The You Have Something I Want squad pack was just released for Star Wars: Shatterpoint from Atomic Mass Games. But is this squad pack Something You Want? Read on to find out. Thank you to Atomic Mass Games for providing us with a review copy of this box.
This squad pack is one of a pair of releases featuring characters from The Mandalorian. The box focuses on the villainous side of the universe, with Moff Gideon as the Primary, a Death Trooper Escort as Secondary, and a pair of Dark Troopers for the Supporting Unit.
Missed out on The Mandalorian and the cultural juggernaut that was Baby Yoda? No idea who these characters are? We’re here to help!
Moff Gideon: Moff Gideon is a key antagonist in this series. He is a former officer of the Imperial Security Bureau, known for his cunning intellect and ruthlessness. Gideon commands remnants of the Galactic Empire and seeks to capture the Child (Grogu, but most people still call him Baby Yoda) for his mysterious plans. He is a skilled strategist and combatant, wielding a unique weapon called the Darksaber, a symbol of leadership on Mandalore stolen by Gideon.
Death Trooper Escort: Death Troopers are elite Imperial soldiers in the Imperial Military, known for their advanced training, superior combat skills, and menacing black armor. First seen in Rogue One, they are also featured in The Mandalorian as specialized operatives serving under Moff Gideon. They are often deployed for covert operations and high-risk missions, serving as formidable adversaries to the show’s protagonists. They also serve as bodyguards for high-ranking Imperial officials, including in this case Moff Gideon.
Dark Troopers: Dark Troopers are a highly advanced class of combat droids featured in The Mandalorian. Developed by the remnants of the Galactic Empire led by Moff Gideon, these droids are formidable adversaries equipped with heavy armor, advanced weaponry, and sophisticated combat capabilities. They are designed to be versatile and deadly, capable of operating in various environments and engaging in both ground and space combat. Dark Troopers are powered by powerful energy cells and are known for their relentless pursuit of their targets. In the show, they are deployed by Moff Gideon as a formidable threat to the Mandalorian and his allies, posing a significant challenge in their mission objectives.
The Models
The models themselves went together easily, with little finishing work (mold line removal, gap filling, etc.) needed. The pose on Gideon looks suitably arrogant and smug, befitting an Imperial Moff who lets other models do his dirty work but can hold his own in combat when forced. The Death Trooper Escort appears to have sighted a priority threat and is preparing to fire and eliminate it with brutal efficiency. The sculpt captures the highly detailed armor and added kit these troopers carry. Finally, you have the Dark Troopers looking suitably implacable and menacing, though the poses are the least interesting in general.
I was curious how the Dark Troopers assembly would go, as earlier droid models have been challenging to assemble. The bits on the sprue looked a little intimidating, as well. I’m happy to report that their assembly was much less frustrating than some previous droids (looking at you, core set B-1s). The shoulder joint that the arms attached too was tiny and fiddly, but didn’t give too much trouble. One trooper is holding its blaster in two hands. Veteran mini gamers may know that pose can be challenging, in terms of getting the arms to all line up correctly. That was the case here, but it wasn’t terrible by any means. Overall conclusion: much easier to assemble than past droid models.
The Rules
Moff Gideon
Gideon is rolling with your standard 8 Squad Points and 3 Force to play with. 10 health is a solid number for a primary, especially given his mediocre defense dice and expertise. Where Gideon really shines is his ability to enable the other units in your force. He gets a free dash for himself and another Galactic Empire tagged unit within 4 with Smug Determination. He can further that free movement on a Supporting Unit by using Long Live The Empire for 1 Force, allowing them to Advance toward an Active objective. That unit suffers 2 damage, but if that wounds them they skip the wounded status and immediately go to being Injured. That means they can continue to contest that objective even if they would have been wounded. This is a strong way to maintain control of objectives, particularly with the beefy Dark Troopers who can bring two hard to drop bodies to an Active objective. This ability fits neatly in the Galactic Empire design space, where units take damage to get big bonuses. The Imperial bureaucracy will grind its way to victory, even if it means grinding up its own units.
Gideon’s Identity Ability, You Have Something I Want, lets Galactic Empire units in his force get an extra die on melee attacks if the defender is contesting an objective you don’t control. This particularly benefits the Dark Troopers, with their easy access to crit successes on their melee expertise chart. This will allow them to much more reliably pull off the powerful 3 success combo of Shove-Pin-Shove or Shove-Pin-Jump. That’s a decent ability in and of itself, but this ability also lets Gideon break ties when determining objective control if he himself is contesting. You’ll want to be cautious about putting him in danger, but this can be a game-changer when used correctly.
Finally, Assume That I Know Everything can range from mildly annoying to incredibly frustrating, depending on your opponent. Luminara and Obi-Wan will hate this one neat trick that makes their reserve shenanigans much more expensive, for example. But no opponent will enjoy paying an extra Force for a reserve.
As previously mentioned, Gideon doesn’t want to enter combat unless he absolutely has to, preferring to let his minions do the dirty work. His defensive expertise in both stances is middling at 1-2 expertise, but gets significantly better if you can manage 3 or even 4 expertise results. Don’t count on that though, and plan to keep him safe.
His Self-Interest stance is the ranged combat stance, essentially. His blaster pistol is quite good here, with immediate crit successes and even a pinned result at one success. This stance provides 3 separate tracks, giving good flexibility in how he deals with enemies. There’s even a little healing available on this stance. Remember those heals can go to other models near him, maybe removing damage that Gideon himself gave them. Burn Them Out, the melee stance, gives immediate crit success and damage in its expertise, and a success track more focused on straight damage and debuffs. Expect to remain on Self-Interest for much of the game, keeping him out of harm’s way and popping off shots with his pistol.
Death Trooper Escort
The Death Trooper Escort (DTE) is a solid Secondary who can amplify Gideon’s ability to get Galactic Empire supports wherever he wants them. When he activates, Imperial Efficiency allows either the DTE or a Galactic Empire Supporting Unit (Death Troopers, anyone?) to dash. If the chosen unit has any damage, they get to make a full advance instead. So if Gideon made those Dark Troopers move and suffer some damage, they can now move even faster thanks to this ability. Imperial Efficiency, indeed. Great ability, no notes.
Like most storm or clone trooper variants, DTE has a movement ability costing 1 Force. His version, Tactical Advance, gives him a dash and focus. Always nice, particularly in early game before it starts to cost an extra Force. This pairs nicely with his innate Rigorous Training that gives him Protection and Sharpshooter [1] meaning that focus is worth 2 dice instead of just 1.
Lastly, Disciplined is a reactive ability that makes your opponent think carefully about attacking the DTE. If they do, and don’t wound him, the DTE can make a full advance toward an active objective. He even gains a free Hunker token if he’s not engaged after his move, making him just a little harder to wound or shift away. If your opponent is careless, this could lead to the DTE taking over or at least contesting a point. Solid ability once again.
Death Trooper Training at Imperial special forces school clearly must focus on offensive output versus defense. You’ve got good attack dice and expertise for both melee and ranged attacks, but a mopey 5 dice for defense against both, and a disappointing defensive expertise chart topping out at a whopping 2 bonus successes. Presumably this is balanced out by the innate Protection the DTE has, reducing incoming damage by 1. And he does have a much more solid 9 health compared to other units with Protection such as the Republic Clone Commandos and their 6 health. Still, keep this guy away from Primaries and even other Secondary Units as much as you can. Happily, he can blast away with his Range 5 blaster and either get some good old double-Shove and Pinned action going, or more damage along with status effects.
Dark Troopers
The Dark Troopers aren’t the most exciting or inventive units, sure. But what they are is one of the most solid and dependable Supporting Units to date. We start with a standard trooper ability again. This time you pay 1 Force to active Jump Boots and get an immediate Jump ability. No bonus hunker or focus here, but you get some vertical mobility that this squad pack is sorely missing. Coordinated Fire tosses out free Strain effects when other Galactic Empire units make an attack. Solid, but nothing we haven’t seen before and nothing that’s going to break the game wide open for you.
Where we get interesting is the last two abilities. Immovable just straight up makes the Dark Troopers immune to Push and Pull abilities. No more Ahsoka zipping across the board to shove them off a point. No more shoves in combat. They’re just going to sit there and be annoying. That’s especially true when you factor in Unrelenting, which gives them Protection and Immunity to being Pinned. So, they’re going to soak up damage, refuse to budge, and be impossible to stop when they do decide to move.
Looking at their combat card, you can really see why those abilities are exciting. The attack and defense dice are fine, but their defensive expertise chart is excellent for a Supporting Unit. They get immediate bonus successes and importantly can turn a crit success into a regular one, or even a failure if you pull off 4+ expertise. Watch out for Expose conditions though, as these droids really don’t want hit with that. Their combat expertise and tree are no slouches, either. Particularly in melee (easy to get to with all the options for out of activation movement) they can also pull of the double-Shove plus Pinned combo, or skip the second Shove for a Jump. This is a very solid Supporting Unit I expect you’ll see in many Galactic Empire lists going forward.
List Building
I’m personally a fan of keeping squad packs together. It could just be laziness, but they are designed to work well together. That’s especially true of this box. But Galactic Empire tagged units also mix and match well, so I could see Gideon with Stormtroopers, or Vader with Dark Troopers. A double Gideon + Dark Troopers squad could be appealing as well, swapping the DTE for Gideon Hask from the Inferno Squad pack. Hask also has Long Live the Empire, so you double up on that powerful ability. He can also hand out a free success to other models when they attack something with Range 5 of him, again helping the Dark Troopers with their strong combat tree.
In fact, the Inferno Squad makes a good squad to pair with Gideon and friends. They’re very mobile and lethal in general. The Imperial Special Forces Supporting Unit option pairs very well with Gideon, as they remove damage whenever the activate making them a great target for Long Live the Empire. And again, Gideon Hask, the Inferno Squad Secondary, also has that ability at his disposal.
Currently the only other Galactic Empire squad released is Darth Vader’s Fear and Dead Men box. That’s another solid pairing with Vader providing absolutely brutal up close and personal combat ability to contrast Moff Gideon’s ‘stand back and be a smug manager’ approach.
Conclusion
The You Have Something I Want squad pack is a very solid and exciting addition to the growing Galactic Empire units available in Star Wars: Shatterpoint. If you’re a fan of Galactic Empire models you can’t go wrong with this squad pack. And if you’re not, expect to see Moff Gideon and the Dark Troopers in particular in Empire lists going forward.
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