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Sometimes I don’t think the Star Wars and Disney marketing people do themselves any favours when it comes to Legion Expansions which is very surprising considering who they are. First we saw the arrival of C-3PO and R2-D2 packaged in the unexcitingly named “Crashed Escape Pod” and now we have accurately named Din Djarin and Grogu but surely better known as the Mandalorian and baby Yoda, the very team that helped to launch the Disney subscription channel!
Now this pair can be added as an Operative to your Star Wars Legions forces and are compatible with the Factions of the Galactic Empire or Rebel Alliance.
Open The Box
This pack is an Operative Expansion as it gives us the Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin as an operative with his own Command cards and Upgrade cards as well as Grogu, the child as a Counterpart unit with its’ own counterpart card.
The well-made and beautifully illustrated box is not over full of materials. There is one small sprue of plastic, 6 large Unit and Command cards, 4 smaller Upgrade cards and a counter sheet of 12 Tokens.
Small But Beautifully Formed
At first the 15-part sprue seems a bit underwhelming. The first 11 parts go to make up the 38mm high miniature of Din Djarin with the other 4 making up a really tiny Baby Yoda but at least you do get two versions of Grogu. The sculpts though are great with really crisp moulding and on my set no flash. They fit together very well with squared pins and locating lugs to make sure of correct assembly. This is probably just as well as there are no assembly instructions included in the box. Instead you are invited to scan a QR code that leads you to Atomic Mass Games.Com where you can download the instructions. In fairness instructions for this fairly simple construction aren’t strictly necessary but equally there is enough blank space on the sheet that is included to print them there.
The plastic has a degree of flexibility and with a light undercoat takes paint well.
Note that you get the Amban Rifle as a separate part that can be attached to the back of Din Djarin or put in his other hand. This isn’t part of his basic loadout but can be added with an upgrade card so you might not want to permamently attach it. You can also equip a Beskar Spear as an Upgrade but there is no model of this provided. It has been suggested you might use a cocktail stick to represent this. I suggest they ought to have included the alternative weapon in what is, let’s face it, a fairly expensive kit for what you get. Even the well-known Nottingham based wargame figure manufacturer not known for their excessive generousity tend to include multiple weapon choices!
It’s All In The Cards
The Din Djarin Unit costs 105 pts
whilst having the Grogu adds a further 17 pts
Din Djarin has Unit Keywords :-
- Arsenal 2
- Bounty
- Impervious
- Independent: Aim 1 and Dodge 1
- Tactical 1
- Wound Threshold 5 and Courage 3
- An Upgrade Bar of 2xTraining, 1xComms, 2xEquipment and 1xWeapon
- 2 bar Speed
- Both Attack and Defence surge
Base weapon loadout :-
- Vibro-Knife – melee – 2xBlack dice – Lethal 1
- IB-94 Pistol – 1-2 range – 2xRed, 1xBlack dice - Lethal 1, Longshot 1, Versatile
Grogru has 1 Wound is Small and has a Latent Power which will either heal allies or suppress enemies.
With the rank of Operative Din Djarin does not Command units but has 3 personal Command cards :-
- 3 Pip – Whistling Birds – that gives a mass attack
- 2 Pip – I Like Those Odds – that gives an aim token and an extra attack
- 1 Pip – This Is The Way – that gives a dodge token and an extra attack
Grogu has a
- 2 Pip – The Hand Thing – that helps defend an attack
The Whistling Birds is the best Command card. For the others it’s debateable whether you would choose to have them in your hand. It would depend if you were pursuing a specific strategy.
Grogu is a Counterpart Unit and can not be on the table on its’ own. It most be with Din Djarin if it is present. Its’ qualities are a bit hit and miss and it can give a vital Victory Token to your opponent if captured whilst you can not get a Victory Token for protecting it. So despite its’ sweet looks it may be best avoided!
Din Djarin has 4 Upgrade cards
- 2 Weapons – the Amban Rifle and the Beskar Spear
- 2 Equipment – Flame Projector and Jetpack
Al these are very useful but the Amban Rifle which is a highly efficient sniper rifle or phase-pulse blaster if you will, seems to be denoted as solely a melee weapon. It certainly is effective close in because of its’ fork-shaped resonator that electrocutes and paralyses opponents but it is a sniper rifle. I may be reading it wrong but it certainly seems confusing.
The Token sheet contains :-
- 3 Order Tokens
- 3 Immobilize Tokens
- 2 Dodge Tokens
- 2 Aim Tokens
- 1 Asset Token
- 1 Victory Token
The Final Reckoning
This is a nice kit that builds to a good looking miniature and a cute baby to tag along. It provides a strong fighting unit and gives it a liability. The packaging and artwork is great but I feel they could have been a bit more generous with the components. The designation of the chief weapon seems confusing.
All in all if you want the Mandalorian at your side with impenetrable armour and tough fighting abilities then here it is – oh, and do you mind taking Grogu too?
