If Battle Droids had aspirations, they would be to become a BX Droid Commando. More advanced than the standard B1 and B2 battle droids, the Droid Commando fuses lethality and ruthlessness to strike fear and destruction behind enemy lines for the Galactic Republic. Returning to Star Wars: Legion in their new expansion, the BX-Series Droid Commandos offer the Separatist Alliance a tactical threat on the field
Asmodee North America
Recently, Atomic Mass Games sent us the expansion to review. Are the Droid Commandos as deadly as they seem? Let’s find out!
Unboxing the BX-Series Droid Commandos
In the box, you get three sprues, one of which is the translucent yellow plastic for their deflector shields, bases, unit cards, upgrade cards, and order tokens. Like with all AMG products, there are multiple cards with different languages as well.
Here are the instructions for the expansion
If you need help assembling your models, check out this fantastic guide we've put together for you!
Alec Kozak
Cards for BX-Series Droid Commandos
As is the case with many Special Forces units for Star Wars: Legion, the Droid Commandos come with two unit options: the standard 4-figure unit (at a base cost of 64 points) and the Strike Team (at a base cost of 20). Whether you choose to go with just the standard unit or both, the Droid Commandos look deadly on paper and, in theory, put enemy units down quickly or render them ineffective.
Both units have Jump 1 and Scale, giving them vertical mobility freedom, and Scout 3, which allows them to get into position quickly on the battlefield on Turn 1. Sharpshooter 1 reduces the enemy’s cover, and Impervious helps defend against Pierce, keeping them alive a little longer on the battlefield. Surging to hits and defense with red dice is also a nice little advantage, especially when their Galactic Republic counterparts, the ARC Troopers, don’t surge on attack dice.
The Strike Team is a detachment for BX-Series Droid Commandos and requires it to have either the Droid Sniper or the Dioxis Mine Saboteur. In the newest edition, mines have been greatly improved and no longer take additional time to go off. So, whether you opt for the Sniper, who is likely going to be picking off enemy troopers one-by-one, or deal slow suffering through Poison to enemy units, the Strike Team definitely brings lethality to the board. It is interesting to note that, unlike other sniper units in the game, the BX Sniper Rifle does not have the High Velocity keyword; it just can’t be deflected.
The upgrades are awesome. The unit has a choice of bringing either BX Deflector Shields, granting the squad Shielded 2 and Recharge 2, or BX Vibroswords, giving them Charge and a 1 Red & 1 White melee. Like with other units, this gives the unit some flexibility for the army to either balance out or lean into a particular strategy.
Personally, I love the way the shields look, and I will be building the army to have the shields on their sculpts.
Expanding Your Army
Despite the BX Droid Commandos being rather costly, especially once you start adding in upgrades, they seem well worth it. If you play them smart and keep them out of harm’s way, they can do some serious damage in the right moment. They don’t seem useful for a frontal assault, but that’s not what they were designed to do. If anything, they were meant to circumvent the enemy frontlines and, potentially, wreak havoc on a far POI, thereby forcing your opponent to either focus on your main army or divert enemies to the rear.
I am a big fan of Strike Teams, especially when they can guarantee wounds. This means either mopping up trooper units or possibly dealing a death blow to a commander or operative.
So, with this expansion that gives me both a standard unit and a Strike Team, I am really excited to add them to my army!
To the Battlefield!
My Separatist Alliance Droid Army grows even stronger with the Droid Commandos. Given the nature of their shields, I will (and highly recommend) doing sub-assembly so that I can freely paint the droids and their shield frame separately. These should paint up pretty quickly, and I am excited to get them on the field and behind enemy lines as quickly as possible.
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