Star Wars: Battle of Hoth, the upcoming strategy board game based on the same rules engine that powers the very successful Memoir '44, is available for members of the public to test for the first time this weekend, at the UK Games Expo. Developer Days of Wonder and publisher Asmodee announced their plans for the demo via social media a week ago - but unfortunately, haven't mentioned where in the massive convention the demo actually is!
Editor Alex Evans is on the show floor today with a mission to hunt Star Wars: Battle of Hoth down like Boba Fett with a bounty target - we'll update this article once he's located the rebel base!
The challenge finding the demo is that the UK Games Expo is spread over five enormous halls in the National Exhibition Centre. Developer Days of Wonder does not have a stall listed on the map of the Expo, while publisher Asmodee has ten stalls listed. As soon as team Wargamer has a chance to test the game, we'll share our thoughts in a preview.
Days of Wonder unexpectedly announced Battle of Hoth in mid-April. It's a strategy board game that uses Richard Borg's 'Command and Colors' rules system, also found in the extremely popular WW2 game Memoir '44, which gives us hope it could be one of the best Star Wars board games ever made.
Command and Colors has been ported to a huge variety of time periods and genres thanks to its simple but very deep core systems. Players have a hand of command cards which they use to give orders, but each card can only affect certain troops in specific areas of the battlefield. As you play your command cards your tactical options will shrink, before you finally get a chance to refresh your hand.
Battle of Hoth looks like a slightly more aggressive and trimmed down game than Memoir '44. The playing area is smaller, and it's being advertised with a nippy 30 minute playtime (though we know how often listed playtimes undersell the actual length of a game). Unlike Memoir '44, the Rebel and Imperial player will have unique command decks, which could give their two forces very different capabilities.
The game will also feature cards that represent the influence of the Force on the battle - so expect effects along the lines of shredding AT-ATs with Luke Skywalker, or force-choking infantry with Vader.
If you're at UK Games Expo and find the Battle of Hoth demo area before we do, shout about it in the official Wargamer Discord community!
More of Team Wargamer will be arriving at the expo this weekend, and we've got a lot of developers and publishers to check in with. If we discover any more exciting new games - and get any more details about the Star Wars Legion roadmap or Star Wars Shatterpoint roadmap - we'll make sure to let you know.