Scene to Stats: Scout Troopers

“Should we offer that thing some water?” – one Scout Trooper, to another; Star Wars: The Mandalorian

The reach of the Galactic Empire extends to even the most remote planets, harboring harsh and unusual environments that often demand more discretion than afforded by the stormtrooper shock troops. When the assignment demands mobility and flexibility, the Scout Troopers are among the first to deploy, specializing in reconnaissance while remaining as lethal as any of the Empire’s finest. Read on for today’s Scene to Stats, where we talk tactics alongside the new Scout Troopers Unit Expansion for Star Wars™: Legion!

Considering the many heavily armed and armored troopers available to the Imperial war machine, the Scout Troopers Unit Card may raise an eyebrow for their lightweight armor’s white defense dice. This reconnaissance specialization is leveraged by their impressive Scout 3, allowing the Scout Troopers to rapidly deploy where they are needed most or where their opponents least suspect. Low Profile further offsets their more modest defenses, allowing them to utilize cover to its fullest to avoid rolling defense dice wherever possible.

Where Scout Troopers may run lighter on armor, they more than make up for in firepower. Their EC-17 Hold-Out Blaster rolls an impressive 2 black attack dice per miniature thanks to their skilled marksmanship, and this attack pool can be made even more destructive with Aim tokens from a friendly unit with Spotter X, or from Upgrade Cards such as Offensive Push and Emergency Transponder. Opponents should be wary; by performing a free Speed-3 Move action to deploy with Scout 3, the Scout Troopers can threaten ranged attacks on enemy units as early as the first Round of the Game, their threat on the battlefield much wider than their range 2 blasters might suggest! Cover will provide their quarry little respite, as their Sharpshooter 1 keyword will reduce or eliminate its effectiveness for any defending units.

For added versatility when building an army and on the battlefield, the Scout Troopers, Strike Team unit allows players to include a pair of miniatures with the Heavy Weapon Team keyword, which ensures the Heavy Weapon Upgrade Card miniature is the last removed from the battlefield. This is an effective way to fit more activations into an army and to field more Heavy Weapon miniatures for a lower total points investment than two full Scout Troopers units. The Detachment: Scout Troopers keyword requires a Scout Troopers unit be included in your army for each strike team but also means each strike team does not count against the maximum number of such units a player may include in their army. This can allow a Galactic Empire player to field far more Special Forces units than they may otherwise, creating a dependable Order Pool and creative explosive synergies with many Imperial characters, such as Iden Versio and her Tactical Strike Command Card!

The Scout Troopers Unit Expansion includes a host of Upgrade Cards, some unique to their unit and others flexible to be included across your collection. The DLT-19x Sniper more than doubles the typical threat range of a Scout Troopers unit, providing them a powerful designated marksman with High Velocity and Pierce 1 to eliminate nearly every defense their unfortunate target could muster. When the situation demands the scouts get their hands dirtier, the Sonic Charge Saboteur may be equipped to a unit to grant it a dizzying short-range attack, its Suppressive placing an additional Suppression token on the defender to dampen their eventual counterattack. These Heavy Weapon Upgrade Cards may be used on either the Scout Troopers, Strike Team or its “parent” Scout Troopers unit, and the Unit Expansion includes enough miniatures to experiment with both such units in your army at once!

The Scout Troopers carry a number of sought-after Upgrade Card icons on the reverse side of their Unit Card. Of special note is the Training icon, which allows them to equip the Up Close and Personal Upgrade Card included in their Unit Expansion. This upgrade allows the unit to gain free Dodge tokens each time it performs a ranged attack at range 2, which happens to be the primary range for the Scout Troopers when not using their sniper! Up Close and Personal might also see use equipped to a number of other units in an Imperial player’s collection, such as Boba Fett, Infamous Bounty Hunter, whose Arsenal 2 allows him to form multiple attack pools that may earn him multiple Dodge tokens! The Emergency Stims Upgrade Card enables a unit to “postpone” up to 2 wounds from an enemy attack until the end of that unit’s next Activation, keeping your unit’s Attack Pool as dangerous as possible for one more critical Round. As such, Emergency Stims is a natural inclusion for the Scout Troopers, not to mention a compelling upgrade on the many dogged bounty hunters available to Galactic Empire players, who may need only one more activation to secure their Bounty!

An entire legion of the Galactic Empire’s finest scouts and sharpshooters is at your command. Reinforce your very own garrison force by pre-ordering a copy of the Scout Troopers Unit Expansion at your local game store or on the webstore today!

Until next time, Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!