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.
Snowtroopers are units who you might load up with a few select upgrades - and I think need to have a Heavy Weapon to be useful (and a Training upgrade, more on that below).
Heavy Weapon x1
The two generic Heavy Weapon options for Snowtroopers are both good in different ways. The Flametrooper is a 20pt option that has range melee-to-1 and has 1 black die with Spray (so 1 black die per model in the enemy squad). Having a few of these to deal with big enemy squads isn't a bad option. For 4pts more, you can get the T-7 Ion Snowtrooper, who is bringing 2 black/1 white to any shot it takes and Ion 1/Impact 1/Critical 1 to other shots (all three of which are useful against Armor X vehicles, the Critical is good for bypassing dodge/cover, and the Ion is useful against any droid/vehicle). These guys tend to be the default option now that you don't have to exhaust Ion X weapons.
You can also take Gideon Hask or Del Meeko from the ISF Inferno squad - Gideon is 5pts more than the T-7 Ion, is expected to do slightly more damage (0.375 extra hits), has an extra wound, boosts you to Courage 2, he'll be taken as the last casualty with the Leader keyword, and gives you Coordinate: Corps Trooper. If paired with a Tip-of-the-Spear Agent/Officer, I think Gideon could be a good take . . . but compared to a T-7 Ion Heavy, Del Meeko does less damage, provides less useful keywords, and costs more . . . so leave him at home.
With the release of Agent Kallus, we have the ability, for 29pts, to get the same attack dice as a T-7 Ion Trooper (who costs 24pts), the Leader keyword, Courage 2, and Demoralize 1. I don't know that this unit really WANTS to be in melee (unless it has a Flametrooper, more on him in a minute), so Kallus's other boosts don't really matter. The primary argument against taking Kallus in a squad of Snowtroopers is that for the same cost as Kallus and a Heavy Weapon, you could get +5 guys with the Snowtrooper Squad Personnel upgrade. Instead of getting a slightly better attack (4 black/2 white from Kallus/T-7 Ion should net you 4.25 hits, while 5 white from the Squad should net you 1.75 hits), you get +3 red-save wounds, Indomitable, and a larger foot print with which to trigger Compel. The primary argument against taking Kallus AND a Heavy Weapon AND a super-sized squad is that the unit is 134pts . . . and I don't know that it's good enough to cost nearly double what a Snowtrooper + T-7 Ion squad does (or what a Gideon Hask + T-7 Ion squad does). Is it alright to buy "just Kallus" as an alternative to the same-cost Gideon Hask? Maybe - but Hask is getting marginally more damage at range 1-3 and quite a lot less damage in melee, so I'm personally of the opinion that if you're looking at one of these guys, you're probably looking at Hask.
Personnel x1
These guys have the two standard Personnel options for Corps units (in this particular case, the Snowtrooper, or "fifth trooper," and Snowtrooper Squad, or "the super-sized squad"), both of which I think are fine. The super-sized squad is slightly cheaper than a new unit of Snows (40pts) and with 5 extra red-die saves makes the unit (and its Heavy Weapon option) harder to clear with chip damage. If you have 8pts left over (or a multiple of 8 that is equal to or less than the number of Snowtrooper squads you have on hand), then taking a "fifth trooper" is just fine.
Two of your other options are fine depending on the build you're taking. If you need a Corps unit to bring a medical droid along to heal Vader or another Trooper power piece, then an FX-9 Medical Droid isn't bad on this unit (though I usually reserve this one for a Stormtrooper unit). Similarly, if you need to be able to heal a vehicle, an R4 Astromech only costs 1pt more than the "fifth trooper" option (but once again, I usually lean on Stormtroopers for this). Because both of these options have the Noncombatant keyword, I usually forego the Heavy Weapon on these squads, since the Heavy would need to be lost first. You could, I guess, take a Med-Droid with either Gideon Hask or Agent Kallus, since their Leader keyword will force them to be taken last . . . but I think both of these guys really want a Heavy Weapon in their squad as well.
I'd steer clear of both the Imperial Comms Technician and the Imperial Officer - the IO does give you Courage 2, but the cost of taking this Personnel upgrade is nearly the same as taking a Heavy Weapon and if Compel is present in your list, the Courage 2 might be unnecessary. This unit doesn't need Comms upgrades at all, so I'd skip on the IO always.
Gear x1
In general, I would leave this one blank - I don't think this unit is worth pumping small bits of points here and there. Since you effectively have Unhindered already (difficult terrain reduces your speed by 1 to a minimum of 1 . . . and these guys are already Speed-1), the movement-related Gear upgrades you definitely don't need. While Steady does mean these guys could find themselves with a spare action, I'm not sure that you want to be paying for Electrobinoculars or Portable Scanners with these guys (you could, of course, but I don't think you really need them). Since Stormtroopers will usually be eating up your aim tokens, you probably don't need Targeting Scopes - but if you left all the Stormies at home and find that you have 4pts lying around, you might consider taking this on a supersized unit with a heavy . . . or not . . .
Grenades x1
I don't think these guys need grenades - theoretically, getting a better die (black or red instead of white) is good on your Snows, but you can't have everyone use the Grenade upgrade anymore, so is it worth it to pay 3-5pts for one guy to upgrade to a black/red die? I don't think so if your goal is the die alone. That said, if you want Suppressive on a Flametrooper unit and nothing to spend 3pts on, then the Sonic Imploders might be a good take (so you get Blast, Spray, and Suppressive on your attack). If you want Impact or Ion . . . skip on the Grenade and just take the T-7 Ion Trooper for 24pts?
"Training" x1
The only Training slot that these guys can equip is the new Imperial March upgrade - and for 6pts, it's a very, VERY good upgrade. I mentioned at the start that while these guys are listed as 42pt units, they're really 48pt units and that's because they benefit so much from Imperial March. Because these guys have Steady, you can move-move-shoot - and for 6pts/unit (2pts less than Recon Intel), you can add an additional 2" of movement to your speed. Over two turns, this gives you as much of a jump start as you'd get from Recon Intel, so each turn you move after that, you're getting extra movement. If taken on a unit that has the Flametrooper, you can gain Charge by discarding the upgrade, which is fine for Snowtroopers because the Flamethower can be used in melee as well as at range 1, but I'm not sure that's going to be better in most situations than standing just beyond the unit and shooting with Steady. You decide based on your context - the option is yours.
Snowtroopers: Sample Lists and Strategies
The first list is a generic Imperial list that has 15-activations and spams out 6 Snowtroopers, 3 Scout Troopers, 3 Imperial Probe Droids, Krennic, an Imperial Agent, and Operative-Darth Vader - this list is a little low on Compel (I could have gotten Compel from a DT-F16 Death Trooper squad and a few "fifth troopers" at the low cost of losing 1 of the Probe Droids - do that if you want to):
- Director Orson Krennic with Electrobinoculars
- Darth Vader, The Emperor's Apprentice with Force Choke, Force Guidance, and Tenacity
- Imperial Agent with Tip of the Spear, Command and Control Uplink, and Z-6 Riot Baton
- 3x Snowtroopers with T-7 Ion Snowtrooper and Imperial March
- 2x Snowtroopers with Flametrooper and Imperial March
- 1x Snowtroopers with Gideon Hask and Imperial March
- 3x Scout Troopers
- 3x Imperial Probe Droids
Our second list is a 12-activation Blizzard Force list that features six Snowtroopers (two super-sized Flamer squads, four Ion squads), 2 Probe Droids, 2 Speeder Bikes, and a Vader/IO combo - you can get to 13-activations if you swap 2 Snowtroopers with T-7 Ions for 2 Stormtroopers with DLT-19s - this will give you space for a third Probe Droid and a 5pt upgrade for your IO (maybe Seize the Initiative for some deployment control on Turn 1?):
- Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith with Burst of Speed, Saber Throw, Force Choke, and Inspiring Presence
- Imperial Officer with Academy Trained
- 4x Snowtroopers with T-7 Ion Snowtrooper and Imperial March
- 2x Snowtroopers with Flametrooper, Snowtrooper Squad, and Imperial March
- 2x Imperial Probe Droids
- 2x 74-Z Speeder Bikes with HQ Uplinks
Snowtroopers: Final Review
I really like these guys and I think they're super cool. The new Blizzard Force box gets you 2 Snowtrooper squads and 2 Probe Droids, so I definitely have my eye on that! I don't know that I want to run 6x Snowtroopers through (I do like the Stormtrooper Heavy options), but the list above looks like a lot of fun and I definitely wanted to show off the Snows in this post (see my previous stuff on Stormtroopers and HRUs for other options).
Overall Unit Review: 5/5 stars. I think this unit is great, but it does feel a bit overtuned when compared to non-Stormtrooper Corps options. We'll look in a later month at Shoretroopers (who are also Speed-1 . . . and don't feel as good) and Riot Control Stormtroopers (who are very melee-oriented . . . but may not be as good in melee as the Flamertrooper Snows?) and you'll see what I mean. That may just be an issue with these other Corps options not being tuned enough, I don't know.
Hopefully you enjoyed this article - next time, we're looking at the final unit in the Imperial starter set: Scout Troopers. Like we did with ARC Troopers for the Republic, we'll be looking at both Scout Troopers and their Strike Team options - these guys provide some very interesting punching power with low defense and short range, and it's an interesting question for any Imperial player as to whether or not their squishiness negates the potential game-shifting blow they can deal on offense. Find out what's up with these guys (and how to use their strike teams) next time - and until then, happy hobbying!
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