Fresh on the heels of reviewing the Separatist Alliance starter set, I was ready to dive in and review its counterpart, the set for the Galactic Republic. So far, there have been three of these new sets for the revised rules for Star Wars: Legion. Every single one of them has not failed to impress. The sets are incredible value for money, offering an affordable gateway into the game while providing a full recon force that you can immediately play with. What impressed me most about the Separatist Alliance set was the thematic nature of the entire force. The force feels just like the droid army that we see in the films, television shows, books, games, everywhere. There is a consistency to this that adds to the appeal of the set.
With the Galactic Republic starter set being the counterpart – the ying to the yang – I was expecting a lot along the same lines. But thematically, what would that look like? Of course, I would be expecting less troops than the droids, a smaller force generally but with troops that could do more. There is also another side to this, which is how would this force be different to the Imperial force. Yes they are technically from different eras but there is nothing in the rules that says that they can’t. While all the other forces have some very obvious differences, the Empire and the Republic are very similar. How do you justify both factions within the same game? I’m hoping delving into the box might help demonstrate that but for me, I’m expecting the Republic to be more accurate, more adept at close range, I suppose just more professional. Of all the forces, this is the one that I’m thinking will be the smallest of all the forces in terms of numbers. There needs to be something unique to its play style in order to justify why it is in the game.
So, let’s look around the box and find out. I think I’ve mentioned this every review but the artwork on the box is stunning. This is one of my absolute favourites. Obi-Wan Kenobi on the front, surrounded by support from another Jedi, from troopers, it just captures the moment perfectly. Looking on the back, you can see the variety of troops that come in the box. Lots of clone troopers, Obi-Wan, a Jedi guardian, ARF troopers and ARC troopers. It’s what I want in terms of troops, particularly the ARC troopers that I have loved ever since the very original Clone Wars and that amazing episode three. Thirty-eight miniatures in all, only slightly less than the droid army, which I’m a little surprised about. But when we look at the very basic troops, the droids have eight more B1 battle droids than regular clones.
Actually, opening the box and I’m always impressed by the sheer number of contents that is provided. The RRP might be £84.99, but with some careful shopping you can get these sets for around the £70 mark which is just incredible. There are lots of cards, in several languages, scoring boards, tokens, miniatures, dice, measuring and range tools. It is quite literally bursting out of these boxes that I feel Atomic Mass Games (AMG) should be commended for how compact they’ve been able to make them. This is literally everything you need to be able to field a force in Star Wars: Legion.
Before I get to the models, I want to look at the unit cards and the upgrades. I always get distracted by the miniatures but with Star Wars: Legion I have learnt that it is best to look at the units first in case some decisions need to be made in terms of the build. After finding the correct language pack I looked first at the general – and in my best Grievous voice – “Kenobi!” At one hundred and fifty points, he is not quite as cheap as Grievous but not the most expensive commander I have seen so far. With six wounds and a red defense dice, he can take hits and be ok. His weapon is rolling two of each dice but is strictly melee, meaning he needs to get up close and personal. With Critical 2, Impact 2 and Pierce 2, he should be able to hold his own in any combat. Not too bad just looking at him from a very basic standpoint but Obi-Wan does have a fair few keywords that I’m sure will justify his high cost. Jump 1 I think probably has us all imagining Kenobi jumping to the high ground when battling Anakin and makes perfect sense for this character. Charge – allowing a free attack action if moved into base contact with an enemy – means that Kenobi can start battling a lot sooner, that you can push the character to reach the enemy and not worry that you’ve run out of actions. The next three all work with one another: Deflect, Guardian 3 and Soresu Mastery. While each can do things by themselves, such as deflecting back shots or blocking attacks to another close unit, all three can work together to improve those chances. Soresu Mastery allowing you to reroll all defense dice is high on my list as I’m notorious for bad rolls! Kenobi seems very good at hitting anyone shooting at him back or a unit that is within 1 of him, which might just make up for his lack of ranged attack. The synergy of these keywords is going to take a little getting used to, but I can see how fantastic they could be and I think it might just explain Kenobi’s high cost. He also has immunity to Pierce and Master of the Force 1, allowing him to refresh one of his force upgrades at the end of the round. All in all, I’m really looking forward to using Kenobi, he seems like he will really be able to hold his own as well as keeping a unit alive a lot longer if they move together. I will mention the force upgrade card as there is only one in the pack, which of course means Kenobi is going to be the only recipient. Force Guidance costs five points and allows two units within two of Kenobi to gain a surge token. As just mentioned, you will be keeping at least one unit close to Kenobi, so this force ability seems perfectly suited and doesn’t cost much. I would have liked a few more options in the box for force powers but I’m sure these upgrades will quickly increase with more purchases.
We then come to the backbone of the Republic army, the clone trooper infantry units. Four models for fifty-six points. They might only have one wound, but they are rolling a red defense dice and a black dice for both melee and ranged. They are clearly better than B1 battle droids but are also costing almost twice as much for less troops! They do come with Reliable, meaning they will get a surge token at the start of their activation. While they do cost more so the force is clearly going to be compact when building lists, but for me, this just adds to the theme. They are also a lot more compared to stormtroopers but are also better than them. In terms of upgrades, the box comes with several that can be used. These pretty much mirror what you can do with the droids in their starter set and you really feel that this is the counterpart to that set. The first upgrade is the Clone Trooper Infantry Squad. It costs another fifty-six points but adds five clone troopers and gives them the keyword Indomitable. I liked this in the droid army and I like it here. It allows for more flexibility to building armies, fitting in smaller units to use up valuable points or to have lots of small units rather than one big one. The other two upgrades both cost twenty-two points: the DP-23 Clone Trooper (range two blaster with two red dice and pierce) and the Z-6 Clone Trooper (range three blaster with six white dice). Two of these units and all upgrades are included in the starter box, giving you a solid start for army building.
The ARF troopers also come with four models for a cost of sixty-six. They have a slightly better blaster range of four, which on the battlefield could make all the difference. The standard one wound and red defense dice is also there. Looking at the card, you can see that this unit comes with a lot more keywords over the basic trooper: Observe 2 to allow rerolling during the attack phase is certainly appealing for me; Scout 1 means these guys are going to be able to move a bit quicker at the start of their first activation; Low Profile means the unit should survive a little longer and Unhindered means this unit is going to be moving fast. All in all, I like this unit, it’s the sort of specialist unit that I am really looking forward to running in a Republic army. They also come with two upgrades. The first – for twenty-six points – adds two ARF troopers to the unit. The second – at twenty-four points – adds a RPS-6 ARF that adds the aforementioned weapon which rolls one of each dice. However, it does come with cumbersome, something that I just don’t think suits this sort of unit. These appear to be a good hit and run unit. When I play with them, I might change my mind!
The unit I’ve been most looking forward to is the ARC troopers. These have always been some of my very favourite clone units only matched by the commandos. In the box there are two units that utilise the ARC troopers. The first are the ARC troopers themselves that cost sixty-four points and add four models. The other unit is a strike team, that is twenty-six points and has just one model. This second unit is a detachment, meaning it can only be fielded in an army if you have the arc trooper unit as well. I’m going to go through both these units together as they are almost the same, apart from a couple of keywords and size. Both units have one health and roll a red dice for defense. They both use a hand blaster that allows you to roll two black dice with a maximum range of two. The keywords that are shared are: Charge (the same as Kenobi), Impervious helps the unit to defend against pierce weapons, Scale means the unit will be moving over terrain easily (and giving me visions of the Clone Wars series), Scout 2 (like the ARFs but one better), Sharpshooter 1 stops the enemy benefitting from cover too much and Tactical 1 is going to help the unit acquire aim tokens. All in all, I’m really impressed by the unit. It feels so thematic to what we see of the ARCs in the television series, which is the whole reason I’ve wanted to play with these. So how does the strike team differ? They have the Detachment keyword which I have already explained, and they also have Heavy Weapon Team, meaning you have to add a heavy weapon upgrade to the unit. Which allows me to look straightaway at the upgrades for the ARC troopers. There are technically two in the box, but they are the same upgrade: the DC-15x ARC trooper. Thirty-seven points, they wield a sniper rifle that rolls one red and one black dice, with a range of five. That is an expensive upgrade but one I don’t mind with the strike team as I can imagine you will want to keep them out of the way as they will be quite squishy. That said, that does mean the minimum cost of the strike team is sixty-three points. That’s enough for a basic clone trooper unit with change left over or one point off having another ARC unit. I’m not sure if the cost of a two-man unit is worth four ARC troopers. Guess I’ll have to find out on the tabletop.
That leaves upgrades and there are four that I haven’t yet covered. I’m also sure that there are some of you looking at the box thinking there is a whole model I haven’t even covered! You would be right, the Jedi Guardian. I was wondering where the unit card was but as it turns out, it’s an upgrade. It can only be used with Clone Trooper units and costs twenty-two points. The unit gains charge, which is always useful. The model itself has the Leader and Sidearm keywords. What is perhaps the most appealing aspect of the upgrade is the lightsaber, which uses two red dice. The other upgrades are Offensive Push (six cost, unit gains Tactical One when activated for the turn), Recon Intel (eight cost, unit gains Scout 1) and Concussion Grenades (three cost, one black dice attack with blast). There’s enough there to add something to the units that don’t cost too much. They would be easy enough just to fill in the last few remaining points after army building.
So far, I’m impressed. The whole army seems like an elite force. They are expensive, few in number but have a lot going on and used correctly, could be devastating. They seem very thematic to what we see of these onscreen but are also very different from all the other factions that have so far come out. This is certainly going to be the smallest army out of the four released so far. Against an army that has huge numbers, like the Separatists, I wonder how well they will fare? Before I can test that out, I need to actually build these models!
Following the QR code on the enclosed leaflet to the AMG website, I fired up the pdf with the building instructions and started constructing my ‘Grand Army of the Republic”… and yes, I was putting on my Chancellor voice while saying that! The first to be built is Kenobi. Obi-Wan is such a straightforward build. There are no alternate builds – which is a shame – but then I also adore the stance he is in. The facial details are fantastic, particularly at this scale. I only really have one issue, that there is only one point of contact with the sculpted base. Hopefully it won’t cause many problems, but I have often found having so little contact with the base can cause an issue or two.
Once Kenobi was complete it was onto the Jedi Guardian, who does have a few options to choose from. You can have him with a single bladed lightsaber, a two handed one on his right hand or two single blades. You can also have him hooded or not hooded. Talk about a few decisions! None of these affect gameplay, so it was literally how I wanted my guardian to look! The hooded version was a must for me and just added so much to the character. I went with the single blade in the right hand because double lightsabers I just found can get a bit awkward when playing. That left just one decision: the left arm. Lightsaber or outstretched hand. I won’t lie, both of these look incredible, particularly with the hood up. It also took me a long time to figure out which one I was going to go with. In the end, I decided to go with the second lightsaber, mainly because the box art doesn’t show it so you – my lucky readers – can see what you get with this alternate build.
With the two jedi done, it was time for the unit I had most been looking forwards to: the ARC troopers! The unit comes across two sprues and has five different clones; you get two of clones C and E. Just to be clear, there is a model E, even if when you look at the instructions it will tell you there’s a second B model with instructions! None of these clones have alternate builds, so it is a fairly straightforward process. The only couple of things to watch are those range finders that are down, as the finder itself is connected to the sprue. Make sure you clip this connection first before clipping the remaining join. Also with model E, attach the left arm before the right and everything will fit smoothly. This unit looks fantastic – and yes – I’m biased! My only little complaint is that I wish they came with the older Mk helmets so they could be just like the ones from Clone Wars. That said, I’m sure I will be getting another squad of these and be able to do some converting with them.
Next it was the normal clone squads for all twenty-two clones. Now the real decisions had to be made, as these clones do give you the option between helmets – some even with faces. I was in a slight dilemma with this one as the ARC troopers had the latest clone helmet, should the rest of the force? But then I really love the original helmet from Attack of the Clones. Thankfully, there seemed to be a rather easy solution, have one squad of each! Then it was a quick think about being helmetless. Now for me, I can never see why a clone would take their helmet off – I mean I’m pretty sure we remember what happened in Starship Troopers. So usually in Shatterpoint I always have helmets on. That said, there is the gameplay itself to remember – namely the leader of the unit. While the leader model has a pauldron, I like to be able to easily see my leaders, just to keep the flow of the game continue easily. So, I’m going to have these be my helmetless ones, while everyone else stays with theirs on! With the most notable decisions made, it was time to actually make the models. They are across six sprues with six different models: two of model A and four of models each of B, C, D, E and F.
Model A is the leader and with no two-handed weapon holding, this is a fairly easy build. When it came to the heads, with my decision already made, this should have been fairly straightforward. However, I didn’t particularly want two of the same head and noticed that there was a bald head for model E. With a slight bit of repositioning and some removal of the joint, I was able to get this to fit and provide even more variation for the units. The pose of the leader I adore, holding the blaster in one hand while throwing a grenade; it’s very different to the rest of the troops.
The next four sets of clones all follow the same sort of pattern. Being two handed, always glue the arm (or piece) without the blaster first and then glue the blaster on last. Some of them can be a bit fiddly, particularly as you’re joining parts of a hand together. Patience is certainly key here and I found myself taking a few steadying breaths as I was assembling them all. The last model (F) says it has an alternate build but you will need to do both builds in order to get the two weapon options available for the units. Ever slightly more complex, but nothing that is too tricky, particularly after eighteen clones already done! I have to say that the units look fantastic. I’m very pleased I did a squad of each phase armour as I instantly realised I much prefer the Mk 1. I’m happy to have the other helmets sitting alongside them but I know for the future that if the option becomes available again, go with the earlier model.
With the main clones done, I was down to the last seven models to assemble: the ARF troopers. These troopers are a very similar build to the normal clone troopers. If you have survived that, you’ll survive this! In essence, it is just a helmet change and a longer rifle but there is a slight variation you can do. Each trooper can go helmetless if you want. As noted above, I can never see the reason a clone would take their helmet off in battle, but to make gameplay easier, a leader of the squad, I will have like this, just to help the flow of the game. I decided to add the helmet onto the base of my leader, just because I love the design so much! Perhaps what is most notable about this squad is that there are seven different sculpts to follow instructions for – in other words, each clone is unique and there are no duplicates. This seems fairly unique from what I have seen of the game so far, with at least one or two duplicates in a set. Once complete this unit looks fantastic, dare I say it, even better than the ARC troopers!
With the last unit complete, that was the starter set complete and ready for battle. I say it every time with the starter sets, the value of them just cannot be overstated. These are an incredible entry point for any fan who either wants to try a new faction or wants to try getting into the game. The sheer number of models – enough to run a full recon force – is fantastic value for money and if you are even debating getting into the game, the starter sets are the way to go. The amount of variation for the models is superb, and it is easy to see how forces will look different from one player to the next. How do they perform in battle? Well that we shall see. Stay tuned for a battle report where my son – Charlie – and I each take one of the factions on the Clone Wars battlefield and see how they perform!
The Star Wars Legion: Galactic Republic Starter Set pack from Atomic Mass Games retails at £84.99. It is available now from high street gaming stores and online retailers including Amazon UK and Amazon US.
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