Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Snowtroopers

Good morning gamers,

We're back in the Empire for the rest of the month and we're tackling our second of the Imperial Corps units: Snowtroopers. I was a fan of these guys (at least in theory) in the previous edition of the game because they were basically Stormtroopers with Steady. Yes, they have less of a smorgasbord of Heavy Weapon options, but Steady is a great keyword and they're rolling similar stuff on offense and defense. For most competitive players, Snowtroopers have been the go-to option in Legion 2.6 and they are, truthfully, very good units. Let's dig into what makes these guys so great!

Snowtroopers: The Profile

Like Stormtroopers (and Pyke Syndicate Foot Soldiers), these guys are base 42pts - though in reality, these guys are 68pts+, for reasons we'll see when we get to the upgrade section. These are some of the cheapest red-defense-die units in the game and they keep their cost down by taking a few key downgrades. First and foremost, they're only Speed-1 - as we'll see in a moment, that's perfectly fine. Second, they roll 1 white attack die per mini in both melee and at range - with surge to hit, this is only marginally worse than rolling 1 black die each without surging, but it psychologically FEELS worse because "white dice can't hit". Third, they're only base Courage 1 - but the Empire has a few tricks that can fix that problem easily.

At first blush, these guys aren't much to look at - but their one and only keyword makes up for a lot of their problems: Steady. Second to Relentless, this is the strongest keyword for turning a drool unit into a cool unit. While these guys are Speed-1 (~4" of movement), the fact that they can move-move-shoot with ~8" of total movement makes them faster than most units that can only move-shoot. Additionally, because they're moving at Speed-1, they effectively ignore difficult terrain (since difficult terrain reduces your speed by 1 to a minimum of 1). Most other units would need to pay 2pts to get Environmental Gear (or have Scale in their profiles/upgrade suite), so when you think about it, these guys are actually the cheapest Corps option the Empire has. To use them effectively, you do have to build around them a little - but their upgrades can help with this a lot.

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Rebel Sleeper Cell

Good morning gamers,

Rebels have been pretty dominant since the arrival of the Rebel Sleeper Cell unit came to version 2.6 - they were originally very overtuned to be good at playing the new game of Legion and have gotten some points hikes to ease them off a bit. While some players were running three of these every single time they hit the table, modern lists post-price-hikes have seen a more modest number of 1-2 Sleepers in Rebel lists (often accompanied by some form of Ewok Slinger squad, Mandalorians, and very, VERY occasionally Rebel Commandos or Wookiees).

Today we're digging into the Rebel Sleeper Cell unit and what's still good about them, even after they got their price hikes. Let's see what the profile has to offer and why this is still very much a good choice in Rebel lists.

Rebel Sleeper Cell: The Profile

I'm not sure that you could tune this unit any more than it is now, except by giving it better saves. You've got the stock-standard Rebel Special Forces stats of Courage 2, Speed-2, surging-white saves, and 1 Health each - but with a starting unit size of 6 models and surging-white saves, they're quite a bit more durable than most of their competitors (Rebel Commandos and Mandalorian Resistance - one could make an argument for Wookiees and Ewoks being more durable because of the sheer amount of wounds they have). To help their durability, they have Nimble, though no innate ways to get dodge support. With Exemplar heroes (and possibly some upgrades), it's not hard to trigger Nimble, though the issue is usually timing. Still, if you can get a dodge token on these guys (or can borrow it from someone), they'll be guaranteed one extra life so long as your opponent hasn't leaned into High Velocity (beware those perennial Clone Commandos and those cheaper AATs).

These guys have settled into a unit cost of 77pts and boy do they pack a PUNCH on offense! At range 1-2, they roll 2 black dice each with surge to hit, which means that a six-man Sleeper Cell unit is expected to get 7.5 hits/attack - and that's before any aim tokens that they use for rerolls with Tactical 1! With Scout 2, they're probably moving twice on the first turn (moving roughly 12" up the board), which means anyone who drifted 12" or more up their side of the board might be in range on the first turn - and with two aim tokens to fix the 4.5 dice that missed, you're looking at close to 10 expected hits on the first turn (some of which are likely to be crits). Yeah, they're nasty. Additionally, once in melee, they have the option to roll 1 red each with Impact 1 on each of those weapons (reliable into armor units) or roll 1 black/1 white with suppressive (pretty decent against most trooper units). All in all, these guys have a great offensive package - and one that feels much better than it should for a sub-80pt unit!