I have tried several lists that don’t include Luke over the course of my brief-ish tenure of playing Star Wars Legion, but somehow I always find myself just playing with both Luke and Leia. I have an upcoming Rallypoint Qualifier and I probably should be practicing what I anticipate to bring, but I have played enough Wonder Twins where I feel comfortable branching out right now and playing something different. I tried a nine and ten act Landspeeder list recently, which was a lot of fun, but not necessarily as effective as I would like. This past Friday I decided to play a variant of what is known as Fly Boys, which is Luke Skywalker and Han Solo with your typical supporting cast of Rebel units. It plays a lot differently than Luke/Leia and there’s a few things we can go over as I describe the game.

Army Lists 

My List:

– Luke Skywalker (160) + Force Push (10) + Emergency Stims (8) = 178
– Han Solo (120) + Esteemed Leader (5) + Emergency Stims (8) = 133
Corps:
– Fleet Troopers (44) + Scatter Gun Trooper (23) + Rebel Officer (19) = 86
– Rebel Troopers (40) + Z-6 Trooper (22) + Rebel Officer (19) = 81
– 3x Rebel Troopers (40) + Z-6 Trooper (22) = 186
Special Forces:
– 3x Rebel Commandos Strike Team (16) + DH-447 Sniper (28) = 132


Total: 796/800 

My Opponents List: 

– Han Solo (120) + Duck and Cover (8) = 128
– Rebel Commander (50) = 50
Corps:
– Fleet Troopers (44) + Scatter Gun Trooper (23) = 67
– 2x Rebel Troopers (40) + Z-6 Trooper (22) = 124
– 2x Rebel Troopers (40) + Recon Intel (2) = 84
Special Forces:
– Rebel Pathfinders (68) + Pao (22) + Duck and Cover (8) + A-300 Config (6) = 104
– 2x Wookiee Warriors (75) + Bowcaster Wookiee (35) + Hunter (6) + Tenacity (4) = 240

Total: 797/800

battle rep vs eric

Battle Cards

Limited Visibility/Intercept the Transmissions/Disarray

I was Blue Player and my opponent was a little surprised I had Limited Visibility in my deck. Now, while my opponent was a Rebel list, I could have changed my deck to bring Hostile Environment, which is what I’ve been cutting recently, but the thought process there is: In a tournament setting, my battle deck is my battle deck I can’t change it due to what faction I am facing on the other side. I want to practice what I know my battle deck is. Now I also know that Disarray is bad for Fly Boys, but it’s a deployment I wanted to practice as well. It’s a deployment that could come in handy against an Imperial list in the upcoming RPQ and having insight of how to play it is nice to have.

 

Game Overview

I’m going to go over the first two rounds in depth, because I want to explain in detail some plays I made and they all come from playing the game often and gaining experience. Something that we can all do, and this is a blog for beginners after all, but this is how you can take that next step. I’m not saying I’m any good, yet, but I’m certainly starting to make some plays I didn’t expect myself to make even a few weeks ago. Reps really matter, so get to playing!!

Round 1

This was the first time I played Rebel vs Rebel in a few weeks, and it was a nice change of pace. Looking at my opponents list, he had 10 activation’s that could and would play for objectives, so I did something that normally isn’t recommended but I deployed my snipers in positions to reach the transmissions if I really needed to do so. Knowing that he didn’t have snipers made this decision easier for me. One side of my table had a regular Z6 Rebel Trooper squad, a Rebel Officer Z6 Squad, two snipers, and Luke. The other side of the table had the Officer Fleets, a Z6 squad, two sniper teams and Han. My opponent did a similar type thing of splitting his forces, because we have two commanders it’s okay to do this in Disarray. He put a set of Wookies, two naked Trooper units, two Z6 units and Han in the corner opposite of my Luke. On the other side he put the Rebel Officer, Fleet Troopers, naked Rebel Troopers and Wookies. The Pathfinders deployed somewhat towards the middle but towards his side with Han in it.

With the game being Limited Visibility, we both played Standing Orders round 1. It was a lot of moving and maneuvering but more shots than you’d expect happened. I took the Fleets and moved up to take a shot at the Pathfinders, this put my Fleets in a precarious position, but an early shot was something I felt like I needed to do. It killed all but one Pathfinder and Pao, which was a good trade off I felt. (The Pathfinders did eventually return fire later in the round and kill two of my Fleets) I was trying to do my best to deny shots from my opponent while moving up to the objective/staying out of range two, but I failed with one of my units doing so. I moved a Z6 squad on the side with my Han up to this big rock, thinking I could do a few things: stay out of Line of Sight of some units, gain heavy cover from other units, and dig myself into the transmission spot behind a big LOS blocker. However, my opponent was able to dwindle them down to the trooper leader only by the time the round ended. That said, I had a plan already in motion. On that same side, I decided to move a sniper unit up, in range of the transmission, and take a shot on a unit at range 2. (We both played a little aggressive) Now this is something I wouldn’t think I would do normally with snipers, but with Han and his Command Cards, I deemed it necessary.  On the other side, it wasn’t as active. I took out one Wookie on his approach and played very conservatively with everything else, knowing I was being very aggressive on the other side of the table. I double moved Luke into a somewhat safe area and went to round two with a game plan, that ended up working.

Round 2

It’s time to get my plan going, there’s only one caveat: I was worried my opponent would play his Change of Plans. This is really the whole reason I’m doing this game as a Battle Report, for what I did on round 2 as an example of how to make better plays after experience. I played Reckless Diversion and my opponent played Covering Fire. I really needed Reckless Diversion to go through, because I placed Han strategically and had a full Z-6 Rebel Trooper squad almost perfectly placed as well to take the brunt of whatever second round attacks my opponent could get. Remember, it was Limited Visibility, which means now attacks from range 3 are good. In playing Reckless Diversion, I ensured that the lone Rebel Trooper leader would live and that my aggressive sniper move wouldn’t get them wiped out. Basically, Reckless Diversion won my that transmission on its own. Han took a few wounds, as expected. But I was able to dwindle his Fleets to two troopers and his naked squad to two troopers, setting up a Han finishing shot at the start of round 3, perhaps. My opponent used his Han towards my Han, but not in range, and took a shot at my Fleet troopers, killing two troopers. The Fleets, having not much else to do, decided to go into melee with his Han. This is a tactic I wanted to use to slow up his Han, and not allow him to turn a corner on round 3 and start deleting things. Han rolls awful dice in melee, and when you can lock him up you do it. It made my opponent waste his Wookies on that side, who ran all the way over and take a swing at two Fleet Troopers. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make, because he now used actions that he didn’t really want to use.

On the Luke side of things, we exchanged some Trooper shots, his Wookies shot a sniper team off the board (played them aggressive as noted before) and I want to say I brought a Z6 unit to just the leader and the Z6. He took some pot shots at Luke, and put two or three damage through, but it didn’t stop what was coming towards the end of the round. I double moved Luke into the transmission range, and in range 1 of a Rebel Trooper unit also in range of the transmission. Can you guess what happens next? Force Push. Force Push is more the reason of why I can’t put Luke down. So on the far left transmission I captured a VP because of Force Push, on the far right I took the transmission because of Reckless Diversion, and my opponent held onto the middle which was something I knew would happen anyways.

Round 3

Both me and my opponent play Sorry About the Mess and I won the roll off. Which is pretty huge because it allowed me to use my Han before he could use his Han or the Wookies. Han deletes the two trooper units my opponent had left, and moves as far as he can away from the Wookies. Ensuring that they need to double move if they want to engage him, and at this point Han has 4 wounds on him. My opponent charges with the Wookies, and this is where things get funky. Han eats the Wookie charge like a champion and stays upright with 5 wounds, not even having to go to stims. Now he’s safe until the next round, which is nice. The lone trooper decided to engage his Rebel Officer, to stall him and make him throw one less die trying to take him out. And in the off chance my lone guy lived, he was in range of the transmission. He didn’t live, but this allowed me to move behind this rock with a leader and a Z6 and rip a shot on the Rebel Officer…..who dies on the one shot. It was a big turn of the tide on that side. Z6 dice can be really fickle, but this was a nice roll! On the Luke side of things, I dwindled my opponents second set of wookies down to one wookie, who then will retreat. And I set up Luke for an apparent Son of Skywalker, with I think four wounds on him. I also have a few very healthy Rebel Trooper squads over here, getting ready to score on round 4.

Round 4

I play Son of Skywalker, looking to get more of a stranglehold on the transmission, but my opponent Change of Plans’ it. I end up dropping down My Ally is the Force, to protect Luke, and my opponent plays Sabotaged Communications. He gives the Wookies an order and it’s time to swipe on Han, with hunter they get a free aim, so he didn’t take an aim and just punched. With hopes of having another action, should he kill Han. Han says not today, and gets pushed to stims. He will die after his next activation this round, but it meant the Wookies were stuck. My lone trooper unit on that side, consisting of the leader and the Z6, move into melee with Han. This ensured that Han doesn’t come around the corner and ace them with his DL-44. On the Luke side of things, I recovered force push, charged a barely wounded Z6 squad, and took out all but one I want to say. I then force pushed his Wookie, who was in the area, to ensure a few things. He would have to make a choice between charging Luke or double moving into the transmission range to challenge it. He chose to charge Luke, and dealt one more wound to Luke. The lone Rebel Trooper aimed and punched my Luke to stims, but Luke tying them all up, allowed me to score this transmission again. With a tie on the Han/Han side, Luke side winning one, and my opponent having the middle locked down, I have a temporary edge at 3 VP’s to 2 VP’s heading into round five.

Round 5

This ends up being the turn I use Son of Skywalker and my opponent using I want to say Push. Luke deletes the Wookie and the lone trooper, and then dies off the board. But now that entire side is empty of my opponents ranks, and it allows me to leave my sniper squad back for round six scoring and double move the two trooper units towards the middle, where my opponent has very wisely moved Pao and a Trooper leader in very, very safe spots. Back to the Han side, the Wookies finally take him out. His Han takes out the Z-6 in the unit that engaged him, and then I just aim and punch back to take us into the final round.

Round 6

We’re both doing some calculations on what we want to do, I put my Leader token on the Officer led Rebel Troopers, which gives my other squad a courage value of two, just in case they were to take two shots from the enemy lone trooper or Pao. My opponent tries to use his Han to wipe out the lone trooper, but I block the one hit. I then moved that trooper into base to base with the Wookies. This ensured they could not make a last ditch effort towards the middle. I don’t think they could have made it, but I wasn’t taking a chance. Then things got interesting. My opponent moved his Pao out towards the squad that didn’t have the Rebel Officer on them and took a stand by. He was trying to set up a bubble to shoot me on the approach to potentially deter me from making it in range. So what I decided to do was double move the other Rebel Troopers, the ones with the Officer, into base to base with Pao and deny any kind of shot. His lone trooper stepped out, applied a suppression token to make things harder for me. If I rally, I win the game. If I don’t rally, I would have had to take a heavy cover shot on his lone trooper and kill him, which is no guarantee. The die goes in the air…..Rally! Ball game, Fly Boys. Final score of 5 VP’s to 4 VP’s.

Final Notes

This turned out to be quite a lengthy Battle Report, and it’s kind of a test run of if this is something I want to keep doing or if it’s just something I’ll occasionally do. Trying to keep the content diverse and ever flowing! Feedback will be greatly appreciated! Trying Fly Boys was a lot of fun, and I look forward to playing them more after my RPQ next month! Thanks to my great opponent and friend, it was a great game that came down to the wire!

May the Force be with You!

-GrandAdmiralThrawn