Talking of Clones, getting another solid set of Clones is a Recoverthy reminder of why they were made and what they were designed to do. It’s great that we have a set that pairs so well with Clone Force 99, as well as the core box and other Clones post- balance update. As a side note, I really like the fact that players are actively encouraged to paint these up as they see fit, a bit of variety in the sea of clones: much like in the Mandalorian Covert, there’s more room for creativity.
Boss, as Primary (unsurprisingly), is high risk/reward. His variant of the the standard leader effect of free movement to allies is just a Dash, but it’s a Dash to all allied Delta Force. He himself can take damage to turn his Dashes into a Move, or double to turn it into a Place, and with double Recover on the 3rd step of his damage track (and Recover on his Defence Expertise) of his Rapid Fire stance that’s a risk worth taking – especially as step 4 on that track activates his active ability without the usual 2 Force required. But if you don’t want to rely on that, he has his own version of Maul’s extra dice when damaged/injured, and refreshes 2F when he wounds an enemy. The “Explosive Solution” allows friendly units to Dash away (or, I suppose towards) an objective and then deal double damage to anything within R2. Equally, his Wet Work stance is all about optimising massive damage output, so he can adapt and control the board as needed.
Fixer is in the highly-contested Secondary slot, but he is going to be a tempting buy for a lot of lists simply because none of his abilities require you to use Force to trigger. He can Recover and Dash an allied Clone, which is incredibly potent in any list. He wins ties on objective control, grants free hunker to any Clone within R3 that’s moved, and gives Clones +1D for each allied Delta Force member within R5. I mean… wow. He’s really good in any Clone army list, but combined with Bad Batch in particular and you have a massive amount of board control.
Sev & Scorch are extremely potent for Supporting, which is why their abilities are very dependent on using your Force, though they do get a free dash towards an enemy. Mobility, as ever, is key. After another unit within R3 makes an attack, they can make a 5D attack on the same target; also, again for a force, they can target a unit with R5 with 5D, and for every expertise rolled do a damage, plus inflict Strain if they do more than one damage. With Protection and Steadfast whilst contesting objectives, also, they’re tough to shift, and a good solid amount of damage with all the negative conditions on their stance.
Basically, as a team, stick the Clone Commandos with Bad Batch, and save the galaxy… or just say screw it and blow stuff up.
A note on ratings, as the standard Zatu ratings have slightly different meanings when we look at miniatures:
ARTWORK – the overall aesthetic quality of design of the sculpts, pose variety etc.
COMPLEXITY – How hard they are to build based on sprue layout and assembly instruction, and how demanding they are to paint.
REPLAYABILTY – How much fun they are to play with and how well they fit with other elements of the same faction for listbuilding, or useful as standalone models for rpgs etc.
PLAYER INTERACTION – How much fun they are to play against, and how well they fit the overall game theme
COMPONENT QUALITY – Physical quality of the product and value for money.
Scores:
ARTWORK 3
COMPLEXITY 3
REPLAYABILTY 5
PLAYER INTERACTION 4
COMPONENT QUALITY 4
About the author:
Sam blogs @big_geekingout and as part of bigcomicpage.com with an emphasis on dad-gaming and IP content. Recovering competitive card gamer, infrequent skirmish wargamer, and average boardgamer. Decent Modeller with a fondness for terrain. Enthusiastic if not especially capable miniature Painter. Media and English Teacher, which is a cover for being a movie nerd. Reasonable cook. Occasional Parent.
