Star Wars: Legion Rules Update Preview – Line of Sight

Welcome Star Wars: Legion fans to the first in a very special series of Atomic Mass Transmissions that will be running over the course of the month as we bring 2022 to a close. Over the next few weeks we are going to be taking a close look at a monumental project that we have been working on since the start of the year. One that represents a major new resource for both new and veterans Legion players alike.

Launching on January 16 of 2023, we will be releasing a compiled and complete Star Wars: Legion Core Rulebook. “But wait,” I hear you ask, “Legion already has rules available so what is the point of a Core Rulebook?”

Since the beginning, Legion has broken its rules up over two important documents, the Legion Learn to Play and the Legion Rules Reference Guide (oft referred to as the RRG). While it is true that these documents do provide all the information players need in order to conduct grand battles in a galaxy far, far away, as the game has grown the initial benefits that once existed for new players of splitting information up has largely disappeared. Instead, with the significant growth of the game and alongside it the RRG, the current rules documents for Legion present far more of a hinderance, especially to new players, as they have to navigate a reference document in lieu of a linear and logical presentation of game and rules concepts that leads players through all the information they need in order to confidently learn and understand the game. With this new rulebook, we have worked exceptionally hard to create a single document that teaches players the game in an intuitive fashion that ensures they will have all of the core rules of Legion by the time they reach the final page.

While creating a fully modernized Core Rulebook for Legion we also had the opportunity to really dig into the previous rules language. As with all rules sets, time and experience are incredible teachers and often expose areas where rules language fails or is unclear in guiding players to intent of the rule. As excited as we were to simply create a Core Rulebook that would make learning the game significantly better for new players, we also knew we had a unique opportunity to really dive in and make sure all the rules were as clear and consistent as possible in the hopes of improving player recall and memory leading to less need for players to return to the core rules during play.

Additionally, this new Core Rulebook presented the opportunity to go through and address certain rules that have caused significant confusion or were too vague in their explanation, application, and/or timing.

Now let us be crystal clear: THIS IS NOT AN OVERHAUL OF THE LEGION RULES YOU ALL KNOW AND LOVE.

And one more time for safety: THIS IS NOT AN OVERHAUL OF THE LEGION RULES YOU ALL KNOW AND LOVE.

Instead this was an opportunity to clarify and/or codify rulings, as well as update certain mechanics and rules that were hindering the enjoyment of the game in ways we believed were unintended.

The first of these updated/codifications we are going to cover today is Line of Sight (LOS) and silhouettes. Line of Sight (LOS) and silhouettes have been revisited and clarified to be the same between the tournament and core rules. Previously, LOS was drawn from the head of a miniature or a specific point on a vehicle, and players had to determine if miniatures had 50% of their silhouette obscured. Emplacement Troopers and Creature Troopers also had silhouettes based on the size of the miniature instead of using a standard silhouette.

We wished to clarify this and make it easier for players to determine what their miniatures can and cannot see. There are now two standard silhouettes for all trooper miniatures- miniatures in units with small bases all use the same silhouette, and miniatures in units with notched bases all use the same silhouette.

Perhaps the most important LOS change when it comes to silhouettes is in regards to vehicles. Under the current Legion LOS rules, there are several cheeky interactions with how LOS and vehicles interact, all of which were clearly never intended nor healthy for the game experience we all want.

Vehicles now have a silhouette from their base to the top of their hull that does not include parts like weapons, antennae, or crew members. This change ensures players no longer have to worry about their Spider Droid’s antennae making it impossible for them to remain hidden, and eliminates the silliness of being able to adjust a vehicles silhouette by moving its turret or positioning its weapons in a specific way.

The new LOS system also clarifies how LOS is drawn to be consistent in all regards. No matter which silhouette a miniature has, LOS is now drawn from any point on the attacking miniature’s silhouette to any point on the defending miniatures silhouette.

Finally, the relationship between silhouettes and cover has also been revisited: a unit now has cover if half or more of its miniatures are obscured, there is no longer a need to see how much of a silhouette is obscured.

There were certain nuances of terrain blocking LOS that were not intuitive for players. Certain placement of miniatures allowed the “sniping” of heavy weapons or specific characters from units. Which miniatures in a unit can have wounds allocated to them has changed – wounds may now be allocated to any miniature in a unit, not just ones that are in the attacker’s LOS. However, wounds must still be allocated to wounded miniatures first, so no spreading out wounds across multiple Wookiees! This change de-emphasizes some finicky nature of LOS and cover and allows players to be more relaxed with miniature placement.

Additionally the rules for which miniatures can suffer wounds from an attack have also been adjusted: Now, when a unit suffers wounds from an attack, if the attacker has LOS to only some of the miniatures in the defending unit, the defending unit cannot suffer wounds greater than the total wound threshold of miniatures that are in LOS.

And that brings this first look at our upcoming Star Wars: Legion Core Rulebook to a close. Be sure to watch for our next installment as we take a look at more of what to expect when the consolidated Core Rulebook launches in January!