ECHO BASE DEFENDERS - Battle Force Review

Welcome to the first in a series of articles where we break down the new battle forces now that AMG have released their details.

So, it's long been speculated that we might see FFG/AMG make a bigger deal of the Hoth scenes from The Empire Strikes back. We've had musings on the potential of an AT-AT entering the game and whether we could see the introduction of Rieekan - the Echo Base Commander - being introduced for the Rebels. Well....here's the 'deep dive' into the Battle of Hoth, without either of those 2 introductions coming to pass. In this article we shall focus on the Rebel side, what does the battle force include and what might it bring to the game and an initial look at some lists.

Force Organisation

We now know that AMG like to mess with the Force org charts in these battle forces. The first one we saw them play with was the Shadow Collective and this same pattern has been repeated with the introduction of the new battle force in each faction.

The Echo Base Defenders have the following force org:

Command Cards

Three new command cards have been introduced that can only be taken in this battle force.

Delaying Tactics could have some niche uses. It is a semi-counter to Tactical Strike for all you Iden lovers out there. If the EBD player were to take this 1-pip and Sabotaged Communications as their other 1-pip they do have quite a strong anti-Tac Strike command hand. Otherwise this card is good, but not ground breaking for me!

Courage of the Rebellion gives out 2 free recovers. Free recovers are always nice and could be used as a suppression control card near the end game, guaranteeing a double move onto the objective or perhaps with 2 1.4 FD Laser Cannons, helping to get their Generator back for free. Again, not to be ignored, but nothing amazing here. Now, here's where things change. Hold at any cost is the best of the bunch. You can pass out 3 orders to 3 corps. The most likely scenario here is to pass them out to 3 Veteran squads which can then each coordinate to a MK II or to a Laser Cannon. Then all of your corps get an aim and any MK IIs or Laser Cannons in your list get a standby - not just ones with orders! With all these orders, aims and standbys the threat of Fire Support from your MK IIs could be powerful and any incoming enemy melee units or Jedi are going to think twice about heading towards the onslaught of green tokens about to be thrown their way!

Overall, the 1 and 2 pips can be left behind, but that 3-pip....could do a lot of damage and/or zoning of the board!

Bang for your buck?

So what do you actually get in the physical battle force box? Well, you'd have thought that was a simple question to answer. The box states you get 4x Rebel Veteran units. That implies you are going to get 4 units of the Rebel Veterans and 4 units of the MK II Medium Blasters - giving you 8 corps - that can't be right!! So I assume we are getting 2 of each in a box. In addition to this you get 2 units of Tauntaun Riders, a 1.4 FD Laser Cannon, Leia, Chewbacca and R2-D2 and C-3PO. Putting the Heavy weapon on the 2 Veteran squads brings you to 719 points. Once you have kitted out some units with upgrades you will be pushing 800 points easily - the amount needed for a full list. So is this good bang for your buck? YES!

List Building

Here are a couple of lists I put together playing around with the new force org and unit availability.

This list leans into the 4 commander/operative availability. Your Veterans and their accompanying MK IIs get into a good early position thanks to their Recon Intel. Chewie and Leia can be used defensively with their Guardian and Take Cover 3 respectively to sure up the icy trenches that contain your 6 corps units. With your Laser Cannon backing your lines up you have a pretty strong defensive set up here. Han does Han things and sneaks forwards picking off a few models per turn as you would expect him to do, perhaps providing a distraction along the way allowing R2 to claim his secret mission in the snow plains of Hoth. But wait, I hear you say, you can take this list without the need for the Battle Force - Correct! I'll come back to that later.

BRING BACK TAUNS, people have been crying for months. Well perhaps this is their chance. With access to the new upgrades Up Closer and Personal and Emergency Transponder they have the potential to be much more tanky and get even more dodges than ever before! With 11 activations you have the ability to out wait quite a few lists for a last minute charge forwards with your furry 2 legged friends. They are troopers and so can make the most of the 3-pip, giving out aims. With a solid Veteran gunline behind them, this could be one to watch out for. 8 tauns is definitely more scary than 6 tauns!

So overall, I can't see the Echo Base Defenders making a splash on the competitive scene. It doesn't add a huge amount extra to what Rebels can already do. The 3-pip is nice, but doesn't make up for what is missing from the selection of units available to this battle force. Fun, yes it is! With the ability to have 4 units of Tauns or Laser Cannons and really play into that 3-pip, there's a lot of fun to be had. People have been wanting to put Luke, Leia, Chewie and Han (they say...) on the table for a while - well can I remind you it's already possible with Op Luke, just not Commander Luke. I am looking forward to see these on the table, painted up and based as if the army is there on Hoth, however. Concluding our first battle force review - this one is a nice addition to the game and will allow new players instant access to some great rebel units from the outset. A lot of the lists you could build with this Force org you could probably build anyway.

One last thing......you cannot use the Field Commander keyword in this Battle force....if you could - this 'Need for Speed' list could be fun...