Skirmish Upgrades: Extra Armor

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we talked about the Spectre Cell skirmish upgrade, and today, we're turning to one of my favorite upgrades (and one that was released with the Zeb and Sabine pack): Extra Armor. There's nothing fancy about this upgrade, but if it's added to the right team, it can be a GAME CHANGER. Let's see what it does and what kinds of models we want to use it with.

Extra Armor

For 1 point, you can distribute 4 Block Power Tokens (BPTs) at the start of the game. That's it. Yep, a start-of-game, one-time dump of defensive buffs. This may not seem like much, but there are a lot of ways that it can be helpful - the first of which is that it can make fragile-but-powerful units (glass cannons, as it were) just a bit more resilient. I talked about how BPTs are good on Ezra and Sabine last time (two characters who take most of the damage they receive, unless they can get a dodge on their white defense die), but any white die character who has a good combat profile is a good candidate. Even single black die models that have limited health and good combat stats can benefit from this.

Second, units that aren't able to generate power tokens love this upgrade. Since you can only have two power tokens at a time, models that generate their own power tokens aren't going to benefit from this upgrade as much, but any models that were released before Heart of the Empire are certainly good candidates (and even some who came afterwards benefit). The least useful units to benefit from this are certainly Riot Troopers, since they generate a BPT at the end of their turn if they don't have one already . . . and if they start with them, they're skipping out on a free BPT.

Third, units that have absolutely no defense dice LOVE having something they can throw in their defense. There aren't many units with no defense dice, but they do exist and they can even be pricey. Most of them also have good damage, so they're more of a glass cannon anyway than your usual glass cannon models.

This is simple enough, right? Okay, let's look at my top picks for this upgrade . . .

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Tauntaun Riders

Hey Reader!

Following up on the Medium Blaster Trooper, today we're looking at Tauntaun Riders - arguably the crowd favorite of the "Hoth Models" that currently exist for Star Wars Legion. We will start with the profile analysis, then examine the units that synergize well with them, and then we'll discuss the tactical uses of the Tauntaun Riders, as I think sometimes they get slotted into a singular role when they are very much a multi-functional support unit.

I.  Stats: Death on the Wind

From a stats perspective, Tauntaun Riders are one of the strongest profiles in the entire Rebel army list (and one of the strongest support units in the game). You pay 90pts base for it, so it's justified, but basically all of the stats you like are on this unit: Move-3 means you can cover distance like crazy, and Agile 1 gives you a dodge token every time you do that, so you are rewarded for doing what you do.

Offensively this is a great unit: it's a solid melee attacker with 3 dice (4 if you take Tenacity and have suffered at least 1 wound), Ram 1 (converting a dice to a hit when you charge), Reposition (so you can get the angles to charge), surge to hit (so averaging 2 hits per model), and Relentless helps you get into combat more easily as you can Move-Move and still Attack on the same turn if you get into melee. And thanks to Unhindered you don't have to worry about losing move distance due to difficult terrain.

Skirmish Upgrades: Spectre Cell

Good morning gamers,

Today we're going to talk about a very niche skirmish upgrade: Spectre Cell. This upgrade was one of the driving reasons for me to get the Tyrants of Lothal expansion and the primary driver for getting Chopper and Hera. It heavily restricts the units you can run, but boy is it powerful (even after its errata). Let's see what it does!

Spectre Cell: Running the Star Wars Rebels Team

When my son and I first opened the Tyrants of Lothal box last year (we didn't get our hands on it fast enough when it came out), we looked at the Spectre Cell upgrade and said, "Well, that looks busted." The skirmish upgrade is simple: to use it, the only characters you can run are the six members of Phoenix squadron (Hera, Chopper, Kanan, Ezra, Zeb, and Sabine), all friendly figures get +1 damage and +1 block, and you can exhaust the upgrade during a friendly figure's activation to either perform an attack or give two movement points to another friendly figure. Easy right?

Yes, very easy - and FAR too powerful. A free damage with everyone and a free block with everyone was oppressive, especially in two-player games. We basically said, "Yeah, you can't use this card outside of a four-player team game." Then I looked up the erratas for Imperial Assault and found that they too thought that it was busted - at least the free damage/block part. Instead of getting a free damage/block, at the start of the round, you get to hand out 1 damage power token (DPT) and 1 block power token (BPT). That's . . . far more reasonable.

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Mark II Medium Blaster Trooper

Hey Reader!

Following up on our last post on the 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team, today we're looking at their little brother: the Mark II Medium Blaster Trooper. A detachment unit tied to the Rebel Veterans core unit, this is the other emplacement trooper you have access to, and it clearly falls into a specific role for your force...or does it?

On the whole I think a lot of people leave this option at home, and to be fair, I've done that a lot myself as well, so I get it. What's the point of spending 38-43pts on a core unit that has to choose between moving and shooting? Plus, with only Range 1-3 on its weapons, it can't provide long range fire support to keep down enemy long range weapons. So what's the point?

A few, actually. Not many, but a few.

Today we'll be looking at their stats (and what makes them worth taking), their synergies (as they don't have command cards, but they do have several useful synergies with both other units and specific command cards), and some tactical use for them in your rebel force.

I.  Stats: Much Needed Fire Support

From a stats perspective, the Medium Blaster Trooper is all punch and minimal survivability. For 38pts you actually get a really good Core choice from a stats perspective: 4 black dice (just like a baseline Rebel Veterans or Rebel Soldier squad, both of which are more expensive) at Range 1-3 (same as the Rebel Veteran and Rebel Soldier), with the ability to surge for hits (like the Rebel Veteran, but not the Rebel Soldier), and has Critical 2 (which neither core choice have).

What it also has, though (and this is why so many people don't take them) is the Cumbersome special rule, meaning that if it moves it can't fire in the same turn. That being said, though, it has Fire Support, which is the biggest reason for taking it (and will be the center of a lot of our tactical discussion below): when an ally is performing a ranged attack (no range limit on how far away they need to be, no requirement that you have to be able to see the friendly unit, etc.), as long as you have a face-up order token, you can activate the blaster trooper to join the attack pool.

Character Review: CT-1701

Good morning gamers,

We’ve come to it at last – the final playable Rebel Hero for the Imperial Assault campaign. There are tons of heroes in Imperial Assault who like to do the shooting game – some from up close and some from far away (and some who don’t really care), but there are few who can deal quite as much carnage as CT-1701. He’s also incredibly flexible as a shooting character, since he doesn’t have pistol or rifle requirements to use his special abilities (and he can be taken as either a bolt-slinging maniac or as a level-headed squad leader). Let’s see what this guy brings to the table that’s new to Imperial Assault. 

CT-1701: So You Like Shooting, Huh? 

I’m a huge fan of Star Wars: Rebels – it’s a great show. Rebels was very exciting for me because we learn – SPOILER ALERT – that Captain Rex and some of his Clone buddies survived the Clone Wars and didn’t go all Order-66 on the Jedi. This made me SO happy and I love the episodes with Rex. CT-1701 is our “Captain Rex” kind of Clone in Imperial Assault – an ex-Clone Trooper who’s trying to help the Rebellion fight against the Empire. 

He’s also got a really wild shooting profile: while he’s unwounded, his shooting attacks can surge for 1 Damage Power Token (DPT), which is really great, since he can also spend 2 strain (even after he’s been wounded) to perform a second shooting attack at a figure within 3 spaces of the previous target (though that person gets a white die added to their defense pool). If you shoot at one figure, surge for a DPT, and then get to shoot again, you know that you can wipe out the block result that may or may not come from the new white die and still do damage to your target (assuming that he doesn’t get a dodge, of course – more on this later).  

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team

Hey Reader!

Following up on our last post on Rebel Veterans, today we're looking at the 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team, one of four Support choices for the Rebels (as of this writing), and perhaps the most controversial. From what I've seen online, there seems to be a consensus among Legion players about the three support unit choices for Rebels: the AT-RT is suboptimal but if you need some speed and bought the core set it could be worse, the Laser Cannon Team has very limited utility thanks to it being Stationary (more on that in a bit), Swoop Bikes are finicky and tend to die pretty quickly, and the Tauntaun Riders are awesome because they are pretty flexible and offer a decent bit of firepower while still being survivable and relatively cheap. 

And I'm not here to disagree with people who have been playing for years, but I think a lot of people sell the laser cannon short, and I'm here to offer an argument (probably too long) in its defense.

Today we'll be looking at their stats (and what makes them so good), their synergies (as they don't have command cards, but they do have a lot of useful synergies with both other units and specific command cards), and some tactical use for them in your rebel force. I should also note in passing before we begin that the Battle of Hoth is my favorite battle in Star Wars (rivaled only by the battle on and over Scarif Base), and this opinion is likely tainted by nostalgia for one of the best battles is sci-fi movie history. But I still think the math, strategic analysis, and tactical recommendations below are solid, despite the nostalgia, but if you disagree, this might be why I rate it so high.

I.  Stats: A 5 in Offense, a 3 in Defense

From a stats perspective, the 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team (hereafter "Laser Cannon Team") is the best firepower that the Rebels get in the game. At a reliable 6-7 dice (depending on which generator upgrade you purchase for 3pts, which means you should always take one, because paying 3pts to get 1-2 dice and a special rule cannot be matched by any other unit in the game) with a Range 1-5 and offensive surges, you have to realize upfront that this is more firepower in a single unit that you can get on any Rebel Commander or Operative, and it's more reliable firepower than you'll find on a Core or Special Forces unit once they start taking 1-2 casualties. And with the points reduction from 70pts printed on the card to 65pts, the value for the firepower you get is only going up.

It also has all of the special rules we expect and want, with no extra fluff to detract from what this unit is designed to do. It is Stationary (so wherever you deploy it at the start of the game is where it will stay), but it can Full Pivot, so with a Move action you can get a 360-degree line of fire. The former means that it costs less points than it would otherwise cost, and the latter makes it so that it can't be easily flanked (though it comes with a reasonable tradeoff). 

It also has Sentinel, which means if you give it a Standby token you have the ability to interrupt enemies up to 18" away (Range 1-3), which could be advantageous for dealing with enemies trying to move from cover to cover to avoid being hit by you.

What's Wrong With Commander Luke?

Good morning gamers,

I've been playing a lot recently with Commander Luke in Star Wars Legion - and I think Luke costs too much. To be exact, I think a 10-15pt drop in price would probably make him more playable and appealing to Rebel players. Why? Because when you compare him to all of the other Force users (or pseudo-Force users) in the game, he's just that little bit too expensive compared to them all. And I mean ALL of them.

So today, we're going to walk through the Force users that are currently in Star Wars Legion and see what their comparison is to Luke.

Baseline Comparison

Photo Credit: LegionHQ

For our purposes today, here are the important bits from Luke's profile:

• Luke has 2 Force upgrade slots (most Force users have at least two) and has 1 Gear upgrade slot (no one else has a gear slot);
• Luke has 6 Wounds/3 Courage and no defensive surges without using Deflect (or one specific command card);
• Luke has Jump 1, Charge, Deflect, and Immune: Pierce as keywords (and most notably, no Master of the Force X);
• Luke's lightsaber has 6 black dice, surge for crit, and Impact 2/Pierce 2; and
• Luke's DL-44 is a range attack option with 2 red dice, surge for crit, and Pierce 2.

All told, this is a perfectly fine profile - but I think it costs just a bit too much. Let's see why this is by looking at the other Force users in the game, starting with . . .