Star Wars Legion – Rebel Troopers

In the new Star Wars Legion Rebel Alliance Starter Set, the Rebel Troopers and Rebel Commanders have been upgraded. In this review, we will take a closer look at the new SWQ15 Rebel Troopers multipart hard plastic kit, which is included twice in the new starter set.

Like many other new kits in this range, this one replaces an earlier version. The SWL05 Rebel Troopers are succeeded by the SWQ15 Rebel Troopers, with an RRP of 54.99 USD. The number of models in this kit has increased from seven to eleven, and the miniatures have been switched from restic (a type of spin-cast plastic) to injection-moulded hard plastic.

A squad of eleven Rebel Troopers can be built from three sprues (two SWQ15-1s and one SWQ15-2). The models come with a small deck of cards covering the unit and upgrade options, as well as 27 mm round bases. Atomic Mass Games displays the included cards on the unit sub-page, and all cards are available in four languages: English, German, Spanish and French.

As usual, the assembly instructions are available to download as a PDF from the website.

The updated Rebel Troopers are assembled from two different sprues. The first sprue contains the parts for four regular Rebel Troopers with A280 blaster rifles. The second contains three soldiers. One squad leader and two carrying special weapon upgrades: the MPL-57 and DLT-20A blaster rifle. Unlike the old kit, this one does not include a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon.

The core sprue for the troopers offers a variety of head options, including male and female Twi'leks, Humans, Duros and Mon Calamari. The casting is very clean and sharp. There are only minor to no mould lines on these.

The models do not come with weapon options, but they have a separate head system which allows you to use any head from the sprue with any body from the Rebel Trooper kit.

The squad leader has a pointing gesture and can choose any head in this set, but beyond that, the pose is fixed.

The same goes for regular troopers. They are all armed with A280 blaster rifles and have round sockets on their necks to fit the various heads included in this sprue. Of the 11 troopers in a set, four pairs have identical bodies, but these can be mixed up with the different heads.

The two troopers with the MPL-57 and DLT-20A blaster rifles have very similar poses and differ only in the weapons they carry and, of course, their separate heads.

This small unit comprises seven Rebel Troopers built from two sprues.

The Rebel Alliance comprises a variety of alien species, including Wookiees, who are included in the Starter Set. Below is a side-by-side comparison of the Star Wars Legion 1:48 scale miniatures (approximately 35 mm in true scale). The final image shows a comparison with 32 mm heroic-scale Space Marines.

Here, you can see the Rebel Troopers in various poses with different weapons and heads.

Conclusion

The idea of using a separate head system is great, as it provides a lot of flexibility for this unit and for larger groups of them. While the casting quality and amount of detail are impressive, the faces lack expression. The heads look too much like a CAD drawing and would benefit from more character, such as an aggressive look or a shout. They could just be a bit more involved in the action instead of just looking ahead with closed mouths. However, this is not a major issue as it is easy to replace them with third-party or 3D-printed pieces. This allows you to add even more humanoid species to your rebels, and the neck socket makes kit bashing really simple.

Assembly was quick and easy. The minor mould lines were easily removed and I like that they opted for modular heads for this unit.

The price is reasonable, and you now get more miniatures for your money, which is good. I think the troopers' uniforms could be more distinctive. However, the poses are very dynamic, which is good. Given the level of detail, painting them with speed paints or using washes and dry brushing will produce quick results.

• Production Quality: 4/5
• Design appeal: 3/5
• 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.