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My Opinions on Star Wars: Legion

Discussion in 'General Hobby/Tabletop Chat' started by Fhanados, Jul 12, 2018.

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  1. Fhanados
    Terradon

    Fhanados Well-Known Member

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    Hiya LOstrians!

    Lately I've been pretty burned out on GW. Not because I don't like it (I'm loving 8th edition 40k!), but because of real life I've found it very difficult to organise games and play to completion and that's really hurt my painting motivation. So to freshen things up I got Star Wars: Legion for my birthday and I've got to say it's a pretty nice little game.

    In one particularly quiet afternoon (a rarity for me) I managed to cram in 3 games with one of my friends using the starter box. It was a lot of fun! There's a lot to like about this game and I'll try to gather my thoughts into something coherent. I play WAY more 40k than AoS so you'll have to forgive my constant comparison between Legion and 40k.

    Firstly I like that it was roughly equal. This will obviously change if me and my friend ramp things up and start optimising armies and whatnot (which I probably won't - just give me one of everything!) but at no point did I feel like I was on the back foot because my opponent outnumbers me 3:1 on account of spamming cheap units. I also felt that the units were mostly on-par with one another. Stormtroopers and Rebel Troopers feel like they're equals, but are both different enough to feel different. I think the AT-RT is a bit better than the speeder bikes, but that could just be because I was terrible at using bikes...

    I like that the rules for a unit come with it and no supplemental books are needed. This is kind of a big deal for me since codexes and battletomes retail at about $80. I still don't own any 8th edition codexes (I play out of the index) and that becomes somewhat restrictive with where I can play and what kind of events I can play in. I'd need 3 Codexes to play the army I have now. That's $240 of books and doesn't even cover my entire 40k model range. With Legion I can download the core rules once I'm done with the starter set, and any new units I buy have the rules in the box. Amazing!

    I feel that Legion uses Universal Special Rules in the way that 40k SHOULD have. List the rule on the unit stats with a brief summary of the rule, and the full rule details in the rulebook. My only criticism is that at the moment it does feel a bit bland and my eyes glaze over a bit when someone says "oh he has PIERCE 2 and PRECISE", but I think that's because I'm used to rules with really descriptive and emotive names like "Death to the False Emperor" and "Disgustingly Resilient", but otherwise I like the implementation.

    Alternating Activations is something that people seem to constantly be insisting will "fix 40k". I disagree with that stance, but I do like it in Legion. The size and number of units I think has something to do with it. I've tried AA with 40k before but it didn't really work out well. I still like 40k's "I-go-you-go" format, but Legion definitely has a bit more decision making and thinking on your feet than 40k does.

    Really, I like almost everything about this game so I won't bore you with the details of every tiny thing, but those are the main ones. Now what don't I like? Well ultimately I think it will change the more I play but....

    Tokens. There are soooo many tokens. I don't think there should be NO tokens - tokens can be good, and I'd actually like to see a few more in 40k but token clutter can be a thing. I really feel like the end of turn phase is just "token cleanup phase". I get it, they're trying to make a tight ruleset and make sure there's as little margin for error and exploitation as possible but it's still annoying (more-so with tokens that AREN'T being used taking up table space).

    Also cards. I really like stat cards, but holy moly they take up SO MUCH SPACE! Once I figure out some kind of card organising mechanism it will be fine but they just got in the way a lot of the time.

    The command phase also seemed pretty unimpressive. Maybe that's because we're still using small armies and aren't getting to take full advantage of it, but it seemed to me that the biggest impact command cards made was determining turn priority and the commands themselves played very little part.

    Last complaint - they made the system revolve around custom dice and measuring tools but didn't include enough dice to resolve a single round of shooting with stormtroopers without having to do it in batches! Seriously another 2 of each attach dice would be fine. Ah well, $20 for another set isn't too bad.

    So that's me done! Ramble over. Hopefully I'll get some more games in and rant some more later.
     
  2. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    My main complaint with Legion is that like with X-Wing and so many other games, FFG seem intent on setting the whole thing in the OT, and it looks like it'll remain OT only at least for a good few years. I just feel it’s such wasted potential if they set a game in only one or two of all the different eras of the franchise, as there’s so much more that could be done with it. Maybe I’m wrong and they might do Clone Wars stuff later, but I’m not getting too excited. I imagine the best I can hope for with this is a Rogue One expansion pack.

    Another thing is the prices - the unit expansions are fine, but the single character expansions are far too expensive and make GW’s plastic characters look cheap as chips, as well as the Core Set. If the Core Set had loads of scenery with it as well it would be better for the money, but it doesn’t.

    EDIT: OK, I've been looking around on the internet and have found that Jar Jar is actually a playable character in Star Wars Destiny, the one FFG game the currently has prequel content. Knowing that Jar Jar is sadly not the most popular character in the world, seeing that he has actually appeared in a FFG game means that the prospect of the Prequels appearing in Legion has suddenly become a lot more possible in my view.

    Don't believe me? Here's the link announcing his arrival:
    https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/12/5/the-legacy-of-the-fringe/

    Unfortunately this doesn't alter the fact that if Prequels content did come out in Legion, it would be undeniably expensive, certainly as expensive as Warhammer if not more so.
     
    Last edited: Jul 12, 2018
  3. Fhanados
    Terradon

    Fhanados Well-Known Member

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    I agree about the Original Trilogy. I feel that the Clone Wars would be a much better setting for a wargame, but I understand that the OT is what most people (at least most people within about 5 years of my age) think of and it has the strongest existing presence in books, comics and video games so setting it in OT is pretty much free marketing. Rogue One also had some excellent OT-era designs that I hope they get to include, but from my understanding the licencing around anything Star Wars is super complex so I wouldn't expect it any time soon (even though it would make perfect sense to see). It's a shame though because essentially it's missing out of 2/3 eras of content (not counting the Old Republic stuff).

    Not sure where you're from, but down here in Oz a single infantry hero model from GW is anywhere between $25-75. Anything recent is around $50. Legion is pretty square in the middle of this price range so I don't mind too much, and really the only character I'm likely to buy is Boba Fett.

    Likewise the core set cost my wife $120. The old AoS core set is $150 for us, which is an absolute steal! Blightwar was something like $220 and Soul Wars and Dark Imperium (the big 40k starter) are about the same and none of them contain any terrain at all.

    It costs me about the same to buy Legion stuff retail here in AU as it would cost me ordering from the US (not including shipping), but GW has an arbitrary 40-60% mark up down here for no apparent reason. I order a LOT of my GW stuff from the UK and US because even if I'm paying $50 shipping I STILL save money on big items. For me Legion is my cheap as chips side game.
     
  4. NIGHTBRINGER
    Slann

    NIGHTBRINGER Second Spawning

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    Never mention Boba Fett in the presence of @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl ! ;)
     
  5. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    Paradoxical Pacifism likes this.
  6. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    The first Clone Wars sets have been announced, and what a gorgeous load of minis they are! :woot:

    https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/star-wars-legion/products/clone-wars-core-set/

    There's a separate Clone Wars core set coming in around September time (which is great for me as I don't have to buy the OT one then), featuring Obi-Wan vs General Grievous with 14 Clone Troopers and a BARC speeder bike (with optional sidecar) vs 18 Battle Droids and 2 Droidekas (with miniatures to represent them both in their rolling state and firing state). The only gripe from me is that it's going to be even more expensive than the OT one, being $99.95 in America, which translates to roughly £75 here, which is a damn shame because the minis are so nice, but it's something to certainly consider saving up for.

    Also there are boxes of individual Clone Trooper and Battle Droid units coming as well in the first wave (7 Clone Troopers and 9 Battle Droids per box):
    https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/...oducts/phase-i-clone-troopers-unit-expansion/
    https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/...ion/products/b1-battle-droids-unit-expansion/
     

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