MAUL

Maul's Unit card is finally here so we can start salivating over the new Shadow Collective hotness that's due to come out in May even more and argue between each other about Darksaber or no Darksaber!

So, first off, how does Maul A Rival (Shadow Collective Maul) compare with Maul Impatient Apprentice (CIS Maul)?

Similarities

They are both very agile as both Maul's have Jump 1 and of course have Juyo Mastery allowing Maul to take 3 actions if he has a wound rather than the normal 2 actions (with a limit on a maximum of 2 movements).

They have similar defensive capabilities sporting both Deflect and Immune: Pierce as well as Red Defense dice with 6 wounds.

They both have the same lightsaber that comes with the same attack profile.

Differences

Our newly reformed Shadow Collective Maul has been through a bit of a turbulent time after being thrown down a hole by Obi-Wan on Naboo! He's clearly learnt a lot from his time in exile as he has gained a number of new tools in his armoury. Maul is now able to start the game with 5 wounds as he has the new key word Wounded 1. This means you start the game with 3 actions from the word go.

We know that this Maul is going to be locked to the Shadow Collective battle force (sorry, you can't take this Maul in your CIS lists...phew!) and with Allies of Convenience he will be able to issue orders to the mercenary scum that will be filling the rank and file of his army. This avoids the usual mercenary restrictions of only being able to be issued orders from a unit with the same affiliation symbol (eg. Pyke syndicate or Black Sun). It also allows the list to differ from the normal force organisation chart that will be assigned to the Shadow Collective (we still don't know what this is going to look like apart from that it will differ from the standard 1-2 Commander, 0-2 Operative, 3-6 Corps.....etc).

Maul has also gained a Command slot, showing the respect and fear he commands in the Collective, has lost a training slot in the meantime (probably because he has been in exile for so long!), but gained an armament slot. This of course allows him to take the feared Darksaber.

We can see that this Armament is locked to the Shadow Collective Maul and allows him to become a Commander rather than an Operative. You gain Surge:Crit and Cunning, making those command cards even more potent (more on those later). However, it does mean you must use the Darksaber for all of Maul's attacks meaning you can't use his double-bladed lightsaber.

Both melee attacks are most likely to force 4 saves, you just have a slightly curtailed ceiling when using the Darksaber, but having Commander Maul might make this worth it.

Taking this will all depend on how you want to build your army and if you want to include another commander - potentially Gar Saxon or the Capo or Vigo from the Pykes or Black Suns respectively.

Command Cards

We also got to see Maul's three new command cards. This new Maul still has access to the 3 CIS Maul command cards, but that doesn't work the other way around - CIS Maul cannot use these new command cards.

The 2 pip - His Eminence. This has similarities to Jyn Erso's 3-pip 'Complete the Mission'. The card rewards Maul for diving into the enemy lines as he hands out a suppression token to all trooper units at range 1 of him. The benefit to this effecting your own trooper units is that they cannot become suppressed or panicked and do not Rally. This allows a last gasp surge forward to an objective or to kill a back-line enemy unit.

The 3-pip - Seize What Power We Can. We have seen the new Cache keyword a few times now, allowing a token to be placed on a card at the start of the game and it can be used at any point during the game. This card has similarities with this concept. Maul starts the turn with 1 aim and 3 surge tokens on this command card. Friendly Mercenary units can spend these tokens, seemingly with no range or line or sight restrictions. Maul can also add to this cache of tokens if close-by enemy units spend a token. This could be a great way to shut-down enemy units spending dodges. You will need to discard all of these an normal at the end of the turn (that's where the similarities with Cache end).

The other 3-pip/1-pip. This card gives Maul a 2 wound boost, effectively giving him 7 wounds, as you will have removed a wound when he enters the field due to Wounded 1. A free recover is always great with Maul as he lacks Master of the Force and so this helps refresh the ever present Force Push or other force powers and also removes an immobilize token if Maul used Burst of Speed the previous turn. This makes BoS even better on Maul!

Other factions?

Maul has the 2 small circles to the left of his name and to the right of his faction/battle force identifier. We have seen these circles full in other mercenary units with faction symbols, indicating what factions can utilise the unit in their lists. We know this Maul cannot be taken by any other faction and is only available to the Shadow Collective Battle force - and so if you see these 2 blank circles - this is what it means. We have also seen this on the new AA-5 card we have seen. So the AA-5 will not be added to any other faction. The AA-5 will still be available to the Rebels by using the Rebel AA-5 card, but with the mercenary AA-5 card it is available to the Shadow Collective battle force.

In summary - at 10 points more than the CIS Maul he looks good, very good. With 3 powerful command cards to add to 3 already pretty good command cards, the ability to turn on Juyo Mastery at the start of the game and the ability to issue orders to Mercenary units, he's looking good. A Rival not worth contending with...