AMG just previewed the rules for Kalani, Super Tactical Droid and B1 Battle Droids in Star Wars: Shatterpoint- check it out!
We’ve seen the new Star Wars Shatterpoint starter set unboxing, a full how-to-play video, and the rulebook. But it’s always nice to know what the actual characters can do!
If you want to see what the models look like and where you can grab yours, you can check that out here. For now, though, let’s check out the new rules revealed from Atomic Mass Games.
Kalani, Super Tactical Droid & B1 Battle Droids Rules Roll Into Shatterpoint
Kalani, Super Tactical Droid comes to the battlefield with an abundance of powerful support abilities that maximize the effectiveness of nearby allied Battle Droid characters. At the start of his activation, Kalani’s Roger, Roger ability offers a free dash to all allied Battle Droid Supporting characters within range 4. Then, for a single Force, he can use Tactical Network on a nearby allied Battle Droid to move them, bolster their defenses, or even allow them to attack! Kalani’s tactics are harsh and uncompromising, but undeniably effective. His Innate ability, Target, Concentrate all Firepower, provides an extra attack die to allied Battle Droid characters that are sticking together and Complete Analysis allows him to be reserved using fewer resources than other characters to make sure his activation happens at the best possible time.
Like Bo-Katan and the Mandalorians we saw, Kalani is going to be decent on its own but far better when combined with some droids! Tactical Network is super strong, as it can give all kinds of buffs, Target helps with your attacks, and Roger, Roger all come together to really make your droids strong.
Then, Complete Analysis lets you save when putting cards into reserve, so if you want to play the droids, you will definitely want Kalani around!
His Stance, Cold Logic, provides a lot of ranged punch. His Expertise Chart for ranged attacks is extremely consistent, capping out at 2 expertise results to add a critical and 2 strikes. His Combat Tree is extremely versatile, dishing out damage, Shoves, conditions, a reposition, and even an Active ability trigger to follow up with Tactical Network after the attack. All this power doesn’t come for free, though, evident in Kalani’s point cost of 5. Kalani fits best with Primary Units that provide 8 or more squad points.
While his stances don’t have a ton of options, they are super versatile; he deals all kinds of damage at range but is a little expensive (Bo-Katan is 4 points).
B1 Battle Droids Rules
The core of the Separatist army is made up of B1 Battle Droids. Incapable of making complex decisions on their own, all of this Unit’s abilities are Innate – so will always be in play until the Unit is Defeated. Combat A.I. Protocols provides the Unit with some pre-programmed battle tactics and allows them to dole out conditions against the targets of their attacks as long as all characters in the B1 Battle Droid Unit are within range 4 of the defender. Sometimes a lone soldier finds themselves in a situation where they need to take up the mantle of leadership for the good of the cause. Well, I Guess I’m in Charge, Now represents these droids making their ineffective attempts at seizing the initiative and allows the player to place this Unit’s Order Card at the bottom of their Order Deck when the B1s are placed in reserve. This Unit will likely account for a good portion of any strike team’s characters, so taking advantage of this ability is often a trade of early battlefield presence for a more effective later activation.
Well, I Guess I’m In Charge, Now is really interesting. Considering you’ll probably have a ton of these, and you might not want them to activate, you can just move a couple of the cards to the bottom and get to your big characters.
However, this means at the end, you’ll have a bunch of droids to activate. Then, you’ll want to put them on objectives as it will always have Protection. Basically, they have three innate abilities, so you can always take advantage of them.
This Unit’s Stance, Countless, reflects the immense numbers of droids that the Separatists can bring to bear in any conflict. With an early Reposition in the Combat Tree, B1 Battle Droids are extremely mobile when they attack. If the attacking character can manage to gain enough successes to run their entire Combat Tree, they can put out an impressive amount of damage – but their middling Expertise Charts don’t offer much in the way of consistency. Smart positioning and use of the reserve mechanic can mean the difference between victory or defeat for these rank-and-file droids. While the B1’s may not seem like the most hardened combatants, with a low point cost of 3 they can be easily fit into most squads, leaving room for more powerful Secondary Unit options.
With their low point cost, the card is actually pretty good. You can take a bunch of them, and they have pretty consistent damage and should be tactically fun.
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
