Imperial Assault expansion brings hype to both Imperial Assault and Legion

The Grand Admiral has arrived.  

And he brought some really cool minis with him!

Imperial Assault just got a new announcement!  It seems Thrawn, and the remaining heroes from Star Wars Rebels are making their way to Imperial Assault with this next expansion!  This is great news for fans of Imperial Assault, especially those who feared the game was “”dead”, but this is also potentially good news for Legion players looking to spice up their game a bit.

As with most other Imperial Assault expansions, this one comes with it’s own wave of blister boxes in addition to the Tyrants of Lothal small box.   This wave is going to be loaded up with more principle character than almost any wave we’ve seen so far!  We’ve already seen a glimpse into the possibility of them making a Rebels wave, since they released The Inquisitor, Ahsoka, Hera, and Chopper last year, but now we are going to fully complete the crew of the Ghost (or very close to it).

With the inclusion of virtually every main character from the show, it begs the question of whether of not FFG is simply trying to tie up loose ends, and wrap up this game permanently.  The release of Legion, in a very similar scale has seemed to be a total replacement for Imperial Assault, allowing battles in a larger scale, with better miniatures, on better terrain.  And the best part is that you don’t have to assemble a new map out of dozens of puzzle pieces every time!

Not everyone was included however.  Some characters simply didn’t make the cut.  Noteworthy  absences include Ruhk, Governor Pryce, Kallus, Ryder Azadi, and the short time crew member, AP-5.  If they do eventually keep Imperial Assault going, there are certainly more characters available that would fit naturally.  Don’t forget about the increasing popularity of Dr. Aphra, and the fact that IA already has her two droid friends from the comics.  There are still a few minor loose ends.

What does this mean for Legion?

Deathtroopers!  For starters, if you’ve wanted Death Troopers in your game, but didn’t want to paint your stormtroopers black, well now you’ve got a proxy model that’s going to look the part and be ALMOST the same size.  It’s long been speculated that Death Troopers will be coming to Legion at some point, and this might be the perfect mini to hold you over and practice your painting skills on, (because an all black trooper can be tricky sometimes!)

There’s also everyone else!  If you’ve longed to use the entire Ghost crew on your tabletop, you now have your chance.  Weather you want to paint them and proxy them all as a Rebel Trooper unit, or swap them out for unit leaders, you will soon have that option.  You can use them as-is, or perhaps you’ll want to re-base them, but cutting them off at the feet and gluing them to Legion bases.  Personally, I’d sign Zeb up to be my Z-6 Trooper, because I think he’d love that huge gun!  The same goes for Thrawn – Using him in place of a Stormtrooper leader, or even swapping him out when using General Veers, it gives you some additional customization options for anyone who has been eager for Thrawn, Deathtroopers, and the crew of the Ghost!

Keep in mind however, making modifications like swapping minis in from other games, wouldn’t be legal in any Organized Play scenarios – so if you want to play in a tournament you’ll need to use the correct miniatures.   But for other times, this could be a great way to spice up your game!  Just be sure and make sure your opponent is OK with you proxying models.

Contest Finalists!

It’s been a great contest with over 60 submissions!   I’d like to thank everyone who entered!   Submissions are now closed, but you are still more than welcome to add some more paint jobs to the forums if you simply want to share!

I’ll be announcing the winner of the Legion Core Set, as well as the winner of the door prize in the next day or 2, so make sure and check back often!

I’ll be narrowing down the paint jobs soon, but here are some of the finalists:

 

Here are some thumbnails of the submissions we got over on the forums!

 

 

Painting Contest Update – Door Prize added!

I’ve had so many entries that I’ve decided to include a door prize!  This one is open to all of my youtube subscribers and as a bonus, everyone who enters the painting contest also gets a bonus chance to win the door prize!  It’s a $20 gift card to Miniature Market that you can use for an expansion of your choice!

I announce it in the video below.

The video itself is about all games in general.   If units had no printed point cost, do you think that would help the need to errata cards all the time?