Hello,

I've played both the D6 and D20 miniatures games, and Imperial Assault. Still have large collections of all 3. Debating on getting into Legion. I have some questions.

Do the stats for non-core set units on come in the miniature boxed sets themselves? This would drastically limit my ability to try out units using my existing models.

Regardless of what marketers say, how many models do you actually end up using for games? I want to know what I'm realistically looking at for storage. On a related note, I hate using main characters like Luke or Darth so that would presumably drive up my armies' head counts. I don't mind less specific characters like Veers who look like any Imperial officer.

I like art, military history, and literature. I do not like math. Is this a game where bonus-stacking between units is more important than terrain and interlocking fields of fire and such? If so I'll probably find the game boring.

Do core set armies have any resale value? They disinterest me as a painter.

There are a few list building apps that include all released and spoiled cards, as does the Table Top Simulator (that's a game you can buy on Steam) mod. My favourite is Battlescribe.

The core unit boxes contain the main building blocks for the armies, and are definitely being bought and sold.

1. Yes, non-core unit stats and cards come in those product specific boxes, however, the contents of the cards are usually revealed before release meaning you can proxy them (as I did with the Fleet Troopers before release)

2. Running my favorite Luke/Leia list means I have those 2 plus 6 squads of 6 troopers and I occasionally stick an ATRT in there - for me, it’s 38-40 models. YMMV

3. I don’t find this a particularly crunchy system, particularly if you have played other FFG games, or war games in general

4. Yes, check eBay, a lot of folks seem to be offloading their core set surplus, as you would want to do.

I would recommend verifying you have a healthy number of players in your area. My roommate and I got into it thinking there would be more people playing at our local game store and so far it's just been him and me.

That said. Most of your questions have been answered but I will touch on a couple points.

The core rules rules are all online in the Legion section of the FFG site. The unit rules as previously mentioned can be found on the army builder sites. The two big ones I use are Fab's Legion Generator and Tabletop Admiral (a quick google search will take you to them).

The system is pretty smooth as far as I can tell. Coming from a Warhammer/40k and D&D background. The first couple games will be plodding as you get used to the rules but it all clicks pretty easily.

Painting is my least favourite thing about these games (Legion, 40k, etc...) which is why FFG attracted me first with X-wing then Armada with fully painted, table ready models. However the scale of legion is smaller than 40k and I'm looking forward to getting all my Stormtroopers painted not only for the tabletop but as a shelf piece.

Terrain plays a big role as line of sight blockers and as thematic pieces. Some of the scenery people have been making is spectacular. Google Imperial Terrain and check out their site to see what some of it looks like. I'm not suggesting you buy any but just to see what some of the tables may be looking like. There are some great urban tables, Endor/forest-like pieces, ones for Hoth-like planets. It's pretty sweet to see this world we all seem to love brought to life on the tabletop.

FWIW I would not over-buy troopers chasing the current meta of 5-6 squads. I think the commandos/scouts and emplacement troopers are gonna shake up the meta quite a bit over the next few months.

Bonus stacking matters. Getting the right buff from the right leader with the right action at the right time can make an attack decisive. I think this is a nice way to capture the intangible leadership aspects and heroic moments. These times tend to be mostly one off, except for the Jedi.

Fields of fire and terrain, taking advantage of the limited action you have, these matter more than bonus stacking. For a fantasy game of space wizard samurai and robot nazis, the fundamentals of tactical combat seem pretty solid.

I love IA, I also love Legion.

Do it!

34 minutes ago, CaptainRocket said:

FWIW I would not over-buy troopers chasing the current meta of 5-6 squads. I think the commandos/scouts and emplacement troopers are gonna shake up the meta quite a bit over the next few months.

completely agree with this. I swapped out half of my second core with a pal to get to 6 Rebel Trooper squads but now Fleet Troopers are here and other units are on the horizon, I can't see me ever running 6 Rebel Trooper units (except in a Grand Army).

I have played a lot of Imperial Assault (I own a majority of the products released so far). Legion of course is a very different game.

Others have answered a lot of your questions, so I will address a couple of things.

As to main characters (Luke, Vader, etc) unfortunately, right now for the Rebellion faction the only commanders available are Luke and Leia (with Han coming soon). While there are rules for promoting a leader of one of your trooper units to a commander, foregoing a regular commander like Luke or Leia (or both) greatly limits you, as you lose access to their particular command cards and are stuck with the generic four everyone has access to. This can greatly limit your choices in how you control your army, particularly as eventually you will be stuck with the Standing Orders command card (which likely means you would activate second (players alternate after activating one unit) for the final few rounds of a game). In addition, the command cards particular to individual commanders such as Luke, Leia, Vander, and Veers often provide some significant bonuses that are completely unavailable with the generic command cards. Perhaps someday there will be more generic Rebel and Imperial officers who can act as commanders, but not right now.

Regarding the "armies" in the core set, as others have said, they are the building blocks for an army in Legion (right now there is only the Rebellion and Galactic Empire for armies, all additional units released or scheduled for release thus far are for one of those two factions). While new units that have come out or are coming out will likely make the Rebel troopers and Stromtroopers that come in the core set less common, I somewhat doubt they will ever completely go away. The speeder bikes and AT-RT are the units from the core set that are more likely to be left off lists in the future (I believe there are already Imperial lists that leave off speeder bikes).

I would suggest watching some game play videos and battle reports to help decide if you're interested in the game. There are a number out there that give a good feel for what the game is really like, and what sort of army size you may need to have.

Thanks for all the responses!

The things that have been said regarding command cards makes me hesitant to play.

As for advice about units etc. I don't run lists, I paint and play model armies. The meta means nothing to me, compared to most people. I'm more concerned with the game not being a hassle or requiring me to memorize lots of unintuitive special powers for every unit in order to make intelligent moves. I don't like most of the models in the core game so I'd sell them. I guess I'll have to crunch the numbers on what a whole army of Imperial Hoth add-ons will cost.

Scenery's not a problem, I always like to scratch-build Star Wars stuff.

Seems like if I do buy in, I'll have to buy a spare set of dice to "really" play the game. Odd that they don't include enough of those.

I think the rules are pretty simple. And you may reference the official rule set once in a while, but 95% of the information you need is on the cards.

Well, when I said "list" I mainly meant the collection of units you choose to use in a particular game, not what the current meta is (or is not). I myself am not really all that focused on what might be viewed as the optimal meta, just want to put together an army for each faction (as right now I mainly play games with my sons). I certainly would not want to suggest that someone could not play the game the way they want to.

As Brightguy stated, it likely would be worthwhile to look at some Youtube videos showing games to better get a feel for whether or not you might enjoy the game. You might want to focus on ones where the Imperial player is using Veers.

I'd only buy if you have someone consistent to play with and terrain, etc

Otherwise, buy a couple of guys you like to paint and don't worry about it.

Terrain... Oh I have terrain.... I've got a Geo Hex desert set, so pretty much the ultimate Tatooine battlefield! I also have a gaming group that meets weekly and will try anything.

23 hours ago, TauntaunScout said:

Thanks for all the responses!

The things that have been said regarding command cards makes me hesitant to play.

As for advice about units etc. I don't run lists, I paint and play model armies. The meta means nothing to me, compared to most people. I'm more concerned with the game not being a hassle or requiring me to memorize lots of unintuitive special powers for every unit in order to make intelligent moves. I don't like most of the models in the core game so I'd sell them. I guess I'll have to crunch the numbers on what a whole army of Imperial Hoth add-ons will cost.

Scenery's not a problem, I always like to scratch-build Star Wars stuff.

Seems like if I do buy in, I'll have to buy a spare set of dice to "really" play the game. Odd that they don't include enough of those.

I would not let the command cards be something that turns you away. Yes they can play an important role in a given turn. However, they are not overly complicated.

1 minute ago, Sephlar said:

I would not let the command cards be something that turns you away. Yes they can play an important role in a given turn. However, they are not overly complicated.

+1

Out of all the tabletop games I have played, this one is the most streamlined. You really don't need to memorize much either. They have done a good job at condensing and presenting pertinent info on cards.

If you've a FLGS anywhere near you selling this game there was demo games being run from 8th March so if you've an opponent to go down with or ask the FLGS store manager for a game to show you the system. Try before you buy, take a few hours of your time to try it and see rather than ask our subjective assessment maybe the best option.

Or maybe a local gaming club, there's most likely some players of it there already ready to play out a game for you on a club night.

Also watch for some youtube demo games, yes there are plenty of bad youtube examples riddled with errors, but there are a number of credible options. Often linked from boardgamegeek page for this.

This day and age, there are a lot of ways to get reviews, previews and heads up before dropping serious cash, which I totally appreciate we've only so much disposable income. If you like the IA line there are more expansions coming for that as well.

16 minutes ago, LordAdmiralAndy said:

This day and age, there are a lot of ways to get reviews, previews and heads up before dropping serious cash, which I totally appreciate we've only so much disposable income. If you like the IA line there are more expansions coming for that as well.

I think I'm all done with IA. I have core, 3 boxed expansions, a battlemat, and *almost* all the clampacks to replace the cardboard tokens in those products. Plus 3 clampacks I just liked. I have one big figure case dedicated to IA: it has room for 2 more humanoids and when it's full it's full!

Good to hear about the command cards. "Streamlining" has taken on a weird life in gaming. Here is atangent about the hobby overall and not directed at any one game: Situational addition and subtraction have been largely eliminated in favor of tweaking dice pools, which does speed things up. But at the same time, the overlapping special rules that go beyond a figures stat line, have become beyond confusing and multiply with each passing year. Yet with each edition or new game comes the touting of "streamlined!".

It sounds like the IA core rules are free maybe I'll try it with my old figures.

1 hour ago, LordAdmiralAndy said:

If you've a FLGS anywhere near you selling this game there was demo games being run from 8th March so if you've an opponent to go down with or ask the FLGS store manager for a game to show you the system. Try before you buy, take a few hours of your time to try it and see rather than ask our subjective assessment maybe the best option.

Or maybe a local gaming club, there's most likely some players of it there already ready to play out a game for you on a club night.

Also watch for some youtube demo games, yes there are plenty of bad youtube examples riddled with errors, but there are a number of credible options. Often linked from boardgamegeek page for this.

This day and age, there are a lot of ways to get reviews, previews and heads up before dropping serious cash, which I totally appreciate we've only so much disposable income. If you like the IA line there are more expansions coming for that as well.

+1

We had a gentleman come in to watch us over the weekend, we shot the s**t and talked Star Wars while we were in the middle of a battle, the invited him to play. He kicked my butt. But to be fair his dice rolls were on fire! xD

These are not the droids you are looking for.

Interlocking fields of fire and terrain are immaterial for space wizards who can deflect shots with a blade made of light. Get a nice historical miniatures game. They have as much MG34 troopers as Star Wars Legion.

2 hours ago, TauntaunScout said:

I think I'm all done with IA. I have core, 3 boxed expansions, a battlemat, and *almost* all the clampacks to replace the cardboard tokens in those products. Plus 3 clampacks I just liked. I have one big figure case dedicated to IA: it has room for 2 more humanoids and when it's full it's full!

Good to hear about the command cards. "Streamlining" has taken on a weird life in gaming. Here is atangent about the hobby overall and not directed at any one game: Situational addition and subtraction have been largely eliminated in favor of tweaking dice pools, which does speed things up. But at the same time, the overlapping special rules that go beyond a figures stat line, have become beyond confusing and multiply with each passing year. Yet with each edition or new game comes the touting of "streamlined!".

It sounds like the IA core rules are free maybe I'll try it with my old figures.

I am not using the term streamlined because it's a gimmick word. Refer to my last post. When I say streamlined, I mean everything you need to see (generally) is right in front of you. Legion is streamlined because dice rolls depend on the symbols you are rolling, not numbers that you need to weigh against stats of a unit (see 40k) It's streamlined because you don't need to dig through a manual to find stats; stats are provided on cards that are in front of you the entire time. Upgrades are cards. When I say streamlined, what I am saying is that the convoluted nature of tabletop games has largely been eliminated by the easy-to-access nature of Legion.

1 hour ago, Xiervak said:

I am not using the term streamlined because it's a gimmick word. Refer to my last post. When I say streamlined, I mean everything you need to see (generally) is right in front of you. Legion is streamlined because dice rolls depend on the symbols you are rolling, not numbers that you need to weigh against stats of a unit (see 40k) It's streamlined because you don't need to dig through a manual to find stats; stats are provided on cards that are in front of you the entire time. Upgrades are cards. When I say streamlined, what I am saying is that the convoluted nature of tabletop games has largely been eliminated by the easy-to-access nature of Legion.

I actually see that as backwards. Rolling a bunch of D6 and applying a simple table of modifiers is IMO vastly easier, simpler and quicker than applying an array of special rules. To use X Wing or Armada as an example, if you meet certain conditions you can add dice. Then maybe add dice with specific facings. Then change dice of one facing to another. Then change THOSE facings to other facings. Then remove some dice, but add others. And each of these special rules happens at different timing windows, and interact with each other differently (sometimes a dice can be modified only once, sometimes only one player can modify them, sometimes they can be repeatedly modified, so on and so forth) and generally the volume of these special rules increases over time as the publishers seek to add more and more new mechanics. Yes, all the information might be right in front of you, but it's generally a learned skill to follow all the available special rules and how they interact and learn when to apply them. It's not intuitive or streamlined. So far Legion seems to have avoided the worst excesses of the FFG design philosophy, but we ARE scant months into the games infancy...

1 minute ago, Chucknuckle said:

I actually see that as backwards. Rolling a bunch of D6 and applying a simple table of modifiers is IMO vastly easier, simpler and quicker than applying an array of special rules.

Solid explosion = hit
Hollow explosion = crit
surge = refer to card
blank = miss

not sure how that's not more streamlined than having to do equations in your head and memorizing a table of numbers like in 40K, but to each their own I suppose.

Legion is doing OK at the moment, like I said, but I'm cautious about the future. We're already seeing things like Boba Fett's ability to start messing with the dice pool, and I think we'll see more of it as time goes on. But X Wing and Armada, the other FFG games I play regularly, have many, many different upgrade cards that all apply different effects that change the end result. If we're using D6's , it can be as simple as "I need threes to hit, but you're in hard cover at long range, so I need sixes" but for Armada or X Wing for instance, you can add dice, but they have to be blanks. Then you can remove dice of a certain colour, to reroll dice of another colour. Then you can apply a special effect to these particular dice with these symbols, then your opponent can cancel or force a re-roll of these dice but only in a particular timing window, then you can cancel some dice to add a specific result, then you can apply a second critical result... and so on and so forth, when the end result is always some version of "I do X amount of damage to your ship". Precisely because FFG have locked themselves into binary hit-or-miss dice that can't be graduated with simple number modifiers like other games, they rely on interlocking and multilayered special rules to allow players to modify the dice results. I mean I get it, it's a feature not a bug, for a lot of people it's a selling point, but I personally don't find it quicker, simpler or easier than using D6 with modifiers. I find it exactly the opposite, even with the cards on the table in front of me.