LVO GT 2025 - After Action Report

Like CahoonM, this was my very first LVO. I've been playing Star Wars: Legion competitively for a few years now, and it's no secret that LVO has become the premier North American Legion event run by the community. LJ, Josh, Jordan, and all the staff involved have put so much effort into building this event up, and their hard work and dedication really shows. It's an amazing tournament and if you're only able to make one big tournament a year, I highly recommend you go.

The LVO GT is an event open to anyone and didn't require you to earn an invite through the LVOIS invite/points system. Just buy a ticket and show up on time! While I did earn a passed down invite through a qualifying event in late 2024, I opted to play in the GT for what I was hoping would be a more "casually competitive" field of play.

In the GT, I went 5-1 and placed 8th overall. We played a total of six rounds, with four on Friday and two on Saturday.

My List

In our local scene I'm well known for rarely playing the same list for more than a couple weeks. It's not uncommon for me to build a list the day lists are due and play it for the first time in a tournament. Something about this list has really resonated with me however, and I've been running it for months now.

I love Wookiees and I've a strongly held belief that they are underutilized outside of the Wookiee Defenders battleforce. So, I tailored this list to give them a chance to shine. The buses deliver the Wookiee haymaker quickly, the Fleets pour in behind to clean up, and Commander Luke uses his Command Card tricks to give the list a little spice. If you haven't tried Commander Luke after his refresh, definitely give him a try. His value for the points is off the charts.

The list has surprisingly good order control, strong staying power, a moderate amount of impact, and is great into other melee skews. I have to thank CahoonM for putting me onto the Fleet Trooper train, as they've been the perfect follow-up to my Wookiee dive.

Round 1 - Neri011,  SoCal Amban Deployment Alliance, 2-4, 69th Overall (Nice.)

Neri and I kicked off the GT with a round 1 battle of two unstoppable forces. Vader Dews and two IRG backed up by a solid Krennic T-21 gunline.

I expected this one to be a real slugfest, but Neri and I both knew that if we used our usual aggressive gameplans that it would come down to whoever got the first big swing. So, we both played careful and cagey.

Neri nestled into his back right corner with his Krennic pod and pressed up the center of the board with Vader. I mirrored his deployment by favoring my own "safe" corner and positioned my Wookiees and buses across the center and left side to hold my left flank. I had intended to press my buses forward early in the game to contest his safe point, but Neri used a well-timed Coordinated Assault to load his T-21s up with aims. Those little crit machines slapped a ton of wounds on one of my buses early and forced me to pull back, costing me an early victory point that would haunt me later.

As Vader, an IRG, and a Dewback charged into my center point I was able to stall his advance with a Luke I Am A Jedi vs Implacable, but Vader managed to save out against a barrage of Fleet Trooper fire and stay alive on 1 wound. Just one fewer block and I would've managed a win on kill points, but Neri's solid saves and careful play netted him a victory!

Neri was a delight to play with, and if you have a chance "Ask Him About Amban Deployment."

Round 2 - Tanner Harris - 4-2, 28th Overall

Holy smokes, this was a doozy of a list. This was Tanner's first time competing in a Legion event, and he came loaded for bear. I was very impressed by how much firepower he was able to pack into this list. It was only 8 activations but his round 1 Saber Alpha Strike, sturdy pieces, beam attacks, and the threat of Anakin multi-attacks made this list a real heavy hitter.

I spent most of round 1 cowering and rolling for my life as his range 4 Sabers and Aayla Secura enabled Air Support attack rained down on me. Learning from my mistakes in the last round though, I pressed forward through the hail of laser-fire and was able to tie up the Bad Batch in Tanner's friendly territory with a unit of Wookiees. That enabled me to secure his right-side base with my second unit of Wookiees and two buses and jump out to an early VP lead that Tanner couldn't quite recover from. The game ended 11-2 but felt a lot scarier than the final score would imply. If Tanner had pressed my right flank a turn earlier, I would've likely folded like an origami crane.

I hope Tanner had as much fun as I did and comes back out to more Legion events! He was a very personable guy, and an absolute terror the rest of the tournament from what I hear. If you're in Utah and you're reading this, seek Tanner out and get him involved in more Legion!

Round 3 - Ian "Valicanna", 2-4, 75th Overall

After my match with Tanner I was not particularly enthused to see another beam heavy Republic list across the table. Ian's vehicle heavy list also wasn't an ideal matchup for my Wookiees who prefer to hide relatively safe in melee. Thankfully the table had some great line-of-sight blockers for me to hide behind and like the forwarding thinking Rebel I am, I brought a couple with me in the form of two buses.

Ian deployed the bulk of his forces in the center of the field, with a lone AT-RT on his right. I was able to last-first some Wookiees across the map, and with some long-range support from Bistan I managed to take that point and hold it for the rest of the game. The rest of my troops played to delay Ian's assault up the middle long enough for me to squeak out a win on VPs, in true Rebel fashion.

Ian was a really fun opponent, and he and I traded quips and sass the entire game. He also gave me some really cool swag in the form of a stained-glass style sticker of Padme from Hunter & Convor Pins. If you're into sweet pins or stickers, check them out! Thanks again, Ian!

Round 4 - Zack Newman, 4-2, 25th Overall

If you've never played 4 straight games of Legion in a day, let me tell you, it is exhausting. While I wouldn't go so far as to call it an athletic event, a 4 round day of Legion is a test of physical and mental endurance as much as skill and luck. That last game will ultimately come down to who makes the fewest mistakes. That's exactly what happened here.

Zack scouted one of his Sleeper Cells just a little bit too far forward round 1, which allowed a unit of Wookiees to get a round 1 charge off and nearly wipe the squad. He then followed up with a round 1 Burst of Speed Luke countercharge into my Wookiees, but Luke was unable to help him fully recover from the misstep. I pressed the advantage with a horde of fleets and my own Luke and was able to win the battle on the other side of the map against Din and the Batch. I also had my only opportunity to use "You Serve Your Master Well" on an opponent's piece all tournament. I suppressed his remaining unit of Sleepers with a bus and a Luke shot and was able to use his own Sleepers to wipe a squad of Rebel Troopers. While Serve is better taken with Operative Luke, who can bring a reusable Jedi Mind Trick, opportunities do still arise for Commander Luke that make it worth bringing if you can.

At the top of round 5 the writing was on the wall and Zack gracefully conceded the match so that we could both have a well-earned drink and go to bed.

Zack was a great player, and I hope we get a rematch someday when we're both well rested!

Round 5 - Luis "Cobra1954", 4-2, 16th Overall

Rebel Mandos are a unit that I think are greatly underutilized, so it was awesome to see them across the table. Their speed allows them to threaten pretty much anywhere on the board at all times, and their saves can allow them to stay on point once they get there. Unless your dice betray you, like in this game.

Luis deployed in a two-prong attack. With Sabine and Leia on his right, Bad Batch and their Bus on his left, with a Tristan-led Mando squad in his center able to flex where it was needed or to press the attack down field. For this match I knew I needed to close the distance quickly and try to overpower one of his flanks. So, I fired both of my fur missiles at his right side. Luis countered with one of the most disappointing Explosions I've ever seen at the top of round 2, and my Wookiees rushed in and took out Leia. The dice gods were with me in this match and my Wookiees rolled save after save as they were battered by counterfire, which allowed them to stay on Luis's right point while taking chunks out of his Mandalorians. Meanwhile, on my right Luke and two units of Fleet Troopers rushed into an advancing Bad Batch and marked the first time I've been able to take down a Batch in a tournament game. Those tanky scoundrels are insanely durable.

Luis is a relative newcomer to Legion, having only been playing for about six months. He was a super chill guy who was far more gracious about what the dice were doing to him than I probably would have been. It was an absolute pleasure getting to play a match with him! The lava base for his A-A5 was also incredible, the picture above does not do it justice.

Round 6 - Dr. Joe Williams, Raleigh Rancor Riders, 4-2, 32nd Overall

If you've read CahoonM's other articles (and you should because he does such an amazing job) you know that our Tennessee Volunteer Legion has a bit of a friendly rivalry with the Carolina crews. Crit2Block and the Raleigh Rancor Riders are always a thorn in our side at regional tournaments, and this one was no different. In the final round I had to face the notorious Dr. Joe Williams and another Carolina specialty: Double Airspeeders. This time in a lovely Miami Vice theme. (The Rancor Riders and Crit2Block are also well known for Chris Lawton's Ricky Bobby themed "Shake and Bake" Airspeeders.)

Dr. Joe and I apparently quite quickly decided that this game would be decided in his left-hand corner of the board. With the majority of our deployments centered around pushing the other off the board there. His Commander Luke and an AT-RT spent the entire game in a standoff with two of my Fleet Troopers on the other side of the table, while everything else came to blows in about a one-foot square area.

The first big blow came early as my two Wookiees rushed in a little faster than Joe realized they could, and they managed to charge Han Solo at the top of round 2. Shockingly Han's luck was not-so-uncanny as he blanked all his saves and went down like a sack of bantha fodder. I moved Luke, a bus, and a pair of fleets in to support and ultimately overwhelmed his POI.

Despite the early blow, Dr. Joe used some fancy flying to keep the pressure on me with his Airspeeders and kept the score very close. We both agreed that if he had pressed my other POI with his Luke and AT-RT a little bit faster, that the game very well may have ended differently. When they finally did push up, they mopped the floor with my poor Fleets.

Any day you're able to notch a win against a Carolina player is a good day, so I count myself lucky there. If you want to see why they're so troublesome, check out their Crit2Block YouTube channel (for which Dr. Joe is now the editor I hear!)

Dice Down

I ultimately ended up in 8th place overall, by far my best showing in a major tournament which felt amazing. Even with a lot of the "big names in Legion" playing in the Invitational, there were some very strong competitors in the GT!

LVO 2025 was an amazing event, run by an incredible staff, and attended by the best players in tabletop wargaming. If you get a chance to attend, I highly recommend you do so! Hope to see you all there next year!

Thanks also to CahoonM for inviting me to do this After Action Report on his awesome blog!