Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Wookiee Warriors, Part II

Good morning gamers,

Today we're covering the other Wookiee Warrior profile: the Kashyyyk Defenders (or Kashyyyk Resistance if you're playing with the Rebels). When I first looked at the two Wookiee profiles, I was like, "Well, the Noble Fighters are just better." In many ways, I still think that's true - but while the offensive capabilities of the Kashyyyk Defenders/Resistance are slightly dampened, they provide a slightly different (and overall quite useful) support capability for their Wookiee comrades. Let's see what they can do . . .

Wookiee Warriors, Kashyyyk Defenders: The Profile

While I think the Heavy Weapon choices are the only "essentials," there are actually quite a few good upgrades for these guys
Photo Credit: Legion HQ

The Kashyyyk Defender variant trades the melee-oriented rules of Charge and Duelist to gain the shooting-oriented rule Sharpshooter 1. There are other Special Forces units with Sharpshooter available to the Republic and Rebel Alliance (ARC Troopers, Rebel Commandos, and their Strike Team variants), so Wookiee Warriors aren't unique in this respect. However, with cover giving an additional save now (and an encouragement to have lots of terrain on the board to take advantage of this), having Sharpshooter of some kind is a way to make sure that you have a better chance of getting your hard-earned hits through the cover and onto your opponent. Defensively, Kashyyyk Defenders only differ from the Noble Fighters in that they don't have Duelist  - they still have just 3 Wounds, a white defense die, and no surge for block.

Kashyyyk Defenders are a bit more expensive than their Noble Fighter brothers (72pts instead of 69pts, which translates into 1pt more per model), and whether the extra point to get Sharpshooter and lose Charge/Duelist is worth it is anyone's guess (I think the Noble Fighters are slightly better because they cost marginally less, but you're welcome to think differently). These guys still have Courage 2 and Indomitable, which changes what kinds of upgrades you might be willing to take.

Re-Reviewing the Mk2 Medium Blaster Trooper and Fire Support

Hey Reader!

So with the recent changes made to Star Wars Legion, one small tweak has changed a lot about how some units in the game work, and one of those we've reviewed before on this blog, and mentioned in almost every other article as a synergy piece: the Mark 2 Medium Blaster Trooper.

In previous posts, we've talked about how useful the Medium Blaster Trooper is for adding 4 black dice, Critical 2, and often an Aim token to an attack pool, and with the recent changes, this has gone away. Now, Fire Support just gives the unit a standby token, which is useful, but it's not the same by any stretch of the imagination. So let's talk a bit about how this changes the strategy that we laid out months ago for utilizing this unit to its full potential.

I.  The Medium Blaster Trooper: Suppression, Not Removal

Before the change, the Medium Blaster Trooper was specialized and can be difficult to use, but it had a specific niche it filled: adding extra firepower to an attack you really needed to work (and often an Aim token, which Rebels in general are hard-pressed to get). And all of the times we've mentioned that as a use for this weapon you can now scratch out, :P

Instead, it now fulfills a purely suppression role: since you have to use the Standby Token before your activation if you want to perform another attack, this is a piece you're using to provide an element of board control because if your opponent wants to activate near him, they're giving him free attacks. And with the change to cover, there's a better chance that you can sneak in hits, which means suppression tokens are going to come out, even if no wounds are done.

The issue, of course, with it being a suppression tool, is that 1) you can add suppression tokens to people with almost any unit, so there's nothing unique in taking this unit, and 2) it doesn't have the Suppressive keyword (like the Laser Cannon Team), so it's not like it does suppression better than another Rebel unit (except inasmuch as you can pull off using a Standby Token early in the round and an Attack action on your turn, as that is 2 suppression tokens over the course of the round, potentially).

Which leads us to assess how important it is in your order of battle and unit selection.

II.  Less Important, Still Useful

To be honest, the Medium Blaster Trooper probably drops in the rankings from where it was, which is not great, considering it hasn't been rated very highly by most people (and I think I might have been the most charitable/generous person on the internet for this unit, haha). The only thing really going for it now is that it's a cheap activation, but to be honest that matters a lot less in Star Wars Legion than it does in, say, Bolt Action, for example. 

There is still utility; it's good for closing off potential lanes of advance, and since you don't need to worry about being able to target someone in your forward arc that is also in range of another unit it is slightly easier to maximize the use of the Medium Blaster Trooper, so that's not bad. But once again, that's something you can do with almost any unit (heck, Han can do it, and he only rolls 2 dice), and all of your other choices don't involve the Cumbersome keyword (you can move or attack on a given turn, but not both). 

So how would I rank this unit? It's effective for the cost (c. 43pts is not bad at all), but not as effective as it used to be, and I think it's a solid "C" unit. It doesn't count toward your maximum Corps (while still counting toward your required Corps), so that's a nice boon, but it's definitely a step down from where it was, at least in my mind.

Conclusion

There's a lot to unpack from the changes that came down the line, so watch this space for more as we unpack what the new changes mean for the game! Until next time, you know where to find me,

Watching the stars,

Centaur

"I know that you have learned the names of the planets and their moons in Astronomy...and that you have mapped the stars' progress through the heavens.  Centaurs have unraveled the mysteries of these movements over centuries.  Our findings teach us that the future may be glimpsed in the sky above us." ~ Firenze, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Wookiee Warriors, Part I

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we looked at the Wookiee Chieftain profile and thoughts on list building with him. Today, we're going to look at the "melee-oriented" Wookiee Warrior profile (The "Wookiee Warriors" or "Wookiee Warriors, Noble Fighters" profiles) from both the Repbulic and the Rebel Alliance and what you want to think about with these guys. This profile is treated as Corps for the purposes of army building in the Republic's Kashyyyk Defenders battle force, which means these guys aren't foreign to the tabletop (though they're usually seen exclusively in that battle force). Let's see what all the hulabaloo is about with these guys . . .

Wookiee Warriors, Noble Fighters: The Profile

Like the Wookiee Chieftain we viewed last time, Wookiee Warriors have Charge and Duelist to make them devastating in melee (free melee attack after performing a move action from Charge and a free Pierce 1 if they spend an aim token in addition to the rerolls they get from the aim token itself). On defense, Duelist can also give them immunity to enemy Pierce in melee when they spend a dodge token, which is particularly good when you have a white defense die and no surge for block.

I usually don't usually lean this hard into upgrades, but here are some good ones . . .
Photo Credit: Legion HQ

Wookiees are a bit fragile for 69 points/squad (both Rebel and Republic), but with 3 wounds each and 3-4 models in each squad (depending on whether you have the points for a heavy weapon upgrade), they can usually absorb a few rounds of shooting before they're wiped out - and once they're in melee, it's pretty hard to clear them out without a dedicated melee unit.

Wookiees are, like most Special Forces choices, Courage 2 innately and with Indomitable to help them clear their suppression tokens more easily, they're pretty likely to avoid being pannicked or suppressed. If they're in range to charge (they start at speed-2, but might be speed-1 depending on their heavy weapon choice), however, even a suppressed Wookiee Warrior unit can still be dangerous.