Precision Engineering
by Trent McCrow

In the heat of battle your mind is on one thing, and one thing alone: victory. You press forward into enemy lines supported by your unit, ready to face the adversary awaiting your attack. A quick weapons check reassures you that when you face the enemy you will be able to unleash deadly firepower. You give the order to storm the enemy trenches and your team leaps into action. The engagement is short and swift, your victory is secured. A voice comes over your helmet's comm, "Training session 136 terminated." You look towards your squad and they are already removing their helmets. As you look upon your brothers' faces you see yourself…You're a Clone.

The Revenge of the Sith (ROTS) set introduced us to Equipment with the addition of Sith Lightsaber and Jedi Lightsaber (by far the most used Equipment), and a few others that haven't seen much play. The first spoiler for today should change the TCG game up another gear. Clone Blaster might not look like much but it has a far greater versatility then its predecessors Blaster Pistol and Blaster Rifle. Clone Blaster can be used on both your Character and Ground unit's providing your Clones with that extra punch they will need to eliminate your opponent's units. The great thing about Equipment is it stays around after its owner is 'neutralized' so one of your other Clones can pick it up for free next turn.

The best part about the Clone Blaster is you can play it in both your Light and Dark decks. Look at all your Stormtroopers and imagine providing your Elite Stormtrooper Squad with even more hitting power or making your Stormtrooper Assault team that little bit nastier. With so many Clones to attach this new Equipment to, turning your opponent's units into slag will become one of your favorite pastimes.

When I first watched Episode 3 at the movies I went home, along with all the other people who saw the premier, and I started to play the movie back in my mind. However, I only got as far as the Battle over Coruscant. There was something about it that reminded me of Lando leading the assault against the second Death Star. After thinking about it a bit I realized that the Republic Starfighters reminded me of the X-Wings from the Original trilogy.

In ROTS we were introduced to the ARC-170 Starfighter, which quickly became 'booster fillers' for many players. In FOTR we present you with a Space unit that can unnerve your opponent's resolve: Clone Starfighter Squadron. The Light Side's response to the Droid Tri-Fighter Sqaudron, Clone Starfighter Squadron will prove valuable with the other new additions in the FOTR set. For 5 build, its stats are solid when compared with the other mid-build Space units and with 4 health it has enough staying power to take a hit or two from your opponent's Starfighters. With 4 power and Accuracy 1 you should be able to clean out your opponent's Starfighters or even deal some significant damage to your opponent's Capitol Ships. Try it out and see how it works for you.

There are 14 other Clone units in the set and many more cards that will benefit from them. You can also look forward to seven more Equipment cards.

Join me next time to talk about Strategy and Battle Trickery, as we talk about some new Battle/Mission cards in the FOTR set.

Thoughts or comments? Visit the message board thread for this article here.

About the Author
Trent has been a player and collector of the game since Attack of the Clones and is currently the Software Workgroup Leader for the IDC Graphical Design Sub-committee. This is his first endevour at writing articles for the SW:TCG and he hopes to write many more. Trent McCrow has been a member of both Rebelbasers and the Australian Players Guild (APG) forums, posting under the name IVIaceWindu. He also currently runs the Dream Card Contest Reborn (DCCR) over at Rebelbasers.com.