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Star Wars: Legion – The Commander’s Preview

4 Minute Read
Feb 10 2018

Star Wars: Legion uses a unique Command activation system – come take a look at how it’s going to work!

Fantasy Flight Games has talked about the new Command System in Star Wars: Legion before. If you’re not familiar with it, we had a demo at GenCon that explained it fairly well. But all you need to know is that each Command Card has a Prority and an Orders Section:

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If the number of priority pips is lower than your opponent, then you get to act first for the round. The Orders Section determines how many units you’ll get to activate via your commanders command radius – all other units will have to activate with a bit more uncertainty. Don’t worry about that for now – but keep it in mind.

Today, we’re taking a closer look at some of the Commands that Luke and Vader will have access to in the game. When you’re designing your army, you’re going to start the game with 7 cards in your hand and you’ll be using those throughout the game.

via Fantasy Flight Games

“Four of the command cards included in the Core Set are neutral, and can be used by any army, regardless of faction. These cards are: Ambush,Push,Assault, and Standing Orders. Each of these neutral command cards is quite straightforward. A faster card, like Ambush, gives you a better chance of winning priority, but only allows you to order a single unit. On the other hand, a card like Assault is slower, but lets you issue orders to three units! The exception is Standing Orders. This command card is slowest of all and only orders one unit… but you can return it to your hand at the end of the Command Phase. All other command cards can only be used a single time during the game. If you don’t want to potentially waste one of your command cards by playing it too early, Standing Orders can let you keep all of your command cards and bide your time.”

Aside from the neutral cards players are also going to have other options based on your faction and your commander. Let’s start with Vader and the Dark Side:

Implacable allows Vader to act twice at the cost of 1 wound. That’s kind of a big deal because he’s not exactly known for his speed.

Master of Evil grants Vader an activation as well as 2 units. On top of that, it also grants him a dodge token AND puts suppression tokens on enemies in range.

New Ways to Motivate Them is as intimidating as it sounds. Causing a wound to a trooper unit generally means that one of those troopers is dead – however, it allows the rest of the squad to get a free action! Sometimes sacrifices must be made…

Luke and the Rebels on the other side of the coin are a bit more …safe to work for? Well – they aren’t as eager to damage themselves for victory…no that’s not right either, not based on the movies at least. Maybe it’s better to say their Commanders are less likely to feed them to the meat grinder…yeah, let’s go with that. Anyways, on to the cards!

My Ally is the Force grants two friendly trooper units dodge tokens – it’s something to help out with their lack of armor. After all, if you don’t get hit, you probably don’t need armor!

Return of the Jedi is basically like Vader’s Master of Evil – it activates Luke and 2 units. It also grants Luke a dodge token, but unlike Vader who causes fear in his enemies, Luke inspires hope in his allies. Nearby troopers can remove suppression tokens when Luke activates that turn!

Son of Skywalker allows Luke to get a double attack in on his turn which can be pretty useful! Especially because he’s wielding that Lightsaber which is known to cause some serious damage…

That’s it for this preview from FFG – you can read the full article HERE. Star Wars: Legion is up from Pre-Order now and is shipping March 22nd!

Star Wars: Legion $89.95

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.

 

Choose your commanders wisely – victory depends on it!

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Author: Adam Harrison
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