I finished the last details of the base and model then it was time to spray warnish the model in preparation for flocking.
I used pva glue mixed with water that I applied with a brush in small patches before adding the flock grass. Waitking some moments the turning the base over and lightly tapping the back to shake of any excess grass.
I also added some details with a gluegun, some lycen and some jungle/grasslands tufts.
Here is the finished result, Im quite happy with the x-wing. The grass looks okay and the sand could have been a little better.
The specialist pack is a unique expansion at this point in legion. Instead of giving you a new unit it gives you 4 different personnel upgrades to your other units as well as a generic commander option. So what’s so special about the rebel specialists?
Let’s find out.
Rebel officer (unit)
“He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”
This is the unit version of the rebel officer, it’s a generic commander (no unique dot in the name) and works just the same as our other commanders with 2 differences. It’s not unique so you could have 2 of these in a single list, or even 4 in a team match. They also don’t have any unit specific command cards like Son of Skywalker for example.
Unit options and abilities
Leia light
The officer comes in at 50 points and is a light version of Leia Organa. You get inspire, take cover and sharpshooter, but only value of 1 instead of 2. A weaker blaster, melee attack and you only get 4 hp instead of 6. You get one command slot and a gear slot. So at first glance there is a lot of stuff you give up for the 40 points you save. So Leia is in my mind a far more valuable choice when you want a support character. However those 40 points can give you a lot of other stuff or you could go with double generic officers for just 10 more points than Leia.
Builds and tactics
The officer
Rebel officer 50p
Esteemed leader 5p
Total 55p.
“Look out sir!”
This is the best option for the rebel officer IMO. 4hp is very easy to snipe down and if your opponent is bringing Bossk or Boba then they have an easy bounty. Esteemed leader helps a lot and gear is not really worth it, if you load this guy up to much you are better off just picking Leia. The main thing about this unit is a cheap command bubble that can give some support with take cover and inspire for your backline or power units.
So instead of thinking how to build your officer, let’s check in what kind of lists ge works well in. Luke and Leia is a classic commander pair and it’s effective no doubt about that, however you pay a minimum of 250 points in 2 models, probably close to 300p with upgrades. Leia brings her command cards of course, but in a Luke and Leia list she is mostly backline support. Here you can swap Leia for a generic officer to get points to other stuff. Likewise if you play a Han&Chewie list you sink a lot of points into those guys and a generic officer is enough for some support and you want to focus on Solo’s command cards in that list anyway. With teamwork a single take cover Still gives 2 dodge tokens when given to Han or Chewie and the inspire 1 is enough to help Han from becoming suppressed or even panicked.
The generic brothers
“Come along, r4”
This is something I have been pondering lately, since Leia’s command cards and take cover don’t synergies well with vehicles I think that for a vehicle heavy list the double officer is something to consider. Vehicles are costly and they are fast, especially the speeders so having 2 command bubbles help a lot.
List:
2x generic officer
Esteemed leader
110p
1x Z-6 trooper squad 62p
1x Z-6 trooper squad with comms spec and comms relay 76p
2x Z-6 trooper squad with astromech 70p
3x at-rt
Rotary blaster
255p
Landspeeder
M-45 Ion blaster
RPS-6 Rocket gunner
Ryder Azadi
154p
Total: 798p
The landspeeder is kitted for anti vehicle and the astromech squads are meant to march up behind the cover of the rotary at-rt’s repairing as they go. The list have 10 activations and the 2 officers help with command range, inspire and take cover in a large area. The comms specialist is there for the comms relay that helps getting orders to your speeder or other vehicles with cards like covering fire. This list uses both 2 officers and 2 astromechs so try it if you have 2 specialists boxes and tell me how it went.
Specialists (personnel upgrades)
Officer
Who’s in charge here?…not anymore
The officer personnel upgrade cost 19p and gives the unit +1 courage and inspire 1. He also uses the units weapons and profile so for a rebel trooper squad he is 9p more expensive than the extra trooper. With the amount of suppression the empire gives out, it’s always nice to have some extra inspire, especially from a corps unit. The big thing is the courage 2 however. Your commanders courage value helps against panicking, but having courage 2 means you need 2 suppression tokens after rally to lose your 2nd action, this is great. It also means that your unit can have a suppression token that increases their cover while still operating at maximum efficiency. For a rebel trooper squad this isn’t that life changing, you get to take a dodge action a little more often. For a trooper squad with ion though this is huge, since you want to recover that the gun as possible. Normally your opponent just needs to score a single hit on your ion squad before their activation to have a 66,6% chance of them being suppressed when activated. Another unit that really needs their second action is fleet troopers, regardless of heavy weapon choice since they will need to move often to get into range with their range 2 pistols. So if you have the points it’s a well worth add, to any fleet troopers squad or trooper squad with an exhaust weapon.
Comms specialist
“Yes and a corellian coke!”
A comms specialist gives your unit a comms upgrade slot and you have to add a comms upgrade to the unit. The interesting part is that the specialist cost 9 points and like the officer it uses the same profile as the unit it’s added to. So if you add this to a fleet trooper squad you get an extra trooper for just 9 points, of course with the caveat of buying a comms upgrade. You can think of it like a discount on the comms upgrade, as well as the opportunity to give one to a corps unit. So what kind of comms upgrades so we have and what should we take?
Comms relay 5p
“Bob, go tell Luke what to do”
This is the cheapest one and it gives you some extra order control and range. Like I pointed out earlier it can help to give orders to speeders or other units that moves ahead of the army and moves out of command range, this can be achieved by giving the vehicle a comms upgrade, but this is cheaper. It also combines well with the covering fire command card since that specifies 3 corps units, this could give an order token to a vehicle, commander or well anything other than a corps unit. The effect of the card triggers with corps unit of course, but 2 is enough to give you activation control for your corps. I would use this on comms specialist in a rebel trooper squad when using vehicles or a lot of special forces/operatives or if you run a single commander.
Hq uplink 10p
“Standby ion-control…Fire!”
FFG have a history of putting Toryn Farr on good cards and this is no exception. It suites units that really needs and order like a single heavy or lone special forces unit. You will have a pretty good chance to draw corps order token from your stack anyway so it’s not super crucial. There is 2 things about this though, if you play a Luke and Leia list it gets a little bit more value. Both their 2 pip command cards gives out bonuses when a trooper unit is issued an order, it doesn’t have to be order from the commander so the hq uplink lets you get more bonuses out of those cards. The second thing is the Solo trick. Solo’s 0 pip command card that guaranteed gives you priority combos with hq uplink, His card gives order only to himself, but with hq uplink you can get a first activation with another unit like a scattergun fleet trooper squad.
Long range comlink 10p
“Yes, it’s bears armed with sticks…no I’m not drunk”
You will most likely be able to stay within command range so I don’t recommend taking it.
Comms jammer 15p
“Jam their comlink, center switch!”
You will have a hard time getting to range 1 and even harder to stay alive there so this is more suited for faster units like the landspeeder or airspeeder.
Astromech
“you nearsighted scrap pile”
This little guy comes in at only 8 points and gives the unit repair with 2 charges as a free action. Unlike the officer and comms dude he doesn’t have any arms to hold a blaster so you don’t get to add any attack dice from him, ge also gets removed last from dmg (except for the unit leader). I really like the astromech since the rules changes to repair allowing the mech to repair repulsor vehicles. This changed the potential targets from 1 to 3 and makes it much more useable. Add this dude to a Z-6 trooper squad and pair them with an at-rt and you got a potent formation where the troopers can stay behind the cover of the at-rt and repair it when needed. At-rt’s comes in at a minimum of 80p if you buy a weapon hardpoint and with only a ⅙ chance of blocking dmg they will be wounded very quickly. The astromech can give your vehicles 2 extra health or remove the crippling immobilized dmg token from a flamer at-rt. The repair to repulsor vehicles is a nice bonus, however I recommend pairing these dudes with at-rt’s. Losing 1 black attack die from a trooper squad is a small price to pay for a potential extra attack with a at-rt that would have been destroyed otherwise.
Medical droid
“Guess where this is going”
Very close to his astromech cousin he has the noncombatant keyword and gives a free action with 2 charges although this is for troopers and not vehicles. Unlike the astromech it doesn’t only remove wounds from damaged troopers, it can also restore a model to it’s mother unit. With the restriction that the model died in the current round and it’s mother unit is still alive. Models with multiple wounds gets restored with 1 hp remaining.
The medical droid is expensive though with 18 points and non-combatant it’s a heavy investment. So you really want to use both charges before the game is over and hopefully in something more expensive than just a rebel trooper. It’s about target priority with the medical droids, where can you get the most value and greatest effect. I remember seeing a table with how much wounds were worth in points depending on point cost and armor save and It’s true that expensive wounds can be a priority and depending on the save, you get more out of the wounds sure. I however also look at what effect the extra wounds or models can bring. So for example Chewbacca and wookies have a terrible save as they only block ⅙ hits, however they have very good offence. If you restore a wookie to a unit with tenacity, you get 2 black and 1 red dice extra of they can make a charge before taking more hits, same with Chewie as his offence in both melee and ranged is great, it is worth it to keep him alive. So while I still agree that using medics on targets with high cost and good save, I recommend that you don’t always go that route and think about what needs healing right now.
I decided to put down a list of units that pair extra well with medical droids:
Luke every wound on Luke is precious, he will most likely take about a quarter of your points and with red defence with deflect and immune pierce, he isn’t a fun target for your opponent to shoot. Since he is such a priority for your opponent, you might as well make it hard for them.
Han with the reckless diversion command card, you can force your opponent to shoot at han if possible. Thanks to low profile he will almost always have heavy cover and uncanny luck on that. He isn’t super tanky, but he will be a great dmg sponge for one round when your other units can operate almost without danger. A medical droid or two can help him survive a round like this, the more shots against han the better since it will keep your other fragile units alive.
Sabine same reason as Luke, she has very good save and is a huge threat.
Commandos and strike teams these units have the same durability as a normal trooper, but much higher cost. Keeping these units alive is key. The trick with strike teams is to try and Keep 1 member out of sight so ge can’t be targeted by hits. Then you use your medical droid to restore the lost model. This can make proton charge teams an endlessly annoyance in games.
Emplacement troopers coming in at 70 points minimum, this is a great unit to heal, since they will mostly be hit by sniper dmg that only deals 1-2 dmg at a time.
Pathfinders again price is a factor, but also the danger sense, the more shots they take the more dice they can throw in defence. A unit like this can be very hard to eliminate if placed on an objective and has a medical droid as support.
Unsung Heroes!
So that’s my analysis of the rebel specialist pack, agree disagree? You have some great tactics or lists with the specialist?
So started painting this terrain piece. Started with a brown spray primer.
Next I followed what I learned from sorastos painting guide for the airspeeder. If you haven’t checked this guys channel out then do it. He is an amazing painter https://youtu.be/PiiPGRnWxd4
Started with dark grey and then highlighted my way up
Then I started to work on the details and color.
Then it was time to dirty it down and paint the battle damage and give it the look of an old crashed broken shop.
Next time I will post pictures of the entire thing finished, with base done and everything.
Coming in at a base cost of 44p with an extra trooper for 11p, just 1 point more than rebel troopers. Same speed, hp, courage and save. They got access to 2 heavy weapons, grenades and gear. They are however quite different in their playstyle. They are a glass cannon or hammer unit. they hit hard, but are very brittle. They require a much offensive playstyle than the normal troopers.
I’m ready for anything, *lightsaber sound…except that
Unit options and abilities
Unlike their normal trooper friends the fleet troopers got both defensive surge and surge-hit. They only have one ability and that is the steady keyword which gives the unit one aim token after they perform the standby action.
The standby action is hard to use successfully since it’s very easy to counter. If you receive a suppression token you lose your standby, so in other Words any unit that attacks your standby unit need only one die with a hit result and you Lost your standby. I have used it successfully once and faced it once or twice. If you can place yourself behind a los blocking piece of terrain and your opponent wants to get past it or if they want to engage in melee and need multiple move actions to so it then it can give you a successful standby attack with an aim token. However since it’s limited to range 2, I recommend that you just move and try to take a normal shot.
“Shotguns? I didn’t think anyone used projectile weapons anymore.”
Fleet troopers have access to 2 different heavy weapons. The scatter gun for 23 points and the MPL-57 grenade launcher for 33p. They can also take grenades, personnel and a gear upgrade. The scattergun is an amazing weapon and the only downside is the range 1-2 limitation, however since fleet troopers have that range on their normal gun it isn’t that big a drawback anyway. The scattergun fires 2 red dice instead of the fleet troopers normal 2 white. This adds a 1.75 average hits thanks to the surge-hit and is a heavy increase in firepower over a normal fleet troopers 0.75 average hits with 2 white. In addition to this the gun has one of the best keywords in the game pierce. Pierce # cancels the same amount of rolled blocks on defence dice, this is taking straight from the descent/imperial assault game system and the thing that makes pierce so powerful is that it cancel the dice after it’s rolled a block. So for a stormtrooper that rolls on average 0.5 blocks per die needs to roll 4 dice in order to safely block a pierce shot (according to statistics). The only downside is that pierce don’t do anything of your opponent don’t roll any blocks, however if your opponent blanks hos defence roll…well you probably didn’t need that pierce.
Why can’t I join a rebel trooper squad?
The grenade launcher is a totally different story and I don’t know what the game designers was thinking. It has range 1-3 which doesn’t synergies with the fleet troopers 1-2 range. It’s expensive coming in at 22 points more than the normal fleet trooper and is an exhaust weapon. So for that investment, what do you get?
Well you get 1 black and 2 white dice so just 1 black die over the fleet standard. 1.375 average dmg so just shy from double the dmg of the standard 2 white. It does have some fitting keywords for a grenade launcher though, impact 2 and blast. Impact 2 is pretty good for a handheld weapon and blast ensures that cover won’t stop your hits from becoming crits. Blast can of course be combined with the rest of the troopers attack if you are at range 2 to give the entire attack blast and ignore cover. This can of course be achieved with concussion grenades at range 1 combined with the scattergun for 5 less points, and no exhaust.
Battlefield role
Unlike rebel troopers the fleet troopers are shock troops meant to be played offensive and attack rather than the multi-purpose of rebel troopers. I also think that fleet troopers works best as 1-2 squads rather than the spammable rebel troopers. Their defence is just as weak as normal troopers and they don’t have the nimble keyword, however their offensive output is much higher. Since their range is limited they need backup by other units that don’t just sit in your backline, combined with units like Luke or Han they can make an hammer to strike at your priority targets.
Run for cover, you fools
Builds and tactics
The run and gun
Fleet troopers 44p
Scattergun trooper 23p
Recon intel 2p
Fleet trooper* (optional)
Total 69-80p
This is the basic fleet trooper squad I use, either as 1 or a pair with 2-4 rebel troopers. The scattergun combined with the 4 standard models gets 4.75 hits with pierce 1. If you fire on a stormtrooper squad without cover and score 5 hits you will drop 3.5 dudes from that squad. This is some nice firepower to have. Now the downside is that the unit needs to survive Long enough to get into range. The recon intel helps a bit and is cheap, the extra trooper is optional ,but I recommend taking it of you can as every trooper adds 0.75 hits and you will lose a few on your way forward. My tactic with these guys is to hug los blocking terrain if it’s possible. I try to get them into position where they stand behind a wall or building where they can run out and attack any unit that comes within range of a speed 2 move and range 2. Don’t be afraid to leave them in the open after a attack like this, the dmg you inflict will be worth it, but of course use cover if you can.
This brings me into the Luke Slingshot: Luke Skywalker with force push is these guys best friend. You position these guys with Luke for round 2 or 3, then you use the command card my ally is the force to give both Luke and the fleets an order token and a dodge token. You then save Luke and the fleets for last, again try to hide behind los blocking terrain or at least heavy cover, the dodge token will deter enemy fire. Luke goes first and double move to get into range 1 of an enemy unit and push them out of cover towards the fleets. A speed 1 move + 1 move cohesion which you get to place covers quite a bit of difference. Then you fleet troopers have a fine target right in the open to shoot. Either move shoot or possible aim shoot of you set it up perfectly. Luke can next turn go Son of Skywalker and go after a commander or valuable unit.
Range longer than 2 and in cover
Force push
Speed 1 move
You get to place coheseion. In range 2 and without cover
Double move luke into range 1
The barrage
Fleet troopers 44p
Mpl-57 barrage trooper 33p
Fleet trooper 11p
Total 88p
At first I didn’t see any reason to take fleet troopers without the scattergun and against empire… I still don’t, however vs rebels I actually prefer it. Rebels are far more dependent on cover and very few units have a decent defend die so pierce is not as necessary and against such units like Luke, he is immune to pierce. The optimal way for this unit to work is of you can find a target att range 2 for the troopers then split fire with the launcher att some other small unit, like a strike team or vehicles. This is easier said than done of course. This unit doesn’t have to play as offensive as the scattergun unit and can stay in the middle and use the launcher to hurt vehicles, specifically at-rt’s and landspeeders who either comes with cover or can get it thanks to their relatively small models. Then if something comes within strike distance go and shoot with your regular guns. Depending on what units the clones and cis bring, these guys might be more useful, but for now if you face a lot of rebels with vehicles then these guys are worth a shot.
This is what happens when you don’t take cover
Upgrades
Fleet troopers have access to grenades, gear and personnel.
The only grenade I would give them is the concussion grenades, it gives a nice dmg boost against units in cover and fleet trooper fire at range 1 or 2 anyway. Impact grenades gives you a black die that with surge-hit is worse than 2 whites and frag grenades only gives each trooper a boost of 0.125 average hits and the surge-crit isn’t as powerful when they already have surge-hit.
There is 3 gear upgrades that I would use on fleets
Recon Intel. It’s cheap and gets you closer to your targets. Environmental Gear. Also cheap and helps you get to your targets faster. It’s however dependent on terrain. Emergency Stims. Expensive, but it gives you fleets a chance to still strike with their full strength. It’s a backup in case your opponent can activate before you and shoot your fleet troopers, you can still lose 2 guys and strike back at full strength. You will of course lose them after their activation, but these guys are all about dealing dmg, not surviving.
That is my thoughts on Fleet troopers. Agree/disagree?, you have any nice tactics or stories with fleet troopers?
I really enjoy making terrain. You can make it out of any kind of junk or just combine different cheap material. To legion I stick to a star wars theme, but you can use alot of this terrain in other games. This one will be very star wars. I purchased a revell kit x wing cheap on an auction site. It’s around 1/72 in scale so it’s to small for legion wich scale is around 1/48. However when crashed the scale isn’t as noticeable.
I started with assembling the model then I attacked it with my exacto knife and handrill. I had an image of how it crashed and where the parts should be and I’m pretty happy with the results.
I hotglued everything on a mdf board that i cut out. My idea for this terrain is to make it a big piece that will be difficult for troopers and provide only light cover. Recently I have been pondering how to make more terrain pieces that either favours vehicles or aren’t optmised for troopers, since the current meta isn’t that friendly to vehicles.
Next step was basing. I use sand, pva and water that I mix around 40% sand, 40% glue and 20% water. The reason I mix in sand is that I can shape it more than just glue and water and it gives a thicker texture. I use an old brush to put this out and a barbeque stick to shape it or push it into cracks. The I add sand and small rocks on this and then turn it upside down and give it some light taps to remove any excess sand.
Join me next time when we start painting this bad boy.
Rebels guide to the galaxy 