The Sting: Star Wars Pocketmodel TCG

I was given a couple free packs of the Star Wars Pocketmodel TCG game at GenCon and have fallen in love with this unique game that combines build-it-your-self miniatures with a TCG game set in the the Star Wars universe.

The game is sold in booster packs that contain up to 8 units and 6 games cards and cost around $5-6.  There are several sets already released, including some boxed starter sets that cost $12-20.

The game’s objective is to destroy your opponents force of units or their objectives.  Each unit has a number of build stars (1-5), and 4 statistics (attack, defense, damage, and shields) and then a couple of icons that when matched with your cards can give you bonuses to your stats.

You build a force of 30 build stars of units and at least 30 cards.  There are two types of cards, combat cards that give you bonuses to your stats as well as special abilities if their icons match your units, and objective cards which give you special abilities and provide the objectives you are defending.

Each player takes turns moving units, initiating combat, or striking their opponent’s objectives.  You can only perform one action your turn with up to 5 build stars of your units, so move 5, combat with 5, or strike with 5. The game is fast paced and easy to learn with a typical play session lasting about 30-45 minutes. It’s a two player game, but can easily be played with 3 or 4 players.

The game is great fun and has enough strategy to make battles interesting for grown ups, but simple enough that my 7 year old son picked it up in one play through. The models are very well done and a blast to build, although my son had trouble with the tiny pieces and the sometime stubborn fits. The price per pack is a little higher than I would like on the high end, but the quality is worth it.  There are many different units and even duplicate looking units may have different stats on their base. Overall, I recommend this game and look forward to playing it with more people.