Post by Fadril Adren on Jan 12, 2018 22:06:02 GMT -5
“Echo station 3-T-8, we have spotted Imperial walkers.”
–Echo Base officer, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Across the Star Wars saga, Imperial walkers have formed a key part of the Empire’s ground-based operations. The Imperial assault on Hoth was spearheaded by massive AT-ATs, with lighter, more mobile AT-STs providing flank support. Though All-Terrain Scout Transports (or AT-STs) may lack the sheer firepower and impenetrable armor of an AT-AT, their mobility and ease of deployment makes them a favored option for any Imperial general. Soon, you’ll be able to bring your own AT-STs to your games of Star Wars™: Legion!
Today, we’re taking a brief break from our previews of the Star Wars: Legion Core Set to take a look inside the AT-ST Unit Expansion! The AT-ST Unit Expansion, along with the T-47 Airspeeder Unit Expansion and six other expansions are all releasing at the same time as the Core Set.
Walker Assault
In a game of Star Wars: Legion, an AT-ST holds the heavy rank—a rank that’s well suited to the AT-ST’s towering size and intimidating firepower. A standard Star Wars: Legion army can only include two heavy units, and in truth, you would be hard-pressed to include more than two AT-STs among your forces. Coming in at a base cost of 195 points, a single AT-ST takes up almost a quarter of your full allotment of 800 points in a standard game.
Still, the AT-ST has the power to make it well worth the price. It boasts the highest health yet featured in the game, and with the Armor keyword, only your opponent’s critical hits will penetrate the AT-ST’s thick defenses. While certain units may be equipped with anti-vehicle weapons that boast the Impact keyword (which converts standard hits into critical hits when attacking a unit with Armor), it’s safe to say that most infantry weapons will bounce harmlessly off of the AT-ST’s heavy armor plating.
Still, as powerful as the AT-ST’s defenses are, it does possess a certain weak point that cunning Rebel commanders are sure to exploit. The rear hull armor of an AT-ST is thinner, and if another unit is fortunate enough to slip behind an AT-ST and attack from its rear arc, the attack gains Impact 1, automatically converting a single normal hit into a critical hit that pierces the AT-ST’s armor. It’s plain to see that cunning Imperial commanders will want to cover their advancing AT-STs with infantry support—most likely squads of Stormtroopers or Snowtroopers.
A squad of Rebel Troopers concentrates fire on the AT-ST's weaker rear hull.
An AT-ST can stomp about to deadly effect in melee combat, but most of the time, it’s likely that your AT-STs will be firing from afar. To that end, the AT-ST also features powerful ranged weapons. All AT-STs come inherently equipped with an MS-4 Twin Blaster Cannon: a powerful cannon that can also be used against armored vehicles with good effect. That’s not the end of the AT-ST’s firepower, however—it can equip more weapons on each of its three hardpoint upgrade slots.
In addition to the MS-4 Twin Blaster Cannon, there are three unique weapons that you can affix to your AT-ST. You may supplement your standard blaster cannon with the 88 Twin Light Blaster Cannon. Other weapons, however, offer more specialized effects. The DW-3 Concussion Grenade Launcher has the Blast keyword, allowing these attacks to ignore cover, perhaps targeting a squad of Rebel Troopers that’s hunkering behind a barricade. Alternatively, you may begin your assault with a long-range shelling, using the AT-ST Mortar Launcher. Though this mortar launcher can only be used at long range and has limited capabilities to inflict casualties, it inflicts more suppression tokens, keeping your foes pinned down and potentially panicking them. What’s more, each of these three weapons comes with plastic inside the AT-ST Unit Expansion, allowing you to customize your AT-ST miniature to match the weapons it’s equipped with!
If you’d like, you can fully load up your AT-ST, equipping all three of these weapons into the AT-ST’s three hardpoint upgrade slots. That may seem like overkill at first, but it’s important to note that the AT-ST bears the Arsenal 2 keyword, allowing you to make attacks with two of your weapons every time you attack.
You can attack with even more of your weapons if you have General Weiss filling the pilot upgrade slot on one of your AT-STs. General Weiss can pilot any Imperial ground vehicle, and his expert coordination of fire grants his vehicle the Arsenal 2 keyword. If you stack this with the AT-ST’s pre-existing Arsenal keyword, you gain Arsenal 4—enough to make an attack with every single one of the AT-ST’s weapons!
With General Weiss, your AT-ST can open fire on a massive piece of the Rebel army.
Heavy Weapons
Between nearly unbreakable armor and an undeniable assortment of firepower, it’s plain to see that an AT-ST can have a game-changing impact on the field of battle. How many AT-STs will you field, and how will you upgrade them?