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Each Starship Battles Starter Set contains eight randomized, fully painted, plastic miniatures, two exclusive miniatures -- Super Star Destroyer Executor and Mon Calamari Star Defender Viscount, full-color game stat cards, an illustrated battle map, 20-sided die, rulebook, two Fleet Commander cards and Damage and Command counters. Each Starship Battles Booster Pack contains seven randomized, pre-painted, fully-assembled, durable plastic starship miniatures from the Star Wars universe and full-color game stat cards.
There are 60 unique miniatures in the Starship Battles set. All miniatures packages are randomized and made up of figures of varying rarity: common, uncommon and rare miniatures. These miniatures can be used to play skirmish-level or mass-battle combat scenarios or to add dimension to Star Wars role-playing games.
Sterling Hershey, contributing writer for the Star Wars Miniatures, says the Starship Battles set is a whole new game created specifically for fans interested for fast paced fleet combat. "Capital ships slug it out while waves of fighters clash around them," Hershey says. "Each ship features stats, weapons and abilities that reflect their role in the Star Wars universe. The ships themselves look very impressive on the game table and feature a fair amount of detail. Many pieces are very large, but it is worth noting that not all are to scale with each other. Since Starship Battles is its own game, fans need not own previous Star Wars Miniatures sets to play. The overall look of the game in play is fantastic, from the double-sided full color stat cards to the ships themselves. I'm partial to the amount of detail and paint schemes on some of the larger capital ships."
Not only is new set exciting for gamers, but collectors will also enjoy the beautifully-detailed miniatures themselves. "Many of these ships have never been available as a physical miniature or model before, especially those from Episode III and the Expanded Universe," Hershey says. "Every major ship from the Star Wars movies is represented, as are the most popular craft from the Expanded Universe. There are a fair number of lesser known craft in the set as well."
As with previous Star Wars Miniatures sets, Hershey writes new scenarios for publication on the Wizards of the Coast website. "A scenario may replicate a specific scene from the movies or Expanded Universe, but is often a completely new situation," Hershey explains. "Each scenario starts off with a background story, then details the characters or ships used by each player, plus the victory conditions. Most scenarios also include specific rules to help make the mission unique and support the background story. I, along with Gary Sarli, also write previews of selected ships to give players a sneak peak of what's coming." In addition to Hershey's scenarios and previews, he also writes about the game on his VIP blog Delusions of Grandeur. For fans who want to use the new Star Wars Miniatures Starship Battles Game Starter Set, he offers a few game-playing tips.
"Fighters are important," Hershey says. "Field as many as you can, as early as you can in the game. They also don't last very long, so take maximum advantage of their abilities while you can. There is nowhere to hide in space. Unlike the character-based Star Wars Miniatures game, there are no walls to hide behind and there is no cover. The larger ships can fire at any other ship on the board, with a few limitations when it comes to fighters. However, some ships have better (or more) weapons to the sides or front of the ships. Keep out of those fire arcs whenever you can and target any ship that exposes its weaker sides to your line of fire."
"Target Class 3 ships, such as the Millennium Falcon, early in the game before the fighters close to attack," Hershey continues. "The Class 3 ships are weaker than the capital ships but often feature better weapons and abilities than the fighters. Some ships feature Commander Effects that allow you to gain certain bonuses during game play. Maximizing the use of Commander Effects takes some practice. Use the effects too early and you might not have them for a critical situation late in the game. However, then you run the risk of losing the ship before using the Commander Effect."
Get an advanced look at the new Starship Battles game by reading the online rulebook. Check out the Starship Battles Preview 1 featuring information on the Mon Calamari Star Defender Viscount and Super Star Destroyer Executor.
Read more preview articles from authors Sterling Hershey and Gary M. Sarli, as well as additional information about the new expansion set on the official Wizards of the Coast site here.
Also be sure to check out Star Wars Miniatures contributing missions writer Sterling Hershey's VIP blog Delusions of Grandeur for behind the scenes information on various Star Wars RPG projects.
