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general_rieekan
image from Wizards of the Coast

Top 10 Minis of 2009
#2 - General Rieekan
Imperial Entanglements

Date Reviewed: January 21, 2010

Ratings:  Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale 1 being the worst.
3 ... average. 5 is the highest rating.

100 pt: 4.50
200 pt: 4.75

 
Sith Dragon

#2 General Rieekan

The top two figures in our countdown really are not going to come as a surprise. At #2 we have perhaps the worst figure in the game. I am not talking about design, but what it did to the game. This is a great piece to play. It was number two on my list. He is uber cheap and has fairly beefy stats for 15 pts, but it's his CE that is both awesome and the worst thing that happened to the game. His granting evade and mobile is a huge benefit to any squad, but the fact that it is granted to allies and not just followers is sickly good.

So why do i call this piece in the game? Well, it's because of what it did to the game. Can you imagine the Sith with this CE? Old Republic? Even the Separatists would love this piece, but who gets it? A faction that is already dominating the top of competitive play and just pushed it that much closer to pure domination and brokenness. Wedge was a great piece when he came out and was a huge help to the New Republic, so what do they do? They slash the cost in half and increase the effect to allies. Rebels have been too powerful for awhile before this figure came out, and Rieekan just made them that much more powerful. This is part of the reason the Rebels have dominated competitive play at Gencon for the past two years.

This piece also came at a point in the game that was truly showing a lack of creative design. Everybody was now becoming mobile and evade was becoming rampant. To me this took away much of the skill in SWM. You no longer had to choose when to put power cannons out in the open to get your shots. Instead you can take your shots and not have to worry about it, and even if you get caught you still had evade. I also think this increased game times as now about every figure out there has to be dealt double the damage just to kill them (unless you roll saves like i do).

As i said this would be a great piece had it gone to one of the lesser factions, but the fact it went to a faction that was already overpowered was a bad direction for the game. It is a direction the game has yet to recover from, and i really doubt will for some time.

Josh

General Rieekan (Rebel, 4/40, Very Rare—Imperial Entanglements; HP50, ATT 9, DEF 15, DAM 10)

 

With this figure, the Rebels pick up yet another nice commander that is really going to help extend their longevity. His commander effect is worth his 14 deploy points alone. Much like the New Republic General Wedge Antilles, General Rieekan gives Rebels access to a commander that gives your entire squad Evade and Mobile Attack. Anymore, you wind up needing at least one of those two abilities to make your squad effective. For a mere 14 points, Rieekan gives the Rebels access to both which will really help your squad. Recon is a nice additional bonus, but with the increased number of characters that can get around initiative control powers and Rieekan’s own fragility (50HP with only a 15 on defense) you won’t really want to try and take advantage of Recon too much. Keep him well-protected in the back and he’ll make sure your squad lasts a long time thanks to Evade and will make it easier to prevent your characters from getting pinned down in a firefight thanks to Mobile Attack.

 

100 POINTS: Even though trying to run commanders at this level is usually a bad idea, this character works pretty well here. He’s really cheap and has decent stats so you’re not going to wind up losing him really fast. Since his commander effect isn’t limited to within six, he doesn’t even have to hang with the main part of your squad to help them out. At this point level, you might even be able to use Recon since there are nearly as many power shooting squads run at this level. SCORE: 4 

 

200 POINTS: Here, Rieekan is almost a necessity. In recent expansions, the Rebels have really picked up some great commanders. Running him with General Dodonna means you can control activations more effectively and make your squad more difficult to kill. Another interesting option would be to run him with General Crix Madine. It will give General Madine some added protection from your opponent’s characters with Accurate Shot. General Madine will also likely be in a commando build and means your commandos will not only have access to super Stealth (assuming you’re using Rebel Commando Strike Leaders) AND Evade and Mobile. That’s pretty nasty if you ask me. Even if you don’t have a specific build in mind yet he can fit really well just about anywhere in the Rebel armies at this level just because his commander effect is so useful and he’s not that expensive. SCORE: 4.5 (for certain and possibly a 5 if you can find some really good commanders for him to synergize with)

 

Addendum for the Top 10 Minis of 2009 List—This figure, hands down, has been completely reevaluated in my eyes after playing with it once. Though I don’t usually play 100 point squads, I tried him out and my opinion of running this particular commander has been totally reversed. This piece is an incredible addition to the Rebel faction. But if you think this figure is game changing, tomorrow’s piece really alters the landscape of Star Wars Minis.

 


RoqueSaber

General Rieekan

Cost: 14
HP: 60
Def: 17
Att: 6
Dmg: 10

Special Abilities:

Unique, Recon

Commander Effect:

Allies gain Evade and Mobile Attack

Love him or hate him, Rieekan changed the game. Since its creation, the game had been slowly started to become dominated by shooters. Twin Attack, Mobile Attack, Evade, and other similar abilities made shooters very deadly. Then comes along General Wedge Antilles, giving out Evade and Mobile attack to followers. Wow, what a killer commander effect! Hehe…two sets later and we have this sucker on our hands. Evade and Mobile to allies really helped push (or shove…) the game back to melee. As pointed out by a smart someone, Evade is really one of the most powerful abilities in the game because shooters will only ever have a 47.5% chance for their attack to hit. Giving this ability along with Mobile can be very easily abused. With the advent of the TBSV, any follower is a Rieekan squad can gain Greater Mobile. Regardless of whether or not you approve of these deadly possibilities, you can be sure to see Rieekan is just about any competitive Rebel squad nowadays.

 

100/150/200: 5/5 He’s so ridiculously cheap for what he does that all the formats can be lumped in one big pile, he’s a staple for sure. If you have him, use him. ;) If you’re playing against him, just be prepared for a lot of shots to miss or pack some serious melee threats.


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