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Aqualish Assassin Set: Bounty Hunters #15/60 Date Reviewed: January 16, 2007 Image from Wizards.com Ratings:  Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst. 3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating. 100 pt: 200 pt:

 

Sith Dragon

Aqualish Assassin Fringe Cost: 7 HP: 20 ATK: +7 DAM: 20 Black Sun; Melee; Opportunist; Stealth Today's piece is one of three new pieces that start the Black Sun Faction. He is a simple piece, but very good for only 7 points. 20 HP is good for 7 points as most figs in this range only have 10. Of course that is still dead by most standards in one shot. The +7 ATK is also decent. Melee figs tend to have higher attacks than the low cost shooters, so this too is in range as is the 10 DAM, but if you add in the opportunist, all of a sudden you have a +11 attack for 20 damage. For only 7 points that incredible! Two other interesting features are the stealth and the Black Sun ability. Characters with the black sun ability gain grenades 10 when in a squad with either Xizor or one of the vigos. If in a squad with Xizor that grenades 10 becomes grenades 20, so there is yet another big bonus to this piece. The stealth is interesting for two reasons. If you run him with a Bith Vigo then all of a sudden they have evade. However if you run them with Nom you have a 7pt agent of death that will now self destruct when killed for even more damage! One more option in running these is with thrawn. Thrawn can turn them into a 18 DEF, +10/+14 ATK for 10/20 DAM depending on Opportunist. An 18 DEF/+14 ATK is something you find on Jedi, and you are getting it for only 7 points! 100pts: This is useable here, mainly with Nom, but you have to be careful not to use too many. A nom bomb squad has to be able to do a lot of damage to take down someone like Bane with 200 HP. Use them wisely 150/200pts: Here these are totally useable in the squad builds listed above. They can also be used as filler in any squad you want, but you generally want either low point shooters or Ugs, but no matter what you do, for only 7 points this little guy really packs a punch. "Dude, the fat guy totally just blew up!" -Pink 5

Ten-Eyed Man

Night’s cold glare covers the city, and all is quiet. A lone figure moves stealthily up the side of a building, patiently climbing hand over hand on a line up to a window. On reaching the window, the figure takes a last glance at his surroundings. Assured that he is unobserved, he slips through the window, fingers running over the small arsenal he carries, confirming that all the tools of his trade are where they should be. He moves quickly and quietly across the room, to the bed of his sleeping target. He primes the weapon he has selected for this occasion, eases it out of its hidden pocket, and prepares himself. The Aqualish Assassin then bellows in his native language, sounding like a gargling warthog, hucks a grenade, and hightails it out of there. Based on the one Aqualish we saw with a speaking role in the Star Wars movies (Ponda Baba, the walrus-faced alien who threatens Luke in the cantina), I’m fairly surprised that the species makes such fine assassins as this little seven-point miracle piece, but I’m not complaining. The Aqualish Assassin probably can’t quite claim the crown of Best Common Ever, but it certainly makes it to the top five. As a Fringe piece with Stealth, we run the standard Nom Anor filter and realize that these guys are what Nom has always needed. While not as cheap as Gran Raiders, the AA does something that the Gran could never do: hit for damage. While most enemy pieces will happily walk past an army of Gran Raiders without worrying about attacks of opportunity, an Aqualish Assassin has a healthy +11 to hit an activated target for 20. That’s a 50% chance to hit the likes of Mace Windu and Yoda, and almost as good a chance to hit the highest Defenses in the game. This from a seven-point common piece, which you might field a dozen at a time. Add to this the ability to gain Grenades through the Black Sun ability, and we have another huge jump up from the old Nom Bomb squads: many fuses. The original Nom Bombs used a Zabrak Fringer’s flamethrower to set off the Grans, but if something managed to kill the Zabrak first, Nom was out of luck. If all of the bombs are capable attackers and fuses, the squad is incredibly more formidable. Note that if you use Prince Xizor to grant the Grenades ability, it will wind up being Grenades 20, per his Commander Effect, which not only does more damage to your enemies, it can kill a healthy Aqualish Assassin, so you can surround an opponent with bombs, then explode them all at once. This is not to imply that Nom Anor is the only commander who can make use of some walrus-faced killers. Even without super stealth, the AA can be granted Evasion by a Bith Black Sun Vigo (who also grants Grenades). There’s also synergy aplenty with Admiral Ackbar (who brings that +11 to a mighty +15 against activated enemies). The Aqualish Assassin is such a well-designed piece, in fact, that it synergizes with itself: the problem with the Opportunist ability is usually making sure that you get to go last. A cheap, non-Unique Opportunist can be used in droves, ensuring both that you’ll have the high activation count you want, and that you’ll get to move all those Opportunists after your opponent has moved his big guns. It’s exquisite, really. With the Aqualish Assassin, Wizards has finally made a seven-point piece that might be better than just taking two smaller pieces. I love these guys in all their warthog-gargling, grenade-hucking splendor. Overall rating in 100: 4.5 Overall rating in 200: 4.5