Unit Guides: Leia Organa

"I don't know who you are or where you came from, but from now on you do as I tell you, okay?"

Leia Organa offers the Rebel Alliance a support-oriented Commander with decent stats and a low points cost.

Statistics

At just 90 points, Leia is the least expensive Rebel Commander currently available.

She has a wound threshold of 6 and a courage value of 2. It takes at least 2 suppression tokens to suppress Leia, and at least 4 suppression tokens before she and any friendly units nearby will panic.

Her white defense die with surges converting to blocks gives 33.3% chance to block incoming damage.

Leia has Speed 2.

Leia's Defender Sporting Blaster allows her to attack at range 1-2 with 3 black dice. Since she converts offensive surges to crits, this averages 1.875 damage (including 0.75 crits.)

In melee, Leia's Martial Arts attack of 3 black dice also averages 1.875 damage (includes 0.75 crits.)

Sharpshooter 2 prevents cover from cancelling any hits from her attacks. Take Cover 2 lets her hand out a dodge token to up 2 to friendly units at range 1 (one of these units can be Leia herself.) Inspire 2 lets her remove up to 2 total suppression tokens from other friendly units at range 1-2 (not from herself, as it can only affect "other" friendly units.)

Total Hits vs. % Chance; Black = Melee; Dotted Green = Sporting Blaster; Red = Coordinated Bombardment

Above is the probability distribution for Leia's attacks: Martial Arts in melee, Leia's Defender Sporting Blaster, and her special attack when using the Coordinated Bombardment Command Card.

Both her Martial Arts and Sporting Blaster roll the same dice, leading to an identical probability distribution. While they can do up to 3 damage (with a 24.4% chance), the Most Probable Result is 2 damage at nearly a 44% chance. There's only a ~5.3% chance for all blanks.
While both her melee and normal ranged attack consist of the same dice, the Sporting Blaster has Pierce 1,  making it the better option for pushing damage through. Combine this with Leia's Sharpshooter 2 and there's rarely a compelling reason to enter a melee unless you really want to avoid a nasty ranged attack or hamper enemy movement.
Coordinated Bombardment will consistently roll 1 or 2 damage over 98% of the time. It is discussed further in the Command Cards section.

To get a better sense of a unit's survivability, I like to use Effective Health Points (or EHP.) This refers to the average amount of damage one would expect to roll in order to defeat a given unit. For Leia, a wound threshold of 6 and a white defense die with surge gives 9 EHP. On average a standard unit of 4 Stormtroopers will take Leia down in 6 attacks (ignoring things like aim tokens, dodge tokens, or cover) while 4 Rebel Troopers typically get the job done in 5 attacks.
Of course, as long as you can get a dodge token, Leia's Nimble keyword can make her especially resilient against many small attacks-- but without dodge tokens, Leia is relatively squishy compared to other Commanders.

Upgrades

Leia has room for up to 2 Command upgrades and 1 Gear upgrade. You might want to consider the following upgrades:

Commanding Presence (10 pts) extends your command range to range 4, granting a radius that can cover over half the battlefield. Unfortunately, your trooper units still need to be at range 1-3 to benefit from your Commander's Courage value, and units need to be even closer to benefit from Inspire and Take Cover. And of course, if you're worried about units like a T-47 Airspeeder getting too far away from your Commander you can always use Long-Range Comlink instead.
Still, Commanding Presence could be useful for keeping Leia out of range of enemy threats yet still able to issue orders to your front line or far flank. This card may be more useful if you happen to be playing with the optional "Grand Army" rules.

Esteemed Leader (5 pts) can help you keep Leia around much longer by using your Corps units at range 1 as bodyguards to soak up incoming damage. I would definitely consider this if Leia is the only Commander in your list, if you plan on playing aggressively with her, or perhaps even if you just want to be sure you can use one of her Command Cards later in the game.
If you want to use this card you should make certain that you have plenty of Corps troopers in your list so you can sacrifice a few without seriously diminishing your ability to play the objective. And remember to keep at least 1 Corps trooper unit next to Leia whenever she is threatened by an enemy unit.

Environmental Gear (3 pts) lets you move through difficult terrain without slowing down. Similar to Grappling Hooks, just how useful it is depends on what terrain you are using; however it is more broadly useful than Grappling Hooks. For only 3 points, it could well be worth it on Leia so she can keep pace with the troopers you want her to be supporting. After all, Take Cover is not much use if she isn't close enough to her comrades or she has to spend both her actions on movement.

Leia Organa's Role in Your Army

As with other Commander units, Leia is important for issuing orders and preventing panic among your troopers. While she has decent attack power, Leia's greatest value comes from her support abilities and Command Cards at a relatively low price point.

Between Sharpshooter 2, Pierce 1, and a better than 94% chance to roll damage, Leia can steadily deal at least 1 wound against most unarmored units. Though she doesn't have the potential to wipe a trooper unit single-handedly like Luke or take on 2 units at once like Han, Leia can steadily whittle away even the most entrenched enemies.

Take Cover 2 lets up to 2 friendly trooper units gain a dodge token. Not only can this free up an action for 1 or 2 other units, it also combos nicely with the Nimble keyword on Rebel Troopers and Leia herself and with the Deflect keyword that Luke has. Handing out dodge tokens tends to be most useful the earlier you can do it; try to activate Leia early when you are relying on this ability, and remember that Leia needs to be in range 1 of the unit(s) you intend to support in this way. (Also note that Leia can be one of those units, as she counts as being at range 1 of herself.)

Leia's further supports your troopers with her Inspire 2 ability. This allows Leia to remove up to 2 suppression tokens from other friendly units at range 1-2. You can either remove 1 token each from 2 different units or remove 2 tokens from just 1 unit. Not only can this help keep troopers from panicking, but with the right circumstances it can even prevent units from losing an action. Another upside is that it doesn't cost an action to use, since it automatically happens after Leia's Rally step. (Do note however that Leia cannot use this ability to remove suppression from herself.)

In order to make use of these support abilities, Leia will need to stay close to the troopers under her command. Additionally, since her normal ranged attack is limited to range 2, if you want to make use of her offensive firepower she'll need to get fairly close to the enemy as well. Leia is comparatively fragile, so you may want to look for ways to boost her survivability. Some options to do this include staying in cover, equipping the Esteemed Leader upgrade, or if she is in a list with Luke, using his My Ally is the Force Command Card to pass her an extra dodge token.

Command Cards

Like other Commanders, Leia has 3 unique Command Cards that only she can use.

Coordinated Bombardment

1 pip, Leia Organa

At the end of Leia Organa's activation, she may perform up to 3 attacks against different enemy units using the following weapon: Range 4 and beyond, 2 red dice, Immune: Deflect

Leia's 1 pip card offers a good chance to win priority as well as up to 3 special attacks at the end of Leia's activation. Since each of these attacks uses 2 red dice with surges converting to crits, they each average 1.75 damage (including 0.5 crits) and miss less than 1.6% of the time. Leia's Sharpshooter 2 ability applies to these attacks, negating any cover, and since it has Immune: Deflect you needn't have any qualms about attacking lightsaber-wielders like Darth Vader. However, you do need to make sure that Leia ends her activation with line-of-sight to her prospective targets, and no closer to them than range 4.

This special attack is not an attack action; in theory, you could make up to 4 attacks in this single activation: a normal attack with Leia against 1 enemy and then follow up with 3 more attacks against different units. While none of these attacks has enough dice to wipe a 4 man squad, they all have a good chance to roll damage and drop a suppression token on enemy troopers.

Because it can be difficult to line up 3 valid targets, I think that this is actually a good card to play on turn 1. Not only should it be easy to deploy Leia somewhere where she can get line-of-sight to 3 targets, but laying some suppression down before your opponent even has a chance to move can screw with their plans. On top of this, removing any enemy pieces from the board before they can contribute gives you an advantage right away. There are obvious downsides here, as it means burning a high priority 1 pip card when a lot of players tend to play 3 or 4 pip cards and leaving the rest of your activation order to chance.

No Time for Sorrows

2 pips, 2 Troopers

When a friendly trooper unit is issued an order, it may perform a speed-1 move.

Perhaps the least flashy of Leia's Command Cards, No Time for Sorrows offers some decent utility in the form of a speed 1 move during the Command Phase for 2 trooper units. 

A speed 1 move may not seem like a big deal, but since this move happens during the Command Phase you can use it to catch your opponent off guard and spoil their plans; if you manage to play it the same turn that your opponent plays Master of Evil, you might be able to get your troopers outside the range of its otherwise devastating effect. At times a speed 1 move will be the difference between getting caught in the open and getting behind heavy cover-- or out of line-of-sight entirely. It can help you get something like a Scatter Gun Trooper into range so that he can aim and fire at the start of the round. You might even be able to use it to beat your opponent in a race for an objective token like in Recover the Supplies, or it could provide the extra bit of distance you need to score during Breakthrough.

In short, good movement is a key ingredient for victory, so chances for a free move should not be overlooked.

Somebody Has to Save Our Skins

3 pips, Leia Organa and 2 Units
After Leia Organa's activation, you may choose a friendly unit at range 1-2 with a faceup order token and activate it.
At 3 pips, you might not win priority with this card, but Somebody Has to Save Our Skins is still great for getting a leg up on your foe. Getting 2 activations in a row near the start of the round can cause serious pain for your opponent. The best time to play this is almost certainly when Leia and another powerful unit are both in range to deal damage to 1 or more enemies. Leia can soften a target with her Sporting Blaster and then Luke can charge in for the kill, hopefully wiping an entire unit from the board. Leia and Han can combine to wound and suppress 3 separate trooper units-- a brutal follow up to Coordinated Bombardment. Of course, you don't need another Commander for this to be effective. Many other units can combo with Leia for a lethal one-two punch-- a T-47 Airspeeder, an AT-RT, or a well-equipped trooper squad can do the job. As the game grows and more expansions are released, the possibilities will only increase.

Boasting good support abilities, strong Command Cards, and a comparatively low points cost, Leia is not only a great infantry Commander but can fit into and benefit many different kinds of lists.

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