“The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.”
-Some old guy
What Obi-Wan fails to mention is that the force also gives a Shatterpoint player their power. While it’s a valuable resource, it’s far from the only one at a player’s disposal. Today I want to look at the variety resources one has available during a game of Shatterpoint, so let’s get going!
Force
We might as well start with the resource we’ve already identified. Your force allocation is usually determined by you primaries and you can spend it to use various abilities or manipulate the order deck. While a higher base force cost often equates to more impactful abilities, it is worth noting that not all abilities are created equal. For example, B2s pay a force just to dash while ISF pay one force to dash and, usually, get Sharpshooter 1 and focus. As such, ISF will often rely on using Covert Operations while B2s won’t necessarily need to use Relentless Advance. That brings us to an important topic: force budget.
Generally speaking, I would say six force is the standard for most lists since many primaries bring three each. However, force pools of seven and five are also common, plus many force refresh abilities exist. I bring up six for a specific reason, though; you have seven activations per deck. This means you’ll average about one force per activation, but not quite. At least one unit will need to go without force if you only have six and no refresh. An important part of list building is ensuring you don’t need more force than you have, though gameplay decisions can also have a big impact. While Clone Commandos might often want to spend for Defensive Maneuver to get a dash, if you draw them on the first turn, they can probably reach the midline objectives with just an advance and Take Cover action, saving force. Similarly, Rex can save a force by using his tactic on himself rather than dashing a friend, or perhaps he tries to use shoves from his attack tree to follow up on an objective rather than spending for Defensive Maneuver.
In addition to unit abilities, force is also used to manipulate the order deck. Reserving a unit card or shuffling the Shatterpoint back into the deck both cost one force. While either of these plays can be clutch, doing so too often will likely leave you with not enough force to have impactful activations. I usually try to budget one force each deck for a reserve or shatter-shuffle, though whether I actually spend more or less is highly variable.
Once minis hit the table, managing force is all about recognizing the current situation. Knowing what’s left in your deck and what how much force those units will likely need will dictate how you spend force on your earlier turns. Part of mastering the game is differentiating what is critical vs. what is nice to have.
Unit Stamina
Unit stamina, or health, is an important resource in Shatterpoint. In some cases this dynamic is very obvious. Darth Vader, Jedi Hunter allowing units to take two damage in exchange for three melee dice. Two damage may not seem like a lot, especially on a previously full health unit, but it can substantially increase the odds the unit gets one-shot in a future turn. Alternatively, a unit with eight stamina and five damage might feel like “I only have three health left so I’ll get wounded on the next attack anyway – might as well take the two damage!” However, with only one damage remaining that unit might now be more vulnerable to various non-attack sources of damage. Furthermore, attacks can and do whiff, so the odds of getting wounded on the next attack almost certainly changed noticeably.
All of that is to say that even just two damage can be a substantial cost. However, I also want to note that health can be a resource in other ways. A unit with more health remaining can better afford to take strain damage rather than healing away the strain first, or it can leave the No Mercy range of Super Commandos, or even tank a revenge attack after wounding an enemy. You don’t score bonus points for having lots of health remaining on your units, so taking some damage in exchange for beneficial effects can often be a good trade. Do so wisely, though, or else things will start getting wounded faster than you can afford and it will be tough to control objectives. Scoring bodies on the table could be considered their own resource, but I’d lump that in with this section. After all, zero is an amount of health a unit can have left, right?
Unit Durability
Yes, a unit’s durability can be considered an available resource. Specifically, how many more times can they get wounded before being removed from the table? A great example of this concept is Rebel Commandos. They are an enticing Shatterpoint target, and by deploying them further up the board than normal, you can threaten some strong, aggressive plays early on. However, they also susceptible to getting wounded by a paper cut. Using the Shatterpoint on Rebel Commandos early can often mean they get wounded before their own card is drawn. After the second activation, they can quickly get wounded again, leading them to be removed from the game in the second deck. This may or may not be a big deal, given the circumstances of the game, but it’s certainly something to consider. Even beyond the Shatterpoint, moving them up the field quickly before activating could also lead to their untimely demise.
While models being removed from the table is relatively rare in Shatterpoint compared to other games, it can happen. In fact, I’d say it happens now more than ever given the relative strength of offense vs. defense in the current meta. However, even if we aren’t worried about units being defeated, wounds/injuries can still matter. Mace Windu won’t care much if he’s wounded, relatively speaking, because he’ll almost certainly survive the game and he doesn’t have any abilities that will increase in force cost. Even his identity stays useful when wounded because wounded units do still engage enemies. On the flip side, a single wound can absolutely devastate a unit of Covert Mandalorians, provided they don’t have The Armorer around (not advisable).
Whether you want to classify it as a resource or not, unit durability is certainly something that should be kept in mind and managed throughout a game of Shatterpoint.
The Reserve Slot
I recently wrote a deep dive on all things reserving, so I won’t rehash all of that here. For the context of this discussion, consider this: you only have one reserve slot. As such, it is a very limited resource. If one player has a unit in reserve and the other does not, each has both more and less flexibility than their opponent, from a certain point of view. The player with a unit in reserve can hold it to activate whenever it is most opportune. However, if they elect to draw from the deck they are stuck with whatever they get, barring special abilities. On the other side, and empty reserve slot mean you must draw from the deck, but if it’s a bad draw the option is there to reserve it.
Momentum/Time
While units like Jyn or Hera can spend momentum for other benefits, that’s not what I actually want to focus on here. Instead, I want to think about momentum and how it relates to the time remaining in the struggle. If both players only have their starting momentum on the tracker then the struggle probably has more turns left than when each player has four momentum, for example. Knowing how much “time” is left in the struggle can and should affect how one plays, whether it is abandoning the struggle to prepare for the next, playing especially aggressively to hunt a big swing, or somewhere in between.
The struggle is won when the struggle cube overlaps a player’s momentum. One way to do this is get ahead and stay ahead on objective points, winning with as little as one momentum. Alternatively, filling you entire side up with momentum might mean that you don’t need to generate a big advantage on objectives to win. Momentum can be generated by getting wounds, but there are other ways too. Let’s say Player A scores first in the struggle and moves the struggle cube three spaces. If Player B then scores three, the cube will go back to the middle space and both players will gain momentum. If each player continues to score three points each turn then it is only a matter of time before Player A wins. Player B is on the clock to make something happen, ideally scoring four points or limiting Player A to only two for at least one turn. However, this situation can be manipulated in a few ways.
Consider Player A starting the second struggle of Shifting Priorities. Perhaps they can stretch themselves thin and control all three objectives, scoring four points due to the priority objective. However, if chances are high that Player B will be able to score three the next turn, player 3 will gain a momentum and continue to do so if each player scores three points for the next few turns (a common occurrence). Perhaps Player A would rather score only three points, hoping to benefit from a situation where the cube lands on the middle each turn. However, a wily Player B might choose to grab the two non-priority objectives the next turn, if possible, to score only two points and start generating their own momentum.
Trying to get too cute with momentum can backfire, so when learning the game it’s probably best to just focus on scoring as many objective points as you can each turn. However, the payoff can be substantial. Generating a bunch of “free” momentum while the struggle cube doesn’t make any meaningful progress can close the distance between the cube and your momentum. Perhaps it’ll be closer to your momentum than your opponent’s even while though the cube is on their side!
At the very basic level, momentum loosely correlates to the time remaining in the struggle and, even if you aren’t trying to directly manipulate it, it can be handy to keep an eye on the current situation to manage your decisions accordingly.
Activations and the Shatterpoint
To explain this concept, let me use an example: if Chopper can flip an objective, Kanan can almost certainly flip the same objective. However, Chopper is much more limited than Kanan, so if I can keep Kanan in my deck for later while Chopper has a useful turn then that’s a win. Similarly, the Shatterpoint card is your most flexible activation. A player with the Shatterpoint left in their deck has an advantage over an opponent that does not. Just to be clear, I’m not saying an early Shatterpoint is always a bad thing; it can give you an advantage on the board that your opponent may struggle to deal with. However, knowing what is left to activate is crucial for assessing the state of the game at any given time.
Due to the random nature of the order deck, players can’t control their activation order as precisely as most other miniature games. However, reserve and the shattershuffle do exist. Consider the cost/benefit analysis of using some resources to (force, reserve slot) to bolster others (remaining units).
Struggle Loses
Shatterpoint is a best of three, meaning you can lose a struggle and still win. I tend to push for the 2-0 more aggressively than most, because who knows what will happen in the third struggle, but even then it’s important to understand when you need to concede a struggle and change the terms of engagement. Punting on a struggle is most common in the second struggle after winning the first, but if the first is going especially poorly it may be the right move to throw in the towel there.
If I win the first struggle, my opponent now must win the second struggle. Even if I lose the second struggle, ideally they’ll have spent more resources than I to get there, giving me more to work with in the decisive struggle. In this way, struggle loses are a resource you can leverage to gain an advantage with the other, previously mentioned resources. Whether or not you actually plan to win the second struggle, you want to be in a situation where your opponent is spending more force than you, taking more damage than you, or activating more impactful units than you. If this is not the case, perhaps you want struggle two to be over as quickly as possible in the hopes that struggle three you’ll be better positioned.
In the case of the first struggle, it’s mainly about conserving resources and avoiding the sunk cost fallacy. Sure, you’ve probably spent a lot to push for the win, since winning struggle one is a great path to victory, but if it’s clear that the cost to continue the fight is just too much then perhaps it’s time to give up. Losing struggle one isn’t ideal but losing struggle one and then having less resources than your opponent in struggle two is even worse. I wouldn’t ever give up too early on the first struggle, but once the game has developed and the situation is unsalvageable then cut your loses and move on.
Wrap-Up
Many things in Shatterpoint can be considered resources. Recognizing what those resources are can be an important step towards using them more thoughtfully and tactically.
What are some resources that I missed? Let me know and perhaps those can be handy topics in the future!
