Count Dooku

Count Dooku is generally underappreciated. Since he came out in the same set as Darth "Can Theoretically Do 120 Damage In A Turn" Maul and was costed similarly, he was sort of ignored for a while. However, in the generally extremely dubious comparison of which of these two pieces would win in a one-on-one fight, the nod pretty much has to go to Dooku. Seriously.

An Attack of +16 is almost as good as it gets. A Defense of 21 is also excellent, with Lightsaber Duelist giving a situational-but-awesome +4 to that. Hence, Dooku hits CS Maul on a '5,' but Maul needs an '11' to hit him back. That pretty much takes care of the Dooku's Double Attack versus Maul's Triple Attack problem.

Add to this the fact that Dooku can throw 30 damage on to Maul before they get into melee range, and that Dooku has Lightsaber Block versus Maul's no defensive abilities at all, and you can see why Dooku is really the better fighter.

But, as I said earlier, this exercise is generally pretty dubious. The miniatures game is not played in one-on-one fights, or it would be pretty dull (I wouldn't play it, anyway). The question with a given piece is, "What can I do with this guy in terms of squad construction?"

The answer for the modern Separatist player is, sadly, "Lose." I've said it before (enough times that I'm running out of ways to say it), but the Sith-type Separatists are pretty much never worth the points, since there is very little they can do to synergize with the rest of their droid-oriented faction. The one major exception for Dooku is the old "Shock Therapy" squad, featuring him and Darth Sidious in a 100-point squad. This was extremely effective back in the day, but will usually suffer in the modern competitive environment (Darth Bane needs to be hit by no fewer than seven Sith Lightnings in order to die from it). In higher point totals, Dooku doesn't really get any better. Once there can be some concentrated fire against him, his respectable Defense and Hit Points will still crumple too fast to justify his 52-point cost.

Count Dooku was a great piece in his era, but is basically outdated now. Bummer; I really like Christopher Lee.

Overall rating in 100: 2.5
Overall rating in 200: 2

Kit Fisto

If you were playing Star Wars Miniatures back in the (original) Clone Strike era, you may have been aware of the community’s slow realization that 30ish point characters with Melee Attack and only one attack (such as a number of the CS Jedi) are generally pretty crappy. Kit Fisto is an exception.

All of the Clone Strike Jedi have some sort of shtick to set them apart from the others, since Unique characters should be, well, unique. Kit’s is his Commander Effect, one of the easiest ways in the game to get one of the biggest bonuses to Attack rating. +4 to hit is huge, and most enemy pieces will wind up wounded at some point (and if not, you’ve got bigger problems).

Kit’s CE has gotten even better since Champions of the Force. Not only did he benefit from everyone’s favorite loudmouth, Mas Amedda, the Republic got some real shooters in that set. Kit remains the best way the Republic has to enhance the Attack ratings of shooters (if you’re only looking to enhance melee pieces, consider Tarfful instead). The various Republic Commandos (except for Boss, who isn’t a follower) can all benefit greatly from +4 to hit, and no one really suffers for it.

In and of himself, Fisto is a respectable fighter. While he only has the one attack, he at least has Lightsaber Precision to up his damage a little, and Lightsaber Sweep to clear out weenies (or wound several targets at once, triggering his CE). His numbers are reasonably solid (if not spectacular). The big problem is that if you’re using him for his CE, you don’t want him in the thick of the fight, as he lacks any sort of defensive abilities other than a reasonably high Hit Point total. In the Mas Amedda era, consider letting him skirt the edges of the fight to kill support and fodder, while his followers shoot towards the real action.

Of the Clone Strike Jedi, Kit is one of the most playable pieces in the current environment. Use and enjoy.

Overall rating in 100: 2.5 (hard to use commanders much at this low total)
Overall rating in 200: 3.5 (much better support here)

Nexu

Say what you will about the Nexu, no other piece in the game has a plural which is a completely different sci-fi sounding word: "Nexus." This is not a word that refers to a whole bunch of multi-legged bug kitties; it's supposed to be the thing that you have to take a desperate risk and plunge your spaceship into headlong if you're going to thwart the Big Bad Evil Guy, despite the very real risk that something farfetched will happen to you. But I digress.

The Nexu is one of those pieces I can never make up my mind about, even disregarding the pluralization issues. On paper, 15 points for 50 hit points, Speed 8, Stealth, and a Double Attack enhanced by Ambush is fantastic. In practice, Savage characters are really easy for your opponent to manipulate, and Speed 8 just makes it more likely that your poor Nexu is going to run off and get in a bunch of trouble that your other pieces can't catch up to help him with.

There is Empathy, of course. A Savage character who is within six squares of a Varactyl Wrangler or Nightsister Sith Witch becomes a calm, level-headed soul of discretion, eager to do exactly what you tell it and even benefit from Commander Effects. Varactyl Wranglers, however, are really, really fragile, so this sort of duty is best left to the lightsaber-wielding rodeo clown. Given that Ambush is an initiative-dependent ability and the Nightsister comes from the faction with the best initiative control in the game, this isn't such a burden.

The other way to make good use of a Savage is to embrace it. Put it in a squad with the one character in the game who loves Savages for being savage: Exar Kun. With Momentum and Jedi Hunter, a Nexu can possibly move eight squares and ram into a Force-user with a +15 to hit for 30 twice, enough to make anyone take notice. Generally, you'll still want some Empathy available until you're ready to strike, however. In this case, the Varactyl Wrangler is the perfect choice, because you won't care about losing this six-point space cowboy, and you may even choose to kill him yourself with Exar's famous "jump into his friends' skin" trick.

The Nexu has some neat abilities, but without Exar Kun, its damage potential is probably not high enough to warrant the trouble you'll have to go to. With Exar, you'll probably find it a worthwhile member of his army of crazed, rabid monstrosities.

Overall rating in 100: 1.5 (teamed with Exar, this is your whole squad, and there are better companions for Exar in this format)
Overall rating in 200: 2 (3.5 with Exar)