If you have read my previous review, you will know that Atomic Mass Games (AMG) have given an overhaul to Star Wars Legion. The game has been out for seven years, gathering a loyal following. But to help streamline the game and bring in new players, AMG have looked at the rules and made some changes, created new models for older squads and have created some new starter sets for new players to be able to play immediately.
While most games of Legion are 1000 points, AMG have created a recon game mode that requires only 600 points. The starter sets have that exact number so players can start straight away playing this mode. With a few additions, the set can be made up to 1000 quite easily. Perhaps what is the most attractive quality about these sets is the price point. Retailing at £84.99 and shopping around, can be found for less than £70, this is one of the cheapest entry points for just about any miniatures game that I know of. The four squads alone in the set cost £200 at retail. This doesn’t include the commander, the plastic movement tools, range rulers and dice. In enough words, this is an absolute bargain, even if it is just for the miniatures. For anyone interested in the game, this is a rather attractive price.
This month sees the release of the two sides from the Rebellion era, next month it’s the Clone Wars era. My first review looked at the Galactic Empire set, today, I will take a look at the Rebel Starter set. Looking at the box, with incredible artwork, it is very obvious that there is more variety here than in the Empire set. There are thirty-six models in total, one less than the Empire set. But while you get two squads of Rebel troopers, the other two units are different. One is a squad of Rebel Commandos, the other a set of Wookiees. I love the variety that is here. The set is finished with Luke Skywalker as a commander. Unlike the first release of Luke in 2018, this is not the Bespin fatigues but utilises his look from the Yavin ceremony at the end of A New Hope.
As with the Empire set, there is a leaflet inside stating what to run as part of the 600-point recon force. The rules themselves are found online. While this initially shocked me, I appreciate that this would help to keep costs down. While I won’t be looking at the rules here, I will be looking at them in my overall review of the game, out this week.
Just like with Star Wars: Shatterpoint, the instructions for building the models are online. Now having already built the Empire starter set, I had an idea of what to expect. First, the instructions are a bit more precise than those of Shatterpoint. Also, that the models, while detailed, are less dynamically posed compared to Shatterpoint. This is partly due to the smaller scale but also that there are so many more models to build. In Shatterpoint you are running a force between six and ten models, here it’s over four times that amount. To have lots of models with dynamic poses would be detrimental to the game and the general look of controlling an army.
With the instructions loaded up, ready for building the thirteen sprues provided, I started building the Commander, Luke. What I really like with Luke is that there are two slightly different versions, one with his fist clenched, echoing the Vader on the Empire side or with a blaster. I always like subtle differences that commanders can bring to the game. For this Luke, I went with the blaster as I wanted something that was a bit different to Vader but also because at this stage of Luke’s life, he still relies on his blaster just as much as his lightsaber. Luke is easy to put together and I really love the pose. I also like that when there is a piece of terrain that a foot goes into, there is a clear outline of the foot to ensure you know the correct direction the figure should stand. I must keep myself from comparing to Shatterpoint. Those models are meant to be in motion, a real snapshot of the character, but the ones for Legion are subdued compared to that. Yet my problem? I prefer the Legion ones. I love the calmness Luke is exuding, his face perfectly captured by the sculpting team. It’s a great figure to have leading your forces.
It was then onto the core of the force, the Rebel troopers. As soon as you see the instructions, you can see that unlike the Empire, there is a huge amount of variation here. There is a wide assortment of heads, making it easy to have every model different. The range of species is impressive, with Mon Calamari, Twi’leks and Duros all available to players. The Empire does not get this in their builds, and nor should they. They should look uniformed. The Rebellion on the other hand is made up of a vast array of alien species. The fact the heads are interchangeable is fantastic. The two core units are split across six sprues. You start by building the heads before moving onto the bodies themselves. Because everything is interchangeable and I want as much variety as possible, I’m going to build the heads, build the bodies and then add the heads when all the models are built.
So, I started cutting the heads out to assemble and life is very easy, parts are located next to each other, it’s all easy. Until I notice that one of the sprues doesn’t look like the others. I’ve ended up cutting the heads for the commandos! Panic! Until I realised that the heads on the commando sprue are the same heads with the same numbered parts! Now they are not exactly the same but thankfully because of the joins, it was very easy to separate them. With so many sprues it’s easy to get a little lost! With the ball joint used to join them, I don’t think it would make any real difference. There are a lot of choices of head, which I really like.
With the heads chopped, glued and ready to go. I assembled the bodies. The leader is the only real exception to the builds as he is holding his blaster one handed. An easy way for him to stand out when you are on the tabletop. All of them are extremely easy and all follow the same process: body, legs, joining them together, add the arms and head. Remember to always glue the arm not holding the blaster first and everything will go swimmingly. Like the Empire, you can see the upgrade to these models, proportionally they just look better and there is very little sacrifice on detail. Coming from Shatterpoint, that is a bigger scale and hence more detailed models, I’m really surprised how well these miniatures are done. I think they will be amazing to paint. After having assembled over thirty troops for the Empire, it was refreshing to have the heads on ball joints, being able to move them around to strike different poses. There are also plenty of heads, with six spares, so you can really individualise some of these models.
Next it was the Rebel commandos. These are very compact, coming on two sprues. While the heads are very similar, the commandos are noticeable by their (mostly) long coats and rucksacks, while still keeping a uniform look to the Rebel force. As with the regular troops, there are a variety of heads, the same differing species. While a difference in species would have been welcome, I also realise that there are only so many species you can pick that would wear gloves and boots the way human soldiers would. Like with the core infantry, I constructed the heads first and then moved onto the bodies. They were all fairly easy to put together, although the last model did cause me some issues. To help make it easier, construct the body and legs but keep them separate. Then, add the left arm before joining the body and legs and then attaching the right arm. The left arm is fiddlier than it looks.
This squad looks fantastic; the subtle poses really capture the specialness of this squad over the normal troops. The one getting detonators from his bag captures the scene perfectly and like the core troops, I like that the heads are on ball joints, so you can decide how to best position them. While I like the Empire set a lot, the flexibility in poses here is certainly a huge positive. There are seven heads left over, just to show you the huge amount of choice there is in building this squad.
Finally, it is onto the Wookiees. I could be wrong, but the sculpt hasn’t seemed to have altered from last I remembered, not that it needed it, the detail is superb. There are a lot of options to pick for the Wookiees here. It’s three Wookiees that are doubled up, giving you a total of six. Having no idea how best to build them, I followed the instructions on the army list guide. You only actually field four Wookiees in the recon force. Three are ‘normal’ having Ryyk Blades and Kashyyyk pistols. Then there are three upgrades that can be added. For the recon, this is the Wookiee with a battle shield. While the other two aren’t used, I’ll assemble them with the options that can be taken, namely the long gun Wookiee and a Wookiee with a bowcaster. In other words, I’m ignoring any Wookiee builds with carbines.
Having built these, I think these must be the older builds. While the detail is fantastic, the build is nowhere near as precise as on the other units. Not that these will cause you any problems, far from it, but there is a noticeable difference. I want to say something seems ever so slightly off with them, but I think once they’re painted that part of my brain telling me some proportion or another is off, will go.
Once they’re fully assembled, I can see why AMG would not want to replace these models. There is an amazing amount of variation. The left-over parts are substantial, showing you just how many different ways there are to construct this squad. You can have them with optional knives, optional blasters, arms holding blasters, ones not. It is literally a treasure trove. Even though there are only three bodies that are doubled up, each and every Wookiee looks different. There are that many face parts that facially, they all look different. It is incredible and to see them together, you appreciate just how well done this squad is. The fact they tower over the rest of the squads in this set is just the icing on the cake!
I was impressed with the Galactic Empire set. The Rebel starter set takes them up another notch. There is more variety in terms of more variation in the types of units as well as in the sculpts themselves, letting you add those little touches to your units. That’s not to say the Empire set is bad, they should look uniformed, they are the Empire after all. But from a modelling and painting point of view, the Rebel set really captures the imagination a bit more. Even though the Wookiees are an older sculpt, once you build them you can really appreciate the craftsmanship behind them. And at this price point, it seems a no brainer to leap onto this starter set with open arms. With the Empire and Rebels both now constructed, my son and I can now test out the gameplay. Tune in for my next review as I get to grips with the revised rules and the recon gameplay for Legion and find out if this game is here to make a comeback.
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