Star Wars Constructible Ships Game

Wizkids releases Star Wars Pocketmodel TCG

By Editor T. Rob Brown
At retailers (June 13, 2007) -- Rather you dreamed of dominating worlds with an Imperial fleet, protecting them as the Rebellion, or participating in the Clone Wars, your time is now.

Wizkids, known for their Pirates of the Spanish Main TCG, HeroClix, and MageKnight games, has released another game that's sure to sell well and grow in popularity: Star Wars Pocketmodel TCG.

So what makes this game special other than being yet another game bearing the Star Wars franchise? Consider it a hybrid CCG and miniatures game, if you will. Learning from the success of Wizkids' highly-popular Pirates franchise, they mastered the plastic constructible collector card game, and have now brought that knowledge to the Star Wars Universe. Yet, that's not where the appeal of this game ends.

Not only does each booster pack contain four to eight ships (in a mixture of commons, uncommons, and rares -- though a rare is not guaranteed in every pack, just like the Pirates boosters), but also six collector cards that affect the outcome of the game. In most modern miniatures games, each miniature includes a card but the card merely reflects the capabilities of that particular miniature and otherwise has no game effect. Instead, the Pocketmodel TCG system incorporates cards that also come in a mixture of commons, uncommons, and rares, which modify game play each turn. In addition, they have incorporated Objective cards in a similar concept to the old Star Trek and Star Wars CCGs by Decipher.

Through the use of Objective cards, players no longer have to destroy all of the enemy fleet in order to win the game. By destroying all three of your opponent's objectives you can also win. This system allows for new and different strategies than used before in some CCGs or in some miniatures games. In addition, this game is smooth and handles well in short sessions -- it's sure to please tournament fans as well as the casual gamer who likes to get in a game or two on occasion. You don't need to take complicated measurements for space travel -- instead, WizKids made it simple and to the point -- there are only three regions of space: Your zone, your opponent's zone, and the contested zone. After all, there's hyperspace in Star Wars anyway, right? Why boggle the game down with unnecessary complexities? Keep it simple and therefore, keep it fun!

Already, powerful ships like the Millenium Falcon are selling for a pretty penny on ebay. If trends hold, this could be one of the hottest new games of 2007. WizKids has already brought out foil alternate cards for tournament support and are available at some retailers -- it appears they are ready to back this product with a community, tournaments and good prize support. For the hardcore gamers, this type of extended support can make or break a game.

Another little-known fact right now is that Imperial Power-Up Packs have variant rare cards, depending on where you purchase the box set. The Imperial Power-Up Packs include the following exclusives: Darth Vader's Imperial-class Star Destroyer (from Episode IV: A New Hope), a rare; Darth Vader's Lambda-class shuttle, an uncommon; two Talon Squadron X-wing starfighters, commons; and several common TIE fighter models. In addition, there are 30 cards. Of these 30 cards, every Imperial Power-Up Pack includes three exclusive uncommons, one each of: Boarding Party, Tractor Beam, and Admiral Piett. Those cards bear a "P" before their number to designate them as exclusives. There are three other exclusive cards, all rares, available as well -- but acquiring them all will require serious collectors to purchase the Imperial Power-Up Pack three times, each time from a different retailer. Currently, players can purchase the hobby store pack which includes three copies of the Meditation Chamber card. Reportedly, Target and Wal-Mart will each have three copies of a different rare (these rares are listed on the checklist). Since each pack comes with three copies of the exclusive rares, and one each of the exclusive uncommons -- a serious collector could purchase one from each of the three retailers and be able to field all three of each card in their deck (the constructible play deck is 30 cards, of which no card may be repeated more than three times).

For further information on which ships are included and which cards are available, check out our lists HERE.

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