Convention exclusives, oh how I hate them. Not only do you have to be lucky enough to go to an event to have the chance to get one, but you also must be lucky to wait in the queues and actually purchase one. Fans have always had a love/hate relationship with them. When it comes to miniature games, a miniature tied behind exclusivity can cause real problems in terms of tournaments and players fielding what they want to but don’t have access to. When it was first announced that I am No Jedi would be a convention exclusive, I groaned. The exclusive looked amazing. Darth Vader, Ahoska, Sith temple, all drawn from the finale of season two of Rebels. Oh, how could you not want to play these two characters. Yes, these characters had been released but not this version of them. Ahoska running with the ghost crew, Vader running with the inquisitors…
I shouldn’t have worried. Atomic Mass Games were very quick to announce that a duel pack with the characters would be released, without the Sith temple. Initially I thought but, the Sith temple is so pretty! But then my brain cut in, and I realized how much better this was. First, for players who wanted this version of the characters, there would be no exclusivity. It meant that if you were lucky to go to an event and were lucky to get one, then you had something that made it a little special. But it didn’t mean the characters were out of reach. Secondly, the last time they released a set like this was the Vader/Obi-Wan duel set. This set was gorgeous, the models, the diorama, the characters abilities, it was all beautiful. However, many fans complained that they just wanted the characters – Atomic Mass Games heard you! But as much as I can say it is a great set, that I loved building and painting it, the diorama part of the set has been sitting in a cupboard. It hasn’t been out for a display piece for me, and I don’t use it for terrain, it just doesn’t fit. While the Sith temple looks great, it would do exactly what the first diorama would do, sit in a cupboard. Now I can save some money, get some cool new characters and not have something I’m just not going to use. Perfect. like that there are both options for players and builders.
So, finally having got the set, I was eager to build and play. Rebels season two was almost perfect for me. The whole season just captured everything I wanted from the show and to bring these pinnacle characters in their Rebels form was something I was very much looking forward to. Opening the box was a single sprue, cards and a leaflet with the QR code to send you to the assembly instructions. While I wanted to build them, I first wanted to look at the cards. This is the third version of both Ahoska and Vader that we have had. While I like having different versions of the characters, they need to be worth it as almost always, I would prefer new characters over different versions of ones we already have. So, let’s see what these two bring.
Ahsoka Tano, Fulcrum is a primary unit that provides your squad with four force and eight squad points. Her two stances are form v shien reverse grip and Jar’Kai. The former provides you an extra dice to her defense rolls with a maximum of seven damage. With that you can either put conditions on your opponent or do up to three healing with some repositioning. On the opposite side, you can do up to eight damage, with three successes along the tree giving you six damage. It is clearly the more aggressive of the sides but does provide less defense. Ahoska has one active ability that costs her a force called ‘She Is Fearless’. It allows Ahoska to jump but it can be used twice on her turn as opposed to one. With how Ahsoka fights in Rebels this seems very in keeping with the character. ‘Then I will Avenge His Death’ is the only other ability that costs force but for this ability, it costs two force. After Ahsoka has made an attack, she can attack the same target again. It may cost a lot of force but I think a whole second attack is fantastic and could ensure units are wounded quite quickly. ‘Riposte’ is a reactive ability that doesn’t cost any force, meaning that after a melee attack, if the attacker rolled any failures, they suffer two damage. This will make your opponent think before attacking Ahsoka. Her final ability ‘I Am No Jedi’ is her identity ability. Once per turn, if Ahoska wounds an enemy unit she can refresh force and jump. If it was a primary or secondary she can refresh force and then make a five dice attack. The wording has a mistake on the card, the last line says, ‘one one’ which I assume should say ‘and one’. This could be very useful and works perfectly with her ‘Then I Will Avenge His Death’ ability. Timing with this will be everything but while other characters you may want to hold back, you really want to throw Ahsoka into the thick of it. She can do double attacks and doesn’t rely on keywords to make her work well. This is certainly a different type of Ahsoka to ones we have had released so far and I’m excited to see how she performs on the tabletop.
Which brings us to Darth Vader, Fallen Master. Not a primary but a secondary unit that costs five points. Bringing no force with him, he is certainly expensive. Unsurprisingly you can’t field him with Anakin Skywalker. As you would expect for a secondary, he only has one side to his stance card, Form V Djem So. He is rolling five dice for defense and seven dice for attacking, which can only be a melee attack. He can do a maximum of eight damage, and the tree is fairly flexible so you can put whatever conditions you need on if you aren’t too fussed about the damage output. His defense can put damage back onto your opponent which feels rather thematic. While his stance card isn’t bad, it certainly isn’t worth five points, so what abilities does Vader bring? His tactic, ‘Anakin Skywalker Was Weak’, if Vader doesn’t have the strained condition, he can refresh force. Then he can remove a damage, a condition and dash. That is a lot that Vader can do when he activates! The force refresh is particularly useful as Vader doesn’t bring any force to the squad he is in and two of his abilities use it. ‘Then You Will Die Braver Than Most’ costs two force and allows Vader to pull an enemy within three, two towards him and give them exposed. I can see the pull being useful if you can pull them off an objective, but two force is a lot. I wonder how much that will be used? ‘The Power Within Will Soon Serve the Emperor’ costs a force. It means at the end of Vader’s activation he gets a strained but if there is an objective within three, Vader controls it until the end of his turn. This is obviously useful, particularly with Vader’s pull but I think you would have to be in extreme circumstances to want to gain that strained token, as it will nullify his tactic. I love the names of these abilities as every time I read them; I can hear Vader’s voice. His last ability doesn’t follow this voice but certainly brings one to mind. ‘More Machine Now Than Man’ gives Vader protection, steadfast and impact one. All very useful. This certainly feels like a different Vader to what we have had, which I like. As a five-cost character, I don’t know if I would naturally pick Vader. His play style doesn’t instantly grab me. Like Ahsoka he doesn’t rely on keywords to work which can be very useful. And of course, this gives you the option to run Vader as a secondary as opposed to a primary, freeing up the primary slot for other characters, such as the Grand Inquisitor and Thrawn.
With the cards looked at, it was time to actually build these models. With the instructions loaded up and only two models to build I knew this wasn’t going to take long. While the set I have isn’t part of a diorama, the models were built to fit with the Sith temple. I wasn’t expecting too much trouble or variation, as there really couldn’t be for it to fit on the temple. Ahsoka is up first, and I didn’t expect to have any real issues. Body, legs, head, arms are all good. Then came piece A09. This is the back head tail for Ahsoka’s head, and it was a pain. It has a groove to fit into the head and another to fit into her left arm. Mine didn’t quite marry up the way it should have done. It was frustrating. It got to a point where I was happy enough with it but had a gap that I knew I would need to sort out before painting. Just be warned. I would try to glue the head, arms and this piece quite quickly before the glue dries so you have some flexibility when trying to get it all together. The base fits together easily but make sure you hold Ahsoka in place as she has a habit of falling forward. Not as easy as I thought it would be but once assembled, I can’t argue with how fantastic she looks. The pose, the detail, it’s magnificent, even if the model – at parts – was a struggle to bring together.
Which brings us to Vader. As builds go it was relatively simple. What I didn’t expect was an alternate head! There is one that is Vader’s helmet, and the other is the one most of us will have seen with the cracked helmet. My initial thought was, after already constructing two of these for Shatterpoint and just having finished one for Star Wars Legion,that obviously you go with the cracked one for some variation. I’m still sticking with this helmet choice but after seeing the ‘normal’ helmet, I have to admit, I was sorely tempted to go with that one. The helmet is not the same helmet you get with all the other Vader’s, for either game. This one is slightly elongated to give it the Rebels look. It looks fantastic and I think having that as an option is superb. Just make sure you put the arms on before you add the cloak and add the head after all that has been glued together. Unlike Ahsoka, everything fitted together beautifully. With Vader quickly assembled I couldn’t help but smile, he looks great. The detail, the simple yet effective pose, it’s all him and him from Rebels. He goes very well with Ahsoka and I actually love the bases on both of them, even if I don’t have a diorama to match them up with. I think I will have to say that this is my favourite version of Vader so far in Shatterpoint.
With the models built and ready to go, it was time to take them to the tabletop to see how the two would fare. Vader is a killing machine. When he activates, all those instant benefits really kick in. The healing is frustrating as the opponent, lots of work goes into trying to kill him but if he can activate twice with the shatterpoint card, you just watch as he gets back up to full strength. I attacked him four times during the game my son and I were using him, and by the end of round one, he had no damage on him. Then to make matters worse, to have him do a damage back on his attacker is just insult to injury! Not only can he soak up attackers, but he can do a huge amount of damage in a single strike. The fact he can move into position ready, remove any condition that may thwart his attack… well let’s just say it’s not nice to be on the receiving end of it. This may be the Vader of choice for me in the future, particularly as he is a secondary.
Ahsoka on the other side is the same. She can take some damage but her ability to do two attacks in a single turn is fantastic. I was attacking the Fourth Sister and wiped her out in a single turn. It was devastating. As my son pointed out, this double attack is a mirror of Anakin from the core set, which once he pointed it out, I was like that’s really cool, the learner becomes the master (in several ways!). Her maneuverability is also hugely helpful; she can really move across the board quickly. The fact that I didn’t need to rely on any keywords for her to be effective made her even better and what makes her so attractive to me as a player. It was a joy not to worry about synergy.
Overall, I’m in love with this set. Yes, these are two characters that have already been released in one way (ok, technically two) or another, but these two versions feel fresh and different. They feel and act like we see them in Rebels and while I don’t like being on the receiving hand of Vader, I can’t wait to use him myself. The models are stunning and the fact that there is an exclusive diorama base if you want that sort of thing is fun but doesn’t stop everyone else being able to buy and use these characters. This is an easy buy for me. If you play Rebels or Empire, this set will fill so many gaps for squad building, you’d be silly not to buy it.
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