by Would you like to start Star Wars Legion ? But you don’t know yet which faction suits you the best ? In this post, I’m going to briefly describe the strengths and weaknesses of the four factions. In addition, I’ll give you my opinion on which army would please you the best, depending on your budget, time you devote to the hobby or on how important the SW universe is to you.
The factions
There are four factions in Star Wars Legion plus a fifth ‘ghost’ faction:
- The Empire
- The Rebel Alliance
- The Republic
- The Separatist Alliance (CIS)
- The Shadow Collective
Description of each faction’s play style
The Rebel Alliance
The Rebel Alliance’s competitive advantage over their opponents lies in their flexibility during the deployment phase. Several Rebel units (mostly heroes) have the Infiltration keyword attached to their profile. It gives them the opportunity to deploy within range 3 of any enemy unit, instead of being confined to the starting zones.
Furthermore, the Rebel Alliance can count on a lot of famous heroes to lead the troops into battle. In average, Rebel lists contain more heroes than other factions’ lists.
On the other hand, rebel units are fragile. Most of them defend themselves with white dice, having only one chance in three to save a hit. This means that you need to analyse the terrain carefully and protect your rebels behind structures to increase their chance of survival.
The Empire
Just as the Death Star, the Empire has an impressive strike force, both at a distance and in close combat. Basic units have aggressive long-range weapons to put pressure early on in the game, such as the Stormtroopers’ DLT-19 or the Shoretroopers’ DF-90 mortar to name a few.
Once the Empire has weakened the enemy, it can send in the heavy cavalry for close combat, via Darth Vader or the Dewbacks for example. On the defensive side, the army is not to be outdone as it defends itself mainly with red dice.
The Empire’s major problem is the slowness of its units. Whether it’s Darth Vader (commander version), The Emperor, Dewbacks, Snowtroopers or DF-90 Mortars for example, all move at a speed 1. This is the game’s weakest movement capability. Fortunately, there are tricks you can use to counter this weakness, which you’ll discover as you play!
The Republic
“Unity is strength” sums up the Republic’s credo. Clone units help each other out when they’re range of each other: when attacking or defending, a clone unit can spend a green token from another clone unit within range 1 (approximately 15 cm). The green tokens regroup the “Aim”, “Dodge” and “Surge” tokens. This advantage means that clones must maintain a compact/close formation during the game (who said “turtle” formation?).
The Republic therefore faces a tactical challenge when it comes to capture objectives that are scattered across the playing field. This type of mission forces them to divide their troops and therefore restrict their group bonus. Note that even an isolated clone unit is still resistant thanks to its red dice defence.
The Separatist Alliance
The Separatist Alliance has access to extremely effective tools for controlling the activation of its units. This advantage comes from the Coordinate keyword which allows droids to give a short-range order when they receive one. If you position your units correctly on the battlefield, you can create a chain reaction from a single initial order!
On the other hand since droids are stupid, they also suffer from the ‘Artificial Intelligence (IA): action’ keyword. This keyword forces droids to take a mandatory action (such as move, aim ot attack) as their first action if they did not receive an order.
Ghost Faction – The Shadow Collective
This is not a faction as such but a mercenary fighting force that is not affiliated to any faction. Unlike other factions, an army list of the Shadow Collective must meet specific criteria to be played — It’s called a Battle Force. The competitive advantage of mercenaries over their opponents lies in their autonomy. All units have the –Independent– keyword which gives them a bonus if they didn’t receive an order during the turn. Mercenaries can therefore generate some action advantage which is highly appreciated !
Which faction is the most powerful?
Unlike Warhammer 40,000, Star Wars Legion is a balanced wargame. The free rulebook is adjusted at least once a year and ensures that no faction stands out from the crowd. But it’s true that, depending on the updates, some factions are slightly superior or inferior to others but there’s nothing unfair or timeless about that. As a proof, have a look at the top 8 of the 2023 French Championship. All 4 factions were represented among the eight best players in the competition!
Which faction is the most faithful to the cinematic universe?
Whether you’re a connoisseur of George Lucas’ universe or just a nostalgic, any faction will give you satisfaction. Most of the iconic characters* and troops from the movies have their own miniature: Fleet troopers, Phase I and Phase II Clones, Wookies, etc. Even Cad Bane and Iden Versio are part of the game as the range of miniatures doesn’t stop with the films but also extends to video games (Battlefront II) and TV series (Clone Wars, The Mandolorian, Book of Boba Fett,…)
For those of you who are perfectionists, please note that this wargame does not respect the Star Wars chronology of events. As this is a game first and foremost, the designers had to insert some uchronies to enhance the gameplay. For example, you can create an army list using Cassian Andor and the Jedi Luke Skywalker, even though the former died before the other had even touched a light saber in his life. Don’t pay too much attention to this kind of detail. It may seem strange at first but you soon get used to it.
*The big absentees so far are Mace Windu and Jango Fett.
Which faction requires the least involvement in the hobby?
Although most players are attracted to the hobby, some are reluctant to paint miniatures. If painting miniatures and modelling aren’t your thing, I’d advise you to opt for an army that’s easy to paint and assemble. The Empire faction, with its range of colours from white to black, is an obvious choice. Although the Separatist Alliance has a less varied colour palette, I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t like the hobby. B1 units (the core of the army) form the densest battalions in the game, requiring six miniatures to make up a single unit as opposed to four for the other armies. More miniatures means more assembly and painting…What’s more, they are very tricky to assemble.
Have you made your choice?
If you’re still hesitating then head for the basic boxes. They contain two factions of around 350 points each. You can then try out the two armies that make up the faction. Take the opportunity to play a few games with the two factions and then choose the one that appeals to you.
