Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Mark II Medium Blaster Trooper

Hey Reader!

Following up on our last post on the 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team, today we're looking at their little brother: the Mark II Medium Blaster Trooper. A detachment unit tied to the Rebel Veterans core unit, this is the other emplacement trooper you have access to, and it clearly falls into a specific role for your force...or does it?

On the whole I think a lot of people leave this option at home, and to be fair, I've done that a lot myself as well, so I get it. What's the point of spending 38-43pts on a core unit that has to choose between moving and shooting? Plus, with only Range 1-3 on its weapons, it can't provide long range fire support to keep down enemy long range weapons. So what's the point?

A few, actually. Not many, but a few.

Today we'll be looking at their stats (and what makes them worth taking), their synergies (as they don't have command cards, but they do have several useful synergies with both other units and specific command cards), and some tactical use for them in your rebel force.

I.  Stats: Much Needed Fire Support

From a stats perspective, the Medium Blaster Trooper is all punch and minimal survivability. For 38pts you actually get a really good Core choice from a stats perspective: 4 black dice (just like a baseline Rebel Veterans or Rebel Soldier squad, both of which are more expensive) at Range 1-3 (same as the Rebel Veteran and Rebel Soldier), with the ability to surge for hits (like the Rebel Veteran, but not the Rebel Soldier), and has Critical 2 (which neither core choice have).

What it also has, though (and this is why so many people don't take them) is the Cumbersome special rule, meaning that if it moves it can't fire in the same turn. That being said, though, it has Fire Support, which is the biggest reason for taking it (and will be the center of a lot of our tactical discussion below): when an ally is performing a ranged attack (no range limit on how far away they need to be, no requirement that you have to be able to see the friendly unit, etc.), as long as you have a face-up order token, you can activate the blaster trooper to join the attack pool.

Character Review: CT-1701

Good morning gamers,

We’ve come to it at last – the final playable Rebel Hero for the Imperial Assault campaign. There are tons of heroes in Imperial Assault who like to do the shooting game – some from up close and some from far away (and some who don’t really care), but there are few who can deal quite as much carnage as CT-1701. He’s also incredibly flexible as a shooting character, since he doesn’t have pistol or rifle requirements to use his special abilities (and he can be taken as either a bolt-slinging maniac or as a level-headed squad leader). Let’s see what this guy brings to the table that’s new to Imperial Assault. 

CT-1701: So You Like Shooting, Huh? 

I’m a huge fan of Star Wars: Rebels – it’s a great show. Rebels was very exciting for me because we learn – SPOILER ALERT – that Captain Rex and some of his Clone buddies survived the Clone Wars and didn’t go all Order-66 on the Jedi. This made me SO happy and I love the episodes with Rex. CT-1701 is our “Captain Rex” kind of Clone in Imperial Assault – an ex-Clone Trooper who’s trying to help the Rebellion fight against the Empire. 

He’s also got a really wild shooting profile: while he’s unwounded, his shooting attacks can surge for 1 Damage Power Token (DPT), which is really great, since he can also spend 2 strain (even after he’s been wounded) to perform a second shooting attack at a figure within 3 spaces of the previous target (though that person gets a white die added to their defense pool). If you shoot at one figure, surge for a DPT, and then get to shoot again, you know that you can wipe out the block result that may or may not come from the new white die and still do damage to your target (assuming that he doesn’t get a dodge, of course – more on this later).  

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team

Hey Reader!

Following up on our last post on Rebel Veterans, today we're looking at the 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team, one of four Support choices for the Rebels (as of this writing), and perhaps the most controversial. From what I've seen online, there seems to be a consensus among Legion players about the three support unit choices for Rebels: the AT-RT is suboptimal but if you need some speed and bought the core set it could be worse, the Laser Cannon Team has very limited utility thanks to it being Stationary (more on that in a bit), Swoop Bikes are finicky and tend to die pretty quickly, and the Tauntaun Riders are awesome because they are pretty flexible and offer a decent bit of firepower while still being survivable and relatively cheap. 

And I'm not here to disagree with people who have been playing for years, but I think a lot of people sell the laser cannon short, and I'm here to offer an argument (probably too long) in its defense.

Today we'll be looking at their stats (and what makes them so good), their synergies (as they don't have command cards, but they do have a lot of useful synergies with both other units and specific command cards), and some tactical use for them in your rebel force. I should also note in passing before we begin that the Battle of Hoth is my favorite battle in Star Wars (rivaled only by the battle on and over Scarif Base), and this opinion is likely tainted by nostalgia for one of the best battles is sci-fi movie history. But I still think the math, strategic analysis, and tactical recommendations below are solid, despite the nostalgia, but if you disagree, this might be why I rate it so high.

I.  Stats: A 5 in Offense, a 3 in Defense

From a stats perspective, the 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team (hereafter "Laser Cannon Team") is the best firepower that the Rebels get in the game. At a reliable 6-7 dice (depending on which generator upgrade you purchase for 3pts, which means you should always take one, because paying 3pts to get 1-2 dice and a special rule cannot be matched by any other unit in the game) with a Range 1-5 and offensive surges, you have to realize upfront that this is more firepower in a single unit that you can get on any Rebel Commander or Operative, and it's more reliable firepower than you'll find on a Core or Special Forces unit once they start taking 1-2 casualties. And with the points reduction from 70pts printed on the card to 65pts, the value for the firepower you get is only going up.

It also has all of the special rules we expect and want, with no extra fluff to detract from what this unit is designed to do. It is Stationary (so wherever you deploy it at the start of the game is where it will stay), but it can Full Pivot, so with a Move action you can get a 360-degree line of fire. The former means that it costs less points than it would otherwise cost, and the latter makes it so that it can't be easily flanked (though it comes with a reasonable tradeoff). 

It also has Sentinel, which means if you give it a Standby token you have the ability to interrupt enemies up to 18" away (Range 1-3), which could be advantageous for dealing with enemies trying to move from cover to cover to avoid being hit by you.

What's Wrong With Commander Luke?

Good morning gamers,

I've been playing a lot recently with Commander Luke in Star Wars Legion - and I think Luke costs too much. To be exact, I think a 10-15pt drop in price would probably make him more playable and appealing to Rebel players. Why? Because when you compare him to all of the other Force users (or pseudo-Force users) in the game, he's just that little bit too expensive compared to them all. And I mean ALL of them.

So today, we're going to walk through the Force users that are currently in Star Wars Legion and see what their comparison is to Luke.

Baseline Comparison

Photo Credit: LegionHQ

For our purposes today, here are the important bits from Luke's profile:

• Luke has 2 Force upgrade slots (most Force users have at least two) and has 1 Gear upgrade slot (no one else has a gear slot);
• Luke has 6 Wounds/3 Courage and no defensive surges without using Deflect (or one specific command card);
• Luke has Jump 1, Charge, Deflect, and Immune: Pierce as keywords (and most notably, no Master of the Force X);
• Luke's lightsaber has 6 black dice, surge for crit, and Impact 2/Pierce 2; and
• Luke's DL-44 is a range attack option with 2 red dice, surge for crit, and Pierce 2.

All told, this is a perfectly fine profile - but I think it costs just a bit too much. Let's see why this is by looking at the other Force users in the game, starting with . . .