First game of Star Wars: Shatterpoint
A few observations about the game
The card-based activation system made the game really interesting. There aren’t a lot of games that do this (Mythic Battles: Pantheon is the only one that immediately comes to mind), and it leads to a different approach to your decision making: instead of asking “what should I do now?” at the start of your turn, you are asking “what should this character do now?” which makes the action seem more immediate and urgent.
Similarly, the I-go you-go turn structure means you get more opportunities to react to what your opponent is doing, and also makes the game seem like a fast-paced, action-packed battle like the ones we frequently see in the Clone Wars animated show.
One other thing I found especially interesting was that each of us only reshuffled our activation deck twice during the entire game. This means that each unit only activated 2 or 3 times during the game. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but even with only two actions per activation, each unit is able to do a lot on their turn.
I can honestly say that after our first full game, Shatterpoint feels a lot more fluid and reactive than any of the other skirmish games I’ve played, with a lot of opportunities for cinematic moments. We very much enjoyed the game and will definitely be trying to play regularly.
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