Best Corps unit for Hostage?

[5particus 204]

I think the best ones at the moment would be the Phase II clones but I'm willing to hear people make arguments for their favourites

I think P2's with extra guy and smoke grenades and potentially Obi-wan nearby to use guardian if possible would be pretty good to start with,

[arnoldrew 1,712]

Probably B2s. Lots of health, Armor 1, Courage 2.

[Bigbboyd 53]

For the Imperials, I think it is going to have to be Snow-troopers. Their Ability allows them to move twice and still get shots off in retreat. Place an officer with them, they should have decent enough courage to address suppression.

[buckero0 1,956]

Rebels?

oh yeah, our corps are useless.

j/k

i do like this type of strategy oriented topic though. Definitely following

[Mokoshkana 752]

3 hours ago, 5particus said:

I think the best ones at the moment would be the Phase II clones but I'm willing to hear people make arguments for their favourites

I think P2's with extra guy and smoke grenades and potentially Obi-wan nearby to use guardian if possible would be pretty good to start with,

That's well and good, but they start in the middle of the board, which means Obi-Wan isn't going to be that close unless you run him up the board on the first turn, which likely means he is somewhat vulnerable. Smoke is probably a wasted action from the hostage squad as they want to be moving to safety, and if they aren't moving, they should probably be shooting.

B2's are definitely the best due to sheer wounds. They have a max of 10 wounds compared to six for the P2's. The P2's have a better save by far, but if they fail a save it means a model dies, where as the B2 has to fail two saves, which is definitely more likely, instead. That being said, it will take far more shots to down those B2's due to Armor 1.

[Cruzer 206]

I'd assume for the Rebels, if you're playing the objective, the best corps to go with would be Vets. They get a free dodge when ordered, surge to hits and can take stuff like offensive push and (eventually) situational awareness.

[EagleScoutof007 236]

What about fleets?

[Lochlan 1,034]

25 minutes ago, EagleScoutof007 said:

What about fleets?

I feel like they are maybe the worst option. Normally fleets want to run towards the enemy, but with the hostage they need to run away. Rebel Troopers are cheaper and tougher with nimble. 

But I do think fleets could be good to have in a list while playing Hostage Exchange. Make your opponent make the hard choice of shooting the hostage escort or shooting the fleets. 

[costi 1,297]

I second Snows with an officer. 3 courage, don't worry about the speed reduction, good save and their flamer is quite a deterrent.

[Staelwulf 194]

3 courage snows? Have I missed something?

[arnoldrew 1,712]

44 minutes ago, Staelwulf said:

3 courage snows? Have I missed something?

Officer and Hostage each give you +1 Courage.

[Bigbboyd 53]

7 hours ago, arnoldrew said:

Officer and Hostage each give you +1 Courage.

So a courage 3 unit that can still shoot after 2 move actions.

[Shanturin 267]

I've played through hostage exchange a couple of times now, and this scenario is extremely dependent on the deployment. On some deployment you need to run for your zone asap or not get the point at all. On others, you may have a bit of a wiggle room to do some fun stuff first.

The point I'm going to make is simple: a unit with the hostage can fire on its first round without fear of retaliation. This is huge. On any deployment closer to the middle, if a player chooses a close-quarters unit to escort the hostage, it basically forces an opponent to make a choice between two evils - move the hostage further from their deployment, and thus risk a potentially huge attack pool early on, or move them away from your forces, thus closer to their goal.

This obviously requires further testing, but I believe Snows, Fleets, P1s withe DP-23sand B1s with radiation troopers could actually make for a very compelling hostage escort. Especially if one is able to make a 1-2 punch with them, activating early in round 2.

From my experience, two well-placed shots from fleets w/ scattergun can drastically change the game, without the usual "oh i need to get them there first" problem.

[buckero0 1,956]

20 hours ago, Bigbboyd said:

So a courage 3 unit that can still shoot after 2 move actions.

Snowtroopers have a rule called Steady

[arnoldrew 1,712]

8 minutes ago, buckero0 said:

Snowtroopers have a rule called Steady

I'm not super sure that guy is even asking a question. It sounds more like he's just restating what was already said before. Not 100% sure, though.

[buckero0 1,956]

1 minute ago, arnoldrew said:

I'm not super sure that guy is even asking a question. It sounds more like he's just restating what was already said before. Not 100% sure, though.

whoops, sorry. I couldn't tell.  I was going to say that I have not had success with Fleets in a full-sized game ever. I feel like they get one shot if you're lucky, then die in droves so they are near useless. I really only use fleet troopers for parts to customize my scum and mercenary army troops and other random figures in my SW universe. Otherwise, they never really pan out in games.

It's very difficult for them not to get shot to pieces (this is true of every Rebel unit, except the Red Defense Dice figures) but there are rules to "help" them out (Low-profile, Nimble, Defend)

[Bigbboyd 53]

37 minutes ago, arnoldrew said:

I'm not super sure that guy is even asking a question. It sounds more like he's just restating what was already said before. Not 100% sure, though.

I am restating. I use Snowtroopers regularly. 

[Mace Windu 1,173]

Played a game last week with the hostage mission, can vouch for how effective the B2 Battledroids are.

Armour 1 and 10 health is a lot to get through if you can keep them in any sort of cover, blocking up to 3 incoming regular damage every attack if they are in heavy cover is pretty strong.

Not only did they singlehandedly take out a 4 man shore trooper squad that was holding my opponents hostage model as the first action of round 2, but they took a significant number of attacks to finish off for my opponent which after a lot of attrition allowed an untouched B1 squad to scoop up the hostage and run to deployment for the win. It also helped having the B2's retreating in a lane that the AAT was looking down on for any of my opponents units that tried to engage them.