There seems to be a growing trend with the Clone Wars era squad packs that you are buying an episode in a box. This is not a complaint but a huge positive. The Requesting Your Surrender squad pack was a box straight from season one of The Clone Wars and was a fantastic box. It was extremely thematic and had some incredible units contained within it. Terror From Below promises the same sort of episode in a box, this time from the Mon Calamari arc that was part of season four. After the Kit Fisto box, I have to say that my expectations for this set are very high.
The first thing that really strikes me about this set, aside from the fact it’s lifted from a Clone Wars episode, are the characters. Every single one is new. The aqua droids we have not seen in Shatterpoint before, we have not seen a Quarren in the game before, nor have we had Karkarodon before. While I appreciate the range of clones we have had, it’s really refreshing to see so many new species and droids entering the game at once. Not only does it make this set more interesting, but it also means games will look just that bit different.
Opening the box, there are two sprues to contain all these models. There are technically the usual four but the size of these is rather larger than a lot of models and clearly it needed to spread over two sprues, two large vases and a set of four bases is also included, as well as the usual cards and leaflet. I went straight for the cards to see how this unique would operate during the game.
The primary is Riff Tamson, one of the most memorable villain designs from The Clone Wars. He provides players with two force and eight squad points. His two stance sides are Savagery and Cruelty, the former rolling seven dice for melee and six for ranged, the latter the other way around. Cruelty can cause a maximum of eight damage, but this can allow for some healing. Savagery can do a maximum of nine damage, but no healing is included (unless you get a lot of expertise in melee) and is much more out and out damage focused. Tamson’s active ability is ‘Death from Below’ and costs a force to use. It allows Riff to jump and then on his next melee attack, after all dice are rolled, he adds two damage! ‘Hit and Run’ also costs a force and allows Riff to reposition after making an attack. ‘Blood In the Water’ means that when a supporting unit that is either a Separatist or Scoundrel makes an attack, Tamson can jump then make a five dice melee attack against the same enemy if they are within range. ‘There’s Plenty Of Suffering to Go Around’ means Riff rolls an extra attack die in melee for each enemy within four with a wounded or injured token. Also, when an enemy within four becomes wounded, you can refresh force. Tamsin is all about movement and damage, very true to his character that we see in the show. He looks like a lot of fun to play.
The secondary costs three points and is Nossor Ri. In the show, he is a bit of a wimp and at three points, he is fairly cheap. Rolling six dice whether melee or ranged, he can do a maximum of six damage, although there are quite a few options on the tree, so even with a few hits, you can be doing four damage, repositioning and healing. Not bad! Unlike the rest of the squad, Ri comes with a tactic that allows him to choose an allied Separatist Alliance or Scoundrel unit (including himself) to dash. If they have damage on them, they can reposition instead. He only has two more abilities, neither costing a force. ‘Riptide” allows Ri or another allied Separatist character, when making an attack to add one die to their attack roll for each aquatic unit within five. Useful but possibly more so in the future when more aquatic sets are released. ‘Opportunistic Usurper’ allows you to put Ri in reserve if you already have a unit in reserve, taking that card and putting it to the top or bottom of the order deck. Anything that helps with the order deck is always very useful. While Ri’s card is in the order deck or in reserve, he can’t be attacked by ranged attacks. There are some useful abilities here but nothing over the top. This makes sense with the character, who is rather forgettable in the episodes by design.
That leaves the new droids, the aqua droids, a five-cost supporting unit. Seven ranged dice or six melee, they are doing a maximum of six damage with the option to add a bit of healing. Not massively powerful. They have one ability that costs a force which is ‘Calculated Advance’. This allows each character in the unit to dash and then make a focus action. ‘Submerge’. This works very similar to Ri’s ability. If an aquatic unit card is in reserve when you reveal the droids, you can put the droids into reserve and put the aquatic card into the top or bottom of the order deck. With Ri doing this as well, you can have some very handy control over the order deck. The droids come with impact one, protection and reduce cover by one when firing. All-in-all, I’m not as impressed by the droids as I thought I would be. The models are large, and I was expecting large things. Perhaps on the tabletop I will understand why these should be in my squad.
With the cards looked at, it was time to build these models. To have such new and varied models all in one squad pack made me very excited to see what Atomic Mass Games had done with the sculpts and detail. First was the primary, Riff Tamson. I must admit; I changed the order of assembly quite a bit here. The body and the head I joined together. Then I jumped to step four and glued the back wave to the base piece. After this I glued the right leg piece (A04) to the body. When this was set, I then glued the left leg onto the body and then glued the whole thing immediately to the base. The foot of the left leg is on the back wave. This way I had some give to make sure the left leg was properly lined up with the back wave piece. Now I want to say that this is a bit of a faff, but I can’t. Some of the models, particularly Marvel: Crisis Protocol, have never had enough contact with certain pieces and they have been a nightmare to put together. The ‘faff’ here I actually think is great. There are plenty of points of contact that have really been well thought out, so Riff is going nowhere. Once I had the legs in place, it was a simple matter of adding the arms and the front wave piece. The model is exceptional. The fact that there are so many points of contact for motion like this is incredible. The detail, from the waves to the motion of Riff himself bursting forth is stunning. They have captured the character perfectly and I think this is one of the best models to date for the game. It’s one that I kept finding myself looking at.
Next is Nossor Ri. Ri is very easy to put together and shouldn’t cause anyone any problems. I think the only problem Ri has been that he will be completely overshadowed by the other sculpts. He looks great. The pose suits him and the detail on the face and hands is brilliant. In any other set, I think he’d be a favorite but here – with so many fun, dynamic and interesting models – he gets a little lost. It does illustrate just how well done this set is and the high bar it is setting for itself.
We then come to the two aqua droids. These are going on the bigger size bases. While one is an internal flooring, the other is the typical desert base… for an aqua droid. Oh, how I wish I had two of the flooring! I’m sure I’ll find some way of making it work! Both droids will take a while to assemble. There are lots of pieces and you do have to take your time to ensure you’re doing everything correctly. Not that everything doesn’t fit well together but it is rather intricate. Because of this, you can really see the detail in these models as you are building them. A lot of thought has gone into both. Once complete, they do look fantastic, the size of them is obvious and they tower over all the other characters. They are different and I think it will really show on the tabletop when these two come out. The ball joints on their arms means there is a little flexibility in how you want to pose these, which I think is also a good thing. You can have them in the firing position or, if you don’t want to take up too much space in your carry box, you can have the arms down.
This is a great looking squad, one of the best we’ve seen. The huge aqua droids that are the biggest this game has seen so far, with the detail of the primary and secondary characters is just jaw dropping. But looks are one thing, how is the gameplay?
Riff is scarily good. His damage output is terrifying and could easily take out any character he wanted to. Even with a good defense roll, my opponent was still taking eight damage. With a slightly better roll (and a less good defense roll), he could have easily done more. What I like most about him is that although he can do a huge amount of damage, he can instead heal. He is a character that I think will require your opponents to deal with quickly. The heal allows him to be able to regroup a little and not be taken out quite so quickly.
Nossor Ri surprised me as he was actually very good. The fact he can’t be shot at if his order card is in the deck or in reserve is very useful and his ability to make use of the aquatic keyword really made a huge difference, particularly to the aqua droids. Which brings me to the aqua droids. Without Nossor Ri I think they would have been disappointing. They need that synergy to really shine and they need characters with the aquatic keyword close by to really make it work. While this is fine if you keep this squad as is, if you want to mix it up a bit, the aqua droids fall a bit short, and so does Ri. I don’t really see this as too much of a problem as they were a huge amount of fun to use as they are.
As an episode in a box, Terror from Below hits the mark. The models are gorgeous with so many new species, droids and sculpts. The characters are well thought out and while Ri might look like he’ll go unnoticed, he is actually crucial to making this squad work as well as he does. Try and make use of them in other squads and I think they will lose the essential synergy that makes them work so well together. But then again, I don’t think I would want to use them apart. I’m liking this trend of Clone Wars episodes. This one really does capture the spirit of the characters and the show. If you liked watching these characters, you’ll love playing them.
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