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Star Wars Miniatures

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





Contents





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.
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, , and . 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).




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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 is a map and scenario book. A big surprise however is that no Ewoks are included.


Future planned sets are Bounty Hunters (September, 2006), and Galactic Conquest (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, though no further information has since been announced.






Gameplay

In Star Wars Miniatures, there are currently 9 different factions available for play. They are Rebel, Imperial, Republic, Separatist, New Republic, Yuuzhan Vong, Old Republic, Sith 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:





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:

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.

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).



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, which are used by the various leaders in the Star Wars universe (Darth Vader, General Veers, Padme Amidala - among others).
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).



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.


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.



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.



External links













 





From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.














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