Star Wars Legion: Hoth Assault Force

An army perfect for smashing the Rebel forces on Hoth.

As rewarding as building a powerful force can be, building a thematic yet powerful force can be even better. With Veers and the Snowtroopers out we now have a good bases to build a force themed around the battle of Hoth. With that in mind I set about coming up with a what I think is a powerful Imperial force that represents the troops at the battle well. Lets take a look.

The Idea

Obviously with a Hoth based list I wanted to take advantage of using Veers, both because he was at Hoth and becuase he’s a cheaper commander than Vader. In addition it was obvious we would be using Snowtroopers as our Corps units.  While there are no AT-ATs in the game (yet) there are AT-STs, which were at Hoth, so one of these has to go in the list. One of the hallmarks of the Battle of Hoth was the Empire’s use of massive overwhelming firepower and armored forces. In order to properly represent this I went with a second AT-ST, this is the armored fist of the Empire after all. Lastly we’ve got some Speeder Bikes for mobile firepower. So lets look at the list in detail.

The List

Tactics

The list is pretty heavily based around the two AT-STs which should be a real pain for anyone to deal with. While one AT-ST alone can fall prey to ion or being flanked it is much harder to neutralize two this way. They can either use their long range to pound the enemy from afar or advice up the middle to smash through enemy defenses. I went with the blaster cannons because of the extra range and heavy firepower, but didn’t deck the AT-ST’s out too much.

The Corps section of the list is a little light with 3 Snowtrooper squads on the smallish size. Snowtroopers are a tough unit and their goal is mainly to hunker down in cover and control objectives. They don’t have a ton of offensive firepower, but the flame throwers two of the units have should let them clear enemy infantry off of objectives, or make last minute stands. They don’t have much to deal with vehicles, but that is kind of what the AT-STs are there for.

Veers is a decent commander with some good support abilities. His main role is to be cheap. The ablity to throw some dodge of aim tokens on to the AT-STs is a nice bonus. I threw esteemed leader on him to give him a little extra durability.

Modding the Speeder bikes to have snow scouts would be super cool

Overall the army is a little slow and plodding, so to balance that out I threw in the unit of Speeder Bikes. They are a great flanking unit, that can clear out enemy troopers and get into their backfield. They are fast and put out a good amount of firepower. While they tend to get targeted down pretty early in games I’m hoping the presence of the two AT-STs will draw the heavy enemy fire away from the bikes. They’ve got Long range commlinks so they can operate off on their own without issues.

E-Web?

When the E-Web comes out I’ll most likely revise this army to try to fit one in. Thematically its a perfect fit. Most likely it will replace the Speeder bikes as they are the unit that least fits the theme. Dropping the Speeders and a flamethrower would actually allow me to take two E-Webs. That would more than make up for the lost firepower from the Speeder. It will also make the army a lot less mobile, with really only the AT-STs having any sort of speed. It will be a real gun-line. Another option would be to drop some upgrades, the flamethrowers and either a Blaster Cannon or Long Range Commlink and Esteamed Leader to squeeze in a  single E-Web. This would keep my fast element in the army, but weaken others. I’ll have to do some testing to see which works best, but I know I want an E-Web.

Final Thoughts

Overall I think this is a strongly thematic force that can still pack a punch. Using Veers allows me to take two deadly AT-STs and still pack in a lot of other stuff. While not unbeatable I do think this list will give a lot of people issues will still sticking to it theme.

Let me know what you think about the list down in the comments! 

Author: Abe Apfel

Abe is that rare thing, an Austin local born and raised here. Though he keeps on moving around, DC, Japan, ETC., he always seems to find his way back eventually. Abe has decades of experience with a wide range of tabletop and RPG games, from historicals, to Star Wars to D&D and 40K. He has been contributing to BOLS since almost the start, back when he worked at and then owned a local gaming store. He used to be big into the competitive Warhammer tournament scene but age has mellowed him and he now appreciates a good casual match. He currently covers 40K tactics and lore, as well as all things Star Wars, with occasional dabbling in other topics. Abe remains in mourning over the loss of WFB to this day.