Battle Droid

A decade before the Separatist crisis and the Clone Wars, the Trade Federation used B1 battle droids constructed by the Geonosians as shock troops in the invasion of Naboo. The droids, commanded remotely from an orbiting Droid Control Ship, overwhelmed the Naboo’s efforts to fight back. They seized the capital city of Theed and captured Queen Padmé Amidala.

The Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn freed Padmé, making quick work of the battle droids guarding her, and fled Naboo aboard the queen’s royal starship.

Returning to her homeworld, Padmé appealed to the native Gungans for aid. She and the Gungan leader Boss Nass used the Gungan army as a diversion to draw the battle-droid armies out of Theed and into the Great Grass Plains.

While the Gungans fought the battle droids, Padmé and the Jedi raided Theed, hoping to capture the Trade Federation’s Nute Gunray and force him to end the invasion.

The struggle to free Theed turned when Anakin Skywalker brought his damaged starfighter skidding to a halt inside the Droid Control Ship over Naboo. Seeking to destroy the battle droids surrounding his craft, Anakin fired and hit the Droid Control Ship’s main reactor.

When the Droid Control Ship exploded, the battle droids on Naboo shut down, becoming metal statues. The Gungans pushed over the helpless mechanicals, celebrating their unlikely victory.

The Battle of Naboo was just a prelude to the Separatist Crisis, which began a decade later. On Geonosis, Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered that the Separatists were preparing for war with the Republic, with great droid foundries turning out battle droids for the struggle.

When the Jedi arrived to rescue Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker, the Geonosians summoned their battle droids to fight the invaders in the execution arena.

Through a mishap on the assembly line, one battle droid sported the head of C-3PO. Some quick repair work by R2-D2 was required to reunite Threepio’s head with the rest of him.

The fight in the Geonosis arena soon spilled over to the planet’s plains, with Republic clone troopers and Separatist battle droids clashing in a massive fight. The Clone Wars had begun!

Battle droids proved effective in capturing Republic worlds, cowing civilians with weapons and sheer numbers. They were little match for Republic clone troopers or Jedi, but far outnumbered such forces.

On Rugosa, Yoda showed just how ineffective these droids were against a capable opponent. As Asajj Ventress looked on in disgust, the little Jedi all but demolished Ventress’s army, proving the value of brains over mechanical brawn.

During the Malevolence campaign against Republic starships, General Grievous sent battle droids equipped with rocket packs out from his battleship to hunt down survivors and kill them – a ruthless tactic intended to preserve the secrecy surrounding his new warship.

Battle droids served many roles aboard the Malevolence – and their limited programming made them unfit for many of these tasks. Grievous was one of many Separatist commanders to grow frustrated by the droids’ limitations, sometimes destroying his own soldiers in fits of anger.

Padmé Amidala found herself captured by battle droids on Rodia, as part of Nute Gunray’s quest for revenge against her. The Naboo senator had to rely on Jar Jar Binks for rescue from the droids.

The Separatist scientist Lok Durd used his battle droids as hapless test subjects for his defoliator weapon. As he’d hoped, the droids were unharmed – if a little discombobulated – by the weapon’s swath of destruction.

Battle droids could be reprogrammed: On Iego, Jaybo Hood kept a retinue of droid servants he’d rebuilt using a mishmash of parts. An enraged Anakin Skywalker destroyed many of the droids before realizing they posed no threat to him.

Mace Windu destroyed numerous battle droids in leading the Republic attack on Lessu, capital city of the Twi’lek homeworld Ryloth.

Battle droids were vulnerable to electromagnetic energy, which could shock them into deactivating. Clone troopers used “droid poppers” to short-circuit their mechanical foes, and the Republic experimented with heavier weapons, such as the electro-proton bomb tested on Malastare.

A key test for the Republic came with the long-feared Separatist invasion of Kamino, site of the Republic’s cloning facilities. Clone troopers, cadets and even maintenance clones joined forces to defend their home against hordes of battle droids.

Reprogrammed battle droids assisted the Republic mission to rescue Even Piell and Captain Tarkin from the Separatist prison known as the Citadel. A squad of pilot battle droids served R2-D2 faithfully, helping a team of Jedi and clones infiltrate the fortress.

Artoo’s battle droids rescued Obi-Wan after he was captured in the Citadel, intercepting the security droids accompanying the Jedi’s party and insisting on taking charge of the prisoners themselves.

Count Dooku sent Grievous and an army of battle droids to wipe out Dathomir’s Nightsisters. The witches fought back with all of their powers, but not even the spirits of the dead could help them defeat the mechanical horde sent to destroy them.

The Jedi trained rebel insurgencies on a number of worlds in an effort to open up new fronts against the Separatists. One of those worlds was Onderon, where Republic-loyal rebels led by Steela and Saw Gerrera learned tactics to overcome the Separatist soldiers.

The tactics were often effective, and helped turn the tide against the Separatists. These same tactics would be used years later by insurgencies that arose to fight the Empire’s flesh-and-blood troops.

The Republic sometimes used unconventional assets to defeat battle droids – perhaps none as unconventional as D-Squad, a team of droids featuring R2-D2 and led by the diminutive Colonel Gascon.

As the Clone Wars ground on, the Separatists were driven back into redoubts in the Outer Rim. In a last-ditch effort to change the course of the war, General Grievous raided Coruscant and kidnapped Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, prompting Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to lead a rescue mission aboard Grievous’s flagship.

Grievous retreated to Utapau, but Kenobi was in hot pursuit, and confronted the cyborg warlord before his legions of battle droids.

Obi-Wan’s face-off with Grievous preceded a Republic invasion, with clones battling for every meter against battle-droid defenders. It was one of the final battles of the Clone Wars – within days, Anakin Skywalker eliminated the Separatist leadership on Mustafar and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine declared himself Emperor on Coruscant. The era of the battle droid was over.