Review of Legions of Steel, New Edition

Fans of Aliens or Space Hulk will be quite familiar with the basic premise behind Legions of Steel: alien nasties are lurking in a twisting, tightly confined maze and it's up to the heroic humans and their advanced military hardware to root them out. In Legions of Steel (LOS) humanity's foe is simply referred to as the Machines. The Machines are a "race" of mechanical creations not unlike the Cylons from TV's BattleStar Galactica: cold blooded killers dedicated to stamping out life. It's up to the heroic commandos of the United Nations of Earth (UNE) to eradicate this threat by delving into the bowels of Machine facilities and rooting out this mechanical menace.

Components: The newest release of LOS comes packed with goodies. Unlike GW's boxed Warhammer sets, LOS comes with a wide variety of figure types for your games. In total, 21 pewter miniatures are included. These figures are:

UNE: 2 commando troopers, 1 heavy weapon commando, one commando sergeant, 4 recon troopers, one heavy assault trooper.

Machines: 4 G1 Nightmares, 2 G3 Predators, 4 G4 Gremlins, 1 Succubot, 1 Mark I Assault Fiend.

The miniatures alone would retail for about $60! Not bad for a $50 game. The miniatures are up to Global Games' high level of quality. The machines are particularly nice. The Nightmares resemble robotic skeletons, the succubot is a robotic, female centaur, and the Assault Fiend is a particularly nasty looking figure armed with a flame thrower and deadly power trident. The UNE figures lack the personality of the machines, but they are above average for power armored SF infantry, a slight cut below GW's 40k Space Marine line.

The set also includes a number of counters, a color cover bound rulebook (a big upgrade over the virtual pamplet included in the "old" edition), 24 doors with plastic bases, dice, and 48 map templates. The templates are a joy to use. Those familiar with Space Hulk will be familiar with the unwieldy nature of that system's board pieces. Finding the right piece was always a pain, and the assembled board tended to be a bit fragile. Not so with LOS. The map templates are all the same size, roughly 6" by 6" squares, with rooms, corridors, or open areas printed on them. While finding the right piece is a little harder than in Space Hulk, the end result is a board that is easier to assemble and much sturdier.

The Rules: Luckily, the rules for LOS are every bit as nice as the lovely components. Play alternates, with each side taking turns moving and firing all of its figures. Inititiatve is determined with a d6 roll. The high roller can elect to move first or second for the game turn. Movement is straight forward: figures have a set number of movement points that are spent to manuever about the board. Figures can either walk and spend their listed movement point value, or run and get double their movement points. Running is handled quite nicely, as some maneuvers, such as turning, are more expensive for a running figure. At any point during a figure's movement, it may use its firing actions. Figures may take a normal shot, fire at full auto, suppress an area, or cover. Suppression represents filling an area of the board with fire in an attempt to hit anything that moves through that area. Cover fire allows a figure to hold its shot until the enemy's next turn.

Combat is easily resolved. Each weapon has a set kill number that is determined by range. This kill number is modified by the firer's movement and the target's armor. It is also modified by the type of firing action the attacker is using. The attacker must then roll the target number or higher on a d6. The number of d6's rolled is determined by the weapon's rate of fire. The rate of fire is doubled if the attacker uses auto fire. This may sound a bit tricky. To be honest, it can get a little confusing at first. But after a quick skirmish or two, the rules all fall into place.

The machine and UNE forces are well matched. The machines generally have more figures than the UNE, but the UNE balances this with its greater access to Leadership. Leadership allows the UNE officers and their troops to take extra actions, during both their own and the Machines' phase.

The range of miniatures allows for a very high replay value without needing to pick up rules expansions right off the bat. Beginner players will want to fight a few commando vs. nightmare battles before including figures with more special abilities and weapons, such as the heavy assault trooper or the Assault Fiend. The wide range of figure also gives players a nice basis for an army should they decide to pick up a few rules expansions or the tabletop version of LOS, titled Planetstorm. In addition, a point cost system for balancing forces is included, making scenario design an easy task.

The new edition of LOS is not a second edition. As far as I can tell, the rules are all the same. If you've never tried LOS but enjoy Warhammer 40k or Space Hulk, I strongly recommend LOS. If you've ever wanted to try a miniatures game but were intimidated by the price or complexity of Warhammer, I would also recommend LOS. The new boxed set is an excellent value for the money and has limitless bounds for play. Set up is much faster than a traditonal tabletop miniatures game and the rules are simple and playable without sacrificing realism and tension.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)