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The Marg Sabl was a classic closure maneuver in space battles, used during conflicts such as the Clone Wars, Galactic Civil War, and the Thrawn Crisis.

CharacteristicsEdit

The ship(s) executing the Marg Sabl would close at high speed against an enemy force. At the last moment, the ship(s) would angle their hulls against the enemy's attack vector, protecting its fighter groups as they sortie. These fighters would then form up and, concealed by the hull of the ship, conduct a flanking maneuver to attack the enemy ships; if the enemy commander is unaware of the maneuver, his fighters and point defenses would be unable respond in time.

It was a simple maneuver that was obvious to spot, but when properly executed, it had a highly unstructured attack profile. As a result, most experienced opponents would not fall for it, though species with a psychological blind spot for unorthodox tactics, such as the Elomin or simple-minded OOM command battle droids would. In the case of the former, the Elomin forces retreated, exposing themselves to complete destruction. In the case of the latter, the droids pressed their ineffectual assault, pinning themselves between the hull of the ship and the flanking fighters, which attacked from all sides.

HistoryEdit

During the Battle of Ryloth, Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano suggested the use of the maneuver against CIS battle droids that had been abandoned by their Neimoidian commanding officer.^[1] Decades later, it was used successfully by Grand Admiral Thrawn, who demonstrated the particular Elomin gullibility at the Destruction of the Elomin task force.^[2]

Behind the scenesEdit

The Marg Sabl first appeared in Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire. The novel later inspired Star Wars: The Clone Wars director Dave Filoni to include the maneuver in the episode "Storm Over Ryloth".^[3]

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – "Storm Over Ryloth"
• Heir to the Empire (First appearance)
• Vision of the Future

SourcesEdit

• Pirates & Privateers
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One

Notes and referencesEdit