Star Wars Miniatures

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Image:Exar.jpg
Exar Kun, a figure from the newest set, Champions of the Force.

Star Wars Miniatures is a tabletop game based on the Star Wars fictional universe and is produced by Wizards of the Coast.

Contents

[edit] History

The game premiered on September 4, 2004. The first set, Rebel Storm, was released at that time and was followed up by Clone Strike, which came out December 4 of the same year. April 9, 2005 brought the third set release, titled Revenge of the Sith, with the Universe expansion set following later that year, hitting stores on August 27. Later Champions of the Force was released on June 10, 2006.After that just recently Bounty hunters have been release this September .Each of the five sets released so far have featured 60 fully-constructed and fully-painted miniature figures from different eras and settings of the Star Wars timeline.

Accompanying the sets was a scenario book series known as Ultimate Missions. Each book contained a double-sided map and a series of scenarios. Ultimate Missions: Rebel Storm included scenarios drawn from A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, along with the associated radio dramas. Ultimate Missions: Clone Strike drew its scenarios from The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Star Wars: Clone Wars. Ultimate Missions: Revenge of the Sith covered Revenge of the Sith. The Ultimate Missions series was discontinued after Revenge of the Sith in favor of scenario packs such as Attack on Endor.

On November 11, 2005 a special AT-AT Imperial Walker Colossal Pack was released, which came with the AT-AT (scaled correctly to the other miniatures, it stands at 14" high and 18" long).

On February 2006, the Attack on Endor set was released. This set consists of an AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport), an Imperial Stormtrooper, Imperial Stormtrooper Officer and an Imperial Stormtrooper Scout. Also included are two double-sided maps and a scenario book. A big surprise however is that no Ewoks are included.

Future planned sets are Bounty Hunters (September, 2006), and Starship Battles (November, 2006), the latter set being a separate game of starship combat.

According to several Wizards of the Coast employees, further releases are planned for 2007, the first of which will be Alliance and Empire.

Star Wars Miniatures
Players 2 and up
Age range 12 and up
Setup time < 10 minutes
Playing time appr. 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours
Random chance Medium-High
Skills required Strategy, Planning

[edit] Gameplay

In Star Wars Miniatures, there are currently 10 different factions available for play. They are Rebel, Imperial, Republic, Separatist, New Republic, Yuuzhan Vong, Old Republic, Sith, Mandalorian, and Fringe. Each game requires that each player chooses one of the above factions to play as and then builds a squad using miniatures from that faction. The only exception is Fringe, which is a "neutral" faction, whose figures can be used in any squad. Players agree on a point total (100 and 200 being the official standards) and create a squad that does not exceed the chosen point total for one of the following formats:

  • Free-for-all: Each player makes a single faction(possibly including Fringe) squad for the battle. Factions may battle factions of different eras or even the same faction. This is the format used for sanctioned tournaments.
  • Era Play: Players select an era then choose one player to play a light side faction and one to play a dark side faction from that era. Fringe characters may mix with either player's squad. The eras are:
    • Old Republic: Old Republic vs. Sith
    • Rise of the Empire: Republic vs. Separatists (or Empire).
    • Rebellion: Rebels vs. Empire.
    • New Republic: New Republic vs. Empire.
    • New Jedi Order: New Republic (or Empire) vs. Yuuzhan Vong.
  • Light Side vs. Dark Side: Players make a multi-faction squad with one player representing the light side (Old Republic, Republic, Rebel Alliance, New Republic) and the other representing the dark side (Sith, Separatists, Empire). Yuuzhan Vong and Fringe may belong to either side.
  • No Faction: Players make a squad using any combination of characters.
  • Sealed: Players open a predetermined amount of Starters and Boosters and make a No Faction squad with the miniatures contained inside.
  • Draft: 4 or more Players each open one of three booster boxes at a time, select one miniature inside and pass the box to the next player. The Players then make a squad out of only the minitures they draft in this way. This can be played No Faction or Factions, if multiple players have the same Faction, they are termed as No Faction for play.

After players agree on a point total and play format and build their squads, one of several play maps representing different locations of the Star Wars Universe is chosen and set up. The maps feature a 1" square grid overlay that indicates where characters can move, as well as being used to determine range and the ability to see a target. Different maps influence the game in different ways. For instance, the map included in the Revenge of the Sith Starter represents the interior of a battered starship, with small hallways and rubble-filled rooms, but is considered the only "huge-friendly" map as it is the only one where a huge character can travel from one starting area to the other. Currently, the official maps are:

  • Death Star (Rebel Storm Starter)
  • Mos Eisley (Ultimate Missions: Rebel Storm & League Prize)
  • Cloud City (Ultimate Missions: Rebel Storm & League Prize)
  • Muunilist (Clone Strike Starter)
  • Coruscant (Ultimate Missions: Clone Strike)
  • Geonosis (Ultimate Missions: Clone Strike)
  • Starship (Revenge of the Sith Starter)
  • Invisible Hand (General Grievous's flagship) (Ultimate Missions: Revenge of the Sith)
  • Mustafar (Ultimate Missions: Revenge of the Sith)
  • Hoth:Plains (AT-AT Colossal Pack)
  • Hoth:Shield Generator (AT-AT Colossal Pack)
  • Endor (Attack on Endor)
  • Yavin 4:Jedi Praxeum (Attack on Endor)
  • Rancor Cave (Attack on Endor)
  • Ruined Base (Attack on Endor)
  • Korriban (Wizards League Kit)

All maps except for the 2 Hoth maps are allowed in sanctioned 100 point play. Starship is the only legal map in sanctioned 200 point games.

The objective of the game can vary, but in standard play the winner is the player who earns an amount of victory points equal to or greater than the Squad limit or the player with the most victory points when a tiebreaker is called (no characters have made offensive actions in 10 rounds). Players score victory points equal to the cost of characters they defeat. In a variant designed to discourage players from hiding, known as Gambit format, players also score 5 victory points at the end of every round in which they have a character within 4 squares of the center. Gambit format is the format used in sanctioned tournaments.

[edit] Combat

Combat in the game is very similar (in essence) to other tabletop games. A D20 (or 20-sided die) is used to determine if an attack succeeds, and is also used for various other checks throughout the game. In the case of an attack, the D20 is rolled and its final value is modified by the attacker's bonus and other circumstances of the attack (e.g. a target in cover). If the total is greater than or equal to a figure's defense, that figure takes damage. When a figure has taken damage equal to his or her hit points, that figure is defeated (removed from the game).

[edit] Distinguishing Features

'See also: Force Powers and Special Abilities

Star Wars Miniatures has several unique differences that separate it from most other tabletop games. There are Force Powers, which are used by Jedi and can devastate lesser figures. Jedi also have Force ratings, which allow them to make rerolls to failed attacks or defends and also to use their Force powers. There are also Commander Effects, possessed by by the various leaders in the Star Wars universe (Darth Vader, General Veers, Padmé Amidala - among others). Commander Effects confer bonuses, enhancements or other special abilities to their allies on the battlefield. Characters also come in different sizes with Small and Medium characters taking up 1 square, Large 4(2x2), Huge 9(3x3), and Colossal(anything bigger than 3x3; the biggest so far is the AT-AT, which takes up 6x12 squares).

[edit] Set Themes

Each of the released sets focuses on different aspects of the Star Wars history, and some sets may be more desirable for people than others based on this fact.

  • Rebel Storm, being the premiere set of the game, focused on the struggle between the Rebels and the Imperials throughout the classic Star Wars trilogy. Only characters from the three original movies (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi) were included.
  • Clone Strike represented the struggle between the Republic and the Separatists at the dawn of the Clone Wars consisting of figures from The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones films as well as figures from the Clone Wars Animated Micro Series. Clone Strike was the first set to be taken out of print, and many of its pieces are especially sought after for that reason.
  • Revenge of the Sith was based on the movie of the same name (see: Revenge of the Sith). Characters from the final movie in the Star Wars saga were introduced in this set.
  • Universe is a set that spans the entire Star Wars chronology, ranging from The Phantom Menace to the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong. This is the first set to feature a substantial number of individuals from the Expanded Universe as well as Huge figures (particularly large figures that take up a 3"x 3" area on a map).
  • Attack on Endor reprinted figures (Stormtrooper Officer, Stormtrooper and Stormtrooper Scout) as well as the (elusive) AT-ST (which is also in the Universe set) from older sets that were present during the Battle of Endor.
  • Champions of the Force finally introduced the Old Republic and Sith factions, and mainly takes place during the Great Hyperspace War and Sith War of the Star Wars timeline but overall covers all eras of the Star Wars Universe. Includes figures like Luke Skywalker and Exar Kun as well as Dark Jedi.
  • Bounty Hunters has a focus on the Fringe faction for the most part featuring the underworld of gangsters, bounty hunters, mercenaries, and a new faction the Mandalorians plus some Republic, Separatists, Rebels, and Empire, with less emphasis on Expanded Universe figures. It includes 11 huge figures, rather than the 10 included in Universe.
  • Starship Battles - This is the current name for the standalone space combat game, scheduled for release in November 2006. This game is centered around starship combat and players will control starships (such as X-Wings, TIE Fighters, Star Destroyers, Trade Federation Droid Control Ships, etc.) rather than individual characters. The Starter set (MSRP $39.99) will include Super Star Destroyer Executor (from the Galactic Civil War Era) and the Mon Calamari Star Defender Viscount (from the New Jedi Order Era) along with eight randomized ships. The boosters (MSRP $19.99) will contain 7 randomized ships from all eras. There will be 60 different ships to collect.

[edit] Collectability

The game includes miniatures printed at four different levels of rarity: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Very Rare. Each of the first three sets were packaged in individual booster packs of miniatures, which in turn came with 7 random miniatures (1 rare or very rare, 2 uncommon, and 4 common). On average, one in three booster backs included a Very Rare instead of a normal Rare. According to game developer Rob Watkins, the rarity of a figure is directly related to the complexity of its sculpt, because complex miniatures are more costly for the company to produce. As it happens, many of the best-known individuals in Star Wars, such as Boba Fett, end up having complex miniatures and thus are Very Rare.

In the Universe set, special Huge miniatures were introduced, with a "footprint" nine times that of a typical figure. Each booster pack came with 1 rare, 1 huge figure (of random rarity), 2 uncommons, and 3 commons. This was the first set in which it was possible to get 2 rares in the same pack.

Other products include starter boxes which are prepackaged to include certain figures. The Rebel Storm Starter Game comes with Luke Skywalker, Rebel and Darth Vader, Dark Jedi, along with a randomized assortment of figures. The Clone Strike Starter Game comes with Jango Fett and General Kenobi and a number of randomized figures. The Revenge of the Sith Starter Game comes with General Grievous, Supreme Commander and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master, as well as two Clone Troopers and two Super Battle Droids. The Attack on Endor Scenario Pack comes with an AT-ST, a Stormtrooper Officer, Stormtrooper and Stormtrooper Scout (and no, no Ewoks).

For complete setlists of each set, see Star wars miniatures figure list.

[edit] Playing Online

Among several other supported tabletop games the VASSAL Engine provides a module that allows playing the Star Wars Miniatures game online with gamers around the world.

[edit] External links

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