Ground Commander's Guide - 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team

It's a new Support unit!  The 1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team lets Rebels do what they already try to do with their AT-RTs - Aim and Shoot without moving like an idiot - only better because the unit in question can't move!

1.4 FD Laser Cannon Team

70 Points gets you a turret!  The first thing to understand is that the unit does not move.  Stationary keeps the unit anchored in place aside from deployment (although there are a few ways to do interesting things with this) and the unit itself can rotate to face different directions with Full Pivot - a keyword previously only available from the Wedge Antilles upgrade card.  Accordingly, the unit has no speed rating.

Offensively, the unit combines the best aspects of the AT-RT's longer range weapons - 5 Black dice out the front arc and a range of 1-4 with Impact 2.  Combined with surge to hit, you have a good but not amazing anti-vehicle weapon (more or less 2 post Armor hit average), and fairly brutal anti-infantry unit - 3.125 hits on average without rerolls.  Only the front arc can realistically make use of Sentinel, however this lets you threaten enemy movement into range at the most common engagement distance.  If flanked and suppressed, the DH-17 blaster pistols let it toss 4 White dice at range 1-2.  And if engaged in melee, 2 Black dice let it at least defend itself, if not particularly well.  

Defensively, it is a single mini with 6 health and 2 courage value, meaning it can be set away from your commander without too much worry.  Only a white defense die with surge to block means that if it shot at it won't last long.

Finally, for upgrades, it can take both a Comms and the new Generator upgrade cards.

Upgrades

* = comes with this expansion.

Comms:

HQ Uplink - 10 points*

It comes in the box and lets you pull annoying Support tokens out of the bag instead of being forced to activate the unit and the wrong time.  Because you won't be moving, you can take an action to refresh every turn!

Has some utility using it with Luke's "My Ally is the Force" for a free Dodge, or with Han's distraction to force your opponent to shoot the Laser Cannon Team.... I guess?  Honestly probably not worth the effort to build it for just those combos.

Long Range Comms - 10 points

If you're going to park this thing in the backfield and your commander is going to rush forward, this might be a decent pick.  Probably best to leave it behind though.

Comms Jammer - 15 points

Why would you even consider taking this upgrade?

Batteries:

Barrage Generator - 10 points*

2 White attack dice (.75 extra hits on average) but you also get Suppressive as a keyword on your attack.  Brutal against a trooper built list.  Again, you can refresh this every turn with your other action.

Because everyone seems to being trooper heavy these days, 80 points gets you a way to lock down a lane against all but the most dedicated trooper push, or forcing your regular opponents to actually bring vehicles and Armor.

Overcharged Generator - 10 points*

The Yang to Barrage Generator's Ying, this is the Anti-Vehicle upgrade card, giving you an additional Black die, and an extra Impact 1.  This will get you pretty close to 3 average hits against armor, which is a quality number for dropping most things coming your way.  It's almost the same damage against troopers (.625 extra) as Barrage Generator, so you're not losing out on much besides Supppressive by taking this, if you're worried about your opponent skipping Armor.

Unit Building

Honestly, I think there's three ways to build one of these guys out:

Option #1 - 90 points

Go hog wild and take one of the generators and HQ Uplink.  Recover and Shoot every turn.  Activate / shoot when the enemy gets in range and don't worry about Standby unless you are out activated.

Option #2 - 80 points

Take one of the generators.  Recover and shoot / standby when you pull a support token.  Pretty good, but you're lacking the benefit of activating when you want to.

Option #3 - 70 points 

Naked.  Your gun is good enough at 70 points.  Aim / shoot or aim / standby every turn.  Aim adds more damage average against non-Armor than either of the generators anyway.

Battle Card Shenanigans

Skip out on Battle Lines - you don't want your opponent to be able to close quickly with your unit.  You want to use it to hold down a long lane.  Disarray is likely not great, as it seriously limits your deployment positions.  On the other hand Advanced Positions is GREAT for this unit, as it is the only way to let it make a movement.  And because it is on a larger than normal base, it can make a sizable Speed 1 move!

For Objective Cards - Intercept the Transmissions lets you deploy the unit in range of the objective token with certain deployment setups.  Good for being able to hold "your" objective while sending other units to contest the others.

Both Hostile Environment and Limited Visibility are not great for this unit.  However Rapid Reinforcements can be hilarious, as the unit counts as a trooper for the sake of plopping down somewhere your opponent doesn't want it to be.

I'll do E-Webs soon, don't worry!