"Should I get Legion or Shatterpoint?" is the most common question we get about Star Wars miniatures, and the answer people usually give is "whichever you like more", which is useless when you have not played either.
So here is a real answer.
The One Line Version
Legion is a war. Shatterpoint is a duel.
Legion is about armies taking ground: squads of troopers, vehicles, orders passed down a chain of command, a battlefield that shifts over several turns. Shatterpoint is about the handful of people in a Star Wars story who actually matter, throwing down over a specific spot on the map.
Everything else follows from that.
Model Count and Money
Legion asks for the most models of any Star Wars game we stock. A force is corps units plus support plus commanders. You can start with a single faction starter set, but a full army is a project measured in months.
Shatterpoint asks for very few. A squad is a named character and a small support element, and the Core Set contains two playable forces plus terrain right out of the box. You can be genuinely, competitively "done" collecting for Shatterpoint in a fraction of the time and money.
If budget is the deciding factor, this is not close. Shatterpoint wins.
Time at the Table
Legion games take an evening and feel like it in a good way. There is setup, there is a mid-game where the plan survives or does not, and there is a finish you saw coming three turns out.
Shatterpoint is faster and more compressed. Games swing hard and late, and the structure is designed to keep both players in it until the end rather than letting a lead snowball.
If your gaming happens in two-hour windows on a weeknight, Shatterpoint fits that shape better.
How They Feel to Play
Legion is a game of sequencing. Order tokens and command cards mean the interesting decision is usually which unit acts now, and the players who win are the ones thinking about the turn after this one. It rewards patience and punishes greed.
Shatterpoint is a game of momentum and commitment. You are contesting specific points, characters have real narrative weight, and it produces the moment where a Jedi wades into three people and you genuinely do not know how it resolves. It is more cinematic and less like a chess clock.
Neither is deeper. They are deep about different things.
The Painting Question
Legion miniatures come unassembled and unpainted. That is a significant part of the hobby and a significant part of the workload. If you love building and painting, this is a feature and Legion gives you the most of it.
Shatterpoint needs building and painting too, but there is far less of it and the newer sets go together easily. That matters if the reason your last miniatures game died was a grey plastic pile in a cupboard.
Be honest with yourself here, because this kills more collections than any rules complaint. And if the honest answer is that you are never going to paint them, that is worth knowing too rather than something to feel bad about. Malabor Paints do commission work for us and for our customers, so either army can arrive on the table finished. Tell them Extra Turn Games sent you.
Where the Factions Land
If you have a specific era in mind, check which game covers it well before you commit.
Legion spreads across Rebel Alliance, Galactic Empire, Galactic Republic, Separatist Alliance, and Mercenaries. Our faction guide breaks all five down.
Shatterpoint is organised around squads rather than armies, but the same eras are covered: Galactic Republic, Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance and Separatist Alliance. Squad packs like Hello There - General Obi-Wan Kenobi, Appetite for Destruction - General Grievous, Clone Force 99 and Fistful of Credits - Cad Bane are each a complete, self-contained addition rather than a piece of a larger puzzle.
Side by Side
| Legion | Shatterpoint | |
|---|---|---|
| Scale | Army | Squad |
| Models to start | A starter set, then more | Core Set is genuinely enough |
| Game length | A full evening | Compressed, swingy |
| Core decision | Which unit acts, and when | Where to commit, and how hard |
| Assembly and painting | Substantial | Much less of it |
| Best entry | Faction starter + Essentials Pack | Core Set |
| Buy it for | Building an army over time | Playing this week |
The Question That Actually Settles It
Forget both feature lists and answer this:
Do you want a hobby, or do you want a game?
If the appeal is the whole thing (the collecting, the assembling, the painting, the slowly growing force with your own paint scheme), that is Legion. The model count is the point, not the cost of entry.
If the appeal is sitting down and playing Star Wars on a Tuesday without a project attached, that is Shatterpoint. The Core Set is a complete experience, and "complete" is a rare and underrated thing to buy.
And the honest third answer: plenty of people end up with both, because they scratch genuinely different itches. Just do not buy both first. Pick the one that matches the evening you actually have, and if it sticks, the other one will still be here.
What About Terrain?
Worth a sentence because it applies to both and gets skipped. Star Wars fights happen in places. Shatterpoint's High Ground, Ground Cover and Outer Rim Outpost packs and Legion's Outer Rim Battles Terrain Pack do more for how a game feels than any single unit purchase.
So: the war, or the duel? May the Force be with you either way.