With the whole of the Bad Batch released as a single set earlier this year, I was a little surprised when Atomic Mass Games announced another one for Star Wars: Shatterpoint. I then saw the set and my jaw dropped; this was going to be very interesting. ‘Good Soldiers Follow Orders’ contains CT-9904, although most of us know him as Crosshair. This isn’t the good clone we come to love during seasons one and three, but the Imperial following clone who makes all the wrong decisions. This is a character to field on the side of the Empire. Along with him are three elite squad troopers, one being the female ES-04 (or Firebrand).
Although they have trooper armour, they look very different to the normal troopers that are on the Imperial roster for the game so far. I like that they are. Although visually I do like the Empire to have a very uniformed look, the differences that Shatterpoint has introduced in the last year mean that any Imperial players team can look very different to the next. It allows for interested squad team ups and I imagine this one will be no exception. The only thing I find surprising, is there doesn’t seem to be any alternate builds for the models. I was really expecting to be able to field most – if not all – of these troopers without helmets. Yet that doesn’t seem to be the case with this set.
Moving onto the box itself, there is the usual sprue, cards and leaflet with the QR code. The sprue is extremely compact, even for Shatterpoint. Following the code will take you straight to the Atomic Mass Games website and the instructions for the builds themselves. It probably comes as no surprise that Crosshair is first.
Now interestingly, the building instructions say Crosshair, not CT-9904, even though that’s how he’s named on the box. Most of the construction for Crosshair is straightforward, the arms a little trickier. When attaching the arms, there isn’t much give – thankfully – but there was enough that I was a bit concerned about their positioning. I found gently nudging them as far down as they would comfortably go, meant they were in the right position to add the gun. This needs some care as there are three points the gun and lower arm attach to on the main body. I made sure I was using an ultra-thin glue, so I could glue the right arm in and then gently place the thin glue into the other two joins. It takes a little patience but looks stunning when done. There is also the option of having Crosshair with or without his backpack. I went with it as I always remember him with it on. The finished figure is superb. The stance, the piece of terrain he’s standing on, it all works very well. Although I’m surprised there’s no unhelmeted version, having him look very similar to the rest of the troops on the box makes sense considering the source material. It’s exactly how the Empire treated the remaining clones. The detail is immense for such a ‘normal’ model. There are lots of little things taken from the show that will please any fan, such as the reflector discs on his belt.
Next up is, well according to the build instructions, Elite Trooper (flamethrower), who on the box is ES-04. The build (as the rest are) is very similar to Crosshairs. One thing I did notice was there was quite a lot of give with the two body halves, so make sure they are lined up correctly when you glue the sides together. The rest is very simple, even telling you which arms to glue on first. I would suggest for step four, to glue the left arm last and then quickly move to step five and glue the right arm in while the glue is still setting. While the join is superb, I found having that little extra give while the glue was drying was invaluable to give a neat and secure finish.
Then it’s the two elite troopers. Both are completed in three steps and follow pretty much the exact pattern of the first two builds. I can see how the sprue could be so concise. The first trooper to complete is the kneeling trooper and then it’s the standing one. The only thing to say here for both, is to put the right arm on first before the left, it makes things easier. Other than that, both are very simple builds.
To the cards themselves. The Primary, CT-9904, gives you eight spending points for the squad and two force. The spending points are the standard amount in the game but that’s not very much force. Not that I would expect it from Crosshair, yet less force does limit you during the game. The two sides of his stance card are ‘Target Eliminated’ and ‘Bad Play’. Both are focused on ranged rather than melee, but this is very in keeping with the character. ‘Target Eliminated’ gives you eight dice for ranged attacks, allowing you to do up to ten damage. The ability to do less damage but allow Crosshair to move quite a distance just brings up images of The Bad Batch where we see Crosshair take a shot and then quickly exit. The flip side only gives you seven dice for ranged attack; the payoff is you get an extra defence die in melee. You can only do a maximum of seven damage on this side but there’s a few more options in terms of adding conditions to your opponents.
In terms of abilities, Crosshair doesn’t have a tactic, so it’s straight onto his active ability, ‘Move to Position’. It costs a force and allows Crosshair to dash or climb. After this another character within three can dash. It’s a handy ability to be able to move your team quickly into position. Of course, with Crosshair only providing two force, any ability with a force cost has got to be really effective to justify its use. ‘Reflector Discs’ also costs a force to use but allows Crosshair to choose an allied character within four and then measure range and line of sight for a ranged attack from that character. With Crosshair having a range of five, this gives his character a large stretch of the battlefield to fire from, if you set the rest of his squad up well. Crosshair definitely wants to be away from the action, taking shots with that incredible ten damage that he can do. I could already see how this ability justifies the one force cost. His innate ability – ‘Expendable Distraction’ – allows Crosshair to add three dice to a ranged attack if the unit he is attacking is engaged with an unwounded ally. The balance to that though is that one of the engaged ally units must suffer two damage. It’s a payoff, but as Crosshair can deal up to ten damage, it could see an enemy unit wounded in a single attack. Finally, it’s CT-9904 identity ability, ‘Genetically Bred Deadeye’. This means that when Crosshair wounds a Primary or Secondary from a ranged attack, you can refresh two force. Basically, if you are using force to help Crosshair attack, make sure you don’t miss! Also, when he makes a ranged attack he can remove conditions from his opponent. Each one allows him to add a hit to his roll. On paper, Crosshair seems immensely powerful. He’s based around ranged attacks and rightfully so. The abilities, his stance card, they really capture the character we all know from the show. For your opponent, it’s going to be very difficult to hide from Crosshair and once he has you in your sight, it’s going to be very difficult to avoid all that damage. He sounds like he’s going to be a lot of fun to use!
The secondary (costing four points) is ES-04, otherwise known as Firebrand. Her stance card sees her able to do up to seven damage with a lot of shoves or being able to use one of her active abilities. The fact her weapon is a flamethrower makes the shoving make complete sense. As always, this game creates some amazing visuals while you are gaming on the tabletop. Unlike the primary, Firebrand does have a tactic, ‘Marching Orders’. When she activates, Firebrand allows you to choose an allied Galactic Empire supporting character. Both that unit and ES-04 can dash. Along with Crosshairs, it means you can keep tinkering with the position of the units to get them into the right place. With Crosshairs reflective discs, this seems essential. Firebrand has two active abilities. What’s good to see is that one costs a force, the other doesn’t. As you can activate one of these with her stance card, I’m glad to see there’s always a full back option if you don’t have the force (or desire) to spend. ‘Prescribed Fire’ costs one force. You choose an objective within three and each character within two of the objectives can dash but if they are still within two, they suffer two damage and lose all hunker tokens. This means you can force your enemy off objectives or pay the damage cost. ‘Obscuring Flames’ is the free ability that allows you to give a hunker token to an allied unit within three. Then we come to reactive ability, ‘Can’t Stand the Heat’. While ES-04 isn’t wounded, any enemy unit that ends their turn engaged to this unit, instantly gets bleed and disarmed. This is incredible and works so well with Crosshair, who wants conditions on his opponents. While he wants to stay a little further away, Firebrand wants to be up close.
That brings us to the four-point cost supporting unit, the Elite Squad Troopers. Like the other two units, they are more focused for ranged attack and can do a very respectable seven damage with the right roll. Their active ability – Tactical Advance – costs a force and allows each character in the unit to dash and gain a focus action if they do. Like other supporting units, they have ‘Coordinated Fire’ giving opponents exposed if they’re within range. Finally, the unit also have sharpshooter one and impact one. While nothing about them necessarily screams out, they do seem a solid choice.
I already love the look of this unit. Ranged, mixed with melee and lots of shenanigans. It will be a difficult decision trying to work out which other squad to put them with! Cards can seem fun, but how do they play on the battlefield? The answer is amazing! These units are incredible. The star of the show is Crosshair. This clone is a beast of a unit. He is able to one shot just about anything in range. In the game I was playing, he was able to take out a ten-health unit like it was cake! He’s not the only one, Firebrand can also do some serious damage and as mentioned before, I love the visual of the flame by pushing your opponent further and further back. Damage isn’t the only thing this squad can do. The manoeuvrability of all these units is amazing, and to see them move around the battlefield just brings visions of season two of The Bad Batch. As I have said so many times with this game, the cinematic playthrough is something I really appreciate, and this squad seems to provide so much of that feel.
While Crosshair and Firebrand are incredible, the elite troopers are…ok. I’m not saying bad at all, they are a decent supporting unit. But when they are in a box with two very strong units, they get a little overshadowed to say the least. They are great for supporting Crosshair and Firebrand and I think with some more playthroughs I may appreciate them a bit more.
I adore this set. For something that seems rather bland in the sense that all the units look so similar, this set not only packs a punch but is so fun to play with. The cinematic play style is fantastic to watch. Crosshair will be a staple in my Empire teams, he is just that good. There is not much variation with the characters but rather than be disappointed, I just can’t help but appreciate the look from The Bad Batch. I think this is a set that every Galactic Empire player should have, if not just for the primary and secondary characters. While two force is quite a hindrance, having Crosshair, it’s worth the handicap.
