Star Wars Legion Unit Review: LAAT/LE Patrol Transport, Part I

Good morning gamers,

The past few posts have been about Wookiees - mostly in the Republic faction, but we also looked at their applications in Rebel factions. When I first considered getting Wookiees (especially the melee-oriented Noble Fighter variants), I was like, "Man, I need a way to get these guys into combat before they lose someone!" Naturally, as a Republic player, this meant buying one thing: a LAAT/LE Patrol Transport (hereafter LAAT - though I traditionally refer to it as the "battle Orca" because of my painting scheme).

<my LAAT>

No, this thing doesn't look like the LAATs that we get in Attack of the Clones - it's a patrol transport variant that looks far more at home in a hangar full of TIE Fighters than amongst Clone combat gear. LAATs, like Wookiees, are multi-faction and can be fielded by both the Republic and the Empire. Today's post will be focused on the use of LAATs in the Republic and we'll pick up the topic for the Empire next time. Let's see what this thing can do . . .

Yeah, when you say LAAT, this is what I think of . . .

LAAT/LE Patrol Transport: The Profile

LAATs are Heavy unit choices and like most heavy options, they have Armor 5 (slapping the first five hit results in the attack pool is basically like what full armor was, though big dice pools are likely to get some hits past Armor 5 - but more on that later). Armor X is one of those keywords that's so powerful, that there are OTHER keywords specifically designed to counter it (the Impact keyword, which turns Hits into Crits, and the Critical keyword, which turns surge results into Crits). While LAATs are probably one of the least popular full armor units in the game, they have some of the best supporting keywords alongside the Armor X keyword.

A very traditional - and a very untraditional - LAAT build for the Republic - 119-125pts
Photo Credit: LegionHQ

LAATs also have Cover 1, which will remove 1 Hit result before keywords like Impact are applied - super useful. They're also Immune to Blast (so you can't take their Cover 1 away), Melee weapons (so you don't have to worry about Jedi slamming you with 6+ dice and loads of Pierce/Impact), and Range 1 weapons (which includes all grenades - one of which has Impact). It's important to note that most weapons with Blast happen to be Range 1 weapons, but for the few that aren't (Bunker Buster Shells, the MPL Barrage Trooper, and the B2-HA Trooper), you're immune to those too. With a white defense die and defensive surges, any damage that does make it through is probably going to be successful in wounding you (especially if Pierce is present), but you'll be shrugging off most of the dice that are thrown your way.

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Wookiee Warriors, Part II

Good morning gamers,

Today we're covering the other Wookiee Warrior profile: the Kashyyyk Defenders (or Kashyyyk Resistance if you're playing with the Rebels). When I first looked at the two Wookiee profiles, I was like, "Well, the Noble Fighters are just better." In many ways, I still think that's true - but while the offensive capabilities of the Kashyyyk Defenders/Resistance are slightly dampened, they provide a slightly different (and overall quite useful) support capability for their Wookiee comrades. Let's see what they can do . . .

Wookiee Warriors, Kashyyyk Defenders: The Profile

While I think the Heavy Weapon choices are the only "essentials," there are actually quite a few good upgrades for these guys
Photo Credit: Legion HQ

The Kashyyyk Defender variant trades the melee-oriented rules of Charge and Duelist to gain the shooting-oriented rule Sharpshooter 1. There are other Special Forces units with Sharpshooter available to the Republic and Rebel Alliance (ARC Troopers, Rebel Commandos, and their Strike Team variants), so Wookiee Warriors aren't unique in this respect. However, with cover giving an additional save now (and an encouragement to have lots of terrain on the board to take advantage of this), having Sharpshooter of some kind is a way to make sure that you have a better chance of getting your hard-earned hits through the cover and onto your opponent. Defensively, Kashyyyk Defenders only differ from the Noble Fighters in that they don't have Duelist  - they still have just 3 Wounds, a white defense die, and no surge for block.

Kashyyyk Defenders are a bit more expensive than their Noble Fighter brothers (72pts instead of 69pts, which translates into 1pt more per model), and whether the extra point to get Sharpshooter and lose Charge/Duelist is worth it is anyone's guess (I think the Noble Fighters are slightly better because they cost marginally less, but you're welcome to think differently). These guys still have Courage 2 and Indomitable, which changes what kinds of upgrades you might be willing to take.

Re-Reviewing the Mk2 Medium Blaster Trooper and Fire Support

Hey Reader!

So with the recent changes made to Star Wars Legion, one small tweak has changed a lot about how some units in the game work, and one of those we've reviewed before on this blog, and mentioned in almost every other article as a synergy piece: the Mark 2 Medium Blaster Trooper.

In previous posts, we've talked about how useful the Medium Blaster Trooper is for adding 4 black dice, Critical 2, and often an Aim token to an attack pool, and with the recent changes, this has gone away. Now, Fire Support just gives the unit a standby token, which is useful, but it's not the same by any stretch of the imagination. So let's talk a bit about how this changes the strategy that we laid out months ago for utilizing this unit to its full potential.

I.  The Medium Blaster Trooper: Suppression, Not Removal

Before the change, the Medium Blaster Trooper was specialized and can be difficult to use, but it had a specific niche it filled: adding extra firepower to an attack you really needed to work (and often an Aim token, which Rebels in general are hard-pressed to get). And all of the times we've mentioned that as a use for this weapon you can now scratch out, :P

Instead, it now fulfills a purely suppression role: since you have to use the Standby Token before your activation if you want to perform another attack, this is a piece you're using to provide an element of board control because if your opponent wants to activate near him, they're giving him free attacks. And with the change to cover, there's a better chance that you can sneak in hits, which means suppression tokens are going to come out, even if no wounds are done.

The issue, of course, with it being a suppression tool, is that 1) you can add suppression tokens to people with almost any unit, so there's nothing unique in taking this unit, and 2) it doesn't have the Suppressive keyword (like the Laser Cannon Team), so it's not like it does suppression better than another Rebel unit (except inasmuch as you can pull off using a Standby Token early in the round and an Attack action on your turn, as that is 2 suppression tokens over the course of the round, potentially).

Which leads us to assess how important it is in your order of battle and unit selection.

II.  Less Important, Still Useful

To be honest, the Medium Blaster Trooper probably drops in the rankings from where it was, which is not great, considering it hasn't been rated very highly by most people (and I think I might have been the most charitable/generous person on the internet for this unit, haha). The only thing really going for it now is that it's a cheap activation, but to be honest that matters a lot less in Star Wars Legion than it does in, say, Bolt Action, for example. 

There is still utility; it's good for closing off potential lanes of advance, and since you don't need to worry about being able to target someone in your forward arc that is also in range of another unit it is slightly easier to maximize the use of the Medium Blaster Trooper, so that's not bad. But once again, that's something you can do with almost any unit (heck, Han can do it, and he only rolls 2 dice), and all of your other choices don't involve the Cumbersome keyword (you can move or attack on a given turn, but not both). 

So how would I rank this unit? It's effective for the cost (c. 43pts is not bad at all), but not as effective as it used to be, and I think it's a solid "C" unit. It doesn't count toward your maximum Corps (while still counting toward your required Corps), so that's a nice boon, but it's definitely a step down from where it was, at least in my mind.

Conclusion

There's a lot to unpack from the changes that came down the line, so watch this space for more as we unpack what the new changes mean for the game! Until next time, you know where to find me,

Watching the stars,

Centaur

"I know that you have learned the names of the planets and their moons in Astronomy...and that you have mapped the stars' progress through the heavens.  Centaurs have unraveled the mysteries of these movements over centuries.  Our findings teach us that the future may be glimpsed in the sky above us." ~ Firenze, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Wookiee Warriors, Part I

Good morning gamers,

Last time, we looked at the Wookiee Chieftain profile and thoughts on list building with him. Today, we're going to look at the "melee-oriented" Wookiee Warrior profile (The "Wookiee Warriors" or "Wookiee Warriors, Noble Fighters" profiles) from both the Repbulic and the Rebel Alliance and what you want to think about with these guys. This profile is treated as Corps for the purposes of army building in the Republic's Kashyyyk Defenders battle force, which means these guys aren't foreign to the tabletop (though they're usually seen exclusively in that battle force). Let's see what all the hulabaloo is about with these guys . . .

Wookiee Warriors, Noble Fighters: The Profile

Like the Wookiee Chieftain we viewed last time, Wookiee Warriors have Charge and Duelist to make them devastating in melee (free melee attack after performing a move action from Charge and a free Pierce 1 if they spend an aim token in addition to the rerolls they get from the aim token itself). On defense, Duelist can also give them immunity to enemy Pierce in melee when they spend a dodge token, which is particularly good when you have a white defense die and no surge for block.

I usually don't usually lean this hard into upgrades, but here are some good ones . . .
Photo Credit: Legion HQ

Wookiees are a bit fragile for 69 points/squad (both Rebel and Republic), but with 3 wounds each and 3-4 models in each squad (depending on whether you have the points for a heavy weapon upgrade), they can usually absorb a few rounds of shooting before they're wiped out - and once they're in melee, it's pretty hard to clear them out without a dedicated melee unit.

Wookiees are, like most Special Forces choices, Courage 2 innately and with Indomitable to help them clear their suppression tokens more easily, they're pretty likely to avoid being pannicked or suppressed. If they're in range to charge (they start at speed-2, but might be speed-1 depending on their heavy weapon choice), however, even a suppressed Wookiee Warrior unit can still be dangerous.

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Wookiee Chieftain

Good morning gamers,

NOTE: after the announcements from Ministraviganza this past weekend, the Wretched Hive team will be updating our previous posts to accommodate the new changes. The upcoming articles will hopefully account for the changes, but the sample army lists may need tweaking.

There are basically three types of heroes in Star Wars Legion: there are heroes who fight but don't support their fellow units, there are units that support their friends but don't really fight that well, and there are units that can do both. In the Republic, you have access to some great support-only heroes (Padme sorta-kinda-now and Clone Commanders - and possibly Obi-Wan) and some great can-do-both heroes (Anakin, Cody, and Yoda - and possibly Obi-Wan). When it comes to fighting-only heroes, you have Rex (who is quite dangerous at close range but not as oppressive as he used to be) and the Wookiee Chieftain - and if you don't do the supporting thing, it's very tempting to think, "This unit has no place in Republic lists, because it's all about that synergy."

Well, if you think this - you're probably right. But I feel like a Wookiee Chieftain has a very cool niche in Republic lists, though you do have to build your list around them a bit. Let's start off by looking at the Wookiee Chieftain profile and then we'll see what kinds of upgrades he benefits from.

Wookiee Chieftain: The Profile

The first thing to say about the Wookiee Chieftain profile is that, much to my surprise, he's a unique character - not a generic hero. While this guy could have been called Tarfful, we got "Wookiee Chieftain" instead . . . okay, that's a choice. Whatever.

All of these upgrades are optional, but the Recon Intel is nice . . .
Photo Credit: Legion HQ

As for the actual profile, the Wookiee Chieftain has a few stat changes that differ from the two Republic characters we've looked at so far (Obi-Wan Kenobi and Clone Commanders): first, the Wookiee Chieftain rolls a white die on defense instead of a red die. As we'll see in the next two articles (which cover the two variants of Wookiee Warriors that the Republic can field), this is partly why Wookiees aren't very common in generic Republic lists (though their battle force enables them to make an appearance on the competitive tables - more on this particular application of Wookiees later). White dice don't save much, so if you're jaded against them, you might not even consider these guys in your army.

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Chewbacca

 Hey Reader!

Following up on our last post on the Rebel Officer [LINK], today we're looking at Chewbacca, which also means we're almost done with the profiles from the Echo Base Defenders battleforce (and we get to move on to other great things!). 

Today we'll be looking at his stats (and what makes him appealing), his synergies with other units (as well as his command cards, and some tactical use for him in your rebel force.

I.  Stats: Giving and Taking Damage

From a stats perspective, Chewbacca offers great value to you: not only has his cost dropped from 110pts to 90pts (probably the single greatest points reduction in the game to date, as far as I recall), but his baseline offensive and defensive stats are excellent. While most units in the game have pretty even melee and ranged damage, Chewie takes this to a whole new level with 4 dice in both, which is insanely balanced.

And his dice pools are really good: with an average of 3-4 hits in melee (with Lethal 1, so if you can put Pierce 1 on that if you have an Aim token you don't want to spend) and 2-3 hits at range (with Pierce 1 and Impact 1 all the time), for a single-model activation this is not bad at all. And with Range 1-3 on the bowcaster, his threat range is good.

And like most named hero characters, since he can surge for crits all the time, getting hits past armor and dodge tokens is pretty easy to do, which is excellent. And thanks to having Scale, if he wants to get into melee or stay at range, scaling terrain is something he can do without danger of injury, so from a positioning standpoint he's excellent.

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Clone Commander

Good morning gamers,

We've already looked at Obi-Wan Kenobi, Phase I Clone Troopers, and ARC Troopers for the Republic and now we're turning our attention to the lowly Clone Commander. Generic heroes are great options in Legion (though they can be outclassed in some lists by a named hero - who usually has Nimble or Spotter, actually) and the Republic one is one of my favorites. If you're getting into the Republic, you probably want their generic command cards and a Clone Medic, so chances are good you have the Clone Specalists pack. That also means . . . you have a cheap Commander option - let's dig in and see what he's bringing to the table!

Clone Commander: The Profile

The Clone Commander has a pretty . . . boring profile. Some of his stats are pretty standard for a Clone - the Clone Trooper keyword, red die save, no surges on offense or defense, Speed 2, 4 Wounds, and Courage 2. 4 Wounds is pretty low, but this is an unnamed guy - it's fine that his wounds aren't great. His combat capabilities are fine - 3 black dice at range 1-3 for his blaster and 2 red dice in melee is eh, but pretty good if you're starting a Fire Support (especially with Sharpshooter 1).

Pick one, maybe two, of these upgrades - but Clone Commanders are just fine without upgrades too . . .
Photo Credit: Legion HQ

Frankly, I don't shoot much with this guy, because if you're taking him, you're doing so for one very clear reason: you want Direct: Corp Clone Trooper and Bolster 2 (for 1 action). Being able to issue an order to a Corps Clone Trooper within range 1-2 is really good - especially if that unit has Fives in it (which will Coordinate with another Clone Trooper unit - not restricted to Corps). Even if you don't have Fives, being able to guarantee that a unit can use Fire Support because it received a faceup order token is really good - and for 60pts, this guy's pretty cheap and easy to slot into a list.