Battle Of Hoth

Last night I got a chance to play Battle Of Hoth, which is a new boardgame using the Battle Cry/Memoir '44 system and covering the Imperial assault on the Rebel base at the start of Star Wars Episode V. Keegan had the game and (as a bonus) had painted all of the figures. Daniel, Keegan and I took turns playing. 

It ises the same card system as the other games, but each side has their own deck. In additon you can choose a leader for each side and the chosen leader adds three cards of their own to that side's deck. Each side has their own troop types. Both have infantry, although that of the Rebels only had three figures to a unit. The Rebels also have snowspeeders and laser cannons, whilst the Imperial forces add probe-droids and the mighty AT-ATs. Each have their special rules.

Here you can see a lone Rebel infantry figure under attack by two lots of Imperial infantry and an AT-AT.

We payed four of the scenarios and some of those more than once. It plays very quickly compared to Memoir 44. mostly because it has a lower unit count and the board is smaller so units get stuck in much more quickly. 

This picture has all of the unit-types in it aside from the laser-cannons. The snowspeeders move quickly and have a lot of firepower at point-blank range, but can be a bit vulnerable. Probe droids are weak in combat, moderately hard to kill but, unless a scenario dictates it, they don't count for victory medals. 

AT-ATs are quite powerful in combat, and very hard to hit. However they are slow and can only take one hit. They could be killed by the first long-range shot directed at them, or resist shot after shot if the Rebels are unlucky. This one was brought down by three Rebel units playing the odds. 

There are several scenarios in the rules, starting with small couting skirmishes and then finishing up with the main assaults on the Rebel base. The rules also come with four mini-campaigns that link various of the scenarios together adding in special rules and advantages as one side gains or loses the upper-hand. So the designers have milked a lot of game out of one battle.

We played around eight games and the Rebels didn't win any of them. I don't know if the scenarios are weighted against the Rebels (Memoir 44 certainly doesn't pretend to have balanced scenarios) or if the Rebals are harder to play. Discussion on BGG suggests the latter - it just takes time to understand how to organise a Rebel defence or counter-attack, whilst the Imperials are fairly straightforward. The Memoir 44 approach of playing each scenario twice (swapping sides and aggregating the scores) is certainly the way to go here; can you lose as the Rebels less badly than your opponent? 

Having played it I can say that I enjoyed it, but I'm ot sure whether I'm desperate to own it. It is a lighter version of Memoir 44, which is no bad thing, but I'm not sure that, at this stage, it has enough depth to be worth getting. Maybe if more installments are produced covering other battles it might be worth getting. It doesn't feel like a game that's as versatile in terms of scenario design as either Memoir 44 or Battle Cry, but I can imagine if you're a Star Wars fan you'd find this a welcome addition to your game collection.

Update: I've added this image from Ralph showing a game in play, since it shows it better than the few photos I took: