The Mandalorian show on Disney+ seemingly came out of nowhere and became very popular with Star Wars fans. Now, some of the main characters in that show have made their way to the table in Star Wars: Shatterpoint, adding more Bounty Hunters to the mix.
The Mandalorian Din Djarin (and Grogu) lead this eclectic mix of characters and are supported by Greef Karga (rest in power Carl Weathers) and IG-11. As a squad, they bring some very interesting synergies with other Bounty Hunters units and give players some interesting reactive abilities to perform out-of-activation attacks and movement. The models themselves are amazing, and I am constantly impressed by the quality of sculpts that AMG is producing for Shatterpoint.
The Mandalorian
Din Djarin is the Primary Unit in this squad pack, and he brings eight Squad Points for creation and three Force Points with him, which by this point in the game, feels pretty standard for Primaries. Djarin’s tags include Bounty Hunter, Mandalorian, Mercenary, and Scoundrel and he has two stances available to him.
His first stance Bring You In Warm focuses on movement and getting up close to use his melee attacks, and gives you six range attack dice and seven melee dice. Fully going down his tree will give you eight damage regardless of the path you choose, and can either yield you a strong emphasis on controlled movement (a dash, a pinned, and finally a reposition), or more control of your opponent’s offensive capabilities (a disarm and strain in addition to the damage). Either way, this stance provides Din with some control over your opponent’s action economy. This side also provides an extra block on the first tier of Defensive Expertise AND you can convert one opponent Critical to a Strike, which can really add to his survivability in the long run.
His second stance is called Bring You In Cold, which gives you seven ranged dice and six melee dice. This is the stance you will want to use in the early stages of the game because it really focuses on handing out damage. Din can use his Amban Sniper Rifle at Range 5, and deals an extra eight damage through one path of his combat tree and nine extra on the other path. More than likely, however, you will be able to choose one of his active abilities without paying the Force cost, which has a ton of utility as well. You can also shove, strain, and expose your opponents in this combat tree.
A Clan of Two
This is Din’s only active ability, so it is what you will be using if you make it down his combat tree in his Bring You In Cold Stance, and it costs one Force. It allows him to make a Dash move initially. It also encourages you to use models with the Bounty Hunter, Mandalorian, or Scoundrel keyword (or a combination of them), because if all of the Allied characters within Range 2 of him after he dashes have at least one of those keywords, he can either immediately make a five dice attack or choose an enemy character within Range 3 and push them Range 2 away.
Fearless and Inventive
This is a Reactive ability that costs one Force. This allows Din to add two dice to his attack roll for each enemy (other than his target) that is engaged and not wounded. Pretty solid ability, especially if you are in Bring You In Warm and start with seven attack dice.
Do the Magic Hand Thing
It’s Grogu time! This Reactive ability can be used after this unit has been targeted by a ranged attack and costs zero Force. If the attack roll contains at least one failure result, the attacking unit suffers two damage.
This is the Way
This is Din’s Identity, and it’s pretty solid. Every time an allied unit is wounded, Din can heal himself twice. Additionally, allied Bounty Hunter, Mandalorian, and Scoundrel units within Range 4 can remove a condition from themselves and gain a Hunker token.
Greef Karga
Greef Karga is the Secondary Unit in this Squad Box. He costs three Squad Points and adds no Force points to your Force Pool. Greef also only has one stance, Middle Man, which grants him five Range 4 attack dice, six melee dice, and five defense dice. His Combat Tree emphasizes damage (he can get up to 5 extra damage) and movement (pinned, two pushes, a dash, and a reposition are possible). He also has two heals built into his tree if you choose that path towards the end of it.
Some of My Best Friends Are Bounty Hunters
This Active ability costs one Force and allows each allied Bounty Hunter unit within Range 4 to heal and then dash.
Close the Deal
This Reactive ability costs one Force and can be used when your opponent chooses to activate a unit from Reserve. He can then choose any allied Bounty Hunter unit (with no range restriction) to immediately Dash and make a five dice attack against the character that was just activated.
There is One Job…
This is the first innate ability that Karga has, and it is a doozy. Before you reveal the top card of the Mission Deck, your opponent draws from their Order Deck until a Unit Order Card is drawn. That unit gains a Priority Objective token and is shuffled back in. If an allied Bounty Hunters character wounds that Priority unit, the Struggle token moves one space towards your Momentum tokens.
Wolves at my Back
This is Karga’s second innate ability. If Karga is contesting an objective and there is a tie, Karga takes control of it.
IG-11, Assassin Droid
IG-11 is the Support Unit in this Squad Box, and costs five Squad Points and contributes no Force. His stance Bondsman Guild Protocol gives him seven attack dice for both ranged and melee attacks, and gives him six range defense and five melee defense. His ranged expertise adds Critical Results to your dice pool, while his defensive expertise chart grants him extra blocks and advances. His Combat Tree presents players with several options. After his first step down the tree, he can choose a path that either Pushes, Repositions, or gives an Exposed token out, along with some extra damage. The second branching path makes you choose between healing or pushing your opponent.
On the Hunt
This free Active ability allows IG-11 to remove one condition and Dash at the start of his activation.
Multithread Targeting Protocol
This Reactive ability is free, and allows you to make a five dice attack against another enemy unit after you resolve an attack action.
Are You Refusing My Request?
If you attack a character contesting an objective you don’t control, you can add three dice to the attack BUT if the enemy isn’t wounded, you lose one Momentum.
Victory Through Combat Is Impossible…
While IG-11 is wounded, if your opponent gains a Momentum token, AND there are more enemies within Range 3 than allies, IG-11 can roll one Attack Dice for each enemy. If the roll contains any failure results, he immediately makes a Dash, deals five damage to all enemies within Range 3, and is then Defeated.
Gameplay Tactics
When you are building a Squad using this box, you will want to remember that the keywords that abilities affect are Bounty Hunters, Mandalorian, and Scoundrel with Bounty Hunters being the most frequent. This means you will really want to consider who you are bringing along with you so that you can maximize the abilities of these characters, and don’t just throw them in any squad. However, you can mix and match a wide range of Secondaries and Supports with him because he does have a dual-era affilitaion with The Age of Rebellion and The New Republic. The following ideas for Strike teams are not comprehensive, and are not necessarily the most competitive options available to you. Just like any other Strike Team, as long as you meet the rule requirements for Strike Team construction, you are only limited by your own imagination and creativity.
Strike Team 1:
Din Djarin, Greef Karga, IG-11
Cad Bane, Aurra Sing, Bounty Hunters
This list takes advantage of the Bounty Hunter keyword to get the most out of it’s abilities. Cad Bane also brings Force refresh to the Strike Team, which will help you use your pretty powerful abilities more often. With Bane’s Rocket Boots and the out of activation movement that is available to Din Djarin & Co., this list also has a fair amount of mobility to keep itself from being hemmed in or kept away from certain objectives on the board.
Move Aurra Sing up and sit her on a point with a good view to the rest of the battlefield. If you need to reposition her, you can use her Hit and Run ability. You can also really use Bane and the Bounty Hunters to deal damage at range, while The Mandalorian and his squad can push in closer to the enemy and get them off points for your team.
Strike Team 2:
Din Djarin, Greef Karga, IG-11
Hondo, Gwarm, Weequay Pirates
This combination of squads takes advantage of the Scoundrel tag, which will allow both squads to use Din’s Identity and keep hunker tokens on units in cover and remove conditions from units that need them gone to maintain action economy. Conversely, Hondo, Honest Businessman’s Tactic Ability That’s Just Good Business will provide your Strike Team with Force refresh for every active objective that your opponent is controlling.
Keep Gwarm and the Weequay Pirates within range 4 of each other so that they can keep moving to put themselves in the best position possible to put out damage at range. Because of Hondo’s Tactic Ability, make sure to activate him late in a turn so that you can get the most out of his Force refresh, which can help ensure that you can perform Din’s A Clan of Two ability nearly every turn.
I am so excited to see AMG introduce The Mandalorian into Shatterpoint. Filling in more of the gray area between the very clear forces of “good” and “bad” in the Star Wars universe has always been more interesting to me. It’s why The Mandalorian, Andor, and Rogue One are some of my favorite Star Wars properties. It’s not always so cut and dry as light/dark. Adding more of these squads into the game will add diversity of play styles to the game, and I also believe introducing squads that represent different parts of Star Wars’s cultural impact (tv shows, video games, novels, etc.) will only serve to bring more players into Shatterpoint, which is good for the long-term viability of the game.
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