This new release from Atomic Mass Games brings fresh versions of the core crew from the original Star Wars trilogy: Leia, Luke, Han, and Chewbacca. But how do they perform on the table, and do they justify such a quick return to characters who already exist in the game?
The Characters
This is normally where I’d provide a brief overview of the characters featured in the box. But I mean come on. It’s freaking Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewie. Even people who have never seen Star Wars often have some familiarity with the characters and what they’re about! If you’re reading this article, you most certainly know.
What I’ll touch on instead is the specific iteration of the characters presented here. Previously, we got versions of these characters as they appear in Return of the Jedi- Han and Chewie as they attack the shield generator station, Luke in his emo Jedi outfit as Primary, and two (!) versions of Leia: Endor commando Primary Leia and Boussh-disguised Secondary Leia. With this squad box, we get earlier versions of the characters from A New Hope. Leia is again a Primary, as befits her take-charge attitude particularly featured in Episode IV. Luke is a Secondary farmboy wannabe hero, and Luke & Chewie represent their merc-for-hire appearance as the Supporting Unit.
The Models
The sculpts are all lovely and dynamic, capturing scenes from the film as well as the characters’ demeanor. Luke looks like he’s posing for the cover of a romance novel but honestly that fits his whole ‘cornball naive kid’ thing he has going on. The facial sculpts in particular are an improvement over previous versions, particularly the Endor Leia and Jedi Luke. Like most AMG models, they assemble easily even without instructions. As is common, there are a couple of options for assembly. Luke can either be holding the stormtrooper helmet or have that hand empty. And Han has two head options (one yelling, presumably trying to scare off stormtroopers) and one that is not. It’s always nice to see these options available, so good on AMG for including some here.
The Rules
Princess Leia, Charming to the Last
Leia’s ANH iteration brings very standard values for Force, Health, and Squad Points. So not much to discuss there. Moving to her abilities we definitely get something to sink our teeth into. Her activation ability ‘Into The Garbage Chute, Flyboy’ is excellent, giving a Dash and Hunker to another Rebel or Spy unit. She can’t move herself, but it’s still an excellent version of the extra movement most character cards contain. Particularly appealing is the lack of any range restriction on this one.
Moving to her sole active ability ‘It’s a Wonder You’re Still Alive’ (great use of Leia snark on this card), for one Force Leia and one other character get one heal and a Dash to split between them. Between this ability and the easy access to healing in both her stances, Leia is a scrappy Primary who will be harder to take down than she looks.
Crack Shot’s free Dash when she makes a focus action (and Sharpshooter [2] to boot) gives Leia excellent action economy and makes her much more of a threat at range. The fact that this is Innate and not an Active ability means this powerful ability remains free all game. Fantastic ability all around.
Finally, Leia’s Identity ability allows her to get revenge when an allied character is Wounded by an enemy character, as well as yell at another ally to watch themselves and gain a Hunker. As her allies are Wounded near her, Leia even gets additional Defense dice. Of course it’s always preferred to not have your characters Wounded, but this ability nicely makes some lemonade out of those lemons. Pair it with a model like Kanan for an extra helping of revenge as well!
At first glance, Leia’s attack and defense dice numbers look anemic. Keep in mind she’ll often be adding three additional attack dice, will have extra defense dice later in the game, and still has that easy access to healing. Speaking of, if you want lots of healing and better shooting might we recommend her Aggressive Ambassador stance? She’ll get an extra ranged attack die and excellent ranged and defensive expertise charts. If you want mobility, or slightly improved melee stats, Covert Rebel is for you. You still get a good ranged expertise and a much better melee expertise. Defense expertise gets easy access to multiple blocks and a Dash, and you get a Reposition result at three successes on the combat tree. Her aggressive side is still the one you’re going to want most of the time given her much better ranged game, but Covert Rebel is no slouch either.
Luke Skywalker, Daring Hero
Here we get a younger and more callow version of Luke, fresh from the armpit of the galaxy.
On activation, he or another allied character with the Spy tag can Reposition. Again no range restriction but much more restriction in who it can target. This is a good ability for getting him into position for ‘He’s the Brains, Sweetheart’. Rerolling two failures is solid, but requires Luke to be within Range 3 and the beneficiary to be a Rebel or Spy and have a Hunker token. Still in a highly variable opposed-dice game like Shatterpoint, getting more consistent successes can be extremely helpful.
Grappling Hook is your standard “pay 1 Force, get an extra move” ability. In this case, it’s a Climb followed by a Hunker if he did the Climb. (Remember if he’s engaged by a non-Wounded enemy character, he can’t Climb.) This can’t get him out of melee combat, but if he’s not engaged it can get him the Hunker he needs to get those juicy rerolls and probably a better firing position.
Finally, Luke apparently learned from Obi-Wan how to be super good at Hunker. He doesn’t get the extra melee defense from them, so this is really more a fringe benefit. It could be helpful when Leia or another model repositions him out of activation and out of melee combat at least. It won’t help with ‘He’s the Brains Sweetheart’ as he’ll lose the Hunker at the beginning of his activation, unfortunately.
As a 3 cost secondary, young Luke isn’t and shouldn’t tear across the battlefield. But with hot dice he can really explode and do some damage, especially with shooting and his rerolls. Luke has to get pretty far down his combat tree to get any utility results like shoves or status conditions. But he does have easy access to 3 damage. So he’s generally going to plink away at enemy characters and occasionally lucksack into doing some really solid damage. We all know stormtrooper armor isn’t great, and his defensive dice are a little mopey. So with that 7 Health, watch out that Luke doesn’t get Wounded too early and easily. (But at least Leia will enact revenge?)
Han and Chewie, In it for the Money
Lastly we get earlier and more mercenary versions of Han and Chewie as a Supporting Unit. Again we get some great ability names here pulled straight from the film. ‘Look Out, He’s Loose’ gives some movement and forces your opponent to give a model Disarm or Expose for 1 Force. There’s a good amount of utility locked behind this rule, with the extra movement for Han or Chewie, and either making an enemy model much more vulnerable and out of position, or less likely to be able to retaliate.
After that attack, Han or Chewie can pay 1 Force to Reposition with ‘Boring Conversation Anyway’. This has to happen after a combat action is resolved so you won’t set up a killer combat with it. But it lets them set up on an objective, move away from danger, etc.
If you’d like Han and Chewie to benefit from the Rebel Alliance (or any other) tag, pay up 1 Force and do exactly that. This is pricy, especially if they have any Wound or Injury tokens, but the buffs from Leia, Luke, or any other model could be worth it in the right situation. Just make sure it’s truly worth that cost!
Lastly, if they Wound an enemy unit, they can Heal once and get to refresh 1 Force. That’s not super easy to pull off with their combat tree, but a one-two punch of Luke then Han & Chewie can get the job done.
Speaking of combat trees, like most Supporting Units there’s not much raw damage here but a good bit of utility including early shoves and pins. As befits Han’s crack shooting and Chewie’s, well, Chewieness, their range and melee expertise charts are both excellent with early access to Criticals and multiple successes. Their defense is definitely subpar however, so keep them safe or expect them to go down in a hurry. Admittedly, their 10 Health helps here quite a bit!
Pairings
Charming Leia, as she’s often referred to in the community, appears to be a popular meta pick at the moment. She’s a powerful piece that pairs nicely with a number of other Primaries. She especially likes Rebel Alliance and Spy tags, so look for opportunities to include those in both squads if possible. Consider her with Kanan as mentioned above, to get the double revenge trigger. She plays very well with just about all the Ghost crew, in fact. As more Rebel Alliance options enter the game, Charming Leia will likely continue to be a strong meta presence. Bonus shoutout to Lando, who is going to enable some big-brain lists and plays with all the wild options on his card (including choosing to be a Rebel or Imperial at the start of each game).
Concluding Thoughts
With a set of characterful, quality sculpts and an interesting Primary in Leia, this box is well worth a purchase for Star Wars: Shatterpoint players with any interest in Rebel Alliance. Unfortunately this version of Luke is underwhelming like his RotJ version, but Han & Chewie have value in multiple list builds as well.
How are you approaching list building with Charming Leia? Share your thoughts in the comments or the Goonhammer Discord!
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