Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Republic AT-RTs

Good morning gamers,

I am solidly in the camp of the Clone Commandos (and maybe the new Strike Teams) when it comes to supports - but my son, Gorgoroth, is a big fan of AT-RTs. Having faced them a ton, I can see why - and my Rebel lists lean into them pretty heavily. AT-RTs in Republic lists are durable and can put out a lot of damage - and they're also not the kind of thing that can be chopped to bits by most power units in a single turn, either. All in all, they're a fabulous choice, unless you have a partiality for one of their competitors (Strike Teams not included, thanks to the Detachment keyword). Let's see what this guy brings to the table and how you can bring them to bear in Republic lists that are heavily strapped for points!

Republic AT-RT: The Profile

The defining part of the Republic AT-RT in the Support class is that it has red saves (no-surging) and Armor 2. If you want red saves (non-surging) with speed and cover, you want BARC Speeders and if you want red saves (with surging), you probably want Commandos. If you're okay with white (surging) saves, you can look into fluttercraft or swoop bikes, but the addition of Armor 2 and a good save on AT-RTs makes them incredibly durable. Fast they are not, but they're not slow (speed-2 with a big base) and Scout 1 on the first turn makes them decent at maneuvering on a durable line-of-sight-blocking chassis.

Their base weapon is actually pretty good with 1 black/2 white with Critical 1/surge to hit and Impact 1 - oh, and there's no Fixed: Front keyword on this weapon, so you can shoot in any direction with it. In melee, they can roll 3 red dice with Impact 1 (with surge to hit), but this always feels a bit like a let-down since they can't hide in combat. We'll look at other ranged weapon upgrades they can take, but their base weapons are fine (not great, but fine).

Republic AT-RT: Recommended Upgrades

This unit can certainly be taken without upgrades if you want to, but there are a few that you might consider.

Hardpoint x1

Now that all three hardpoint upgrades cost the same, I think there's only one that you want to consider taking: the AT-RT Flamethrower. The reason for this is simple: the base gun is expected to get you 1.375 hits/shot and the other options don't give you that much more for the 15pts that you're paying (which doesn't seem like a lot of points, but in Republic lists, I'll tell you right now that you don't have 15pts lying around for anything). The lowest damage ceiling for the weapons is the AT-RT Laser Cannon, which has 1 red/2 black with Impact 3 and Fixed: Front. This gives you an expected 2.125 hits/shot, or 0.75 extra hits/shot than the base weapon (and with Critical 1/Impact 1, you're looking at 1-2 hits into armor instead of maybe 3). This weapon used to be the cheapest (and when it was, the most ubiquitous), but now that it's not, I don't think you want it. Competing against the Laser Cannon is the AT-RT Rotary Blaster, which throws 5 black dice with Fixed: Front, which gives you 3.125 hits/shot, or 1 hit/shot more than the Laser Cannon and just over double the damage of the base gun. Without any Impact/Critical keywords, this weapon is really designed to fight against infantry (and to be a bit more precise, unarmored infantry without dodge tokens) and if you're getting 3 hits/shot, that's probably resulting in 1-2 minis killed/wounds taken, which is . . . fine.

If you're trying to eat infantry, however, you're served far better by taking the AT-RT Flamethrower, which has 2 black dice with spray (so 2 black dice per mini in the target unit) with Blast and Fixed: Front. With range melee-to-1, this is a close-range terror, but since you have a decent gun at range 1-3 in your base profile, it's fine that it's a close-range weapon. Against a unit with 1-2 minis, the Rotary Blaster will upstage this guy, but the fact that it skips Cover with Blast and against 3+ minis it's throwing more dice, this weapon is really a good cut better than the Rotary Blaster for the exact same price. I think you can skip the Flamethrower if you don't have the points, but if you're going to take one, you probably want to take this one.

Comms x1

There are a few Comms upgrades that you might look at, but the utility of the upgrades is based on a) what hardpoint you took, if any, and b) whether or not you're planning to get orders to these guys. If you took the Flamethrower, you might consider a Comms Jammer to keep units that you've dive-bombed into from getting orders (allowing you to go first and do a last-first punch against something that might hurt you back). On the flip side, you might consider taking the Hacked Comms Unit for the reverse benefit of getting an order if a enemy unit near you gets an order. If you're planning to hang back because you didn't buy a hardpoint (or because you bought one of the other two?), you should skip these altogether.

If you plan to get these guys orders (with Commander Cody, perhaps), you should consider getting Linked Targeting Array to get an aim token on the unit or the Onboard Comms Channel so you can pass another order on to a friendly Trooper unit. I don't know if you can find 5-10pts for these upgrades, but they are options for sure.

Yep, this article has been pretty short so far - let's look at some lists and flesh out some of these ideas!

Republic AT-RT: Sample Lists and Strategies

First up, we have a 12-act "quad-strike" 501st list which features a flamethrower AT-RT to support super-sized Fives/Ahsoka squads, four ARC Troopers and their detachment Strike Teams, and Rex (to give some extra movement to the Fives/Ahoska super squads - which means everyone in this list either has Scout 1-2 or Prepared Positions/Incognito):

• Clone Captain Rex with Recon Intel
• 1x Clone Trooper Infantry with Fives, DP-23 Clone Trooper, Clone Trooper Infantry Squad, and EMP "Droid Poppers"
• 1x Clone Trooper Infantry with Ahsoka Tano, DP-23 Clone Trooper, and Clone Trooper Infantry Squad
• 4x ARC Troopers
• 4x ARC Trooper Strike Team with DC-15X ARC Trooper Sniper
• 1x AT-RT with AT-RT Flamethrower and Comms Jammer

This list is very in-your-face, with 4 ARC squads, two super-sized Clone Trooper Infantry squads (all six of which have Charge), and a Flamethower - and they're supported by four snipers and Rex! The AT-RT will take effort to take down, which will beg the question of whether or not it's a good unit to target when your opponent could be targeting any number of other things. If your opponent doesn't shoot it, it can roast big squads down to manageable sizes. If your opponent does shoot it . . . that means everything else can arrive alive! Now we're going to pivot to a more stand-back-and-shoot role for AT-RTs in the new 212th battle force. This list only gets to 10 acts, but it's packing a lot of armor and durability:

• Clone Commander Cody
• 1x Clone Trooper Infantry with DP-23 Clone Trooper
• 1x Clone Trooper Infantry with Boil and RPS-6 Clone Trooper
• 2x ARF Troopers with RPS-6 ARF Trooper and ARF Trooper Duo
• 3x AT-RT
• 2x Saber-Class Tank with Clone Shock Trooper Pilot and Beam Turret

The AT-RTs in this list are really for holding power - they are more resilient than Clone Trooper Infantry units, but they don't pack as much of a punch and are cheaper. All in all, the list has some big tanks (only two in this list) supplemented by 5-7 model infantry squads and Cody - hopefully it's enough to stick around on the objectives!

Republic AT-RT: Final Review

I think AT-RTs are pretty good - they block line of sight (because they're vehicles), their damage output is fine-to-good, depending on what hardpoints you took and sometimes how big the enemy squad is that you're targeting, and they're incredibly durable for a really cheap cost. The Support slot is pretty competitive for Republic, so if you're trying to save money for another part of your army, you really should consider getting a few of these guys!

Overall Unit Review: 4.5/5 stars. This is a really cost-effective unit and the only thing I can fault it for is that its base gun doesn't have really good firepower (it's fine, but not great). I also think the rules for Ground Vehicles is a bit silly (blocking line of sight with those chicken legs of theirs), but hey, all wargames have to depart from reality eventually.

Next time, we're kicking off a several-month journey through the CIS faction and we're kicking things off with Count Dooku. He's very expensive and doesn't get a free attack keyword (like Charge or Relentless) by default, but he's very powerful and does the support-while-hitting-stuff thing really well (maybe not as well as Vader, but still, pretty well). Find out what's to like about this guy and how to make the points to fit him into your lists next time - and until then, happy hobbying!