Activation Advantage: Early Activations & the Case Against Standing Orders | DtG S4E4
With tournament meta tightening and new releases reshaping familiar patterns, the early game in Star Wars: Legion has never been more important — or more misunderstood. In this week’s episode of Deploy the Garrison, Alan and Kris dig deep into the tactical weight of early activations, peeling back the layers on a phase of play that often decides the pace of an entire match. But first, the Officers Mess…
🍽️ Officers Mess – Leagues, Wookiees, and Double Aquas
Alan shares updates from a local league he's organizing, bringing the community together for structured play. Meanwhile, Kris breaks down two recent games with his Yoda led Wookiee list — one against a GAR opponent, the other against Separatists — unpacking key lessons and standout moments from each clash. There’s even a brief side trip into list performance against Count Dooku and the curious viability of Dooku/Aqua vs Double Aqua squads.
For a more detailed breakdown of these games — including photos and list commentary — check out Kris’ companion pieces:
🎯 Tactical Tempo – What Makes a Good Early Activation?
One of the more subtle but defining dynamics in Legion is how activation order shapes battlefield control — especially in the opening turn.
In most objective-focused wargames, going first is a theoretical advantage. But Legion’s deployment rules flip that logic: going first in Round 1 often just means moving on to the table… with nothing yet to shoot at.
You close the distance for your opponent, and they get to react to your movements with lower risk after each subsequent activation.
The result? Players tend to cycle through "throwaway" activations — cheap corps units, low-impact support — trying to wait out their opponent. Kris and Alan explore how this dynamic creates stagnant openings and a reactive tempo. But they also explore units that can break the mold.
Fast units with Scout or Infiltrate can reach meaningful cover or objective positions before the opponent commits. Resilient units — those with native defenses, access to dodge generation, or lots of healing support — can survive the risk of early exposure and generate board pressure.
The takeaway? First activations should matter. When used well, they can generate tempo advantages that cascade through the game — turning positioning into early scoring, and early scoring into pressure.
🃏 Standing Orders: A Crutch or a Safety Net?
This exploration of Round 1 tempo naturally leads to a deeper, more contentious topic: Should Standing Orders still be compulsory?
Kris makes the case that Standing Orders — Legion’s zero-cost, 4-pip fallback command card — creates poor incentives. Its intended purpose is clear: offer a legal play if all other command cards become unusable. But in practice, it’s become a default opener.
The reasons are simple:
Low risk: Keeps your command hand intact for later plays.
No penalty: Unlike other command cards, it returns to your hand after use.
Predictable impact: As a 4-pip, it all but guarantees your opponent goes first, giving you the chance to respond or hold back your meaningful activations.
In short, Standing Orders encourages passive, repetitive turn one play. It devalues the command hand, encourages a stagnant pattern of play, and dulls the strategic edge of a mechanic that should reflect faction identity and commander personality.
Removing the card — or at least making its inclusion optional — could unlock more diverse list-building and tactical creativity. Players would be forced to actually choose their openers rather than fall back on the same no-commitment play every game.
💬 Join the Conversation
Kris and Alan’s challenge to Standing Orders isn’t about stripping away safety — it’s about inviting more risk, more choice, and ultimately, more fun.
So what do you think? Are we ready to ditch the compulsory 4-pip? Or does Standing Orders still serve a purpose in Legion’s evolving design?
Join the discussion in the comments, on Discord, or by tagging us in your own command hand experiments.
And don’t forget to catch the full episode on YouTube or Podbean for the complete tactical breakdown.
