Star Wars Collectable Miniatures Game - anyone playing?

[Doug ex-em4]

I bought the SW collectable game years ago, probably because it looked like a good game to play out of the box with my son. I bought extra figures off e-bay, looked at the rules and cards and battle-grid then put the lot back in the box, unplayed.

Now, it's resurfaced as I sort through stuff after my house move. I've just been involved in a weekend game of X-Wing which (so I'm told - I'm no Star Wars expert) re-created the plots of the original films. It was certainly a great game. I'm not being tempted to buy X-Wing but I may be tempted to break out the miniatures game for some more Star Wars action.

So, while I get to grips with the rules I'd be interested to know if anyone here still plays it or has played it and what their experience of it is. Good game? Poor game but the figures are great to play something else with. Or what?

Doug

[aliensurfer]

I didn't find it the best of games, it's D20 based and you roll against stats. I just ended up buying as many pre-painted figures as I could to play easy star wars games, such as fubar where they are statted out.

[The_Beast]

Never really tried it myself, but seemed to move along fairly well in the massively multiplayer onTable bloodfests we used to see down at the store.

There was a small cottage industry of folk putting together impressively new maps; they seem harder and harder to find, which is a shame, as they seemed well useful for re-purposing as well.

Doug

[Doomsdave]

I bought into it big when it first came out.  Hundreds of minis. 
pros:
1. prepainted.
2. first time lots of Star Wars figures were available at a cheap price. 
3.Pre made maps and variety of figs means a lot of scenarios can be played. 
4.Rules made a great gateway drug for my sons into war gaming.  They were young at the time.
5. Rules are so easy we still pick it up occasionally and have no trouble remembering how to play.
6.I can use them for old school WEG D6 RPG. 
Cons:
1. prepainted minis, bendy plastic (especially frustrating with light sabers). 
2.Not a lot of tactical depth, although saving force points for the right time, kept my boys engaged.
3. Turns can bog down when deploying large numbers of troops.
We still like it.  Hope that helps.

[warlord frod]

I think its a great game especially to play with the kids (My grandson and I played not that long ago) The only part I did not like was line of sight and obstacles but we just adjusted it so that it was center of fig to center of fig. All in all its a great game and if you do any SW role play it provides everything you could possible need. 

[Doug ex-em4]

I think its a great game especially to play with the kids (My grandson and I played not that long ago) The only part I did not like was line of sight and obstacles but we just adjusted it so that it was center of fig to center of fig. All in all its a great game and if you do any SW role play it provides everything you could possible need. 

Somewhere amongst my boxed up books I have a Star Wars RPG from the late eighties. I must try and find it.

Doug

[Puuka]

I have a big box of them, but when money became tight, I stuck with Heroclix instead of Star Wars. Not sure if it was the right choice. Sure, Heroclix is still being produced, but it's not as fun as it used to be to collect. (Too many figures made of "unobtanium")

[Commander Vyper]

I bought a huge amount of woc minis covering all six films. The extras have gone to my boy who at the age of 4 loves wargaming with them. Simple rules we've made up and he's into cover, saving rolls and Darth vader force powers. He loves it. Col. Bagshot and i use a modified LOTR ruleset which works really well, heroic points used as force powers. So these are great for young gamers and old alike. Also I've added parts from the sci-fi nazi hard plastics from the dream forge ks to make some great clone trooper conversions.

All good

[Doug ex-em4]

Some encouraging replies here - thanks all. I'm enthused to try using the figures at least for something.

Doug

[Johnno]

I have a few hundred of these figures as well and have played a number of times, though not too recently.
It is not a bad game. Basic principals:
UGOIGO two unactivated figures.
UGOIGO repeat until all figures have been activated once. Then the round ends.
All stats you need are on the cards on the figures you deploy. You just add your D20 results to see if you hit in attack or in some cases roll a save against the attack.

I had a friend that played a tricked out list that was very offensive when I first got into the game. He beat me soundly until I learned to find stats on the cards that worked in harmony with each other. I think that's the real strength of the game.

Consequently, I got my wife to play ONCE and she beat me and promptly retired undefeated 

[The_Beast]

...Simple rules we've made up and he's into cover, saving rolls and Darth vader force powers. He loves it...

Hope you cherish him as much as I do from afar!

Daughter never warmed to pushing toy soldiers, and grandchildren are too far away to give steady opportunities. I gather they're addicted to Poke-mon. 

Doug

[Rhelyk]

I picked up hundreds and hundreds of them for quite cheap and use them for pretty much anything except the actual WotC game. The miniatures are pretty great, even for bendy plastic, and repaint up very nicely. Unfortunately, some sculpts look like they were sculpted from butter and left in the sun on a hot day before being recast and sloppily painted, but many more are well done and have nice crisp details. Even a simple brown or black wash and some proper basing does WONDERS for these (already pretty great) minis! And a little hot water will fix the bendy problems

My own repaints:
http://s1153.photobucket.com/user/Rhelyk/library/Star%20Wars?sort=3&page=1
Agis' much better repaints:
http://www.agisn.de/html/star_wars.html

It would probably play well with you and your son, but as a miniatures game it felt WAY too simplistic for me. It was basically a dumbed down version of WotC's D&D minis game with less abilities and less options. Our group uses Pulp Alley rules from http://pulpalley.com/ to play and it is absolutely bonkers how perfect that game is for Star Wars gaming! It's simple enough that i'd say a 10 year old could learn it, maybe even a smart 8 year old used to gaming with Dad You'd probably need to help your son make characters, but I find it very easy to use the system to remake the heroes from the movies or make up your own

[aliensurfer]

I bought a huge amount of woc minis covering all six films. The extras have gone to my boy who at the age of 4 loves wargaming with them. Simple rules we've made up and he's into cover, saving rolls and Darth vader force powers. He loves it. Col. Bagshot and i use a modified LOTR ruleset which works really well, heroic points used as force powers. So these are great for young gamers and old alike. Also I've added parts from the sci-fi nazi hard plastics from the dream forge ks to make some great clone trooper conversions.

All good

do you have a copy of the mods you used to the LOTR rules mate or a linky? I've the main LOTR rulebook and wouldn't mind trying it out for SW (along with Fubar for bigger games and Pulp Alley cos it's just fun fun fun)