Star Wars: Shatterpoint – Mission Rules Preview
Curious about how you actually win a Star Wars: Shatterpoint game? So are we! Let’s see what we can learn from Atomic Mass Games.
We’re looking forward to more news about Star Wars: Shatterpoint as the models seem cool and the skirmish game has lots of potential. However, we’re still mostly in the dark when it comes to how to actually play the game. Atomic Mass Games has released a few tidbits about the game and we’re going to take a closer look at those rules previews today.
It’s All About The Struggle
“There is a dashboard for players to track the Struggle – a sort of tug-o-war between the players. At the end of each player’s Turn they will score points, moving the struggle token toward their end of the track. If the Struggle token ever reaches the end of that player’s track, they win the current Struggle! “
From what we can gather about Star Wars: Shatterpoint the game revolves around the Struggle tracker and to win the game a player must win two of the three Struggles. That means, theoretically, you could win two Struggles in a row and the game is over. Or you could push to three Struggles if both players have won one each.
The Struggle tracker can also be modified with Momentum — the black cubes. These cubes are placed into the ends of their respective side’s tracker effectively shortening the track and thus making victory easier to complete. This is a big part of the game overall. One key way to add Momentum to your tracker is by wounding enemy characters. This is going to be important to remember for later…
So…how does one push the Struggle track in their favor to win? Scoring points via the Objectives is the most common way to do that. There are quite a few missions and different phases of the game. Phase 1 starts off with a randomized card with a map that shows what Objectives are active for the first Struggle. From the looks of things, it’s a 3×3 grid where the Objectives are placed and which Objectives are active can change between the Struggles.
You’ll score points at the end of each of your turns and if the Struggle Token ever reaches the end of the track it’s over for that Struggle. But even if you drop the first Struggle you’re not out of the game. Phase 2 kicks off with a new set of randomized Struggle Cards with these double Objective Maps on them.
The player who lost the first Struggle can choose which Objectives will be active for the second Struggle. This can really put the ball back in their court as they can choose the more beneficial option. Again, if winner of the first Struggle manages to win again, it’s game over. But if the other play wins, then it goes to Phase 3 — which we’re assuming is a new set of objectives and a new Struggle kicks off.
A player can only win a Struggle by moving the white tracker cube to their end of the Struggle Tracker
Now you might be thinking that this is a “best of three” format but there’s a catch: Between each phase the game doesn’t reset. That means everything impacting your characters stays put — damage, wounds, conditions, etc. This presents some very interesting tactical challenges! While the Objectives might shifts your characters health doesn’t reset. Wisely getting your characters into position to capitalize on the shifting Objectives is a big part of the game. This also means the chance for a big comeback is always there.
Star Wars: Shatterpoint os coming later this year and we’re looking forward to more from this game.
Anyone else really want to learn more about the game and the missions?! ME TOO!
