A few years ago, I picked up my first Star Wars Legion miniatures. I bought them more for a hobby interest, I did not really have an intent to play the game. I was interested in the various Clone Wars models, as I rather liked the aesthetic of that period in Star Wars lore. I think it is more because it focused on the ground war portion and that tied into my overall liking of Sci Fi.
Well, I picked up some models on sale, found more on sale over Black Friday and kept buying from there! The buying and painting has continued to go on since then. One of the purchases was the Clone Wars introductory box set. This came with the rules and all the bits necessary to play the game (along with a lot of minis that I wanted). While looking over the minis, I decided to have a quick review of the rules. I have to be honest, I had very low exceptions, as I expected it to be a bad version of X-Wing, but on the ground. Well, after reading through the rules, I changed my mind. These were something I had to play!
Well, then Covid came, so my gaming was severely curtailed over the last two years, so that just never happed. However, I kept buying, assembling and painting my troops with that future in mind. I also started collecting terrain to play. I have to say, this was probably my largest outlay of cash I have ever made for a game that I had never played! So yes, I am a bit off….
Well, with things freeing up on restrictions and my various gaming buddies getting a little more comfortable, it was time to set up a game. With that said, I still procrastinated, as there were plenty of other games in the backlog. However, after a little ribbing from one of my buddies, I decided to go for it finally. Emails went out and we were set.
I decided to try to keep it somewhat simple. I set up a six by three foot table with some of my sci fi temple ruins terrain (freshly painted) and some other bits and bobs to fill out the table.
To keep things simple, I opted to go with a straight forward scenario (so we skipped the scenario generation portion of the game). Both sides got to set up six inches on their board edge. The conditions were clear, so nothing outside the units to worry about. The victory condition were the side getting the most units into their opponent’s zone of control would be the winner. The tie braker was based on most points eliminated. I am actually not positive on this last part, but I am sure we made plenty of mistakes, as this was a learning game for everyone.
I set up the forces the night before. I tried to come up with even units, so the players could split them as thy liked. I did not have the points for a second character for the CIS, so that was the sole stand alone.
The Separatists (CIS) were lead by General Grevious, with a pistol and upgrade. They had four units of B1 battle droids with heavy weapons and two units of B2 super battle droids with heavy weapons from core. They also had two BX sniper teams and two units of Droidikas as specialists. The list finished up with two Dwarf Spider Droids with attack protocol and a laser blaster something.
The Republic forces were lead by Obi Wan Kenobi (I have not painted Anakin yet). Obi Wan had some force powers and upgrades. He was supported by Captain Rex, who had some upgrades. The force contained four units of Phase I Clone Troopers with heavy weapons and frag grenades (I had some extra points). They were supported by two AT RT with Rotary Blasters and an upgrade that gave an aim token (I am far from remembering the names of all the upgrade cards.
So, we would have a smallish elite force of clones, lead by two characters, taking on the hordes of droids lead by Grevious.
I ran through the rules with everyone and we then went to set up, with the Republic starting and each side going back and forth, until we were all done. It was at this point that I thought I may have selected the wrong scenario! The clones would have to advance into all those droids.. Well, we learn by doing and there was no turning back.
We chose the command cards and the CIS got the first move. We went back and forth, with out much shooting, due to terrain and ranges. The turn was a bit slow, as everyone was trying to learn their units and understand the mechanics. Turn two was also a bit slow, as everyone was learning how to shoot and interpret their unit cards. By the end of turn two, there were a few casualties, but the clones were getting the short end of the stick!
Things got faster and faster, as everyone got more comfortable with the mechanics. The scenario was set to end at the end of turn six. Well, we were all so into trying to wipe out our opponents, that we realized it was turn five and the opponent set up areas were far away! The number of clone casualties were quite high in comparison to the droids, but Captain Rex managed to fend off shot after shot and end the game bloodied but not broken (we could not say that for most of the clones).
The CIS were held back in the latter turns, as they had to follow their IA protocols, as they were mostly out of command from Grevious. The Republic was always on the back foot from all the pressure that the CIS could put out with all its firepower. However, the CIS was able to get one unit of BX commandos to the back edge. They also got a Droidika to roll on back, but it was destroyed by the last standing AT-RT as tried to roll away. A unit of B2s had a chance, but got suppressed by the remnants of Clones. They could not roll off the suppression, so fell short on movement. General Grevious also tried to make the run, but fell short.
Snagging victory from the jaws of defeat would be up to Obi Wan! After fighting droids for a few turns, he took his last full move and jump to make it to the back of the table. So, victory would be determined by the points!
The Republic had taken extremely heavy losses (only four models remaining), but still had both characters, the remnants of a squad and a damaged AT-RT. The CIS also took heavy losses. Even General Grevious went down on the last turn! Along with him, three units of B1s, one of B2s, a unit of Droidikas and a commando sniper team all went down.
With both sides having one unit in their opponents deployment area. So we would go to the points! Totaling up the points, the Republic managed to squeeze out the victory (don’t mess with the Kenobi) With the losses the way they were, a save or two here or there and it would have gone the other way. In the end, it was a very tight game the both sides could feel happy about.
It took a bit of time for the players to get used to how the aim, dodge and surge chits worked and there was a bit too much time ready unit cards with all their rules. In retrospect, I should have either made the forces more generic (particularly the CIS) or grouped unit by by player. This would have flattened the learning curve for new players. In the end, it took us just under four hours to play the six turns. The next game should go much much faster, not that people have a game under their belt. So, the first game has finally been played! Everyone enjoyed it (including me), so there will be many more in the future!
- Manteuffel