Star Wars: Legion/Tactics/Rebels
"Melshi, Pao, Baze, Chirrut, you’ll take main squad, move east and get wide of the ship. Find a position between here and the tower. Once you get to the best spot, light the place up. Make ten men feel like a hundred."
- – Cassian Andor
Why Play Rebels
Pros
- The finesse faction
- Every Corps option has a viable configuration.
- Cheaper units, falling between CIS and Empire.
- Loads of options for Commanders and Operatives which range from meh (Jyn), viable (Chewie), to murderous glow-bat blender Luke Skywalker (his big -boy Jedi version, anyway).
- A release faction, so therefore has access to many expansions.
- The "best" faction for dodge spam.(Shadow Collective may be on this council, but we do not grant it the role of faction).
Cons
- Most of your units are throwing white defense dice, including the heavies. Most Rebel units have Surge: Block to compensate, but you still more fragile than your Imperial or Republic counterparts and only slightly more durable than droids. Even then, most units don't have the body/wound count that CIS does. Don't get shot without cover or dodge tokens!
- You will often be relying on your commanders and keywords for dodge tokens, because using an action to dodge is questionable, at best, and a lot of units need them.
- You will almost always find yourself fielding either too much, or too little Anti-Tank in your lists, and find it equally punishing.
- You're technically terrorists. Freedom fighters, too, granted, but the point stands. From a certain point of view.
Units
Commanders
1-2 Selections
The focal point of your army; they often have game changing abilities.
Luke Skywalker
(160 pts.) The Rebel Alliance's only Jedi, he represents Luke as he was around the time of The Empire Strikes Back. He's a major threat to the average mook, but pales in comparison to just about any other force user, including himself. His weaker dice pool, lack of Master of the Force, and missing training slot make him less sexy than his Jedi counterpart. Still, he can be an effective melee threat in the right circumstances. Plus, he's packing heat. So uncivilized! If you need an explanation as to who he is, why are you even playing this game?
Note: Commander and Operative Luke share command cards. You can take all 6, if you really want to!
Upgrade Cards
Force Upgrades (x2 Slots)
Unaligned Powers
Battle Meditation (5 pts.) - When you issue orders, you can give one of those orders to a friendly unit anywhere on the battlefield, even if it's not normally allowed by the Command Card. Can be pretty situational, but if you have a unit or two that you desperately want to give orders to, this is how. Generally though, giving those units HQ Uplinks or Long-Range Comlink is probably better.
Force Guidance (5 pts.) - As a free action, exhaust this to give one Surge Token to up to two units within range 1-2. If you really want surge tokens, here you go. Rebels have a lot of built-in surges already, so this upgrade's not quite as useful as it is in the Clone Wars-era armies.
Force Push (10 pts.) - As a free action, exhaust this to choose an enemy unit at range 1 and make it do a speed 1 move. The End-All-Be-All. Staple this to anybody with a force slot. Seriously. Push increases Luke's melee range, allows him to freely move trooper units in and out of melee, and deny objectives among so many other things. All without costing an action! In a game where position and objectives matter so much, the ability to move your opponent's dudes is invaluable. That said, Commander Luke lacks a free force power refresh, which unfortunately hurts the action economy of this upgrade. This can be mitigated to a degree with the Echo Base Defenders two-pip free refresh command card.
Force Reflexes (5 pts.) - As a free action, exhaust this to gain one Dodge token. Useful when Luke is running out on his own without a dodge token from his cards or his sister. Alongside deflect, this upgrade has the potential to save his ass when you dive or misplay.
Force Lift (5 pts.) - When you deploy, you may place a barricade at range 1. As a free action, exhaust to choose a barricade at range 1 and move it to within range 1 and height 1 of its current position. This can be really good for keeping Luke in heavy cover when you desperately need to. There are better upgrades, but this one isn't entirely forgettable.
Saber Throw (5 pts.) - allows you to make a ranged attack with one of you melee weapons at range 1-2, using half of that weapon's dice (rounded up). For Luke, it'll be doing 3 black with Pierce 2 and Impact 2. Just use the pistol. It's red dice, with pierce 2 and surge to crit. The impact doesn't matter at that point.
Force Barrier (10 pts.) - Exhaust. When another friendly troops unit at range 1 is defending against a ranged attack, during the Modify Attack Dice step, cancel either 1 crit result or up to 2 hit results. This can ensure your flimsy Rebel Troopers survive for another turn. This can also help Mandalorians deal with piercing dice pools. But alas, no free refreshes mean this is a dud.
Burst of Speed (3 pts.) - Expend. At the start of your activation, treat your maximum speed as 3 until the end of the round. If you do, gain 1 immobilize token at the end of the round. This is a really good force power if you want to get Luke into melee combat. It does, however, mean Luke can only move at speed 1 during the next round, but that won't really matter if you were smart getting him into combat. Furthermore, because it expends, you really aren't missing out due to refresh limitations.
Light-side Powers
Hope (3 pts.) - Gain Inspire 1, allowing you to remove up to 1 suppression token from a friendly trooper unit at range 1-2, after your rally step every turn. Not terrible, and if you have a spare 3 points and a slot available, there are worse things do to with them. But there are other powers that are probably more useful if you can afford them. If you're taking a suppression heavy list, like one with Pathfinders, this may be more useful.
Jedi Mind Trick (5 pts.) - As a free action, exhaust this to place 2 suppression tokens on one enemy unit within range 1-2. This is kind of situational, but also generally good. It's best used in conjunction with You Serve Your Master Well to mind-control an enemy unit.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. Luke has jump, which already beats scale.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. You don't really want Luke standing around trying to do a General Veers impression.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. This card may give you that edge you need to get Son of Skywalker out before Luke loses his arm.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Jump 1 exists, so nah. Don't take this.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Again, Jump should help here and this is largely unnecessary.
Portable Scanners (6 pts) - Gain Take Cover, which allows you to give another unit at range 1 a single dodge token at the cost of an action. This isn't worth it on Luke at all, so don't bother wit it. You'll want all the actions you can possibly get out of him.
Prepared Supplies (5 pts) - Cache: Dodge 1 (during setup, place 1 dodge token on this card. You can spend tokens on this card). This is a singular free dodge token that you can use at any point throughout a match. This is a really good upgrade to grab, if not the best.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Not a bad choice- it's super cheap and gets Luke slightly closer to the enemy.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. You won't be getting many aim tokens, so don't bother with this one.
Command Cards
1 Pip: Son of Skywalker - [Luke Skywalker] After Luke Skywalker performs his first attack, he may perform a free attack action, even if he has already performed an attack action during his activation.
A-freaking-mazing. There are few other characters who can put out this much attack potential in one turn. Since this is free action right after he attacks, it is even considered superior to Darth's 2nd attack ability since he has to shuffle his order back into the pool, meaning Luke has more damage output in dire situations. This is your go-to deletion tool.
2 Pip: My ally is the Force - [2 Trooper units] whenever a friendly trooper is issued an order, it gains 1 dodge token.
This card blends nicely with a few units. Rebel troopers need a dodge token to utilize their nimble keyword, and key units may also need the token to survive another round. This also works with Han and Chewie's teamwork keyword, because giving the dodge token to one will give one to the other, as well. Note that this isn't limited to the orders given from the card, though. HQ uplinks and coordinate effects also benefit from this bonus (Veterans, for example).
3 Pip: Return of the Jedi - [Luke Skywalker and 2 other units] when Luke Skywalker is issued an order, he gains 1 dodge token. When Luke Skywalker activates, each friendly trooper unit at range 1-3 of him may remove 1 suppression token.
Luke loves dodge tokens because of the deflect ability. The suppression removal is also amazing for your troops, and can help better manage suppression on units that rely on it (Pathfinders). Overall a great command card.
Tactics
Luke can take two Force upgrades. After you equip Push; Burst of Speed, Reflexes, and Jedi Mind Trick are good choices, but what you take will probably depend on your style of play. Hell, because he doesn't refresh force powers you may consider slapping Burst on him and leaving the rest to the will of the Force. As mentioned many times, he notably lacks the "Master of the Force" rule, which allows free recovery of exhausted Force powers, meaning you have to carefully plan how and when you use the Force powers that are exhaustible.
He is equipped with the Youngling Slayer 9000, an elegant weapon for a more civilized age. 6 black dice and surge to crit is deadly, Pierce 2 and Impact 2 make it even more so, but can be best combined with his "Son of Skywalker" command card to effectively delete most trooper units in the game. He also carries a DL-44 Blaster Pistol, with range 2, 2 red dice, and Pierce 2. A solid option if you don't think you can get into melee, but, honestly, you shouldn't be using this weapon all too often. Jump 1 and Charge make Luke the OG aggressive saber user.
A key to fielding Luke is correctly using his Commands. The two and three pip cards give him dodge tokens and help your otherwise fragile mooks out. His one pip gives him a round of brutal enemy slaughtering power. Additionally, he has access to all three of his Operative counterpart's cards. Unfortunately though, he finds more difficultly utilizing them. For You Serve Your Master Well, this Luke can't suppress enemies as efficiently without easy access to Mind Trick. Full of Surprises is still a potent defensive card, but with Courage 3 it loses some of its power. Fortunately though, I Am a Jedi remains unaffected even though Commander Luke is, in fact, not yet a Jedi.
Lets talk defense. Having Leia or an Officer drop Dodge tokens on Luke, as well as stash unused dodge tokens with Vigilance, helps him loads. Force Reflexes or Prepared Supplies can help shore up his defense when other options aren't available. His immunity to pierce and the deflect rule make him more resilient than other units Rebels have access to. Just don't forget that at the end of the day, his effective wounds when shot at without a dodge token available is the same as a full squad of stormtroopers. He will go down if you leave him out to dry.
While most will agree he needs to complete his training to really shine, Commander Luke does find a niche alongside his friends in an Echo Base Defenders list. In that context, he's the only source of force-fueled ass kickery that list can field. Chewie and Luke both have a role in protecting your vets and emplacements from hungry melee mobs. Even when he's not playing defense, he can blend up troops almost as well as any other glowbat bully. Most of all though, EBD has unique access to a command card that grants a free recover. This really helps Commander Luke get around one of his biggest weaknesses.
In summary, Luke is an decent melee-oriented warrior in an army that is relatively fragile. He can chew through troops and might still have a decent chance of surviving- even against Sith powerhouses like Darth Vader or Count Dooku. His mobility and sheer damage make him a decent hedge against enemy armor as well.
Rebel Officer
(45 pts.) Essentially a much cheaper, half-strength Leia Organa.
Upgrade Cards
Command Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Aggressive Tactics (15 pts.) - After issuing orders, give 1 surge token to up to 4 friendly units with a face-up order token. Not useful.
Commanding Presence (5 pts.) - When issuing orders, you can issue orders at range 1-4. Very situational.
Esteemed Leader (5 pts.) - Friendly trooper units at range 1 gain Guardian 1, helping you defend your points investment. Not at all worth it, like most other commanders.
Improvised Orders (5 pts.) - Exhaustible, but automatically readies in the end step. Draw 2, pick 1 token from your order pool. Generally a good option if you lack order control.
Inspiring Presence (5 pts.) - Friendly units at range 1-4 can use your courage value when checking whether they are panicked. This range can be reduced by other effects. This can be good if you want to keep any of your troops from panicking too quickly, but there are better options for this slot; Most notably being Vigilance.
Lead By Example (8 pts.) - You gain Inspire 2 (After your Rally step, remove up to 2 suppression tokens from other friendly units at range 1-2). This is a really good upgrade for removing suppression from units, which can be useful for rebels.
Strict Orders (5 pts.) - Guarantees a trooper unit can remove a suppression when they activate, rather than leaving it to chance. Really good with the Officer's Inspire keyword.
Underworld Connections (5 pts.) - You gain Allies of Convenience (Your army may include one additional Mercenary unit of any rank. You can issue orders to friendly Mercenary units regardless of affiliation. If you intend to run mercenary units. Otherwise useless.
Vigilance (12 pts.) - During the End Phase, choose either 1 friendly trooper unit at range 1-2 or up to 2 friendly corps trooper units at range 1-2. Each chosen unit does not remove 1 dodge token. This guarantees any unit with nimble or extra dodge tokens can keep at least one for the next round. This is perhaps the best upgrade for Rebels, in general, and pairs extremely well with Rebel Troopers who have captains and situational awareness. Highly recommended. It's just a shame it's so expensive.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This really isn't worth it on such a support based Commander unit.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. This is a support based commander, so not a bad choice.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Not worth it on such a low cost, expendable, commander.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. You're support based, so don't bother.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Yet another upgrade for aggressive commanders. This, you are not.
Portable Scanner (6 pts.) - Gain Take Cover 1, which allows you to give a friendly unit at range 1 a single dodge token. This stacks with the officers native Take Cover 1, giving him Take Cover 2, making him a budget Leia. Highly recommended.
Prepared Supplies (5 pts) - Cache: Dodge 1 (during setup, place 1 dodge token on this card. You can spend tokens on this card). This is a singular free dodge token that you can use at any point throughout a match. Officers shouldn't be shot enough to make this matter.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Not bad, for two points. Situationally good for the Officer.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Not at all worth it on your Officer, because he won't be shooting a ton, least of all aiming.
Command Cards
1 Pip: "Sabotaged Communications" - [1 Spec Ops or Operative] - While an opponent is issuing orders using a command card, they can issue only 1 order with that card. Note: Not tied to the Officer, and may be issued by any Rebel Commander.
Extremely useful, especially against lists like Iden 3x3x3. Commander cards may often be preferred over this one, but it's a great back-up. Paired with Lando's contingencies, you can whip this out even while knowing your opponent's card.
2 Pip: "Turning the Tide" - [2 Support or Heavy] - each support or heavy unit gains Inspire 2. Note: Not tied to the Officer, and may be issued by any Rebel Commander.
If you loaded up on gun turrets and speeders, suddenly your suppression tokens start vanishing. Note that it doesn't specify only the Supports/Heavies that were issued the orders, it's all of them. Pretty good.
3 Pip: "Covering Fire" - [3 Corps] - when a friendly Corps unit makes a ranged attack, another friendly unit at range 1-2 may gain a Dodge token. Note: Not tied to the Officer, and may be issued by any Rebel Commander.
A nice way of getting extra Dodge tokens onto your Nimble units, especially if you left Leia and the Rebel Officer at home. Generally speaking though, your corp units aren't your most order hungry units.
Tactics
As stated before, he's essentially the same as Leia but weaker and much cheaper. Best used in much the same role you'd use Leia, which is dishing out the Inspiration and Dodge tokens, and letting your more expensive characters like Sabine, Chewbacca, Jyn, and Luke whack things. In fact, combined with the Portable Scanner and Vigilance, he is an amazing budget option for Leia! Great for 45 points.
Leia Organa
(80 pts.) The badass princess herself. She excels at "short-ranged sniper attacks," otherwise known as utilizing a pistol, while also greatly supporting other rebel units.
Upgrade Cards
Command Upgrades (x2 Slots)
Aggressive Tactics (15 pts.) - After issuing orders, give 1 surge token to up to 4 friendly units with a face-up order token. While not necessarily a bad option, There's also better ones. Surge tokens are nice, but usually not needed for Rebel units. Surge tokens generally matter more for red save units.
Commanding Presence (5 pts.) - When issuing orders, you can issue orders at range 1-4. Generally not the best option, either. Might be useful if you're using lots of Pathfinders, Commandos, and/or Speeders and are concerned about them getting out of range.
Esteemed Leader (5 pts.) - Friendly trooper units at range 1 gain Guardian 1, helping you defend your points investment. This used to be a common sight with Leia and can still be used to some good effect. Mildly recommended, but not absolutely necessary.
Improvised Orders (5 pts.) - Exhaustible, but automatically readies in the end step. Draw 2, pick 1 token from your order pool. This could help you draw that one fleet trooper squad, or FD cannon, or whatever else. Generally useful.
Strict Orders (5 pts.) - Guarantees a trooper unit can remove a suppression when they activate, rather than leaving it to chance. Leia already has Inspire 2 built in, but if you're facing a suppression-heavy army (like Empire with Palpatine and lots of mortars), this can be useful. Also helpful if you're using Jyn Erso and/or Pathfinders and want to keep their suppression under control.
Inspiring Presence (5 pts.) - Friendly units at range 1-4 can use your courage value when checking whether they are panicked. This range can be reduced by other effects. If you feel as if you need the extra range to stop your troopers from panicking, this is great. Leia probably shouldn't be that far from them, though, so that makes this a very niche pick.
Lead By Example (8 pts.) - You gain Inspire 2 (After your Rally step, remove up to 2 suppression tokens from other friendly units at range 1-2). This is a really good upgrade for Leia, as it stacks with the Inspire 2 she already has. Removing more suppression from units can be really useful.
Underworld Connections (5 pts.) - You gain Allies of Convenience (Your army may include one additional Mercenary unit of any rank. You can issue orders to friendly Mercenary units regardless of affiliation. If you intend to run Mercenary units, this can be really good, considering how much of a support piece Leia is. Not recommended otherwise.
Vigilance (12 pts.) - Allows 1 friendly trooper or 2 Corps. trooper units at Range 1-2 to keep a single Dodge token during the End Phase. Considering Leia is best served handing out lots of Dodge tokens, this lets you keep your units stocked up from round to round. Super great, shame about the price though.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. Leia won't get much use out of this.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. A pretty good choice since you'll probably want her gifting Dodge tokens as well. Leia is both shooty and support based, so this depends on what your balance between the two is.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. It's not a bad upgrade. There might just be better options, and it is expensive.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Only useful if you're playing on a table with lots of difficult terrain and desperately need Leia to be able to move.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Like with Environmental Gear, it's only useful if you need to desperately move Leia. Otherwise, pass.
Portable Scanner (6 pts.) - Gain Take Cover 1. This stacks with Leia's Take Cover 2, allowing you to hand out 3 Dodge Tokens for a single action. This is a great upgrade to take, though you may actually find that you don't have enough units near Leia to take full advantage.
Prepared Supplies (5 pts) - Cache: Dodge 1 (during setup, place 1 dodge token on this card. You can spend tokens on this card). This is a singular free dodge token that you can use at any point throughout a match. Leia probably shouldn't be getting shot enough to make this matter, but if you think she will anyways, then this can be good to have.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Leia isn't really a front-line character like Luke or Sabine Wren. Unless you're going for a theme, pass.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Leia is probably the least selfish commander in the Rebel faction. Don't waste an action on aiming, let alone 6 points on this card.
Command Cards
1 Pip: "Coordinated Bombardment" - [Leia Organa] - At the end of Leia's activation, she calls in up to three long range bombardment strikes at two red dice each and with immunity to deflect.
It's got a very long minimum range of 4, so this is one you'll want to use early in the game or to pick off annoying snipers. Get rid of Limited Visibility, if you can, because it pretty much makes this card useless. Also note that since Leia is technically making the attack, her Sharpshooter 2 and innate critical surge also apply to the attack.
2 Pip: "No Time for Sorrows" - [2 Troopers] - When friendly units are issued orders, they can make a Speed-1 move.
This gives a little boost in movement for units which desperately need it. Fleets have trouble getting into range. Wookie need the extra boost. Mandos could benefit from this greatly, if they have the Duelist. It doesn't specify orders given from the card, either, so HQ uplinks and coordinate effects can also trigger this affect. It's a move (not a "move action"), so keywords like Relentless and Charge won't come into play but keywords like Agile and Tactical will. A deceptively useful ability.
3 Pip: "Somebody Has to Save Our Skins" - [Leia and 2 units] - After Leia activates, you may activate a friendly unit with a face-up Order Token within range 1-2 of her.
Lets you skip your enemy's activation once per battle. Can be useful in both delaying an inevitable nasty attack and in helping ensure you do damage where you really want to do it. Pathfinders in range and in trouble? Well, they can't be if the unit troubling them is dead.
Tactics
Leia is a rallying symbol for your army, literally inspiring her troops. Her Take Cover ability allows her to dish out Dodge tokens where needed, so Luke and Units with Nimble don't have to use an action to get one on their own. She's got a tasty little pistol that throws 3 black dice with Pierce 1 and surge to critical at range 1-2. Her Sharpshooter ability allows her to totally ignore any cover the enemy may be using. Her melee is the same as her shooting, but without the pierce, so maybe avoid it, yeah? She's a princess general that wants to be behind your lines, unlike Han or Luke. She's no slouch when dishing out ranged damage, of course, but that's not really why you want her in your army. Again, she wants to be behind your lines dishing out tokens and removing suppression. She's fragile, like most other Rebel commanders (6 wounds with white defense and defensive surge), so she'll crumple faster than Sheevs complexation, otherwise.
Han Solo
(100 pts.) An unconventional commander who excels at thinning out enemy infantry squads while playing havoc with his Command Cards.
Upgrade Cards
Command Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Aggressive Tactics (15 pts.) - After issuing orders, give 1 surge token to up to 4 friendly units with a face-up order token. It's an ok upgrade, but not recommended. More often than not, you won't get the full value of this upgrade, and the surge tokens won't make too big of a difference.
Commanding Presence (5 pts.) - When issuing orders, you can issue orders at range 1-4. Generally the table sizes are small and this isn't necessary, but you may find some situational use out of this.
Esteemed Leader (5 pts.) - Friendly trooper units at range 1 gain Guardian 1. This isn't necessarily bad, but also isn't necessarily good. Your troop choices are already fragile, and Han, while not the most durable, can definitely take a hit better than Jimmy from Dantooine.
Improvised Orders (5 pts.) - Exhaustible, but automatically readies in the end step. Draw 2, pick 1 token from your order pool. Not a bad choice considering Han's ability to screw with Commands. Han's also on the card!
Inspiring Presence (5 pts.) - Friendly units at range 1-4 can use your courage value when checking whether they are panicked. This range can be reduced by other effects. Generally not a bad upgrade, but perhaps not the best on Han.
Lead By Example (8 pts.) - You gain Inspire 2 (After your Rally step, remove up to 2 suppression tokens from other friendly units at range 1-2). This is a really good upgrade for removing suppression from units, which rebels love. This is generally a good upgrade if no others are of interest.
Strict Orders (5 pts.) - Any unit with a face up order token can choose to remove a suppression token rather than rolling during its Rally step. Can help keep the suppression under control.
Underworld Connections (5 pts.) - You gain Allies of Convenience (Your army may include one additional Mercenary unit of any rank. You can issue orders to friendly Mercenary units regardless of affiliation. If you want to run mercenaries with Han (unsurprising), then this is a must have.
Vigilance (5 pts.) - During the End Phase, choose either 1 friendly trooper unit at range 1-2 or up to 2 friendly corps trooper units at range 1-2. Each chosen unit does not remove 1 dodge token. This can be amazing if Han has extra dodge tokens that you didn't use from his one pip or Chewie, but it's not entirely necessary. Han won't be getting dodges as often as some units.
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. Now you have heavy cover on demand, on top of being able to reroll 3 defense dice per attack pool. Not a bad choice, but Han is also only courage 2, so be careful!
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Again, he's only got Courage 2, so this can be helpful if your opponent has a lot of suppressive weapons (Shore mortars).
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Han's throwing red dice with surge, so he's already hitting 88% of the time with his pistol, he generally doesn't need this.
Into the Fray (4 pts.) - When an enemy unit at range 1 activates, you may gain 1 surge token. Han doesn't want this, due to have surge to crit and defend. Don't bother with this.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. Han doesn't really need aims, because he's throwing 2 red dice with surge to hit.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Generally not that useful to Han since his pistol range is 1-2, and he's probably better off doing other things.
Protector (5 pts.) - Exhaust. While using Guardian, you can cancel crit results as though they were hit results. During the End Phase, ready this card. Han doesn't have Guardian, therefore making this redundant.
Seize The Initiative (5 pts.) - Expend. Commanders or Operatives only. During the Issue Orders step of the Command Phase, issue and order to yourself. This can be especially useful when using other units that want orders and Han needs one. Recommended.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. Han might not get too many dodge tokens, so this won't be as consistent as other upgrades.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack, while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. Han's not that great in melee. 3 white with one red isn't that good, even with surge to crit. Just don't bother with this one.
Up Close and Personal (5 pts.) - After you perform a ranged attack at range 1-2, gain 1 dodge token. Take this with Han. Being able to gain a dodge after gunslinger? Heck yes!
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. You can't really go wrong with this one.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. A nice way of giving Han something to do while he's out of his pistol's range. Plus, Chewy has teamwork with him, so this is a nice way to give both units an aim token, if need be.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Not that great on Han, but can be useful in niche situations.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Take this if you play on tables that are heavy with difficult terrain.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Take this if you play on tables that are loaded with climbable terrain.
Portable Scanners (6 pts.) - Gain Take Cover 1, which allows you to give a friendly unit at range 1 a single dodge token. Han doesn't want to spend actions giving out dodge tokens. Not recommended at all.
Prepared Supplies (5 pts) - Cache: Dodge 1 (during setup, place 1 dodge token on this card. You can spend tokens on this card). This is a singular free dodge token that you can use at any point throughout a match. This can be nice to add more durability to Han, on top of low profile. Not necessary, granted, but nice.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Gives Han a little push forward at the start of the game, cheaply, so he can get into range 2 gunslinger range.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Han only shoots two dice, so this is totally unnecessary.
Command Cards
0 Pip: "Sorry About the Mess" - [Han Solo] - Counts as having 1 pip for deck-building. When Han is given his order, he also gains one Aim and one Dodge token.
Han shot first, Disney! It's the only zero pip Command Card in the game, meaning you will definitely get first activation. Teamwork with Chewbacca means great value out of this card, as well.
2 Pip: "Reckless Diversion" - [Han Solo and 1 Trooper unit] - When an enemy unit makes an attack, it must attack one of your units with a face-up order token, if able.
Essentially turns Han and one unit into sacrificial lambs. Given that most Rebel units aren't very tough, this can be tricky. Be sure to take advantage of cover and Nimble to ensure your guys stay alive while the rest of your army does the killing. Get Han behind a line-of-sight blocker or heavy cover (which will cancel 3 hits with Low Profile) and pass out an order to a corps squad with only 1 dude sticking out. Each time your opponent is forced to fire at the corps squad they'll only be able to take out one guy at a time!
3 Pip: "Change of Plans" - [Han Solo and 2 units] - When Command Cards are revealed, you may discard this card to force your opponent to return their Command back to their hand; you both redo the Command Phase, and your opponent can't choose the card you just forced them to return.
So Vader is about to Implacable his way into the beating heart of your army and slice it up real good? No, no he's not. Essentially spares you one turn of whatever nastiness your opponent is trying to unleash upon you. Make the best of it.
Lando's contingencies or Chewbacca's Notorious Scoundrels card can give this card extra flexibility to be played at just the right time, or even more than once a game.
Tactics
Han excels at thinning enemy infantry, thanks to Gunslinger, innate surge to critical, and Sharpshooter. His infamous DL-44 pistol throws two red dice, and Gunslinger lets him fire at two different targets during a turn. He won't wipe out whole squads like, say, anyone carrying a lightsaber, so don't expect him to do that. That said, he'll chip away at red save units so easily they might as well be wearing peanut brittle for armor. On top of all that Han has the Steady keyword. This means that after one of Han's moves, he can make sling two attacks at two seperate units for free. Then, he's free to saunter back behind a wall if he still has another action.
He's fairly frail, throwing only white dice on defense, although he does have defensive surge and his Uncanny Luck gives him up to three (unique) rerolls every time he rolls defense. Plus Low Profile blocks an extra hit so long as he's in cover. This brings light cover to heavy and heavy to the non-existent super heavy. Just beware of Blast.
Where he really excels is in screwing with the Commands. He also gets some synergy when fielded alongside his friendly walking carpet Chewbacca or smooth-talking Lando. Try taking him inside an X-34 and doing some drive-bys. You'll increase his range (due to the base size of the X-34) all while giving him cover.
Jyn Erso
(90 pts.) Stardust. She's an all-rounder who is decent at both shooting and melee, and has some abilities that coincide with Rebel Pathfinders
Upgrade Cards
Command Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Aggressive Tactics (15 pts.) - After issuing orders, give 1 surge token to up to 4 friendly units with a face-up order token. Not that useful. There's better options.
Commanding Presence (5 pts.) - When issuing orders, you can issue orders at range 1-4. Might be useful if you intend to rely on her as a commander and you use her infiltration to place her far from your front line. Pathfinders also infiltrate, so, if they're that far away, this can be useful.
Esteemed Leader (5 pts.) - Friendly trooper units at range 1 gain Guardian 1, helping you defend your points investment. Not recommended. You're units, outside of Mandos, are durable enough to warrant this, as Jyn can probably take the hit better.
Improvised Orders (5 pts.) - Exhaustible, but automatically readies in the end step. Draw 2, pick 1 token from your order pool. Not recommended.
Inspiring Presence (5 pts.) - Friendly units at range 1-4 can use your courage value when checking whether they are panicked. This range can be reduced by other effects. This can be amazing, considering she has courage 3 and will be decently far away from half your army some of the time. However, Vigilance might still be better.
Lead By Example (8 pts.) - You gain Inspire 2 (After your Rally step, remove up to 2 suppression tokens from other friendly units at range 1-2). This is a really good upgrade for removing suppression from units, which can be useful with Jyn if you run her alongside Pathfinders and other suppression hungry units. If you don't think Vigilance is necessary, this can be a good substitute.
Strict Orders (5 pts.) - Guarantees a trooper unit with face up order token can remove a suppression when they activate, rather than leaving it to chance. This can be nice, for suppression management. Danger Sense needs suppression, but too much can be a problem.
Vigilance (5 pts.) - During the End Phase, choose either 1 friendly trooper unit at range 1-2 or up to 2 friendly corps trooper units at range 1-2. Each chosen unit does not remove 1 dodge token. Vigilance can be used on yourself, so this will allow Jyn to keep a dodge token through the entire game! Equip her with situational awareness, and suddenly she becomes even harder to dislodge!
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 extra Suppression after being shot at. This is a really good choice, because Jyn wants suppression tokens to boost her defensive capabilities, and it doesn't require you to not have any already, so you can keep popping it each time she gets shot and max out her Danger Sense quickly. A really good upgrade for her.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Jyn wants suppression tokens because they boost her defense, so this may not be optimal. If you're worried you need more control over your suppression, though, this may be the case.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Not a terrible choice if you find a way to have her pick on something that's already hurt. Mildly recommended.
Into the Fray (4 pts.) - When an enemy unit at range 1 activates, you may gain 1 surge token. Jyn doesn't need surge tokens, so don't bother with this.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. This can be really nice.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Not worth it, because you'll rarely, if ever, take a standby action. It's just not worth it.
Protector (5 pts.) - Exhaust. While using Guardian, you can cancel crit results as though they were hit results. During the End Phase, ready this card. Jyn doesn't have Guardian, therefore making this upgrade completely useless.
Seize The Initiative (5 pts.) - Single use. Commanders or Operatives only. During the Issue Orders step of the Command Phase, issue and order to yourself. This can be especially useful when using other units that want orders and Jyn needs a one. Recommended, especially so you can better utilize her 3 pip command card.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. While useful, Jyn won't find as much use out of this upgrade as other units.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. This is a pretty good choice as Jyn's pretty strong in melee anyway and this just makes her better.
Up Close and Personal (5 pts.) - After you perform a ranged attack at range 1-2, gain 1 dodge token. Jyn loves to get into Tonfa range, so she may be shooting at range 2 pretty often. Not a bad upgrade.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This is especially useful to get your troops into position, or traverse a dense battlefield. You can't really go wrong with this one. Although, Infiltrate does hurt its usefulness.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Because of how she functions, she's probably not going to have a lot of opportunity to use these. Not recommended.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. An upgrade to take if you have the points, but otherwise very mediocre.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. This can help her get into melee faster, so not a bad choice.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. This helps her get into melee more reliably, but not as recommended as Environmental Gear.
Portable Scanners (6 pts.) - Gain Take Cover 1, which allows you to give a friendly unit at range 1 a single dodge token. Jyn doesn't want to be sitting around babysitting other units, so this really isn't worth taking.
Prepared Supplies (5 pts) - Cache: Dodge 1 (during setup, place 1 dodge token on this card. You can spend tokens on this card). This is a singular free dodge token that you can use at any point throughout a match. This is a really good upgrade to grab if none others catch your eyes.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. She already has Infiltrate, so she doesn't really need it all that much.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. This is generally not that useful for Jyn, outside of quick thinking into melee.
Armament Upgrade (x1 Slot)
A-180 Blaster (0 pts.) - A free reconfigurable weapon for just Stardust. In rifle mode is has 2 black dice and a white die shooting out to range 3. In pistol mode it swaps the black dice for reds out to range 2. It's free. You literally have no reason not to take this, considering Jyn doesn't actually have a gun at all, unless you do.
Jyn's SE-14 Blaster (10 (5) pts.) - Unique. 5 white dice. While Jyn Erso is in your army, reduce this cards points by 5. Pierce 1 and Suppressive. This is a very good option if you intend to get within range 2 fast. Whether you choose this or her configuration weapon is entirely up to whether you value the diverse usage of her configuration weapon, or the raw dice of this blaster.
Command Cards
1 Pip: "Rebellious" - [Jyn Erso] - Jyn gains Charge. Once during that same game turn, when an enemy within 2 or less and line of sight of her activates, before it rallies she can gain a suppression token to make a free attack against that unit or make a free move.
The Command makes her into a combat monster for one turn. She can run up and charge something, whack it with her baton, and then when it activates, whack it again. You can also send her into a group of enemies and progressively whack each unit as they activate. Panicking? Nah. Panic doesn't matter because these actions don't take place during her activation. About to run off the board? nah, Dooku just looked at you funny. Time to ruin his day, if he's in melee range, because Danger Sense makes you surprisingly durable.
2 Pip: "Trust Goes Both Ways" - [Jyn Erso and 1 Trooper] - Jyn gains Inspire and the unit she issues an order to gains Teamwork with her.
A quick way to remove some suppression and potentially dish out some extra tokens, especially since Jyn's got "Quick Thinking". A decent card.
3 Pip: "Complete the Mission" - [3 Troopers] - Jyn gains Low Profile. When any trooper is given an order, it may gain 1 Suppression token. Additionally, any Trooper with a faceup order token can't become Suppressed or Panicked for that turn, and may remove one Suppression token at the end of its activation.
Gives at least three units extra cover while rendering them immune to Panic and Suppressed, and ensuring you'll lose some Suppression tokens. All good things. Generally good when combined with Pathfinders, because they'll likely be having suppression troubles by this point.
Tactics
Jyn Erso is like a hero version of the Rebel Pathfinders. She has Infiltrate, better getting into threat range, so long as it's three away from any enemy units. If you're the blue player, therefore setting up first, literally the entire map is your deployment zone for her. She has Danger Sense 4, the highest level of it in the game, which gives her extra defense dice when she's got suppression tokens.Quick Thinking lets her gain a Dodge and an Aim token as an action, which goes well with Nimble.
She's decent for a non-saber wielding heri with her collapsible tonfa. Her four black dice in melee are nothing to sneeze at if your a regular trooper, and if she's got an extra red from Tenacity, all the better. She literally beats suppression into her enemies due to Suppressive on it, allowing her to rob low courage enemies of their action. She has a decent gun, though it does not have the raw power of her death stick, but it does have Pierce 1 and it is free. The Rifle configuration gives her a range 3 attack while the Pistol configuration hits slightly harder but at range 2.
Danger Sense can either make Jyn a nightmare to remove off the field, or fail her completely. Dice variance is your friend, and worst enemy here. It's also entirely possible she takes a good few wounds before you get full value out of it. Use Duck and Cover to stack it quickly. Ideally, use her and Pathfinders to harass enemy flanks while avoiding specialist units that will tear them apart. She can use her Danger Sense and "Complete the Mission" to stay on the objective, playing it on turn 6 can ensure a game winning victory point.
Jyn could be considered a generalist rebel commander. She doesn't really excel at anything, save for maybe early objective play. She isn't bad, but requires a skilled hand to get the most out of.
Cassian Andor
(90 pts.) Sneaky Spy with droid Buddy
Upgrade Cards
Training Upgrades (x2 Slot)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. Works well with his Danger Sense ability.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. He's only got Courage 2, so you need to keep suppression under control.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Especially useful when sniping enemy characters or multi-wound troopers, like Royal Guards or Wookies.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. He already has Tactical 1 built-in, and they do stack. He does have some abilities that need Aim tokens, like Marksman or his A280 pistol configuration. Very much worth taking for that reason. Highly recommended.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Synergizes especially well with his Crack Shot command card. Not entirely recommended, though, because he only has range two unless you spend an aim token, which may find better use with his Marksmen ability.
Protector (4 pts.) - Exhaust. While using Guardian, you can cancel crit results as though they were hit results. During the End Phase, ready this card. Yet again, another commander that lacks Guardian. Do not take this upgrade.
Into the Fray (5 pts.) - When an enemy unit at range 1 activates, you may gain 1 surge token. Cassian has native surge to hit and defend, so this is completely useless to him.
Seize The Initiative (5 pts.) - Single use. Commanders or Operatives only. During the Issue Orders step of the Command Phase, issue and order to yourself. This isn't too useful on Cassian, but could still be helpful in very niche situations. Not recommended.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. This can make Cassian even more annoying to displace. Not too bad to grab.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. Cassian's not bad in melee and has a mostly short-ranged focus anyway so this is a decent choice. If you're going for a sniper focus, you may want to skip this though. Very meh.
Up Close and Personal (5 pts.) - After you perform a ranged attack at range 1-2, gain 1 dodge token. Take this with Cassian if you intend to use his pistol config. It's very good to have, because his durability can be a problem.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This is especially useful to get your troops into position, or traverse a dense battlefield. You can't really go wrong with this one.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. He's got enough on his plate as it is, do you really want him standing around using one of his precious actions giving someone else an Aim? Hard pass. Too aggressive of a commander.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Not worth it for Cassian. If you want to take it, you can, but there are better options.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Very nice to get into position for good shooting actions, or command cards.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Nice if you intend to climb a lot of terrain.
Portable Scanner (6 pts.) - Gain Take Cover 1, which allows you to give a friendly unit at range 1 a single dodge token. Cassian would prefer to spend his two actions doing anything other than handing tokens out to other units. Not at all worth it.
Prepared Supplies (5 pts) - Cache: Dodge 1 (during setup, place 1 dodge token on this card. You can spend tokens on this card). This is a singular free dodge token that you can use at any point throughout a match. This can be nice to add more durability to Cassian, though it isn't entirely necessary. If you have the points, grab this.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. It's super cheap and helps get him where you want him. Rarely a bad choice.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. He generally doesn't need this because Marksman allows you to simply upgrade a die, or he's not usually throwing enough dice to warrant it.
Armament
A280-CFE Sniper Config (10 pts.) - Range 1 to infinity doing one red and one black with Pierce 1 and High Velocity (if the attack pool only has weapons with this rule, the target can't spend Dodge tokens). Also has Cumbersome (can't move and fire) and Configuration, allowing you to flip the card to the other configuration when doing a Recover action. Not bad for sniping, but this may not be recommended for more than one turn, if you're going to be more aggressive. Cassian wants to be aggressive, too.
A280-CFE Pistol Config (10 pts.) - Range 1-2 throwing two red and one black with Pierce 1 and Long Shot 1, which is, while attacking, you can spend an Aim token to increase the maximum range of the weapon by 1. Not bad. Cassian wants aim tokens anyways, and, if your confident in his shooting, this can be great.
Command Cards
1 Pip: "Crack Shot" - [Cassian Andor] - Cassian gains an Aim token and Gunslinger. At the end of his activation, he gains a Suppression token and a Standby token.
Basically, you drop this and he can essentially fire four times, plus gain an Aim that he can use to reroll dice or use his Marksman ability and a suppression to help with his Danger Sense. Really good.
2 Pip: "Last Stand" - [Cassian Andor & 1 Trooper] - when Cassian issues an order to a commander or operative, the unit gains Indomitable, allowing it to roll red dice for rallying rather than white, and gains 1 aim, dodge or suppression for each wound token that unit has (max of 3).
Seems like a decent late game drop when everyone's gotten a little beat up and you want to get one last good round of killing out of your characters. However, if you use Covert Ops to make Cassian an operative, but you don't have another commander, the Covert Ops rule states that you must promote a Spec Ops or Corps to be your acting Commander. This means they can benefit from this. Tricky, though, so I wouldn't recommend going for this. Jyn, who is a commander, will greatly benefit from this card, though, so there's a good combo for you.
3 Pip: "Volunteer Mission" - [Cassian Andor & 2 Troopers] - when Cassian issues an order to a commander, operative, or spec ops unit, that unit recovers, gains Danger Sense 1, and may gain one suppression token.
Not bad. This can be useful for Pathfinders and Jyn Erso, because that Danger Sense will stack with what they already have, plus everyone gets to recover and switch their configs for free. Be careful, though, because too much suppression will be an issue. This care especially works for Mandalorians or other durable units, that you need to stand their ground. Mandos, especially become annoying with this card.
Tactics
For 90 points you get a premium spec ops agent for the Rebel cause. He comes with 6 wounds but only 2 courage, throwing white dice with surge on defense, but his Danger Sense 3 allows you to add defense dice equal to the number of suppression tokens he has, up to a maximum of 3, every time he defends. He also has offensive surge, punching for 2 red dice and his "Covert Blaster" is a pistol firing a red and two white dice with Pierce 1 at range 1-2, without his configuration upgrade.
Since, as stated, he's a spec ops agent, he comes with a slew of special rules. For starters, he has the Covert Ops rule that allows you to change him to an Operative during deployment; if you do, he also can Infiltrate, allowing you to deploy him anywhere on the table as long as he's not within range 3 of any enemy unit at the time he deploys. This means that, if nobody's on the board yet when he deploys, he can deploy literally anywhere. This also means that if you don't field another Commander, you are required to promote one of your Corps or Spec Ops units to be the army's commander; Similar to when all of your commanders are killed, except in this case, it must be a Corps or Spec Ops. Marksman allows him to spend an Aim token to change a single attack die from blank to hit or from hit to crit, and Tactical 1 will ensure that if he moves, he gains that Aim token to do so. Lastly, Loadout allows you to set aside upgrades of same slot and equal or less points cost, and swap them out before the game starts- did you take Hunter but now feel like Endurance will serve you better? Swap them out!
He basically can be used one of two ways. You can use him as a sniper, which he's pretty good at, or have him act as a mobile, short-ranged infantry mauler similar to Han Solo. With the latter, however, the trick is that his courage is only 2, so he'll quickly find himself losing an action if you're not careful. Suppression management will be very useful. He synergizes really well with Jyn Erso unsurprisingly, and her "Complete the Mission" command can be especially useful in the late game to ensure that he... well... completes the mission. She also helps control his suppression, so this incentivizes his short range playstyle. He'll need support, no matter what.
Lando Calrissian
(105 pts.) The original smooth operator. He loves gambling, stylish capes, winning smiles, and made black people canon to the star wars universe. Like Han, he excels at using command cards to mess the enemy plans.
Upgrade Cards
Command Upgrades (x1 Slots)
Aggressive Tactics (15 pts.) - After issuing orders, give 1 surge token to up to 4 friendly units with a face-up order token. While not necessarily a bad option, There's also better ones. Surge tokens are nice, but usually not needed for Rebel units. Surge tokens generally matter more for red save units.
Commanding Presence (5 pts.) - When issuing orders, you can issue orders at range 1-4. Generally not the best option, either. Might be useful if you're using lots of Pathfinders, Commandos, and/or Speeders and are concerned about them getting out of range.
Esteemed Leader (5 pts.) - Friendly trooper units at range 1 gain Guardian 1, helping you defend your points investment. Compared to Leia, Lando has a bit more resilience and longer range, so it is not quite as useful on him. He also only has a single command slot, so the competition here is tougher.
Improvised Orders (5 pts.) - Exhaustible, but automatically readies in the end step. Draw 2, pick 1 token from your order pool. This could help you draw that one fleet trooper squad, or FD cannon, or whatever else. Generally useful.
Inspiring Presence (5 pts.) - Friendly units at range 1-4 can use your courage value when checking whether they are panicked. This can be great, but Lando is unique in that his pistol has a range of 3, so he might not be far enough away from the majority of your units to have this be a worry for you.
Lead By Example (8 pts.) - You gain Inspire 2 (After your Rally step, remove up to 2 suppression tokens from other friendly units at range 1-2). This is a really good upgrade for removing suppression from units, which rebels love. This is generally a good upgrade if no others are of interest.
Strict Orders (5 pts.) - Guarantees a trooper unit can remove a suppression when they activate, rather than leaving it to chance. Not as good on Lando as it is on other commanders, but still worth looking at.
Underworld Connections (5 pts.) - You gain Allies of Convenience (Your army may include one additional Mercenary unit of any rank. You can issue orders to friendly Mercenary units regardless of affiliation. If you want to run mercenaries, then this is a must grab. Otherwise, you can pass on this.
Vigilance (5 pts.) - Allows 1 friendly trooper or 2 Corps. trooper units at Range 1-2 to keep a single Dodge token during the End Phase. Probably the best choice for his only slot, due to how much rebels love dodges. Unlike Leia, Lando cannot hand out dodge tokens as reliably, so consider that before choosing this.
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. Our resident traitor has only 2 courage, so this is not the best card for him.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. He's only got Courage 2, so you need to keep suppression under control.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Lando is not an offensively minded commander and has a lot of ways to get aims for himself anyways, so this is not efficient unless you really want to declare Crits on his 3-pip.
Into the Fray (4 pts.) - When an enemy unit at range 1 activates, you may gain 1 surge token. Lando doesn't want this, because he has surge to crit and defend, anyways. Worthless.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. Lacks the necessary keywords to use it to its full potential like Cassian, but this can help push for crits. You can't go wrong with this, regardless.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Not entirely recommended, although not the worst because he has range 3 and can generate standby tokens with his 2-pip.
Protector (5 pts.) - Exhaust. While using Guardian, you can cancel crit results as though they were hit results. During the End Phase, ready this card. Han, like most commander units, doesn't have guardian. Therefore, this is a worthless upgrade for him.
Seize The Initiative (5 pts.) - Single use. Commanders or Operatives only. During the Issue Orders step of the Command Phase, issue an order to yourself. An OK pick, it gives a little more order control but Lando always orders himself with his command cards and Lando himself is not a timing-sensitive unit when you aren't playing his command cards.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. This goes well with the dodge tokens his 1-pip generates.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. Lando is one of the worst commanders you can pick in melee, even Leia packs more punch. Avoid at all costs.
Up Close and Personal (5 pts.) - After you perform a ranged attack at range 1-2, gain 1 dodge token. One of Landos main benefits was a range 3 pistol, so this might not be entirely useful. Though, it does have potential, so don't completely write it off if you think it'll be useful to you.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. Lando won't get much use out of this.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Not a bad choice, since it gives Lando more support capability.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. It's not a bad upgrade. There might just be better options, and it is expensive.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Only useful if you're playing on a table with lots of difficult terrain and desperately need Lando to be able to move. Due to the Covert Ops rule on Lando, you might want to pass.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Like with Environmental Gear, it's only useful if you need to desperately move Lando. Otherwise, pass.
Portable Scanner (6 pts.) - Gain Take Cover 1. Turns Lando into a rebel officer. Stacks well with Vigilance, although you ideally should have a dedicated dodge creator rather than using Lando as one.
Prepared Supplies (5 pts) - Cache: Dodge 1 (during setup, place 1 dodge token on this card. You can spend tokens on this card). This is a singular free dodge token that you can use at any point throughout a match. This can be nice to add more durability to Lando, so feel free to grab this if nothing else interests you.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Lando already has Covert Ops, so positioning is not as much of an issue.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Lando can only ever roll 2 dice on his attack, so this is wasted.
Command Cards
1 Pip: "Idiot's Array" - [Lando Calrissian] - Lando gains Gunslinger and Marksman. If there is a 3-pip in your discard pile then Lando gains 1 aim and 1 dodge token, or 2 aim and 2 dodge tokens if there is a 3-pip and a 2-pip, or 3 dodge and 3 aim tokens if there is a 1-pip and 2-pip and a 3-pip.
Lando gains the ability to melt up to 4 targets in a single round of shooting. It's adequate when played as is, but gets stronger but more telegraphed the longer the game goes on. You need to weight the risks and rewards of playing it sooner for a quick bout of damage or later if you are sure the enemy will not use your flaw against you.
2 Pip: "Ace Up His Sleeve" - [Lando Calrissian and 1 unit] - When Lando issues an order to a unit, it gains 1 standby or 1 dodge token. Before Drawing from your order pool, you may instead discard this card from your hand or your contingencies. If you do, issue an order to Lando or a friendly unit within Range 1-2 of him and activate that unit.
Your troll card, to ruin whatever plan the enemy thought they had. It can be played one of two ways, as a normal command card which is one of the only ways the rebels can create standby tokens. Or it may be burned from your hand or contingency pile to instantly activate a unit before the enemy can react to it. The latter option is what makes Lando such a slippery one.
3 Pip: "All In" - [Lando and 2 units] - Each enemy unit in line of sight and within Range 1-3 of Lando gains 2 Observation tokens. Before Lando rolls dice during an attack, you may declare Crits or Blocks. After your re-roll dice step; if there are at least 1 of the declared result, add 2 matching results; if not, remove 2
This is your high-risk, high-reward card. You get the most effect out of this if you can get Lando within range of as many targets as possible. The observation tokens give pseudo-aim to your whole army, which makes your shooty troops even shootier. They also help with the gambling mechanic, letting you fish for the crits if thats what you declared.
Flaw: "I've Altered the Deal" - Your opponent may play this card at the start of the command phase if there are at least 3 cards in your discard pile. You cannot use contingencies or play any of Lando's command cards.
Just in case you were having too much fun, the enemy may strip Lando of his greatest strength at a key moment. This adds a layer of difficulty to playing Lando and gives you a taste of your own medicine. Always keep an eye on your discard pile, because just when you think you have an Ace up your Sleeve or if you were planning to go All In, the enemy may leave Lando helpless instead. Just to be clear, this is for one turn, not the entire rest of the game.
Tactics
Lando is another support general, living to boost the rest of your army rather than eradicate the enemy from existence with a glowbat. He sports Contingency 3, which lets you set aside up to 3 command cards that you can later use to over-write a different command card that you played, this is very effective when playing with command-hungry or timing sensitive units like Luke. He is also trained in Covert Ops, which allows him to gain Infiltrate if he changes his slot to operative, this can help with positioning, and if you are running lots of operatives this will ease up order control. He carries the X-8 Night Sniper Pistol, which throws 1 Red, 1 Black with Pierce 1. The Pistol also has Range 3, rather than 2, and Sharpshooter 2 that lets it ignore all cover due to a thermal scope mounted on top. On top of that, he Surges to Critical, giving him very reliable damage on his dice. For Defense, he carries your standard-issue white defense die with Surge to Block, but with Uncanny Luck 2 to help out a bit.
Lando is a commander who really likes to play with others, thanks to flexible command cards and the contingency rule. Take him with Han, to truly control the battlefield with shenanigans like burning "Ace up His Sleeve" on a "Sorry about the Mess" turn. Take him with Luke, if you truly despise your opponent, so you can grant standby on operative luke and get a discount "Son of Skywalker"
Keep his Flaw card in mind, which looms like a shadow over everything you have built here, as it can totally freeze Lando in place in later turns. Which is why its important to hedge your bets and keep another commander open so you are not totally helpless. Thankfully, his flaw does not force you to hand over all your commanders to the enemy.
Operatives
0-2 Selections
Some heroes are not meant to lead. Operatives are powerful individual units often with unique abilities.
Chewbacca
(90 pts.) Wookiee first mate. The walking carpet, himself! No, like, really. It's his tag line under his name, on the card.
Nork Deddog but smarter, Vitrix Guard but shootier, Tyrant Guard but with eyes.
Upgrade Cards
Training Upgrades (x2 Slots)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. Chewbacca only has courage 2, so suppression can be an issue. He's also one of the most durable commander or operative units Rebels have, out of sheer wounds alone. The cover from this would be nice, but isn't at all necessary.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Chewy is courage 2, so this isn't a bad one to take. Especially with his melee capabilities.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. When working with Han, this means that Han would also get an aim token through the Teamwork keyword. It's worth considering if you want Han to get more aims, but not at all necessary.
Into the Fray (4 pts.) - When an enemy unit at range 1 activates, you may gain 1 surge token. This can be nice if you really value surging to defend, but isn't overall necessary. You want Chewie to take wounds half the time, anyways.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. Considering he has Teamwork with Han, this can be really nice to have. Especially because the aim token is effectively free.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Not that useful for Chewy, as you'll rarely want to be on standby duty with him.
Protector (5 pts.) - Exhaust. While using Guardian, you can cancel crit results as though they were hit results. During the End Phase, ready this card. This is perhaps the best upgrade for Chewie, because you'll want to be using his Guardian to both protect other more important units and to get him wounded enough to activate his Enrage ability
Seize The Initiative (5 pts.) - Single use. Commanders or Operatives only. During the Issue Orders step of the Command Phase, issue and order to yourself. This can be especially useful when using other units that want orders and Chewy needs one. Mildly recommended, but other upgrades are better on Chewbacca.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. Chewy is pretty easy to blast, so every little bit can help!
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack, while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. This one's really nice for Chewbacca, due to his high wound count and 4 red, surge to crit, melee. His melee is already really good, though, so, if you want to take other upgrades, you definitely can.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This is especially useful to get your troops into position, or traverse a dense battlefield. Chewy has Scale, already, though, so this is just useless.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Give Han an aim token, to give yourself one? Useful, but not necessary.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Chewy is a melee monster. If he's taking enough damage and you're worried about him dieing before he finishes off that last Stormtrooper squad, go for it!
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Chewy already has Scale. Pointless. Why is this even an option?
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Chewy already has Scale, as well. Pointless. Why is this even an option?
Portable Scanner (6 pts.) - Gain Take Cover 1, which allows you to give a friendly unit at range 1 a single dodge token.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Chewbacca wants to get into melee, so this isn't that bad. It's generally good to take if you have the points, but not necessary.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. This is nice on Chewy, with his 2 red and 2 white dice, but not needed.
Command Cards
1 Pip: "Common Cause" - [Chewbacca and Luke Skywalker] - After either Luke or Chewbacca activates, the other may activate if they still have a face up Order token.
Lets Chewbacca and Luke go roughshod on whatever fools are near them. Oh, what's that? You activated Chewy before Luke, or vice-versa? Guess you get to use him again!
2 Pip: "Brains and Brawn" - [Chewbacca and Leia Organa] - When Leia makes a ranged attack, if Chewbacca is not engaged in melee, has line of sight to her target, and is within range 1-3 of her target, he can add one of his ranged weapons to the attack pool.
A superior version of the Fire Support rule. Chewbacca doesn't lose his activation when he does this special attack, nor does he have to have a face up order token. It gives Leia's attack a significant boost. In addition to the dice, it gives his Impact 1 and Pierce 1 keywords.
3 Pip: "Notorious Scoundrels" - [Chewbacca and Han Solo] - You can take one of Han's Command Cards out of the discard pile and return it to your hand.
Remember when you discarded Change of Plans to avoid Vader's Implacable? Well you can get it back. Or get back Sorry for the Mess and let Han shoot first again. Now you can make a Han list even more screwy for your opponent to deal with!
Tactics
Chewbacca is essentially the OG glass cannon. He only have a 6+ save, but with 9 wounds, and even more if given dodges and heavy cover. When he's hit in the open, though, you'll feel it. Tenacity is often used and highly recommended because of this fragility. He has Enrage 4, which makes his courage - and gives him Charge, make it so you want him taking some wounds, so don't feel too bad about any damage he takes right away. This, with Lethal 1 on Overpower, means he'll be dealing about as much damage, if not more, than some saber users! Guardian 3 allows him to tank wounds for other units or characters, making so you'll probably be taking those wounds, whether your opponent wants you to or not. He also has Teamwork: Han so he gets tokens when Han does, and vice-versa; perfect for giving him tokens to fuel Lethal with. Really nice for any list with these two!
Luke Skywalker
(195 pts.) Not to be confused with the Commander of the same name; note that operative Luke can use commander Luke's Command Cards, and vice versa.
He represents Luke as he was seen in Return of the Jedi, complete with the spiffy black costume.
Note: Commander and Operative Luke share command cards. You can take all 6 if you really want to!
Upgrade Cards
Force Upgrades (x3 Slots)
Unaligned Powers
Battle Meditation (5 pts.) - When Luke issues orders, you can give one of those orders to any friendly unit anywhere on the battlefield instead of what the command card dictates. Very situational, especially considering 4 of Luke's 6 personal command cards only target himself (meaning you'd be passing his own order- which you'll probably want him to have). But if you took something like a T-47 speeder and you really want to make sure it always gets an order every turn, this is the easiest way to do so. Very mildly recommended.
Force Guidance (5 pts.) - Exhaust this to give a surge token to up to 2 friendly units at range 1-2, as a free action. Not terrible but surge tokens aren't as useful for Rebels as they are for Clones, Separatists, or even Empire, since most Rebel units have built-in offensive and/or defensive surges. Plus Luke only has Master of the Force 1, meaning you might only get one use out of this depending on what other Force powers you take. Not recommended
Force Push (10 pts.) - Exhaust this ability and use a free action to force a trooper unit at range 1 to perform a speed 1 move, even if they're engaged. Can occasionally be useful for helping get Luke into melee, where he's at his best, for your other units to cut down with volleys of blaster fire. Not a bad choice.
Force Reflexes (5 pts.) - Exhaust this card to gain a dodge token, as a free action. Pretty much a "must have" unless you plan to lean heavily on his command cards (some of which give him free Dodge tokens), the generic commander, and/or Princess Leia.
Saber Throw (5 pts.) - Spend an action to perform an attack with one of you melee weapons at range 1-2, using half of that weapon's dice, rounded up. Gives him a pretty potent ranged attack (4 black with critical surge, Impact 2 and Pierce 2). It'll still cost him an action to use since he doesn't have Relentless like his dad.
Force Barrier (10 pts.) - Exhaust. When another friendly troops unit at range 1 is defending against a ranged attack, during the Modify Attack Dice step, cancel either 1 crit result or up to 2 hit results. This can ensure your flimsy Rebel Troopers survive for another turn. This can also make Mandalorians somehow even more difficult to eliminate. Highly recommended.
Burst of Speed (3 pts.) - Expend. At the start of your activation, treat your maximum speed as 3 until the end of the round. If you do, gain 1 immobilize token at the end of the round. This is a really good force power if you want to get Luke into melee combat. It does, however, mean Luke can only move at speed 1 during the next round, but that won't really matter if you were smart getting him into combat.
Light-side Powers
Hope (3 pts.) - Gain Inspire 1, allowing you to remove up to 1 suppression token from another friendly trooper unit at range 1-2, after your rally step every turn. Super cheap, and not bad, especially if you didn't take Leia (or you did but you just want some extra suppression control).
Jedi Mind Trick (5 pts.) - Exhaust this card to give 2 suppression tokens to an enemy trooper unit at range 1-2, as a free action. Not bad, especially if you intend to make use of Luke's "You Serve Your Master Well" command. But, again, bear in mind that you may get limited use of it if you take other exhaustible Force upgrades, like Reflexes or Guidance, since Luke only has Master of the Force 1.
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. Not terrible but Luke's got good defensive abilities and there may be more attractive options. Generally not recommended.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Luke has Courage 4, so suppression's usually not much of a problem for him.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Good choice if you intend to go character hunting with Luke.
Into the Fray (4 pts.) - When an enemy unit at range 1 activates, you may gain 1 surge token. Luke wouldn't mind this upgrade, as it's a good way to get surge to defend when in close combat. However, there may be better options. You'll usually want to just kill anything that could threaten you in melee first, anyways.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - Exhaust to gain Tactical 1 (gain a free aim token when making a move). A free aim to better mulch something? Why not. It's basically a free boost to your attack.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. He's...He's a melee character. The fact that this is even an option to consider is odd. Why are you looking at this entry? Pick another one, please!
Protector (5 pts.) - Exhaust. While using Guardian, you can cancel crit results as though they were hit results. During the End Phase, ready this card. Luke doesn't have Guardian, so this isn't worth it at all.
Seize The Initiative (5 pts.) - Single use. Commanders or Operatives only. During the Issue Orders step of the Command Phase, issue and order to yourself. This can be especially useful when using other units what orders and Luke needs an order. Mildly Recommended, but there are better upgrades to take.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. Recommended, unless other upgrades catch your eye. This is a really good upgrade for most saber users.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack, while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. A great choice since he'll probably draw a good deal of firepower and if he gets hurt, he's suddenly even better in melee!
Offensive Stance (5 pts.) - Force user only. At the start of your activation, you may flip this card. When taking an aim action, gain two tokens instead of one. You cannot spend dodge tokens. The token must come from an action, rather than upgrades or command cards. This is the flip side of Defensive Stance. This can be nice to ensure you really hurt something in melee. Recommended, unless another upgrade catches your eye.
Defensive Stance (5 pts.) - Force user only. At the start of your activation, you may flip this card. When taking a dodge action, gain two tokens instead of one. You cannot spend aim tokens. The token must come from an action, rather than upgrades or command cards. This is the flip side of Offensive stance. The extra dodge tokens can ensure Luke's survival or allow more use out of Deflect. Recommended, unless another upgrade catches your eye.
Command Cards
1 Pip: "You Serve Your Master Well" - [Luke Skywalker] - Luke gains a free action: choose a friendly trooper unit or a Suppressed enemy unit, that isn't a Commander or Operative, at range 1 and perform a free move or attack action with it. If the target is an enemy unit, it can attack another enemy unit.
Luke does a super Jedi mind trick to grant a unit a free action, or even make an enemy unit attack one of its friends. Note that if targeting an enemy, they must be Suppressed, meaning they have to have enough suppression tokens equal to or exceeding the unit's courage. Jedi Mind Trick suddenly becomes a more attractive upgrade!
2 Pip: "Full of Surprises" - [Luke Skywalker] - Luke gains a Dodge token. Luke gets extra defense dice equal to his Courage minus the number of Suppression tokens he has.
Luke becomes a tank for a turn. Note that the bonus dice are white, rather than the red dice he normally throws. The more units shoot at him, the less bonus dice he'll be gaining, though. Be sure to manage his suppression.
3 Pip: "I Am a Jedi" - [Luke Skywalker] - Luke gains defensive surge but can't attack this turn. When he is issued an order, he can choose two enemy trooper units within range 1 and they are unable to attack this turn.
Luke spends a turn doing something aside from attacking and paralyzes enemy units. Position him well and completely negate the powerful attack-related 1-pip Commands of other commanders, such as "And Now... You Will Die", "Sorry about the mess", or "Trained In Your Jedi Arts". Also completely shut out high threat units, like an AAT or Saber tank which doesn't include non-Trooper units.
Tactics
Unlike trainee Luke, operative Luke is a Jedi like his father before him. He hits slightly harder than his trainee version with 7 black dice, giving him about equal damage to what the commander version of his old man does. His increased health of 7 makes him tankier than before while 4 courage makes him near fearless. Disengage gives him a massive mobility upgrade that lets him dance around other Force users, as he can freely leave combat and potentially allow allies to shoot at targets right after he stabs them; and he still has Jump 1 like his trainee version. He is also much more in tune with the Force, having a third Force upgrade slot and Master of the Force 1. His training slot also lets you take upgrades like Tenacity to give him an additional red die in melee when he's wounded, allowing you to roll 8 dice. The Skywalker rage is alive and well, as he lands 4-5 hits on average enough to wipe out most squads in a single activation.
However all that training boosts his cost higher than even Lord Vader, a most impressive 200 195 points before upgrades. He also loses his pistol, opting to use his more civilized weapon, and he lost his gear slot, so no stims here. You need to invest more points in an already expensive unit for Saber Throw if you want a ranged weapon. It should be considered that he only has Charge, so he has to spend an attack action to throw his saber. He is also an operative, so he doesn't have a courage bubble to prevent panic in friendly units, and you'll need to take a commander to be your general while Luke murders things- thankfully there is a decent, cheap option available. Luke's sister isn't a bad option, as he'll like having the dodge tokens she can dish out. Her Inspire is a nice bonus, too. Without upgrades, she's only 90 points, so it doesn't put a massive strain on points, either.
The temptation to give in to your anger is also intense, as running him straight into the enemy to wipe them out is fun but will leave your very expensive unit exposed. One must actually exercise a lot of restraint when you choose to fight or flee, as a lot of his utility is not just in his power but also his ability to dictate the flow of battle. "I am a jedi" can shut down your opponent's timing, "Son of Skywalker" will delete an enemy unit from the field, and so on, all of which will throw a wrench into the enemy plan just when they think they are in a good position. Thematic, no?
He also has a far superior outfit to commander Luke, trading boring fatigues for slick black Jedi attire.
R2-D2
(55 pts.) Everyone's favorite astromech droid, the architect of the Rebellion, the Resistance, and a elite operative of the Republic; R2-D2 has brought down more governments than you could possibly imagine. Now he is an operative unit for the GAR and Rebel factions of legion. Bundled with his partner C-3PO in a Terrain expansion, you now have the option to add this smoking[1] robot to your army
Upgrade Cards
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Integrated Comms Antenna (3 pts.) is a Droid Trooper-only upgrade. Essentially a reverse of the Commanding Presence upgrade, it allows your unit to be issued an order if it's within range 4 of the commander instead of the normal range 3. Not bad, again, considering how far these droids will be moving up.
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. Not bad, considering he'll be moving up a lot, but also not good because you don't want him too close to the enemy.
Comms Relay (5 pts.) - Allows a unit with this equipped to pass an order to another friendly unit at range 1-2, but this means the squad that "passes" the order doesn't get one. Not bad, but not good.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Generally good, but only if you have the points.
Hacked Comms Unit (5 pts.) - During the Issue Orders step of the Command Phase, after an enemy unit at range 1 is issued an order, you may issue an order to yourself, if able. If R2 is in range 1 of an enemy unit, and you have an escape plan, this can be amazing. Otherwise, R2 might be dead, anyways.
Long-Range Comlink (5 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. This really isn't worth it, at 10 points.
C-3PO
C-3P0 is a 15 point upgrade to the unit. He adds two health and a stormtroopers shooting worth of dice to the melee pool with a clumsy kick. The real reason to let him tag along is to have him Calculate odds Giving a unit, in range 1, 1 Dodge, 1 Aim, and 1 suppression token. Really nice, especially for groups like Pathfinders.
He also has a rather unique ability Distract which overrides Inconspicuous and forces 1 Trooper unit to attack them. If you aren't planning on using Secret Mission this can be really useful. Especially if your opponent has locked into using a powerful command card like Z-X Flame projector, or Now you will Die!, or even just to keep a unit of battle droids from shooting something squishy with a radiation cannon.
Command Cards
1 Pip: "Blast Off!" - [R2-D2] - R2 increases his speed by one, and gains a Dodge token, a Suppression token, Disengage, and a Jump 1 action.
Basically gives you a turn where R2 is focused on fleeing the scene. Really useful for getting R2 up the board, as well.
2 Pip: "Impromptu Immolation" - [R2-D2] - R2 can make a free move action after making an attack; he also gains a 2 white dice attack with range/melee to 1, which also has Blast, Spray, and Suppressive.
Remember in Revenge of the Sith when R2 sprayed oil on some super battle droids and then fried them? Yeah, he does that, and it's kind of nasty. White dice limits the power of the attack but if it targets a large unit, you could be tossing some dice. Suppressive is really nice, too.
3 Pip: "Smoke Screen" - [R2-D2 and 1 trooper unit] - when R2 issues an order to a unit, that unit may make a free speed 1 move. Additionally, at the start of his activation R2 gains a free action to lay smoke. He can place a smoke token within range 1, and all units fully within 1" of the token get +1 cover.
R2 does that smoke thing from the end of The Empire Strikes Back. A nice card, overall, but also a three pip, so be careful.
Tactics
Buffs all around. There is an annoying trick you can do, though. If you scroll down a bit, you will notice a vehicle that can transport one model and can potentially move speed three three times in a turn, and R2 can fix vehicles and has special mission. Guess you really are getting the extra victory point, huh?
Sabine Wren
(125 pts.) A powerful Mandalorian warrior who fancies herself an artist. She's a powerful damage dealer who also has the potential to survive a great amount of return damage.
Upgrade Cards
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at to gain cover. Meh. She's pretty tough already, but she will likely attract a lot of attention. She only has courage 2, though, so this really isn't recommended.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Relatively low Courage makes this an attractive option. Mildly recommended.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. A solid choice. Make sure her target gets hurt just once and then have her chop away with the Darksaber.
Into the Fray (4 pts.) - When an enemy unit at range 1 activates, you may gain 1 surge token. Sabine has surge to both defend and hit. Worthless.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. This can be pretty nice, if you have the Darksaber. You'll get a free aim token after moving into melee with a squad or hero!
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. No No No NO. You don't want her on Standby, you want her moving forward and chopping up the enemy with the Darksaber. Her weapons don't even reach to range 3, anyways.
Protector (5 pts.) - Exhaust. While using Guardian, you can cancel crit results as though they were hit results. During the End Phase, ready this card. Sabine doesn't have Guardian. Not at all worth it, unless you're using Esteemed Leader to protect Leia or something.
Seize The Initiative (5 pts.) - Single use. Commanders or Operatives only. During the Issue Orders step of the Command Phase, issue and order to yourself. This can be especially useful when using other units what orders and Sabine needs an order. Recommended.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. Mandalorian durability, but made better? Need I say more? Insanely good.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. A pretty good option, assuming you gave her the Darksaber and you can get her wounded before she gets into melee. She is one of our most durable units, though, and bad dice rolls could kill her fast. This is a very mixed upgrade, to be sure.
Gear Upgrades (x2 Slots)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. Sabine doesn't get too much use out of this, considering she has Jump 2.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Sabine is best when moving and attacking, not standing around doing a poor Leia impression. Pass.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Not a bad option, but not amazing. Great with the Darksaber.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. She can jump and doesn't need this.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. She can jump and doesn't need this.
Portable Scanners (6 pts.) - Gain Take Cover 1, which allows you to give a friendly unit at range 1 a single dodge token. Sabine wants to be spending her actions helping herself, not others, so hard pass.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Super cheap and gets her slightly closer to the enemy. With her high movement value, though, this might be better used on a different unit.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Especially a good choice if you took Hunter. Otherwise, make sure you have some way of getting her Aim tokens, like with her "Legacy of Mandalore" command. Mildly recommended.
Personal Combat Shield(5 Pts.) - Gain Shielded 1 and Recharge 1. It gives you a guaranteed block when active. Recharge allows you to reactivate the free block by using a Recover action. Takes an already tough character and makes her even tougher; You can even use it to block Criticals (unlike dodge or cover)!
Electro Grappling Line(5 Pts.) - Exhaust and spend an action to give one enemy unit within range 1 and line of sight 2 immobilized tokens and 2 suppression tokens. Each immobilized token causes the target to lose one level of movement speed. The immobilized tokens are discarded at the end of the target's activation (not during the End Phase like usual), so it effectively shuts down a powerful enemy for one activation. Not bad for 5 point, but don't feel pressured to take it.
Armament Upgrade (x1 Slot)
The Darksaber (15 Pts.) From House Vizsla to Maul to Sabine, the Mandalorian Excalibur is a rather powerful sword putting out five black dice in melee with Impact 1 and Pierce 1. She also gains Dauntless allowing her to take a suppression token for a free move if she's suppressed but not panicked; Immunity to Pierce when she's in melee. This is an amazing upgrade, that will make her a threat to just about any unit in the game. Even saber users will have trouble dislodging her! Not completely necessary, though. Whether you take it is dependent on what your list needs or your play style.
Command Cards
1 Pip: "Explosions!" - [Sabine Wren] - Sabine gains the Arm 2 action, which allows her to drop two bomb tokens within range 1 of her. After she does so, she can make a free Speed-1 move. For the rest of the game, she has Detonate 2, and can cause those bombs to explode any time later in the game after any unit performs an action. The bombs hit all units within range 1 of the bomb token, doing 1 red and 1 white to each affected unit with critical surge and ignoring cover.
A decent 1 pip card that allows you to set traps and potentially control enemy movements. The damage isn't spectacular but a red die per attack, with critical surge, means you're almost guaranteed to get at least one hit. Can be useful for thinning out the enemy a little with some careful placement. Combined with saboteur commando teams, the map will easily be peppered with mines.
2 Pip: "Symbol of Rebellion" - [Sabine Wren] - when Sabine activates, she recovers. During her activation, she can place a "graffiti token" on the battlefield.
Allows her to get back her shields and any other exhausted cards, plus she can clear out any suppression tokens she may have. The graffiti token is permanent, and allows your units near it to roll an extra die when trying to Rally, while causing enemy units near it to roll one less. Not a bad way to give your troops a slight morale boost while doing the opposite to your foe. Overall decent to have, but replaceable if needed.
3 Pip: "Legacy of Mandalore" - [Sabine Wren and 2 Troopers] - Sabine gains Inspire 1, and each time she issues an order to a Commander, Operative, or Spec Ops unit, she gains 1 Dodge or 1 Aim token.
Very nice way of giving Sabine a boost. Don't forget that she's an Operative herself, so it would trigger the free token too. The release of Mandalorian Resistance and Clan Wren make this especially better, given that they're special forces. For Mandalore!
Tactics
Sabine is a fast-moving durable nuisance, and when armed with the Darksaber she's on par with any lightsaber-wielding space wizard. Even when not in melee, she can thin enemy units with her blaster pistol, which has one of each die and pierce 1. She can also fire twice, at different targets, due to Gunslinger. Thanks to her Mandalorian armor, she's arguably the toughest unit in the Rebel army, since she throws red defensive dice and has built in defensive surge, Nimble, and Impervious. That's all before you give her a personal energy shield or that she's Immune to Pierce in melee if she's carrying Darksaber. That said, she doesn't have Charge or Relentless, so she'll need to maneuver carefully to get into melee and still be able to swing that Darksaber; speed three somewhat mitigates this though. Dauntless from the Darksaber will also help her maintain her mobility even if she becomes suppressed. Being aggressive is odd for Rebel's, given how flimsy most of our units are, but this is the woman to do it with!
K-2S0
(70 pts.) Droid Buddy to a Sneaky Spy
Upgrade Cards
Comms
Integrated Comms Antenna (3 pts.) is a Droid Trooper-only upgrade. Essentially a reverse of the Commanding Presence upgrade, it allows your unit to be issued an order if it's within range 4 of the commander instead of the normal range 3. This won't be very good, considering K2 will often be near Cassian, anyways.
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. Not a terrible take although if you're in range to actually use it, you're in range to negate K-2's Incognito. Use if you expect to be more aggressive.
Comms Relay (5 pts.) - Allows a unit with this equipped to pass an order to another friendly unit at range 1-2, but this means the squad that "passes" the order doesn't get one. K2 wants orders, so you fully deserve the scoff from him if you take this.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Very useful for times when your Command is limited (like Son of Skywalker) and you really want to get this unit an order.
Hacked Comms Unit (5 pts.) - During the Issue Orders step of the Command Phase, after an enemy unit at range 1 is issued an order, you may issue an order to yourself, if able. This can be nice, as K2 will ideally be slapping a few enemy units around at some point.
Long-Range Comlink (10 pts., reduced to 5 pts. by rules errata) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational, and not very helpful on smaller battlefields. A general pass.
Armament
Jyn's SE-14 Blaster (10 pts., reduced to 5 pts. if Jyn is in the same list) - range 1-2 with 5 white, Pierce 1 and Suppressive. Wow. Bear in mind that K-2 has critical surge built in, so this is a pretty solid take, especially if you got aim tokens somehow. nudge Teamwork: Cassian Andor Nudge
Command Cards
He only has one:
3 Pip: "Sacrifice" - [K-2SO & Cassian Andor] - K-2 gains Guardian 4. At the end of his activation, select a friendly commander or operative at range 1, kill K-2, and enemy units cannot do ranged attacks against the selected character for the rest of the turn.
Does Op Luke have one wound left and you desperately want to keep him from being shot to pieces? Here you go. A late-ish game card that can easily save the game. Thematic!
Tactics
To start, he's got Detachment with Cassian Andor, so you have to field Cassian to field him, and they have to be deployed near each other. He's got 5 wounds and courage 2, with a 4+ armor save (red, no surge) and Armor 1. Surprisingly durable. For offense, he's only got a melee attack throwing 4 red dice with critical surge, making him a decent threat, overall. He's a droid trooper, meaning he's got all the fun droid trooper stuff like he can be repaired by a astromech or R2D2, he's immune to poison, he's immune to being suppressed but doesn't get the cover boost from suppression, etc. He has Calculate Odds like C-3PO, allowing him to give a friendly unit at range 1 an aim, a dodge, and a suppression at the cost of an action. Also, because he's a reprogrammed Imperial droid, he has Incognito, which disallows enemies from attacking him beyond range 1 unless at some point in the game he has attacked or used an objective card action (i.e. he's grabbed an objective somehow). Lastly, he's got Teamwork with Cassian, so drop Calculate Odds on Cassian and K-2 gets the green tokens too!
Sneaky boi synergizes with Pathfinders, and so does this reprogrammed toaster. When combined with 3PO, calculate odds can be amazing for Pathfinders, given that they want all of the tokens involved! His command card also makes it so your troops can complete the mission, even if survive just another turn to do so. Again, he has the durability and firepower to be a decent threat, until then, as well. As a 70 point addition to Cassian, he is definitely worth taking, even without Pathfinders.
Corps
3-6 Selections
The meat, they hold the line and die in the trenches.
Rebel Troopers
(40 pts.) They have big rifles and recycle dodges.
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
MPL-57 Ion Trooper (17 pts.) - Adds a Rebel trooper with an ion cannon that fires range 1-3, 2 red dice with Ion 1 and Impact 1, but must exhaust to fire again. A decent way of whittling down enemy tanks while also slowing them down (Ion causes the vehicle to lose an action). It also works on droid units, so these are super attractive when facing Confederacy. Additionally, the Ion rule gets rid of shield points on any units that may have them (primarily Droidekas), effectively piercing through a single point of shielding.
Z-6 Trooper (20 pts.) - Adds a bad ass Rebel carrying a minigun. Fires 6 white dice at range 1-3, giving you the opportunity to roll a lot of dice that are mostly going to miss. Still, when you manage to get 4+ crits from it, it'll be epic.
SX-21 Trooper (15 pts.) - adds an alien Rebel carrying a blunderbuss-style cannon that fires range 1-2, 2 red and 2 white with Impact 1. You trade some range for some impressive firepower that makes a squad just that little more useful against enemy tanks. It's not terrible, but range 2 hurts a lot for a troop choice that dies to a stiff wind.
DLT-20A Trooper (26 pts.) - adds an alien Rebel carrying a modified version of the standard Stormtrooper machine gun. Fires 2 black and 1 white at range 1-4 with Critical 1. A range boost and a little extra firepower isn't a bad thing, and Critical 1 helps alleviate the lack of native surge. The go-to heavy option for many competitive lists.
Personnel Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Rebel Trooper (7 pts.) - adds an extra mook to your squad. Nice, It's actually 3 points cheaper than the troops the squad comes with.
Rebel Officer (16 pts.) - adds an old dude to your squad, who becomes your new squad leader. He also increases your squad's Courage by 1, and has Inspire 1. A nice little courage boost for your squad, and can help prevent your squads from panicking.
Rebel Trooper Captain (9 pts.) - adds a captain to your squad. He gives you a Training upgrade slot and acts as your squad's leader. Additionally, you can exhaust him at the start of the unit's activation to render it immune to being Suppressed for that activation at the cost of also not being able to remove suppression tokens. Allows your squad one turn to act normally despite being Suppressed. This is an amazing upgrade for Rebel Troopers, because the training slot can be used for Situational Awareness. Combined with Vigilance, this can make a Rebel Trooper squad very durable in heavy cover.
Rebel Trooper Specialist (8 pts.) - adds a specialist to your squad. He grants the squad an extra Gear upgrade slot, and you can exhaust him to gain either a Dodge or a Surge token. For 4 pts over the cost of a normal Rebel trooper, you're essentially gaining the ability to automatically get a Dodge token at least once per battle without having the rely on Leia, the Officer, or using a Dodge action; It doesn't prohibit you from doing a Dodge action or getting a Dodge from Leia/the Officer, so you could potentially have 3 Dodge tokens if you think your squad's about to get lit up.
Rebel Comms Technician (9 pts.) - adds a mook with a radio to your squad; also forces you to take a Comms upgrade on the squad. If you want to anchor your line with HQ Uplink or another comms upgrade, then here's your chance to do just that. Not recommended, though.
R5 Astromech Droid (8 pts.) - adds a little droid to your squad. It can't fight or be removed as a casualty until only the leader is left, but twice per battle, as a free action, it can repair one hit point or one damage token on a friendly vehicle or droid trooper (K2). If you plan to lean heavily on vehicles, a worthy option. However the short range means it'll be difficult for speeders to benefit. Decent.
2-1B Medical Droid (18 pts.) - adds a healer droid to your squad. It can't fight or be removed as a casualty until only the leader is left, but twice per battle as a free action it can heal a lost wound from a nearby trooper unit. It can heal back a wound on a wounded model or resurrect a lost model from a unit (if it's a multi-wound unit like Wookiees, the model comes back with only 1 wound) but cannot resurrect a fully destroyed unit. This must be done in the same turn the model was slain, however. Considering how fragile your Rebels are, this is a pretty good choice, especially if it can save an expensive character from death.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This is especially useful to get your troops into position, or traverse a dense battlefield. You can't really go wrong with this one, but it may be wasted on normal Troopers.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Not bad.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. There's really no need for this.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Not bad.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Not bad, with your white dice.
Portable Scanners (6 pts.) - Gain Take Cover 1, which allows you to give a friendly unit at range 1 a single dodge token. This unit wants to be given dodge tokens, not give them away. This isn't bad if you need a dodge token generator, but there are better units for this purpose.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Generally a good upgrade.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Not bad, although aim tokens are competing with dodge tokens, here, so kind of situational.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die, that ignores cover. You're already throwing black dice with your basic rifles, but this could be useful if you get up close to the enemy and toss one to ensure you ignore enemy cover.
Fragmentation Grenades (5 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die and surge to crit. Very nasty surprise for any enemies who get too close. Useable against armor, too.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. Great for making enemy tanks disappear, but short range means they'll see it coming, and if your opponent has no tanks, they're wasted since you already shoot black dice.
Smoke Grenades (3 pts.) - A free action which allows the unit to deploy a Smoke Token within range 1 of your unit leader. Smoke tokens give +1 Cover to all units whose leader is within range 1 of them, but also grant that cover to an enemy unit they shoot at. It makes your fragile troops just a nudge more difficult to kill, unless they actually are in heavy cover already. Now that they're a free action, as well, this makes them very good for protecting your important units!
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). If you know you're facing CIS- especially one heavy with droidekas or AATs- these can be worth taking. You just need to throw one to trigger it, so you can fire your other weapons to ensure it goes off.
Tactics
Your standard infantry, black dice on attack gives them a 50% chance to hit each. Like almost all Rebels they throw white defense dice with surge, but still only offers a 33% chance to survive a shot, so dodges and cover are mandatory for keeping them alive in a firefight. Compared to stormtroopers, they can shoot straight without an aim token, but melt if caught out of cover. Most likely, you want to run them naked for holding points, with a Z6 for assaults, or the DLT for gunlines. They have Nimble which allows them to use gain a dodge token if they spend one, this gives them a better chance of surviving an attack from multiple sources. Of course, this means they will want to go into battle with Leia or Luke to provide dodges for them, the latter can only do so from command cards though.
The Z6 gives impressive spike damage at the cost of reliability, making it a supporting element to the rest of the squads firepower. The DLT, in comparison, gives the range necessary to trade shots with distant opponents and has more consistent damage, although without a hail Mary of rolling 4 or more hits (for the mathematically inclined the Z6 will do almost exactly the same damage to storm troopers out of cover and slightly more damage to enemies in cover and at slightly lower cost, but the DLT has an easier time hitting due to better range). Naked Squads are also viable, as a cheap 40pt activation for sitting on the objective while Luke does all the killing. Fleet Troopers, however, may fit this role better, due to being the same points cost and having better damage potential.
Grenades are generally not recommended on these squads because you don't usually want to be that close to the enemy with a unit that could die to a wet pool noodle. Typically, you'll want to hide behind cover and out of line of sight, so your other units can make a path to the objective. Smoke grenades, however, are the exception. As of the 2021 RRG changes, they're a free action. Spending 3 points to give more durability to your paper thin squads or heroes can be amazing!
Fleet Troopers
(40 pts.) Dakka troops that excel at locking down areas.
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Scatter Gun Trooper (23 pts.) - adds a Fleet Trooper carrying a Trandoshan shotgun- 2 red dice at range 1-2 with Pierce 1. Your basic guns are range two, so this is very nice. Makes a Fleet Trooper squad into a blob of death.
MPL-57 Barrage Trooper (19 pts.) - adds a Fleet Trooper carrying a miniature grenade launcher. It fires 1 black die and 2 white dice with Blast (Ignore cover) and Impact 2 at range 1-3, but must exhaust to fire. A versatile weapon that can help deal with vehicles but also has its uses against infantry through blast. Being an exhaust weapon, though, instantly hurts this weapon. The Scatter Gun is just an overall better option. This could see use if your opponents are bringing lots of armor. To be extra funny, though, if you take this and an extra fleet trooper, you'll be throwing 12 white dice and 1 black with blast and Impact 2. If they can be given an aim token or two, this can lead to some spicy dice rolls.
Personnel Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Fleet Trooper (7 pts.) - adds an extra mook to the squad. This is somewhat more useful here than it is on troopers or veterans, but still a situational pick.
Rebel Officer (16 pts.) - adds an old dude to your squad, who becomes your new squad leader. He also increases your squad's Courage by 1, and has Inspire 1. A nice little courage boost for your squad, and can help prevent your squads from panicking. Generally, you may want this guy on your backline troops, though. Not bad.
Rebel Comms Technician (9 pts.) - adds a mook with a radio to your squad; also forces you to take a Comms upgrade on the squad. If you want to anchor your line with HQ Uplink or another comms upgrade, then here's your chance to do just that. Not really needed on Fleets, even though they do want orders. Not exactly bad to take, but there are other areas to spend points.
R5 Astromech Droid (8 pts.) - adds a little droid to your squad. It can't fight or be removed as a casualty until only the leader is left, but twice per battle, as a free action, it can repair one hit point or one damage token on a friendly vehicle. If you plan to lean heavily on vehicles, a worthy option. The short range of this little friend means your aggressive Fleet Troopers can better use this to repair damaged AT-RTs or speeders. Mildly recommended in aggressive RT lists.
2-1B Medical Droid (18 pts.) - adds a healer droid to your squad. It can't fight or be removed as a casualty until only the leader is left, but twice per battle as a free action it can heal a lost wound from a nearby trooper squad. It can heal back a wound on a wounded model or resurrect a lost model from a unit (if it's a multi-wound unit like Wookiees, the model comes back with only 1 wound) but cannot resurrect a fully destroyed unit. It must be done during the same round that model died or took a wound, though. This one's very dependent on which Commander(s) or Operative(s) you've taken, because backline commanders, like Leia, won't benefit from this very much.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This is especially useful to get your troops into position, or traverse a dense battlefield. You can't really go wrong with this one, especially on Fleet Troopers.
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Fleet Troopers really don't need this.
Emergency Stims (8 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Lets a unit (hopefully) survive to shoot one more time. Nice, but not at all necessary.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. You want them to be aggressive, so this isn't too bad.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Again, you want them to be aggressive, so not bad, either.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Generally good.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Ready gives you a aim token when you go on standby and you have a lot of white dice to reroll. You get a free aim token when doing a standby action with Fleet Troopers, so this is pretty good if you have the spare points.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die, that ignores cover. Short range attack on an already short range unit, although you're only throwing white dice on your normal attacks. Not a terrible choice if cover is a problem; if it's not, fragmentation grenades are superior.
Fragmentation Grenades (5 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die and surge to crit. Very nasty surprise for any enemies who get too close.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. Great for making enemy tanks disappear.
Smoke Grenades (3 pts.) - Spend an action to deploy a Smoke Token within range 1 of your unit leader. Smoke tokens give +1 Cover to all units whose leader is within range 1 of them, but also grant that cover to an enemy unit they shoot at. It makes your fragile troops just a nudge more difficult to kill. Great on an aggressive unit like these boys.
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). If you know you're facing CIS- especially one heavy with droidekas or AATs- these can be worth taking. You just need to throw one to trigger it, so you can fire your other weapons to maximize it's potential.
Tactics
For the same price as the basic Troopers, you get one of the odder entries in terms of basic troopers. Each trooper throws around two white dice each, but only to range two. The have Ready 1 Giving you an aim token when you go on standby, this is situational at best as rebels cannot reliably produce standby tokens. They are highly effective on tight maps where they can get in close or make the enemy do the same. In more open maps, they can have trouble getting in to range and end up losing their standby to suppression far more easily. Compared to Rebel Troopers, who have cardboard for armor, the fleet troopers have wet paper as they lack nimble to preserve dodges.
However, they are close combat specialists, throwing out 8 white dice with surge to hit on a naked squad with potentially 10 white dice, 2 red dice, and pierce 1 for good measure with the shotgun and a fifth trooper. Laugh maniacally as you ask to borrow your opponents dice. Even deathtroopers can't withstand firepower of this magnitude, causing about 3 casualties on average with each round of shooting to them.
They are much more specialized than the standard rebel trooper, you will want to keep them as a mobile reserve for reversing enemy breakthroughs or using them near line-of-sight blocking terrain as area denial. Never get into a gunline battle with them as they lack the range to push back even a basic stormtrooper squad in the open. They should be used alongside other High priority close combat units like Luke or Wookie Warriors for threat saturation, hedging your offensive bets on multiple units instead of just one.
The upcoming A-A5 speeder truck may give them new lease on life, by giving them access to a transport that can get them to within range 2 consistently
Rebel Veterans
(48 pts.) Rebel troopers who've been in a few battles, so they've learned a thing or two.
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
CM-0/93 Trooper (26 pts.) - adds a heavy cannon that throws 4 white dice at range 1-4 (Thank the errata!), and adds Critical 2 to the attack. It's a longer range Z-6. Nice boost in firepower to a squad with already good firepower. A bit costly, though.
Personnel Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Rebel Veteran (9 pts.) - adds an extra mook to your squad.
Rebel Officer (19 pts.) - adds an old dude to your squad, who becomes your new squad leader. He also increases your squad's Courage by 1, and has Inspire 1. A nice little courage boost for your squad, and can help prevent your squads from panicking. Not bad, but a better option exists for Veterans. Let's also just ignore the fact that Vets should be courage 2, native.
Rebel Comms Technician (9 pts.) - adds a mook with a radio to your squad; also forces you to take a Comms upgrade on the squad. Unit orders are tight for Rebels, and Veterans want an order for their Coordinate rule. A comms technician with an HQ Uplink can provide a massive boost in flexibility to any list with these troops. Recommended.
R5 Astromech Droid (8 pts.) - adds a little droid to your squad. It can't fight or be removed as a casualty until only the leader is left, but twice per battle, as a free action, it can repair one hit point or one damage token on a friendly vehicle. If you plan to lean heavily on vehicles, a worthy option. However the short range means it'll be difficult for speeders to benefit. This would be nice to use, instead of the comms technician, for Laser AT-RTs. This can be done far better with a normal Trooper squad, though.
2-1B Medical Droid (18 pts.) - adds a healer droid to your squad. It can't fight or be removed as a casualty until only the leader is left, but twice per battle as a free action it can heal a lost wound from a nearby trooper squad. It can heal back a wound on a wounded model or resurrect a lost model from a unit (if it's a multi-wound unit like Wookiees, the model comes back with only 1 wound) but cannot resurrect a fully destroyed unit. Minis can only be revived in the same round they were defeated. Considering how fragile your Rebels are, this is a pretty good choice, especially if it can save an expensive character from death. The comms technician provides more synergy, though.
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. With only courage 1, you don't really want suppression. Again, why don't Veterans have courage 2!?
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Nice, considering suppression may be an issue.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Not bad, considering the damage Veterans can do.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Situationally useful.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack, while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. If you're in melee with these boys, then you either did something wrong or they're dead.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. Rebel Veterans are more defensive based, but this can allow you to be a more mobile threat, if you want to spend the points!
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. Vets, due to the Defend keyword, can make good use out of this. Worth looking at, as crits are a danger to Vets relying on cover and dodges.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Pretty good, especially if the squad got an order for that free dodge token. Can be useful.
Emergency Stims (10 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Lets a unit (hopefully) survive to shoot one more time. Not generally recommended.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Not bad, although Veterans don't really want to push up too much to get use out of their coordinate rule.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Not bad, but not recommended for the same reason Environmental Gear isn't.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Generally nice.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Useful, but aims will usually be difficult to get.
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This is especially useful to get your troops into position, or traverse a dense battlefield. Veterans, however, don't want to be too aggressive.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die, that ignores cover. You already chuck black dice when attacking, so this is of limited use, unless you're super worried about cover.
Fragmentation Grenades (5 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die and surge to crit. Very nasty surprise for any enemies who get too close.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. Great for making enemy tanks disappear, but short range means they'll see it coming.
Smoke Grenades (2 pts.) - Spend an action to deploy a Smoke Token within range 1 of your unit leader. Smoke tokens give +1 Cover to all units whose leader is within range 1 of them, but also grant that cover to an enemy unit they shoot at. It makes your fragile troops just a nudge more difficult to kill (unless they actually are in heavy cover already).
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). If you know you're facing CIS- especially one heavy with droidekas or AATs- these can be worth taking. You just need to throw one to trigger it, so you can fire your other weapons to do so.
Tactics
These guys are a lot like the basic Rebel troopers with some tweaks. The most notable change is that they lose the Nimble ability that the Rebel troopers have; instead, they have Defend 1, which grants them one free Dodge token when they are issued an order. Nimble is a tough thing to lose, as the Veterans are otherwise no better at defense than Rebel troopers (1 wound each with white defense dice and surge). They still throw black dice at range 3 when shooting but pick up normal surge, making them slightly better at that, hitting 63% of the time compared to 50%. Their only heavy weapon adds 4 white dice with critical 2 (convert up to 2 surges into crits), with a heavy weapon they are landing about 1 more wound per round of shooting compared to rebel troopers with a Z-6. These guys already have regular surge, so it's just giving you a chance to ignore dodge/cover on some surges. They also gain a Training upgrade slot, allowing you to take valuable upgrades like Duck and Cover or Endurance to try to keep them in the fight, or Hunter to give them a slight offensive bump.
Lastly, for each of these units you field, you're allowed to field one of the Mark II Medium Blasters. Veterans have the Coordinate rule with Emplacement troopers.
The Comms Technician is very useful on Veterans because they want orders, and Rebels often have trouble rationing them out. Their better at shooting than normal Troopers, with some anti-tank/cover potential with their heavy option. Their rules also encourage a very defensive playstyle, with one of their keywords literally being Defend. Coordinate: Emplacement Trooper means you'll want to be within range of an FD turret or Mark II Medium Blaster, as well, so they really don't want to be aggressive.
They cost more than a rebel trooper squad, with an equal amount of offense per point but worse defense per point. Where they make the point increase back is firing into heavy cover with their Critical 2 heavy weapon and coordinate keyword for emplaced weapons. The Errata has been kind to the vets, so now they do different things from the trooper.
Mark II Medium Blaster Trooper
(38 pts.) It's a veteran Rebel equipped with a miniaturized version of the Empire's E-Web blaster.
Upgrade Cards
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts., dropped to 5 pts. by Rules Errata) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. This unit should never be close enough to use this.
Comms Relay (5 pts.) - Allows a unit with this equipped to pass an order to another friendly unit at range 1-2, but this means the squad that "passes" the order doesn't get one. Thanks to the Coordinate shenanigans, you could potentially use this to pass on orders to units you couldn't otherwise give an order token to, like a vehicle when the Command Card only allows troopers. But... you also need a face up order on this unit to use this unit's Fire Support, so... meh. The 1.6 version of the Rules Reference Guide has errata'ed this to be "Non-Emplacement Trooper only".
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Not a bad choice; it ensures you'll get an order token on the unit at least once when you really want it, especially if your Veterans aren't near it to Coordinate. Here lies the problem, though. If your Veterans aren't close enough to coordinate to the Mark II, then you're doing something wrong.
Long-Range Comlink (10 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational, and not very helpful on smaller battlefields. Could be useful if you're using the Disarray or Rapid Reinforcements battle cards, but really, making use of the Veterans' Coordinate is probably a better option.
Linked Targeting Array (5 pts.) - You gain Target 1 (when issued an order, gain an Aim Token). Can't go wrong with Aim tokens, especially if you're not planning on using Fire Support. Even better if you do.
Tactics
You can field one of these per unit of Rebel Veterans that you also field. They also have to deploy near each other, which you want anyway because the Coordinate rule allows your Veterans to issue an order to one of these units when they are issued an order themselves. Interestingly, the Rules Reference states that the unit with the Detachment rule- the Medium Blaster in this case- doesn't have to deploy in the deployment zone, meaning with some clever positioning you could effectively get a free Scout-1 move out of it. This may be an oversight, though, so maybe don't try this.
It throws four black dice at range 1-3 with Critical 2; it already has normal surge built in. It also has Fire Support, meaning if it's got a face up order token and is within range/LOS of the target, it can add its dice and Critical 2 to another friendly unit's shooting pool. So it can give your nearby squads some heavy punch when you really need it. This can be a critical part of your gunline; This is why you want to make sure you're using Coordinate to keep it ready to fire. It also has Sentinel for the boost on Standby range, as most gun emplacements do. Don't forget that you can use Standby to get around the gun's Cumbersome rule!
You are generally going to want to field it naked, or maybe with a Linked Targeting Array if relying on standby actions. You can then get an aim token along with a dodge token, with the array, to both make their shooting more potent and to also make a flimsy unit slightly more durable. When it does have to make a move, remember that it can make one free 360º pivot before or after each movement it makes (due to Reposition and Full Pivot). Remember that you can't use it's upgrades during fire support.
It's still a fairly fragile Rebel unit- 4 wounds, 2 Courage, and white dice with surge on defense. Make sure to maximize Cover as much as possible to keep it alive. But if you can do this, it is the definition of a glass cannon, hitting harder than a naked squad of rebel troopers.
Special Forces
0-3
Slightly more elite troopers to back up your Corps. Most of them are basically more specialized versions of Corps units.
Rebel Commandos
(50 pts.) Veteran Rebel troops who specialize a little bit more in sniping and spec ops.
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
DH-447 Sniper (28 pts.) - Gain a sniper with range 1-5 throwing a black and a white die, with Pierce 1. It also has the "High Velocity" rule, which means that if the attack pool only consists of weapons bearing this rule, the target unit cannot spend Dodge tokens. This makes it pretty valuable for knocking wounds off enemy characters, especially those who rely on Dodges (like anyone with Block or Deflect).
Proton Charge Saboteur (26 pts.) - Gain a trooper carrying the explosive charges used by the Rebels at Endor. The trooper can drop one per turn within range 1 of himself, and detonate them any time thereafter after a unit completes an action. The explosion does an attack of 1 red and 2 white (with Blast, Impact 1, and critical surge) to all units within range 1 of it. Not a bad way to thin out bottlenecked enemy units, but be wary of blowing up your own units.
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (4 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. Not a terrible choice considering the Commandos come with the Low Profile rule; however, if you have them in at least light cover, this is a useless upgrade. A general pass that may find some use.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Good for keeping the squad's suppression under control, especially if they wind up isolated from a commander.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Especially useful if you've gone with the sniper and use him to focus fire on enemy characters.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Not that useful, because you won't want to go on standby that often. Snipers, especially, won't want to be this close. Range 5 exists for a reason.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while the unit has lost a model, gain 1 red attack die. You don't want these guys in melee. They're not terrible at it, but it's not their strength.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. This is always nice to have, especially if you take the mine as a heavy weapon, encouraging more mobility.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. This can be very nice, and can make commandoes much harder to kill. However, it might also be wasted on them.
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts., reduced to 5 pts. by rules errata) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. Might be useful for screwing with Confederacy droids doing their Coordinate daisy chains, or if you've gone the Saboteur route and just want to screw with the enemy, but otherwise, meh. This is primarily a ranged unit and generally shouldn't get close enough to use this.
Comms Relay (5 pts.) - Allows a unit with this equipped to pass an order to another friendly unit at range 1-2, but this means the squad that "passes" the order doesn't get one. If these guys can be issued an order, you probably want them using that order and not passing it on.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Very useful for times when your Command is limited (like Son of Skywalker) and you really want to get this unit an order. Other units may want this upgrade more, though.
Long-Range Comlink (5 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational, and not very helpful on smaller battlefields. Could be useful if you're doing a mission like Disarray, or their Scout move has pushed this squad too far away from the Commander to be issued orders.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Not really that useful for this unit as it's a strong offensive unit that you want shooting, not dumping tokens on other units.
Emergency Stims (10 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Lets a unit (hopefully) survive to shoot one more time. Commandos won't benefit from this as much as other units would.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. These guys really shouldn't be moving too much but if you are very afraid of slowing down due to terrain, here's the fix. Also could be useful if using the Saboteur and looking to get up close fast; This gear will ensure that you aren't slowed down as you try to get close. Also note that their Scout move ignores difficult terrain!
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. As with environmental gear, this isn't a high priority upgrade unless that specific kind of terrain is an issue for you.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Very cheap, and stacks with the Commandos' Scout 2 rule, giving them a hefty Scout 3 move to start the game. Very good option that you should always consider taking.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. These guys throw black dice with surge on offense, so they hit about 63% of the time. Therefore, rerolls are always welcome! This is a pretty good choice.
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This is especially useful to get your troops into position, or traverse a dense battlefield. You can't really go wrong with this one.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die, that ignores cover. You're already throwing black dice and have Sharpshooter 1, so these are of limited usefulness to this squad.
Fragmentation Grenades (5 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die with critical surge. A very nasty surprise for enemies who get too close; 1:4 chance of crit even makes them potentially useful against enemy tanks.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. Very useful for popping enemy armor, but the short range means they'll probably see it coming.
Smoke Grenades (2 pts.) - as a normal action, the unit leader gains Smoke 1. This allows him to drop a smoke token within range 1 of him. A smoke token gives +1 Cover to all units whose leader is within range 1 of it, but also grants that cover to an enemy unit they shoot at. Stacks with other smoke tokens and the Low Profile rule that the Scouts already have, but you can get the same effect by just having them in some sort of cover anyway. Generally a pass because this unit is expensive and you're going to want it aiming/dodging and firing, not dropping smoke.
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). If you know you're facing CIS- especially one heavy with droidekas or AATs- these can be worth taking. You just need to throw one to trigger it, so you can fire your other weapons to ensure it goes off.
Tactics
These guys are an upgraded version of normal Rebel Troopers. They have the same stats but +1 Courage. They drop nimble, but gain Low Profile, Scout 2, and Sharpshooter 1. They throw the same one black die with range 1-3 each, also with normal surge. These guys are good for ranged combat, especially for picking away at enemy troops who think they're in a good defensive position. As for the upgrades, the sniper works well since it's just adding more ranged power that can really threaten characters. The saboteur still has the same A-200 rifle as his comrades but gains the range 1 bomb dropping as described above. Give the Saboteur squad some Frag grenades and you suddenly have a fairly effective assault squad. Remember, you can have multiple bombs out, and you can activate them after any units action.
The downsides to these guys start with that despite how expensive they are (50 pts before any upgrades, as opposed to basic Rebel troopers only costing 40), they're still just Rebels. One wound each with white defense dice, surging to defend, means they're just as frail as most other Rebel units. If you go big on the bells and whistles, the squad can easily cost over 100 pts, as well. You need to decide what role you want the squad to fill, and then upgrade them to suit that. They are too expensive to try to fill multiple roles.
In fact, they're too expensive, as is, period. The Strike team is far more efficient and allows for more activations.
Rebel Commandos Strike Team
(20 pts.) A two man team of Commando specialists.
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
DH-447 Sniper (28 pts.) - Gain a sniper with range 1-5 throwing a black and a white die, with Pierce 1. It also has the "High Velocity" rule, which means that if the attack pool only consists of weapons bearing this rule, the target unit cannot spend Dodge tokens. This makes it pretty valuable for knocking wounds off enemy characters, especially those who rely on Dodges (eg anyone with Block or Deflect).
Proton Charge Saboteur (26 pts.) - Gain a trooper carrying the explosive charges used by the Rebels at Endor. The trooper can drop one per turn within range 1 of himself, and detonate them any time thereafter after a unit completes an action. The explosion does an attack of 1 red and 2 white (with Blast, Impact 1, and critical surge) to all units within range 1 of it. Not a bad way to thin out bottlenecked enemy units, but be wary of blowing up your own units.
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (4 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. You don't really need this thanks to Low Profile- if you have a least light cover, this upgrade is useless.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. A little pricey for such a small unit, but does help keep suppression under control.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Very helpful for sniping characters.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. You don't need this. The sniper has great range and you're effectively limiting it to range 3 with Standby. The saboteur has super short range, and you probably want to get up close to actually drop his bombs.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while the unit is wounded, it gains 1 red attack die. To actually use this, you'd have to be down to one model left in the unit. And that one model has to be in melee. Where you probably don't want him to be.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. This is only really good on with the mine, because the sniper doesn't necessarily need to move at all.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. For such a small squad, this upgrade will undoubtedly be wasted.
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. Might be useful on the saboteur unit but the sniper should never be close enough to use it.
Comms Relay (5 pts.) - Allows a unit with this equipped to pass an order to another friendly unit at range 1-2, but this means the squad that "passes" the order doesn't get one. Limited utility since, how often is that situation going to come up with these guys?
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. A little costly but can ensure that your dudes get an order when you really need it.
Long-Range Comlink (5 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational, and not very helpful on smaller battlefields. On larger battlefields or when fighting a mission like Disarray, can be very useful.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Rather expensive and generally better on other units. You want these guys doing their appointed mission, not sitting around dropping Aim tokens on others.
Emergency Stims (10 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Lets a unit (hopefully) survive to shoot one more time. Considering these guys are wiped out after suffering two wounds, this is not a bad option. Still a little too costly, though.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. If you're struggling with being slowed by difficult terrain, this will help. However, unless you're going with the saboteur option and are looking to act as an assault unit, you probably don't need this.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. If you're struggling with lots of climbable terrain, this will help. Otherwise, pass.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Stacks with the Scout 2 that the team already has, for Scout 3. It's also cheap, making this a very attractive choice.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Not really super necessary since the team will never be throwing that many dice to begin with.
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This is especially useful to get your troops into position, or traverse a dense battlefield. Not too useful on Commando Strike Teams.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and ignores cover. These guys already throw black dice with Sharpshooter 1 so they're at least partially ignoring cover. The small size of the squad will limit the damage they can do, too.
Fragmentation Grenades (5 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die and critical surge. Can be a nasty surprise but small squad size will severely limit damage potential.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. Useful for punching holes in enemy tanks but small squad size will severely limit damage potential.
Smoke Grenades (2 pts.) - as a normal action, the unit leader gains Smoke 1. This allows him to drop a smoke token within range 1 of him. Any unit whose leader is within range 1 of the token gains +1 cover, but it also grants that bonus to the unit's target when shooting. Does not stack with Low Profile, which requires the unit to be in light cover to benefit. Just remember that it does take one of your unit's two actions. Maybe useful on the Saboteur.
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). You won't want to get close enough to use this.
Tactics
The unit consists of one man and you are required to buy a heavy weapon to accompany him, which becomes the unit leader. This gives you a Commando squad heavy weapon without having to actually field a whole squad. The Sniper team is particularly effective at controlling sectors, given the long range and the threat they pose to enemy elites/characters. Just be wary that, as always, they're still just fragile Rebels. Be sure to position them in at least light cover to increase the odds they'll survive any shooting they may suffer. The Saboteur is great for locking down an area, unless your enemy really wants to tempt the dice gods.
As with the full Commando squad, decide what you want these guys to do and then equip them to fit that role, as they can't really do multiple roles.
Generally a better option over the full commando squad.
Rebel Pathfinders
(58 pts.) The squad of Rebels that accompanied Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor to Scarif at the climax of Rogue One. They excel at sneaking into forward positions and springing surprise attacks while maximizing cover to survive counterattacks. For Jedha!!!
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Pao (22 pts.) - adds the unique, 2 health Pao character to your squad. He becomes the squad's leader and has the Inspire 1 rule, plus his rifle fires 1 red and 1 white at range 1-4. He gives a slight bump to ranged firepower plus a morale boost.
Bistan (28 pts.) - adds the unique, 2 health Bistan character to your squad. Exhaust him to make an attack at range 1-4 doing 1 black and 4 white with Impact 1 and Ion 1. He gives your squad some utility against vehicles as well as basically doubling your dice output at long range. Just bear in mind that he exhausts to fire and you'll have to spend a Recover action to fire him again. He suffers from Ion syndrome.
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (4 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at for cover. This works well with the Danger Sense rule, and you should seriously consider taking this. Remember, Pathfinders only have courage 2, though.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Could be useful to keep your suppression tokens under control, although you do want some tokens for their Danger Sense ability. If you feel as if your Pathfinders are taking too much suppression, this can be great.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Aim tokens are always nice, and since your normal and long range configs are throwing white dice, rerolls are very useful.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Can be useful, but you may not want to be on standby too much with Pathfinders. There are better upgrades.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. While Pathfinders aren't terrible at melee, they're not great at it either, and should probably focus on ranged combat.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. This works well with their Dauntless keyword. This should especially be added to this unit, if you've got the points.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. Pathfinders won't be getting dodges too often, so this may be wasted. If you can get them dodges, then SA could find some use.
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. Could be fun for screwing with B1 and B2 Battle droids trying to make use of their Coordinate rule; otherwise, pretty situational, and there may be better options.
Comms Relay (5 pts.) - Allows a unit with this equipped to pass an order to another friendly unit at range 1-2, but this means the squad that "passes" the order doesn't get one. Pathfinders may want the order you gave them.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Useful for keeping orders on the unit even when they're away from the commander, which is possible considering they have infiltrate.
Long-Range Comlink (5 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational, and not very helpful on smaller battlefields. Pathfinder's infiltrate means they may find good use out of this upgrade.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Pathfinders need to manage their actions carefully and don't really have the luxury of using those actions to pretend to be General Veers.
Emergency Stims (10 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Lets a unit (hopefully) survive to shoot one more time.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Infiltrate will probably solve most issues with terrain that you may have.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Infiltrate will probably solve most issues with terrain that you may have.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Works well with Infiltration to get your Pathfinders where you want them, and it's cheap.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. If you're able to reliably get aim tokens (the Hunter upgrade, being recommended), this will help with the white dice you roll on your attacks.
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. This is especially useful to get your troops into position, or traverse a dense battlefield. You can't really go wrong with this one, although infiltrate does hinder it's usefulness.
Armament Upgrade (x1 Slot)
A-300 Short Range Config (0 pts.) - one red die per trooper at range 1-2. Essentially turns your A-300 into a hard hitting pistol. Recover to flip the card to the Long Range Config.
A-300 Long Range Config (0 pts.) - one white die per trooper at range 1-4. Lose a white die to gain a bump in range. Recover to flip the card to the Short Range Config.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die that ignores cover. The short ranged config on your A-300s is probably better.
Fragmentation Grenades (5 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die and critical surge. Exactly the same as your Short Range Config but with critical surge instead of normal surge. Could be useful in a pinch if you get stuck with your A-300s in Long Range configuration. Also may be useful if cover is being a problem.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. Bistan is this units best hope of countering armor, and this gives a great bonus to that. Being in range to throw these, though, may be an issue.
Smoke Grenades (2 pts.) - Spend an action to gain Smoke 1, which allows you to deploy a smoke token within range 1 and line of sight of your squad leader. Smoke tokens grant +1 Cover to all units whose unit leader is within range 1 of a token, includign enemy units. Since these guys infiltrate, there's a good chance they could be isolated away from the rest of your army, and a little extra cover couldn't hurt. Their actions need to be managed carefully, though, and spending an action on deploying smoke means you're skipping doing something else (especially once they become Suppressed and lose an action).
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). If you know you're facing CIS- especially one heavy with droidekas or AATs- these can be worth taking. You just need to throw one to trigger it, so you can fire your other weapons as well.
Tactics
Pathfinders are another solid shooting unit in an army that focuses heavily on good shooting. Think of those aforementioned Rebels in Rogue One, and how they fought, and that's how you should use these guys; Have them skulk ahead of your army, pin the enemy in place, and weather return fire while the rest of your army gets into position to help them out.
They have three ways they can fire their guns. Their Default configuration, which fires 2 white dice at range 3, pretty brutal. The Long Range configuration, which hits like a wet noodle at 1 white at range 4, but allows you to harass enemies beyond their effective range (and add more damage to Bistan/Pao). Short range configuration fires a single Red dice at range 2, a very reliable attack. They also have some interesting abilities to help with defense. Pathfinders throw white defense dice with surge, like most of their Rebel compatriots. Additionally, they have the Danger Sense 3 rule, which allows them to choose not to remove suppression tokens, and when defending against ranged attacks, they can roll extra defense dice equal to the number of suppression tokens they have, to a maximum of 3 extra dice. They also have Dauntless, which allows them to make a free move when they're suppressed (but not panicked) if they take an extra suppression token, so they still function largely normally even when full of suppression tokens. Their Courage 2, however, means they can't go overboard with the suppression, so manage that carefully. While they're not terrible at melee, they're not great at it either, and they'll get slaughtered by enemy melee specialists. Lastly, they have the Infiltrate rule, which allows them to deploy almost anywhere on the battlefield.
Pathfinders synergize rather well with Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, who have similar abilities and Command Cards that work well with them; and when Jyn lends them her Courage 3, it'll help keep them in the fight. Like Erso, they have Infiltrate and can start out anywhere on the board as long as no enemy unit is within range 3 of them when they deploy. Deploy them first and they can be anywhere! Cassian can also have this if you sacrifice his Commander role to become an Operative.
Very much worth remembering that they will always have access to two different blasters; The one on the configuration card and the baseline profile. You will probably only have use for the long range profile for a turn or two, but after that you will be using one of the others. Against armored targets you will be best using the rifle profile since you are fishing for critical hits. Bistan can be a massive help with this.
Wookie Warriors (Freedom Fighters)
(69 pts.) Do you like tearing arms off things? So do these guys! it's a squad of Chewbaccas. This is the melee variant now that the new box is out.
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Bowcaster Wookiee (31 pts.) - gives you an extra wookiee carrying a weaker version of Chewbacca's bowcaster. It fires one red and white die at range 1-3, with Impact 1 and Pierce 1. Gives your squad a little ranged punch and can even ping a wound on enemy armor, as well. With it's dice and Peirce 1 the best use of it its to put a wound on a target so you can trigger hunter when you make it to melee. Even the threat of letting Wookies catch a wounded character, is enough to force a more defensive play style.
Battle Shield Wookiee (26 pts.) - Adds a Wookiee with a big combat shield into the unit. The card has two sides to it, Defensive and Offensive. The Defensive side gives you Armor 1 and two black dice, but it reduces your speed by 1. The Offensive side gives you two red dice and that's it. At the start of your activation you can flip the card. This is an exceptional choice for Wookiees inside an A-A5 Speeder Truck. Remember that heavy weapon guys always have the unit's base weapons, so he has the pistol as well.
Long Gun Wookiee (26 pts.) - Practically useless for these guys, this Wookiee gives you a range 1-4 gun throwing 2 black dice with Suppressive. Can proc hunter like the Bowcaster but the Bowcaster is only five more points and much better.
Training Upgrades (x2 Slots)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. Wookiees are pretty easy to kill, so anything that can help keep them alive is welcome, and their Indomitable rule helps keep suppression under control. Pretty good. Even better now that it's 2 points.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Indomitable makes this not super necessary.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Very handy for when you finally get these guys into melee, assuming you manage to wound your target first.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Wookiees specialize in close quarters and melee combat; they generally shouldn't be on Standby.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. Another excellent choice as your Wookiees are fairly easy to wound and any melee boost is welcome.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. This can especially help during the turn in which Wookies charge, because it'll make their already deadly melee even more terrifying.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. If your Wookies can get dodge tokens, then this is a great upgrade. If not, then this is largely wasted, obviously.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. How about...No!
Emergency Stims (10 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Lets a unit (hopefully) survive to shoot one more time. Kind of useful of Wookies, but it will make an already expensive unit even more expensive.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Wookiees already have the Scale keyword, making this pointless.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Wookiees already have the Scale keyword, making this useless.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Gets you slightly closer to the thing you want to rip arms off of, and it's super cheap. A decent choice.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. If you've got Hunter or some other way of getting easy Aim tokens, this can be worth taking. But you probably don't want to be stopping your advance to have the Wookiees take an Aim action. There are better options.
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. They already have scale, though, so this is literally useless.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die that ignores cover. Unless your target is in heavy cover, your pistols are probably better. Though you only need to have one Wookie throw one to give the whole pool Ignores cover', effectively only giving up one white die. Still might not be worth it since, if you are in range, you probably should have charged.
Fragmentation Grenades (5 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die and critical surge. Not a bad choice for when you can't quite get a charge off.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. These make tanks go boom. However, the small squad size of the Wookiees limits the damage potential.
Smoke Grenades (2 pts.) - Spend an action to gain Smoke 1, which allows you to place a smoke token within range 1 and line of sight of the squad's leader. Smoke tokens give +1 Cover to all units whose leader is within range 1 of them, but also grant that cover to an enemy unit they shoot at. While this is handy for helping protect your totally unarmored Wookiees as they advance, it's probably better on a cheaper unit like Rebel troopers, and then let them lay down cover for the walking carpets.
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). If you know you're facing CIS- especially one heavy with droidekas or AATs- these can be worth taking. You just need to throw one to trigger it, so you can fire your pistols, as well!
Tactics
Like Chewbacca, these guys should be considered a "glass cannon". Excluding characters, they are among the best melee units in the game. They throw 2 black dice per model with normal surge; and they have an OK pistol attack, with 1 black and 1 white at range 1-2. They are rather easy to kill; while they do have a high wound threshold of 3 per model, they also only throw white dice with no surge on defense. When they get hit, they are probably taking it. Thankfully they have Charge and scale which allows them to traverse terrain without difficulty. They also have the Indomitable rule, which allows them to roll red defense dice to Rally rather than white, giving them pretty good control over suppression. Now that they have Duelist, they are proper CQC units that will tear apart anything.
Make heavy use of Dodges and Cover to keep these guys alive and get them into melee as quickly as you can. Hunter and Tenacity are both great upgrades for them. Wookie Warriors are work well with equally as aggressive lists, to divide how much fire they may take. Luke, Sabine, Cassian, and Han are great commanders for them. Fleet Troopers, Tauntauns, and the speeder vehicles are great additions, as well. The A-A5 Speeder Truck was made for these guys. Transporting and healing all rolled into one. The new Battle Shield also gives them some extra survivability while increasing their melee punch.
Wookiee Warriors (Kashyyk Resistance)
(72 pts.) Some pissed off Wookiees armed with Covenant Carbines from Halo 2. Awesome.
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Bowcaster Wookiee (31 pts.) - gives you an extra wookiee carrying a weaker version of Chewbacca's bowcaster. It fires one red and white die at range 1-3, with Impact 1 and Pierce 1. Gives your squad a little ranged punch and can even ping a wound on enemy armor, as well. Matches the playstyle of these Wookiees more than the regular version. Use it to hug close to the enemy and blast anything with a red save.
Battle Shield Wookiee (26 pts.) - Adds a Wookiee with a big combat shield into the unit. The card has two sides to it, Defensive and Offensive. The Defensive side gives you Armor 1 and two black dice, but it reduces your speed by 1. The Offensive side gives you two red dice and that's it. At the start of your activation you can flip the card. Not as synergistic as it is with the more melee-oriented shag carpets, but still useable. Keep it on offense for mobility, then flip to defense to just turtle down and shoot. The shield bearer gets to use the same rifles as the others, so you get some additional firepower.
Long Gun Wookiee (26 pts.) - Practically useless for these guys, this Wookiee gives you a range 1-4 gun throwing 2 black dice with Suppressive. Can proc hunter like the Bowcaster but the Bowcaster is only five more points and much better.
Training Upgrades (x2 Slots)
Duck and Cover (2 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. Wookiees are pretty easy to kill, so anything that can help keep them alive is welcome, and their Indomitable rule helps keep suppression under control. Pretty good. Even better now that it's 2 points.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Indomitable makes this not super necessary.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Very handy for when you finally get these guys into melee, assuming you manage to wound your target first.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Wookiees specialize in close quarters and melee combat; they generally shouldn't be on Standby.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. Another excellent choice as your Wookiees are fairly easy to wound and any melee boost is welcome.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. This can especially help during the turn in which Wookies charge, because it'll make their already deadly melee even more terrifying.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. If your Wookies can get dodge tokens, then this is a great upgrade. If not, then this is largely wasted, obviously.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. How about...No!
Emergency Stims (10 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Lets a unit (hopefully) survive to shoot one more time. Kind of useful of Wookies, but it will make an already expensive unit even more expensive.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. Wookiees already have the Scale keyword, making this pointless.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. Wookiees already have the Scale keyword, making this useless.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Gets you slightly closer to the thing you want to rip arms off of, and it's super cheap. A decent choice.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. If you've got Hunter or some other way of getting easy Aim tokens, this can be worth taking. But you probably don't want to be stopping your advance to have the Wookiees take an Aim action. There are better options.
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. They already have scale, though, so this is literally useless.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die that ignores cover. Unless your target is in heavy cover, your pistols are probably better. Though you only need to have one Wookie throw one to give the whole pool Ignores cover', effectively only giving up one white die. Still might not be worth it since, if you are in range, you probably should have charged.
Fragmentation Grenades (5 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die and critical surge. Not a bad choice for when you can't quite get a charge off.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. These make tanks go boom. However, the small squad size of the Wookiees limits the damage potential.
Smoke Grenades (2 pts.) - Spend an action to gain Smoke 1, which allows you to place a smoke token within range 1 and line of sight of the squad's leader. Smoke tokens give +1 Cover to all units whose leader is within range 1 of them, but also grant that cover to an enemy unit they shoot at. While this is handy for helping protect your totally unarmored Wookiees as they advance, it's probably better on a cheaper unit like Rebel troopers, and then let them lay down cover for the walking carpets.
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). If you know you're facing CIS- especially one heavy with droidekas or AATs- these can be worth taking. You just need to throw one to trigger it, so you can fire your pistols, as well!
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Tactics
Wookiee Warriors who trade their knife and pistol for a rifle. They can no longer charge, but have Sharpshooter 1 to help against cover. Their shooting has been reduced to only 2 white dice but can now hit up to range 3 while their melee capability has dropped from 2 black to just 1 Black and 1 White.
These wookiees are just kind of caught between two stools, which is why you don't see them all that often compared to the standard Wookiee Warriors (if at all). Their shooting is safer, but now their damage output is only about on-par with pathfinders and although their melee is still good, they can almost never get engaged with enemy units without charge and they can't even take high-value targets without the tried-and-tested Offensive Push + Duelist combo their ferocious brother's can pull off. Perhaps their one saving grace is better synergy with the bowcaster heavy weapon, as their guns match range with the bowcaster, giving you a precious source of Pierce 1 to dish out at range 3.
Mandalorian Resistance
(72 pts.) A squad of Mandalorian warriors fighting against the Empire.
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Beskad Duelist (28 pts.) - adds a mini with a 2 red melee attack, and the new Duelist rule. Duelist grants the unit Pierce 1 when they spend an Aim token in melee, and Immune: Pierce when they spend a dodge. A really nice upgrade that makes them an immense close quarters threat.
Tristan Wren (38 pts.) - adds Tristan Wren as a mini with 2 wounds. He has a rifle that fires 2 black dice at range 1-3, with Lethal 1 (While attacking, spend up to 1 aim token to gain pierce 1) and suppressive. Suppressive means that, after you attack, the defender gains 1 suppression token (in addition to the one they would normally get). A really nice upgrade, but better on Clan Wren.
Ursa Wren (38 pts.) - adds Ursa Wren as a mini with 2 wounds. She has a pistol that fires 1 white, 1 black, and 1 red at range 2 with Long Shot (While attacking, spend up to 1 aim token to increase this weapon's range by 1). She also has the Leader keyword, which makes her the Leader of the squad. A really nice upgrade, but still better used in Clan Wren.
Armament Upgrades (x Slot)
Jetpack Rockets (8 pts.) - each model can fire a rocket with range 3-4, 1 red each and Impact 1. The green X means it can only be used once per battle. It gives the Rebels a much needed and very powerful anti-tank attack. The long minimum means you can either open with this attack or wait until Tristan Wren is within range, to make a devastating single turn attack pool.
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (4 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. They only have courage 2, and they will most likely be absorbing a good amount of shots. Not recommended.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Really nice, considering you really don't want to be stuck with a single action.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Generally good, especially with the Beskad Duelist.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. You won't want Mandos on standby.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while you are wounded gain 1 red attack die. Not recommended without the Beskad Duelist.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. Mandalorians will want to be on the move, especially considering their range, and this can especially be nice for the turn you charge into melee with a Beskad duelist squad.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. Like with Sabine? Making Mandalorian durability even better? Need I say more.
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders (unless it's a character issuing an order to himself). Not bad, especially with the Beskad.
Comms Relay (5 pts.) - Allows a unit with this equipped to pass an order to another friendly unit at range 1-2, but this means the squad that "passes" the order doesn't get one. You'll probably want to keep the order, if it was given to them.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Potentially useful if you expect the unit to be away from the commander or just want to ensure they get issued an order when you really need it.
Long-Range Comlink (10 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Very meh, because you'll probably be running Mandos with commanders that can keep pace with them.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Mandalorians won't want to be token generators. Pass.
Emergency Stims (10 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Lets a unit (hopefully) survive to shoot one more time. Could be useful, for those hard hitting ranged or melee hits.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. This isn't necessary, considering they have Jump 2.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. This isn't necessary, considering they have Jump 2.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Generally good.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Useful, but situational. Wouldn't recommend.
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. Mandalorians already have jump 2, but they may find some use out of this.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die that ignores cover. Your shooting is good enough to where this isn't necessary.
Fragmentation Grenades (5 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die and critical surge. This isn't bad, but your shooting also kind of makes this unnecessary.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. Again, this isn't too useful considering the tools you have access to.
Smoke Grenades (2 pts.) - Use an action to gain Smoke 1, allowing you to put a smoke token out within range 1 and line of sight of the unit leader. Each smoke token gives +1 Cover to all trooper units whose squad leader is within range 1 of it. This includes enemy troops.
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). If you know you're facing CIS- especially one heavy with droidekas or AATs- these can be worth taking. You just need to throw one to trigger it, so you can fire your pistols, as well!
Tactics
Mandalorian Resistance and Clan Wren are the most durable unit Rebels have access to outside of Heroes or Operatives. They come with 1 health, 2 courage, and surge to hit/defend. This means they have a native 3+ save, with Impervious to top it all off (Impervious makes it so you roll additional defense dice to the value of pierce in the attacking pool). Nimble means they can recycle dodge tokens, to top it all off!
Their shooting is 2 black dice at range 1-2, with a black and white die in melee. They're also speed 3 with Jump 2, making them a terrifying mobile threat. Tristan Wren and Ursa Wren can improve this a bit, but they're generally better used in the Clan Wren strike team. Jetpack rockets are also just a nice addition that can cause decent damage to units at range. Equipping this squad with the Beskad Duelist makes it a great danger to most units. Even Jedi will struggle to hurt these warriors, as pierce can largely be ignored. Mandalorian Resistance is best used aggressively for this reason. Don't forget, as well, that they are troopers, so they can capture points.
Mandalorian Resistance, Clan Wren
(34 pts.) Ursa and Tristan Wren join the fight to aid the Rebellion. This family reunion is going to be quite explosive, huh?
Upgrade Cards
Heavy Weapon Upgrades (x2 Slot)
Tristan Wren (38 pts.) - adds Tristan Wren as a mini with 2 wounds. He has a rifle that fires 2 black dice at range 1-3, with Lethal 1 (While attacking, spend up to 1 aim token to gain pierce 1) and suppressive. Suppressive means that, after you attack, the defender gains 1 suppression token (in addition to the one they would normally get). You have to take him and Ursa Wren in this squad.
Ursa Wren (38 pts.) - adds Ursa Wren as a mini with 2 wounds. She has a pistol that fires 1 white, 1 black, and 1 red at range 2 with Long Shot (While attacking, spend up to 1 aim token to increase this weapon's range by 1). She also has the Leader keyword, which makes her the Leader of the squad. You have to take her and Trsitan Wren in this squad.
Armament Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Jetpack Rockets (8 pts.) - each model can fire a rocket with range 3-4, 1 red each and Impact 1. The green X means it can only be used once per battle. It gives the Rebels a much needed and very powerful anti-tank attack. The long minimum means you can either open with this attack or wait until Tristan Wren is within range, to make a devastating single turn attack pool. Clan Wren, however, only gets 3 shots off. Best used when Tristan Wren is in range to use him weapon, to benefit from the pierce one and suppressive keywords.
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (4 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. They only have courage 2, and they will most likely be absorbing a good amount of shots. Not recommended.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Really nice, considering you really don't want to be stuck with a single action.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Generally good.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. You won't want Clan Wren on standby.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack while you are wounded gain 1 red attack die. Not recommended, because you won't want Clan Wren in melee.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. Like with normal Mandalorians, Clan Wren will want to stay on the move. This is almost literally free aim tokens, just waiting for you.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. Again. Mandalorian durability made better? Yes!
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders, unless it's a character issuing an order to himself. Clan wren won't want to be this close, generally, but can hold their own. Not recommended, but not useless.
Comms Relay (5 pts.) - Allows a unit with this equipped to pass an order to another friendly unit at range 1-2, but this means the squad that "passes" the order doesn't get one. You'll probably want to keep the order, if it was given to them.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Clan Wren should be near Sabine all the time, so orders won't usually be a problem. Mild pass.
Long-Range Comlink (5 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Very meh, because you'll be running them with Sabine.
Gear Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Electrobinoculars (8 pts.) - Gain the ability to spend an action to give another friendly unit at range 1 an aim token. Clan Wren doesn't want to do a Leia impression. Hard pass.
Emergency Stims (10 pts.) - When you would suffer wounds, prevent up to 2 of them, then suffer the same amount you absorbed with this card at the end of your next activation. Lets a unit (hopefully) survive to shoot one more time. Could be useful, but Clan Wren will already end up costing a good bit. Maybe a bit much.
Environmental Gear (2 pts.) - Gain Unhindered, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain. This isn't necessary, considering they have Jump 2.
Grappling Hooks (1 pts.) - Gain Expert Climber, allowing you to clamber without rolling dice or taking wounds. This isn't necessary, considering they have Jump 2.
Recon Intel (2 pts.) - Gain Scout 1, allowing you to make a speed-1 move after you deploy. Generally good.
Targeting Scopes (4 pts.) - Gain Precise 1, allowing you to re-roll 3 dice when you spend an aim token. Useful, but situational. Wouldn't recommend, even with the free aim token from Sabine.
Ascension Cables (4 pts) - Until the end of your activation, you gain scale. Clan Wren also has Jump 2, so this isn't too useful. It may see some niche use, but is overall not worth it.
Grenade Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Concussion Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die that ignores cover. Your shooting is good enough to where this isn't necessary.
Fragmentation Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 red die and critical surge. This isn't bad, but your shooting also kind of makes this unnecessary.
Impact Grenades (3 pts.) - Range 1 attack with 1 black die and Impact 1. Again, this isn't too useful considering the tools you have access to.
Smoke Grenades (2 pts.) - Use an action to gain Smoke 1, allowing you to put a smoke token out within range 1 and line of sight of the unit leader. Each smoke token gives +1 Cover to all trooper units whose squad leader is within range 1 of it. This includes enemy troops. Not overly good or bad. This can easily boost an already very durable unit.
EMP Droid poppers (3 pts.) - Range 1 with 1 black die, and an attack pool that includes them gains Ion 1 (just one, not one per grenade). If you know you're facing CIS- especially one heavy with droidekas or AATs- these can be worth taking. You just need to throw one to trigger it, so you can fire your other weapons, as well!
Tactics
Mandalorian Resistance and Clan Wren are the most durable unit Rebels have access to outside of Heroes or Operatives. Clan Wren comes with 2 health, 2 courage, and surge to hit/defend, each. . This means they have a native 3+ save, with Impervious, as well (Impervious makes it so you roll additional defense dice to the value of pierce in the attacking pool). Nimble means they can recycle dodge tokens, to top it all off! Clan Wren is so absurdly tough, you will likely see them panic off the table more often than seeing them wiped out
Clan Wren specifically must take both Tristan and Ursa Wren, along with the normal mook, much like a Commando strike team. The mook has the same weapon profiles as a normal Mando, which is 2 black dice at range 1-2, with a black and white die in melee. They're also speed 3 with Jump 2, making them a terrifying mobile threat. Jetpack rockets are also just a nice addition that can cause decent damage to units at range, especially once Tristan gets into range for his juicy keyword. Clan Wren will often want to be near Sabine Wren, due to their Retinue: Sabine Wren keyword. This means that, so long as they're within range 1-2 of Sabine, they can gain either a dodge or aim token. This can be very handy for, say, Tristan's keywords. This is a must have staple if you are taking Sabine Wren.
Support
0-3 Selections
Light vehicles and Beasts
1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team
(70 pts.) The big dish-shaped laser cannon from the Rebel base on Hoth during The Empire Strikes Back. At least they get good television!
Upgrade Cards
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. This...This unit can't move. Who thought putting a Jammer on a turret was a good idea?
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Not a terrible choice, it ensures you can get an order token on this when you most want it.
Long-Range Comlink (10 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational, and not very helpful on smaller battlefields. Though your immobile nature means that you are more likely to be out paced by your leaders.
Generator Upgrade (x1 Slot)
Barrage Generator (3 pts.) - Exhaust this card to add 2 white dice and Suppressive to your attack with a weapon that has Fixed. Makes the gun a little more useful for shooting at infantry. The two white dice is nice for the greater attack potential, and suppressive is great.
Overcharged Generator (3 pts.) - Exhaust this card to add 1 black die and Impact 1 to your attack with a weapon that has Fixed. Takes a gun that's good against tanks and makes it even better. 6 black dice with Impact 3 is nothing to sneeze at.
Tactics
It's an immobile heavy cannon that specializes at blasting apart enemy tanks, but is still capable of destroying enemy infantry as well. It's only got 6 wounds and white defense dice with surge for defensive properties, so it's certainly not invincible. It also has only Courage 2, and if it panics, rather than fleeing (since it's stationary) it simply does nothing for its activation. So if it starts taking fire, make sure you have a way of keeping it firing. It has range 5, though, so take advantage of this to do heavy damage to enemy armor or high value troops before they are in range to shoot back. The FD turret has 5 black dice native, with surge to hit and impact 2, meaning they can threaten most units. This rolls an average of 3 hits per shot and 2 against armor, while being outside the range of everything but snipers. It has a hard time pushing through cover on its own but it can still reliably suppress targets. It also has a 4 white dice secondary weapon, but its basically useless, as pivot firing is a better emergency option. Sentinel grants improved standby range, which is situational but nice to have.
The barrage generator is a better choice against infantry, because suppressive is pretty powerful and hard to come by in the rebel army and 2 white adds 0.75 damage. The Overcharged generator is more situational but will allow you to whack armor. It only adds an additional 0.625 damage, but impact 3 hurts.
They are also emplacement troopers, so they benefit from the coordinate ability of Rebel Veterans. For 70 points you get a great side-grade to the AT-RT that can have some major synergy with one of your troop choices! Stationary makes them much more situational than the AT-RT or taun-taun, so if you are taking more than one you will need a point bid to choose good objectives to maximize their area denial capabilities. If you can get an objective within its range, they can deny it to the enemy and just cause suppression and scratch damage if they dare stand in its arc.
It should be noted that during the Rapid Reinforcements condition card, the FD turret can be infiltrated. Generally, this may not be the best choice. It can be funny, though!
AT-RT
(55 pts.) Ironstriders, basically.
These are your standard heavy cavalry, and nothing says janky rebel underdogs than using 20 year old clone war surplus to fight for freedom. It's been one of the most balanced units in the game, as well!
Upgrade Cards
Hardpoint Upgrade (x1 Slot)
AT-RT Laser Cannon (10 pts.) - range 2-4 firing one red and two black with Fixed: Front and Impact 3. A pretty good anti-tank gun, although the minimum range means you need to make sure you keep your distance. Still, if your opponent brought armor, this should do a decent job of plugging holes in it.
AT-RT Rotary Blaster (20 pts.) - range 1-3 firing five black dice and with Fixed: Front. A great All-rounder with good damage and good range. With the built-in critical surge of the AT-RT, it can be quite mean against armor, too. Take it if you want a middle-ground between the flamer and the laser.
AT-RT Flame Thrower (20 pts.) - range 1 firing two black with Fixed: Front, Blast (ignore cover), and Spray (add its attack value to the pool once for every visible model in the target unit). Pretty brutal flame thrower attack if you can get close enough to use it, it will delete horde units like B1s in a single attack.
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. Not that great if you plan to take the Rotary Blaster or Laser Cannon. Could be useful to screw with Confederacy B1 droids daisy chaining orders while you're roasting them with the flame thrower, though!
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself A solid choice to ensure it gets an order even though the Command card you're using is troopers only.
Long-Range Comlink (10 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational, and not very helpful on smaller battlefields. If you want an AT-RT to get an order, your commander is probably in range.
Linked Targeting Array (5 pts.) - Gives you a free Aim token when the unit is issued an order. Aim tokens are always nice to have, especially with the gobs of black dice this walker can throw.
Tactics
This is a strange little gun platform. It's got three guns to choose from and they're all pretty good at doing what they do. Roasting enemies, blasting tanks, or chewing infantry, for 75 points (assuming no Comms upgrade is taken). It's pretty good in melee too, throwing three red dice as it rakes people with its foot claws. It's actually pretty sturdy as well, is has Armor and 6 wounds, but the 6+ save (white dice without surge) on defense isn't very impressive. Even so, anything other than impact weapons has only a 1/8 chance to hit. It can climb terrain without penalty, so use that to your advantage, and use terrain to block incoming fire.
So basically pick a role for it! Long range anti-tank platform, medium range anti-infantry or light vehicle mulcher, or brutal short range anti-infantry shredder. Upgrade it with the appropriate hard point, and send it out to do just that. It should be noted that the guy piloting the AT-RT has a rifle, with 2 white dice at range 1-3. You should rarely, if ever, be using this weapon, though, unless you've taken the Flamer hardpoint.
Taking naked AT-RTs is actually a viable strategy, considering they're a durable platform with 3 red dice in melee. Laugh, as one back kicks General Grievous to death! Also keep in mind, in general, that AT-RTs give cover to trooper units behind them.
They are generally good to have and are cheap enough to not hinder list building. The laser cannon also took a massive point cut to just 10pts, so you can take it as a budget option.
Tauntaun Riders
(95 pts.) Cold weather, fast attack. Where RTs are your heavy cavalry, these are your light cavalry.
Upgrade Cards
Training Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Duck and Cover (4 pts.) - You can intentionally gain 1 Suppression while being shot at, for cover. Can be useful, along with Agile, in helping keep your Tauntauns alive as they charge forward. However, keep in mind that they do only have courage 2.
Endurance (6 pts.) - At the end of your activation, remove 1 Suppression for free. Also potentially useful as they only have Courage 2 and you want to keep them moving.
Hunter (6 pts.) - When attacking a wounded trooper unit, get 1 free aim token. Rerolls are generally nice, and fits the aggressive playstyle that Tauntauns encourage.
Overwatch (4 pts.) - Gain Sentinel, making your standby range 1-3. Not a good option, as they guys want to be moving and attacking, not standing still. Plus their guns are only range 2. Hard pass.
Tenacity (4 pts.) - When making a melee attack, while you are wounded, gain 1 red attack die. Very attractive option, as Tauntauns have amazing melee capabilities. Highly recommended, unless other upgrades appeal to you more.
Offensive Push (4 pts.) - exhaust to gain Tactical 1, which is gaining a free aim token after making a standard move. Tauntauns with what are effectively free aim tokens? Sounds amazing, but isn't. You're attacks are consistent enough, as is, and other upgrades are better.
Situational Awareness (2 pts.) - You gain Outmaneuver, meaning you may spend dodge tokens to cancel crits. This is how you make Tauntauns even more annoying to deal with!
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. Tauntauns are an extremely aggressive unit, so this is a really nice addition.
Comms Relay (5 pts.) - Allows a unit with this equipped to pass an order to another friendly unit at range 1-2, but this means the squad that "passes" the order doesn't get one. Tauntauns want any orders you give them.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Ensures at least once per battle you'll get these guys an order when you need them to.
Long-Range Comlink (10 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational, and not very helpful on smaller battlefields. Not bad, but not great.
Tactics
These guys are a surprisingly hard hitting assault unit. They move shockingly fast, with movement 3. They have Reposition, which allows them to make a free pivot action after moving, and Relentless, which allows them to make a free attack action after moving. This ensures that they will be a constant, aptly relentless, threat on the board. They carry pistols that fire a respectable 2 red dice per model at range 1-2 with Sharpshooter 1 to ignore cover by 1 degree, and then in melee they swing for 2 black and a white each. Additionally, each model has Ram 1, which allows you to automatically turn one die per model, to a critical hit as long as one of the moves you made that turn went for the full distance. Those white dice that almost always miss suddenly become rather useful! If all that weren't enough, every time the unit makes a standard move, it gets a dodge token thanks to Agile. These guys are rather durable for a Rebel unit, but they're certainly not invincible either; They have 4 wounds per model with, like most Rebel units, only have a 5+ save on defense (white dice with surge).
Use these guys as a fast moving battering ram, collecting up Dodge tokens to protect them and then bulldoze into an enemy you want dead. Lather, rinse, repeat. Their shooting is also decent for what it is. If melee isn't an option, for whatever reason, they'll still be able to do a good bit of damage.
The 1.6 version of the rules have altered the Creature Trooper rules slightly so that they can no longer climb/clamber, nor can they do the hit and run attack that made them so nasty. The pre-1.6 version of the rules allowed Creature Troopers (like Tauntauns) to disengage from combat without having to make a withdraw action- they could simply walk away and attack somewhere else. The post-1.6 version of the rules toned them down, so that they now make a withdraw move to leave combat like everyone else, but they're still allowed to take free actions or use abilities.
Heavy
0-2 Selections
The other big units to build the rest of the your army around.
T-47 Air Speeder
(130 pts.) A modified civilian vehicle that provides close air support for the Rebellion.
Upgrade Cards
Pilot Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ryder Azadi (5 pts.) - Unique. Exhaust to increase or decrease your speed by 1 while making a move. Gives a quick burst of speed or slows the unit down right when you need it; but you'll need to do a Recover action to use it again.
Outer Rim Speeder Jockey (10 pts.) - Gain Cover 1 - The speeder has cover one by default so now you always have heavy cover. This is an excellent choice. Bear in mind that Cover is applied to an attack before Impact. If your opponent is crit fishing for their anti-armor needs they will be forced to rely solely on natural critical hits, which ignore cover and dodge tokens. Meaning that if there aren't a lot of heavy weapons this pilot can be overkill. Generally good, but 10 points can be a lot.
Wedge Antilles (5 pts.) - Unique. Exhaust to pivot once. Like Ryder Azadi, gives you extra maneuverability at the cost of having to exhaust him.
Hardpoint Upgrade (x1 Slot)
Mo/Dk Power Harpoon (0 pts.) - range 1-2, 1 red die with Impact 1 and Fixed: Rear. It also has the "Tow Cable" rule: If it successfully wounds a vehicle, you can cause that vehicle to execute a Pivot move. The short range is off-putting but you're practically guaranteed to hit that vehicle when you are in range, and the pivot forces the tank to waste a move action to face the direction it wants. It is also free so the first time it kills anything even a battle droid it will earn it's points back. Light vehicles are the most vulnerable to it. Scout Bikes and unshielded Destroyers Droids are choice targets.
Ax-108 Ground Buzzer (10 pts.) - range 1-2, 4 black dice with Fixed: Rear. A pretty good shooting attack that lets you fire backwards as the speeder zips around. A bit costly, though.
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. Your fast speeder may not always be close enough to utilize this. With your immunity to just about anything that could hurt you at this range, though, this can be situationally useful.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Not a bad choice, as it ensures you'll get an order token on this at least once when you really want it.
Long-Range Comlink (10 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational, but can be useful.
Linked Targeting Array (5 pts.) - You gain Target 1 (when issued an order, gain an Aim Token). Can't go wrong with Aim tokens. Especially with the T-47's dice.
Tactics
The T-47 gives your troops the close air support they need to push forward and cap objectives. Its main gun is range 1-3, 3 red 3 black and Impact 3. It's actually slightly better than the main gun on an AT-ST, landing 1.5 more hits (Thanks surge:crit), and will deal solid damage to enemy armor. It's fast with movement 3 and Speeder 2, guaranteeing that it will always get at least one move. The T-47 is also fairly durable thanks to its 7 wounds, Cover, Armor, and immunity to blast, melee weapons, and range 1 weapons.
It's best to do hit and run attacks with this unit. Strafing attacks, like real air support, can cause massive damage to the enemies lines. Wedge especially, with his free pivot, helps a ton in this regard. For all of it's durability, the T-47 will often die fast through focus fire and crit fishing. Be careful where you end it's movement. Cover and Armor make it resillient to high impact anti-tank weapons, but very vulenrable to massive dice pools fishing for crits.
A double Airspeeder list is possible, given the November 2020 points drop from 140 to 130.
X-34 Land Speeder
(60 pts.) The Toyota truck of Star Wars. Gun, duct tape; Boom. Light assault vehicle.
Upgrade Cards
Pilot Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Ryder Azadi (5 pts.) - Unique. Exhaust to increase or decrease your speed by 1 while making a move. Gives a quick burst of speed or slows the unit down right when you need it; but you'll need to do a Recover action to use it again.
Outer Rim Speeder Jockey (10 pts.) - Gain Cover 1. The speeder has cover one by default so now you always have heavy cover. This is an excellent choice. Bear in mind that Cover is applied to an attack before Impact.
Wedge Antilles (5 pts.) - Unique. Exhaust to gain make a free pivot. Like Ryder Azadi, he gives you extra maneuverability at the cost of having to exhaust him.
Crew Upgrades (x2 Slots)
A-300 Rifle Gunner (9 pts.) - Just 2 white dice out to range 3, essentially doubling the "firepower" of the basic unit. Not great but it's more dice being tossed, and the X-34 does have offensive surge.
RPS-6 Rocket Gunner (31 pts.) - adds a missile launcher with range 2-4, throwing one white, black, and red die with Impact 2. It's a little pricey but unlike most other missile launchers, doesn't exhaust to attack. Even if you're not facing a tank, red and black dice are very welcome, as this vehicle tends to throw a lot of white.
Hardpoint Upgrade (x1 Slot)
Mark II Medium Blaster (26 pts.) - throws four black dice at range 1-3, with Fixed: Front. It adds some good firepower to a unit that lacks it. Combine with the RPS-6 and the landspeeder may pose a decent threat to enemy armor.
M-45 Ion Blaster (31 pts.) - exhausts to fire, but throws 1 black and 4 white dice at range 1-4 with Fixed: Front, Impact 1, and Ion 1. Not a bad choice if you know you're facing enemy tanks or battle droids, but exhausting to fire means you'll have to use Recover actions to fire it again. Take it with the RPS-6 if you really want to put some hurt on your opponent's armor.
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders You generally don't really want this close enough to enemies to actually use this.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Not a bad choice, ensures you'll get an order token on this unit at least once when you really want it.
Long-Range Comlink (10 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational.
Linked Targeting Array (5 pts.) - You gain Target 1 (when issued an order, gain an Aim Token). Aim tokens are always helpful, especially with the amount of dice this thing tends to throw.
Tactics
The X-34 is basically a medium range gun platform, and can be especially nasty if used in an anti-tank role. Have it zip around the enemy and unload the pain, since Arsenal 3 means it can fire all of its guns (except the driver's pistol). Six wounds, Armor 2 and Cover give it some resilience, although like almost all Rebel units, it's only tossing white dice with surge on defense, so it's not invincible either. It can even transport a character, but if the vehicle suffers any wounds, the character will automatically suffer one too without being able to defend. A lot of your characters will actually become less durable in this thing. With the complete rework of the Transport keyword, passengers in Open transports are now separate targets with heavy cover. They are also now able to fire out of Open transports, allowing you to use the X-34 as a mobile shooting platform. It can even carry a 1.4D Laser Cannon Team, which allows the cannon to ignore its Fixed and Immobile keywords. It is only a Light Transport 1, meaning it can only carry one model, and that model must be on a small base. So that's a big negative on the weapons teams; however, you could have Han Solo do some doubletap drive-bys, or even Op Luke can drive-by with a Lightsaber Throw.
Treat it like the Airspeeder, but...on the ground!
The Landspeeder can be useful to transport a certain blue astromech, though.
A-A5 Speeder Truck
(75 pts.)
The Volkswagen Minibus of Star Wars. A closed transport with multiple crew slots and the ability to take a big fuck off gun. Great for transporting blue shirted cannon fodder or certain dirty smelly melee hippies. Paint it extra psychedelic like a brown 1986 Winnebago Chieftain 33 to piss off your friends.
Upgrade Cards
Pilot Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Hotshot Pilot (8 pts.) - you gain Sharpshooter 1. Sharpshooter is nice but it also requires you to buy one of the ranged weapons.
Ryder Azadi (5 pts.) - Unique. Exhaust to increase or decrease your speed by 1 while making a move. Speed 2 is only marginally faster than Speed 1 for the A-A5 so this isn't recommended.
Outer Rim Speeder Jockey (10 pts.) - Gain Cover 1. This is so far the only Rebel Heavy Support option with no Cover 1. Canceling hits for free is always helpful- bear in mind that Cover is applied to an attack before Impact.
Wedge Antilles (5 pts.) - Unique. You gain Field Commander and can exhaust the card as a free action to do a free pivot. Not all that great considering you already get a free pivot each move thanks to Reposition- although a pivot only gives you a 90º turn so Wedge could turn it into a 180º turn. Is that worth it? Probably not. You're probably better off with one of the other pilots, unless you are looking for a cheap Field Commander option.
Shriv Suurgav (10 pts.) - Unique, and only for the A-A5. You gain Field Commander and can use a free action to give a unit you are transporting or at range 1-2 a dodge token; you can also give the targeted unit a suppression token. This is a very good upgrade, considering the Rebels really like dodge tokens (and cover), especially Luke, Tauntauns, anything Mandalorian, etc.
Reckless Driver (6 pts. errata'ed to 12 pts.) - A-A5 Speeder Truck only. You have to make a compulsory move, but the first time you displace an enemy unit with movement, they roll a white defense die for each mini in the unit and suffer a wound for each block. Forces you to be more mobile but basically allows you to make extra attacks that the enemy can't save against, but the odds of actually doing those wounds are very low (1:6). So this is best used against large units like B1 droids- which also tend to be the cheapest ones. This isn't a terrible upgrade but there are others that are probably better depending on the circumstances. Becomes flat out amazing when you realize you can make three moves into line of sight blocking cover on turn 1 and then spend the rest of your turns backing up, firing, and then making your compulsory move forwards.
Crew Upgrades (x2 Slot)
Backworld Medic (12 pts.) - Use an action to heal a wound or restore a mini to a friendly non droid trooper unit at range 1 and in line of sight. Then roll two white defense dice. That unit gains a suppression token for each block or surge. Pretty nice especially for helping keep powerful, shooting-magnet units like Luke alive, but be wary of taking too many upgrades that overtax your action economy.
Refurbished "Gonk" Droid (14 pts.) - Gain 2 shield tokens that have the potential to recharge for free at the end of your activation. Roll a red defense die for each spent shield and get it back on a block. This is a really good upgrade. Anything that makes you tougher is to be sought after. Combine with the Speeder Jockey pilot to make a true distraction Carnifex.
Unorthodox Tactician (10 pts. errata'ed to 16 pts.) - At the start of the activation phase (note the 10/27/21 rules update changed this to at the start of the truck's activation), roll three red defense dice. For each block or surge result, you can dish out an aim token to a unit being transported or at range 1-3 of the truck. This is a very good upgrade and worth taking unless you're planning on simply bulldozing the truck into the enemy lines.
Unstable R5 Astromech (6 pts.) - Expend this card to make an extra attack, but you have to roll 3 black attack dice and suffer wounds for each hit and crit. This can be pretty alright. Have R2 or a repair droid in your army to negate the downside a bit.
Hardpoint Upgrades (x1 Slot)
AG-2G Quad Laser (36 pts. errata'ed to 28 pts.) - Throws 6 black dice at range 1-3 with Impact 2. Thanks to the price cut in the 2021 rules update, this is a very attractive option due to the sheer number of dice it throws- and it's even useful against tanks!
Heavy Laser Retrofit (16 pts.) - Fires one of each dice at range 1-4 with Critical 1. Has longer range than the quad, and Critical to help with cover/vehicles, but overall not as good as the Quad. Basically take this to snipe from a distance and save some points.
Comms Upgrades (x1 Slot)
Comms Jammer (5 pts.) - Prevents enemy units at range 1 from receiving orders. You generally don't really want this close enough to enemies to actually use this unless you're going for the bulldozer effect with the Reckless Driver.
HQ Uplink (10 pts.) - Exhaust this to allow a unit to issue an order to itself. Not a bad choice, ensures you'll get an order token on this unit at least once when you really want it.
Long-Range Comlink (10 pts.) - You always count as being within range of your commander. Situational.
Linked Targeting Array (5 pts.) - You gain Target 1 (when issued an order, gain an Aim Token). Aim tokens are always helpful, especially with the amount of dice this thing tends to throw, but it can be difficult to get orders to vehicles, limiting the usefulness of this.
Tactics
The A-A5 is an extremely versatile vehicle. Comes with no weapons out the box, but can carry a squad of troops inside it. with Transport 1:Closed. It has Armor, 8HP, and surge:block which mitigates the white defense die you are used to by now and makes it a real bitch to kill. Speed 1 means it's not setting any land speed records, but its oblong base cheats out a bit of distance. Reposition and Hover:Ground makes it surprisingly agile despite being a fat fuck as it ignores low obstacles and can pivot after moving. The latter is very important because of Weakpoint 2:Rear, so you do not point ass to the enemy.
This baby is essential for any CQC list as it lets short-ranged powerhouses like wookiees and fleet troopers close the distance without getting shot at. You can even use its high durability and long base to body block the enemy like the cheese-monger you are. The Vehicle on it's own is vanilla, does nothing but the base functionality required of your METAL BAWKS, but you can pimp it out to fit any situation.
Starting with with weapons, you can take none at all to save a few dozen points and let the wookiee do all the talking. Moving up, the Heavy Laser Cannon is range 4 weapon with low but consistent damage output of ~1.8 hits per shot, the damage isn't anything to write home about but often your A-A5 won't have anything to do once it's dismounts are out so at least it can chip in suppression and the odd crit. Lastly, the Ag-2G Quad Laser will let rip with 6 Black dice and Impact. This one is quite costly, but if you intend to follow your troops into combat instead of hanging back, then the A-A5 can actually score a few kills and even put a dent in those chicken walkers. The other important thing to choose is crew, which all operate on RNG but can at least be triggered every turn at no cost. Like weapons, you can forgo crew entirely if you intend to just shuttle troops around. But for those willing to spend extra, you can take the Unorthodox Tactician to provide much needed Aim tokens to your men, the Backworld Medic to heal your precious pet wookiees, or the Gonk Droid if you really want your enemy to cry in frustration as they try and fail to kill a space-Winnebago.
Note: you may be tempted to take the Reckless Driver and ram your vehicle into the enemy, which is hilarious as hell when it happens but is way too risky.
Unit Upgrade Boxes
Fantasy Flight Games has seen fit to release new boxes with additional and supplementary upgrades in them. Most of them can be applied to any Trooper unit with the proper slots, and are detailed in their respective entries.
Rebel Specialists Personnel
Personnel Upgrades
- Rebel Officer
- R5 "Astromech"
- Rebel Coms Tech
- 2-1B Medical Droid
Rebel Troopers Upgrades
Personnel and Heavy Weapon Upgrades
- Ishi Tib Rebel Trooper Captain
- Gran Rebel Trooper Specialist
- Ithorian SX-21 Trooper
- Theelin DLT-20A Trooper
To Be Released
- Ewoks
- Hijacked AT-ST
- Ahsoka
Tactics & Build Help
- Some cards have been changed via Errata, so here is a link to it: https://www.atomicmassgames.com/star-wars-legion-documents
- Taking Luke and Leia, the wonder twins, for their immense synergy is advisable. Luke is fast and hits hard, but is the center of attention, while Leia can hand him dodge tokens to trigger deflect and is better at babysitting the troops.
- Leia generally makes a great support/back-up commander, regardless. Generally, if you need a commander, while also having the slot and points to spare, she's a great addition. If 40 points makes a massive difference for your list, the generic commander is a great budget option.
- All of your support options are good, and can fit most roles. Use FD Turrets in defensive lists and Tauntauns in aggressive lists. AT-RTs are a great middle-ground between the two, if more flexibility is needed.
- Rebel DLTs are very competitive right now, outside of completely naked troopers, but the Z-6 can give some wild rolls, occasionally.
- Rebels have access to a surprising amount of threat saturation. Sabine and Mandalorians, Tauntauns, AT-RTs (especially the Flamer variants), Fleet Troopers. The list goes on. Rebels can easily create control lists with these units and dominate what your opponent does. Combine this with a commander like Han, who further messes with your opponent, and you'll have an annoying list to deal with.
- You have extremely good close combat options in general, and most of which have at least speed 2, so you have a much easier time dealing burst damage.
- Let us not forget about the danger sense crew of Jyn, Cassian, and Pathfinders. Imperial suppression getting you down? Not anymore, with all that suppression control and benefits! Combined with K2SO's and C3PO's calculate odds, you will have a strong combination of units.
- Keep an eye on those RRG changes, as they've boosted a lot of units that would otherwise be quite bad nowadays!