Closed Lanes: Legion is Beginning to Feel Like a One-Way Street
November 18, 2024
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This unit guide will cover the contents of the new Wookiee Warriors expansion, including the original Wookiee Warriors, Kashyyyk Defenders, and Wookiee Chieftain commander.
I have been an unapologetic fan of Wookiee Warriors in Legion since the unit first debuted. I’ve included at least two units in every competitive list that I have run since the 2019 Las Vegas Open. Prior to their points and rules adjustment last year, this was not a popular choice. While they may not have been the most competitive unit throughout their existence, they’ve always been a fun unit to play. I hoped that with the debut of the Galactic Republic, we would one day see a more developed wookiee presence in Legion; complete with commanders, characters, and vehicles. That day has finally arrived.
Atomic Mass Games has finally revealed the full line-up of new wookiee troopers: the new Kashyyyk Defenders unit, Commander Chewbacca, and a generic commander Wookiee Chieftain. These also come with two new unit heavy weapon upgrades for both Rebel and Republic Wookiee Warriors and command cards for Commanders Chewbacca and the Wookiee Chieftain. While you’ll still have to include some Phase 1 or 2 Clone troopers to cover your Corps requirement, you can now field an army made up (almost) entirely of wookiees!
The Original Recipe Wookiees are going to be available for Republic lists for the first time with the debut of this expansion. This will be the same up-close and personal unit that Rebels currently have. (Keep in mind that the Wookiee Warriors saw a point reduction to 69 points for a unit of 3.)
Let’s now look at the new Wookiee Warriors…Kashyyyk Defenders.
72 points- The Kashyyyk defenders come in at a similar price point as their original recipe counterparts (69 points.) One point per model more expensive. Add 26 or 31 points for a heavy and 3 extra wounds. Overall, 100 points is a heavy investment, but worth it.
Defense- White dice with no surge. Their defense is in their number of wounds, not their saves.
Offense-
Combat Training– Melee 1 Black, 1 White with surge-to-hit. This will average out to one hit per model without aims. It’s worse than the original wookiee squad, who throw 2 Black with surge.
X1 Carbine -Range 1-3 two White dice with surge-to-hit. While the range 3 really helps give these wookiees a bit more ability to reach out and touch someone, the decreased quality in dice make aims a necessity.
Unit Keywords-
Indomitable- Unlike my dog during 4th of July fireworks, these fuzzy companions shrug off suppression with the greatest of ease. Nothing has changed here from the OG wookiees.
Scale- This gives wookiees almost as much mobility as the Jump keyword. Leap tall (Range 1) buildings in a single bound! Again, same as the old wooks.
Sharpshooter-This is where we see the distinct difference between the Defenders and the ol’ Warriors. The ability to ignore Cover 1, coupled with the longer range, makes this unit more suited to ranged warfare. Also, the loss of the Charge keyword makes them less likely to engage in melee.
Upgrades- The Kashyyyk Defenders lose out on one training slot compared to the old wookiees. The traditional build for Rebel Wookiee Warriors was often including Tenacity, Offensive Push, and Recon Intel. If this unit is equipped for ranged combat, Offensive Push may be the go-to Training upgrade over Tenacity.
The new wookiee unit expansion comes with three options with which to kit out your Rebel or Republic Wookiee Warriors.
Long Gun Wookiee
The first of the two new heavy weapon upgrades is the appropriately named Long Gun Wookiee. It extends the range to 4 while adding the Suppressive keyword. While I can’t see putting this on the old wookiee warriors, there is an argument to be made for adding him to a unit of Kashyyyk Defenders. (Although not a strong one.) It is 5 points cheaper than the Bowcaster, so if you desperately need to trim a few points off your list, this is a possibility.
The new options are nice, but the combination of Impact and Pierce is just too good to pass up, especially with the new Kashyyyk Defenders. At Range 3, it synergizes perfectly with the X1 Carbines, and the addition of Sharpshooter is a huge upgrade.
Finally, a melee heavy weapon option for the wookiees. This is an extremely versatile piece of equipment that can upgrade the melee dice to two red, or flip the card at the start of your activation to gain Armor 1 (at the cost of reduced speed.) This essentially gives you two modes: “camp the objective” or “bash some clankers.” A classic wookiee warrior squad with the Shield upgrade comes in at 95 points, which is a bargain if you are looking to run up the board and wreak havoc.
The first Commander we are going to look at is included in the Wookiee Warrior expansion is the Wookiee Chieftain. Both he and Commander Chewbacca are going to be Galactic Republic-only.
100 points- In a faction that cannot spare a lot of points, it’s great to have another cheap option at Commander. Of course, he’s still more expensive than Rex and the Clone Commander, which is going to turn him off to many traditional GAR players.
Defense- A wookiee with surge for defense!? It’s still not anything to write home about, but couple that with his 7 wounds and the Duelist, and he’s got some decent survivability.
Attack-
Ancestral Weapon- Who needs an AT-ST when you’ve got a wookiee that throws a double rainbow in melee? This dice pool, with surge-to-hit and Duelist, makes his melee attack nearly as good as a Jedi’s.
Chieftain’s Bowcaster- As if the melee attack wasn’t enough, he has the best shooting attack of any Commander we seen so far. His Bowcaster is more consistent than the standard heavy trooper option, yet still retains the Impact and Pierce keywords.
Unit Keywords- Since many of the same keywords appear on both the Kashyyyk Defenders and the Chieftain, we will just take a look at the added ones.
Agile- Getting a dodge for a move action on a unit that already has Scale is huge. Just wait until you add…
Charge- That’s right, in one normal move action, you get a free clamber, a dodge token, AND a free melee attack at the end. This is going to give this unit incredible action economy that we haven’t seen since Tauntauns. If only there was a way to…
Upgrades
Training- …get an Aim token with your move. Both his melee and ranged attacks can benefit greatly from the aim token gained by Offensive Push. And just like his furry sidekicks, you should staple Tenacity to him. Because who doesn’t need another Red die when you’ve already got a double rainbow?
Command- Here’s where things a bit more interesting. As a Republic Commander, he is often going to be leading units that need Surge tokens, so Aggressive Tactics is a possibility. However, with the poor order control from his command cards, you will rarely get the mileage out of the 15 points. Vigilance and Improvised Orders are better options, but I don’t think there is a must-take Command upgrade for the Chieftain.
Gear– As with the other wookiees, Recon Intel is a great upgrade, but the Chieftain is also an excellent candidate for Emergency Stims.
The Wookiee Chieftain’s Command cards buck the trend of the Command card power creep we have seen with recent Commander expansions. While they are fun and flavorful, they certainly aimed at wookiee-skew builds. To get their full effect, you have to shout the names of every command card as you issue them. Also noteworthy, each of these Command cards can also be issued by Commander Chewbacca.
An extremely angry roar
The 3-pip introduces the keyword: Demoralize. This kind of works as a negative Inspire, handing out X suppression tokens to an enemy unit within Range 2. It gives average order control with three Troopers, and the bonus only applies to Wookiee Troopers. At this time, the only Wookiee troopers are the Chieftain, Chewbacca, and up to three units of either flavor of Wookiee Warrior. The card, at best, delivers three suppression in a turn. This is under-achieving, especially in a faction that doesn’t do well with “suppression builds.” Even in a Wookiee-heavy skew, it’s not a great card.
Up into the trees!
Sticking with the theme of “only giving benefits to Wookiee trooper units,” this Command card gives 2 orders to Wookiee Troopers in addition to Agile 1. On melee Wookiees who already have Charge, Scale, and Offensive Push, this gives Chieftain-level action economy to your regular warriors. Again, this a singularly-focused Command card.
An old Wookiee proverb, roughly translated in Galactic Basic as “People often mistakenly judge a tree by its branches, but a wise Wookiee knows its strength is in its roots
An even more specific and restrictive Command Card, this can only be issued to a Special Forces or Support unit. The benefit of 1 Aim, 1 Dodge, and 1 Surge token can only be gained if the unit receiving the order has been wounded or lost models. This is the only card that isn’t limited to Wookiee troopers, so if you’d rather throw this on a wounded full ARC squad, you can still get those tokens. But if you’re running ARCs, you aren’t running Wookiees, and in that case, you shouldn’t have made it this far into the article.
Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat: these are not competitive lists. At the moment, the Republic is centered around the Clone Trooper keyword, and until we know more about what the Wookiee Fluttercraft brings to the army, it’s tough to make a true wookiee-themed list. Let’s see what we can do for now.
This list is all about getting those old school Wookiee Warriors into melee, accompanied by Chewbacca and their Chieftain. The new Battleshield upgrades will give those Wookiees some extra punch up close as well as the added durability in case they need to hold down some objectives. This list will struggle hard against armor, as it lacks a great source of Impact or Critical hits. It has 4 Phase 1 squads to pad the activation count a bit and throw a few DC-15 shots at long range.
With the Wookiee Range list, we’re looking to take advantage of the Sharpshooter and extended range of the Kashyyyk Defender Wookiees. You’ll want to play these Wookiees with a bit more nuance, as the lack of Charge and Tenacity as well as weaker melee dice will make these units hit like a wet noodle up close.
I can’t make a whole Wookiee article without showing some love to the Rebel Alliance. This list uses the new A-A5 loaded with the Battle Shield Wookiee, and Chewbacca and two units of Kashyyyk Defenders can use those Bowcasters at range to provide some fire support. And at 10 activations, you won’t have to play too many activations less than your opponent…something that the Republic doesn’t have the luxury of.
The latest “wave” for Star Wars Legion features some key pieces from the Battle of Kashyyyk. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the Wookiee counterparts to Yoda are going to be as impactful as the Jedi Master. As excited as I am to have new ways to run my Wookiees and new commanders to be leading them, they just don’t play well with what currently exists in the Republic faction. Hopefully some new units and cards will give GAR commanders a playable option to move away from “all clones, all the time.” As for the new Wookiee options for the Rebels, I like the variety presented by the new heavy weapon upgrades and Kashyyyk Defenders. They may not be meta-shifting, they are still cool new options.
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2 Responses
I’ve always held that if a unit isn’t going to be great it should at least be fun to play. I think the wookiees fill that nicely: they may not shift the meta or turn heads at tournaments by their presence alone, but man am I going to have fun making wookiee noises and pushing these units around the board in casual play. I’m excited for them!
Nice article but Demoralize was introduced with Fear, Dooku release. https://starwarslegion.fandom.com/wiki/Fear