Star Wars Legion Unit Review: BARC Speeders

Good morning gamers,

A while ago, we covered Obi-Wan Kenobi and Phase I Clone Troopers - both of which come in the Clone Wars core set and both of which I love very, very much. Today we're (finally) covering the last of the elements of the core set, the BARC Speeder. This unit takes up a Support slot and originally "competed" with AT-RTs and Fluttercraft . . . but if we're honest, all three really compete with Clone Commandos now, in addition to the Corps and Special Forces options available to the Republic (which are all REALLY good options).

Because a vanilla Clone Trooper Infantry squad (or an ARC Trooper Strike Team) costs about as much as a BARC Speeder, it's been very tempting for me to just go with the infantry squads and skip these guys altogether. It's taken me a long time to like these guys, but I think they do have a place in some Republic lists. Let's take a look at the profile and see what makes these vehicles special . . .

BARC Speeders: The Profile

BARC Speeders got a points increase with the new edition and start at 65 points - and as you can see in the image below, running them without upgrades is a perfectly fine thing to do. BARCs only have two upgrade slots - and if you don't take a crew upgrade, you'll have a Speed 3 speeder. Unlike Speeder Bikes, STAP Riders, and Swoop Bikes, however, a BARC Speeder is a single-model Support unit, which limits its firepower when compared to these other units (unless you take a crew upgrade - in which case, you'll be slower than the other speeder units).

Four perfectly defensible loadouts for your BARCs - 65-99pts
Photo Credit: LegionHQ

BARCs are speeders, so naturally their distinctives from other Republic Support options include Speeder 1 (allowing them to go over terrain up to height 1 and they get a compulsory move at the start or end of their activation) and Cover 1 (which is great when cover is harder to get). While Cover 1 is all nice and good (it really means that you always have light cover - assuming your opponent doesn't have Sharpshooter or Blast), it's the Speeder 1 that's the real gem here. Since Speeder 1 gives you a free move action, even a Speed 2 BARC Speeder with a crew upgrade can move pretty far if it performs three move actions. In the main, your weapons are going to be Fixed: Front, so having the flexibility to take that compulsory move at the beginning of your activation (if you don't have your intended target in your forward arc) or at the end of your activation (if you can already see the target and want to get away) is really nice. Depending on your crew upgrade, however, you  might need to have your target in the forward arc - but it certainly helps.

Star Wars Legion Unit Review: Yoda

Good morning gamers,

Today, we're turning our attention to the little green man (well, alien dude) who is easily the most powerful Jedi in the prequel trilogy: Yoda. I got started with Obi-Wan and tried out Yoda with a proxy in one game before I was like, "Wow, this guy plays REALLY differently from Obi-Wan!" Sure, you can use Force Barrier and spam out dodge tokens with both of them, but if you want to have someone who can sit back OR fight competently, you want Yoda. If you want some command cards with both power and longevity, you want Yoda. If your opponent plans to head-hunt your characters . . . you probably want Yoda in that matchup too. So let's dig in and find out what this guy is all about!

Yoda: The Profile

There are three Force Users currently available to the Republic in Star Wars Legion: Obi-Wan Kenobi (who we've already viewed), Anakin Skywalker (who I don't have any plans of getting any time soon), and Yoda (who is really fun to use). We've had a preview (just concept stuff) for generic Jedi models that can be added to ARC Troopers and ARF Troopers (probably more on them at the start of 2025) and Ahsoka (Commander and Operative versions), but for now, your Jedi options for the Republic are Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Yoda. If you just go off what we know about these guys in the films, you'd expect Yoda to be a powerhouse character and clearly better than the other two. Yoda is probably the better choice overall, but there are trades that you have to make when taking him.

Two possible load-outs for Yoda: 230-245pts
Photo Credit: Legion HQ

First with the pros: Yoda is Courage 4 instead of your named-Republic-hero-standard of 3 and has surge for Crit and Blockinnate in his profile (with the stereotypical red defense die for Force Users). With a solid lightsaber attack (4 red dice with Impact 2/Pierce 2 and surge for crit) and a Force Wave range 1-2 attack (4 black dice with Blast/Suppressive), Yoda has some excellent options for dealing damage, getting all his actions, keeping his units from pannicking, and just generally resisting damage.

Like all Force Users, his lightsaber gives him Immune: Pierce and while about half of the Force Users in the game have Master of the Force 1, Yoda has Master of the Force 2 (which is only available at the moment on Count Dooku and Emperor Palpatine). While this isn't innately better than Master of the Force 1, being able to reset two of your exhausted Force upgrades at the end of your activation is awesome and gives you a lot more play in what upgrades to take.

Top 5 Empire Units (for Legion II)

Good morning gamers

This is Gorgoroth, and I am here to talk about my top 5 Empire units for the updated Legion. Now if you read my other post about my top 5 Empire units, you will know that I specialize in this department in not just words, but humor. However, that was before all the rules changed, so then I realized that I was spreading pure lies to all you good folks who read our stupid stuff (Ed. it's not stupid, you rapscallion! ~Tiberius). 

So, since I felt bad about that, I have returned to do it again while the rules are still new and so I can show you awesome strategies while everybody is still learning. So, lets jump in starting at number 5 which is of course.....

Pick #5: Shoretroopers

Photo Credit: Tabletop Admiral

These guys were always awesome when I ran them and they are, not surprisingly, still awesome. They are still the only Empire Corps unit with black dice on their guns and they picked up Prepared Positions which gives them a dodge token when they deploy and lets them deploy without spending an action. They are at Speed 1 now but are still red dice defenders which gives them the leg up. Now that I have poured out my heart on these guys, I need to address their heavy weapon which is in my opinion the most awesome weapon in the game (no offense, Vader. Darth Vader: "None (wheeze) taken (wheeze).") So yeah, they are really awesome but do you know what is even more awesome? Moving On!