Mekanika Garrison Paintable Tray Review

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As anyone who has played in a tabletop gaming tournament can attest to, it's a bit of a pain moving your stuff from one table to another.  Besides the hassle of packing everything up, moving it over (without dropping a die, mini, or card), valuable game time is wasted setting up at the new table.  Even if you're careful, at least once per tournament I'll someone go back to their last table and ask if they found a die/mini/whatever because they are missing something after their move.  Different folks have tried different solutions, from piling up everything in a big bag or stacking it on the lid of a tackle box to MDF trays or something similar.  My original solution was piling up everything on a cafeteria tray I acquired from somewhere.  It worked but was hardly ideal.  Thankfully, Mekanika has a solution, the Garrison Paintable Tray.

The Tray

The Good

The tray, unlike some others, was designed for Legion from the ground up.  The insert it comes with fits Legion bases quite nicely, and the slots fit all the necessary accessories as well, with room to spare.  The tray isn't limited to Legion however, as Mekanika's website shows that versions for other games, including X-Wing, will be available "soon."  The mix of compartments in the main tray allows you to sort out a variety of items.  I personally prefer to separate my dice into their respective types, but the compartments would also serve well to separate various tokens.  The largest compartment serves to hold cards, deployment markers, or even aftermarket items like objective hologram tokens or reminder aids.  I've even seen it used as a dice tray, though there are a few problems with that particular use, to be discussed later.  While a minor thing, the styling on the tray fits the look and feel of Star Wars, and allows for some cool paint jobs.  Nobody wants to carry around their wonderfully painted army around in an ugly tray after all. 

The empty tray, fully painted.  

In the semi-current Legion meta, with activation spam a real thing, it should be noted that the Garrison tray has plenty of room for almost anything you can put on it.  From 13 activation trooper spam to dual heavy lists, the tray makes carrying the units around a lot easier.  I found that it also helps the setup time for games considerably, as even after moving to a different table, my dice, movement templates, and range rulers are all in the same spot (relatively speaking) after every game. 

Fully loaded up with my 13 activation "Meta Spam" list. 

The loaded tray, with everything in its proper place.

The Bad

Arguably the worst feature about this tray is the price.  It's not cheap, at $59.99 plus shipping.  Production times can also be a bit of a drag, as it took a while longer than I expected to receive mine.  Thankfully my questions were quickly answered and the tray shipped as soon as it was finished.  Most of the other issues I've had are pretty minor.  I found that primer doesn't always want to cling to the plastic used, and I had some issues with my plastic primer peeling.  Maybe I just didn't give it long enough, or perhaps it just takes longer for the primer to bond to the plastic used in the tray than I'm used to.  The size of the tray also makes carrying it with all your other Legion stuff a bit of an issue.  It doesn't fit well into my BattleFoam case no matter how I angle it, and since the troop insert is loose, I'm always worried it'll fall out if I carry it separately. I am considering trying to make it work with a MOLLE laptop case, however.  If that works, I'll include an update down the line. 

The final thing I'll complain about is also minor, but it's one of those design issues that could easily have been solved with a bit more work, and that is that the troop insert doesn't fit flush with dice.  Granted, this is likely a problem of my own making, as the textured compartment inserts were originally loose before I glued them down.  With them taken out, the insert may, in fact, sit flush, but it's a bit odd that the use of dice and the inserts wasn't taken into account.  By necessity, the tray would be a bit thicker, but that would be a small price to pay for a bit more secure of a system.

The Ugly (or at least questionable)

Finally, the random issues that aren't bad, but could have an impact on your opinions of the tray.  The first one is a matter of use; because the lid/troop insert does not firmly attach to the body, I don't see much of a point in bringing it to casual game nights.  If I'm going to take the time to pull everything out and set up, there's no need to add another item to the table if it doesn't really serve.  Thus, if I'm not changing tables, I really don't see a need for the tray.  There are likely ways to fix the problem ranging from magnetizing to using rubber bands, but I've not experimented with them yet.  We'll see if that changes my opinion on the general use of the tray or not.  As it stands now, unless I'm changing tables, or won't have space on the table to organize my dice/rulers/templates, I don't really use this.  This really does limit the tray's use to tournaments and larger, 2v2 or Grand Army games.  The second issue that should be considered is that while the textured inserts into the various compartments are removable, they can also fall out if not secured.  For me, personally, I think this limits you to either permanently leaving them out, or gluing them in place.  Not a huge problem by any stretch of the imagination, but something to think about.  Finally, as discussed before, is the problems of using the tray as a dice tray.  Without the large compartment's textured insert, this would likely not be a problem.  With it, however, dice are frequently cocked and require being rerolled.  Again, this is likely a problem of my own making, and could probably be easily solved by an appropriately sized piece of felt in place instead of the textured insert, but that's probably not something you'll think of until after you've tried it the other way.  If you intend to use the large compartment as a dice tray, make sure you try it out a few times before gluing the insert in place.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I'm pleased with the Garrison paintable Tray.  It works well as the tournament tray it is intended to be, and honestly, most of my complaints about it are over it not being perfect in other uses or me not thinking about how I could have done other things with it in the first place.  If you're looking for a quality tray to use at tournaments, you could certainly do worse than Mekanika's offering.

First thoughts on the Republic

Turns out Clones are pretty good.

To those of you that don't know, I'm a huge fan of the Clone Wars.  I don't just mean The Clone Wars show or the more recent offerings.  I mean I'm a fan of pretty much everything we've seen of the Clones Wars from Episode II all the way to the upcoming revival season of The Clone Wars, with a special shout out to Dark Horse Comic's Clone Wars stories in their Republic line.  Even my most common user name comes from a character in those comics.  So, needless to say, I was ecstatic when I first heard the Clone Wars would be coming to Legion.  And now that the Republic is (sorta) out, I can say that they live up to the hype.

The Clones

I should note what the Clones are not at this point.  They are not broken, in a way that a certainly Mandolorian chosen one can feel like at times.  They are also not cheap, with their cheapest unit being over 50 points at this point.  They are also not quite as user-friendly as the Empire is, as the lack of natural surge to hit or block naturally means you have to plan ahead to maximize their use.  Unsurprisingly, Clones are not numerous either, as the possible options for armies are limited to 3 units right now, and even by the time everything comes out, there will be a total of 6 units with a few varieties of heavy weapon and personnel upgrades.

What the Clones, and by the extension, the Republic faction as a whole, are a solid and adaptable addition to the game.  As often pointed out, the basic Phase I Clone Trooper squad offers the advantages of both the basic Rebel trooper squad and of Stormtroopers.  It's weird actually having a legitimate choice between heavy weapons right now between the Z-6 and the DC-15, and I'm enjoying running both for the moment, though I do tend to run more DC-15s at a 2/1 or 3/2 split.  The split allows for a nice mix of capabilities, from range 4 fire to sheer numbers of dice.  The ability fo the clones to share green tokens allows different units to support one another, and that's not even going into Fire Support.  Fire Support obviously has its ups and downs.  On the downside, you're giving up an activation, and for a faction built around expensive units, that's not a good thing.  Played at the wrong time, it'll leave you open to a lot of risk-free moves my your opponent later in the round.  On the plus side, Fire Support really helps maximize the advantages of both heavy weapons.  Chucking a fist full of dice at units like Sabine or Tauntauns really helps overcome solid defenses and can simply delete units off the board.  During my first 800 pt game, I used fire support to nuke Leia off the board on Round 1, even with a dodge token.  Granted, that was a case not likely to repeat itself in the future, but the potential is there.

Fire Support also allows you to keep units that have taken massive casualties in the fight.  The unit touching the objective was down to two minis (commander and DC-15 gunner) but kept fighting through Fire Support for several rounds.

On the downside, Clones really need to stay together to be effective and share their tokens.  They also need support in the form of surge tokens from their commander.  Without natural surges, the dice are more fickle than they are on a lot of Imperial or Rebel units, and you will often find yourself at the mercies of the dice gods in both attacking and blocking.  The Republic has a ton of opportunities to pass out surge tokens, but you have to play them at the right time, and more importantly, remember to play them.  Forgetting to play Strict orders on a key round can result in weak attacks and more casualties. 

How things can look when you remember to play the cards right.

General Kenobi

Which brings us to Mr. "Hello There" himself.  I'll admit to not being a huge fan of most of the commanders in Legion before now.  Units like Vader and Luke were almost all offensively minded units that offered little support, while units like Krennic forced you into using certain units and play styles.  Veers and Leia, and their mini-mes in the form of the generic commanders seemed to offer the best mix of support and offensive ability, but even that was lacking.  Obi changes all that.  Although his actual attack is relatively weak, just a double rainbow with Pierce/Critical/Impact 2, he has a nice mix of Force powers, a command slot, and a training slot.  This allows you to customize him to meet your needs and expectations.  If you want him to be a character hunter (for say, a Cyborg or two) Hunter is a great option.  Tenacity is of course, also a great option, because who doesn't want an extra red die?  I've tried both and found that Tenacity is probably the better choice in general because it helps Young Ben make up for his lack of offensive power.  That said, if you can get a wound on Sabine or Vader before charging into melee with General Kenobi, the free aim token is almost always useful. 

Kenobi, I've found, should not be used by himself.  Where Vader needs other units to absorb fire, Kenobi wants to absorb fire for other units.  His command cards also want him to be surrounded, either by enemy or friendly units.  Naturally, choosing when to launch your Meme-powered Kenobi missile into the enemy lines is a major command decision.  Do it too early, and you'll find your commander surrounded and alone while doing so too late will probably leave either him or your supporting troops too weak to fight him off.  As with Sabine and Luke, Obi wants something along the lines of a last/first activation order when you do decide to unleash him.  He's great at blocking a ton of incoming fire, and Guardian 3 allows you to keep a lot of Clones on the board that would otherwise die. 

If Obi does have a fault, its that he doesn't have any natural means of removing extra suppression, either from himself or from others.  Upgrades like Hope are nice, but take a Force slot that you'll probably want to spend on Force Guidance, Reflexes, or Push.  As the Phase I clones only have courage one, this leaves your army very susceptible to suppression, though the ability to mitigate the lack of actions by sharing green tokens is handy.  Though not as big of a handicap, in my opinion, the lack of a gear slot on Obi-Wan means that you won't be able to shrug off as many hits as Luke or Sabine.  No Emergency Stims for Kenobi.  The game today came down to him fighting a snow lizard over a key position on his last health, and his the single die he rolled came up blank. 

Poor Kenobi, maybe you should go home and rethink your life. (or rather, death)

The BARC Speeder

Last, and possibly least, is the BARC speeder.  I'll admit that I'm not a fan of this unit's archetype.  Essentially a single mini version of the Imperial speeder bikes with slightly better defense, the BARC fulfills the role of a fast attack cavalry unit.  It can hit hard, but its limited health does leave it very vulnerable to a bad roll of the dice.  Cover 1 naturally is also nice, but there are a ton of units in the game now with Sharpshooter and Pierce, so I don't expect the BARCs to be a major factor in my lists moving forward.  It's entirely possible that others will make better use of them than I will, but it's a matter of them not fitting my preferred play style.  My only real experience with them is taking out a strike team, but losing my BARC to a unit of Tauntauns in two activations.  The snow kangaroos are fast enough to keep up with the BARC, and even to run it down when you have the sidecar attached, and Sharpshooter 1 means it's all up to your red dice to keep you alive.  (and I'm pretty sure my dice hate me)

 "Fly faster, these guys smell really bad...."

That said, for the moment, Republic players pretty much have to play the BARC.  It does have its advantages, with the sidecar weapons slots offering more dice, and its natural surge-to-hit, the only Republic unit with that ability in the game thus far, means it can always make maximum use of the dice it's dishing out.  As with Speeder bikes and the AT-RT, it's probably best to run BARCs in at least pairs, so they can double-tap units they run across.  Because of their potential speed, they can be used to run down lone sniper strike teams and even to make an attempt of eliminating units holding an objective in your opponent's rear area.  If you like fast cavalry style units, you'll probably find a place BARCs in your army.

Looking towards the future

At the time of writing this, the Republic has three units announced (not counting Artoo and Threepeo), Rex, Phase II Clones, and the Saber-Class Fighter Tank.  I'm excited about all three and may start proxying in Rex using a 3D printed Phase I ARC trooper I already have.  (told you I'm a huge Clone Wars fan)  Rex will likely find a place alongside Kenobi in my lists, as he helps to correct the Jedi General's lack of Inspire and he looks like a solid unit in his own right.  I'm interested in Phase II Clones as well, but will as good as they are, I'm not sure how much better they'll really be over Phase Is.  The Fighter Tank will be an insta-buy for me, but that's for pure nostalgia reasons, and I'm still on the fence about how effective it will be.  This only leaves the Phase I personnel/heavy weapons upgrade pack, and we don't have enough information for me to really judge how it will affect things, other than offer some new, and potentially awesome heavy weapons.  Regardless of how things shake out, I'd say that the Republic is off to a good start, and I'm looking forward to getting in more games with them in the coming months.