Databank Download: Aurra Sing & Bounty Hunters Preview

SWP09Aurra Sing & the Bounty Hunters

This week’s Star Wars™: Shatterpoint preview features an assortment of capable bounty hunters who have proven the merits of working together in what is often a solitary profession. The most prominent of these hunters is the Palliduvan sniper Aurra Sing, whose resume is long and includes many impressive credentials.

Bounty hunting is a perilous if lucrative profession, and there is a modicum of professional courtesy among members of the guild. They may choose to team up when not instead undercutting one another or competing to be the first to get to a mark. Aurra Sing’s reputation as a skilled hunter and assassin is well-earned, and even the likes of Cad Bane and Hondo Ohnaka have sought her assistance from time to time. Aurra is more than willling to work with others, as long as the end result serves her own personal interests.

Both Aurra Sing and her Bounty Hunter peers prove quite flexibile as guns for hire thanks to sharing the Payday Reactive ability, which lets them temporarily gain a tag of an ally. Thus paid, they can briefly be treated as members of the same organization. Given many abilities are only effective on specific tags, this ability opens up a wide range of potential combat benefits, letting these bounty hunters fight ably for any side of a given conflict.

One reason Aurra Sing doesn’t mind teaming up is the fact that those joining her can serve as an Expendable Distraction, occupying the enemy and making themselves even easier to be hit and killed. Gaining 3 dice on her attacks is quite a strong bonus, and it seems a small price to pay if the engaging allies get slightly winged by the blaster bolt grazing them in the process. Making such a shot allows Sing to utilize her other Reactive abilities, with sufficient Force tokens. Hit and Run is quite useful, allowing her to immediately Reposition, while Double the Contract, Double the Payout gives her a free 5-dice attack against a secondary target.

Her Stance reflects her independent attitude, as she is Not Asking Permission to attack, using her custom sniper rifle at range, or drawing blaster pistols at point blank range. Sing is certainly considerably more deadly when firing the rifle, but is not too shabby in melee, when forced to fight while engaged. Her Combat Tree is a strong one, and she’s likely to progress to its higher Options if benefitting from the added dice from Expendable Distraction. In addition to substantial damage, this Combat Tree offers the chance to Pin, Strain, perform up to two Pushes, and Expose the foe, as well as possibly allowing her to Climb or Reposition after. The Dexterous Dodge Defense expertise chart also offers decent defensive protection.

Though Aurra Sing’s mercenary nature allows her to fight alongside just about anyone, she often prefers to join other Bounty Hunters. This might include those drawn from Cad Bane’s crew, like the Chandra-Fan Troo-Tril-Tek and others.

Any Bounty Hunter worth their guild membership is always On the Trail of their quarry and is constantly on the move. They know the importance of using proper gear, demonstrated by Tools of the Trade. This Active ability lets them employ their specialized hardware to Disarm a nearby foe and gain the benefit of Sharpshooter 2 and Impact 2 to augment focus actions either for melee or ranged attacks. Under these benefits their offensive capability is considerable augmented.

As their Hunting Season Stance demonstrates, while they slightly prefer firing blasters, Bounty Hunters are essentially as good in melee as at range. The Ranged and Melee Expertise Charts for this Stance are modest, and its Combat Tree relatively simple, but offers decent damage, as well as options to Shove, Pin, or Expose the foe.

These hunters serve as the perfect foils or cannon fodder for either Aurra Sing or Cad Bane, and when working together they can help secure even the most formidable of bounties.

Make sure to check back for our next Star Wars: Shatterpoint Unit preview, where we give you a first look at how your favorite characters from the Star Wars galaxy translate into the gameplay of Star Wars: Shatterpoint. Pre-order your own copy of the Fistful of Credits Squad Pack at your local game store or through the webstore today.

Until next time, Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!