Designed by Lukas Litzsinger and Corey Konieczka
Published by Fantasy Flight Games
For the uninitiated, Star Wars Destiny is a two-player Dice and Card game which makes use of Fantasy Flight's Dice Duel System (Or DDS, as it's referred to on the box and in accompanying literature). Using two characters, players can make use of weapons, droids, vehicles and random event cards to dispatch their opponent and win the day.
The Boba Fett variant of the Star Wars Destiny starter set contains 24 cards, and 9 premium dice. Boba Fett himself comes equipped with a pair of dice specifically for his attacks, as well as Slave I and wrist rockets. No jetpack to be found, but maybe that's in the booster sets.
Alongside Boba Fett as a starter set villain comes one of his most fearsome allies, a life-long compatriot and someone you'd naturally think of as his right hand man. That's right...
A Veteran Stormtrooper.
Yes, really.
That's not to say that the character is by any means bad in terms of the game balance, but really? There's nobody else that Fantasy Flight thought might combine well with a bounty hunter? Say...any other Bounty Hunter? I realise that we only see Fett engaging in work for the Imperials within the Original Trilogy, but come on! He's not an Imperial by any stretch, he's just working for Vader.
I mean, not for nothing, but there's a card with Bossk on it in the deck!
Anyway, fanboy rant over. I feel better.
The presentation, as always in these starters, is great. The cards feel substantial, the dice even more so and the artwork throughout is excellent. The art style on these cards has always been strong, and what's nice is that often where it might be easier to just whack in a still image from the movie, the artists instead just recreate it in the same style. Great stuff indeed.
In terms of components contained within, in addition to the premium dice and accompanying cards players can also expect to find a sheet of punch-out-able cardboard tokens representing shields, resources and damage tokens which are used throughout the game. There's also a fold-out rulebook which, while nice, is probably a little big to rest on the table while you play on the main bit. I do like that they integrate the cards you just bought into the rulebook within each set. That's a nice touch, which for me at least adds a little extra to the package and makes it feel a little more personal.
Along with the rulebook and tokens, the starter set also contains a collector's checklist in case you want to go down the route of collecting everything from the set (which could of course get expensive, but this is one of those things that games do quite a bit, and I'm a sucker for it as anyone who watches the E14 Toybox videos knows all too well). I really like the fact that they specify how rare each piece is on the list as well, along with whether you should expect a dice along with it. A nice way to get round any would-be mickey-takers on eBay and similar websites.
Provided you know someone with a starter of their own or a deck. Yes, as promised the other day, repeated here is the main criticism I have of the Destiny starter model.
While it's true that Destiny starter sets are cheaper than some of their contemporaries, the alternatives do at least include enough components for two players to get into the game and play together. Now, granted there are problems that are avoided when you go down the "everyone buys their own starter" route, but nonetheless it doesn't feel like the best presentation if you're looking to get people to play with friends.
Generally, I'm very positive on Destiny. It's a novel system, though it's a little complex owing to the novelty of the Dice Duel System (The guided tutorials on Youtube from Fantasy Flight are excellent though), and the presentation is visually very appealing with all the components shown a great deal of love.
However, of the starter sets made available thus far, this doesn't feel like the strongest available. There's something about the Villain decks that suggests that Fantasy Flight are really reluctant to stick a pair of named villains together, as this "take an established baddie and add a stormtrooper" model also occurred in the Kylo Ren starter pack as well. I'm not sure why that is, but clearly it's not a hang-up they have about the Heroes starter sets. If you asked me to recommend one of the two starters, I'd have to go with the Luke Skywalker starter of the two recent decks. Overall, I'd have to think about it. Maybe a Toybox video in the future!
Rob is the host of the E14 podcasts "The Crazy Train" and "The E14 Gamecast", as well as the host of a number of pieces on E14's Youtube channel. He also appears on the Talk Star Wars podcasts.
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