Shatterpoint: Secondaries, Supports and Synergies

In this article we will cover all of these units briefly and what they bring to the table. Last time, we reviewed all of the Primary units that will be coming in the core set box, and with the steady trickle of articles we now have seen all of the Secondary and Supporting units as well. Let’s dive right in because there is a lot to cover.

A Quick Review of Our Unit Types.

While Primaries seem to be our usual featured heroes from the series the Secondaries appear to be the leaders on the battlefield who assist the Supporting Units. One fear I had about Supporting units when the game was first revealed was that they would be easily picked off and not be able to offer as much to the table, but now not so much since the wound system makes it nearly impossible for something to fall off that table before it can contribute. Supporting units also benefit from being able to activate 2 models at the same time. This means you can get 2 friendly units to an objective or each one to different objectives on the same turn. Even though the models in a Supporting unit share the same activation they each make their actions independently. As an example, when you activate a Supporting unit and declare an Attack action, or a move action, then both models in the unit perform that action individually and that only counts as one action.

The 501st

The 501st is led into battle by CC-7567 Captain Rex as the Secondary unit with his trusty 501st Clone Troopers as his Supporting unit.

The theme for the 501st appears to be hunker tokens which increase a unit’s cover by 1 (adds one defense die) for each token. Both Captain Rex and the 501st Clone Troopers have ways to generate hunker tokens and make them more valuable. This will help make the 501st pretty tanky but you will need to be careful because if you become engaged you will lose those hunker tokens. This fact in combination with their long range makes them great at holding back objectives and pressuring from afar.

Captain Rex comes in at 4PC and has 0 force points, 9 stamina, and 2 durability. This seems to be close to standard for the core set meaning he will be easy to switch between squads for list building purposes.

Captain Rex comes equipped with 4 abilities that interact with hunker tokens. First we need to generate our hunker tokens. Get A Move On, Soldier will allow Rex or another allied Galactic Republic character to dash and gain a hunker for free, which is great for getting Rex or another clone to an objective and hunkerin’ down. If Rex still needs a dash and and another hunker token he can spend force points to use Defensive Maneuver for a similar effect. Once you start dishing out these hunker tokens Rex has 2 innate effects to make them more effective. Bring It On, Clankers will let Rex heal himself or a nearby Clone Trooper when a nearby Clone Trooper gains a hunker token. The other innate effect, Brother In Arms, gives Steadfast which prevents the first Shove in an attack series. This will help ensure your opponent cannot shove Rex off of an objective when he has a hunker token. Captain Rex’s last ability is I’m Always First, Kid which starts at 1 force point. If you keep Rex close to an allied Clone Trooper Supporting Unit, Rex can follow up one of their attacks with a dash and a 5 die attack which can be great given the versatility of Rex’s combat tree.

Captain Rex’s Tactical Supremacy combat tree is fairly versatile in many regards. With this stance Rex doesn’t care if he is at Range (all the way out to range 5) or in melee as the profile is exactly the same. A 7 die attack is pretty good and 5 die defense is a little above average for Secondaries especially since it is both melee and at range. There isn’t anything too fancy going on with Rex’s expertise charts, for defense he converts expertise into additional blocks and on attacks he generates more successes but if you are lucky enough to roll 3 expertise you get some crits out of the deal. The tree itself gives Rex some versatility with the top path providing damage while the bottom path provides utility. I especially like that he can start his bottom path with 1 or 2 shoves to get enemies off of an objective, meaning that any roll with two crits has a really good chance of shifting ownership of a point.

The 501st Clone Troopers only cost 3PC and have 0 force points, 7 stamina, and 2 durability. They seem to be on the low end of the defensive curve for the core set but only slightly. Costing 3PC also will make them a little trickier to fit into different lists.

Same as Captain Rex, the 501st Clones Troopers can also have Defensive Maneuver and Brother In Arms to get those hunker tokens and make them more valuable. Additionally the 501st Clone Troopers have Coordinated Fire: Strained. This lets you dish out a Strained Token for free (or 1-2 force points as you take wounds) if a friendly Galactic Republic attacks an opponent within range 5 of one of the 501st Clone Troopers. This means it might be worthwhile to spread the characters in this unit out.

The 501st Clone Troopers Combat Training really helps them lean into back objective holders who are able to still snipe the enemies and be really pesky. At range 5 the 501st Clone Troopers get a 7 die attack and 5 dice defense with a rather lackluster attack expertise chart. When they get caught in melee their attack drops down to 5 dice and defense down to 4 (and don’t forget they lose those hunker tokens they love so much) with an even worse attack expertise chart. Their Defensive Expertise chart is the same as Rex’s, nothing fancy but it’s fine. The tree itself is interesting. On the surface it feels like a mixed bag where there is limited damage and a handful of conditions. The starting node being a Pinned condition on a sniper unit is very interesting though and has the potential to really hamper your opponents activation economy.

Mandalorian Super Commandos

Gar Saxon, Merciless Commander takes the role of the Mandalorian Super Commando Secondary and leads his Supporting Mandalorian Super Commandos into battle.

The Mandalorian Super Commandos seem to have an emphasis on mobility and focus actions. In Star wars Shatterpoint units cannot perform the same action twice using their normal actions on their turn. The Mandalorian Super Commandos have multiple ways to get free jump actions to not only cover more ground but to easily traverse terrain. In addition to this, these units also have tools to get more mileage from focus actions. The Mandalorian Super Commandos also differentiate themselves from their Nite Owl counterparts by being a bit more combative.

Gar Saxon costs 4PC with 0 force points, 9 stamina, and 2 durability. This appears to be the average in the core set and not much else to say about it.

Pride Of The Mandalore is Gar Saxons tactic ability and will let you get a free jump on one of your Mandalorian characters fitting into the mobility of these units. Gar Saxon comes with two abilities that it seems all the Mandalorians in the core set have, Jet Pack and Mandalorians Are Stronger Together. Jet Pack is simple but effective, starting at 1 force point you can get a free jump (notably not a jump action). Mandalorians Are Stronger Together makes you want to keep your Mandalorians…close together, since when Gar Saxon finishes a move within range 2 of another Mandalorian character he can make a free focus action. Because this is actually a focus action it will feed into I’ve Got You In My Sights. When he takes any focus action he also gains a hunker token but that’s only half of it. The other half is that instead of adding 1 die to his ranged attack from a focus action, Gar gets to add 3 dice (1 from the focus + 2 from sharpshooter) and the target of your ranged attack will not benefit from cover. This can be devastating against a low defense unit. Gar Saxon’s final ability is Pack Hunter, which adds 2 dice to his melee attack if the target is engaged with another friendly Mandalorian. This ability gives some heft to Gar’s melee utility despite mostly being a sniper.

Gar Saxons stance of Concentrated Assault is flexible in the sense that he can hit hard at range and in melee but lacks a bit defensively. Having only 4 defense dice at both range and melee and no defensive abilities apart from his mobility, Gar Saxon will be difficult to keep safe. His defensive expertise is good in the sense that a single expertise result will net you 2 blocks but you need to roll 4 expertise to go up to 3. For his attack dice Gar Saxon gets to throw 6 dice at range 5 and 7 dice in melee but this will more often be 9 dice in both cases thanks to his abilities. The ranged expertise chart is great with his large dice pool, as it grants crits and an era shove to safely push enemies off an objective. The melee expertise is less favorable as it starts with successes and does not grant shoves, though it does have the potential for damage. The tree itself does not provide many condition tokens and primarily focuses on damage. That being said, you still get easy access to yet another jump allowing Gar Saxon to cover a lot of ground and provides good opportunities to shove an opponent.

The Mandalorian Super Commandos cost 4PC with 0 force points, 8 stamina, and 2 durability which puts them in the average making them easy to list build with and fine from a health standpoint.

Just like Gar Saxon, the Mandalorian Super Commandos get access to Jet Pack and Mandalorians Are Stronger Together which keeps them in theme with easy access to more jumps and free focus actions. While Gar Saxon wants to be a bit more of a sniper, the Mandalorian Super Commandos prefer to get into the thick of it. With the innate ability Victory Or Death! this unit gets Impact[1] which will mean they get 2 additional dice in melee when they focus (1 from impact, 1 from focus). The last ability they have is No Mercy which will cause an enemy to take 2 damage if they try to run away. This might not sound like a lot but could really make your opponent think twice about trying to get to a new objective.

Mandalorian Super Commandos get Disruptive Tactics and this stance card has a lot more options than most of the other supporting units. Their ranged attack is only 5 dice (at range  4) which feels a little low but their abilities motivate closing in to melee, where they roll 6 dice or (8 when focused!). Their expertise charts also reflect the desire to get into melee because at range they are only generating successes while in melee they get crits with a decent chance of getting a shove as well. Defensively, they only get 4 dice at range but get 5 in melee. The combat tree is where I get most excited for this unit because they get a lot of fun choices. Going straight down the middle will generate a lot of damage and strain your opponent forcing them to have to recover or take even more damage. If you are fighting a particularly strong unit that you are worried will activate soon you can follow the top path to disarm and expose them. Finally if you only get to traverse 3 nodes you have one extra mobility option in a jump.

Nite Owls

Bo-Katan Kryze helps to lead the charge in the siege of Mandalore as a Secondary unit with her supporting unit of Clan Kryze Mandalorians.

Similar to the Mandalorian Super Commandos the Nite owls are highly mobile and get easy access to free focus actions. Where these two groups differ is while the Mandalorian Super Commandos are more combative the Nite Owls are more protective of each other making them rather difficult to kill.

Bo-Katan Kryze costs 4PC for 0 force points, 8 stamina, and 2 durability which is actually rather low for a Secondary unit but she does have some tools to make up for this.

Bo-Katan shares 3 abilities with Gar Saxon with both getting Pride Of The Mandalore, Jet Pack, and Mandalorians Are Stronger Together. This gives the Nite Owls access to the same enhanced mobility and free focus actions as the Mandalorian Super Commandos, which means running them together in a strike team will provide a lot of support across the 2 squads. Mandalore Will Survive is where Bo-Katan and the Nite Owls start to differ. With this ability, when Bo-Katan makes a focus action (which triggers off of Mandalorians Are Stronger Together) Bo-Katan can make a dash and recover 2. The last ability is Some Of Us Serve A Higher Purpose which grants Bo-Katan and other allied Mandalorians within range 3 Protection and Steadfast if they are contesting objectives. Protection lets the unit ignore 1 damage they would take damage and Steadfast lets the unit ignore 1 shove would they would be shoved. Between these last 2 abilities Bo-Katan will feel rather tanky and you won’t notice the lower health pool as much.

Close Support is Bo-Katan’s stance card which has a combat tree with early branching to provide options with access to a lot of shoves, an easy pin, and extra mobility. Defensively Bo-Katan only rolls 4 dice at range and melee but her defensive innate abilities help to compensate for this. At range 4 Bo-Katan gets to roll 6 dice and in melee she rolls 7 (these will more likely be 7 and 8 respectively with the free focus). At both melee and range Bo-Katan gets the same expertise chart which get access to a crit at 2 expertise and has the potential for 2 crits and damage at 4 expertise.

Clan Kryze Mandalorians will cost 4PC and have 0 force points, 7 stamina, and 2 durability. Similar to Bo-Katan this is below average for health but with the protection Bo-Katan provides them you won’t miss that extra health.

Same with all the other Mandalorians in the core box, Clan Kryze Mandalorians also get Jet Pack and Mandalorians Are Stronger Together. The only other ability on their care is Helmet Visor which lets them convert those free focus actions into 2 extra ranged attack dice instead of 1. I kinda wish they got an extra ability like the Mandalorian Super Commandos but this unit still feels strong with its stance card and with all the support they get from the other Mandalorian units.

Clan Kryze Mandalorians bring Skirmish Tactics to the table and this stance is somewhat unique because you get 2 different starting nodes in the combat tree. Right off the bat you get the choice of a shove or a pinned condition. Once you hit your third node you get another choice of either disarmed or exposed conditions. Sprinkle in a few shoves and that’s a good looking tree.  Defensively they only get 4 defense dice in melee but that does go up to 5 at ranged. For ranged combat they get 6 dice at range 4 (which will more likely be 8 with the free focus and sharpshooter). In Melee, they only roll 5 and their expertise starts really slow at only 1 success but getting 2 crits for 3 expertise results isn’t too bad.

Separatists

The Separatists bring Kalani, Super Tactical Droid as the Secondary unit commanding his Supporting Unit of B1 Battle Droids.

The Separatists have less of a clear cut theme as the other “factions” in the core set. I use factions loosely because there are not really factions in the game but instead tags that synergize with each other. These units feature some order card manipulation and help each other out when they remain within range 4 of each other.

Kalani, Super Tactical Droid comes in at 5PC with 0 force points, 10 stamina, and 2 durability. 5PC is another one of those awkward point values where it will be hard to move this unit around in squad building. 2 Durability seems to be the standard for all Secondaries and Supporting units so far but 10 Stamina puts him above the curve.

Kalani has the innate ability Complete Analysis which allows you to put his order card in reserve for free, which is an interesting design space for the game (Obi-Wan will also have some reserve manipulation). All of Kalani’s other abilities revolve around being within range 4 of other Battle Droids so you will need to watch your spacing. Roger, Roger will let all of your Supporting Battle Droids within range 4 dash and Tactical Network is a versatile ability that allows your Battle Droids to adapt to the situation. Starting at 1 force point this lets another allied battle droid within range 4 either dash, get a hunker token, remove a condition, or make a 5 die attack. There will almost always be a use for this ability. Kalani’s final ability is an innate ability where attacking allied Battle Droids can add 1 die to the attack roll if another Battle Droid is within 4 of the target.

Kalani’s Cold Logic stance has pretty strong attacks but comes up lacking in defense. At range 5 Kalani throws 7 attack dice and his attack expertise is pretty great only needing 2 results to return 1 crit and 2 successes. In Melee this goes down to 6 dice and the attack expertise becomes substantially worse. Kalani also only rolls 4 and 3 defense dice in range and melee respectively. This is below the curve for the core set and you will need to be careful when a primary catches Kalani in melee. The defense expertise seems fine and includes a reposition but it will be a very rare occurrence to roll 5 expertise results. The stand out feature of Kalani’s combat tree is that with only 3 results you get a free use of Tactical Network. Apart from a free ability trigger Kalani gets some decent damage, an early shove and great condition options between expose and disarm.

The B1 Battle Droids come in at 3PC with 0 force points, 9 Stamina, and 2 Durability. 3PC makes it a little harder to move this unit around in squad building but in tandem with Kalani allows them to go with any of the 3 Primaries that get 8 squad points. Following Kalani’s theme the B1 Battle Droids have 9 Stamina and 2 Durability giving them slightly above average health.

Well, I Guess I’m In Charge, Now is the B1 Battle Droids innate ability that (like Kalani) helps with your order control, allowing you to put their order card on the bottom of the deck rather than in reserve. This lets you keep your reserve free for another unit later down the line. The other innate ability B1 Battle Droids have access to is I Hate This Job which will grant them protection when one of the characters in the unit are contesting an active objective, this in combination with their higher stamina value might make them surprisingly troublesome for your opponent to wound.

B1 Battle Droids are Countless and that is the name of their stance card. Just like Kalani they get a strong 7 die range 5 attack with a decent expertise chart that grants an average number of successes. In melee the attack drops down to 5 dice but the expertise only ever can generate 1 more success. Their defense dice are only 4 and 3 in ranged and melee respectively, this in combination with their lackluster defense expertise (generating no blocks until you roll two results) makes them potentially easy targets. The combat tree itself on the B1 Battle Droid card gives them easy access to a reposition and an exposed. This could make it easy for your B1s to cover a lot of ground when Kalani grants them a free 5 die attack.

Fin

That’s all for now. I know this was a lot to take in but in the future we will look at a single squad box at a time and that will allow me to review some list building options as well. What units are you most excited for? What crazy character combinations do you plan to run from the core set? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget that you can grab a Shatterpoint core set as well as pre-order all of the expansions in our store!

Featured article art by Robert Shane, hosted on Deviant Art