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S02E33: Glancingly Gazing at Star Wars Gaming
34 Plays2 months ago
Fresh back from GenCon, here's a look at the current state of Star Wars tabletop gaming! Miniatures! Paint! Dice! It's all here!
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Email: SFASpod@gmail.com
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Transcript
Return from Gen Con
00:00:01
Speaker
We're looking at Star Wars Wargaming and we're doing it real quick. Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to Short for a Stormtrooper, a 15-minute Star Wars podcast. I'm your host, Bob Girard, and I am just back from Gen Con, which is the annual board game, tabletop game, mostly role-playing game convention.
The Scope of Gen Con
00:00:32
Speaker
It happens in Indianapolis every year. Used to be in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, real close to where I grew up, hence the Gen of Gen Con. But it has grown and grown. And oh my gosh, it is so big, folks. It is huge.
00:00:48
Speaker
Takes over the entire Indiana Convention Center, as well as the Lucas Oil Stadium where the Indianapolis Colts play, as well as all of the surrounding
Focus on Serious Gaming
00:01:00
Speaker
hotels. It is huge. I think they said there were about 70,000 people.
00:01:04
Speaker
at this thing. And as I said, it is mostly a kind of a a war gaming, you know, serious gaming, the the types that you're you're not going to find Candyland there or Monopoly at all.
00:01:19
Speaker
You're going to find games like Catan. You're going to find games like Ticket to Ride, maybe some of those European games that are becoming more and more popular.
00:01:30
Speaker
ah But an awful lot of role-playing
Games Played at Gen Con
00:01:32
Speaker
games. So we were there. We wound up playing. We played Dungeons & Dragons. That was really fun.
00:01:41
Speaker
We played a superhero game ah based on a system called... based on the hero system, it was from a ah game called Champions, but more generically known as the hero system. And the guys that ran this game had this amazing setup with miniatures. It was so immersive. They had these amazing miniatures.
00:02:03
Speaker
So that was a lot of fun. We played a Marvel superhero game and we played Daggerheart, which is kind of the new... It's kind of the new hotness in fantasy role-playing. you know Dungeons & Dragons has long been the elephant in the room, the 500-pound gorilla when it comes to fantasy-based role-playing games, but Daggerheart is getting more
Popularity of Star Wars Games
00:02:30
Speaker
and more popular. And I could tell you that whole story, but this is a Star Wars podcast.
00:02:34
Speaker
ah So you want to hear about Star Wars and gaming. And in fact, that is what I promised Last week, I said we were gonna go and we're gonna scope out the Star Wars games and report back on what we found.
00:02:47
Speaker
Well, part of the reason why I am stretching this a little bit more than I would have liked to is because we never got the chance to play any of the Star Wars games.
00:02:58
Speaker
I was hoping that we could sneak into a session but everything was sold out. So, you know, the good news there is Star Wars gaming is very alive. It's very popular, popular enough that all of the events sold out. So we weren't able to sneak in, but we were able to scope things out a little bit and get a little bit
Listener Insights on Star Wars Wargaming
00:03:18
Speaker
of information. So I'm gonna share with you all what I discovered and what I know now And this is an episode where I would really, really hope that if any of you, my listeners, are into this scene, if you know more about it than I do about the current state of Star Wars Wargaming,
00:03:41
Speaker
by all means, please get ahold of me and let me know and maybe I'll have you on the show or you know if you're shy, I'll just pass on the information to make sure that everything is correct. But let me share with you what I what i
Out of Print Star Wars Games
00:03:55
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know.
00:03:55
Speaker
First off, I was a little bit surprised not to see two games that I actually have played before and been involved with before. One I was only lightly involved with, I think I played just once or twice. It was called Star Wars Armada.
00:04:13
Speaker
And that was a war game where you were fighting with big capital ships, right? So like Imperial Star Destroyers against rebel blockade runners or you know the big Mon Calamari kind of bulbous ships that we see in Return of the Jedi, those type of ships.
00:04:33
Speaker
So kind of grand battle, it almost had the feel of naval battle game. That was Star Wars Armada. The game that I played a lot more of probably 12, 13 years ago was the Star Wars X-Wing miniatures
Miniatures Games: Legion vs. Shatterpoint
00:04:49
Speaker
game.
00:04:50
Speaker
And like it sounds, that was a game where you were fighting with the smaller craft. And so it was quicker and faster and it was like dog fighting. And that was a lot of fun.
00:05:02
Speaker
um I was expecting to see both of those games represented and did not see them anywhere. So, you know, I've done a little bit research. I think that they are out of print. They're, you know, out of circulation. So kind of both of those games have been hung up. I know that Fantasy Flight Games, who is the publisher of those games, had kind of moved some properties around between different studios and companies that it owns or has an interest in
00:05:34
Speaker
And it doesn't seem like X-Wing or Armada have survived the cut. So that was a little bit sad. But let me tell you what was really cool was there are two miniatures-based Star Wars games that definitely survived the cut. And these are what was really selling out left and right.
00:05:54
Speaker
And those games are Star Wars Shatterpoint and Star Wars Legion. These are both miniatures based games. And let me tell you the difference between them.
00:06:07
Speaker
Star Wars Legion is more, you know, it's almost similar to the X-Wing versus Armada. With Star Wars Legions,
Understanding Miniatures Wargaming
00:06:17
Speaker
you are controlling like troops.
00:06:20
Speaker
So it's gonna be more like, Imperial versus Rebels big land battles where your miniatures are not just going to be one character. They're going to be, you know, like a small troop of 10 or 15 different characters and you're engaging in that style of warfare.
00:06:42
Speaker
That's Star Wars Legion. Star Wars Shatterpoint is booked as a skirmish game. And so that is more focused on heroes or villains, single character heroes or villains in a fight.
00:06:57
Speaker
There will be other characters that come in to support these main characters. ah But it really is designed to be a fight between like one hero, one or two heroes, one or two villains.
00:07:11
Speaker
And like I said, these are all miniatures based games. So if you are familiar with... Games Workshop or Warhammer series, ah those type of things, the miniatures-based war games where you buy the models and then you paint the models and you're painting the models both of the characters that you're playing with, of the individual units and troops and heroes and villains, but you're also painting scenery and buildings and...
00:07:49
Speaker
trees and rocks and things like that. You set out all of the models of your buildings and trees and rocks and things like that. And you create a battlefield and then you operate with these miniatures on the battlefield. So You know, it's kind of a randomly created battlefield every time you're moving the characters in terms of of inches with rulers to know how far they move and to see how far away they are from each other for you to see if you're within range of like of blaster shots um or if you're close enough to attack with your lightsaber, that type of thing.
00:08:29
Speaker
Miniatures wargaming. at its best.
Impressive Setups at Gen Con
00:08:32
Speaker
And so both of those games are very, very popular in the Star Wars scene. Now, ah let me tell you guys, we saw some amazing, amazing setups of scenes.
00:08:49
Speaker
um And I took some pictures on them. I'm gonna put them on the Discord if you would like to take a look. ah Some amazing scenes. So like Kamino, the cloning facility, we saw represented there as a playfield.
00:09:02
Speaker
We saw the Endor Ewok village represented as playfield. Such great stuff. And then, you know, all sorts of random planets that you've never heard of. ah There were a couple of times when...
00:09:15
Speaker
when my kids were asking me, what does that play in it? I'm like, I have no idea. They either made it up or it's just something that I've never seen before. ah But it just ah amazing setups. They would blow your mind. And I know I would love to jump in and start being able to play on some of these.
00:09:34
Speaker
Unfortunately, we couldn't get into any sessions, but I will tell you that this is one of the sessions that we did get into was a miniatures painting session
Rekindling Interest in Painting Miniatures
00:09:45
Speaker
for a game called HeroScape. It's another much simpler miniatures based game.
00:09:51
Speaker
And in the process of playing painting my little miniature, i was like, you know, I really do enjoy this. This is a hobby that I kind of started getting into ah probably about a year and a half ago. and I was really hot into it for ah for a few months.
00:10:06
Speaker
And then i just kind of, um you know, lost the time to do it. But I realized through painting that miniature that this is something that I would be more interested in doing.
00:10:17
Speaker
So i am doing that. I'm taking a whole bunch of miniatures that I had bought before. I've got a whole bunch of these HeroScape miniatures and I have the miniatures that come in another game that I enjoy called Return to Dark Tower.
00:10:32
Speaker
These are all begging to be painted. So I'm gonna go through and I am going to paint these and then once I am done with that, I think I'm going to go ahead and pick up Star Wars Shatterpoint.
00:10:46
Speaker
Now, my friend Tad, who has been on the show before, had recommended a while ago that I start with Shatterpoint. That's the one that is more of the the heroes based, the skirmish based game.
00:10:58
Speaker
He said, because as a new painter, the models are a little bit bigger and so they are easier to paint. And that makes a lot of sense to me. So that is something that I am looking forward to exploring in the near future, Star Wars Shatterpoint.
Recommendations for Miniatures Games
00:11:13
Speaker
But if either of those sound interesting to you, to play a a Star Wars scenario where you're controlling Anakin Skywalker or you're controlling General Grievous and you've got your armies of Jedi and or clones um and or characters,
00:11:33
Speaker
And or droids, battle droids, that'd be Shatterpoint. And if you're interested in more, you know, troop warfare on ah on a smaller scale, you're going to look at Star Wars Legion.
00:11:48
Speaker
So I recommend taking a look at both of those. So that is kind of the status of that aspect of it.
Star Wars Unlimited Trading Card Game
00:11:55
Speaker
The other game that was represented in force at Gen Con was Star Wars Unlimited.
00:12:02
Speaker
And this is a trading card game. So if you're familiar or if you know anything about Magic the Gathering or Disney Lorcanna,
00:12:13
Speaker
ah These are some very popular trading card games and Star Wars Unlimited is a relatively new one. This is probably at least the second or third Star Wars trading card game that there has been.
00:12:29
Speaker
over the many years, but this one seems to have caught on very, very strong. And this is one that, again, I have the starter set for, and I played once with my friend Harrison, we had my friend Harrison, my son Harrison, he is my friend, but he's also my son. He's been on this show before.
00:12:47
Speaker
And we played it once, we had a really good time. But ah we just haven't played it again since. So, you know, I might get back into that at some point. But with all these new hobbies that I'm adding and trying to keep a couple podcasts going, it probably is going to be a while before I get back into that. But if that sounds interesting to you,
00:13:08
Speaker
I would say to check out Star Wars Unlimited. If you like your Magic the Gathering, if you like your Hearthstone online, you might wanna try Star Wars Unlimited.
Preview of Star Wars Zero Company
00:13:19
Speaker
The last thing that I will talk about in this department is something that I am excited for coming soon. It's not a board game, but it's got the feelings of it. And it is called
00:13:33
Speaker
Star Wars Zero Company, or at least it will be called Star Wars Zero Company. This is a game that is being developed. It is a computer game, but it has all of the strategy and tactics of the type of war game that I was talking about.
00:13:47
Speaker
If you have ever played a computer game called XCOM, It's very similar to that game. And I believe that a few of the developers of XCOM are part of the team that is making Star Wars Zero Company.
00:14:02
Speaker
So this is going to be a game that is set during the Clone Wars. You are controlling a group of clones and it's tactical warfare. I'm sure that every clone is going to have their own different specialties.
00:14:16
Speaker
ah You know, you can buff them up to play different roles and then you will have to ah to command them through the various missions. This is something that's going to be coming out, I think, fairly soon. So next year, says.
00:14:30
Speaker
Next year it' will be available. And oh, it looks like it won't just be on the PC. It will also be on PlayStation and Xbox. So that might be something that you want to check out if you are interested in this.
00:14:44
Speaker
So, lot of you know lot of space here with Star Wars.
Upcoming Star Wars Role-Playing Games Discussion
00:14:49
Speaker
ah You might be surprised that I didn't play any of the Star Wars role-playing game either.
00:14:56
Speaker
And again, it was something that we looked at, couldn't get into any sessions. And, you know, we were all kind of trying to figure out what we wanted to do. So i didn't get into the Star Wars role playing game here. But I do you have intention coming up shortly to bring my friend Tad Lechman back on.
00:15:14
Speaker
He is an expert game master of role playing games. And we are going to talk about the Star Wars role playing game in more depth and maybe have a few more surprises.
00:15:25
Speaker
So again, if you know more about these games than I do, please get back in touch with me. Let me know, correct me, fill in more information, and I will happily bring that information to all of you.
Podcast Engagement Encouragement
00:15:38
Speaker
In the meantime, thanks for joining me today. i Hope you like this. Please, if you did, or even if you didn't, just hit like, hit subscribe, tell all your friends about this show, leave us a comment.
00:15:50
Speaker
All of those things help people discover us. In the meantime, may the force be with you. We'll see you next week. Take care. Bye-bye. Aren't you a little short?
00:16:01
Speaker
Aren't you a little short? Aren't you a little short for a smart trooper? Aren't you a little short for a smart?