So, I am not made of money, and will probably specialize in one faction. I believe as Kylo Ren put it, "I am being torn apart."

In terms of my heart, I am a Rebel. But the Empire is also very cool with its organization and efficiency, as well. But some gameplay questions:

> Does the red die for stormies really make up for having E-11s? It just seems Rebel troopers with a dodge and some cover will just do so much more damage with the A-280. Can stormies really kill anything?

> With that question in mind, does that mean Imperial offense relies on vehicle? AT-ST, bikes, etc.

> I like the Rebels because of more units, slightly easier to kill, but pretty good offense. It seems you could pair AT-RT cover and some troopers really effectively.

> To win as Imperials, do you need an AT-ST? They are kind of expensive (both IRL and in the in the game) haha.

We have seen more Rebel expansions (Commandos look cool), plus they have more iconic commanders. But I could see the Empire getting Jet/Jump Troopers some day (or what about some melee dark troopers haha), and I am guessing the commando unit will be Scout Troopers or something like that.

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So, I guess choosing a side is a "great debate," but what have been your experiences? What is your play style, how does it matchup with factions?

I like to play conservatively, then take sudden risks. I think.

I can't answer your game related questions as I do not own the core box yet but I can answer your question about the faction.

Go Imperial, there really is no other way

Stromtroopers with aim are pretty good despite white attack dice. also they can take dlt or hh12 that really brings the punch, or grenades for close range attacks. when snowtroopers will hit the shelves the empire will be much better at offence because those guys can double move and shoot and they can take flamethorwer that will melt troopers even in cover. Rebel are slightly easier to play because of those more units than empire, also luke is much easier than vader to use because of his speed. At ST has a firepower to outright destroy whole units in a single salvo and bikes (they are pretty expensive) also are pretty good anti infantry pieces. AT RT are strong on rebel side. rotary blaster can just fire and deal damage to anything (at rt has surge to crit modifier). In terms of money empire will be cheaper, because you can make a list with just core box, one trooper expansion and at st but you would propably want another infantry box to fit in.

1)Depends. The red defense die is a pretty big deal, and it means Storm Troopers can aim when rebels would need to dodge. It's also worth pointing out that nimble only does anything against repeated fire- Precise is relevant as long as you attack. Over all, the two troop units are pretty balanced against each other.

2) AT-RTs have a nice offensive presence, and armor is great as your opponent loses their impact weapons, but man... That surge-less white defense die is made of sadness. They also really need to be run in multiples or with a T-47, or your opponent just burns them down right away.

3)No. Speeder bikes are great, and storm troopers have some very nice special weapons. The AT-ST is nice, but not a must-have. Frankly, Vader and an AT-ST doesn't leave enough room for troops if you want even one unit of speeders (And you probably do), so you might want to hold off with an AT-ST until Veers.

7 hours ago, Squark said:

1)Depends. The red defense die is a pretty big deal, and it means Storm Troopers can aim when rebels would need to dodge. It's also worth pointing out that nimble only does anything against repeated fire- Precise is relevant as long as you attack. Over all, the two troop units are pretty balanced against each other.

Precise is relevant so long as you Aim and Attack, I think you mean. But yes, Storm Troopers are much more durable.

Hmm okay, all good points. Thanks for the replies!!!

I guess I will just have to get the core set and start playing to see which side is better.

Glad to hear that it is balanced though. On paper I was thinking the Rebels were better. But I guess dodge can't cancel crits and dice can.

Do you like painting white? Go Imperial. Otherwise, Rebel.

What faction has speeder bikes?

if you can answer that then you have your answer. Red is me

11 hours ago, HanScottFirst said:

So, I am not made of money, and will probably specialize in one faction. I believe as Kylo Ren put it, "I am being torn apart."

In terms of my heart, I am a Rebel. But the Empire is also very cool with its organization and efficiency, as well. But some gameplay questions:

> Does the red die for stormies really make up for having E-11s? It just seems Rebel troopers with a dodge and some cover will just do so much more damage with the A-280. Can stormies really kill anything?

-DL-19’s are amazing, and the impact is even nicer. Not to mention the hit surge conversion does not leave the white dice to far behind the black dice of troopers. I like to aim as much as possible and Precise 1 is very handy as well. Also don’t discount the storm troopers red defence dice.

> With that question in mind, does that mean Imperial offense relies on vehicle? AT-ST, bikes, etc.

-Speeder bikes are amazing full stop. Have liked them more then the AT-ST. however trooper units with DL-19’s pull their weight that’s for sure, I don’t mind the HH-12 but I feel its very out classed by the DLT-19.

> I like the Rebels because of more units, slightly easier to kill, but pretty good offense. It seems you could pair AT-RT cover and some troopers really effectively.

- The AT-RT is pretty good armour is a strong mechanic. But an aimed storm trooper squad with DL-19’s will chew into them pretty hard, empire is dripping in impact.

> To win as Imperials, do you need an AT-ST? They are kind of expensive (both IRL and in the in the game) haha.

- No you don’t, I have done better with several speeder bikes then I have with the AT-ST. (have to remember its main gun is latterly just a full speeder bike squad with +1 impact) you can get 2-3 speeder bike squads in for the cost of the AT-ST that’s a lot of firepower and with cover 1 and dodge + hit surge conversions the speeder bikes hit real hard and are hard to kill.

We have seen more Rebel expansions (Commandos look cool), plus they have more iconic commanders. But I could see the Empire getting Jet/Jump Troopers some day (or what about some melee dark troopers haha), and I am guessing the commando unit will be Scout Troopers or something like that.

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15

As a side note, was playing a game with the rapid deployment condition (you get your troops back in round 2 and able to fight in round 3) and was loosing really bad until turn 3 where my 2x DL-19 equipped stormtrooper squads arrived and I ended up winning the game. Troopers came in and just tore him apart.

Don't underestimate the power of the stormtrooper.

Get both. You're going to start with 2 core sets anyway no matter which faction you play.

Good to hear about the DTL-19. Plus I bet that range 4 is nice, taking potshots.

I am guessing the best raw offense, though, is still Rebel Troopers with Rotary, Targetting Scopes, and an aim token? That just seems insane.

For deciding faction, ignore the rules and game mechanics/statistics. Both sides will be balanced, dont choose faction based on what can be minmaxed or optimised the best, just go with the one that speaks to you!

you said youre a rebel by heart, that was your first instinct...sounds to me like the choice is made

I played Imperials for one game and just felt like I was betraying my roots. I quickly swapped to rebels and am very glad I did :). Luke is so much fun to play, and taking both actions away from the AT-ST with ion troopers is just so much fun.

For the Rebellion!

Do you lose both actions? I thought no matter how many ion tokens you had, you only lost one action, like being suppressed but for vehicles.

27 minutes ago, buckero0 said:

Do you lose both actions? I thought no matter how many ion tokens you had, you only lost one action, like being suppressed but for vehicles.

One action per ion token, but all tokens are discarded after activation no matter how many were stacked there.

People can say this side or that side is better right now but down the road, no one knows which side is best for you. It would be best if you go sell some plasma and get both so you don't have to be torn apart, just bled out.

2 minutes ago, Mep said:

People can say this side or that side is better right now but down the road, no one knows which side is best for you. It would be best if you go sell some plasma and get both so you don't have to be torn apart, just bled out.

Haha that's how I always pay for miniatures. About $60 per week for only 3 hours of your time.

FFG does a good job of trying to balance factions to make sure some form of list for each faction is competitive. While one faction may have an advantage for a few months, FFG will always find to balance that.

The Rebel troopers shoot better (despite the Precise on stormtroopers) because of black dice but the Stormtroopers are tankier because of red defense.

Even w/o a surge, its effectively a 4+ save on a "normal" D6 which is better than rebel troopers' effective 5+ (white dice have 1 shield and 1 surge, so 2/6 = 5+ on a normal D6)

That actually makes a massive difference. The amount of times ive fired at a squad of stormtroopers, did like 5 hits/crits AFTER cover applies, and still only did 1 wound thanks to those dang red defense lol. 50-50 defense on basic troops is pretty big.

If i had to nitpick, i'd say the Rebel troopers are slightly better in a vacuum, but the strength isnt between the two units - its the slightly cheaper nature of the Rebels allowing another unit to your army while only being marginally weaker over all. So far i can attest all of my victories as rebels to that seemingly "bonus" squad i got compared to a pretty much identical Imp list (4 troops, 1commander, 2 speeders vs 3 atrt).
A squad of rebel troopers going head on against a squad of stormtroopers w/o any outside help....the stormtroopers should win but imo its like a 5-10% in their favor odds which isnt much.

If I had to say if my name had not givin it away I recommend the empire and to abandon the AT-STs for chumps with no skill, choose them for the fact they have enough fire power to annihilate themselves first turn and focus on countering them and the rebel scum with Veers,Boba, 3 stormtrooper squads with rocs. And Nades all with the extra trooper.1 storm trooper squad with LMG and nades, 2 squads of snowtroopers with flamers and nades plus extra man the remaining points are for upgrading heros and this spam strat has won me 3 games with no losses as the rocket launchers extra attacks in my experience tends to be better since they have a higher damage potential. The first 2 turns deploy into a safe spot and focus on destroying enemies(hopefully commanders{boba fett[*cough**cough*]}) if they are running the meta strat 2 AT-STs right now which i have faced they are in for a world of hate as my snowtroopers and storm trooper squad marched for their moisture farm of Luke himself my traitorous inpearials blew those AT-STs off the board third turn and with 3 bare bone storm squads and veers he just conceded as my snowtroopers were destroyed and so was my roc. Squad of stormtroopers so then i had veers, boba,2 roc. Squad who had not lost a man and a squad of stormtroopers with 2 guys left. This is why i love the empire as they can counter themselves and the rebels so I truly hope you pick the empire my friend.

Storm them with stormtroopers friend,

from,

StormyTheTrooper

On 4/1/2018 at 10:58 AM, HanScottFirst said:

So, I am not made of money, and will probably specialize in one faction.

Buy two core sets. Unlike most games you will need, not want, a second set of dice ($15) and a are required to get a 3rd corps unit ($25) so at that point a $90 core set is only $50. Minus the OTHER two units you'll get for your chosen army (corps, vehicle, $25 each) the second core set is... FREE. I'm using MSRP but the numbers hold up for discount sites too. If you are hard up for cash you can't afford NOT to get two core sets.

Then just buy an extra $12 hero or two for each side: Chewie, Boba Fett, Emporer, Leia, Han... doesn't matter at this point, whoever you think looks cool. Personally I'd buy 1 extra commander and 1 extra operative for each side. AKA, Chewie and Boba with Veers or Palpatine and Leia or Han.

If you buy two core sets and any two heroes you now have two legal 800 point armies to play with and find your preferences. Later on this will become your loaner army for future newbies and/or something to bust out for casual games where you feel like a change.

When you decide which faction to follow, the new upgrade cards (grenades, gear, etc.) from it will transfer over to your "secondary" army keeping it fresh and interesting. Because of this, Legion's not a game the requires you to buy 1 of everything for each faction to "keep up".

Someday when a really killer figure that you just "have to have" comes out for the other side, you'll have an army to plug it into. Also the worst thing that could happen if you are tight for cash is to accidentally invest in the "wrong" army for you. By having just over 800 points of the other force laying around, you can always switch gears.

Two core sets and a hero or two for each faction. You don't have to buy it all at once, but this is the way to do it if you're trying to stretch your dollars-to-fun ratio. You COULD buy a core set and swap the contents with someone and start "following" that faction but if you are already feeling some indecision, just keep an eye out for sales, get a second core set, two to four heroes, and play awhile.

Don't be intimidated. As time goes on and "keeping up" with the new units gets daunting, be patient! On cyber-Monday I got a $17 AT-ST, a $9 snowspeeder, and several $50 core sets!

On 4/2/2018 at 1:40 PM, Attackmack said:

For deciding faction, ignore the rules and game mechanics/statistics. Both sides will be balanced, dont choose faction based on what can be minmaxed or optimised the best, just go with the one that speaks to you!

you said youre a rebel by heart, that was your first instinct...sounds to me like the choice is made

This.

So much this.

I went Empire because I really enjoy their vehicles. It’s more my style. I wouldn’t tell someone to go Empire just because of math. Do it because you value standard maneuver warfare over synergy and bags of tricks. Pick the one that fits your style more, the one that speaks to you.

That said.... the rebels have some awesome looking models in the pipe that have me jealous.

5 hours ago, TauntaunScout said:

...Because of this, Legion's not a game the requires you to buy 1 of everything for each faction to "keep up"...

What is this heresy... 😶

Play Rebels. Be the heroes.

4 minutes ago, Kingsguard said:

Play Rebels. Be the heroes.

Your statement is confusing and contradictory. If he wanted to play as the true heroes, he'd play as the force for peace and order in the galaxy, the Empire.

Tell that to Alderaan.