Good morning gamers,
There might not be a single faction in Star Wars Legion that has a go-to Corps unit choice like the Separatists do. Yes, you will see lists that feature six Geonosian Warrior squads (or fewer than six in a Rapid Interdiction Force battle force list) or six or seven B2 Battle Droids with Poggle the Lesser, but by and large, if you're playing against a Separatist player, it's only natural to expect to see several units of B1 Battle Droids in their army. Yes, these are iconic prequel trilogy units for the Trade Federation/Separatists, but they're also fabulous units in Legion. Let's see what they do and why everyone seems to be keen to take them.
B1 Battle Droids: The Profile
When my son and I got started playing Legion . . . we both hated B1s. I was playing Republic and my son was playing Separatists and the Republic units were durable while the B1s were . . . well, easy to squish and didn't do a lot of damage, no matter what you put in their unit to help them out. This was before the current version of Legion and the release of the "super size squad" personnel option, but even today, B1s aren't paying for a good profile. On offense, these guys roll 1 white die each and can't surge natively - that's bad. They roll 1 white defense die that also doesn't surge natively - and that's bad too. Each model has 1 wound, the unit has Courage 1, and they're a normal speed-2 . . . there's seemingly nothing to recommend this profile.
Except the cost - and in some respects, the special rules. Because their profile is so bad, their cost is incredibly low at 38 points (lower than any other Corps unit in the game). They have AI: Attack, which has both positive and negative ramifications, based on whether you're suppressed or not and whether or not you have an order token. If you don't have an order token and the unit is suppressed (which will usually be the case if they've taken 1-3 suppression tokens), the first action they have to take is an Attack action . . . which might not be the worst thing in the world, but also might not be what you want to do with them. As we'll see below, though, there are MANY ways to work around this, not least of which is having Courage 3 commanders in your list or access to Override.
They also have Coordinate: Droid Trooper, which has always been the reason to take B1s in your army - issuing an order to one of them likely means you have an order on ALL of them, so long as each squad has at least one model within range-1 of each other. While you can certainly do "chains" of B1s this way, a "web" of B1s is far more reliable at keeping the order control going - and it helps if you have another Droid Trooper (either a Droid Commander/Operative who started the chain and is near the end of the chain or a combat-oriented unit that's operating near the B1s) at the actual end, so they can benefit from the last coordinate. The only units that are unlikely to benefit from this chaining are your vehicles and Force Users (and geo-bugs, I guess), so they will be dependent on your command card to make sure they get the orders they want. Still, if all of your Corps units are B1 Battle Droids (or up to 1 of them is a Droid Trooper/has access to Direct from someone else), you shouldn't have any Corps units in your order pool, which helps with order efficiency and reliability a TON.
To be honest, I think everything in this section is optional - though I also think there are decent options in almost every category. I think most B1 squads are better if they're as inexpensive as possible, but there might be some value taking some of these things.
Heavy Weapon x1
There are a LOT of Heavy Weapon upgrades for B1s now - but they started with four "generic" options. The most straightforward is the E-5C B1 Battle Droid, who gives the squad 3 black dice and no fancy keywords for 16pts. This is one of the cheapest options for the squad, costing about half the price of the full squad while doubling its expected damage output. You can get the same expected damage at range 2 from the Radiation Cannon B1 Battle Droid - the "rad cannon" also costs 16pts and with 1.5 expected hits per attack (plus one more from Poison, usually), you're actually a little ahead of the E-5C, but you have to get closer to use it.
If you're willing to pay 18pts instead of 16pts, you can get a solid anti-armor option with the E-60R B1 Battle Droid, who gives you a "rainbow roll" of 1 red/1 black/1 white with Cumbersome and Impact 2 at range 2-4 - if you're finding that you're light on anti-armor options, these guys aren't a bad choice. Alternatively, you can pay 18pts for the E-5s B1 Battle Droid, which gives you 1 red/1 white with Critical 1 at range 1-4 - I personally think that the age of "snipers" in B1s is kind of over, so I wouldn't pay for this upgrade . . . but it does give you Critical 1, it gives you reliable damage (and suppression), and can be used by B1s that are trying to stay out of the action. But you could also get an extra B1 squad for basically the same cost as two of these Heavy Weapon upgrades . . . and I think that might be better.
You have three unique upgrades as well - Asajj Ventress can be added to a squad of B1s or BX Commandos for 26pts (12pts less than another squad) and removes AI from the units he's in, gives the option for another Heavy Weapon (Rad Cannon? E-5C?), gives the unit Charge, and Demoralize 1. The squad also gets to upgrade 4 of its attack dice if the targeted unit is suppressed/panicked (which makes Demoralize 1 actually useful). I don't think Asajj is great in a B1 squad for this - to use her attack profile of 4 black dice with Critical 1/Pierce 1/Impact 1, she needs to be in melee . . . and all of the supporting B1 heavies will be useful at range only. Yes, you could get at least 8 black dice if she's got at least 4 friends in tow (or start getting a mix of black dice and red dice if you've got fewer than 4 friends with her), but I feel like she's going to be a better fit in a BX squad, which wants to get into melee anyway (and with vibroswords, four friends would be rolling 4 red/8 black . . . much better that what B1s are going to do.
Kraken seems like a more interesting choice, though at 30pts, he's basically the cost of another squad. Like Asajj, he allows you to take another Heavy Weapon and removes AI. He also allows you to upgrade 1 attack die per mini you've lost, which means a super-sized B1 squad could be toting some serious firepower if they've lost half their number. Additionally, Kraken's blaster is range melee-to-3 with 1 black/1 white, both of which can be upgraded after you take a few losses. I feel like he's a bit too expensive, but if paired with a Rad Cannon/E-5C/E-60R, I think you could have a really dangerous (though expensive) unit.
Finally, you can take General Grievous for 36pts . . . and why you'd be taking him here instead of as a Commander, I don't know. He removes AI and gives you another Heavy Weapon option and like Asajj, his weapons are only useful in melee. He can also allow you to upgrade up to 3 dice if you take a suppression . . . this is a much better upgrade on a unit of Magnaguards who want to be in melee, not B1s. He also has 2 health instead of Asajj and Kraken's 1 health, which is good in a Magnaguard squad (and not horrible in a B1 squad . . . except that you could get 6 wounds from a new squad/super-size upgrade for basically the same cost).
Personnel x1
There are a lot of Personnel options, most of which you can absolutely pass on. The go-to options are definitely the B1 Battle Droid Squad for 38pts (same cost of another unit) to get +7 models (an extra guy over a new squad, but without another activation in your list), and your choice of healing units in the form of the 14pt EV-series Medical Droid (for healing non-Droid/Vehicle units, like Geonosians, Dooku, or foot-Grievous) or the PK-series Worker Droid for 22pts (for healing Droids/Vehicles). I like the "extra guy" option for 4pts if I have 4-12pts left over and nothing really to do with them - this doesn't happen much, but if it does, an extra body on a unit that needs to stay alive on an objective for 4pts is fine.
I think you can skip on the others - a T-Series is about half the cost of a new unit/super-size upgrade and is upping your damage/resiliency on a unit that's not great in either of those categories, so I'd skip on him. The OOM-series Battle Droid and the B1 Security Droid are more expensive versions of "the extra guy" and while a range-2 coordinate might be useful, you definitely don't need to exhaust an upgrade to avoid having AI . . . just get them an order, yeah? :)
The only other option you have is the Viper Recon Droid, who is kind of expensive for an extra body, but gives you Observe as an action. This kind of action is, theoretically, good for your team - rerolls against a target unit is good, right? Well, in order to use it, you have to be within range 3 of the enemy (possible) or at range 2 if you intend to use the 2 white dice attack pool of the Viper . . . and I don't think that's a game that B1s really want to play. In a desperate play, they can perform attack actions (or maybe with certain heavy weapon upgrades?), but I don't think it's worth 9pts. Maybe it is . . . but I don't think so . . .
Comms x1
I think the only upgrade you're looking for on a B1 squad is the HQ Uplink - if you have one B1 squad that's designated to "start the B1 chain", you don't need to use Direct or orders from command cards to get your B1s out of your order pool (and avoid AI triggering). That squad can then perform a recover action each turn, which will reset the HQ Uplink for the next round. For 48pts for the basic squad with an HQ Uplink, I think you're getting a good deal.
Specific Gear x2
There are two specific Gear upgrades that B1s can take: Portable Scanners and Electrobinoculars. If you want B1s to generate dodge tokens or aim tokens respectively . . . I guess there's a place for these? I think if you have Kalani or access to Exemplar and Strategize in some other pairing of units, I don't think you need these. In some battle forces, however, I think there could be play with these options.
B1 Battle Droids: Sample Lists and Strategies
Our first list features the most B1s that you can take in a list - eight activations in a 12-act Separatist Invasion Force, featuring General Grievous on foot (great source of command cards for a very low price), two Droidekas, and the required AAT:
- General Grievous with Recon Intel
- 5x B1 Battle Droids with B1 Battle Droid Squad
- 2x B1 Battle Droids with E-60R B1 Battle Droid
- 1x B1 Battle Droid with B1 Battle Droid Squad and HQ Uplink
- 2x Droidekas
- 1x AAT Battle Tank
It's unclear to me whether or not those points spent on the super-squads could/should be spent instead on a second tank, a third Droideka, and some upgrades on Grievous (Endurance? Tenacity?). It's even possible that with a stronger emphasis on the Droidekas and AATs that we don't need the E-60Rs (though I like having them for anti-armor support) and we could just add "extra guys" to each squad. You can tinker around with it if this list interests you - though I will say that order control in it is HARD without taking a T-Series (not having customizable super tactical droids is a real low point for this battle force).
The order control in this list is really good though - you can use the HQ Uplink each turn to chain all of the B1s if you want to, which means that your order pool will either be 2 Support/1 Heavy (1-pip and 2-pip turns - though the Supreme Commander turn doesn't require an HQ Uplink for the B1s) or 1 Heavy (3-pip turns). This order control would be about the same if we had the extra AAT and Droideka, since we'd issue orders on the 3-pip turns to the AATs and only have Droidekas in our pool and we'd have 5 support/heavy tokens on our other turns.
On the flip side, we can go for a 13-act list that features four B1s for holding ground, while the "real work" is done by Wheel-Bike Grievous, Kalani, two Super Tacs, some TSMEU bikes, and some STAPs:
- General Grievous, Wheel Bike Warlord with Up Close and Personal and Recon Intel
- Kalani, Super Tactical Droid
- 2x Super Tactical Command Droid, Auxiliary Command Droid with Tyrannical Taskmaster, Optimized Task Flow, Sliced Comms, and Electrostaff
- 3x B1 Battle Droids
- 1x B1 Battle Droids with B1 Battle Droid
- 2x TSMEU-6 Wheel Bikes
- 3x STAP Riders with Strike and Fade
This list has VERY good order control - three sources of Direct: AI Unit allow us to chain the B1s with one of the Super Tacs (giving him an order at the end), all three of the STAPs with the other Super Tac (giving him an order at the end if he's placed right), and one of the TSMEU bikes with Kalani (assuming he's close enough - he probably wants to be to support Grievous). The other TSMEU bike can get an order from Entourage on Grievous, which means before playing any command cards, we only have two Commander tokens in our pool . . . not bad at all. This list can start with Tactical Download to give the team incredibly token control OR standing orders if you want to have Tactical Download available for Turn 2 - both are good choices here.
B1 Battle Droids: Final Review
The lowly B1 gives you quite a bit of options and ultimately is happy to fill the job of "sit on an objective and try to stay alive". While you can certainly lean into their numbers, even doing this is mostly trying to make sure that chewing through their activation takes far longer than anyone wants. Your list building can easily begin with these guys, but will want to pivot quickly into "what else do I need to punch through to important points on the board" - and that could be with a smashy hero, a big vehicle or two, or speed-upon-speed. However you choose to do it, it's quite likely that a few B1 squads will make the whole thing work.
Overall Unit Review: 5/5 stars. They're great - their offense isn't great, their defense isn't great, and their upgrades aren't all great, but the entire unit as a whole meets the needs of the list incredibly well. I don't think it's too far fetched to say that this is one of the best Corps units in Legion (maybe even one of the best units PERIOD in Legion) because they fulfill a core scoring need so very well (with the added benefit of having easy-to-get order control). You'll need to play them well (keeping them within coordinate range, mitigating damage, etc.) in order to get their full value, but the value is definitely there.
Next time, we'll be looking at the original version of General Grievous. This guy isn't seen as much on foot now that there's a wheel-bike version of him, but I rather like the infantry version for several reasons. Find out why this version of Grievous is not dead (and might even be preferable in the new world we live in with snipers everywhere) next time - and until then, happy hobbying!
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