ARCHIVES – Imperial Special Forces as a Beginner

This is an archived post relevant to Star Wars: Legion in its original iteration. We are keeping it on the site for historical purposes but it should not be used for reference to the current version of the game

Now that Adepticon has come and gone, and I hope you all tuned in to the great live stream Fifth Trooper put together, it’s time to get back to writing for us beginners. We’re on to the Special Forces on the Imperial side of things. Since I already did a Rapid Reaction to the Death Troopers I’m going to omit them from this post and focus solely on the Scout Troopers and Imperial Royal Guard. Both of which are staples in a lot of Imperial lists. I’m looking forward to the data collected from Adepticon and for Orkimedes at Never Tell Me the Odds to give us an in depth look at things. That said, let’s look at the basics here at the Jedha Journal.

Scout Troopers

The Scout Troopers are very similar in some ways to the Rebel Commandos with keywords like Low Profile, Scout 1 (Rebels are Scout 2) and Sharpshooter 1, oh and white defense dice! Not to mention, they are all costed the same at a 60 base(for the full unit, but you’ll most likely take the strike team) and the heavy weapons are also the same cost. Not a common theme among the Rebels and the Imperials, as the Rebels are typically cheaper. As for the Scout Troopers, they’re actually not…as good as the Rebel Commandos? I question it because I don’t know all the math behind it but there are some things that make the Scouts a little hampered down compared to the Commandos. Such as the fact that Scouts only have a range of one to two as opposed to one to three and the fact that they don’t sure on offense and the Commandos do. If the Scouts get into range they can be really deadly though because they roll two black per miniature in the squad, sniper included. The likelihood you see full Scouts is not as likely as much as you’ll see strike teams. Let’s look into that.

Strike Teams really are the bread and butter to any list building. It’s hard to deny their effectiveness and price point. If activation count didn’t matter, Strike Teams probably don’t matter as much. But, the game relies on activation count and here we are. You’re either looking at a cost of 44 points for a two man sniper squad, rolling two black with no surge, or a point cost of 42 for a two man Saboteur squad, rolling one red and one black with surge to crit, blast and suppressive. The last keyword is quite important. Imperial Sabs roll a red and a black with Suppressive which will, in hindsight, more than likely put two suppression on any unit within range of that sonic charge. After playing with some Saboteurs this week, and the success of Saboteurs at Adepticon, I really think it’s something I am going to test out some more! That said, Sniper Strike Teams will be something you will see in droves in the competitive world of Legion. If you’re playing for fun, no need to worry about that and build whatever Scout units you want! They’re honestly some of my favorite models in the game, I think they look really cool. Always have since Return of the Jedi!

Imperial Royal Guard

Palpatines thugs in red armor are a very unique unit in the game. At a base point cost of 75 points you get three Guards, each with a health pool of 2, and they all collectively have a suppression threshold of 2. They move at a speed 2, have Charge, Disciplined 2, and Guardian 2. All of those key words are very important in how you want to run what we call the IRG. Charge allows the IRG to get into range and use their next move to get into melee and still attack. Disciplined 2 almost ensures they get both actions because when you’re issued an order you take two suppression off. As for Guardian 2, this is where the IRG probably has it’s most value. We went over Guardian with Chewbacca but let’s reiterate what it does. While a friendly trooper at range 1 and in line of sight is defending against a ranged attack, you may cancel up to two hit results. For each result cancelled, roll 1 defense dice. Convert any surges, then suffer 1 wound for each blank. This will allow you to take some wounds off units you don’t want to take wounds at that moment. A great way to use them is to protect Palpatine, Snipers in the early rounds, and perhaps Snowtrooper units who need to move up the board to get in to range. Keep in mind that they roll red defense dice, however they do not surge. As for offense, they pack a pretty good punch. At range, they’ll be rolling two black dice for every IRG model in the group. In melee they roll one red, one black per miniature. No surge on offense, either. However, they do have an upgrade which you’ll want to consider!

Imperial Royal Guard Heavy Weapon Upgrade

If you’re primarily using the IRG for defensive reasoning you may not bring the Electrostaff Guard. However, if you’re using them to get up into the fray and get into melee, he’s your guy. Especially if you want to run up into a Lightsaber wielder, looking at you Luke Skywalker, because the unit gains Immune: Pierce when the Electrostaff Guard is in the unit. Rather than rolling the red/black dice pool, he adds two black dice instead. A possible upgrade to bring with the fully loaded out Royal Guards is Tenacity. Odds are they’ll take some wounds, adding in another red dice into their melee pool is pretty darn good!

Final Thoughts

Special Forces on both sides of the game are honestly great all around. Between the Strike Teams, the Imperial Royal Guard and now the Death Troopers, the Empire has a plethora of Special Forces possibilities. You can actually run a five Special Forces list if you desire to run Palpatine and Krennic together as Commanders with use of the Entourage keyword. Might not be a very effective, competitive list….but man it sounds like a lot of fun! The best part of Star Wars Legion is that list building is tough! There’s so many viable units, it’s hard to figure out what you want sometimes. And if you ask me, that’s just great.

Congrats to all the winners at Adepticon this past weekend, and good luck at Worlds in June!

-GrandAdmiralThrawn