by Patrick Petersen
Story
Star Squadron is a head-to-head space dogfighting battler.
STEP ONE: Customize your ace squadron of skilled pilots and powerful starfighters.
STEP TWO: Secretly assign high-octane maneuvers to your squad at the same time as your opponent!
STEP THREE: Reveal orders and see who predicted and outwitted the enemy to find an attack vector … and then FIRE WEAPONS!!
Star Squadron‘s tactical play experience is instantly enjoyable: elegant rules are learned in minutes, yet deep enough to stay fresh for hundreds of dogfights. Mix up each game with various plug-and-play options: treacherous terrain tiles, specialized pilot skills, exotic energy weapons, varying ship classes, engaging tactical objectives, and a multitude of game modes.
Each Battle Box is a complete gameplay experience – NOT a “starter set” that is incomplete without expansions. Multiple Battle Boxes can be combined to expand your options even more – more customization options, more factions to choose from, and more possible players! Each box contains enough for two squadrons, so with two Battle Boxes, you can play with four players, and with three you could play with six!
This is the board game for gamers who want a deep, replayable tactics battle game, but don’t want to endlessly collect incremental expansions, navigate overly complex and confusing rules, or play matches that last a whole afternoon. Star Squadron’s component options are complete, its rules are tight and elegant, and its gameplay is lightning-quick.
While the gameplay is bursting with familiar sci-fi tropes, like managing multiple energy systems, performing zero-gravity banking turns, and dodging heat-seeking plasma missiles, the world of Star Squadron is anything but cliche. This is a world where skirmishing over the ultimate resource is slowly dragging the entire galaxy into a bleak, unending, and total war. Evil nanotech cyber-liches battle against energy-crystal-worshipping paladins while stratocratic federation pilots sortie against psyche-bonded bioship/pilot pairs. It is dark, it is weird, and it is beautiful.
Setup is quick and easy: put a pilot and special weapon in each ship chassis, spread terrain tiles around the battlefield, and GO!
Just like starfighter pilots, players plan and perform maneuvers simultaneously, making gameplay insanely fast. Thinking one layer deeper than your opponent is the key to finding an angle of attack.
Once you’ve lined up a shot, a unique combat system combines range, attack vector, pilot accuracy, and weapon firepower into attack rolls that use handfuls of dice – like the dreaded vulcan cannon, which rolls TWELVE dice for every attack! But stay frosty, because your target has a chance to evade plus energy shields and hull armor to punch through!
Mission objectives range from: control resource-rich terrain hexes, protect secret VIP (Very Important Pilots), to simple out-and-out deathmatch (and more!). To fulfil these objectives you’ll have to strategically prioritize which ship systems need your precious energy: weapons, shields, or boosters. Most of the time screaming ahead, guns ablaze won’t win the battle – but sometimes it will!
