#Getting began with Star Wars: Shatterpoint – Destructoid
In a market full of nice miniatures video games, Star Wars: Shatterpoint stands out as a slick high-action skirmish sport filled with beloved characters from the franchise. Whether or not you wish to pit Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader in opposition to one another or see what occurs when Moff Gideon goes toe to toe with a bunch of murderous teddy bears, Shatterpoint has you coated. After greater than a 12 months of releases, there’s a Demise Star’s value of content material on the market, so we’re right here that will help you get began.
The core set for Shatterpoint is one of the simplest ways to get began and brings a whole lot of gameplay worth right away. Not solely does it embrace the principles, measuring instruments, tokens, and cube, however it additionally has sufficient miniatures to discipline two strike groups, which means two gamers can share one core set. Multi-level terrain is absolutely central to Shatterpoint‘s gameplay, so the core set incorporates a beginning set of modular plastic buildings and walkways.
After you have the core set, you should select your squads. Squads are on the coronary heart of Shatterpoint‘s checklist constructing: strike groups have two squads of characters, with extra highly effective characters main their squads as primaries, whereas different characters and unnamed fighters take secondary and assist roles. Inside a squad, the characters all need to share an period comparable to Clone Wars or Galactic Civil Conflict, however past that, they are often a part of the darkish aspect, mild aspect, rebels, bounty hunters — something you want!
The Shatterpoint core set has an incredible set of miniatures, with Mandalorians, Clone Troopers, Droids, Jedi, and Sith. They play properly of their colour-coded sides (crimson and blue) as ready-made strike groups, however you can too combine and match to see what occurs if Lord Maul groups up with Bo-Katan or Ahsoka leads a squad of Mandalorian Tremendous Commandos. Attempting totally different squads of core set characters is an effective way to begin studying how you can checklist construct, as there are only a few dangerous combos.
Whereas Shatterpoint video games often play out with two squads per aspect and three struggles, you’ll be able to completely get a really feel for the sport with one squad and a single wrestle to study the fundamental guidelines. The character playing cards have a whole lot of data, so beginning with a single squad offers you an opportunity to familiarise your self with how you can apply their guidelines. Shatterpoint‘s wonderful alternating initiative retains video games flowing as every unit is activated when their card is drawn from the participant’s deck of order playing cards. The Shatterpoint card, additionally shuffled into the deck, permits gamers to activate any character they wish to, even one which has already been activated.
In contrast to many conventional miniatures video games, Shatterpoint focuses on goal management reasonably than taking enemy fashions off the desk. Every character can doubtlessly have all their well being eliminated a number of instances earlier than they go away the desk, which is an enormous reduction while you’ve spent hours portray them. As an alternative, fashions vie for management of factors on the desk that change over the course of two or three struggles. The winner of the general sport is the one that received probably the most struggles, so even when you’ve got a nasty first wrestle, you’ll be able to nonetheless pull it again as the sport goes on. In truth, the loser of a earlier wrestle will get benefits in selecting the place of goals for the following one, which means that gamers on the again foot all the time have an opportunity for a comeback.
When you’ve tried out some full video games and change into aware of the core set characters, you can begin to consider which characters assist them properly from different squad packs. Maybe you bought on so properly with Lord Maul’s excessive injury output that you just wish to deliver the Witches of Dathomir to assist him, or possibly you are feeling that your Clone Troopers may do with Obi-Wan Kenobi to guide them reasonably than Anakin. Some characters like Admiral Thrawn introduce extra complicated guidelines, whereas others just like the Unhealthy Batch work rather well collectively out of the field. Each squad pack introduces extra choices however the strictly restricted squad sizes imply that it hardly ever looks like guidelines bloat is changing into a difficulty.
Whether or not you’re bored with irritating miniatures video games that by no means appear to satisfy their guarantees or excited to see what your favorite Star Wars character can do, Star Wars: Shatterpoint is properly value a attempt. With 4 squad packs launched this month and a packed launch schedule for 2025 together with beloved characters from Rogue One and The Clone Wars, there isn’t a higher time to squad up and provides it a attempt.
