12.04.07
 

Imperial Speeder Bikes

 

Today’s letter is from Phenix:

 

Sithdragon,

I Was wondering, since A&E came out, with Darth Vader IC and Adm Piett,
(not to mention Veers) do you think that the Scout trooper on speeder bike
has more playability, or is it still too pricey for the cost?

  Reason asking, is that I have two right now, and am possibly looking to
trade one for a Cloud City map.  However, I don't want to trade a piece
that may have a place in an Imperial army, as that is my preferred faction.

                        Thanks,
                       Phenix

 

Thanks for the letter Phenix.  Is it more playable?  Yes.  Is it a great piece – that is kind of a matter of opinion.  There are three pieces that help any troopers now.  Vader can give them a +6 to their defense.  Piett can give them opportunist, and the new Felucian Officer grants advantageous cover.  In the case of your bike, you now have a 21-point piece that has a 29 defense in cover, a +9/+12 (Thrawn as well here) attack for 30 DAM.  Add a possible strafe attack and that sounds pretty good to me. 

 

Another thing you can do with speeder bikes is use Thrawn to swap E-webs around with speeder bikes.  You run out a speeder bike and then use Thrawn to swap in an E-web for maximum effect.  If you run it right it is a very good squad.  If you do not want the super pumped speeder bikes, you can also use swoop bikes.  In the end though, you will generally do better using regular troopers, but if you like the speeder it is definitely a plausible piece.

 

As far as the map trade, do you play DCI tournaments?  If you do make sure the Bespin map you trade for is the updated version (easiest identifier - stairs are marked with yellow boxes and there are red lines through the windows).  Bespin is a very good map to have, so whether it is worth it is really up to you.  If you don’t think you will ever run the speeder bike, then trade away, but if you do play double bikes, then you might want to hang onto it.

 

I hope this answers your question.  If you have any further questions let me know, and I will try to clarify further.  If anyone has any questions or topics you would like me to cover, drop me a line at sithdragon13@yahoo.com.  I will get to ALL emails, so if you have sent something be patient.  

 

Side note:  Next week we will start off with our Force unleashed previews!

 

May the Force Be With You.