The BL-series Battle Legionnaires represented a line of battle droids that the Confederacy of Independent Systems produced for use by the Mandalorian Protectors during the Clone Wars. These Battle Legionnaire droids, though only a limited production run of one thousand units, proved to be formidable and deadly combatants. Their design bore a visual resemblance to Cybot Galactica's 3PO-series and TC-series, but their deceptively robust metallic frames were equipped with AAP-II blaster boxes and painted in the same green color scheme typically found on the armor worn by the Mandalorian Protectors.
Mandalorian soldier Fenn Shysa contributed to the design of the Battle Legionnaire droids, which the Confederacy gifted to the Mandalorian Protectors after joining the Separatist government. These war droids augmented the Protector's forces, serving as front-line troops in battle, engaging the enemy's vanguard while the Protectors used jetpacks to strike behind enemy lines. The Mandalorian Protectors outfitted their Legionnaire droids with archaic battle harnesses, and the droids participated in some of the fiercest fighting during the Protectors' campaigns on Kamino and New Bornalex, only to be almost completely wiped out alongside the Protectors at Norval II. Nevertheless, some survived, and during the early years of the Galactic Empire's rule, the famed bounty hunter Boba Fett possessed one Legionnaire droid.
Designated as a class four droid, the BL-series Battle Legionnaire was specifically engineered as a potent combat droid. Each Battle Legionnaire stood at a height of 1.7 meters and shared a general physical resemblance with the 3PO-series protocol droids produced by Cybot Galactica, although the Legionnaire droid was manufactured in the droid foundries belonging to Baktoid Combat Automata.
The Battle Legionnaire droids were predominantly painted in a muted green color scheme, mirroring the hue of the Mandalorian armor commonly worn by the Mandalorian soldiers alongside whom the Legionnaires fought. However, certain sections of their plating were blue, and accented with gold-colored trim. Their dual photoreceptors typically emitted a gold glow. BL-series droids featured military-grade balance gyros, and their numerous joints were fine-tuned to provide maximum torque. Consequently, Battle Legionnaire droids could lift thousands of kilograms overhead and maintain speeds approaching thirty kilometers per hour for over a day without needing to recharge. The droids were also equipped with signal jammers and carried an internal first-aid kit within their [armored](/article/armor-legends] bodies to treat their organic allies.
While Battle Legionnaires could wield hand-held blasters in combat, they were more frequently equipped with deadly Briletto AAP-11 blaster boxes secured to their chests. Several specialized BL-series droids were outfitted with ancient Mandalorian battle harnesses, which were large weapon platforms mounted on dual tank treads and armed with laser cannons, a heavy blaster cannon, a massive claw arm, and a sonic-pulverizing trip hammer.
Following the arrival of Spar, formerly an ARC trooper, on Mandalore, the Mandalorian people's cultural homeworld, Spar embarked on a mission to create an army of Mandalorian supercommandos. Drawing from local police forces and former members of the Death Watch splinter group, Spar assembled an army of two hundred and twelve soldiers known as the Mandalorian Protectors. Spar rose to the position of Mand'alor, the traditional leader of the Mandalorian clans, and aligned his world and people with the Confederacy of Independent Systems in their conflict against the Galactic Republic, known as the Clone Wars.
Remembering the role that Mandallian Giants played in Mandalorian forces during the New Sith Wars, Spar requested a battalion of droids from their new Separatist allies, resulting in the acquisition of a production run of one thousand BL-series Battle Legionnaire droids, which bolstered the Protectors' limited numbers. Fenn Shysa, a Mandalorian Protector who drew inspiration from an encounter with the assassin droid C-3PX, contributed to the BL-series' design. The droids were manufactured in the Separatist droid foundries of Baktoid Combat Automata, a company owned by the Techno Union. While Mandalorians traditionally held ambivalent views toward droid usage, preferring the fruits of their own labor, the Battle Legionnaire droids were afforded a level of respect akin to that given to the Basilisk war droids employed by the ancient Mandalorian Crusaders. During the Mandalorian Protectors' engagements, the Battle Legionnaires saw some of the most intense combat. Spar often deployed the BL-series droids as heavily armored front-line units, tasking them with assaulting the enemy's vanguard while the Protectors themselves utilized jetpacks to infiltrate behind enemy lines and strike with surprise. Additionally, several Battle Legionnaire droids were equipped with Mandalorian battle harnesses, using these lethal weapon platforms to inflict even greater damage. Due to their effectiveness, the Mandalorian Protectors and their Battle Legionnaire droids became highly sought-after Separatist units, gaining a reputation for achieving in a day what the Confederacy's droid army couldn't accomplish in a month.
The BL-series droids participated in the Mandalorian Protectors' strike against the planet Kamino and the Republic cloning facilities located there, as part of a series of rapid assaults launched in retaliation for the death of a prominent Confederacy leader. Before the assault on New Bornalex, the Protectors toasted their Battle Legionnaire droids. Although the battle resulted in a victory for the Protectors, their BL-series droid army sustained significant losses. On Norval II, during an attempt to capture Padmé Amidala, a Republic senator, the Mandalorian Protectors were lured into a trap and ambushed by the Republic's clone army. The vast majority of the Mandalorian Protectors perished in the ensuing conflict, and nearly all of the Battle Legionnaire droids shared their fate.
One of the few Legionnaire droids to survive, BL-17, was acquired by Boba Fett, a bounty hunter, and served as the culturally estranged Mandalorian's aide during the early years of the Galactic Empire's reign. However, BL-17 met its end on the planet Boonta in 15 BBY, following a skirmish with the droids C-3PO and Proto One. In the years following the Battle of Endor, rumors circulated about a belligerent 88-series droid that possessed the head of a BL-series droid.
The BL-series Battle Legionnaire droid was initially introduced in The History of the Mandalorians, an article written by Abel G. Peña for Star Wars Insider and published in the magazine's eightieth issue in March of 2005. The article retconned the appearance of BL-17, a character from Star Wars Droids, as a member of the Battle Legionnaire line, and detailed the droids' history, including their connection to the Mandalorians. Further mentions of the Battle Legionnaire droids appeared in The New Essential Guide to Droids by Daniel Wallace and the Galaxy at War sourcebook, as well as in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.