USD ($)
EUR (€)
No one can accuse Atomic Mass Games of sitting on their licensing laurels. When it comes to producing well regarded, high quality skirmish games, they have two currently in production and have a fairly busy release schedule for both. However, following an announcement yesterday, next summer there is going to be a third added, entitled Star Wars: ShatterPoint. So far details are fairly sparse.
Apart from a very brief “teaser” video showing off some of the new- and very fine looking models- the actual game play mechanics haven’t been shown or discussed yet. What we do know, is that this is going to be a small scale skirmish game similar to Marvel Crisis Protocol but set in the Star Wars Universe and by the looks of some of the models, around the time of the Clone Wars. Timeline wise this is just before and leading into the Phantom Menace and onwards.
Sculpts shown so far include Count Dokuu, Darth Maul, Obi Wan and Anakin Skywalker and General Greivous as some of the more familiar ones as well as some characters from the much-loved Clone Wars saga. The art work for the characters is very stylised and appear heavily influenced by the Clone Wars animated series, which to be clear here is a very good thing. What they’ve released so far look lovely and will be as much fun to paint as to play with.
So Star Wars Crisis Protocol Then?
Well yes… and no. The game certainly seems to be a similar, squad-based skirmish game, where players will build small teams of characters with very different and individual powers to battle it out, but AMG have promised that this is very much a game in it’s own right rather than simply taking the rules from their Marvel-based game wholesale. AMG have promised plenty more details in the months leading up to the release date of June 2023 to keep us interested and our interests aroused over the next six months. The little teases.
So Star Wars Fans Are Celebrating?
It’s definitely aroused a lot of excitement, however if you sense a great disturbance in the force, as if a million Star Wars Legion fans suddenly became really disgruntled then you wouldn’t be far wrong. The models for Shatterpoint are most likely going to be larger and more detailed like those for Marvel Crisis protocol. Which means that models for Shatterpoint and Star Wars Legion, which is focusses more on larger unit and vehicle conflict, won’t be compatible with each other.
For fans who have forked out a fortune in Galactic Credits for whole armies containing their favourite characters this won’t be popular and murmurings on Social media have already started.
Also, there have been further concerns expressed that AMG may slow down the release of models to concentrate on the new kid on the block or even stop producing new products altogether so it’s fair to say that the news hasn’t been universally welcomed. In fairness those concerns may feel justified given that Shatterpoint will be the fourth Star Wars game that AMG have, along with X-wing and Armada; it seems reasonable to assume that something will have to give in terms of focussing development on new products for the future.
AMG have so far released a statement to say they have no plans to discontinue Legion and will still be producing new models along with MCP and Shatterpoint, so we will have to watch this space. One thing is for sure however, if the quality of the model sculpts is anything like those they have been producing for Marvel Crisis Protocol recently, then Star Wars fans will have plenty to be smiling about next Summer.