Glory: The Love Of War
by Trent McCrow

Combat rages all around you. The constant clashing of weapon on weapon is the soundtrack of your life. Assassins, pirates, thugs and deadly creatures from far off worlds have all congregated to this place, this place of power, this place of victory and defeat, this place of life and death....this place of Glory.
You deliver the final blow to your would be assailant, severing his right arm with one blade as your other makes contact with his neck. You turn and search for your next opponent. As your eyes move around the room you decide to leave the wild beasts for last and look for another lone adversary. Your gaze stops when you see a Nikto warrior make the final blow on his opponent. You charge towards your new target with an intent to kill. Killing is what motivates you, you kill for the love of war, you kill for GLORY!

In the fourth Independent Development Committee (IDC) expansion, Clone Wars: Republic At War (CW: RAW), the fate of the Republic is in your hands. A fierce war has begun like the galaxy has never seen before. The Clone Wars are spreading all across the galaxy, directly affecting many systems but all feel the effects of the war. As the heat of war grows so too does the prowess of the Chosen One, who is about to face one of his darkest moments. Today I'll introduce you to the next two preview cards from the Clone Wars: Republic At War dream card expansion set developed by the Independent Development Committee as we build up to the biggest release in the history of the IDC!

Today, I have the privilege, nay the honour, of introducing to you the latest subtype for the SWTCG; Gladiator! During the animated cartoon Clone Wars we saw the gladiator fights on Rattataki and the glory that those gladiators were fighting for. When production of CW:RAW commenced, it was very clear that we wanted to exhibit a few cards from this particular part of Star Wars history and hence the Gladiator subtype was born!

Rattataki Businessman, the first card previewed today, represents the IDC's first foray into the Gladiator subtype! This 3 build, Neutral Diplomat is extremely useful and has some decent stats at 30/3/3. What makes Rattataki Businessman so great is his two awesomely powerful abilities when used in a Gladiator theme. Both the Light and Dark side players can make use of this unit's second ability which allows you to gain 1 build point as long as you have a Gladiator in any arena. But Rattataki Businessman's other ability is what makes him all the more worthwhile! When used in a Dark Side deck and when Darth Tyranus is in any arena, all your Gladiators get "If you roll at least one natural 4 for this unit's attack, roll 2 additional attack dice." This new ability works very much like Critical Hit, but in my opinion is even better as now your opponent has to worry about you rolling a six (if you have Critical Hit) and a four! If you roll a natural four this ability gives you another chance to get a Critical Hit or do even more damage to the defending unit!

But even after all these great things about Rattataki Businessman, I have not mentioned the best part about this new Diplomat. If you look down and to the right on the card you will notice that something you might expect from a card this powerful is missing.... this unit is not unique! WOW, you might be thinking, I know I am. With he potential of having four of these guys in the Character arena at one time with the potential of gaining 4 extra build points per turn.... all I have to say is WOW!!!

Gladiatorial Wampa, the second CW: RAW card previewed today further develops the new Gladiator subtype by providing a balanced yet valuable Gladiator Ground unit! For an investment of just 5 build counters you get a Stealth beating stayer with 10 speed, 6 power and 6 health. Gladitorial Wampa has the advantage of being both a Gladiator and a Creature, so not only will this card benefit from Rattataki Businessman but Gladiatorial Wampa will benefit from all the already established Creature synergy!

With a built in Critical Hit 2 ability combined with Rattataki Businessman's ability to roll additional attack dice when a natural 4 is rolled (which will happen quite frequently with this 6 powered Gladiator) you will be given two extra chances to roll a Critical Hit if you missed out during your first attack roll. I can see this combo being very powerful as your five build investment will net you the potential to do 10 damage! (assuming you have Rattataki Businessman in play and you roll all hits and Critical Hit!) Gladiatorial Wampa and Rattataki Businessman are just a sneak peek at what CW:RAW has to offer the new Gladiator subtype and I'm sure you will discover as I have that these are some of the best cards to date to help you archive victory over your opponent and take all the GLORY!

The conflict in the Rattataki Gladiator arena is under way and with these two cards from the IDC's fourth expansion Clone Wars: Republic At War at your disposal you will be able to win battle for superiority, and achieve GLORIOUS victory! Join us next week as we reveal two more new and exciting cards from Clone Wars: Republic At War!

800x600

1024x768

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