It has just been over a year since Star Wars: Shatterpoint graced the shelves of games stores everywhere. Since its release it has been growing in both terms of product as well as its following. It is a game that many are enjoying – and rightfully so. It is a skirmish game that is easy to teach, hard to master and has a scale of miniatures that just begged to be painted. I have already painted a number of units and I always do so with such a level of enjoyment that I find hard to match in other games.
I say a number of units, for it is not all of them, not by a long shot. For although the larger scale models are gorgeous, there is something else about the game that has had a rather strange impact on me, the terrain. Shatterpoint is a game where the terrain is extremely important. Now don’t get me wrong, there are lots of games where terrain is important. Those games will give you token pieces of terrain to scatter across your battlefield. Shatterpoint is not like that, the terrain provided in the box is stunning and elevates the gaming experience like no other.
Before I devoted myself to Shatterpoint, my boys and I played Warhammer. It’s one of the most accessible games in terms of finding products (perhaps for ease of use) and when I first entered the hobby with my boys, I decided to build a Kill Team board for us. Oh, it was glorious, but the amount of work it took was intense to say the least. Staying up late into the night trying to get more work on buildings done, it was grueling. Yet when I stepped back to admire my work, I couldn’t be happier. It was an amazing achievement, one that I’m still proud of to this day…. With the problem that after a few plays of it, Atomic Mass Games released Marvel Crisis Protocol. That was it, my boys (and myself) fell in love with the game, never looked back to Warhammer and I ended up selling the board. It was then I swore I would never waste so much time on terrain again…
…Until Atomic Mass Games released Star Wars: Shatterpoint (you might be noticing a theme here and one that makes me slightly worried about the next system the company will release). The terrain straight out of the box was oozing with Star Wars. I couldn’t help looking at it and wanting to paint it. It was also at this time that I discovered Archive X paint; a paint that can only be described as true Star Wars paint. These two things happened within a month of each other, and I knew I was back down the rabbit hole (or should that be the space slug hole?). I did paint a few units, but my heart was in the terrain.
When you look at the care and design that has gone into the terrain, it is no wonder why painters are flocking to get these things painted. Being a huge fan of Tatooine, I went with a desert style and was amazed at the detail and look I could get from these pieces. The board came even more alive when my sons and I were playing. The presence of this game is very impressive.
So, after one year, I finally finished my final piece of Shatterpoint terrain! And yes I am ignoring that there is a future terrain release coming very soon – perhaps too soon – as I want to revel in this small victory! It seemed like a good time to talk about the terrain but more importantly what time has brought – experience. There are lots of incredibly talented players who are not only painting the terrain but are now customizing it. Changing it to help aid the games even better. I wrote on one of my terrain articles about a custom piece I created to provide more higher-level options. It works great! But then I came across another idea that floored me. Someone had put two of the smaller pieces together to create a square, a square that had four different directions for gangways, for both levels. I gazed at this simple yet gorgeously well throughout design and knew immediately I had to create it myself.
Simple is the word, deceptively simple. It is such an obvious creation that no-one had thought to do it, yet it opens up the playing field massively. With so many options, it allows players to customize their board so easily. Whether you want it at the center of the board fielding having gangways going off in all four directions you can, heck they can all be level two, or level one, or both! It’s this sort of customisation that is fantastic for games as it lends itself to a lot of variability. I’m very happy to be able to add it to the Jedi News battlefield.
I’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. Fans have got to grips with the terrain, played games, noticed what is lacking and are now starting to play a bit more freely with the pieces. With an imminent terrain set fast approaching (and more painting to be done), I can’t wait to see what the next year might bring us, not only in terms of units, but also in terms of this gorgeous terrain that Atomic Mass Games should be so proud of.
