I’ve loved this year for Star Wars: Shatterpoint. I love the Clone Wars era, but my passion is most definitely for the Rebellion era. This year, with a few exceptions, has been about this era. So many awesome characters have been released, meaning players can create squads that allow them to recreate some of the saga’s most iconic battles. Not only that, but we have had multiple releases of the same character, taken from different points in the trilogy.
As much as I wanted it, I didn’t think we’d get two releases of Lando Calrissian. Having him included as part of the ‘Jabba’ wave I thought was all we’d see, at least for a little bit. Yet this was not going to stop Atomic Mass Games giving us the version I think we all probably wanted; the version of him from The Empire Strikes Back. Not only that but we’d get him with Lobot and some wing guards to give us a full squad directly out of Bespin. I was intrigued to see what this squad would bring and how the game was going to deal with Lando at this point in the timeline, I mean, he doesn’t really know what side he’s on – which side do we as players put him on!
With all this playing through my mind I dived straight into the box for some answers! As always, there are the cards, bases, leaflet and sprue. The sprue is very compact, even by Shatterpoint standards. Even when the instructions are loaded from following the QR code on the enclosed leaflet, each character only has three steps with the exception of Lando, who has four (because that extra step has to take into account his cape… ok that’s kind of cool and thematic!). It seems like a very straightforward squad to construct.
We start with Lando and with the expectation of his cape, the build for Lando is mirrored in every other one of the characters for this unit: two body parts together, legs together, attach these two together, add the arms and add the head. I’ve mentioned before about sets that would be ideal for beginners who are just getting into the hobby, this would certainly be one of those sets that I would recommend. With only one weapon being held two handed and no complicated pieces, this is a very straightforward set. There aren’t any alternate builds (which although nice, I just don’t see how they would have fitted into this set) to make you pause, it’s just follow, cut and glue.
Rather than continue through the same build again and again, let’s take a quick look at the sculpts. Lando is simply incredible. His face is Billy Dee Williams to perfection, right down to the little smirk he has playing on his lips. The folds of the fabric really give this sculpt that extra bit of detail. I’m really pleased that although it would have been easy to do a character with more motion, that the sculptor has refrained from it. This feels like Lando through and through. While some cloaks can be a bit of a pain to align just right, having Lando’s arm as part of the cape, makes gluing it into place so simple, I wish more were done like this.
Lobot is simple to put together and like Lando, has a beautifully reserved stance. It is more action centered than we see from the character in The Empire Strikes Back, but not so much that he seems silly. The pose has an element of coolness to it, that I have always associated with the character. My only suggestion, because of the pose of the character, I would attach the head before the right arm.
Then it’s the two wing guards. These are more dynamic, and it works that they are, they are the ones following Lando and Lobot’s orders. What I also love is the understated equality of the pieces. There is a lot of trying to make things more equal in the world, but it usually goes too far, to make it obvious, to make the issue more of an issue. Here, Atomic Mass Games have one of the guards as a female, perfect. Completely equal, better representation and it just is. The models themselves look great, just like Lando the folds of the clothes work really well and the detail on the jackets is excellent. The female guard is the one to be holding her blaster two handed. Glue the left arm first and the right will easily fit into place.
As a squad these look superb. They are well matched in terms of poses, the leader and secondary clearly evident amongst the troops. Yes, there might be no variation, but I don’t actually miss that. It was just pleasurable to construct a straightforward squad.
Onto the cards themselves and let’s start with the primary, Lando. He gives you eight spending points, which isn’t bad, but only provides two force. I wouldn’t really expect more from Lando, but in a game, that is a rather low amount of force to try and work with. Looking at his stance card, Lando is definitely one you want to keep at ranged. On his ‘Pure Sabacc’ side, he rolls eight dice as opposed to five in melee and if you get three or more expertise in ranged, it converts to four hits! In terms of damage, he can do a maximum of eight damage if you carefully move through his combat tree. Unless you are rolling lots of misses, this shouldn’t be too hard to achieve. His other side, ‘Idiot’s Array, has six dice for melee and seven for ranged and again, it’s a maximum of eight damage. This side pays off more in terms of damage if you don’t get as many hits, but I think you’ll find it unusual to use this side over ‘Pure Sabacc’. Looking at Lando’s abilities, he doesn’t have any abilities that cost a force. It certainly helps to alleviate the pressure of when to use your limited amount of force and on what. His tactic allows Lando to pick a scoundrel unit within four that isn’t wounded. If they’re allied, they can dash. Then Lando can remove all conditions from himself and give it to them instead! This latter applies to both allied and enemies. It’s a great way to load enemies up with conditions if they’re playing scoundrels, although maybe not so great if they don’t have the tag! ‘Hedged Bets’ allows you – when you refresh your order deck – to choose a unit for each readied force. If they’re allies, you can remove a condition; if they’re an enemy, you can give them any condition. Both of these abilities are Lando deciding which side to play and thus, is so thematic. The latter, while sounds great, won’t happen too many times in a game and I wonder how many times it’ll get applied to an enemy as by the time you’re ready to refresh your order deck, I imagine you’ll have a fair few units you’ll want conditions removed from. ‘Sabacc Shift’ allows you to give a condition to Lando when his card is revealed from the order deck. If you do, you can refresh two force and place Lando back in the order deck, reshuffle and redraw. The fact it doesn’t cost a force and refreshes the low force that Lando gives you seems to balance out the issue of not having much force. The final ability – Lando’s identity ability – allows him to gain either the Galactic Empire tag or Rebel Alliance tag. Also, when you reveal an order card, you can choose a scoundrel unit and give it a tag that Lando himself has. I really like the look of Lando, not only does he seem very thematic, but he appears to be really interesting to play.
Onto the secondary, and while Lando gave lots of spending points, Lobot is going to take most of them – five in fact. That’s a high cost for a secondary, a cost we don’t see too often, so is Lobot worth the extra expenditure? Seven dice for ranged and six for melee isn’t bad and his damage output can be a maximum of seven is ok, but not amazing. He can also activate one of his abilities – ‘Security Network’ – which we’ll look at in a moment. His tactic, ‘Detain’, allows you to choose an allied scoundrel unit and they can dash. Then, if they’re within three of an enemy, you can give that enemy pinned or disarmed. It seems like it will be useful, and my main thought was what a great combo with Lando. But then I wouldn’t want Lando too close to the enemy! ‘Security Network’ is the only ability that costs a force and can be activated from the combat tree. You choose an allied secondary or supporting unit with the scoundrel key word. They can dash and then make a five dice attack against an enemy contesting an objective. While this could be very useful, that’s a lot of conditions to meet to make it work as well as it should. I wonder how easy that will be to pull off on the tabletop? ‘Battlefield Calculations’ means when another allied unit ends a movement action (advance, climb, dash or jump) within two of Lobot, they can focus. Very handy but with all of Lobot’s abilities, he wants units to stay close to him.
Finally, it’s ‘Lockdown’, in which while Lobot isn’t wounded, opponents can’t remove control tokens from an objective that have one or more characters contesting. This is a huge one and will certainly put a target on Lobot’s back. I mean, that is certainly game changing. While it’s impressive, I’m not sure how I feel about Lobot costing five points. I’m already thinking I’d rather switch him out for one of the new bounty hunter units that would perhaps suit my play style more. But let’s not dismiss him just yet.
Finally, it’s the three point cost Wing Guards. Five dice in ranged, six in melee and a maximum of five damage on their tree, they’re not great. However, they do only cost three points. In terms of abilities, they have one that costs a force: ‘Headlong Assault’. This allows each character in the unit to dash and if they end within two of an enemy, they get to focus and get impact one. That could certainly be helpful as I imagine your next action would be a melee attack! ‘Rapid Response’ means that putting this unit card in reserve costs one less force. Then we have ‘Security Force’, which while they are contesting an objective, they gain steadfast. While they are not earth shattering, having the scoundrel keyword does mean that they will work well with Lando and Lobot. However, they like to be in combat, Lobot likes to be close by and your enemy is going to be after Lobot.
I’m not sure how well this squad is going to work, they are certainly not simple and already I can see there is a thin line of wanting to charge in but also to hang back. Only one way to find how thin this line is; get them to the tabletop! Let’s start with the disappointment, Lando himself. He can shoot extremely well, and he worked his way through several units like he was slicing butter. However, his abilities are very situational at times, meaning that you’re activating Lando and there’s just nothing more to do with him than move and shoot. While not a strict problem, I want something more from my primary. He is definitely a primary that needs some thinking about. I placed him with the Galactic Empire tag, but I think for Lando, and most of the squad to work effectively, they need to be placed with fellow scoundrels.
Lando might not have been all I was hoping for, but Lobot was my star. He started off seeming somewhat handy, moving troops into position. He is definitely one you want to activate near the start of the deck as he can move ahead and use ‘Battlefield Calculations’ far more effectively than I was able to. That said, ‘Lockdown’ really helped against my opponent. Keeping control of those objectives infuriated my opponent (my son!) and as predicted, it put a target on Lobot’s back. My son was like, ‘where the heck is this annoyance!?’. Now I don’t know if that by itself is worth the five cost. However, as my son raced across the battlefield to engage Lobot, the genius of Lobot came out. His defensive rolls when rolling expertise made me laugh out loud. Before my son knew it, his troops were disarmed. In fact, they were very close to disarm and expose! My son shook his head in aggravation. Lobot does not go down without a fight. Yes, he has a target on his back, but he’ll make your opponent pay for the attention. I love Lobot and I really want to use him again – possibly to see my sons face when he arrives on the tabletop!
Couple an amazing Lobot with the Bespin Guards and you are onto a winner. The guards really surprised me at how good they were for three points. Their ‘Headlong Assault’ allowed me to take several objectives as I didn’t keep them next to each other. With Lobot’s ability they could venture off to get as many objectives as possible. A very welcome surprise and a troop choice I wouldn’t hesitate to use again.
All in all, I really like this set. It’s one that’s great for newer players in terms of model building. In terms of gameplay, I’m very excited to try Lobot and the guards again, alas, with a different primary. I feel there are better ones out there than Lando, who I need a bit more from. That said, I think combining him with scoundrels and not getting distracted by the tags he can have, is also how to play him. Either way, the is a solid secondary and supporting unit in this set and at least you can admire Lando for his cape!
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