First, a huge thank you to Atomic Mass Games for sending us a review copy to paint up and review! When this squad was announced at Ministravaganza, my initial reaction was “Welp, there’s my excuse to start an Empire army,” because I am a sucker for melee-focused, shield-bearing dudes in my sci-fi settings. Let’s dive into what you’re getting when you add an Imperial Riot Control Squad to your Empire force.
What’s in the Box?
I probably should have done an unboxing video for this, but it’s pretty straightforward. In the box you get four Riot Control Troopers, two KX Series Security Droids, and one Marksman. They are all sculpted in nice plastic, and are incredibly easy to build (at least as far as miniatures go). I didn’t notice any gaps or really bad mold lines after I built them. And if you don’t feel like scanning a QR code to get your assembly instructions, the parts are laid out and numbered well enough that you don’t have to have instructions when you go to build them. As these are essentially Stormtroopers, I wouldn’t expect a lot of detailing on them to begin with, and there isn’t much of it. There are definitely some kits that could use some more detail, but this isn’t one of them. Once assembled, these models are rad, and they paint up really nicely. You can read up on how I painted mine here.
What’s on the Card?
This unit is a Corps Unit and starts out at 4 models for 50 points. They move at Speed 2 and have the ability Charge, which allows them to make a free melee attack after they move. They can also change attack and defensive surges to hits and blocks, respectively, when they are engaged. They also get to roll a black die in melee, versus a white dice for their 1-3 range E-11 Blaster. Their Stun Batons are also Suppressive, adding to their effectiveness in melee. They also have 1 Health and 1 Courage. Everything about this unit’s card points towards getting into melee as quickly as possible. What upgrades do they come with, though?
Unique Upgrades
This unit features two unique upgrades. One makes sense, the other not so much. The first upgrade appears to be antithetical to what you actually want to be doing with the unit, which is moving and getting into melee as quickly and often as possible. The Stormtrooper Marksman lets you roll one red die against an unengaged unit if you are also unengaged. For 30 points, I don’t know that this would be worth it. I want my squad to be engaged all the time, and ranged attacks are kind of the bane of a melee unit’s existence. However, I will almost always be bringing the KX-Series Security Droids upgrade. For 30 points (same as the Marksman), you get to add two Droids that add a Red Attack Dice each into your melee pool and their attacks have Impact 1. They are a fantastic addition to the squad.
Field Them or Forget Them?
Like most models in this game, the answer depends on how you’ve built out your Empire force. Can you afford to put 100-200 points of melee units into your army without sacrificing too much? Then by all means, bring them. Where I think this unit will excel is being taken bare bones without any upgrades, and then deployed forward of your main force and then either serving as a tar pit (which even with 1 health this could happen thanks to the red defense dice), or as speed bumps, allowing your shootier units to hang back and get a couple more rounds of shooting into your enemy before they engage you. Either way, I wouldn’t bring the marksman (even though the mini is fantastic), or the Security Droids unless I knew I was facing something that had Armor.
Did I get it right? Completely wrong? Somewhere in-between? Let us know in the comments below!
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
