Star Wars Legion – Mandalorian Warriors

The core of the new Mandalorian Army box is the SWQ81 Mandalorian Warriors boxed set, which can be used to build multiple types of units: Initiates, Warriors, as well as Clan Kryze Veterans.

There are further infantry units for the Mandalorians, but these are specialised towards specific clans, like the Clan Wren Veterans or Super Commandos of either Maul's Shadow Collective or Clan Saxon.

This boxed set, with an RRP of 62.99 USD, covers 11 miniatures of Mandalorian Warriors with various options, which we will cover further below in this review.

In case the only 'Mandalorian' you know is Boba Fett, let me give you a brief introduction:

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'.

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).

A Mandalorian Warriors box contains the following:

• 11 Miniatures
• 11x 27mm Round Bases
• 4 Unit Cards, 5 Upgrade Cards (all in English, German, French and Spanish)

Please note that the instructions are not included physically in these boxes. There is an insert with a QR code or download link pointing you towards the digital file/PDF.

Each box of SWQ81 Mandalorian Warriors covers five sprues: one of the first, and two each of the second and third. Production quality of these is impressive, as we have minor mould lines across the parts, a good use of the space within the frame and an impressive amount of fine details.

We are going to build a full set of 11 Mandalorian Warriors from this box, but with mixed options, to show you the variety this set covers.

The unit of Mandalorian Warriors includes both female and male miniatures, along with optional jetpacks and usually at least one choice regarding the weaponry. All warriors have an optional face plate for their helmet, marking them as Clan Kryze if you want to. The main way to show Initiates is to leave off the jetpacks, as they have not earned them yet, and go for the regular blasters rather than the Galaar 15 carbines.

Let us start with the first sprue, which covers three different poses. Pose A is the sergeant of the unit, the leader, and she can be built either as a regular Mandalorian or a Clan Kryze veteran. She carries either a regular Blaster Rifle or a Galaar 15 carbine. There are two optional jetpacks: either a JT-12 or a Z-6 jetpack.

While the assembly instructions are clear, they would benefit a lot from actually naming which part you are adding (for example, not just "part A09" but "Galaar Carbine"), so you can choose the right gear for your unit.

Pose B, the male miniature, can likewise be built as any of the three: Initiate, Warrior or Clan Kryze. He has the two face plates and an optional coat on his waist. Regarding the weapons, he has either a Galaar-90 sniper rifle or a Shukur-05 repeater. As mentioned above, it would be very helpful to have these properly named, as the unit upgrades only show generic artwork.

He has access to both variants of the jetpack as well.

With Pose C we get another male Mandalorian warrior, with a kneeling pose. He has the usual second face plate, and can choose between a Galaar-90 sniper rifle or a micro grenade launcher. Once again, it is not really pointed out what these are. This pose has two options for the left leg; I do not know if this is purely cosmetic or if there is some kind of design idea behind it. One leg looks like it is salvaged Stormtrooper armour, so maybe that is a sign that this is a rookie, who has not earned his personal armour or even beskar yet.

These are the first three Mandalorian Warriors we've built from the first sprue.

The second sprue is included twice and gives us the option to build two further female Mandalorian Warriors in dynamic poses.

Pose D can choose between a regular Blaster Rifle and the Galaar 15 carbine, as well as a variant for the left leg, one of which covers the upper leg with beskar armour. This pose also has two different face plates and the two optional jetpack choices, and is quite dynamic, as she is flying above the ground, held in place by the exhaust jets, if you want to build her that way.

The running Pose E can likewise choose between a regular Blaster Rifle and the Galaar 15 carbine, and has an optional cape in addition to the optional jetpack.

As we have this sprue twice, I went with the more elite as well as the more basic variants of the build options, to show them side by side.

Now we move on to the third sprue, which is included twice as well and gives us the option to build two more male Mandalorian Warriors.

Pose F is another kneeling pose, wielding a different-looking blaster rifle (once again, it would be quite helpful if this were labelled, rather than leaving me at risk of mis-assembling a weapon option that appears only once across the entire unit) or the Galaar 15 carbine. But for lack of a unit upgrade or further description, I expect this to simply be a variant of the regular blaster rifle. This weapon option comes with a cape.

With Pose G we get a running Mandalorian Warrior with an optional piece of cloak at his waist. He can choose between a blaster rifle and the Galaar 15 carbine, as well as a cape if you go for the regular blaster rifle.

And the options from the last sprue, again side by side with Initiates and full Warriors.

Once you've built a set of these, you will be left with quite a few spare bits, giving you options to convert or add to your other units, if you want to.

A full squad of 11 Mandalorian Warriors can look like this, but usually would be more uniformly armed.

Due to their more dynamic poses, the Mandalorian Warriors look a bit leaner compared to regular Stormtroopers or Rebel Troopers. The scale of Star Wars Legion miniatures is 1:48, which translates to about 35 mm true scale. The second picture shows the miniatures next to Games Workshop's 32 mm heroic-scale Space Marines.

To conclude the review, here are some close-ups of the Mandalorians with their different options.

Conclusion

This is a clever kit. I like the way this boxed set gives you three different types of units. It simply makes sense. At an RRP of around 60 USD, it is reasonably priced for a unit of this size.

Once again, going for hard plastic really adds to the value of the Star Wars Legion range, and the fact that the Mandalorians provide you with a certain amount of creative freedom is a great thing as well. Empire Stormtroopers are very uniform. The Rebel Troopers have their different races, but the heads were not the best design (they lacked expression, in my opinion), so having these warriors as a backbone for the Mandalorian forces — whether as a mercenary add-on to another faction, as a full faction built around one of the different clans, or painted and played as a clan from the Legends continuity or your own imagination — is something that, so far, only the Clone Troopers have offered to a similar degree.

Atomic Mass Games covered this in one of their articles, where they had the staff paint up some Mandalorian Warriors, and the results are quite inspiring. And this really gets the creativity going, whether you want to lose yourself in the rabbit hole that comes with the Legends content, like the comics, or come up with your own ideas for a clan from Mandalore.

My only critique of this kit is the instructions. While clear when it comes to assembly, properly naming the options would help a lot. It took some research on Wookieepedia to sort some things out, and it would be more convenient if the instructions guided you with something like 'use this to build an Initiate' or 'these options are for Veterans', etc.

• Production Quality: 4/5
• Design Appeal: 4/5
• Options / Customisation: 4/5
• Value for Money: 4/5
• 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.