With a recent COVID-19 lockdown in Brisbane which meant my kids were at home and the Easter holidays near, I challenged them all to put some lists together to get ready for a league we'd run over the holiday period.
My eldest son and I played first. He's a bit of a fan of Death Troopers and immediately got to work putting together a force of them:
495/500
6 Activations
Director Orson Krennic (Aggressive Tactics, Strict Orders)
Boba Fett
2x Stormtroopers
Scout Troopers (Strike Team) (DLT-19x Sniper)
Imperial Death Troopers (DLT-19D Trooper, Hunter, E-11D)
Ambush•, Voracious Ambition•, Push••, Deploy the Garrison••, Assault•••, Annihilation Looms•••, Standing Orders••••
I normally spend all my time running Empire so I'd figured I'd better start using some of the other painted models in the games room and put together a force with Han Solo at the helm:
495/500
7 Activations
Han Solo (Duck and Cover)
Chewbacca (Tenacity)
Rebel Troopers
Mark II Medium Blaster Trooper
Rebel Veterans (CM-O93 Trooper)
Rebel Commandos (Strike Team) (Proton Charge Saboteur)
Tauntaun Riders (Tenacity)
Ambush•, Sorry About the Mess•, Push••, Reckless Diversion••, Covering Fire•••, Change of Plans•••, Standing Orders••••
I won the initiative roll off and we ended up with the following cards:
Deployment:
 |
| Objective marker just underneath the archway |
Turn 1 - Standing Orders vs Standing Orders
Most units push forward slightly with the Dawn condition card meaning not too many shots got off this turn. However the Stormtroopers push up and take a Standby action preventing me from using my Tauntaun the way I intended (to eliminate the Snipers on the flank).
I pushed my Commandos up and dropped a mine to hurt some Imperial folk right before Boba swooped in and deleted them. Mental note to wait patiently with them next time....
In response Han pushes forward and puts a wound onto Boba and the Death Troopers seeing Han out in the open blast into him. I'm lucky though and through Duck & Cover, Uncanny Luck and Guardian, Han is untouched and Chewie takes a single wound. The Walking Carpet then unleashes with his Bowcaster dropping 3 of the Death Troopers. The Tauns move closer to the Death Troopers to finish them off however all the rounds bounce off their armour.
Turn 2 - Sorry About the Mess vs Voracious Ambition.
The Rebel Veterans aim and take shot attempting to wipe out the remaining Death Troopers but it is not meant to be. The Death Troopers put more wounds onto the Wookie triggering the Charge keyword. I don't waste anytime and throw Chewie into Boba Fett before he can escape managing 2 more wounds.
It is the Tauns who eventually score the kill after a charge but not before Boba Fett puts another 2 wounds back onto Chewbacca. The Medium Blaster moves to look over the objective and takes a standby action which would later trigger from Stormtrooper movement, producing only a suppression token.
Han pushes forward and kills the Sniper team and dropping a pair of Stormtroopers.
Krennic pushes forward to contest any victory points from the objective meaning no score this round.
Turn 3 - Reckless Diversion vs Annihilation Looms
Han takes an order token whilst the Rebel Veterans take one chaining an order onto the Blaster. With the Blaster being in a position and visible to most of the units it would force them to attack it if able.
Han goes first kills the final pair of Stormtroopers removing an activation and then Gunslinging another pair of casualties from the remaining Stormtrooper unit. I then move him towards the objective. At this stage my son is only left with Krennic, two Stormtroopers and two Death Troopers. He makes his choice to concede after we talk about the game in detail in terms of what he could have done to play better.
Result - Rebel Victory
Conclusion
It was a welcome change to play the Rebels for me and I did enjoy the list. It had the fast hitting elements of the Tauntaun Riders and enough black dice to do some damage at distance. I really did enjoy Han's pistol and consistent firepower although if Chewbacca isn't around to use Guardian I'm not sure he'll survive late game. I really need to use my Commandos move wisely and I didn't even use Scout 2 which may have had an impact.
My son rushed Boba Fett in rather than sit back with him and deal consistent damage over time. I think he got a bit fixated on the objective and rather than being patient he swarmed it to prevent me gaining victory points. We discussed him using his Sniper team to better effect alongside with Boba Fett and each turn they'd be really putting the hurt on a unit consistently.
I'll put the next game up between my son's in the future.
Thanks for reading.
- James
