Star Wars: Battle of Hoth Board Game Review — Brisk and Engaging Snowy Warfare

Star Wars: Battle of Hoth Board Game

Set against the snowy backdrop of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the Star Wars: Battle of Hoth Board Game is a reskin of Days of Wonder’s Memoir ‘44 - Command and Colors. Players assume the roles of either the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire and play through a series of scenarios that have different win conditions. Designed by Richard Borg (original designer of Memoir 44) and Adrien Martinot, and published by Days of Wonder, Star Wars: Battle of Hoth captures the essence of the iconic battle, employing easy-to-learn rules without needless complexity. 

Game Mechanics

If you’re not familiar with the series, Memoir 44 and Battle of Hoth are miniature games, played on hex board maps where players alternate turns playing cards that allow them to activate units to move and attack, limited by a zone or a unit type. The cards, randomly drawn each turn, help create the chaos of the battlefield, but also help reduce the ‘analysis paralysis’ of standard wargames of having too many options. Units have very simple activations: they move and they attack. 

When in combat, players roll dice to determine hits on enemy units. Enemy units do not roll dice, which keeps gameplay fast and light. Units are composed of miniatures, which are effectively health points, whose combat effectiveness is not affected by the removal of units from combat (i.e., a squad of 4 infantry miniatures rolls the same number of dice as a squad of 1). Different units have different movement, attack strength (the number of dice rolled), and defensive stats (what symbols on the dice cause them damage). Range is a factor in all wargames, and so, in general terms, the farther a unit is away from a target, the fewer dice it rolls. Units in an army are determined by the scenario.

The cards for each side determine what units can be activated, limited by either a zone (or zones) or a type of unit. Players choose one card from their hand of command cards to play each turn. This is one of the strongest design elements of the game, because it requires players to plan and think about future activations. Units can be moved into zones, as noted by the dashed orange, which can affect how they are activated in future turns. So, it’s important for players not to use cards randomly, but instead to plan to use the cards in a strategic way. If no unit can be activated by a card, then the card is discarded, a new one is drawn, and the turn is over. 

The win conditions for every scenario are to score a number of medals as indicated by the scenario. Early scenarios use fewer units and have simpler objectives than the later ones. Additionally, there are campaign booklets that allow players to take a more narrative approach to the game. 

These are the basics of the game! No Star Wars knowledge is needed to play or enjoy the game, although if you haven’t seen Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, I would highly recommend watching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope first. 

Unboxing

The box comes neatly packaged. Even though the game tokens come on a punch-out sheet, there is ample storage within the box for everything. I’d recommend getting some small craft Ziplock bags to help keep the tokens separate for easy setup, although there aren’t an exorbitant number of tokens.

You get a lot of content in the box. The tokens are used in different scenarios, so you will want to keep them separate and organized. The campaign materials, including cards and rulebooks, aren't used in one-off games, but again, you'll want to keep them organized as well.

This is sort of a sticking point for me with board games, but something that I find too often within board games is that the tray inserts do not allow for cards to be sleeved and stored properly. However, I was so pleasantly surprised to find that this tray does! For those of you who are interested, the cards in this game require the Standard European Card Sleeves (59mm x 91mm).

Playthrough

Once the board was set up, cards sleeved, and minis nearby at the ready, it was time to jump into the game. My good friend (equally, if not more, an avid Star Wars nerd) and I set up for the first scenario and managed to throw out some solid puns and references to get ourselves in the mindset to battle on the snowy plains of Hoth. Just like in the movie, the first scenario is about finding those probe droids and destroying them.

Scenario #1: Imperial Scout Mission

After successfully failing to properly imitate the sound of an Imperial Probe Droid, we charged into the snowy oblivion. Battle of Hoth is a game that rewards pushing forward and pressing your attack. In this scenario, destroying a probe droid unit grants the Rebel player two medals (normally, they are worth zero), and victory was granted to the player who got four medals first. Without hesitation, I hid those droids behind some cover and then pushed forward to keep the Rebels at bay and away from getting within range and line of fire of the probe droids.

My left flank had clearly eaten their Wheaties that morning and was successful at preventing the Rebels from advancing, while the right flank was apparently trying to figure out which end of the blaster the bolt came out of. Despite that squad’s ineptitude, the Empire was successful in pressing the attack and scored four Victory Medals to the Rebels’ two. 

The first scenario is a great introduction to the basic mechanics. The Empire is limited to a hand of three cards while the Rebels get to play with four. It seems like the scenario is designed to favor the Rebels. So, as far as teaching purposes go, this is a perfect intro for younger players where they play as the Rebels.

Scenario #2: Snowspeeder Counter Attack

One of the best things about playing any dice game with my friend is that we are quite possibly the most inconsistent dice rollers in the world. I’m not being hyperbolic or flippant here - we are both cursed with our dice rolling abilities. We are also cursed with absolutely loving dice games, so when we play, our games always go sideways. We’re either absolutely rolling like bantha poodoo or have the most insane, Hail-Mary luck with making rolls that beat out the odds in Vegas. This game was no exception.

The Rebel snowspeeders hit my right flank hard and fast, controlling the snowy hills in front of my units. Each terrain hex provides different game effects and is meant to help bring some hindrances to the board to help make combat more interesting. Hills reduce the number of attacking dice by one, making it hard to hit them. So, not only did he get a very effective alpha strike against me, but it was going to be a slog to take down those sp. In just a few rounds, even with me reinforcing my lost units, he had scored 3 Victory Medals. 

I needed to divert my AT-AT away from my preferred targets, the troopers on my left flank, so I could attack the snowspeeders on the hills. Simultaneously, the snowtroopers pushed forward to try and defeat the Rebel troopers. In classic dice rolling fashion, both my friend and I were rolling the gear icon when attacking the troopers, and the trooper icon when attacking the vehicles (it needed to be the other way around). I was really struggling to score victory medals, and was at two to his 3 for a few rounds, until I was able to play my card that activated the center units. On that turn, I could activate both the AT-AT and a full squad of snowtroopers; the AT-AT dealt a final blow to the last snowspeeder, and the snowtroopers, three squares away, rolled a single die to get a hit for the last trooper in the unit. Had I not done that, he would have been able to activate three full Rebel trooper units and focused fire to score his last medal. It really came down to a single turn and a couple of rolls.

Impressions

Like the Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game, Battle of Hoth is easy to teach and tough to master. Timing is everything with the command cards, and it’s important to select the right commander for the right mission. I chose General Veers, who favors vehicles, for Scenario #1, and that didn’t help me at all. Luke Skywalker’s command cards are pro-snowspeeder, so it really made a difference for getting those early, fast attacks in against me in Scenario #2. 

The game plays quickly. Even with learning to play, checking rules, and reading cards to hypothesize interactions, both rounds took less than an hour to play. If you play this a lot, I am sure the scenario goes even faster, especially for the later, more robust scenarios. Days of Wonder recently released an FAQ for the game, which you can read here:

The minis are great, reminiscent of some of those old, deluxe edition Risk games, but with a softer plastic and more details. I would love to paint these pieces up and maybe even print off some fan-made 3D terrain tiles.

Do I need a second copy? No. But does an epic Battle of Hoth using two boards sound like a great time? Absolutely. Scenario 18, “Assault on Hoth,” looks like the perfect way to spend a snowy evening inside around the game table. In it, two boxes of Battle of Hoth are required for the boards and minis, and you can play through an epic-sized scenario. 

Custom Scenarios

I don’t see it talked about as much right now, but I think one of the absolutely coolest features of this game is the ability to design and share custom scenarios. In the rulebook, they included a link to the Scenario Editor, available on Days of Wonder’s website.

STAR WARS™: Battle of Hoth Archives

BATTLE OF HOTH, is a fast paced miniatures battle game in which you choose either the ferocious Imperial army or the courageous Rebel forces.

Days of Wonder: Play different.™

You can sign up for free, but you do need an Asmodee account to log in (if you’ve used one before for games or purchases, that works. Once you’re in, you can create your own scenario, placing units, objectives, and terrain, and then write out the scenario background and win condition. 

The community for this game is already thriving. There are many pages of custom scenarios already available, so you can browse through them and see if there is one you want to try out!

Depending on how well this sells and how popular it becomes, I could see these mechanics being easily adapted into other iconic Star Wars battles like Endor, Naboo, Geonosis, or even Crait. 

Have you played Battle of Hoth yet? What has been your favorite scenario so far? Let us know! Don’t forget to follow GamingTrend for more Star Wars and board games news and reviews. 

May the Force be with you!