It’s that time of year when we look back at the releases and updates to Shatterpoint, the mighty Star Wars skirmish game from Atomic Mass Games, following the huge recent balance update, and look at the recent waves of releases (that’s part 2 though). There’s still a fair bit to cover here, which is not a bad thing.
Let’s start with the core box!
CORE SET CHANGES
Anakin feels much more hitty, which is great: for 2 Force, he now gets to make a second attack and flip stance to boot. Plus, he now has proper ranged attack options! This properly feels like Anakin that becomes Vader #spoileralert. Ahsoka has always been a good reactive piece but now she’s a GREAT reactive piece, her response movement being now a choice of Move or Jump on top of 3 Heals AND getting the full attack of her current stance. Plus, she gains a new ability granting a single defence expertise to every ally with R2 whilst she is not wounded. As if I couldn’t love her more. The 501st, meanwhile, get a welcome stamina boost with healing on their tree also. Incidentally, all the rank and file clones get this or similar boosts, with 212th also getting Sharpshooter (1) to keep that back field advantage.
On the darker side of things, only Asajj got attention (rightly so, Maul is a machine), and it’s just a question of consistency of damage output, whilst always gaining a benefit from the damage she deals. Thematic, a nice buff, without being excessive.
FOR THE REPUBLIC!
As for Clone secondaries, Commander Cody now has increased mobility and grants exposed – I’m not 100% that this necessarily complements General Kenobi fully, but it’s a more viable pick than before in what is famously the most valuable and contentious slot in a list. Ponds has similarly had a boost and now has a reason outside of Mace to exist with his ability to massively forward deploy.
Speaking of Mace Out the Windu, he’s now been buffed to 7SP. That’s frankly amazing and suddenly he’s a whole lot more interesting. Obviously he was always great, especially with ARFs, but now there’s so many more list building opportunities and you’re not forced into a few narrow choices that are easily countered on the Battlefield. Oh, and ANYONE can use his Shatterpoint ability now. So, wow.
And as for ARFs (and Elite Squadron Troopers, to a lesser extent), they’ve had Coordinated Fire 4 removed. Now I do understand this, ARFs have been the overwhelmingly dominant trooper pick for Republic lists for a long time, but I’m not sure if that’s not a nerf too far.
THE POWER OF THE DARK SIDE
Jango, meanwhile, has been nerfed – not to oblivion, but now he’s far less of an auto-pick. Tbh, I’m surprised he wasn’t nerfed earlier given his dominance in the early meta; less force refresh is not a bad thing. Aurra Sing, meanwhile, has been a bit lacklustre from the outset, so now picks up the ability to gain tags from the rest of your force just as other bounty hunters do – a massive step in the right direction.
One of the big problems in the game had been how strong big hefty droids were: both Magnaguards and Dark Troopers were incredibly efficient for their cost; it’s no great surprise then that both have been nerfed. DTs now have reduced stamina (booooo) and a less potent defense expertise pool – though still lethal on the attack – whilst Magnaguards have been similar scaled back in stamina and in their melee expertise. I think Dark Troopers will still have a place, but that might tip the balance on Magnaguards; granted they were very dominant, but Separatists have relatively choices. Not that I’m a bitter Separatist player, oh no.
Whilst some changes are just a little bit of thematic tinkering – Gwarm and the Weequay pirates can now Climb while engaged, for example, Jedi Luke’s support ability stretches a full R5, Vader has been toned down a bit, Obi-Wan’s Mind Trick reworded for clarity – others are more fundamental.
INFRENO SQUAD
Hask and the ISF have a had a pretty major nerf, all in all. Hask can now only boost supporting units, which isn’t major but brings him more into line with similar Secondaries. This also balances the ISF losing the top end of their damage (boo!) but Reposition being lower down the tree (woo!) provides a bit more mobility.
EWOKS AND FRIENDS
I’m a bit of a sucker for an Ewok list, even if they do get relegated a bit just to friendly games, as they were always highly situational. However, both Chief Chirpa and Logray have had a reword, partly for clarity but also to give you further boosts when your troops go down. In addition, Threepio and Artoo have been buffed across the board (they SHOULD be hard to put down, after all) and rejigged so that Divine Influence gives a range of boosts: granting either SCALE or STEADFAST to hold down those objectives or scamper away. Where in the past I’d typically sub in Bossk to be a meat grinder (giving Bounty Hunters tags is still so good), you now have solid back field support that can hold objectives whilst providing a nice set of buffs.
JEDI HUNTERS
Finally, these have had a major overhaul, so much so that I IMMEDIATELY went out and bought them!
The Grand Inquisitor is now more like other Force users insofar as he now has a dedicated melee stance and a more ranged one (and the ability to flip Reactively) as well as free moves for allied Inquisitors. Secrets Uncovered, however, is now truly terrifying, simply removing an opponent’s control of an objective for 2 Force. Similarly, 3rd and 4th Sister have had major buffs, with 3rd sister now granting a free dash and attack to a supporting unit (as well as receiving general stat increases) – to the benefit of both 4th Sister and 5th Brother – whilst 4th Sister herself becomes more mobile, with Reposition replacing any standard Move she makes.
So that’s it for part one – part two will look at Jedi Council, Rogue One Rebels and more!
ONGOING GIVEAWAY
While you’re here, you should definitely check out our MyScore Tracker app giveaway where you can win yourself a free code for a tasty app which can track all your scores, stats, dice and more in handy digital form for all of your games. Check out the post by CLICKING HERE for details of how to enter.
The Writer of this piece was: Sam Graven
Article Archive: Geeking Out
You can follow Sam on Instagram at @big_geekingout
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