Star Wars Legion – Galactic Empire Stormtroopers

The two core units of the Galactic Empire in Star Wars Legion, the Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers, have been updated with new poses and hard plastic. In this article, we will take a look at the new SWQ11 Stormtrooper kit, which is available in its own box or as part of the Galactic Empire Starter Set.

This new set replaces the former SWL07 Stormtrooper kit, increasing the number of miniatures per kit from seven to 11. While the old models are described as plastic miniatures, they are actually made of restic, a type of spin-cast plastic, whereas the new models are made of injection-moulded hard plastic. The new Stormtrooper kit has an RRP of 54.99 USD.

The unit is spread across three sprues (one SWQ11-1 and two SWQ11-2s), along with a couple of cards for the unit and its upgrades and 25 mm round bases. You can view the cards on the Atomic Mass Games website and they are included in four languages (English, German, Spanish and French). As usual, the assembly instructions are a PDF download from the website.

The updated sculpts are spread across two different sprues. Sprue 1 covers the parts for the Squad Leader, as well as the two weapon upgrades: the T-21 heavy blaster and the HH-12 rocket launcher. Sprue 2 contains four different sculpts of regular Stormtroopers with E-11 medium blasters, and is included twice per box.

The level of detail and the casting quality are both impressive. There are hardly any mould lines, which is impressive. Some parts, such as the helmets, even feature a slide mould to provide greater detail than a standard two-part injection mould could produce.

The squad leader also carries the E-11 medium blaster, but he can be identified as an officer by the orange pauldron he wears on his right shoulder. There are no issues with the fit or assembly here; he is simply built as shown.

The regular Stormtroopers have four different dynamic poses. It is certainly difficult to create variation with these soldiers as they are very uniform.

Then there are the two Stormtroopers with special weapons: the T-21 heavy blaster and the HH-12 rocket launcher. I don't quite understand why they opted for the same poses for both of them when you don't have a second set of weapons and could build two rocket launchers or two heavy blasters from the sprue. However, I suppose it should be possible to swap the arms with one of the regular Stormtroopers, requiring only minor gap filling, to create more variation across multiple squads.

Here is a squad of seven (which can be upgraded to a larger unit), built from two sprues. The minimum size is four (three regular Stormtroopers and a squad leader), which can be upgraded using the options in this kit.

This should give you an idea of the size of these miniatures. Star Wars Legion is produced in 1:48 scale, which translates to about 35 mm true scale. Here, you can see the Stormtroopers next to several units from the starter sets, as well as the 32 mm heroic-scale Space Marines.

Here is a close-up of the seven different poses that this new set provides.

Conclusion

The hard plastic upgrade provides the core unit of the Galactic Empire with a proper improvement. While the previous sculpts weren't bad, the hard plastic provides sharper detail than the restic used previously. This is a crucial benefit, as painting white armour isn't easy. Therefore, sharper details and crevices make it much easier to apply washes, dry brushes, and edge highlights.

Beyond this, I am really impressed by the production quality of these new boxes, as the casting is excellent. While these are multipart and not entirely modular, there are still plenty of options for kit bashing or converting your miniatures (for example, if you want to create remnants or alternative poses), which is easier with plastic.

• Production Quality: 4/5
• Design appeal: 4/5
• Options / Customization: 3/5 
• Value for money: 3/5
• Ease of Assembly: 4/5

Star Wars Legion is a game by Atomic Mass Games and distributed by Asmodee.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.