“This Is Our Rebellion.”
Hello there!
I want to present to you the second part of our “Start Collecting” guide for Star Wars: Legion. Today I want to highlight the Rebel Alliance. I think that Echo Base Defenders box* is a great start for this faction due to the high value inside. There you will find Leia, Chewbacca, R2D2 & C3P0 (these two spicy droids were previously available only in Crashed Escape Pod Battlefield Expansion), 4 units of Rebel Veterans (with 4 units of Mark II Medium Blaster Trooper), 2 units of Tauntaun Raiders and 1 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team. A huge amount of models in one box, wow! The other option is Core Set** with Luke Commander, 2 units of Rebel Troopers and AT-RT but as I mentioned before, I recommend EBD box
* You will need Essentials Kit as well due to rulers, dice and scenario cards
** With this you don’t need Essentials Kit
Check our other article, where I spot some Rebel Lists
Now I will go through all units from Rebels so you’ll find why this units are so useful:
COMMANDERS:
CASSIAN ANDOR
Very flexible character (he can change his loadout straight before the game start), one of the best snipers in game but also a cool Infiltrator (he can be treated as an operative and due to it, you can place him anywhere on the battlefield beyond range 3 of opponents).
He has a decent fire power due to a good equippable weapon and Marksman keyword (he can change his attack dice to better results instead of rerolling them with aim tokens), good defense due to the Danger Sense keyword (that let you roll more dice for each suppression token you have).
If you have him in your list, you can pick K2-SO too and you will do it all the time (I will write about it later in the article).
HAN SOLO
This would be one of your first buys if you start with the EBD box.
He has good synergy with Chewbacca (I will spot it in the Chewie paragraph) and is very good while playing properly. His playstyle is kind of peek-a-boo. You need to hide behind cover (he will cancel 1 more additional hit due to his Low Profile ability) and in a good moment just jump in front of it.
Then, you can make 2 free shots (you’ll have one free shot after move due to Steady keyword, and another one due to Gunslinger keyword right after the first shot) with 2 surged red dices [Pierce 2] (so you’ll have ~76% of doing 2 points of damage all the time and only ~1,6% of doing 0 damage). After all that you will gain 2 free dodges as long as you give him Up Close and Personal Upgrade (which I highly recommend on Han) and go back behind cover. You can also reroll your defense dice, so he is almost immortal when played properly.
Then some words about his Command Cards, especially Pip-1 and Pip-3. They’re one of the best Command Cards in the entire game. Pip-1 is actually a Pip-0, so when you play it you can be almost sure that you will start in the current round. Han also gets some free tokens with it, quite cool. On the other hand we got a Pip-3 that can actually deprive your opponent of their best Command Card.
JYN ERSO
She is a very resilient character (Danger Sense like Cassian, Nimble that will refund dodges that you spent, and surge to blocks) with high Courage Value, good Command Cards and “okay” fire power.
She’s also not-that-bad melee fighter and doesn’t need to decide which token to take as she can take both aim and dodge (due to Quick Thinking Keyword). I highly recommend playing her with 1 or 2 units of Rebel Pathfinders as they synergize well.
LANDO CALRISSIAN
This one is interesting.
Like Andor, he can become an operative and gain Infiltrate. His defense is slightly worse compared to that of Han, but he has a higher attack range. His Contingencies ability opens some options in list building, allowing you to set aside 3 more command cards that you can use later in game.
Despite all this, you need to play him carefully because in the late game your opponent can punish you using the Lando Calrissian Flaw Card (single-use, that will be added to his hand at the start of game). You need to keep that in mind after the 3rd round of the game because it can block you out of playing Lando Command Cards for one turn.
LEIA ORGANA
Good supportive unit.
She should stay in the backline, tossing dodges around and removing suppression tokens from your soldiers. She has Nimble keyword like Jyn Erso which increases her defensive capabilities. She can protect herself in shooting or melee combat and pay back with vengeance but you should keep her out of sight most of the time. For the loadout I highly prefer playing Portable Scanner Upgrade as well as Vigilance Commander Upgrade.
LUKE SKYWALKER
Commander version of Luke Skywalker is from time he’s not a Jedi Knight yet.
Despite that he has slots for force upgrades and his fathers’ lightsaber (which makes him a decent melee fighter). He also has a Blaster Pistol that is a 1-to-1 copy of that wielded by Han Solo which I statistically described above. That version of Luke is slightly worse than his operative version (which will be described soon).
Suddenly only available in Core Set (but i assume there will be no problem to find this model in second hand sources)
REBEL OFFICER
In my opinion one of the most playable generic commanders in the game. He is the worse version of Leia but is cheaper and can be used multiple times in one list. Two copies of him are a good choice in lists that work around dodges and Vigilance Commander Upgrade.
OPERATIVES:
CHEWBACCA
One of the most recognizable characters from the Star Wars Universe.
He’s a good choice in a list with Han Solo due to his Teamwork keyword. Each time one of these Scoundrels get a dodge or aim token, the other one will also gain a matching token. He’s also protective for his friends due to Guardian 3 keyword which means he can soak 3 damage if he’s close to a friendly attack target (which means that Han is even harder to kill). With Chewie Command Card you can recycle one Solo card too, wow!
If he’s wounded enough he becomes Enraged (he gains infinite courage and becomes a rampaging fur ball that can crush your opponent in melee fight).
K2-SO
As I mentioned before, you can only pick him if your list already has a Cassian Andor.
He has a Teamwork keyword with Cassian like Chewie has with Han. Most of the time he’s a supportive unit that stays close to Cassian and gives him free tokens that he will spend in attacks and defense. If needed he can run into melee with your opponents’ unit and punch it straight into the face with 4 red dice attack pool. He can also be equipped with a blaster to make some shoots and give him more flexibility on the battlefield.
LUKE SKYWALKER
Older version of commander Luke. Now he’s a full-fledged Jedi Knight with his own lightsaber after his training on Dagobah.
He was trained in the Force by Master Yoda which resulted in one more force upgrade slot and Master of the Force 1 keyword so now he can ready one of his force upgrades at the end of each turn. His own lightsaber has 1 more black die compared to his father’s weapon and now has a green kyber crystal, which symbolize Luke’s calm apparition and new Disengage keyword that let him leave a melee battle with one move. He also has 1 more HP and 1 more Courage.
One of the best operatives in the game by now.
R2-D2 & C3P0
Your tie breaker in Rebel Alliance due to his Secret Mission keyword that allows you to score an additional victory point at the end of the game.
You want to “taxi” him in a vehicle near the opponents’ deployment to get that one additional point. The fun fact is that he can’t be attacked if it has a suppression token if your enemy has other targets! So it will be easier to score that point. He can also Repair your vehicles if needed.
Equippable with the C3-P0 model which is a token generator due to his Calculate Odds keyword and can be used as a taunt for your enemy, forcing him to attack R2 and C3.
SABINE WREN
One of the fastest trooper units in game due to her speed-3 move and Jump 2 keyword.
She’s hard to kill due to her surged red defense dice and Nimble keyword (Do you remember? Refund of dodge tokens after spending them). She’s also a great shooter and even greater melee fighter if equipped with her Darksaber. I highly recommend playing Up Close and Personal Upgrade on her due to the Gunslinger keyword she has.
CORPS:
REBEL TROOPERS
These ones are very good.
One of the most viable and popular options to build them is to insert Captain (which gives you a Training Upgrade slot), a Situational Awareness (so you can neutralize critical hits with dodges (which will be refunded due to Nimble keyword (another unit with nimble? really?!))), and DLT-20A Heavy Weapon for higher attack range and decent dice pool.
This option is called DLT Captain troopers and is one of the best performing units in the game. This build requires the Rebel Troopers Upgrade Pack!
REBEL VETERANS
These will be in the EBD box I recommended.
They’re good enough to be played without upgrades, but I like to give them their CM-0/93 Heavy Weapon to increase their fire power. For each Rebel Veterans in your list you can choose to put in one Mark II Medium Blaster Cannon. After Veterans have been issued an order, they gain dodge tokens and can Coordinate 1 MK II.
Mk II Medium Blaster Cannon is Rebel Alliance equivalent of Imperial DF-90 Mortar Trooper. It has a powerful Fire Support ability (that lets you to empower one of your troops attacks with Cannon dice pool with a cost of flipping MK II token face down), which allows you to make one devastating attack into one of your opponents’ vital units.
FLEET TROOPERS
These ones are your point fillers and objective security teams.
They’re cheap, and if you have an unspent 40 points in your list it is worth considering these boys. They’re fantastic in holding objectives due to their Ready keyword (each time they’re Standby, waiting for your opponents’ move, they will gain aim token for free).
SPECIAL FORCES:
MANDALORIAN RESISTANCE CLAN WREN
Your point of interest if you want to play Sabine Wren in your list.
They have exactly the same defense capabilities as Sabine. Unit consists of 3 models, Tristan Wren (Sabine Brother), Ursa Wren (their mother) and one anonymous Clan Wren member. Each model in this unit has 2 HP and if you compare it with their defense they’re pretty hard to remove. They have Retinue keyword so every round they’re close enough to Sabine they will get a free aim or dodge token!
MANDALORIAN RESISTANCE
Slightly worse than Clan Wren (1hp less per model and lack of Retinue), but hey, still have good defense, not that bad fire power and a cool melee option in form of Beskad Duelist Heavy Weapon. They’re also as fast as Sabine so can flank your opponent in the moment, when the rest of your army will go to face your opponent in the frontline of battle.
REBEL COMMANDOS
There are 2 versions of Rebel Commandos: full squad and strike team, and both are available through one box (you can build one strike team AND one full squad).
Me and most people prefer running Strike Team over the full squad and in this paragraph I will spot it. This unit takes the role of snipers in Rebel lists. Their task is to stand high and behind the cover as far from your opponent as they can.
Their Low Profile ability (Han Solo also has this) improves the amount of damage soaked by a cover by 1 making them harder to kill. They are equipped with DH-447 Sniper which have Pierce 1 and High Velocity (this ability prohibits your opponent from spending a dodge tokens on attack) which means every shot will come with average of 1 damage.
They’re a good choice if you have free points and want to have some options for area control.
REBEL PATHFINDERS
This unit highly relies on suppression tokens.
They have Danger Sense 3 (so they can reroll 1 defense die for each suppression they have, up to 3) and a Dauntless keyword (when they’re suppressed but not panicked they may gain 1 suppression to make a free move action). This explains why they’re so good with Jyn Erso – they will not panic that fast due to her high courage value and also can be deployed near Infiltrating Erso because they have the Infiltration keyword too. Pathfinders also have a reconfigurable weapon that lets them make some weak shots on a long range or some strong shots but on a short range.
Also their Heavy Weapon options are worth mentioning (both of them are limited characters). Bistan gives you 5 dice to your attack pool and is your anti-vehicle tech definitely due to his Impact 1 (more crits if you’re going through armored enemy) and Ion 1 (ion tokens will disable enemy vehicles and droids, allowing them to make only 1 action during their turn). On the other hand we get Pao, he’s a more supportive option that lets you remove suppressions from friendly soldiers; Pao is always a Leader of his unit. Both Bistan and Pao have 2 HP points which make them harder to kill.
WOOKIEE WARRIORS
*There are two kinds of Wookies and here in this paragraph I will describe these with the Charge keyword (after a move they can perform a free melee attack action).
These ones are stronger in melee fights than the other kind, not only due to their Charge but also a Duelist (that can give them Pierce 1 in melee or Immune: Pierce in melee, depending on if they’re attacking or defending). They also have stronger weapons (so they’re also good at shooting) and an additional Training Upgrade Slot. They almost don’t panic at all, and they’re also hard to kill and slightly better than the other option and are cheaper in list building also which makes them my favorite.
For the Heavy Weapons I highly recommend Bowcasters due to much increase of their firepower but Battle Shields are also neat if you want to go mostly in melee (however speed reduction can be dangerous for you and make them hang back)
WOOKIEE WARRIORS KASHYYYK DEFENDERS
*This option is the worse one.
They were designed to be better shooters than their “brothers” but something went wrong. Maybe they have a bigger shooting range but at the expense of worse dice. They also gain Sharpshooter 1 (can reduce opponents’ cover by 1 while shooting to him) but at the expense of losing Charge, Duelist and 1 Training Upgrade slot.
They are also slightly more expensive than the previous option which makes them not optimal at the moment.
* Don’t suggest on pictures. On these photos there are mixed kinds of Wookiees
SUPPORT:
AT-RT
Small, ground vehicle that is able to climb.
It can be hard to kill if your opponent doesn’t have any Impact weapons due to the Armor keyword (you will neutralize every hit that is not a critical hit). Fairly cheap unit that can hit hard if equipped with one of its weapons. I prefer Laser Cannon as an anti-armor option or a Rotary Blaster for anti-infantry. Third weapon is a Flamethrower and sometimes it can be hard to get that close to your opponent but if you do so, Flamethrower can also be devastating.
1.4 FD LASER CANNON TEAM
This unit has risen in popularity at the release of Battle Forces.
Its playstyle is very specific due to the Stationary keyword which means that this unit stands in one place through the whole match. In exchange for that, this unit has a high attack range and a big dice pool. It’s worth playing only in Echo Base Defenders Battle Force due to high support coming from BF Command Cards.
Always remember that it will not move during the game so you must deploy it on the good spot or it will be useless the whole match.
TAUNTAUN RIDERS
Definitely one of the most fun to play units in the game.
Unit consists of 2 models, 4hp each, which means it’s hard to kill it, especially with the Agile 1 keyword (after each move action you gain 1 dodge token). After moving you can also perform a free attack action (no matter, melee or shoot) due to the Relentless keyword. By the way, this unit has an exclusive keyword for itself that is on its melee weapon – Ram 1. It gives you an option to change 1 result in that attack (also a blank) to a crit result if you perform at least 1 move at full speed this turn. This unit also has good fire power while shooting due to DL-44 Blaster and Sharpshooter 1 keyword.
You can just ram straight into your opponents’ face or outmaneuver his forces from their flank, previously shooting to them.
HEAVY:
A-A5 SPEEDER TRUCK
Categorically one of the best vehicles in the whole game, at least if we’re talking about more supportive options.
Can be used to Transport your melee heavy-hitters (like wookiee squad or Luke Skywalker) straight into a battle. It can also Transport one, annoying astromech through the battlefield near your opponent deployment zone (I see you, R2). It has a broad spectrum of application due to choices you can make with its crew. Gonk Droid makes your truck more resilient, Backworld Medic gives you healing option, Unorthodox Tactician give aims to your units and R5 are building up your aggressive potential.
It demands mentioning that this unit doesn’t have a built-in weapon and you need to equip it separately. I highly recommend AG-2G Quad Laser but weapons on A-A5 are not necessary at all. This truck may also serve as a mobile barricade for your units.
T-47 AIRSPEEDER
High resilient (Armor and built-in Cover 1) and fast (speed-3 move, Speeder keyword, that lets you make an additional move before your activation) attack platform.
This vehicle can attack in both, front and rear arc. It has a big attack dice pool in its front arc and due to Impact 3 it’s a great threat to armored units and vehicles. I recommend this speeder as an anti-armor unit that has the potential to kill some infantry models too.
X-34 LANDSPEEDER
It’s a hotchpotch of 2 previous vehicles.
It’s not that much armored (only Armor 2 that will let you cancel 2 hit results) and has lowest HP from the 3 heavy options for Rebels. It’s quite fast due to the Speeder keyword and can hit hard with its Arsenal 3 keyword (you can use up to 3 of your weapons in single attack) when you pick up a few more weapons in list building.
This vehicle is also capable of Transporting 1 unit that consists of one small base mini in open transport. It means that transported unit are able to attack, make actions and spend tokens as it’s on the battlefield. It may be good to Transport R2 here so he can Repair this speeder with his actions when being driven around to the objective. You need to be careful of that kind of Transport (open transport) because your opponent can target a transported unit with attacks!
MERCENARIES:
BOBA FETT (DAIMYO)
Here is an older version of one of the most iconic characters from the Star Wars universe (shown us in Book of Boba Fett).
Just like any other Mandalorians in-game Boba has high resilience with his 15 effective wounds (5HP and red, surged defense dice) and Impervious keyword (bonus defense dice, equal to Pierce value of attack). A bit lower mobility than his younger version (Old and Wise has only speed-2 move and Jump 1), but still a professional shooter with his Sharpshooter 1, Tactical 1 and Arsenal 2. Wisdom gathered true years make him much “stable” and steady, waiting for the perfect occasion to strike with his Independent: Standby (free standby token when he wasn’t issued order in command phase) and Sentinel (increased range of Standby).
Access to 6 command cards makes him even more flexible.
DIN DJARIN & GROGU
Shining (like real, you see all that beskar?) star of the universe.
In-game Din is a Bounty hunter (so can score you an additional Victory Point at the end of the game) with quite a unique mechanic in the form of his Amban Rifle armament. He can sacrifice two actions (so entire activation) to deal a wound to an enemy unit in his LoS (without range restriction). Din is very flexible due to all his “loadout” options. He can be a decent melee fighter due to mixing up Amban or Beskar Spear with his basic melee weapon, and can even walk away from a 1v1 with force user. It’s worth mentioning that Mando has 15 effective wounds due to 5hp and surged, red defense dice.
In the Rebel Alliance he can equip a counterpart in the form of Grogu. The Child special power lets him suppress and immobilize an opponent or heal friendly units.
IG-11
Assassin droid for Rebel Alliance can be Programmed in two different ways: as a cold and ruthless Bounty Hunter or as a caring and beloved “Nanny”.
In the first config he gains different benefits depending on which opponent’s character you nominate for a Bounty. In the second config he is able to pick The Child as a counterpart. Quite resilient due to red defense dice with Armor 1 and Impervious, he is also a very good shooter with Gunslinger ability and Sharpshooter 1.
Very interesting thing is his Pip-3 Command Card. As long as you have IG-11 in your list you must pick this card. At the end of the turn in which this card is played, if IG ends up with 3 or more wound tokens he must perform a powerful self-destruct attack.
PYKES
They’re definitely worth trying in Rebels.
They’re the best performing corps unit in the whole game by now. They have good defensive capabilities and also a decent fire power when equipped with P13-M. I recommend 2 units of Pykes with one Capo in the list that relies on dodges and Vigilance Command Upgrade.
SWOOP BIKES
I don’t think they will be played in Rebels but time will tell. At the moment I can describe them as a cheap speeder option that can annoy your opponent but it’ll be more like mosquito bite, not a real threat.
I hope this guide helped you with your choice about buying order and see you in the next article, where I’ll describe another faction for you!
You can also look at our other article, where we spotlight Grand Army of the Republic!
Credits:
Writer: Gerard “Alchemistttt” Zyśk
Reviser: Bartosz Chrulski
Reviewers: Sparks27, Boro, KingOCake, dead_reckoning, ShadowRaven
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