Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Darth Vader, Part II

Good morning gamers,

We're looking at the other side of the coin from last time and viewing the Operative Vader profile. In many ways, this version of Vader is similar to the previous one - he hits hard, he has a lot of great keywords, and he's going to change the way your opponent plays (probably because he'll be monopolizing your command hand). At the same time, there are a lot of trades (both positive and negative) to taking this version of Vader. Let's see what he brings to the table (and what he leaves behind) from his more popular Commander variant.

Darth Vader, The Emperor's Apprentice: The Profile

Darth Vader boasts less-strong-but-still-strong combat profile compared to his Commander variant with 5 red dice and Impact 3/Pierce 3 - and unlike Commander Vader, he has a 2 black dice range 1-2 attack option that has Blast (no cover saves) and Scatter (you get to re-cohere the unit around its unit leader - which likely denies cover for your friends on future shots). While he doesn't have the innate ability to surge, access to aim tokens and occasionally surge tokens are definitely options in your list building - and against anyone with a Force slot, he gains surge-to-crit on offense thanks to Jedi Hunter. With the Relentless keyword, Vader can turn any move action into a follow-on attack action (up to one attack each turn - though he can perform two activations in a single round with Implacable). Yes, Vader is trying to deal as much damage as he can - and when he deals damage in melee, he's pretty incredible (his ranged attack is mostly to trigger suppression and bring a unit out of cover).

This version of Vader is Speed-2, which is good and might making getting Burst of Speed for a Speed-3 activation unnecessary. Having Speed-2 and Relentless means that anyone that moves to Range-2 of Vader should expect to take a hit to the face with a lightsaber - and if you want to avoid being moved towards him, you probably need to stay at Range-4 of him, which is hard to do. This version of Vader has Courage 3 instead of infinite Courage (and he's an Operative who doesn't have access to a Command slot), which means that he can't keep your units from panicking - so be sure to bring Commanders who will keep your boys in the fight (possibly with Compel to make up for what you're losing from Commander Vader). Like his Commander version, Vader has Master of the Force 1, which is great for making sure that any exhaustible Force upgrades you take can come back to you at the end of each activation (not turn - activation) so you can use them again.

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Darth Vader, Part I

Good morning gamers,

We're tackling the big man himself, "Commander Vader", today. Vader is a staple in basically every Imperial list and the reason for it is simple: whether he's hacking things with his lightsaber or just forcing Imperial Corps units to stay on target, he's changing the state of the game. We'll be looking today at what makes this version of Vader so good, but we'll be looking next time at what his Operative variant brings to the table (and loses in the conversion process). By far and away, this is the most prevalent version of Vader you're going to see - and for good reason!

Darth Vader, Lord of the Sith: The Profile

Darth Vader boasts an incredibly strong combat profile with 6 red dice and Impact 3/Pierce 3 - if given Saber Throw (which you should always give him - I left it home for a three-round Recon tournament once and sort of regretted it, as great as having Push and Choke was), he can reliably cut into enemy armor and any damage that he deals will automatically work against the target unit in most situations. While he doesn't have the innate ability to surge, access to aim tokens and occasionally surge tokens are definitely options in your list building. With the Relentless keyword, Vader can turn any move action into a follow-on attack action (up to one attack each turn), but might be able to perform a second attack via the Blizzard Force 2-pip command card (and can even perform two activations in a single round with Implacable). Yes, Vader is trying to deal as much damage as he can - and when he deals damage, he's pretty incredible.

He's only Speed-1, which often means that you want to factor in options for speed with him (more on that when we cover both the Force upgrades and what command cards you take below). Speed-1 isn't that much slower than Speed-2, but avoiding him is a lot easier than the Operative variant just because a unit that moves Speed-2 once can ensure that they are safe if they started at least range 1/2 away from him before they moved. Vader also has infinite Courage, which means that any friendly units within range 3 of him (potentially range 4) never count as being panicked - which is fantastic when paired with his Compel: Corps Trooper ability, which can give any suppressed-but-not-panicked Corps units more suppression (Cover 1 for the win!) in order to get a free move . . . which is sort of like not being suppressed at all. Vader also has Master of the Force 1, which is great for making sure that any exhaustible Force upgrades you take can come back to you at the end of each activation (not turn - activation) so you can use them again.