Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Wookiee Chieftain

Good morning gamers,

NOTE: after the announcements from Ministraviganza this past weekend, the Wretched Hive team will be updating our previous posts to accommodate the new changes. The upcoming articles will hopefully account for the changes, but the sample army lists may need tweaking.

There are basically three types of heroes in Star Wars Legion: there are heroes who fight but don't support their fellow units, there are units that support their friends but don't really fight that well, and there are units that can do both. In the Republic, you have access to some great support-only heroes (Padme sorta-kinda-now and Clone Commanders - and possibly Obi-Wan) and some great can-do-both heroes (Anakin, Cody, and Yoda - and possibly Obi-Wan). When it comes to fighting-only heroes, you have Rex (who is quite dangerous at close range but not as oppressive as he used to be) and the Wookiee Chieftain - and if you don't do the supporting thing, it's very tempting to think, "This unit has no place in Republic lists, because it's all about that synergy."

Well, if you think this - you're probably right. But I feel like a Wookiee Chieftain has a very cool niche in Republic lists, though you do have to build your list around them a bit. Let's start off by looking at the Wookiee Chieftain profile and then we'll see what kinds of upgrades he benefits from.

Wookiee Chieftain: The Profile

The first thing to say about the Wookiee Chieftain profile is that, much to my surprise, he's a unique character - not a generic hero. While this guy could have been called Tarfful, we got "Wookiee Chieftain" instead . . . okay, that's a choice. Whatever.

All of these upgrades are optional, but the Recon Intel is nice . . .
Photo Credit: Legion HQ

As for the actual profile, the Wookiee Chieftain has a few stat changes that differ from the two Republic characters we've looked at so far (Obi-Wan Kenobi and Clone Commanders): first, the Wookiee Chieftain rolls a white die on defense instead of a red die. As we'll see in the next two articles (which cover the two variants of Wookiee Warriors that the Republic can field), this is partly why Wookiees aren't very common in generic Republic lists (though their battle force enables them to make an appearance on the competitive tables - more on this particular application of Wookiees later). White dice don't save much, so if you're jaded against them, you might not even consider these guys in your army.

This leads us to the first big change in this profile over the other two: Wookiee Chieftains have 7 Wounds and can surge to hit on offense and surge to block on defense innately. With a 33% chance of blocking any given wound, 7 Wounds isn't actually all that great - but it does mean that it'll take 8-9 wounds to kill this guy, assuming he doesn't have any defensive tech helping him out (more on that shortly). When your Clone Commander is only supposed to survive taking 6 wounds without defensive tech, the Wookiee Chieftain isn't actually in a bad place - he just seems that way (and might make for a tempting target for a sniper team or a bounty hunter on the other side of the board).

Wookiee Chieftains aid their defense as well with Agile 1 and Duelist, which allows them to gain a dodge token each time they perform a move action and gain Immune: Pierce against melee attacks when they spend a dodge token (respectively) - which means they are hardest to kill on a turn in which they've charged into something.

On offense, Duelist gives the Wookiee Chieftain Pierce 1 when he spends an aim token (in addition to the two rerollable dice - this is better than the Lethal keyword) and he has Charge - which means he'll have a free melee attack after performing a move action . . . where he'll pick up a dodge token. With a standard Speed 2, this means you can charge someone who is basically at range 2 of you and end up in combat with 2 dodge tokens at the end of it . . . pretty slick.

Wookiee Chieftains only have Speed 2 (as was just mentioned) and Courage 2, but neither of these are bad - especially for generic heroes. While this isn't as good as some heroes who cost about the same as a Wookiee Chieftain (base 100pts), it's perfectly serviceable. To help with his so-so Courage, the Wookiee Chieftain has Indomitable in his profile, so he has a 2/3 chance of removing each suppression token he's taken - which means suppressing (or panicking) this guy is quite difficult. Finally, he has Scale, which now only allows him to perform a Speed-1 move to climb up to height 2 (instead of height 1) and he doesn't slow down in difficult terrain . . . very meh most of the time, but occasionally useful. He's also has the Wookiee Trooper unit type, which really only applies to command cards.

The last thing we need to talk about with regard to the Wookiee Chieftain profile is his weapon options. We've already mentioned that he's going to be safest from taking damage if he's in melee and in melee he has an Ancestral Weapon that has Obi-Wan Kenobi's dice pool (2 red/2 black/2 white). With surge to hit baked into his profile and potentially Pierce 1 if he can get an aim token, the Wookiee Chieftain is going to hit about as hard as Obi-Wan . . . which is to say, not that hard actually. He's expected to get 3 hits/0.75 crits each attack without the aim, so if he's forcing 3-4 required saves, he's likely to remove a few minis regardless of what he runs into. Not pulverizing the units he's in can actually be a really good thing for him, since it will mean that he's still locked in combat (and so can't be shot without some kind of trick being used) and he's unlikely to take that much damage in return unless he's run into a big character . . . which I would try to avoid.

If you've found a stout rock to hide behind, the Chieftain's Bowcaster isn't a bad ranged weapon - 4 black dice with Impact 1/Pierce 1 is pretty good (and should force 2-3 saves with a good chance of doing them all thanks to the Pierce). Against armor, you should get 1-2 crits in, which will translate into 1-2 wounds thanks to Pierce . . . not bad, really. If you can't charge into someone, moving slightly (to trigger Agile) and shooting isn't a bad option for this guy.

But here's the thing: like the Clone Commander, this guy really wants to be going early in the round - he wants to be able to get his dodge tokens up, he wants to get locked in against a unit that won't die to avoid exposing himself to danger, and he wants to avoid taking any more suppression than is necessary. When you can, make sure this guy gets an order token!

Okay, let's talk about upgrades on this guy (and the various command cards he can use/benefit from) . . .

Wookiee Chieftain: Recommended Upgrades and Command Cards

Before we jump into the upgrades, I'd like to make it clear that I think all of these upgrades are optional. At 100pts, you've already invested a good chunk into this guy and with one or two exceptions, I would generally invest in this guy last. If you're running him, there are probably other Wookiee units in your army - and any upgrade you take to make this guy better can probably be better spent on a squad (which will have more health overall - and more/better dice most of the time - than he will). Should he go down, it also means you cough up fewer kill points.

Command

In general, the Wookiee Chieftain wants to be in the thick of things - which means he's probably near his Noble Fighter Wookiee Warrior brothers (who we'll talk about next time). As such, I wouldn't take Commanding Presence or Inspiring Presence - he doesn't need extra range. If you're running a lot of Wookiees, chances are good you've got a lot of Special Forces tokens running around, so Improvised Orders might not be that necessary either.

The main two I'd look into are Strict Orders and Lead by Example. Strict Orders allows you to remove exactly 1 suppression token instead of rolling for it - and you probably don't need this one if you have an all-Wookiee or mostly-Wookiee list, since (spoiler alert) they all have Indomitable and clear out over half their suppression each turn anyway. If you choose to run this guy in a normal Republic list, however, it's nice when a Courage 1 Phase I Clone Trooper (or a Courage 2 Phase II Clone Trooper/ARC Trooper) has exactly 1 (or 2) suppression tokens - you can guarantee that it clears and that they won't be suppressed.

Lead by Example is more useful with Wookiees, since the Wookiee Chieftain is likely to be near other Wookiee units (so he can issue them orders), but also because you have some play with which units are going to lose their suppression tokens. While it would be nice if you could clear 2 suppression tokens from a single unit, removing 1 suppression token from two different units who have Indomitable means you might be suppression-free on their activation, which is awesome.

Training x2

This is where you're probably investing in upgrades - assuming you don't just run him vanilla. The go-to options for me are Tenacity (because you're all but guaranteed to take a damage during the game - and it boosts your expected damage by 1 when you get locked into combat) and Hunter (since that can trigger Duelist with the free aim token in melee for two rerolls and Pierce 1). Hunter won't help you against single-wound models, but if you're using your bowcaster to head-hunt characters or if you're shooting at things like Dark Troopers, B2 Battle Droids, and Royal Guards, it can be really useful. If you'd like the boosts against single-wound models, go for Offensive Push instead (it's the same cost, but does require a recover action to get more than one use out of it).

Theoretically, you could also run Up Close and Personal with this guy, which will give him a free dodge token if he shoots at someone within range 1-2, but my experience with this guy (and that upgrade) is that he's far too fragile if he's not in combat, so the number of times you'll be shooting at range 1-2 will be small (and probably only in a desperate moment). Additionally, he can benefit from Situational Awareness (to block crits with his dodge tokens) or Seize the Initiative (to give him an order token once per game), but I think the points can be better spent on your other units.

One final upgrade I'll mention is Duck and Cover - while a Courage 2 unit doesn't necessarily want to take more suppression than necessary, an Indomitable Courage 2 unit can probably get away with it. While on your approach, Duck and Cover is a cheap upgrade that can allow you to gain the benefit of cover against the first ranged attack made against you each round - and you're probably not that worried about the impact of one additional suppression with Indomitable. So . . . if you have the points, take it.

Gear

Out of the gate, thanks to have Scale, we don't need Grappling Hooks (which gives us the height 2 part of Scale), the Environmental Gear (which gives us the difficult terrain ignoring part of Scale), or Ascension Cables (which gives us Scale for the round). I have never had a free action with this guy, so upgrades like Electrobinoculars and Portable Scanner are best employed by other units (not this guy). That leaves us with three gear options.

The first is Targeting Scopes - and if you're going to lean into the aim mechanic, this isn't a bad option. For 4pts, I think you could do better by giving this upgrade to someone else (it's almost enough to upgrade a Long Gun into a Bowcaster, for example), but if you want to give some extra oomph (and insurance) to your 100pt character, you could consider this. Of course, it's really going to be a 106pt character, since you probably have Hunter or Offensive Push on this guy.

Next, we have a defensive option with Prepared Supplies. 5pts for a cached dodge token seems nice, but I'm not sure the points cost is worth it. Since the other Wookiee units can take gear options as well, I'm inclined to think that a cached dodge token would be far better on Noble Fighter Wookiees (who have Duelist but no Agile 1 - more on that next time) than on your Chieftain (who already has Agile 1). So I'd pass on this upgrade for the Chieftain as well.

Recon Intel is one of those upgrades that's nice to have on units in general, but it's particularly good to have on a Wookiee Chieftain, since the Scout keyword makes you perform a standard move at speed X - so he'll start the game with a dodge token in tow from Agile 1! Most deployment options won't see you getting shot at on the first turn, but I gotta say, having the dodge token at the start is nice - especially if your opponent has long-range fire support (if you get within range 4 on the first turn after double-moving, it's nice to have 3 dodge tokens).

Okay, let's move on to this guy's Command Cards . . .

Command Cards

There are three command cards that come with the Wookiee Warrior pack. While these are generic Republic command cards, their special text only applies if a Wookiee Trooper Commander issues the orders - so that's this guy and Chewbacca. And that's it. Because the orders have to be issued to a Special Forces/Support unit on the 1-pip, 2 Troopers on the 2-pip, and 3 Troopers on the 3-pip, it's generally better to use Ambush/Push/Assault instead of these if you're looking for generic cards to play.

The one-pip card (Grroooogrrraaaawrrrrrrrrmph) requires you to issue the order to a Special Forces or Support unit and if the issuing commander is a Wookiee Trooper Commander unit, the target mini gains 1 aim, 1 dodge, and 1 surge token if they've suffered at least one damage (or lost at least 1 mini). This can target only a handful of units - ARC Troopers, Wookiee Warriors, Raddaugh Gnasp Fluttercraft, and BARC Speeders, the latter two can take Comms Relays to pass the order token to someone else - but all of them will benefit from an aim, dodge, and surge token (though the Fluttercraft already has surge for hit and block).

The two-pip card (MROWGH GHRRMROWRIG!) is the best of these cards, in my opinion, and it gives Wookiee Trooper units that are issued orders by a Wookiee Trooper Commander Agile 1 - perfect for helping Chewbacca avoid some direct damage or helping those Wookiee Warriors (Noble Fighters, in particular) from taking damage as they advance up the field. While this allows Noble Fighters to do what the Chieftain does (more on this next time), it's also great on the Chieftain on the turn in which he's going to dive bomb, since he'll have 4 dodge tokens after a move-move-attack turn. There isn't much to this card - it's just good.

Finally, the three-pip card (YHWARGGHHHHHHHHHH!) gives Wookiee Trooper units that are issued orders by a Wookiee Trooper Commander Demoralize 1 . . . which means you can apply up to 3 extra suppression tokens during the round . . . yaye? This can be good if you're starting near a unit that's been shot by a Long Gun several times (since it has suppressive), but unless it's a scoring round and you're trying to panic someone, I frankly feel like this can be used to issue orders to non-Wookiee Troopers just as well as to Wookiee Troopers. Of course, chances are good that most of your units are Troopers anyway, so having this card in your command hand isn't bad - it's just not very good (and it won't issue an order to Fluttercraft).

The Wookiee Chieftain, in a mixed Wookiee-Clone list, can get some utility out of Synchronized Offensive (which can issue an order to a Gnasp Fluttercraft and then issue a free order token to a Clone unit in support), as well as Attack of the Clones (if you have 3 Clone Troopers in your list - you probably want to play this on the first turn while you still have them!), but I struggle to see whether the situational and conditional benefits of getting +1 order token based on positioning relative to a vehicle or +3 surge tokens (or -3 suppression on Clone units) is a worthwhile gain over having the flexibility of picking 1-3 units to issue orders to and no special text to make them better.

Okay, let's end this post with a sample list showing off this guy!

Wookiee Chieftain: Sample List and Strategy

The list for today is from the Wookiee Defenders Battle Force, which allows us to take Noble Fighter Wookiee Warriors as our required Corps units. The list is 1000-points (new Legion standard) and has five squads of Wookiee Warriors, a Wookiee Chieftain, two Fluttercraft, and Yoda:

• Yoda with Force Barrier, Force Guidance, and Force Push
• Wookiee Chieftain with Tenacity
• 5 Wookiee Warriors, Noble Fighters with Battle Shield Wookiees and Tenacity
  
• 2 Raddaugh Gnasp Fluttercraft with Gnasp Bombadiers

Our activation count is probably a little low at 9 activations, but we've got five squads of Wookiees, some anti-armor shooting from the Wookiee Chieftain, protection/surge support from Yoda, and NINE up-close-and-fighting units (Yoda, the Chieftain, up to 2 overrun attacks from the Fluttercraft, and the 5 Wookiee squads).

The Chieftain (and the Wookiee Warriors) gain a lot from being near Yoda - as was mentioned above, we can get access to aim/dodge/surge tokens when he plays Luminous Beings are We, the Chieftain can gain a dodge token, Relentless (scoot-and-shoot or barge-and-charge), and Outmaneuver (dodges block crits) with There Is No Try, and these guys can be double-Force-Guidanced (or an enemy can be double-Force-Pushed if Yoda performs a recover action) when he plays Size Matters Not. These cards are crazy good for Wookiees (though their benefits to Clones are good as well - as we'll see later in this series when we cover Yoda).

Wookiee Chieftain: Final Review

I'm not going to lie, there's a lot to not like about this guy - he's pretty expensive and frankly could do with a points drop (he's 10-points more expensive than Chewbacca and gets very little in trade), but he can hit decently hard and can be survivable if you give him some help. I've come to find that he's not great as your big hitter hero, but as a secondary threat, he's not bad.

Overall character review: 2.5/5 stars.  His offense doesn't seem as good as Chewbacca's (at range or in melee), he's a bit squishy, and I think he's a bit overpriced. Still, he's a decent anti-armor hero, he can tear up most corps squads after two rounds of melee combat, and he's got enough health to survive chip-damage before he gets into the action. So . . . I'm going a straight average today.

In our next post, we'll be doing Wookiees, Part 2 with the Wookiee Warrior/Noble Fighter profile. These guys are the shining stars of most Wookiee Defenders lists - and once defined the melee skew lists (back when Scale was a free clamber action). If these guys can arrive alive, they can pack a major punch - but getting them into action often requires some list choices. Join us next time as we look into what's great (and how best to use) Noble Fighters - and their "Wookiee Warrior - no subtext" brothers in the Rebel Alliance list - next time. Until then, happy hobbying!