Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Clone Trooper Marksman

Good morning gamers,

It took a while for the Republic to get a second faction-specific Corps unit when Legion 2.6 dropped - and when it finally arrived, I have to admit, I was convinced they'd have white saves. Imagine my surprise when I saw not only a unit that looked remarkably like the Clone Trooper Infantry profile, but it also had access to range-4 on all of its blasters AND it had Marksman to improve its dice rolls! Enter the Clone Marksman - a unit that comes in at a slight discount compared to Clone Trooper Infantry, sports the kinds of things we all like in Clones, but also plays very differently from their Corps alternatives. These guys are not beating anyone out of a job (except for maybe ARF Troopers), but they're quite solid as a Corps choice if you plan to field several of them.

Clone Trooper Marksmen: The Profile

This squad has the standard Corps stats you'd expect from a GAR unit: 1 health each on a 4-man squad base, Courage 2, and non-surging red saves. They also have speed-1, but have Prepared Position, so their location after two turns is likely to be about what you'd expect from Clone Trooper Infantry. They roll 1 black die in melee and at range 1-3, but their guns have Long Shot on them, so if you spend an aim token, they can have range 4. With Marksman in tow, having access to two aim tokens means that they can not only shoot at range 4, but they can also promote a die roll from a blank to a hit OR promote a hit to a crit (depending on your situation, this can be very useful). Finally, they have Prepared Positions, which means they'll start the game with a dodge token if they begin on the board - and I think that's generally a good idea, as the dodge token can be shared with other Clone Trooper units and it avoids the greatest downside of being speed-1. 

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Ewok Skirmishers

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we looked at Ewok Slingers, who are a fabulous model that the Rebels (and the Bright Tree Village battle force) have access to in their Special Forces slot. Today, we're looking at Ewok Skirmishers (who can't actually skirmish with people) who are a Corps option and . . . fall quite a bit short of their cousins. Let's see what these guys bring to the table and see if we can suss out why they cost 2pts more than their Special Forces counterparts.

Ewok Skirmishers: The Profile

The best way to think about this unit's profile is that they're like B1 Battle Droids (who we'll be looking at in the next few months): they have non-surging white saves, 1 wound/courage 1, and they've got 6 minis by default. They cost a little more than B1s at 40pts/squad and trade Coordinate: Droid Trooper for Low Profile and Unhindered . . . which is interesting, sure, but also makes you really dependent on terrain to take any advantage of your rules. They're also mercenaries, so issuing them orders is pretty difficult unless you're running Lando, Wicket, anyone with Allies of Convenience (which you might take via Underworld Connections so you can take an extra squad of Slingers), or any of the Ewok heroes in Bright Tree Village. Thankfully, they do not have Self-Preservation, so they can benefit from any Commander's Courage to keep them from panicking. The Slingers have the same profile, but also pick up Target 1 and Independent: Surge 1 . . . and somehow, they cost 2pts less?

On offense, these guys don't have a ranged option but have 1 black die/model in melee . . . which is to say that their melee profile is the same as the Slinger's ranged profile and is better than the Slinger's melee profile by 0.25 hits/model . . . how in the heck are these guys more expensive? Is the ability to provide backup while they're not supressed that valuable? I don't think so. Anyway, this is a fine-not-great melee pool and while we'll be looking at ways to increase your damage output, one could make the argument that the base value isn't good enough to make the investment worth it. I leave that to you to decide.

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Ewok Slingers

Good morning gamers,

This month's focus is on Ewoks and we're starting off with "the good squad", Ewok Slingers. For reasons that I cannot fathom, these guys have more rules, a ranged attack, and take up a Special Forces slot . . . and yet cost fewer points than their melee-oriented cousins, Ewok Skirmishers (more on them next time). They came up 3pts since their release at the start of Legion 2.6, but they still come in 2pts under their melee brethren . . . and as Mercenary units, I'm always tempted to throw two of them into my Rebel lists (along with Lando or someone else with Underworld Connections). Let's look at what these guys have to offer in one of the Rebellion's toughest force-organization slots (and why they're so good in Rebel lists)!

Ewok Slingers: The Profile

These guys are 38pts and start with 6 bodies - that's basically the same cost as most of the Rebel Corps options, but with +2 guys. As a result, their profile lags behind the Corps a bit - 1 Wound/Courage 1/Speed-2 (how?) is pretty normal, but non-surging white saves isn't great and no innate surge option on offense isn't normal for Rebels. Don't let this fool you, though: with Target 1 and Independent: Surge 1, these guys will get some kind of green token every turn, regardless of whether you have order control on them or not. Additionally, having Low Profile and Unhindered makes them a nightmare to drag out of area terrain. They are a Mercenary unit, so you can only have one of these in your list normally (and issuing them orders is hard), but having at least one unit with Allies of Convenience (innate to Lando and available to anyone with a Command slot by taking Underworld Connections) allows that specific Commander/Operative to issue orders to them AND opens up a second slot for you. Two squads of these guys doesn't have to be that expensive - and will probably come in below the cost of other similarly-sized units.

Their attack profiles don't look great at first glance - 1 white in melee and 1 black at range is fine-to-bad, but 1 black each at ~6pts/model is a whole lot better than the 10-12pts/model that you get from Rebel Troopers/Veterans (plus with the option for an aim token occasionally or a surge token most of the time, these guys might have a better offensive profile than most bare-bones Rebel Corps units - heck, most Rebel Special Forces units too!). All in all, it's a pretty punchy unit for not a lot of points - a glass cannon, yes, but a lot of firepower on a budget!

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Scout Troopers

Good morning gamers,

We're tackling the last of the Imperial units from the Imperial starter set today and boy do these boys pack a punch! While Scout Troopers may not be the best example of a glass cannon, they certainly qualify as being heavy on the offense and light on the defense. Scouts are incredibly points efficient, but also very hard to keep alive - so in today's post, we're going to look at what these guys are good at and how you can get the most out of them in both standard Imperial lists and in several battle forces.

Scout Troopers: The Profile

Scout Troopers have some pretty common Special Forces stats: Speed 2, Courage 2, and 1 Health each. This makes them more courageous than the Imperial Corps units we've looked at recently, so they can afford to be a little distant from your Compel characters. Their offense is super good with Sharpshooter 1 and 2 black dice/mini at range 1-2 (and their melee is fine with 1 black die/mini in melee). Without Surge to hit/crit, they wouldn't mind access to the Critical keyword (available in the Imperial Remnant Battle Force - more on that later) or characters that help them get surge tokens (rare but possible - more on that later). Defensively, they're a bit fragile with surging white saves, but Low Profile helps them some - especially if they're sitting in a terrain feature that grants heavy cover. Scout 3 is a very useful Turn 1 aid, as it helps them navigate up the board quickly (though without Unhindered, they're going to still get slowed down by difficult terrain). With 4 minis for 48pts, these guys are about the same cost as Stromtroopers/Snowtroopers per mini, which is very useful for buffing out your activations.

The Scout Trooper Strike Team had a very similar profile (boy am I glad this article came out AFTER the points adjustment and profile releases). Like before, they have the Heavy Weapon Team special rule, which makes the Heavy Weapon upgrade required, but the Heavy is also the unit leader. With only 2 models including the Heavy, this squad is much easier to kill and once you include the Heavy, they aren't that much cheaper than the full squad (42pts with the sniper vs. 48pts for the full squad without upgrades). With the sniper getting better and coming down in price (20pts now) and the option for cheaper heavies if you don't want to do chip-damage from far away (10pts for a Probe, 17pts for a saboteur), these might see play now. They have Detachment: Scout Troopers, so they can only be fielded alongside full Scout Trooper units, which means their primary point of comparison is definitely Probe Droids (and since these are Support options now, you're looking to add more Support tokens to your bag instead of Special Forces).

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!

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: ARF Troopers

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we looked at Commander Ahsoka, who most competitive players choose to leave at home in favor of her squad leader upgrade option (and I don't blame them, but I think she's pretty good). In today's article, we'll be looking at ARF Troopers, who are available in the Republic Starter Set and compete for your Special Forces slot with ARC Troopers - and while the two units do two very different things, there seems to be a default lean for most competitive players towards either taking ARC Troopers or skipping on the Special Forces slot entirely and just relying on your Corps units, Commander/Operative characters, and maybe Supports.

With some new opportunities for ARFs to shine in the 212th Legion battle force, let's look at what these guys are bringing to the table and what might make them worth taking on the table.

ARF Troopers: The Profile

Many of the stats for ARF Troopers are what you'd expect from a Republic unit - Speed-2, Courage 2, no innate surging on offense or defense (but access to token sharing), and 1 black die/mini on offense. The neat trick they add in their profile is a base range of 1-4 on their blasters, which is useful for alpha striking on the first turn. But in this, ARFs are not unique . . .

ARF Troopers are long-range units, but they're not the only Republic units with that claim to fame. When you look at long-range options for Republic Clone units, the pinnacle of the list is the Clone Commando - both in cost and in lethality. A range 3-4 shot that's got 1 red/mini with High Velocity and Lethal 1 is pretty slick, but at 90pts a squad (and possibly more), they're quite the investment. You have access to Clone Trooper Marksmen in the Corps slot now, which begin at 50pts and might rise to as much as 143pts if equipped with a Clone Mortar Trooper, a Clone Medic, and a "super squad" (to say nothing of the potential for an RPS-6 heavy weapon or a Clone Captain/Commander/named squad leader who might cost more). This squad begins with a range 1-3 gun, but can hit range 4 with Long Shot - which means these guys can definitely throw the most dice at range 4, but at the highest cost. ARC Troopers (either the full squad or the strike team) can field a DC-15X heavy weapon unit that can shoot at range 4, but this is only with 2 dice and with 2-6 wounds to help it out, so you generally don't see the DC-15X on ARCs, unless someone is trying to do an "alpha strike" play on the first turn that leads into a 6-model attack on Turns 2-3 (like my son has done to me many, many times).