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If you are reading this Star Wars Legion Card Pack II review you are most likely a fan of Star Wars Legion (or you are looking for a present for such a friend) and perhaps you are wondering “What this expansion is?” and “would it be worth getting it?”. I know the feeling as I had the same exact questions when I first saw this little box on the shelves of Zatu. To answers those questions we will need to look a bit on how this expansion fits into the Universe of Star Wars Legion.
Is The Set Right For You
In 2022, Atomic Mass Games released an expansion called “The Shadow Collective Starter Set”. As mentioned elsewhere, this set introduced mercenaries to the game, allowing players to hire these units to join other factions' armies. Alternatively, players can chose to build a stand-alone force of mercenaries to compete against other more standard forces. Together with the starter kit, a number of single units and single characters kits have been made available.
Following the release of the Shadow Collective expansion, Atomic Mass Games has put on the market an updated set of cards for the bounty hunters. Yes, this last set is indeed the “Upgrade card pack II” we are discussing here.
What's Inside The Box
As mentioned above the set has been mainly designed to update the unit cards for Boba Fett, Bossk, Cad Bane. This set DOES NOT contain any miniature and any of the commands cards of these characters. Therefore, if you want to use them, you still need to purchase the single operative kits previously released.
Together with the update units cards, the Upgrade card Pack II also contains:
· Two A-A5 Speeder Truck that can be played by the new mercenary units from the Shadow Collective Set. The vehicle is exactly the same available for the Rebels army but with a different affiliation.
· A copy of the three new command cards to be used with mercenary units (Ploy, Aggression and Discretion). These are the same cards included in the Shadow Collective Starter Set.
· 60 upgrade cards suitable to improve mercenary units and strategies. Among them, there are 8 new cards sometime in multiple copy: Lead by Example, Underworld Connections, Up Close and Personal, Emergency Transponder, Prepared Supplies, Sonic Imploders, Raiding Party Leader, Frenzied Gunner
· Unit and status tokens for the new cards and a nice A4 poster (a bit of art is always welcome).
Updated Bounty Hunters Cards
All bounty hunters included in the Upgrade card pack II are now part of the Rogue faction and they costs less then their operative version. In addition to these two main changes, all three characters gain an advantage associated to their independent status meaning that they become more effective in combat/defence if they don't receive an order at the beginning of a turn. Overall, the changes make all of them more efficient but in different ways.
For example, Bossk, the Trandoshan Terror gains the Scale keyword (which replaces Expert Climber and Unhindered) and Independent: Surge 2. Overall, the unit retains the same mobility but becomes more efficient in combat with the option to convert two results of “Surge” into a hit or a block per turn.
Cad Bane upgrades, on the other hand, are all focused on increasing his chances of surviving on the battlefield. This is a result of gaining Independent: Dodge 2, an additional training upgrade slot and
the increase of his Danger Sense from 2 to 3. Cad Bane also gets a good increase on his offensive stats by moving from Surge to hit to Surge to critical hit. Overall, Cad Bane upgrades are probably the most significant among the three characters.
Boba Fett upgrades conversely are more focused on the offensive. First he gains Independent: Aim 1 or Dodge 1. On top of this, Boba’s Integrated Rockets and Boot Spikes gain an additional die each making him a lot more efficient in combat. Interestingly, he now also have a comms upgrade slot that can be used to house a lot of interesting upgrades.
Final Thoughts
Personally, I think Star Wars Legion: Upgrade card Pack II is overall a good product that is well worth its cost. This smart little package is in fact packed with upgrade cards that could be bought here without the extra costs of miniature you may not want or you may not be able to add to your army.
As an added value, this Upgrade pack provides you more efficient and flexible versions of the cards for the three bounty hunters. If you already own the miniatures and the single kits of these characters the upgrade cards can provide more flexibility or allow you to explore new strategies.
At a second look, the main disadvantage of this kit is the lack of specialization. If you tend to buy a lot of kits and expansions, you may have already some duplicates of the cards included in this expansion. Moreover, if you are not playing with the Shadow Collective or the Empire you may also have a reduced use for this upgrade pack.