Ask the Dragon

 

Top Squads

 

This week’s email is from Calum:

 

Hi, I've been out of the game for a while and I was wondering what are the top 150/200 point squads,

thanks,

CALUM

 

FINALLY!  Thanks for the patience Calum, I was waiting for Gencon to be able to give you a more accurate answer to your question.  Finally after three months I can give you an answer.

 

Let’s start off with the 200 pt squads, as this answer is the simplest.  There isn’t one.  LOL, I know it may not be the answer you were looking for, but seriously, there are so many squads that work that there really isn’t a top set of squads.  I will say this, however.  The best squads are always going to be teams that can manipulate some faction of the game.  It can be movement such as Thrawn swap, Exar and Han ST.  It can be initiative, such as recon characters or Thrawn, or it can be a well-balanced team.  There is just too much out there to narrow it down any more.

 

Now for the 150pt squads, there are definite ‘gate keepers’.  These are squads that you have to be able to beat to stand a chance in tournaments.  The best example is Black & Blue (Thrawn/Vader swap).  It is no longer a top squad, but it is still a team you have to be able to beat to stand a chance.  At Gencon there were a few squads that really stood out.  Ironically, Thrawn was not one of them.  Thrawn was shut out completely in every form from the top 8. 

 

The first, and perhaps most dominant was Jedi Weapon Master squads, with the most popular being the JIS (Jedi Interference Squad) build.  This is when you take a big shooter and run some potent Jedi out in front to run interference and keep your opponent off of your shooter.  I have seen Aurra and Jango run very well, but the obvious build at Gencon was of course Boba Fett, Bounty Hunter.  JWM’s were four of the top 8 squads, three with Boba.  Boba was in four squads (1 San, 3 JWM).

 

The next was no surprise to me, but was to a few, and that was San Hill.  San can usually trash B&B pretty easily because B&B relies on out activating your opponent and there is not way it will get close to being able to out activate a San Hill squad.  There were builds with Boba Enforcer and bounty hunter, but it was BH that finished third.  The downside to San Hill is that even though it is a very powerful squad, it is perhaps one of the hardest squads to run.  It is very susceptible to the bull rush, so you not only have to know how to deal with that, but also how to get rid of San if you need too.

 

Another top squad at Gencon were the rebels.  They are not only competitive, but thanks to some of the A&E additions, they are very much meta.  One build was with Han Scoundrel backed up by Princess Leia and Obi, force ghost.  It is a squad with some serious offense, but at the same time it is a very fragile squad.  If the opponent can get close to this squad it usually means the end, but with the right init, it can flatten about any major beatstick in 150.  The #2 squad was a bit of surprise to a lot of people.  Again it used Leia, but the heart of this squad was Luke’s landspeeder and Han, rebel hero.   The landspeeder has emerged as a hulk of a piece.  Not only does it have a huge amount of Hp, but with six force points and a slew of force powers (see our MotD review), but its twin coupled with Leia is a real bear to deal with.  If you have the ‘sled’ as its come to be called, try it.  It’s a pretty wicked piece.

 

There were other squads that may be meta to some degree, but that is what did real well at Gencon.  Exar swap is good, but I don’t know that I saw anyone run it.  A big surprise is that Mara/Han ST squads did not do well at all.

 

I hope that gives you a bit of help.  If you have any further questions let me know.  If anyone has any questions or topics you would like me to cover, drop me a line at sithdragon13@yahoo.com.  I will get to ALL emails, so if you have sent something be patient.  I know I have a few stacked up right now.  It’s coming ;) 

 

May the Force Be With You.