“Oh the stories I could tell you, so many of them true!”
Swashbuckling their way into Star War Legion come the Weequay Pirates, led by their
charismatic (and ever-unreliable) fan-favourite captain, Hondo Ohnaka. A popular recurring side-character from the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series, Hondo and his crew are likely to be a welcome addition to Legion’s ever-expanding roster of units, offering players some unique options within the game’s mechanics. As mercenaries available to every current faction in the game (as well as having their own bespoke battleforce) these piratical rapscallions are probably going to be seen quite a lot on the tabletop.
What’s in the box?
The set contains 10 multipart, hard plastic miniatures and bases (enough to build a fully upgraded Weequay Pirate squad with options for both heavy weapon slot models) as well the unit, command and upgrade cards for Hondo and the Weequay Pirates (in multiple languages). There’s also a small insert page with the credits for the product and a QR link to the AMG website; primarily to steer towards the assembly instructions for the models which aren’t included in the boxes.
One significant point is Hondo himself; the model shares components (predominantly the legs) with that of the Weequay Pirate Captain upgrade option. Purely from the components available in the box, it isn’t possible to build both; not an unusual situation in the wargaming space by any means but a potential point of frustration for a player who was keen to run fully kitted out squads (i.e. with the Captain upgrade) as well as Hondo and there will always be one model option missing, even with multiple purchases of the same set.
That aside minor grievance aside, the models themselves are of the high quality that Atomic Mass Games typically produce in more recent times; the details are crisp, the kit is
straightforward to assemble and these particular miniatures are chock full of character. With plenty of piratical nods; peg-legs, looted treasure crates and the signature Weequay features, the sculpts offer slightly ragged, grungy aesthetic that can sometimes be absent in Star Wars Legions’ unit options (outside of the Rebels). The flowing braids add a sense of motion to the sculpts, particularly on the running models, with others, (such as the unit leader and the Electro-staff wielding heavy upgrade) stood more stoically, adding some welcome variation in general posing.
Where the kit, perhaps, lets itself down a little in that regard is in the number of duplicate
sculpts/poses. Between the two heavy weapon upgrades (which are themselves alternate
builds) and the Captain/Hondo model, the unique models in the squad are just that; unique in the context of a single kit. The remaining five regular pirate models (which don’t have any options for alternate builds) consist of three identical sculpts and another two that are the same as each other (meaning that, as standard, a full third of a squad of miniatures is going to look identical). Very much a personal bugbear, one that plenty of players wouldn’t care about (and one that in this instance is mitigated by more potential for variety in painting colour schemes) but I do wish AMG had devoted energy to allowing for some more customization amongst the regular pirate crew, even it was as little as the arms or heads being more interchangeable. There is certainly an argument to be made that accessibility is more important than customization (which is more than reasonable) and the engineering that goes into component placement on sprues etc. is very much an informed process that most players will rarely engage in (or have a direct understanding of). From a purely superficial observation of the sprues however, it’s difficult to see why there couldn’t have been at least one more variant pose instead of the three identical ones.
This is a very ‘nitpicky’ concern though; the models themselves are excellent and technically very well designed. Simple to build, leaving very little in the way of gaps; everything fits together snugly. Some of the longer pistol barrels are slightly on the slender side and could be prone to bending if the models aren’t stored or transported with care but that can often be said of most wargaming model kits.
Hondo himself is probably the highlight, smirking and nonchalantly posed atop a box of loot, Kowakian monkey-lizard perched on his shoulder, the model is amongst the best in the range for capturing the essence of a character.
“Insolent?! We are pirates!”
On the tabletop, the Weequay Pirate squad, suitably, offers an array of options which are quite unique with Star Wars Legion and operate somewhat differently to many other units.
The basics; they’re a Mercenary Corps unit and available almost universally (outside of
battleforces); all four major factions can take them and they’re also an option in the quasifaction Shadow Collective. The basic squad contains four models with surging white saves (ergo relatively fragile), a single wound per model and a Courage of one. In terms of keywords, they come with Charge (making them ostensibly a melee focused unit; more on that later), Independent Aim 1 (a staple mechanic of mercenaries), Self Preservation (another mercenary standard) and a newcomer to the game in Swashbuckler. This allows the squad to gain a free Dodge token (invaluable on white-defence dice units) if they spend an Aim token during an attack (and with Independent, the Pirates are very likely to have one of these ready to spend).
For their core weapons, the squad has a melee attack consisting of a single black die per model (with no additional keywords). In of itself, this isn’t particularly impressive, even if Charge means that the unit can at least cover a lot of ground and still make an attack in one activation. They do however also come with a ranged (1-2) attack, with each model contributing a black and a white die each. Significantly, this also comes with Versatile, meaning that the unit can be engaged in melee but still shoot at other nearby (non-engaged) targets. This somewhat contradictory identity; an ostensibly melee focused unit that is actually better at range does help reflect the character of the roguish crewmen. It does also allow them to occupy a fairly unique space in Legion’s available playstyle options. As a relatively cheap, universally available squad that can be bulked out to nine wounds, the Pirates can operate as an effective ‘tar-pit’ for stronger opponents. Only a very high damage-potential, expensive character such as Vader, Anakin or Maul can take down a full strength Weequay unit in melee over a single round (and it isn’t likely) so, even if the pirates do no damage, it they can hold up such a model for multiple rounds then they’re very likely to have justified their rather affordable points cost in terms of how they’ve affected the game state.
This is enhanced further by the Heavy weapon options available to the squad; the Electrostaff adds a Red and a Black die to the melee attack (which is decent) but most importantly, adds immunity to the Pierce keyword in melee. This is a huge bonus against lightsaber wielding models, boosting the pirate’s survivability and allowing them to hold up such opponents for longer. The other Heavy option is a Long Rifle, offering a Red and two White die up to Range Four and adding the Lethal Keyword. This is a decent buff to the Pirate’s ranged output (especially as they’re often likely to have an Aim token to trigger Lethal) and allows them to initiate some offence at longer range, although their melee-centric playstyle means that they’re often more likely going to be moving if the enemy is at that distance. The squad also comes with options to add three pirate models to the unit, also a Pirate Captain. As well as adding a Red die to either attack pool, the Captain also offers some protection against Suppression (a typical weaknesses of many Mercenary units in Legion).
To continue the theme of distinct, flavourful mechanics, we have Hondo himself, whose ruleset is pure shenanigans. The core principle of how he works in game revolves around his unique keyword My Mood is Based on Profit. This effect ties a number of keyword values on his unit card to the pip value of the Command Card that was played that Round; essentially giving them a result of 1-4 that’s under the control of the Hondo player. Natively, Hondo is an incredibly fragile unit; non-surging white defence die and 5 health for a character that needs to be operating at close range to be effective is an easy target for the opponent. This is somewhat deceptive however as Hondo, via My Mood is Based on Profit triggering his other keywords, is likely going to start most Rounds with a combination of 1-4 surge and dodge tokens, along with Nimble and defensive re-rolls from Uncanny Luck. At higher Command Card values his durability becomes fairly substantial, as does his potential damage output. Hondo also has Arsenal X (the X being the value of My Mood is Based on Profit), allowing for up to four weapons to be part of any given attack; the two on his unit card and two further options via his two
grenade slots. With only a single one of these (a blaster) going above range one, Hondo is forced to be in close proximity to his opponents to have any meaningful effect and the timing on when to play his own Command Cards, when to keep him in cover, when to just go all in and play the four-pip Standing Orders card (a suitably selfish move, generally counterproductive to the rest of the army in the latter Rounds when it would most benefit Hondo) is likely to be critical. Indeed, Hondo in general feels like a high skill piece that will need careful piloting to get the best out of what he offers. There are certainly far more efficient ways to spend points in Legion but few that are going to be quite so characterful and enjoyable.
Conclusions
There’s a lot to like about this addition to Legion; both Hondo and his gang of corsairs bring a refreshing playstyle to the game and can slot into any other faction and fill a useful role. Some mild disappointment about pose variety aside, the models are of a very high quality and full of piratical bravado (the facial details are a particular highlight). Hondo’s own sculpt is, in my opinion, amongst the best in the range in terms of capturing the essence of the character.
How the pirates land in Legion’s ever-evolving competitive meta remains to be seen but the entire set offers a welcome splash of diversity and fun to the game, both in terms of rules and miniatures and offer something that little bit different to the range; a well-crafted expression of some eccentric characters through their rules and models.
To quote Hondo himself: “That’s just good business”.
