A large banner over the miniatures area at GenCon 2004 depicts the classic Star Wars hero Han Solo (portrayed by acclaimed actor Harrison Ford). The Han Solo miniature in the game is quite formidable, as well as his nemesis Boba Fett. The Star Wars Miniatures game is set up similar to the Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures game, except there are two levels of rares in the game. D&D Minis has common, uncommon and rare miniatures. Star Wars Minis has common, uncommon, rare and ultra-rare miniatures. Most of the named major characters are ultra-rares. My ultra-rare (which you're not guaranteed to get in a booster -- and if you so, it eats up the guaranteed rare slot) was Obi-Wan Kenobi. He's tough but needs Luke Skywalker (Tattoine version, rare, not the ultra-rare Jedi Luke) in order to go up against Darth Vader and survive. The Emperor is a bit overpowered for his point cost. I placed 12th out of 100 people in the pre-release Star Wars Minis tournament. Only 100 people received Star Wars Minis during GenCon. We paid $21 for the tournament and received a starter and a booster pack of the minis. For taking 12th place in the tournament, I received an additional booster pack. My brother placed 19th in the competition. Overall: This game is fun to play and the minis are painted really well for the most part. I'm anxious to see them hit the store shelves. Down point? You won't want to buy more than one starter box because the way it's set up -- you only get two rares in the starter and they're always Luke (Tatooine version) and Darth Vader (not the ultra-rare version with the lightsaber). The rest of the minis in the starter are random, but the boosters will guarantee you a slot that has either a rare or an ultra rare that's random. Starters have 10 random minis and the two set rares. Boosters have 7 random minis (one of those is a rare or ultra-rare). If you'd like to know more about the game, feel free to e-mail me at t-rob@t-rob.com and I'll fill you in.
