ARCHIVES: Rebel Corps 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 Legion 2.6 (the current iteration of Legion as of Fall 2024).

Core? Corps? Which is it! Truly it’s corps, but many people will say core. Either way, I think most people will figure out which you’re talking about. There’s an upside and a downside to Corps in Star Wars Legion if you want my opinion. Upside: It’s very easy to know what’s good and what isn’t good. Downside: there isn’t a lot to choose from at the moment. Friday we did, however, learn of a new Corps unit coming out soon! That said, not everything is released information wise yet and I’m not going to brush upon them just yet! Hopefully by the time they come out I’ll be caught up on everything that’s out so far and can make posts/articles about units as a whole when they come out!

Rebel Troopers

The cream of the crop when it comes to Rebel Corps. You get two sets of these guys and gals in the core unit but you’ll need more if you want to be competitive. “Trooper spam” is a real thing, but it might change with all the units FFG has slated coming out! At a forty point base, they’re cheap and versatile. You’ll want to beef them up with heavy weapons and other things to flavor of your play style. I’ll go every upgrade underneath and touch up on those areas as we plug along. Before we do that, though, let’s go over some basics here! They offer you a solid unit at a range 1-3 with black dice. Unfortunately, they don’t surge to hit but hey they’re cheap what do you expect. Nimble is a big thing for them, however. As you’ll learn as a Rebel player, white defense dice are not good! Dodge tokens will help and so will surge to blocks….but don’t expect a lot of saves.

Heavy Weapon Upgrades

Most Rebel Trooper units will want to add the Z-6 Trooper. It’s well worth the 22 points. Sure it rolls white dice, which are not that great, but adding 6 dice to your pool is good no matter which way you look at it! If you have the points, take the Z-6!!

The MPL-57 Ion Trooper is a bit of a setback compared to the Z-6 for a multitude of reasons. First, it’s exhaustible and maybe we should go over that real quick. Exhaustible weapons require you to take a recover action and bring the gun back to your dice pool. It’s not ideal because that means both actions will be recover and shoot, more likely than not. That means no aim, no dodge, no movement. Second, right now it doesn’t necessarily have a place in the game. Vehicles are out there, sure, but don’t really validate taking a more expensive, exhaustible weapon. There may be a place soon for them when vehicles start coming out but for now these troopers are on the shelf.

Rebel Trooper Personnel Upgrades

On the face of things, you may think to yourself that you want the extra guy. Especially at only 10 points! However, let’s say you’re running four sets of fully loaded Rebel Troopers (Z-6 and an extra trooper), forty of those points are tied up in those extra troopers. You, in theory, could take those forty points and add a unit to the list which is more important. Why, you ask? Activation counts matter!

That said, there are times where you’ll want an extra Rebel Trooper. Personally, I have one in my list for two reasons. First, I didn’t have room for another Z-6. Second, I want some extra dice in the pool rather than a full naked unit and these guys will be strictly objective based.

Rebel Fleet Troopers

Rebel Fleet Troopers are a little more points at a forty four base and bring a completely different set of skills to your list. They’re range 1-2, which means they need a round or two sometimes to get into the fray and rip some shots. The main issue that I have with Fleets is I can’t keep them alive long enough to get they’re full shot off. That happens for a few reasons: your opponent typically will view them as a threat they want to get rid of and white defense dice. You really need to do whatever you can to keep them in heavy cover at the least but more preferable keep them in complete line of sight blocking terrain.

Like the Z-6 for the Rebel Troopers the Scatter Gun Trooper is basically an auto include for the Fleet troopers. It’s relatively cheap at 23 points, it adds a very reliable dice pool and more specifically it gives Pierce 1 to the entire unit when shooting. A caveat to that, especially as a beginner: keywords from other weapons in your unit will give the ENTIRE dice pool that keyword. Take the Scatter Gun if you have the points to do so!

Similar to the MPL-57 Ion trooper, the MPL-57 Barrage Trooper weapon is exhaustible and more points than the Scatter gun. While blast is a good key word to have, it’s not worth it here with the Barrage Trooper. Again this is a card/unit that may have more impact(pun not intended) later on down the road with more vehicles in the game. However, it’s on the shelf for now.

Fleet Trooper Personnel Upgrades

Like the Rebel Trooper, they come at a cheap price of 11 points. If you’re running two Fleets in an army, you may not really feel the need for an extra trooper. If you’re running one set, they’re may be a place for them if you have 11 points you can spare. They do add two dice to your pool and add a body. That said, I haven’t added an extra trooper to my unit that I run personally. I tend to use those points elsewhere.

Fleet Trooper Upgrade Recommendations

Opposed to the Rebel Troopers, which I tend to run with a Z-6 only or one unit with an extra trooper for objectives, there are some things I would consider putting on the Fleets if you have points to spare. Recon Intel is something you may consider for only two points, it could get them into the battle quicker than normal. Lately I have been testing them with Concussion grenades. For 5 points, if I get into range 1, Blast seems like a good keyword to add into the dice pool along with an extra black die added as well. Ignoring cover can go a long way, and the odds are you will get into range with the Fleets.

Universal Corps Personnel Upgrades 

This is assuming you have purchased the Rebel Specialists pack. If so, these are some options you have and they are all going to revolve around play style!

The Rebel Officer is a good upgrade, although it’s not necessarily cheap. Nineteen points for a bump in courage, Inspire 1 and a body is probably the proper cost for him but it’s getting them to fit into your army that sometimes can be puzzling. I recommend using them on Fleets! Giving the Fleets extra courage is good, it will help allow you to keep both actions if you suffer suppression and of course it will add two more dice to your pool as opposed to the one on the Rebel Troopers.

I have yet to use a Rebel Comms Technician, but the general consensus when using them is for the purpose of Comms Relay. Fourteen points for an extra figure and a chance to pass an order token further down the field is not that bad at all. It just doesn’t fall into my personal play style, yet.

While the R5 Astromech Droid doesn’t cost a lot, it is of course list specific. If you’re running some vehicles, such as At-Rt’s, they seem like a good cheap addition to your list!

2-1B Medical Droids add a lot of purpose to your list, seeing as it can help things survive. It’s Noncombatant, which means it won’t add to your dice pool, though. Personally, as a Rebel player, I don’t know if eighteen points is worth it for the medical droid. Only saying this because, as mentioned many times so far in my posts: Rebel White Dice saves are not good. If your plan is to keep Rebel Corps alive, I don’t see it being worth bringing. Using the droids to potentially take hits off of Rebel Characters such as Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie may be in the fold for your game play and then it might be worth the points. I could also see using them to take some wounds of Wookie Warriors, as well.

Final Thoughts

The Rebel Troopers will take up a chunk of your army because you need at least three corps units for a legal list and they’re the cheapest unit available. As mentioned, you’ll want to take that Z-6! They’ll serve a multitude of purposes for you whether it’s shooting at things or running objectives. Be sure to keep them in cover or take dodges when you can! Nimble goes a long way keeping them alive. Right now I run three units with a Z-6 and one unit with an extra trooper.

You’ll end up taking one or two Fleets max because of a few things such as cost and range of their weapon pool. Again, from experience, they’ll be targeted by your opponent if they’re open to shots early on the board. Try and keep them alive as long as you can because they’re real value comes at that 1-2 range in the middle rounds. Use line of sight blocking terrain as much as possible! They’re also a great candidate for Rapid Reinforcements, it gets them on the board close to the action which is ideal! Currently with Fleets I tend to run one with the scatter gun and concussion grenades.

Right now, these are all we have for Corps units but more is on the way with the Rebel Veterans aka Hoth Troopers. Can’t wait until we have that third variety but for now we’ll have to make due with what we have! Find your play style and build your Corps to what you think will suit YOU!!

Have fun on the tables and may the Force be with you.

-GrandAdmiralThrawn