Star Wars Shatterpoint: First Contact Mission Pack

Atomic Mass Games zeigen neue Infos zum First Contact Mission Pack.

Databank Download: “First Contact” Mission Pack

Welcome! This preview transmission is examining the very dynamic new mission pack for Star Wars™: Shatterpoint First Contact.

Like other new mission packs released since the initial waves of releases, First Contact broadens the tactical scope of play and challenges for the battlefield. Its flavorful Struggle Cards offer many new options and can radically shift the flow of play, likely surprising even experienced players who are comfortable and familiar with the missions that have come before. The introduction of a new mission pack into your Strike Team construction decisions can be used to represent entirely different clashes between adversaries, ones where the objectives and stakes shift rapidly as the battle ebbs and flows. The most adept leaders must adapt to the evolving battlefield created by its randomly selected Struggle Cards to prevail. Due to the nature of the Mission Rule, these cards can give even a struggling underdog the chance to turn the tide by swapping the Struggle Card or engaging in a Clever Ploy that can potentially reverse fortune and regain the upper hand to seize a narrow victory from what had seemed to be certain defeat.

First Contact, as its name suggests, depicts a sudden encounter between opposing forces who have run into each other suddenly and potentially unexpectedly, forcing them to act quickly to escape disaster. This might take place during a boarding action where one ship has crashed into another and has sent a Strike Team to seize vital supplies, sensitive information, or key personnel on the waylaid vessel. It could also represent opposing factions rushing into a busy town market or central square to secure strategically critical positions, which might include stashed resources or technology required by both sides. Having just arrived on the scene and having to scramble after spotting the enemy, each side will only have a brief window to seize the initiative and get their soldiers into the ideal tactical position. Essential to this will be leveraging Clever Ploys to secure their objectives, featured in the deck’s Struggle Cards. These Ploys vary considerably and can represent unexpected ruses and deceptions to throw off the enemy’s fragile momentum or to recover from setbacks.

The Mission Card has a new Unique configuration of objectives. This means players will have to develop new strategies to place their Units in optimal positions for the first struggle and beyond. The second and third Struggle will test these skills even further as the Active objectives have the ability to change while you are in the middle of them.

Before we dig too deeply into that, let’s talk about the aforementioned Clever Ploys. Each time a player reveals a Shatterpoint, and does not shuffle it in. Both Players get a special effect. These effects are quite varied and sometimes you get to choose among many. For example the Mission Card We Get one Chance both players will have to pick from a variety of effects that can greatly impact the Struggle. Since both players get the effect choosing how to apply them can determine the difference between claiming that struggle card and not.

For the second and third Struggles things can change even more drastically. The Mission Rule allows during these struggles, if their opposing player controls three or more of the active objectives, that player can spend a Force or a Momentum to swap the Mission Card with one of the ones from that same struggle that have been set aside. This gives players a chance to rally from a bad position by changing the very objectives both players are trying to secure. This rewards flexible and adaptive strategies ready to take on whatever new challenge gets presented.

Due to the fact the Clever Ploy changes when the Struggle Card is changed, creates interesting situations to navigate. Does a player swap the Mission Card, to gain advantage in the objective game, but risk the new Clever Ploy can be used more powerfully by their opponent, or does that player play the long game, waiting for a Shatterpoint, because they are poised and ready for the Clever Ploy.

These exciting new mechanics come together to create an unpredictable, and ever changing battlefield that will test each strike team to the limit. Now, remember friends, whether you want to use a Clever Ploy to reposition your Primary Unit onto a critical objective and thwart your opponent’s plans or pull the rug out from under them by swapping the Struggle—no plan survives First Contact with the enemy!

Until next time, Atomic Mass Games, signing off!

Quelle: Atomic Mass Games