Star Wars Starship Battles game -- some brief observations

[Denys]

Bought a starter box on Wednesday.

$40 US.

2 capital ships standard in every box.

+

8 random ships.

+

counters, a d20, instructions booklet, ship cards, 2-sided star map.

I played a couple games of this on Thanksgiving.

The Good:

I've been looking for a fast-play starship minis game for a while. This delivers. Games take about 20-30 minutes even when using all the ships in the starter box. Game play was indeed quick, easy to learn and the game is very pick-up-and-play. It was fun going at your opponent and felt very Star Wars-ish in feel as capital ships duked it out while fighter craft buzzed around, ganging up on larger vessels and dog-fighting with each other.

The components are attractive. The ships are *very* nice with actually quite good paint jobs. Ship cards are glossy card stock.

"Command" options add depth to combat as do special abilities that certain ships possess.

The capital ships are up to 6" long and look great on the map from a spectactor perspective.

The Bad:

There's no rules right now for obstacles such as planets, asteroids, nebula, etc. There are no differences between Command Options for Imperial and Rebel fleets. And the two Fleet Command sheets are flimsy; I would have preferred to see glossy card stock here.

The Ugly:

The buy-in is rather steep -- I think $40 is a bit too much for this -- and booster packs are $22US for 7 random ships. Ouch.

I recommend the game if you are looking for a fast-play starship combat minis game in the Star Wars universe. This was fun, quick and it looks great. I can't wait to spray paint a basketball gray and come up with rules for the Death Star. ;)

And, yes, the Millenium Falcon's availability is rare. Damn!

Finally, what's cool about this is that the game, while very fun out of the box, feels like it will be even more fun with lots more ships on the map. Turns will take longer but you'll be able to game those huge fleet battles from the movies for some real epic space opera action.

- Ian

[Eden Studios]

Yup I picked up a starter and a case from my store and played a lot over the last two days :)

The game is pretty fun. Its simple.

Granted I would have liked to have seen some kind of obstruction rules as well. The ships themselvces are gorgeous - with the excpetion fo a few minis that needed to be bended back into shape but overall very impressive to see on the table.

Im a huge Star Wars goober so I was sold before the game came out but its nice to see that it plays well. Its simple enough that I can play with my kids and has some nice tactical/startegy in fleet building and using smaller ships (ie in all the games we played so far the first few turns always seem tohave the size 1-2 ships pounding on each other then the fighters are deployed and then it gets messy - but in a good way).

Starters are allready sold out from Wotc and store might get a restock in January - my store will probably sell outta starters this weekend... so if you plan on picking up the game - better jump on it now.

The good news is the rulebook is available for free on Wotc's website.

[Gamer_Packrat]

And, yes, the Millenium Falcon's availability is rare. Damn!
- Ian

You didn't expect that?:p

[PhoenixAndy]

The buy-in is rather steep -- I think $40 is a bit too much for this -- and booster packs are $22US for 7 random ships.

Which is exactly why, much as I want to, there's no way I'll be getting into this. :mad:

[Craig Oxbrow]

You didn't expect that?:p

Personally, I think it should be in the starter set. That would probably mean less booster buying, but a lot more casual players and non-player picking up the starter.

[Gamer_Packrat]

Personally, I think it should be in the starter set. That would probably mean less booster buying, but a lot more casual players and non-player picking up the starter.

I would have been very surprised if they didn't make ships like the Millenium Falcon, Slave 1 or Darth vader's Tie Fighter rares to induce people to chase them by buying boosters.

[DrNate]

Lack of very ultra chase rares, the outrider and the beauty of the ships themselves draw me to this game in a big way. Plus, the generic commons and uncommons are more interesting to me than commons for the other SW miniatures game.

The price is very scary. Plus, I don't like most prequel ships. At best I'll get a starter online and make a decision after a few skirmishes.

Back when I played Star Wars Miniatures, I learned that singles are absolutely the way to go. But maybe first a case. Does a case have six boosters or eight?

[Bahama'at]

I SQUEE'd with joy as I tore apart the starter and 4 boosters I picked up. All told I have about half the initial 60 different ships (13 Light Side/17 Dark Side, not counting doubles). From my playability perspective I'm only missing 1-2 ships for my Monday night SW rpg campaign (I need a Corellian Corvette/Blockade Runner, a Star Destroyer would be nice too but not necessary).

I'll have to try the mini game sometime - looks good.

Only two of my models were warped in any significant way (one TIE and the Imperial Shuttle), and both look easy to repair (hot water and gentle pressure). The paint jobs are very nice.

Pricey but overall I'm happy. I'll probably run out and pick up another booster or two on the weekend (hoping for that corvette).

- Ma'at

[Ineti]

With online shopping being what it is, I can't see myself buying anything more from a store than one starter set. All the singles I'd want I can get online for cheap since I'm sure they'll all be commons. I want TIEs and Rebel fighters for the RPG; I have no interest in the prequel ships. :)

[Eldoria]

Lack of very ultra chase rares, the outrider and the beauty of the ships themselves draw me to this game in a big way. Plus, the generic commons and uncommons are more interesting to me than commons for the other SW miniatures game.

The price is very scary. Plus, I don't like most prequel ships. At best I'll get a starter online and make a decision after a few skirmishes.

Back when I played Star Wars Miniatures, I learned that singles are absolutely the way to go. But maybe first a case. Does a case have six boosters or eight?


The booster case has 6 boosters.

I went and got the starter and one booster from the local store. I have a case of boosters on order. I am hoping that a lot of single minis come available on Ebay (I want to build a big fleet of Star Destroyers). This is a good addition to the Star Wars RPG game IMHO.

William

[Jesse_Lowe]

Picked up the starter and a booster.

The models are pretty -- but I wish there were more cap ships. I'm not so interested in the fighters. I think I'll be hitting ebay for a lot of these.

We tried playing a game but ran out of time; not exactly the best test of it, really. I plan on using the Starmada X rules with these, anyway...

[Bahama'at]

Looking over the list of ships in the main set - we are definitely in store for a lot of possible expansions (for one, this game doesn't have unaligned ships yet - that's almost a set to itself). There's also not a lot of NJO/Legacies or KOTOR era ships. So figure another set of movie saga era ships, one set similar to "Bounty Hunters" or "Universe" (lots of unaligned ships), and one "Champions of the Force" (KOTOR/New Jedi Order-centric) stuff.

[johnnype]

I plan on using the Starmada X rules with these, anyway...Are these rules written yet? I know Starmada is out and available but I'm wondering if anyone has adapted the rules to SW yet.

[Rockay]

I havent seen it in any Melbourne stores but I decided to do a little research.

I think I am just going to pick up a starter from the stores and buy the rest online individually. The cost of a random booster compared to investing in maybe one rare you know you want and need appeals to me a lot more.

[Old Geezer]

The lack of obstruction rules just gives old grognards like me something to do.

A game that can't be modified.... Inconceivable!:p

[Psychopomp]

I've been looking at this game with a little bit of interest, and I have a question:

My friends and I all have Battlefleet Gothic fleets, and we love that game. Is there anything, other than the Star Wars setting, that this game will give us that BFG won't?

While the ship checklist poster is terribly tempting, the main thing this release has done for us (partly due to the price) is get interest back up in Battlefleet Gothic. We're already discussing giving the game enough time for Trade Federation Battleships to get cheaply available as singles and convert it into a BFG battlestation...

Still, most of us are also Star Wars nuts, and the new game is causing us to tell nostalgic stories of our old X-Wing vs Tie-Fighter LAN parties and wonder if there's something to this that BFG doesn't do.

[Thornhammer]

I've got a starter on the way.

My kingdom for Silent Death Cap Ship rules!

:)

-Thornhammer

[Spinachcat]

My friends and I all have Battlefleet Gothic fleets, and we love that game. Is there anything, other than the Star Wars setting, that this game will give us that BFG won't?

Nothing I say is meant to be a slam on BFG because I really liked BFG. However, I think converting BFG ships to the Star Wars ruleset would just rock incredibly because the new SW game is fast - I mean slam bang wham wham 30 minutes and you're setting up your next game fast. BFG was too slow for my tastes.

I never felt that BFG was a huge tactical game and neither is the new SW, but there is enough decision making to keep you involved. I am quite sure you could do a BFG conversion and your group may really dig the speed of play. Heck, just playing the SW game as is will be quick, fan infused nostalgia fun.

[ecs05norway]

BFG at least had firing arcs and terrain. Most weapons in SWSB are 360 arc, and there's no terrain or LOS rules at all. Pity.

[Samaritan]

Are these rules written yet? I know Starmada is out and available but I'm wondering if anyone has adapted the rules to SW yet.

Starmada X (and the version that includes fan-made ships, Starmada X: Brigade) are available from the Majestic 12 website. I think it's 19.95 for Brigade in hardcopy, 10.95 in PDF.

[Bradford C. Walker]

I can't wait until someone has enough minis to do full reenactments of famous fleet battles. (Endor and Coruscant please!)

[Samaritan]

I can't wait until someone has enough minis to do full reenactments of famous fleet battles. (Endor and Coruscant please!)

I'm going to be surprised if there's not some crossover between the starship and the ground-based (figures) game of some kind... planetary bombardment, starships vs. ground vehicles, etc.

[Beri]

BFG at least had firing arcs and terrain. Most weapons in SWSB are 360 arc, and there's no terrain or LOS rules at all. Pity.

From what I saw, most weapons did, in fact, have firing arcs, especially on larger ships. On small ships, like fighters, facing is unimportant.
As for terrain and LOS, the game is in space. Maybe rules for fighters hiding would be good, but try playing X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter - it's really hard to actually hide anything larger than a shuttle. Terrain might make a cool expansion, though - the flight of the Falcon through the asteroid belt was bitchin', indeed.

[Fugitive Unknown]

Beri, acutally most ships have 360 arcs. There are only a few exceptions - a few ships can only fire broadsides directly to either side, and a few only shoot straight ahead.

For the few ships (mostly seperatist ones) who have this rule, it basically means they are next to useless unless they win initiative (since the other ships can easily get out of the way of there weapons)