If you ever wanted to get into the massed combat miniature tabletop game Star Wars: Legions, 2025 is the perfect time to do it.
The best way to do so would be to pick up one or both of the current two-player starter sets available. One has both the Empire and Rebellion in it, with the other including the Separatists and the Republic. The drawback of doing so, though, is that if you're just focused on one army, you'll be getting a second army you might not even be interested in.
Luckily, Atomic Mass Games (AMG for short) announced at Adepticon earlier this year that they're planning to release four new one-player starter sets this year, which include the Empire, Rebellion, Separatists, and the Republic. They're also going to be fully hard plastic and, best of all, they're going to cost less than $100 USD, with each starter set retailing for $95 USD.
Each starter set will come with 600 points worth of models, and also at least one character to lead the army inside the box. Getting 600 points worth of models for only $95 USD is a pretty good deal to enter into a popular hobby like Star Wars: Legion, especially when other wargames can cost close to double that when buying a starter army. Looking at you, Warhammer 40k.
Let's break down Star Wars: Legions new one-player starter sets.
The Galactic Empire
First up, we have The Galactic Empire with the character leading it being none other than the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader. Vader isn't on his own, though, as he'll also be commanding both Scout Troopers and Stormtroopers by the looks of it.
While the box is a staple of Galactic Empire units, it would have been cool to see more of a variety than just Stormtroopers and Scout Troopers. Death Troopers would have been pretty cool to see in a starter box like this, or even Shore Troopers. Even so, it's still a pretty solid box all things considered.
The Rebel Alliance
Next up, let's take a look at the Rebel Alliance. The Rebel Alliance comes with Luke Skywalker as a commander, which makes sense, although Leia also would have been a pretty cool leader for the starter set. Just by looking at it, there's also more variety in this set than in The Empire set, with Luke leading what looks like Rebel Troopers, Wookiees, and Rebel Commandos as well.
These are the types of boxes I like to see. Not only does it contain well-known models from the films, but it also includes Wookiees, which we never see fight on the side of the Rebellion except for Chewbacca. The only thing that could make it even better is if it included a vehicle, but as it stands, this is a solid starter set.
The Confederacy of Independent Systems
The big bads of the prequels, the droid army, are up next, with the Confederacy of Independent Systems also getting a pretty solid starter set. Everyone's favorite coughing cyborg from Revenge of the Sith, General Grievous, is headlining this box. Alongside him will be a boatload of B1 Battle-Droids, Droidekas (AKA Destroyer Droids), and some Super Battle-Droids as well.
There's not much to say about this box besides it shows us which faction is definitely the horde faction in the game. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice box, but maybe some Commando Droids would have been nice in place of some of those B1's.
The Galactic Republic
Last but not least, we come to the Galactic Republic starter box, and it's easily my favorite starter set from all four of them. Not only do you get Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is the centerpiece of this box, but you also get another Jedi character. On top of that, you also get Clone Troopers, ARF Troopers, and even ARC Troopers in the box!
I like the Rebel Alliance box, but I love this box. Not only do you get two characters, but you also get a good variety of clone units as well. It would have been super easy for AMG to just spam a bunch of Clone Troopers in the box, but props to them for not doing that and going above and beyond with this box. It's a chef's kiss for sure when it comes to wargaming.
Besides the models, the starter sets will also come with everything you need to play the game, including dice, unit cards, command cards, tokens, and measuring tools to make sure you're moving your models the correct distance.
A Small Critique of the new Star Wars: Legions sets
One minor issue that I have with all these boxes is that none of them comes with a vehicle. While it's not a deal breaker for me for any of them, it would have been cool if each box also came with at least one small vehicle. For $95 USD, I understand why they didn't, and honestly, these starter sets are great jumping-off points for people who want to get more invested in the hobby and get some vehicles for their army.
These are all pretty good boxes to get you started playing Star Wars: Legion, and while I like some more than others, at the end of the day, they do their job well. Whether you've been on the fence about getting into this system or are just looking for a new wargame to pick up, one thing is clear. This is the best year to get into Star Wars: Legion.