A month after previewing the warriors of Bright Tree Village, Atomic Mass Games have previewed their opposite number: Tempest Force! Let’s take a look!
Tempest Force is a detachment of elite warriors, hand picked by the Emperor himself to defend the shield generators for the second Death Star as part of his master stroke to utterly crush the rebellion. Singularly hard bitten veterans from across the galaxy… who were ultimately defeated by Care Bears, a single Wooky, a badass princess and a particularly handsome smuggler. You know, badasses!
Representing all that was good and expendable about the original Star Wars trilogy, Tempest Force is comprised of Storm Troopers, Scout Troopers, Storm Troopers, Imperial Officers, Storm Troopers, and supported by Imperial Speeder Bikes, AT-STs and probably another battalion or so of Storm Troopers! Tempest Force special rules, described above, are meant to simulate different units being forced to work independently in dense terrain.
Tempest Force comes with three new command cards to simulate the specific orders and readiness of the legion. Constantly Alert gives aim tokens to any unit within range 1 of an enemy and a standby token to all other units. Drive Them Out gives friendly Vehicles Demoralize 1 for bold assaults, and We Need Reinforcements give friendly units with faceup order tokens Disengage.
Tempest Force is lead by Major Marquand, a precipitous drop in commander rank when you consider that General Veers, Lord Vader and Emperor Palpatine are all playable characters, but oh well. He is a Field Commander who is mounted in an AT-ST and enjoys commanding other vehicles as well (preferably AT-STs!). He surges to hit and can fire his concussion launcher and twin light blasters into melee, which is pretty monstrous!
Marquand’s tactics are decidedly vehicle focused, with Armored Cavalry allowing three vehicles to be ordered and giving an aim, dodge and speed 1 move to vehicles within range 1 of the Major. Squadron, On Me allows friendly vehicles within range 1 of Marquand a free pivot and range 1 move (which sounds more like Squadron, Away From Me!). Gunner, Infantry! gives Marquand Tactical 1 and Suppressive at the cost of reducing his speed.
And there you have it for the Tempest Force preview! Will this contend with Blizzard Force as the new dominant power in the tournament scene? Probably not. Will it be a lot of fun to play against Bright Tree Village? Probably! Let us know what you think in the comments.