A new band of Rebel heroes are making their way to the battlefield. Check out who will be fighting the tyrannies of the Empire next.
Coming from Fantasy Flight Games, four new heroes will be bolstering your forces very soon. The Rebellion will be rolling out a new Officer model along and a Comms Technician. To back those two up, a 2-1B medical Droid and an R5 Astromech Droid will be right alongside them!
Look for the Rebel Specialists Personnel Expansion to release in the first quarter of 2019. The expansion is up for pre-order right now!
Rebel Specialists Expansion $19.95
Get yours for less from Miniature Market
The battles of the Galactic Civil War are won by more than blaster fire alone. A single order issued at just the right moment or the timely intervention of a medical droid can turn the tide in an instant. As they mount a desperate struggle against the totalitarian Galactic Empire, the Rebel Alliance needs as much help as it can get from those with skills other than fighting.
While the Commanders in the expansion don’t come near the combat prowess of Luke Skywalker or Han Solo, they serve as a fantastic low-point alternative to fill the leading role in your force.
The Rebel Officer clocks in at only 50 pts and has a few decent tricks up his sleeve.
Rebel Officers are excellent shots, reducing the cover of their targets with their A-180 Blaster Pistols. Better yet, they convert any surges to hits or blocks, making them even more of a force on the battlefield.
The Rebel Officer knows from years of experience that they can’t take on the forces of the Imperium head-on. Because of this, he comes stock with the ability to issue a command to another unit giving them a dodge token.
Guerilla Tactics
The Rebellion may be ill-equipped to clash head-on with the Empire’s firepower. But they can tailor orders to their friendly units to give them an edge against whatever the enemy is throwing at them.
For example, you can issue the Sabotaged Communications on a Special Operations unit in your army. That way your Commandos will be able to use their skills whenever the time is right and your opponent is forced to issue one less order.
As we’ve said before, the Rebel Officers may not have the same combat prowess as the named iconic heroes like Luke Skywalker, but they are cheap. That means you can field a lot more firepower. You’ll have more options for your Officer to issue commands giving you a more dynamic game. Another unique ability that the Officer has is that you can slot him into any unit with the Personnel Upgrade Icon as well!
Taking Command of a Unit
If both of your commander slots are full, you can use the Rebel Officer to take command of an individual unit. He has the ability to give different bonuses to his men. For example, he can increase their courage by one and remove a suppression token from nearby units at the rally step. That way, your men will be that much harder to break and they’ll keep their blasters red hot!
Communications are Key
If you want the best bang for your buck when you’re issuing orders, a Comms technician sticking close to your Officer is the way to go.
They come with the ability to jam enemy communications almost entirely. You just have to be pretty close.
If you’re planning to be stuck in for a long fight, you can also upgrade your radioman with a Comms Relay. This lets you issue commands outside of your Officer’s normal range. Plus, you can ignore the rank restrictions of the unit.
Droids in the Front Lines
The Droids may be slow and unfit to defend themselves. But the Medical Droid can keep your men alive long enough to fend off the fury of the Empire.
Twice during a game, this medical droid can either remove one wound token or restore one mini to a friendly non-emplacement trooper unit, helping your corps units fire on all cylinders or keeping a powerful commander like Luke Skywalker in the fight.
These droids can remove wound, ion, and vehicle damage tokens from friendly ground vehicles, helping them retain their full complement of actions and battery of weapons.
Droids can definitely be useful, I would imagine we will see more on these guys soon!
Will you be picking up an Officer to lead your force? Or will he be stuck with a unit to make them even harder to take down? Will you be bringing any Droids with you into battle? Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group.
About the Author: Wesley Floyd
