Best Unofficial Fan site: http://www.swpocketmodels.com/ Contains a forum and pictures / information on all cards and models.
Exclusives: Allegedly Wal-Mart and Target will each carry andexclusive Power Up Pack with Exclusive promo cards and ships.
Summary:
This game combines minatures and cards. A player builds a deck of 30 cards and a fleet of 30 build stars worth of ships in an attempt to either destroy all of their opponent's objectives or all of their opponent's ships.
This game is awesome. And like any game of this type it can't easily be communicated via the written word. A person just has to play it and see. So, I'll highlight some of the higher points.
1) Booster packs come with EVERYTHING you need to play. If two people each buy a booster pack they have ships, cards, and even DICE all contained in the pack. So you seriously can buy a booster pack, sit down, and play a game.
2) The game seems to be well balanced with capital ships and fighters having the sufficient benefits / drawbacks. So no one ship is a "teh winner".
3) The card / ship interactions are incredibly interesting and deep which allows for great customization. When combining ships and decks one has a plethora of things to consider. All strategy cards can be used with every ship, so cards are never "dead in the hand" but certain cards work better with certain ships, so when building a deck / fleet one has to balance types of cards with types of ships. It's not a matter of just throwing together 30 cards and 30 ships, there are interactions to consider and explore with every ship / card inclusion.
Those were the 3 things I was most worried about when I picked up the game and they are the things which have most impressed me. So, hopefully, if any of you get a chance to play you will find it to be equally awesome.
Fun game. And there is an expansion due out this fall!
There is a "precon" set with 30 cards, a star destroyer, a lambda class shuttle, 2 x-wings, 4 tie fighters, and dice for $15.
Boosters are $4.99 each.
There is a mix of capital ships and fighters.
Corellian Corvette
Nebulon-B Escort frigate
Lambda-class shuttle
providence class carrier
yt-1300
venator-class star destroyer
v-wing
arc-170 (hard to put together guy)
geonosian fighter
droid trifighter
eta2 interceptor
y-wing
x-wing
a-wing
droid fighter
tie fighter
tie interceptor
tie advanced
And there are different versions of each of those, but those are the basic ship models.
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ZephosClimbin in yo ski lifts, snatchin your people up.MichiganRegistered Userregular
edited June 2007
the pre-con sounds nice, but i'd rather have more variety than just x-wings and ties... at the same time, i really want to see what all you can do with capitol vs. capitol ships.
the pre-con sounds nice, but i'd rather have more variety than just x-wings and ties... at the same time, i really want to see what all you can do with capitol vs. capitol ships.
Edit: but oh man do i love me some a-wings.
Capital vs. capital ship battles are neat. There is a very well done animation on the site: https://secure.wizkidsgames.com/StarWars/Default.aspx that explains it all very well in 5 minutes. I'd suggest watching it and then convincing people to play.
My friend and I mixed up various combinations of fighters / capital ships to see if there were any sorts of balance issues and it seems like things are well weighted. So it's not as if you buy some massive ship and it decimates everything and it's not as if a bunch of tiny ships can't destroy a star destroyer.
I'm just very impressed by the game. It's executed well, it's built well, and it's fun to play. And the way it combines miniatures with cards is very well done.
It's a good idea that works out well in execution. And i haven't encountered one of this in a long time so I'm freaking impressed. Plus it's FUN. My friend and I spent 7 hours playing today and I can't wait to play again next weekend.
If you can find someone else who is willing to buy a booster or two there is a very good chance that they'll like it unless they are opposed to cards or minatures.
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ZephosClimbin in yo ski lifts, snatchin your people up.MichiganRegistered Userregular
edited June 2007
dial up prevents me from even looking at that page without me first sacrificing a virgin, thanks though
I'll probably pick up a couple boosters and force my brother to play a game or two.
Edit: I just realized that the precon was 6 imperial ships (including a star destroyer) vs. 2 xwings... hah.
dial up prevents me from even looking at that page without me first sacrificing a virgin, thanks though
I'll probably pick up a couple boosters and force my brother to play a game or two.
Curse your dialup.
The rulebook is a little obtuse...but every ccg i've played has had an obtuse rulebook. It's not hard to figure out and if you can view that site it makes it a lot clearer.
Yeah, and even if the rule book is well written, figuring out the best strategies just from the rules present is really just a matter of trial and error.
Wish I would have figured out sooner that magic is all about the second main phase.
Yeah, and even if the rule book is well written, figuring out the best strategies just from the rules present is really just a matter of trial and error.
Man, the strategies for this game are crazy complex and awesome. I have no idea where to start...
Ok, so you have cards:
Note the +1 in red in the upper left and the green icon in the text area that looks like a little lazer beam
And then you have the ships:
Note the little green laser icon on the base at the far left.
All combat cards have those +1s in the upper left corner and the colors correspond to a specific stat, so all combat cards can be used with ships to give a +1 bonus of some kind. But also there is the text in the text space next to that little green icon. If the card AND the ship have that icon then the ship gets that bonus when the card is played.
There are 5 different green icons, two silver icons, and 2 gold icons. The green and silver icon abilities only take effect on a ship which has that icon on its base. All ships (thus far) get the bonus for the gold icons.
So when building a fleet / deck one has to try to use both good ships AND ships with similiar icons so that the cards in one's deck match their ships and thereby are more useful. But as different ships have different stats and different cards have different effects it is difficult to assess which ships / icons / cards to use. If you only build around ships with that little green laser icon, for example, you will miss out on ships with other icons and cards with other icons. So one must mix and match, to some degree.
So I am going to lay out everything and stare at it until I figure out what combinations to use.
i just picked up two booster packs with a co-worker on our lunch break... holy crap these things are awesome.
One might even say Jam Packed. With awesome.
I managed to get 18 ships total including the three free ships the dude at the shop tossed our way which are some kind of promo for the release of the game
the free packs contain 2 tie fighters and an X-wing along with 3 common cards
I'm genuinely impressed with the amount of stuff you get for 4.99
my Co-worker got a lambda class shuttle AND an ARC-170 in the same package.
I'm already tempted to run back out after work and pick up a few more packs so i can assemble a squad of A-wings.
i just picked up two booster packs with a co-worker on our lunch break... holy crap these things are awesome.
One might even say Jam Packed. With awesome.
I managed to get 18 ships total including the three free ships the dude at the shop tossed our way which are some kind of promo for the release of the game
the free packs contain 2 tie fighters and an X-wing along with 3 common cards
I'm genuinely impressed with the amount of stuff you get for 4.99
my Co-worker got a lambda class shuttle AND an ARC-170 in the same package.
I'm already tempted to run back out after work and pick up a few more packs so i can assemble a squad of A-wings.
Isn't it awesome? Plus the little dice! Game packs really do come with EVERYTHING you need to play!
I managed to get 18 ships total including the three free ships the dude at the shop tossed our way which are some kind of promo for the release of the game
looks like i might have to hunt down a card shop then to see if i can get some promo shit.
The cards are sorted very well. 1 rare per pack, so many uncommons, so many commons...but the ships don't seem to be sorted very well. Only 2 rares in 12 packs. A LOT of duplicates of ships I don't need.
I got a free promo pack at the comic book store today.
I got all giddy putting them together. Any thing that's a star wars "toy" makes me like a six year old again... I may get more of these, if only to use them as models for our weekly roleplaying game.
(Dude, I freaking love that the Ackbar card says "IT'S A TRAP!")
The cards are sorted very well. 1 rare per pack, so many uncommons, so many commons...but the ships don't seem to be sorted very well. Only 2 rares in 12 packs. A LOT of duplicates of ships I don't need.
Disappointing.
i hear you on that... I bought 4 more packs and ended up with the exact same ships in 3 of them.
(granted I gave 2 of the packs to my fiance' so she can attempt to play with me) but 3 of the exact same nebulon B frigates out of 4 packs seems a bit silly.
The cards are sorted very well. 1 rare per pack, so many uncommons, so many commons...but the ships don't seem to be sorted very well. Only 2 rares in 12 packs. A LOT of duplicates of ships I don't need.
Disappointing.
i hear you on that... I bought 4 more packs and ended up with the exact same ships in 3 of them.
(granted I gave 2 of the packs to my fiance' so she can attempt to play with me) but 3 of the exact same nebulon B frigates out of 4 packs seems a bit silly.
They need to work on sorting these better, or make more than 120 cards and more than the few sheets of ships that they have. That would help to increase differences.
Ok, anyone who is playing this... (it looks like there's about 3 of us heh)
what are your deck building strategies?
i'm thinking it's in my best interest to limit by deck to cards that give my ships a bonus (I now have enough ships to put together 30 build points of either the rebels or the imperials.)
only took 6 packs and the imperial starter kit... and 2 free "promo" packs from two separate shops...
Yes i went to two different shops just to get the promo ships twice... (i've spent roughly $45 so far)
But I'm finding I've now got a crapload of cards and I really don't think putting all of them in my deck is wise.
Oh yeah also i found a board on Boardgamegeek that looks pretty cool for 4 way games and seems to add more zones for movement to slow things down a bit.
My deck building strategy is to build a deck that compliments my fleet strategy. I've found that the best strategy to win is to attack my opponent's objectives. So I put in cards that enhance that strategy. +1 defense, evasion cards, etc.
Just became aware of this game yesterday, and went bought my first 5 packs of this today. Havnt actually played it yet, but Ive gotten some decent cards already. My 5 rare cards consisted of Mace Windu, Cloud City, R2-D2, foil Luke Skywalker, and foil Han Solo. My ship cards consisted of 5 common cards, 4 uncommon, and 1 rare(Vigilance).
Now I just need to find someone to splt these 5 packs into decks/fleets with and try out the game, but it sounds fun from what I read of the rules.
Just became aware of this game yesterday, and went bought my first 5 packs of this today. Havnt actually played it yet, but Ive gotten some decent cards already. My 5 rare cards consisted of Mace Windu, Cloud City, R2-D2, foil Luke Skywalker, and foil Han Solo. My ship cards consisted of 5 common cards, 4 uncommon, and 1 rare(Vigilance).
Now I just need to find someone to splt these 5 packs into decks/fleets with and try out the game, but it sounds fun from what I read of the rules.
It's hella fun. And this unofficial community found here: http://www.swpocketmodels.com/ can be helpful since you are just starting out.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited July 2007
So I picked up a starter and 2 boosters today. The only mechanic I'm confused on is ship combat regarding multiple attackers. If you attack a TIE with 3 X-Wings, does that TIE get to attack back at all 3? That's the way the rules seem to make it out, and that just seems odd to me.
As I read it when ever the damage counters equal or exceed the shields it is moved to the reserve zone. So if it survives the first xwing it goes on to fight the next but if the first one kills it, it gets moved to reserve zone and combat ends.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
As I read it when ever the damage counters equal or exceed the shields it is moved to the reserve zone. So if it survives the first xwing it goes on to fight the next but if the first one kills it, it gets moved to reserve zone and combat ends.
But does it fight back each turn? The rule book says both ships determine if they hit at the same time, which makes me think their attacks happen at the same time, ie they're both attacking. I don't know, I guess with the cumulative damage, it makes sense. It just seems like technically that TIE would be firing at three different ships at the same time.
So I picked up a starter and 2 boosters today. The only mechanic I'm confused on is ship combat regarding multiple attackers. If you attack a TIE with 3 X-Wings, does that TIE get to attack back at all 3? That's the way the rules seem to make it out, and that just seems odd to me.
When combat begins you specify who the attackers are and who they attack.
Then each round begins, and the attacker and defender try to hit one another as the rules say.
If you attack a Tie with 3 x-wings there will be 3 combat phases, unless the tie is destroyed on the first. And, yes, the tie gets to shoot back each time.
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Sir CarcassI have been shown the end of my worldRound Rock, TXRegistered Userregular
edited July 2007
Okay, one last question. Do attacks happen simultaneously, or is it attacker->defender? If the TIE is destroyed, could he still take out the attacking X-Wing?
Okay, one last question. Do attacks happen simultaneously, or is it attacker->defender? If the TIE is destroyed, could he still take out the attacking X-Wing?
Same time. The steps are laid out in the rules. But the important part is that you both roll at the same time.
Posts
1) Booster packs come with EVERYTHING you need to play. If two people each buy a booster pack they have ships, cards, and even DICE all contained in the pack. So you seriously can buy a booster pack, sit down, and play a game.
2) The game seems to be well balanced with capital ships and fighters having the sufficient benefits / drawbacks. So no one ship is a "teh winner".
3) The card / ship interactions are incredibly interesting and deep which allows for great customization. When combining ships and decks one has a plethora of things to consider. All strategy cards can be used with every ship, so cards are never "dead in the hand" but certain cards work better with certain ships, so when building a deck / fleet one has to balance types of cards with types of ships. It's not a matter of just throwing together 30 cards and 30 ships, there are interactions to consider and explore with every ship / card inclusion.
Those were the 3 things I was most worried about when I picked up the game and they are the things which have most impressed me. So, hopefully, if any of you get a chance to play you will find it to be equally awesome.
Fun game. And there is an expansion due out this fall!
Doubt I can convince anyone I know to play though.
always my problem as well... hence why i have like a billion WoW TCG cards and play once in a blue moon.
Edit: how much are boosters?
edit: and is this fighter to fighter? or i assume a mix of capitol ships and fighters?
Boosters are $4.99 each.
There is a mix of capital ships and fighters.
Corellian Corvette
Nebulon-B Escort frigate
Lambda-class shuttle
providence class carrier
yt-1300
venator-class star destroyer
v-wing
arc-170 (hard to put together guy)
geonosian fighter
droid trifighter
eta2 interceptor
y-wing
x-wing
a-wing
droid fighter
tie fighter
tie interceptor
tie advanced
And there are different versions of each of those, but those are the basic ship models.
Edit: but oh man do i love me some a-wings.
Capital vs. capital ship battles are neat. There is a very well done animation on the site: https://secure.wizkidsgames.com/StarWars/Default.aspx that explains it all very well in 5 minutes. I'd suggest watching it and then convincing people to play.
My friend and I mixed up various combinations of fighters / capital ships to see if there were any sorts of balance issues and it seems like things are well weighted. So it's not as if you buy some massive ship and it decimates everything and it's not as if a bunch of tiny ships can't destroy a star destroyer.
I'm just very impressed by the game. It's executed well, it's built well, and it's fun to play. And the way it combines miniatures with cards is very well done.
It's a good idea that works out well in execution. And i haven't encountered one of this in a long time so I'm freaking impressed. Plus it's FUN. My friend and I spent 7 hours playing today and I can't wait to play again next weekend.
If you can find someone else who is willing to buy a booster or two there is a very good chance that they'll like it unless they are opposed to cards or minatures.
I'll probably pick up a couple boosters and force my brother to play a game or two.
Edit: I just realized that the precon was 6 imperial ships (including a star destroyer) vs. 2 xwings... hah.
Curse your dialup.
The rulebook is a little obtuse...but every ccg i've played has had an obtuse rulebook. It's not hard to figure out and if you can view that site it makes it a lot clearer.
It's very very fun, though.
Wish I would have figured out sooner that magic is all about the second main phase.
Man, the strategies for this game are crazy complex and awesome. I have no idea where to start...
Ok, so you have cards:
Note the +1 in red in the upper left and the green icon in the text area that looks like a little lazer beam
And then you have the ships:
Note the little green laser icon on the base at the far left.
All combat cards have those +1s in the upper left corner and the colors correspond to a specific stat, so all combat cards can be used with ships to give a +1 bonus of some kind. But also there is the text in the text space next to that little green icon. If the card AND the ship have that icon then the ship gets that bonus when the card is played.
There are 5 different green icons, two silver icons, and 2 gold icons. The green and silver icon abilities only take effect on a ship which has that icon on its base. All ships (thus far) get the bonus for the gold icons.
So when building a fleet / deck one has to try to use both good ships AND ships with similiar icons so that the cards in one's deck match their ships and thereby are more useful. But as different ships have different stats and different cards have different effects it is difficult to assess which ships / icons / cards to use. If you only build around ships with that little green laser icon, for example, you will miss out on ships with other icons and cards with other icons. So one must mix and match, to some degree.
So I am going to lay out everything and stare at it until I figure out what combinations to use.
SO AWESOME!
So, Wal-Mart will carry it in the future, but they do not have it yet.
I'll check anyway.
if not, i'm going shopping on friday and i think i know a card/comic/tabletop gaming store somewhere near me.
Two of the Three comic shops nearby me carry the game. So, it's not everywhere, but it is in some places.
I sat down and put my deck / fleet together last night and organized my extra cards in a binder.
So much fun!
heh, have any admiral ackbars? or know the rarity on them by chance... he is only my favorite character pretty much.
One might even say Jam Packed. With awesome.
I managed to get 18 ships total including the three free ships the dude at the shop tossed our way which are some kind of promo for the release of the game
the free packs contain 2 tie fighters and an X-wing along with 3 common cards
I'm genuinely impressed with the amount of stuff you get for 4.99
my Co-worker got a lambda class shuttle AND an ARC-170 in the same package.
I'm already tempted to run back out after work and pick up a few more packs so i can assemble a squad of A-wings.
Isn't it awesome? Plus the little dice! Game packs really do come with EVERYTHING you need to play!
It is awesome, i've already lost one of those goddamn dice though!
You people.
If you buy the Imperial Booster pack you get human size dice.
Edit: Here is a link to the FAQ v3.1: https://secure.wizkidsgames.com/StarWars/documents/SWPMTCG_FAQ_V3.1_June_2007.pdf
so if i wanted to play someone with just one booster I'd have to mix up tie fighters and A wings.
i have a feeling i'm going to be $40-50 poorer before i have enough ships to play strictly one faction...
Still that's a lower price than i'd be paying for most games involving Mini's...
also these Geonosian fighters are sooo lame looking but they've got high attack and defense scores so it's hard not to use them.
If you want to be a namby pamby about it that's fine. I'll just plow you over with my mixed fleet. :P
Seriously, though. With Episode 1-3 I don't really know who is on what side anymore. I'm pretty sure everyone is a Sith.
looks like i might have to hunt down a card shop then to see if i can get some promo shit.
The cards are sorted very well. 1 rare per pack, so many uncommons, so many commons...but the ships don't seem to be sorted very well. Only 2 rares in 12 packs. A LOT of duplicates of ships I don't need.
Disappointing.
I got all giddy putting them together. Any thing that's a star wars "toy" makes me like a six year old again... I may get more of these, if only to use them as models for our weekly roleplaying game.
(Dude, I freaking love that the Ackbar card says "IT'S A TRAP!")
i hear you on that... I bought 4 more packs and ended up with the exact same ships in 3 of them.
(granted I gave 2 of the packs to my fiance' so she can attempt to play with me) but 3 of the exact same nebulon B frigates out of 4 packs seems a bit silly.
They need to work on sorting these better, or make more than 120 cards and more than the few sheets of ships that they have. That would help to increase differences.
what are your deck building strategies?
i'm thinking it's in my best interest to limit by deck to cards that give my ships a bonus (I now have enough ships to put together 30 build points of either the rebels or the imperials.)
only took 6 packs and the imperial starter kit... and 2 free "promo" packs from two separate shops...
Yes i went to two different shops just to get the promo ships twice... (i've spent roughly $45 so far)
But I'm finding I've now got a crapload of cards and I really don't think putting all of them in my deck is wise.
Oh yeah also i found a board on Boardgamegeek that looks pretty cool for 4 way games and seems to add more zones for movement to slow things down a bit.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/225156
ok... not so much a board as a poster that you lay out, and i can't see any links to purchase it.. but it's still kinda cool.
There ought to be some catch all where if you send in 20 Booster packs for one of those promo ships.
haven't had a chance to play it yet though.
It's a fan site with a forum and all of the cards / models with pictures and stats.
Now I just need to find someone to splt these 5 packs into decks/fleets with and try out the game, but it sounds fun from what I read of the rules.
It's hella fun. And this unofficial community found here: http://www.swpocketmodels.com/ can be helpful since you are just starting out.
But does it fight back each turn? The rule book says both ships determine if they hit at the same time, which makes me think their attacks happen at the same time, ie they're both attacking. I don't know, I guess with the cumulative damage, it makes sense. It just seems like technically that TIE would be firing at three different ships at the same time.
When combat begins you specify who the attackers are and who they attack.
Then each round begins, and the attacker and defender try to hit one another as the rules say.
If you attack a Tie with 3 x-wings there will be 3 combat phases, unless the tie is destroyed on the first. And, yes, the tie gets to shoot back each time.
Same time. The steps are laid out in the rules. But the important part is that you both roll at the same time.