Publisher Atomic Mass Games has released rebalanced rules for a huge swathe of Star Wars Shatterpoint units, buffing up some of the game’s earliest releases, and curbing the power of some newer models that have been causing a disturbance in the force.
When Star Wars Shatterpoint released in 2023 we praised it for its dynamic combat, tight gameplay, and how well it captured the back and forth action of a really good Star Wars fight scene: check out our Star Wars Shatterpoint review for our full thoughts. But as Star Wars Shatterpoint’s roadmap has unfurled over the last two years, inevitably some early releases have been left behind by the best units released since.
You can download free, updated print and play cards for all the units that have been rebalanced from the Atomic Mass Games website. The firm also summarises the changes and explains its reasoning for each of them in an accompanying blog post.
Since just about every Shatterpoint player has a copy of the starter set, here are the biggest changes to the units in that box:
Ahsoka Tano, Jedi No More
- Gains Innate ability ‘You’ll Find I Have Many Qualities for You To Dislike’: when not Wounded, Ashoka and allied characters within Range two add one Expertise result to their Defense rolls
- ‘Fierce Protector’ reworded: when another allied unit is wounded by an enemy attack, Ahsoka heals three, then she may Advance or Jump (in any direction), and then may make a melee attack targeting the enemy character.
- Jar’Kai Stance Lightsaber Expertise chart improved: Crit and Strike on 1-2; two Crits on 3; three Crits on 4+.
- Form V Shien Reverse Grip has worse ranged defense, down to six.
- Form V Shien Reverse Grip expertise chart improved: Crit and Strike on 1-2; two Crits on 3; two Crits and Strike on 4+.
Asajj Ventress, Sith Assassin
- ‘Slip Away’ Reaction replaced by the Innate ability ‘Swift Retreat’: if she would Advance, she may instead Reposition.
- ‘Sith Assassin’ no longer grants healing. Instead, if Ventress wounds an enemy unit, you refresh one Force. If that was a Primary or Secondary unit, she may Reposition or Jump. Finally, if it was a Primary unit, you refresh an additional Force.
- Form II Makash combat tree overhauled; key differences are that the ability to use an Action has been replaced by two healing, and the addition of a fifth step which deals three damage.
- Form II Makash Twin Lightsabers expertise chart improved: all results are the same, but require one less Expertise to activate.
- Form II Makash Duelist Training expertise chart improved: results 2-3 and 4+ additionally inflict Exposed.
- Last two steps on Jar’Kai combat tree adjusted: penultimate step inflicts Pinned and deals one damage; final step deals three damage.
- Jar’Kai Twin Lightsabers expertise chart improved: all results are the same, but require one less Expertise to activate.
501st Clone Troopers
- Stamina increased from seven to eight.
- Combat tree gains +1 damage on first result.
- Ranged expertise chart improved: Crit on 1-2; Crit and Strike on 3+.
- Melee expertise chart improved: Strike on 1-2; two Strikes on 3+.
General Anakin Skywalker
- ‘I’m Going to End This’ now allows Anakin to change his Active Stance before making an additional melee attack. The attack can target any unit, not just the first unit he attacked.
- ‘This Is Where The Fun Begins’ is more aggressive. After Anakin Wounds any enemy unit, you refresh one Force. Then at the end of Anakin’s activation, if he Wounded a Secondary or Primary unit, all Galactic Republic Secondary and Supporting characters may Dash. If it was a Primary Unit, you move the Struggle token one space towards your Momentum tokens.
- Form V Djem So gains a ranged attack, with six dice and four range.
- Form V Djem So gains a new Force Crush ranged expertise chart: Crit on 1-2; Crit and Shove on 3; Crit, Strike, and Shove on 4+.
- Bottom branch of Form V Shien combat tree revised: first result inflicts two damage as well as Shove; third result now allows Reposition instead of Jump; final result inflicts two damage and Disarmed.
- Top branch of Form V Shien combat tree revised: first result now deals one damage and allows a Jump, final result now inflicts Strained and deals two damage instead of a Shove.
- Form V Shien Lightsaber expertise chart improved: Strike on 1; Crit and Strike on 2-3; two Crits and Strike on 4+.
There are a lot more updates to other units outside the starter set!
What do you think – will these and the other changes get your starter set heroes out of storage and back onto the table? We’d love to hear from you in the official Wargamer Discord community.
If the prospect of rules revisions and playing with printouts gives you a pressure headache, we can recommend some great Star Wars board games which you can rely on to be ready to play right out of the box!
Source: Wargamer
