Star Wars: Shatterpoint – My hot take

[blipvertus 12359xp 2]

Thomas Beames and I got to play two games using Giga-Bites Tabletop Gaming Cafe (Marietta, GA) demo copy. He skunked me 4-0 over the course of two games. Even though I didn’t win any struggles in our two games, I didn’t feel overwhelmed or underpowered. Several times with just one or two more successes, I think I’d have gotten an objective and taken a struggle.

So, even though we had both read the rules several prior to playing, we spent a lot of time looking up rules. First game took 4 hours, second took 3. There was a fair amount of chatting with on lookers and so on so I’m not too concerned.

We still got several things wrong. One, we removed units as defeated too soon. Once defeated, they aren’t removed until their NEXT activation. Also, focus stays until the end of the activation (we thought it was when the attack was done) AND it applies to all characters in the unit. (We had thought only the first character got it).

We also messed up the shifting priorities in the first game. You roll the die at the start of each players turn. We screwed up in the first game and only rolled once. In the second game, 3 out of 5 die rolls left the priority objective in Thomas backfield so I never got a chance of even scoring them basically giving Thomas free momentum.

While I’m a huge fan of the GAR, I played the Separatists in both games. With Anakin, Ahsoka and Rex having abilities to interrupt or react when other units activate or certain conditions meet, the Separatist units seemed to activate significantly less often. The GAR also seemed to have more mobility. I spent multiple activations moving and not being able to get into range of an objective or even have range to make an attack. So I’d just move and take cover.

Those criticisms aside, I really enjoyed Maul, Assaj and Kalani. Gar Saxon and the Super Commandos didn’t impress me. The B1s got removed earlier than they should’ve (see above) but despite that, I think they actually did surprisingly well. Kalani is a beast on his own but he definitely needs droids with him. I’m definitely looking forward to more droid releases.

I REALLY like the models and terrain. The core box terrain does leave the board looking barren so I’m glad I got the terrain expansions. Given how little difference cover makes, having lots of scatter terrain will make the board look more lived in.

I like the random activations and the ability to reserve units. I like the damage tree. I disliked the randomness of the shifting priorities (might’ve changed my mind if those dice rolls went my way!)

I do not like the rulebook. It’s not well organized and it’s too difficult to look up things. I do not like so many random symbols. This is literally a feature in every SW game but it’s still annoying. The Quick Reference shows them but doesn’t explain them. So then you have to thumb through the rules looking for the symbols. There DEFINITELY needs to be an index.

I do not like the line of sight rules. I knew that going in. I still think they’re weird. But I’ll get over it.

Overall? VERY fun. I look forward to getting my copy and building up my armies. Plural.

Photos from our games. Minis belong to Gigabytes Cafe.

[pagan8thParticipant 10863xp 0]

Interesting overview. I preordered Shatterpoint yesterday because I like the minis and game looks interesting.

I did suspect that there would not be enough terrain, but I have Necromunda Dark Uprising which I seldom use and I think that terrain will work fine with Shatterpoint if I give it all the same sort of colour scheme.

[blipvertus 12359xp 0]

@pagan8th yeah, that should work. Terrain has little effect on cover, basically jut 1 extra defense die so adding lots of atmospheric scatter terrain will give it a nice lived in feel without changing gameplay a lot.

[templar007 52376xp 1]

I am thrilled that you shared your experience with Shatterpoint with us all! ??

 

I bought into this game and have been eagerly awaiting it.

 

Thanks for your observations on the terrain that is included in the box.  I think I’ll place an extra order for the two other terrain box sets now.   I’ve been back and forth on this, to buy extra or not to buy extra, that is the question.

I like the fact that this game values the cinematic aspect, I think, a bit more.

 

I do plan to continue buying and building my Star Wars Legion armies.  (and experimenting with the modified Bolt Action rules and others that I have had pointed out to me)

 

I look forward to any other thoughts you have on this game. ?

[blipvertus 12359xp 1]

@templar007 you’re welcome.

I played Imperial Assault and really enjoyed it. I was tempted by Legion but just didn’t want to start another big army. Shatterpoint hits that sweet spot of very cinematic and characterful gameplay while also having a low model count. When you look at the unit cards, they seem to really capture the essence of the characters, both major and minor in their special rules and in how they synergize with each other. When the clone troopers act, Rex supports them. When someone gets attacked, Ashoka leaps in to defend them. And there’s just a whole lot more.

they seemed to have built in some concepts that aren’t used currently  For instance, both the B1 Battledroids and the clones have the keyword Trooper,  But currently, nothing on the initial release uses that keyword.  Now there is a Rebels episode where Rex and the Ghost crew team up with some leftover B1s to fight the Empire so I can see where they’re going.  Assaj Ventris has the Dathomerian Sisters keyword and Maul has the shadow syndicate keyword so clearly there is a roadmap.

As I said before, there are some odd rules interactions but if you just roll with it and focus on the action, you’ll be happier

And just a random thought, take a look at the rules for 0200 Hours.  I know several people have reskinned it to play Star Wars themed infiltrations.  Could get some dual utility out of your collections.

 

[pagan8thParticipant 10863xp 0]

How disappointing… Errata for Shatterpoint on day of release. Errata on cards is really annoying to fix.

The change log includes the ambiguous “General typo fixes, as required”.

[templar007 52376xp 0]

Everyone…….. EVERYONE………tells me that this is the new normal.

 

I’ve seen it here on OTT, I’ve seen it on other sites.  I’ve read it everywhere!

 

This is the argument that the digital minded players use to say, ” printing anything out is a waste of money”.  They say that it should all be digital and you the player/buyer should except to print it out yourself if you need a physical copy in front of you on the table.  That way they, (the game makers), can change it on a seasonal, monthly, or daily basis as needed.

 

I’m old school………..I like a professional printed rule book.  I like easy to read professional printed cards, if needed, and I’m willing to put up with a few mistakes……..

 

I’m told that play testing was limited as COVID was still limiting play testing while this was in the growing stages.

 

Hopefully this might be the last time we hear the excuse that COVID caused the problem.

 

I still have great hopes for SHATTERPOINT.

 

My stuff is still in the mail on its way to me.  Not only does my hometown not have any hobby stores but the city an hour plus away has seen it’s best real tabletop hobby store close down do to COVID eating away it’s customer base.

 

Ok, that’s enough from me……,

[redscopeParticipant 2718xp 0]

I think “new normal” is just that companies have the ability to correct mistakes or make elements that perhaps are not clear when they publish. I think it worth recalling that previous games had issues as well often rules that were not clear. Heroquest has some really ground breakings ones and is not balanced as a game. I dont think then as kids we cared perhaps because we had no way to fix the problem.

I think it is good that companies can reach out and provide updates so it is clear. Of course we can choose to consume that detail or not.

Personally I love physical rule books and cards over digitial media so I understand the pain of having printed error sheets or having to look at your phone for the correct details. However we just have to accept this is the world we live in. We cannot stay in the past and frankly the advantage of the technology has opened up tabletop gaming in ways i could not have hoped for i the past.

I forgot to ask now that perhaps people have played the game a little bit what are the thoughts.

[templar007 52376xp 0]

I too would like to hear more of the community’s game play experience with Shatterpoint.

 

Also, I’d love to see anyone’s painted minis as well! ??

 

Also………….what size sleeves are needed if one wanted to put the cards in plastic?

[pagan8thParticipant 10863xp 0]

Not finished assembling it yet. I’m not a great painter.

Tarot sized for the cards. Character boards need 6×4. At least that’s what a google search told me.

[sundancer 42976xp 2]

I’m old school………..I like a professional printed rule book. I like easy to read professional printed cards, if needed, and I’m willing to put up with a few mistakes……..

Hear hear!

Also OP ( @blipvertus ) has missed the great opportunity on a nice pun title. “Star Wars: Shatterpoint – My Hoth take”

And the next iteration of that game system will be: Star Trek: Shattnerpoint

[pagan8thParticipant 10863xp 0]

I like Shattnerpoint… good title…

I just hope they extend the humour to the cards…

“It’s worse than that… he’s dead Jim!”

“Klingons on the starboard bow!”

 

On  a more serious note…

I would have preferred Original Trilogy characters then Clone Wars, but the target audience is the younguns… not us old folks that saw A New Hope in the Cinema when it was just Star Wars, a science fiction movie with a cast of mostly unknown actors.

In my opinion, the best Prequel was the Clone Wars Animated series, not the movies.

Ahsoka’s story arc went from ‘annoying padawan’ through to series 7 where she was ‘Jedi no more’ and kicks Maul’s ass before dealing with order 66.

Terrain assembled and primed. Miniatures later. Those lightsabers look really flimsy…

[sundancer 42976xp 0]

@pagan8th also “Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!”

[pagan8thParticipant 10863xp 0]

Those battle droids are an absolute ‘jeremy hunt’ to assemble… and six of the little ‘flickers’, plus a tactical droid.

lightsaber wielders will need special storage… sticking out over the bases and very thin… I’m thinking magnets on bases and special compartment in the game box to give them a slim chance of survival.

[blipvertus 12359xp 0]

Reading the rules discussions online has been, interesting. Now that the rules forums are officially opened, and after several lengthy discussions, I understand the rules and concepts better.

It’s still weird, but I get it. The game will have a LOT of movement and the more of the cards I read, the more thematic the characters seem to me.

The day 1 errata is a minor annoyance in as much as I wish they’d highlight the actual changes.

@pagan8th I get it, there’s not a lot of OT characters at the moment but I’m pretty sure I’m as old as you and I actually prefer the Clone Wars characters, but then again I only started watching the animated series just over a year ago.

In any event, I have my pile of plastic!  I’ll try to remember to post photos when I’ve finished a few.

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