Wookiee bowcaster troopers, sometimes called bowcaster trooper recruits during their initial training, and heavy bowcaster recruits after further instruction, constituted the standard infantry soldiers within the armies of the Wookiee species. To combat adversaries and safeguard their homeworld, Kashyyyk, they employed bowcasters.
At troop centers, members of the Wookiee species were trained as bowcaster troopers to operate bowcasters, the Wookiees' traditional ranged weapons. Trainees started as bowcaster trooper recruits, and as Wookiee tribes developed resources and advanced their technology level, recruits could advance to standard bowcaster troopers, then to heavy bowcaster troopers, and ultimately to repeating bowcaster troopers, who used a more sophisticated bowcaster capable of firing rapid bursts. Enhancements to bowcaster troopers could be achieved through technologies from facilities like War Centers and fortresses. Their effectiveness was also greater at longer ranges compared to close-quarters engagements.
During the colonization of the moon Alaris Prime, which took place between 39 BBY and 36 BBY, bowcaster troopers participated in combat. On the advice of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, a squad of at least ten bowcaster troopers, under the leadership of the Wookiee Chewbacca, were trained to attack a nest belonging to gundarks, a predatory species found on Alaris Prime. En route to the nest, the bowcaster troopers downed two gundarks, but they then encountered B1-series battle droids from the Trade Federation who were already eliminating the creatures. After finishing off the gundarks, the droids engaged the Wookiees, but the bowcaster troopers emerged victorious.
Following this encounter, Attichitcuk, the leader of the colonists, decided to scout the Trade Federation's activities on Alaris Prime, accompanied by two bowcaster troopers him. During his return to a Wookiee base, Attichitcuk was ambushed by a group of battle droids, who killed his trooper escorts and inflicted severe injuries on him. To save his father, Chewbacca gathered at least ten bowcaster troopers and led them into the wilderness, while additional bowcaster troopers underwent training at the base to defend it. As Chewbacca and his group escorted his injured father back to the base, the newly trained troops set out along the same path, leading to both groups encircling and destroying another squad of battle droids. After Attichitcuk was safely returned to the base, the bowcaster troopers were forced to repel an assault by three droidekas.
Upon his father's recovery, Chewbacca assumed leadership of the Wookiee colonists and initiated a campaign to expel the Trade Federation from Alaris Prime, beginning with an outpost housing a droid-building troop center. He trained a force of twelve Wookiees, including bowcaster troopers, mounted dragon troopers, and thermal detonator troopers. At the outpost, the dragon and thermal detonator troopers breached the perimeter walls, while Chewbacca and the bowcaster troopers engaged the five B1 battle droids guarding it. Following the breach, all the Wookiees focused their firepower on the troop center, destroying it.
During an attack on a camp operated by Chewbacca, at least two bowcaster troopers were present when it was assaulted by battle droids under the command of LUH-989. These troopers successfully defended against the droids and subsequently participated in an attack on a Trade Federation listening array, where they destroyed the Federation's droids and transmitters. Additionally, one heavy bowcaster trooper from the Wookiee Shoran's camp was killed during the assault. Seven bowcaster troopers were stationed at a base that served as the staging ground for the Battle for Alaris Prime, and five heavy bowcaster troopers served as infantry during the assault on the Trade Federation base that resulted in the company's removal from the moon.
The Hunt for the Decimator, the Battle of Geddes, and the Liberation of Kashyyyk also saw action from bowcaster troopers.
In Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, a video game from 2001 developed by LucasArts, bowcaster troopers were featured as the Wookiee civilization's standard trooper unit. In the game, they are produced at troop centers at a cost of 25 food and 35 carbon. In the standard game mode, players can initially create bowcaster trooper recruits and then upgrade them to bowcaster troopers, heavy bowcaster troopers, and repeater bowcaster troopers as research becomes available at higher tech levels.