These last days, the TX-130 Saber Tank and the AAT Tank have finally been delivered to the GAR and CIS players of my local meta, so I suppose in the next weeks I will see these tanks very often on the battlefield.

I am wondering which considerations should I take into when I build my list and during the battle: which units can deal with them, which have to ran away from them, if some Upgrades are helpful (or terrible), if some Battle Cards (Objective/Deployment/Condition) can benefit me more or can make things difficult for them, etc.

Any tip of experience related to the Rebels dealing with these new tanks will be appreciated.

sometimes the best way of dealing with heavy units is to ignore them rather than attempt to meet them head on. Unless you get tabled the game is about scoring objectives, so if you concentrate on outscoring your opponent, you can tech up your army to fight tanks, the issue with that is that you end up with weapons/units that aren't useful for anything else.

My only concession to Armor outside of occasionally playing Luke is to have Bistan on the board his dice pool is good against troopers /droids / and heavies and denying them that action is useful, esp with the new vital assets objectives where movement is important. Even the forgotten airspeeder may find a use on those.

I still feel the airspeeder is a major missed opportunity in this game, even at lower points, it lacks offensive power, given that much cheaper trooper units are rolling way more dice and often better. I still like occasionally bringing one along for a game, especially if it's casual

Honestly, long-range Bistan ion is probably the best counter. You could also go for the AT-RT with the laser cannon (1-4 range impact sniping), but given the more glass cannon nature of them as armored units, it's a grain of salt suggestion. I'll also suggest Reb Troops with the ion gunner and offensive push, but we all know how easily those go down :/

19 hours ago, Dalae said:

These last days, the TX-130 Saber Tank and the AAT Tank have finally been delivered to the GAR and CIS players of my local meta, so I suppose in the next weeks I will see these tanks very often on the battlefield.

These are the last days indeed.

Some options that have not been mentioned are:

rebel troops with DLT-20 Critical 1 and larger range and attack pool and useful if they don't bring tanks

Rebel Vets with the upgrade gun and platform - large attack pool and tons of Critical

Tauntauns (ram and large attack pool, very fast)

Rebel Sabs - Impact 1 and the tanks have a large base, so multiple charges can be placed and used

Luke Skywalker

1.4FD with generator - impact 3

7 minutes ago, buckero0 said:

1.4FD with generator - impact 3

Ehhh, overcharge generator still feels like a dead-upgrade waiting to happen, tbh. Just not sure how often that extra impact will come up, even with the target out in the open. Add Linked Targeting Array and maybe, but alone... would still just go with Barrage Gen and hope for the best with the Impact 2.

24 minutes ago, Cruzer said:

Ehhh, overcharge generator still feels like a dead-upgrade waiting to happen, tbh. Just not sure how often that extra impact will come up, even with the target out in the open. Add Linked Targeting Array and maybe, but alone... would still just go with Barrage Gen and hope for the best with the Impact 2.

I like the other one better as well, (these are a little too static for my playstyle honestly and I have 2!) but the OP was asking for counters.

The one I didn't mention is the various ION guns that the Rebels have access to. They are real deterrents to tanks and droids. The recover action is still an issue and the fact that most Rebel units don't last long.

8 minutes ago, buckero0 said:

I like the other one better as well, (these are a little too static for my playstyle honestly and I have 2!) but the OP was asking for counters.

The one I didn't mention is the various ION guns that the Rebels have access to . They are real deterrents to tanks and droids. The recover action is still an issue and the fact that most Rebel units don't last long.

Will admit, Ion is probably the Rebels' best counter to any heavy armor. The Landspeeder hood gun and Bistan in-particular. Actually haven't had the chance to use the Landspeeder yet, but I hear good things.

4 hours ago, buckero0 said:

These are the last days indeed.

Some options that have not been mentioned are:

rebel troops with DLT-20 Critical 1 and larger range and attack pool and useful if they don't bring tanks

Rebel Vets with the upgrade gun and platform - large attack pool and tons of Critical

Tauntauns (ram and large attack pool, very fast)

Rebel Sabs - Impact 1 and the tanks have a large base, so multiple charges can be placed and used

Luke Skywalker

1.4FD with generator - impact 3

All good , I like rebel vets myself as well, though I did mention messrs Skywalker (operative or commander)

Ignore them. Hide behind LOS blocking terrain. Play the objective.

Playing to the objective always works well but sometimes a big tank can be a massive pain in your side. I bring Luke in most of my rebel lists anyways and using Son of Skywalker while in the tanks weak point can usually take a heavy down really effectively

1 hour ago, bllaw said:

Playing to the objective always works well but sometimes a big tank can be a massive pain in your side. I bring Luke in most of my rebel lists anyways and using Son of Skywalker while in the tanks weak point can usually take a heavy down really effectively

Honestly, if you can reliably pull this off, than your opponent is not very good with the tank. The new tanks are so fast, that is should be relatively easy to keep out of Luke's threat range. Getting being the AAT is extremely tough if you opponent has any awareness regarding positioning, but the Saber is a lot easier due to only the front arc being protected.

Just now, Mokoshkana said:

Honestly, if you can reliably pull this off, than your opponent is not very good with the tank. The new tanks are so fast, that is should be relatively easy to keep out of Luke's threat range. Getting being the AAT is extremely tough if you opponent has any awareness regarding positioning, but the Saber is a lot easier due to only the front arc being protected.

The Saber is also blazingly fast, though. Luke really shouldn't be allowed anywhere near it.

2 minutes ago, arnoldrew said:

The Saber is also blazingly fast, though. Luke really shouldn't be allowed anywhere near it.

Yeah, I meant it was easier to get some shooting into the sides of it. If Luke is hitting one of my tanks, it is absolutely going to be because I want him to make that play for some reason.

On 6/4/2020 at 10:22 PM, lologrelol said:

Ignore them. Hide behind LOS blocking terrain. Play the objective.

Yeah i don't think this is sage advice. The opponent can play the objective and eliminate most threats with the tank. Drawing you out into the open to grab an objective is the first rule of placement

After watching a MOTF bat rep, I didn't realize how fast the new tanks can move. Even with their side movement. I play mostly rebel and sometimes Imperial. These look scary to go against for rebels especially if they want to be aggressive. I haven't played in months due to shut down. Knowing what tools to fight them with would be good.

5 minutes ago, EagleScoutof007 said:

After watching a MOTF bat rep, I didn't realize how fast the new tanks can move. Even with their side movement. I play mostly rebel and sometimes Imperial. These look scary to go against for rebels especially if they want to be aggressive. I haven't played in months due to shut down. Knowing what tools to fight them with would be good.

Long-range Ion. One per Legion, minimum.

10 hours ago, buckero0 said:

Yeah i don't think this is sage advice. The opponent can play the objective and eliminate most threats with the tank. Drawing you out into the open to grab an objective is the first rule of placement

Sure pal. You do you.

18 hours ago, Cruzer said:

Long-range Ion. One per Legion, minimum.

The only issue here is that you'll need crits/impact to score hits against full armor. Both of these tanks are red defense (with the possibility to surge from tokens), meaning it might be hard to squeeze wounds through from ion. It is definitely something to consider, but it is by no means a guaranteed thing, especially since ion has to recover each turn.

5 minutes ago, Mokoshkana said:

The only issue here is that you'll need crits/impact to score hits against full armor. Both of these tanks are red defense (with the possibility to surge from tokens), meaning it might be hard to squeeze wounds through from ion. It is definitely something to consider, but it is by no means a guaranteed thing, especially since ion has to recover each turn.

Not much of an alternative aside from dedicating a unit or two to seriously hunting Heavy Units (which is a waste on the Rebel side). Best you got is to play the objective and hope to cause an ion here and there. Not a great situation by any means, but this is the guerrilla-faction we're talking about. They're not meant to 1v1 enemy tanks.

Luke + Sabine = RIP tank

20 hours ago, lologrelol said:

Luke + Sabine = RIP tank

Care to explain?

On 6/13/2020 at 8:19 PM, Mokoshkana said:

Care to explain?

Would assume it's a combo of having these two going at the same tank at once. Sabine can probably jump into the weak-spot rather easily while Luke comes at it with nat2 impact and pierce from the front. Add in the Darksaber and "Explosions *" and logically you've got good-night irene for said tank. Of course, this assumes the other enemy units likely aren't paying attention and let two of the most devastating Rebel power units that close to their heavy...

except explosions doesn't have impact so shooting at it is actually a better chance of getting a crit and you have pierce.

Op Luke has enough dice that he can sometimes roll a crit naturally and then he has impact 2. On average you're still going to need 2-3 turns of Luke attacking, using your Son of Skywalker and Sabine to do a tank in.

5 hours ago, Cruzer said:

Would assume it's a combo of having these two going at the same tank at once. Sabine can probably jump into the weak-spot rather easily while Luke comes at it with nat2 impact and pierce from the front. Add in the Darksaber and "Explosions *" and logically you've got good-night irene for said tank. Of course, this assumes the other enemy units likely aren't paying attention and let two of the most devastating Rebel power units that close to their heavy...

That's well in good in a vacuum, but how is Luke getting close? Sure Sabine can easily get there, but the tank can still move away easily to fire back. Also in this scenario, you're taking 310 points (assuming Commander Luke and no upgrades on either outside of Darksaber) to take down 190ish points of tank? If it is Operative Luke, now we're talking 350 points before upgrades. Great trade!

2 minutes ago, Mokoshkana said:

That's well in good in a vacuum, but how is Luke getting close? Sure Sabine can easily get there, but the tank can still move away easily to fire back. Also in this scenario, you're taking 310 points (assuming Commander Luke and no upgrades on either outside of Darksaber) to take down 190ish points of tank? If it is Operative Luke, now we're talking 350 points before upgrades. Great trade!

... I believe the bit I said at the end was to the effect of how difficult this scenario would be to pull off. Might wanna quote the OP of this idea, not me