One of my favourite list has revolved around characters from the Mandalorian show on Disney+. The mix of offensive power from the Hunter Trait, and defensive tankiness from the Guardian Trait makes for a really solid base to outlast your opponent and win by killing their figures. Din Djarin, the Mandalorian himself, is a powerful 8 cost Hunter/Guardian, with a really cool ability in his Disruptor Rifle. It allows him to finish off figures that are 1 health away from being defeated, after the attack resolves. This is really good tech against the ever present Zillo Technique in Imperial lists. IG-11 has a lot of synergy as a 9 cost Droid/Guardian, with his Self-Destruct Protocol making for some interesting options involving Guardian defensive cards. For example, if you let a highly damaged IG play Get Behind Me! to protect another figure, you can cause a big attack with a lot of resources, like focus or command cards, to only cause a few damage to IG-11 instead of a lot of damage to a healthier figure. Once IG-11 suffers damage equal to his health from the attack, you are also able to position him in a way that is effective at causing the most damage with Self-Destruct Protocol, in a way your opponent was not expecting from when they started the attack. For trait synergy, and because he is one of the best 6-cost figures in Imperial Assault, Onar Koma rounds out the major attackers in this list, providing further defensive options with his Get Down ability.
The full list is shown below. The list is 8 activations, with a goal of being able to get the last > first activation swing from one round to another. The strategy of the list involves creating a box set up, with your figures clustered around C-3PO and Onar, for their defensive bonuses. The block tokens on Mando and the innate block on IG-11 paired with the evade from C-3PO and the choice of evade or block from Onar’s Get Down, makes for a tough nut to crack. The plan is to present either Mando or IG-11 as the easiest option to attack. Once they have soaked up 1 or 2 attacks, they can switch places with the other figure to allow them to take the rest of the attacks coming your way. Ideally you are splitting damage evenly between Mando, IG, and Onar, keeping all three alive as long as possible. To help out with this, you use a few Guardian command cards: Iron Will, Get Behind Me!, and Parry. Get Behind Me! allows you to shift the target of the attack, effectively splitting damage between multiple figures, allowing you to control which figure takes the damage. Onar’s unique command card, Extra Protection, gets a special mention here as well, because it helps serve a similar purpose as Get Behind Me! in shifting the positioning of your figures outside of their activation to force your opponent to attack the target of your choosing (plus who doesn’t like an surprise out of activation attack!) Iron Will and Parry are both very effective at limiting the amount of damage a single attack can do, leaving your figure alive to activate again.
The surprise MVP of this list is actually Clan of Two, which allows you to bring the Child companion. The main benefit of the Child is Force Exhaustion. It allows you to incapacitate the Child to remove a die from the attack pool, and the attacker is also weakend, applying -1 surge to the attack as well. This can easily allow the figure that the Child is attached to to survive an extra attack. If you are especially lucky, removing a die will force the attack to miss due to lack of accuracy. (Make sure you brush up on your knowledge of rules around Incapacitated figures. This is the only time in skirmish that you can incapacitate a figure, at least when I’m writing this article.)
The Child can be attached to any of the main 3 attackers in this list, so you can mix and match between games as you want. I personally ended up deciding on IG-11 having the attachement because of his 5 speed. Because the Child activates during IG-11’s activation, the Child can use an action to Force Heal, then use his second action to play the command card Field Tactician. Typically this would be a moderately useful card, giving out of activation movement to another figure. However, this essentially allows IG-11 to move 10 spaces and attack, at the cost of an action from your companion. This can be really powerful at disrupting your opponent’s positioning and acquiring a target your opponent thought was safe. The Child also brings an element of recovery, allowing your figures to recover critical damage in order to stay alive. It also allows you to get rid of harmful conditions, which is helpful if you face an opponent who tries to stun your big attackers, or if you play To The Limit, stunning your own figure. To the limit combined with Onar’s Rush, or Din’s Wrist Flamethrower allows you to move, then use the special action ability to cause damage and gain extra movement, then continue to make a third action to attack. Onar is frequently the primary user of this card because he cannot gain the harmful condition that is a cost of the command card. However, if you do use it with Mando, the Child is available to remove the stun without having to spend an action with a primary attacker.
This list is not completely about defense though. Hunter cards, paired with really strong attacks from Onar and Mando can punish your opponent and push damage through high defense figures. Abilities like Rush, Din’s Flamethrower, and Disruptor Rifle allow you to get extra damage outside of direct attack damage. While IG-11 cannot use the Hunter cards, his double attack is very flexible and powerful, with long range. He really is one of the best figures in the game in terms of stats for his cost, and his unique command card can allow you to finish off 1 or 2 figures in his activation all by himself. The list also has some minor attackers and objective runners in Aphra and the elite Jawa. They both have effective attacks for their cost and can also use Tools for the Job to add some extra punch to their attacks.
