Star Nebula Corsairs Battle Box Spotlight

With eleven models and an Esper deck in the Star Nebula Corsairs Battle Box, you get everything you need to play a 35 point Encounter.

What makes a pirate, eh? Why does an otherwise sane being forsake hearth and home and health for a ship and solitude? Well, for some, it is the only life they can stand. Not everyone fits in. Not everyone wants to. For them, the life of the fat and happy—or even the starving but honest—is like soggy bread. A bland and slow life, with no spice or sharpness, is no life at all. Out in the black beyond, past the markers and emergency beacons that hem in the quiet, passive populations, lies space that is wild and open and free. Here is danger, adventure, and promise. Here, you are what you make yourself. Here is life with some zest.

The Relic Knights and the Darkspace Calamity have created a bonanza for buccaneers across the galaxy. A smorgasbord of fat and slow targets. Every day, thousands of people flee their worlds for the misplaced sense of security they find on another planet. The convoys andl one ships of these refugees make delicious plunder: large, reluctant to fight, slow to flee, and filled with people carrying all of their lives in the holds. Sometimes they have little, sometimes much, but each such ship that requires protection draws another escort away from the merchantmen with the true valuables. 

The Star Nebula Corsairs Battle Box cadre is led by Captain Harker and his cypher, Caesar. A Broadside, five Scallywags, and three Breachers round out the list, with multiple upgrade options to choose from to hit 35 Points. Ignition Core Games is excited that most of these models are available in high quality, high detail resin for the first time! 

A cunning and experienced pirate, Captain Harker has learned to make his own luck. This is reflected in his Cadre Ability, Treasure Map, which allows you to rearrange the top 4 cards of your deck after you draw. Treasure Map is great for any Star Nebula Corsairs cadre, as most units have some ability that gets better if specific cards are flipped. Even if you can’t make sure your planned action will succeed, the knowledge of what’s coming can be invaluable. As a seasoned combatant, Harker’s Precision reduces his target’s defense skill by 1, making him a big threat to anyone relying on their deck to pay for defense. Harker’s movement of 5-4 gives him decent mobility. With Charge 3 built into his melee attack, he gains a little extra distance when needed. Command Shot is Harker’s surge attack, with the potential to reposition friendly units every turn. Harker’s AoE, Calamity Insight, provides some additional damage if a Void is flipped, and can be pressed to gain even more card advantage. With no defense skill higher than 2 and only 1 armor, Harker will need to rely on Treasure Map and cover to boost his survivability.

Caesar, Harker’s Cypher, is the perfect companion to Harker. A movement of 6-6 and Fly gives the parrot great mobility to be a nuisance to your opponent. Go for the Eyes! doesn’t do much damage but can be pressed to gain Drain 2. Stripping cards out of your opponent’s hand is good on its own, but combined with Precision on Harker and the Scallywags, it’s a great way to help your attacks do maximum damage. Caesar’s Mimicry lets you double up on a ranged attack in the same turn, or cover angles that another unit can’t. Be aware that you still have to pay for the attack with a separate flip,and use Ceasar’s skill of 2 even if the unit he is copying the action from has a higher skill.

Next in the battle box is the Broadside, a mobile cannon capable of great destruction. With a move of 4-3, Broadside needs to be deployed with consideration or else it could quickly get left behind as battle lines shift. Cumbersome prevents it from making a follow up move if it takes an action, slowing Broadside even further. But in exchange for being nearly stationary the Broadside can ruin someone’s day. Fusilade does a respectable 6 damage, with the option to do even more if the target is a squad. Further, it can also be pressed to gain Blast 3, pushing the target and any models close to it away - useful for breaking cohesion and defending objectives. An optional upgrade adds an attack that hits for 8 damage and can Drain 2. Defensively, Broadside has Guard and Shielding to bolster its 2 armor. Even better, Broadside’s AoE makes it easy to get the full benefit of a defense action.

The Scallywags are the workhorse unit of any Star Nebula Corsairs cadre. With up to 10 models in the squad, their Precision and Coordinated Attack can quickly increase their damage potential to deadly levels. Both the melee and ranged attacks have the Surge property, giving the Scallywags the option to attack every turn regardless of engagement. Their support ability clears non-command tokens and can heal as well, making them a great support option when faced with an opponent that relies on effects like Hobble, Bind, and Burning. If you need even more firepower, their upgrade gives them a grenade launcher that inflicts Knockback, effectively putting a command token on their target.

Finally, let’s look at the Breachers. A small but well-armed squad, the Breachers are equipped to apply targeted pressure. With Knockback on their melee attack and Push on their ranged attack, they can control and limit their enemy’s options. Seize Ground is where their true threat lies, allowing the Breachers, and if pressed, Scallywags, to move toward an enemy objective. Double down on the same objective to overwhelm it or move toward two different objectives in order to force your opponent to respond to both. Even if you can’t get to an objective, the extra movement can allow you to reposition another unit for an attack. And since this is a Surge ability, they can be set up to capture after command tokens are cleared. With Thrusters they can ignore terrain or other models with their follow up movement. Their upgrade gives the Breachers extremely high damage potential with both Rapidfire and up to 8 additional damage before Coordinated Attack is even considered - that’s 23 damage under perfect conditions!

When looking to expand this cadre, a good place to start is Infiltrator Candy; Caesar can give Candy a Power token, allowing her to take two actions without having to wait to power up first.

Over the next weeks, we’ll take a look at a couple of the outcasts that call the Star Nebula home! Subscribe here to make sure you don’t miss it!