Bad Batch – Rapid Reactions

This article will bring you all the takes about the newest preview unit for Star Wars: Legion – The Bad Batch!

Bad Batch is an operative unit available to both Republic (as a normal unit) and Rebels (as a mercenary). They have a veritable smorgasbord of keywords, so let’s jump right in.

Unit Card

The only difference between the Rebel and Republic unit card is the Rebels are Mercenaries and they swap Crosshair for Omega (for a discount of ten points after you take her), so we’ll discuss them together until we get to those two.

160 Points (GAR), 140 Points (Rebels). That’s a hefty sum; the most expensive base cost for a non-force user trooper unit in the game, the Bad Batch is only eclipsed by fully equipped Dark Troopers. You’re getting a lot for your 160 points though.

Equip: Hunter, Wrecker, Echo, Tech, Crosshair(GAR) Well, you have to take the required heavy upgrades, which are themselves the Bad Batch characters. They add a ton of keywords which we’ll get into below.

Unfortunately, Bad Batch doesn’t have any other upgrade slots, which means they are the first unit in the game with literally no way to modify their loadout at all, except for adding Omega to the Rebel version.

Defense: Impervious, Red Save, two wounds/model. Well this unit is an absolute slab of beef, coming out to 11 wounds (GAR) or 10 wounds (Rebels) when you include all the models. They also have Impervious and likely surges from Echo’s Reliable.

Offense: Black/White (Range 1-2), Red (Melee). This is the same as ARC troopers at Range 2 on a per model basis, but obviously Bad Batch has lots more keywords. This becomes an incredibly hefty pool combined with all the other stuff. The melee profile is solid but less scary than their ranged profile; you don’t want them tied up in melee if you can help it.

Scale. Ignore difficult terrain is neat, especially as a unit with Range 2 weapons. They probably don’t get much out of the vertical element of this depending on your table, but you might get lucky.

Steady. Free attack after a move; this is one of the best keywords in the game and allows them to double move before shooting or move/shoot/move, which as Han can attest is absolutely massive on a Range 2 pool.

Sharpshooter 1. Ignoring cover is good.

We’re Not Regs. Well, this is probably a good thing for everyone’s sanity, but Bad Batch can’t use other Clone tokens and vice versa. They also can’t be Fire Supported. Note that Exemplar still works just fine (as does Yoda’s Luminous Beings are We).

Courage 3. This is pretty standard for a trooper unit at this price point (most Force Users have at least this) and is pretty critical to keeping the Bad Batch moving.

But wait… there’s more! Let’s look at all the keywords the team members themselves bring to the unit.

Upgrade Options (not really options actually)

Hunter: Basically, Hunter gives you Force Choke as a coin flip. Notable differences from Force Choke besides the fact that it only works half the time:

1. It doesn’t exhaust, so you can use it every turn without having to MOTF/Recover (assuming you have range)
2. Since Bad Batch is a multiple model unit (unlike all force users) you can extend the range of this with cohesion by cohering a non-Hunter mini towards your target
3. It’s not a force power so Inquisitors can’t cancel it

This is a nice little hedge against Bad Batch getting tied up by lone unit leaders, which would otherwise be sort of a problem for them.

Wrecker: He doesn’t have any keywords, he just adds dice and health. He’s the extra beef in your double order of beef, basically. The three melee dice is actually sort of a big deal as it increases their dice ceiling by two in melee and gives you something to spend aim tokens on.

Echo: Reliable 3, which is both boring and almost certainly the most useful keyword of the entire bunch. Bad Batch doesn’t surge natively and they can’t spend clone surges, so this is going to be where most of your surge tokens come from.

Tech: Cache: Aim 1 and Dodge 1, Tactical 1. The cache tokens are neat and gives you even more of a floor for your rolls, while Tactical 1 is absolute value town on a unit that also has Steady.

Crosshair (GAR Only): Precise 1. Crosshair also gives you a weapon that is 1 red, High Velocity, Pierce 1. Note that Precise is not a weapon keyword so it applies whether you use Crosshair’s weapon or not. Adding native Pierce to this already silly attack pool is incredible. You can also split off Crosshair’s attack (which gives it Critical 1) to pick off random dudes in the open.

Instead of Crosshair, Rebels get:

Omega is only 1 health, so she reduces the total wounds of the unit from 11 to 10 compared to GAR. She also only offers 2 white dice which is not nearly as good as Crosshair with all his keywords. However, she offers a very unique ability, I’m Part of the Squad Too, which allows her to Claim or Sabotage/Repair as if she were a unit leader. Note this only works on Objectives where you interact with the objective token directly (so you can’t score Intercept or Key Positions with her) but that still allows you to pick up boxes or tap vaps with extended range.

The fact that Omega is only 1 health can also be an asset in these situations; if you stick Omega out there by herself to do the objective thing and hide the rest of the unit, Bad Batch can only take one wound per shot due to the casualty removal rules.

The Whole Package

So what do you get, after all that?

Republic gets an 11 health unit that throws 2 Red, 4 Black, 4 White with Pierce 1 at Range 2 and has Steady, Sharpshooter 1, Scale, Impervious, Reliable 3, Tactical 1, Cache: Aim 1 and Dodge 1, Precise 1, and We’re Not Regs.

Rebels get a 10 health unit that throws 1 Red, 4 Black, 6 White at Range 2 and has Steady, Sharpshooter 1, Scale, Impervious, Reliable 3, Tactical 1, Cache: Aim 1 and Dodge 1, I’m Part of the Squad Too and We’re Not Regs.

Both of these units are just pure raw health and an incredibly reliable and slappy attack with extreme mobility from Steady. That sure is a lot a of keywords, amirite?

But wait, there’s more!

Just Kidding, Here’s More Package

Bad Batch only gets one command card and it basically just supercharges their existing array of keywords.

Somebody actually made a spreadsheet to keep track of all these keywords; this essentially doubles up on the existing keywords on each model, while adding Suppressive for Wrecker and Inspire 1 for Omega. Most relevant, however, it increases their speed by 1 (to speed 3) for the turn.

I think most of the time this is going to be overkill, excluding the speed increase, unless you have Yoda who allows them to get a second use out of this token buffet via Guidance.

Speaking of, since we don’t have any other upgrade options for these guys to discuss, let’s move on to combos.

Possible Combos

Republic

Yoda

This is the most obvious one to me as Yoda lets them attack twice via Guidance (since they have Steady, he can use it to move them and then they make their free Steady attack… after also getting an aim token from Tactical 1). Note if you Guidance them on their command card turn they can also move speed 3 for that move since it works the entire turn (similar to a Vader Implacable play with Burst of Speed).

Yoda can also keep units out of melee with Bad Batch which is a useful counter.

Yoda/Bad Batch in the same list certainly gets expensive, so you’ll have to keep it lean (you can still get to a reasonable 8 activations if you use Clone Commandos as well) but it might just be worth the attempt.

Padme

Yeah I know… Padme combos with everything. It’s literally her schtick.

Anyway, Exemplar still allows Bad Batch to access extra tokens, and they could really use Padme’s, especially that potential extra surge from Diplomatic Cover.

Anakin

Anakin is obviously a more expensive way to access Exemplar than Padme, but he provides more surges and a lightsaber plus force powers to boot, to deal with those pesky melee threats and keep Bad Batch blasting away at the bad guys with their pistols. The main difficulty here is command card timing: the Bad Batch command is best used early and Anakin ALSO wants to use his commands early, creating a sticky situation.

Commandos

This is more a commentary on their efficiency than anything that they do that specifically helps Bad Batch, but Bad Batch is expensive and you’re going to need to bank some points somewhere. The Commandos are also just more units on top of your chunky Bad Batch that are a real pain to kill.

Rebels

The Rebel version of Bad Batch is a bit more awkward since they are mercs, and mercs can’t get orders unless the commander has Allies of Convenience (via Underworld Connections in Rebels’ case). This is compounded by the fact that they only have one command card of their own to issue an order to themselves and they have no upgrade slots whatsoever for Seize the Initiative or an HQ Uplink.

This rules out popular commanders without command slots like Cassian (a real shame as his cards would be great on them). You can of course just take a generic officer and use Ambush/Push/Assault to get the job done, I guess…

Let’s look at some other options as well:

Lando Calrissian

Not only does Lando have a command slot for Underworld Connections, but his two pip Ace Up His Sleeve allows Lando to make an order appear out of thin air at will to give to Bad Batch.

Han Solo

Han also has a command slot. Furthermore, you can do the silly Reckless Diversion trick (normally reserved for Ewoks) where you stick a one wound model out to be the only model that can be seen (*cough* Omega) to make it so your Reckless Diversion target can only take one wound at a time. Unlike doing this with Ewoks, however, your target has 10 wounds and surging red saves with Impervious instead of paper saves, which means it’s really going to just be 0-1 wounds per shot instead of 1.

Ahsoka

Ahsoka doesn’t help you with the order problem at all, but she is a reasonable source of a laser sword and force push to keep stuff away from Bad Batch. You’ll have to lean on a commander with a command slot for your Bad Batch order needs, but Rebel units are cheap enough where you should be able to run Ahsoka, Bad Batch, and a generic officer along with some vets and some extra Rebel beef to get you up to a functional activation count.

Chewbacca

What is more frustrating to kill than a 10 health unit with Impervious and surging red saves? How about if that same unit had access to Guardian?

Well yeah, there’s Chewy. He’s a pretty good shot with a bowcaster too.

A-A5 Speeder Truck

Of course, to keep them properly safe, you could just put them in a giant armored bus.

A Final Note on Casualty Order

Before we close this thing out, let’s briefly ponder in which order you should take casualties on your Baddest of Batches, because despite all their beefiness they are still going to get shot and you’ll want to have a plan for how that happens.

Personally my default casualty order for each is as follows:

Republic: Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair, Echo, Hunter

Wrecker doesn’t add any keywords himself. You lose the extra red die on the attack, but since Wrecker is three wounds it also pushes back by one the wound steps on which you lose dice; basically you lose dice on 3, 5, 7, and 9 wounds instead of 2, 4, 6, etc. Tech is next since you’ve probably spent his Cache tokens by this point and Tactical 1 only really nets you one aim once you’re in range (since you can just aim then move/attack). Losing Crosshair hurts but not nearly so much as losing your surges; Echo is last before Hunter for that reason.

Rebels: Wrecker, Tech, Omega, Echo, Hunter

This is largely the same as above for similar reasons. I know some folks might be tempted to remove Omega next after Wrecker (you aren’t allowed to do it before Wrecker) if you aren’t on a Claim/Sabotage/Repair objective, but consider that she only has one wound and you lose two dice when you remove her. It’s the same calculus as Wrecker but in reverse; if you remove her at the first opportunity (and if you start with Wrecker) you lose dice at 3, 4, 6, and 8 wounds instead of 3, 5, 6, and 8.

Summary

Bad Batch is a spicy meatball, a giant beefsteak that is tough to kill and absolutely slaps. Are they too much for 160/150 points? I suppose we will see, but they are definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with capable of doing most of you army’s lifting by themselves if not dealt with.