Star Wars Legion Galactic Empire Wave 2 - General Veers / Snowtroopers Review

Star Wars Legion has had its second wave of releases, following on from the Core Set and the First Wave. This wave features two releases for the Empire in a new commander choice and core troop unit option. The Rebel Alliance releases to match these are expected to release in the next wave.

General Veers Commander Expansion

General Veers is the first expansion commander choice for the Empire. He offers a very different option than Vader. Vader is a tank that moves slowly and unstoppably towards the enemy. Veers is a force enabler who boosts the vehicle and troops units around him. With some of his upgrade cards, he's able to ignore terrain, have troops models screen him by taking damage in his place and can issue orders at range 4. Even with those upgrades, he comes in at half the points of Vader, so with Veers in command, we might start to see some very interesting vehicle heavy army builds. The upgrade cards aren't limited to him and can be used by any unit with the matching upgrade slots.

The order cards that Veers brings are interesting in that one of them, "Maximum Firepower," is clearly designed with it's anti-deflect attack built-in to take out force users. It will be interesting to see if Veers becomes a direct counter to Vader/Luke reliant lists when coupled with vehicle or troop heavy builds. Builds could also be run with Veers and Vader, with Veers as an Alpha strike unit taking out any direct opposition to Vader. Veers' other command cards give vehicles options for dodge tokens to cancel critical hits and also allows units to recover (from suppression and exhausted status), which could lead to some interesting combinations with the General Weiss upgrade on an AT-ST.

General Veers is a solid commander and very different from Vader, but also perfect to run alongside him as your second commander. Veers has a lot of potential with the current releases and will only grow in value as more units are released. How he fares against other commanders can only be judged in the future. Currently, Veers adds some very interesting battle effects in any kind of current army list.

Snowtrooper Unit Expansion

The Snowtroopers are a very welcome addition to the Empire's forces. They are only slightly different to regular Stormtroopers. Snowtroopers cost one more point each than Stormtroopers, they have a shorter move action, and instead of precise (which ironically Stormtroopers have), they are allowed a free shooting action after moving. The free shooting action means that if they move-move-shoot, they actually move further than Stormtroopers who move-shoot. Snowtroopers also open up other options like move-shoot-dodge. The Snowtroopers special weapons options have much shorter ranges than the Stormtrooper options (HH-12 and DLT-19 have up to range 4) with the T-7 Ion which is range 1-2 and the Flametrooper who is range 1. The Flametrooper ignores cover and can also target every mini in line of sight, making him dangerous to large units in range. The grappling hooks and Impact grenades are the same as those included in the Stormtrooper expansion.

The Snowtroopers add a different dynamic to the Empire forces and can be dangerous to embedded enemy forces if they are allowed to get into close range. They operate differently to the Stormtroopers but work very well in tandem. Stormtroopers can pin down the enemy forces while the Snowtroopers advance into range of their special weapons, which can be doubly effective with a Speeder Bike unit flanking the enemy. All this, coupled with General Veer's upgradable extended command distance means that it can all be communicated effectively.

The Bottom Line:

Both General Veers and the Snowtroopers add great flexible options to the Empire forces. General Veers is great value, even with all of his upgrades and the Snowtroopers add a great close range and anti-cover option to your forces. It will be interesting to see how they fare against the second wave of Rebel releases that will follow, but until they are released, the Empire has been given some great units to vary the forces available to commanders. Empire generals will most likely be running both commanders and a combination of Storm and Snow troopers.

Get this game if:

You have any kind fondness for Star Wars. The models alone are worth it to a Star Wars fan.

You want the extra flexibility option that General Veers gives vehicles and troops.

You want to use the Maximum Firepower orders can to take out a Force user.

You want to burn the enemy troops out of cover after a slow and methodical advance.

Avoid this game if:

You don’t have the Star Wars Legion Core Set.

You don’t want to assemble models.

You don't play the Empire in Star Wars Legion.

These copies of the Star Wars Legion Unit Expansions used for this review were provided by Asmodee UK.

What do you think of Star Wars Legion? Are you on the Light or the Dark side? Will you be looking to run both Vader and Veers? What will your Stormtrooper Snowtrooper ration be?