STAR WARS: Legion Developer Update April 2025

[sundancer 43384xp 3]

Yesterday (Tuesday 15.04.2025) Atomic Mass Games (AMG) held an almost 45-minute livestream on the topic of Star Wars: Legion (SWL).

In this stream, the three gentlemen tried to explain what will change, why some things will change and what can still be expected. Anyone who has followed the events surrounding SWL so far will not be surprised by the things that were said there.

But there were also a few innovations. For example, a few maps and units that (as things stand at the moment) are no longer playable in SWL.

One iconic card that will be missing is the ‘refurbished Gong droid’ because it was ‘too good’. Ok, nerfing upgrades for better play, we know that from many games.

But then, at time index 43:30, something happened that nobody expected.

Yup, the Royal Guard and Papa Palpatine are out. Why? As I understand the guys, the unit for the new version of SWL was presented to the licensor Lucasfilm Limited (LFL) and the licensor (LFL aka Disney) said ‘no’. Why, AMG didn’t know or didn’t want to/couldn’t say. Fact is: as of today, no more Royal Guards or Emperor Palpatine at official tournaments.

And the Twitch chat has gone off like Schmitz’s cat with double suppositories. And let’s not even talk about the Facebook group.

Guys, really. On the one hand, all armies got something or were nerfed. For another: Nobody is stopping you from continuing to play with your minis however you want. Use the RG as proxies for other units. Use Papa P. as a ‘generic commander’ for the empire. Or keep playing the system with the <2.6 ruleset and stick with the old Legion. Nobody will come into your house, flat, hobby bunker and steal your dollies.

Besides, I’d make a pretty substantial bet that at least the Emperor will be back sooner or later. If SWL isn’t taken behind the shed by AMG before then just like X-Wing and Armada.

Relax, watch the dev talk and just play another round 🙂

Translated with DeepL.com (free version) because I’m a lazy git and I’m not rewriting my own blogpost

https://www.warmonger.de/star-wars-legion-developer-update-april-2025/

[grantinvanman 2502xp 0]

I don’t understand why Shatterpoint came out when Legion was perfectly fine. It’s like they segmented their market on purpose, pitting game against game in death-match, only to pull Legion out of the pit and revitalize it? Maybe they realized they made a mistake?

I only bought Legion for the figures, tossed all the cards to a friend who 3D printed his own stuff to game with. I like the idea of the new hard plastic figures, and will probably get a bunch to paint.

 

[sundancer 43384xp 0]

Well AMG started with just Marvel: Crisis Protocol. It’s their love baby. Then Grandfather Asmodee decided that Mother FFG wasn’t good enough for Legion, X-Wing and Armada so he made AMG take them in.

AMG then had another love baby (Shatterpoint) and the rest was… “as is”. I guess Legion is still to much of a seller to just let go *or* some licensing deal makes them continue that line.

Next 12 months will be interesting.

[grantinvanman 2502xp 0]

Is Shatterpoint and MC:P the same scale? I know that SP is “bigger”. Maybe that’s why?

Yea, next 12 months will be interesting as the new kits are released.

I’m just finishing the Mandolorian story again, halfway through the Book of Mandolorian (feat. Boba Fett). I want TUSKENS AND BANTHAS!

[pagan8thParticipant 12931xp 2]

Seems like an overreaction from the Palpitine fans, but there are always those that whinge when their faction gets nerfed.

Although I’ve got a rebel force and the starter set it seems a little odd to me that ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ of the movies are leading the ground forces into battle. Feel like we ought to be using generic commanders to fight the battles that were not seen on screen.

Or possibly play narrative battles that reenact the movies to see if it plays out differently.

Luke an ‘daddy’ slogging it out with an army behind them seems weird to me.

[redscopeParticipant 2721xp 1]

Do you think SWL can make a come back ? When AMG took over the star wars license all the focus was on shatterpoint which got of to a good start and then just died a death as they released countless boxes leaving stores with stock they could not sell.

AMG did nothing with SWL for nearly 2 years, people lost interest at least locally. At end of the last year stores again were not selling Legion because interested had dropped and most of the stores liquidated stock at very decent 50% discounts to shift it.

While it is nice to see them return to I dont see any interest from the community. People already have the figures they are redoing and the difference is not that great so why buy them. I dont see much interest from new players but okay it is not out yet.

I just dont see anything AMG is doing which excites me to buy anything or get back into the game.

[limburger 21920xp 1]

They’re basically relaunching the entire game with those new starter sets, so the opportunity for a come back exists.

All SWL really needs is a good Starwars movie (or series) to remind folks what it used to be like and then AMG can profit (provided they actually deliver the new boxes to retailers at a decent pace …)

I must admit that I’m surprised they’re doing this much.
I hope it’s because they really believe in it as opposed to just doing stuff because it’s in the contract …

If Disney doesn’t screw up Starwars even further with mediocre content then all AMG has to do is deliver their product.

[grantinvanman 2502xp 0]

I hold hope for Legion, based on all the new hard plastics.

Andor s2 is highly anticipated – and Skeleton Crew was fun, if not overly serious. There’s legs to the Star Wars franchise, yet.

My concern is with Kathleen Kennedy leaving. I think Dave Filoni has done good work, but putting Jon Favreau in charge would be better, in my opinion. He was behind Mandalorian, the biggest independent series yet. Dave was the cartoon series guy. I didn’t bond with the cartoons – any of them.

Dallas Bryce-Howard (little Opie Cunningham’s daughter!) would be an outlier but could breathe good life into the franchise, too. Her work on Mandolorian has been really good.

But both Fiona and Bryce-Howard have been under Favreau’s leadership.

It will be interesting to see who wins. Maybe Favreau doesn’t even want it.

[limburger 21920xp 0]

Andor is more a spy themed series.
Not sure if that’s going to be big enough to motivate people into buying Legion, but then we don’t know what season 2 will bring.

I just hope it doesn’t go down hill like the Mandalorian did (I really wished they had kept it more grounded).

I’m rewatching Rebels. It is a cool series and it has Mandolore in it as well.  Zeb Orelios had a very brief scene in the Mandalorian.

 

[darthcheeseParticipant 4447xp 1]

I’m still mourning the loss of Imperial Assault. Also it’s crazy that with all the various Star Wars TV properties ongoing at the moment, the RPG series has just been left, no new books, no new reprints. Edge Studios took it on but as far as I can see have done nothing with it (including reprints) in fact they’ve not mentioned it on their socials since 2023. How good would a RPG in a similar vein to Andor be? In fact I think I might run one.

[limburger 21920xp 1]

@darthcheese

It may be a missed opportunity from a marketing/publishing point of view, but as a consumer/player ?
Do you really need new materials or rules to run an Andor game ?
I’d imagine picking an intrigue focused rpg (Night’s Black Agents ?) and re-theming it with Starwars characters is all you’d have to do.
Or simply use any of the existing Starwars RPG’s …

The challenge is creating an adventure that hightlights the beginnings of the rebellion with more morally gray characters compared to standard Starwars. Definitely not suited to Jedi unless they really want to challenge themselves …

[sundancer 43384xp 1]

To make SW:L great again AMG needs to make sure supply on units and new stuff doesn’t run out. Given to current “tax situation” in the US that’s going to be a tough one.

But I want to believe that there is many years left in SW:L with new releases and all 8)

[sundancer 43384xp 2]

Oh FFS! XD

https://www.change.org/p/bring-back-palpatine-royal-guard-and-pathfinders

I… how… WHY?! XD

[darthcheeseParticipant 4447xp 0]

It’s not source material needed to run a Andor style game. But having a Star Wars RPG actually in print and in the shops not at hight second hand prices on ebay would actually help. FFG/whoever has taken it on really has mishandled their use of the Star Wars IP, regardless of what system it is. It’s very much like create a game, pump and dump, create a new game, rinse and repeat.

[grantinvanman 2502xp 0]

I want my PAL-pa-TINE!
sing it!
Good… feel the anger course through your veins and explode in gamer rage…

 

Reminds me of the never ending whining of old Dark Elf players, who got a new army book, only to declare it sucked. Heady times, friends; heady times. 🤣

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