Make The Game Your Own! Star Wars Ground Minis Part 1
September 22, 2014 by crew
We gamers are born tinkerers. We want to paint our own miniatures, re-paint our pre-paints, add house rules for simple games or simplify complex games for smoother play. If we’re really ambitious, we just build our own games practically from the ground up, especially if there’s no game out there for what we really want to play. How about a miniatures-based, battlefield ground combat game in the Star Wars universe? In this article series, I hope to share how we “built” just such a game, along with some fun battle reports from our early playtesting.
A Semi-Operational Wargame!
“Not so long ago, in a gaming club not too far away . . .” we came into a small treasure trove of card packs (quite by accident) for WizKid’s “Star Wars: PocketModel” trading card game. The packs were from their Ground Assault series, but I honestly wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them since I’m not usually a fan of card games. But as I opened the card packs and saw what was inside, the wheels started turning; never a good thing in the mind of a gamer.
For anyone not familiar, the Star Wars PocketModel TCG was originally designed by Mike Elliott and Ethan Pasternack, manufactured by WizKids in 2007, and combined elements of both a card game and a table top miniatures game. Each random-buy card pack came with five playing cards and two pre-cut styrene sheets which could be punched and assembled into a 3D model of the unit. Anywhere from one to six models were on a card, depending on the size of the unit. Each model came with its own stand which (a) helped it stand on the playing surface and (b) listed its attributes: To Hit, Damage, Defence, and Shields. Each pack also came with two of the smallest six-sided dice I’ve ever seen.
The manufacturing quality of the styrene pieces is great, after being punched from the sheet they fit together easily yet sturdily. The colouring of the pieces is rich in detail, which helps make up for the understandable lack of detail in the “miniatures” themselves. And unlike most games where you have to punch counters, chits, or markers from a sheet, the pieces came out very clean with practically no cleaning required.
In the original game, the players assemble an army out of a pre-determined budget of “build points.” These are deployed in the player’s “home zone,” with a few more units in his “reserve” zone. Players also build a deck of battle cards from which to draw random bonuses, events, and special abilities to be combined with combat units of certain types. A second deck of cards provides “objectives.” On each turn, players can move a certain number of units between “table zones,” engage enemy units in “battling,” or mount “strikes” against enemy objective cards. You win by eliminating all your opponent’s objectives or units.
Our group, however, doesn’t typically play abstract card-based games, so these “Pocket Models” seemed destined for the display shelf. But the more I looked at the combat values on these “miniatures,” the combat cards, and the mechanics for combining units and cards together into effective attacks, the more I realized that we could build an tactical, miniatures-based table top game out of this.
Now of course, we tried this only for the “Ground Assault” series of the Star Wars: PocketModels system. True, there is a space-based game for PocketModels, but Fantasy Flight’s X-Wing probably offers a better solution for the serious miniatures gamer. Yet there are no AT-ATs in X-Wing, or speeder bikes or storm troopers or Tauntauns or legions of Republic clones. With enough of these game pieces and a little experimentation, we realized we could easily make the leap into epic Star Wars ground battles like Hoth, Endor, or Geonosis. However, we had a little work to do first.
Tweaking It Like A Jawa!
Step One: Movement, Range, and Initiative
Needless to say, we had to replace the card table “zone” system with actual measurements for tactical miniatures. We kept this extremely simple for our early playtests, with ground units moving at six inches, and any flier or speeder units moving at twelve inches. Range for all weapons was set at twelve inches, with a +1 bonus to hit and to damage if the range was three inches or less. Finally, for initiative we used Warren’s idea presented on a recent Weekender, where poker chips are used in a bag for a “Bolt Action” type alternate initiative system. On each pull of a chip, that side got to move and fire five “build stars” worth of units. This was the same limit in the original card game, which we retained so as to keep the intended balance of their combat effectiveness.
Step Two: Changes to the Cards
Simply put, we ditched the original TCG’s objective cards. Furthermore, we also dispensed with any combat cards that had to do with attacking or defending objective cards. Objectives would be handled on the table top, with opposing armies attacking or defending key ships, buildings, or pieces of ground.
Step Three: New Units
Although the PocketModel “Ground Assault” system has a huge range of units from four factions (Empire, Rebellion, Republic, and Separatist), there were a few units they didn’t have. For example, the were none of the heavy Rebel gun turrets featured in Episode V’s Battle of Hoth. We manufactured our own bases with selected combat values, and built simple “miniatures” to represent them visually.
Step Four: Build Terrain
Since we were playing on a map table now instead of card game “zones,” we needed to build some quick terrain. We already had woodland and jungle tables for European and Pacific World War Two 15mm battles, but wanted to also put together a quick snow board for Hoth, as well as desert boards for planets like Geonosis and Tatooine.
Step Five: Playtest
Finally, it was time to have some fun. In laying out a table, setting up some minis, and tossing some dice around, we got to see our new game in action and worked out solutions to any rough spots. Our first series of games focused on the Imperial attack on Hoth in Episode V, which we’ll be reviewing in detail in a future article.
Now sadly, in 2008 Star Wars PocketModels was shut down by Topps (parent company of Wizkids at the time). But there are still lots of PocketModel game packs out there. In our own experience, about $60 USD and a weekend of assembly put us in command of a pretty sizable force of about 175 Star Wars combat units. The third “work day” saw us building terrain, and on the fourth day we had dice hitting the table. That’s not a bad level of investment in the world of miniatures wargaming, and already we have enjoyed some truly epic games. What can I say? It seems “the Force is with us.” But please, this is an experimental system we’re still building, so any suggestions, observations, or comments are more than welcome!
If you would like to write an article for Beasts of War then please contact me at [email protected] for more information!
"...as I opened the card packs and saw what was inside, the wheels started turning; never a good thing in the mind of a gamer."
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"Our first series of games focused on the Imperial attack on Hoth in Episode V, which we’ll be reviewing in detail in a future article."
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Amazing idea! I really like the part with cheap models and a alternative action system.
Thanks @egge . We had just started to put this game together a couple of weeks ago when the Weekender episode came out where they talk about using poker chips in a bag in a Bolt Action-esque alternative action system. The timing was perfect, and as we’ll hopefully see in the playtesting reports, the results have been great.
I would love to see a reworking of the pocket model game Pirates of the Cursed Sea. Love the Star Wars reworking of that pocket model game too…bought a pack once but never played a game with them…now I want to pick up a bunch of cheap packs!! Thanks!
We once tried something using similar cardboard playing pieces for a pirate / 17-18th century sailing ship wargame called “Letters of Marque” . . . to mixed success. You might be able to find something on-line if you’re interested. If Pirates of the Cursed Sea is anything like these SW Pocketmodels, though, you’d probably be able to get by with much less. Seriously we just added movement, range, the poker chip initiative, and some terrain (okay, successive games started adding fighter support, orbital bombardment from star ships, but at first it was very simple). @beetle (down in the thread below)… Read more »
Very cool article. Kudos to you guys for your ingenuity and creativity! Seems like a lot of fun!
Thanks, @grifter7md . We’ve hit a **few** snags in playtesting, but overall the game has delivered great fun, and attracted a lot of positive attention at the gaming club. Star Wars fans are everywhere, after all. 🙂
Great article, look forward to the next one. There are rules out there for using the space ships on a tabletop, so perhaps it could be combined to cover all aspects. Also hope to see you guys including transports, so you can do clone wars style drops of AT units. I have a load of pocket models, they are cheap and look really good. Thanks again for a cool article.
Thanks, @fox40 . Indeed, we have tried a little “dual-table” gaming, where one table shows the orbital battle in space while a second table tracks the actual ground battle. This includes rules for star fighters opting to streak down and support the ground troops, and orbital bombardment of select ground targets by orbiting capital ships (star destroyers, Republic assault transports, Trade Federation “donut” battleships, etc.) As far as the actual assault transports that drop the Clone Wars AT units . . . die-hard fans will have to cut us a **little** slack as we don’t always have exactly the right… Read more »
I feel your pain! I had much the same problem with the Star Wars Miniatures and Starship Battles lines, both in terms of the blind buy nature of the boosters and the incomplete nature of the ranges.. and don’t get me started on how few Revell kits (or toys) are close to 1:56!
Thanks, @siygess . Our only advantage so far has been that these models are inexpensive, so we’ve been able to buy a lot in the hopes of getting what we wanted. We’re pretty set on most things, but like we say in the article we’ve already had to build our own pieces for some things (Hoth Echo Base laser turrets for starters). Because of the “cardboard” nature of these things, we also figured if there were new models of new ships/vehicles we really wanted, we could design and build our own and they would fit in reasonably well with the… Read more »
Another nice piece. It’s always nice to see reworked items.
Thanks, @stvitusdancern ! 😀 I guess gaming is too expensive of a hobby NOT to find multiple uses for all the items we can.
Finally I have a use for all my Pocket Models! Now you have me wanting to track down more. I can’t wait for Part 2
Thanks, @grodd1016 . I’ve found them pretty easily on Amazon / eBay and the like. The only draw back is the “blind buy” thing . . . in my forlorn quest for more AT-ATs . . . I’ve wound up with a horde of spider-droids that could conquer half the galaxy. 🙁
Really cool. I’ve spent time coming up with rules for my styrene pirate and space ships. The “pocket models” idea is an excellent idea that just wasn’t utilized to its full potential.
I agree, @frankelee . In watching some YouTube videos ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvzol50_b20 ) that show how to play the original TCG game, I found myself thinking, this thing is pretty simplistic. I don’t know much about big card games like Magic the Gathering, etc., but they seem to have a lot more depth, detail, and subtlety than Star Wars PocketModels. In adding some terrain, movement, range, and alternate initiative system, we hope to get better use out of these game pieces.
Awesome article.
Thanks @masher88 !
I’ve heard a lot about this on the phone, but the pics look awesome. For me, this is the perfect blend of aesthetic quality and awe-inspiring quantity. I grew up on counter based games with stacks and stacks of counters I could barely see over. Just not of the best quality. minis/models are expensive and I’m not the best assembler/painter.
But this rocks!!! I really really want to play the Imperials someday with every ATAT and ATST you own.
Challenge accepted, @amphibiousmonster , but if your bring in all the AT-ATs and AT-STs, don’t think I’m not bringing in a dozen B-wings. >:D
“Blue Leader . . . standing by.”
You didn’t see Veers’ deleted scene?
…”Lord Vader, we’ve reached our primary objective. The shield will…WHAT THE &^%$ is that?!?!?! NOOOOOOO!!!”
Of course, my evil B-Wing plan relies on a bit of time-line bending cheese here, since the B-Wing isn’t designed, built, and deployed until later in the timeline. But against all the AT-ATs and AT-STs we have . . . come on man. I need SOME kind of chance! 😀
For anyone interested, Potomac Distribution has 6 boxes of 24 boosters for $48 per box. I’m waiting for Imperial Assault, but someone else may want them.
http://www.potomacdist.com/detail.asp?itemid=swpockgabb#.VCDHafldV8E
Great tip, @beetle . I also recommend the Battle of Hoth tin, where you can get the special “Shield Generator” miniature, an AT-AT (one of the rarer pieces in the blind-buy card packs) and a few of the Hoth-specific cards.
I also found a seller on ebay who has the 24 packs of groun assault for $23.49 + $10 shipping
Man, almost wish this game was still “in business,” with all this support and attention we’re bringing to it.
If you want to do star wars ground skirmishes, use Wizards of the Coast miniatures and adapt them to Bolt Action rules. Lot of fun
Oh man, don’t give me any ideas. I already have an AT-AT from that range. It wouldn’t take much to push me into get another one…or two….
That’s a neat idea, @smithsco . Do you mean actually create Bolt Action values for the Star wars units / minis, or plug the values in the WotC game directly into BA (i.e., are they compatible)?
Big fan of WotC. We play old A&A Miniatures at our gaming club all the time. 🙂
In the group I game with we used the Star Wars minis and created units and profiles for Bolt Action. Once we nailed the profiles down it is a lot of fun. We also scratch built some vehicles and heavy weapons that wotc never made.
Scratch-built vehicles . . . what a challenge. I’m trying to put together some Republic drop ships, scaled to be able to physically “drop” the big six-legged AT-TE walkers . . . going well, but never easy (especially when you need several of them). What kind of vehicles and weapons did you guys build for WotC Minis?
I used cardboard, tongue depressors, and extra parts from some old 1/35 tank kits to make a rough AT-AP walker. Still haven’t finished all I want to do but it can go on a table top. Also finished an artillery piece that was in the clone wars cartoon movie. I also bought Wargames Factory shock trooper heavy weapons set. They resemble Clone Marines and the weapons in the set actually work well in scale. That gave us mortars, MG emplacements, and heavy missile launchers.
Awesome @smithsco ! My scratch-built five Republic LAAT/C drop ships are primed and drying in the other room right now (cardboard, toothpicks, balsa wood dowels, etc). They are scaled to be able to physically “drop” my AT-TEs “Dropzone Commander” style, and I hope to use them in some Geonosis battles coming up.
Very nice! You def need to post pics and a full battle report for that. I would love to make an AT-TE for my Bolt Action games but it would be so ridiculously large in scale. Have you scratch made (print on card stock) some infantry squads?
I was thinking about some kind of infantry stand(s) for a possible Endor game. There really were no vehicles in that except for Imperial AT-STs and speeder bikes. So without infantry, the Rebellion wouldn’t be represented at all. Not sure how I would do it yet, though.
Did you try the FUBAR Star Wars and FUBAR Clone Wars sets of rules? I wonder if they could be an interesting option for vehicule only or mainly vehicles battles with a proper scale adjustment.
I’ve downloaded some of the FUBAR statistic sheets, they definitely look interesting. It might work for PocketModel pieces, since that game is mostly vehicles and ships (all “infantry” and individuals are played through cards). Many of the PocketModels, however, NEED their bases to stand, and the stand contains the stats. You you could just disregard them or cover them up or make new stands, I suppose. 🙂
Pursuant, great article. I need to dig out my pocketbooks and inspired by your article develop some rules. Thinking of using Deadzone mechanics and my Hexon terrain.
I would really like to create some pocketbooks style Clone Troopers and Droids to go with the vehicles but my skills are not good enough.
It would be great, if it was alright with you, to post the homemade cards you did for defence turrets.
No problem, @ants . You mean the little base card that the model sits on with the four combat values, correct? There is no combat “playing” card for them. I will see if I still have the file on my home PC. Give me a day or so to get the file and upload it to BoW somehow.
Oriskany, yes the little yellow tab with the combat values. Thanks
@ants – Found ’em. 😀 I have uploaded them into the User Test Galleries, you should be able to access them here. Base Cards: http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/formidable/Star-Wars-Card-03.jpg Actual Turrets: http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/formidable/Echo-Base-Turret_A.jpg These are extremely simple (we had to build right of them in like an hour). 1) scanned a similar-looking base from another unit. 2) using Photoshop, added Rebel crest (actually important for some Rebel and Imperial combat cards), new title and description, and some appropriate combat values. 3) print on gloss photo paper so they look like the other bases. 4) paste on cardboard and carefully cut around it to produce the… Read more »
@oriskany, thanks very much for the images and the instructions. Look forward to using them.
No worries, @ants . Good luck! Beware the Dark Side. 😀
Nice looking game @oriskany I have never seen then here in Scotland?
They were only made for one year, I think, 2007-2008 before they cancelled the line. Like I said, I only found them by accident about a month ago.
You should get people to email Disney? to see if they will start remaking them?
Topps shut the game down in November 2008 (back when WizKids was a subsidiary). According to what I could find, National Entertainment Collectors Association (NECA) bought many of the licenses for former WizKids games (I think HeroClicks is among these), but WizKids/NECA didn’t buy any Star Wars licenses and so isn’t going to produce any Star Wars games.
Long story short, it sounds like NECA-WizKids are the people we need to call. 😀
You could try harassing them then with the new films coming out they may reconsider restarting the game? LOL
Now thinking of using Risk Clone Wars edition for a campaign and using Pocketmodels to fight the battles.!
BRILLIANT!
YES!! More “Risk” repurposing!!
That is a great article oriskany. It just goes to show how far ingenuity and imagination can take you. I really like the idea of re-enacting some of the famous battles of the Starwars universe on the tabletop, and your approach allows that to be done without any particulrly great expense by the usual standards of the hobby. I look forward to the continuation if this article series with interest, especially the idea of combining space bound and terrestrial forces for a proper Starwars orbital assault. Have you had any thoughts on how you might go about representing force wielders,… Read more »
Great questions, @vetruviangeek . 1) space and terrestrial forces: We’re steadily adding rules to incorporate this kind of battle. Our first test has been pretty successful. The challenge was how to make the space / orbital battle important . . . but not decisive to the point that the ground battle didn’t matter. Both games HAD to matter, and so far I think we’ve hit the target. Stay tuned for future articles and testing reports. 2) Force wielders: This is a vehicles game, with no real infantry pieces, let alone individuals or heroes. HOWEVER, the cards element includes infantry (stormtroopers,… Read more »
Good to speak to you again, @oriskany; 1) So work is progressing well on the space side of things? That is good to hear. Balancing the two arenas of combat in a fashion that makes each truly relevant must be challenging. The critical part has to be the way the two battle spaces interact with one another. Perhaps you could have some kind of system where ground commanders call down support from orbit, but possible battlefield signal interference, cyber warfare techniques, and other expressions of the ‘fog of war’ ensures that it is not certain that support will arrive at… Read more »
Awesome post, @vetruviangeek . 1) I don’t want to get too deep into the content of future articles, but yes, the basic gist of it is that capital ships can choose to hit any ground target they want, at a massive penalty in accuracy. This is because they can shoot DOWN onto the board with no regards to range, LOS, or other considerations with which ground units have to contend. Also, we’re sticking with the printed values of these units whenever possible, and these capital ships (predictably) incinerate anything they touch. But how easily could a star destroyer hit a… Read more »
Truly inspirational article. Ordered 15 packs of ground assault, can’t wait for next article in series. When roughly will it be on Beasts of War?
Awesome, @masher88 . A second article has been written and a third is underway, but I can’t speak for the Beasts of War team about when they decide to publish. It’s usually about one article a week, though. Still running games, still trying new house rules, still building new units and vehicles. 🙂
If you go to juniorgeneral.org, they are dedicated to paper soldiers for wargaming. They have sci-fi, fantasy, and historical. If they don’t have what you want they also have blank masters. If someone in your group is decent with MS Paint, you can draw your own soldiers using the masters, scale them, and then print them out. I would use some modern special forces with minor modifications for Rebels at Endor.
You know, @smithsco , I’m looking at some of these little paper figures . . . that’s actually not a bad idea. I do graphic design in Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, etc, so I definitely have the tools to make these “Star Wars” themed and scale them to the same size as the speeder bikes, Tauntaun riders, and other “vehicles” with human riders visible. Cutting them, however, is gonna be a mother of a job, so we’ll see. Now I just need an excuse to NOT make friggin’ Ewoks. 🙁
@oriskany – if you manage to produce infantry from Clone Troopers to Stormtroopers I will be in your thrall forever.
The only thing stopping me was trying to figure out how to cut out these TINY little people so they would be about the same size as the individuals you see in the pre-existing PocketModels line (riders on speeder bikes, the tauntaun riders, etc).
But I think I may have just figured something out. Not sure yet, still experimenting, but I think I got this.
So @ants . . . get ready. I am looking forward to completing your training. In time you will call me . . . MASTER. 🙂
What scale are these in btw?
“Scale” is a strong word with these things. They’re just styrene cutouts. But I just measured and a standing figure is 10mm high. Other vehicles are wildly out of scale (a Star Destroyer is about 5 inches long).
The legions are assembled, the AT AT’s are on standby, and the drop ships are fuelled…
Shall I begin deploying your troops, Master? 😉
Don’t make Ewoks becasue they’re lame as hell.
Okay, everyone (and especially @ants ), I’ve been working on some ideas for infantry units in the Star Wars PocketModels game. So far I have Storm Troopers (regular and elite), Clone Troopers (regular and elite), Endor Commandos (troopers and leaders), and B1 battle droids for Prequel battles.
The pictures are here for download. Cut and print on some kind of cardboard.
Enjoy! Beware the Dark Side. 🙂
http://www.beastsofwar.com/groups/sci-fi-gamer-town-square/forum/topic/star-wars-experimental-infantry-for-pocketmodels/
Too Cool! Brilliant way to get around have to get around cutting our individual people.
Amazing, thanks so much, the units look awesome!
No worries. I wanted to make these up anyway. Endor is pretty much impossible to do faithfully without some kind of infantry units (especially the Rebels). Echo Base troopers might be made up for another go at Hoth, and I’m making up lots of Clones (both generic units and the 501st) and B1 battle droids for another swing at Geonosis, hopefully tomorrow. 🙂
Fantastic stuff. There is no end to your creativity. And I see that there are elite versions of Clone Troopers, so ARC Troopers can be represented as well. Even better, as @gladesrunner says, the fact that the infantry come in representative units neatly avoids any problems with trying to cut out tiny individual figures. It is a great, nicely stylised solution.
And now there are options for infantry, dare we hope to see upgrade options to represent jedi and sith (pretty please)? The Geonosis arena battle springs to mind as a test option…
This doesn’t sound too hard. I suppose I would just make up pieces with just the one guy on them, and give them roughly the same value as elite troopers (thus, a solitary guy like Mace Windu or Darth Maul would have the equivalent combat power of a full squad of ARC troopers or 2-3 platoons of battle droids). They could have the “Leader” power match icon so they could be used in conjunction with the appropriate combat cards, etc. By only hesitation is that all the Jedi / Sith would come out largely the same. Would people want to… Read more »
I agree that we want to avoid overdoing it with too much Force influence on game outcomes, but I think it would be nice to be able to represent force users on the tabletop, expecially in the Clone Wars era when there were more of them about and they clealry had quite the impact on events. As for possible candidates, there are the core characters of Clone Wars era Obiwan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Darth Maul, Count Dooku, and of course you have to have the epicness that is Mace Windu. I would also like to see characters like… Read more »
I’m not usually a “Force” fan, but I gotta agree on Asajj. Damn, that chick was cool. And she had the sexiest damned voice! Okay, sold. I wasn’t going to make any of these guys because I typically can’t stand Prequel Anakin, Obi-Wan, etc . . . but I forgot about Asajj. So if I make up Asajj, I have to make up at least a couple “good guys” as well. No promises on delivery date, though. Seriously, I have a freakin’ backlog here of stuff that has to be built so we can run games that future articles need… Read more »
Sorry to add to the workload @oriskany. It is nice to meert a fellow Ventris fan. She was an under appreciated character who had a very interesting arc in the Clone Wars animated series, going from what appeared to be an outright villain to begin with, through a group of episodes that cast light on her troubled upbringing and background and showed how she never really had a chance to be anything but kind of twisted due to events beyond her control, before finally seeing the character evolve into a kind of sympathetic anti-heroine who operated according to her own… Read more »
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I said she had a sexy VOICE. 😀 I prefer my ladies with hair . . . and without homicidal tendencies. 🙂
Bald, potentially homicidal, and probably not great in relationship contexts she may have been (forgetting your aniversary/her birthday would probably be… lets just more unpleasant than usual), but at least she was a female character that no one could accuse of falling into the disempowered damsel in distress trope, and that is laudable in itself on the part of the writers. Now, returning swiftly to safer territory, how would one represent force user combat? ‘Base contact’ or extremely short ranged attacks to represent melee combat and force powers? Damage and accuracy bonuses to convey the skill of force wielding combatants… Read more »
Good question, @vetruviangeek . Well, I’d probably make them 3-star units. By comparison: 1 STAR: three guys on speeder bikes or Tauntauns a squad of battle droids 2 STAR: one AT-ST a squad of basic infantry (Stormtroopers or Hoth troopers) one Droid Tank 2 1/2 STAR (yes, I’ve started making half-star units … 🙁 ) 501st clones, Madine’s Commandos 3 STAR: One AT-TE One OG-9 Spider Droid ARC trooper squad 4 STAR: AT-AT or Juggernaut tank They’d have to have special rules like +2 to hit at 3 inches or less, -1 to hit at any range beyond that (up… Read more »
Sounds good to me, and as you say a jedi would be much more valuable as a commander rather than a personal warrior on the type of scale of engagements we are describing. Being able to slice and dice a few dozen battledroids at a time won’t help much in and of itself when you are facing thousands of clankers, but being able to effectively command a clone battallion could make all the difference, and the Leader trait really helps to convey that point and express the relationship between Force users and those not so gifted in the Starwars universe.… Read more »
As I was expanding the infantry types the other night, introducing “2 1/2” star units was really the only way to get things to line up the way I . . . and I think the community members like yourself . . . had in mind. Otherwise elite troopers like the 501st really couldn’t be better than generic storm/clone troopers, or ARC troopers really couldn’t be better than Rebel commandos or 501st Legion, etc. We really needed four levels: * true garbage, like B-1 battle droids (“Roger Roger . . .”) * small, fast units that are less than squad-sized… Read more »
That extra option of Half-Stars sounds like it really will make all the difference, allowing for that much finer of a gradation between different degrees of experience and effectiveness of the various units, and as you say offers the potential for a ‘David and Goliath’ style upset if the correct combination of cards comes into play.
Thanks for putting in all the extra work required to bring this aspect of the game to life. I appreciate it.
@oriskany – just caught up on the latest articles/posts. There are comments elsewhere but on behalf of myself thanks.
I bought a copy of Clone Wars Risk so time to look to meld the two.
This really is all hugely impressive @oriskany. Have you considered approaching the holders of the original IP licence with this approach? I think it would sell like hot cakes as an affordable large scale Starwars tabletop wargaming system, investment costs on their part would be modest, and with the agreement of the BoW guys you could promote it through this site and other wargaming community sites like Warseer and BoLs.
You would definitely have my support and money.
@vetruviangeek – Liek I was saying to zorg earlier, Topps shut the game down in November 2008 (back when WizKids was a subsidiary). According to what I could find, National Entertainment Collectors Association (NECA) bought many of the licenses for former WizKids games (I think HeroClicks is among these), but WizKids/NECA didn’t buy any Star Wars licenses and so isn’t going to produce any Star Wars games. So the current owners of this license are a defunct company, since NECA didn’t buy the license from Topps. NECA would have to buy the license from Topps, and then invest AGAIN to… Read more »
May the Force be with you, Master Oriskany… 😉