With the release of the Ewok packs and Leia’s abilities, it seemed that there was an obvious pack missing, Rebel Commandos. Or as I’d say, the Endor troopers. These seemed an obvious release to go alongside the Ewoks to add some variability and flexibility to the squad building aspect. But releasing these was not enough for Atomic Mass, oh no, they also had to give us two of the most popular characters in the franchise: Han Solo and Chewbacca. To say over the moon would be a slight under exaggeration. Ever since the game was released, I wanted to play games set in the Original Trilogy. I wanted to have my favourite scoundrel and his co-pilot running around the battlefield doing what these two do best.
As my daughter really wanted the Ewoks, I wanted Han and Chewie, I couldn’t be happier for this release that provides options for Rebel Alliance players. Hopefully it will make the fun squads of the Ewoks a bit punchier and players will be happy to have two iconic characters brought into the game. This is the ‘General’ version of Solo. Since the set, we know we have another Solo released in the ‘This Is Some Rescue’ Squad Pack (review coming soon) and I’m intrigued to see what this Solo is like before moving onto an earlier version of the character.
Opening the box, you’ll find all the usual contents. A leaflet with a QR code guiding you to the instruction pdf, cards, bases and sprue. As always, the contents of the sprue are compact and fit all onto one sprue. What I do love with this sprue is just how obvious Chewie is on there, he’s going to be one beast of a model! With that done, it’s time to load up the instructions from the Atomic Mass website and get to building!
First up is Han solo. He is very easy to put together and the instructions should be all you need to follow. The model itself really captures Han well. The face sculpt – and in my experience it’s usually very difficult to find sculptors who can catch Harrison Ford’s likeness – has really done a tremendous job of the sculpt. It doesn’t have the lopsided grin, but the quiet, strong quality of Solo. The detail is also impressive, I love that his blaster hand isn’t straight up, but just casually to the side. He is standing on a part of a droid. I’m not sure this matches up with Endor but for a base for this game, I think it works brilliantly.
Next up is the mighty Chewbacca. Again, he’s simple to put together and he certainly is a beast. He towers over Han and the two together look superb. Depending on which base you want to put him on, Chewie has some manoeuvrability that will allow you to put him onto the main desert base with his foot on the small metallic outcropping. If you do want to do this, glue Chewie into part B08 but before the glue sets, glue him straight onto the base. His base has an IG droid on, which fits in with Han’s droid base two. I love the randomness of it, as if you’re using this on one of their many adventures. The fact Chewie also has the droid’s arm out of it’s socket in his hand – well, could it be any more perfect for this character?
Then it’s the turn of the Rebel Commandos. The first one, A, is the crouched of the two. Easy to put together – just put the right arm in before the left – he looks fantastic. I keep coming back to the detail on all the models in this squad pack, it’s excellent here as well. Not only that, he also comes with some terrain, a rocky outcropping with leaves. For my bases I’m going for a desert theme, so this I don’t want to include, but I’m glad it’s there and it’s also optional for the model.
The other commando is even simpler than the first. The arms are holding separate items and so there’s no need to worry about joining much together. I would have perhaps liked some alternatives to the model, just to make it possible to make it a little different, but this is a very small complaint.
Overall, I’m happy with the squad. The detail is superb. It is the simplest squad pack I have ever had to put together, partly because there are no alternative builds or head swapping. There is a part of me that would have liked the option of Han in his long Endor trench coat, just to add some variation. Chewbacca is by far my favourite model of the box. He is so huge in such a dynamic, Wookiee-like pose, that I can’t think of having a better representation of the character.
Let’s have a look at the cards themselves. Han is the primary (what else would he be being a General!) and gives you eight spending points and three force. His stance card sides are ‘Smug Scoundrel’ and ‘Gunslinger’. The latter is obviously better at ranged attacks and can do a maximum of eight damage. There’s a lot of movement on the track in terms of shoves and repositions, which seems like Han. ‘Smug Scoundrel’ gives you many more options and slightly better defense in melee. The track is very wide, allowing you to shove, do a maximum of five healing or seven damage. That’s very impressive and I love the sheer amount of healing you can achieve on this side. Onto his abilities and his tactic allows a Rebel Alliance character and himself to dash. If the chosen unit’s card is in the order deck or reserve, you can move them both instead. I love this idea of the order deck being even more important to the game, we’re seeing it more and more. This ability allows characters like Lando and Artoo to be moved into place but leave their order card in the deck (or reserve). They can sit on objectives and not be able to be fired at. Han then has two abilities that each cost a force. The first ‘Outnumbered, Not Outgunned’, allows Han to make a five dice attack against a different unit that he’s just attacked. The second, ‘Let’s Keep a Little Optimism Here’, means that when an allied unit is wounded, if your opponent has more momentum, you can gain a momentum. Finally, his identity ability is ‘Hey, It’s Me’. Basically, any time anyone is wounded on the board, Han can do something. If it’s an enemy unit, he can remove a condition and dash. If it’s an allied unit, he can make a five dice attack on the unit that caused the wound. All very Han like; hit and run or run and hit. It’s all about guerilla type combat with Han.
Of course, we wouldn’t want to run Han without Chewbacca – at least I don’t think we would! He’s a four-cost point secondary. He can only do a maximum of six damage, which I find a little surprising, but he can also heal three. The amount of healing Han and Chewie can do is quite phenomenal, I’m looking forward to seeing how that works on the battlefield. His tactic on activation is to dash to a primary character. If he ends up within three, the character gains hunker, and Chewie can heal. It means Chewie needs to be near a primary, but it is very in keeping with the character. Also, in keeping with the character is the ability ‘Bodyguard’ which gives primaries and secondaries within two cover one. ‘Intimidating Presence’ allows Rebel Alliance units within two to add an expertise to their defence rolls. The last ability, which costs one force, ‘It’s Not Wise to Upset a Wookiee’ allows you to choose an enemy within three and roll five attack dice. They suffer damage for each critical and hit rolled. While all this seems in keeping with character, I really thought Chewie would do more damage! I know he’s only a secondary – and a secondary with twelve health – but I guess I was hoping for a little more, particularly on his track. Maybe I’ll think differently about him once I’ve used him in a game.
Then it’s the turn of the four-cost point supporting unit, the Rebel Commandos. They can do a maximum of seven damage on their track, melee could push that up to eight. Yes, the Commandos can do more melee damage than a Wookiee. That doesn’t seem right! Added to that they can also heal three as well as shove and reposition. I can quickly see how they fit in with Han’s play style. They have two abilities that happen before the game begins. After set-up they can hunker and when deploying, they can be placed three from a primary. That’s one heck of a head start on your opponent and allows them a better position immediately in the game. With a hunker token as well, they should be fine being in front of everyone else. They also have coordinated fire that gives an enemy a damage when another Alliance unit attacks (this was always my favourite with the clones that have coordinated fire). Their only force cost ability – ‘Commando Doctrines – allows each character in the unit to dash and if they end within four of an enemy, immediately make a focus action and gain hunker. This I can see using lots, waiting patiently for the right time to use it. These seem a very strong unit, stronger than Chewie is.
So yes, after reading the commandos, who look fantastic, I’m disappointed with Chewie. He seems more like a puppy dog than a fierce Wookiee. Maybe a game will help me change my mind. The first thing is that the squad is slow. There aren’t many dash options in their abilities. The starting set-up of the commandos helps, but when the objectives shift, they aren’t the best in terms of getting to the right place quickly. It didn’t seem too much of a problem, but it is something that I found lacking. The commandos as a whole I really liked, they were able to take quite a bit of damage before they were wounded.
Which brings me to the balance with the whole squad. Chewie is definitely not as bad as I thought. He doesn’t cause huge amounts of damage, but he does protect everyone around him. I moved the entire squad together and this worked tremendously well. So, what’s the balance I just mentioned and why am I mentioning Chewie? Well, the balance is between damage and healing. You can cause more damage against an opponent, or (along with Chewie’s protection), you can have your units surviving far longer. I went with the latter for most of the game and I found it worked amazingly. My opponent was not happy about this, watching units they’d almost decimated coming back from the brink. It’s a fine balance between doing the damage to keep the enemy on their toes but also keeping your units alive. It’s not necessarily the Chewie I wanted but maybe he’s the one we needed.
I think the whole squad is about biding your time, and its how Han works too. It’s a different way of playing, which I certainly like. It’s going to take some time for me to know how to best utilise them, but I’m looking forward to that challenge. I think tied with a quick moving squad and you could have the perfect balance. This wasn’t the squad I thought I was getting. The Commandos I think are a must for Rebel players, Han and Chewie need some thinking about. The models though are incredible and having that perfect Han likeness on the board is something to grin about!
