Post by Fadril Adren on Jan 15, 2018 21:07:51 GMT -5
“Are the speeders ready?”
–Han Solo, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Land battles are an undeniable, unforgettable part of the Star Wars saga, as the soldiers of the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire clash on the surface of planets like Scarif, Hoth, and Endor. These battles are rarely fought on the ground alone, however. Starfighters and airspeeders whip over soldiers’ heads, strafing the unfolding battle and cutting down infantry before they have a chance to return fire. Air superiority is a crucial advantage for any commander, and soon, the Rebellion will be able to rule the skies with the T-47 Airspeeder Unit Expansion for Star Wars™: Legion.
The T-47 Airspeeder Unit Expansion contains an unpainted, easily assembled T-47 airspeeder miniature with all the cards and tokens you need to play. Along with the AT-ST Unit Expansion, the T-47 Airspeeder Unit Expansion and six other expansions will be released simultaneously alongside the Star Wars: Legion Core Set.
Rule the Skies
Like the AT-ST for the Imperial forces, the T-47 Airspeeder is a heavy unit—the first to become available to Rebel Alliance generals. These airspeeders were most famously used in the Battle of Hoth, using some unconventional tactics to foil the advancing Imperial walkers. Still, there’s no reason why you can’t transplant a few T-47 Airspeeders to other planets in your games of Star Wars: Legion.
As a heavy unit, you’re limited to having two T-47 Airspeeders in your army, and although their health isn’t nearly as high as the AT-ST, your opponent may still find that T-47 Airspeeders are hard to pin down. These airspeeders feature speed-three movement, and they must perform a free, compulsory move at the beginning of each activation. By moving across the battlefield so quickly, it can be hard for other units to keep your airspeeders within range. What’s more, the armor on a T-47 Airspeeder is thick enough that standard infantry armaments will be hard-pressed to pierce it. With the Armor keyword, all normal hits are canceled, leaving only critical hits able to stand a chance of causing lasting damage.
That’s not the end of the T-47 Airspeeder’s durability either. Your airspeeders are repulsor vehicles, flying above the battlefield, and they cannot be engaged in melee combat or affected by Blast attacks. Their sheer speed also gives them Cover 1, making them harder to hit as they dart around enemy forces. And as a final touch, these speeders also convert defense surges into blocks, improving the power of their white defense dice drastically.
Powerful defenses are helpful, but they aren’t going to win the game for you. In order to keep your opponent from claiming objectives, you’ll need to make some attacks. The T-47 Airspeeder is equipped with an Ap/11 Double Laser Cannon, firing powerful lasers from its front firing arc that can punch through an armored vehicle with the help of the Impact 3 keyword. These forward-facing laser cannons aren’t a T-47 Airspeeder’s only armaments, however. T-47 Airspeeders bear the Arsenal 2 keyword, which lets them attack with two weapons every time they attack. Of course, to make the most of that, you’ll need to equip a weapon into the T-47 Airspeeder’s hardpoint upgrade slot.
There are two options for a rear-facing gun that come in the T-47 Airspeeder Unit Expansion. The Ax-108 "Ground Buzzer" is a powerful strafing gun that’s excellent for taking shots at trooper units as you race past. On the other hand, you may wish to incapacitate your opponent’s vehicles with the Mo/Dk Power Harpoon. When you choose to equip the Power Harpoon, you’ll be causing minimal damage. This weapon only rolls a single red attack die, and although it’s likely to hit, you’re still only cause one damage. Still, it has significant tactical applications: whenever you wound an enemy vehicle with this weapon, you can perform a pivot with that vehicle!
A pivot is a special type of move that vehicles can use to reposition. Vehicles are naturally less mobile than a squad of infantry, so instead of performing a move action, a vehicle may choose to pivot, rotating up to 90 degrees in either direction. When you hit an enemy vehicle—like the AT-ST—with the Mo/Dk Power Harpoon, you can perform a pivot with it, potentially spinning it to face in completely the wrong direction! This may even expose the AT-ST’s weakened rear arc to attack, adding insult to injury.
The T-47 Airspeeder successfully hits the AT-ST and uses the Mo/Dk Power Harpoon to force it to pivot away from the action!
If you’re flying T-47 Airspeeders as part of your army, you’ll want a real ace at the controls. Fortunately, the Rebellion has just the right ace in Wedge Antilles. Wedge Antilles is known as one of the greatest pilots of the Rebellion, and with his upgrade card, you can see how Wedge can push the limits of any repulsor vehicle. By using Wedge Antilles, you can take a free action to perform a Full Pivot—turning his vehicle up to 360 degrees, instead of just 90 degrees. With Wedge behind the controls, your airspeeder may race forward with its compulsory move, spin completely around, and immediately launch a devastating attack and continue its strafing run back along the enemy lines.
Let’s Take the Fight to Them
With a T-47 Airspeeder or two in your army, you’re not just taking the fight to the Empire. You’re challenging them to compete in an entirely new arena of war: the sky above the battlefield.