The SWM metagame is an ever-changing entity. This article will attempt to track its evolution since the release of the Rebel Storm set in September 2004. (This is a work in progress, particular at these early stages. Feel free to contribute squads or info on the various eras.)
First, a definition. What exactly is the “metagame”? Literally, it means “the game outside the game.” In context of SWM it generally refers to the very best squads and counter squads—those that could reasonably win a multi-round tournament against other top squads. Note that this theoretical “world championship” metagame isn’t necessarily going to be duplicated at the local level. Due to figure limitations, local preferences, house rules, player skill, and other factors the squads that define the “world championship” metagame may not perform equally well in your local metagame. (For example, if no one brings Uniques in your local area, Boba Fett might not perform as well as expected.) For purposes of this article the metagame will refer strictly to the “world championship” metagame. It’s also important to understand that the metagame varies based on the point level of the game. This article will discuss only games being played at the “official” point costs (initially, the rulebook Kill ‘em All scenario and later the DCI Floor Rules.)
A few other supporting terms that will be used:
Tier 1 or Top Tier squads. These are the squads that define the metagame. The very best, and those that might not be generally as good, but do very well against other Teir 1 squads. Lesser squads are generally referred to at Tier 1.5, Tier 2, and so on.
Hate Squads. Such squads are generally inferior on average to other Tier 1 squads but do so well against a specific (generally popular) squad that they can appear for just that purpose. Hate squads generally can’t win a tournament unless the squad they hate becomes so popular that you’ll face it in more than half your games. For that reason, they are considered more a “spoiler” than a true Tier 1 squad. Of course, some squads fall right in the nebulous area where there is a real argument about whether it’s Tier 1 or Hate.
Gatekeeper. The gatekeeper is a figure our squad that other squads must be able to compete with for the squad to be considered Tier 1. It might not be the best squad or character, but it’s generally good, popular, and typically easy to play. It’s something at least one of your opponents is likely to play over the course of a tournament, and if your squad is critically flawed against this opposition, your odds of winning are too low for your squad to be considered Tier 1. The metagame doesn’t always have a clear gatekeeper at every point level but it’s common enough that it’s worth considering
A note about squad names: where a squad had a common name I remember I’ll use it, but otherwise I’ll use my nickname for it, or just make something up on the spot. Feel free to suggest changes (or corrections if your memory is better than mine).
When released, the game had no official tournament rules and only one map (Death Star). People generally played 100 point squads in the standard “Kill ‘em All” scenario with the standard tiebreakers from the rulebook.
Overview:
Override quickly became the dominant tactic. With the standard tiebreaker rules it was possible to get a small lead, then use Override to lock any door your opponent tried to come through slowing them down enough or completely until time runs out and the player with the lead wins. While not every player would employ this tactic, the threat of it was enough to shape the metagame.
Accurate Shot and Mobile Attack were also quickly identified as abilities that could be used to inflict or avoid damage in ways that gave a squad key advantages.
Key Pieces:
R2-D2 (gatekeeper), Han Solo, Princess Leia Senator, Boba Fett, Darth Vader Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine, Quarren Assassin
Top Tier Squads:
Team Campsite: 50 Boba Fett 27 Han Solo 13 Princess Leia Senator 08 R2-D2
Variant: +3 Bespin Guards/-Princess Leia Senator
Team Campsite quickly got a reputation as a squad to beat. It employed the R2 Override tactics to the extreme. Using Accurate Shot, and Leia’s CE as a faux Mobile Attack, it could pick off a single insignificant piece, avoid counter attacks, and stall its way to victory. Of course, not every player was willing to employ the tactic to its full potential, but even without stalling for the win, the combination of abilities allowed splitting enemy squads up using Override and picking them apart piecemeal while absorbing little return fire.
The Dynamic Duo: 60 Darth Vader Sith Lord 40 Emperor Palpatine
This squad evolved as an easy to play counter to Team Campsite. It could camp near the middle under cover and win the tiebreak if TC didn’t go on the offensive. Lightning was a sure method of destroying R2 when within range, and Vader’s defense and HP were high enough to deal with run and gun Accurate Shooters.
DCI was introduced at the very tail end of the Clone Strike Era, but the time was so short that the metagame didn’t evolve significantly and the DCI rules were not particularly different at this early stage.
Overview:
The release of Clone Strike caused the first major evolution in the metagame. Clone Strike offered two new factions and upped the ante significantly for Melee Attack characters giving them a bit more power for their cost and introducing the Muun Grand Plaza map where they found a very melee-friendly battleground.
Team Campsite: 50 Boba Fett 37 Aurra Sing 08 R2-D2 05 Bespin Guard
Team Campsite evolves to drop Han and Leia in favor of the incredible new shooter, Aurra Sing. She’s an all around quality Accurate Shooter, who shines in the face of the numerous new Jedi squads in play with her Jedi Hunter ability.
This squad revolves on the ability to deal 60 damage to the character of choice with no chance of missing allowing the early part of the game to avoid most of the issues of randomization beating you. On back to back rounds the 120 is enough to take out nearly every major threat available. The 4 Ewoks allow you to act last against a 4 character squad even if you are forced to go first.
Destroyer Droids were a great matchup vs Boba Fett being non-Unique and having Shields cut down a lot of damage. The Officer was simple to protect with Fire Control having no range limit.
Ebony & Ivory: 63 Mace Windu 37 Aurra Sing
Like the original Dynamic Duo, which still got some play in this era, this squad put two hard to kill figures on the field and tried to put them both in your face at the same time making it tough to concentrate on either while they're killing lesser peices. It was quite good, but suffered a bit from the lack of activations (like all 2 character squads) making it easy to run from Mace to avoid his Triple Attack in the early game.
Revenge of the Sith Era (April 2005 - August 2005)
The release of Revenge of the Sith coincided with the introduction of DCI play and support for 200 point games. “Gambit” scoring was not introduced in the Floor Rules yet, but players were informed that it was coming and how it would work. The Starship map including with RotS was very friendly to shooter squads and also its undersized nature made for faster engagements.
Overview:
Tournament games still centered around the threat of R2 magnified to unparalleled levels by the introduction of the Republic R2 with Tow Cable in addition to Override.
Team Campsite: 50 Boba Fett 37 Aurra Sing 09 R2-D2 Astromech Droid 04 Gran Raider
Once again, Team Campsite evolves and improves based on the new piece. The new R2 allows Boba to now be dragged around for increased mobility and still get off Double Attacks.
Vader was a powerhouse for his points when Emperor was there to make up for his only weakness in low Force points. Probe was still standard Imperial equipment pre-Thrawn. The Jawa variant gave increased offense vs the very common 30 HP droids like R2 and Probe at the expense of the Stormie's nice defense.
S&D was perhaps the most popular of the RotS era Top Tier squads. Boba was the cream of the crop of shooters, and Ani was great melee support. Very similar to Team Campsite, but the downgrade from Aurra meant the Medic could sit behind Boba and heal him each round giving him a real edge in long range shootout.
Sly Intentions: 50 Boba Fett 28 Sly Moore 18 Captain Typho 04 Gran Raider
Lacking door control, this build was subject to problems dealing with Override. But quad Boba was nothing to sneeze at, and it was hard to pick off anything with Typho bodyguarding everybody. However, the squad fell instantly out of favor when the rules were changed to make all saves mandatory and Sly could no longer Dominate Boba with 100% certainty.
Jedi On Board: 42 Obi-Wan Kenobi Jedi Master 29 Anakin Skywalker Jedi Knight 10 Twi'lek Bodyguard 09 R2-D2 Astromech Droid 09 Polis Massa Medic
Variant: +Twi'lek Bodyguard/-Polis Massa Medic
JOB won the RotS era VASSAL DCI tourney, besting several Campsite, S&D, and other top tier squads on its way to the top. There were several other JOB squads with Mace/Aayla/R2 being perhaps the next best.
This squad wasn't well known, but it won two major tournements at the end of the RotS era, performing particularly strong under the new DCI Gambit scoring that ushered in the Universe Era.
The Universe era ushered in “Gambit” scoring somewhat muting the abusive issues with Override but still leaving it as a dominant strategy. Lobot brought Override to every faction, but in doing so also left the Rebels and Republic in the dominant position of having access to double Override.
Overview:
Key Pieces:
Lobot, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Darth Vader Jedi Hunter, Nom Anor, Han Solo Rebel Hero, Chewbacca Rebel Hero, X-1 Viper Droid, Lando Calrissian Hero of Tanaab, Nightsister Sith Witch
Top Tier Squads:
HAL (100) 35 Han Solo, Rebel Hero 37 Aurra Sing 27 Lobot
Huge damage output, Lobot for door control, and the ability to customize your squad to better match up against your opponent's.
Aurra added to a Shock Therapy base was quite strong. The variant upped the shock power, but downgraded the pure offense and that could be a problem against squads that handled lightning well. The variant could also shift in a Probe Droid instead of Ewoks.
Black & Blue (150) 37 Grand Admiral Thrawn 75 Darth Vader Jedi Hunter 08 Mas Amedda 30 Stormtrooper x6
Variant: +Probe Droid, Gran Raider, Ugnaught/-Stormtrooper x3
The cross board (thanks to Mas Amedda) swapping assault of Thrawn using Stormtroopers for fodder to get Vader into position at the end of a round and beginning of the following round before swapping back out to safety dominates the era. The variant does better in the mirror match and protects against the 1 on init thanks to the Probe, while also adding some protection against door control in the Ugnaught.
Crabby Banker (150): 10 San Hill 35 Wat Tambor 69 Crab Droid x3 19 Super Battle Droid Commander 09 Battle Droid Officer 08 Battle Droid x2
You can see the evolution of the range/melee powerhouse combo with R2.
Mini UPS (100) 84 Exar Kun 10 Dark Hellion Marauder on Swoop Bike 06 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2
Variant: + Ugnaught Demolitionist x3/-Swoop Bike
The base version does better against long range move threats like R2 or Thrawn while the variant allows for more activations and more Transfers for Exar.
Baby Black & Blue (100) 37 Grand Admiral Thrawn 39 Anakin Skywalker Sith Apprentice 08 Mas Amedda 15 Stormtrooper x3
B&B tactics squeezed into the 100 point format.
Lone Vader (100) 71 Lord Vader 08 Probe droid 21 Ugnaught Demolitionist x7
LV Black & Blue (150) 37 Grand Admiral Thrawn 71 Lord Vader 08 Mas Amedda 08 Scout Trooper 30 Stormtrooper x4 06 Ugnaught x2
Evolution of Black & Blue to take advantage of the amazing offense of Lord Vader and gain some door control in the form of the Ugnaughts. Surprisingly, this improves some matchups but hurts B&B in others.
This era saw the first Championship tournement for SWM which makes sorting the wheat from the chaff a bit easier. Broken Boba (see Bounty Hunters era) reigned supreme when all was said and done but despite its lack of A&E characters, this set played a big part in many top squads.
Key Pieces:
Princess Leia, Han Solo in Stormtrooper Armor, Wookiee Freedom Fighter, Aurra Sing Jedi Hunter, Boba Fett Enforcer, R2-D2 and C-3PO, Lando Calrissian Dashing Scoundrel, Ithorian Commander, Luke's Landspeeder, Mara Jade Jedi, Storm Commando, Wicket.
A long list, but the set was filled with great stuff.
This is Dr_Divot's championship variant. And his stroke of genius, though not a squad choice, was using Geonosis for his map. His variation eliminates Lobot who he considered a liability and stocks up on activations instead.
A variation of Broken Boba with the discount Boba and Lando in place of Boba BH. It works the same way though--keep the Jedi in the way, and let the shooters get in as many shots as possible.
Two of these made the top 8 at the champs, but they would go no further, losing very close games. Leia is really the lynchpin that makes the squad go with her amazing CE powering Han into a quad attacking nightmare.
Two Door Hooptie (150) 35 Han Solo, Rebel Hero 47 Luke's Landspeeder 20 Princess Leia 27 Lobot 18 C-3P0 and R2-D2 03 Ugnaught Demolitionist
Barzillai's 2nd place squad in the championships. Really, the surprise of the tournement. There might have been one other Landspeeder in the field, but this thing blew through the competition and put up a strong fight in a finale that was stacked against it. Not to be underestimated.
CRuBLS - Crazy Running Babes with Lightsabers (150) 45 Mara Jade Jedi 25 Han Solo in Stormtrooper Armor 25 Jaina Solo 24 Talon Karrde 27 Lobot 03 Ugnaught Demolitionist
Best bet for the New Republic. It is a bit dependant on winning 1-2 initiatives with Mara in base with an enemy centerpiece, but with Talon the odds of that are shifted in the squad's favor, and Reserves comes up more than one would think. The squad is quite depandent on Mara for damage though.
San Hill's Hunters 10 San Hill 27 Lobot 41 Aurra Sing, Jedi Hunter 62 Boba Fett, Bounty Hunter 09 Ugnaught Demolitionist (x3)
Only one of these made the top 8 at Gencon, but there were 3-4 others in the top 20. Aurra filled in San's biggest weakness--a solid Jedi killer--and allows him to compete well with all the top squads.
Overview: This era ushered in the the high-cost/high-damage Force powers. Force Push, particularly Force Push 4 had that largest impact, but as a squad concept it still remained just on the fringe of top-tier core squad designs. The Muun Tactics Broker, with his almost guaranteed initiative ended up having the larger impact.
Key Pieces: Luke and Yoda, Luke Skywalker Hoth Pilot Unleashed, Luke's Snowspeeder, Muun Tactics Broker, Boba Fett Mercenary, Admiral Ozzel
Overview: This era brought the New Republic fully into the top tier with the additions of a fantastic shooter in Han and tempo control with General Dodonna not to mention a couple solid melee beatsticks in Shado and Kyle (though neither tends to rival Mara Jade Jedi.) The Vong and Mandalorians also got huge additions which put them right on the edge of top tier competive, though mostly at the 200 point level.
Key Pieces: Han Solo Galactic Hero, General Dodonna, Kel Dor Bounty Hunter, Moff Nyna Calixte, Yuuzhan Vong Jedi Hunter, Yuuzhan Vong Shaper, Boba Fett Mercenary Commander
Top Tier Squads:
Jaded Hero 50 Han Solo Galactic Hero 45 Mara Jade Jedi 27 Lobot 09 General Dodanna 13 Kel Dor Bounty Hunter 06 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2
Han/Mara squads like this one and a few variations won several major regional tournements. This variation will bring in a Muun Tactics Broker and 4 Ugnaughts for reinforcements unless playing against one of the two major counters: Never Tell Me the Odds, or San Hill.
Speedy Cannon squads finished 1st and 3rd at Gencon 2008 Masters, and a variant also one the smaller 2008 Championship at PAX. Snowspeeder runs interference for the proven deadly Han/Leia combo from Han Cannon squads of the past.
Loda 70 Luke and Yoda 20 Princess Leia 09 General Dodonna 18 Lando Calrissian, Dashing Scoundrel 27 Lobot 06 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2
This squad made the top 8 at Gencon 2008 masters, giving the eventual winning squad it's closest brush with a loss in the single elimination round. Preferred reinforcements were a Human Bodyguard, and 3 Ugnaughts.
Boba Fett, Rebel Hero: 62 Boba Fett, Bounty Hunter 35 Han Solo, Rebel Hero 18 C-3P0 and R2-D2 17 Bothan Noble 09 General Dodonna 09 Ugnaught Demolitionist x3
2nd at Gencon 2008 reminds us, like at Gencon 2007, that Han Solo Rebel Hero's CE remains a top-tier squad concept. This squad isn't quite as surprising as last year's runner up, but it wasn't really actively played by multiple players, and wasn't brought by anyone else to the Masters.
