Good morning gamers,
We're back in Republic and we're talking about Chewbacca today - a character that you either love or hate depending on your perspective on white saves. Chewie's one of three Commander options available to the Wookiee Defenders battle force and remains the cheapest available at the moment (time will tell if the new customizable Commander/Operative Jedi will come in below him, but I doubt it). With flexible melee and ranged attack options, reliable damage in either form, and the standard big-Wound-bad-Save profile you expect from a Wookiee character, we'll look today to see how good Chewie is at being a Republic Commander, both in and out of the Wookiee Defenders battle force.
Republic Chewbacca: The Profile
To start with, Chewie is 90pts, which is cheaper than either a "melee Wookiee" or a "gun Wookiee" squad. We'll go over his upgrades in a bit, but suffice it to say that you're probably not getting him for more than 98pts and he's fine even at 90pts. Compared to the Wookiee Chieftain profile, Chewie's got some pretty standard Wookiee characteristics (and some hero characteristics in general) with Courage 2, Speed 2, non-surging white saves (more on that in a minute), and surge to hit. Where he shines above most other characters, however, is his Wound Threshold of 9, which means you have to dump more fire into him than normal (even over Rebel Chewie and all Force Users - who admittedly have Immune: Pierce and at least red saves).
Chewie's keywords change his base stats quite a bit, however: he's got Enrage 4, which means after he takes 4 wounds, he gets Charge and infinite Courage - so his Courage 2 stat probably won't stay Courage 2 for a while. As a Commander, this also means that once he's taken 4 wounds, your units within range 3 of him can't be panicked, which is GREAT for scoring (though if you're running mostly Wookiee units, you have Indomitable on everyone to clear suppression anyway - but hey, not having to roll is better than rolling a better die). He also has Guardian 2: Commander, which can force Chewie to take hits in place of a Wookiee Chieftain or Yoda (and soon to be generic Jedi) in the Wookiee Defenders list or for another fairly fragile commander in a Republic list (which could be a Clone Commander, Rex, Cody, Ahsoka, Anakin, or the aforementioned other Commanders). While this is a nice add-on, it's also just fine to run Chewie without another Commander (either in a standard game or in Recon where you can't take another Commander) and just chalk this up as a useless keyword. The main reason you'd want to use this Guardian ability is to a) provide Backup to an Operative (like Bad Batch or Padme in a generic Republic list) and b) so you can trigger Enrage 4 without having to be shot at.
He also has Reliable 2, which means that he actually has surging white saves for the first two defensive surge results that he gets - this puts nearly on-par with the Wookiee Chieftain for 10pts less (though in my opinion, the Chieftain has a few advantages over Chewie - but we'll get into that a bit later). Suffice it to say that Reliable 2 is a nice addition for the Republic version of Chewie and would also be a great addition to the Rebel version of Chewie. Finally, like all Wookiee units, Chewie has Scale, which is great for making sure that he can get through difficult terrain easily and also allows him to go over some impressively tall terrain (albeit at a reduced speed).
Chewie's weapons are great - he has a 4-red-die melee profile with Lethal 1, which CAN give him Pierce 1, but only if he has an aim token. This would be easy to get if he had Clone token sharing synergies or if generic Wookiee Chieftains had Exemplar - maybe we'll see Exemplar/aim sharing on the new Jedi models, but in the meantime, you probably need an upgrade to get aims for Chewie (if you have Han in your Rebel lists, getting aims for Chewie isn't hard at all - here, it's a bit more complicated without Electrobinoculars).
Most of the time, however, you're probably shooting with Chewie - and with 2-red/2-white on his Bowcaster and Critical 1, Impact 1, and Pierce 1, Chewie is not only comparable to his surge-for-crit Rebel version, but he's also a reliable source of 1-2 damage into most armor units in the game. With two white dice in the mix . . . he really does want aim tokens, so maybe that should play into the upgrades/units you take. :)
Speaking of upgrades, let's take a look at his upgrade slots and what are good candidates for both upgrade cards and command cards to take with him.
Republic Chewbacca: Recommended Upgrades and Command Cards
Chewbacca has access to Training and Gear slots, but the characters you take with him can, incidentally, give him other stuff as well.
Training x2
There are two or three very strong choices for Training upgrades on Chewie: the first is Tenacity. This upgrade assumes that you are a) attempting to get into melee combat with him and b) that you intend to trigger Enrage 4 so he can get 5 red dice with Charge. This is a solid option, especially if most of your other units are melee-oriented as well (as you'll find in a lot of Wookiee Defender lists). While it won't help you trigger Pierce, it will give you a fifth dice to force a save - and with surge to hit, you're highly likely to get 4-5 hits in your final results without aim support (which might be enough to crack a serious hole in any non-Armor units you're facing).
The second upgrade you can take is Offensive Push, which will require a recover action or a specific gear upgrade to use more than once (and while Rebels have an option or two that can get you a free Recover action, the Republic is pretty much limited to Guidance on Yoda for that), but on a turn when you really need to smash into something, Offensive Push is a great add. I will say that this can also work if you're playing a stand-back-and-shoot list and have time to recover-shoot with your Bowcaster - what we call "turreting" here at Wretched Hive - in a Bunker Assault/Recover the Research game. Movement is often a necessary part of a unit's activation, so take advantage of this while you can and when you can . . . but otherwise, assume you're only getting one use out of Offensive Push.
The third solid choice is Seize the Initiative, which gives him an order token once per game. While not as flashy as the offensive benefits of taking Tenacity or Offensive Push, if you're running Chewie without Yoda, you might not be giving Chewie an order. On a turn when you're playing a 1-pip or sometimes a 2-pip command card in Wookiee Defenders, you might not be giving the order to Chewie. Additionally, if you're using Chewie in a generic Republic list with an Operative character that wants to issue orders to themselves and not others (like the Bad Batch), there might be a turn when you want Chewie to be activated on your time table instead of randomly from the order pool - and when that happens, Seize the Initiative will be your only way out.
There are other command cards that you can make arguments for - Mission Objective gives him a reroll that's not tied to an aim token for the same cost as Offensive Push, On the Hunt can give him aim tokens without exhausting (but only if he's attacking a Trooper unit that has at least one wound token on it), and Up Close and Personal can give him a dodge token when he shoots, but each of these is as expensive or more expensive than the other options listed above and provides a niche requirement for getting its use. Take them if you want, but I think the other options are better.
Gear x1
With the newest upgrades that were released, the Extra Supplies upgrade has immediate appeal for anyone who wants two turns of Offensive Push without turreting: it's a one-time use upgrade that allows you to ready one non-Force upgrade at the end of your activation . . . like Offensive Push. If that sounds good to you, take it (it is, in effect, a 1pt cheaper second copy of Offensive Push).
The other upgrade to look into is Recon Intel, which allows Chewie to move up faster on the first turn, which might give him a range 3 Bowcaster shot (very nice) and will help him keep up with any melee-oriented Wookiees that you have (very nice if you intend to do the melee-oriented thing with Chewie). If you aren't taking Offensive Push, this is a nice one to add.
Most of the other Gear options are completely unnecessary due to Chewie's special rules: Ascension Cables, Grappling Hooks, and Environmental Gear are all covered by Scale. You don't have the action economy to take Electrobinoculars or Portable Scanner. Targeting Scopes are great on units with aim tokens - and as has already been said a LOT in this post, you don't have those (put that upgrade on your ARC squad/squads, but not this guy).
You can probably make the argument that a cached dodge token is good on this guy with Prepared Supplies, but not as strong a case as you can make for putting it on a Wookiee Chieftain who has Duelist. You could also make the argument that Emergency Stims is worth taking - especially if you have Yoda in your list, have taken Offensive Push, and intend to use Guidance on Chewie for a Recover action each turn. If you're doing that, Chewie becomes VERY hard to kill and will have the aim tokens he wants to make his Bowcaster/Overwhelm attacks a lot stronger.
When it comes to Command Cards, Chewie isn't helped much by the Wookiee-specific ones. Yes, he can get Agile 1 from the 2-pip and he can get Demoralize 1 from the 3-pip, but neither are helping Chewie with what he wants most, which is aim support (the 1-pip could do that . . . if it was allowed to be given to a Commander). The generic command cards aren't doing anything special for him either, so the only command cards that really matter are those that are fielded by other named heroes.
To start with, his own command card (Size Matters Sometimes) gives Yoda some much-needed mobility (on Chewie's back - he can't move on his own) and Chewie gets red defense dice, can spend Yoda's dodge tokens (great with Ataru and a ranged attack option), and Deflect. If Chewie's already got Enrage 4 triggered, he can go slamming into an enemy unit with Charge and get Yoda into the same combat for Ataru (or into the right area to blast people with Force Wave). All in all, a pretty good day - probably followed up by a great turn with Yoda and Chewie from one of Yoda's command cards.
Speaking of Yoda's command cards, Chewie benefits greatly from both There Is No Try (which will give Chewie an order token, a dodge token, and Relentless if he is the "1 Unit" that Yoda wants to select) and Luminous Beings Are We (which gives Chewie an order token and access to Yoda's 2 aim, 2 dodge, and 2 surge tokens). Yoda will be using this on a tactical-redeploy turn and while there are certainly other units that wouldn't mind borrowing those same tokens, at least Chewie has the right of first refusal while they're on Yoda. Chewie doesn't REALLY benefit from Size Matters Not, but Yoda might be able to perform some crazy stuff while still giving Chewie a recover action if he wants it.
Chewie can benefit a little from Clone Captain Rex's Call Me Captain command card (mostly in that he can add Rex's 3 red dice to his Bowcaster attack - SOLID), but he can also benefit from Scouting Party on Rex, since Chewie is part of the Republic Faction. Paying for Recon Intel on Rex is going to be far more effective than buying it for Chewie as the Scout-1 on Chewie becomes Scout-2 on Chewie, Rex, and one other unit (maybe the Bad Batch). Rex also doesn't mind having Guardian 2 from Chewie . . . that's the truth. This will come at the cost of not having the Wookiee Defenders battle force (which can't take Rex) and not having Yoda, but it could be a fun way to play Chewie.
Chewie can benefit a little from Anakin's 3-pip (General Skywalker), but only because it issues him an aim token. Most of the time, Clones are going to benefit from this a lot more as they can share the tokens with each other (and often want aim tokens as much as Wookiee units do). If you're using Chewie to give Anakin a little extra pip-up on wounds with Guardian 2 (and want a second bruiser commander), then this is a fine pick as well - but also comes with the loss of Yoda.
Chewie can incidentally benefit from some of Cody's command cards - his 1-pip (Bring It Down) can give one of Chewie's attacks Suppressive or Impact 1 (this doesn't have to be a ranged attack, so you could get Impact 1/Suppressive in melee or Impact 2/Suppressive with the Bowcaster shot. Like Kenobi, Cody's 2-pip (Have I Ever Let You Down) can give Cody free return shots every time Chewie uses Guardian or takes damage directly, but unlike Kenobi, the restrictions on Chewie's Guardian ability means your opponent has to be shooting at Cody or Chewie . . . which might happen, sure, but is certainly not as strong as the unfettered Guardian 3 from Kenobi. Given the choice between any of these commanders and Yoda, I think Rex is the only proper comparison where you're getting something good on Chewie in trade for what Yoda and Chewie can do.
This is a good time to talk about Wookiee Chieftains as well: the command cards that the Wookiees get similarly don't help Wookiee Chieftains that much, except that stacking Agile 1 for a turn can be really, REALLY good with a Chieftain if he's rushing into melee (4 dodge tokens to handle the return blow is pretty solid). Chewie is cheaper than Wookiee Chieftains by default and has more overall health (and probably similar saves unless you get more than two defensive surges in a turn), but not having Duelist and Agile 1 changes a lot about how these two units function. A Wookiee Chieftain is a great unit for jumping into a powerful character that hasn't gone yet - a free dodge or two from Agile 1 and moving once or twice with the ability to gain Immune: Melee Pierce from Duelist is crazy good and something Chewie doesn't do. Chewie definitely wants to jump into someone who's already gone so he has the chance to double-hit the guy before any return attacks are made.
On the offensive side of the house, the Wookiee Chieftain can trigger Pierce 1 via duelist with an aim token, but he'll also get the reroll of 2 dice (which is good with a double-rainbow roll that's likely to be less reliable than the 4-red that Chewie's rolling). The two characters probably come out to nearly the same effectiveness - both want Offensive Push for aim support, both have good Bowcaster options (Chewie's has Critical 1, the Chieftain has the same expected damage but a more reliable mid-level thanks to rolling 4 black dice instead of 2 red/2 white). All in all, take whichever one you want, but if you need 10pts, Chewie is probably the better add over the Chieftain - though I go back and forth on this a lot.
Our first list is a gimmick list and it's a Yoda/Chewie 10-act Wookiee Defenders list that has 4 Battle Shield melee Wookiees, the token squad of ARC Troopers (no heavy though), and 3 Fluttercraft in it for objective play:
- Yoda with Burst of Speed, Force Guidance, and Jedi Mind Trick
- Chewbacca with Offensive Push and Emergency Stims
- 1x ARC Troopers with Smoke Grenades
- 4x Wookiee Warriors, Noble Fighters with Battle Shield Wookiees, Tenacity, and Recon Intel
- 3 Raddaugh Gnasp Fluttercraft with Gnasp Gunners
A few notes: first, I could have dropped Burst of Speed on Yoda to get one copy of Strike and Fade for a Fluttercraft and Tenacity on Chewie - I decided not to because I want Yoda to be able to get him to a meaningful part of the board on the first turn without having to rely on Size Matters Not. This list also has the Fluttercraft in it, which I think will make good objective pieces in Destroy Enemy Base and Surface Scan (as well as give me some deep-strike potential on primaries like Intercept and Breakthrough). If you don't like these units, you can get 2 more Wookiee squads and go down to 9-acts if you want.
The key gimmick in this list is Guidance with Yoda and Offensive Push/Stims on Chewie. You can start off with either Luminous Beings Are We for full order control or There Is No Try for Relentless attack options for Chewie and possibly Yoda - in either case, I'd pop Burst of Speed with Yoda to get him into a position where he'll be useful. The key is to make sure that both he and Chewie end the round within range 1 of each other so that Turn 2 can lead to Size Matters Sometimes and Chewie gets Yoda further to where he wants to go (and Chewie himself gets some useful protection). Chewie can block incoming damage with the Stims, which will get reset by a recover action from Yoda's Guidance ability. Similarly, Chewie's offense goes up with the ability to benefit from Offensive Push at the start of the game (great with Relentless!) and every turn afterwards after he gets a recover from Yoda - all the aims you need for all the damage you want! These two characters are going to require dedicated firepower to keep down - and firing into them will mean ignoring the ARCs, Wookiees, and flutters (which is all good news for you).
The second list is a generic Republic 10-act list with Chewie and Rex in it - Chewie has been added as just-another-hitter for 90pts, supporting the real show, which is an Ahsoka-Clone-Trooper-Infantry squad, a Fives-Clone-Trooper-Infantry squad, three Jedi-ARC squads, and the Bad Batch . . . all of which are pretty terrifying in melee:
- Chewbacca
- Clone Captain Rex with Recon Intel
- The Bad Batch
- 1x Clone Trooper Infantry with Ahsoka Tano and DP-23 Clone Trooper
- 1x Clone Trooper Infantry with Fives and DP-23 Clone Trooper
- 1x Clone Trooper Infantry with DP-23 Clone Trooper
- 3x ARC Troopers with Jedi Guardians
- 1x AT-RT
The melee threat in this list is stupidly strong - it actually puts the previous Wookiee list to shame a little! Chewie rolls 4 red in melee, Ahsoka's squad rolls 2 red/6 black/2 white with Critical 1/Pierce 2, Five's squad rolls 2 red/7 black with Pierce 1, and each Jedi squad rolls 2 red/8 black with Pierce 1 - and even the basic Clone squad rolls 2 red/4 black with Pierce 1! That's a lot of devastation for you - and any shooting attacks they do can do most of that same damage (the four Jedi-led squads really want to be in melee to use 2-4 of their dice). With supporting fire from the Bad Batch, Rex, and the AT-RT (who doesn't need a Hardpoint upgrade #ChangeMyMind), this is a scrappy and punchy list, albeit without a medic in sight . . . you could get 2 in the list if you dropped Fives and that might not be a bad option.
Republic Chewbacca: Final Review
Chewie is a fun character who packs a punch at a distance and in melee and is surprisingly affordable (for being a Republic unit). He's particularly good in the Wookiee Defenders battle force, but also has some applicability outside of it. I don't think he's worth "just taking" in a Republic list (he costs as much without any upgrades as a Medic-ARC squad!), but he certainly has some utility brought to the table.
Overall character review: 3.5/5 stars. Personally, I think his Guardian ability should be dropped in favor of something more offensive - something like Tactical that encourages him to act in a specific way (moving and smashing). I'd also prefer that he just have Charge on his profile instead of Enrage - it'd be nice if his purpose was as direct as the Wookiee Chieftain's (get into stuff and hit them hard), but I'm fine with where he's at. Taking him does require you to think about the aim issue if you plan to center your list around him (and if he's just "in" your list, you really do need a plan for him that justifies him being there instead of a more synergistic Corps or Support unit).
In our next post, we'll be hopping back to the Rebel Alliance and talking about Din Djarin and his little buddy "the kid". Din is a go-to for a lot of Rebel (and some Empire) players and we'll explore which upgrades are good on him and what you want to think about when including him in your lists. Until next time, happy hobbying!
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