Corps Showdown
We all know that Corps units are integral to any Legion list. Whether as heavy hitters in your gun-line, escorts of a Medical droid to heal a key hero or as sneaky objective grabbers.
This article is The Legion Archive's first 'Rating Article' as we run through the Corps units available to each faction and rate them all out of 10 based upon taking them in an 800 point list. In this first part we run through the CIS' and the Rebel's corps options.
All in all there are 12 Corps units currently available (although 2 are hidden behind other units) in Legion. We know that is due to change shortly with the release of Mercenaries. If you want to read about the Pyke Corps units that are being released in June, see this article here:
CIS
B1 Battle Droids
B1 Battle droids look weak if you just give them a cursory glance. With their white dice in attack and defence with no native surge and an increase from their original points value of 36 to 38, their strengths lie in numbers. Yes, they have AI:Attack, but any commander worth their salt will be able to ensure their Coordinate chain remains intact, allowing B1s to pass orders to each other or ensuring that if they can't get orders out, that the AI doesn't come into play or impact the game too negatively.
B1s also come with a competent suite of heavy upgrades.
All 4 heavies have their places. Whether it be Radiation Cannons riding on the Persuader Class tank, E-5s or E-5C troopers adding some meat to the B1 gun-line or the E-60R trooper firing some non-cumbersome impact shots into enemy armour. For me, E5-s troopers serve the role the best with their Critical 1 at range 4. Whilst we might be in the wild-west of Meta at the moment, there is certainly a need for plently of Critical hits to circumnavigate the Spidery-vehicle monstrosities you might face as well as the dodge spams going on across some factions.
B1 Battle Droids - 8/10
B2 BAttle droids
The hay day of the B2 Battle Droids seems to have come and gone slightly. They are not being seen in huge amounts, but I still believe they have a place and are underrated.
Their ability to fire at least 2 reds, 3 blacks and 4 whites into a unit with no cover (thanks to Blast) can't be underestimated. Add another red dice or 2 more white dice with either the personnel slot Tactical droid or Viper Recon droid, you have a pretty solid dicepool, looking at an average of 5.5 hits if you take the Tac Droid. As you have now lost AI: Attack, if you're able to take an Aim, this takes the average number of hits to over 6.5.
I am an advocate for 1 or 2 of these in a CIS list to back up the advance of Magnas as they head towards the enemy lines. It certainly gives your opponent something to think about!
Of course, they still have white saves, but the Reliable 1 from the Tac droid certainly helps here.
B2 Battle Droids - 7/10
Rebels
rebel troopers
Probably the core of many a Rebel list. The Rebel troopers are high versatile as they can be loaded up with a heavy hitting DLT-20A, monitored by a Rebel Captain which will improve their defensive capabilities or they can be left naked and left to run around in the back field as Vaporator guardians or final turn Key position grabbers.
As far as their load out goes, the Z-6 is tried and tested and probably not in keeping with what a threatening Rebel list looks like these days (unless you have access to Aims from the A-A5 or elsewhere). The DLT-20A combined with a Captain and Situational awareness has been performing well for sometime. Given the continued need for Critical Hits, the DLT continues to pay for itself in long range kills and can make a mean Rebel gun-line supporting a collection of brave (sometimes stupid) Rebel heroes.
Both the Ion and SX-21 Trooper continue to be outperformed by their heavy counterparts and need continued points reductions or cards changes to see more impactful (!!) play.
Without dodge support Rebel troopers regardless of their makeup will dissolve to heavy fire and so tactical and careful play is needed to make the most out of them.
Rebel Troopers - 7/10
Fleet troopers
Fleets are power play pieces. They want to get up in the enemy's face and roll at least 8 dice at them with an aim token.
The addition of the A-A5 to the Rebel heavy inventory has reinvigorated the Fleets. They can hop in, take a ride to the enemy lines and hop out throwing 10 dice with Pierce 1 attached to it. With the Tactician in the bus, give them an aim and you are playing the Fleet Dice Lottery.
I would also recommend using them over naked Rebel Troopers if you are simply going down the route of a minimum Rebel Corps at 120 points. I like the combination of 2 Fleets and 1 Rebel Trooper. If all they are doing is objective consolidation then why not raise that ceiling to 8 dice rather than just the 4, which are probably not getting past cover!
Despite all of this, their heavy weaponry is limited and they can be difficult to use. If you don't have the party bus in your list then Fleets can struggle to make an impact.
Fleet Troopers - 6/10
Rebel Veterans (+ the MK II)
These guys are your more elite Rebel corps. They have Defend 1, which isn't really helping you all that much. I see them as having 2 mode of operation.
Mode 1 - Just equipping the Heavy weapon.
With the errata change from range 3 to 4 on the CM-0/93 (what a name!) and the Critical 2 these are a must take. Shooting 4 white 4 black dice that surge (as well as the Critical 2) at range 3 with an aim can be dangerous. At 74 points this is pretty solid.
As with most Rebel lists, there are often plenty of order hogging heroes of heavies and so without the order and the dodge these can still melt away to concentrated enemy fire.
Mode 2 - Comms tech
This mode is the let's give the Rebels more order control mode. Taking 2 of these units with 2 of the Mark II comes in at 210 points. Not bad for 4 activations at an average of 52.5 points per activation. A series of move/shoot and recover actions can ensure you are coordinating to your Mark II, giving you more order control and also setting up those fire supports for your other units.
The downside to this combo is that it is likely that the Veteran units are not going to do much for the entire game - and it's so easy to forget that recover action!!
Rebel Veterans - 7/10