Terrain

Now that you've put your army together, we need to talk about the battlefield that it'll fight on. The terrain your army fights on presents unique challenges and opportunities for every battle and Star Wars: Legion can accommodate just about anything you can add to your board, from model train trees to wooden blocks. In fact, you can even build your own custom terrain from craft supplies to add your own personal touch to your battlefields. No matter what you choose, the terrain you fight on can affect your army in several ways. First, it provides them with valuable cover they can duck behind to avoid enemy fire. At the same time, however, cover can also hinder your units' movement, preventing them from reaching their objectives as quickly. 

As so many types of terrain can be added to your battlefields, it's important that you and your opponent agree on the exact effects of each type of terrain before you begin. If you have any questions about terrain, be sure to check out the Star Wars: Legion Rules Reference here. It should give you a better sense of how to determine the effects of each piece of terrain.

Once your troops enter combat, they'll be doing more than just blasting away at one another. The terrain you choose will also affect how they approach their objectives. Next, we'll take a look at defining the battlefield. 

Defining the Battlefield

You have your 800 point army ready. You have a friend with their 800 point army ready. What’s next? Putting together a battlefield (also referred to as a map at times)!

As noted in the reference guide pictures above, there are certain ways to define terrain across the battlefield. Take the barricades that you received in your Core Set, which are typically found on almost every Star Wars: Legion battlefield—those are always considered heavy cover. Then, of course, you may have some light terrain across the map, and perhaps some big items like trees and buildings. Perhaps your table has some sort of creek or river on it, and it seems like it could potentially be difficult terrain. I bring up all these options because the battlefield actually gets determined and built by you, the players! When the terrain is all laid out, you and your opponent have a friendly discussion over the battlefield to define the pieces on the table. It’s so simple even a Wampa could do it!

On top of defining the terrain, there are also the battle cards. Your Core Set will come with four cards for each category: condition cards, objective cards, and deployment cards. The starting player separates the cards by type, shuffles them up, and lays three of each facedown on the table. Once the cards are in place, you'll flip them over and see what options are in front of you. The starting player now has the first “veto," eliminating the leftmost card in whatever category they choose. Once each player decides on their two vetoes, it's time to deploy. Below is a perfect example of how defining the battlefield operates:

Deployment

The final step before the game begins is deployment—which we'll briefly explain using the battle cards from the scenario pictured above. The objective is Breakthrough and the conditions are clear. Deployment in this scenario happens to be Battle Lines: