Star Wars Home
Message Board
Pojo's Books

Mini of the Day
Mini Strategies
Mini News
Top 10 Lists

Contact Us

Magic
Yu-Gi-Oh!
DBZ
Pokemon
Yu Yu Hakusho
NeoPets
HeroClix
Harry Potter
Anime
Vs. System
Megaman

Pojo's Star Wars Minis Site
Mini of the Day
 

X-1 Viper Droid Set: Universe #32/60 Date Reviewed: June 09, 2006 Image from Wizards.com Rating: 4.5 Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst. 3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.

 

Sith Dragon	X-1 Viper Droid Fringe Cost: 46 HP: 130 DEF: 16 ATK: +8 DAM: 30 Droid; Double Attack; Molecular Shielding; Mounted Weapon; Rigid The success of a game depends greatly on how well they can keep it balanced. In a set already dominated by non-melee characters, Universe promised to tip it permanently tip the game in their favor with the additions of Thrawn, the AT-ST, and some very powerful shooting support. Thankfully, the answer to this tip was in the same set - the X-1 Viper. This piece is a shooters worst nightmare. The X-1 has an impressive 130 HP. The 16 DEF is good but not terribly great. The +8 is horrid (or is it?). But the 30 DAM is very nice. On the offensive, by itself it isn't very impressive, but its strengths are numerous. When run with the Separatists, it has access to all of the boosts the CIS droids enjoy. With SC Grievous, the BDO, and the SBD Commander, you can add +12 to the X-1's attack, making it a double attacking +20 for 30 DAM. Even a Jedi will cower in front of firepower like that. It would only need a 7 to hit Jedi Hunter in cover. With power boosts like that the mounted weapon restriction is irrelevant. On the defensive, this has a power that in many ways is superior to DR. With molecular shielding, any character that attacks it who is not adjacent has to roll a save 11 to prevent the shot from hitting the character who originally did the shooting. Your AT-ST is shooting my Viper? Whats that, You failed your save? I am sorry your AT-ST just shot itself! Now I am going to use my +20 double attack to pound it for 60 DAM more. This piece has two downsides. The first is the base size. It can make it very hard for it to get around on many of the maps out there from pre-AoE. The other is that it is rigid, so there will be no squeezing, which only compounds the base problem. Now I started by talking about balance in the game, so why isn't this piece dominating the game when it can reflect ranged shots and hit all Jedi fairly easily? Well even though it can hit Jedi, Jedi generally have high enough HP to survive to base it and inflict some damage. The X-1 lacks accurate shot so it has to shoot whoever is in front, which will usually be someone with deflect when possible. Bodyguards also are a good counter to this piece. Without the shielding, the 16 DEF means this piece will go down pretty quickly, especially to multi-attacking Jedi. 100 pt: You wont see this often simply because of base size and map choices. Outside of that this can do alright in 100pt especially because this format is dominated by shooters. 200pt: Here the Viper does VERY well, either as the focus of a droid army or as a meat shield for the rest of your army. Either way this piece in many ways is holding the game in balance. It is the single best counter to all those imperials and their gimmick, but it will usually fall to a well built and well run Jedi army. "Dude, the fat guy totally just blew up!" -Pink 5
ninjaduelist	X-1 Viper Droid Faction: Fringe Cost: 46 HP: 130 DEF: 16 ATK: 8 DMG: 30 Droid Double Attack Molecular Shielding Mounted Weapon Rigid To finish off the "big guns week", we end with one of my personal favorites: X-1 Viper Droid. This, in my opinion, is probably the BEST very large piece in the game. This machine, along with droid support, can be one of the most deadliest pieces in the game. For starters, the HP for a 46 piece is rather nice. It can last longer than the AT-ST and can take a few hits from melee attackers (Vader, Windu, etc.). Its DEF is rather weak, but it has an effect to make up for it (later). The ATK is not bad, especially with a droid army, and the damage is rather nice. Sure, it does 10 less damage compared to the AT-ST or the AT-RT, but at least it can gain support via Battle Droid Officer, Super Battle Droid Commander, General Grevious SC, etc. As for its effects, lets just say it makes quite a name for itself. With it being a Droid, it doesn't have to worry about Critical Hits and may benefit from the fruits of the Seperatist. It has Double Attack, which gives it the ability to do around 60 DMG if both attacks hit. Mounted Weapon and Rigid doesn't do well for this piece, as like the AT-ST and AT-RT, but what can you do. However, the REAL reason we love this piece can be summed up to two words: Molecular Shielding. Wouldn't you just love to only worry about melee attackers? This bad boy can help you with that. A firing squad will fall helpless to this one piece just because of this effect. What's better than throwing the barrage of non-melee attacks right back at the attacker? Definitely not generic tea! As for its ratings, this thing excels in 100 PT, but recieves even more support in 200. Nonetheless, this is a worty piece to use! 100 PT: 4.6/5 200 PT: 4.6/5 "May the force be with you."
Kevin	The biggest of the big guns this week is the X-1 Viper Droid. Lets look at why. Cost = 46 Hit Points = 130 Defense = 16 Attack = 8 Damage = 30 Special Abilities; --Droid (Immune to critical hits; not subject to commander effects) --Double attack (On his turn, this character can make one extra attack instead of moving) --Mounted Weapon (Only allies with Mounted weapon or adjacent allies with gunner can combine fire with this character) --Rigid (can't squeeze) --Molecular Shielding (When hit by an attack from a nonadjacent enemy, this character takes no damage and the attacker takes damage equal to the prevented damage; the attacker can avoid this effect with a save of 11) The X-1 Viper Droid, probably the single best uncommon in the game. With 130 Hit Points, Decent attack of 8, tolerable Defense of 16, and a hefty damage of 30, the X-1 is a decent character for 46 points. Double attack allows for 60 Damage to be dealt in a round by this droid, as a fringe character, the X-1 can make its home in any squad, leaving it an infinite number of options for support, and don't forget those shields. The obvious choice for this character is to place it in a separatist squad. With the battle droid officer, Supreme commander Grievous, and a super battle droid commander, this droid is happy to be a droid. It can double attack at 20 attack for 30 damage each attack, meaning it won't miss very often. Also, the shields make it a risk to any ranged character because who wants to have a 50 50 chance of hitting themselves? The only true threat to this droid, aside from good luck on the opponents end, is melee characters. Being able to hit it at "little risk" (only 60 damage to them a round) stopping melee squads from basing this figure will be your main, and possible only, concern. This droid is well worth the cost in almost any squad. 100 points = 4.5/5. It is only held back by the fact that it leaves 54 points to support. A well used melee squad could take this droid down but anything else will have to rely on a lot of luck. Also the fringe sticker makes it have almost unlimited support options, use it well. 200 points = 5/5. With no trouble finding good support, little chance of an all melee squad, and 154 points to work with, this character can make its home in almost any squad. Accurate shooters will take out support if possible, big melee characters will concentrate on it, you know the strategy of the enemy with this piece in the squad, knowledge is power, you should have little trouble winning if you are a good enough tactician.