Star Wars Legion Unit Guide: Geonosian Warriors

Good morning gamers,

The Separatists have access to very efficient Corps units in B1 Battle Droids (who we talked about last month), but the punch on these droids leaves something to be desired (even if you buy a Heavy Weapon on them). B1s have easy order control (which has been made even better now that the Infantry Support upgrade is available for vehicles) and that's what you're buying them for - bodies that can sit on POIs and survive a few shots. If you want cheap and efficient punching power, your option is probably Geonosian Warriors. Getting order control on these guys is a lot harder, but they're very, very punchy for their cost. Let's see what they do - and more importantly, how to plan for having their Corps order tokens in your lists!

Geonosian Warriors: The Profile

"Geos" have stats very similar to B1s - 1 wound each, Courage 1, surging-white saves (better than B1s), no surge on offense, and Speed-2. At 45pts base, they're 7pts more expensive than B1s, but only start with the standard 4 bodies. If the story stopped there, I think it would be pretty clear that you'd just take B1s every time. Their special rules and offensive capability is really where they shine: with 1 black in melee, they're more effective than B1s (who probably aren't trying to fight in melee anyway - but if they didn't take a Heavy Weapon, aren't any worse in melee than they are at range) and at range 1-2, they've got 1 black/1 white, which is very solid for being a Corps unit.

They have four special rules, three of which help them tremendously. Their best rule is a free-action Jump 3, which not only gives them a free Speed-3 move, but it allows them to perform that move without reducing their speed and moving over any terrain/models that are shorter than height-3 . . . which is 18" high! They can use this to get onto terrain that is up to height-3 above their starting position, which might be able to trigger their Death From Above rule, which allows them to ignore enemy cover if the Geonosians are higher than their opponent (this will trigger so long as they are on any piece of terrain, even if it's just a box). They also have Scale, which means that they ignore speed-reduction modifiers for difficult terrain and can perform climb moves (at speed-1) over terrain/models that are less than height-2 (so not as good as the Jump move for both height and distance traveled), but it does make them very maneuverable units. Finally, they have a negative keyword (Weighed Down) which prevents them from using their free-action Jump 3 special rule if they are carrying an objective token . . . which won't always matter (and it also means you want to use your free-action Jump to get to the objective token).

Star Wars Legion Unit Guide: General Grievous Part I

Good morning gamers,

For reasons I cannot explain, General Grievous on foot has always been my favorite CIS Commander option. Yes, he lacks the Force abilities of Dooku or the speed/lethality of his new wheel bike version - and he's a much worse support commander than Kalani or the generic Super Tactical Droid, but he's my favorite. Perhaps it's because my son and I started his-then-my CIS collection with Grievous leading B1s. Maybe it's because a lot of people have dunked on Grievous until recently and that made me look for things to like about him. It could be that he has four lightsabers and that's really cool. Whatever the reason, I've been running foot-Grievous since I got into Seppies and I think there's a lot to like about the guy. While there's certainly a discussion to be had about whether to take him on foot or in his new vehicle form, that will be a discussion for another day.

General Grievous: The Profile

The "Sinister Cyborg" profile of General Grievous has some pretty weak stat options for a "big hitter character": Courage 2 isn't great (though with the release of Mando characters, it's becoming more common?), Speed 2 is fine, no surging on offense or defense can be punishing, and 8 wounds is fabulous but also highlights his inability to surge a lot (he's expected to take 16 hits before he dies - which is slightly better than being a 5 wound hero with surging red saves).

That said, his offense is fantastic and he has some very useful keywords. His "glamor weapon" is the trophy lightsabers that he wields, which gives him 2 red/4 black/2 white, or basically 8 black in melee with Critical 1, Impact 2, and Pierce 2. The pierce matters more in an era when Impervious knocks down one of your Pierce results, but this pool makes him very reliable into all kinds of targets (he should get 4 hits past armor with Pierce 2, he should get 2 crits past dodges, and roughly 4 hits with Pierce 1 against Mandos). He's so-so against force users who are Immune: Pierce because he also totes Immune: Pierce. His alternate attack option is the DT-57 "Annihilator", which is a melee-to-2 weapon with versatile, which allows him to shoot out of combat if that's better for you (or if you were engaged by something that just wants to quagmire you). With Critical 1/Pierce 1 on his gun and 2 black/2 white, it's definitely a subpar option to the lightsabers, but since he has Relentless, it's not uncommon to get a range-2 shot in after you double-move onto the board if your opponent has been a little aggressive (or if you have some movement help, more on that later).