Hans preview seemed a bit meh for me at the first glance. But that command card might actually proove to be extremly strong. The genereal idea is of course that Han himself with esteemed leader and Duck and cover or a Rebel Trooper unit draws all the shooting in an early turn. That turn is used to bring a lot of close range units with high damage output into position. The only tricky thing is how to survive long enough and get one or two trooper units in heavy cover and in reach and Line of sight of the enemy army.

At first I though of 3 AT- RT with Flamers and Luke, because they also provide cover for Han and/or a redshirt Rebel Trooper unit. Meanwhile I think that a couple of fleet trooper units with a mix of scatter guns and bazookas or a combination of those assets would be even better.

The ATRTs should actualy be quite intersting in that combination, because they block Vader or Snowtroopers for one turn and/or draw fire from DLT 19s, Z-74, AT-STs, Emplacement Troopers and Veers (so basically almost everything that hurts the squishy fleet Troopers at range 3+). Also, you need a screen that prevents advanced enemy units to just engage your fleet troopers.

Fleet Troopers cause close to 4 wounds on average on most targets without any fancy armor or deflect, while Stormtroopers or Rebel Troopers just cause 2. If three or four maxed out fleet troopers can close in without getting shot at, they will deliver a devastating volley, especially when they get the first shot with 0-pip "sorry about the mess".

Maybe something like this:

Han Esteemed Leader, Duck and Cover 133

3x Fleet Trooper, Scatter Gun, Extra Dude 234

Fleet Trooper, MPL-57, +1 Trooper 88

Rebel Trooper, +1 Trooper, Impact Grenades 55

Rebel Trooper, +1 Trooper 50

3 ATRT/Flame Thrower 240

or this:

Han (Esteemed Leader, Duck and Cover, Environmental Gear) 136

Leia (Esteemed Leader, Improvised Orders) 105

3x Fleet Trooper, Scatter Gun, Extra Dude, Envrironmental Gear 243

Fleet Trooper, MPL-57, +1 Trooper,Envrironmental Gear 91

Rebel Trooper, +1 Trooper, Impact Grenades,Envrironmental Gear 58

3 ATRT 165

With my way of rolling white dice, it can be absolutely trash (especially on the TTS).

Also, there are a couple of clarifications needed (for example with split firing and its interaction with the command card).

From the TTS, I found Han to be very good unless facing a force user, in which case he's dead meat.

I feel like the Rebels are getting all the cool synergy affects and list building combinations. I also feel that they are more tactile as an army than the imperials, which upsets me because I run imperials. I hope Boba Fett and whoever the next imp commander is will change this. Strategy is why I play these games, and also because it's so cool to look at and fun!

On 6/28/2018 at 7:57 PM, lukecook said:

. I also feel that they are more tactile as an army than the imperials, which upsets me because I run imperials.

I spent a good ten seconds trying to work out why touching rebels is better than touching imperials. Texture of the clothing perhaps? Smooth plasteel could get boring. More variation on account of the aliens maybe?
Then my brain actually started working.

Basic military tactics/strategy work for both sides- operating fire teams to move and fire, flanking, using heavy troopers for storming positions, using infantry and vehicles to keep each other safe etc. In terms of game based tactics I'm sure the Imperials will catch up with the next commander in terms of choice. As it stands, Veers and Leia both have boring (thus reliable) commands and abilities that support the army in a traditional general role while Vader and Luke do the heroic-lead-from-the-front thing.

I think 'Sorry about the mess' is going to be more useful than 'reckless diversion' for me at the moment (mostly because of HQ link-up meaning one of my vehicles is guaranteed two activations in a row) but that may change as we find exactly how it works like Deuzerre wrote. With that in mind you might want to get an uplink on one of your flamethrower AT-RTs. Diversion gets them close, Sorry gets a guaranteed first activation.

7 hours ago, Katarn said:

...

I think 'Sorry about the mess' is going to be more useful than 'reckless diversion' for me at the moment (mostly because of HQ link-up meaning one of my vehicles is guaranteed two activations in a row) but that may change as we find exactly how it works like Deuzerre wrote. With that in mind you might want to get an uplink on one of your flamethrower AT-RTs. Diversion gets them close, Sorry gets a guaranteed first activation.

Honestly I think HQ link-up is not such a good idea. The problem is you would have to put the upgrade on all three AT-RT to ensure that one survives.

Even with reckless diversion, I will often have to take one turn of shooting. The ATRTs are a priority target and not difficult to remove for a lot of popular lists, and once a Flamer ATRT lost 4 wounds, it is pretty much harmless. Veers, 3 x Bikes and 6 DLT-Troopers will usually bring down 2 ATRT, even with cover and even from range 4. Rebells might kill just one and cripple another with 2 Laser-ATRT and a lot of Infantry shooting or something similiar. The main job of the ATRTs is to make sure the Fleet Trooper can line up a clear shot or two.

I'm also pretty sure you can reduce the effect of Reckless Diversion with split fire as it is worded. The command card will be very useful anyway, because there are actually not that many units that really benefit from that trick. If you manage to get your ATRTs in cover during the exposed turn of your approach, a single DLT 19 is not very effective against it. Speeder Bikes and enemy ATRTs have very limited options to get around reckless diversion.

True, three uplinks would be far more than I'd be willing to throw into a gimmick. One should be easy enough to hide out of LoS though until you get it to range 2 along with Solo/Skywalker/commandos/cannon fodder.