Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Cassian Andor

Good morning gamers,

We're back in Rebel territory today, talking about the updated Cassian Andor profile! Cassian is a favorite of mine and he was one of the first models I purchased for the Rebel faction in Star Wars Legion. We'll be looking at the new operative profile he has and see what there is to like about the changes that he got in the new edition. Let's start with his "updated" profile.

Cassian Andor: The Profile

Cassian's profile is . . . basically what it was. He's still the stock-standard Speed 2/Courage 2 that you'd expect from a hero and has 6 wounds with the Rebel standard surging-white save. He surges to hit still, but with Marksman, he can turn any hit result into a crit result for every aim token he wishes to spend (though unless you're trying to get past Armor, turning your blanks into hits is probably a better use of Marksman). He still has the aforementioned Marksman and Tactical 1, which makes a move-shoot by Cassian really solid. He still has Danger Sense 3, which is . . . fine on defense (though it will often mean that he might be suppressed when it's his turn to activate.

Cassian lost Loadout and Covert Ops - everyone did - but he functionally got the Operative status/Infiltrate that Covert Ops used to give him, and pairing that with the new keyword of Field Commander, he's FAR more useful in Recon games (trying to use him in skirmish with his previous card was a non-starter - believe me, I tried). He also picked up Sharpshooter 1, which isn't phenomenal, but it is useful when you have small dice pools (which Cassian does). Finally, he gained Equip: A280 - which is still a free upgrade, so you were already stapling it to him every time anyway. The A280 configs haven't changed - and I'd keep it in the pistol configuration 90% of the time since you can get up to range 3 with Long Shot and it has Pierce 1 standard with 2 red/1 black dice (and with Marksman and a move-shoot, it's not hard to get 3-hits-Pierce-1 with Sharpshooter-1 if that matters).

Okay, let's take a look at the upgrades you should take!

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Clone Commandos

Good morning gamers,

We're back to reviewing profiles for Star Wars Legion - and with the updated cards dropped on the AMG website, we can be pretty confident that the unit we're looking at today, Clone Commandos, won't see massive changes in this new edition of the game. When Clone Commandos first dropped into the competitive scene, they were SUPER strong. Even after a drastic price hike that brought other Republic Support options into the discussion (most notably AT-RTs), Commandos are still a powerful force on the table, whether you run one squad, two squads, or three squads.

Clone Commandos: The Profile

Clone Commandos have a pretty normal Republic profile at first glance - 1 wound each, Courage 2, no-surge conversion on offense or defense, and speed 2. Like ARCs, they have limited numbers (4 models, no extras) but each guy has 2 attack dice (2 black in melee, 1 black/1 white at range 1-2 with suppressive). However, between their specialized gear (which will consume both their Gear and Armament slots every time because they are required/free) and their special rules, these guys might be pricier than ARCs, but I think they're always worth taking.

They have a wealth of special rules that help them out on defense - they have Equip: Katarn Pattern Armor, which forces them to take the Katarn Pattern Armor at no extra cost to reduce the results of a defense result to only suffering 1 wound instead of what they would have gotten. This upgrade is an Expend piece, so you only get a do-over once (so best if you have other ways of funnelling off damage). They also have Shielded 1 and Recharge 1, so they will start with a shield token to absorb a hit/crit result from a shooting attack and can reactivate it by performing a Recover action (which they are likely to do every turn). While not explicitly a defensive keyword, Infiltrate allows them to deploy as a free action anywhere within your deployment zone, which means they can appear behind fat rocks or a barricade to give them cover and hopefully manage their incoming fire.

On offense, they have Target 1 - and if these guys are getting orders every turn, having an aim token that can be shared with other Clones or used to improve their impressive dice pools is pretty sweet. They also have their free config, which isn't a special rule, but does give them a range 3-4 1 red die attack pool that has High Velocity when everyone is using it and Lethal 1 if at least one guy is using it (so you can use that aim token from Target 1 to add Pierce 1 to your attack results instead of rerolling failed dice). Alternatively, you can flip the card over at the start of your activation to have a 2 black range 1-2 gun that has Impact 1 for each gun using it and Scatter. The Impact doesn't usually matter against units that can be Scattered, but having the flexibility of tackling armored targets with up to Impact 4 or moving multi-model trooper squads out of cover/into charge range of a friendly unit can be pretty helpful.