You Have Something I Want - Squad Reactions

They have now shown Moff Gideon, Death Trooper Escort, and the Darktroopers. I will talk about how I think they'll all work both together and individually. You can still consider this article speculation since everything can be way different on paper than on the table. Eventually, I will be writing Unit Guides on most/all of the units in the game, but that will have to wait until I can get some playtime in with them.

(Personal Sidenote: I am beginning a transition to Full-Time Commission Painting. If you are interested in seeing my work or inquiring about getting some painting done please feel free to message me on Facebook, Reddit, Or wherever you saw this article. Otherwise, here is a link to my Fiverr account. )

Thank you, and now back to our regularly scheduled programming!

Primary - Moff Gideon

• 8 SP - This is about what I was expecting. It allows his supporting cast to be a little more powerful which I like. Hopefully, 8 remains the most flexible slot for Empire as it is for CIS and GAR.
• 3 FP - Tracks. Nothing surprising here.
• 10 Stamina / 3 Durability - This is good. 10/2 is a very healthy amount of HP. He should be able to take a really good hit before getting wounded and he'll likely never leave the table.

Smug Determination - This is a Tactic Ability with no cost. At the start of this unit's activation, choose an allied Galactic Empire character within [range] 4. Each character in this unit and the chosen unit may [dash]. Man, oh, man. Free moves are good especially when you get to hand out upwards of three at once. Empire units will love this.

Long Live the Empire - This is an Active Ability with a cost of 1 FP. Choose an active objective and an allied Galactic Empire supporting unit. One character in that chosen unit may [reposition] toward that objective. Then the chosen unit suffers [damage][damage]. If this effect wounds the chosen unit, that unit may remove one wounded token, all [damage], and one condition from itself. If it does, that unit gains an injured token. This is a really neat ability, but it seems highly situational at first glance. The 1 FP cost for a reposition is not bad, but to get the full effect you're gonna need a few stars to align. If you can get the full effect, then this ability should be quite good. It essentially makes sure that your chosen unit will be contesting this turn.

Assume That I Know Everything - This is an Innate Ability with no cost. When an opposing player would spend [force] to place a unit's order card in reserve, they must spend 1 additional [force]. Very straightforward, and very good. This should make your opponent think twice before reserving their cards. It could allow teams with Gideon to take advantage of poor randomness to win.

You Have Something I Want - This is an Identity Ability with no cost. When an allied Galactic Empire character performs a [melee] attack as part of a combat action, if the defender is contesting an active objective that you do not control, add one die to the attack roll. First part here. Very cool. Once again, super straightforward and pretty much always good. One extra dice could mean the difference between winning and losing an objective.

Additionally, when determining control of an active objective that a character in this unit is contesting, if there is a tie, this unit's controlling player takes control of the objective. Second part. Also very good. Being able to effectively contest and win objectives with one body is incredible. If Gideon can make it, then he can mess up some backline objectives. I also love the theme of this ability. It makes him feel like a true ISB Officer. This could maybe have some play with the Inquisitor box as well.

Burn Them Out

This seems like Gideon's more combat-oriented stance. He gets 6 attack dice at range and 7 in melee. 5 defense dice at range and 6 in melee. Those are pretty respectable numbers. His ranged expertise is garbage. Don't get me wrong, extra strikes are still nice, but when you compare him to other Primaries who are generating billions of Crits, it just doesn't cut the mustard. His Melee expertise, on the other hand, is pretty solid. He's getting crits and at least on damage at every level which is great. His defensive expertise is also good. He gets an okay amount of blocks at 1-2, but once you go higher and get those crit->strikes or crit deletes you're gonna be much better off. The combat tree here is simple, yet effective. It's topping out at 9 damage, or 11 with expertise. There are a few decent choices for effects and abilities, and the wonderful Free Active Ability Icon. I love it. I dream of proccing free actives during combat. There are very few things I find more satisfying in this game.

Self-Interest

This is his more ability/effect-oriented stance. He's getting the same dice as the previous stance, but both attack and defense have been swapped. His ranged exercise gets a lot better on this side. He is going to generate some crits and Pins! I think the Pins on Expertise is really good. Both his Melee and Defensive expertise are identical to before, aside from his 4+ Defense having a Reposition instead of a heal. The combat tree here has significantly more abilities and effects but only tops out at 7 damage or 9 with expertise. He gets lots of heals, shoves, one of every condition (if you include his expertise), and, once again, The Free Active Ability Icon! Woo hoo!

Overall, I think Moff Gideon looks good. I think he has a few weak points here and there, but nothing major. He seems like the kind of Empire character that could find his way into many different lists, with or without his other box contents. I am excited to see how he plays on the table and very excited to paint him up.

Secondary - Death Trooper Escort

• 4 PC - Makes sense since Gideon is 8. I was honestly kind of expecting him to be a 3pc with 5pc Dark Troopers, but I think this is also fine.
• o FP -
• 9 Satmina/ 2 Durability - It's the standard. It should be enough to keep him on the table if your primaries are getting focus fired, but any focus on him and he'll likely become dead.

Imperial Efficiency - This is a Tactic Ability with no cost. At the start of this unit's activation, choose an allied Galactic Empire supporting unit. Each character in the chosen unit may [dash]. If the chosen unit has any [damage], each character in that unit may instead [reposition]. On top of my usual "FRee MoVes GuD", this ability seems great. With how mobile the Dark Troopers seem to be and with some of the Inquisitors around, this could be really handy to have in your toolkit.

Tactical Advantage - This is an Active Ability with a cost of 1 FP. Each character in this unit may [dash]. If any characters [dash], this unit immediately makes a focus action. Love it. If you're going to be shooting with him anyway, you might as well use this. Gideon himself seems fairly force-cheap, so I think you should be safe to use this pretty frequently.

Disciplined - This is a Reactive Ability with a cost of 1 FP. After an attack targeting a character in this unit is resolved, if this unit is not wounded, this unit may use this ability. Each character in this unit may [reposition] toward an active objective. After the move is resolved, if no characters in this unit are engaged, this unit gains [hunker]. Man, so far all of these Abilities are great. This one is just straight-up good. There is pretty much no downside outside of its cost. I could see this ability to be extremely good when proced, but even better as a sort of pseudo-deterrent to attacking him.

Rigorous Training - This is an Innate Ability with no cost. Characters in this unit have Protection and Sharpshooter [1]. Once again, this is really solid. Especially if you're using Tactical Advantage as often as I think you should. He'll be throwing Primary levels of dice on his attacks. Protection is also great! His decent health pool just became really good. This ability helps a lot from chips shots or death by a thousand cuts, but I'd still be wary having him anywhere near Primaries who can drop 10+ damage in an attack.

Death Trooper Training

Man, this is not bad. 7 attack dice at both ranges and 5 defense dice at both ranges is wonderful. This really does look like one side of a Primary stance card to me. Both his melee and ranged expertise are identical. He doesn't gen any crits until 3+ but I think that's fine for a Secondary unit. Getting a Dash at 5+ is also really good and sticks with the very mobile theme of this box. I am also a huge fan of units, like Rex, who are range agnostic. They can be wherever you need them to be and will perform no matter what. His defensive expertise is not flashy, but it's alright. It will put in some work, but won't do a ton to help. The combat tree is good. It tops out at 7 damage and/or a whole slew of effects and abilities. I would like to highlight his bottom row here. Two shoves, a Pin, and a Reposition is incredible. Moving your opponent where you want them, pinning them, and running away sounds like a real blast.

Overall, I am actually really excited for this guy. I am usually not a "Bad Guy" or "Dark Side" player in any game, but I cannot wait to get this box on the table. I think the Death Trooper Escort will find his way into many, if not every, Empire list I make and I suspect that will be the case for many folks.

Support - Dark Troopers

• 4 PC - I was honestly expecting these guys to be a 5, but I think a 4 is still fair.
• o FP -
• 8 Satmina/ 2 Durability - This feels fine. When you consider their keywords, 8 should be more than enough to keep them kicking and contributing.

Jump Boots - This is an Active Ability with a cost of 1 FP. Each character in this unit may [Jump]. I knew they had to have some sort of Jumpy move. I'm glad it's on their unit card and I'm glad it's simple. This is the type of ability that can be unit-defining. In addition to DTE's abilities, the Dark Troopers are shaping up to be very mobile.

Coordinated Fire: [Strain] - This is a Reactive Ability with no cost. (They confirmed that the Innate icon was a typo and this is indeed a Reactive). When another allied Galactic Republic character makes an attack as part of a combat action, before dice are rolled, this Unit may use this ability. If the targeted character is within [Range] 5 of a character in this Unit, the target gains [Strain]. I don't particularly like CF: Strain anywhere else it appears in the game so far. I can't really imagine I will like it here. It's an ability that can be okay if you can proc unintentionally, but I would never go out of my way to set this up.

Immovable - This is an Innate Ability with no cost. Characters in this unit cannot be Pushed or Pulled by abilities. Holy Moly. This Ability is fantastic. Plop them down on an Objective, and they will be sitting there unless someone wants to/ is even able to shove them. I like that it took so long to introduce something like this, and I like that it's on them. I could see this causing some serious issues for certain teams.

Unrelenting - This is an Innate Ability with no cost. Characters in this unit have Protection and Immunity [Pin]. Protection makes me feel a lot more comfortable with their 8 Stamina. Immunity Pin is very good and very thematic. It will hopefully make them feel like the scary giant robots they are.

Combat Programming

This is not bad either. Just like their DTE friend, they have symmetrical dice for both attack and Defense. Their ranged expertise is not bad, but not super great. Their melee expertise, on the other hand, looks like something off of a Force User Primaries stance card. Generating crits at every level is very nice, and the extra damage can't hurt. Their Defensive Expertise also looks like something off of a Primary stance. Crit changes at every level, in addition to blocks! Woah! These guys are going to be a tough nut to crack. Their combat tree is not bad either, though, it's way off-center on the card and it's bugging me. They top out at 7 damage or 8 with expertise. They also get a good amount of abilities and effects. The fact that they have two shoves, but cannot be shoved back is very good. The addition of a Jump also makes them feel even more mobile than they already do.

Overall, I am a big fan of these guys. I can't say I'm as excited for them as I am for the Death Trooper, but I do think they will be very good. I could also see them going into various Empire lists since they seem pretty independent from restrictive Keyword abilities and such.

I think this box is going to add a lot of utility to Empire lists. I could see all 3 of these units, the DTE in particular, being staples for Empire players for a long time. I cannot wait to see how they feel on the table and paint up these beautiful minis.

Thanks for Reading!