Skirmish upgrades: using Smuggler's Run

Good morning gamers,

We’ve already examined the On a Diplomatic Mission skirmish upgrade which can give Rebel skirmish lists an extra VP each round if the leader that bears the skirmish card doesn’t attack. Today, we’re going to look at my second favorite Rebel skirmish card: Smuggler’s Run. This upgrade must be attached to a Trooper and provides special actions for that Trooper squad. 

Requirements for Finalists:

This skirmish upgrade obviously requires that the person attached to it must be a smuggler, but there are other synergies that separate a few characters from the rest of the rabble-rousing smuggler pack:

• Since you need to get to your opponent’s deployment zone, how fast are you (and can you get extra movement in a pinch)?
• Because you’ll be running (in one way or another) towards an opposing character’s deployment zone, how survivable are you?
• Are there better skirmish attachments for the character that might preclude attaching this one?

These kinds of questions as a group will necessarily eliminate certain characters from consideration – Han Solo, for example, is average speed and very survivable but might be better served with the Rogue Smuggler attachment instead of Smuggler’s Run (so as much as I love him, he won’t be a contender). Jabbathe Hutt (allied in with Saska Teft) is pretty survivable but isn’t fast (and probably better served with On a Diplomatic Mission – see our previous post). Greedo and the Hired Guns (either can be allied in with Saska Teft) are fast and don’t have better skirmish attachments available but aren’t that survivable. All this to say, if you don’t see your favorite character here, it’s not because they’re not good or you couldn’t make it work – it’s that others are better choices overall.

Bronze Medal: Vinto Hreeda
Leading us off today is Vinto Hreeda – available to Rebel lists via Saska Teft. Vinto is gifted with a carte blanche right to attack twice for a single action (with his usual boltslinger rule from the campaign game). For more info on Vinto, read our post on him. Vinto ranks third on the list because for 5 points, he’s got 8 health (albeit defended with a  White die), can gain Hide (making it harder to hit him), and he’s Speed 5 and incentivized to move for at least one of them (because he has nothing else to do). Vinto’s speed allows him to quickly race across the board (shooting low-health figures as he runs), clearing out a path to the enemy zone quickly.

While Vinto is great at what he does, he isn’t very survivable – 8 health + White die + Hide only last for so long, so be sure to back him (and it’s best if he comes sailing in after other figures have already done some damage so he can polish people off with Boltslinger). While Vinto himself doesn’t cost very much, you do need to include Saska as well, increasing the total cost of this pairing to 13 points – one third of your army is wrapped up in getting you 5 VPs. It’s probably still worth it, but the expense does work against Vinto here.

Silver Medal: Elite Alliance Smuggler
Smuggler’s Run comes in the Alliance Smuggler Ally Pack, so I felt I needed to give proper appreciation for what you can do with the Alliance Smuggler. Let’s get one thing ironed out at the get-go: Alliance Smugglers (both Regular and Elite) are a great way to increase both the body count and the Deployment card count of any Rebel army. At 2-4 points per figure, you can get a whopping 6 figures (maximum 4 Regular + 2 Elite) for only 16 points, leaving you plenty of space to purchase whatever else you want. All Alliance Smugglers benefit from a static -2 Accuracy penalty to attacks made against them and get some free Movement points afterwards (making it very, VERY hard to hit them).

Don’t forget to include Camouflage to get the most out of him – begin your run once you have this card in hand so you can make yourself Hidden when attacked and make it all but impossible to hit you (that’s defense you can’t buy)! Ideally you also want to include On the Lam – which is great for making sure you get away from melee figures who won’t be affected by your accuracy penalties. All told, for 5 points, you can get an Elite Alliance Smuggler with Smuggler’s Run and score 5 VPs – not bad. But while the Alliance Smuggler is quite powerful, there is one Smuggler who takes the gold from him today…

Gold Medal: Jyn Odan

Jyn Odan is one of the original six playable characters in Imperial Assault and as such, she is awesome. J Jyn costs 5 points to use in the skirmish game (so a tad higher than the Alliance Smuggler) but is also a little healthier and has Cunning. With a White die having a 50% chance of getting an Evade, this means that half the time she defends herself, she’ll get 1-2 Block and 1 Evade – which is usually enough to make sure she doesn’t take very much damage. In addition to the free Block, Jyn can gain 2 movement points for each Evade she gets – which means you can get the 2 movement points the Alliance Smuggler gets half the time too.

What sets Jyn above the Alliance Smuggler is the sheer amount of movement you can get out of Jyn if you want it. Consider the following Smuggler team:

•          Jyn Odan with Smuggler’s Run
•         Han Solo
•         C-3PO
•         Saska Teft
•         Jabba the Hutt with On a Diplomatic Mission
•      Elite Alliance Smuggler x2

If Jyn stands adjacent to both C-3PO and Han Solo (note that Han doesn’t have the Rogue Smuggler skirmish upgrade), Jyn benefits from not one but TWO FREE EVADES each time she defends. This means that even if she gets the blank face on the White die, she’ll get 2 Block + 2 Evade + 4 movement points. The rest of the time she’ll either add 1 Block, 1 Block + 1 Evade, 2 Block + 1 Evade, or 1 Dodge to the defense results – any of which will clobber pretty much any 2 die combo you face. At the end of the attack, you’re looking at 4-6 movement points, which is basically a free move! If you go next, you can spend your first action moving and your next action scoring the 5 VPs. Of course, after she leaves her defense buffs in the dust, you run the risk of losing her, but at that point she’s already paid for herself…

In our next post, we'll be returning to the Mercenary skirmish upgrades and be looking at Prey On The Weak - a simple skirmish upgrade that can turn any Bounty Hunter into a powerful piece on the board. Until then, happy gaming!