Atomic Mass Games | Star Wars Shatterpoint: Core Set | Tabletop Miniatures Game | Strategy Game | Ages 14+ | 2 Players | 90 Minutes Playing Time

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Of course, the biggest factor in determining if a skirmish game is any good is in how it handles combat. Happily, Shatterpoint's system is an absolute doozy. A Shatterpoint is a concept that already exists in the Star Wars lore; it’s a pivotal moment in time where the actions of those involved could make dramatic changes to the future. Each game of Shatterpoint is one such moment and players take command of a strike force with the power to change the future. Kreia could perceive shatterpoints which she described as "fractures." The status of the two phenomena as one and the same was implicit in Kreia's description of the fractures, which she said could be manipulated by finding the "critical point." Kreia's philosophy hinged in an important way around shatterpoints: prima facie benevolent actions might in fact end harmfully if one was unsure of the myriad repercussions that would follow. [7] Each game is comprised of the best of three rounds of struggles which end when one side pulls the meter over to their winning space by holding objectives or injuring opponents. Each struggle took about an hour or so with setup and break down taking another hour. For just learning the game, I would recommend one struggle and then playing the next game will all the struggles included once everyone is familiar with the terminology. This is not our first Shatterpoint article, nor will it be our last. We’ve been excited about this new Star Wars adventure since the initial announcement and having gotten our hands on it and played a few games that hype has been fulfilled.

The jungle planet of Haruun Kal, the homeworld Mace barely remembers, has become a battleground for the Republic and the renegade Separatist movement. The Jedi Council has sent Depa Billaba—Mace's former Padawan—to the planet to train the local tribesmen as a guerrilla resistance force to fight against the Separatists. But Depa has vanished. The only clue to her disappearance is a cryptic recording that hints of madness and murder…a recording in Depa's own voice. Star Wars: Shatterpoint, developed by Atomic Mass Games, is a brand new skirmish scale wargame that is thematically set firmly in the Clone Wars. We know for sure there will be future releases from the entire Star Wars timeline but it’s clear from getting a few games in that Shatterpoint does not play like the Original Trilogy. Now, following the momentous events climaxing in the Battle of Geonosis, Master Mace Windu must undertake a perilous homecoming to his native world—to defuse a potentially catastrophic crisis for the Republic…and to confront a terrifying mystery with dire personal consequences. [4] Plot summary [ ]The plot of Shatterpoint was highly influenced by both Joseph Conrad's book Heart of Darkness and the movie based on it, Apocalypse Now. This was chosen to give the story a gritty feel, and Matthew Stover describes the concept as arising in a brainstorming session, encapsulated in a single sentence: " Apocalypse Now with Jedi." Editor’s Note: AMG has published Day 1 Errata and FAQs, the most significant of which is a change to cover. Cover is now harder to get and requires first having a Hunker token! This will lead to less Cover in general, but increase the survivability and utility of units that easily get Hunker like Clone Troopers!] The aim of the game is for a player to win two Struggles. The easiest way to do this is to take hold of Objectives, but they can also be won by collecting Momentum tokens, which are gained by actions such as wounding enemies. I know you will come for me, Mace. You should never have sent me here. And I should never have come. But what's done can never be undone. I know you think I've gone mad. I haven't. What's happened to me is worse. I've gone sane . And nothing is more dangerous than a Jedi who is finally sane." ―Jedi Master Depa Billaba to Jedi Master Mace Windu [3]

It’s not all Light, however. Combat is also where my biggest complaint about the Shatterpoint system exists. Line of Sight and Cover are clunky and despite overly technical descriptions, often boil down to “everyone almost always has line of sight to everyone else” and “everyone almost always gets cover”. Once powerful enough, heroes can challenge other players in the arena as they battle for leaderboard dominance and rewards. The clash of lightsabers. The whine of laser fire. Clone troopers leaping over barricades and ascending structures on cables. Jedi and their Padawans dashing and flipping over a battlefield. There are a lot of Star Wars tabletop games on the markets, but very few of them feel like modern Star Wars. Until now. Combat is my favorite system in the game, though it isn’t without it’s pitfalls. It makes the most sense to explain it via an image, so take a second to look at Darth Maul’s double-sided combat card. The Core Set comes with a single set of missions called “Shifting Priorities”. Each set includes a set up card (Core Set is a 3×3 grid of equally spaced objectives) and 9 Struggle cards divided into 3 Phases. You’ll only play with 1 card from each Phase per match and these cards indicate exactly which objectives are Active. Details are clear yet, but AMG has indicated that new Mission sets are on the way as well.Like many other skirmish games, Shatterpoint focuses on its heroes and villains (Image credit: Will Salmon) Further on, Mace and the party encounter Kar Vastor, a dangerous lor pelek (lord of the jungle) and volatile Force-user who leads a cadre of elite men known as Akk Guards. After a conflict, Vastor allies with Mace, and the Master rendezvouses with Depa Billaba, who has fallen to the dark side of the Force. He arrests her after learning that she has been responsible for several atrocities.

You're not permitted to mix and match characters from different eras, though - so no putting Original Trilogy heroes with Clone Wars troops, for instance - and you're forbidden from doubling up on models with the same Unique Name.Mace Windu trained her. Only he can find her. Only he can learn what has changed her. Only he can stop her. Star Wars is all about balance, about the push and pull of light and dark. So is Shatterpoint. Matches are divided into Struggles; winning a game of Shatterpoint means winning 2 out of 3 Struggles. Rather than scoring points Struggles are won through an objective focused game of tug of war.

Shatterpoints were perceived like faults in a Corusca gem. In relation to events, a single "strike," or action, could cause events to transpire completely differently than they might otherwise have. Often, shatterpoints existed for only brief moments, as they could be affected by even the smallest actions. [5] Shatterpoints could also be discovered in the physiology of living beings. Cade Skywalker was able to perceive shatterpoints in Darth Talon and Nyna Calixte, whom he had previously healed from mortal injury. By focusing through the Force on where the healing had taken place, Skywalker was able to see where her old wounds were, and reopen them. [6] It seems like pieces rarely ever get completely taken off the table. Units take damage until they are Wounded, take wounds until they are Inured and take Injuries until they are defeated. The goon squad units seem more likely to be removed as they have multiple figures but share a health pool. When a model’s health pool is exhausted, they’re laid down and effectively taken off the battlefield. They can’t contest objectives, take any more damage, trigger abilities, and so on. The next time they would activate they stand up, clear their damage, and take a full activation before gaining a Wound token. At this point if their Wound tokens equal their Durability stat they’re removed. The Sith Lord Darth Caedus used this ability to destroy the beskar-forged armor of the Mandalorian Protector Roegr. By tapping the breastplate lightly with the hilt of his lightsaber, Caedus was able to completely shatter the armor. When Caedus was still Jacen Solo, he destroyed the blasters of several Centerpoint guards merely by exerting Force pressure in the weak points. Luke Skywalker revealed that he too could perceive shatterpoints, and taught this to Jaina Solo. [2] [9] The Combat Trees offer not just a way to differentiate between named pieces and support troops but also give players tactical decisions to make after a hit. It comes down to two choices based on the trees but sometimes that can mean the different between dropping a ton of damage and triggering useful abilities for your character, such as healing or pushing an opponent away from an objective point.Shatterpoint does not have “true line of sight” which is any system where you bend over and try to see what your miniature can see. It’s a system that has its own pitfalls, particularly when attempting to define cover or obscured models, but it’s at least typically intuitive. Kalani and the B1 Battle Droids feature in the Core Set and highlight some of these synergies. Kalani lets nearby Battle Droids take an extra move upon activation and can also spend a Force Point to let them do something out of sequence. B1 Battle Droids get benefits for staying nearby anyway, so this threesome can really lay down firepower and stay active even when an individual card isn’t drawn. I also liked the card initiative with the shatterpoint card mixed it. The wild card name made it an important decision on when to use where and when. Double moves are usually a strong choice for a piece but it also can be useful to get a piece into position at the beginning of the turn to follow up at the end once everyone’s taken their shots.