Star Wars Legion – Mandalorian Special Edition Army Box

We have already covered two of the Starter Sets for Star Wars Legion on here, with the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire. And now it is time for another faction, the Mandalorians.

These were released in summer and will return as a re-print towards winter. The Mandalorian Army box comes as a limited Special Edition, including additional leaders. Regarding the coverage, we will do an initial unboxing of the box itself, just like we did with the others, and then add further in-depth reviews of the individual kits, which are linked further down inside this article.

Just like the other Starter Sets, the SWQ150 Mandalorian Special Edition Army Box provides you with a 600-point Recon Level Army and covers 36 miniatures (the Galactic Empire box has 37), though the RRP is 139.99 USD instead of the 99.99 USD RRP of the other two Starter Sets. The printed content of each Star Wars Legion Starter Set is multilingual, covering English, German, French and Spanish.

These new starter sets contain new hard-plastic miniatures, as well as everything else you need to start playing Star Wars Legion: tokens, cards, dice and rulers. The only thing not included is the rulebook, which is available as a free digital download.

In case you are only familiar with the Original Trilogy let me give you a brief introduction on the Mandalorians:

The Mandalorians are a warrior culture from the planet Mandalore, historically feared across the galaxy for their beskar armour, clan-based society, and creed built around honour, combat and family (the idea that 'this is the Way'). Their history is marked by devastating wars, including conflicts with the Jedi and the Galactic Republic, and a near-total collapse of their culture during the era of the Empire, known as the Night of a Thousand Tears, which fractured them into scattered, hidden groups. They are not one unified people but rather a patchwork of clans and coverts with differing beliefs, ranging from strict traditionalists to more secular Mandalorians who do not follow the religious 'Way'.

A quick note on two characters included in this set: Din Djarin is the title character of The Mandalorian, a lone bounty hunter raised within the Children of the Watch, a strict traditionalist covert that never removes its helmet in front of others. His journey, centred on protecting the Force-sensitive foundling Grogu, gradually pulls him away from his sect's rigid dogma and into the wider, more fractured world of Mandalorian politics. The Armorer is the spiritual and technical leader of that same covert, responsible for forging Mandalorian armour and interpreting the tenets of their Creed. She guides the clan's adherence to the Way, oversees Din's foundling bond with Grogu, and serves as a moral compass within the group, though her true identity and face remain hidden, staying true to the strict code she embodies.

If you want to dig into the lore, the best entry points are:

• The Mandalorian (TV series): the most accessible modern introduction, following a lone Mandalorian bounty hunter, Din Djarin.
• The Clone Wars and Rebels (animated series): cover Mandalore's civil wars, Death Watch, and Duchess Satine's pacifist government, plus deeper Bo-Katan Kryze material.
• Legends-era material (if you are open to older, non-canon lore) like the Karen Traviss novels, which go deep into Mandalorian culture and language (Mando'a).

The Mandalorian Special Edition Army box contains the following:

• 36 Miniatures
  • Din Djarin and Grogu
  • The Armorer
  • Mandalorian Warriors 3x (11 troopers per unit)
• 36x 27mm Round Bases
• 12 Unit Cards, 12 Upgrade Cards, 15 Command Cards (all in English, German, French and Spanish)
• 4 Red, 4 Black and 4 White Attack Dice
• 4 Red and 4 White Defence Dice
• Movement & Range Tools

As with most Atomic Mass Games products, you receive a 'Read This First' leaflet with the basic information and directions to the assembly instructions, which are available as a digital download.

The new starter sets for Star Wars Legion cover the Recon Level forces from multiple hard-plastic sprues for various factions and their different eras and timelines. You get two commanders in this set (the Armorer and Din Djarin, along with Grogu) and three units of 11-strong Mandalorian Warriors. The Mandalorian Warriors can be built as various units, either Initiates, 'regular' Warriors or Clan Kryze Veterans.

Casting is done to a very high production quality across all these sprues, with minimal mould lines and very crisp details on the miniatures themselves.

Below, you will find pictures of the new sprues, along with links to the individual reviews for each unit.

Din Djarin and Grogu as an exclusive sculpt to the SWQ150 Mandalorian Special Edition Army Box

The Armorer from SWQ82 Mandalorian Leaders (the picture is missing the jetpack)

Three sets of Mandalorian Warriors from SWQ81 Mandalorian Warriors (each set consists of one from the first sprue and two each from the second and third sprues)

You get two large cardboard sheets with punch-out tokens. These have a different layout to the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire starter sets, and are missing the third board with the tracker.

You will find four decks of cards (one for each of the four languages: English, German, French and Spanish) in the army box. Each covers 12 Unit Cards, 12 Upgrade Cards and 15 Command Cards, basically everything you need to put your Recon Level Force into play.

One of the two commander choices in this army box is Din Djarin (with Grogu). This is not his first appearance in the game, but this is a new, exclusive sculpt for the Special Edition. The Mandalorian has been available in two different sculpts across three different sets so far.

• SWL98 Din Djarin and Grogu Operative Expansion (two poses for Grogu)
• SWQ138 Outer Rim Outlaws (same pose as SWL98, but with an additional Boba Fett as Daimyo)
• SWL150 Din Djarin and Grogu (from the Mandalorian Special Edition Army Box)

The new pose shows him with the Darksaber, which he [SPOILER] acquired by defeating Moff Gideon in the finale of the second season of The Mandalorian. These two are the only official sculpts so far; further poses have been available from third-party companies, for example Grogu in the hover pram.

The characters in these boxes are hard-plastic miniatures, as the majority of the range and new releases have been moved from spin-cast 'restic' to injection-moulded hard plastic and now come on a sprue instead of in a bag.

Both Din Djarin and Grogu share a sprue, and in Din's case even with a pre-sculpted base. The casting is very detailed, with only minor mould lines; the coat of Mando is quite thin, so you can see the light through it.

Both characters have their own card(s) and you will need another 27 mm round base from the bag to build both.

As mentioned above, the pose of Mando comes with a pre-sculpted base. Both poses do not offer any options; they are built as shown. The parts have a clean fit, as even the split in the coat does not create a seam.

The second commander option is the Armorer. This miniature is not exclusive to the starter set and is also available as part of the SWQ82 Mandalorian Leaders set, alongside Bo-Katan Kryze, Paz Vizsla and Axe Woves.

So far this is the only sculpt of the Armorer available. Just like the other characters, she comes with her own set of cards, in this case in the four different languages included.

The Armorer has a stoic pose, capturing how she is portrayed in the Mandalorian series. The sculpt does not offer any options and shows her armed with a gravity hammer and magnetic tongs.

Fit is not an issue with this model. Even the fur does not create a noticeable gap.

In addition to the miniatures, these army boxes include various game accessories you might not expect from an army set. There are movement and range tool sets included, as well as multiple sets of dice (attack and defence dice). These are the same dice you can buy individually as the proper variant, not a budget version.

As mentioned above, I cover detailed information on the units and characters in their individual reviews. Yet, to give you a proper idea of the 1:48 / ~35mm true scale of Star Wars Legion, we have included some scale comparison pictures here.

Here is the Mandalorian next to 32 mm heroic-scale Space Marines from Warhammer 40,000 and the Horus Heresy, as well as the Mandalorian as a Lego Minifigure. It is interesting to see how different proportions can be on a roughly similar scale of 35 mm.

The characters from this army box feature very imposing poses; Din Djarin and Grogu, especially, are more dynamic than their Operative Expansion counterparts.

Conclusion

This is a proper starter set, and I am glad that we see these boxes for non-major factions as well. Yet, the Mandalorians did not get as good a deal as the others. First of all, the RRP is 139.99 USD instead of 99.99 USD, which is a big difference from the start. The second issue is the diversity of the set itself. You get three boxes of Mandalorian Warriors, and while these are versatile by themselves, you can build the green Initiates, Warriors (including their Fire Support variant), or even Clan Kryze Veterans, it would have created more variety if the third unit had been, for example, the Super-Commandos. This is understandable, though, as this is meant to be a starting point that stays as broad as possible to suit most Mandalorian players across the different Clans. This is worth pointing out, as the Mandalorians can be played as one of five clans (Children of the Watch, Kryze, Wren, Saxon or a custom Clan), and either as a faction of their own or as Mercenaries for the Empire or the Rebels.

Nevertheless, the three boxes of Mandalorian Warriors, Din Djarin and Grogu, and the Armorer amount to about 180 to 200 USD in value on their own, plus another 100 USD for the dice packs, essential pack and cards. This adds up to almost 300 USD in total value, slightly less than what you get with the Galactic Empire or Rebel Alliance sets, even though the Mandalorian box itself carries a higher RRP. Still, it is a proper deal, and understandably so, as this box will probably not sell in the same numbers as the more popular factions.

Assembly, especially with the variants and options, was fun. The new hard-plastic models for Star Wars Legion are of higher quality than their restic counterparts and hold more detail. Overall, the production quality is on par with the plastic production you get from the UK, with sharp details and only minor mould lines.

To give you an idea of the price point of Star Wars Legion: most games are played at 1,000 points, and this set, already providing you with 600 points, is a proper start for a platoon-sized game. Overall, this makes Star Wars Legion cheaper than most other sci-fi games of that size. Compared to the number one on the market, Warhammer 40,000, the characters in Star Wars Legion cost around half as much, and squad boxes are usually cheaper too. We have to keep an eye on the upcoming release cycle, as further units will be released for the Mandalorians this year, along with an air support release.

• Production Quality: 4/5
• Design Appeal: 4/5
• Options / Customisation: 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 was provided by the manufacturer.