What’s that I hear you say? Another Galactic Republic Squad pack? Since being released in June last year, there has been one affiliation that has had more releases than any other, the Galactic Republic. In tournaments, the most common affiliation is – well isn’t going to take a genius to work out – the Galactic Republic. With this latest wave of releases all being from the Original Trilogy bar this one, could this perhaps have been left for a later date?
I have to say the answer for me is no, but then I adore playing Galactic Republic. If you know there are lots of players playing the same affiliation, do you not give them more options so there can be more diversity in games? Ok, so maybe providing different squads for other affiliations might make them more appealing… but… well, there isn’t a lot to argue against this. Yet for me, I’m really pleased this has been released. The first is that Plo Koon is cool! He’s not the in-your-face cool Jedi like Mace Windu, but the kind of cool that comes from being a fan of the Clone Wars animated show. But the second and much more important reason is because of what the box contains.
The box is part of Atomic Mass’ move to have five based characters in a box (I say based because there they have fitted a lot of Ewoks onto a single base let me tell you!). Plo Koon and his clones are fantastic to see. However, the real reason this set needed to be released now is for the fifth character: Ashoka. Now many of you may chime up and say you have her from the core set, but this version was the exclusive release if you pre-ordered the game. Exclusives are a scary thing. They can drive up demand, but they can also create an elite powerbase of people who have this as an option for their squad building and those who don’t. It suddenly changes a game from being an enjoyable experience to a game where the more money you have, the better your team will be. Now I’m not saying that this Ahsoka is that powerful, but it opens a gate that once crossed, is very difficult to close. When I first heard about the exclusive I was hesitant, when Atomic Mass said that they would release her eventually I was hesitant. But to release her now, to even the playing field, allows those who did have her to have been able to enjoy having the exclusive for a short time while also now making her freely available for everyone. It’s a smart move from Atomic Mass and one that other gaming companies could really do with taking note of. It might be another Galactic Republic release, but it is an essential one for making game play fair… and Plo Koon is super cool!
Onto the contents itself. All the cards, initiative cards and the leaflet are included as you would expect. I’ve commented for the Ewok releases how compact everything is for the sprues. Here, we have two separate sprues for the models that don’t connect in the way the Ewoks do, Ashoka is on her own sprue. I presume this is due to the fact she was initially a solo release when the game came out. With the provided QR code scanned and the budding instructions loaded, let’s take a closer look at the models and the build itself.
First up – of course – is Plo Koon. This is an extremely easy build: one leg to attach, back piece and then arms and head. The one slight issue you may have, is the joining of the head, as it’s not a peg. My best advice is to look at the neck by Plo’s left arm, line the parts of this up and you’ll be fine. As always, assembling the whole model before painting is simple and shouldn’t give any areas you can’t reach with a brush. The model itself is stunning. The detail on the head is incredible, as well as the hands. The stance really captures that of the character. You can almost feel the model holding back, being a far more defensive pose. Although simple to build, his likeness and character are captured perfectly.
Next is Commander Wolffe. I must admit, I was very surprised to find that there wasn’t an unhelmeted version as there have been with the other commanders. Now I always have my commanders with helmets on, but I can imagine that this might be frustrating to players, who up to now, have been going with the unhelmeted version. That said, what you do get is an incredibly dynamic pose that looks fantastic when assembled. The build is straight forward. Slower than Plo just because of the number of steps that there are. But the grenade holder I’m always complaining about in my reviews? Well, bless Atomic Mass, it comes sculpted on, as if my prayers had been answered! The one thing that I really like with this is that although the sculpt is very dynamic, there is a firm fit between Wolffe and the spider droid he’s jumping over. Anyone who has assembled the hand ninjas from Marvel: Crisis Protocol will understand what can happen when this is not the case. Atomic Mass ensures they don’t make the same mistake here for players. Because the base of the model doesn’t fit onto a sand base cleanly, I am going to add a sand mix around the outside, to help blend the model into the correct terrain. This would perhaps be my only complaint about the model, and that is me being nit-picky.
As it turns out, my prayers aren’t answered. The two 104th clone troopers are very simple to put together, even the arms with the blaster rifles fit perfectly, but – you guessed it – the grenade holders are back, a spare for each as well, just to taunt me. For the kneeling trooper (C), if you look at the slightly longer side from the peg, you’ll be able to realise which way it’s supposed to fit onto the belt. For the standing trooper (D), the peg is ‘pointing’ towards the right for the correct fit. The models are what you’d expect from any clones you will have previously built. This isn’t a criticism, the clones that Atomic Mass have released are amazing. The scale of them allows the detail to shine through, as well as the poses that always seem to be taken directly from The Clone Wars.
Finally, we have Ashoka. The build is straight forward. Even the head piece, that is split into two, is easy to fit together. I would recommend putting the first head piece in before attaching the left arm, I just found this easier. The model itself is one of the best captures that Atomic Mass have done so far for this range. It encapsulates Ahsoka perfectly: the stance, and most importantly the attitude. It’s a great model and I’m very glad it is now on general release.
Models are one thing, but how do these characters play? Plo Koon is centred around movement and defense. When he activates a Galactic Republic unit may move and if they were a trooper or padawan, so does Plo Koon. If you’re a fan of The Clone Wars television series, you will know just how in keeping this is with the character. He doesn’t like to leave anyone behind and the use of the padawan keyword reinforces the notion that Plo is a teacher. This is further enhanced by his ability ‘We can do this the simple way or the difficult way’ which enables the same mentioned key word characters to use Plo’s expertise chart. While powerful, there is a snag, Plo must not be wounded. It sounds very good in principle but in a game like this, trying to keep a unit unwounded is going to be extremely difficult. That said, when looking at his stance card, the two sides are Form III (Soresu) and Form V (Djem So). Both have some very good points about them, including being able to heal. With some careful work, keeping Plo damage free might be possible particularly with his Form V defense which at the higher rolls also includes healing. I’m interested to see how he plays; he might not seem as strong as some other primary characters for the Galactic Republic but what I really like is how well Atomic Mass have replicated the character into the game format. He feels like the character from The Clone Wars.
Commander Wolffe is like many of the other clone commanders. He has the ability that at the start of his turn allows another clone trooper to climb. Compared to other clone commander abilities this does seem somewhat situational and could be a lot more wasted compared to other abilities. What really is the draw for Wolffe is his Wolfpack tactic. This is, while he is unwounded a clone trooper character cannot have their critical dice rolls modified by the enemy. Like Plo, this seems powerful, but I would imagine Wolffe is going to be taking some heavy damage. It’s an interesting one to know how to play, keep him near Plo so he can heal and benefit from Plo’s ability to use his expertise chart to then aid others? Maybe once I’m playing him in the game, it’ll become more obvious.
Which brings us to Ahsoka. For those of us who didn’t get the early release, we can now run Ahsoka as a secondary unit, meaning she can be played alongside Plo Koon here, or she can finally be in the same squad as her master, Anakin Skywalker. Ahsoka is all about movement, at the start of her activation a chosen unit (Galactic Republic or Jedi primary unit) may dash, she may spend a force two jump twice, even ‘Getting ahead of yourself again, Snips’ is all about Ashoka jumping into a supporting unit combat and dealing an attack. Like Plo, this feels very in keeping with the character from The Clone Wars. At this stage, when she is a padawan, it is all about her manoeuvrability. Her stance card also has lots of potential for movement, which is precisely how I like to play. I can’t lie, I’m looking forward to trying her out!
Finally, we come to the 104th Wolfpack troopers. We’ve seen clones, lots of clones, and the Wolfpack aren’t dissimilar, nor should they be. Their coordinated fire ability gives enemies the bleed token, which I love to give but hate to have on my characters. Their ability, pack hunter, allows them to add two dice to an attack from a clone trooper engaged with the enemy. Nothing is particularly spectacular, nor should it be. These troopers fall in line with the other troopers that have been released. The choice of clones I do like, that there are subtle differences to aid a player’s style, another one within that pool of choice is always very welcome.
It’s easy to draw conclusions from text, but how did these units perform in the game itself? I decided to run Plo with Wolffe and the Wolfpack, while for my other squad, have Ashoka with her master and the 501st. The first thing while playing was that Plo, Wolffe and the Wolf pack work extremely well together – which of course, they should! While this is good, it also limits how far you can get across to the different objectives. Plo is certainly the highlight here. Having Ahsoka (or in fact any padawan) on the board, meant that they could dash on Plo’s turn as well as himself. So, although Plo needed to stay with the rest of his squad, on the other side of the board, I was able to advance. Make no mistake, Plo is not the strongest of the Primary units you can field in this game. He is incredibly defensive, and my son (Charlie) gazed in disbelief with some of the defensive rolls I was able to pull off. The fact that other units can also utilise this is incredible, and it ended up saving Commander Wolffe a couple of times. Plo is all about keeping your other units alive for longer. Yes, he can put out some damage, but it is certainly not on the level of the likes of Obi-Wan or Mace. That’s not to say I don’t think he is good; I think Plo shows an awful lot of potential. However, compared to the previously mentioned primaries (who you can just take out of the box and start damaging your opponent), Plo is going to take a lot more thought on how to use effectively. I also think it will be very interesting to see what squad combinations start appearing with him.
Wolffe and the Wolf squad are what you would expect. They are clones and operate like the other clones. It really is going to be if this particular squad suits your play style. I have a sneaky feeling a lot of players are going to forgo the Commander in favour of a padawan, whether it be Ahsoka or another one.
Which leads us to Ahsoka. She is a delight. She was very effective combined with Plo’s ability to have her dash but her own ability to jump into combat (Getting ahead of yourself again, Snips) was tremendous. My 501st attacked and suddenly there was Ahsoka, dealing damage before jumping on, allowing me to grab control of another objective. She moves fast, does some damage, and then continues to move. It felt like Ahsoka and – to be honest – she is my favourite unit in this box set. I’m already thinking of what squads I can run her in.
Another Galactic Republic set, yet one that needed to be released. What is perhaps good about this set, apart from Ahsoka, these units aren’t ones that are going to jump out at Galactic Republic players. Plo Koon is nowhere near as immediately powerful as other primary units available in this game. That said he has a huge amount of potential, particularly as he’ll allow other units to survive for longer during the game. He is by no means going to be an easy unit to use but I think the payoff when players understand how to best utilise him will be immense. I’m already drawn to trying to figure out how this might work, and I can imagine there will be other players who will feel the same. Ahsoka is now available for all, and she will most certainly start appearing more, her ability to move and attack so frequently is in keeping with her Clone Wars character. For me, this is what this set is. It is a Clone Wars set that takes all its cues beautifully from the series and I think that, more than anything else, will be what appeals to fans of the game and the show. Playing with the entire squad, it was still having those cinematic moments, feeling like you were playing a battle from the television show. Let’s be honest, isn’t that why we play?
