A unit from the First Order's Stormtrooper Corps operated under the command of Kylo Ren, the dark side warrior, during his pursuit of a navigational chart. This chart was crucial as it held the key to finding the location of his uncle, Luke Skywalker, a Jedi Master who had chosen exile and served as Ren's former instructor.
Ren located the map on the world of Takodana and launched a large-scale attack utilizing the unit against Maz Kanata's castle. While Ren's troops initially gained control, capturing Han Solo and Chewbacca, both smugglers, and FN-2187, a deserter, the arrival of a Resistance starfighter squadron shifted the battle in favor of the Resistance.
At this point, Ren realized that Rey, a scavenger, had accessed the map's data. Consequently, he no longer felt the need to capture BB-8, the astromech droid that was their original target. Therefore, Ren commanded the unit to retreat from Takodana, confident that he could extract the necessary information from the scavenger through interrogation.
The division led by Kylo Ren was an infantry component of the First Order military's Stormtrooper Corps. It consisted of various squads composed of First Order stormtroopers. Ren held command over this division despite lacking an official military rank. Although he was not a member of the First Order High Command, his position as a warlord and dark side apprentice to Supreme Leader Snoke granted him the authority to command First Order soldiers. The division's ranking stormtroopers included a sergeant and an officer.
Ren's unconventional role within the First Order's structure mirrored that of his grandfather, the Sith Lord Darth Vader, who similarly led Galactic Empire forces unofficially until the creation of the supreme commander of the Imperial fleet position. Similar to his grandfather's relationship with Imperial officers, Ren's arrangement caused considerable tension between the master of the Knights of Ren and First Order officers in High Command's upper ranks, especially when his objectives superseded the military's goals.
Besides standard troopers, the division included several specialized infantry types. Megablaster heavy assault troopers functioned as the division's primary mobile heavy weapons force, while stormtrooper gunners offered fire support from atmospheric assault landers. The riot control stormtrooper served as the main expert in close-quarters combat, although standard troopers also possessed skills in this area.
The troops within Ren's division were equipped with First Order stormtrooper armor and standard-issue F-11D blaster rifles. The officer and sergeant, as ranking stormtroopers, wore a red pauldron and a black pauldron, respectively. To effectively perform their designated tasks within the division, individual members received specific weapons and equipment. Megablaster heavy assault troopers utilized the FWMB-10 repeating blaster; riot troopers were armed with a Z6 riot control baton and a riot shield; and stormtrooper gunners operated F-Z0 antipersonnel blaster cannons.
During the New Republic Era, a division of First Order stormtroopers was under Kylo Ren's command. Ren, a former apprentice of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, embraced the dark side of the Force and became a warlord and champion of the First Order as Supreme Leader Snoke's acolyte. Known as the "Jedi Killer" among the First Order ranks due to his reputation as a highly skilled lightsaber duelist who prevented the resurgence of the Jedi Order, Ren utilized the First Order's resources to spearhead campaigns and relentlessly pursue his former master. Skywalker had vanished into self-imposed exile following the destruction of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Temple, and Ren was determined to fulfill his grandfather Darth Vader's legacy by eliminating the last Jedi.
In 34 ABY, soon after the Hosnian Cataclysm that destroyed the New Republic, the division accompanied Ren to the planet Takodana. They had discovered that the map they sought had been acquired by BB-8, the astromech droid belonging to Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, and tracked the droid to a castle owned by Maz Kanata. During the initial battle, FN-2199 confronted FN-2187, his former comrade who had deserted the First Order after witnessing the massacre on Tuanul, and challenged him to combat. Although FN-2199 gained the advantage, he was killed due to Han Solo's interference. The situation was further complicated by the arrival of a squadron of Resistance T-70 X-wing starfighters. The division requested reinforcements and air support, but their commander had already encountered Rey, a Jakku scavenger who had accessed the map fragment stored in BB-8's memory bank. Consequently, Ren abandoned the pursuit of the droid and ordered his division to withdraw from Takodana, choosing instead to take the scavenger to Starkiller Base for interrogation.
The division of stormtroopers under Kylo Ren's command first appeared in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, the 2015 film that launched the sequel trilogy.