IP Class Deck Review: Military Might

When you think of the Galactic Empire, there is probably nothing more iconic than Darth Vader at the head of a sea of Stormtroopers in polished white armor. Though Stormtroopers are notorious for not hitting their targets, they are the backbone of the Imperial war machine and they are the terror of many people groups (both those that support the Rebellion and those that do not). In this post, we’ll be looking at the Imperial Class Deck that focuses on Troopers the most: Military Might.

Military Might: The Power Of Troopers

With the release of the Core Set, the Trooper choice for the Empire was decent: between Stormtroopers and E-Web Engineers, you had high-damage Troopers and swarm options. With each successive release, we’ve seen new (and perhaps better) Trooper options – from Heavy Stormtroopers and Riot Troopers to Jet Troopers and Sentry Droids. When you include the handful of Trooper heroes they’ve received (most notably CaptainTerro), Troopers can be the workhorse of any Imperial army.

Military Might, released in the Core Set, works predominantly with Troopers, giving them bonuses to keep them alive longer or do more damage on offense. While the primary focus of this post will be on Troopers, not all of the Military Might cards require a Trooper to be the primary beneficiary of the card. So, let’s see what we can do with the minions of the Empire today.

End-Game Build #1 – Troopers Only: Show Of Force, Combat Medic, Riot Grenades, Endless Ranks, Shock Troopers, Combat Veterans (11 XP)

In most scenarios, you’ll have 2-3 open groups (rarely more than that). As such, all you really need are 3 Trooper choices outside of the Core Set (though it helps to have more for choice and stuff). If you focus on the upgrades that benefit Troopers only, all of your open groups can be Troopers. Two of the upgrades we’ve chosen for this build are attachments: one squad can carry Riot Grenades (useful when targeting characters with poor Insight like Biv Bodhrick and Gaarkhan), while another (or the same one if you prefer) can be Combat Veterans (who benefit from bonus Accuracy/Damage on attack and bonus Block on defense). To supplement these attachments, our other upgrades are not assigned to particular squads, but provide one-time benefits that help our guys (like Show Of Force to make someone Focused or Combat Medic to help a Trooper and friendly figures adjacent to him) or static, global benefits (Endless Ranks makes the deployment cost – not the reinforcement cost – cheaper for Troopers, while Shock Troopers gives any Troopers who are attacking at close range a free Surge).

Best IP Units:

·         Riot Trooper (Heart of the Empire) – These guys benefit from all of it: with a base cost of 5 points, they drop down to 4 points with Endless Ranks, making them easily recoverable in any campaign. Their Block power token complements the bonus block from Combat Veterans very well and since they’re melee, they’ll always get a free Surge from Shock Troopers. If you weren’t killed, you can benefit from the Combat Medic bonus and heal those around you!

·         Sentry Droid (Heart of the Empire) – Sentry Droids – released alongside Riot Troopers in the Heart of the Empire expansion – are close-range shooters, making them prime candidates to benefit from Shock Troopers. They’re not as defensive as Riot Troopers are, but they have the potential to shoot more than once with a shy penalty to their offense (which you can ignore if you make them Combat Veterans).

·         Heavy Stormtrooper (Twin Shadows) – What can I say – a Red-Blue attack pool won’t surge very often, so you stand a good chance of actually triggering Blast with these guys if you have Shock Troopers. Their speed makes getting within 2 spaces a bit difficult unless they’re playing defense, so make sure you see where the Rebels need to go and then place these guys in their path to guarantee close-up targets.

·         Stormtrooper (Core Set) – These guys were released in the Core Set and for a while were the only three-man Trooper choices the Imperial Player had in his arsenal. With a reroll on the attack, these guys can better utilize the double-damage faces of their attack pool and avoid wasting surge (rely on Shock Troopers to trigger your Surge-for-Damage option).

·         Bespin Wing Guard (Bespin Gambit) – While not Imperial units, these guys are Troopers and are available to any Imperial Player in any mission. Since these guys can heal themselves whenever they attack, they complement the Combat Medic upgrade quite well (going from damaged to undamaged to damaged to undamaged very quickly).

End-Game Build #2 – Balanced Approach: Show Of Force, Assault Armor, Sustained Fire, Shock and Awe (9 XP)

While Troopers are incredible, you’re not guaranteed to get Troopers in your starting (or reserved) units. Even if you do, there are plenty of great units that are not Troopers at all! If you don’t want to use Troopers and want to use something else, can you do it with Military Might? Yes!

As mentioned previously, Show Of Force is great for anyone – make someone Focused! You can add some additional firepower with Sustained Fire, which allows you to attack an additional time and then become Stunned afterwards. In many ways, the strategy here works the same way as To The Limit – look for ways to get more utility out of your offense. I will say that this one card allows you to basically spend both actions attacking in a given round (your first action is spent removing the Stun, the second is spent attacking to trigger Sustained Fire) – if you can manage not moving, it’s not bad.

To supplement these two abilities, we have Shock and Awe and Assault Armor. Shock and Awe is a global upgrade that allows you to add a bonus Damage to any declared attack for the low-low cost of 1 Threat (maybe). As great as this upgrade can be, it’s hard to get much bonus out of it. Unless you choose not to use it in a given round, you’ll never get more than two applications of +1 Damage (and in my opinion, that’s not worth 4 XP). You could skip buying this upgrade if you wanted to get Shock Troopers and Combat Medic instead. Assault Armor is one of the best upgrades in the game available to an IP – at the cost of 2 XP, you get +2 Health on whatever deployment card receives the attachment and the ability to reroll a Black die (which is incredible).

Best IP Units:

·         Trandoshan Hunter (Core) – We all know that Trandoshans deal a lot of punishment (what with the Strain against anyone within 3 spaces and the bonus Damage (or two if it’s an Elite Trandoshan Hunter) against adjacent targets. Sustained Fire and Show Of Force are fantastic bonuses for Trandoshans (and the extra health from Assault Armor is great too).

·         Elite Gamorrean Guard (Jabba’s Realm) – Elite Gamorrean Guards are fantastic units – Red-Red attack pool with Reach and the ability to reroll 1 attack die. With Sustained Fire, you can get a second attack out of one of the guards and you can get more damage out of the second guard with Show Of Force. Assault Armor supplements the free Block you receive from the Gamorrean Honor Guard rule and provides a reliable defense against melee attacks (against which the GHG rule doesn’t apply).

·         Clawdite Shapeshifter (Heart of the Empire) – Clawdites, like most single-model deployment cards, aren’t the best units to benefit from Assault Armor (you’re only getting a cosmic +2 Health vs. +4/+6 Health for 2-3 figure deployment cards), but a regular Clawdite Shapeshifter can deal a lot of damage when Focused. Regardless of form, Sustained Fire with one of these units is powerful – Senators heal more, Scouts shoot at long range more, and Streetrats can deal two Red die worth of damage in a single turn. Sure, you get stunned – big deal when you can do that kind of damage!

·         Tusken Raider (Twin Shadows) – There isn’t much strategy involved here: Tuskens are the melee-version of Trandoshans and their Red-Green attack pool is fantastic (and fairly reliable). Since they have low Health, they benefit greatly from Assault Armor, which keeps you from having to re-purchase them when both figures invariably die.

·         Royal Guard (Core) – You know all those good things I said about Elite Gamorreans? They all apply to Royal Guards as well. Royal Guards are not only fantastic on offense, but because they provide static Block bonuses to nearby non-Guardian units, they tend to be the first targets of Rebel figures. Placing Assault Armor on these guys not only makes the Rebels work more to kill them off, but also takes away an attack or two that was intended for someone else (someone weaker).

End-Game Build #3 – Resilience: Show Of Force, Combat Medic, Assault Armor, Combat Veterans (7 XP)

If you don’t care about what kind of troops you bring, you can instead focus on keeping your deployment cards alive (which is generally the best course of action). To do this, we’re going to join the two most defensive upgrades (Assault Armor and Combat Veterans – both are attachments, so they’ll help no more than two units) and purchase Combat Medic to heal figures at the end of each round. The best thing about this build is that it only costs 7 XP, so you’ll have 2-4 additional XP in a short campaign (and not too much more in a long campaign), so you can purchase whatever other upgrades you want.

Best IP Units:

·         Riot Trooper (Heart of the Empire) – Whether you give these guys Assault Armor or Combat Veterans, they’re very hard to kill. We’ve already talked about them, so I won’t prolong the discussion.

·         Snowtrooper (Return to Hoth) – If you’re going to use Combat Medic, you can’t go wrong with Snowtroopers. You get three figures in the deployment card, all of whom can spend an action healing any Troopers adjacent to them. Combat Medic not only augments this, but also heals non-Troopers adjacent to one of them. Give these guys Assault Armor, and they’ll have 6 Health and a rerollable Black die on defense – not bad.

·         Jet Trooper (Jabba’s Realm) – Jet Troopers benefit greatly from Combat Veterans – the free Block ensures they’ll always be able to gain an Evade (useful late in the campaign when the Hero’s weapons have good surge abilities), and the free Damage on the attack is great too (though the Accuracy is often unnecessary). With Mobile, you can also position these guys anywhere you want, allowing them to trigger Combat Medic and heal units that are spread out across the map.

·         Heavy Stormtrooper (Twin Shadows) – while Shock Troopers is fantastic for Heavy Stormtroopers, either of the defensive attachments are good as well – having 8-10 Health keeps these guys alive for a while if you give them Assault Armor, while getting a static Block from Combat Veterans (which becomes 2 Block when being shot at from 4+ spaces away) also keeps them alive. Whichever you choose (though you could slap both of them on a squad of these guys), you’re looking at a hardy unit with lots of power.

·         Stormtrooper (Core) – There’s something about these “vanilla” Stormtroopers that I love – the reroll on offense is fantastic, but they get even better with Combat Veterans (and much harder to kill with Assault Armor). Not only do they provide 3 figures to trigger Combat Medic, but they’re better on offense than Snowtroopers and benefit from the Focus die of Show Of Force better than any of the other options (besides maybe Heavy Stormtroopers).

In our next post, we’ll be examining the final Imperial class deck in the Core Set: Subversive Tactics. While Technological Superiority provides both attachments and general upgrades and Military Might makes your Trooper units stronger, Subversive Tactics focuses more on slowing Rebel Heroes from triggering their moves (instead of making the Imperial units better). Until next time, happy gaming!

Custom Short Campaign: Sabotage

Good morning gamers,

We’re continuing our short campaign series today with a discussion of the “Sabotage” campaign. The campaign we’re looking at today is theme-focused, using missions where you attack Imperial establishments and sabotage their infrastructure. To play this campaign, you’ll need a copy of the Core Set AND the Rebel Trooper Ally Pack.

Campaign Theme

This campaign is not character-centered like our Balance of the Force and The Solo Story campaigns were (see our first post in this series for a few ideas on themes you can use). Instead, this campaign is based on the theme of sabotage – wrecking and destroying Imperial weapons sites. In this campaign, Rebel heroes will be traveling across the galaxy pursuing different Imperial targets and trying their best to sneak past the strongest defenses and leave with a big kaboom in their wake.

Mission 1: Brace for Impact

I’m recommending the use of Brace for Impact, though you could also use Target of Opportunity (available in the Core Set) or Armed and Operational (available in the Rebel Saboteur Ally Pack). The mission prompt below applies to Brace for Impact, but if you change to either of the others (which got a TON harder with the errata of the Rebel Saboteur profile), you’ll need to change the wording a little.

Pre-Mission Briefing: After their victory at the Battle of Yavin, the Rebel Alliance has become more daring in challenging the technological superiority of the Empire. Rebel High Command has ordered a division of Rebel soldiers to infiltrate an Imperial data facility on Taris, hoping to find the locations of Imperial facilities used for advanced conventional weapons production. While the retrieval of the data went smoothly, the available active intelligence on the defenses of the facility were incorrect and they require a special team to assist in their escape. . . .

Recommended Units for the IP:

·         6-cost group for double the threat level deployment

·         Imperial Officer (up to 2)

·         Jawa Scavenger                                     [Jawa Scavenger Villain Pack]

·         Elite Jawa Scavenger                            [Jawa Scavenger Villain Pack]

·         Probe Droid (up to 2)

·         Ugnaught Tinkerer (up to 2)                 [Bespin Gambit]

Post-Mission Briefing (on Victory): You are able to clear a path for the trapped Rebel soldiers to retreat and you lay down covering fire as they make their way into the woods and away from the facility’s defenses. As you all arrive at the freighter that was sent for extraction, the team of rescued soldiers is grateful for your help. “We’d all be goners back there if it weren’t for you!” When you return to the Rebel Fleet, Rebel High Command is given a summary of the data collected and are provided with a short list of facilities that might be vulnerable to Rebel attack. The first of those facilities is a high explosives facilities on Onderon and your team is tasked with paying them a visit.

Post-Mission Briefing (on Defeat): Despite your best efforts, the barricade has fallen and your allies’ position is overrun. Before the Imperial troops are able to finish their advance, one of the Rebel troopers hands you a data chip with the intel collected. “Quick – get this to the admiral!” As you and your team retreat to the forest and return to the Rebel Fleet, you are disappointed with the results of the day. Rebel High Command is given a summary of the data collected and are provided with a short list of facilities that might be vulnerable to Rebel attack. The first of those facilities is a high explosives facilities on Onderon and your team is tasked with paying them a visit.

Mission 2: Brushfire

This campaign is all about blowing stuff up – why not blow up an AT-ST with special explosives? To do this, we’re using Fenn Signis’ class mission and whether you use Fenn or not, it’s a lot of fun to play! If Fenn Signis isn’t being used in the campaign, the Rebel players will need to pick a figure to stand in for Fenn Signis for game rule purposes.

Recommended Units for the IP:

·         6-cost group if the Rebels won the Rebel Troopers as allies

·         8-cost group for double the threat level deployment

·         Clawdite Shapeshifter            [Heart of the Empire]

·         Hired Gun                              [Hired Gun Villain Pack]

·         Jet Trooper (up to 2)              [Jabba’s Realm]

·         Nexu

Post-Mission Briefing (on Victory): As you leave the explosives facility in flames, you feel a surge of excitement for the small victory you’ve scored against the Empire. While en route to the Rebel Fleet, you’re passed along information for a research facility on Dantooine that is creating a new chemical compound to provide added strength to advanced infantry squads. A prototype of the serum is not well guarded – Rebel High Command would like you to requisition it for testing on Rebel Special Forces.

Post-Mission Briefing (on Defeat): While you were not able to collect all the high explosives, you were glad to do something against the Empire. While en route to the Rebel Fleet, you’re passed along information for a research facility on Dantooine that is creating a new chemical compound to provide added strength to advanced infantry squads. A prototype of the serum is not well guarded – Rebel High Command would like you to requisition it for testing on Rebel Special Forces.

Mission 3: A Simple Task

Some weapons development programs are just too interesting to blow up into tiny bits. In this mission, the “sabotage” involved will take the form of a prototype that might increase the Rebellion’s chances of succeeding in combat.

Recommended Units for the IP:

·         6-cost group if the Rebels won the Rebel Troopers as allies

·         8-cost group for double the threat level deployment

·         Clawdite Shapeshifter            [Heart of the Empire]

·         Hired Gun                              [Hired Gun Villain Pack]

·         Jet Trooper (up to 2)              [Jabba’s Realm]

·         Nexu

Post-Mission Briefing (on Victory): With the serum secured, you return to the Rebel Fleet with glad tidings and a few prototypes of the new serum and its application apparatus. One of these prototypes is gifted to your squad in recognition of your heroic efforts. The final facility on your sabotage list is an up-and-coming Imperial establishment on Corellia. As you prepare your gear, you’re excited to have one last chance to provide a setback to the Empire as the Rebellion continues to gain support from star systems across the galaxy.

Post-Mission Briefing (on Defeat): While the plan was a good one, you are unable to secure the serum. When you return to the Rebel Fleet, you are given your final orders for sabotage efforts against the Empire. The final facility on your sabotage list is an up-and-coming Imperial establishment on Corellia. As you prepare your gear, you’re excited to have one last chance to provide a setback to the Empire as the Rebellion continues to gain support from star systems across the galaxy.

Mission 4: Means of Production

In this finale – one more facility for the Empire to defend and for the Rebels to destroy!

Recommended Units for the IP:

·         6-cost group if the Rebels won the Rebel Troopers as allies

·         10-cost group for double the threat level deployment

·         Dewback Rider                      [Captain Terro Villain Pack]

·         Elite Imperial Officer

·         ISB Infiltrator                        [ISB Infiltrator Villain Pack]

·         Elite Probe Droid

·         Riot Trooper (up to 2)            [Heart of the Empire]

·         Elite Ugnaught Tinkerer        [Bespin Gambit]

·         Weequay Pirate                      [Jabba’s Realm]

Post-Mission Briefing (on Victory): With this final facility destroyed, you are confident that the Alliance has been bought some time to build up their defenses. While you have only sabotaged a few facilities, your efforts have slowed down Imperial advances on star systems sympathetic to the Rebellion and instead focus their effort on improving security on their weapons research and development facilities. This doesn’t guarantee the long-term safety of the Rebellion, but you can rest assured that you have purchased the freedom to act for many star systems across the galaxy. . . .

Post-Mission Briefing (on Defeat): The facility still stands and continues its production as you leave the compound, devastated by the losses you suffered. As you return to the Rebel Fleet, you can only hope that your efforts have slowed down the Imperial war machine, though your hope seems a little hollow at the moment. . . .

I hope you get some great ideas for how to work these campaigns into your gaming sessions – until next time, happy gaming!

Character Review: Loku Kanoloa

Good morning gamers,

Over the last few weeks, we've looked at sharpshooter characters in Imperial Assault: Jyn Odan and Mak Eshka'rey. Today, we close out our sharpshooter series by covering Loku Kanoloa. Unlike Mak, Loku has the capability of getting static bonuses to his attacks while firing from long range (and some of those benefits can even be passed on to friendly figures). While healthy, Loku has the Clear-Sighted ability, which adds an additional 2 Accuracy to his attacks. While this makes range weapons an obvious choice, how to attack with Loku is a bit more complicated.

Loku Kanoloa: Attack vs. Interrupt

Loku's main ability is Set Your Sights, which allows him to place a Recon Token on a figure in his line of sight. Anyone attacking a figure with a Recon Token gets a static Damage 1 bonus to its attack. Obviously, if you attack someone who has a Recon Token, Loku's attacks (and any friendly attacks) become a lot stronger - but Loku has a very powerful upgrade that also requires the use of Recon Tokens: Overwatch. With Overwatch, you can interrupt before a target in your line of sight moves or attacks to perform an attack of your own, adding a free Surge result to your attack (in addition to the Damage 1 if he's got a Recon Token on him already).
On its face, Overwatch is an excellent upgrade to have (and I highly recommend it). However, since you only have 2 Recon Tokens total to use, you'll need to have one token on Overwatch and the other on your target, which makes you focused on a single figure (and none of the other hostile figures). An alternative approach is just to bank both tokens with Overwatch so that you can interrupt for all of your attacks (potentially twice in a single round). This debate between interrupting vs. attacking normally is the key decision for Loku (I think).

End-Game Weapon #1 - Reliable Interrupt: A280 with Marksman Barrel and Plasma Cell

Loku has a static +2 Accuracy while healthy, which means any other static Accuracy bonuses just increase an already ridiculous range. For our first build today, we're looking at the A280, which is a more powerful version of Loku's starting weapon the All-Weather Rifle (you can keep this weapon until you get to Tier 2). Thanks to the static +1 Accuracy from the A280 and the static +2 Accuracy from the Marksman Barrel, your looking at a static +5 Accuracy to your Blue-Green attack pool (giving you a guaranteed 8 Accuracy). Thanks to the Plasma Cell, you can turn up to 3 Surge into Damage 3 + Pierce 2 (without counting the static Pierce 1).
To get the most out of this build, you want the Combat Spotter upgrade, allowing you to ignore figures when placing Recon Tokens and shooting at figures with Recon Tokens (getting a lot more out of your automatic Accuracy). Add to this the Overwatch upgrade and you can trade one of your actions to interrupt and attack on someone else's activation (adding that extra surge we talked about earlier). At your worst, you'll get Surge 1 + Accuracy 1 on the Green and Damage 1 + Accuracy 2 on the Blue with a static Accuracy 5 + Damage 1 + Pierce 1 + Surge 1. This results in Accuracy 8 + Damage 4 + Pierce 3, which should kill most Black die figures. It's important to note that the maximum Damage of this weapon isn't much higher (Damage 6 + Pierce 3), so you can rely on breaking the Black die and dealing 4-6 Damage to your target.
To get even more out of this weapon, pick up the Spectrum Scanner for 2 XP to pass the Recon Token to someone else in the same group as your target. You can also increase your static Accuracy and recover Strain better with Mon Cala Special Forces. With this build, you're planning on moving, then banking a Recon Token on the Overwatch upgrade, and then assigning the other Recon Token to a hostile figure you can see. Sure, you'll only be firing once per turn, but it will be spectacular!
Upgrades to purchase - 9 XP: Combat Spotter (1), Overwatch (2), Spectrum Scanner (2), Mon Cala Special Forces (4)

End-Game Weapon #2 - Precise Cannon: DXR-6

When looking for a powerful gun, few are as impressive as the DXR-6. This is a Tier 3 weapon with a two-dice attack pool and while it has a Red-Red attack pool, the lack of any mod slots often makes it less powerful than other weapon options. However, the surge abilities on this weapon are the same as the A280, making it one of the best surge-bonus weapons in the game. If only we could get reliable Surge results...
From our last build, you'll already see that Overwatch will give us a static Surge, which translates into Damage 2. For this build, I recommend that you also pick up Coordinated Attack, which will allow you to add an additional die to your attack pool - generally, you want to add a Red die, but as we discussed in our post on Gaarkhan, you actually get more reliability and basically the same Damage from a Green die. Since Coordinated Attack requires a Recon Token to be on the target, you'll be rolling a Red-Red-Green (or Red-Red-Red) with a free surge and Recon Token (static Damage 3). If you get more than one surge from the attack results, you'll want to recover strain (though it's rare you'll get more than one or two).
Upgrades to purchase - 6 XP: Overwatch (2), Coordinated Attack (4)

End-Game Weapon #3 - Support Role: DDC Defender with Plasma Cell

Let's be honest: Loku gets static Accuracy, so while we could use a melee weapon with him, it's better if we just use a range weapon. Most of the skills we've used so far are the heavy-offense abilities of Loku, but he has many support skills too (which don't really help with his offense):

• If Loku has Scouting Report, he can use a Recon Token to allow a crate to be interacted with as a free action (which synergizes with Mak's Expertise upgrade);
• The Spectrum Scanner upgrade doesn't require Loku to be the one killing a figure to pass along the Recon Token to another figure, so you can use this on a friendly figure's turn to keep the Recon Tokens on enemy units;
•  Similar to the Spectrum Scanner, Loku can move a Recon Token with Study of Enemies, which isn't limited to a unit on the same deployment card, but rather any unit that's near the target (and it doesn't require that the target be killed, just that a surge is used);
• Finally, Loku has Scout's Guidance, which allows him to put Recon Tokens on friendly units to give them a static Evade to their defense results.

Using all of these upgrades is probably overkill, but to be honest, having all four gives you great flexibility for your Recon Tokens: need to claim a crate in a hurry? You want Scouting Report (especially since you don't need to be able to see the crate that's receiving the token). Have a lot of Black die friends and facing a Sith lord? You want that extra Evade from Scout's Guidance. Need a little more health? Study of Enemies is great that way (if not just to transfer a Recon Token to someone without suffering strain).

So, if you're playing this flexible support role, what do you need from your weapon? The answer is simple: lots of extra surge to recover strain. There is no weapon that gives you reliable surge to recover damage AND multiple attacks like the DDC Defender. Assuming you're shooting at someone who has a Recon Token on them, with the DDC Defender you're adding a static Accuracy 2 + Damage 1 to your attack with a Yellow-Green attack pool. With the Green, you'll get at least 1 more Accuracy and by tacking on the Plasma Cell (we like this upgrade, can you tell?), we not only have the ability to spend 2 surge to increase our Damage, but we also add a static Pierce 1 (which basically guarantees we'll be damaging a Black die). With three attacks for two actions, we can recover up to 3 strain per turn (which allows you to recover basically everything from Scout's Guidance and Scouting Report). This of course requires that Loku doesn't move on his turn (unless you strain twice to gain 2 movement points), but it allows you to provide tactical benefits to your team without spending actions to do it.
Upgrades to purchase – 9 XP: Scouting Report (1), Spectrum Scanner (2), Scout's Guidance (3), Study of Enemies (3)

Loku in the Skirmish Game

Loku Kanoloa isn't bad in the skirmish game, but he's not amazing either. Loku has the ability to spend both his actions to perform an attack with +2 Accuracy and ignoring figures in his way. With a static +2 Accuracy anyway and the ability to turn any surge on his Red-Blue attack combo into Damage (or Pierce), he can good damage against foes who are at least 6 spaces away (expected range is actually 7, but you can guarantee 6). For 4 points, he's not a bad purchase.
This concludes our series on sharpshooters. Next week, we're taking a quick interlude and covering three "other heroes" - ones that didn't fit well in any of the categories I made. These heroes don't have specific drivers for their offensive skills, so we'll be covering all three and showing which weapons work well for any of them. Until then, happy gaming!

IP Class Deck Review: Technological Superiority

For the last few months, we’ve been reviewing one Rebel Hero from the campaign game each week. For the list of characters we’ve finished (and the ones to come), check out our Getting Started page. In our new Monday column, we’ll be going through the much shorter list of Imperial Class decks. Each expansion comes with 1-3 class decks that the Imperial Player (IP) uses to achieve his mission objectives. In a similar style to our Rebel Hero posts, we’ll be looking at a few different builds you can do with each of these class decks and we’re going to begin our series with one of the most flexible (and perhaps the least straight-forward) of the class decks: Technological Superiority.

Technological Superiority: Universal vs. Specifics

Imperial class decks always center around a theme and the theme for “Tech Superiority” is the ability to provide global, static benefits to your units OR attachments that make a particular unit much, MUCH stronger. While attachments can be found in almost every class deck (Hutt Mercenaries is the exception), no deck has more attachments than Tech Superiority – four of its nine upgrades are attachments! Similarly, while all class decks have one or two upgrades that either benefit all Imperial units on the board (or hurt all Rebel Heroes on the board) – conditionally or universally, three of the nine upgrades available in Tech Superiority provide static benefits to Imperial figures (one of which is limited to Droids, another is limited to deployment cards with at least one attachment).

This unique nature of the Tech Superiority class deck allows it to be played with a universal focus (helping all of your units) or a very specific focus (helping a select few units), depending on how you want to play it. Most decks don’t do this, so we’re going to look at a few different builds to help you see what you can do with it.

End-Game Build #1 – Flexible Approach: Experimental Arms, Technical Support, Failsafe, Cloaking Device, Adaptive Weapons (10 XP)

In our “flexible” build, we’re going to purchase upgrades that aren’t attachments (though we get Experimental Arms for free). In many ways, this build centers around one upgrade: Adaptive Weapons. This upgrade allows you to replace any 1 die in your attack pool with another die of your choice – perfect for getting a little more oomph out of your attacks. Perhaps the most obvious units to use with this upgrade are those who have one Red die in their attack pool and don’t have good surge abilities. These units can go from a Red-{other color} attack pool to a Red-Red pool! While this can be tricky to do with range units (you still need Accuracy), many range units available to the IP who roll a Red die already get static accuracy (like Heavy Stormtroopers or E-Web Engineers).

The other option for using Adaptive Weapons is to give units who don’t have a Red die (like Sentry Droids or Probe Droids) a Red die to turn potentially-wasted surge into Damage. Since we’re also taking Technical Support (which not only makes your Droids faster, but also allows them to heal/Focus/cleanse their adjacent friends) and Cloaking Device (not strictly tied to Droids, but very helpful for keeping them or your favorite Trooper squad alive), any help you can give to boost the damage on your Droids is welcome.

Finally, we add Failsafe to the list, which is great for the end-game missions where you need to keep your favorite villain character alive. Failsafe requires you to save some Threat, but can keep you from taking a world of punishment from a Rebel Hero (and potentially buy you the time you need to get a Droid nearby to heal the villain). I’ve been bailed out countless times by this upgrade – though it has a high Threat cost, it will be well worth the XP and Threat you pay.

Best IP Units:

·         Tusken Raider (Twin Shadows) – Since the surge abilities for Tusken Raiders doesn’t allow them to add damage to the attack total, rolling a Red-Red with the chance to Cleave 1 (or Weaken) is a huge increase. Additionally, you can get better range out of your Tusken Cycler ability with a Blue-Blue or Green-Blue instead of the traditional Red-Blue attack pool.

·         Heavy Stormtrooper (Twin Shadows) – With a static 2 Accuracy, you can roll a Red-Red and do a TON more damage at very close range than you would with your traditional Red-Blue (though you could also roll a Red-Green for improved damage while still getting some Accuracy).

·         Riot Trooper (Heart of the Empire) – These guys are basically Heavy Stormtroopers in melee form – their surge abilities aren’t bad, but they’re better served with a Red-Red pool than a Red-Blue pool.

·         Regular or Elite Clawdite Shapeshifter (Heart of the Empire) – Regular Clawdite Shapeshifters get a Green-Blue attack pool when using the Scout Form, but you can turn this into a Red-Blue combo for increased Damage (and at least 4 Accuracy), though they can also use the Senator Form if they wish to attack adjacent characters and use a Red-Red combo. Elite Clawdite Shapeshifters are better served using the Streetrat Form with a Red-Red-Green combo, relying on the Green die to get you not only the required Accuracy but also the Surge to trigger Assassin’s Blade.

·         Sentry Droid (Heart of the Empire) – Whether you choose to shoot twice with a Green-Green attack pool (Damage -1 penalty) OR shoot once with +2 Accuracy, you’re well served by swapping one of those Green die with a Red die. These guys are also one of the new multi-figure Droid squads, giving you multiple healing actions in the same round.

End-Game Build #2 – Attachments Everywhere: Experimental Arms, Jetpacks, Arc Blasters, Cloaking Device, Superior Augments (11 XP)

When I first played with Tech Superiority, I liked the attachments: slap one (or more) of these things on each deployment card and see the benefits abound. Got slow units (like E-Webs or Heavy Stromtroopers)? Give them Jetpacks. Got a unit that gets lots of surge and not much to spend it on (like Stormtroopers, Jet Troopers, or E-Webs)? Give them Arc Blasters. Need to keep that one Trooper (or Droid) unit alive longer? Try on a Cloaking Device. Just want a little more surge? Experimental Arms is an equal opportunity provider (at a cost). With these four upgrades available to you (at 7 XP), you can afford all four of them in any game.

Adding in the Superior Augments upgrade, each of your units that has an attachment gains +1 speed (great for the card using Jetpacks) and gains +1 Damage to its attack results (great for those Arc Blasters and Experimental Arms users). While I don’t think Superior Augments is better than Adaptive Weapons, if you’re running a Trooper/Droid-oriented list, it’s a good upgrade (and it gives you a maneuverability benefit instead of just a combat upgrade).

The trick to running this list, however, is to pick one upgrade for each deployment card you have. While there’s no rule limiting you to one upgrade, putting multiple upgrades on a deployment card limits the effectiveness of Superior Augments (as the bonuses aren’t applied per attachment, but based on whether you have one or more attachments). While some units might benefit from multiple upgrades (want that Trooper hero you love to have a Cloaking Device AND Arc Blasters?), your ability to do maximum Damage (and get maximum positioning) is limited if you clump your upgrades among a select few units. Just saying…

Best IP Units:

·         Stormtrooper (Core) – The “vanilla” Stormtrooper variant benefits from all of the upgrades (less so the Experimental Arms upgrade because of their low health and limited Surge abilities). With Jetpacks, they become very maneuverable, while the Cloaking Device keeps them alive much longer (improving their chance of getting Evades and giving that ever-elusive-but-oh-so-wonderful Dodge result). Arc Blasters is a great upgrade for Elite Stormtroopers, allowing 2 Surge results to be turned into Damage (and Blast) – you’re pretty likely to get the 2 Surge results if you’re Focused.

·         Heavy Stormtrooper (Twin Shadows) – While Jetpacks certainly help with the slow speed of these units, their high Health stat (as well as automatic Block against attacks from long-range) make Experimental Arms a tempting choice. Since their Red-Blue combo doesn’t generate Surge very often, having the ability to deal 1 Damage to yourself in order to trigger Blast 1 (or Damage 1) is nice. Even if you never have to use it, at least you leave yourself the option of doing it.

·         E-Web Engineer (Core) – Ah, E-Webs – so powerful if they get to attack. As I said in a previous post a while ago, E-Webs play defense. To assist with this, giving them Jetpacks for maneuverability (getting 6 movement points with Mobile is pretty great to get them in position) or Arc Blasters (your surge potential is great) improves their utility a ton. If they're destroyed, it takes a lot of Threat to get them back, so be careful.

·         Trandoshan Hunter (Core) – Now begins the not-Trooper part of the list. Trandoshans – as everyone who’s played against them already knows – get free Damage if attacking someone adjacent to them (and a free Strain on any target within 3 spaces). When paired with the Superior Augments upgrade, these guys are PAINFUL if they can attack someone adjacent to them (pretty easy with the +1 Speed). While they can’t carry Jetpacks or the Cloaking Device, the Experimental Arms upgrade (they have plenty of Health – automatically triggering Pierce 2 or Bleed is nice) is useful.

·         Hired Gun (Hired Gun Villain Pack) – Perhaps the most flimsy of units available to the Imperial Player, Hired Guns are all-but-guaranteed to get a shot in against the strongest Rebel figures. If a Hired Gun squad has the Arc Blasters upgrade, during their parting shot they have the chance to Stun the person who shot them (potentially disrupting the Rebel figure’s turn) AND applying Stun to people adjacent to the target (which may disrupt THEIR turns). Having done this before, I can say there’s nothing more satisfying about losing one of your own figures than seeing him do something meaningful on his way out. Beyond that, don’t give these guys any of the other attachments.

End-Game Build #3 – Heavy Fire: Experimental Arms, Jetpacks, Superior Augments, Adaptive Weapons (9 XP)

In the previous two builds, we’ve looked at purchasing upgrades that are centered on the Adaptive Weapons upgrade and the Superior Augments upgrade. This poses a question: can you use both? Because you start with Experimental Arms, the Superior Augments upgrade will be useful, though I recommend picking up Jetpacks too – it’s cheap. The other attachments are expensive and picking them up both of them basically excludes you from getting anything else. In this case, we’re going to forego these two attachments and instead get Adaptive Weapons for its general benefit to your units. If you’re playing a long campaign, you can rely on your Agenda Deck side missions to give you additional attachments (I recommend Imperial Industry, Agents of the Empire, 501^st Training, and Tusken Treachery). This comes at the steep price of Influence, but these side missions (or Forced Mission for the Agents of the Empire one) provide great upgrades for your team (and can be given to you automatically if the Rebels wish to do something else).

Best IP Units:

·         Sentry Droid (Heart of the Empire) – With both the Superior Augments upgrade and the Adaptive Weapons upgrade, you can give a Sentry Droid squad the Experimental Arms attachment and fire twice with no Damage penalty and a Red-Green attack pool. With an impressive Speed 5, it’s pretty easy to get into close range with your target and deal incredible damage.

·         Heavy Stormtrooper (Twin Shadows) – We’ve probably talked about these guys enough already, but if you get the 501^st Training upgrade, you can have these guys Recover 3 Damage AND become Focused (or get to attack and move a little, supplementing your low Speed). Rolling a Red-Green-Blue (which can turn into a Red-Red-Green) is fantastic, even if you do nothing else with it!

·         Elite Jet Troopers (Jabba’s Realm) – While Jet Troopers don’t require the Jetpacks upgrade (they’re already Mobile), they do benefit from Experimental Arms (especially if they are shooting at someone close-by with a Red-Green-Blue attack pool). 501^st Training is also good for them for the same reasons identified above for the Heavy Stormtroopers.

·         Tusken Raider (Twin Shadows) – While Tuskens can’t get much mileage out of Experimental Arms, they can get a TON out of Jetpacks – melee units can always benefit from Mobile. A Tusken Raider with Jetpacks is not only Speed 5 + Mobile, but he can also roll a Red-Red in melee with +1 Damage to the attack results (+2 Damage if it’s an Elite Tusken Raider).

·         Royal Guard (Core) – While Tuskens are fantastic, you can get even more strength out of Royal Guards. Though slightly more expensive, these guys can be Speed 6 + Mobile + Reach with Jetpacks OR Speed 6 + Reach with the ability to gain additional Surge with Experimental Arms. If you get Tusken Weaponry, you can give Royal Guards a Red-Blue range attack pool (which you could change to a Blue-Blue or Green-Blue if you prefer) or have a Red-Red attack with +2 Damage and no surge abilities. Both are great and VERY painful.

In our next post, we’ll be examining the Military Might class deck (also available in the Core Set). While this deck will predominantly feature Troopers, you’d be surprised at the wealth of benefits this deck provides. Until next time, happy gaming!