For someone who likes to kit out his games with sleeves, inserts, mats and everything in between, I thought it was a stroke of genius when Fantasy Flight Games and Gamegenic decided to work together to make the accessories for Star Wars Unlimited. I mean yes, they are technically subsidiaries of the same company, but that doesn’t necessarily mean such careful planning and execution of products will follow. This certainly isn’t the case here. The earliest products for the game were fantastic. For me personally, I have always loved Gamegenic matte sleeves for my games. To have custom Star Wars sleeves for the game, well it was a match made in heaven.
Along with boosters for the new Jump to Lightspeed expansion, Asmodee sent me a bunch of the accessories for the game to see what I thought of them. The release products from Gamegenic have not slowed down and I do like that they seem to be continually supporting the game with every release. So, let’s dive into the latest offerings.
Premium Tokens Pro Expansion Pack – RRP £19.99
Let me start by saying that I don’t have the premium tokens. I’ve made do with the cardboard ones that are included with the prerelease sets. That said, these tokens are starting to show a little bit of wear and I can’t say that the premium tokens do not look appealing. While this is not enough for a complete game, I really appreciate Gamegenic making an expansion for players who need more of the same tokens and new tokens, without having to resort to buying the standard box again.
Looking at these, they are extremely high quality. For me, it’s the damage tokens I love the most. While you most certainly need the standard set to have enough damage counters, these do demonstrate the thought that has gone into them. The one damage can be flipped over to show three damage and likewise, the five damage can be flipped to display ten damage. It means that damage can be added to cards without it hiding the abilities of the cards that they are on. This is also to give you tokens for the Twin Suns format, which allows four players to play together. There is a plan counter and blast counter for this. Also new and very welcome are sentinel tokens. This will make things a lot clearer for players during gameplay. The printing on the tokens is faultless and it’s not hard to see how the Star Wars design, the look and feel add something to the game.
Are they needed? That very much depends on how much you play. My cardboard tokens are starting to wear. As such, this seems like an obvious upgrade. I also think with a little shopping around to get a few pounds cheaper than the RRP, these tokens are well worth the price.
Damage Pad – RRP £14.99
Base damage. It has driven me crazy. The amount of damage tokens being used up that I’d rather have on my units always frustrates me. Now Gav had actually brought us both an unofficial dial, based on the Death Star countdown the Rebels have on Yavin in A New Hope. While this has worked brilliantly for marking the damage, we have found that it can sometimes obstruct the view of the other player, and the other player has a hard time actually seeing how much damage is on the base.
Of all the new products, this one really shows the most thought. It has been designed to really incorporate onto the tabletop, rather than adding to what is already there. The base card slides in beautifully, so everything is kept neatly together. The low profile of the entire construct means that players’ views aren’t impeded, something I know my opponents will appreciate after our unofficial attempt to fix the problem. There are two different dials to use for changing the tens and units, this is very easy to use and makes life on the tabletop a breeze. Those numbers are also very big and very clear. Not once did my opponent need to ask me what my damage was. My son Charlie pointed out that although the numbers are bigger and clearer, the entire mechanism takes up the same room as the unofficial one. The whole unit is also covered in little ridges, making it feel like the surface of the Death Star. Completely unnecessary for game play but adds a serious amount of coolness. It also comes in black and white, allowing some slight variation between players.
Knowing how much unofficial solutions cost, the price point on this is very reasonable. More than that, I think this will really help players. Not only will it add something rather pretty to the tabletop, but it is also immensely practical: freeing up your damage tokens, keeping everything much neater and your damage on your base much clearer for all players. Of everything that Asmodee has sent me, this would be my top recommendation for players if they are wanting an accessory.
Twin Suns Soft Crate – RRP £12.99
The Twin Suns soft crate is the cheaper of the two boxes that I was sent to hold a deck, considerably cheaper. It’s actually my first time looking at one of these in person. I had initially thought, what is the big deal about having a soft shell? Yes, it’s decorated with Star Wars, but you can pick up unofficial ones for a fraction of the price. I find myself eating my words a little.
First, this crate holds two decks and has a separate compartment to hold your token box (included) and the leader cards for both decks. These leader cards can be placed in the included hard shell slide cases – a new feature. I have to say this new addition is very welcome, particularly as it now fits in with the other crates and boxes you can buy fromGamegenic. The token box itself I love, you can move your one set of tokens from box to box but it is all contained there for you. Also new is a card divider to keep your two decks separate. Again, a very welcome addition. All these things are designed for one thing, to get you playing on the table as fast as possible. This is certainly on the practical side of things rather than the decorative. I was sent the blue box which is simple yet effective. There are a range of designs, some far more decorative but all with the same features. I think my personal favorite is the ‘Battle of Scarif’ design.
This for me almost tops the damage pad for most useful to players. The price point is relatively inexpensive, and I can easily see where the money goes into making a set like this and why it costs more than a basic soft crate you can get from any gaming store. I can see myself getting a few more of these as the number of decks I create grows. The focus here is on practicality and function and it’s better for it.
Twin Suns Deck Pod – RRP £44.99
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the deck pod. There is nothing new here compared to the already released pods. However, these do come with an exclusive hyperspace foil card. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t like the idea of this, forcing players to have to buy this set just to get a card. However, when I opened mine and found two copies of ‘Dagobah Swamp’ I actually thought that was perfectly fine. It’s not an amazing card, it’s not something that players are going to have to spend money to get, it’s a pleasant addition if you do happen to buy one of these. My only real concern with it was that because of how they had been packaged, the cards were slightly bent – nothing a few good nights weighted down by some heavy books won’t fix.
Onto the pod itself and you can’t help but appreciate the craftsmanship behind this. From the hexafyber surface to the microfiber inner lining, this thing oozes premium. The slide case cards for your leaders provide UV protection so that you can proudly display your leaders and not worry about the card colors fading. The extra tray underneath for tokens is extremely practical and as long as you are using the same base for the two decks you can store in here, then there is a separate space for that too. All of it beautifully held together by magnets and a lot of surfaces covered in Star Wars symbology. Perhaps my only issue after seeing it with the soft crate, is that I would quite like a divider for my two decks. This is a very small complaint. This thing is incredible and will almost certainly protect two decks from knocks, transport and sunlight.
However, there is no getting away from that price point. Is it clear where the money has been spent? Yes, absolutely. But paying £44.99 for a premium box to hold two decks is a lot of money to pay for such a function. To put that into perspective, you can have three of the excellent soft crates and have change left over! It is a lot of money for simple functionality and if you want practicality, go with the soft crate. If you want a gloriously pretty storage solution and money is no object, then this will satisfy just above every player I can imagine. What I do really appreciate from Gamegenic is that they don’t do one or the other, there is both. If you do want to spend your money on the very best, the pod is here; if you prefer to spend it elsewhere or can’t justify the spending, the crate is more than up to the task.
4 Player Game Mat for Twin Suns Format – RRP £67.49
I’ll admit it, my weakness in any game is a playmat. I love the feel and how it helps to set the atmosphere for a game. When the four-player mat showed up – for four player it is and designed for the Twin Suns format – I thought is a mat of that size really needed? We haven’t tried the Twin Suns format yet and as it’s usually just the three of us, would we really need such a big mat?
Unrolling it out of its box, we all looked down at the mat and went wow. This thing is stunning. Forget the layout boxes for the game; the design of the Millennium Falcon escaping the star destroyers of Tatooine is breathtaking. With the latest wave focusing on space battles, this really sets the theme for our group. Not only that, the feel and quality is instantly obvious. The colours are very vibrant. It does say on the box that the mat is now shiny! I don’t usually like shiny mats, but this just adds to the beautiful atmosphere glow of the planet and will equally help protect the mat when it gets used.
And get used it will. Yes, we don’t play Twin Suns (yet) but this works perfectly for two players, giving us all plenty of space. It also meant that with space for four, one of us could set up while the other two played. The mat is thin enough to fit on smaller tables but long enough to really give that visual wow that adds a little something to game nights. We all looked at each other saying that we wouldn’t have necessarily brought this mat – because we don’t play Twin Suns –yet now that we can see this in person, we’re very happy to use it in our game nights. The printed layouts for the different areas, spaces for the initiative token, the spaces for everything you need is extremely useful, even in a standard game.
The sticking point with this will be the cost. This mat is not cheap. Yet the quality of it, of the colors, of the stitched edges, I find it hard to argue that it’s not worth it. This is certainly a luxury item and one I would probably only suggest if you played very regularly or if you do play Twin Suns a lot and can split the cost between four of you, this is cheaper than buying four separate mats. For us, it might not have added to our game play, but it did add immersion to our game night. This is certainly something to see in person to understand just how good this playmat looks. While the damage pad might be my top recommendation for players for impact on the game, the mat is my personal favourite of all the new products.
An amazing set of products. Even ones that have been previously released are getting new additions to make them even better. My top pick for any player would be the damage pad. It’s affordable and I can’t understate the practicality of it during a game. My favourite though? The mat, it is a thing of beauty that I can’t help but keep staring at! A huge thank you to Asmodee for sending us the package!
Happy gaming!
The post Gaming Review: Star Wars Unlimited: Gamegenic Accessories appeared first on Jedi News.
