Snowtrooper with E-Web Blaster

The Snowtrooper with E-Web Blaster is decent, but mostly because of the faction it's in, by which I mean Grand Admiral Thrawn's faction. It could be used without the blue man, but it would just seem so silly.

On first glance, we've got a 30 Damage Double Attacker for a mere 18 points. Holy crap. As is so often the case, however, that pesky second glance is what does us in. The E-Web has an Attack of +4, and a Defense of 11. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is an Imperial unit with a Defense score lower than an Ewok's. Yikes. Moving on, we see the ever-unpopular Speed 2/Heavy Weapon combo that all the cool kids are avoiding in droves.

Admiral Thrawn really is pretty Grand, though. With a wave of his hand (and probably a shout from Mas Amedda) he grants +3 to both the Attack and Defense of this misbegotten artillery piece, and can swap its position with any other Large unit (the Scout Trooper on Speeder Bike comes temptingly to mind, with its 24-square range). Presto! In 37 points, we've solved or at least mitigated every problem with the piece.

But a +7 to hit is still really low. You should probably have a bunch of low-cost shooters with whom to combine fire. Conveniently, the Empire has a few of those. You may also want to include General Veers, to grant that all-important Accurate Shot to this big ol' turret. But that's all the advice I'm going to give you; I can't design all your squads for you, you lazy lout.

Overall rating in 100: 1.5 (Thrawn is hard to use here, and consequently so is the E-Web)
Overall rating in 200: 3

Probe Droid

Back in the good ol' days of Rebel Storm, each faction had one eight-point droid that was a must-have in any squad, no exceptions. The Rebels had R2-D2, and the Imperials had the Probe Droid. Many sets later, the Probe Droid is still stupidly good.

Obviously what you're paying for with the Probot is Recon, because doubling your chances of winning initiative is pretty much always worth eight points. Note that, because Recon involves a certain amount of risk on the part of the Probe, you probably won't get that many rounds of improved initiative chances, but what the heck, he only costs eight points.

Note that in the post-Thrawn era, the Probe Droid's Recon ability still sees considerable use, despite Thrawn's near-lock on initiative. The main reason for this is the fear of facing another Thrawn squad, which puts the initiative roll back on an even keel, and no one wants that.

In addition to his main use, the Probe Droid sports the ability to combine fire. Technically, he can also attack, but he's got a +1 to hit, so you'd better be feeling lucky. The great thing about using the PD to combine fire is that you already want him to have line of sight to some enemy, so he's just hanging out, waiting to give some lucky shooter a +4 to hit.

Finally, as if the Probe Droid wasn't a giving enough personality, he's also got Self-Destruct 10. This is obviously a double-edged sword, but many is the time that Palpatine has managed to Force Lightning some 40-hit point nuisance to death by just ordering the Probot to stand next to the guy.

For eight points, the Empire really can't say no to the Probe Droid. Look at his cute little face; listen to him whimper his puppy-like desire to be in your squad. Can you say "no" to a horrible spider-like robot that wants to help this much?

Overall rating in 100: 4.5
Overall rating in 200: 5

Bastila Shan

Bastila Shan gives me fits. I just can't decide how I feel about her as a miniature. On the one hand, Triple Attack, Lightsaber Deflect, and Lightsaber Sweep say, "I'm a frontline beatstick! Use me to destroy your enemies and we can rule the galaxy as player and piece!" On the other hand, her Commander Effect/Force Powers, and more importantly her modest Defense and Hit Points, say "Keep me away from the action, as I'm a delicate flower who will wilt quickly without proper care."

Herein lies the problem: if you're paying 46 points for a piece, it needs to be doing a fair bit for you. Bastila costs too much too use her just for her command skills, and she's not a good enough combatant to pay 46 points for just combat ability. Consequently, she's essentially forced into the role of backup attacker, a second line piece that handles mop-up duty while providing Force Valor bonuses to more capable (or disposable) primary attackers. Since the Old Republic only has a total of six pieces, those more capable attackers are either Jedi Guardians or Fringe pieces (the dynamic duo of Aurra and Boba leaps to mind). With the Old Republic as limited a faction as it is, Bastila is supposed to be the reason to play them, as the Unique they have. Unfortunately, she's not quite good enough to be a reason to play the faction.

I should make special mention of Battle Meditation. This is one of the most interesting Force Powers they've yet given us. While you can use it just for the extra combined fire bonuses to your squad (and that's perfectly good), it can also wreak havoc for certain opposing builds that may depend on combined fire. Since it's going to be completely useless against many squads (droid-centered or melee-heavy squads, for example), they've gone and made it completely optional, so you don't have to pay the points for it in every battle. Nice. In fact, since her only two Commander Effects are both Force Powers that she can choose not to use, Bastila has the interesting distinction of being the first piece in the game that can be a follower or commander, at the whim of the player. It's not currently very useful, but it's fun trivia, anyway. Incidentally, Bastila now shares this distinction with Komari Vosa, whose Control Minds Force Power/Commander Effect actually stacks with Battle Meditation, so if you really like combining fire and spending too much for Jedi, there's a squad idea for you.

Overall rating in 100: 2.5 (there's just no one to team her up with, really)
Overall rating in 200: 3 (the more allies to benefit from her crazy CEs, the better)

Ayy Vida

The night life on Coruscant is apparently deeply, deeply dangerous. Besides obvious threats like shapeshifting bounty hunters and weak-minded death stick merchants there looms the ever-present threat of poisonous exotic dancers. Ayy Vida is one such toxin.

For 19 points, Vida is a steal. While she is a melee piece, she does have Stealth to help her get close to the target (and Stealth itself can be enhanced in a few ways these days). She has a respectable +11 Attack, with Cunning Attack to help her boost it further, and both the benefits of Cunning and Poison +20 to compensate for her low Damage score. Oh, and her 50 hit points put her solidly in the high end for durability at her price range.

Yes sir; female miniatures in negligible clothing have come a long way since Princess Leia, Captive. Consider Vida in a squad with Nom Anor, Rodian Black Sun Vigo, or Bith Black Sun Vigo to get the most out of her Stealth. Properly enhanced, she can sneak around the side of the map to do some commander assassination. This is key, because she has better combat stats than most pieces in her price range, and virtually any support piece. Ayy Vida won't go toe-to-toe with Lord Vader, but she can beat the tar out of Wat Tambor, and has a good chance against Grand Admiral Thrawn. She also comes in under the magical 20-point mark, allowing her to be brought into your squad with Lobot's Fringe Reinforcements or the aforementioned Rodian Vigo's Fringe Reserves.

While not the centerpiece of your squad, Ayy Vida makes a solid backup combatant. She can also do exactly what her job description implies, and sneak around the back to assassinate someone important to your opponent's squad. Hire her for an evening and try her out.

Overall rating in 100: 2 (she's not ideally suited to this format, which generally lacks the support pieces she's good for killing)
Overall rating in 200: 4 (the 200-point squad without some support pieces is a rarity, and she'll probably have no trouble justifying her cost here)

AT-ST

The AT-ST (along with its partner in crime, the X-1 Viper Droid) is one of those pieces that people expect to win the game for them. You look at its 40 damage and Double Attack and Damage Reduction and you think, "What could possibly stand in my way? I will not only defeat my opponent, but I'll also rob a convenience store with this monstrosity on the way home!" Well, I'll tell you what can stand in your way: +8 Attack and Mounted Weapon.

In and of itself, the AT-ST will probably lose against any other similarly priced piece in the game. Yoda, Darth Maul, the aforementioned Viper Droid, all of them will beat the snot out of an AT-ST more often then not, because all of them have real defenses (numeric in the former two cases, special ability for the Viper). If you can't hit your target, 40 damage doesn't do any good.
Fortunately for the AT-ST's playability, it's in an extremely nurturing, supportive faction that will love it for what it is inside (a non-Unique follower). The Empire's Commander Effects are second to none, and you can build a good squad around the AT-ST, but that's what you have to do, build a squad around it. Don't just throw one in and hope to win, because that sort of behavior is reserved for Aurra Sing (who the AT-ST needs to roll a 17 to hit in cover).

So, how do you support the AT-ST properly? The short version is Grand Admiral Thrawn and General Veers. Once you throw +3 to Attack and Defense, Force Immunity, and Accurate Shot on to it, everyone starts to worry about the chicken walker. If you're perverse, you can throw in a Stormtrooper Commander for a +10 Damage bonus. You can also use Imperial Officers for extra attacks. Weequay Thugs are in inexpensive source of Gunner for combining fire, plus they contain eight essential nutrients for growing bodies. You should also consider some Industrial Repair, since any squad built around one piece should be able to keep that piece in play as long as possible.

Oh, and the AT-ST also sports Grenades 20 and Mobile Attack, but these are practically footnotes. Mobile Attack is a great ability, but difficult to get much use out of on a huge, Rigid piece. Grenades 20 is really only good against a really large cluster of enemies, but at least it's there if you want it.

Speaking of Rigidity, the AT-ST can run into major problems on many maps. Be careful of allowing the battle to happen somewhere where the walker can't help.

In the final analysis, AT-STs can be terrifying, but only in the hands of a really strong player will they be truly effective. Damage output is only one element of this game (albeit an important one), and the odds that an unsupported AT-ST can hit anything you really want to put your two 40-damage attacks on are slim.

Overall rating in 100: 2 (you just can't afford to support it here)
Overall rating in 200: 4 (consider running two once you've bought your support pieces)

Asajj Ventress

Asajj Ventress, on first glance, looks like a pretty excellent piece. At 34 points, her numbers are all very respectable, with a Loner-enhanced Attack of +16, and decent (if not stellar) durability at 100 hit points and a 20 Defense. She's also got one of those fun Commander Effects that makes you feel better about fielding a Chagrian Mercenary Commander and/or a weenie horde. Throw in Lightsaber Riposte and couple of Force Points, and you've got a solid addition to the... oh, crap; here we go again. Another potentially useful piece thrown away on the Separatists.
I'm not suggesting that the Separatists are a worthless faction, far from it. Asajj just happens to be part of their biggest weakness: if you're not a non-Unique droid and don't enhance the abilities of non-Unique droids, there's almost no way for the Separatists to build around you. Adding insult to injury, the handful of Sith-types in the Separatists who belong to this useless little sub faction are all Melee Attack pieces in a faction whose strength is in shooting. Asajj will have no trouble getting her Loner bonus as she advances up the field, away from her battle droid backup, but 100 hit points don't last as long as you might think under such circumstances.

"Aha!" I hear you say, "Why should I give her battle droid backup when I could fill up her squad with Living pieces who can benefit from her Commander Effect?" You could certainly try that, and don't let me discourage you, but the Separatists' options here are limited. Most of the best choices will be ranged, presenting the "Loner or Commander Effect" dilemma that our slightly confused Sith acolyte has (her CE only works on followers within six squares, but she fights better without any allies nearby; go figure).

With the release of Bounty Hunters, and its 30+ new Fringe pieces, it's possible there's a great new build involving Asajj, but I sort of doubt it. Few pieces can truly synergize with her, but if you find them, let me know.

Overall rating in 100: 2 (Darth Bane can kill her in a single activation from six squares away)
Overall rating in 200: 3 (Commander Effects are better here, and you don't miss 34 points as much as you do at lower build totals)

Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith

Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith may not have great numbers, and he may not have good factional synergy, but he does have one of the longest names of any piece in the game, and by God that still counts for something.

I was deeply disappointed when I finally got to see what the new Sidious does. Once you clear the 60-point mark, you're up against some pretty stiff competition in this game, with the likes of Mace Windu and Darth Vader, Jedi Hunter (not to mention the two 80+ horrors in the Sith faction). The point is, if you're going to cost me 61 of my precious points, you'd better be able to help me defeat the pieces that my opponent will have paid similar amounts for, and this is where Sith Sidious falls flat.

An Attack rating of +14 isn't really acceptable in this point range. A mere 130 hit points is definitely pushing it. But a Defense of only 19 is embarrassing. Sidious, you should be ashamed of yourself. Go back to Defense school; take some summer classes; do whatever it takes, but don't come back here with less than a 22.

In terms of abilities, Sidious is all right. He's got your basic Triple Attack, and Force Lightning, which are both nice. Lightsaber Sweep is an odd choice, and not likely to come up except against grunt armies. The thing that's presumably supposed to sell Sidious to you is that he packs Force Renewal and a Commander Effect that lets him share Force Points with the other Force-using members of his squad. This sounds great, except that he's a Separatist who costs 61 points.
As of this moment, in 100 point play, Sidious has access to Dark Side Acolyte, Asajj Ventress, and Aurra Sing as potential Force-sharers. Of these, only Sing is a competitive piece, but Aurra has better options to team up with in other factions (the old Mace + Aurra team starts to look pretty good again).

So Sidious is exclusively a piece for 200+ point play. Fine. Unfortunately, his options don't really improve all that much in 200 points, because you only have 139 points left after buying him, and most of the options (various version of Maul, Dooku, and Grievous) are in the 50-or-so-points area. You can also bring in Aurra, but the fact is that at this point you're sort of fighting to make him more useful than the Clone Strike Sidious, who can share Force Points with any one Unique figure. The only Force-sharing advantage the new Sidious brings to the table is sharing with more than one ally, but since all of those allies are very expensive, you'll probably blow most of your 200 points on about three pieces, which is usually a Bad Idea.

What I'm getting at in all of this is that while Sidious is probably going to be a fun piece to play, I'll be shocked if he ever finds his way into any serious competitive squads.

Overall rating in 100: 1.5
Overall rating in 200: 2

Darth Sidious

Ah, give me the good old days, before we saw Palpatine wielding a lightsaber in Episode III, and his miniatures game representations were killer support pieces instead of mediocre, overpriced beatsticks. The original Darth Sidious is a terrific example of that bygone era: a character that can't do a lot of damage on his own, but sure makes your squad work better.

Sidious has the distinction of being one of the few support pieces who helps out Uniques and non-Uniques differently. He can share his constantly renewing Force Points with one Unique in your squad (meaning, for example, that Darth Maul can Rage as many times as he needs to, or Dooku can use Sith Lightning as often as he likes). He can also get more mileage out of your non-Uniques, granting them a full extra turn without the disadvantages of Dominate. A character taking a Pawn of the Dark Side turn can move and doesn't have to save against the effect, making it strictly better than Dominate. Of course, Pawn also damages the target, but if you pick something like the Droid Starfighter in Walking Mode with Damage Reduction 10, you'll never notice the down side.

Sidious' Commander Effect is cute, but nothing to count on. Since it only works on Living non-Uniques, the Separatists are poorly placed to make any use of it. Teamed with Asajj Ventress, you can double the percentage chance of getting that critical hit, but the odds still aren't great.
Finally, while he's mostly a behind-the-scenes schemer, Sidious can get involved in the fight a bit. 130 hit points take a little while to chew through, and his Sith Lightning can let him contribute meaningfully to the fight.

All in all, the original Darth Sidious is a great piece, and probably the only one that belongs in both droid-centered and Sith-centered Separatist squads.

Overall rating in 100: 3.5
Overall rating in 200: 4.5

Defel Spy

The Defel Spy is... unextraordinary. At 14 points, he's just a little too expensive to be a grunt, but he's also not a powerhouse by any means. He's sort of a piece without a home; let's look at why.

As a Fringe piece with Stealth, one of my first thoughts has to be teaming him with Nom Anor. The problem with this is that he's not hugely better than an Abyssin Black Sun Thug in this role, costs almost twice as much, and wastes points on Evasion (which is completely useless if you're under the super-stealth Commander Effect). With the combination of Cunning Attack and Loner, he can theoretically shoot with a +14, which is extremely respectable in such a low-cost figure. Unfortunately, Loner is harder to use than it seems, as having all of his allies more than six squares away means that help is also more than six squares away. A canny opponent will separate and eliminate him. Cunning Attack is pretty cool, if you've got initiative control and/or Accurate Shot to make sure he hits unactivated enemies. This naturally brings us to the Imperials, who have Thrawn and Veers to give you both. While this is great for the Defel Spy, the Empire has the best grunts in the game, and doesn't really need help from the Fringe for their cannon fodder.

The only other commanders I can come up with to help out the poor Defel are Clone Strike Yoda, who lets him reroll Evade saves (and if Mas Amedda is involved, Yoda doesn't have to screw up the Defel's Loner by hanging around nearby), and Prince Xizor, who gives him Accurate Shot from any distance. Now the only problem is that these are both rather expensive commanders, and you don't really want to use Defels en masse (as you would usually try to do when using a specific CE/ability combo, so you can get the benefit over and over), because using a bunch of Loner pieces means you're trying to get all of your pieces more than six squares from each other, and usually means easy points for your opponent.

This is the Defel Spy's problem: he's a standalone piece. He might be some filler at the end of your squad (especially if you're using one of the above commanders), but he's just not worth building a squad around because he synergizes poorly. Personally, I don't much care for standalone pieces unless they're also powerhouses in their own right, because competitive squad-building is an exercise in synergy. If he works for you, more power to you, but I won't be quaking in my boots to see him across the table from me.

Overall rating in 100: 2
Overall rating in 200: 2

P.S. The question has come up a few times on the WOTC message boards, so it's probably worth addressing: the Defel Spy, despite his total lack of apparent armament, is not supposed to have Melee Attack. There has been no errata, and there isn't likely to be. Just assume that, as a spy, he has access to a wide variety of Bondian weapons disguised as wristwatches and the like.

Hoth Trooper with Atgar Cannon

Hoth Trooper with Atgar Cannon might be the weirdest piece in the game. It has the best hit points to cost ratio there is, but loses most of its utility after it takes a certain amount of damage. It's a Living piece that can be healed with Industrial Repair (as well as normal healing abilities). It's attack works like the Missiles ability, in addition to being a normal attack. It also has Speed 2 and Heavy Weapon, making it effectively even slower than Jabba the Hutt. Oh, and did I mention the very worst Defense score in the game?

Given all this, opinions are sort of sharply divided on the Atgar's effectiveness. No one (to my knowledge) thinks it's top tier by any stretch, but it actually can be used, and fairly effectively.
The first secret to using the thing well is to use it in multiples. It requires a fair amount of support in its squad, so you should probably maximize your synergy by having more than one piece that benefits from that support. Your first stop is the Rebel Captain, who can give the Atgar Twin Attack, thanks to the fact that it's called the "Hoth TROOPER with Atgar Cannon" and not some other variant of the name. Twin Attack makes these guys much scarier, because twice the splash and twice the chance of a lucky critical on that 30 base damage can only help you.

The other completely indispensable support is Admiral Ackbar (or a Rebel Officer, if Ackbar is unavailable). +4 to hit almost brings the Atgar to respectability, and vastly increases the chances of landing some of that juicy damage.

You should probably bring Princess Leia, Senator, who will let you move your Atgars 50% faster than they can go on their own. When you've got Speed 2, getting to move an extra two squares at the end your turn is a big deal. You might also consider Hoth Commander Leia, except that, since the Atgar stops being able to attack when it's reduced to 30 or fewer hit points, most opponents won't finish them off, so the resurrection Commander Effect helps less than usual. You know you can use the speed boost from Senator Leia, though, so that's my preference.

Finally, a piece or two with Industrial Repair is a good idea. Chewbacca, Rebel Hero; BoShek; or an Iktotchi Tech Specialist are all valid options. Keep those Atgars at 40 and above, and they can keep attacking. A sneaky thing to remember, however, is that even an Atgar at 10 hit points can still combine fire. Your opponent may forget about this, and sufficient combined fire can turn even a measly +3 Attack into a virtually sure hit, so remember combined fire if you choose to play an Atgar squad.

The bottom line is that the Atgar is not a bad piece, but it's definitely not easy to play. If you're looking for a challenge, try it out, but watch out for highly mobile opponents.

Overall rating in 100: 1.5 (tough to get sufficient support in here)
Overall rating in 200: 3.5 (if you can get them pointed at the main fight, they can be pretty effective backup)

Tamtel Skreej

The next time you watch Return of the Jedi, watch for Tamtel Skreej. He's the guy in Jabba's palace who looks suspiciously like Lando, but apparently belongs to some species that sees through its facial hair. My evidence is that when we get our first close-up on Tamtel's face, he pulls his visor/facemask thing down a little, apparently just to let his mustache look around. I know they needed to make sure we understood that this was Lando, but I defy you to explain the character's motivation in the moment for this bit of exposition.

In the miniatures game, Tamtel Skreej represents another piece of evidence that Wizards of the Coast wants you to use exactly one version of Lando, and that version is the Hero of Tanaab. After the dramatic upgrade between the original Rebel Storm Lando and the HoT version, I was wondering what strange new direction they'd take the character in his third incarnation for the game. As it turns out, they took him in the Melee Attack direction, which was a suboptimal choice.

To be fair, they didn't just tack Melee Attack on the Hero of Tanaab and try to charge you the same number of points for him. They also lowered his Attack and Hit Points and took away his Mobile Attack and Commander Effect. And, technically (if you want to be extra super fair), they also increased his Damage and added Stealth and Cleave.

I'm oversimplifying, of course. Tamtel is a 23-point piece that can theoretically do 90 points of damage in a single activation (Double Attack with Opportunist, and Cleave to get a third attack in against another target). Unfortunately, that's not going to happen all that often, as Skreej suffers from the eternal melee problem of getting to the fight alive.

To help with this, he has Stealth. In the competitive game, Stealth, in and of itself, just means that most scrubs can't shoot you, because most of the real shooters have Accurate Shot (one of the primary indicators that they're a real shooter, in fact). What Stealth does for you is allow you to be enhanced by the Stealth-enhancing Commander Effects. Specifically, either of the two Vigos or Nom Anor will improve Tamtel's survivability dramatically, and he probably shouldn't be used without one.

Okay, so we know how to make him survive. How do we make him deal his impressive (if purely theoretical) damage? This is tricky, because Double Attack and Opportunist on a melee piece mean that you sort of need the enemy to walk up to your unactivated Tamtel, and most opponents are not this accommodating. You can walk up to them, but then you'll only get the one attack (or possibly two with Cleave). You can base them at the end of the round, then attack next round, but Opportunist means that you want the enemy piece to activate before you attack it. Hmmm.

When trying to solve a transportation problem in Star Wars Miniatures, your answers are pretty much always R2-D2, Astromech Droid and Grand Admiral Thrawn. Either one of these can transport Tamtel where he needs to go to hurt people, but both of them are in factions with far more powerful melee beatsticks. Probably the best that can be said for Tamtel is that he's a reasonable backup melee combatant, especially for the Empire. Since almost all of the Empire's melee powerhouses are versions of the same fallen Jedi knight, it can difficult to get a couple of melee characters together for them. Think of Tamtel Skreej as a Dark Side Marauder that trades some hit points for better damage potential and Stealth. It's not much, but I told you that the Hero of Tanaab version was better right at the beginning.

Overall rating in 100: 2
Overall rating in 200: 2

Garindan

The sound designer for the Star Wars movies, Ben Burtt, is a personal hero of mine. If you want to know one of the reasons why, check out the speaking voice of Garindan, the Imperial informant that tattles on Luke and Obi-Wan in the first movie. I don't know how Ben created those sounds, but they don't sound like anything I've heard on Earth.

As for the Star Wars Miniatures piece, he's one of those one-trick ponies. His stats are fairly poor, but he has two abilities that make him playable: Stealth and Spotter 30. Yes, 30. Incredibly, Garindan's eyesight is so good that he adds one Heavy Stormtrooper's worth of bazooka damage to anyone with whom he might combine fire.

This sounds great, but Spotter only works when you're within six squares of the target, and combining fire uses your whole activation, meaning that Garindan needs to get fairly close to the enemy, than stand there for a while. When you have a Defense of 13, this is the sort of behavior that raises your insurance premiums. What's more, Stealth can't help Garindan against anyone he's spotting, since it stops working within six squares. What's a gutless tattletale with great eyesight supposed to do?

Fortunately, there are ways to help Garindan out. One of these is just to make sure that Garindan gets to go last and then win initiative. A high activation Thrawn-based squad can do this quite easily. Move Garindan up to the target last, after your opponent has moved all of his pieces, then win initiative with Master Tactician the next round, and Garindan can do his trick. Hopefully you're planning to kill that piece, however, because Garindan is still standing next to it afterwards (unless you're going to do something tricky like have Thrawn swap him with Vader).
Easier (and probably more effective) than the above strategy is just to put Garindan in a Nom Anor squad. Super stealth makes it much less of a problem to be hanging out near enemies, and Nom himself is a reasonable person to combine fire with.

Suffice to say, Garindan can be a fine support piece, but you should know before the fight how he's going to be doing his trick. You can't casually toss him in with your last 12 points, because you'll basically be handing your opponent 12 free points.

Overall rating in 100: 3 (3.5 with Nom)
Overall rating in 200: 3.5 (4 with Nom)