Will Star Wars Legion live up to all the hype and help cement Fantasy Flight Games as the biggest in the market space? Our resident editorialist weighs in.
JStove is back with another great article, and this time he’s telling us his first impressions on the new Star Wars: Legion game from Fantasy Flight Games.
The Armies
One of the first complaints about the game from the outside looking in as that there are only two armies, Galactic Civil War era rebels and the Empire. Personally, I think they’re just getting started and the idea of the shallow binary meta is going to go away really quick.
We saw in X-Wing that FFG eventually added a scum and villainy third faction. Star Wars has a pretty rich history of conflict and I wouldn’t be surprised if the binary meta blew up quick. You could have Republic era federation droid armies, Wookiee armies, Mandalorian hunting parties, Hutt Cartels, the Chiss Ascendancy… Even the damn Gungans, who we would like to forget exist.
The Scale
The AT-ST walker is bigger than a knight, and the infantry models are a larger scale than 28mm. The Scout Troopers on Speeder Bikes look like they’re about the size of Space Marine Land Speeders, or maybe 30k Jetbikes?
Was this a really good idea for them? First of all, the AT-ST is a shrimpy model when we talk about the scale of war machines in Star Wars. There’s so much stuff that’s bigger than the AT-ST, but if we ever see it now, it could be a royal pain to play with. To put it bluntly, the game is just going to scale poorly. At some point years in the future, you’re going to need the floor to have massive battles on instead of just the table, and you’re going to have to carry your troops in giant 60-gallon plastic Tupperware tubs.
But really, isn’t that how 40k Apocalypse got started anyway?
This actually leads me to my next personal question about the scale… If the models are going to be so big, why not just go whole hog? Here’s my scenario- let’s say that Legion is a good game. It’s possible because FFG has a good pedigree with Star Wars, X-Wing is a great game. But if the models are going to be big, then consider this… Why not just take the game, ignore the miniatures (that aren’t that miniature), and just PLAY LEGION WITH YOUR OLD STAR WARS FIGURES?
Just to see if that crazy idea had any merit I searched AT-AT walker on eBay, and found the old action figure walkers for anywhere from $50 to $200, depending on whether it was new in box and if it was the 1997 version or the 1981 version.
Editor’s Note: Having had our hands on these models for a while now, we don’t think the scale is off at all, in fact after several games with the big vehicles the scale seems just right in our option. However, after running dozens of demos for folks already at crowded game stores, everyone’s first comment seems to be about the size of the AT-ST.
I can honestly say, trust the FFG system. It works.
The Price
This is the thing that’s really blowing people out of the water. That price tag. The example that everyone on the internet is using is that the AT-ST, which is bigger than a knight titan if you’ve seen it in a comparison photo that is floating around the web somewhere on one of these hobby blogs, is only $50, that’s not bad.
But like I said earlier, if you’re gonna go that big, why not just use the old action figures? (AT-ST’s on eBay are about $20, just saying) Anyway, a lot of people think that FFG coming in at a lower price point will hopefully put pressure on the rest of the mini gaming market, specifically big dogs like GW, to come down on price a little to compete. I don’t think there’s any problem with an undercutter moving in and breaking up the monopoly like that, but let’s look at some bullet points.
- GW has already been coming down by increasing the value of their starter boxes and adding the Easy To Build line. Hopefully competing with FFG will encourage them to continue this trend.
- We’ve yet to see how cheap Legion actually will be to play. We don’t know what the sweet spot is for battle size yet, or how much foam, boxes, and new large-scale terrain you’ll need to play it. It could just end up breaking even with your existing plasticrack habit. I remember when people used to say Warmahordes was cheaper than 40k, and I used to think the Khador Behemoth was an expensive chunk of pewter. Now they’ve got Captain Skarre driving an actual pirate ship, so cheaper is out of the window.
- FFG’s other Star Wars games looked cheap at first too. X-Wing is not as expensive as 40k, but I think if you really care about following the meta, getting hot new ships and new cards, then yea, it’s gonna end up coming out of your wallet somewhere.
Editor’s Note: You can play a valid 800 point list with a starter and one box of troops, but chances are you will want to buy another special unit, and you definitely need a dice pack for sure. Our demo games were a tad confusing for folks when they need to roll 5-6 dice and we only had 3 for them.
The Final Verdict
I hope the game does well, if only because competition is always healthy in the market, and real gentlemen of taste and breeding only play the finest of low model count skirmish games anyway.
We will see if FFG’s magical $50 giant chicken walker really has the sauce to make Games Workshop play ball. But the thing that really worries me is that, like I said earlier, I prefer my miniature games to stay miniature. I still have nightmares about putting that piece of crap Heldrake model in my car and driving him to the game store, and also let’s not forget…
Inquisitor in 54mm scale was stupid and they should have just published that game in normal 40k scale.
