If you have ever wanted to command an army from the Star Wars universe on the tabletop, there has never been a better time. Star Wars Legion has launched its revamped edition, and it feels more streamlined and customizable than ever before, not to mention the fact that it also has redesigned models. Join me in a galaxy far, far away as we look at the new rollout for Atomic Mass Games, Star Wars Legion!

Gameplay Overview:

Star Wars Legion is a tabletop wargame where you take control of one of five armies from the Star Wars universe to complete missions against your opponent’s army. The forces consist of the Galactic Republic, the Separatist Alliance, the Galactic Empire, the Shadow Collective, and the Rebel Alliance. Players build an army list based on a set of criteria to include point limits, upgrade units, deploy, and take alternating actions to accomplish their missions while destroying their opponent’s army.

Each unit in Star Wars Legion has a corresponding unit card with keywords, how far that unit moves, and the attack and defense die types that unit uses. Units can also be upgraded through weapon specialists, additional troops, and embedded commanders.

New cards are clean and easy to read with updated art for all the units.

Each standard game of Star Wars Legion requires 1000 points of miniatures, unit cards, terrain, and a battlefield to play on. During the first round of the game, units are alternatively deployed on the battlefield. Players utilize a command hand to determine who will take the first action and how many units can be issued orders in that turn. The general rule is that the fewer units that are issued direct orders at the start of the turn, the earlier you get to go, and vice versa. Command cards are influenced by what faction you play as well as the commanders and heroes in your army.

During each turn, a player can choose to activate a unit that has a face-up order or randomly draw a unit token and activate a matching symbol unit, thus making it important to have as many issued unit orders as possible on the table. During its activation, units can typically make 2 actions but can only ever attack 1 time. Other actions include aiming, dodging, moving, and card actions.

Players continue to take turns back and forth, alternating activations and playing command cards for priority until they either reach 12 victory points, table their opponent, or the end of the 5^th round arrives.

Thicker range measurement tools included. Cover rules really make the game feel a bit more swingy but dynamic.

Game Experience:

Overall, as a longtime player of Star Wars Legion, I was super excited about a revamp. Any wargamer usually is, but some of the changes have caused the game to lose some popularity as of late, especially because of the staggered rollout. For this review, I was provided with the new Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire starter sets. The very first thing I need to point out is that the new minis are phenomenally detailed. Putting them together was easier than before, and the new sculpts are top-notch.

The mission modification took a minute to get a solid understanding of. While it does echo the old way of creating a mission, it added a few different modifiers and allows for more manipulation of the mission by both players, making what you include in your mission decks (objectives, secondaries, and advantage cards) way more impactful.

Updated art for command cards. Pips in the upper left corner determine priority and your cards can be adjusted based on faction and commanders.

The unit cards and the upgrades are much easier to keep track of now. I know it has been controversial to get rid of the smaller-sized cards, but I found it to be more helpful, especially for storage, as all cards have been standardized.

Deployment has made the game feel more like a competition on who can deploy the fastest and hit harder before the opponent is fully on the board, and could derail an entire game. There is clearly a balance issue with armies that can scout and get units on the field faster, such as units with the “prepared positions” keyword.

During the gameplay, I found that one of the newer rules did not feel great for both my opponent and me, and that was the changes to the cover system. In the older version of the rules light cover would block 1 hit from an opponent targeting said mini in cover, and heavy cover would block 2 hits. Now you roll a white die for every hit coming in, and cancel a hit for each success under light cover, and cancel 2 hits per success under heavy cover. While more dynamic, this could make a tank shell hitting infantry ineffectual unless it has the special “pierce” keyword.

Rebel Troopers about to be wiped out by Darth Vader. All updated sculpts!

While playing Star Wars Legion, units accumulate suppression from being fired upon, which can limit their actions and cause them to panic, running off the board. During the game I played, I was able to utilize Darth Vader’s limitless suppression limit to keep my Stormtroopers in play regardless of being shot by the superior number of rebel units. Legion veterans will find the new game plays mostly the same as the older version, but with slight tweaks such as cover and targeting.

Legion still feels thematic on the tabletop regardless of rules changes. Luke Skywalker taking out a squad of scout troopers is in line with the movies and media and occurred in my game as well. Force users remain strong and high-cost, making them essential to most builds, but tricky to pilot and know when to push into enemy forces.

Final Thoughts:

Star Wars Legion has been around for years and is in the process of a soft relaunch. While the relaunch has been staggered and has thrown players out of the loop for a long time, it is still the Legion we know and love with room for growth. The new starter sets have a wonderful array of minis that are exactly what new players need to hop into the game.

The units I mainly use (Vader, Stormtroopers) still were powerful and marched up the field together, with Vader making his slow plodding trail of death. Once longtime players learn the new rules, get used to the new unit upgrades, and with future adjustments by Atomic Mass Games, Star Wars Legion will stand on its own feet again amongst the giants in the wargaming category. The gameplay is still fast-paced, and alternating activations make this one of the better space warfare games out there.

Final Score: 4 Stars – A new rollout and drastic rules changes leave Star Wars Legion in an overall positive place with room to improve.

Hits:
• Beautifully resculpted miniatures.
• Unit upgrades feel streamlined.
• Customizable leaders allow for more play styles.
• Mission customization allows for different play on similar mission types.

Misses:
• Rollout of this new version was staggered and changed some rules for the sake of change.
• Unit points still seem a little unbalanced.
• Availability of new items is spotty at best.
• Deployment has become a whole turn, possibly resulting in an alpha strike focus in-game.
• Cover feels unbalanced vs. certain weaponry.

*Note: The terrain included in the starter boxes is only barricades. The terrain pictured in the gameplay pictures are from my own collection.