06.17.08

  

Ask the Dragon

 

Glass Cannons/JIS squads

 

Today’s Article is from Whitest0rm:

 

You often mention glass cannons, such as in the Jedi Interception squad. Ranged units that can deal massive damage with no defense (or melee, 2). I actually dont see that many of them - could you lists off a few of the best ones? (Maybe a top ten list lol

 

Thanks for the letter Whitest0rm.  I will come back to the JIS concept a bit later, but the glass cannon phenomena was introduced during the Champions of the Force set and Bounty Hunter Sets.  They are basically figures that can deal out a massive amount of damage, but will die the minute someone gets a shot at them.  Melee Reach 2 really has nothing to do with it as its based more on HP than anything.  Here are a few in no particular order:

 

-          Octuparra droid:  A triple attacking droid was to be a huge thing.  With the attack boosts droids can get, its hard for most to miss.  Then people saw that this piece only had 40 HP.  Add another droid to the scrap pile.

 

-          HK-47: HK was a scream for those meat bags wanting KOTOR pieces.  Base 30 DAM is huge.  Add in cunning attack and all of a sudden you have a +14 for 40 DAM!  Who wouldn’t want that?  Well, for starters, the fact he has to sit out in the open the rest of the round after using his cunning, his 60 HP will be gone in no time flat.  Kiss 30+ points goodbye just like that.

 

-          Boushh: He isn’t so much a big hitter and his stats are about right for the cost, but I add Boushh because of the whopping grenades 40 he packs.  If you can get him to the fight, your opponent will be scared of those, but with only 40 HP good luck getting him up that far.

 

-          Calo Nord: Calo is actually a good piece and represents the game character very well.  The problem is that with only 60 HP, he will get dropped fast, since he lacks mobile or any other defensive help, and lets face it.  Avoid defeat isn’t very easy to pull off.

 

-          Dengar BH: Dengar is probably the second best example of a glass cannon right behind HK.  Again with the base 30 DAM he is naturally a big hitter.  A +9 or +13 is decent, but with only 50 HP and needing to stand still to get his deadeye for the 40 DAM, he wont last long out in the open.  Again you can kiss a quick 30pts goodbye.

 

-          The Mandalorian Faction:  The entire Mandalorian faction gets a nomination.  Most every piece, especially from the BH set, can hit big and hit hard, but their low HP for their cost has made them nigh unplayable.  Newer pieces have gotten better, like the Gunslinger, but they still have a ways to go.

 

-          Enraged Chewie:  He has 160 HP at only 34 points!  He has base 30 DAM with a possible 40DAM!  So why does no one play this beast?  Because this “beast” has a glass jaw.  Savage can be over come, but that horrendous 13 DEF means that everything on the board has a chance to take him down, even lowly Ugs.  The+10 with little chance at boosting doesn’t help either.

 

-          Luke Skywalker:  I am just going to leave it as that because there are really only two to three versions of Luke that are even remotely playable (Champion, landspeeder, and a case can be made for young jedi, possibly his snowspeeder).  They all have horrendous stats for their costs, and yet have abilities that promise to make him playable.  Sadly not the case most every time.

 

I am sure there are others, but those are some of the most notable glass cannons out there.  It seems they got the message and haven’t been churning out as many as they were during the Champions and BH sets.  There are always one or two per set, but that is to be expected.

 

Back to the JIS builds.  JIS is a term I coined a ways back that kinda stuck.  It does not stand for Jedi Interception Squads.  JIS stands for Jedi Interference Squads.  The concept is that a group of Jedi run up and engages the enemy, while protecting the heavy shooter in the background that generally needs to stay still to get the most out of the piece.  Good examples of this are Aurra Sing (CS), Jango Fett, ect.  These are NOT glass cannons.  If your opponent sees a glass cannon they will do whatever it takes to get rid of it.  With the heavy hitting accurate out there, it wouldn’t be hard.  These teams hit their peaks during the reign of the Jedi Weapon Masters, but I also ran it with speed Jedi such as Luminara and CS Qui-Gonn.  It all depends on how much you have tied up in your shooter.  When run correctly it is a concept that can hit very hard.

 

 I hope this addresses your Glass cannon question.  If you have any further questions drop me another line.  If anyone has any questions, just send me an email at sithdragon13@yahoo.com.  I will get to ALL emails, so if you have sent something be patient.  Believe it or not I am reaching the end of my stored emails. :-)