New player looking to get started in Star Wars Legion? Or just looking to grow your collection? In this series of videos, recently updated for 2022, I will cover the basics of what to buy first, when on a budget for Star Wars Legion – sorted by faction!
Naturally you’ll want to pick a faction first – so weather you prefer the Rebels, The Empire, The Galactic Republic, or the Separatist Alliance, there’ s a guide below for you!
Empire
Rebels
Republic
Separatists
Hope these help! If you have further questions, don’t forget to join our Discord here!
The new Dual Faction Wookiee Warriors expansion got some amazing new previews from Atomic Mass Games! Star Wars Legion might well be on it’s way to a sort of Wookiee Sub-Faction!
Wookiee Warriors – Kashyyk Defenders Units Card
The new Kashyyk Defenders unit card offers a new way to run wookiees, trading in black dice for white, but gaining range 3, and losing their melee benefits and a training slot, but gaining Sharpshooter 1. Combine this with some new heavy weapon options and we might get some really cool new options!
Wookiee Chieftan Unit Card
The wookiees also get a “Wookiee Chieftan” commander card. This card is unique, which might seem strange for a non-named character, but it boasts some very nice well rounded stats that should serve as a capable mid-level commander.
Wookiee Upgrade Card Spread
We’re also getting new command cards, a Long Gun wookiee, and a new upgrade called “Into the Fray”. These are still shrouded in Mystery.
Yoda’s Card Spread
Yoda will also be coming with a new way to run your existing Chewbacca miniature – this time as a commander for the Republic! While this expansion does NOT include a Chewbacca it will offer a new unit card and a new command card, (Which appears to be a 2-pip).
We also seem to be getting a host of new upgrades, such as “Protector” and “Burst of Speed” here too! Curious to see what these do. Will burst of speed be a force power that might also help Vader, Palpatine, and Luke? Will Protector be a guardian boost that also helps Royal Guard? Let’s wait and see!
Managed to get a Legion AT Battle in the other day!
If you haven’t already, check out the AI system that is available for free here! It’s not meant to be exactly the same as a human opponent, but will certainly give you the chance to try some lists out when you can’t play with another person face to face!
I set up a double AT-ST list for the AI to use against my Rebel hero list! I gave the Imperials an extra 100 points since they had Vader as their commander. It was very Hoth inspired.
The AI instructed the AT-ST’s to move a bit more than I might have otherwise done if I was in control of them, but that also put them closer to my deployment zone, and it was breakthrough so that’s where they eventually wanted to be.
It was a fun battle – here’s a link to the entire thing!
Return of the Jedi. The third Star Wars film, yet the sixth Episode in the Skywalker Saga. My favorite Star Wars movie hands down… mostly because it was the first one I have coherent memories of.
It also happens to be the subject of our sixth episode of Double Critical – where Sean and I take another look at this movie and try to decide what from this movie could still come to Star Wars Legion.
I also noticed some interesting things during yet another watching of this movie – notable how Luke is incredibly aggressive in this film, breaking into Jabba’s Palace, using force choke, and trying to murder Jabba in his own home… we talk about this and more in Episode 6!
While I’d have liked to test it a bit more before release, I figured this was a really good time to finally release my Legion AI v1.0 so everyone can have some fun playing legion at home!
Got to check out the new Command Center from LV-427 Designs! This one is very reminiscent of the classic Rebel War Room look we saw on Yavin 4 in both Rogue One and Episode 4.
In this video I take a closer look at the Command Center, and as a special treat we look at the connector to the Imperial Bunker, plus a few extra corridor types!
When starting out on a budget, it is easy to get overwhelmed when a game like Star Wars Legion has tons of product available. Even if you are restricting yourself to only a single faction, this can still be a daunting task. I have often made “What to Buy First” videos for lots of the games that I’ve covered over the years, and I’m pleased to report that I’m updating this series for 2020.
First up: The Imperials
The Empire has so many available expansions currently that it can easily be overwhelming for a new player. Since most of us are on a budget, making smart choices for your first few purchases is going to be crucial. Like most lists, I always suggest starting out with not just ONE core set, but two. Conversely, if you have split a core set or two with a friend you’ll both be able to save costs and double your plastic – which is clearly the best value. After that, I generally suggest packs that are very effective, and also packs that have great value, like the Shoretroopers, and Imperial Scouts for value which have two units in each box. Also cheaper Commanders will give you great list diversity, like Director Krennic. See the video for the full breakdown.
Next: Rebels!
The Rebels have also been out for years, and have even more options than the Empire does, considering they now have access to R2-D2 and C-3PO, which actually makes them the largest faction in the game right now, in terms of available units. Alot of figures on this list have changed since last year, and even more new things have been announced and come out. And as always, if there’s something in particular you are looking for or excited about – you should absolutely prioritize things that you are excited over first!
What’s Next?
The Republic and Separatists will be coming next, but I’m not in as much of a rush to get these lists out just yet because the last version I did is still pretty close to accurate, in that we haven’t seen as many units actually release for them just yet. I’ll update them soon however!
With a growing focus on tabletop terrain for both Legion and RPG needs, I’ve been always on the lookout for new terrain to review. Having worked with LV-427 Designs before, I was delighted to see their re-designed modular corridors, which are now larger and more compatible with games like Legion than before!
The Hangar Bay is perfect for a large battle inside a Star Destroyer, or even the Death Star!
The Hangar Bay was the first or the new large rooms that I’ve seen. I was really excited to see rooms of this size because the first time I saw their terrain it was primarily corridors and smaller rooms, which work great for the RPG, but not as good for Legion. Larger rooms make it easier to fit and move larger units around the game board!
Hibernation Chamber and Conference Room are both a real delight!
The Hibernation Chamber and Conference room each feature a series of 4 interconnected tiles to make one large room. They each also have a removable centerpiece, helping make them versatile and perfect for both role play functions and also for battling inside a station or destroyer!
Now that the Rebel Commandos have arrived in Legion, you may be wondering how to best use these new versatile Special Forces units, especially since this is the first expansion pack to offer two units for the price of one! Lets break down the ways you can run them and which ways work best.
The Heavy Weapons
These are what make this unit shine. The DH-447 Sniper has unlimited range, pierce 1, and two dice ( albeit one of them is white). It also has High Velocity, which if it’s the only weapon in the attack pool, the defender can’t spend dodge tokens. It’s VERY likely to do damage, but only a little.
The Proton Charge Saboteur is the answer to swarm lists. Now finally, your opponent may have to think twice about grouping up 6 units of Corps close together! This unit can Arm a proton charge as an action, which places a charge within range. When detonated, these charges will make a ranged attack against EVERY unit at range 1 of it, one at a time. This is tremendous for multiple reasons, which include damaging groups of enemies, dealing out loads of suppression, and even hurting vehicles! The attack itself , which consists of one red die and two white, has Blast, Impact 1, and it’s own special Surge to Crit! Each Saboteur has Detonate : 1, which allows them to trigger ONE charge to detonate after ANY unit takes an action. This means, you can drop a mine, move out, and trigger your charge after you move. This also means you can run in, drop a charge, and immediately blow it, potentially hurting yourself! It could be dangerous doing the latter, but if that means you can hit 3 enemy units? It just might be worth it!
The Basic Unit
One of the first thing’s you’re going to notice, is the lack of a personnel upgrade, which means you aren’t going to be able to outfit this unit with six miniatures, so five will be your limit if you use a Heavy Weapons miniature. In addition, we get Comms, Gear, Grenades, and a new upgrade called Training, which isn’t half bad considering that we get Duck and Cover with this wave. As far as the rest of the stats, they are largely similar to the typical Rebel Troopers, with a few key upgrades (which help, considering they cost an extra 20 points). So what do we gain for those extra 20 points?
First off, these Commandos have both offensive and defensive surge, which is pretty nice to start. Additionally they have a courage value of 2, which helps them still get two actions even when they have a suppression token. It also makes them a decent commander if your commander should die. Their keywords however are especially helpful. Low Profile means you may seriously want to consider always running Duck and Cover. Scout 2 is incredible for early game positioning and objective play. Sharpshooter 1 is just all around good, though generally it lends itself to doubling up fire on a unit that’s already been shot and now has suppression, snipers, or both.
The Commandos are an all around solid unit – but you may not want to run them without a heavy weapons upgrade. Running them with only 4 miniatures can work if you’re looking for some quality trooper units for your build, but generally you’ll probably want to run some heavy weapons units. Before we talk Builds, let’s look at the Strike Team.
The Strike Team
The Strike Team is almost identical to the standard Rebel Commandos card, with three key differences. First, the cost, which is only a mere 16 points! Second, the miniature count is only 1. Lastly, the keyword “Heavy Weapon Team”, which forces you to take a heavy weapons upgrade, which then becomes the unit leader.
The Strike Team is an ideal way to inflate your unit count, considering that a Strike Team can be as cheap as 42 or 44 points, depending on which Heavy Weapons option you select. For players who want to push the limits of units in a list for things like activation advantage, the Strike Team will prove an effective way to pad your activations, while also giving you some excellent tricks.
Which Configuration is Best?
For starters, I will suggest using the Sniper in a Strike Team, and the Saboteur with a full unit. This way you can have two distinct Special Forces units in the same list, with only a single expansion box. Other options certainly work, but not everyone will want to buy 3 boxes of commandos to try every permutation.
Snipers
Snipers work VERY well with a Strike Team. Having only 2 miniatures, gives them easier access to be deployed on smaller, narrow ledges. Additionally, camping a sniper in the corner of a map, often means the rest of the commandos are NOT firing their weapons. A Strike Team minimizes this by having only one miniature sitting around doing nothing.
Snipers don’t work as well in the full Commando Unit, because that generally tends to mean that you bring them into the battlefield, putting them within range 3 of enemy units, which someone diminishes their value a bit. However, it does allow you to more easily split fire, dealing out suppression, or combining the sniper’s weapon to give your larger attack Pierce 1. One other option is also to simply be a strong Counter-Sniper unit. A Five-Person sniper unit is much less likely to die from opposing sniper fire.
Saboteurs
The Saboteurs work a little better in a full unit, as they are more likely to want to get down into the middle of the battlefield and mine the heck out of it. Having additional miniatures also means that the saboteur has a longer lifespan, and thus, can survive longer. Don’t forget, your Saboteurs need to be alive in order to trigger “Detonate”. When your last saboteur dies, the rest of your charges can no longer be triggered.
The Saboteurs CAN also work well as a Strike Team, but this is one of those cases where I would advise to run more than just one. Strike Teams are cheaper, and that means more Saboteurs, and thus, more charges placed all over the battlefield. You could in theory place a maximum of 18 charges in a single game with three Saboteurs, and although that certainly won’t always be the case… being able to place several near key objectives is amazing. The other advantage of having multiple saboteurs is that you’ll have multiple instances of Detonate. It’s partially about redundancy, in that losing one saboteur will still allow you to trigger charges, but it’s also about having the ability to trigger more than one at a time. Blowing 3 charges when an AT-ST steps too close, and taking it from 6 health to dead in a single move… is really satisfying!
In Closing
These Heavy Weapon units really help make the Commandos Shine – so weather you’re trying to snipe, mine, or simply use the commando’s regular weapon to actually shoot enemies within range 3 – it’s gonna be a great time! Imperial Scouts will likely behave in a very similar fashion in terms of teams and pairings. Once those come in both sides will finally have Special Forces!
This Year’s Gen Con was my first ever Gen Con! Easily the busiest convention I’ve ever been to, it’s easy to get lost among the activity! I took a bunch of pictures though so lets go through my time!
First up – I had to wait in a line that was nearly a mile long for Will Call to get my tickets to the In Flight Report. I didn’t even have time to check into my hotel – went straight to the convention center!
But I made it! Front row seat! I was crazy nervous that I wasn’t going to make it in time but luckily I managed!
And was surprised with 2 KeyForge decks for attending! I’ve got to say I’m pretty impressed with this game. The concept of completely unique decks in every box is really ambitious! And it plays quickly and is a bit of fun as well!
But THIS thing was the star of the show! The Super Star Destroyer for Armada really stole my heart! Finally being able to see it was amazing! After the report I grabbed some dinner and made my way back to the hotel, to prepare to teach some Legion and Armada the next morning!
The next morning – right before they opened the doors and let everyone in!
Everyone wanted to get pictures of the incoming rush!
There was alot of cosplay! X-Wing and Legion were the two biggest attractions right in front of the main door, and they almost didn’t have any Armada tables, but luckily I found a core set on a table and was able to get it set up!
We had a core set, Wave 7, and the Rogues and Villains pack for Armada! Nobody was scheduled to demo it, but I jumped all over it and made alot of new Armada fans from Thursday through Saturday.
Andrew Cox, Fellow Orlando Gamer, took home the championship for Destiny! Way to represent Orlando! Now we just need to him playing Legion and Armada as well!
Got to check out some other games as well – Project Elite is being relaunched by CMON, and the new miniatures look awesome!
Finally got to see this giant Cthulhu miniature from CMON’s new Cthulhu : Death May Die kickstarter. It’s amazing, but it’s just so big it reminded me of the fact that I wouldn’t have had the room to actually put it anywhere!
Got a nice demo from Ares Games on their new title Battlestar Galactica: Starship Battles. This looks gorgeous!
And got some more pictures of new FFG releases!
Sunday I was judging for a Legion Team Battle! 2v2 Tournament!
There was also an X-Wing Epic Tournament going on!
And the Armada Finals! Congrats to JJsJuggernaut on an extremely close finish! Not exactly sure why they had Destiny promos for the Armada winners….
When all was said and done, I had a TON of stuff to bring home and just my carry-on – so I had to break everything down!
I managed to get it all to fit! Yup I put the falcon in a sock for safekeeping!
All in all, it was exhausting. Working for FFG, demoing games nonstop, over loud crowds can really drain you. Next time I need to go as a fan instead of an exhibitor. I’d love to play in the tournaments and have more time to actually shop and participate in the con a bit more!
I also managed to capture a bunch of video as well! Here’s just some of what I caught!
