06 Sep
Posted by David Miller as CCGs, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, War Games
Spin Master is also in on the Star Wars The Force Awakens game with a product that makes me think “Star Wars Bakugan”. What you actually get with Star Wars Box Busters, though, is a simple battle game played with miniature scenes built in to small pop-open plastic cubes.
Players place their Box Buster cubes, closed, on a battle mat and roll a die. The die results include blast, double-blast, shield, and special. Each shield rolled by an opponent cancels a single blast but for each remaining blast, a player scores a hit. The first hit forces an opponent to pop open their cube. And enough hits will eventually destroy an opponent’s command center and win the game.
Also, players can save up to two die rolls. Not only can they be more useful in a later turn, but also certain combinations produce more powerful results, unique to the particular cube (for example, special+double-blast gives a player with Battle of Yavin five blasts in that one turn and special+special allows the player with Tusken Raider Attack to remove all damage from two cube areas).
In the Star Wars Box Busters series there are two two-cube sets for $16, Battle of Naboo & Battle of Hoth and Tusken Raider Attack & The Battle of Yavin, as well as five single-cube packs for $8-14, Battle of Yavin, Battle of Hoth, Endor Attack, Death Star, and Rebels TIE Fighter Attack.
06 Sep
Posted by David Miller as Card Games, Classic Board Games, Electronic Games, Miniatures, Modern Board Games, War Games
Friday marked the launch of a new crop of Star Wars toys. Based on the upcoming movie, The Force Awakens, these included lightsabers, action figures, animatronic characters, and programmable rolling droids. But what about the games?
Don’t worry! Hasbro’s got you covered…
Of course, there’s the obligatory The Force Awakens version of Star Wars Monopoly. It has a round board and replaces purchasing properties with establishing bases on planets (Coruscant, Endor, Tatooine, Hoth, and others). Player tokens in this version are miniature figures of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Finn, and Kylo Ren.
Then there’s the game everyone’s been excited about since we first got a peek at it back in April, Risk: Star Wars Edition. Not only is the board in the shape of a TIE fighter, the game comes with over 100 miniature space ships—X-wings, Y-wings, B-wings, and TIE fighters. Game play involves two opposing teams battling on three fronts—the Death Star, the shield assault, and the personal confrontation of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
Another one that looks like fun is Loopin’ Chewie. This one’s a dexterity game where the goal is to protect your storm troopers from being knocked off by a flying Millennium Falcon.
Back with strategy games, we have Star Wars Chess. The game’s the same but on one side the figures are Imperial characters and on the other side they’re Rebel characters. To help with identification, the base of each has an image of the matching traditional Chess piece.
In Star Wars Battleship one person plays with the Tantive IV, Millennium Falcon, X-wing fighters, and A-wing fighters, the other with the Finalizer, Imperial shuttle, Slave I, and First Order Special Forces TIE Fighters.
Star Wars Duels is a card game based on War. However, when played by more than two, individuals can team up to combine the strength of their cards.
For a younger crowd there’s Star Wars Hands Down. The goal with this one is to get rid of all one’s cards by being the first to slam down the card matching the image on a spinner.
And finally, there’s the word-guessing game, Star Wars Catch Phrase. Of course, the words are all from Star Wars and the electronics are housed in a little Millennium Falcon.