Today we hit the first of the two Republic pieces in
the set. Kazdan is a character from the forth coming
Force Unleashed video game. He kinda looks like a
cross between a geonosian, a gecko and a spider.
Lets start with his stats and basic Jedi abilities.
His stats as a whole are pretty solid for a
non-power Jedi (not Vader, Yoda, Mace, ect). If his
cost was in the high 20s to mid thirties they would
be decent stats. Double attack is also pretty
standard as well.
For abilities he has affinity with the rebels. Since
affinity would make him an actual rebel then, he has
some nice synergy with characters like Yoda of
Dagobah, Princess Leia, among others. Droid mark is
a nice ability, but the one problem is that neither
the rebels, nor republic have any good droids that
you would want to help draw fire. An interesting
ability, but generally not going to be too
overpowering unless you happen to be running a Viper
anyway.
His force powers are an awesome set of powers. He
only has three force points, so unless you are using
Yoda of Dagobah or one of the Jedi with Force
Spirit, you had better use them wisely. In today's
game any Jedi without an uber offensive force
arsenal had better have either block or deflect.
Kazdan has both! Surprise Move is one of the best
force powers a Jedi can have. It is better than
master speed because all you have to do is be within
6 of your target. If you win initiative you can
charge in and still get your double attack off. If
you don't win the initiative, you don't have to be
already based to a nasty triple attacker. It also
can be used to penetrate Thrawn's force bubble
unlike Lightsaber Assault. It is this reason that i
usually play Cs Qui-Gon over Master Qui-Gon unless i
want the Anticipation or force spirit.
Add all of this up and you get an extremely solid
Jedi that i would gladly pay in the mid 40s for
under the new recosting of Jedi. However Kazdan has
one last ability that i am really split about.
Immediate Droid Reserves 30 is a mixed blessing.
With four numbers to get 30pts of droids is pretty
awesome at first glance. Rebels have recon with
Ackbar or the generic tauntaun. The Republic has
Recon as well as anticipation, giving you four rolls
at initiative if you have Vos and JM Jinn. There is
one problem with this. While the reserves can be
brought in from any faction, the rebels and Republic
have no droids of their own to synergize with any
reserves brought in through Kazdan, so the reserves
have to pretty much synergize with themselves. Hit
IDR30 a couple times and it really isn't a problem,
but only getting one leaves you with some hard
choices. Droids are notoriously low on both defense
and HP. They can be easy points for your opponent if
you are playing DCI tournaments. Bring in something
like a destroyer droid and lose the following
initiative, and the new Boba (among other pieces)
can swing at it for big damage. If you make all four
saves, you are still looking at 20 DAM. Fail at
least two saves and you just handed your opponent
30pts.
On the plus side, since they can be from any
faction, you can get Dark troopers mixed with battle
droid officers and probe droids for more recon. You
can bring in bodyguard droids form the separatists.
The perk to all of this is that they do not start in
the start zone like most reserves. They can start
right next to Kazdan, making them much more useful.
Granted, you really do not want to run into Vader's
lightsaber throw 5 before you have a chance to move.
In the end i am split on this ability. It no doubt
jacked up his price, but since the reserves cost
points anyway, you are giving your opponent a lot of
easy points due to the nature of droids. However in
the right circumstances, the extra offensive help
can be very nice at the right time.
100pts - Not here. He dies too fast to the Jedi of
the game like Bane and JH Vader. Even if you get a
butt load of reserves, all Bane has to do is hack
through the droids to hit 100 and he wins.
150pts - You kind of hit the same problem here.
150pts is still pretty low and it is very easy to
surrender the 150 pts through droid reserves and
gambit with only minor losses to your core squad. It
is also hard to get the necessary help for Kazdan
since he alone is a third of your squad and really
lacks any type of offensive punch.
200pts - Here is where you are going to want to play
him if you do. He can get the help he needs, through
extra initiative rolls or added offense. It is also
a lot harder to lose a game because you surrendered
200pts. I really wish they would have costed him
lower and had him be a normal Jedi. He has some very
nice stats as well as a killer force package, but at
55pts and droid abilities in factions that do not
have any good droids to synergize with, it makes him
very hard to use. Kill em all format, he rocks. DCI
I think you are going to either be losing a very
expensive Jedi that isn't worth his 55pts, or losing
a lot of points in droids. Try him out and see what
you think.
Stilla
Kazdan
Paratus
Set: Force Unleashed
Faction: Republic
Number: 2/60
Droid Mark (When this character activates, you may
choose an allied Droid character within 6 squares.
Until the start of the next round, that character
gains Draw Fire [If an enemy targets an ally within
6 squares of this character, you may force that
enemy to target this character instead if it can;
save 11])
Immediate Droid Reserves 30 (If you roll exactly 5,
10, 15, or 20 for initiative, you can add up to 30
points of non-Unique Droid characters from any
faction to your squad, adjacent to this character,
immediately before your first activation of the
round)
Force: Force 3
Lightsaber Block (Force 1: When hit by a melee
attack, this character takes no damage with a save
of 11)
Lightsaber Deflect (Force 1: When hit by a non melee
attack, this character takes no damage with a save
of 11)
Surprise Move (Force 1; Once per round, after
initiative is determined, this character can
immediately move up to his Speed before any other
character activates)
Hello again fellow sentients! Stilla here again to
review one of the strangest Jedi I have ever seen.
My brief search on the web for info on this guy's
race, background info and significance to the Star
Wars universe turned up nothing. As this is a set
based on The Force Unleashed, I guess we'll have to
wait and see. In any event, his multiple arms and
his unique set of abilities leave me wanting to know
more.
First off his stats: 110 hitpoints is a little
fragile for my tastes but his Abilities will make
this last alot longer than you think. +12 attack
isn't that great but should be sufficient to handle
grunts and "clean up duty" at the end of a match.
Double attack is always decent, but not stellar. 20
damage is the norm for lightsaber users. Defence of
18 kinda sucks for a Jedi but you don't play this
guy as a beatstick.
It is his abilities that make this guy worth
running. Lets get the obvious out of the way:
Deflect and Block are almost a requirement for Jedi
nowadays. Having one or the other is the norm, but
having both is a big plus. Surprise move lets you
move after the initiative roll before anyone else
activates. This is good to get out of the line of
fire and to move into base contact to get off your
Double Attack. It can also be used as a poor man's
mobile attack. if you win init, move him to base
contact with an enemy. Use an attack and then move 6
squares back into cover. Be careful about the
Attacks of Opportunity if you use this. This is
usually better for shooters, but you get the idea.
All in all, You probably won't attack with this guy
much.
Immediate Droid Reserves 30 lets you add up to 30
points of non-unique droids from any faction to your
squad. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how
powerful this ability can be. My first thought was
"ROLL IN THE DESTROYERS!!!" I am primarily a
Separatist player and LOVE these things. You'll only
get 1 per instance, but you'll probably get more
than 1 opportunity to bring in reserves. After that,
look to the Separatists to contribute a Battle Droid
Officer, Super Battle Droid Commander or Geonosian
Overseer. That is one route. I can see a Probe Droid
working to help with Recon. Recon lets you roll
twice for initiative and a better chance for the
reserves. Pair him with Recon figs or anything that
lets you re-roll initiative. Qui Gon, JM will work,
as will Quinlan, Infiltrator. You get the idea.
All of these droids running around bring us to his
last ability: Droid Mark. This lets you designate 1
droid ally (even uniques) within 6 squares to get
"Draw Fire" until the start of the next round. This
effectively makes a "shield" to hide behind. If an
opponent tries to target a fig within 6 of the
"droid marked" character, you can force them to
target the droid. Pair the marked droid with a
bodyguard, and you have a "bubble" that is a safe
zone as long as the droid remains alive or until the
start of the next round. I have used this ability
with Wat Tambor and it works very well, provided
that you keep within the "bubble."
Only time will tell how this guy's strategy
develops. He's a mediocre fighter with a few tricks
up his many sleeves. There are tons of combinations
of droids that can be made as there is no faction
restriction. Try this guy out if you like to play
droids. I, for one, would like to see a Destroyer
Droid and Mace Windu fighting back to back. But,
those are just dreams. A wise man once said: "Your
focus determines you reality." Think of the best
combination of random droids you can, and make it
happen!
Rating: 3.5 - Droids and living figs are hard to mix
well.
Sculpt: 3 - Cool, but nothing to write home about.
