FFG: Fantasy Flight Games News

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Enter the Dungeon

Preview the Final Bosses and Download the Rules for Fire at Will and The Big Wave

I shall most certainly pass!

   –The Bullrog, Fire at Will

Quench your thirst for dexterity-based fun with Fire at Will and The Big Wave, two expansions for Dungeon Fighter soon to be released by Fantasy Flight Games! You’ll be in your monster-quashing element as you battle your way though the dangerous dungeons of these expansions.

Our first preview of these expansions gave you an overview of Fire at Will. We explored how burn tokens scorch heroes and monsters, and introducing you to Melissa, The Fire Sorceress. Our second preview dove into The Big Wave. The pirate Jack Parrot made your acquaintance and we took a tour of the murky underwater caves.

Today’s preview gives you a look at the terrifying Final Boss monsters that await you at the end of the each dungeon. In Fire at Will, the flame-snorting Bullrog seeks to burn heroes to a crisp before they see the light of day. In The Big Wave, the ageless, infamous, and slimy Great Cthulhu waits beneath the surface, yearning to drag heroes down into the ocean’s depths.

So that you can prepare for the battles ahead, download the rulebooks for Fire at Will and The Big Wave from the Dungeon Fighter support page (pdf, 3.8MB and 4.7MB) or by clicking the thumbnails below. Use the rulebooks to plan your path through the dungeons, pick out the equipment you’ll purchase in the shop, or begin practicing the new dice throws introduced in each expansion. Given how powerful these Final Bosses are, you’ll definitely want some practice.

Bull-Headed

You cannot emerge from the dungeon in Fire at Will without conquering the winged Bullrog, who is stubborn as a mule, full of hot air, and wielding a flaming sword. Where the Bullrog goes, explosions follow: at the beginning of a battle with him you must throw the explosion template onto the target board – if a die lands on the template, all heroes suffer two damage. This volatile fire demon deals three points of damage to you if you miss him. He also gives you three burn tokens if you hit him, so that you suffer a point of damage at the start of your next three turns.

The best way to vanquish the Bullrog is to fight fire with fire. Equip yourself with fire magic or purchase some Firepower Potion, so that you can use the fire element die which deals damage with every throw. Melissa, The Fire Sorceress is particularly useful against the Bullrog, since her Sworn Enemy ability deals four points of additional damage to any demon. Armed with weapons and fire magic, and with Melissa in your company of heroes, you’ll have no trouble taking the Bullrog by his burning horns.

Cthulhu is Calling

For centuries there have been rumors of an immortal monster lurking in the ocean depths, waiting for just the right moment to come ashore and regain control of the earth. In The Big Wave, you’ll discover the truth of those rumors when you confront The Great Cthulhu. Only the bravest heroes will be able to face such horror, and only the most powerful can overcome this tentacular terror.

At the beginning of your fight with Cthulhu you must throw the slime template, which forces your dice to slip around the target board unpredictably. The mere sight of Cthulhu causes the heroes to lose three experience points, diminishing their ability to use water magic. Dealing three damage points to any hero who misses him, Cthulhu also deals seven oxygen tokens to any hero who isn’t already gasping for breath, so that hero only has seven more chances to hit Cthulhu before fainting from lack of air.

How can a creature this powerful be defeated? The most useful weapon against this fearsome winged squid may be the Water Fighter, a technologically advanced squirt gun that makes any hit cause three additional damage. Of course, using the Water Fighter requires a specific dice throw, but by the time you encounter Cthulhu you'll be an expert in the art of dungeon fighting, able to master any dice throw imaginable.

Fight On

No victory prize compares with boasting that you’ve conquered both the Bullrog and The Great Cthulhu. Are you ready to go through fire and water to do battle against these epically menacing Final Boss monsters?

Download the rulebooks from the Dungeon Fighter support page and pre-order The Big Wave and Fire at Will from your local retailer today!

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Source: Enter the Dungeon

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Populate a Universe

Preview the NPCs within Dark Heresy Second Edition

“Look upon the crowd below and know this – for each honest and Emperor-fearing citizen, another harbours discontent and the seed of treachery in his heart. For every two such malcontents, a third plots against his betters. Out of each hundred such plotters, one has the resolve to act. Now realise this – Hive Desoleum is home to billions. How many, then, are there all around us, ready to drag this place into oblivion?”

   –Overheard along a midhive habway, from persons unknown

Your investigations as an Acolyte in Dark Heresy Second Edition inevitably bring you into close contact with dozens of strange and exotic beings, ranging from loyal citizens of the Imperium to the blackest spawn of the Warp. Some of these may aid you towards your goals, but others will certainly oppose you with all their might.

Today, contributing writer Tim Cox brings you deeper into the corruption of Hive Desoleum as he describes the exotic people and horrid beasts you may encounter in your adventures across the Askellon sector.

Tim Cox on NPCs in Dark Heresy Second Edition

One of the most exciting things about working on Dark Heresy Second Edition was the opportunity to explore Imperial society. Far from the brutal battlefields of the 41st millennium, strange and bizarre denizens fill the worlds and cities of the Imperium. Each of the Imperium’s million and more worlds is unique, and possesses its own defining characteristics. After all, many worlds were settled before the Age of Strife, and their civilisations developed over tens of thousands of years. When we created the cast of NPCs and adversaries for Dark Heresy, we wanted to highlight the uniqueness of every world and its inhabitants.

Natives of Desoleum

Rather than offering generic NPCs painted in broad strokes, the NPC and Adversary chapter of Dark Heresy primarily focuses on the inhabitants of a single city – Hive Desoleum. In Hive Desoleum, society is dominated by the oath system. Oaths determine social ranking, servitude, and status for every member of the city, from the youngest child in the slums to Lady Desoleum herself. Because the oaths are such an enormous part of life in Hive Desoleum, we worked very hard to incorporate this into the NPCs and adversaries the Acolytes may face in Desoleum.

Although many of the characters described in this chapter are specific to Hive Desoleum, GMs will still find these characters useful for adventures set in other locales. I knew while developing this chapter that the most important thing was to maximize its usefulness to GMs. For me, this meant creating complete game profiles to help GMs run encounters and writing in-depth background descriptions to provide GMs with ideas for fitting these NPCs into other adventures.

To help a GM use these NPCs in any adventure, I endeavoured to make them flexible, while keeping them anchored in the strange and macabre environment of Hive Desoleum. Some NPCs, particularly the members of the Imperial Adeptus such as Astropaths and Tech-Priests, are representative of individuals found on many Imperial worlds. Other characters are more firmly entrenched in the culture of Hive Desoleum. The Involute Cadre Trooper and Officer, for example, represent the military of Desoleum, but GMs can easily modify their profiles or use them as they are to represent the soldiery of another world.

Dread Creatures Await

In addition to the human residents of Hive Desoleum, the NPCs and Adversaries chapter includes several dangerous flora and fauna from across the Askellon Sector. These allow GMs to present their Acolytes with very different types of challenges. Gunfights with cultists are one thing, but how does one fight a plant that drives nearby sentients into homicidal psychosis, or a mind-influencing spoor that exists in reality and the Warp simultaneously? Developing this section was a lot of fun, as it gave me the opportunity to explore the life forms found across the sector and revisit classic beasts like the common grox.

One of my favorite NPCs from the whole chapter – the smelt-rat – appears in this section. An artificial environment like Hive Desoleum is bound to be home to some highly exotic life forms, such as the smelt-rats, cybernetic vermin of unknown origin. Smelt-rats are no simple pests, though. These beasts are drawn to technological systems, infesting them and posing great threats to the hive’s ancient systems. They are also dangerous to any individuals with cybernetic limbs or implants, as smelt-rats are drawn to tech like normal vermin to food. The mere sight of a bionic limb drives smelt-rats into a ravenous feeding frenzy. Even more frightening are the rumoured smelt-rat kings, composed of many individual smelt-rats fused together and displaying a higher intelligence. Springing these beasts on unwary Acolytes reminds them that the lower reaches of Hive Desoleum are just as dangerous as any unexplored planet.

Finally, this chapter explores a few of the foul xenos and denizens of the Warp that the Acolytes might confront. Rather than a random grab-bag of unrelated aliens and Daemons, we focused on distinct groups. This way, GMs find a range of NPCs within each group, including numerous Troops, Elites, and Masters. Within this chapter, you’ll find profiles for the Eldar of Craftworld Miandrothe and the putrescent servitors of Nurgle, opening the way for an array of encounters.

I hope the NPCs and adversaries of the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook provide excitement and adventure to players over many campaigns, and that these strange characters and creatures might even inspire GMs to create new adventures!

Start Your Adventure

Thanks, Tim!

Whether you encounter terrifying xenos, confront the spawn of Nurgle, or battle smugglers and cultists within the Imperium, you’ll need a guide to the strange and unknowable ways of your enemies. In the Dark Heresy Second Edition Core Rulebook, GMs find the tools they need to populate the universe of Warhammer 40,000.

Preorder your copy of Dark Hersey Second Edition at your local retailer today!

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Source: Populate a Universe

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Stay on Target

Preview the Wave V Upgrade Designed by 2013 World Champion Paul Heaver

“Stay on target!”

    –Gold Five, Star Wars: A New Hope

Recently, we revealed that the fifth wave of starship expansions for X-Wing™ consists of two heavily shielded, large-base starships designed to blast through enemy fighters with their powerful turret weapons: the YT-2400 and the VT-49 Decimator.

In upcoming previews, we’ll look more closely at these starships and the various pilots available to fly them. We’ll also look at the news ways that they can interact with enemy ships and obstacles, including the expansions’ new debris cloud tokens. Today, however, we’ll begin our previews with a closer look at the Rebel Alliance’s YT-2400 Freighter Expansion Pack, focusing on its introduction of the upgrade card designed by 2013 World Champion Paul Heaver, Stay on Target.

Paul Heaver on Designing an X-Wing Upgrade

As part of my reward for winning the World Championships last year, I earned the opportunity to help design a card, and shortly after the event FFG contacted me to ask if I had given any thought as to what I’d want as my card. Like almost everyone who plays X-Wing, I had a bunch of ideas! Hoping something would stick, I threw them all at FFG, but I noticed that there was a theme to that initial push: ensuring advantages over ships with lower Pilot Skill than your own.

At Worlds, I had noticed that few of the top players were making much use of unique pilots. Some pilots, like Biggs Darklighter or “Howlrunner,” were essential to the squads they enhanced, but the majority of the lists flown at the top tables seemed to rely upon non-unique pilots. After I watched a Rebel Swarm list fly in the Top 8, and after I saw all of the Academy Pilots, Rookie Pilots, and Blue Squadron Pilots in the event, I knew I wanted something that rewarded lists that fielded highly skilled, unique pilots.

FFG had similar ideas, though, and they already had a card for offense (Predator) and another for defense (Flight Instructor). Both of those cards would be useful against highly skilled pilots, but more useful against those with lower Pilot Skills. On the other hand, I wanted my card to be extremely strong against weaker pilots, and pretty much useless against stronger ones. I also wanted it to have a different focus than attack or defense, so I looked into movement. FFG and I bounced ideas back and forth a few times, hashed out the card text that was sent to playtesting, and I’m very happy with the resulting card.

Stay On Target is a two-cost elite pilot talent, coming in at one squad-building point under Push the Limit, Outmaneuver, and Predator. It reads, “When you reveal a maneuver, you may rotate your dial to another maneuver with the same speed. Treat that maneuver as a red maneuver.”

Using Stay on Target in Your Rebel Squad

First things first, you can’t use a basic R2 Astromech to turn the maneuver you take with Stay on Target into a green maneuver. The game’s FAQ (pdf, 9.4 MB) makes that clear. Instead, it’s best to think of Stay on Target as a great insurance card. If your Wedge Antilles is tailing an Academy Pilot, and that Imperial breaks left when you expected him to go right, you can just have Wedge take a stress and swap directions to stay behind him.

After the Academy Pilot surprises Wedge Antilles by going left when Wedge expected him to go right, Wedge uses Stay on Target to switch his two-speed right bank (red) to a two-speed left bank (green), allowing him to stay on the Academy Pilot’s tail and take a lethal shot at Range “1.”

Or if you were going to do a two-speed Koiogran-turn with your B-wing, but an enemy ship moves to block you, you can turn to the side instead. In these ways, Stay on Target prevents you from ending up in bad situations, but there are a lot of other uses for this card.

What about ships that can deal with the stress easily? The Rebel Transport Expansion Pack gave us X-wings pilots who can clear their own stress. For example, Jek Porkins can use Stay on Target to swap his maneuver at the cost of potentially taking a point of damage. Considering how bad a wrong turn can be in this game, a single point of damage can be a pretty small cost!

Meanwhile, Stay on Target also works well on ships that can use Advanced Sensors, such as B-wings, E-wings, and the TIE phantom. If you take your action before changing the dial, then you won’t lose it when you perform a red maneuver. As an example, consider the options you get on Corran Horn with Advanced Sensors and Stay On Target: You select a three-speed turn, but you change your mind after your opponent moves most of his force, barrel roll out of the way with Advanced Sensors, and swap to your three-speed Koiogran-turn.

Once Corran Horn realizes where the trio of Academy Pilots are headed, he quickly changes his plans, using his Advanced Sensors to barrel roll before using Stay on Target to convert his three-speed left turn (red) to a three-speed Koiogran-turn (green).

For Corran Horn and others, Stay on Target will be a great tool for keeping out of the firing arcs of enemy pilots with lower pilot skills!

By far, my favorite Rebel use of this card is on Keyan Farlander, who is coming soon in the Rebel Aces Expansion Pack. Every turn, you can place your dial at two Koiogran-turn, use your Advanced Sensors to Target Lock or Barrel Roll, and then spin the dial to whichever two-speed maneuver you need when he activates. Then, Keyan can spend his stress token when he fires. Then, you can repeat this round after round. Keyan Farlander may not be able to use this trick to lock onto slippery TIE phantom aces with Veteran Instincts, but his maneuvers and shots will terrify all the non-unique pilots he faces!

Using Stay on Target in Your Imperial Squad

Speaking of phantoms, Stay on Target isn’t just for Rebels.

There are many times a phantom ace may have to decide whether to decloak left and turn right, or decloak right and turn left. If you choose the wrong plan and your opponent aims his squads laser cannons at the spot where you were going to end up, you have to decloak in a different direction and follow through with your selected maneuver. This may prevent your expensive phantom from getting shot, but it will usually also prevent you from taking a shot of your own.

Without Stay on Target, if a Rookie Pilot were to catch “Whisper” by surprise after she had committed to performing a two-speed right turn after decloaking, “Whisper” would have only two options, neither of them good. The Rookie has blocked the forward decloak, so “Whisper” can decloak left and turn right (red), ending up in the Rookie’s sights at Range “1,” or she can decloak right and turn right (yellow), escaping the Rookie’s firing arc, but leaving herself stranded outside of combat with no shot in the round.

Now, if you accept the idea of taking stress and turning off your Advanced Cloaking Device for a turn, you can still face your opponents and blast away with your four attack dice, regardless of where they guessed you’d go.

However, if “Whisper” has Stay on Target equipped and is willing to accept the stress token, she can swap out her two-speed right turn for a two-speed right bank. The resulting decloak and maneuver not only gets her outside of the Rookie’s firing arc but allows her to line up her own shot at point-blank range!

It was an honor to help design an upgrade for X-Wing, and I can’t wait to use it. I hope you enjoy using it, too!

Thanks, Paul!

With its large ships, turret weapons, unique pilot abilities, debris cloud obstacle tokens, and upgrades like Stay on Target, the fifth wave of starship expansions for X-Wing is going to have a profound impact upon how players fly their squads across the battlefield. Will it also increase the impact that some of the game’s ace pilots make upon the tournament scene? Only time will tell.

In the meantime, keep your eyes open for more Wave V previews, including a look at the new upgrade card designed by 2012 World Champion Doug Kinney!

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Source: Stay on Target

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Thrust into Galactic Civil War

A Preview of the Age of Rebellion Adventure, Onslaught at Arda I

“Look, I ain’t in this for your revolution, and I’m not in it for you, Princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money.”

    –Han Solo

As the first book-length adventure for the Star Wars®: Age of Rebellion™ Roleplaying Game, Onslaught at Arda I thrusts players’ characters into a rich and action-packed series of struggles against overwhelming Imperial forces. Your characters are likely to find themselves in more than one desperate situation, but if you maintain your courage, work together, and use your skills and blasters to good effect, you just might survive… and strike a massive blow against the Empire in the process.

In our last preview, we looked at how the vibrant settings and Mass Combat rules in Onslaught at Arda I help you envision your characters’ actions as integral parts of a larger, epic story – one that feels as though it truly deserves its place in the Star Wars universe alongside the classic movies.

Today, we continue to explore the place that Onslaught at Arda I might hold within the Star Wars universe and your Star Wars roleplaying campaigns.

The Rebellion’s secret base on Arda I.

Using Onslaught at Arda I with Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™

Back when we first announced the Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ Roleplaying Game, we explained that we believed the Star Wars universe was too large and too diverse to be treated properly within a single rulebook. Accordingly, Fantasy Flight Games has divided the Star Wars roleplaying experience into three separate, stand-alone roleplaying systems, each of which is fully cross-compatible. This is something that’s clearly evident in Onslaught at Arda I.

Even as it allows players to explore the galaxy as members of the Rebel Alliance, Onslaught at Arda I opens new avenues to characters who have been living on the fringes of the galaxy, ducking from the Empire, and trying to outrun their pasts in the Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ roleplaying game. This can mean that your Age of Rebellion character might exist alongside your friends’ Edge of the Empire characters, or it might mean that your Edge of the Empire character gains the opportunity to grow and mature, to give up his self-serving ways, and to fight for a cause that’s greater than himself.

Lead developer Katrina Ostrander shares more information on how you might carry your Edge of the Empire characters into Onslaught at Arda I:

“Just as Han Solo left his smuggling days behind him (mostly) and became a general in the Rebel Alliance, your characters from Edge of the Empire can join the fight against the evil Galactic Empire in Age of Rebellion. Onslaught at Arda I was designed with this in mind, and it provides Game Masters instructions to convert Edge of the Empire characters and integrate them into the adventure. The GM can even find instructions to custom tailor the adventure’s introduction to match the circumstances of the group’s arrival.

“Thanks to the cross-compatibility between the Star Wars roleplaying game lines, the conversion process is painless and primarily narrative in nature. The greatest challenge your scoundrels and spacers are likely to face is finding the inner strength to put their selfishness and survival instincts aside and learn to fight for something greater than themselves.

“Of course, Onslaught at Arda I offers plenty of opportunities to grow. GMs can test characters with a range of focused, optional encounters for each Duty type. If your GM includes these optional encounters, they will test your dedication to the cause, help you determine which Duty best suits your character’s skills and talents, and make the extent of your contributions known.

“Meanwhile, we listened to the fans who lauded the Obligation sidebars in Under a Black Sun and the subplot suggestions in Beyond the Rim, and we replicated that experience in Onslaught at Arda I. The adventure’s introduction helps the GM locate the appropriate Duty missions and their places in the book, as well as guidelines for incorporating motivation hooks to inspire additional roleplaying opportunities.

“Finally, your group’s Duty scores and contribution rank impact key interactions between your characters and the Rebel SecForce Commanders, rewarding groups who have displayed unwavering loyalty to the Alliance.”

Incorporating Onslaught at Arda I into an Ongoing Age of the Rebellion Campaign

Whether you’re playing raw recruits, converting characters from Edge of the Empire, or advancing your careers as veteran members of the Rebellion, your group will find plenty of ways to incorporate Onslaught at Arda I into an ongoing Age of Rebellion campaign.

For more about how you might link Onslaught at Arda I to other published or homebrewed adventures, we turn to lead developer Katrina Ostrander:

“Episode I begins at the hidden Rebel base on Arda I, and the detailed information provided about this base, as well as the surrounding area and NPCs, allows GMs to link the adventure to an ongoing campaign in any number of ways.

“GMs can deepen the Player Characters’ connections to the base’s support personnel and each other by completing missions in and around the Gordian Reach prior to the main story of the adventure. If one has not already run the scenarios in the Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook or Game Master’s Kit, either module can be launched from the Arda I base. The base also makes an excellent launching pad for any number of homebrewed missions.

“Even if the group plays through the adventure exactly as written, there are over a dozen fully detailed NPCs with whom the Player Characters may interact. These bring the Arda I base to life and deepen the impact of the betrayal they eventually suffer.

“Well after the main plot of the adventure is over, players and GMs will find further opportunities to assist the Rebels using the material found in this book. Whether they’re executing additional military sorties, recruiting help from the underworld, or rallying the population of a repressed Imperial world, the PCs have their work cut out for them. It can help to have a clear base of operations, though the task of rebuilding this base presents its own enormous set of challenges. If left unchecked, Imperial adversaries from the adventure and gazetteers will continue to threaten the sector, and it might once again fall to the group to mount a resistance.

“However the GM plans to extend the campaign, Onslaught at Arda I contains many exciting adventure seeds as the characters participate in their ongoing battle for the fate of the galaxy!”

All Hands on Deck!

Whether you intend to join the Rebellion for the first time or continue your ongoing service, Onslaught at Arda I offers more than a rich Age of Rebellion roleplaying experience; this first, book-length adventure for Age of Rebellion is a fantasy-filled Star Wars Roleplaying Game experience for characters of all backgrounds and species.

If you haven’t already pre-ordered your copy, head to your local retailer to do so today. Onslaught at Arda I is now scheduled to arrive in just a short couple of weeks. Imperial forces are already on their way!

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Source: Thrust into Galactic Civil War

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Equipped to Survive

A Preview of the New Droids, Vehicles, and Gear in Far Horizons

“You got a lot of carbon scoring here. It looks like you boys have seen a lot of action.”

    –Luke Skywalker

Once upon a time, a young farm boy from Tatooine cleaned a droid, caused it to play a recorded message, and triggered a series of events that would reshape the galaxy…

When your destiny calls, there’s no place you can go to escape it – not even a desert planet at the far edge of the known universe. Even when the Colonists of Star Wars®: Edge of the Empire™ travel to the far ends of the galaxy in order to establish new homes and new lives, their pasts have a nasty habit of catching up with them. Outstanding obligations lead to adventure. And since your adventures can take you anywhere, it pays to be prepared.

At the edge of the Empire, even routine shipments may run afoul of pirates.

In the Colonist sourcebook, Far Horizons, you’ll find a wealth of new droids, vehicles, starships, weapons, and gear that any character can use. However, since most of these items are designed to help tame even the wildest and most dangerous environments, the game’s Colonists should find them especially appealing.

Droids

It was Luke Skywalker’s interaction with a pair of droids that first led him down a path that would eventually take him off of Tatooine, past the destruction of the Death Star, and to the ultimate triumph of the Rebel Alliance over the evil Galactic Empire. To say, then, that there’s tremendous potential for adventure within the handful of new droids presented in Far Horizons is a bit of an understatement.

Perhaps even more so than in other areas of the galaxy, droids in the Outer Rim are essential to the day-to-day functions of civilized society. In a region where so many systems remain uncharted and unknown dangers can reside in even the most welcoming paradise, droids help make life easier and safer for their organic masters, colleagues, and friends. Accordingly, Far Horizons features a sampling of speciality droids common to the Outer Rim, including the AC Law Enforcement Droid, which is a relatively new entry to the field of police automata.

Nearly two meters tall, the broad-shouldered AC Series LE droid possesses an average intelligence and a stern, imposing disposition. It is programmed for both standard police duties as well as fast-response riot control, and it is covered in imposing plate armor with only a single red, horizontal photoreceptor band serving as any hint of facial features. These droids aren’t for everyone, though. Even as they’re becoming the standard for police droids at the edge of the galaxy, civilians tend to despise them.

Vehicles and Starships

It is a commonly held belief that the various worlds of the Outer Rim are where old vehicles go to die. Indeed, the region’s inhabitants work hard to keep a great number of speeders and groundcars alive and functional long after they would have been scrapped in the more civilized, affluent areas of the galaxy.

After all, no amount of preparation, innate skill, or specialty equipment can make a difference in an endeavor if an individual and his equipment can’t get where they need to go, and the work performed by colonists’ starships, speeders, and walkers is nearly as important as the work performed by the colonists themselves.

In Far Horizons, you’ll find a large selection of airspeeders, landspeeders, walkers, wheeled and tracked vehicles, and freighters, any of which may serve more than one purpose in times of need.

For example, the Hunchback construction strider is a lightweight utility walker designed for construction and civil engineering work. Similar to the Republic’s AT-PT, the Hunchback is a bipedal walker with a slab-sided rectangular command pod perched atop a pair of powerful reverse-articulated legs. The Hunchback's arms carry a wide array of tools such as plasma cutters, saws, welders, drills, compressed air guns, and small, dextrous manipulators for fine work.

While it typically carries no offensive weapons, the Hunchback is sturdy and armored, and desperate colonists may find a way to modify it in order to help defend their homesteads from enemy forces.

Weapons, Armor, and Tools

Typically, Colonists are the characters in Edge of the Empire that are least likely to embrace violence when other means may suffice. However, it would be a mistake to assume Colonists have no need of arms or armor. The truth is that on the fringe of the galaxy, violence (and the need to protect against it) is all too commonplace. Accordingly, Far Horizons presents a wide array of weapons and armor, as well as a range of speciality tools appropriate for Colonists of all specializations.

The Outer Rim can be a dangerous and unforgiving place, but that doesn’t you’ll want to shoot to kill each time a situation devolves to violence. Far Horizons introduces a number of non-lethal weapons, like the Telex-Delcor SWE/2 Sonic Rifle, which may not be as useful in a shoot-out against heavily armed Imperial forces, but are incredibly useful for a Marshal who wants to ensure that he earns a reputation for his resolve as well as his justice and mercy.

Such a Marshal may also do well to invest in some of the new armor from Far Horizons, or even some reinforced environment gear. Such suits are valuable to Colonists not only because they must often brave strange and hazardous planetary conditions, but because they are more likely to be exposed to airborne toxins and to suffer injuries from falls or unstable environmental formations.

Finally, though they’re often the last characters you’d expect to load up on weaponry, Colonists usually have the greatest need for specialized tools. Performers must have all manner of amplifiers, props, or instruments. Doctors require a great deal of surgical equipment and medical supplies. Even Politicos need remote access to communications, and Traders and Entrepreneurs need business aids.

Far Horizons introduces a diverse array of these materials, which offer benefits for nearly all characters, and since they introduce so many specialized abilities, their inclusion in (or exclusion from) your setting may provide the impetus for a wide range of thrilling adventures.

Can You Tame the Wildest Edges of the Galaxy?

As the Colonist sourcebook for Edge of the Empire, Far Horizons introduces a wide range of new character options and equipment for any character eager to explore and settle the wildest edges of the galaxy.

Meanwhile, it also explores the concept of the Colonist’s homestead and how the Game Master can use a homestead to shape a campaign. Whether or not your campaign features a character with the Colonist career, the homestead is an idea that transcends a single class and can lend an immediate focus and urgency to your campaign. We’ll take a closer look at how Game Masters can make use of the homestead in our next preview of Far Horizons!

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Source: Equipped to Survive

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Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

Announcing New Tournament Kits for X-Wing

Launch into the X-Wing™ Winter 2014 Season with new Tournament Kits! These exciting kits are now available for pre-order through our B2B store or your distributor.

Featuring cinematic dogfights and a unique movement system, X-Wing continues to expand and build new game communities around the world. The Winter 2014 X-Wing Tournament Kit comes with an event guide and new promotional materials to help support tournaments, league play, or any other event you wish to run. The order deadline for these kits is August 20th, and the Winter season begins in November.

What is a Tournament Kit?

Tournament Kits are for our competitive games, such as Android: Netrunner and X-Wing. These kits include prize support and promotional material designed to support competitive or casual tournament play at local retailers. The kit includes a guide to supporting an eight-week tournament series, but the kit can also be used to host a single tournament, more casual game nights or leagues, or whatever suits your local play environment best. If you’re looking for kits to support our casual games, such as Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, check out our Game Night Kits.

What’s in the Winter 2014 X-Wing™ Tournament Kit?

Each Winter 2014 X-Wing Tournament Kit comes with everything a retailer needs to support and grow a local community:

     
• One exclusive medal for the champion
     
• Four sets of acrylic cloak tokens
     
• Two movie-still versions of Han Solo
     
• Seventeen movie-still versions of Scimitar Squadron Pilot
     
• Four Millenium Falcon deck boxes
     
• A promotional poster featuring a TIE pilot in the midst of a dogfight
     
• One informational pamphlet on running a tournament or league

Please note: The movie-still cards in this kit are produced through FFG's In-House Manufacturing, and as such, they may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards.

Are You a Retailer?

If you’re interested in ordering a Winter 2014 X-Wing Tournament Kit, you can do so through your distributor or through our B2B store. The deadline to order is August 20th, with the season starting in November.

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Source: Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

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Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

Announcing New Tournament Kits for Android: Netrunner

Plug into your local Android: Netrunner community with our new Winter 2014 Android: Netrunner Tournament Kits! These exciting kits are now available for pre-order through our B2B store or your distributor.

Pitting two players against each other in a high-stakes, futuristic cyberstruggle, Android: Netrunner continues to expand and build new game communities around the world. The Winter 2014 Android: Netrunner Tournament Kit comes with an event guide and new promotional materials to help support tournaments, league play, or any other event you wish to run. The order deadline for these kits is August 20th, and the Winter season begins in November.

What is a Tournament Kit?

Tournament Kits are for our competitive games, such as Android: Netrunner and X-Wing™. These kits include prize support and promotional material designed to support competitive or casual tournament play at local retailers. The kit includes a guide to supporting an eight-week tournament series, but the kit can also be used to host a single tournament, more casual game nights or leagues, or whatever suits your local play environment best. If you’re looking for kits to support our casual games, such as Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, check out our

Game Night Kits.

What’s in the Winter 2014 Android: Netrunner Tournament Kit?

Each Winter 2014 Android: Netrunner Tournament Kit comes with everything a retailer needs to support and grow a local community:

   
• One playmat depicting art from the card Freelancer

   
• Two alternate art versions of Weyland: Building a Better World

   
• Seventeen alternate art versions of Plascrete Carapace

   
• Four Weyland deck boxes

   
• A promotional poster featuring art from the card Freelancer

   
• One informational pamphlet on running a tournament or league

Please note: The alternate art cards in this kit are produced through FFG's In-House Manufacturing, and as such, they may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards. To be tournament legal, these cards must be sleeved with opaque or art sleeves.

Are You a Retailer?

If you’re interested in ordering a Winter 2014 Android: Netrunner Tournament Kit, you can do so through your distributor or through our B2B store. The deadline to order is August 20th, with the season starting in November.

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Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

Announcing New Tournament Kits for Call of Cthulhu

Add new terrors to your local Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game community with our new Winter 2014 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Tournament Kits! These exciting kits are now available for pre-order through our B2B store or your distributor.

A game of nightmares, horror, and brave investigators fighting for the fate of the world, Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game continues to expand and build new game communities around the world. The Winter 2014 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Tournament Kit comes with an event guide and new promotional materials to help support tournaments, league play, or any other event you wish to run. The order deadline for these kits is August 20th, and the Winter season begins in November.

What is a Tournament Kit?

Tournament Kits are for our competitive games, such as Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, Android: Netrunner, and X-Wing™. These kits include prize support and promotional material designed to support competitive or casual tournament play at local retailers. The kit includes a guide to supporting an eight-week tournament series, but the kit can also be used to host a single tournament, more casual game nights or leagues, or whatever suits your local play environment best. If you’re looking for kits to support our casual games, such as Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, check out our

Game Night Kits.

What’s in the Winter 2014 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Tournament Kit?

Each Winter 2014 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Tournament Kit comes with everything a retailer needs to support and grow a local community:

   
• One playmat depicting investigators grappling with a Dark Young

   
• Two alternate art versions of Victoria Glasser

   
• Seventeen alternate art versions of Terrors in the Dark

   
• Four deck boxes featuring investigators grappling with a Dark Young

   
• A promotional poster depicting investigators grappling with a Dark Young

   
• One informational pamphlet on running a tournament or league

Please note: The alternate art cards in this kit are produced through FFG's In-House Manufacturing, and as such, they may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards. To be tournament legal, these cards must be sleeved with opaque or art sleeves.

Are You a Retailer?

If you’re interested in ordering a Winter 2014 Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game Tournament Kit, you can do so through your distributor or through our B2B store. The deadline to order is August 20th, with the season starting in November.

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Source: Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

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Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

Announcing New Tournament Kits for A Game of Thrones

Venture beyond the Wall and into the A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Winter 2014 Season with new Tournament Kits! These exciting kits are now available for pre-order through our B2B store or your distributor.

Featuring epic battles and countless plots of intrigue, cunning, and deceit, A Game of Thrones: The Card Game continues to expand and build new game communities around the world. The Winter 2014 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Tournament Kit comes with an event guide and new promotional materials to help support tournaments, league play, or any other event you wish to run. The order deadline for these kits is August 20th, and the Winter season begins in November.

What is a Tournament Kit?

Tournament Kits are for our competitive games, such as A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, Android: Netrunner, and X-Wing™. These kits include prize support and promotional material designed to support competitive or casual tournament play at local retailers. The kit includes a guide to supporting an eight-week tournament series, but the kit can also be used to host a single tournament, more casual game nights or leagues, or whatever suits your local play environment best. If you’re looking for kits to support our casual games, such as Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, check out our Game Night Kits.

What’s in the Winter 2014 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Tournament Kit?

Each Winter 2014 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Tournament Kit comes with everything a retailer needs to support and grow a local community:

     
• One playmat featuring Ygritte
     
• Two alternate art versions of The Winds of Winter
     
• Seventeen alternate art versions of Jon Snow
     
• Four Wildlings deck boxes
     
• A promotional poster featuring Ygritte
     
• One informational pamphlet on running a tournament or league

Please note: The alternate art cards in this kit are produced through FFG's In-House Manufacturing, and as such, they may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards. To be tournament legal, these cards must be sleeved with opaque or art sleeves.

Are You a Retailer?

Winter is coming! Prepare while you can and order a Winter 2014 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Tournament Kit through your distributor or through our B2B store. The deadline to order is August 20th, with the season starting in November.

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Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

Announcing New Tournament Kits for Star Wars: The Card Game

Help your local Star Wars™: The Card Game community learn the ways of the Force with our new Winter 2014 Star Wars: The Card Game Tournament Kits! These exciting kits are now available for pre-order through our B2B store or your distributor.

Featuring galactic struggles between the Empire and Rebellion and fast-paced action, Star Wars: The Card Game continues to expand and build new game communities around the world. The Winter 2014 Star Wars: The Card Game Tournament Kit comes with an event guide and new promotional materials to help support tournaments, league play, or any other event you wish to run. The order deadline for these kits is August 20th, and the Winter season begins in November.

What is a Tournament Kit?

Tournament Kits are for our competitive games, such as Star Wars: The Card Game, Android: Netrunner, and X-Wing™. These kits include prize support and promotional material designed to support competitive or casual tournament play at local retailers. The kit includes a guide to supporting an eight-week tournament series, but the kit can also be used to host a single tournament, more casual game nights or leagues, or whatever suits your local play environment best. If you’re looking for kits to support our casual games, such as Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, check out our
Game Night Kits.

What’s in the Winter 2014 Star Wars: The Card Game Tournament Kit?

Each Winter 2014 Star Wars: The Card Game Tournament Kit comes with everything a retailer needs to support and grow a local community:

     
• One playmat depicting Darth Vader addressing his hired bounty hunters
     
• Two alternate art versions of Leia Organa
     
• Seventeen alternate art versions of Emperor’s Royal Guard
     
• Four Scum and Villainy deck boxes
     
• A promotional poster depicting Darth Vader addressing his hired bounty hunters
     
• One informational pamphlet on running a tournament or league

Please note: The alternate art cards in this kit are produced through FFG's In-House Manufacturing, and as such, they may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards. To be tournament legal, these cards must be sleeved with opaque or art sleeves.

Are You a Retailer?

If you’re interested in ordering a Winter 2014 Star Wars: The Card Game Tournament Kit, you can do so through your distributor or through our B2B store. The deadline to order is August 20th, with the season starting in November.

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Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

Announcing New Tournament Kits for Warhammer: Diskwars

Charge into the Warhammer: Diskwars Winter 2014 Season with new Tournament Kits! These exciting kits are now available for pre-order through our B2B store or your distributor.

With a movement system unique to the game, Warhammer: Diskwars continues to expand and build new game communities around the world. The Winter 2014 Warhammer: Diskwars Tournament Kit comes with an event guide and new promotional materials to help support tournaments, league play, or any other event you wish to run. The order deadline for these kits is August 20th, and the Winter season begins in November.

What is a Tournament Kit?

Tournament Kits are for our competitive games, such as Warhammer: Diskwars, Android: Netrunner, and X-Wing™. These kits include prize support and promotional material designed to support competitive or casual tournament play at local retailers. The kit includes a guide to supporting an eight-week tournament series, but the kit can also be used to host a single tournament, more casual game nights or leagues, or whatever suits your local play environment best. If you’re looking for kits to support our casual games, such as Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, check out our Game Night Kits.

What’s in the Winter 2014 Warhammer: Diskwars Tournament Kit?

Each Winter 2014 Warhammer: Diskwars Tournament Kit comes with everything a retailer needs to support and grow a local community:

   
• Eight copies of the Witchfate Tor scenario

   
• Two alternate art versions of Alarielle the Radiant

   
• Seventeen alternate art versions of Orc Boys

   
• Four Dwarf card boxes

   
• A promotional poster featuring a Dwarf army battling an Undead army

   
• One informational pamphlet on running a tournament or league

Please note: The scenario cards in this kit are produced through FFG's In-House Manufacturing, and as such, they may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards.

Are You a Retailer?

If you’re interested in ordering a Winter 2014 Warhammer: Diskwars Tournament Kit, you can do so through your distributor or through our B2B store. The deadline to order is August 20th, with the season starting in November.

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Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

Announcing Tournament Kits for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest

Take command of the Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Winter 2014 Season with new Tournament Kits! These exciting kits are now available for pre-order through our B2B store or your distributor.

A game of control, annihilation, and planetary domination, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest looks to become the card game of the year and build new game communities around the world. The Winter 2014 Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Tournament Kit comes with an event guide and promotional materials to help support tournaments, league play, or any other event you wish to run. The order deadline for these kits is August 20th, and the Winter season begins in November.

What is a Tournament Kit?

Tournament Kits are for our competitive games, such as Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, Android: Netrunner, and X-Wing™. These kits include prize support and promotional material designed to support competitive or casual tournament play at local retailers. The kit includes a guide to supporting an eight-week tournament series, but the kit can also be used to host a single tournament, more casual game nights or leagues, or whatever suits your local play environment best. If you’re looking for kits to support our casual games, such as Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition and The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, check out our
Game Night Kits.

What’s in the Winter 2014 Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Tournament Kit?

Each Winter 2014 Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Tournament Kit comes with everything a retailer needs to support and grow a local community:

     
• One playmat depicting an Ultramarine captain in battle
     
• Two alternate art versions of Captain Cato Sicarius
     
• Seventeen alternate art versions of Goff Boyz
     
• Four Space Marine deck boxes
     
• A promotional poster depicting an Ultramarine captain in battle
     
• One informational pamphlet on running a tournament or league

Please note: The alternate art cards in this kit are produced through FFG's In-House Manufacturing, and as such, they may appear slightly different in color and texture from the game's other cards. To be tournament legal, these cards must be sleeved with opaque or art sleeves.

Are You a Retailer?

If you’re interested in ordering a Winter 2014 Warhammer 40,000: Conquest Tournament Kit, you can do so through your distributor or through our B2B store. The deadline to order is August 20th, with the season starting in November.

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Source: Retailers: Pre-Order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

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The Scourge

Announcing the Second Pack in the Warlord Cycle for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest

"Buboes, phlegm, blood and guts! Boils, bogeys, rot and pus! Blisters, fevers, weeping sores! From your wounds the fester pours."

   –Plaguebearer Daemon war chant

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce The Scourge, the second War Pack in the Warlord cycle for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest!

In this War Pack, your battles for the Traxis sector intensify as the seven factions included in the Conquest Core Set gain deadly new units, wargear, and tactics. The Scourge continues to expand the main themes of the Warlord cycle with a new Chaos warlord and a host of new cards for every faction that interact directly with warlords.

You’ll find sixty new cards in this expansion, including a new warlord with his signature squad and three copies each of seventeen distinct cards. Within The Scourge War Pack, new Space Wolves units join the hunt for your opponent’s warlord, the Dark Eldar plumb new depths of torture and depravity, and a vicious herd of Attack Squigs will prove to be a dangerous foe.

Endless Disease

The most pestilent foe you’ll find within The Scourge, however, is the new warlord for the followers of Chaos: Ku’gath Plaguefather (The Scourge, 23). This Daemon of Nurgle is the embodiment of the perfect disease, and he’s eager to share his toxic gifts with any who refuse to join the swelling hordes of Chaos. Ku’gath Plaguefather’s Reaction allows you to give his toxic infections to your opponent’s units: after Ku’gath is declared as an attacker, you may move a damage from him to another unit at the planet. Of course, Ku’gath needs damage on him to trigger his Reaction, but the cards included in his signature squad provide ways for you to manipulate damage.

Ku’gath Plaguefather’s signature squad opens with Ku’gath’s Nurglings (The Scourge, 24). This unit bears a powerful Forced Reaction that reads, “After a unit moves to this planet, deal it 1 damage.” This Forced Reaction affects both players, but Ku’gath and his followers can use damage to their advantage. Moving Ku’gath to a planet with Ku’gath’s Nurglings deals him one damage, preparing you to move that damage to one of your opponent’s units when he attacks. And if your opponent decides to move his warlord and the units at his HQ to a planet with Ku’gath’s Nurglings, he must prepare to suffer damage as a result.

The Plaguefather’s Banner (The Scourge, 26) is another card in Ku’gath’s signature squad that allows you to use your own damaged units for the glory of Chaos. By attaching The Plaguefather’s Banner to a Nurgle unit, you grant that unit an additional hit point. What’s more, the attached unit gains a Reaction identical to Ku’gath Plaguefather’s, inviting you to move even more damage across the battlefield, spreading disease among your opponent’s army units as you heal your own.

Fetid Haze (The Scourge, 27) is also found in Ku’gath’s signature squad. This event represents the ultimate gift of Nurgle’s pestilence. By playing Fetid Haze as a Combat Action, you may remove all damage from a target Nurgle unit you control. Then, your opponent must deal an equal amount of indirect damage among army units he controls at the same planet. This event can bring your warlord back from the brink of death, and since the damage must be split among your opponent’s units, you can be certain that more than one enemy army unit will be weakened by the onslaught of plague.

The final card in the signature squad is Vile Laboratory (The Scourge, 25). This support may be exhausted during the deployment phase to choose a planet. Your opponent must choose and move one of his non-Vehicle units from the target planet to an adjacent planet. Using Vile Laboratory can clear out opposition to your attacks, and even push your opponent into a position where they will take damage from Ku’gath’s Nurglings, allowing you to disperse your sicknesses even further across the galaxy.

Spreading Putrescence

Command the embodiments of new diseases in The Scourge War Pack, or march to war with the armed forces of the Astra Militarum. Whether you strike from above with the Eldar or harness the advanced Tactics and Wargear of the Tau, you’ll find cards to support your decks in The Scourge.

Look for The Scourge War Pack at your local retailer in the fourth quarter of 2014!

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Source: The Scourge

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Retailers: Pre-order Your Winter 2014 Tournament Kits

Build and Support Your Local Player Community with a New Season of Tournament Kits

Seven Winter 2014 Tournament Kits are now available for pre-order through our B2B store or your distributor!

Tournament Kits are the foundation of FFG’s Organized Play programs, and each kit contains prize support and helpful suggestions on how to best support your local community. With these tools, stores can host leagues, weekly events, or even a large-scale tournament to draw in players and build a thriving group of players. (For those looking for Game Night Kits, see the Fall 2014 announcement.)

What Games are Supported?

Whether you’re leading players on a charge against an Orc army, helping cyberhackers start a run on a heavily iced server, or piloting a smuggling ship through enemy lines in a galaxy far, far away—Tournament Kits can make your store the local hub of a thriving, global community centered on Fantasy Flight Organized Play. Visit the links below to learn more about each of the games supported by Organized Play; then pre-order your Tournament Kits today!

     
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game
     
• Android: Netrunner
     
• Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game
     
• Star Wars™: The Card Game
     
• Warhammer: Diskwars
     
• Warhammer 40,000: Conquest
     
• X-Wing™

What is the Difference Between Tournament and Game Night Kits?

In 2014 we separated the kits for games we support with Organized Play into two groups: Tournament Kits and Game Night Kits. Tournament Kits now support our competitive games, such as Android: Netrunner and X-Wing, while our Game Night Kits continue to support our casual games: Lord of the Rings: The Card Game and Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition. In addition, the two type of kits are now on separate schedules. Tournament Kits are released three times a year and are named after their respective seasons: Spring, Summer, and Winter. The next Game Night Kit has already been announced and will be released this fall.

Are You a Player?

If you’re a player, you can do your part to grow Organized Play by telling your favorite local game store about our Tournament Kits. If you’re interested in taking a more active role in bringing events to your community, here are some ways you can help promote Fantasy Flight Organized Play:

     
• Encourage your friends to join you and play at your favorite local game store
     
• Ask your favorite local game store if you can post a sign-up sheet for upcoming events
     
• Offer to run demos
     
• Volunteer your services as tournament organizer

The exclusive items and alternate art cards from these Winter 2014 Tournament Kits will be available for a limited period of time only, so be sure to talk with your local retailer about hosting tournaments for our Organized Play games.

Order Now

With the introduction of Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, Organized Play continues to grow. Don’t miss out on your
 chance to build a strong and healthy community in your store for the games your players enjoy, order your Tournament Kits today!

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The Greater Good

Preview the Tau Faction and Download the Rules for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest

“I have received your messages, informing me that these worlds belong to your Emperor. In return, I am to declare that the said worlds belong to his Ethereal Majesty, Aun’O Bork’an Vral, by right of settlement. Should you wish to gain similar rights, you must submit yourselves to my master’s wisdom as members of the Tau Empire.”

   –Por’El Tau’n Ukos, Water Caste Negotiator

No empire in the galaxy can resist the tactical significance and material riches of the Traxis sector. With such a prize hanging in the balance, these planets will soon be ravaged by battles and war. In Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, it’s up to you to command a warlord and the armies of your people in battle, securing footholds throughout the sector and crushing opposition wherever you may find it.

Past previews have offered a closer look at the gameplay of our newest Living Card Game®, beginning with army deployment and the command struggle, and moving into an explanation and an example of battle. More recently, our previews have turned to the factions within Warhammer 40,000: Conquest: Space Marines, Astra Militarum, Orks, Chaos, Dark Eldar, and Eldar. Today, we conclude our exploration by looking at the rapidly expanding Tau empire!

In addition, the learn-to-play rules (pdf, 2.2 MB) and reference guide (pdf, 13.6 MB) for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest are now available on the support page! Download the rules, and read below for more on the Tau’s advanced technology and battle tactics.

Shadowsun’s Guile

Tau forces in the Traxis sector are under the command of the warlord known to the Imperium as Commander Shadowsun (Core Set, 13) – one of the most brilliant tactical minds in the Tau empire. Known as the “Spearhead of the Greater Good,” Shadowsun’s keen grasp of technology serves her well in her conquests. Commander Shadowsun bears the Reaction, “After this warlord commits to a planet, put a Tau attachment with printed cost 2 or lower or ‘Shadowsun’s Stealth Cadre’ from your hand or discard pile into play attached to an eligible unit at this planet.” These attachments are put into play, meaning that you won’t have to pay the cost on these attachments that you bring into play, boosting your armies’ potential without compromising your ability to play more units. You can even recur these cards from your discard pile, equipping even more armies with Tau Wargear.

Although it is not an attachment, the first four cards in Shadowsun’s signature squad can also be attached to an army through Shadowsun’s Reaction. Shadowsun’s Stealth Cadre (Core Set, 146) can be deployed normally as an army, but it may also enter play as an attachment for a non-Vehicle unit that grants that unit a raised attack value and increased hit points. Since you can recur Shadowsun’s Stealth Cadre from your discard pile using Shadowsun’s ability, you can be sure that these Soldiers won’t remain in your discard pile for long.

The next card in the signature squad is a support card: Communications Relay (Core Set, 147). Whenever your opponent triggers an ability that targets one of your units with at least one attachment, you may exhaust Communications Relay to cancel the effects. Attachments naturally give your army units increased power and abilities, but with the aid of Communications Relay, you are also able to protect these units by canceling effects that may incapacitate them.

Two copies of Squadron Redeployment (Core Set, 148) take up the next slots in Shadowsun’s signature squad. This event is free to play, and as an Action, it allows you to exhaust an army unit with one or more attachments to move it to any planet. This event card grants your units with attachments unparalleled mobility, inviting you to tailor your combat formations in the heat of battle. You can use this event to rush a unit out of danger or to bring a powerful army into the fight, staying one step ahead of your opponent.

The final card in Commander Shadowsun’s signature squad is the Command-link Drone (Core Set, 149). This attachment is free to play and can be attached to any unit. The Command-link Drone grants a unit +1 ATK, but its true power lies in its Action ability. By paying one resource, you may attach the Command-link Drone to a different unit. Giving a unit +1 ATK won’t win you every fight, but sometimes, you just need a unit to have an attachment to reap the benefits of Squadron Redeployment or Communications Relay. The Command-link Drone gives you an easy way to fulfill the conditions of those cards.

Two Steps Ahead

Options for getting your attachment cards into play and granting you benefits are not limited to Shadowsun’s signature squad. With the help of the Earth Caste Technician (Core Set, 157), you can find your most powerful attachments quicker than ever. After the Earth Caste Technician enters play, you may immediately search the top six cards of your deck for an attachment or Drone card. This card is revealed and added to your hand, with the other cards placed on the bottom of your deck. Whatever the keen minds of your Earth Caste Technicians may excavate, it’s certain to benefit your troops and the expansion of the Tau empire.

It may be more difficult to make the most of your attachments without the Command-link Drone flitting across the battlefield, but the best commanders always find a way to Even the Odds (Core Set, 162). Playing the event allows you to move an attachment to another eligible unit controlled by the same player, granting you an easy way to make sure your troops have the equipment they need.

One example of such equipment is found in the Repulsor Impact Field (Core Set, 165). This attachment can be attached to any army unit, and its Reaction makes any enemy think twice about attacking. After the unit with the Repulsor Impact Field is damaged by an attack, two damage is dealt to the attacker, which in many cases could finish off the attacker. Being able to call in Wargear like the Repulsor Impact Field with Commander Shadowsun give the Tau a definite edge in many battles.

An Ambush Platform (Core Set, 168) may also prove useful for getting your best gear to your armies as quickly as possible. The Ambush Platform possesses an Interrupt that reduces the cost of any attachment you deploy by one. This support not only makes your attachments cheaper, though. It also allows you to play them outside of the deployment phase. By exhausting the Ambush Platform during the combat phase, you may deploy an attachment from your hand, granting you a surprise advantage over your opponent’s forces.

Calculated Strikes

The Tau empire’s expansion lies in your hands. Will you lead dauntless warriors into battle with bleeding-edge technology, or will you make your stand to keep the Traxis sector out of the hands of the Tau?

Battle for the Traxis sector for the first time at GenCon Indy 2014! Download the rules to prepare for war, and preorder Warhammer 40,000: Conquest at your local retailer today.

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Source: The Greater Good