Preview the Scenarios in the Crashed Escape Pod Battlefield Expansion

“What a desolate place this is.”
   –C-3PO, Star Wars: A New Hope

Despite not being designed for combat, R2-D2 and C-3PO have a surprising amount of experience on the battlefield. From Geonosis to Endor, these droids have played a critical role in key battles for both the Galactic Republic and the Rebel Alliance. Of everything they’ve done to alter galactic history, though, perhaps nothing was greater than the heroic delivery of the Death Star plans to the Rebels on Yavin 4.

Carrying this vital intelligence across Tatooine and into the depths of the Death Star itself, the droids went on a journey that changed the fate of the Star Wars™ galaxy forever. Soon, you’ll be able to capture the excitement of this adventure with the Crashed Escape Pod Battlefield Expansion for Star Wars™: Legion!

In addition to letting you add these iconic droids to your Rebel Alliance or Galactic Republic armies, this expansion places R2-D2, C-3PO, and their crashed escape pod at the center of two unique scenarios that challenge you to secure the droids before your opponent. To do so, six new battle cards outline your objectives, deployment zones, and conditions for these missions.

Join us today as we take a closer look at both these scenarios and the challenges you’ll face in the thick of battle!

Crash Landing

In our preview last week, we took a look at how you can add C-3PO and R2-D2 to your Rebel Alliance or Galactic Republic armies and use their unique skills and experience to complete a secret mission and help you secure victory. But these plucky droids—and the escape pod they arrive in—can also become essential elements of two scenarios that add more variety to your battles.

While both scenarios task you with recovering the droids, they create drastically different conditions for you to do so. As the first opens, the droids’ escape pod isn’t even on the battlefield, leaving both armies to anticipate where they’ll land. The first round of this battle, then, is a tense exercise in anticipation as both armies await the escape pod’s arrival.

Even though three condition tokens mark the escape pod’s possible landing zones, neither side is completely in the dark as to where it will eventually wind up. In fact, the blue player has done thetrajectory calculations to know exactly where the escape pod will land. But they also have more limited options for deploying their forces and must take caution not to give anything away, as they place their entire army before their opponent. The red player’s forces, meanwhile, get a jump on the enemy, scouting ahead as soon as their boots hit the ground.

No matter how they approach the initial phases of the engagement, both sides must exercise caution as the escape pod comes screaming toward the battlefield. It makes a violent Crash Landing at the start of the first round’s End Phase, the impact of which can cause serious damage to any units that ventured too close. Once the dust has settled, though, the scenario’s main objectives are revealed. In addition to placing the crashed escape pod on the battlefield, two objective tokens representing the droids are also placed, and the battle fully commences.   

From here, the crashed escape pod miniature becomes a focal point of the battlefield as both armies attempt to extract the droids by having their trooper units claim objective tokens that are in base contact with their unit leader. But simply reaching a droid is not the same thing as securing it safely. As a result, players earn a victory tokens for each of their units that have claimed objective tokens and for each of these units that has made it back to its own deployment zone.

Lost in the Wilderness

While the first scenario focuses your army’s attention on the crashed escape pod and the droids within it, the second spreads your units across the battlefield. This time, the escape pod has been on the ground for a while when you arrive, and the droids are nowhere to be found. With the droids Lost in the Wilderness, your army’s units must form search parties and comb the desert looking for them.

As you begin, all six condition tokens are scattered across the play area, any of which could represent the droids you’re looking for. It’s up to you to reach and search these tokens while fending off enemy forces. Ultimately, your trooper units can claim any token, but only units with one or two-pip condition tokens will earn victory tokens at the end of the game.

The crashed escape pod may play a smaller role in this scenario, but it is still more than just a part of the scenery. Rather than individually searching every token, you could instead send a unit or two to investigate the crash site for any clues as to the droids’ whereabouts. Doing so can narrow your search, but you’ll have to be prepared to hold your ground from approaching enemy forces.

In the end, securing the escape pod’s crash site could prove key to victory. Just like the first scenario, players earn victory tokens for securing the droids and moving them into their deployment zones. But now, the player with the most unit leaders in base contact with the crashed escape pod also gains a victory token, potentially giving an edge to the player bold enough to hold this contested ground.

Begin Your Search

Carrying the precious Death Star plans within his memory banks, R2-D2 and his counterpart C-3PO triggered a desperate search when they crash-landed in the desolate deserts of Tatooine. Commence your own search and recovery mission as you recreate these classic moments with the Crashed Escape Pod Battlefield Expansion for Star Wars: Legion!

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