Good morning gamers,
After a two-post hiatus to cover the new customizable Rebel and Imperial command choices, we're back in our unit review series and starting a two-part series on Din Djarin. Today we're looking at his Rebel variant and next time, we'll see how the Imperial variant differs. Din has access to nearly all the same upgrades in both, but his competition for the Operative slot is . . . well, it might be precarious in both lists now that the customizable characters are upon us, but he might have an easier time carving out a slot for himself in Empire lists. At any rate, we'll look and see how the Rebel faction can benefit from taking him and what kinds of upgrades you should be looking at.
Din Djarin: The Profile
Din's profile is pretty standard for a Mandalorian - 5 Wounds instead of 6, Courage 3 is nice (though not sharable on an Operative without a Command slot), he has surge for crit and block with a red defense die for reliable damage into things and reliable resistance to damage when defending, and he's base speed-2, but can make that speed-3 if he's willing to shell out points. He has two weapons and the option for two more - his blaster is range 1-2 with Versatile (so he can shoot out of combat at a target at range 1-2, but cannot shoot at someone he's in combat with) and rolls 2 red/1 black for a reasonable amount of damage for being a pistol. This is an aim-hungry weapon with Lethal 1 and Long Shot, but with Tactical 1 and Independent: Aim 1 and Dodge 1, it's not unlikely that he'll have two aim tokens if he moves and shoots. His base melee weapon on its own isn't great (2 black with Lethal 1), but if it's paired with any of his additional weapons, it can be a useful little-bit-extra against a unit you're in melee with.
Din's other keywords are good or fine - Arsenal 2 is great since he has an armament option, but will only be used if you take his Flame Projector or when he's in melee. Bounty can be good if Din can actually target an enemy Commander/Operative that he picks at the start of the game and then stick around in combat long enough to kill them - but hey, it's the potential for a victory point and that's not bad. He's also got Impervious, which isn't as good as Immune: Pierce, but it's definitely better than nothing.
Since this is the Rebel version of Din, we have to say something about Grogu, who is a Counterpart option for Din (and IG-11 in nanny mode). Grogu does a few things for Din - he provides an extra wound, he has the Small keyword so Din can't be targeted by an enemy unit that can only see Grogu (which is awesome), and he has Latent Power, which allows Din to take 1 suppression to roll a red defense die: on a block (1/2 chance), nothing happens. If you get a surge (1/6 chance), an enemy unit within range 1 suffers 2 suppression and 2 immobilize tokens (NOTE: this can apply immobilize tokens to vehicles!). If you get a blank (1/3 chance), a friendly non-droid Trooper unit removes 1 Wound or Poison token (NOTE: this is not Treat 1, so you can't resurrect a fallen trooper - but you can clear a wound off someone who's taken some damage OR remove a poison token that hasn't been resolved yet).
The addition of the extra wound alone might make the 17pt investment in Grogu worth it, but the opportunity for Latent Power to heal another wound on Din (or a friend) and have the off-chance of immobilizing/suppressing an enemy unit that Din is engaged with or nearby is awesome but unreliable. Half the time, you should expect to take a suppression token and NOT have any benefits from it. I leave it up to you as a player to decide if this is worth it, but I think there's a strong case to be made that Grogu is worth taking if you have 17pts available in your list.
Grogu also has the Hunted keyword, which allows an enemy unit with Bounty to score an additional VP off of killing Grogu - so if Din has been marked with a Bounty, you can get up to 2 VPs by killing Grogu and then Din (who will suffer all of the wounds until he has 1 wound left). While this is potentially a downside, it's not THAT bad of a downside as a) your opponent needs to take Bounty for it to trigger, and b) you still have to kill a 6-wound Din Djarin who might be able to heal himself or have other units draw fire off of him. However you cut it, this is a keyword you should note when your opponent can actually use it, but not get overly spun up about it.
Okay, let's see what kinds of upgrades are good on Din . . .
Din Djarin: Recommended Upgrades and Command Cards
Din is incredibly flexible and at 95pts base, you can certainly take him with just an armament upgrade and a gear upgrade (possibly Grogu) if you want to - but there are other upgrades that you should definitely consider.
Training x2
I'm going to be honest, I think all of these upgrades are optional. Din's biggest weakness is that he doesn't have any free attack keywords (Relentless, Steady, or Charge) - except on the turn he plays his 1-pip. Because of that, you should assume that you're performing a move and then a shoot on any turn that isn't your 1-pip turn. The upgrades that will help him the most are probably the ones that help him get extra damage once he arrives - Mission Objective is an interesting option, as is Tenacity. If you don't have a good option for Strike Team Leader, Din isn't a terrible choice.
I would personally stay away from Seize the Initiative (UNLESS you intend to use it for order control on Turn 1) and Up Close and Personal (your melee attack options are better than your shooting attack options - and once you're in melee, you need to be shooting OUT of combat with your pistol to trigger Up Close).
Comms x1
Now that Comms Relay is gone, I think these are optional too. The Comms Jammer is, of course, an interesting pick and can really mess with your opponent's game and the Emergency Transponder is a good once-per-game option for an extra token (aim token, maybe?). Din might be able to get some usage out of the new Spotter Uplink, but only if he's unengaged, which he probably wants to be. I wouldn't bother with the other two - passing on giving orders to Din is fine.
Gear x2
Your two gear options - your ONLY realistic gear options - are the two Din-specific ones: Din's Flame Projector should always be taken as a deterrent against big squads (though "big" can be operationally defined as 5+ models, not just super-squads - but it's very useful against super squads and only costs 5pts now) and if you intend to dive into melee with Din as quickly as possible, you will want to splurge on Din's Jetpack. The Jetpack would be better if the Jump 2 ability was a free action, but alas - becoming Speed-3 for a bit more potency on your 1-pip turn (when you have Relentless) and to make charging into combat a lot easier are huge boons. Take the Jetpack if you want it - but it's also 15pts, so leave it at home if you want to.
Armament x1
I've gone back and forth between which of Din's armament upgrades is better - I think both are good and I think taking one of them is absolutely necessary for Din to work. The Beskar Spear is the go-to for melee enthusiasts - it gives him Duelist (Immune: Melee Pierce if he spends his dodge token - which he can gain from Independent: Aim 1 and Dodge 1 OR from the free dodge token he gets on his 1-pip turn - and allows him to add Pierce 1 to his offensive profile in addition to the two rerolls he gets if he spends an aim token). Din's melee attack profile with the dagger and spear is 2 red/3 black, which is Commander Luke-levels of damage and if he spends 2 aim tokens, he can add Pierce 2 (which is better than Commander Luke). For 15pts, this is a decent investment - especially if you've taken the Flame Projector and the Jetpack.
For 5pts less, however, you can get Din's Amban Rifle, which paired with the dagger will give Din a 5 black die melee pool with Lethal 1, Immobilize 2, and Suppressive - that's 2 immobilize tokens and 1 suppression token in melee and that COULD stack with a lucky Latent Power roll! Suppressing your opponent before you go in and then keeping the suppression up so they stay suppressed is great for making sure they don't punch you back very hard (which is very useful since you won't have Duelist with this build) - and against a Courage 1 Corps squad, it could make the unit panic, which is good for POI control. The Amban Rifle also has a double-action option to perform a speed-1 move and then have a 3/4 chance of plucking a wound off someone that Din can see (no range attached) and apply a suppression token to that same unit. This is a great way to clear out the last unit in a group, but chances are good that if you're doing this all game, you're wasting Din. This is great on Turn 1, it's great on Turn 5 when you're already sitting on an objective that you need to hold and have no one nearby to shoot with your pistol, but it's not really great for anything else.
Command Cards
When it comes to command cards, Din has one that's really good, one that can be good, and one that's not worth taking at all. If you took Grogu, you have access to a fourth that's probably worth taking. You should always take This is the Way - unless you also have Operative Luke, in which case, your 1-pip slots are spoken for with him. This command card is simple: Din gets an order (no Independent: Aim 1 and Dodge 1), a dodge token (makes up for losing Independent), and Relentless (so you can move-move-attack - which also makes up for losing Independent). I like this card and I think it's the only Din command card that you really need, as it allows you to get Din where he wants to be and hopefully set up his effectiveness for the rest of the game. This command card is particularly good if you took the Jetpack, as 18" movement is solid and once of those moves can go over any reasonable kind of terrain.
I Like Those Odds is Din's 2-pip and it's fine - if you intend to be mostly shooting with Din. I Like Those Odds gives you an order (no Independent), an aim token (makes up for the loss of Independent - but only a little), and effectively gives him Gunslinger (after attacking he can make an attack against someone else), except that it doesn't have to be a shooting attack. If you dive into combat with the Amban (or Beskar Spear) and the Flame Projector, you can shoot with your pistol for free afterwards. Is getting a free shot with your pistol worth not having a dodge token (and not issuing orders to someone else)? I don't know - that's for you to decide as I'm solidly on the fence about it.
You should never take Whistling Birds - I know, being able to roll a white attack die for each mini in three enemy units that are within range 1 and line of sight of Din is swingy and sometimes awesome. I know, the artwork is AMAZING and the potential for damage upon damage is great. I know all of this - but do consider that a) rolling a white attack die and looking for paint means you're supposed to deal less than half of the wounds to the target unit IF you roll decently, b) against units with 1-2 models, you may do nothing, c) aim tokens don't help with this (but it also ignores enemy armor saves), d) it costs you an action and Din already doesn't have enough actions, and e) it's a 3-pip command card that only issues an order to Din (and unlike the last two command cards, he doesn't get any tokens with this one - so Independent is just lost). I don't know about you, but I can't see the benefits of a swingy roll outweighing the cost.
If you take Grogu, you get access to The Hand Thing, which is a neat 2-pip command card that allows Grogu to "interrupt" an opponent when they declare an attack to play this card instead of during the Command Phase. The target of the enemy attack needs to be within range 1 and line of sight of Grogu (which is also healing range for Latent Power, by the way). The target gets 2 dodge tokens and the Deflect keyword, which is a great way to get surge for block on a handful of units, could be a great way to bounce one damage back to the enemy, and will always be useful in that the target receives 2 dodge tokens (one of which might be regained with Nimble). While the Rebels have excellent options in the 1-pip and 3-pip command slots, the 2-pip slot has a lot more play and since there are only 5 rounds in Legion, at least one of the command cards you take in the six slots allocated for 1-3 pip command cards won't be played in the Command phase. So . . . if you took Grogu . . . take this one always.
Din is also a Mercenary unit, which means he has access to the three generic Mercenary command cards. Ploy is great because it doesn't actually issue any orders (so Independent triggers), but you can choose one of your order tokens (like Din's) to put on the card and you can play it at any time. While probably not as good as This is the Way, this is a very, VERY useful command card if you've paired Din with the Bad Batch who share the same rank and Ploy would give you the flexibility to activate either of these units when you want to.
Aggression is decent if you've leaned into more than just Din for your Mercenaries (the Bad Batch and Ewok Slingers come to mind). This command card doesn't give you order control like Ploy does, but a free aim token on Din and another mercenary unit could be really solid. Similarly, getting an extra dodge token on Din and two other mercenary units could be solid with Discretion - but again, you're not getting order control. It's important to note that without the Allies of Convenience keyword, Din can play these command cards, but can't issue orders to anyone with them - you could, I guess, run Din alongside a Capo with Underworld Connections if you wanted to . . . but Capos are bad in Rebels. :P
Because Din has Independent: Aim 1 and Dodge 1, most other command cards don't really help him. There are incidental benefits he can gain, however. Luke's Return of the Jedi command card could clear a suppression off of him after Luke activates (which probably isn't a big deal, but if you're taking fire and might be suppressed, every little bit will help). Similarly, if you run Din with Ahsoka, you can benefit from Guardian 2 when she plays Swift Protector. Between Guardian 2, the dodge token you get every time you're targeted near Ahsoka, and your dodge token from Independent (Din can't receive the order from that command card - and doesn't have to), you're not likely to take a lot of damage. If you're near Daimyo Boba, you can add an extra black die to your attack results when he plays Rule with Respect . . . yaye, I guess?
Pairing Din with Cassian and K-2SO is an interesting option, as Cassian can give Din up to 3 tokens and an order token if Din's taken some fire with Last Stand. I don't think this is the BEST play, as Independent is already giving you 2 tokens, but hey, if you REALLY want more, you can do this (and this is really the only command card that will give you more tokens than you'd get normally with Independent. Similarly, if you don't want Din to die, Sacrifice from K-2SO is a solid pick - Guardian 4 is epic and K-2 can certainly benefit from "the hand thing" if he gets targeted once he's absorbed some fire.
But honestly the best command card you can pair with Din is one that doesn't benefit himself or any in particular: it's the new Battlefield Reconnaissance card that's available to the customizable Rebel Agent. I've been running a lot of high-activation count Rebel lists (like 17+ activations) and if you can add 2-3 pass tokens to your pool on Turns 2-3 (very pivotal turns) so Din can have as much knowledge as possible of what's coming his way, you're in business. This is a 2-pip command card that can issue an order to Din if the Rebel Agent has Underworld Connections and while Din won't have his aim/dodge tokens, he will have full control over when he goes - and that could be really good. Someone else is getting an order too - which could be the Rebel Agent so your Operative tokens are out of the deck, but if you don't care when this guy goes, you can target a Sleeper Cell or some other unit if you want.
Okay, let's look into some lists!
Our first list is one of those 17-act Rebel lists I mentioned in the previous paragraph - this list runs Din with just the Amban, Flamer, and Jetpack and he's escorting Han, a Sab-Agent, four pairs of Rebel Veterans/Mark IIs, a Sleeper Cell/double-Slingers combo, and three Rotary-Blaster AT-RTs:
- Han Solo
- Din Djarin with Din's Flame Projector, Din's Jetpack, and Din's Amban Rifle
- Rebel Agent with Unseen Saboteur, Underworld Connections, Heavy Blaster Pistol, and Thermal Detonator
- 4x Rebel Veterans
- 4x Mark II Medium Blaster Troopers
- 1x Rebel Sleeper Cell
- 2x Ewok Slingers with Forest Dwellers
- 3x AT-RTs with Rotary Blaster Cannons
This list leads off with the Rebel generic 3-pip of Covering Fire so that three of the four pairs of Rebel Vets starts the game with orders (that's three standbys that trigger at range 3 on those Mark IIs) and you can activate all six of those before having to go to your order deck. You'll out-activate your opponent for a while if you're throwing out extra dodges on your units, though beware being panicked if you don't get Han on the board before damaged units have to go! The list has a fast-but-cheaper version of Din and he's part of the damage-dealing package. He's got This is the Way for a splashy turn and Ploy for a one-off turn (probably late in the game since you also have Battlefield Reconnaissance). You definitely want to lead off with Change of Plans leading into Covering Fire on the first turn so you can mess with your opponent's big plans!
Our next list is a more conventional 12-act Rebel list with Din supporting the Bad Batch (no Rebel Agent, sadly) - and a very aggro-heavy focus for Din that's loaded to the teeth so he can keep up with the other Rebel attack options:
- Rebel Officer with Proven Tactician and Underworld Connections
- The Bad Batch with Omega
- Din Djarin with Tenacity, Comms Jammer, Din's Flame Projector, Din's Jetpack, and Beskar Spear
- 3x Rebel Troopers
- 1x Rebel Sleeper Cell
- 3x AT-RTs with Rotary Blasters
- 1x X-34 Landspeeder with M-45 Ion Blaster, RPS-6 Rocket Gunner, and Unstable Astromech
- 1x X-34 Landspeeder with M-45 Ion Blaster, HQ Uplink, Strike and Fade, RPS-6 Rocket Gunner, and Unstable Astromech
Besides the obligatory Rebel Officer and Rebel Troopers (who have been taken with the least possible upgrades to make room for Din and the other expensive stuff), everything in this list packs a punch - 5 black dice with surge for crit from each of the AT-RTs, 12 black dice with surge for hit from Sleeper Cell, 1 red/3 black/3-5 white (depending on your range) from each of the Landspeeders, 3 red/3 black from Din in melee if he's not shooting with his blaster and has taken a wound, and 1 red/4 black/6 white from Bad Batch - golly that's a pile of dice!
While I think this is pretty cool, I will note that this list could become a 13-act list by dropping Din and instead taking a Reluctant Hero Rebel Agent with the Heavy Blaster Pistol and Thermal Detonator, downgrading the Rebel Officer to have Unseen Saboteur instead of Proven Tactician (no Underworld Connections), and adding a second unit of vanilla Sleeper Cell . . . this might in fact be a stronger list and probably stands as the greatest argument against taking Din today: he has to be better than whatever Rebel Operative is taking the slot that is NOT taken by a Rebel Agent.
Din Djarin: Final Review
Din is a fun character to use and if your expectations of named characters carving through things is moderated enough, he's definitely a good smashy character to use. That said, he's not going to be pick up an entire squad on a single turn (except MAYBE if he's using his flamer and his pistol/armament choice against a fairly weak armor save unit). He's pretty resilient, has a few tricks he can play, and can stick to an objective for a long, long time.
Overall character review: 4/5 stars. I think the lack of the fifth star is mostly due to him not having a free attack keyword - and in order to get him to a powerful place, he has to be REALLY expensive. Commander Luke is about as expensive the way I build him, but he's also got Charge, which can help him do more work in the long run than characters who lack Charge, Steady, or Relentless. When compared to other Rebel Operatives, you can take or leave Din (depending on whether you think he's better than Operative Luke, the Bad Batch, Ahsoka, Sabine, and now Rebel Agents - all of whom have legitimate claims to a space at the table where you only get two chairs).
Next time, we'll be looking at Din Djarin as an Imperial Mercenary - a place where he might shine more, but is also not guaranteed a slot. Without access to Grogu, his utility changes a little . . . and with the other bounty hunters (and Kallus) available in the same slot, you're looking at having to pick and choose like you have to in Rebels (though maybe not as hard). Find out how the profile changes when the faction changes next time - and until then, happy hobbying!
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