What's next in Legion....for 2023 and Beyond?

Just before the second ever Star Wars: Legion World Championship drew to a close, Atomic Mass Games gave us a look into the World Between Worlds, allowing us to see some of their planned releases in Legion's future.

Let's start with the ones we already knew were coming....

Ahsoka Tano - Fulcrum

Whilst her sculpt wasn't new, her unit card is. Coming in as the 2nd most expensive Operative for the Rebel Alliance (after Jedi Luke), she might open up list building for the Rebels for those wanting to take a force user, but not wanting to splash out on Luke. She has obvious similarities with the newly released Asajj. Jump 2 and Jar'Kai Mastery allow her to be highly maneuverable (coupled with Charge) and the mastery makes the most of that Defend 1 (getting a dodge when issued an order). Whilst Ahsoka has a smaller dice pool than Asajj, with Surge: Crit and 6 wounds, she will be potent in attack whilst reasonably solid in defense, thanks to her need for dodges and her Deflect. With her Command Cards still a secret, we can't really see the full 165 point value, but it's likely that Force Push and Force Reflexes will be popular on her. Let's hope that there is a free recover hidden in the Command Cards somewhere!

Ewoks - Bright Tree Village

So, we have the name of the upcoming Ewok Battle Force - Bright Tree Village - the name of the village and the tribe that worshiped a Gold droid and made Storm trooper Samba a galaxy-wide recognised genre of music.

Wicket

Coming in as a Mercenary Commander who can be taken by the Rebel Alliance as well as the Bright Tree Village Battle Force at 70 points. It's clear the Ewok's aim is going to be stealth and trickery. With Independent: Dodge 1, Low Profile, Unhindered and Nimble all allowing Wicket to stay safe whilst moving through the undergrowth quickly. That alongside Scout 1 and Scouting Party 2 allows Wicket and some friendly Ewoks to get into good hiding places early, during deployment.

Wicket's offensive profile shows deadly accuracy with Sharpshooter 2 and a Sling that throws 1 black die at Range 2. If you get it on target however it's going to cause a wound thanks to Pierce 1. However it also has a new keyword: Primitive. Perhaps this means that the attack cannot get through armour, even if it throws a critical hit. He's no slouch in melee, with 2 Red and 1 Black dice with Pierce 1, all backed up by Surge: Crit.

Defensively, Wicket surges on white dice and has 5 wounds. Wicket is able to take 3 training upgrades. My guess is that Situational Awareness, to pair with the Independent: Dodge 1 and Nimble and Duck and Cover to pair with Low Profile will be the most popular.

We also got to see the back of Logray's card, with no more details. As a Shaman, could he be the first Ewok Operative?

We knew that the Battle Force were going to be able to field an AT-ST commandeered by Chewbacca. We got to see the back of the unit card which looks similar to the AT-ST we already know.

C-3PO

The Ewoks' second commander was revealed. The protocol droid, C-3PO. With just 3 wounds, he comes in as the lowest health single model unit. He is unable to attack and his keywords show that he is definitely a commander that is there to buff his 'faithful'. Master Storyteller allows C-3PO to give out 2 surges to a friendly Ewok at range 1. The number of Ewoks he can give them to increases as the game goes on. Keeping the Ewoks close to '3PO will also benefit him. Due to his Divine Influence over them all, Ewoks gain Guardian 2: C-3PO whilst at range 1 of him and are given Protector for free. He is also able to Compel Ewoks and station himself in a useful advanced position during deployment using Infiltrate. At just 40 points, he could be a fun unit to play with.

Command Cards

4 Battle Force specific Command Cards were shown.

Arboreal Assault - 1Pip

A 1Pip that gives out 2 orders is nice! This card is a new version of the Empire's Pinned Down with the token shuffling aspect, whilst also slowing down the enemy troops by adding Suppressive and Immobilize 1 to some Ewok's weapons.

Log Traps - another 1Pip!

This is the Ewok's equivalent of a bombard card, and certainly a reason to bring a trapper on one of your Ewok squads!

Hiding in Plain Sight - 2Pip

This card gives 2 Ewok units Inconspicuous - for those who can't remember what this does; if you have a suppression you can't be attacked by an enemy unit unless you are the only possible target.

For the Tribe - 3Pip

This is the all or nothing card for the Ewoks, allowing them to almost ignore suppression and get their full movement through the undergrowth, finishing off with an attack. Or perhaps it will be best used to give multiple units the chance to peekaboo from behind terrain.

Geonosis Battle Force

The second CIS Battle Force was announced as the 'bugs' from the red planet of Geonosis.

It was confirmed that these will be Mercenary units able to be taken by the CIS faction, but will also come with their own Battle Force slightly after release. It was also confirmed that Poggle the Lesser and Sun Fac would be coming with them. Looking at the photo above it looks like the 'standard' Geonosian Corps could be a 4 'bug' unit with 2 heavy weapons available - a type of melee weapon and a larger heavy ranged weapon.

Inquisitors

Long have Empire players been clamoring for Inquisitors to enter Legion. Up first we have the Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother - both from the Rebels series.

Coming to the Empire has sabre-wielding Operatives, they also confirmed that they will pair well together and it will possible to field both but only use up one of your Operative slots. Paired with Operative Vader, these 2 could form part of a deadly trio.

Clone Force 99

Despite coming with very little information, I am sure that the announcement of these 6 characters from the Bad Batch TV show will be welcome news to many. They did tell us that these would be available to both the Republic and the Rebel Alliance, but it will be interesting to see if Empire get a version of Crosshair. Will they be able to be taken as one big squad or will they all be individuals - time will tell - but it's certainly an exciting design space.

Organised Play - tournament kits

Alongside their other Star Wars systems, they confirmed that the new 'season' of tournament play would start on the 'May 4th'2023. A new store tournament kit was shown, with some exciting looking Alt-Art cards including; Vader, Grievous, Chewbacca, Gar Saxon, Yoda, Boba Fett and Pykes. They also confirmed that each kit would come with a Worlds qualification spot for 2024.

All in all an exciting future to come for Legion. With a healthy tournament scene going forwards which I am sure will be more popular than ever after this very exciting World Championship.