Star Wars Legion – Crashed X-Wing

We are going to take a deep dive into Star Wars for a few weeks and we start with the SWL 100 - Crashed Ex-Wing Battlefield Expansion for Star Wars Legion.

Along with the regular units, Asmodee / Atomic Mass Games released supplements for the game that not just worked as terrain pieces, but covered rules like scenarios and additional gaming material to it. In this case the crashed X-Wing isn't alone, but comes with a female pilot, which doubles as a mission objective. The model has a RRP of 99,99 USD, but can be picked up with a discount from your FLGS.

The X-Wing Starfighter made its debut as the Rebel T-65B X-Wing in Star Wars (Part IV - A New Hope, 1977) and strongly connected with being piloted by Luke Skywalker and the Red Squadron in the destruction of the Death Star, as well as the crashed variant on Dagobah. In 2015 with Episode VII - The Force Awakens, a new model of the X-Wing is introduced the T-70 of the Resistance, yet in the extended universe a T-85 X-Wing exists, which made its first appearance in Star Wars Resistance in 2018.

Within the lore, the X-Wing T-65 made its debut in 1 BBY until at least 44 ABY, with various further developments, updates and subclasses over the time and for certain fields of use. I strongly suggest looking up some of the content on Wookieepedia and YouTube, as there are a lot of creative input, as you don't have to paint it in light grey (as well as you don't have to have it crash on snow). The name X-Wing comes from its distinctive shape, as the wings open up into attack position, creating the iconic X-shape, giving the starfighter its name.

This spacecraft isn't crewed by the pilot alone, but makes use of an astromech droid (in case of Luke Skywalker it's R2-D2), who's positioned in a socket behind the cockpit. The droid can take over full control of the X-Wing if needed, as well as provide minor repairs.

The Battlefield Expansion SWL100 Crashed X-Wing comes in a huge box, and provides a tall stack of sprues / plastic, along with further gaming material.

Due to the gaming content, the boxed sets of Star Wars Legion are usually multi-language and available in different packs. In this review we cover the German and Italian variant, the English is identical, just with the cards in a different language.

The assembly instructions are not part of the boxed set, as it usual with the larger sets. You can download those for free from Atomic Mass Games website as a PDF. Yet, you get an overview, along with a rescue mission and cards, for the different outcomes, in case either the Rebels or the Empire captures the pilot.

Quite a few sprues in this box, none of them are doubles. You can split them in to categories, the ones covering the X-Wing itself

and the terrain bases including a quite large one for the main hull of the starfighter, along with three further medium sized terrain bases for broken off pieces of the star fighter.

The casting quality is very convincing. Minor mould lines, no mould slip or any issues regarding flash or larger warpage.

We start by building the female pilot. The miniature is split in the usual way of Star Wars Legion miniatures and comes with a 25mm round base. There are no options on this model, you build her as she is.

After that, we jump right in and grab the X-Wing, beginning with the main hull. Due to the size / length of the pieces, there can be minor gaps, but by holding it tight (with rubber bands or small clamps) you should be able to receive a flush finish.

To this the right wing is added, and that part as well covers a lot of detail, even on angles you would probably not get as close usually with terrain.

They even went as far as adding the broken / bend laser cannon to the wing. While it looks like something that would be prone to breaking, they kept the plastic flexible, thickened the barrel and fixed the tip into the terrain base.

And with that we completed the largest part of this build, the crashed main hull.

But the further broken pieces, like the other wings are included as well, in this case another bend laser cannon and bit of engine / turbine, drilled into the ground.

And as an X-Wing got four of those, we have another part of the wing, this time raised into the air and provide some further coverage for units moving other the tabletop.

The final piece is actually the nose-tip of the X-Wing, including the tumbled over droid, buried next to it head first into the ground.

As you can see, the overall build covers quite a lot of ground and has a proper foot print for a terrain piece. While it might not be as tactical in platoon sized games, I think this is very interesting for skirmishes and smaller setups.

For scale comparison, the model works with the intended range of Star Wars Legion models, with or without the high bases and still with the Shatterpoint range.

The crashed X-Wing could be turned into a great diorama as well, here shown with some undead Imperials, using STLs by Dark Fire Designs and Skullforge Studios. But as I intend to keep it a terrain piece, it will surely be an immerse point of interest / interacting item on the gaming table.

Conclusion
First of all - you don't have to paint it for Hoth, with the ground texture you can easily put it on almost any ground, by covering it in a dark base tone and add flock it, dry brush it in brown or sand tones and such. Thus, creating something that fits your table. Atomic Mass Games has provided a painted example in muddy surroundings.

I can see that the 99 USD price tag is creating a barrier for some players. Especially with the value provided from the Shatterpoint sets, at around 60 EURs, I would have expected this to be in that area as well. It can be difficult to pick this up with a discount, as I have seen it by independent retailers both with moderate discounts towards 80 EURs and far above RRP. Never the less, this kit has a proper fit, I had no issues with the assembly, beside what you need to keep in mind with larger sets (injection moulded plastic can slightly warp along longer parts, but is usually soft enough to be brought back into shape with a bit of pressure and glue, until it bonds).

Something similar for the Empire could be interesting, like a crashed Tie-Fighter or to go really big, a fallen AT-AT.

Star Wars Legion is a game by Atomic Mass Games and distributed by Asmodee.

The reviewed product item was provided by the manufacturer.