Star Wars Legion-The beginning

A new year, a new game. Despite initially swearing off the idea of getting into Legion after my experience with Xwing I changed my mind after seeing it in person at Adepticon,  So far I am very impressed, but I also felt the same about Xwing.

Adepticon Hoth Demo

My experience thus far has been painting minis, an introductory game and my first 800pt game.  The minis are exceptional.  If you are new to painting minis or fantasy/SCI-FI minis in my case, there are a ton of quality tutorials on the web.

Darth Vader

I initially started with a single core set and painted all the infantry in the first week.  I added a Rebel and Stormtroopers expansion so I would have 3 trooper squads per side to meet the requirements of the rules.  After figuring out what would be required for 800 points I realized that a 2nd core set is the most economical way to go and added a AT-ST.  Imperials will be my initial focus and the AT-ST is just so cool.

AT-ST

I had a long weekend and was able to finish the balance of my Imperial forces so they are now ready to crush the rebellion and restore order to the Empire.

Alternate Paint Scheme Stormtroopers

I have not played enough yet to offer any critique on the rules.  The mechanics do look promising and in typical Fantasy Flight Games style unique dice are required.  I very much enjoyed my first outing and am looking forward to the next.  I am fortunate that at least two local stores are planning  weekly events.  There are several nuances to the rules, which will take a couple reads and a few more games  to master before I will offer up any meaningful opinions.

Beautiful Terrain provided by Kyle

First Game at LGS

If you are on the fence, I definitely think it is worth a try.  In my opinion the most economical way to jump in is 2 core sets which retail for $90, but can be found for $70-80 online.  You will then probably want to add one of the large vehicle expansions which will give you plenty for a standard 800pt build with some options to try different things.  If you have a friend and are only interested in one side splitting the two cores would be the ideal way to go.

Speeder Bike

Traditional Stormtroopers 

I did get the trooper expansions.  These are the exact same models as in the core, but offer two upgrade cards that are not in the core (grappling hooks and grenades) the good news is both the Rebels and Imperials come with the same upgrades.

Imperials ready for battle

This brings me to my final thought and major concern for this game, upgrade cards.  As mentioned I initially enjoyed X-wing and had I not been introduced to competitive play I would probably still be playing today.  Ultimately the reason I left X-wing was the aggressive release schedule (I like to collect everything) and the upgrade cards that introduced power creep and made early models next to useless if you did not stay current on the new cards and current meta to understand all the synergies.

Legion Storage

I bought everything up through wave four to include the Tantive and transport.  The problem was I did not study the cards and keep up with the meta due to how fast the released and my interest in other historical gaming.  As a result while I did very well at my first tournament, that was not the case at my second when I was was schooled by very good players who were devoted to X-wing and the synergies.  Newer upgrade cards had basically made my older list which had been competitive null and void.

Snowtroopers future release

 I tell this story because I truly hope FFG doe not go this way with Legion.  I hope the game is about the minis and strategy and does not become about the latest expansion with a new upgrade that makes older releases useless.

I will say I was encouraged that the two trooper expansions had the same upgrade cards that can be used by either side. Both cards seem nice to have, but not absolutely required if you just have the core.

Upgrades included with troopers

I will also say the expansions on the horizon do seem nice.  Getting to see Snow troopers at Adepticon truly sold me as they were one of my favorites as a kid watching the original trilogy in theaters.

I guess we will see what the future hold, but so far Legion looks promising,