Star Wars Legion. BigGrim's Ever-Growing Separatist Army!

Saturday morning! Surprisingly awake, I head into the Pop Shop to get set up. What followed was three fantastic games against fellow hobbyists who were taking their first steps into a larger world. I honestly find Legion reasonably balanced (though Shadow Collective feels a touch under-pointed for what they can do.) and we all had a blast.

My first game was against a work colleague, Elliot, who fielded his Rebels. They did a reasonable job of killing my Droids, but not before they killed Luke Skywalker with massed fire. Though hard fought, I win the game8 to 4.

Game 2 was against an excellent Empire force, with Inferno Squadron and Operative Darth Vader. I move up my Destroyers too far, not realising Operative Vader is faster than his Warlord version. He eats them for breakfast after appearing outta nowhere. Dooku moves up however and in 2 VERY uneven rounds of combat, slaughters Vader. I am coming to the realisation that Dooku, while selfish with his command cards, is EXTREMELY potent. The Empire forces are systematically destroyed and I take their objectives, winning the game. We shake hands, having had a whale of a time and break for lunch.

After nipping to a nearby pub to eat with a handful of friends and fellow attendees (trading war stories of the day so far), we return to get our third and final game in. I am taken by surprise to find myself on the top table. I am facing off against Ben and his rather disgusting Shadow Collective list.

An extremely tight game is had. Droids have trouble dealing with the armour and resilience of Maul’s troops though Maul himself dies fairly quickly. He tried to hide from Dooku, force pulling two squads of droids into combat. One is halved but by pulling away the correct minis to form a corridor, Dooku strides into combat and leaves Maul with two wounds. The Droids finish him off with their metal fists. Dooku proceeds to destroy each and every foe I throw him at with the Droids picking enemies off through weight of fire even with Ben’s notoriously jammy dice rolls. I keep my focus on objectives. We get to the end of the game and it’s a draw! We are told to tally points left on the field. Ben has Gar Saxon and a Super Commando left. I have Dooku, a Dwarf Spider Droid and B1s left, putting me far ahead on points remaining and am declared winner. We shake hands for what was a fraught, tense and amazingly enjoyable game.

Pete, owner of the Pop Shop tallies the results and I have taken the top spot by a narrow margin and received a rather nice trophy plaque by a local craftsman and a choice of boxed product up to £40. I choose an Air Speeder for my future Rebels army. Second, third and last places are announced receiving prizes or the Wooden Spoon and we hang out for a bit chatting about the games of the day. Hell of a day and plenty of us are jazzed for the game. Never Tell Me the Odds 2 is announced for October. My name is third on the list.