IP Class Deck Review: Armored Onslaught

In our previous posts in this series, we’ve looked at Imperial Class decks that provide flexibility to your units, make your Troopers better, make the Rebel heroes suffer more Strain, make Leaders more effective, and give you access to villains. Today, we look at a different set of units (that are often hard to field for the Imperial Player): vehicles. While Heavy Weapons and Droids will also feature prominently in this post, today we look at the things that are part and parcel of the Imperial war machine with the Armored Onslaught class deck.

Armored Onslaught: Adding Some Steel To Your Army

Armored Onslaught is one of two Imperial Class decks released in the Return to Hoth expansion. As we’ve talked about in our post on Endless Reserves, an Imperial Player is able to get far more out of vehicles with the advent of Jabba’s Realm (which introduced the Jet Trooper). While vehicles of all kinds are certainly an important part of this list, most of the cards that benefit a vehicle ALSO benefit Droids or Heavy Weapons. If you don’t have cheap vehicles (aka Jet Troopers), you can still get a lot out of this deck by using heavy weapons and droids (both of which are commonly available in the Core set).

In addition to flexible unit choices (Droids, Heavy Weapons, and Vehicles), you also get one of the best starting Upgrades for any Imperial Class deck: Explosive Munitions. While it requires that the unit that uses it is making a blaster attack, it allows you to swap a die out for a Red die AND add Blast 1 to the attack results – perfect for giving a unit that doesn’t use surge well to add a little oomph to their offense and damage nearby units should they stray too close. Like Show Of Force, this can only be used by a single figure, but it can make an attack that wasn’t likely to do any damage do a TON of damage. So, let’s get into the meat of the post and see what kinds of things you can do with this class deck.

End-Game Build #1 – Vehicle-Trooper Combo: Explosive Munitions, Armor Corps, Automated Repairs, Heavy Firepower, Mortar, Reactive Armor

We’ve already talked about how great Troopers are in our post on Military Might, but something bears repeating: the best thing about Troopers it that you can get a lot of them. Since most Vehicles and Droids come as single-model deployment cards (AT-ST, SC2-M Repulsor Tank, AT-DP for Vehicles; Probe Droid for droids), having lots of figures is a huge boon. If you take Troopers (be they Troopers without other keywords like Stormtroopers or those that share other keywords like Heavy Stormtroopers), Armor Corps is a great benefit to you – getting that reroll on defense is HUGE (especially in the early missions). To get the most out of this upgrade, you just need to have enough Droids, Vehicles, or Heavy Weapons to be adjacent to all of your Troopers. Since this is a static bonus, you don’t need to protect a single deployment card with it – you can help everyone (which is great).

Assisting Armor Corps is Reactive Armor and Automated Repairs – both of which are attachments, so you’ll need to pick one or two deployment cards to use them. Automated Repairs should go on a unit that surges a lot in order to get the most use out of recovering damage, while Reactive Armor should go on a unit that can benefit from the added health (since you can’t count on getting the Evade on the black die at all). As good as it is to have these two upgrades, they’re nothing to write home about: Reactive Armor might provide more benefit than the Assault Armor we saw in Military Might, but it costs 3 XP instead of 2 XP. Automated Repairs is useful in that a unit can heal itself with Surge or by spending an action, but it doesn’t heal as much as Technical Support does (though admittedly it doesn’t require coordinating Droids with the troops that need healing). Where this list really shines is in its final two upgrades.

Heavy Firepower is incredible: you basically get to remove a Red die to guarantee that it rolls its highest possible damage face. With Explosive Munitions ever-present in any list you choose, any blaster-wielding unit can benefit from maximum Red damage AND you add Blast 1 to the attack as well. As long as most (or all) of the units you take have a blaster attack type, you’re all but guaranteed to be able to do maximum damage to the Rebel target of your choice. While limited to once a round, you only need to focus your firepower on a single person in order to make it worth the effort.

In addition to Heavy Firepower, we also took the Mortar upgrade: unlike the Riot Grenades found in the Military Might deck, any figure can perform a special action to do a Red die worth of damage to anyone on or adjacent to a space within 3 spaces of the attacker. Because it’s not an attachment, you can do a TON of damage if ANY figure has a free action. It’s important to note that any figure (massive vehicles, creatures, anyone) can do this – which seems a little broken, but hey, we paid 3 XP for it, so it might as well be good.

Best IP Units:

·         Heavy Stormtrooper (Twin Shadows) – Want cheap heavy weapons? Heavy Stormtroopers are your guys. Unlike other Heavy Weapon choices (and there aren’t any), Heavy Stormtroopers come in a pack of two, allowing you to spread them out between two teams to make your Armor Corps more effective. With a Red-Blue attack pool, they can automatically trigger Heavy Firepower OR you can run them with a Red-Red attack pool with a static Accuracy 2 + Blast 1 with Explosive Munitions. Of course, you can go the extra mile and make things even more painful with Heavy Firepower…

·         Jet Trooper (Jabba’s Realm) – Best paired with Heavy Stormtroopers to accompany your Troopers, Jet Troopers can wait with your Troopers while your Heavy Stormtrooper advances. The accompanying Troopers are then able to move up to be adjacent with the Heavy Stormtrooper while the Jet Trooper swoops in for clean-up. While these guys have low health, they’re easily deployed (and re-deployed) in early missions, making them invaluable assets to your team.

·         Snowtrooper (Return to Hoth) – To finish the Trooper Trifecta, Snowtroopers not only come in large numbers, but can heal your Heavy Stormtroopers and Jet Troopers, making it more difficult for the Rebels to clear out your Armor Corps bonus. On offense, these guys aren’t great, but all that can be fixed with Heavy Firepower if you really need it.

·         AT-DP (Heart of the Empire) – Okay, time for an “actual” vehicle: as the cheapest “actual” vehicle available to the Empire, AT-DPs are fantastic: with plenty of health, a static Block on top of a Black die, and the potential for multiple attacks (and very poor surge abilities), you want to give this guy Automated Repairs. Since your ability to attack twice is tied to the amount of damage you’ve taken, recovering damage is a HUGE part to getting the most out of this guy. I don’t think Reactive Armor is that helpful (I think it’s much better on Jet Troopers, though it’s been confirmed on the forums that they can’t use Agile to trigger the free 2 Block), but if you have no other vehicles or Droids, I guess you might as well.

·         Probe Droid (Core) – Ah, the original cheap three-attack-dice-pool Droid available to the Empire – yes, they’re a good option as well to get more out of Armor Corps. In my opinion, Probe Droids are the opposite of AT-DPs for this list: Probe Droids aren’t great carriers for Automated Repairs (they only have 5 Health and they can already Recover 1), but they are great carriers for Reactive Armor (with only 5 Health, getting to 7 makes it far harder for you to be one-turn-KO’d). Having a Red-Yellow-Blue attack pool with a static Blast 1 is also not bad, though make sure you don’t give up that Blue die – you need to guarantee your Accuracy in order to get any use out of the Explosive Munitions upgrade!

End-Game Build #2 – Offensive Build: Explosive Munitions, Explosive Entry, Heavy Firepower, Mortar, Rapid Dominance

As powerful as the last list was, it’s not nearly as powerful as the list we’re about to unveil. In addition to the Explosive Munitions, Heavy Firepower, and Mortar upgrades, we’re taking Explosive Entry and Rapid Dominance. Explosive Entry allows you to do some damage (generally 1-2 damage) to any Rebel heroes who are sitting in a deployment zone – this is great in some missions, but incredibly niche (I recommend getting it late in the campaign – you want Heavy Firepower first). Rapid Dominance requires that you save a lot of Threat in order to allow a Heavy Weapon or Vehicle to attack a second time OR ready itself (at the cost of depleting the upgrade). While I’m not convinced that Rapid Dominance is worth the cost, it does get you more usage out of your power units – and if you take the right ones, you can get a TON of benefits from it.

To balance out the lack of healing/defense boosting, I recommend that you purchase units that are healthy – in early missions, you can take whatever units you can afford, but you want to move towards healthier units as the missions progress (as you’ll need a good bit of your Threat to pay for Rapid Dominance). It’s important to note that you can use Heavy Firepower with anyone who has a red blaster die (which can really be any blaster die if you use Explosive Munitions with it), allowing you to bring some cheap units alongside your expensive ones that allows you to offset the cost of Rapid Dominance. Furthermore, the Mortar can be used by anyone (melee or blaster attack types combined), allowing you to get other units that might also offset your costs.

Best IP Units:

·         Heavy Stormtrooper (Twin Shadows) – Yes, we love these guys – they’re great. With Rapid Dominance, you can get two attacks from one of them each round (which is SO GOOD) and in a critical round you can pay 3 Threat to ready their card instead – glorious.

·         Sentry Droid (Heart of the Empire) – Perhaps the best unit to use with Rapid Dominance, Sentry Droids have two great special actions that lend them a total of three attacks. With Rapid Dominance, you get the ability to attack three times for 2 Threat or four times for 3 Threat (though I think the former is much better as it doesn’t require you to deplete the card).

·         Elite Jet Trooper (Jabba’s Realm) – While regular Jet Troopers are wonderful, we’re looking for healthier stock. Elite Jet Troopers are fabulous on offense, incredibly mobile, and they can benefit (as vehicles) from Rapid Dominance (which will give them 4 free points of movement with Mobile if they’re shooting at nearby figures – which translates to a free move).

·         SC2-M Repulsor Tank (Return to Hoth) – Right, time to talk proper vehicles. While the tank is slightly more expensive than the AT-DP and very similar to the walker in many respects, SC2-M Repulsor Tanks specialize in focused damage to one target (instead of spreading damage against several). Thanks to a static Accuracy 2, you can use Explosive Munitions to get a Red-Red-Yellow attack pool with a static Accuracy 2 + Blast 1 and the ability to turn additional surge into Blast 1 or Damage 2 – perfect for doing LOADS of damage to the target. On defense, you have the flexibility of either a static Block or static Evade, which is slightly better than the AT-DP. With multiple attacks that can’t be taken away as you take damage (though only 10 health vs. 16 health), it’s hard to say that the Tank is the better choice, but it certainly works well with this list (as bringing it doesn’t require the use of Rapid Dominance with this card).

·         Dewback Rider (Captain Terro Villain Pack) – When you’re looking for a good health-to-cost ratio, Dewbacks are fantastic. With free movement points at the start of its activation, a Dewback Rider can ride forward and perform both a powerful attack and use its Shock Lance - a nasty special ability that softens up a hostile figure. While a Yellow-Green-Blue is a perfectly acceptable attack pool, you’ll get far more utility out of a Red-Yellow-Green if your enemies are close (or a Red-Green-Blue otherwise) thanks to Explosive Munitions. If you don’t like the Shock Lance, he can always use the Mortar. At only 5 Threat, he’s also easy to deploy and (if you can keep him from being exposed to too much fire) he’s decently hard to kill.

End-Game Build #3 – Defensive Build: Explosive Munitions, Armor Corps, Automated Repairs, Reactive Armor, Power To Shields

In our first list, we saw a balanced approach to both offense and defense. This list takes most of the upgrades from our first list and trades the high-powered upgrades for the Power To Shields upgrade. This niche defensive upgrade gives you the ability to ignore certain keywords when a Rebel figure attacks you – perfect for mitigating those annoying Pierce 3 surge abilities, static Cleave 3s, and static Blast bonuses. To accompany this amazing upgrade (which you can spend Threat to ready after you use it), we have the tried and tested Armor Corps-Automated Repairs-Reactive Armor upgrades to boost the healing or resiliency of your army.

On offense, we only have Explosive Munitions, but this upgrade is still something to be reckoned with – you get incredible flexibility for one of your attacks to get the damage you want with the Blast bonus you so rarely get. All told, this build focuses strongly on staying alive and relies on taking high-damage units to deal the real death-blows to the Rebels.

Best IP Units:

·         Heavy Stormtrooper (Twin Shadows) – Basically, see the comments we made in our first list – they all still apply. Since you want these guys to provide the Armor Corps bonus to nearby Troopers, ignoring the Blast/Cleave keywords is fantastic (keeps those grunts you’re protecting alive longer).

·         Jet Trooper (Jabba’s Realm) – Same comments as our first list.

·         Sentry Droid (Heart of the Empire) – Yes, these guys are great in both offensive and defensive builds. While having two droids is a great way to also get Armor Corps bonuses, the extra health they can get from Reactive Armor is also helpful in keeping them alive. On offense, getting a Red-Green attack with Explosive Munitions will do a lot more than a Green-Green (both suffer -1 Damage if you’re using Multi-Fire).

·         Elite E-Web Engineer (Core) – As we’ve said in several posts, E-Webs play defense. Who better to have in a defensive list, then, than an E-Web! With a static block, you stand ready to resist a fair bit of punishment (and getting 9 Health with Reactive Armor certainly helps). The better upgrade (though you can take both) is Automated Repairs, which allows you to turn 2 Surge into healing (recovering 4 Damage in a single attack). While this is a bit overkill (given that you only have 7 Health – or 9 Health if you have Reactive Armor as well), there aren’t too many more threatening units that you could bring to your list than an E-Web. On offense, getting a Red-Red-Yellow with a static 3 Accuracy (or a Red-Red-Blue with at least 5 Accuracy) is fantastic – and the static Blast 1 is a nice benefit.

·         AT-ST (Core) – He’s the icon of the deck – I needed to include him. J Here’s a fact: Pierce is most effective against units that have more than one defense die. Sure, someone might get 2-3 Block on a Black die, but half the time they’ll get 0-1 Block and at that point, surging for Pierce 2 (or automatically getting Pierce 2 as we showed with Verena and Murne) just doesn’t do very much. When your target has 2 Black dice, however, having the ability to surge for Pierce 2 all but guarantees knocking out one of those die, leaving the rest of your attack to deal with a single defense die. It’s no wonder that the high-Pierce characters of the world go charging towards AT-STs and other such high-defense figures – they can actually do something against them! AT-STs not only benefit from all of the bonuses in this build (though I don’t recommend Automated Repairs – you want to move and spend your surge on other things), but they can also roll a Red-Red-Red with a static Accuracy 3 and Blast 1 (which can turn into Blast 3 if you can land a single surge) and the ability to reroll one of their attack die. Sure, you can’t attack people who are adjacent to you, but feel free to move and then attack once the target is clear of you.

In our next post, we’ll be turning our attention to the depths of the Dark Side and looking at the Power of the Dark Side Class deck. While Nemeses gives us access to powerful villains throughout the campaign, Power of the Dark Side provides static bonuses to your units that makes them better (and sort of villain-ish). Until next time, happy gaming!