Programmed for Destruction

"The matrix dates back to the Old Republic. No one knows who thought it was a good idea, but you can presume they didn't live to regret it […] Much later the Tarkin Initiative had a few ideas for how it could be used."
     –Ruen

Stationed at numerous bases throughout the galaxy, the scientists of the Tarkin Intiative were responsible for many of the Empire's greatest weapons. Most notably, they designed the first and second Death Stars—fantastic battle stations capable of obliterating whole worlds with their superlasers.

But the Tarkin Initiative's scientists didn't stop at superlasers and Death Stars. They worked on projects of all sizes, including assassin droids and blastomech droids. And two of these droids will soon make their way from the Tarkin Initiative's think tank to your games of Imperial Assault with the BT-1 and 0-0-0 Villain Pack.

Like other Imperial Assault figure packs, this expansion introduces a carefully detailed miniature for each of its namesake characters. These are accompanied by all the Agenda and Deployment cards you need to field the droids, plus new missions and five Command cards that offer surprises for both your campaign and skirmish games.

Into the Tarkin Initiative Labs

Although they appear, at first glance, to resemble another famous droid duo—that of the astromech R2-D2 and protocol droid C-3PO—the Darth Vader comics quickly make it clear that BT-1 (Bee Tee) and 0-0-0 (Triple Zero) are nothing like their Rebel counterparts. Instead, the two are wildly homicidal, and approach their work with deranged breed of enthusiasm. They spend much of their time terrorizing various "meatbags" and taking on other tasks in the service of the Sith Lord and his archaeological associate, Doctor Aphra.

Still, the droids are clever enough to use their relatively innocuous appearances to their advantage. At one point, Triple Zero even manages to deceive Luke Skywalker and render him unconscious after Doctor Aphra paints him to look like C-3PO.

In your games of Imperial Assault, you won't be able to use these droids' appearance to lull your opponents into a false sense of complacency, but you'll likely find them more than capable of serving as your lieutenants anyway. And they might still surprise your friends with their ferocity if you first unleash them upon your campaign as part of the Etiquette and Torture side mission.

Available for three influence as part of the Devious Droids Agenda set, the Etiquette and Torture side mission challenges the heroes to rescue a pair of hostages from one of the Tarkin Initiative's secret labs. It also offers a dramatic—and deadly—introduction to Bee Tee and Triple Zero.

BT-1, Destructive Assassin

With a deployment cost of just six points, BT-1 is an extremely cost-effective addition to either your campaign or skirmish games. In both cases, he packs a mighty ranged attack of three dice—one blue, one red, and one yellow—and comes with an Assassin ability that focuses him before every attack he makes.

A four-die attack like Bee Tee's is strong enough to punch hard through just about any defenses. In fact, it hits so hard that it may often prove to be overkill, especially when paired with his Pierce 1 surge ability. However, this is where Bee Tee's Missile Salvo action comes in handy.

Instead of performing one overwhelming ranged attack, Bee Tee can use an action to fire off three smaller ranged attacks, each with separate targets. One uses a blue die, one uses a red die, and one uses a yellow die. Each attack gains three points of Accuracy, and because he's still an Assassin, Bee Tee focuses before each of them, meaning with a single action, Bee Tee can launch six dice against three separate targets.

In your campaign games, this Missile Salvo can make Bee Tee an effective closer if you opt to wear down multiple heroes, spreading your damage around, instead of focusing on just one. Or in your skirmish games, it may allow you to finish off multiple figures in a single activation, including such favorites as C-3PO , Gideon Argus , or a Weequay Pirate . Given that Bee Tee has the useful Droid, Hunter, and Heavy Weapon traits, you might even be able to take down tougher units with your Missile Salvo, using command cards like Assassinate , Tools for the Job , and Lock On to land a surprising amount of damage.

The flexibility that Bee Tee offers with his Missile Salvo and his standard attack doesn't just make him an effective killer of groups counting fewer, tougher characters and groups that feature greater numbers of more fragile characters, it also allows him to switch his focus between dealing damage and healing damage with his Recover 1 surge ability. Given that Bee Tee becomes Focused before each of his Missile Salvo attacks, there's a very real possibility that he can use his Missile Salvo ability to recover as much as three health each round.

0-0-0, Specialized in Pain

Where BT-1 packs a surprisingly powerful arsenal, 0-0-0 presents a variety of different tactics that you can use to hinder, torture, and manipulate your opponents—mostly by hitting them with negative conditions.

The application of these conditions begins with his melee attack, which given his low deployment cost of four, is quite respectable at one red die and one yellow die. Even so, there's no guarantee it will always bypass your opponent's defenses. But if Triple Zero attacks and has a surge to spend, he can have his attack automatically miss, and Stun his foe with his Shocking Palm.

In both your campaign and skirmish games, you are bound to come across situations in which stunning your opponent is more valuable an option than dealing it one or two points of damage. And Triple Zero gives you that option.

Additionally, Triple Zero can automatically assign the Bleeding condition to any adjacent figure with his Invasive Procedure ability. More than that, the Invasive Procedure ability also deals one point of damage and one point of strain, and it empowers the sadistic droid for future rounds by granting him the Focused condition.

Finally, Triple Zero's Unnerving gaze Weakens each adjacent enemy at the end of his activation. Since he's a melee-driven combatant, this ability comes in handy whenever Triple Zero activates early in a round, moving in for the kill and then ending his action adjacent to one or more enemies. By assigning each of those enemies the Weakened condition, Triple Zero effectively increases his defenses, gaining the equivalent of an evade against each of them.

The Droid Uprising

For all that it offers your Imperial Assault campaign, the BT-1 and 0-0-0 Villain Pack may have its greatest impact in the skirmish game where its evil droids and innovative command cards can give real teeth to your all-Droid army.

As an example, such an army could pair BT-1 and 0-0-0 with a host of other droids. In the sample army below, we find Bee Tee and Triple Zero leading a force that also includes four standard Probe Droids and one elite Probe Droid , plus the deadly bounty hunter IG-88. The concentrated focus on these droids then gives extra weight to all of your command cards with the Droid trait, including Overdrive , Repair , Devotion , and the new Shared Experience .

Since it can re-draw itself from your discard pile, Shared Experience can play as many as seven times in this list. And while it's the first command card to feature this new "re-draw" mechanic, it's not the only command card to feature a new mechanic. BT-1's Ballistics Matrix is the first command card that attaches to a Deployment card to enhance a unit, and it grants BT-1 the ability to ignore other figures as he draws line of sight for one of his attacks.

Of course, since you have eight Droid units in your Droid Uprising army, you should have plenty of ways to play Devotion to pull Ballistics Matrix or IG-88's Blaze of Glory or 0-0-0's Eerie Visage . And this means you should be able to make early and effective use of whichever of these cards best suits your purposes.

With all these angry droids at your disposal, it should come as little surprise that the expansion's new skirmish missions are titled Rogue AI and Abandoned Research. And in the end, while your droid army tears through the Tarkin Initiative's abandoned labs in search of whatever new technologies or secrets they may uncover, it won't really matter if they're ripping apart your foes because they were programmed to do so or because they found that they enjoyed it. The only thing that will matter is how little these droids now need their meatbag creators.

Devious Droids

"I say, BT, you certainly do make a mess."
     –0-0-0

Whether you use them to terrorize your friends in your campaign or blow apart opposing forces in skirmish, BT-1 and 0-0-0 are bound to make an explosive impact upon your games of Imperial Assault.

How will you make use of them? Share your thoughts with the members of our community forums. Then head to your favorite local game store to pre-order your copy of the BT-1 and 0-0-0 Villain Pack today!