Darth Malak

Among his terrifyingly aggressive peers in the Sith, Darth Malak is a bit of an oddity: a fairly balanced character. His numbers are generally excellent, with Hit Points and Defense being just a touch low for his cost. But with Lightsaber Duelist enhancing his defenses, and Lightsaber Throw and Force Stun giving him ranged and defensive options, he's uniquely placed in the Sith faction to serve as a solid anchor for a squad, especially given his reasonable (for the Sith) cost of only 52 points. Naturally, he has the de rigueur Sith Rage for his faction, because if you can't do at least 60 damage in a turn, they don't let you be a unique Sith Lord.

He also has a nifty Commander Effect, which he got by copying off of Baron Fel's paper back in Dark Side Commander School. Unfortunately, unlike Baron Fel, he's way too pricey to include just for the CE, so you definitely want him up front, killing people for the Sith. The risk of being a frontline commander, obviously, is that you have a much better chance of getting killed than those commanders that can hang out in private rooms, far from the fight (Nom Anor, I'm looking in your direction). If you don't want to build around the CE (and with Dark Jedi and Sith Troopers being your only options in-faction to benefit, you might not want to), he's perhaps a bit too expensive (but if you're looking for a Sith beatstick that doesn't cost over 80 points, this is arguably your best option).

So, how to build for his CE? Sith Troopers, with their 20 damage and low Attack bonuses, seem like an obvious choice. If you're using Troopers, you should probably throw in the Sith Trooper Commander for his Deadeye-granting CE. And whenever you're considering a combined fire-oriented lifestyle, you should always remember the humble Aqualish Spy, one of the most efficient Fringe pieces in the game, whose Spotter 10 can give help you reap additional rewards for combining fire. Finally, remember that the CE only has to affect the guys contributing the bonus, not necessarily the recipient, so droids are fair game as your main shooter. HK-47, 4-LOM, and the Sith Assault Droid are all viable options to be a main shooter, backed up by combined fire.

Given the long list of pieces you might want to include with him, Darth Malak is perhaps best suited to 200-point play. You could squeeze him into 100, with just the three Troopers, a Trooper Commander, and a Bespin Guard or the like, but you're officially in the realm of fun theme squads in that case. For competitive play, you can spend points better than on Malak in 100.

Overall rating in 100: 2
Overall rating in 200: 3.5