Galactic Empire Starter Set Guide

Our suggested best "out-of-the-box" list build for the new Galactic Empire Starter, and how to play it, geared towards new players

Disclaimer: This article is about a product that will be released in the future. Some details may be subject to change and some parts of the article are speculative.

Atomic Mass Games announced the release of new one-player starter boxes for each of the four main factions in Star Wars: Legion at Adepticon 2025. If you’re brand new to Legion and are planning to purchase a starter, you may be wondering, “What makes a decent army that I can build and field out of the box for my chosen faction?” AMG designed these boxes to enable you to play 600 point games right away, so let’s explore what I think is one of the best ways to field your initial set of Empire miniatures.

The Recon game mode gives you a budget of 600 points. Recon is an overall lighter experience than the full 1000-point game mode and a stepping stone to that end. In addition to reading the Core Rules, there is a separate PDF covering the Recon rules. You can view all the documentation for Star Wars: Legion here. There are a few differences between 600 and 1000 point games: the battlefield is much smaller, played on a 3’x3’, and the battle deck (what you use to determine the mission) is much narrower, and is determined randomly. When you move to a higher point total, be prepared to absorb more information about the setup.

When you build your Recon force, you’ll need to follow the Rank Requirements chart to figure out the limitations on the number of units in each category you can take. In the Empire starter box, we have Commander, Corps, and Special Forces unit types. Operative, Support, and Heavy are additional unit types, but are not included in the box. You can take exactly 1 commander, which will be Darth Vader. You can take up to 4 Corps units, built from the 20 Stormtroopers and 2 heavy weapons included in the box. You can also take up to 2 Special Forces units, which will both be Scout Troopers.

Since the Galactic Empire Starter Box hasn’t been released, we don’t know exactly what upgrades are included. This is where things get speculative; once we know the exact contents of the Starter Boxes, we’ll be able to get a clearer picture of a true “box only” build. This doesn’t mean there’s nothing to be thought about or considered at this stage when you’re preparing to build, paint, and play. In addition, upgrade packs are going to be available from AMG, so you can grab the exact upgrades recommended in this article, or print them via the print and play documents available on the Atomic Mass Games website.

My Recommended Starter Build

This is my out-of-the-box build for Empire, and we’ll dive into the reasoning below.

Corps Units: Function over Flash

There isn’t a lot to write home about when it comes to Imperial Stormtroopers - they are mainly your “thumbs,” that is, units that stand on points to accomplish the objective. This is why you take the maximum number allowed.

Stormtroopers have the Precise keyword, allowing them to reroll three dice on an aim token instead of two. To maximize this keyword you’ll need to move your Stormtoopers to a location quickly and leave them there so they can take aimed shots. This is especially useful when combined with the T-21 Stormtrooper in the box - your T-21 has Critical 2 which means that up to two surge results become critical hits, which bypass defenses like Cover and Backup.

The other heavy weapon in the box, the HH-12, isn’t the best against enemy troopers, which are common to all the starters, but I included it so you can get a flavor of what many of the rocket launcher style weapons feel like in the game. The trick is that they have Cumbersome, meaning you cannot move first and then shoot, but you can shoot first and then move. You won’t find much armor in Starter-on-Starter Recon matches, so I would swap this out when adding to your list in future games.

Special Forces: Spicy Scout Troopers

Two units of Scout Troopers are included in the Starter, and as Anakin is fond of saying, “this is where the fun begins.” They come with two weapon choices, a sniper rifle for 38, and a close range Saboteur mine for 23. I’ve opted to combine the Saboteur mine with Fragmentation Grenades.

The Sniper Rifle at 38 is very expensive, and bringing two copies costs as much as another squad. I don’t recommend taking Scouts in their Strike Team mode on a 3’x3’ board - they just don’t have enough room to make the range advantage worthwhile, they are fragile, and the game will be moving too fast for sniper shots to make a big difference.

Scout Troopers pack a big punch - they shoot two black dice per mini as their main weapon - but they lack Surge on offense, which makes their attacks inconsistent. By getting close up to the enemy, which should be easy given their Scout 3, they can turn on Surge to Crit on offense by using Fragmentation Grenades. Move your scouts up behind a strategically relevant line of sight blocker and wait for your moment. When they pop out to attack, one Scout throws the mine, one Scout throws a grenade, and the other three use their pistols.

This strategy is awfully similar to the Mercenary unit Black Sun Enforcers, another popular choice in Empire lists, and something you might consider picking up as you expand your army. Black Sun are far more durable than Scouts, but can’t take advantage of Vader’s null courage value (the benefits of which we’ll get into later.)

In larger games of Legion, Scouts are relegated to more of a “shooty chaff” role - they are an inexpensive activation that takes some commitment to kill while they are in cover due to their Low Profile keyword, which sets 1 cover die to a block automatically during the Dodge and Cover step.

Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith

There is so much to say about Vader that he warrants a full guide on his own. I will cover the basics, but he has quite a bit of tactical depth. He has two versions, Commander and Operative, and I’m not sure if he will come in the starter with his Operative version’s command cards, which he can use in combination with his Commander version. If not, I would highly recommend that you use the print and play Operative command cards in your starter games, especially the cards “Vader’s Might” and “Darkness Descends.” They boost Vader’s power level through the ceiling.

Darth Vader is the hardest “carry” in the game, to borrow some terminology from MOBA-style games. That is to say, he can put a game on his back and win it practically by himself. It’s worth noting two things, however:

1. He is a single model and only counts as one unit leader for scoring VP.

2. Every wound on him is precious.

Always keep these things in mind as you play - you need to preserve the troops surrounding Vader to win the game, and you need to preserve Vader to keep your big, powerful centerpiece in the game. I recommend keeping a unit of Stormtroopers near him so that Backup is turned on all the time, but remember, Backup turns off if you’re being shot at Range 2 or closer.

Another important point is Vader’s Compel keyword combined with his null courage value. Compel is a strong keyword in general, giving suppressed units a free move as their first action at the cost of a suppression, and Vader’s version can only target Corps troopers (your Storms.) This suppression can stack up quickly, but Vader mitigates the danger with his null courage value.

Normally, you would need twice the courage value of your commander’s worth of suppression tokens to be in danger of panic, but since Vader has a null courage value, it means units within his command range are immune to panic! This means you could stack some pretty high numbers of suppression on a Stormtrooper with Compel, and they will not suffer the consequences of having high (read: greater than 4 or 5) suppression tokens. Use this to move suppressed Corps units to more relevant locations liberally, as long as you can keep them close to Vader.

The Power of the Dark Side

I’ll introduce three primary tactics you will always use with Vader: Force Pushing things off objectives, his Relentless Saber Throw, and Burst of Speed plus Implacable.

The first one is dead simple - go as close to last as you can with Vader and use Force Push on something that’s already activated to move it off an objective. You can combine this with Vader’s Might above for “double force push.” This will help you flip Points of Interest in your favor.

The second - Vader’s Relentless keyword allows you to perform a free ranged or melee attack after moving, and that ranged attack is only available if he takes Saber Throw. Since there is a free attack after moving, you can dip Vader forward, Saber Throw, and then move back to a safer location. Vader does his best work in melee, but having Saber Throw to do damage on the way in is super useful when coupled with Pierce 3.

The third - this one is a bit more complicated. Vader’s command card “Implacable” allows you to take a wound to put your order token back into the order pool, effectively giving Vader 1.5 activations with all the benefits of having an activation - using Force powers, attacking again, etc. This combos well with Burst of Speed, since Burst of Speed sets Vader’s maximum speed to 3 for the round. This means that Vader can make 2 speed 3 moves during his normal activation, and then make another speed 3 move during his Implacable activation, triggering Relentless twice as well. This turns him into a lightning fast wrecking ball compared to his normally ponderous speed 1.

There is, however, a big drawback - Vader must take an immobilize token at the end of the round to “pay” for his Burst of Speed. This means his speed will be reduced to zero during the round after you Burst, casuing him to be stuck in place. This becomes less relevant if you wait until the final round of the game to use this Implacable/Burst of Speed combination.

Where to Go From Here (Or What to Buy Next When You’re Ready)

Before you go buying new expansions, I would also play around with rebuilding the list I suggested here. You can use list builders like LegionHQ and Tabletop Admiral and experiment with what you currently have, and what you might think about buying in the future.

There’s many directions you can take your Imperial army from here. If you’re staying on the 3’x3’ table and in Recon mode, I highly recommend, if you can find them, picking up a couple of Dewback Riders. They combine well with Vader’s 2 pip “New Ways to Motivate Them” and are a staple of Imperial lists everywhere. In fact, I would say they are almost purpose-built for that command card. Dewbacks are also fairly successful at 1000 points, so they are an excellent investment for your army.

A second commander is a good idea at higher points levels. I highly recommend also picking up Director Krennic, since he has an extremely high value proposition (cheap source of Exemplar, Compel with no restrictions on unit types, powerful command cards.) Krennic will feature in the upcoming Imperial High Command expansion, alongside Imperial commanders Thrawn, Tarkin and Tagge.

If you’d like to experiment with Imperial operatives, Agent Kallus recently got a glow-up, so he is also an excellent pick up. His “ISB Investigation” card can mess with your opponent’s ability to select command cards, which is very powerful since command cards can swing games on their own. You can also grab Din Djarin, a mercenary operative who can work for the Empire. Din brings speed, power and additional melee prowess, which can be vital for contesting points. He is also a good target for Vader’s “New Ways to Motivate Them” in combination with a medical droid, which comes with the Imperial Specialists Expansion. In addition, the new Imperial Customizable Commander will also come with an operative version.

If you want to experiment with Imperial vehicles, the iconic AT-ST backed up by General Veers is a solid choice. The AT-ST is a monster of a vehicle, the most “modern” walker in the game, and Veers can give it free actions with his Guidance: Ground Vehicle.

Keep in mind that you don’t have to jump to 1000 points right away - you can play intermediate games of 750 or 800 points to match fellow Legion players at your local game store. You could also join an Escalation League which rewards players each week for buying and painting more miniatures! There are many ways to enjoy the hobby, and all of them are good.

Conclusion

The Empire is the most popular faction by far, and I think they fit the definition of the word “Legion” best. When one thinks of a proper “army” the Empire is the first to spring to mind. Plus, who wouldn’t want to play Darth Vader in this game, wielding the awesome power of the dark side, and re-enact the Rogue One hallway scene with your Rebel friends?

Welcome to the game, we’re glad you’re here. I hope this article was helpful, and if you have any questions, please ask in the comments below. It helps everyone else who has the same questions you do.