The 2018 NOVA open is in the history books, and we have three new Maximum Firepower winners! And, as fate would have it, all three play together at the same store in Virginia at Huzzah Hobbies, a place where FFG World Champions are made, it seems. I was lucky enough to get a half hour to talk to one of the winners, Matt Dunn. He took this Rebel list to a 3-0 victory:

Luke Skywalker (Force Push, Jedi Mind Trick)

Leia Organa

Fleet Troopers (Scatter Gun)

Fleet Troopers (Scatter Gun)

Rebel Troopers (Z-6 Trooper, Rebel Trooper)

Rebel Troopers (Z-6 Trooper, Rebel Trooper)

Rebel Troopers (Z-6 Trooper)

AT-RT (Laser Cannon)

AT-RT (Laser Cannon)

Points: 785/800

There are multiple points of interest here: Scatter Gun Fleets with no extra trooper, a Luke with Jedi Mind Trick, and a whopping 15 point bid.

Q: What kinds of match-ups did you face on the day of your victory?

A: My first matchup was Veers with an AT-ST, DLT Stormtroopers and Snowies. Any time as a rebel player, when you go up against the AT-ST, you know you’re not going to get rid of it. It requires way too many activations to get it off the board, even with 2 AT-RTs with Laser Cannons, which is what I was running. It’s too much wasted time, and at that point, his Snowtroopers would get too close to me and do a ton of damage. It was Major Offensive with Intercept the Transmissions, so I left the far side alone and focused on the middle and the one close to me. There was a big piece of terrain in the middle of the table, which was great, because it was right where the center Comm was, so I was able to hunker down behind there, with Leia giving out dodge tokens so my troops could aim and fire.

The second game I played against Vader with some bikes, and mixed DLT and Snows. It was only two bikes. It was Key Positions with Advanced Positions, and Vader got down to the very end, and he missed being in base contact with an objective to contest it, and if he had, it would have gone to points, which he might have won, because he was able to take Luke off the board. It really came down to that tiniest bit of movement.

The final match wound up being Veers AT-ST again, and it was Key Positions and Advanced Positions again. I knew going into NOVA that Blue was going to be huge, and I was able to force Key Positions twice. I set up early, got dug in, and said “come at me bro,” and he did! It was a really close game. And something that really made me successful at NOVA was burying one mini in each unit out of line of sight. This let me save the unit leader where otherwise they’d be wiped out. If I tuck one guy away, and they kill everyone else, I’m still holding the objective. Key Positions is where this becomes truly broken.

Q: People are either hot or cold on Darth Vader, was he a non-factor this tournament, or did he mess you up?

A: Vader is a “Turn 3” character – he won’t have as much of an impact on the game until Turn 3. He’s more of a long game piece, because you need time to get him into position. Vader mitigates so much damage, and he just slaughters troopers. Han may end up combating Vader better than Luke, we might see Han and Chewie be able to combat him very well with their synergy. Vader in his current form, the Imperial player has to play the end game and not just shove him down someone’s throat. It’s hard for a lot of players to justify his points knowing he’s only going to impact only the back half of the game. And another thing about Vader, when you’re in a tournament setting, there’s a 2 hour time limit! None of my games hit rounds five or six, we all ended up at round 4, and this was playing at a good pace with folks understanding the rules. Yet, this is the nature of the game. Legion isn’t speed Chess, people aren’t to the point yet where they can plan that fast. It’s tough for Vader in his current state, but I think once Vader can use Anger to get a free aim token, he’s going to be a lot more popular.

Q: Fleet Troopers with Scatter Gun only is uncommon. What was the thought process behind that?

A: I find that with Fleets, yes the extra trooper throws the two white, but I’d rather have the extra Rebel Trooper instead. I use them to counter bikes, primarily, by aim/shooting. I learned that from playing John Brader’s triple bikes. The first time I played against it he just wrecked me. I have to have enough troopers on the board to deal with that situation. I found the Scatter Gun and four troopers, as long as you get an aim token in there, you don’t really need that 11 point extra trooper, so I got a bunch of extra room by dropping them.

Q: Were there any pivotal moments with Jedi Mind Trick? It’s not that popular an upgrade for Luke.



A: I used it every single game. In fact, I used it twice in my first game because Luke got a recover action in there. I find it strange that not a lot of people run it. You are going to use it every time because it doesn’t need line of sight, so if you’ve got a unit that’s wrapped around a structure from you that you know will round the corner and head to an objective, you slap those two suppression on them and force them to Rally. It can take away that action at a key moment in time.

Q: Your list raises the bar for bids at 15 points. Overall, bids seem to be increasing as players gain more respect for the pressure that Key Positions puts on Red, or the need to get rid of Limited Visibility, for example. What were the major factors behind taking such a large bid?

A: Originally my list was planned with a 5 point bid, and the more I thought about it, and after talking to John Brader and Nick Freeman, and from my own experiences, I felt that the need for a bid for Blue player was huge in a competitive environment. You get to pick which side of the table you want, and there were some tables at NOVA where there was definitely a side that was favored. When you walk in and the tables are already set and you have no say over it, there’s more of the sense of urgency that Blue player is really important. It’s not that sharp when you use the Competitive Terrain rules, “you place, I place.” That’s why I dropped that extra trooper. I didn’t bid any higher because I hadn’t seen any lists running more than 15 points, and especially not Imperial lists, which I knew there would be a lot of at NOVA.

Q: There’s some divergent thinking out there about Red and Blue, the argument being that Red gets the last veto and is therefore stronger. You’ve clearly come down on the other side.

A: As we get more deployment and objective cards, the Blue player is building the [Battle] deck. I left Vaporators out of my deck, and I left Disarray out because I hate it. Vaporators is especially tough for Rebel Troopers because they miss a dodge token to take care of the Vaporator, and with their T-shirt save, that really hurts them.

Q: Does Key Positions need to be changed?

A: I’d love to see new objective and deployment cards coming more frequently, and I would like to see the cards used at competitive events changed each year. I don’t think that would be hard for them to do. Key Positions definitely tilts the game dramatically in the Blue player’s favor. I think if you’ve got a Vader list, or even Snowtroopers, you are looking at a long haul across the table to be competitive. It’s not impossible, but it’s a lot more difficult.

Q: Looking to the future, is there any escape from Luke Leia and two laser AT-RTs when it comes to building Rebel lists for competition?

A: I definitely think so! I was lucky enough to get Han and Commandos during Gen Con. One of my favorite lists leading up to NOVA is called “Bad Marriage” – Han, Leia and a couple of Saboteurs, it’s a very explosive marriage, you see. Also, through a lot of playtesting, I found that the Sniper does really well as a 2-man team, and it does even better embedded in the larger team. A Commando unit with a Sniper at Range 3 can take a pair of bikes off the board. The Saboteurs need to be run as a 2-man team, because you have to spend an action to drop the bomb and sacrifice the offensive power of that unit. With the Saboteur, you want to give them Emergency Stims to make sure they get their bombs off if they get caught out.

Q: So, if we’re not killing the AT-ST, why are we bringing Laser RT’s?

A: I put them in my lists solely because they are bullet magnets – my opponents would go out of their way to get them off the board. I would park them in such a way that they would provide light cover to my units. There were a couple of situations where they didn’t get to fire – I lost the gun right away during the final game after it was shot at by an AT-ST. I use them almost as bait, because the AT-ST player is going to focus on the other armored units with their AT-ST, and not my troopers who are trying to take objectives.

Q: So, it’s more of a threat issue, less “I need a shovel to dig this hole.”

A: I don’t ever put them on the table thinking they’ll kill an AT-ST, it’s very unlikely that will happen. The RT provides light cover to my troopers, and if the Speeder Bikes get really close, I can kick them. It’s crazy: I’ve seen people using their entire list’s worth of activations trying to kill the AT-RTs. Laser Cannons are terrible at attacking troopers, and they’ll never kill a unit of Speeder Bikes, but yet, people go after them.

Q: What are some lists on the horizon that you are looking forward to playing?

A: I already mentioned that Han and Leia are awesome – Han and Luke are cool too, but their cost tends to crowd out having a big enough army to control objectives. Just like it’s rare to see Vader and an AT-ST in a competitive list, Han and Luke become the same thing because they need to spend points on force powers and upgrades to be good. Emergency Stims are so good on Luke, and Hunter is looking pretty good on Han as well.

Q: What’s something you would share if someone asked you how to play better?

A: First and foremost, play what you enjoy! Don’t just play the meta. Find units that you enjoy putting on the table. When you do that, you as the player are more in sync with your army. In terms of tactics, learn how to tuck one guy in a unit behind a corner. Play with line of sight and learn how do hide minis to preserve the unit. I wished I’d learned how to do that sooner! Your opponent then has to make themselves vulnerable to shoot at those hidden guys.

Special thanks to Matt Dunn for letting me pick his brain, and thanks for letting me use photos of your army! Stay tuned for another NOVA interview later this week, when I talk to John Brader about his win with Imperials.