I'm trying to get in my mind around the characteristics of each rank as they seem to be presently. I'm sure FFG will release something change all this but for now I'd like to have something that answer the question, "what is a _____ unit?"

Here is my best effort

Corps: Standard fighting units, made up of multiple minis, have one unit ability, required to have at least 3 in an army, is of the trooper type which is important for most objectives

Special Forces: basically costlier Corp units with multiple unit abilities

Commanders: Named characters that lead the army, at least one required in each army but no more than 2, can function in a variety of ways, will have multiple unit abilities, have command card that relate to themselves and effect other units

Operatives: Named characters who don't fit as commanders, have command cards associated with themselves

Support: Currently light vehicles

Heavy: Large vehicles

I'd like to see more supports announced to get a better idea how that rank will fill out.

Essentially, you got it. I imagine we will see some other supports that don’t meet the vehicle criteria (such as the e-web) or possibly creature-based “vehicles” like the tauntaun.

2 hours ago, ScummyRebel said:

Essentially, you got it. I imagine we will see some other supports that don’t meet the vehicle criteria (such as the e-web) or possibly creature-based “vehicles” like the tauntaun.

The Dewback would be another, the Empire version. Maybe even a trained Rancor? No? Oh well, a man can dream.

If the e-web is in the cards then maybe other emplaced guns could come in too. Like the Dish Turret or the DF 9. Make 'em range 2-4 kind of thing, immobile, the Dish Turret has Impact, the DF 9 could have Pierce or some such. I see it being flavourful.

I'm also interested in a "Support Team" style of unit. Imagine a two man team of HH-12s. They could pop off two missiles in one turn. They could have an ability to "Fire By Rank" in some way where one could fire each turn without having to recover. There are some ideas there. I see this as a way to use the HH-12s I never field. But then we'd need an upgrade box/kit and the idea of that just spells disaster.

I guess I am most surprised about the overlap between corps and special forces. I wonder if we will see most trooper units released as special forces from here on out and the corps options will just remain the 4 iconic ones we have now. I would be fine with that.

7 hours ago, NukeMaster said:

Operatives: Named characters who don't fit as commanders, have command cards associated with themselves

Though this is the case for Boba (and thematically right to be so) it may not be necessarily the case for all future operatives.

There might be Operatives that grant a single order (or other benefit) to another unit - not as powerful as a Commander, but still a augmentative role. It may be that there is some kind of affiliation to the unit that's buffed (eg Chewie could assign a single dodge token to a Commander within R1 when issued his order OR an infiltration-themed Operative having a single card that gives a command to one Spec Forces unit).

Support would also include more than light vehicles and cover things like Mortars and Guns.

3 hours ago, ABXY said:

Though this is the case for Boba (and thematically right to be so) it may not be necessarily the case for all future operatives.

There might be Operatives that grant a single order (or other benefit) to another unit - not as powerful as a Commander, but still a augmentative role. It may be that there is some kind of affiliation to the unit that's buffed (eg Chewie could assign a single dodge token to a Commander within R1 when issued his order OR an infiltration-themed Operative having a single card that gives a command to one Spec Forces unit).

I imagine there will be operatives that cooperate with the rest of the army better than Boba but I don't expect to see them issuing command tokens.

I can see operatives influencing a close by unit, maybe via a command token

For what it's worth, I think the Rank symbols are somewhat indicative of the unit types included. Trooper units are always based on a triangle, with Corps having just the simple triangle while Special Forces, Commanders, and Operatives are more complicated/advanced troopers, so their rank symbol has various adornments (just like real-world rank insignia might add more chevrons, laurels, or other adornments to show higher rank). Similarly, vehicle units have the notched hexagon shape as their basis: it is just the simple notched hexagon for Support (simple or light vehicles) but adds adornment for Heavy.

Plus, I'm confident I remember an interview where Alex described the Support and Heavy ranks as light and heavy vehicles respectively (though I wouldn't be surprised to see mounted units or stationary turrets and emplacements show up in those ranks). I don't think we'll see troopers show up in the Support or Heavy ranks, especially after seeing the two-man heavy weapon teams the Special Forces units are getting.

On 5/16/2018 at 7:16 AM, Crawfskeezen said:

The Dewback would be another, the Empire version.

So on the topic, what's the go with dewback riding stormtroopers? The dewback is native to tatooine, they certainly don't have dewback stables on a death star, and the only time we see one being ridden by a stormtrooper is on tatooine. Did he just get off his transport, look around, and announce to his squadmates "hold my blaster a sec, Imma ride this giant lizard thingy". Do we see dewback riders in other theatres? What sort of role would they fill on the table if they were in Legion?

I just think they're awesome.

23 minutes ago, Chucknuckle said:

So on the topic, what's the go with dewback riding stormtroopers? The dewback is native to tatooine, they certainly don't have dewback stables on a death star, and the only time we see one being ridden by a stormtrooper is on tatooine. Did he just get off his transport, look around, and announce to his squadmates "hold my blaster a sec, Imma ride this giant lizard thingy". Do we see dewback riders in other theatres? What sort of role would they fill on the table if they were in Legion?

I just think they're awesome.

It's the Star Wars equivalent to British NCO's in WWI arriving in the Middle East and commandeering every camel they found.

Imperial Camel Corps

"The Imperial Camel Corps Brigade (ICCB) was a camel-mounted infantry brigade that the British Empire raised in December 1916 during the First World War for service in the Middle East."

In regards to them showing up in games, in IA you can take a Dewback Rider and put him into Hoth if your really feel like it.

They'd probably be a Support Unit with Unhindered or similar, with 1 White Dice Ranged and Higher Melee to account for the giant pole Dewback Riders always seem to carry.

So there are stormtroopers trained in the arts of riding weird critters? And that's their job, to commandeer local wildlife to ride it? Because I'm not gonna lie, that's like the best stormtrooper job ever.

....yes...chucknuck.....

BEST
JOB
EVER!!!!