Gungan Grand Army/Legends

"Gungans no dyin' witout a fight. Wesa warriors. Wesa got a grand army."

- Jar Jar Binks

The Gungan Grand Army was a large Gungan military on Naboo. It consisted of Ankura and Otolla Gungans and was commanded by a "Bombad General" who served the Boss of Otoh Gunga.

Formations
Sometime around 3,000 BBY, the first Grand Army formed at the peak of the War of the Gungan Tribes when Boss Gallo united the Gungans to defeat the warlord Boss Rogoe.

Sometime between 150 BBY and 121 BBY, the Grand Army engaged in an open war with the Naboo known as the Gungan-Naboo War.

In 100 BBY, the Grand Army fought off unknown invaders of Naboo. As a result, the Gungan tribes were united even closer than they were after the War of Gungan Tribes thousands of years before.

Crisis on Naboo
"Wesa ready to do oursa part."

- Boss Nass in regards to the upcoming battle.

In 32 BBY, the planet of Naboo was blockaded and invaded by the Trade Federation. The Naboo people were entirely overwhelmed by the Trade Federation Droid Army, allowing the Droid Army to turn its attention to subjugating the rest of Naboo. The Droid Army swept through the swamps, driving out the Gungans from Otoh Gunga. When the Queen of Naboo, Padmé Amidala, returned from her voyage to acquire help, she met with the survivors from Otoh Gunga and convinved Boss Rugor Nass to help them. Boss Nass agreed to assist in retaking Naboo, and set about gathering and rebuilding the Grand Army. The Grand Army, sent out as bait for the Droid Army, was composed of two-thousand Gungans and was commanded by General Tobler Ceel under Boss Nass and the Bombad General Jar Jar Binks. The battle on the plains of Naboo weakened the Grand Army but they succeeded nonetheless by preventing the Trade Federation's army from intervening in Theed. 543 Gungans were killed and its leaders captured, but the destruction of the Droid Control Ship in orbit shut down the Droid Army.

The Clone Wars and beyond
Around the year 21 BBY, when the Clone Wars were raging across the galaxy, Jedi Grand Master Yoda contacted the Boss of Otoh Gunga, Lyonie, to ask for assistance in a battle. Binks, now a Senator, convinved Lyonie to assist. Binks, along with a portion of the Gungan Grand Army, was sent to Mon Calamari onboard a Venator Star Destroyer. Many Gungans died in that engagement while fighting Aqua droids, and many were captured when the Separatist leader Riff Tamson used a Trident vessel to create a whirlpool. The survivors were sent to a prison camp among Mon Calamari's coral reefs. Soon after, the Mon Calamari prince Lee-Char visited the camp and told the prisoners to wait for his signal before attacking. Lee-Char was captured and brought before Tamson, and was scheduled to be executed. The Quarrens, Mon Calamari's other race, had joined the Separatist cause but betrayed the Separatists and freed the prisoners. The Grand Army was able to fight back, and some Gungans joined Captain Ackbar in taking down a Trident-class ship. The battle was ultimately won, and Lee-Char was crowned king.

Later during the Clone Wars, there was unrest on Naboo. Rumors were circulating that the Gungans allied with the Separatist Alliance. Boss Lyonie was calling on the Grand Army to march on Theed. Amidala, now Naboo's senator, along with the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, returned to Naboo to defuse the situation. They met Binks on Lake Paonga, and the Gungan took them to Otoh Gunga to meet Lyonie. The Boss rejected their help, but Skywalker realized Lyonie was under a form of mind control from a necklace given to him by Minister Rish Loo. The Jedi crushed the necklace and freed Lyonie. Lyonie then confronted Loo, who betrayed the Boss and stabbed him. Loo escaped from Otoh Gungan and went to the surface to inform the Grand Army that Lyonie was dead and rally them to march on Theed.

Lyonie survived his wound but was unconscious. Skywalker saw that Binks resembled the Boss, and convinved him to pose as Boss Lyonie to call off the Grand Army's attack. They went to the surface, and Binks was able to fool the Grand Army into believing that he was Lyonie. Rish Loo, seeing that his ruse had failed, escaped deeper into the swamps on a Flitknot speeder bike. Three C-9979 landing craft then entered the area and landed. One disgorged a Tactical droid with a B2 super battle droid escort. Binks and General Tarpals followed the tactical droid onto the landing craft, where they met General Grievous. Binks, still posing as Lyonie, told the cyborg general that he wasn't going to go through with the attack. That angered Grievous, and Binks acquiesced and ordered Tarpals to prepare the troops. Tarpals disembarked and contacted Amidala, who suggested a strategy. Binks, meanwhile, stalled for time, but Grievous saw through the ruse and attempted to kill him. Binks escaped off the craft and saw that the Grand Army had succeeded in shutting down the droid army and was gathered around to try to capture the Separatist general. Tarpals and several other warriors engaged the general in the duel. Grievous fatally stabbed Tarpals, who used his sacrifice to impale the cyborg leader with a spear, distracting him long enough for the other warriors to hit him with boomas, knock him down, and capture him.

Skwalker chased Rish Loo to his secret outpost, which was in use by Count Dooku, the head of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Dooku killed Loo, then dueled Skywalker. Skywalker was subdued and captured, and Dooku contacted Amidala, offering a prisoner exchange: the Jedi for the General, and gave her one hour to decide. Later, a Sheathipede shuttle arrived near the gathering of the Grand Army. The tactical droid delivered the wounded Skywalker to the Naboo contingent, and the Grand Army let Grievous go. The Separatist army then left Naboo. Neeyutnee, Naboo's current Queen, praised Binks for reuniting the Naboo and the Gungans again.

In 4 ABY, the Grand Army aided the Naboo in ridding the planet of the Galactic Empire.

Gungan Warriors

 * Militiagungs&mdash;Gungan citizens pressed into military service, armed with boomas and supplied with personal energy shields
 * Gungan Guard&mdash;Otoh Gunga security guards armed with double-bladed electropoles
 * Kaadu Cavalry&mdash;Kaadu-riding fighters armed with cestas
 * Grand Army Officers&mdash;Paid soldiers: Captains, Generals

Vehicles
The Gungan Grand Army didn't use any vehicles or technology from other planets. Instead they took indigenous creatures such as the kaadu, domesticated them and then trained them to stay calm even in the frontline of battle. They then placed mechanical technology such as shield generators onto their larger beasts such as the fambaa.

This was economical to the Gungans as this saved the trouble of looking for reliable weapons offworld and the possibility of being corrupted by foreigners. The Gungans, although they did not use very sophisticated technology, did use a shield generator to stop all lasers and projectiles. Droids, however, were able to physically walk through the shield.

The Gungans also used bongos for transporting supplies.

Behind the scenes
The Gungan Grand Army appears in material relating to the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The New Essential Guide to Alien Species states that the first Grand Army was formed in 100 BBY to fight off unknown invaders and unite the Gungan tribes. However, this conflicts with the fact that it was in existence thousands of years before during the War of Gungan Tribes and the Gungan-Naboo War.

Another contradiction in the Essential Guides is the existence of the Gungan-Naboo War. One source states that a war occurred between 150 BBY and 121 BBY. The New Essential Guide to Alien Species states that there was never a war between the Gungans and Naboo.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
 * The Death of Captain Tarpals
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novel
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comic
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace junior novel
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace PhotoComic
 * ''Star Wars Manga: The Phantom Menace 2
 * Star Wars Episode I Journal: Anakin Skywalker
 * Star Wars: Battlefront
 * Deep Spoilers
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Ultimate Core Dump
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Star Wars: Empire at War
 * Ultimate Core Dump
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
 * Ultimate Core Dump
 * Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
 * LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga