Here is the canonical map reference:

http://www.swmresources.com/downloads/MapList%20January%202013.pdf

It lists all of the maps made for SWM through January 2013. JediCartographer just released 14 new maps a couple months back and they are not listed, but everything else is. The maps are categorized as 'Restricted', 'Standard', and 'Open'. The Restricted maps are considered the most balanced for competitive play. Standard are fine, too. Usually it's just that one or two squad types get too strong of an advantage but they generally play very well for most games. Maps in the Open category tend to be more, well, open, and thus give shooters too much of an advantage. (There may be other factors at play as well, though.)

You can look there to see what maps you might like, or to see what list a particular map was placed on.



Look here to buy Star Wars maps:

http://www.miniaturemarket.com/collectible-miniatures/star-wars-miniatures/star-wars-maps.html

The consensus for best "bang for the buck" is Jedi Cartographer Map Pack 4: Strongholds & Fortresses. It's 4 double-sided maps (8 maps total), and they are currently being sold individually at Miniature Market for $6 each, or a set of all 4 for $20. Map Pack 5 is also available - those are newly released and not yet rated. The Maps of Mastery maps are also great but they are more expensive.

The cheapest map option is usually the set of Clone Wars map packs - the two Teth maps and Crystal Caves of Ilum. You can sometimes find them for $3 or $4 each if you look around. I like Map Pack 4 a lot better, though.

Thanks for your input! I'm thinking I'll probably pick up map pack 4 then, or at least some of the maps from it. It looks like they'll be great for playing with the 4-6 people we usually have.

Usually we have everyone play on the same map with 100 points each (though we have done 150 point games). We have slightly different rules for activations to keep turns faster when people have a lot of low-cost grunts. Its always been FFA style, but people will usually make deals with others.

Last game for instance, my one friend with a bunch of uniques and rakghouls made a deal with me (republic) and my other friend (rebels) to let him across a hallway I had under control so he could get at the Imperial player. I agreed since the imperial player was harrassing my lower-end bounty hunters and I wanted him distracted. After he moved his guys across, he sent Mara Jade back into the hallway and unleashed a blaster barrage. Politics came into play then and he had been counting on the imperial player seeing his gesture and teaming up with him, but instead was teamed up on by everyone else. Making deals really adds to the gameplay and adds some interesting risks, but it does make our skirmishes pretty long.

The map packs would be more for variety than having seperate games. Its meant to be something fun we do together.

Map Pack 5 has 4 maps that fit together in different configurations, so you could have a larger battleground if desired.

Especially not bad if you have even numbers on the board and if you enjoy the political factor of the game. Just a different type of game. In 3-player (what we usually would play... if we have 4 we'll play 2 separate games), in a free-for-all, the winning move is to avoid engagement and let the other two fight, then come in with full strength to fight the winner (or both of them in a weakened state). You can try to negotiate a truce to go attack the guy who is hiding, though.

There's probably a copy in the Math Society board game vault, might try it out. We had a lot of fun with a game called Diplomacy, we take 30 minutes each turn debating alliances and stuff. It goes on for hours and we rarely finish.



This is a major problem we have. A few games back one guy tried out an all-fringe build we had planned out earlier focused around the Bith and Rodian Black Sun Vigos and a lot of stealh/blacksun followers and mobile attackers. He tucked himself in a corner and stayed there the entire game, while the other 5 of us fought. In the end he had to leave and I took over his stuff (I had been annihilated earlier caught between rebels and imperials) and won with his army, but none of us liked how that went. Kinda wish we could find a solution to this.