AMG just previewed the rules for how Star Wars: Shatterpoint gameplay mechanics, like force use, will actually work on the tabletop.
We’ve seen the unboxing of the new Star Wars Shatterpoint starter set, and some rules previews. However this is probably the most significant reveal up until this point from AMG. That being said, the rules for playing on the tabletop is the biggest point we would like to know more about now.
If you want to see what the models look like and where you can grab yours, you can check that out here. For now, though, let’s check out the new rules from Atomic Mass Games.
AMG Reveals Star Wars: Shatterpoint Gameplay Mechanics!
The game uses 5 range tools for measuring things like abilities and attacks: 4 range tools numbered 2-5 and a shove tool. Range 1 abilities can be measured using the short end of any of the Range tools or either end of the shove tool. Movement in Shatterpoint uses just two movement tools. The long movement tool is used when a character makes an advance, while the short movement tool is used for a number of different movements like dashing, jumping, and climbing. The use of these tools means that measuring anything in the game is fast and easy.
Movement sticks and aides are a cornerstone of AMG games, so this really isn’t anything too crazy.
Like the vast majority of tabletop games, Shatterpoint uses dice to determine the outcome of various actions, most notably attacks. There are two types of dice in Shatterpoint. Attack Dice which are eight-sided and Defense Dice which are six-sided. We’ll be going over the dice and how they are used in far more detail in an upcoming article.
So, there will be d6s and d8s which is pretty standard honesty. From there it also looks like the attackers will have the advantage with the d8s. But, we’ll hopefully see those rules soon!
Actions
During a player’s turn, they get the chance to activate one of their Units. When a Unit activates it can make up to two actions. The basic actions in Shatterpoint are:
- Move – Each character in the Unit may advance, dash, or climb.
- Focus – The next attack made by each character in the Unit this activation adds 1 die to its attack roll
- Combat – Each character in the Unit may make an attack
- Ability –The Unit may use an ability that requires the use of an action
- Recover – Each character in the Unit may Heal. When a character Heals it may remove one Condition or 1 Damage from itself or another allied character within Range 2 of it.
- Take Cover – Each character in the Unit is Pushed and gains a Hunker Token which improves its defense against Ranged attacks.
In addition to its standard actions, many characters have unique abilities that they can use during play. We will take a closer look at these abilities and how they function in a future article.
Again, nothing too insane for actions, as they seem somewhat standard. Still, it’s nice each character has so many options, and that special characters get unique actions too.
Unit Activation & Cards
Unit activation works quite a bit differently from any of Atomic Mass Games’ other games and is purposefully designed once again to help create the experience of the high tension and somewhat tumultuous action of the best Saturday morning animated stories. Shatterpoint’s battles aren’t the carefully planned out, strategic affairs you find in games with large armies duking it out. These are the moments where our heroes and villains have been thoroughly thrown from the expected and now must use their cunning and wits to seize victory and change the course of fate. To bring this feeling to the game, players have very little control over how and when each Unit will activate. Each Unit has its own Order Card. At the start of the game, each player shuffles all their Unit Order Cards together, along with a special Shatterpoint Order Card to create their Order Deck.
Adding cards to the game can really add some fun stuff! Especially when you have to shuffle the cards in, and you can’t just pick out precisely what you want. It also seems like the Shatterpoint cards will add some more variety.
However, not everything is completely out of the player’s control. Each player has the option to place a just drawn card in Reserve (for a cost). If a player chooses to place their drawn Order Card in reserve, they immediately draw the next Order Card from the top of their deck and must activate that Unit instead. On future turns a player with a card in reserve may choose to activate that Unit instead of drawing the top card of their Order Deck. A player may only ever have one card in Reserve at a time, so players must choose wisely when to use this ability.
In addition to the Reserve mechanic, players also each have an extremely powerful Shatterpoint card. The Shatterpoint Card acts like a wild card, allowing players to activate the Unit of their choice, even a Unit that has already Activated with its own Order Card previously.
At the end of a player’s turn, if they have no Order Cards left in their Order Deck or reserve, they Refresh their Order deck by removing any Order Cards for defeated Units and then shuffling the remaining cards from the Order Discard Pile together to form a new Order Deck.
Adding the reserve pile is very interesting, especially if it’s a Shatterpoint card, where you can have a huge swing turn. It is also cool that it seems to force you from just always using the same plan.
Star Wars: Shatterpoint Gameplay Mechanics: Using the Force
At the start of the game players determine the Will of the Force by adding Force tokens to their Force pool equal to the combined total of all Force stats on their strike team’s Unit Stat Cards. Typically, only Primary Units have a Force stat, so most often a strike team’s Force pool will be equal to the combined Force stats of its two Primary Units.
What would a Star Wars game be without The Force? From the looks of it this will be a limited resource that lasts the whole game, so you’ll have to choose wisely when to use your points.
Throughout the game players will spend Force to activate their Unit’s abilities and to place Order cards in reserve. It is up to each player to carefully weigh how to use their limited Force pool when activating their Units. Should they spend a majority of it early on a couple of powerful activations? Or should they be more sparing with the Force available to them, letting every Unit potentially use some of their abilities but not all? Smart use of a player’s Force pool will mean the difference between victory and defeat.
We’ll have to see some more abilities, but being able to jump all over the place seems to be “on-brand” for Anakin!
Click Here to Get Your Star Wars: Shatterpoint Core Set
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
