Closed Lanes: Legion is Beginning to Feel Like a One-Way Street
November 18, 2024
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Today we are going to take a look at some of the new units from the shadow collective and generic cards that Atomic Mass Games has revealed.
The Pyke Syndicate Capo is one of the base commanders coming for Shadow Collective. Fairly analogous in function to the existing generic commanders (rebel and imperial officer etc.).
The main use of the Capo will likely be to be run alongside the Pyke Syndicate Foot Soldiers. The Capo will be able to use his courage bubble for the Pykes, which will be important if you don’t include the Capo upgrade in the unit. You really don’t want a unit that has access to only courage 1 for Panic purposes.
The Capo will also be fairly survivable coming with Independent: Dodge and Danger Sense 2. The dodge granted virtually every turn should allow survivability on the first shot, and any subsequent shots will be hampered by Danger Sense.
The Capo also comes with a support ability that allows him to throw tokens to another Pyke unit at range 1 and line of sight. This could also come into effect at the beginning of a turn with Independent: Dodge.
The drawback of this is that it puts a suppression on the Capo. This could be easily mitigated by only throwing one token a turn allowing the suppression to just be taken off naturally. The other way could be to throw the beginning of turn dodge, get one suppression. Then activate and throw another token and recover to remove any suppression. It should be noted that the Capo doesn’t really hate the suppression as he has Danger Sense. With Danger Sense and the support ability the Capo really has good ways of managing his suppression to remain at one to keep a little bit of extra defense around him.
The Pyke Syndicate Foot Soldiers are seemingly the ‘base’ corp unit of the Shadow Collective. Coming in at 40 points, they are certainly an interesting unit.
The Pykes come with a full card of keywords. They include Danger Sense 2, Outmaneuver, Self-Preservation, and Independent: Dodge 1.
These Keywords are mostly defensive. They help augment the basic save of white surging ‘t-shirt’ saves. The general idea with this unit probably would be that you are never going to give them an order. This will allow them to acquire a dodge at the beginning of every turn which is extra good combined with Outmaneuver. This will blunt the impact of any shot they do end up taking. Any follow up shots will then be subjected to the added defense of Danger Sense.
The biggest drawback of this unit is Self-Preservation. This keyword means you can only use the courage bubble of a unit with the same affiliation as you. This can be very dangerous as a Courage 1 unit can panic really easily if they aren’t supported by a Courage 2 commander. I will be interested to see how courage bubbles work in the Shadow Collective battleforce proper. Whether any Shadow Collective commander can get around Self-Preservation, or, if you’ll need to manage which units are brought with which and where they are on the battlefield.
The other big thing about the Pykes of course is that they can be taken in any faction. They have all four current faction symbols and have been confirmed they can go in them all. Keep in mind they won’t fulfill your 3-corp minimum in other factions, but they are still interesting for other factions as cheap filler (looks at GAR.)
They are also interesting as cheap, somewhat durable corp. They don’t have the best saves, but presuming the Capo isn’t very expensive, you could easily see them as somewhat durable objective runners. A free dodge or two, plus Outmaneuver and Danger Sense can be a unit that can take way more abuse than you’d think.
The Electro-Whip Soldier is the second whip heavy we’ve seen in the game, the other being the Magnaguards. Unfortunately the whip feels fairly out of place on the Pykes as they really don’t have the durability to duke it out at range 1, and range 1 is just such a dangerous range to be at. However, the whip is only 10 points which makes it an alluring option as basically an additional body that has a neat trick if it comes up.
The P13-M Disruptor Soldier will likely be the most common heavy weapon taken with the Pykes. A fairly basic weapon that adds Impact 1 and a few dice. This weapon isn’t anything special. It can reach out to range 4 but with three dice that don’t surge or have access to critical you will really wanting to be using the Pykes at range 3.
The first personal upgrade is one that could be critical for the Pykes outside of Shadow Collective. The Capo’s biggest contribution to the unit is in the form of increasing the courage value of the unit, bringing it to two. This helps the unit not care about Self-Preservation.
This upgrade also adds of course an extra body, which adds some survivability and another offensive die.
The Capo also adds Independent: Surge 1. This helps increase the offense of the unit as it doesn’t surge offensively naturally, so, a surge token will raise the number of hits by one on an average attack.
The Pyke Syndicate Foot Soldier is the ‘basic’ personal upgrade for the Pyke unit. This upgrade at only nine points adds a mini and a Cached Aim token. This is very good value.
The Pyke Syndicate Foot Soldiers are an interesting ‘basic’ corp unit that could easily see some uses in the Shadow Collective and non-Shadow Collective alike. For relatively cheap, you can get a decent offensive points, or, for even cheaper, a fairly survivable objective runner.
AMG has revealed a few new generic upgrades that can be used across all the factions.
Underworld Connections is a card that I want to see some more clarification on before I really dig into it. One thing is clear, however: you can issue orders to friendly mercenaries when equipped with this upgrade. This could be very important and a must take for some army compositions.
The other part of this card is that your army may include one additional Mercenary unit of any rank. This line could mean literally any merc unit of any rank, including breaking the force org chart, (such as a third operative.) It could however mean that there are limits to merc units in factions, such as one operative, that this card can then break. We will have to see more info, or even the RRG updated to be sure.
Prepared Supplies is a fascinating upgrade. Adding Cache: Dodge 1 to any unit with a gear slot has really opened up some interesting possibilities.
One thing that has been confirmed is that Cache does interact with Nimble. This means that whenever you do decide to spend your Cached dodge token then you gain a dodge token on your unit. This has some really interesting possibilities with any Nimble unit. Particularly those backed up with Vigilance.
This upgrade also is an interesting pick for Commander Luke Skywalker. Having an ‘at will’ dodge is about the best thing any force user can ask for, and now there is one force user who can have one.
The only thing about this card that isn’t super great is its points cost. 5 points for one dodge is a lot; it’s enough to make this interesting when used with specific intent, but you’ll have to think pretty hard about it.
More grenades!
Honestly what more is there to say. Grenades are just such a weird thing for Legion, and if I’m taking grenades I probably want an offensive keyword, such as blast, rather than just suppressive. The one buoy for it is that these grenades are only 3 points, hurray? There are quite a few other 3 point grenades with much better keywords.
The Black Sun Enforcers are the Shadow Collective’s answer to B2 droids and Fleet Troopers, an assault Corp unit.
The Black Sun bring a great assortment of keywords and abilities to be a great range 2 assault unit. They bring red dice saves which give a decent amount of survivability. They also bring Dauntless, allowing them to continuing to push towards the enemy, even if they’re suppressed. They also have Independent: Aim 1 and Precise 1, raising their offensive potential even more. I’ll talk a bit more about their offensive potential in relation to the specific heavy weapons.
It should also be noted that this unit rolls a red die in melee, meaning they’ll likely be able to punch their way out of a jam if they need to, especially if you have an extra mini or two.
The Scatter Gun Enforcer is the classic shotgun we all know and love, (or hate?). Bringing the exact same profile as the weapon that the Rebel Fleet Troopers can carry, this weapon raises the Black Sun Offense to a great level. This attack pool averages just under six hits, including their free aim with no order. This unit can pack a punch with this weapon attached. That average of six is also before any other upgrades or actions. The one (appropriate) downside here is the cost, coming it at a hefty 28 points.
The Mag-Det Enforcer is an interesting heavy weapon. Bringing quite a punch at range 1, but just range 1.
This Weapon does have the huge benefit of being half the cost of the Scatter Gun, being only 14 points. This upgrade could be used to make an economical 6-person unit that can act as a hit squad. Keep in mind that this guy can still use the basic unit weapon at range 2, making a possible 6 black, 6 white pool at range 2; nothing to scoff at.
If the Black Sun can get into range one with this weapon then they can really throw some heat, blast plus an extra three black dice is quite the punch. This is a heavy weapon I’d consider pairing with a Frag Grenade to be able to convert Surge Results. Plus, with Frag Grenades this weapon plus the full unit could do quite the hit into armor. If you have a 6 man squad, at range one using one frag grenade to get surge:crit, your pool would be 1R7B4W which has an average result of 8.5 hits. This is quite the pool if you manage to get it into range.
The Black Sun Vigo, like the Capo above, increases the courage of the unit by 1, adds a mini and adds Independent: Surge 1. All of these benefits are even better on the Black Sun. The Courage is important, especially as this unit will probably be seen as a one of in other factions as they fit solidly into their role. The Surge that is granted is also incredible as the Black Sun don’t surge to offense or defense. The Surges can be used to make the red saves even better or provide even more punch when needed. The Vigo is an interesting upgrade even if you don’t run any heavy weapons in the unit.
The basic Black Sun Enforcer adds another mini, as well as Cache: Dodge 1. This upgrade adds extra survivability and some more offensive punch. The Vigo will likely be the better pick for this slot but the Enforcer is also great.
The Black Sun Enforcers are a force to be reckoned with and can be a very economical Assault unit. They should not be trifled with and will surely see plenty of table time within the Shadow Collective as well as in the non-Shadow Collective factions. It will also be interesting to see the Vigo commander card and see how it pairs with the Enforcer unit.
There are many great upgrades that have been revealed and many more to come. Personally, I can’t wait to get my hands on the Shadow Collective and to give them a go.
Make Sure to check out the latest AMG article: Here
Also remember you can order all the Shadow Collective stuff from The Fifth Trooper: Here
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2 Responses
The hype is real!
great article timbo! 👏 great insight on top of the podcast. dare I say more detailed above 🤪