Jedi Knight #1-2 Tips and Tricks

Jedi Knight #1-2
Reviewer: Stephen


ATTACKTIX CLASS: Warrior
STAR WARS CLASS: Jedi
POINT VALUE: 10
SPEED: 10
SPECIAL POWER: Attackback (Jedi)
SPECIAL POWER RATIO: 4/26 (15%)
ATTACK TYPE: Striker (Lightsaber)


If only a swarm of Jedi Knights had been available in numbers comparable to the Clones or Droid Army, the Republic would have stood for all time. At least, so says this lover of these cheap but relatively powerful strikers. You'll be hard-pressed to find a 10-point figure that strikes as well as this Agen Kolar retool, and their special powers benefit other Jedi immensely.

Though they can fall rather easily to just about any attack when left alone, they can withstand hearty onslaughts when bunched together in a tight attack formation. Thus, beware when a number of Jedi Knights advance toward you! Can you tell this is my favorite figure for single-figure-type team play?

Tip for attacking with Jedi Knight:
Though the Jedi Knight doesn't have the most powerful strike in the game, such power shouldn't be expected from a 10-point figure. Nevertheless, if you compare the power of a Jedi Knight's strike with that of other 10-point strikers (e.g., Grievous Bodyguard), you'll find that Jedi Knights are quite an offensive bargain. For best results, make the Jedi Knight start his strike by holding the saber with both hands. Hold the tip of the lightsaber between your right thumb and index finger, keeping the length of the saber parallel to the part of your opponent's figure that you want to strike as you twist with your left hand the base of the Jedi Knight as far around as you can go. The Jedi Knight's free hand may leave the saber at this point, but that's all right. Then, while holding the Jedi Knight's base, release the tip of the Jedi Knight's saber. The resulting strike should be powerful enough to be able to use a 10 or 20 point figure to knock down another of your opponent's figures a good 10-15 Tix away.

As long as you've got a Jedi standing, the Jedi Knight's special power will be a boon to your team. Because the Jedi Knight grants an Attackback when he falls, even your strikers can take advantage of a Jedi Knight's demise. Though the Jedi Knight's special power has a low probability of coming up (certainly, it's much less probable than Grievous Bodyguard's special power from either Series 1 or 2), it's still on the high end of probability for a lowly common figure. Perhaps his biggest drawback is that he's a Warrior, which doesn't allow him to support figures with Trooper-based special powers (e.g., Starter 2 Kenobi).

Tips for attacking Jedi Knight:
The base of a lone Jedi Knight is vulnerable to even a small missile blast from 25 Tix away. Thus, aim low when trying to pick off Jedi Knights on the starting line or other times that they might stand by themselves. However, when in formation, Jedi Knights support each others' bases well, making it necessary to aim for head or high chest shots to have much of a chance of knocking them down when they're grouped together tightly.

The biggest problem with facing a team of Jedi Knights is that they are essentially interchangeable with each other. Your figure's special power lets you remove a Jedi of your choice? The only real option is to take out the one closest to your figures, as that's the only sort of “killer” figure that would be on such a team. Or maybe you can remove the figure that attacked you with your special power? Big deal! It's only a 10 point loss! The lack of fear of losing any particular figure that an opponent with a team full of Jedi Knights makes that opponent even more deadly.

Alternative Strategies
Jedi Knights can make fabulous supporting strikers for a team built around a couple of high-point shooters. You can advance the strikers in formation on your opponent's figures, forcing your opponent to break his or her figures out of formation to respect the possible strike, thereby leaving them vulnerable to large missile or Force blast attacks.

You may also choose to use Jedi Knights as cannon fodder to protect higher-point strikers as they advance on your opponent. Put Jedi Knights in front of your more valuable strikers to protect them from incoming projectiles, then peel the more valuable strikers out from behind the Jedi Knights when they're in striking range. Or advance the more valuable strikers together if they're faster than the Jedi Knights, especially if those valuable strikers have special powers that would benefit the Jedi Knights that are left trailing.

Finally, if you're good with saber strikers (particularly if you can get multiple knockdowns with a single strike by knocking one figure into another figure), and you can get a lot of these marvelous figures, you might consider building a team entirely of Jedi Knights. Break them into two or three squads to avoid having a single strike take down all of your figures and flank your opponents. When the time comes, advance a Jedi Knight or two out of formation to test your opponent. Either s/he will have to take out the advancing Jedi Knights to prevent his or her own figures from getting decimated (thus advancing those figures into striking range of the other Jedi Knights), or s/he will ignore the Jedi Knights to his or her peril when your next turn comes.