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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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The Defiler is special to me because he was one of the very first pieces I designed. Of course, the original design was a good bit different than what we have now. I agree that he is a little overcosted. His biggest issue is his low attack I think; +10 probably would have made him better. Or just drop his cost a few points.
The problem he has is the same problem that most "Jack of all trades" characters have: he isn't very efficient. You wins up paying points for abilities you don't use. If he lost everything except Stealth and Proximity Mines and his cost dropped to 15, he would be a much better, leaner piece. So to cost these kinds of pieces competitively, you need to make them worth their while when they do only use a couple of their abilities, which makes them amazing when you find opportunities to use all of the abilities.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Here's a box and whiskers graph of what I consider to be the 4 eras of minis production. A: up to and including Bounty Hunters (the old days) B: Alliance and Empire through to Knights of the Old Republic (the power creeping phase) C: Clone Wars through to Masters of the Force (the modern WOTC sets) D: Destiny of the Force through to present (v-sets)  Because it's still a reasonably small sample, the results are a little weird - B era keeps getting really good pieces on the randomiser, so it's got a ridiculously high median and upper quartile, but I'd expect it to come down as I add more data. A is a little weird on the graph; since v-sets have really helped some of the pieces, without the v-sets propping some of the pieces up, it would be even lower. And here's the same data in the form of averages: A: 24 pieces covered, average rating: 3.5 B: 8 pieces covered, average rating: 6.9 C: 12 pieces covered, average rating: 6.6 D: 18 pieces covered, average rating: 7.3 Again, B ends up too high with the small, loaded sample - I'd expect the B average to fall a bit over time.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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A'Sharad Hett, from Dark Times  Quote:32 points, Republic
Hit Points: 80
Defense: 18
Attack: 11
Damage: 20
Special Abilities
Unique
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Niman Style (+2 Attack and +2 Defense while this character has more than half Hit Points remaining)
Twin Attack (Whenever this character attacks, he makes 1 extra attack against the same target)
Force Powers
Force 2
Force Renewal 1 (This character gets 1 Force point each time he activates)
Force Repulse 2 (Force 2, replaces attacks: 20 damage to all characters within 2 squares; push back Huge or smaller characters to 3 squares from this character)
Lightsaber Deflect (Force 1: When hit by a nonmelee attack, this character takes no damage with a save of 11)
Commander Effect
Each follower whose name contains Tusken Raider gets +4 Attack and gains Evade. A few weeks ago, we played janky minis for Kezzamachine's birthday. Kez had Duros, Sharron had some janky Sep pieces, I had Wookiees, and Mike Moore Smuggler had Tuskens featuring A'Sharad Hett. My Wookies strolled up to A'Sharad, hit him a few times, and Mike took him off the board. I was amazed, but it turns out he only has 80 hit points. So he was a great fit in the janky Tusken squad. He does have some things going for him - Force Repulse 2 and Lightsaber Deflect are really good force powers, and Twin Attack is good on a Jedi as well, but his Commander Effect isn't great since Tusken swarms aren't that good in the Republic, and the 80 hit points is too low on a 32 point fighter/commander. He's a fun, flavourful piece, but he's not very strong for his cost. 4/10.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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AT-AT Driver, from The Force Unleashed  Quote:11 points, Imperial
Hit Points: 40
Defense: 15
Attack: 4
Damage: 20
Special Abilities
Gunner (Can combine fire with adjacent allies who have Mounted Weapon)
You may as well splash out the extra point for the Elite AT-AT Driver (covered on the previous page) AMIRITE? 2/10.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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^what an in-depth review lol
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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harryg wrote:^what an in-depth review lol I covered almost the exact same piece yesterday. I guess I could have copied and pasted it, and changed a few bits...
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Yeah I know, I just find it funny how unrandom the randomizer is sometimes...
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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harryg wrote:^what an in-depth review lol Lol, but I don't know if I would've added anything.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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Cin Drallig, Jedi Battlemaster, from Command of the Galaxy  Quote:48 points, Republic
Hit Points: 120
Defense: 21
Attack: 15
Damage: 20
Special Abilities
Unique
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Double Attack (On his turn, this character can make 1 extra attack instead of moving)
Greater Mobile Attack (Can move both before and after attacking. This character can make extra attacks even if he moves this turn, but he must make them all before resuming movement.)
Lightsaber Duelist (+4 Defense when attacked by an adjacent enemy with a Force rating)
Lightsaber Trainer (At the start of the skirmish, after setup, choose an ally with a Force rating and a lightsaber who costs less than this character. Also choose Shii-Cho Style, Makashi Style, Soresu Style, Ataru Style, Djem So Style, or Niman Style. For the rest of the skirmish, the chosen ally gains the chosen special ability.)
Parry (When hit by a melee attack, this character takes no damage with a save of 11)
Soresu Style (When hit by an attack from a nonadjacent enemy, this character takes no damage with a save of 11)
Force Powers
Force 2
Force Renewal 1 (This character gets 1 Force point each time he activates)
Brutal Strike (Force 1, usable only on this character's turn: This character's attacks cannot be prevented and enemy characters attacked by this character cannot use special abilities or Force powers that respond to this character's attacks for the rest of the turn)
Lightsaber Precision 2 (Force 2: +20 Damage on next attack)
Lightsaber Riposte (Force 1: When hit by a melee attack, this character can make an immediate attack against that attacker)
Commander Effect
Followers with a Force rating and a lightsaber gain Greater Mobile Attack. After a couple of mediocre pieces today, Cin Drallig looks like manna from heaven in comparison. There have been a few v-set Republic pieces to make Jedi stronger - Master Yoda's extra attack for single attack Jedi CE, Jorus's crazy force power sharing, but Cin Drallig offers the opportunity for sturdy, mobile, pods of Jedi in the Republic. He's a good defensive piece himself - with 21 defense, 120 hit points, evade, parry, and duelist, he's a pain to take down, and while he's not a prolific attacker for 48 points, he does have Brutal Strike and Precision 2 to make his attacks count. But it's what he does for the rest of your squad that really makes him stand out - he gives out Greater Mobile Attack to all Jedi followers, and he hands out a Lightsaber Style to a lower costed ally with a lightsaber and a force rating. So you can give Shaak Ti, Jedi Master Soresu against a heavy shooter squad, you can give AniStap Makashi against a melee squad, or you give Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Master Djem So against a Lancer. Cin opens up all sorts of different squad options from the solid roster of Republic Jedi. Since he is a relatively recent release, it's hard to gauge how good he is exactly, but he does hold the distinction of anchoring the only squad to beat Daala in NZ competitive play before she and the Zygerrian Slaver got neutered. 10/10.
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Well when your the only guy to beat a broken squad type that's an automatic 10 in my book.
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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harryg wrote:Well when your the only guy to beat a broken squad type that's an automatic 10 in my book. To be fair, the Daala squad was sub-optimal and played over-confidently (by me....). But the customisation to give another Jedi more ranged defense in that matchup meant that it stood up better against Daala than most other Jedi squads would. I'll be interested to see how other Cin squads fare. I guess against heavy shooter meta (ie now) you could give 30 point Obi Padawan Soresu and a Gungan Shieldbearer, and if the Troopers get adjacent, Obi can hit then with Jedi Reflexes. It's a cool piece that opens up lots of squad types and seems fairly costed.
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And his Lightsaber trainer is also why I love the new BHC Dooku, giving Lightsaber styles is awesome. Especially doubling up on someone that has a similar ability. For example with Dooku/Grievous: Parry/Makashi. Cin rocks for this reason 10 as well
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TheHutts wrote:A'Sharad Hett, from Dark Times Quote:32 points, Republic
Hit Points: 80
Defense: 18
Attack: 11
Damage: 20
Special Abilities
Unique
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Niman Style (+2 Attack and +2 Defense while this character has more than half Hit Points remaining)
Twin Attack (Whenever this character attacks, he makes 1 extra attack against the same target)
Force Powers
Force 2
Force Renewal 1 (This character gets 1 Force point each time he activates)
Force Repulse 2 (Force 2, replaces attacks: 20 damage to all characters within 2 squares; push back Huge or smaller characters to 3 squares from this character)
Lightsaber Deflect (Force 1: When hit by a nonmelee attack, this character takes no damage with a save of 11)
Commander Effect
Each follower whose name contains Tusken Raider gets +4 Attack and gains Evade. A few weeks ago, we played janky minis for Kezzamachine's birthday. Kez had Duros, Sharron had some janky Sep pieces, I had Wookiees, and Mike Moore Smuggler had Tuskens featuring A'Sharad Hett. My Wookies strolled up to A'Sharad, hit him a few times, and Mike took him off the board. I was amazed, but it turns out he only has 80 hit points. So he was a great fit in the janky Tusken squad. He does have some things going for him - Force Repulse 2 and Lightsaber Deflect are really good force powers, and Twin Attack is good on a Jedi as well, but his Commander Effect isn't great since Tusken swarms aren't that good in the Republic, and the 80 hit points is too low on a 32 point fighter/commander. He's a fun, flavourful piece, but he's not very strong for his cost. 4/10. He really needs a V-set upgrade. 80 hp is just sad. I think the Tuskens are better off in a all fringe squad. I do think that CE is pretty nice though. If we got a new Hett I would go with a Fringe Tusken Warlord version. This is a cool piece with some interesting ideas, but he falls short of being useful. 5/10
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Rank: Advanced Bloo Milk Member
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TheHutts wrote:Cin Drallig, Jedi Battlemaster, from Command of the Galaxy Quote:48 points, Republic
Hit Points: 120
Defense: 21
Attack: 15
Damage: 20
Special Abilities
Unique
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Double Attack (On his turn, this character can make 1 extra attack instead of moving)
Greater Mobile Attack (Can move both before and after attacking. This character can make extra attacks even if he moves this turn, but he must make them all before resuming movement.)
Lightsaber Duelist (+4 Defense when attacked by an adjacent enemy with a Force rating)
Lightsaber Trainer (At the start of the skirmish, after setup, choose an ally with a Force rating and a lightsaber who costs less than this character. Also choose Shii-Cho Style, Makashi Style, Soresu Style, Ataru Style, Djem So Style, or Niman Style. For the rest of the skirmish, the chosen ally gains the chosen special ability.)
Parry (When hit by a melee attack, this character takes no damage with a save of 11)
Soresu Style (When hit by an attack from a nonadjacent enemy, this character takes no damage with a save of 11)
Force Powers
Force 2
Force Renewal 1 (This character gets 1 Force point each time he activates)
Brutal Strike (Force 1, usable only on this character's turn: This character's attacks cannot be prevented and enemy characters attacked by this character cannot use special abilities or Force powers that respond to this character's attacks for the rest of the turn)
Lightsaber Precision 2 (Force 2: +20 Damage on next attack)
Lightsaber Riposte (Force 1: When hit by a melee attack, this character can make an immediate attack against that attacker)
Commander Effect
Followers with a Force rating and a lightsaber gain Greater Mobile Attack. After a couple of mediocre pieces today, Cin Drallig looks like manna from heaven in comparison. There have been a few v-set Republic pieces to make Jedi stronger - Master Yoda's extra attack for single attack Jedi CE, Jorus's crazy force power sharing, but Cin Drallig offers the opportunity for sturdy, mobile, pods of Jedi in the Republic. He's a good defensive piece himself - with 21 defense, 120 hit points, evade, parry, and duelist, he's a pain to take down, and while he's not a prolific attacker for 48 points, he does have Brutal Strike and Precision 2 to make his attacks count. But it's what he does for the rest of your squad that really makes him stand out - he gives out Greater Mobile Attack to all Jedi followers, and he hands out a Lightsaber Style to a lower costed ally with a lightsaber and a force rating. So you can give Shaak Ti, Jedi Master Soresu against a heavy shooter squad, you can give AniStap Makashi against a melee squad, or you give Qui-Gon Jinn, Jedi Master Djem So against a Lancer. Cin opens up all sorts of different squad options from the solid roster of Republic Jedi. Since he is a relatively recent release, it's hard to gauge how good he is exactly, but he does hold the distinction of anchoring the only squad to beat Daala in NZ competitive play before she and the Zygerrian Slaver got neutered. 10/10. When I was looking through the new pieces in that set I already had a good idea which pieces were the best. Then I came across this guy. WOW! Is he good! Pretty solid defenses plus ge gives GMA and an additional Lightsaber Style out. (usually for Soresu in my experience) he is a decent attacker, not the best, but pretty good in the republic if you don't count Mace LotLS. Defensively he is awesome, but if those saves aren't coming your way... He can drop pretty fast. My favorite character to pair with him right now is Foul Moudama giving him Soresu to help him survive against shooters and act as a better meat shield for who he is carrying. (in addition to Qui-gon if you don't have a better option) Plus GMA means he is a decent threat now too. I have only played Cin twice so far and he either dominates, or in the last battle were he failed all his saves and was hit by 2 crits, falls quickly. I think that last match was just bad rolls for me though. I think he is a very well designed piece and I couldn't ask for anything on him to be different. 9/10
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Heavy Clone Trooper, from Clone Wars  Quote:13 points, Republic
Hit Points: 20
Defense: 14
Attack: 9
Damage: 30
Special Abilities
Order 66
Heavy Weapon (Can't attack and move in the same turn) Heavy weapon makes this almost impossible to utilise, despite a nice high attack and 30 base damage. When you compare unfavourably to a Vanilla Clone Trooper, you know you're in trouble. 1/10.
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Upside to that Heavy Clone Trooper! It has a cool sculpt...
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I kind of like the JA one more. I don't think I've seen either in person though, and maybe it looks bad up close, but I just like that he has a really big gun.  I hit the randomiser again ready for lunchtime's mini of the day, and it's going to be another Clone. 
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TheHutts wrote:Heavy Clone Trooper, from Clone Wars Quote:13 points, Republic
Hit Points: 20
Defense: 14
Attack: 9
Damage: 30
Special Abilities
Order 66
Heavy Weapon (Can't attack and move in the same turn) Heavy weapon makes this almost impossible to utilise, despite a nice high attack and 30 base damage. When you compare unfavourably to a Vanilla Clone Trooper, you know you're in trouble. 1/10. I think this guy could deserve better than a 1/10. He just needs panaka's Swap with an extra attack from ether General Aayla od Flobi plus that one clone commander that basically give Careful shot +3 and he is decent. I would put him at 4/10
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I'd rather use swap on a piece like Dengar, Hired Killer if I'm swapping a stationary shooter.
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I reckon by the time you bring in all those CEs, you might be better off with the Clone Trooper with Repeating Blaster as a swap in attacker? It's more expensive (23 points), but it can do 80 damage at +8 without any CEs. It's probably a better option in that kind of situation. Maybe the Heavy Clone Trooper could go up a little to a 2 or a 3/10, but there are better options in a swap squad.
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