsaber wielders into there lines can really mess them up as well. (Granted this strategy usually works against every army not just GAR) but as Jedi said more often then not GAR are only running rex they dont have a good counter to lightsabers. A lightsaber wielder at full health can cause alot of dmg before the GAR player can take them down (Grievous is good at getting in with minimal dmg because of his scale keyword). And since GAR like to be clump up its usually pretty easy to find a new target for the lightsaber wielder once they finish off there initial target.

9 minutes ago, lunitic501 said:

Getting force users/lightsaber wielders into there lines can really mess them up as well. (Granted this strategy usually works against every army nit just GAR) but as Jedi said more often then not GAR are only running red they dont have a good counter to lightsabers. A lightsaber wielder at full health can cause alot of dmg before the GAR player can take them down (Grievous is good at getting in with minimal dmg because of his scale keyword). And since GAR like to be clump up its usually pretty easy to find a new target for the lightsaber wielder once they finish off there initial target.

Count Dooku, in particular, seems to wreck clones.

-Pierce 2 on his saber, and pierce 1 on his lightning with scatter is good at killing clones and disrupting their formations.

-Force choke to snipe Z6s cuts their damage potential down by half

-Force push to get them out of range 1 from each other to eliminate token sharing

-3 pip card to pull a unit way out of position.

-1 pip card to deal a bunch of damage and supress them.

-2 pip card to mess up their activation order and ability to share tokens as a result.

I played against my friend's GAR this weekend, doing bombing run. I had Dooku, 2 squads of vibro-blade BXs, a BX sniper team, 2 B1 squads with rockets and HQ uplinks, 3 squads of E5c with the bombs.

I used the sniper team and missiles to eliminate standbys, while charging Dooku, both BX squads and the E5cs across the table. I pulled my 3 pip and dragged a phase 2 unit into contact with Dooku to protect him. I move/moved one BX squad into combat too (did not use Charge, because I wanted to hide in melee). He withdrew the squad. Then I Charged them with the 2nd BXs and killed them. Dooku made his unit act as a springboard to get my BXs closer to his lines.

He had to retreat with one of his bomb squads because I had too much bearing down too fast. This ensured he could only drop a max of 2 bombs on my DZ, while I still had 21 B1s with bombs advancing as the 2nd wave on his collapsing flank.

Next turn, I popped the 1 pip, finished off another phase 2 squad, then finished off Rex with lightning. At that point my opponent conceded. His flank was completely overrun, and he had no real way to prevent me from dropping all 3 bombs.

Clones are all about timing. Their token sharing can be a beast, but it requires units activating in a specific order. Disrupt that order and you throw them off their plan. Once they're off their plan, they have to start reacting to your plan.

They don't have the bodies or the self-sufficiency to be forced into a reactive position.

6 hours ago, 5particus said:

dont bother Jedi, he is too invested in being the victim to ever consider that he is in the wrong here

the question is will you admit youre wrong when FFG nerfs GAR?

because GAR getting nerfed would validate everything ive been saying.

if they dont nerf GAR I will openly admit that im wrong. But i firmly believe the balance problems with GAR are so severe even FFG cant afford to ignore them. Well see.

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Count Dooku, in particular, seems to wreck clones.

My guess is that has more to do with lopsided releases than any inherent weakness built into GAR.

That could definitely change when Anakin comes out. Obiwan and Rex arnt really equipped to deal with Dooku.

Then again, Anakin could end up being a complete flop like both Darth Vaders. That would not surprise me. FFG seems to hate Vader and that might extend to Anakin as well lol.

18 minutes ago, Khobai said:

My guess is that has more to do with lopsided releases than any inherent weakness built into GAR.

So all of the specific things I listed as good against clones will just disappear if there's an opposing lightsaber wielder?

13 minutes ago, Sekac said:

So all of the specific things I listed as good against clones will just disappear if there's an opposing lightsaber wielder?

Not a lightsaber wielder specifically. But yes as clones get more releases the things you listed as being good against them will become less good against them.

Especially if other factions like empire keep getting garbage like inferno squad. While clones keep getting releases like arc troopers.

Were already seeing GAR becoming a better version of Empire... theres very few things left Empire can do that GAR doesnt already do better. Eventually GAR is going to get more range 4 weapons and more ways to deal with suppression. And Empire will have no advantages at that point.

Unless of course FFG does something about it by nerfing GAR. And I anticipate they will. But if im wrong about GAR getting nerfed, I have no problem admitting it.

Im fairly certain standby token sharing, strike teams in general, and multiwound leaders will all see nerfs. I dont see them doing more than that, but that in of itself is fairly substantial.

I understand the point you're making, but they'll have choices to make.

If they are dumping 200+ points into a lightsaber character, then they are reducing the power of their token sharing considerably. If Anakin wants to go toe-to-toe with Dooku and 10 BXs with vibro-blades, I welcome it.

I can always push him out of combat and lightning the clones he's trying to protect.

Meanwhile, they'll have fewer clones on the table fewer tokens to share.

1 hour ago, Sekac said:

I understand the point you're making, but they'll have choices to make.

If they are dumping 200+ points into a lightsaber character, then they are reducing the power of their token sharing considerably. If Anakin wants to go toe-to-toe with Dooku and 10 BXs with vibro-blades, I welcome it.

Anakin both generates a good number of tokens and shares them with exemplar. So taking him wont really impact clones' ability to generate or share tokens all that much.

I also dont think hes gonna be 200+ points. Hes 160 so after upgrades he should still be under 200.

And why wouldnt Anakin want to go toe to toe with Dooku? If he kills Dooku hes already earned back his points and then some. That is a trade any GAR player would gladly make. If they sacrifice their 180-190 point anakin to kill your 230-240 point Dooku. That is pure profit.

It has potential to be the same exact dilemma vader has when luke is on the board. vader cant commit to anything because the imperial player knows the rebel player will gladly make that trade. luke isnt quite as bad as sabine wren though, sabine wren shuts down vader worse than anything else in the game gets shut down.

22 minutes ago, Khobai said:

Anakin both generates a good number of tokens and shares them with exemplar. So taking him wont really impact clones' ability to generate or share tokens all that much.

I also dont think hes gonna be 200+ points. Hes 160 so after upgrades he should still be under 200.

And why wouldnt Anakin want to go toe to toe with Dooku? If he kills Dooku hes already earned back his points and then some. That is a trade any GAR player would gladly make. If they sacrifice their 180-190 point anakin to kill your 230-240 point Dooku. That is pure profit.

Anakin will cost more than Rex, more than Padme. Yes, he can generate tokens, but not as many as either of the cheaper ones. If he sells out to try to one-shot Dooku, then he's definitely not sharing tokens because he's charging out of the DZ. He also won't be very likely to get the advantage there. Dooku can guarantee he activates first with his 1 pip/Cunning or he can pitch Anakin's order back into the bag with Double the fall.

If Luke fails to one-shot Dooku and merely wounds him, as is quite likely, then he's stranded against superior melee. He might be the chosen one, but he's not taking Dooku and 10 BXs by himself.

Sure the reward of killing Dooku is enticing, but the most likely result is he fails to do so, and is then killed. Not much profit at all.

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Yes, he can generate tokens, but not as many as either of the cheaper ones.

I disagree.

He gets reliable 2 and offensive or defensive stance to double his token output. Force guidance gives him 2 more. And those are just the things we know about him

At the very least, before command cards, that means he can take double actions to generate 4 surge tokens, 2 aim or dodge tokens, and 1 standby token. And share all of them with exemplar. Anakin can be a crazy token factory.

He might have a command slot too for aggressive tactics but thats probably too much to ask for.

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If Luke fails to one-shot Dooku and merely wounds him, as is quite likely, then he's stranded against superior melee. He might be the chosen one, but he's not taking Dooku and 10 BXs by himself.

You should only charge him in if you can kill Dooku. If you cant kill Dooku you shouldnt charge him in. The BXs are irrelevant to that decision. All that matters is if you can kill Dooku or not.

Granted sometimes bad dice happen and theres nothing you can do about that. But equally so you cant rely on good dice either. But if you can kill him with average dice than the risk is worth it. Because youre trading a lower cost unit for a higher cost unit. And if you kill Dooku odds are good youll take out some of the BXs too.

You're missing the point. He costs more. You can't take a clone list and swap Rex or Padme for Anakin. Something else has to go too. Something that would probably be generating tokens. Or you take lesser versions of other things to make up the difference.

So you take something else out. That isnt a problem.

1 hour ago, Khobai said:

So you take something else out. That isnt a problem.

And then there is less token sharing.

See how that works?

4 hours ago, Khobai said:

the question is will you admit youre wrong when FFG nerfs GAR?

because GAR getting nerfed would validate everything ive been saying.

if they dont nerf GAR I will openly admit that im wrong. But i firmly believe the balance problems with GAR are so severe even FFG cant afford to ignore them. Well see.

My guess is that has more to do with lopsided releases than any inherent weakness built into GAR.

That could definitely change when Anakin comes out. Obiwan and Rex arnt really equipped to deal with Dooku.

Then again, Anakin could end up being a complete flop like both Darth Vaders. That would not surprise me. FFG seems to hate Vader and that might extend to Anakin as well lol.

Unvoiced opinion as a non GAR player: They Don't need a nerf.

I am a decent player, but I have had zero trouble getting around the standbys and GAR nonsense. You have to adjust your team and strategy. "oh no! why do I have to deviate from my mediocrity to ascend to something great?!" That's what game systems do. Play better, get better, change your team and capitalize on your opponent's weaknesses. There are like 4 big whiners against GAR on these forums, but they clearly haven't taken the time to come up with their own guides to combat the GAR. They have instead employed all their time and energy to try to make a change when one is not even needed.

Also......Vader can also be fantastic but people have become lazy in trying to make it work. This game is littered with lazy players that insist on only playing the "meta" instead of creating their own. It is tiring.

My local game group consists of top players that have won multiple tournaments and played at top table at several prime championships, so if I don't have a difficult time beating GAR with CIS, REBs and Imps then I have no idea why anyone else should. Just put the time and thought into it. Who knows? you might even have fun while doing it and realize there wasn't much to whine about in the first place.

BTW: Excellent guide. These are the conclusions many of us have come up with once we realized our teams might need an adjustment.

13 hours ago, Khobai said:

I disagree.

He gets reliable 2 and offensive or defensive stance to double his token output. Force guidance gives him 2 more. And those are just the things we know about him

At the very least, before command cards, that means he can take double actions to generate 4 surge tokens, 2 aim or dodge tokens, and 1 standby token. And share all of them with exemplar. Anakin can be a crazy token factory.

He might have a command slot too for aggressive tactics but thats probably too much to ask for.

You should only charge him in if you can kill Dooku. If you cant kill Dooku you shouldnt charge him in. The BXs are irrelevant to that decision. All that matters is if you can kill Dooku or not.

Granted sometimes bad dice happen and theres nothing you can do about that. But equally so you cant rely on good dice either. But if you can kill him with average dice than the risk is worth it. Because youre trading a lower cost unit for a higher cost unit. And if you kill Dooku odds are good youll take out some of the BXs too.

how on earth did you work out that he can generate 4 surge tokens from reliable 2? no action can generate surge tokens yet and the offensive stance only means that you gain 2 aims when you do an aim action but cannot spend any dodges, we have not yet seen defensive stance (that i know of ) but we can guess that it is the opposite, they have nothing to do with surges.

you then want to use a 160 point (with no upgrades) unit just to generate 2 surges a few aims and maybe a standby token, not even move. that is a tremendous waste of points, you could atm take all 3 strike teams or most of a tank for that price.

you seem to think that every unit can do everyting every turn and there is never a downside to doing it.

I can understand preventing standbys from being shared amongst the clones as it seems that FFG wanted clones to get used to having the ability with Exemplar before Exemplar came out and for them to be competitive with fair fewer releases, but you seem to have a massive hate boner for the entire faction that is completely unjustified.

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how on earth did you work out that he can generate 4 surge tokens from reliable 2?

force guidance

20 hours ago, Derpfish said:

Actually it is quite easy to play against clones:

1) Get a red Permanent Marker.

2) Distract your opponent.

3) Run the marker along their standby tokens in the green sections.

4) The standby tokens are no longer green, they cannot be shared.

5) ???

6) Still lose because you suck at the game.

*Laughs in transparent Acrylic tokens*

Your marker has no power here!