Star Wars: Legion/Tactics/Empire

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Why Play Empire

Pros

• Lots of heavy weaponry and tanky units, able to both take and deal out a lot of firepower.
• Strongest force-users

Cons

• Units tend to be higher cost, so you'll have fewer units and upgrades than a Rebel opponent
• Commanders tend to be either fragile or slow

Units

Commanders

Darth Vader

Vader is the default Imperial commander from the starter box. He's an absolute glacier, with the slowest movement speed a unit can have, and being melee only without using force powers it's going to be a few turns before he's doing any damage, and at 200 points he's a good chunk of your army as well. But, what he does, he does well; with 8 wounds, a red defense die, and Immune:Pierce, he's difficult to take down. Deflect allows him to send wounds back at his attackers if you spend a dodge token, so be sure to have a dodge available if he's likely to take a lot of enemy fire to make your opponent think twice. Master of the Force 1 lets you get the most out of Force Reflexes to let him get that dodge token every turn while still doing a double-move. Finally, Relentless gives a free attack action when he engages an enemy, but as you only get one attack action per activation (free or not) be sure to use your other action on something productive like Saber Throw. Once in combat, he can attack with an amazing six red dice with Impact 3 and Pierce 3, sure to tear up whatever he comes in contact with. He can be equipped with three Force upgrades, so be sure to give him Force Reflexes for that dodge token as well as Saber Throw for dealing a bit of damage before he closes the distance. His final benefit is his infinite-level Courage: this means that he will never be Panicked, and the same applies to units within 3 distance of him as well, ensuring you get the most out of those Stormtroopers.

General Veers

First, at 80 points, he's less than half the cost of Vader, letting you gear out your other units a bit better or throw and extra unit into your army. He's very much a support commander rather than combat, with a modest 3 white attack dice with Pierce 1 at range and 2 black in melee with Precise 1 and Sharpshooter 1, so he's best kept in the backfield in cover. His Inspire 1 ability lets him keep nearby units in the fight, though not to the same degree as Vader, but his greatest boon is his Spotter 2 ability: Giving a free Aim token to two nearby units can let Stormtroopers move while still shooting more accurately, or for laying down serious firepower have an AT-ST perform its own Aim action and fire with two aim tokens, letting it reroll up to four dice during its attack action. Veers can be equipped with two Command upgrades and one Gear.

Corps

Stormtroopers

The bread and butter of the Empire, stormies have an advantage in armor over their Rebel counterparts, but their shooting skills are shit in exchange, with only a white die in ranged combat. To compensate, they have Precise 1, so maximize on this by having them get aim tokens as often as possible, such as with Veers' Spotter ability. They can take one upgrade each of Gear, Grenades, Heavy Weapons, and Personnel; like 40k's Tactical Marines, kit them out for their desired role, such as grappling hooks and concussion grenades for if you want to rush them into close combat to take objectives, or targeting scopes and heavy weapons if you want them to sit in the backfield shooting.

Snowtroopers

A tad more expensive than the stormies, Snowtroopers are just a tad more expensive while losing Precise 1 for Steady, giving them a free ranged attack action after completing a move action. This frees up an action to get an aim, dodge, or a second move action (remember they only get one attack action per activation, free or not) depending on the situation. Rush them up the board with a flamethrower and laugh maniacally as you're throwing as many as a half-dozen black dice when lighting up enemy infantry units, while getting Ignore Cover for all attack dice.

Heavy

AT-ST

At 195 points the AT-ST is almost as costly as Vader but is worth every point. For starters its main ranged attack gives two of each die in the front arc with Impact 3, while Arsenal 2 lets it use two of its equipped weapons; General Weiss ups this to Arsenal 4, letting a single fully-equipped AT-ST fire all 4 or its weapons: Twin Blaster Cannons for general offense, grenade launchers for up-close enemies in cover, twin light blasters to support the cannons, and a mortar launcher to punish any backfield units. With 11 wounds and Armor, your opponent will struggle to deal with it, even if you kit it as a close-range walker without Weiss and the mortar launcher. Take 2 with General Veers and keep them in the backfield to pepper your opponent with double-aimed blaster cannons, or focus down their commander: firing twice with 3 white dice with 4 rerolls can put wounds on Leia or Luke before they can start causing problems, and can also be used to spam suppression.