This past weekend, Indianapolis, Indiana hosted one of the biggest gaming conventions in the entire United States: Gencon. This con is notorious for being a melting pot for all sorts of different genres of games and is not as exclusive for tabletop miniature games compared to Adepticon. Nevertheless, the Legion event mustered 70 total players across 2 heats, with the top 4 from each heat moving on to play in a swiss format top 8. The prize for the top 4 were invites to the Worlds Open Tournament during Adepticon 2023, and with AMG more frugal with their invites compared to FFG (who seemed to pass out more invites than my grandfather passes around butterscotch candies), these tickets are highly sought after by those who may not have had the chance to claim one in the past.
Here is the breakdown for the event (divided by heats):
Heat 1 (Thursday)
Heat 1 contained 25 players, meaning that the originally scheduled 4 round day would be shortened to merely 3 rounds in order to leave a clean top 4 of only 3-0 players. Though this meant that players didn't have any leeway to drop a game and still have a chance at making the top cut, the one less game could be good in the sense that you have to play your best for one round less. If anyone has played in a 4 round tournament, there is a very real burnout once everyone is reaching that fourth game.
Rebel - 8 (1 Echo Base Defenders)
Empire - 5 (1 Blizzard Force)
Republic - 3 (1 501st)
Separatists - 5 (1 Separatist Invasion Force)
Shadow Collective - 4
This is a fairly even faction split. It's also shocking that we see just as many Faction Battle Forces in this 25-person heat compared to all of the Lone Star Open. The Garrison had 3 of our own members participating in this heat, and we were excited at the opportunity of playing legion in our hometown! Fortunately, one of our own members Brian Baer was able to win all 3 of their games, with the others having strong showings and great games. Accompanying Brian in the top cut was Jon Bushman of The Fifth Trooper, Goreshde (Adepticon's Legion champion) and Danny "Kiramode" Trujillo. Brian and Goreshde brought Shadow Collective, while Bushman and Trujillo both brought rebels.
Heat 2 (Friday)
Heat 2 was a much more interesting day, as it dramatically increased in size compared to the day before with 43 players. This obviously makes much more sense, as more people would probably find it easier to make it on a day closer to the weekend. With more players meant that the 4th round was exercised for this day, making the top 4 cut more open for people to sneak through with a 3-1 record. Garrison members Joe Hicks (Rocky Top runner up) and Adam Slaber (Podcast host and Scoundrel) were representing us for the day.
Rebel - 7
Empire - 14
Republic - 6
Separatist - 10
Shadow Collective - 6
Though we weren't able to grab the Faction Battle Force numbers, we can confirm that no Faction Battle Forces in either heat made the top cut. Again, we see a very even faction spread, which is again great to see! Neither of our Garrison guys were able to make the top cut, with Joe coming closest at 3-1 and losing out on MoV tiebreakers. The player to knock him out on his route to going 4-0 was Nathan Nicholson (Minor Tom on the discord). Accompanying Nathan in the top 4 cut was Izzy G, Austin Miller and Michael Smith.
Top 8
8th
Goreshde
Goreshde was unfortunately unable to play on Sunday for the top 8, but that doesn't mean we just forget about his very heavy hitting list. This list hits harder than most you could put together, and the defensive efficiency of it is shockingly high as well (granted, thats just Shadow Collective in general). The A-A5 providing heals to his Black Sun or Maul is incredible value, and if a unit is almost dead, they can simply just hop inside. The whips are super cheap and are super effective at slapping immobilize on any unit getting a little too aggressive. Maul is also kitted out in a way that I really like, and taking Force Choke on him makes him an absolute murder machine. I really like this list and would've loved to see how far Goreshde could've taken it.
5th-7th
Nathan Nicholson (Minor Tom)
Nathan said "screw Pykes! I'll just take only Black Suns" when building this thing out. This style of list, in my opinion, is the most underutilized of the Shadow Collective builds. Black Suns are crazy good on offense, and if you're able to swarm the field with them, they are going to be a menace to uproot. The naked A-A5 is purely a delivery device for a squad of Nathan's choosing (probably the squad with the extra man and frags), and Maul just does Maul things. Maul is kitted out the exact same way as in Goreshde's list, so maybe I'm not THAT weird for thinking it is the go-to build. We must acknowledge that our Garrison member, Joe, will in fact be seeking revenge Nathan, so watch your back at the next con! ;)
Austin Miller (Poison Dart)
WHAT?!?! Shadow Collective? Who could've thunk.
Austin and Nathan are clearly pals, with them OBVIOUSLY splitting 6 Shadow Collective boxes and Nathan only taking the Black Suns while Austin only took the Pykes. Austin's list is a little more what people expect to see when thinking about competitive Shadow Collective rosters. Pykes are so much more tanky than they appear on paper, and with an offensive surge from the Capo, they average around 5 offensive successes before spending any aim tokens that they or the commander Capos can produce. Maul is, again, built the exact same way that I said, confirming my sanity is still afloat (for now). Nothing to say about this list that hasn't already been hollered across discord servers and game stores alike.
Michael Smith (GMSmithers)
Rebels, finally! I was getting tired of writing about how good Pykes are.... wait.
Michael Smith has been a highly performing legion player for quite some time, always finding himself hovering near the top of leaderboards at most large tournaments. His take on the Operative Luke gunline is incredible, in my opinion. You still have just as much offensive efficiency with your 3 rebel troopers with DLT-20A's, Captains and Situational Awareness, but you're dogpiling on top of it with the addition of the 2 units of Pykes equipped with P13-M Disruptors and extra bodies. All around an excellent list that can shoot just about any list off of the board.
3rd-4th
Danny Trujillo (Kiramode)
Danny brought a rebel version of a list that wants to smash face. Operative Luke, Wookies and Scatter Gun Fleets all have super high offensive pools that people need to be weary of. The (almost) naked A-A5 does a great job at both delivering a Wookie, Luke or even R2 all whilst fulfilling his commander requirement. I'm not someone that is totally convinced by Wookies without heavy weapons, but I'm curious to see how they performed because they seem that they could be a nuisance.
Jon Bushman (Bushfacts)
Jon did not fall to the Dark Side and take Pykes like Michael Smith. Though, he brought his own version of a list that could potentially play well into them. This is a more traditional Luke/DLT gunline but with a twist. He dropped one of the DLT squads for an extra sniper and 2 sets of binoculars on the officers. That means that he could supply his Rebel Troopers with either aims or dodges (or sometimes both), dependent on the scenario he was in. This also gave him an extra sniper, so he could take more advantage of their High Velocity. If Shadow Collective hates anything, it's big dice pools and High Velocity, and Jon's list has plenty of both. I wonder if Jon got any utility out of the smoke grenades, as when I tend to take them, I always forget to use them.
2nd
Brian Baer (weebaer)
The Garrison's very own Brian Baer had an outstanding showing at Gencon this past weekend and was inches away from taking home the prize of 1st place. His list is one that doesn't seem all that offensive at first glance, but do not be fooled. This iteration of the Black Sun Enforcers has a very easy time maxing out a die pool with the flooding of aims and all of the precise. Mo' Maul, mo' problems for your opponent, especially if the buses can give Maul a couple aims. All around, this list just wants to throw a few units in your face that can absolutely murder you. If anyone plays Brian, do not let his calm demeanor and pretty smile fool you: he is a VERY aggressive Legion player and goes for the jugular in every game.
While he wasn't able to totally defend the Garrison's home court in Indianapolis, let's take a look at who was able to bring home gold.
1st
Izzy G (Izzboticus)
I know y'all were expecting Shadow Collective here, so HA! Izzy's Double Bounty was able to beat out all other lists at Gencon and win the whole event. Though this list doesn't appear to have all that much pure firepower, the dice pools that are killing things are incredibly efficient. Izzy has access to 6 units with Pierce, making it very effective at piecing apart red saves. The Medical Droid in there is cheeky, as you can preserve valuable wounds on Iden or Boba Fett, and the generic Imperial Officer is there for the command slot (to take Underworld Connections) and to feed Iden or Bossk aim tokens. I was most surprised when I saw that Izzy took Boba's rocket over Lying in Wait, and I'm curious how many times he was finding himself wanting Bossk's card instead. Nevertheless, Boba is a monster at objective play, and will only be getting better as we get closer and closer to his new (or is it old?) release.
There was a very cool moment where Alex Davey (the creator of our beloved Star Wars: Legion) stopped by the top table for a quick photo op. Special thanks to Alex!
That wraps up our summary from Gencon! Thank you for everyone who participated in setting up and/or managing this wonderful event, and great job everyone who played! May the force be with you.
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