When most people start playing Shatterpoint, the first three lists that will probably come to mind are: All Clones, All Mandos, All Separatists. They are thematic, synergistic, and you can build all three with the starter box plus Hello There! and Twice the Pride. I won’t do a full in-depth breakdown for all of these like I did with Friends of Qui-Gon, but I figured it would be good to discuss what makes each unique, and some things to focus on to get the most out of your experience as you try these squads out.
You can click on the lists above to jump straight to that section, or you can continue reading them in the order that I randomly decided to do them in.
All Clones
Nice and simple, you take Anakin with the 501st for one squad and Obi with the 212th for the other. If you were lucky enough to get the Padawan Ahsoka Tano preorder bonus swapping her in for Cody is a great choice. However, we’ll just discuss the posted version.
What makes this squad stand out? For me it’s the heroes. Anakin and Obi-Wan are both very strong primaries who can have a big effect on the game. The Jedi will be the superstars carrying your games with this list. As such, you want to make sure you have the force to let them cook. I try to always budget one force for each Obi-Wan activation so he can use Hello There!, while for Anakin I want to make sure he has two force available to do his double attack, plus one force for Force Jump on his first activation. However, given that you are probably spending a lot of force on Defensive Maneuver on the clones’ first activations, it’s OK if Anakin doesn’t get his double tap off the first time you go through your deck.
At the start of the game, both Anakin and Obi would like to get an out of activation move up the battlefield before activating. Without that they may not reach melee to do their thing. For Obi-Wan, he can get a jump when he goes into reserve. For Anakin, I’m usually using Rex’s Get a Move On, Soldier for the free dash. Ideally the Jedi go late in your order deck so they can dive in without taking too much return fire.
For the Shatterpoint card, I’m usually using it on the Jedi or Rex. The Jedi for obvious reasons, and Rex because he can move another character around and shove enemies. If you are trying to conserve force, Rex does his thing with minimal force cost. Double activating Anakin is great, but you might also run out of force really fast.
The easy triggers to forget in this list are the Coordinated Fire abilities of the clone supports. I’m usually excited to toss dice for my attacks, but remember to slow down and try and apply a condition first. It’s free until the clones are wounded/injured! Between Coordinated Fire and Obi-Wan’s Ataru stance, the Republic has a bit of a condition sub-identity forming.
To take this list to the next level, focus on getting hunker tokens and using Obi-Wan’s Knowledge and Defense ability. Clones will be a pain to push off objectives with Steadfast and the possible dash, the latter of which can also lead to some wild shenanigans.
All Mandos
Hey, look! A list you can build completely from the core set. It’s probably the least thematic of the three in this article since it involves a Maul/Ahsoka team-up, but whatever. You could swap out Ahsoka for Asajj, but let’s go with Ahsoka for now. I find both Maul and Asajj to be tricky to use so let’s make life a little easier on ourselves.
What makes this squad stand out? Mobility! Hard hitting supports! Mandos will be flying around the battlefield triggering Mandalorians Are Stronger Together off each other. They’ll be throwing big, punishing attacks the 501st clones could only dream about. To do this they will consume a decent chunk of force, which is why I like them with Ahsoka and Maul. Ahsoka doesn’t need to spend much force, and Maul can take damage instead of spending force, leaving more for the mandos. Maul is going to be the trickiest piece to play, and I would say he’s quite timing dependent. I would use my reserve slot for Maul in most cases, and activate everything else whenever I happen to draw that unit. Ahsoka doesn’t mind going early and tanking some shots in her Form V Shen stance.
For the Shatterpoint card, this list is really flexible. Maul can be a great target, but so can anyone in this list. It’s a team with balanced threats rather than stars and scrubs. Depending on the situation any one of the 6 units could be a great Shatterpoint activation. That’s true for any team, but this one especially.
The trigger I forget most in this list is Ahsoka’s Fierce Protector ability after a friendly unit is wounded and the Super Commandos’ No Mercy ability when an enemy character dashes or advances out of engagement. The other thing to remember is to keep mandos in position to end within range 2 of a friend for a free focus action from Mandalorians Are Stronger Together. This is done most easily by keeping the supports together (a two-character support can trigger it off itself) and to use Pride of the Mandalore to set it up for Bo and Gar. Mandos get a lot of their power from those focus actions, so make sure you’re getting them for free!
To take this list to the next level, try to get the most out of Bo-Katan’s Some of Us Serve a Higher Purpose ability. It gives Protection and Steadfast when a mandalorian within range 3 is contesting an objective, which means they’ll resist one shove and take one less damage. Most of the list is mandos so using this ability effectively will pay huge dividends.
All Separatists
Last but not least, we’ve got the Seppies. You could potentially swap Maul in for Asajj, but droids aren’t really force starved so you can afford a force hungry character like Asajj.
Separatists stand out with their synergy. Sure, all the lists in this article have synergy, but Separatists are interconnected on another level. Droids don’t have in activation extra moves like clones or mandos. Instead they rely on out of activation movement through things likes Kalani’s Roger, Roger and Dooku’s Leader of the Separatist Army. Separatists also have lots of ways to get extra attacks out, often for supports, so you can do a lot of damage. With all the interconnected abilities of this list, I’d probably say it’ll have the biggest learning curve of the three I’ve presented. But when it clicks, boy does it click!
For the Shatterpoint card, I often use it on Kalani if I draw it early. This helps move the droids up the filed to contest objectives. If I draw the card later, it’s probably Dooku, Jango, or Asajj getting the extra activation. Magnas really don’t want to go early, so I would often reserve them until Dooku or Kalani has had a chance to push them up field. Dooku himself doesn’t mind going early I find. From my experience Asajj is quite timing sensitive and often wants the reserve slot, which can be a problem since magnas also want it. If Asajj does end up in a precarious position, make sure you remember to use her Slip Away ability to get her to safety.
Speaking of that, the trigger I forget most with this list is Slip Away, which allows Asajj to reposition and get a hunker when a Separatist ally targets someone she is engaged with. Similar to Coordinated Fire, I’m just excited to attack and forget to do this trigger beforehand. Combat A.I. Protocols on the B1s also falls into that category, giving out one of two conditions to an enemy after a friendly battle droid combat action. Dooku’s Twice the Pride, Double the Fall can also be easily missed, so stay vigilant on every attack on a character within range 2 of Dooku (including Dooku himself) in case there are no strikes left in the attack pool.
To take this list to the next level, focus on the positioning of your supports. As I mentioned, Separatists give out a lot of free 5 dice attacks, and magnas are great beneficiaries of that with a crit-heavy attack expertise and shoves at the start of their tree. With Kalani’s Target, Concentrate All Firepower ability those can turn into 6 dice attacks for even more consistent hurt. Well positioned B1s can throw out a lot of conditions too. This list will be cruising if you’re getting the most out of your supports.
