“All I know is I never risk my own skin if I don’t have to.“ – Nute Gunray
Hello there!
Here we go with a third part of our “Start Collecting” series and today we go to talk about the Confederacy of Independent Systems a.k.a. CIS or just Separatists. In my personal opinion you should start with Separatist Invasion Box*. It’s better than even a double Core Set because in addition to Grievous, 4 units of B1 and 2 Units of Droidekas you also get an AAT Tank and one unit of MagnaGuards IG-100 Droids. Now I’ll present you all of the units going by their ranks:
*In that case Essentials Kit is needed for rulers, dice and some Battle Cards.
COMMANDERS:
GENERAL GRIEVOUS
Here we start with one of the most iconic characters across the CIS (with one of most iconic coughing too).
He has quite a big HP Pool of 8, red defense dice, Block ability (if you spend a dodge token you gain defense surge during that roll) and Impervious keyword (roll more defense dice if the opponent is trying to use Pierce on you). Offensive potential is builded with his Arsenal 2 keyword (each time he attacks he can use up to 2 of his weapons) and Relentless keyword (free attack after move). On this point there are 2 worth-to-mention things about Grievous.
One is his armament weapon in the form of his DT-57 “Annihilator” Blaster. It gives him a valuable ranged attack option.
Second thing is his significant Pip-1 Command Card that lets him escape from harsh fights with Disengage keyword as well as opening him an option to attack EACH enemy in range 1 of him at the end of his activation. I highly recommend Up Close and Personal upgrade for him.
SUPER TACTICAL DROID
There are 3 versions of STDs represented by one mini.
This Droid is your clue to win due to his high supportive capabilities. In common they share a keyword named Strategize that allows you to gain a suppression token and then choose up to 2 (depending on Strategize value) friendly units at range 1. Each chosen unit gains 1 aim and 1 dodge token. Another ability that they share is Sharpshooter which will let you ignore your opponents cover while shooting. And then we go with more personalized keywords.
Kalani has Reinforcements (so can deploy after all other units are deployed, giving him the best strategic position) and Direct: AI Unit which lets him choose 1 AI Unit at range 1-2 at the beginning of each turn and issue an order to it.
“Generic” STD is quite similar to Kalani except Override 1 keyword instead of Reinforcements one. Override lets you ignore the AI keyword of 1 of your units which can be crucial in some battles. It also has quite different stats.
Last version is Kraken. He’s a bit different. He doesn’t have Direct which can be an issue – you need to operate just on his Override 2 keyword. Instead it has a Charge keyword and good Overwhelm melee but I don’t think that TACTICAL Droid should run into the face with your opponent.
COUNT DOOKU
Here we go with one of the 2 force users that are available for CIS.
Also known as Darth Tyranus, he’s a master swordsman, which is represented by his Makashi Mastery (in melee fight he can reduce Pierce value of his weapon by one to disable opponents’ immunity to pierce). He’s also a master tactician of Separatists which is shown in his Cunning ability, which reduces the number of Pips on your Dooku Command Cards (which means that you nearly always win Priority ties!).
He is also well-trained in the Force and can prepare 2 exhausted Force upgrades at the end of each turn due to the Master of the Force keyword. Dooku comes with some standard force users keywords too, like Deflect and Immune: Pierce. In addition he is able to perform ranged attacks with his iconic Force Lightning.
T-SERIES TACTICAL DROID
Generic commander of CIS army.
You can find him in Separatist Specialists Personnel Expansion with some upgrades for your troopers and 3 new command cards. He’s good in the Skirmish game mode, if you want to use your points to maximize the number of activations. He’s a niche choice on a standard 800p game but can maximize the number of your activations here too.
He has quite useful sort of keywords like Bolster for some free tokens as well as Direct to issue orders for your B1 Battle Droids or any other Droid Trooper.
OPERATIVES:
MAUL
He’s a beast and can annihilate your opponent’s forces quickly.
A second force user that is available for this faction and his playstyle is much different that Dooku. n common he has Jump 1, Deflect and Immune: Pierce like nearly all Force Users in the game.
His special rule is Juyo Mastery. When Maul is wounded he can perform three actions instead of normal two (+ any additional free actions). That means he can, for example, perform 2 moves, Force Push opponent into melee and then attack him with his huge, double-bladed lightsaber (4 red 4 white attack dice with Pierce 2 (you ignore up to 2 block results of your opponents’ defense pool) and Impact 2 (more crits when attacking Armored unit).
CORPS:
B1 BATTLE DROIDS
This is one of the core units in the army; your steel & meat shield.
Perfect for getting objectives and overwhelming your opponent with their quantity. They are also a good unit to wield a PK-Series Worker Droid that can Repair most of your units and vehicles, either by healing them from wounds or removing ion tokens.
Now let’s talk about mechanics because you will have at least 2 units in your list everytime and more often you will have 5-6 units of these little clankers. They have AI: Attack and AI is one of the core mechanics in this faction. It says that unless you have a face-up order token on your activated unit, your first action in your activation MUST be an action indicated in this keyword. That’s why all these Directs, Overrides and order manipulating are such important in CIS.
Your second keyword is Coordinate: Droid Trooper which, when you are issued an order, you may issue another order for a Droid Trooper in range 1 of you. You may create whole “order chains” across the board with enough B1 units and may never feel the drawbacks of AI keywords.
Last but not least, the Droid Trooper keyword (you can find it right below the picture showing B1 Droid on the card). This means they cannot be suppressed (but still can panic), doesn’t improve their cover when suppressed and can’t get poison tokens. On the other hand they can be Ioned like vehicles but, fortunately, there are not that many options for Ionizing in the whole game.
B2 BATTLE DROIDS
Here we have one of my favorite units in CIS.
Consisting of 3 to 5 models with 2 HP each and Armor 1 means that they can absorb a few blows before being knocked out. Combining these with one of their 2 heavy weapons make them solid heavy hitters that can decimate opponent forces.
Sadly they have AI: Attack too and don’t have a Coordinate keyword. They’re quite short range without B2-HA heavy.. Most issues will be solved by adding a T-Series Droid to your squad of B2s but it’s making them pretty expensive.
SPECIAL FORCES:
IG-100 MAGNAGUARD
Perfectly balanced between supportive and aggressive properties.
They’re designed to be near your commander due to Guardian 2: Commander keyword (they can cancel up to 2 wounds while in range 1 and have LoS) and Retinue: Commander (at the start of each round they gain a free aim or dodge token). In addition they’re immune to Pierce while fighting in melee (so they have a chance while fighting with force users) and can ignore difficult terrain too (due to Unhindered keyword). They also have Charge which makes their melee potential even higher.
They have AI: Move, Dodge.
BX-SERIES DROID COMMANDOS
Almost supplanted by MagnaGuards but I found this unit as a very interesting and suitable option.
There are two variants of the unit itself you can pick: full squad and a Strike Team. You should think about how you want to use your Commandos.
If you want a highly resilient sniper squad – take Deflector Shield and BX-Series Droid Sniper. If you prefer to go for decent melee fighters pick Vibroswords with Dioxis Mine Saboteur.
Now let’s talk about Droids themselves. They have AI: Move, Dodge as well as Magnaguards. The Scale keyword definitely increases their mobility on the battlefield and their red defense dice in addition to Impervious ability makes them pretty resilient. As an icing on the cake we have Scout 3 (which lets them perform a speed-3 move straight after deploying them) and Sharpshooter 1.
I definitely prefer them as a Sniper Squad for some area control.
SUPPORT:
DROIDEKAS
One of the most iconic units in CIS.
AI: Attack, Move.
They are good, but uh, just good. Only speed-1 movement (or speed-3 but without shooting this turn due to their Wheel Mode, they also lose shields and gain Cover 2 instead) make them so slow.
They’re resistant due to their Shielded 4 keyword (which gives them 4 shields that you can spent to auto-block opponent’s results) and Generator 1 (which recovers them 1 shield per end of round). They also have pretty solid firepower.
Biggest problem is that they’re overpriced and you have better alternatives for them. Definitely fun to play and can be deadly in the 500 points skirmish battle.
STAP RIDERS
Speeder option for clankers.
AI: Move.
They’re fast and their role on the battlefield relies on being flankers. They should outmaneuver your opponents’ units when most of your forces go for a face-to-face fight. They’re have speed 3-movement and Speeder 1 (which lets them perform an additional “compulsory” move each turn with their base speed).
Agile 1 ability gives them a dodge token after each move and Cover 1 just lets them ignore 1 of incoming damage each time. Icing on the cake is a fact they also have a Coordinate for Droid Troopers and Vehicles and a pretty high fire power.
DSD1 DWARF SPIDER DROID
These are like MagnaGuards in case of choice in support units.
They are heavy hitters of your army and your trump card in mirror matches due to their Nose-Mounted Ion Blaster.
These droids are very flexible due to their Programming Cards (you’re obligated to pick one, but by doing this you’ll choose your own poison (AI keyword) but also a new bunch of solid abilities). They’re one of only a few Climbing Vehicles in-game.
DSD1 also has an interesting mechanic of Self-Destruct which lets them destroy itself when it’s damaged enough, making a deadly attack against all units in range 1 of it. But keep calm, Spider Droid is pretty resilient due to Armor 3 keyword.
HEAVY:
AAT TRADE FEDERATION BATTLE TANK
AI: Attack.
Big threat for units that are depending on dodges (like force users) due to High Velocity weapon (that can be combined due to Arsenal 2 keyword with High-Energy Shells that you can, and definitely should, equip to this tank).
High Velocity means that your opponent cannot spend dodge tokens to avoid damage and must rely on their dice. It’s also a big vehicle that can block line of sight. This tank can also be your Field Commander due to his upgrade cards. It’s hard to kill due to full Armor, 9 HP and red defense dice.
An icing on the cake is a Barrage keyword which lets you perform 2 attacks if you didn’t use your Arsenal keyword this turn.
NR-N99 PERSUADER-CLASS TANK DROID
Much more “dodgy” tank, due to necessity to pick Programming Upgrade, with less (but still big) aggressive potential.
This tank can also Transport trooper units across the battlefield as an Open Transport (so that units can activate, shoot and perform actions) making it not only a taxi for your units, but also a gun platform. It also has the Armor keyword and Arsenal 2 like AAT but also can rotate itself before or after a move action due to the Reposition Keyword which is nice.
It’s worth mentioning that this tank has a built-in Ion weapon, so it has high anti-vehicle potential.
MERCENARIES:
CAD BANE
He’s kind of a peek-a-boo.
You want to hide behind a height-1 building and in your activation just Jump on it, make a free shot out of Steady, and then move down to hide again, using Ascension Cables upgrade, which you definitely should play.
He’s also quite resilient due to his Independent: Dodge 2 (at the beginning of each turn you’ll get 2 dodge tokens if you don’t have an order token, so it’s a good idea to play Comms Relay too).
Two more things are worth mentioning with Cad Bane and the first is the Bounty keyword. At the start of the game you will mark one of your opponents’ commanders or operatives with a Victory Token. After you kill that character with your Bounty Hunter you’ll move that token to you. If you are still alive at the end of the game, you will score one additional VP, nice!
Second thing is Cad Bane-only mechanic that lets him start game in reserves while also placing 3 face-down Bane tokens on the battlefield. One token is nothing but Smoke and Mirrors, the second one is Kablamo! which detonates when the opponent comes close enough dealing potential high damage, and third is Here I Am! which spawn Bane in its place, issuing him an order, or teleports him to his token if he’s on the battlefield at the moment.
BOSSK
There is a second Bounty Hunter but with a much more different playstyle.
Of course he has a Bounty keyword too but his Independent is changed to Surge 2. He has built-in Scale and is a pretty good sniper with his range 2-4 weapon with Pierce 1 (especially if you feed him with aims using his Pip-3 Lying in Wait).
He can be also runned as a merciless berserker due to his Enrage keyword (which will give him a Charge and infinite courage if he’s wounded enough) and good melee weapon profile. He’s also one and only character in-game that can heal himself without any upgrades. It’s possible due to the Regenerate 3 keyword (which lets him heal up to 3 wounds at the end of his activation).
PYKES
They’re definitely worth trying in CIS. They’re the best performing corps unit in the whole game by now. They have good defensive capabilities and also a decent firepower when equipped with P13-M.
BLACK SUNS
This can be your good anti-armor option, especially when Transported with your NR-N99. They are a bit more expensive than your B2 units but have interesting options due to Mag-Det Enforcers and Scatter Gun Enforcers. Definitely worth trying.
If you start collecting your CIS army with this guide remember to buy Essential Kit for movement templates, range rulers and dice.
I hope this guide helped you with your choice about buying order and see you in the next article, where I’ll describe another faction for you!
Over, Gerard from MFW
Credits:
Writer: Gerard “Alchemist” Zyśk
Reviser: Bartosz Chrulski
Reviewers: sparks27, Enzeru
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