Today, The Rebellion Dies - Squad Reactions

They have now shown Iden Versio, Gideon Hask, Del Meeko, and Imperial Special Forces. 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.

Primary - Commander Iden Versio

8 SP - This is right where I was expecting her to be. I am glad that they are sort of fleshing out Empire with 8 cost primaries to start out. I like the flexibility.
3 FP - This is standard I guess? Lately, force points have been all over the place, so I am glad to see one going back to the norm.
9 Stamina/ 3 Durability - With no super defensive abilities in Empire yet, this feels a bit on the low side. She does have plenty of access to heals though, so that could make up for it.

Today, The Rebellion Dies - This is a Tactic Ability with no cost. At the start of this unit's activation, each other allied Galactic Empire Scout character within [range] 4 that is not engaged may [dash]. Then, one character in this unit may [dash]. This ability is insane. She is potentially able to move, at the time of writing, up to five different characters at one time. FIVE. It could be more in the future too. I think in general you will want to do your best to keep them away from engagement, but even if you only get to move 2 or 3 bodies it's still very very good.

Covert Operations - This is an Active Ability with a cost of 1 FP. Each character in this unit may [dash]. If one or more characters end this movement within [range] 4 of an enemy character, this unit immediately makes a focus action and characters in this unit have Sharpshooter [1] until the end of the turn. This is a very neat ability as well. Extra mobility is always good. The stipulation of needing to end within 4 of an enemy is not terrible, but it could prove to be a bit scary for them. I think it is still likely worth using fairly often though.

ID10 Seeker Droid - This is an Active Ability with a cost of 1 FP. Choose an enemy unit within [range] 3. The chosen unit removes all its [hunker]. If no [hunker] were removed, the chosen unit gains [expose]. This is a very good way to easily charge up her attack on demand. Either you remove access to cover or you get to expose your target. Either way, you're making her hit a lot harder. This is also a very solid counter to any Hunker lists like General Obi.

The Empire Sends Its Regards - This is an Identity Ability with no cost. When an allied Galactic Empire character wounds an enemy unit with an attack, after the effect is resolved, that allied character may choose another enemy unit within [range] 4. The chosen unit gains [disarm] or [strain]. Then the allied character may [heal] and [dash]. This Identity is very good. Dishing out extra effects after wounding is excellent. You really get to spread the love around. After you dish out a disarm or strain, you then get to dash and heal. Free moves after wounding are wonderful. You are likely going to be wounding things anyway, so this is nothing but pure profit. I love it.

Full Auto

Unlike many Priamries in the game so far, Iden's two stances are a bit hard to define. I would maybe call this one her more combat-oriented stance. She's rolling eight attack dice at range five and six in melee, this is a very good starting point for her. She also gets five defense dice at range and four in melee. Her ranged expertise is very interesting. She generates crits like it's going out of style but she also gets to change one block to a fail from 1-4 and two blocks to fails at five or more. As I understand it, this is almost identical if not slightly worse than just generating a strike, so we will see if this feels like it does much. Her melee expertise is pretty much the same as her range. She pushes out a good amount of crits and also a good amount of BlockFails. Her defensive expertise is actually very good. No crit mitigation is a little bit sad but not the end of the world. At least two blocks at every level is nice, but it's only ever two. She also gets a heal at three or more and a reposition at four or more. Seems like she is going to be healing and moving a lot. The combat tree here is solid. It tops out at seven damage, which is a little low for a primary but not bad at all. She can put out a Pin and an Expose, up to three shoves and a dash or three heals and a repossition. I think either up or down will be a fine option depending on the current boardstate.

Burst Fire

The reason I say she does not feel normal is that this stance does potentially more damage, and rolls more defense dice, but does not have as good of an attack expertise. It does have a better defensive expertise though, so maybe this is he "defensive side." She is rolling seven dice at range five and six in melee. She gets five defense dice for both this time. Her ranged expertise is nearly identical. It still generates a ton of crits, but it does not have nearly as many BlockFails. Her melee expertise is the exact same as Full Auto. Her defensive expertise sports the same symbols, but they come at different levels. One is two blocks, two is two blocks and a heal, and three or more is two blocks, a heal, and a reposition. Her combat tree is probably the biggest difference. She tops out at nine (kinda ten) damage this time but she does not have close to as many shoves. She can still put out an Expose and/or a Pin. She gets one shove, two heals, and one reposition as well. The interesting bit here is that she has access to two Pins. One in column one and one in column four. This means you can potentially do ten damage in an attack if you choose to apply both Pins.

Overall, I am rather excited to get Iden on the table. I am not usually an Empire player, in fact, over easily 400+ games across Armada, Legion, X-Wing, and Shatterpoint, I have NEVER played a game as Empire, ever. So this will be a first for me and I am looking forward to it.

Secondary - Gideon Hask

4 PC - This lines up with what I was anticipating. I didn't think anyone in this box would've been worthy of a 5pc or 3pc.
0 FP -
8 Stamina/ 2 Durability - Not bad, but not great. Once again, not a lot of access to particularly good defensive abilities so this could get cut down fast.

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. We have seen this ability on Moff Gideon. I guess if your name is Gideon, you get this ability. This is a pretty solid ability. Extra moves, especially repositions, are very good in this game. I have never seen someone intentionally wound their own unit with this yet though. I could see a small scenario where you might want to, but it will not come up very often. The other issue here is that the supporting units in this box will probably not want to take any damage when they don't have to, since they're all kinda low.

Covert Operations - This is an Active Ability with a cost of 1 FP. Each character in this unit may [dash]. If one or more characters end this movement within [range] 4 of an enemy character, this unit immediately makes a focus action and characters in this unit have Sharpshooter [1] until the end of the turn. The same thing goes for him as goes for Iden. This is good and probably very useful when you need it, but the range four stipulation will probably feel a bit counter-productive sometimes. I don't think you will need to use this every time he or Iden goes.

May We Live Up to Our Name - This is an Innate Ability with no cost. When this unit is wounded by an attack, after the effect is resolved, one character in this unit may immediately [dash] and make a 5 dice attack targeting the character that wounded it. This is very good. If he gets wounded you get to retaliate and more importantly, move. (edit: since this is an INNATE ability, it will never cost anything And therefore is pretty much always going to be beneficial to use.)

Defiance Will be the Death of You - This is an Innate Ability with no cost. When an allied Galactic Empire character makes an attack as part of a combat action, if the target is within [range] 5 of one or more other allied Galactic Empire Scout characters, it adds [strike] to the attack roll. This ability on the other hand, is very good and will always work! This can kinda act as a strike that is not on their expertise. This, in theory, means that the BlockFails on their cards will actually be kinda useful.

Imperial Aggression

This stance is not bad at all. He is throwing seven dice at range five and six in melee. He also gets five for both defenses. His ranged expertise is also very solid. He generates crits and extra damage at every level, which is amazing. He also gets a BlockFail at three and four or more. His melee expertise is good. Lots of crits to go around means he probably won't mind doing some punching. His defensive expertise is very good. It is almost identical to Iden's except at level one he gets a block and heal vs her two blocks. The combat tree is nice. It tops out at seven damage or eight with expertise. He can do up to two shoves, two dashes, a heal, and six damage or he can do one strain, one shove, one dash, and seven damage. I think both options will have their place, but for me, the bottom row looks very appealing.

Overall, I think Gideon is going to be excellent on the table. I am excited to see what he is capable of. I think he is pretty straightforward and I love what he does to support the other Empire Scouts alongside him.

Support - Del Meeko

4 PC - This makes sense and I am okay with it.
0 FP -
8 Stamina/ 2 Durability - Same thing I said for Iden and Gideon.

Trick Shot - This is a Tactic Ability with no cost. At the start of this unit's activation, if no characters in this unit are engaged, choose an enemy unit in LOS. The chosen unit suffers [damage] and removes all its [hunker]. This ability is amazing on Crosshair, so it will be amazing here. Free damage and hunker removal at any range is very good.

Covert Operations - This is an Active Ability with a cost of 1 FP. Each character in this unit may [dash]. If one or more characters end this movement within [range] 4 of an enemy character, this unit immediately makes a focus action and characters in this unit have Sharpshooter [1] until the end of the turn. Unlike Iden and Gideon, Del will want to use this ability absolutely every single time he activates. He will need the focus and extra moves desperately if you take advantage of his final ability.

Deadeye - This is an Innate Ability with no cost. Characters in this unit have Sharpshooter [2]. When a character in this unit makes a [ranged] attack, the target does not benefit from Cover. This stacks with his previous ability, so that means if he uses Covert Ops (always), then you effectively have Sharp [3]. He also denies cover like all of the other snipers in the game so far, which is very powerful.

Special Forces Sniper - This is an Innate Ability with no cost. This unit may make a combat action up to two times during its activation instead of the normal one. This is his defining ability. He is the first unit in the game that can take the same action twice in one activation. There are a few things about this though:

He is a support unit, so this just makes him feel like a normal support unit except he is only one body that does not win ties and it takes two actions for his two attacks when a normal support gets two attacks off of one action.
All of his focus shenanigans only apply to the first attack after he focuses. He can roll up to ten dice on his one attack, but his other attack will always be six. You can covert ops -> attack ten -> attack six or you can attack six -> covert ops ->attack ten.

These two notes make this ability feel a bit worse than at first glance. It is likely still a good ability, but is it better than moving and shooting? Probably not very often.

Suppressive Fire

This stance is not bad. He throws base six dice at range five, but this should essentially always be ten. He also gets six in melee. His defenses are five at range and four in melee. His ranged expertise is... fine I guess? The fact that he is supposed to be the sniper but does not generate any crits until three expertise sucks. Steadfast immune shoves are good though, so he does have at least that going for him. His melee expertise is solid, but it is not what he wants to be doing. His defensive expertise is okay. It is slightly worse than Hasks since it takes more expertise icons to move up the chart. He essentially has clone armor with a heal, which we know is not super good. His combat tree is fine. It tops out at six damage. He can also potentially do disarm, pin, strain, expose, reposition, and heal. I will say this: five damage and three different conditions are pretty incredible. Even better if you shoot your initial target again and just end up with eight damage.

Overall, I think Del is the weak link in this box. He is not terrible by any means but I don't think he's all that great personally. I get that two attacks is cool and new, but he likely would've been worth using if he did not have that ability and all of the unfortunate weaknesses that come with it.

Support - Imperial Special Forces

4 PC - Tracks
0 FP -
8 Stamina/ 2 Durability - Also Tracks.

Special Forces Conditioning - This is a Tactic Ability with no cost. At the start of this unit's activation, it may remove [damge] and one condition from itself. Man, oh, man. Why is this ability not on every unit from this box? It is so good and incredibly useful, especially when you look at all of their stat lines. This is amazing!

Cover Operations - This is an Active Ability with a cost of 1 FP. Each character in this unit may [dash]. If one or more characters end this movement within [range] 4 of an enemy character, this unit immediately makes a focus action and characters in this unit have Sharpshooter [1] until the end of the turn. Like Iden and Gideon, they will like using this ability, but by no means will it be necessary to use it every time they activate. It is good, but using it every time will make the force situation a bit rough.

Infiltration - This is an Innate Ability with no cost. When deploying characters in this unit, characters may be placed within [range] 3 of the first places character from that squad's primary unit, instead of the normal [range] 1. Oh, yes! I love the clone version of this ability on Ponds and this version is even better! I need to do the measurements at some point but this might actually allow them to threaten mid-line objectives with just a dash. If that is the case then this ability is incredible and if it is not the case then, at worst, this ability is great.

ISF Doctrine

There is a funny little note here and that is: This stance card is 99% identical to Clone Commando's stance card. (Gideon's is almost Rex's as well) However, this one is better and Gideons is better, in my opinion. For reference:

All that is different is the third level of the defensive expertise chart.

With all of that said, we know for certain that the Commando stance is very good, and therefore we know that the ISF stance is very good. I will not really go too deep into this one since we already know how it feels and plays.

Overall, I am VERY excited to put the ISF on the table. I think they are going to be amazing in Themed lists and maybe even in lists without any other Inferno units. I think they are going to be an excellent choice for a long time.

I think this box is going to be very good overall. There are a few weird outliers as far as abilities go, but I think this box will see a lot of play. I am a bit sad that Del Meeko is seemingly lackluster, but I think that is fine. Iden, Gideon, and ISF all seem very very good after a first read and I can't wait to get them all on the table.

Thanks for reading!