Stephen Troopers

## Overview

*ONE OF US! ONE OF US! We’re not sure exactly who ordered the creation of this cloned Grand Army of Stephens, but it’s probably not important. What matters is that they are here and ready to storm bases in the name of the Republic! You might have a little trouble telling them apart, but they certainly seem trustworthy. The Stephen Troopers are always for sale for the right price and work together to help other Stephens on the same base.*

The Stephen Troopers faction consists of a normal spread of minions who all have the same name. They derive name-based benefits from being on the same base as each other, and have a simple power up and converge gameplan to close in on a base and score it. Rename rivals and exploit them, while you prepare to stab them in the back at the last possible second.

Image Album: https://imgur.com/a/bLkRYSU

## Details

#### General

* Name: Stephen Troopers
* Author: ludichrisness
* Complexity: 1.5/5
* Version: 1.0
* Last updated: June 1, 2022

#### Special Details

This faction is part of the Star Wars Smash Up custom expansion, and is based on the Clone Troopers of the Clone Wars.

## Cards

#### Breakdown

Stephen Troopers have the standard set of 10 minions and 10 actions. They have a total minion power of 30, or an average of 3 per minion. Among their actions, there are:

* 1 play-on-base action: No Stephen Left Behind
* 2 play-on-minion actions: Stephendoctrination (2x)
* 7 standard actions (6 of which affect one or more minions, **in bold**): **Accelerated Aging**, **A Few Good Stephens**, **Attack of the Stephens**, **Even Stephens**, **Execute Order Six-Stephen-Six (2x)**, Mail Order Stephen
* Two actions that directly increase a minion's power: Accelerated Aging, A Few Good Stephens

#### Minions (10)

* **1x Stephen (5)**: Ongoing: This minion has every unique ability which another Stephen here has.
* **2x Stephen (4)**: Ongoing: After another Stephen is played or moved here, place a +1 power counter on it if it does not already have one.
* **3x Stephen (3)**: Talent: Move another Stephen from here to another base or from another base to here.
* **4x Stephen (2)**: Ongoing: This minion has +1 power if it has a +1 power counter on it, and +1 power if there is another Stephen here.

#### Actions (10)

* **2x Stephendoctrination**: Play on a minion. Draw a card. Ongoing: This minion is named Stephen.
* **2x Execute Order Six-Stephen-Six**: Choose a base. Each player with a Stephen there destroys one of their non-Stephen minions there. You may play an extra Stephen there from your discard pile for each minion destroyed. Special: You may play this before a base scores.
* **1x Accelerated Aging**: Choose a base and place a +1 power counter on every Stephen there.
* **1x Even Stephens**: Give control of one of your Stephens to another minion to play an extra minion and/or an extra action.
* **1x No Stephens Left Behind**: Play on a base. Ongoing: Stephens here cannot be affected by other players' actions.
* **1x Attack of the Stephens**: Move any number of Stephens from one base to another base. You may destroy a minion there with power equal to or less than the number of Stephens moved.
* **1x Mail Order Stephen**: Choose one of your minions. Search your deck for a minion with the same name and place it in your hand.
* **1x A Few Good Stephens**: Each Stephen with a +1 power counter on it gains +2 power until the end of the turn.

#### Bases

* **(19) Stephen Prime (3 2 1):** After this base scores, each player may name one of their minions here and return all of the minions here with that name to their hand.

* **(23) Factory STE-168514 (4 2 1):** Once per turn after playing a minion here, you may immediately play an extra minion here with the same name.

## Clarifications

* **A Few Good Stephens:** Stephens with more than one +1 power counter still only gain +2 power. Stephens affected by this ability keep their temporary power even if their power counters are removed later in the turn.
* **Execute Order Six-Stephen-Six:** You do not need to choose the scoring base when using the Special ability.
* **Stephen**, **Stephen**, **Stephen**, **Stephen:** These minions share the same name but are not considered copies of the same card for abilities like Budding, because they have different printed abilities.
* **Stephen:** If you move this minion as part of a group of Stephens, the other Stephens moved do not receive a +1 power counter, because the movement happens simultaneously.
* **Stephen Prime:** If you return a minion you do not own, it is returned to its owner's hand.

## Strategy

### General

The Stephen Troopers take advantage of name-based benefits, coming into the game with ten minions who all share the same name. Their abilities are quite powerful (e.g. compare the 3-power Stephen to Northern Mover or the 4-power Stephen to Maria Hill) with the limitation that they only work together with other Stephens. Similarly, many of the actions seem directly weaker than other comparable abilities (e.g. Accelerated Aging vs Jolt), but with the upside of affecting Stephens which you do not control (more on this to come).

The Stephen Troopers in general have a simple 3-part gameplan where they can be staged in advance, powered up with power counters, and then converged to their final destination. You can activate power on your Stephens with a single power counter, so your goal should be to equip each Stephen with even one +1 power counter before converging. You can spike in power quite quickly between your 2-power Stephens and cards like A Few Good Stephens once you spread some power counters around. Notice that your 3-power Stephens can create lateral movement, moving a Stephen from Base A to Base B while the 3-power Stephen remains in play on Base C. This is a potentially powerful movement engine which can stay in play for a long period of time, giving you extreme mobility for your army. The 4-power Stephens can earmark the base you plan to attack, powering up all Stephens who are moved there.

Aside from this simple but effective convergence strategy, Stephen Troopers have some other clever name-based tricks up their identical sleeves. All of the Stephen-related abilities can affect Stephens controlled by other players, which give you two meaningful options - you can either give your Stephens away to other players for benefits, or you can rename other players' minions to also be named Stephen. Stephen Troopers are equipped to do both with Even Stephens and Stephendoctrination, broadening the scope of what you can interact with with your abilities. For example, after renaming another player's minion as Stephen, the 3-power Stephen can move them to any base regardless of power level, which is an ability with extremely strong waste potential.

Stephendoctrination is also extremely powerful paired with the 5-power Stephen, who takes on the abilities of all other Stephens on his base. Copy powerful abilities from rivals by renaming them and then moving them to your leader Stephen, or your leader Stephen to them. Notice that if you have multiple of your 4-power Stephens (including the copied ability by your leader Stephen) on the same base, each one is able to put a separate +1 power counter on the arriving minion.

The last play of note is the double feature Execute Order Six-Stephen-Six. At its absolute floor, this ability lets you trade out one of your partner minions on a scoring base for a Stephen of your choice from your discard pile. Some of the Stephens that can come into play can be extremely impactful, like trading a partner 2 for your 5-power Stephen, immediately powering him up by copying the abilities of your other minions; copying your basic 2-power Stephen with a 4-power Stephen there to place a power counter in Phase 3 would turn your leader Stephen into a +6 power swing at minimum, before considering rival copying potential. EOSSS can do even more though, as it forces other players to destroy their non-Stephens as well, allowing you to have your Stephens who were renamed or given away to dispatch one of its new controller's minions there while also giving you another Stephen from the discard of your choice.

Stephens have strength in numbers, activating new potential and abilities in the presence of each other. Group up and claim the galaxy in the name of the Grand Army of Stephens!

### Partner Suggestions

Without extra minion plays, you will not want to miss out on opportunities to play Stephens. You don't have much added draw, with only Mail Order Stephen and Stephendoctrination helping on that front. This is something partners can help with, by quickly getting you more Stephens on the board and accelerating your game. Useful engine minions make great partners when they double well, because the leader Stephen can copy their abilities if you rename your own partners.

#### Published

* **Ignobles:** This combination really puts the "betrayal" in "inevitable betrayal". It is very possible for a rival to go from winning on a base to you getting a solo if you can Execute Order Six-Stephen Six to have a Stephen that you gave away destroy their Singularly Powerful Minion on a base, then take back the Stephen with Inevitable Betrayal. Aside from that interaction, Ignobles have some good swarm support and draw potential to make sure you have Stephens on the board for your power plays.
* **Killer Plants**: This may be one of the strongest Stephen pairings as the draw and extra minion plays of Plants let you easily fill the board with Stephens. Venus Man Trap is an excellent target to rename with Stephendoctrination, allowing you to move it around turn to turn with your 3-power Stephens. Your leader Stephen can then copy VMT so that you are slinging up to two 2-power Stephens each turn, for an obscene amount of power drop when combined with your other abilities. As usual, Killer Kudzu sends this combo into overdrive, ensuring plenty of Stephens to choose from and play as needed. In my defense, Killer Kudzu didn't exist when I made this faction :-)
* **Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas:** Stephendoctriation is a very powerful modifier, one which can easily be transferred around by Dr. Finkelstein after it has served its purpose. Jack Skellington has perfect granularity of power counter spread, making him ideal to activate the power of your 2-power Stephens when you are ready to score. Nightmare's vast playbook appreciates the simple and effective gameplan of the Stephen Troopers, letting Nightmare play more of a support role and dish out modifiers from the sidelines.
* **Time Travelers:** Jumpers are very good fodder for Execute Order Six-Stephen Six, returning to hand while you replay your best Stephens. Repeater Perfect has some excellent targets with the one-off Stephen actions, and in general Stephen Troopers bring a punch that Time Travelers lack on their own to power up and converge. Time Box can really contribute to your burst with the 2-power Stephens (instant 5's when played on your 4's) and extra actions for large variety of Stephen actions.
* **Ultimates:** Stephens have a great power up and converge strategy, which Ultimates slide into nicely. Ultimates mostly move themselves, so this doubles really nicely and naturally on top of the Stephen movement package. This is another combination where renaming your own minions could make a lot of sense, as renaming a Blue Marvel lets you push it around multiple times in the same turn with your 3-power Stephens, eventually leading to a very large Marvel who can even be saved in Phase 3 with Scramble for a quick double score.

## Author Notes

I've long wanted to explore the idea of minions with the same name but different abilities, and I finally got the chance to do so with the Stephens. Originally they were all named "Clone Trooper", but the concept really came together when someone on the Discord asked "what if they were all named Stephen". The idea of minions unlocking new abilities when working together with other minions of the same name is really appealing to me, and I like that this is a very simple faction which still has some clever tricks to pull with the more complex cards. Name-based synergies are becoming more ubiquitous in Smash Up with Disney, but this faction goes in the opposite direction as only caring about one name in particular. The Stephen Troopers were my contribution to the Star Wars Smash Up custom expansion and were a lot of fun to make and test out. I do wonder if I would make this faction in the same way if I were to do it again, as the "tagging" of minions with Stephendoctrination might have been done more simply by using Marks instead. Regardless, I love the Troopers as they are, and they remain (currently) the lowest complexity faction I've made and polished.