Fantasy Flight Games has given us a preview into how command cards and ordering your troops will function in Star Wars: Legion!
Fantasy Flight Games has a new preview that breaks down how issuing orders and using command cards will function in Star Wars: Legion. The grand strategies of war can be carefully planned—accounting for supply lines, maneuvering armies and armadas to apply maximum pressure, or painstakingly plotting a vital ambush.
You’ll need to deliver orders to your troops to impose your will on the chaos of battle. Your battles in Star Wars: Legion unfold over the course of six rounds. During these six rounds, you’ll lead glorious infantry charges, send powerful vehicles stomping forward or zipping across the battlefield, and join iconic heroes and villains in lethal lightsaber duels.
Every round of Star Wars: Legion begins with you and your opponent secretly selecting command cards. The command card that you choose comes from a hand of seven carefully chosen command cards that you’ll assemble before the game begins, as part of building your army. Both factions have access to a few neutral command cards and every commander in Star Wars: Legion also comes with three unique command cards. These represent a commander’s signature tactics or characteristic leadership, and with the special powers they carry, they’re almost always more powerful than the neutral command cards. However, it is important to note that once a command card is used, it can be used again during the game.
In the upper-left corner of every command card, you will see a number of pips. If your command card has fewer pips than your opponent’s, you win priority—the chance to act first throughout the round. Cards like Ambush, with only a single pip for priority, give you a very good chance of going first. But in exchange, you can only give orders to a single unit. If your command card determines the broad strategy that you plan to execute this round, the orders that you deliver to your troops are your primary way to impose your will on the unfolding battle. Every unit in a game of Star Wars: Legion has an order token displaying that unit’s rank on the battlefield—commander, corps, special forces, support, or heavy. When issuing orders, you simply choose units within Range 3 of your commander and place those units’ order tokens next to them.
Once you’ve assigned your orders, all of your unused order tokens are shuffled facedown or placed in a bag to randomize them. Essentially, the orders that you issue cut through the chaos and uncertainty of battle to give you control over exactly when a unit will activate. You and your opponent will alternate activating units and each turn you have a choice whether to activate a unit you ordered or draw a random order token then activate any unit with the corresponding rank. Every unit in your army will activate during every round of the game—but if you don’t issue orders to a unit, you can’t predict exactly when that unit may activate.
If a unit in your army did not receive orders from your commander, you must activate them when you draw their order token—and at certain times, that means adapting to the chaos of battle and activating a unit before you planned.
Star Wars™: Legion: $89.95
Warfare is an inescapable part of the Star Wars universe, from the Rebel Alliance’s defeat in the Battle of Hoth to a few elite Rebel strike teams taking on a legion of stormtroopers on the Forest Moon of Endor. You can seize your chance to get your boots on the ground and lead your troops to victory with Star Wars™: Legion, a miniatures game of thrilling infantry battles in the Star Warsuniverse!
Star Wars: Legion invites you to enter the ground battles of the Galactic Civil War as the commander of a unique army of miniatures filled with troopers, powerful ground or repulsor vehicles, and iconic characters like Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker. While innovative mechanics for command and control simulate the fog of war and the chaos of battle, the game’s unpainted, easily assembled minis give you a canvas to create the Star Wars army you’ve always wanted to lead into battle—whether you fight for the monolithic, oppressive Galactic Empire or the ragtag Rebel Alliance.
Star Wars: Legion is available now to pre-order online or at your FLGS.
For more on Star Wars Legion and other great tabletop games, visit Fantasy Flight Games!
About the Author: Juan Lopez
