Plucked straight out of Episode One, the We Are Brave Squad Pack for Star Wars Shatterpoint stands apart from the current Republic options available which focus on the Clone army and their Jedi generals. Instead, Padmé and her fearless bodyguards rely on the Handmaiden tag to work together and win the day.
Queen Padmé Amidala
Who Are They?
The elected queen and later senator of Naboo during the infamous Clone Wars. Queen Amidala in Shatterpoint represents Padmé as she was in the Phantom Menace, before she would go on to develop a secret relationship with Anakin Skywalker.
On the Tabletop
PadmĂ© is a fearsome crack shot with her pistol and leads her troops from the front on the battlefield, inspiring them to greater feats and heroics even when the situation is dire.Â
Active – Royal Command
Out of activation movement is always great in Shatterpoint and this is one of the most flexible examples, at the cost of a Force point. Padmé can target herself for a second full advance during her turn, another primary Jedi on her team, or both models in a GAR Supporting unit. As we will cover, this interplays nicely with the rest of her kit, and lets her influence multiple points in a single activation.
Reactive – Coordinated Fire: Damage
An extremely powerful trigger with the ability to add two free damage onto an attack, with the restriction that it can only be triggered with a Handmaiden’s attack (so far, only Sabé and the Royal Naboo Handmaidens from this box).
Innate – Crack Shot
When it comes to Sharpshooters, we typically look to whether they have the ability to focus without using one of their precious actions. This isn’t the case with Padmé, but she is compensated with a dash when she does so, and gives her a reasonable threat range to throw 9-10 dice with her pistol when combined with Royal Command.
Identity: Servant of the People
The first Identity ability to be released that depends upon which stance the Primary is in. While in her Aggressive Negotiations stance, she provides an extra attack die to your Galactic Republic supports. Alternatively, in Faith in Diplomacy she allows your Supports to contest even when they are Wounded. This can enable dramatic objective swings when the opponent does not suspect it. Neither of these effects apply if Queen Amidala is Wounded however, so it is important to keep her in a position of safety.
Fortunately, both her supplementary units have tools to try and make sure this is the case!
Queen Padmé Amidala Stances
Aggressive Negotiations
Key breakpoints:
- Number of shoves on three steps: 1 (on third step)
- Max damage on three steps: 5
- Crit on 1 expertise: Yes
This stance is primarily damage-oriented, with utility such as shoves and a reposition coming later on her tree. If Padmé is getting to focus and fire at range, then between the 10 dice she rolls and good access to crits on her offensive expertise, she can reasonably expect to get three to four successes which will tee up a lot of non-primary units. She’s also slightly more defensive trading a recover for a 2nd block at three defensive expertise.
Faith in Diplomacy
Key breakpoints:
- Number of shoves on three steps: 2 (first and third step)
- Max damage on three steps: 4
- Crit on 1 expertise: No (but three hits from two expertise results
This has a shove on one and access to a number of successes, although the lack of offensive crits may impact her ability to traverse this tree against tougher targets. It also trades a second block at three defensive expertise for a recover, which can impact her survivability in certain instances.
Typically when starting out, it’s advisable to begin in Aggressive Negotiations to bolster her supporting units’ attacks, and shift to Faith in Diplomacy when needing to “switch on” some wounded units to flip points. This can be especially impactful with a well-timed Royal Command when the opponent least expects it.
Sabé, Royal Bodyguard
Who Are They?
Sabé was a notable handmaiden serving in the royal house of Naboo and often play a role disguised as the Queen, in order to protect her during the invasion of the planet by the Trade Federation and beyond.
On the Tabletop
Sabé comes in as a typical 4 point Secondary. She brings a huge amount of mobility to the table and is no slouch in combat with some fantastic ranged expertise. She has the potential to run rings around the opponent and look good doing so.
Tactic – Loyal Protectors
A huge burst of speed for Sabé and her Handmaiden Supports assuming you have brought her along, but with some caveats. Even at the start of the game, this can be used to gain some slight diagonal movement as you can target the Primary unit in the opposite squad drawing a 90 degree arc towards them. However this is most useful later on into a struggle once a friendly Primary has activated or been moved by someone like Captain Rex.
Active – Expose Flank
A common trend amongst this box is a focus on marksmanship skills. This ability also brings more movement, with more stipulations. This time, the movement has to be a climb, so is not possible if engaged. However, Sabé can often dash with her tactic or make a movement to leave engagement and find a route to a higher piece of terrain, and once she does she is throwing 9 dice at range. As long as she is not engaged, she can also use the climb action to move to an ingress point on the same elevation, and then assuming she ingresses to a higher point she will benefit from the free focus and Sharpshooter.
Coordinated Assault: Dash
Assuming you are not taking advantage of one of the other Coordinated Fire abilities of the Republic, Sabé can benefit from yet another dash when an ally attacks a target near her, which can be handy to return to a point, set up for a new Struggle, or rotate around the map on a mission setup like Sabotage Showdown.
Bodyguard
You know and love it from the Magnaguard, more defensive dice against ranged attacks is always good. Unique to Sabé is the fact that she is always a Secondary unit within R2 of herself, so gets to benefit from Cover at all times!
Sabé, Royal Bodyguard Stance
Decoy
Key breakpoints:
- Number of shoves on three steps: 2 (1st and 3rd step)
- Max damage on three steps: 4 plus strain
- Crit on 1 expertise: Yes
Sabé’s stance is the highlight of her kit. A crit on one expertise result and a first step shove means her displacement is incredibly consistent, and she also brings a chart reminiscent of our favourite Super-Tactical Droids – generating three successes from just two expertise! With 9 dice she is definitely capable of accessing the flexible options here including a reposition, three out of the four conditions and a high roll of triple shove.
Naboo Royal Handmaidens
Who Are They?
The assistants and bodyguards of the Queen of Naboo, and trained in the use of concealed blaster pistols.
On the Tabletop
Standard stuff here with a point cost of 4, but they do benefit from that all-important 8th point of health compared to a number of the Republic’s Clone Trooper supporting units. Padmé’s ability to allow wounded Supports to contest can ease the pain of them getting easily wounded.
Expose Flank
Almost everything said about this in Sabé’s section applies, although without the tactic dash they may find it slightly harder to avoid engagement and benefit.
Coordinated Fire: Disarm
Nothing to write home about, but another option for CF in the Galactic Republic and one that can come in handy when attacking offensive Primary units.
Intercede
The other half of the Magnaguard toolkit shows up here, and is a great representation of their role in the canon. This is of less value here however with less health and worse defensive capabilities making it a lot easier to Wound and shut off this ability.
Naboo Royal Handmaidens Stance
Absolute Loyalty
Key breakpoints:
- Number of shoves on three steps: 0
- Max damage on two steps: 3
- Crit on 1 expertise: No
No shoves at all is a tough pill to swallow and five base attack dice means they will be relying on an Expose Flank to reach any reliable kind of output. The most notable element here is access to a jump on one, which can allow them to access some unexpected locations on their activation. Their defensive profile is similarly unexciting, but there is a chance for them to negate a crit if they’re lucky which is not something a lot of supports have access to. The biggest positive thing here is simply having the Handmaiden tag, which means that provided Padmé is close by you can add two free damage to their output with no roll required.
Example Strike Teams
Out of the box:
We Are Brave (Queen Amidala) + Core Set (Anakin Skywalker)
A flavorful combination. It’s hard to get a core Republic Roster without dipping into multiple boxes, but Padmé provides some solid ranged support to Anakin and Rex helps get more out of Sabé’s powerful Tactic ability.
Advanced:
Darth Vader, Jedi Hunter/CC-7567 Captain Rex/ARF Troopers
Jedi Master Plo Koon/Sabé, Royal Bodyguard/Naboo Royal Handmaidens
A twist on the above, upgrading the 501st to the ARF for expose access, and swapping Padmé for Plo Koon yielding some diceless displacement with his Force Push and reactive movement when your troops inevitably succumb to enemy fire. The Handmaidens have good access to recover on the tree which allows them to make pretty good use of Your Hatred Makes You Powerful to climb their tree.
Box Summary
We Are Brave brings one of the most unique aesthetics in Shatterpoint and a fun flavorful package out of the box. From a competitive angle, this box can take some work as a number of the abilities are quite conditional or finicky to get the most out of, and the squad members can be quite fragile. However, there’s a huge amount of internal synergy and as such you can have a great time putting the squad on the table and learning the ins and outs.
Thanks for reading, and may the order deck smile on you!
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