The Legionnaire is a very fast medium characterized generally by being built around a single torso mounted weapon. It was designed and built by the Federated Suns in the Jihad, but has subsequently spread a little bit - mostly to the Republic and periphery nations near the Fed Suns. It looks kind of ridiculous with huge arms, but I think that's part of the charm.

Every variant is built off an XL engine moving at 7/11 and mostly have decent armor. It's not full, but still around 90% coverage on most variants.

Hastati Sentinels Legionnaire. Credit: Jack Hunter

Variants

These mechs have all been reviewed based on a standard F through S scale, which you can find described on our landing page here (along with all of our other ‘mech reviews, the name of the box you can buy to get any of the mechs we have covered, and our general methodology).

LGN-1X

The initial prototype that never entered final production, the 1X carries a rotary AC/2, pair of ER medium lasers, active probe, and a targeting computer. Good speed and armor doesn't make up for minimal damage, the long range of a RAC 2 doesn't help much when you're moving at 7/11 and could get equal performance out of a SRM 6 for vastly less BV. 1,322 BV is just too much for something that does light mech damage.

Jack's Rating: C-

LGN-2D

The production variant drops the medium lasers and active probe to upgrade to a rotary AC/5. While not really any more likely to do a PSR than the 1X (actually dropping the average from 16 to 15 damage) each hit is a little harder, so as a harassing flanker it's a decent annoyance. 1,386 BV isn't meaningfully more expensive either.

Jack's Rating: C

LGN-2F

One of the variants with more substantial changes, the 2F switches things up with a torso mounted cockpit and reflective armor. The weapons are a mix of the 1X and 2D, with a RAC/5 and pair of ER medium lasers, though now lacking the targeting computer. It ends up at 1,808 BV - you've got a little more defense against common weapons, and more damage but less accuracy. I don't think it's worth it at all for the kind of flanking harasser you want with a fast medium like this, especially as the reflective makes it much riskier to go in for a kick.

Jack's Rating: D

LGN-2K

By dropping the RAC on the 2D for an ER PPC this variant frees up the weight to jump 7 and tack on MASC. It's definitely a lot more mobile, but the entire mech is now limited to 10 damage. At 1,597 BV I'm extremely not a fan - this is simply not enough damage for the BV, regardless of mobility.

Jack's Rating: D

Legionnaire. Credit: Valk

LGN-2K-RISC

Instead of the MASC this fits in a whole RISC hyperlaser. Now, instead of blowing up your hips with bad luck you can destroy your only weapon, which does seem like an improvement. It's still got the targeting computer, so you can put one big 20 point hit into your opponent from almost anywhere. Very funny, very good in a world without BV, but at 2,502 BV it's not remotely effective.

Jack's Rating: D (but A for funny)

LGN-2X1 MUSE FIRE

Did you look at the 2F and decide that it would be great if only the RAC had a few more hexes of range? No? Really? The only difference here is using a clan RAC/5 instead of an IS RAC/5, which bumps range brackets to 7/14/21 instead of 5/10/15, and pushes you up to 2,032 BV.

Jack's Rating: D-

LGN-2XA

The 2XA trades a little bit of armor for an arrow IV with two tons of ammo. It's one of the cheapest arrow IV mechs around - the urbanmech is cheaper, but even arrow wants more than 2/3/2 mobility, and while the kitfox is cheaper it's also slower and has half the armor. At 1,172 BV this is one of the better ways to bring arrow IV on a mech, assuming you're playing a game where homing arrow IV ammo is allowed.

Jack's Rating: A

LGN-2XU

We're trading out quite a bit of armor (down to only 69% (nice)) to carry just a single ultra AC/10 (with a targeting computer). While this is less damage than the 2D with the RAC/5, the single 10 point hit can be a lot more effective into rear arcs, where 10 points is likely to go internal on heavies. It's also a fair bit cheaper down at only 1,128, putting it somewhere around a premium light (which is where you're also going to see the same 7/11 movement profile)

Jack's Rating: B

Legionnaire. Credit: Rockfish

LGN-2D (Raul)

This 2D loses the targeting computer and picks up three medium lasers, and also moves the RAC to the right arm instead of torso. Weapon location isn't picked up in BV, but having it in the arm is generally a little better - the extended arc from an arm weapon instead of torso means you can fire it into the rear to keep yourself from getting flanked or use all your MP to set up for next turn rather than needing to swing around to get the gun on target. It does lose a little accuracy, and medium lasers have poor range, so at 1,520 BV it's only a little bit better than the base 2D.

Jack's Rating: C+

Conclusion

Mostly the Legionnaire ends up being decent, though not really good. It's very mobile, so will always be a little expensive for the amount of damage it does, especially when carrying the targeting computer. It doesn't really have the firepower for a simple head on engagement, so effective use requires making use of the speed to get good shots into damaged sides and rears. I'd stick with either the 2D with the RAC/5 or 2XU with the ultra 10, unless I'm in a situation where I want to run homing arrow IV.

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Tags: Battletech | battlemech | Mech | Mech Overview | Legionnaire