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.
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.
Labels: Bounty Hunters, Fringe, SWM review
posted by Ten-Eyed Man at 3:48 PM
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