Review: Star Wars – Battle of Hoth

Introducción

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… On the inhospitable frozen planet of Hoth, the habitual silence is suddenly broken by the mechanical roar of giant walkers. From their trenches, the brave rebel soldiers finally spot the imperial forces advancing implacably toward them. The Rebel Alliance readies its precious squadron of snowspeeders in a desperate attempt to stall the ground assault and complete the evacuation of Echo Base.

This is how Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth is presented to us, a new implementation of Richard Borg’s Commands & Colors system (Memoir ’44, Battles of Westeros), along with Adrien Martinot. Published for the first time in 2025 by Days of Wonder in an English version. The illustrations are handled by Ben Carre (Divinare), Christophe Duhaze, Tony Foti (Lords of Waterdeep), and Clément Masson (Five Tribes).

It is published in Spanish by Asmodee (the game is language-dependent regarding cards, in addition to the rulebook). It allows for games of 2 to 4 players, with a suggested minimum age of 8 years and an approximate duration of 30 minutes. The MSRP is €49.95. For this review, a copy of the Spanish version from Asmodee was used, which the publisher kindly provided to us as a review copy.

Importante: si ya conoces el juego y/o sólo te interesa mi opinión sobre el mismo, puedes pasar directamente al apartado de Opinión. Los apartados Contenido y Mecánica están destinados especialmente a aquellos que no conocen el juego y prefieren hacerse una idea general de cómo funciona.

Ir a la Opinión Personal

Contenido

Inside a two-piece cardboard box (lid and bottom), measuring 37×27×5.6 cm (a box similar to Lost Ruins of Arnak, though shallower), we find the following components:

• Double-sided game board (cardboard)
• 19 Double-sided Terrain Hexes (cardboard)
• 3 Structure pieces (cardboard)
• 74 Miniatures (plastic):
  • 3 AT-ATs
  • 9 Snowspeeders
  • 32 Snowtroopers
  • 24 Echo Base Soldiers
  • 4 Imperial Probe Droids
  • 2 Rebel Artillery Turrets
• 60 Cards (59×91 mm.):
  • 50 Command Cards
  • 10 Support Cards
• 6 Battle Dice (plastic)
• 6 Double-sided Medal tokens (cardboard)
• 10 Badge tokens
• 4 Card holder pieces
• 3 Summary sheets
• Rulebook
• Scenario Book
• 4 Campaign Books

Mecánica

Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth is a light wargame that follows the Commands & Colors system, where each game represents a scenario of the battle between the Empire and the Rebel Alliance on the frozen planet of Hoth as seen in The Empire Strikes Back. Each player controls one of the sides: the Empire or the Rebel Alliance. Through hand management, players will execute orders on different units to try to fulfill the scenario’s victory condition before their rival, usually reaching a certain number of medals, most of which are obtained by eliminating enemy units. In each turn, the active player will use a card from their hand. These cards can be Order cards (indicating a board section and activating up to the number of units specified that start the turn in that section) or Leader cards (which are not restricted to a specific section). Upon activating a unit, it will generally be able to move and, subsequently, attack. Combat between units is resolved by rolling dice, with the number of dice depending on the unit type, attack distance, and terrain modifiers. For each hit, the unit will suffer a casualty (the number of miniatures in a unit represents the number of hits it can withstand, but it does not influence the dice rolled when attacking).

Conceptos Básicos

Let’s start with the Board. It represents the terrain where the battle will take place. Its dimensions are seven rows of hexes (alternating 10 and 9 hexes per row). In turn, these spaces are divided into three sections: left, center, and right, delimited by red strips (some spaces are crossed in the middle, and in others, it coincides with one of their sides). Additionally, on the top and bottom margins, we find the scoring tracks for each side (Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance), with space for 5 medals. The board has a second side used for larger scenarios, requiring a second base game box to complete it.

Each game will take place in a different scenario. To set up these scenarios, double-sided Terrain Tiles are used (each side shows a different type of terrain). Thus, we have Ridges (which hinder the line of sight of units not on a ridge and reduce the number of dice for units attacking other units on ridges, unless the attacking unit is also on a ridge), Rocks (which stop the movement of units entering them, preventing them from attacking that turn, block line of sight, and reduce the number of dice a unit rolls when attacking another inside rocks; 2 for vehicles as the attacking unit and 1 for the rest), Seracs (impassable crystalline formations that block line of sight), Crevasses (also impassable, but do not block line of sight), Trenches (they do not block line of sight, and when attacking units in trenches, the attacker rolls one less die, and units in trenches can ignore one retreat result), and Buildings/Ships (block line of sight; if a unit enters them, it must stop moving and cannot attack; vehicles on these tiles roll two fewer dice when attacking, and when attacking a unit located on one of these tiles, 2 fewer dice are rolled for attacking vehicles or 1 fewer for the rest).

Some scenarios will also include Structure Pieces. The spaces where these structures are deployed will be impassable; if they are on a terrain tile, they benefit from defensive bonuses and block line of sight. The operation of these structures is specified in the scenario.

A key element of the game is the Miniatures. These are used to represent the different units. Each side has three types: Echo Base Soldiers, Snowspeeders, and Turrets for the Rebel Alliance, and Snowtroopers, AT-ATs, and Probe Droids for the Galactic Empire. Only one unit can be in each board space, blocking line of sight. Each unit withstands a certain number of hits, which is represented by the number of miniatures. But, regardless of the number of miniatures a unit has, its attack capacity will always be the same in terms of distance and number of dice. Vehicle units for each side have a peculiarity. Snowspeeders can enter Crevasse spaces (impassable for other units), and AT-ATs cannot enter Ridge spaces (passable for the rest).

The usual goal of each scenario is to be the first side to accumulate a certain amount of Medals. The main way to get them is by destroying enemy units, although there are units that do not provide medals, such as Probe Droids or Turrets. However, defeating infantry (Echo Base Soldiers or Snowtroopers) or vehicles (Snowspeeders or AT-ATs) does grant a medal.

Combat is resolved by rolling Battle Dice. The active player, after having given orders to one or more units, can generally attack with them. To do so, they must choose a target unit within line of sight (the imaginary line between the center of the hex containing the attacking unit and the hex containing the target unit must not cross any space that blocks line of sight, whether it be terrain or another unit) and within attack range (all units have an attack range of three hexes). Depending on the distance to the target unit, each unit will roll a certain number of dice. This quantity may be reduced or increased depending on the effects of the card used to activate the unit and/or the terrain. These dice show five possible values: hit on an infantry unit, hit on a vehicle unit, explosion (causes a hit on any type of unit), retreat (forces the unit to retreat one hex back, receiving a hit if it cannot retreat), and miss (nothing happens). It is important to indicate that to destroy an AT-AT, a double roll must be made, having to obtain at least one vehicle hit or explosion result in the first roll to then perform a second roll with the dice showing these results and achieve an explosion.

To activate units, Command Cards are used. Within Command cards, there are two types: section cards (which show an image of the board and indicate one of the sections with a number of units that can be activated from those in that section) or tactics cards (which show a particular effect and generally do not refer to sections). Additionally, each player will have Leader Cards. At the beginning of each game, players can choose one of these leaders and add the three associated cards to their deck, which are cards similar to tactics cards.

Finally, we have Badge tokens, which serve to highlight specialized units. Thus, we have assault units (infantry, which can perform a rush, allowing the unit to move into the space occupied by the attacked target unit if it is forced to retreat or is destroyed, provided it is close combat; that is, the spaces the units are in are adjacent), scouts (infantry, which, upon entering a ridge, allow any enemy unit within line of sight of this unit to be attacked by other units with an additional die), E-Web (infantry, carrying a heavy cannon; if the unit moves and attacks, it acts normally, but if the unit has not moved and attacks, it may re-roll any number of dice once after the combat roll), and elite troops (if they are infantry, they can move two hexes and attack, while if they are vehicles, they have one more miniature).

With this, we have enough.

Preparación de la Partida

1. Choose a scenario from the Scenario Book.
2. Place the board in the center of the table.
3. Distribute the Terrain hexes indicated by the scenario.
4. Place the miniatures in the positions marked on the battle map:
   • Imperial Infantry units: 4 Snowtroopers.
   • Imperial Vehicle units: 1 AT-AT.
   • Imperial Special units: 2 Imperial Probe Droids.
   • Rebel Infantry units: 3 Echo Base Soldiers.
   • Rebel Vehicle units: 3 Snowspeeders.
   • Rebel Special units: 1 Rebel Artillery.
5. If the scenario requires it, assign the Special Forces badges to the corresponding units and the victory Medals to the objectives on the board.
6. Leave the summary sheets next to the board.
7. Assemble the card holders and place them on the edges of the board.
8. Each player receives the 16 standard Command Cards for their side; optionally, each player chooses a leader and adds their 3 cards to their deck. Shuffle the deck and place it to one side.
9. Each player draws the number of Command Cards indicated by the scenario and places them in their card holder.
10. The starting player is indicated in the scenario.

We can now begin!

Desarrollo de la Partida

A game of Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth takes place over an indeterminate number of turns, with players alternating until one player reaches the number of victory Medals set by the scenario.

In each turn, the active player proceeds as follows:

1. Play a Command Card. The active player selects a Command Card from their hand and places it face-up in their play area. Read the text of the card aloud to remember its sections or special effects.
2. Orders. The player declares which units will receive orders, respecting the limits indicated by the Command Card. Only units that receive an order may move, attack, or execute special actions this turn.
3. Movement. Move the units that received orders, one by one, in the order you prefer. Each unit moves up to the number of hexes allowed by its type, respecting terrain restrictions and space occupancy.
4. Attack. Resolve the attacks of the units that received orders, one by one and in the order of your choice. For each attack, check range, line of sight, and terrain modifiers; then roll the dice, apply hits, and perform the corresponding retreats. If an enemy unit is eliminated, the player will get a medal.
5. Draw Command Card. Discard the played Command Card and draw the top card of your deck to replenish your hand. If your draw deck is empty, shuffle the discard pile to form a new one before drawing.

After this, the turn passes to the opposing player.

Fin de la Partida

The game ends immediately when a player meets the scenario’s victory conditions (usually by achieving the required number of Medals).

Variantes

Team Mode (for 3 or 4 players). Two sides are formed with up to two players each, and a starting player is designated per team. After setting up the scenario and distributing the Command Cards, the teams shuffle their side’s deck and each member receives a personal deck of eight cards; then they draw their hand as indicated by the scenario, optionally adding their leader’s cards. During the game, sides alternate turns according to the scenario, and within each side, players alternate: for four players, the order is starting A, starting B, second A, second B; for three, player 1 of the team, soloist, player 2 of the team. The active player plays a single Command Card, discards it at the end of their turn, and draws from their personal deck; meanwhile, both teammates can show each other cards and coordinate aloud.

Without Leaders. Players use only the basic command cards, leaving the leaders in the box.

Campaign. The box includes two campaigns consisting of eight games each. These campaigns use Support Cards. Each game uses one of the scenarios from the base game, applying particular rules, among them, when to draw Support Cards. The secondary objectives for each side remain hidden until they are fulfilled. These are added to the player’s hand but are not taken into account for the Command Card hand limit and can be played additionally in a turn provided the requirements are met (that is, one Command Card and one Support Card). When used, they are returned to the box (they cannot be obtained for the rest of the campaign). If they are not used, they will be kept in hand for the next scenario of the campaign. Depending on the outcome of each battle, the next one will be prepared with certain modifications.

Opinión Personal

When one wonders what the next step will be for the companies that make up the Asmodee group, and that currently own licenses as powerful as Star Wars or Lord of the Rings to develop board games, there was always an option that, as obvious as it seemed, it was strange that they did not jump into creating it.

I am talking, as you might have guessed, about the union of, on one hand, the Star Wars franchise and, on the other, Richard Borg’s Commands & Colors game system. I say it was strange because there were already many games that we could find in the great group’s catalog using this system, such as Memoir ’44 (find the tocho-review here), Battles of Westeros (for the A Song of Ice and Fire universe), or BattleLore.

It has taken them a while, but finally, that awaited fusion has crystallized into the game we are dealing with today. Let’s see how this Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth behaves on the table, but not before thanking Asmodee for providing the copy that makes this long text we just started possible.

The first thing is to position ourselves, because surely many of you have made a face of circumstances upon reading that about Richard Borg’s “Commands & Colors game system.” It is a mechanically very accessible system for representing battles. So yes, we are dealing with a wargame.

Each game that has implemented this system has its own characteristics, but, in general, they all have elements in common. The most important would be the arrangement of units on a hexagonal board on which orders are executed using cards. These cards are usually divided into two types: section cards and tactics cards.

Section cards refer to physical divisions found on the board, so that with a certain card, you can only activate units that are physically on hexes corresponding to that section, not being able to activate units that are in other sections (although there are games that change the sections for leaders, and units must be in the periphery of these). On the other hand, tactics cards do not have this physical restriction, but, in exchange, they are much more specific when indicating which units can be activated, indicating certain circumstances or modifications to the “normal” activation of the units.

Then, the units will be composed of a set of miniatures or blocks (it depends on the game), which represent, in essence, the hits that a unit can withstand. Thus, a unit that has three miniatures simply means that that unit must receive three hits to be eliminated from the board. As long as it has at least one miniature or block, it can be activated normally. It will depend on the system implementation whether the attack capacity varies depending on the number of miniatures or blocks the unit has.

Each of these games usually comes with a scenario booklet that poses diverse battles, with an initial arrangement of units on the main board, which is modified by adding terrain tiles, so that the spaces where those tiles are placed will impact the movement and/or resolution of combat in which those terrain tiles are involved, whether because one of the units is inside them or because the terrain is in the line of sight between both units.

As a last characteristic element of this game system, we must talk about the resolution of combat. These are performed by rolling dice that the attacking player executes, while the defender only has to cross their fingers that the active player is not lucky.

These dice show various types of symbols referring to hits on specific unit types, general hits (affecting any unit type), or retreats (which, generally, will force units to retreat backwards from the defending player’s point of view, potentially becoming hits if the unit has no space to retreat).

Finally, most scenarios usually establish as a victory condition being the first to reach a certain amount of medals, with the main way to get these medals being to destroy enemy units. And I think that with this, it is more than enough for you to get an idea of the system.

Then the matter can get as complicated as the designer wants. For example, in Commands & Colors: Napoleonics, the number of blocks that make up a unit does influence when attacking, since the number of these blocks is a representation of the unit’s cohesion and morale, so that the fewer blocks, the worse performance when attacking, while in Memoir ’44, the number of miniatures only represents the “life of the unit,” attacking the same way regardless of the number of miniatures it has.

Everything I have just said is fully applicable to this Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth, so I am going to emphasize the main characteristics of this implementation taking Memoir ’44 as a reference, which is the one it shows the most similarities with, as both are focused on a wide audience that may not have played any other design in this family.

The first thing that stands out is the reduction of the playing field, so Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth is one of the implementations that proposes a more direct resolution of scenarios. And that is because, from a board of 9 alternating rows of 14 and 13 hexes, we go to a board of 7 alternating rows of 10 and 9 hexes. Taking into account that we have units capable of moving up to three hexes in an activation and that their range is also three spaces, combat can be resolved from the very first turn of the game.

Then, some concepts have been simplified. In Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth, there is no concept of overrun (which in Memoir ’44 allowed armor units, after eliminating a unit in close combat and occupying its hex, to attack again) or advance (something similar when an infantry unit eliminated an enemy unit in close combat, being able to move to the hex it occupied, but without attacking again).

Obstacles belonging to the sides have also been eliminated, which makes thematic sense because the Battle of Hoth was here today, gone tomorrow. The Rebel Alliance had time to deploy their troops in the nearby trenches and little else, while the imperial troops deployed and wiped the place out in a short time. And in the snow, there are not many elements that can be deployed effectively.

Well, I think you have enough context to move on to talk about feelings, whether you knew Memoir ’44 (or any other game in the family) or if this is your first approach to the system because what attracts you to the product is that it is Star Wars.

The first thing I have to say is that, as a product, Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth seems like an absolute success. The authors and editors have taken a system that works and has a large number of followers in the world and have simplified it even further to make it as accessible as possible.

Although the system is very simple, it has managed to capture key details of very recognizable elements in the battle that begins The Empire Strikes Back, with the AT-AT miniatures being the absolute star. Playing with the Empire and advancing these enormous walkers and shooting at the rebel units as if there were no tomorrow is tremendously satisfying.

But even more satisfying is playing with the rebels and achieving a confirmation roll by destroying one of these AT-ATs. It will be hard not to contain the emotion and shout to the four winds when at least one explosion symbol is achieved in that second roll. If it is achieved by a unit that only has one miniature left, it will be hard not to imagine that it is Luke Skywalker representing the legendary moment in which he finished off one of these monstrous war machines all by himself with a thermal detonator.

The games are tremendously dynamic and frenetic. It is true that for someone who already has some experience with the system, it may fall short by not leaving much room for maneuver in terms of unit movement and strategy. The units are very close, and there are not many options available.

But, as I say, it seems like a success to me. I like Memoir ’44 a lot, but it is true that it is a game that ended up making me somewhat lazy to bring to the table. And that is because these games structured in scenarios, if they cannot be deployed nimbly, having to configure so many elements on a board can end up becoming more of a handicap than a virtue.

However, on this occasion, the deployments are very agile because, in the end, there are not that many miniatures to deploy, nor that many tiles to locate, although the problem of having double-sided tiles still exists, which, when almost all are used, you have to figure out which side to use for each one to be able to configure the scenario. In this sense, I think the most practical thing would have been to number the tiles and put a letter on each side, so that the scenario configuration would indicate for each tile number which side to use, and thus everything would be deployed even faster.

What has not changed regarding Memoir ’44 is the impact of luck. This is not a game for lovers of control. Here you will be subject to the rigors of chance, both when drawing cards (we only have four in hand, and if we don’t manage them well, we can find ourselves in a nice block where we can even lose turns by not being able to activate the corresponding units) and, especially, when resolving rolls.

Here a unit on the verge of death, if it is lucky, is able to take out several enemy units because when resolving the rolls, it does not miss one, while the rival, trying to deal the finishing blow, honors the stormtroopers and does not hit anything. That luck picks on a player can be very frustrating, which is why I applaud the reduction that has been applied in this case. If things go wrong, another scenario is set up, and let’s play.

And the fact is that a game of a Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth scenario will have a duration almost like a filler, because in thirty or forty minutes the matter will be finished, giving way to using the back-and-forth system so typical in these games, where two games are played in the same scenario switching sides and adding the medals achieved in each of the games.

In addition to the scenarios, the game includes two campaigns in which eight games are linked, each of them with one of the scenarios already included in the game, but applying certain modifications, such as secondary objectives or special cards that can be obtained by fulfilling those objectives. The most interesting thing is that the result of each game will impact the preparation of the next one. I assume they will publish new campaigns over the months.

Now let’s speculate a little. Already on the cover of the box, there is a seal that says “Galactic Battles,” so, if this product is a success (and it is being), it won’t be long before we read the announcement of the next box. And I say box because my bet is that, on this occasion, they are not going to go crazy expanding the base games.

Because, in the case of the Battle of Hoth, I see it difficult to add enough elements to justify a box. Yes, they could include the AT-STs for the imperials (which are seen briefly) and the Tauntauns for the rebels, some terrain tile, and new scenarios. But I think that, as a product, it would work much worse than publishing a new box. And there the bets are already opened.

There are many ideas: the space battle of Yavin 4 (there are already implementations of this system for stellar combat), the battle of Scarif to get the Death Star plans, or, of course, the Battle of Endor (which would admit up to two boxes, one for the space battle and another for the battle on the Sanctuary Moon), not to mention the Clone Wars (which would open the door to the use of Jedi as leaders in the style of Battles of Westeros). What I don’t think will happen is that they publish content that applies to several boxes. Except for specific cases, the terrain, the units, and the lore associated with them would not fit.

The game includes a team mode to allow enjoying it with three or four players. It doesn’t quite fit for me with such a small map. Another thing would be with epic scenarios connecting several boxes. But how most people are going to enjoy this game is in one-on-one games.

For replayability, it has plenty. Not only because each scenario can be developed in many different ways due to the impact of chance in cards and rolls, as well as the players’ decision-making. But because, as I have already said, it is a game that is tremendously simple to bring to the table, not needing a great amount of time to resolve a game.

Let’s move on to production. This is where Days of Wonder could not fail and, fortunately, they have not failed. The miniatures are dense and have a high level of detail, especially the AT-ATs. It is true that we have a smaller number of miniatures than in Memoir ’44, but, due to the dimensions of the battle, I think it is adjusted (it also makes life easier for those who enjoy painting miniatures). The cardboard elements are of acceptable thickness and pressing (the terrain tiles could perhaps be somewhat thicker). The cards are of good weight, smooth texture, and very good elastic response. And the custom dice are plastic. The card holders are appreciated. And the rulebook is well-structured, with enough examples to resolve any doubt.

And regarding the visual aspect, it is true that it is difficult to stand out in a snow scenario. It is true that some tiles, such as crystals or destroyed ships, give a bit of life to the scenario, but, in general, it will be the miniatures that will end up dressing the board. The cards are where we can find the most details, especially in the leader cards, with some very striking images. I like the cover, generating interest with a composition that shows all the characteristic elements of the Battle of Hoth.

And let’s wrap this up. Star Wars: The Battle of Hoth is a light wargame that shines for its accessibility and thematic fidelity. The Commands & Colors system, simplified to the maximum, offers agile and dynamic games, with the AT-ATs and snowspeeders capturing the epicness of the battle with which The Empire Strikes Back begins. Card management and dice rolls bring tension and exciting moments, although luck can be decisive, which could frustrate lovers of total control. The production is notable, with detailed miniatures and attractive cards. Its replayability and speed of deployment make it ideal for quick games. A very attractive title for Star Wars lovers and players looking for a simple wargame, although it is true that, as a design that implements this system, it may fall short for those looking for a more intense experience. With all this, it seems to me a magnificent entry point to this system. For all this, I give it a…