Republic Dead? A Rebuttal

In the most recent rules update for Star Wars Legion we saw a massive nerf to clone-centric lists, specifically ‘Rexstar’. Today I’m going to be taking a look at the entire Republic faction and try to dissuade us all from believing that the faction is ‘dead’.

Previous Lists

Before the rules changes we saw that republic was mostly focusing on clone gunlines, the prototypical list being ‘Rexstar’. This involved Captain Rex of course, a generic clone commander, fives, three ARC strike teams and a bunch of clone corps. This list was able to share a lot of tokens; especially surge tokens to spend them on offense and defense. This list also would generate plenty of aims to make each shot count. The ARCs could be fed plenty of aims to provide excellent long range capability as well as anti-armor combined with Critical 1,.

This prototypical list was the benchmark for all other Republic lists and led to the oft heard saying, “it’s not a clone trooper so it’s bad.” This was said of units like the AT-RT and BARC speeder for instance.

Tierlist

This Tierlist gives a good overall view of what Republic probably looks like post rules changes. We see only two units in S tier, Padmé and Yoda. This is largely due to these two units providing very good support to the faction. Exemplar/Yoda’s 3 pip can help to mitigate the loss of multiple token sharing as Exemplar/Yoda’s card weren’t changed at all. These abilities also allow standby sharing which is a very good ability.

In this tierlist we can also see that vehicles are generally not rated very high. This is due mostly to GAR not having cheap corp options or cheap repair options. R2 before the points changes could act as a repair bot, but after the point changes it is harder to justify bringing R2 in republic. Some lists will definitely still bring R2 of course and R2 can still repair four wounds. R2/C3P0 is now also 70 points which is a lot, and probably turns the Padmé/R2-C3P0 combination from good to priced out of most lists.

We can also see that force users and wookiees are all rated quite highly. This is indicative of where the meta is at as well as points us to what kinds of lists we should probably be building.

From this tier list we can glean that most of the Republic units are still really good, the changes hit some of our best strategies but we have plenty of other opportunities to build lists and win games.

*This tier list is by no means definitive, especially newer units can easily find their way into different tiers as they are used and tested more.*

List 1, Hold Onto The Past

This list is the best clone gunline I can come up with. There are a few different ways to make clone gunlines in the new rules but this would definitely be a good starting point.

This list wants to shoot the enemy from afar and do it well. It has a decent amount of surge generation, Reliable 1 on Padmé by playing her 3-pip as well as Echo. The lone Echo strike team is definitely the ‘odd duck’ in this list. It does provide some long range fire power, as well as some anti-armor tech as Echo retained Critical 1. But 69 pts is really expensive for a strike team.

This list could also easily be tailored for your specific style or local meta. Changing Overwatch for Offensive Push would make the list worse at area denial but would increase its ability to strike first. You could also cut some upgrades or a heavy weapon and equip Padmé with her range 3 gun which would give you a very solid fire support platform. If your local meta lacked a lot of armour then an RPS could easily be converted to a Z-6 as well. The DC-15 is also a heavy weapon that was included as a flex option. It is probably overpriced, but it is both good at shooting infantry and packs Critical 1 which can help fill in the gap provided by not as many surge tokens, as well as providing a bit of anti-armor tech.

If you want to continue playing clone gunlines in the next stage of the game you will need to find a way to deal with melee skews. Standby sharing can help with that. You may also want to consider replacing the strike team with a unit of ‘baby wookiees’ which is melee wookiees with tenacity and offensive push. This unit would be a solid linebacker unit to help deal with melee units that make it to your lines.

List 2 Gunline +

A list that combines the strengths of the former and throws in a glow stick. This list now has more surge token generation, more Exemplar, fewer guns, and a force user. The idea here is to use your clones for area denial and then use Anakin as a melee linebacker if needed.

You will be able to generate 2 standby tokens to share to your clones per turn. This should allow you to win most gunline battles as well as get some early shots on approaching melee units. This list also has a solid fire support option with Anakin’s saber throw equipped. Be careful of when you play Anakin’s 1-pip however as once you do he will no longer be able to contribute standby tokens. This is because he either attacks during his activation which prevents him from taking a standby, or he doesn’t attack which means he takes a suppression token at the end of his activation which strips the standby. Either way he won’t have a standby token.

This list as currently built however does lack an effective way of mitigating Anakin’s flaw. Usually this is done by playing a 3-pip to get as many orders out of the bag as possible but that is not possible with the two cards in this hand. You could replace Padmé’s 3-pip with either Assault or the Republic generic 3-pip. This is very much up to personal preference and what you are comfortable taking yourself.

Another possible change is fitting Seize the Initiative onto Padmé. This would require either losing Vigilance, tenacity, or some other larger change. This would give you plenty of flexibility and would help mitigate the flaw, but would also weaken the combat potential of the list. Again, this is all personal preference and how you want to run your republic list.

List 3 Yoda and Wookiees

The first list we’ve seen with some wookiees in it. This list does make it to nine activations by having only one full wookiee squad and then two ‘baby’ wookiee squads. This list is looking to charge forward and get all the wookiees and Yoda into the thick of it as soon as possible. This playstyle is probably foreign to many republic players and we will likely be seeing of aggressive lists in the meta in the coming months.

This list will be looking to the phase 1s to complete any objectives such as damaging/repairing moisture vaporators. Note naked phase 1s can be decent at providing supporting fire, you can aim with 1 squad and then move shoot with another to project some fire that will break cover. Plus the phase 1s do still throw red saving dice so should be able to withstand at least some return fire.

Chewbacca in this list should be Yoda’s personal bodyguard to ensure he is protected at all times. Chewbacca’s command card can also do some janky things and at worse is a ‘break glass’ card, for when things are going really wrong.

Find more on Yoda and Chewbacca here

List 4 Bunch of Wookiees

One advantage of bringing wookiees in the republic over rebels is that you can bring more of them. This list brings 5 units of wookiees, all equipped with bowcasters. This list should be able to compete with any list in melee as well as has enough impact and pierce to take on most armor.

The idea here is again run forward and engage. Ideally you keep Chewbacca and the Chieftain together so that their wound pools essential merge. Managing their wound pools can help ensure they both stay on the table for as long as possible. Also in this list we see that both the Chieftain and Chewbacca have Seize the Initiative. This of course helps with order control. But also remember that when playing republic wookiee command cards seize will enable the effects of those cards to also be applied to Chewbacca and the Chieftain.

The BARCs in this list could also just be more naked Phase 1s. But it seems if you are charging forward speeders might be of some help as they help add more threat saturation and can flank to take out units that you cannot dedicate full wookiee units to, such as strike teams or depleted units.

The aggressive melee skew will be with with us for awhile it seems and the Republic is suited to be able to play these lists. The advantages for Republic is that there are extra units that synergize together especially with the generic wookiee command cards. The disadvantages are that we are forced to take expensive corp with no sub 50 pt units to help pad activations.

Find more about wookiees here

List 5 Many Things

A list that has seen some play around the world. Yoda + Padmé + R2 + Saber Tank is a list concept that seems rather crazy. Two units in Yoda and the Saber Tank that both are at or above 200 points, and two more characters on top of that.

The key to this list is making the Saber Tank fire as many times as possible. This is achieved through standby sharing with Padmé as well as Yoda on his 3-pip turn. Plus, Yoda can use Guidance on Padmé to take another standby token.

One thing that is not often seen that’s been added to this list is Force Guidance. This is to make sure that the Saber Tank always has as good as a defense as possible as if it is destroyed you likely lose the game. This force slot could easily be replaced by another upgrade you’d rather have, or, dropped entirely if you wanted to bid. Though, if you want to bid, dropping a binoc or scanner seems the more sensible option.

On top of a nearly indestructible Saber Tank that can shoot up to four times in one turn you have a really good force user that can help beat back any melee units that reach your line.

With this list you will want to force objectives and situations where your Saber Tank can lock down an area that your opponent is forced into. You really need to force your opponent to either take standby shots, or, not be able to interact with the objective.

One really cool play with this list is having a standby token ready on Padmé during Yoda’s 1-pip turn. You Force Push an enemy unit in front of the tank, shoot it with the standby. Then you guidance another standby onto Padmé. Then you recover Force Push and use it to push the same enemy unit again, or another unit to take another tank shot. This can easily help turn the tide of battle.

Synopsis

We can see that Republic will definitely have to change our overall strategies after the rules changes. We have definitely lost the oppressive ability to sit at long range and ‘leaf blower’ enemy armies off the table. We are certainly going to have to reach deeper into our unit roster to find tech that will help us to compete in the new and upcoming stage of the game.

I encourage caution when declaring the Republic ‘dead’ or any other faction for that matter. There are always ways to build lists and win. It seems the time for the Republic at the top of the mountain is done, but we are still going to be competing, and we may ascend the mountain once again.

Cheers,

Timbo