Hey, guys! Finishing out this week is another new
piece from Jedi Acadamy. The Jensaari Defender is an
interesting piece made even more interesting due to
it really being first of its kind... a non-unique
medium Fringe Jedi. I've heard it said that these
are overcosted, but actually I think they are costed
just about right. Let's examine the piece, shall we?
First of all, it has a heavy cost at 45 points. For
those 45 points, you get 90 HP (which is below
average), an excellent 21 defense, +12 attack and 20
damage. First thing I notice right off the bat: 21
defense is absolutely huge for a non-unique.
Secondly, its stats are all good except for its HP.
Maybe its abilities can make up for that.
He has a bunch of interesting abilities. First of
all, Force-Attuned Armor is a very useful ability
that can really help the Defender stretch his low HP
score. It's basically Vonduun Crab Armor 11, which
gives him a 50% chance to reduce all damage by 10.
Not too shabby. He also has Draw Fire, so he can
absorb damage from things that you would rather not
get hit. After some playtests, I didn't find Draw
Fire particularly useful, since usually the Defender
is the thing you would probably not want hit in most
situations, it does have its uses. Finally, the
Defender has Double Attack, which is standard on a
Jedi of this cost. As for Force powers, he has
Lightsaber Precision and Lightsaber Deflect.
Lightsaber Deflect gives him a bit more
surviveability, allowing him to evade all damage
from a nonmelee attack with a save of 11. This can
be useful when trying to absorb stronger nonmelee
attacks. Lightsaber Precision gives him a bit more
power so it can do 30 damage instead of 20. This is
useful in few situations, but when it's useful, you
will be glad you have it.
All that being said, the Jensaari Defender isn't too
exciting or threatening by itself. But what it is
makes it amazing: A non-unique follower Fringe
Jedi... Yes, you get what I'm saying. This thing can
take advantage of nearly every commander effect in
the game. And since it's Fringe, the sky's the limit
with this piece. Imperials can take advantage of him
in Grand Admiral Thrawn armies, as he will benefit
from the +3/+3, giving him an amazing 15 attack
score and 24 defense. Master Kota can do the same
thing as Thrawn for Rebel and Republic squads. Throw
him in New Republic squads to give him a lot of
interesting abilities. General Wedge can give him
Evade and Mobile Attack. The new Leia can help him
reroll his Force Attuned Armor, Lightsaber Deflect,
and even Evade (provided by Wedge) saves. The new
Kyle will give him Lightsaber Duelist. The new Luke
or Luke's Force Spirit will give him Force Renewal
1. Many factions can pair him with a Force battery
to increase his low force values. While the
Jensaarai Defense may not look amazing by itself,
what it is makes it highly playable in the right
squads.
100 points: 1.5/5, Too little points to pair it with
anything, and will die quickly to most beatsticks of
this format.
200 points: 3.5/5, Can find its way into a lot of
squads, for sure. He really depends on the commander
effects you throw around him, so you must be a squad
to utilize him if you want him to be effective.
For 45 points
to deploy, the Fringe faction brings another
surprisingly good generic Force user out to the
table. You’ll want to use him for his pretty potent
power of Draw Fire combined with his
Force-Attuned Armor. With Draw Fire, if
your opponent fails the same it has to target him
instead. With his defense score of 21, it’s going to
be pretty hard to hit him and even if your opponent
does manage to hit, you still have the chance to
reduce the damage by 10 points with that
Force-Attuned Armor. As one of the first
characters with Draw Fire that has a hard to
beat defense score, your opponent is really going to
have to position their shooters carefully so they
can take shots at the characters they want while
avoiding having the Jensaarai Defender be a legal
target as well. Add into it that the Defender has
Double Attack with a solid +12 to attack and
this piece is a force to be reckoned with.
His Force
powers are pretty basic for a lightsaber-wielding
fighter. Lightsaber Deflect gives him yet
another way to avoid damage when it successfully
draws your opponent’s fire away from other targets.
Add in Lightsaber Precision and the Defender
is a pretty solid piece. Though Precision
isn’t nearly as good as Sith Rage (which
since the Jensaarai blended teachings would be
perfectly viable power for it to have), it is nice
that the Defender can still increase its damage
dealing capabilities. While it is slightly limited
by not having Force Renewal, since it’s
Fringe it can be put in to factions that can bring
that sort of thing in for you.
100 POINTS: Here, at 45
points, I’m not really sure if this character has
enough damage-dealing capabilities to really hang
with the big boys. It is a very solid piece, but its
gimmicks are based more around limiting your
opponent’s attack choices away from important tech
and commanders and that’s not really what you see at
this point level. It’s still a pretty good piece but
I’m just not sure it’s going to be a winner at this
level. SCORE: 2
200 POINTS: The Jensaarai
Defender can really shine at this level. You’ll want
to keep him near your important pieces so it can use
Draw Fire away from them while still not
triggering the dangers of area effect weapons like
Grenades or Missiles. While saves on
both Draw Fire and Force-Attuned Armor
can be quite fickle, it is still a nice option to
have since the Defender’s defense score is so high.
SCORE: 4
Gunnar "Darth
Malstrom" Malstrom
Jensaarai Defender (Fringe UC)
Cost: 45
HP: 90
DEF: 21
ATT: 12
DAM: 20
Special Abilities:
Melee Attack (Can attack only adjacent enemies)
Double Attack (On his turn, this character can make
1 extra attack instead of moving)
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)
Force-Attuned Armor (Whenever this character takes
damage, he reduces the damage by 10 with a save of
11)
Force Powers:
Force 3
Lightsaber Deflect (Force 1: When hit by a non melee
attack, this character takes no damage with a save
of 11)
Lightsaber Precision (Force 1: This character gets
+10 Damage on his next attack)
Hola all, DarthMalstrom back with a look at another
piece from JA. Today we look at the Jensaarai
Defender. This piece has pretty good stats for a
force user. 90 HP is not bad, as in the +12 Attack
and 21 defense.
He has some nice abilities. Force-Attuned Armor can
help the 90 HP last a little longer, and with Draw
Fire you can really take the heat off of some weaker
pieces. Being in a Rebel or New Republic squad you
can give him evade, which is sick when it comes to
Draw Fire.
As for his force he has 3 force points and two
powers. He has deflect, which works well with Draw
Fire, he also has Precision, which is a lesser
version of Sith Rage.
His biggest strength is that he is a non-unique
fringe, so there are many ways to beef him up. The
Sith can give him +4 attack and force renewal with
Malak DLotS and HoloSid. He can gain Duelist with
Tyranus or the new Kyle. You can give him Mettle
with Nomi or a force spirit. He can get +3/+3 from
Grand Admiral Thrawn, Kota, or Grand Master Yoda, or
+4/4 from General Obi (as long as it is not DCI).
New Thrawn can give him opportunist. Like I said
earlier he can get Evade, and if you throw in the
TBSV he can get Greater Mobil Attack. There are so
many ways to use this guy.
For my money I would use him in a Rebel squad, with
Obi-Force Spirit and Yoda. If you really wanted to
mess with your opponent throw in ChewPO and use
double draw fire, but with all that you won't have
much left to draw fire from.
Onto the ratings…
100 pts 2/5: You can run him here, with one more big
piece (good for Dynamic Duo maybe with GMYoda).
Besides that it would be hard to run almost half
your points on him.
150 pts 2.5/5: Here you can add a little more
support.
200 pts 3/5: Here is your best chance of using him
to the best of his ability. Not game changing, but
can be a nice piece.
