I just finished my first ever Star Wars Shatterpoint league. This league was organized by local game store, Mythic Games, and we played a total of four rounds.
I used this league to learn the core box. And between this league and a two tournaments I feel like I have a good grasp of the good guys from the core set having now played 10+ games with them.
First let me go into the individual games. Then I’ll cover what I learned about Shatterpoint.
Games
Game 1 – Against Jesse – Win
I played against Vader, Rex, 501st and Grand Inquisitor, Reva, and Fifth Brother.
What I learned: I was shocked at how far and fast Vader is. He got into my deployment zone before Anakin had even activated. He was almost able to wound him before he went. 😱
Game 2 – Jon – Win
Against Padme, Sabe, Handmaidens and General Obi-wan, Cody, and 212th clones.
This game was heavily influenced by Jon’s activation deck. Padme was at the very bottom and he had a hard time getting his Handmaidens where he needed.
What I learned: I won both struggles quickly. If you draw the wrong cards and have some bad luck you might not get through your activation deck. Padme never activated. That can be a real feel bad.
Game 3 – Greg – Loss
Against Padme, Sabe, Handmaidens and Ahsoka, Jango, Fifth brother.
We had an Ahsoka off. His Ahsoka went first and grabbed the central point. I didn’t have much I could do. I tried to push her off and failed and my Ahsoka did very little all game.
Padme, Sabe, and the hand maidens all did well this game.
What I learned: If you have an Ahsoka-off the first Ahsoka on the point wins.
Game 4 -Win
Against General Obi-wan and Lord Maul. At this point in the league my opponent couldn’t win the entire league so he decided to play a random list! And he almost won if not for some hot dice on my side.
My MVP was probably Ahsoka. She was the last to activate round 1 and has already moved several times and even got a free attack off on Jango.
His MVP was Jango for his insane movement. He got to my back point in struggle 2 and stayed there a long time.
Maul did pretty poorly. He only went once and was pushed 4 times back to the deployment zone.
What I learned: Try to wound clones early. Their Co-ordinated Fire ability usually isn’t worth the force cost.
What I Learned From My Roster (Anakin & Ahsoka)
- If going first with Anakin, stand in the middle, switch to defensive stance, take cover, and dare you opponent to come at you. They’ll usually move to the outsides of the board and give you a positioning advantage.
- If going first with Ahsoka, run to the center, take cover, switch to defensive stance, and Deflect all incoming fire.
- If going first with Rex, move Anakin up.
- If going first with Bo-Katan move to the objective with the most intervening cover and levels. Move a Mandalorian up, move yourself, land within range 2 so you get the free move and focus, jump if necessary.
- Mandalorians should guard your back point if able. They have plenty of range to fire on the center line and push opponents off. They have Steadfast and Protection if they’re following around Bo-Katan on objectives.
- 501st should move up, take cover for the hunter and small placement, try to block line of sight. Their Coordinated Fire doesn’t require LOS.
Games Wrap Up
I had two really good games with Ahsoka. There are some characters that are very powerful but you need player skill to get good with them. I didn’t appreciate Ahsoka at game 5 like I do now at game 10. By forcing myself to play one character so many times really helped me learn their nuances and, especially important for Ahsoka, remember their triggers.
I can’t believe I won 3/4 games! I definitely had some help with dice and the right activation order. I’ve learned that Shatterpoint is very much about maximizing what you can do with the character you draw which I enjoy.
First Impressions of a League
I really enjoyed the league. It definitely encouraged me to get a game every two weeks. Being a new dad means it’s hard to get out of the house so having just a little extra motivation really helps.
I love how much complexity the terrain adds to the game. The number of ingress points (ladders), where they are, and how many levels you have total make each game different. Eventually I’m going to invest more in my home setup and get a forest map as well as multi-story Ewok village trees.
One of the best aspects of this league is that I really appreciate getting to know my local community. It was nice to learn people’s names and see people in a casual setting as opposed to a high stakes and time constrained tournament environment. I even had someone over to my house to play which is a very different vibe from the store.
I had so much fun with this league so I’m actually signing up for the Total Escape Games Shatterpoint league which is starting the day I write this.
For my next league I’m going to learn how to use the Fistful of Credits squad. That’s Cad Bane, Aurra Sing, and two bounty hunters. I cant wait to dig in even more.