DO I WANT... a HMP Droid Gunship expansion pack?

I've already looked at the Xi Shuttle and LAAT Gunship from Wave 7 and now it's the turn of the HMP Gunship that's joining the Separatist arsenal.

It's not a ship that I know very well but that seems to be 100% because I haven't watched the Clone Wars cartoon series yet, and a lot of players have been looking forward to adding the iconic HMP to their squads.

But is the HMP any good?  Do you want to buy one?

PILOTS

When I looked at the Xi Shuttle and the LAAT Gunship expansions I started by trying to benchmark the basic cost of the chassis against some existing ships.  For the HMP gunship that approach is a bit less useful than it usually is because the ship is so unusual it doesn't have anything else that's a particularly great comparison.

Let's have a look at what it does compare to, but I don't want to spend too much time on it.

The HMP's 2/1/5/3 statline is identical to a Resistance Transport (32pts for a Logistics Division Pilot) and it's also very similar to the Y-Wing's 2/1/6/2 statline (30pts for a Gray Squadron Bomber or Crymorah Goon).  At 34pts for a basic Baktoid Drone the HMP Gunship is a little bit more than the obvious comparison ships, plus it's not like people were flying around with swarms of naked Logistic Pilots anyway so the HMP Gunship seems more expensive than stuff players already don't like.

However, the HMP Gunship has lots of built in advantages like a 180 degree firing arc and a ship ability in Networked Aim that's almost like bringing your own Fire Control System.  So we could take a basic Y-Wing and spend 2pts for a Dorsal Turret to get a 180 degree firing arc, and spend another 2pts on a Fire Control System (if we pretend there's a System slot on the Y-Wing) and you come out at the 34pts of the Baktoid Drone.

Hol up

So the basic 34pts kind of makes sense.  It feels like a lot but, similar to with the LAAT's expensive reroll ability, there's built-in advantages that you're having to pay for which justify it.

But you're never going to fly a HMP naked so it's all basically irrelevant.  You're pretty much guaranteed to add the Repulsorlift Stabilisers to every single HMP Gunship you play with and that's where the magic happens.  For +3pts the Repulsorlift Stabilisers add incredible value in changing how the HMP moves around the table and make the HMP Gunship a much harder ship to pursue and predict how it's going to move (there's more on this in the Upgrades section below).  But you're still only flinging 2 red dice, and the Separatists can buy a Vulture Droid for 20pts so you're almost certainly going to want to buff the HMP Gunships offense with some secondary weapons.

The Hyena Bomber set a standard for every pilot having different upgrade slots and while the HMP Gunship doesn't go to that extreme there is one pilot that is different to the others which is worth pulling out separately.  Most of the HMP pilots bring a Crew slot and a Device slot but the Geonosian Prototype eschews that slots in favour of two Cannon slots.  Now this might be a cynical exercise on FFG's part in justifying putting a cannon upgrade into the pack so players will have to buy it but it's also made the Geonosian Prototype probably the best of the HMP Gunship pilots.

A Geonosian Prototype (35pts) with those Repulsorlift Stabilisers and the new Synced Laser Cannons comes in at a smooth 44pts and now we can compare that to a different group of ships.

You're now in B-Wing with Fire Control System (44pts) territory but with the HMP Gunship being able strafe unpredictably and having a 180 degree firing arc (even if it's only 2 red dice outside of the main front arc it's more than a B-Wing gets).  Or alternatively you're in Auzituck Gunship (42pts) space with that 180 degree arc, but with the benefits of the Networked Aim and Repulsorlist movement to offset that the Auzituck is 3 red dice on all it's 180 degrees.  Neither of the comparisons are perfect - you don't get a 4th red dice at Range 1 with Synced Laser Cannons, but you are better at Range 3 if they don't get to roll an extra green dice - but I think you can see that the Geonosian Prototype sits pretty comfortably in that type of company even before you start to factor in the extra value of your unique strafing ability.  It's probably a good job that they're a ship you're only allowed 2 copies of because I can imagine a squad of 4 of these things would work really well - toss in some Shield Upgrades and bombs and you'd be good to go.

So I like the Geonosian Prototype a lot but that's because it gets a cannon.  None of the other HMP Gunships get a cannon slot so are they any good?  Well I think it immediately becomes more problematic because if you're using missiles instead of cannons then you're straying right into 'why I don't just play a Hyena Bomber and save 12pts' territory.  Networked Aim is less useful than the Hyena's and Vulture's Networked Calculations for borrowing in focus modification on weapons when you need a target lock to fire them.  The other HMP Gunships can use the new Multi-Missile Pods but currently they're way overcosted - compared to adding Synced Laser Cannons to a Geonosian Prototype you're paying more points to gain a lot less (no Range 3 attacks, draining two charges to roll 3 red dice in front arc).

Most of the HMP Gunship pilots don't actually make for good gunships, unfortunately.  That goes for the Baktoid Drone, the Separatist Predator, the Onderon Oppressor, DGS-047 and DGS-286 - there's a fundamental problem because you're squeezed between the high cost of Multi-Missile Pods and the sheer bargain efficiency the Hyena Bomber for doing much of the same thing if you're bringing missiles instead.  Thinking longer term I'd say the Baktoid Drone and DGS-047 are a nice and cheap basic chassis so down the line I think they'll do fine at some point.  I like the Onderon Oppressor's ability as it really opens up WAY more lateral movement and it could well be worth it, though +6pts on a Baktoid Drone seems a massive hike.  DGS-286 is +8pts on the Baktoid Drone and I can't see it justifying that expense when it's basically a reverse of DFS-311 which only costs a few points more than a basic Vulture.

But if the HMP Gunship isn't actually a great gunship I think it does have another role it CAN play very well.  The Repulsorlifts are good at keeping it out of trouble in a fight and it has a Tactical Relay slot and a Crew slot, so  I think the cheaper Gunship pilots make a good platform for a support ship and it's probably one of the cheapest ways to get a Tactical Relay onto the table (and keep it there) or be a shuttle for somebody like Count Dooku, Chancellor Palpatine or the new crew options coming in Jango Fett's Firespray.

UPGRADES

I touched briefly on how important I think Repulsorlift Stabilisers are for the HMP Gunship but didn't really go into much detail for why that is, so let's visit it again.  I've been on a bit of a journey in understanding why this upgrade is so good: at first I thought it was 'yeah it's ok I guess?' but then as I thought about it more I realised that actually banked strafing with the Repulsorlift wasn't actually very much different to using a turreted ship with the gun locked to the side - you orbit around the target facing your gun inwards with a HMP Gunship just like you might do with a Y-Wing's turret, for instance.  Repulsorlifts seemed like a bit of a gimmicky way of just operating like a turreted ship to keep people on target.

Then I realised what I was missing.  When a Y-Wing has it's turret to the side and wants to remain engaged it has to fly forwards and the range of options where it's going to end up is pretty small - a straight, a turn, a bank... they all put you in more or less the same place and the enemy can track towards you reliably.

The benefit of Repulsorlift Stabilisers is the much higher range of end positions you could be in.  Yes you could strafe to the right like a Y-Wing would bank but you can ALSO strafe to left, as though the Y-Wing had suddenly slammed itself into reverse.  And you can also still just move forwards (up to a 5 straight!) which could easily create bumps or see you scream clear of trouble.

It's much more challenging for enemy ships to predict where you are going to be while still staying engaged so the value of Repulsorlift Stabilisers is mostly defensive, I think - it makes the HMP Gunship a harder target to pin down and kill than something like a Y-Wing or B-Wing would be that has to keep moving forwards.

I've mentioned Synced Laser Cannons already but even with the requirement of two cannon slots there are a couple of other ships which can take it: B-Wings and IG-2000 Aggressors.  Both those ships have potential to 'double tap' and attack twice and the Synced Laser Cannons are the choice that is most like just firing your main gun again so it's an obvious choice.  I don't personally think the double-tapping stuff is really good right now but a lot of players like it and if you're one of those guys then you probably want to get your hands on these guns.

By crikey here's something that will make a lot of non-CIS players look at buying the HMP Gunship expansion, though: Concussion Bombs.  More charges than Proton Bombs, cheaper than Proton Bombs, deal crits through Shields unlike Proton Bombs... they're a serious step up for the dedicated bomb player and I think you'll see a lot of them about.  Concussion Bombs nay even be enough to hurl some new/old archetypes to the fore, like quad K-Wings, Y-Wing spam, TIE Strikers with bombs etc.  The restriction of having to drop them every turn is really flavourful and you can get around the biggest problems with it using Delayed Fuses.  All in all I really like Concussion Bombs and (currently) they're only in the HMP Gunship expansion.

We've touched on Multi-Missile Pods a little already so I won't linger: 8pts is too much for a R1-2 restricted weapon that burns through charges like they're going out of fashion.  At some point they'll get cheaper and be good, but I can't see them making much impact yet and outside of the obvious Droid carriers the Calculate/Target Lock restriction is really limiting.

The new Droid tactical relay is Kalani and it's... ok I guess?  My main problem with it is the competition from DRK-1 Probe Droids as another way of getting your Target Locks set up which doesn't depend on your opponents landing in your bullseye arcs.  This is where I get really hazy though as I'm not a natural Droid player and I'm probably not the best at evaluating a relay's usefulness.  One thing I'm sure about is that if you're not a Separatists player already Kalani isn't an incentive to buy this expansion!

CONCLUSION

At the start of the article I asked two questions: is the HMP Gunship good?  Do you want to buy one?

I think the HMP Gunship is actually pretty good despite it's steep starting cost but let's cut the chase: the HMP Gunships biggest problem is that the existing Droid options are so great that even if it's good the HMP struggles to compete and that colours a lot of the discussion around it.  If you're focused on winning games with Droids in the near future then the HMP Gunship is probably not good enough to shift Hyenas and Vultures (or Nantex) out of your squad.  

In isolation, though, I think the Geonosian Prototype build I talked about is a really solid and interesting pilot that you'll have a lot of fun playing around with and it may well fit very nicely with Tri-Fighters or Jango Fett once they land in the next month or two.  The dependency on cannons for the ship hurts all the other pilots but I can see them finding an unexpected home as a lone support ship for some powerful crew or tactical relays.

Do you want to buy this expansion pack?  If you're already a Droid player I think that answer depends on how experimental you want to be vs just trying to win at all costs.  Personally I've been really happy to grab two HMP Gunships to run the pair of Geonosian Prototypes and explore how they work.  I don't think they're top tier right now and I'd probably drop them for something else if a big tournament came around (which in Covid-19 times it never will) but they're good enough to justify playing and I'm looking forward to pairing them with dodgy Tri-Fighters and Jango Fett.  

If you're NOT a Droid player then I'd also say you could want this expansion for the Concussion Bombs, if you're that way inclined, and if that's true then the HMP Gunship could well be your foot in the door of starting a whole new faction.  Separatists squads are often quite 'swarmy' and that puts a lot of players off both for money reasons and simply having so many ships on the table at once.  The HMP Gunship, along with Tri-Fighter and Jango's Firespray, could mark the point where players start to make a more 'normal' squad in the faction and I think players who like B-Wings in particular could find themselves a big fan of the Geonosian Prototype's playstyle.

DO I WANT... a LAAT/i Gunship expansion pack?

In the last blog I looked at whether the Xi Shuttle expansion pack made for an attractive purchase, mainly for First Order players but also for players of other factions who might be looking for some of the new neutral upgrade cards.  Today it's the turn of the fat boi LAAT/i Gunship.

For fans of the prequel trilogy of movies and the Clone Wars cartoon series the Low Altitude Assault Transport (or LAAT to it's friends) is an iconic ship and one that a lot of players have been looking forward to adding to their collection ever since the Republic faction was announced last year.  Let's find out if those guys are going to be pleased or disappointed.

Is the LAAT good?  Do you want to buy one?

PILOTS

There are four different pilots for the LAAT Gunship and your entry level pilot is the generic 212th Battalion Pilot for a pretty hefty 51pts.  That makes the LAAT the most expensive basic ship in the Republic fleet but is there another similar ship in the game that we can benchmark that cost against to decide if we think it's too much?

Warden Squadron Pilot - 2/1/6/3 - 38pts 

The basic K-Wing has a pretty similar stat profile to the LAAT with just one less health point over all, and not only that it has the same 'bowtie' turret arc and is also on a medium base.  It makes the Warden Squadron Pilot the best comparison ship for the LAAT but it's 13pts cheaper!  Well unlike the K-Wing the LAAT comes with a powerful ship ability that allows friendly ships to reroll their attack dice and along with the extra health point (only 3pts for Hull Upgrade on a 1 agility ship) that reroll ability is  the main thing that you're paying for with those extra 13pts over a Warden Squadron Pilot.

Is that good, though?  I think there's two questions to ask there: if we say the hull point is 3pts then is +10pts about right for that ability?  And do you actually want this ability?

1. We can compare the 13pts against other similar rerolls effects.  The closest neighbour is Sinker's ARC-170 which is even in the same faction, and Sinker is 12pts more than a basic ARC pilot.  Drea Renthal is 19pts more than a basic scum Y-Wing for a reroll ability, Howlrunner is whopping 24pts more than an Academy TIE and Captain Jonus is 18pts more than a basic TIE Bomber.  Those 13pts we're paying for on the LAAT don't seem too bad compared to those guys, although it's worth noting that the LAAT's ability is charge based while the others work for any number of attacking ships.  Which leads us on to...
   
   
2. Do I want the LAAT's reroll ability?  The fact that the LAAT's ability is so similar to Sinker in the ARC-170 really helps showcase that the two ships have different purposes.  Sinker rerolls 1 dice for any number of attackers while the LAAT rerolls 2 dice but you're limited by the number of charges you have on the LAAT.  This means Sinker is perfect for supporting large numbers of ships with 2 red dice while the LAAT is an expert at supporting a smaller number of ships (as it's charge based) with bigger guns (imore dice = more chance you need to reroll multiple dice).

So, is 51pts good value for the 212th Battalion Pilot?  Yes, the +13pts over a Warden Squadron Pilot is reasonable for a health and reroll ability IF you're playing the right type of squad to really showcase the LAAT's rerolls.  If you want a more classic 'force multiplier' effect on lots of attacks you probably want Sinker instead as the two have very similar costs.

But what the baked-in cost of those rerolls does mean is that the LAAT can't just be a cheap support ship or crew carrier because its always got that unavoidable cost of the rerolls thrown on top.  It's great that the LAAT has lots of slots for crew and gunner upgrades but when it starts at 51pts you need to be extremely careful about how much extra cost you load onto a ship that ultimately only has 1 green dice if the opponent decides they want to kill it.

So far I've talked a lot about the generic 212th Battalion Pilot but there are also three named Clone pilots for the LAAT which bring extra abilities to play.  These pilots are only a few points more than the generic LAAT so you don't need much from their abilities to make them worth bringing, but do they add much?

Hound is almost certainly the weakest of the named pilots.  His ability allows you to pull Deplete and Strain off friendly ships but the Republic isn't a faction that has a lot of effects that will Strain or Deplete your ships.  I think Hound likely sits on a shelf until a point where the metagame sees your opponents bringing lots of Strain effects, then comes in as a spoiler against that strategy.

Warthog is probably the most obviously good upgrade on the 212th Battalion Pilot and for just +3pts you gain some protection against being 'Initiative killed' - that is, being destroyed in the engagement step before you get to fire.  If Warthog's ability means you get even one good extra shot off in a game it could easily be worth those +3pts so if you're bringing a lot of low Initiative pilots you should be thinking seriously about taking the upgrade to Warthog.

I think Hawk is the trickiest LAAT pilot to get value out of but also probably the pilot that can add the most value if you work out how to unlock it.  Repositions are usually a high value ability and being able to move into a new position ahead of for your next turn can be used to upset opponents plans - maybe barrel roll onto the spot where your opponent wanted to K-Turn into, or boost forward so you don't get blocked yourself, even just use it to turn that arc around another 90 degress.  Strain is a small price to pay for that, especially when you can follow it with a blue maneuver immediately.  The Range 1 restriction is a problem but it's worth noting that Hawk can always use it on himself even if no friendly ships are nearby (and that means he's the only LAAT who can reposition at all).  Hawk's going to take a while for players to work out but there's massive potential in this ability - just ask Guri players how good Virago can be and Virago stresses you instead of just a strain!

UPGRADES

As well as the LAAT itself the expansion pack comes with LOADS of brand new upgrade cards that may be a good reason to buy it.  So let's look at those guys too...

Hey everyone, it's the moment we've all been waiting for... freaking YODA is in the game now!  

Oh, he's a bit rubbish?  Really?  Oh dear.  

This implementation of one of the biggest badass iconic Star Wars character seems to have been a bit bungled in my opintion.  Yoda is the first crew we've seen to add 2 Force points to a ship, which is great, but everything else about him is underwhelming.  He brings a Purple coordinate action which is pretty mediocre (we've had that for over a year on Chancellor Palpatine and it's not really done much).  Once the ETA Actis Interceptor arrives he'll be a bit more useful helping with their purple maneuvers but that's not great either - you're effectively moving force points around to where there's greatest need and that's quite similar to Emperor Palpatine, but Yoda is both more expensive than Palpatine and moving force in anticipation of need is worse than Palp's ability to use it from afar.  I think Yoda needs to drop a few points in price to really make sense, but even then he's going to be disappointingly dull.

It kind of cements how naff Yoda's design is to see Aayla Secura get a similar purple Coordinate action but as a linked action after a Focus.  The trouble with a purple Coordinate is that you're effectively losing action economy (it costs you your action and a Force point to add +1 action to another ship, so you're down a Force point) so making it a linked action really helps make it a playable option.  All the card text about bullseye arcs can be mostly ignored, I think, and that linked Focus-Coordinate is what Aayla is for.  I still have a fundamental issue with whether the Republic faction actually needs extra coordinate action support vs other forms of action economy, but at least Aayla is trying to be helpful unlike Yoda.

Kit Fisto and Plo Koon are two Jedi masters with very similar profiles - both have similar cost for one Force point, with similar purple defensive abilities (Plo Reinforces, Kit Evades) and similarly wordy but mostly rubbish character abilities.  They're both cheap enough to be worth playing for the Force point alone if you can spare the points, Plo Koon is better at defending the ship he's on and making opponents fire at something else, Kit Fisto is better at protecting nearby ships and making people fire at the ship he's on... that's the main difference.  Unfortunately they also both share the same basic problem - why would you pay so much for a Jedi when you could buy two great Clone crew cards for the same cost?

Wolfpack is the card you should probably be playing instead of a Jedi and it's my pick for best card in Wave 7 (Automated Target Priority is good but it's no Wolfpack).  Strain tokens are a small price to pay for getting target locks to fuel your revenge attacks with, and the sheer amount of action economy this card turns out can be phenomenal.  Wolfpack is Range 0-3 so covers most of your ships and there's no limit on the number of times you can do it per turn.  Why spend 16pts on Aayla Secura to get action economy when Wolfpack can offer more action economy for a quarter of the cost?  A lot of the time the answer is going to be: "I didn't, I played Wolfpack instead".  The one thing I'd caution is that Wolfpack definitely works best with Warthog on the table as Wolfpack really incentivises the enemy to focus down and kill a ship in one turn, especially if they kill it thanks to the Strain token you took and before you get to attack and benefit from that target lock. 

Ghost Company's points cost is baffling.  It has an identical ability text to the Rebel's Bistan gunner and also gives your ship a linked Rotate-Focus action... for 5pts while Bistan costs 10pts.  Pow.  Er.  Creep.  Ghost Company is a great upgrade and again shows how you can get much more bang for your upgrades buck by spending it on Clones than you can on Jedi.  On the plus side Ghost Company also combos really nicely with other Clone crew like Clone Commander Cody or "Fives", but on the downside I think playing Ghost Company means carefully balancing the threat levels in your squad.  The more you load your LAAT up to power Ghost Company the more likely you are to make it the enemy's first target... which means you're probably going to start taking Reinforce actions not Focus which then turns off Ghost Company's bonus attacks.  There's a balance to strike there.

"Fives" is like a walking, talking version of the Automated Target Priority upgrade that comes in the Xi Shuttle.  I like ATP a lot and I like "Fives" too, though not as much for two main reasons: firstly if you put it on an ARC-170 you're rolling 3 red dice not 2, so you're less likely to miss a shot, and secondly a focus token is better than a Calculate token but it's not 3x better but "Fives" costs 3x more than ATP.  I like "Fives" because he's pretty cheap to include and let his upside trigger now and then to get value but I totally have him down as a luxury upgrade and I think I'll wind up cutting him from squads quite often.

We've had three really good Clone crew cards in a row so now it's time for a bad one - Clone Captain Rex seems to be a really niche upgrade card.  He needs to sit on a support ship that's supporting some acey ships that are good at getting bullseye shots (like Jedi, for instance) but which also really benefit from free Focus actions and don't mind getting Strain (so... not like Jedi after all, then), oh and he needs to be firing at the target before his friends do in order to trigger his ability.  So ideally he wants to support ships with lower Initiative than him but who are good at getting bullseyes.  That's a Venn diagram with not much overlap in the middle and it leaves Rex in an awkward spot.

The new Suppressive Gunner is a neutral upgrade that any faction can take and it's actually pretty interesting.  With a built-in effect for a focus result on your attack it provides a 'hands free' benefit that allows you to spend your actions on something else and still make your attacks more painful and that's valuable.  Your opponent gets to choose what happens - damage or Deplete - so it's a small effect but it could be worth paying for.  Because the opponent is often likely to take a Deplete there's a couple of things to think about when looking to use Suppressive Gunner or not - it's best on a ship with high Initiative that can Deplete the enemy before they fire, and it's best against opponents with low ship counts as you're Depleting a greater % of their damage output each turn.  It's far from a slam dunk upgrade to put on every ship but I think it could find its spot in a few places, like Scum Han in his Millenium Falcon.

The new Multi-Missile Pods (MMP) come in both the LAAT and HMP Gunship expansion packs and it's basically an alternative to Barrage Rockets for most purposes.  The main upside is that you gain a 180 degree firing arc, but it's worth remembering that MMP are best with ships that can Calculate rather than Focus.  Most ships won't want MMP for that reason so it's not an obvious upgrade outside of using it on Droid ships, but it is a brand new upgrade card in this pack.

The last new upgrade is Deadeye Shot and like Multi-Missile Pods it's got a very similar rival upgrade already in the card pool: Marksmanship.

Pros vs Marksmanship: effect ignores green dice

Cons vs Marksmanship: requires opponent to already have a facedown damage card, requires you to have a hit result to spend,  Marksmanship could have been a damage AND a crit not a damage OR a crit.

I think MOST of the time Marksmanship is better.  Deadeye shot is good if you've only got 2 red dice and would struggle to deal damage past 3 green dice anyway, but in most normal situations I'd take Marksmanship instead.  And TBH most of the time I'd actually take half as many Crack Shots over either card.

CONCLUSION

So at the top of the article I asked two questions: is the LAAT Gunship good?  Do you want to buy one?

The LAAT is an expensive ship at 51pts but with that powerful reroll ability you get a lot of ship for your points investment and it can certainly be a powerful addition to your squad.  I think you need to be very aware of not loading too many points into upgrades on your LAAT though - there may be a host of slots that all look inviting to add Jedi and clones and missiles etc into but you have to be mindful of keeping the LAAT cheap enough that it kind of blends into the background - you're not far off paying Upsilon Shuttle points for this thing and First Order players can attest to just how fast they can go down when the opponent decides to make it happen!

Do you want to buy one?  Moreso than with the Xi Shuttle for First Order I can give the LAAT sa hearty thumbs up recommendation.  It supports a wider range of the common Republic ships than the Xi does, and it comes with a bunch of great clone crew and gunner upgrades that will buff your existing ARC and Y-Wing ships.  The Jedi may grab headlines and look flashy with all their force points, but I think it's the raw efficiency of the clones that you'll fall back on time and again.

Do you want to buy two?  Hell no.  They're too expensive in points to want to field two, there's diminishing returns on the reroll ability and, ironically for a bunch of clones, all the best upgrade crew are unique.  Unless you're a painting fiend intent on remaking all the Clone Wars paint schemes you almost certainly don't want two but you definitely want one.

If you're not a Republic player there's a few bits and pieces in here - Suppressive Gunner, Deadeye Shot and Multi-Missile Pods but I think they're all pretty niche use and aren't really demanding you come and pick them up.