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Command the Empire

Preview the Forces of the Empire in Imperial Assault

“Your friends, up there on the sanctuary moon, are walking into a trap, as is your Rebel fleet. It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them.”

   –Emperor Palpatine, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Take command of highly-trained Stormtroopers and fearless Rebels in Imperial Assault, an upcoming board game of tactical combat and Star Wars adventure for two to five players!

Two complete games are available within Imperial Assault: a skirmish game and a campaign game. In the skirmish game, you and your opponent muster custom forces and clash in a head-to-head battle over conflicting objectives. The campaign game, on the other hand, offers you the chance to join an expansive narrative, playing a series of missions that form an overarching story. Whether you play a campaign or a skirmish, Imperial Assault allows you to battle alongside iconic heroes and terrifying villains.

In past previews, we’ve examined the heroes you can play throughout the campaign. Today, however, we turn our attention to just some of the units available to the Galactic Empire: armored Stormtroopers, assault walkers, and even the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader.

Command Your Squads

One of the most ubiquitous signs of Imperial might across the galaxy is the grim white visage of a Stormtrooper. Rebel operatives everywhere have learned to fear the presence of a Stormtrooper – where there’s one, there’s always another.



As the Imperial player in the campaign game, you must foil the Rebels and achieve your own mission objectives. Countless squads of Stormtroopers provide you with some of the warriors you need to achieve this goal. Vital information about your Stormtroopers is shown on their Deployment card, shown to the right. At the bottom of the card, you’ll find the Stormtrooper’s listed Health, Speed, Defense, and Attack, and on the upper left-hand side of the card, the number of bars illustrates how many figures make up a Stormtrooper squad: three, in this case. The Deployment card also lists any special abilities that the squad possesses, as well as any surge abilities that can be triggered during combat.

Stormtroopers possess two surge abilities: they can spend a surge in combat to deal an extra damage or gain two additional accuracy. What’s more, all Stormtroopers possess the Squad Training ability. Whenever a Stormtrooper attacks while adjacent to another friendly Trooper, it can reroll an attack die, maximizing your attacks while you keep your Troopers in formation.

Even among Stormtroopers, some squads are more experienced or better trained. As you battle to defeat the Rebel scum, you can call upon elite Stormtroopers, which use a different Deployment card. These Stormtroopers feature more Health than traditional Stormtroopers, and their surge abilities are more potent. Elite Stormtroopers still bear the Squad Training ability, but they gain the Last Stand ability, which allows them to become Focused when another Stormtrooper is defeated. To balance these increased abilities, elite Stormtroopers have an increased threat cost, shown in the upper left-hand corner of their Deployment card. We’ll examine threat and the Imperial player’s other tools in greater depth in our next preview.

Capable commanders empower your Stormtroopers and the other soldiers of the Galactic Empire to reach greater heights of effectiveness in any mission. You can bring added control to your armies with the help of the Imperial Officer. Imperial Officers have a variety of surge abilities, granting additional damage, accuracy, or the Focused condition to themselves. The Imperial Officer’s true potential, however, lies in the orders he delivers to other soldiers. Every Imperial Officer has the Order ability, which can be triggered as an action and allows a friendly figure within two spaces to perform a free move.

Elite Imperial Officers take the control of your army to a new level. Aside from improved Health and surge abilities, elite Imperial Officers gain the Executive Order ability. This ability is identical to the standard Order ability, but the figure that you choose may move or attack. With Imperial Officers in your forces, you can coordinate and command your troops much more efficiently, maximizing the amount of damage that you bring to bear against the Rebel troops.

Unstoppable Forces

One of the Galactic Empire’s most common heavy weapons is the E-Web heavy repeating blaster, a weapon that compromises portability with high-output firepower. You gain access to this powerful weapon with the E-Web Engineer. This figure offers a punishing amount of attack dice, and the Assault ability allows it to perform multiple attacks during each activation. Under normal circumstances, the Imperial player’s figures perform only one attack per activation, but the E-Web Engineer transcends that rule.

The E-Web Engineer’s other abilities can prove crucial in a firefight. His surges can be spent to gain additional damage or to recover damage, and the elite E-Web Engineer adds an extra block to all defense rolls and three additional accuracy to any attack. Unfortunately, the E-Web Engineer also has the Tripod ability, which restricts its options for using actions: the E-Web Engineer can either move or attack on a single turn, but not both.

The Galactic Empire’s All Terrain Scout Transport, or AT-ST, is another massive heavy weapon that swells the Imperial arsenal. This assault walker offers unparalleled firepower and nigh-impregnable armor, as well as the ability to pierce enemy blocks and spread blast damage onto figures adjacent to its targets. This vehicle even has an on-board Targeting Computer, allowing it to reroll one attack die on each attack.

An AT-ST is a truly formidable power, but its size brings both benefits and disadvantages. AT-STs have the Massive keyword, which allows them to ignore the restrictions of difficult or impassible terrain. They are unable to enter interior spaces during the campaign, however, and the Awkward ability prevents them from attacking adjacent figures. Maneuvering an AT-ST to produce the most consistent amount of firepower is a full job, even for adept tacticians.

AT-STs are a terrifying presence on the battlefield, but any Rebel would prefer a pair of these walkers to the arrival of Darth Vader himself. In battle, Darth Vader is perhaps the most fearsome foe to ever oppose the heroes of the Rebellion. His skill with a Lightsaber allows his attacks to cleave through flesh and armor alike, causing deadly amounts of damage. Darth Vader’s abilities make him even more dangerous. Brutality allows him to perform two attacks with a single action, threatening two different figures at once.

As a master of the dark side, Darth Vader bears the Force Choke ability, which allows him to force a figure in his line of sight to suffer two damage and one strain. Because this ability doesn’t count as an attack, Darth Vader has the chance to perform up to two attacks with Brutality and still use Force Choke, enabling him to mow down squads of Rebel soldiers with ease. If any warrior is foolish enough to attack Darth Vader, he’ll quickly find a nigh insurmountable challenge. Darth Vader rolls two black defense dice when defending, and his Foresight ability allows him to reroll one of these dice. With a combination of fearsome attacks and stalwart defenses, Darth Vader is more than a match for any Rebel he may face.

Lead the Galactic Empire

Imperial Assault gives you the chance to command the fearless soldiers, devastating vehicles, and iconic villains of the Galactic Empire. The heroes of the Rebellion may attempt to infiltrate your bases or sabotage your operations, but with the unlimited power of the Empire at your back, you can crush the insignificant Rebels before their mission even begins. There are even more units available to the Galactic Empire in Imperial Assault, including the Emperor’s Royal Guard and mechanical Probe Droids, which will be revealed elsewhere.

Soon, we’ll look at the Mercenary units that join the soldiers of the Empire in battle, but next week, we’ll look at the Imperial player’s powers throughout the campaign, including summoning reinforcements with threat, gaining Agenda cards, and purchasing new Class cards.

Pre-order Imperial Assault at your local retailer today!

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Source: Command the Empire

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A Champion's Perspective: Star Wars (TM) LCG

A Tournament Report by 2014 North American Champion Jonathan Herr

As 2014 World Championship Weekend looms on the horizon, we continue our series of Gen Con wrap-up articles with 2014 Star Wars™: The Card Game North American Champion Jonathan Herr’s explanation of his group’s detailed preparation and how it led the way to him becoming Champion. If you plan on attending a major tournament, such as Nationals or Worlds, Jonathan’s experience provides valuable advice and can help you improve your results.

Preparation is Key

Approaching a big tournament like the North American Championships at Gen Con or the World Championships at the FFG Event Center can be a daunting task. While many focus on the playing aspect, that’s really only a small fraction of what is needed to place well. The main key to success is in deck development, metagame analysis, and practice. So much goes into planning and preparation that rather than provide a play-by-play tournament report, I wanted to discuss my approach to major tournament prep and how it contributed to my win at Gen Con.

Testing Decks

As the final Force Packs prior to the tournament were released, it became clear even in our fun decks that the balance of power had shifted from last year’s tournaments. My playgroup had successfully run the Targeted Sith deck, featuring Darth Vader (Core Set, 35) and Emperor Palpatine (Core Set, 51) with TIE Attack Squadron (Core Set, 147), to good showings the previous Gen Con. (First place at the end of Swiss rounds for me, and Champion for my friend Matt Kohls.) However, with the release of Along the Gamor Run (Knowledge and Defense, 552), as well as May the Force Be With You (Join Us or Die, 567) and Ties of Blood (It Binds All Things, 589), the light side now had the edge over the dark side.

We quickly found three dominant light side decks:

Deck 1

     
• 2x A Hero’s Journey (Core Set, 2)
     
• 2x The Secret of Yavin 4 (Core Set, 144)
     
• 2x Along the Gamor Run (Knowledge and Defense, 552)
     
• 2x May the Force Be With You (Join Us or Die, 567)
     
• 2x Ties of Blood (It Binds All Things, 589)

Deck 2

     
• 2x The Defense of Yavin 4 (Core Set, 138)
     
• 2x Raise the Stakes (Edge of Darkness, 322)
     
• 2x Across the Anoat Sector (Edge of Darkness, 339)
     
• 2x Against All Odds (Lure of the Dark Side, 524)
     
• 2x Along the Gamor Run (Knowledge and Defense, 552)

Deck 3

     
• 2x A Hero’s Journey (Core Set, 2)
     
• 2x Questionable Contacts (Core Set, 69)
     
• 2x Asteroid Sanctuary (Edge of Darkness, 331)
     
• 2x Along the Gamor Run (Knowledge and Defense, 552)
     
• 2x May the Force Be With You (Join Us or Die, 567)

These three decks won approximately 70-80% of the time against any dark side deck we threw at them. It quickly became clear that Along the Gamor Run (and likely May the Force Be With You) were going to be present in large numbers at the tournament.

We then made a testing matrix that we call The Gauntlet, which took those three decks and tested them against countless dark side variations to get an idea of which dark side deck had the best shot at winning. If a dark side deck was not at least competitive against two of the three light side decks, we would eliminate it from consideration and move on. Of particular difficulty for the dark side was dealing with the swarm of small units that the light side decks could generate. Between Twi’lek Loyalist (Core Set, 15), Hired Hands (Knowledge and Defense, 554), Dagobah Nudj (Join Us or Die, 569), Ewok Companion (It Binds All Things, 591), and cost-reduced vehicles, it was not uncommon for the light side player to play three or more units the first turn. Our traditional dark side deck simply couldn’t keep up, so we had to go back to the drawing board.

Final Decks

Although I don’t like to play Scum decks at tournaments due to the lack of consistent blast damage, the faction does offer a multitude of powerful, low-cost units. My playgroup began experimenting with The Tatooine Crash (Edge of Darkness, 380) and The Slave Trade (Knowledge and Defense, 562) to provide cheap units to match the light side player’s ability to drop multiple units first turn. Eventually, I settled on combining these two Scum objective sets with a traditional Sith base to provide the small units to help address the tempo of the current metagame and the unit control that fits my play style.

Dark Side

Affiliation: Scum & Villainy

Objective Sets:

     
• 2x Fall of the Jedi (Core Set, 99)
     
• 1x Counsel of the Sith (Core Set, 27)
     
• 2x The Emperor’s Web (Core Set, 105)
     
• 2x The Tatooine Crash (Edge of Darkness, 380)
     
• 1x The Plan of the Prophetess (Knowledge and Defense, 557)
     
• 2x The Slave Trade (Knowledge and Defense, 562)

Generally, this deck was winning approximately 40-50% of the time in our testing, which was enough to feel comfortable playing it at the tournament against a field of dominant light side decks.

This deck was all about board presence. By including the maximum number of Jawa Scavengers (Edge of Darkness, 381) and Galactic Scum (Knowledge and Defense, 564), I could keep up with or even outpace the light side player’s steady stream of cheap units. The Fall of the Jedi and The Emperor’s Web are standard Sith staples and provide both strong units and strong control events including a full complement of Force Chokes (Core Set, 59) and Force Lightnings (Core Set, 60). With eight of the ten objective sets determined, I had only four additional resources, so I wanted to include Counsel of the Sith for the Twist of Fate (Core Set, 171) and the resources, but also wanted The Plan of the Prophetess for the Seeds of Decay (Lure of the Dark Side, 523) and Deadly Sight (Knowledge and Defense, 561). I settled on one copy of each.

Given the balance of power in the current metagame, my strategy with the dark side was to simply hang on for as long as possible and slowly win via board presence with my cheap units and strong actions. Surprisingly, Zygerrian Slaver (Knowledge and Defense, 563) proved to be very important. Whenever he hit the board, I was able to clog my opponent’s hand with sub-optimal cards, both during my turn and my opponent’s turn, that I had captured at The Tatooine Crash while simultaneously strengthening my own hand. This also ensured that I won almost all subsequent edge battles and made Galactic Scum into an incredibly effective blocker.

Light Side

Affiliation: Smugglers & Spies

Objective Sets:

     
• 2x A Hero’s Journey (Core Set, 2)
     
• 2x The Secret of Yavin 4 (Core Set, 144)
     
• 2x Along the Gamor Run (Knowledge and Defense, 552)
     
• 2x May the Force Be With You (Join Us or Die, 567)
     
• 2x Ties of Blood (It Binds All Things, 589)

This deck revolves around playing cost efficient, strong units and controlling the Force struggle. The objectives Along the Gamor Run and May the Force Be With You in particular allow the light side player to control the Force struggle while simultaneously allowing a more aggressive approach to attacking. Having four ways to play Yoda (Join Us or Die, 568) gives consistent access to one of the light side’s strongest units, and the Hired Hands, with their black blast and white tactics, function as both aggressive objective attackers and strong decoys to distract and lock down stronger units.

By adding Ties of Blood to the deck, Leia Organa (It Binds All Things, 590) and Leia’s Command (It Binds All Things, 593) force your opponent to play differently. Often, the threat of Leia’s Command will tempt the dark side player to commit to an attack when they would have been better suited to building board presence or controlling the Force.

If you can force the dark side player to attack on his turn, you can deplete his hand in edge battles and strip them of blockers by using the tactics icons on Leia, Yoda, and Hired Hands to lock down defending units. By adding Luke Skywalker (Core Set, 92) to the deck, you provide consistent objective damage as well as targeted strike and a perpetual defender. Rounding out the deck, The Secret of Yavin 4 provides great survivability with Guardian of Peace (Core Set, 109), Lightsaber Deflection (Core Set, 89), and C-3PO (Core Set, 21) to cancel any problematic actions. C-3PO can even be recurred with Hyperspace Marauder (Knowledge and Defense, 553) for extra use.

North American Championship

At the tournament, our testing really paid off. During Swiss rounds, my light side deck was undefeated and my dark side deck went 5-2, giving me a record good enough to be Swiss champion.

During the double-elimination rounds, I knew that seeding would be very important due to the balance of power between light side and dark side. I definitely wanted to play light side as often as possible, and being the top seed, I figured I would be able to have my pick throughout the bracket. Unfortunately, one of my opponents was able to win with his dark side in an earlier round and forced me to play my dark side deck. I lost to him in a tough battle and dropped to the lower bracket. In the lower bracket, I ended up having to play the dark side often, but I was able to win multiple battles in a row to advance to the final match.

Final Match

Coming from the lower bracket, I had played the dark side more often, so I had to play the light side for the first game. This game was all about establishing board presence and protecting my units. The first turn, my opponent played Darth Vader, signaling I would have a hard time keeping units on the board with his reaction. I responded with a strong first turn with a Hired Hands, Yoda, and Dagobah Nudj. However, he was able to play Force Choke on subsequent turns to clear my board. We then spent several turns trying to establish board presence. He was able to wipe my board several times with Deadly Sight, Force Choke, and Vader’s reaction, but I was able to eventually stabilize with my flurry of low-cost units.

The turning point in the game came when I was able to pull off a timely Leia’s Command to destroy one objective and several of his units. I was then able to perform an alpha strike with all my units at one objective over subsequent turns to pull out the victory. Because I had Guardian of Peace and an Ewok Companion, I was able to shield my units that had black blast damage, ensuring my opponent couldn’t kill or focus down enough of them to prevent the objective from being destroyed even if he won the edge.

In the second game, we switched sides and I was able to get a fast start playing Galactic Scum, Jawa Scavenger, and Sandcrawler (Edge of Darkness, 382). While not a great aggressive turn, it provided great defensive units to slow the game down. Matt was able to play a Kyle Katarn (Heroes and Legends, 497) first turn and Luke Skywalker second turn, putting some pressure on me, but a well-timed Force Choke with Darth Vader on the board was able to destroy Kyle before he could loop him with Heroes and Legends (Heroes and Legends, 496). I was then able to clear out his board and continue building defensive units to take control of the game.

Zygerrian Slaver played an important role in this game, providing ample cards in hand for edge battles while clogging my opponent’s hand with sub-optimal cards to play. The combination of controlling his board while also messing with his hand proved to be too difficult a combination to overcome.

Overall, I had a great time at the tournament, and even though the balance of power favored the light side, with extensive planning and testing, I was able to mitigate that advantage and maximize my chances for success. I look forward to seeing all of you at the World Championship!

Tune In to Worlds Coverage

Thanks, Jonathan!

We hope to see you this weekend at the 2014 World Championship Weekend. It is shaping up to be the biggest event Fantasy Flight Games has ever hosted! If you can’t make it to the event, be sure to tune in to our coverage all weekend long on our Twitch stream or on Twitter.

© and ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.

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Source: A Champion's Perspective: Star Wars (TM) LCG

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A New Stage of Growth

Announcing the New Rotation Policy for FFG's Competitive LCGs (R)

In 2008, Fantasy Flight Games made the bold decision to relaunch its customizable card games in the Living Card Game® (LCG) format. It was a decision we did not make lightly, nor did this decision come without risks.

We saw too many players burn out on the blind-buy model shared by the many CCGs that were saturating the market. In order to ensure the continued health and stability of our games, we took the gamble and reintroduced A Game of Thrones and Call of Cthulhu as LCGs, even though we knew we risked alienating some fans of the collectible games.

The decision, however, has been rewarded many times over. Our sales have increased, and players across the world have come to understand the format and appreciate its advantages. We have sometimes experienced growing pains; the only way to learn how best to publish a new category is to to publish it, and we have learned many lessons along the way. Since we introduced the category, we introduced a Restricted list for competitive play, and we moved away from our early 40-card monthly pack format.

Now it is 2014, and the LCG format is bigger and more successful than ever. Our games continue to grow, and the category itself has grown to include several other games, including the revised classic Android: Netrunner and our newest LCG, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest. Indeed, from its humble beginnings, the LCG category has grown to become one of most important that we have.

Addressing Upcoming Issues

As pleased as we are with the LCG format, and as committed as we remain to it, we recognize that it presents an issue that we need to address. No customizable card game can sustain the unrestricted growth of its card pool over an indefinite period of time. Eventually, such growth works against a game’s continued health:

   
• An overwhelming card pool intimidates and turns away players who may otherwise be interested in the game.

   
• As a game's card pool grows unchecked, its metagame begins to stagnate, and the game falls apart under its own weight.

   
• Players aren’t the only people who are impacted by large card pools, and as retailers need to carry more and more products in order to support a game, it becomes harder for them to do so.

At this point, we are publishing five active, competitive LCGs, some of which have reached maturity, and others of which are growing steadily. As we look toward their futures, we are forced to consider the best ways to address the issues that come with their ever-expanding card pools. As much as these game have continued to grow and be successful, we see that their growth will eventually make it increasingly difficult for new players to find their way into the collection and for retailers to support their local play groups.

Identifying the Solution: Rotation

   
       
           
       
   

What Is Rotation?                         Rotation is a term used to describe the systematic retirement of older cards from an LCG’s card pool as newer cards are added.                         FFG’s rotation policy is based on the number of monthly expansion pack cycles available at any given time.

The Living Card Game model is all about growth and evolution. Now, having recognized the problems inherent within the natures of constantly expanding card pools, we are moving forward with the next stage in the growth of our LCGs. In order to ensure the continued health and success of our games, we are introducing a rotation policy for all of our competitive LCGs.

Our new rotation policy dictates that the standard card pool, for use in all Organized Play tournaments, will consist of a game’s Core Set, its deluxe expansions, and its latest five to seven cycles of monthly packs.

For example, the card pool for Android: Netrunner currently consists of the Core Set, two deluxe expansions, two complete cycles of Data Packs (Genesis Cycle and Spin Cycle), and a third, incomplete cycle of Data Packs (Lunar Cycle). The game’s card pool will continue to grow until the first Data Pack of the eighth cycle is released into circulation, at which point the Genesis Cycle and Spin Cycle and its cards would be removed from the standard card pool, bringing the game back to five complete cycles of Data Packs and one Data Pack from a sixth cycle.

We invested a great deal of thought into the design of this policy, and we settled upon the number of cycles active in standard play so that each pack will enjoy a long lifespan of three to four years.

By cycling out older monthly expansions, we address the issues that present themselves with the unchecked growth of a game’s card pool:

   
• Rotation encourages new evolutions within the metagame. As older cycles and their core themes and mechanics phase out, their departures open holes within the metagame that will be filled with creative new deck ideas. Power cards will enjoy their time in the spotlight before rotating out, the card pool will remain a more balanced environment, and the restricted and banned lists on our FAQs and Tournament Rules will shrink, rather than grow.

   
• Rotation makes it easier for new and potential players to enjoy our games. Our rotation policy restricts the size of our oldest LCGs while maintaining growth, evolution, and a card pool mature enough to feature a wide range of dynamic strategies.

   
• Rotation makes us a better partner to our retailers. Rotation limits the number of packs that retailers need to carry on their shelves in order to grow their local communities.

   
• Rotation helps us grow our games into new territories and languages, expanding their communities across the world.

Rotation only impacts our LCGs after they have already reached maturity. While the card pools for individual LCGs will vary slightly from that presented by the graph above, you can see that rotation keeps an LCG’s card pool at a healthy, manageable size.

What Does Rotation Mean for My Favorite Game?

Because our rotation policy is based upon the number of expansion cycles in print, rather than a number of years or months, and because each of our LCGs features its own publication schedule, rotation impacts each LCG differently. For more about how rotation impacts your favorite LCG, you can visit its website:

   
• A Game of Thrones: The Card Game

   
• Android: Netrunner

   
• Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game

   
• Star Wars™: The Card Game

   
• Warhammer 40,000: Conquest

What About The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game?

As a cooperative LCG, rather than a competitive one, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is excluded from rotation.

Building Toward Success

Our Living Card Games are currently healthier than ever. Since we first introduced the LCG model in 2008, we have learned much about what the model offers and how it can work best. Our decision to introduce rotation is yet another step along the path toward creating the best possible gaming environment for our LCG fans.

All told, rotation is the happy result of years of growth, and we’re thankful that you’ve helped us get to this point. We’re grateful for the support you’ve shown to the LCG model for the past six years, and we look forward all the exciting developments of the next sixty!

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Source: A New Stage of Growth

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A New Road Forward

How Does Rotation Affect A Game of Thrones: The Card Game?

In 2014, Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Game® (LCG) category is the strongest it has ever been, and the continued presence of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, our longest-running LCG, is a large factor of that success.

Since we first introduced the LCG model in 2008, we have learned a lot about how these games function differently than collectible card games, and we’ve taken many steps to apply the lessons we’ve learned. We have established the standard that our monthly expansion packs offer a complete playset of each new card within them. And we have grown our Organized Play programs, introducing restricted lists when necessary to balance the evolving metagames.

Rotation and A Game of Thrones: The Card Game

Early attendees of our 2014 FFG World Championship Weekend had the opportunity to join the leaders of our LCG department for an LCG State of the Union address. In it, we acknowledged the category’s growth and its increased importance to Fantasy Flight Games as a key business category. However, in order to ensure that our LCGs continue to grow and remain healthy, we also looked toward the future. We realized that our LCGs would suffer if we were to let them continue to grow unchecked, so we decided to introduce rotation to the majority of our competitive card games.

But certain issues became apparent within A Game of Thrones: The Card Game that could not be solved with the simple introduction of rotation. We want to see this game continue to thrive for another twelve years or even longer. To that end, rather than introducing rotation to the game, Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game! The second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game will use rotation like the rest of our LCGs, and the earliest rotation could start for this game is 2019.

For more information on A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition, visit the announcement and the minisite description page.

What about the First Edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game?

No rotation will be introduced for the first edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game: the entire card pool will remain legal in tournament play. Organized play for the first edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game will continue in the form of National and World Championship tournaments through the end of 2015. In addition, both the Westeros and Ice and Fire draft sets will remain in print and continue to see support while the new edition expands. Finally, the Wardens cycle, beginning with Secrets and Schemes, will also be released for the first edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game,  which will complete the card pool and be the final new releases for the first edition of the game. To hear a unique perspective of the transition from first to second edition, the changes, and our goals, we highly recommend you read Nate French’s open letter to the A Game of Thrones: The Card Game community. 

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Source: A New Road Forward

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When New Programs Overwrite the Old

What Does Rotation Mean for Android: Netrunner?

In 2014, Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Game® (LCG) category is the strongest it has ever been, and the astonishing success of Android: Netrunner, introduced in 2012 as our fifth LCG, has been a massive part of the category’s recent growth.

Since we first introduced the LCG model in 2008, we have learned much about how these games function differently than collectible card games, and we have taken many steps to apply the lessons we’ve learned. We have established the standard that our monthly expansion packs offer a complete playset of each new card within them. We have grown our Organized Play programs, introducing Restricted lists when necessary to balance the evolving metagames. We have introduced different publication models for our different LCGs. And we have extended our outreach efforts by introducing events like the Plugged-in Tour and Chronos Protocol Tour.

As a result, Android: Netrunner and its audience are healthier than ever, and fans have much to which they can look forward. While we are currently plugged into the Lunar Cycle, the next deluxe expansion, Order and Chaos, lies just a short way down the net as do the Data Packs of the upcoming SanSan Cycle. Simultaneously, Android: Netrunner Draft Play continues to thrive, and attendees of the 2014 FFG World Championship Weekend will be among the first to enjoy the game’s third draft pool, System Crash.

 Android: Netrunner is already our largest LCG, and its audience continues to grow. Here we see players from the 2014 North American Championships at Gen Con Indy.

Rotation and Android: Netrunner

Our LCG department hosted an LCG State of the Union and addressed those players who arrived early to our World Championship Weekend. In the address, our LCG team acknowledged the category’s growth and its increased importance to Fantasy Flight Games as a key business category. However, in order to ensure that our LCGs continue to grow and remain healthy, we also looked toward the future. We realized that our LCGs would suffer if we were to let them continue to grow unchecked, so we decided to introduce rotation to our competitive card games.

For more about rotation and why we’re introducing it to our LCGs, see the article, “A New Stage of Growth.”

Our new rotation policy dictates that each game’s standard play environment consists of the game’s Core Set, its deluxe expansions, and its five to seven latest cycles of monthly expansion packs.

                                                                                                  

1	2
3	4                             Rotation keeps an LCG's card pool at a healthy, manageable level.

Click on any of the images above to view a larger version.

What does this mean for Android: Netrunner?

It means that you still have a long time to enjoy all the cards in the game’s card pool. At this point, we are still only in the middle of the game’s third expansion cycle, the Lunar Cycle, and even if our scheduled releases meet with no unforeseen delays, we won’t retire the cards from the Genesis and Spin Cycles until the first Data Pack for the game’s eighth cycle arrives in Spring 2017.

Moreover, because all the cards from the game’s Core Set and its deluxe expansions will remain available in standard play, along with all the cards from the Lunar Cycle through the game’s seventh cycle, when the Genesis and Spin Cycles do rotate out of standard play, they’ll represent a small fraction of the entire card pool. At that time, their departure won’t impact long-time veterans too much, but the thinning of the card pool will make the game significantly more attractive to newer players and will help prevent the game from breaking down, easing the potential need for any restrictions or bans of existing cards.

Rotation will eventually become necessary for the continued health of Android: Netrunner, but it’s not coming anytime soon. You’ll have years to enjoy the cards you currently own, as well as those coming down the line, and we believe this is the solution that best ensures you’ll have many more years to enjoy the cyberstruggles of Android: Netrunner!

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Source: When New Programs Overwrite the Old

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Beyond the Veil

What Does Rotation Mean for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game?

In 2014, Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Game® (LCG) category is the strongest it has ever been, and the continued success of Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, our second longest-running LCG, is a big part of the reason.

Since we first introduced the LCG model in 2008, we have learned much about how these games function differently than collectible card games, and we have taken many steps to apply the lessons we’ve learned. We have established the standard that our monthly expansion packs offer a complete playset of each new card within them. We have grown our Organized Play programs, introducing Restricted lists when necessary to balance the evolving metagames. And we have learned that each of our LCGs works best with its own publication model; specifically, since we have limited our expansions for Call of Cthulhu to fewer, larger deluxe expansions, the game and its audience have enjoyed continual growth.

In fact, fans of Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game have much to which they can look forward. In addition to future expansions, Necronomicon Draft Starters and Draft Packs will soon make Call of Cthulhu Draft Play a reality, and the continued growth of FFG’s in-house manufacturing means that we will soon be able to reprint our old cycles of Asylum Packs, starting with the Summons of the Deep cycle.

Rotation and Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game

Recently, early attendees of our 2014 FFG World Championship Weekend had the opportunity to join the leaders of our LCG department for an LCG State of the Union address. In it, we acknowledged the category’s growth and its increased importance to Fantasy Flight Games as a key business category. However, in order to ensure that our LCGs continue to grow and remain healthy, we also looked toward the future. We realized that our LCGs would suffer if we were to let them continue to grow unchecked, so we decided to introduce rotation to our competitive card games.

For more about rotation and why we’re introducing it to our LCGs, see the article, “A New Stage of Growth.”

Our new rotation policy dictates that each game’s standard play environment consists of the game’s Core Set, its deluxe expansions, and its five to seven latest cycles of monthly expansion packs. Because LCG rotation only retires the oldest cycle of monthly expansions after the first pack of the eighth cycle is introduced to the game, there will be no rotation for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game.

There are seven cycles of Asylum Packs for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, and we have no plans to add more. The game has moved to a model where it now grows only with deluxe expansions, and this model has proved successful for the game. Accordingly, there will be no eighth cycle of Asylum Packs to retire the Summons of the Deep cycle, and all cards in the current Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game card pool will continue to remain available for standard play.

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Source: Beyond the Veil

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The Balance of the Force

What Does Rotation Mean for STAR WARS (TM): The Card Game?

In 2014, Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Game® (LCG) category is the strongest it has ever been, and its success owes a great deal to Star Wars™: The Card Game and its many fans.

Since we first introduced the LCG model in 2008, we have learned much about how these games function differently than collectible card games, and we have taken many steps to apply the lessons we’ve learned. We have established the standard that our monthly expansion packs offer a complete playset of each new card within them. We have grown our Organized Play programs, introducing Restricted lists when necessary to balance the evolving metagames. And with both Star Wars™: The Card Game and Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, we have discovered how the LCG model permits and encourages new takes on the classic deck-building model.

Since its release in 2012, Star Wars: The Card Game has been a major part of the LCG category’s continued success, and fans of the game have much to which they can still look forward. After the release of two deluxe expansions and two complete cycles of Force Packs, fans can now enjoy the game in standard one-on-one play, as teams of two against two, or by tackling the challenge decks from Balance of the Force. Additionally, we are looking forward to new cards and tactics that will soon be permitted by the upcoming Between the Shadows deluxe expansion and the Force Packs from the Rogue Squadron cycle.

Star Wars™: The Card Game has quickly grown to become FFG’s second largest LCG.

Rotation and Star Wars: The Card Game

Our LCG department hosted an LCG State of the Union and addressed those players who arrived early to our World Championship Weekend. In the address, our LCG team acknowledged the category’s growth and its increased importance to Fantasy Flight Games as a key business category. However, in order to ensure that our LCGs continue to grow and remain healthy, we also looked toward the future. We realized that our LCGs would suffer if we were to let them continue to grow unchecked, so we decided to introduce rotation to our competitive card games.

For more about rotation and why we’re introducing it to our LCGs, see the article, “A New Stage of Growth.”

Our new rotation policy dictates that each game’s standard play environment consists of the game’s Core Set, its deluxe expansions, and its five to seven latest cycles of monthly expansion packs.

   
       
           
           
       
       
           
           
       
   

1	2
3	4                         Rotation keeps an LCG's card pool at a healthy, manageable level.

Click on any of the images above to view a larger version.

What does this mean for Star Wars: The Card Game?

It means that you still have a long time to enjoy all the cards you own and look forward to adding to your decks. At this point, we are just two cycles into the game’s card pool, and that means that barring any unforeseen delays, we expect to retire the cards from the Hoth Cycle and Echoes of the Force cycle only once the first Force Pack for the game’s eighth cycle arrives sometime in Spring 2018.

Moreover, because all the cards from the game’s Core Set and its deluxe expansions will remain available in standard play, along with all the cards from the Rogue Squadron cycle through the game’s seventh cycle, when the Hoth Cycle and the Echoes of the Force cycle do rotate out of standard play, they’ll represent a small fraction of the entire card pool. At that time, their departure won’t impact long-time veterans too much, but the thinning of the card pool will make the game significantly more attractive to newer players and will help prevent the game from breaking down, easing the potential need for any restrictions or bans of existing cards.

Rotation will eventually become necessary for the continued health of Star Wars: The Card Game, but it’s not coming anytime soon. You’ll have years to enjoy the cards you currently own, as well as those coming down the line, and we believe this is the solution that best ensures you’ll have many more years to enjoy your battles for the fate of the Star Wars galaxy!

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Source: The Balance of the Force

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War Without End

What Does Rotation Mean for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest?

In 2014, Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Game® (LCG) category is the strongest it has ever been, and the much-heralded introduction of Warhammer 40,000: Conquest is the most recent step in the category’s growth.

This growth has not come without challenges. Since we first introduced the LCG model in 2008, we have learned much about how these games function differently than collectible card games, and we have taken many steps to apply the lessons we’ve learned. We have established the standard that our monthly expansion packs offer a complete playset of each new card within them. We have grown our Organized Play programs, introducing Restricted lists when necessary to balance the evolving metagames. And with both Warhammer 40,000: Conquest and Star Wars™: The Card Game, we have discovered how the LCG model permits and encourages new takes on the classic deck-building model.

As a result, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest has benefitted from an LCG audience that is larger and more knowledgeable than ever. We’re eagerly looking forward to the first Warhammer 40,000: Conquest World Championship Tournament, and the game’s card pool will soon start expanding with the first of our monthly War Packs, The Howl of Blackmane.

The battles for the Traxis sector kicked off at Gen Con Indy 2014 during the Worldeater tournament.

Rotation and Warhammer 40,000: Conquest

Our LCG department hosted an LCG State of the Union and addressed those players who arrived early to our World Championship Weekend. In the address, our LCG team acknowledged the category’s growth and its increased importance to Fantasy Flight Games as a key business category. However, in order to ensure that our LCGs continue to grow and remain healthy, we also looked toward the future. We realized that our LCGs would suffer if we were to let them continue to grow unchecked, so we decided to introduce rotation to our competitive card games.

For more about rotation and why we’re introducing it to our LCGs, see the article, “A New Stage of Growth.”

Our new rotation policy dictates that each game’s standard play environment consists of the game’s Core Set, its deluxe expansions, and its five to seven latest cycles of monthly expansion packs.

   
       
           
           
       
       
           
           
       
   

1	2
3	4                         Rotation keeps an LCG's card pool at a healthy, manageable level.

Click on any of the images above to view a larger version.

What does this mean for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest?

It means that you still have a long time to enjoy all the cards you own and look forward to adding to your decks. At this point, we are still looking forward to the game’s first War Pack. That means that barring any unforeseen delays, we expect to retire the cards from the Warlord cycle only once the first War Pack for the game’s eighth cycle arrives sometime in Fall 2018.

Moreover, because all the cards from the game’s Core Set and its deluxe expansions will remain available in standard play, along with all the cards from its third cycle through its seventh cycle, when the Warlord cycle and the game’s second cycle do rotate out of standard play, they’ll represent a small fraction of the entire card pool. At that time, their departure won’t impact long-time veterans too much, but the thinning of the card pool will make the game significantly more attractive to newer players and will help prevent the game from breaking down, easing the potential need for any restrictions or bans of existing cards.

Rotation will eventually become necessary for the continued health of Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, but it’s not coming anytime soon. You’ll have years to enjoy the cards you currently own, as well as those coming down the line, and we believe this is the solution that best ensures you’ll have many more years to enjoy your battles for the Traxis sector!

...

Source: War Without End

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A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition

Announcing the Second Edition of the Only Game that Matters

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”
    –George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Millions of fans have immersed themselves in the enthralling world of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, a world filled with warring kingdoms and deadly intrigues, populated by knights, peasants, kings, and hundreds of other characters. In the distant north, an ancient evil emerges from the icy wastelands beyond the Wall, while on the continent of Essos, the first dragons in centuries have hatched. Despite these wonders and terrors that fill the world, there is only one game that matters to the Houses of Westeros: the game of thrones!

                                         

For information about the changes between the first and second editions, click here!

For the past twelve years, players have entered this enthralling world through A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. The rich tapestry Martin has created comes alive in this Living Card Game®, inviting players to take command of a Great House of Westeros and use knights, spies, nobles, and other iconic characters to move and shake the game of thrones. We want to see this game continue to thrive for another twelve years or even longer. To that end, Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition, a Living Card Game of cunning plots, iconic characters, and deadly encounters for two to six players!

Why a Second Edition?

Over the past twelve years, we’ve learned a vast amount while producing A Game of Thrones: The Card Game and our other LCGs. Just as players had to adjust to the format of a Living Card Game, we had to learn how to develop the best LCGs we could. As we learned, certain issues that couldn’t be solved with simple errata or a restricted list became apparent in the first edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. We want this game to continue to grow and succeed for many more years, and now, we want to apply our wealth of knowledge to the creation of a second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game.

Enter the Seven Kingdoms

In A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition, the warring factions of Westeros await your command, inviting you to engage in a life-or-death struggle. In every game, you select devious plots and challenge your opponents on the field of battle, through back alley intrigue, and in the political arena. Whether you play a against a single opponent, in a game known as a joust, or engage in a battle of three or more players, called a melee, winning challenges against your opponents is the way to victory.

Your ultimate goal in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition is to gain influence over the greatest seat of power in Westeros: the Iron Throne! To achieve this goal, you must call upon iconic characters, such as Tywin Lannister, Robb Stark, Stannis Baratheon, Daenerys Targaryen, Euron Crow’s Eye, The Red Viper, and dozens of others. You must maneuver the members of your House and your allies in a constant battle to gain power. The first player to claim fifteen power in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition wins the game!

A Devious Plot

“He swears he knew naught of the plot. Who can say? The man is half Lannister, half Frey, and all liar.”
    –George R.R. Martin,  A Clash of Kings

In most card games, players use one deck, but in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition you must lead iconic characters and simultaneously devise schemes to shape the future. To accomplish this goal, A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition features two decks: a draw deck and a plot deck.

Your draw deck contains the tactical elements of your struggle, including the characters, locations, attachments, and events that you call upon in your struggle to claim the Iron Throne. You can command characters from throughout A Song of Ice and Fire, and you can march forth from the icy walls of Winterfell or muster your armies around Casterly Rock. You may even equip your characters with storied weapons, such as the Valyrian steel blades Ice or Widow’s Wail. The draw deck holds these powerful characters, locations, attachments, and events. This deck is randomly shuffled and players draw their hands from this deck.

You also possess a seven-card plot deck that is more strategic in nature. A game round in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition, like so much of the action in A Song of Ice and Fire, begins with the players plotting and laying plans. Rather than shuffling the cards in your plot deck, you must carefully consider your possible plans and choose a single plot from your plot deck at the beginning of each game round. The best schemers in A Song of Ice and Fire always have plans within plans, and the plots available to you give you the chance to adapt your plans to bring you closer to the Iron Throne!

Once you and your opponents have selected plot cards, you simultaneously reveal them.  Your plot for a round determines how much gold you can spend on cards, which player starts with initiative, and how powerful your challenges are. Your plot also bears a reserve value, which determines how many cards you can keep in your hand past the end of the round. Plots may also offer powerful effects that can trigger when the plots are revealed or persist to shape the entire game round. You may scorch the earth with a deadly wildfire assault, or call upon all players to support the faith of the Seven. Because you can choose any available plot in your plot deck, you have an incredible amount of tactical flexibility for adapting to the twists and turns of the game. For more information on how plots work, visit the A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition description page.

Challenge Your Opponent

“A true champion defeats all challengers.”
    –George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords

The plots you devise provide you with gold to marshal new characters, calling lords and ladies, knights and servants, direwolves and dragons to your side in your struggle for the Iron Throne. During the game, you use these characters to attack and defend in a series of challenges. If your opponent is unable to successfully defend himself against your challenges, he must suffer the consequences.

Three distinct types of challenges exist in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition, and each one punishes your opponent in a different way. Winning a military challenge on the field of battle kills off one or more of your opponent’s characters. Intrigue challenges allow your spies and assassins to reduce your opponent’s options by forcing him to randomly discard cards from his hand. Finally, power challenges allow your most influential characters to move power from your opponent’s faction card to your own faction card. Deciding which challenges to make and which characters to use is an important element of mastering the game.

You attack and defend in challenges using the characters you control. Every character in the game has a given amount of Strength, or STR, which determines how powerful that character is in a challenge. Characters also have a number of challenge icons, which determine which challenges the character can participate in. If a character does not have the appropriate challenge icon, it cannot participate in the challenge.

For example, Eddard Stark has a STR of five and the military and power challenge icons: although Eddard can bring a large amount of STR to bear on the field of battle or in a power struggle, the twisted intrigues of court are anathema to him. Eddard Stark may have a much higher STR than a simple spy with an intrigue icon, but because Eddard doesn’t have an intrigue challenge icon, the spy can slip by unopposed. Both players have the chance to affect the outcome of the challenge by committing multiple characters with the appropriate icon and by using special abilities and event cards, but after both players have passed on the opportunity to take actions, the player with the highest total STR is victorious! You can find a more detailed discussion of challenges on the description page.

Enter the Tourney Ground

“Give me honorable enemies rather than ambitious ones, and I’ll sleep more easily by night.”
    –George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

Two distinct game modes are found within A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition. You can test your skill at arms in a joust, which pits two players against each other in an honorable, one-on-one battle to claim the Iron Throne. Or, you can take on up to five opponents in a ferocious, unpredictable melee with three to six players, opening new levels of intrigue and backstabbing as you make deals and betray allies.

A melee game introduces a new layer of player interaction by inviting you and other players to take your place on the king’s Small Council after revealing plots at the beginning of each game round. The Small Council titles that you select offer a host of powerful abilities, but they also come with pre-established allegiances and hatreds. If your chosen title supports another player’s title, you are hindered in your efforts to attack that player, although he is under no such restriction against you. If your title opposes another player’s title, you gain benefits for winning your first challenge against that player! We’ll cover both joust and melee game modes in greater depth in a future preview.

Fight for Your House

“‘Make way,’ Jhogo shouted at the crowd from horseback, snapping his whip, ‘make way, make way for the Mother of Dragons.’”
    –George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

You’ll find numerous factions to play within A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition, each offering a host of recognizable characters and a unique playstyle. You may lead the armies of the north with Robb Stark, or scheme in the shadows with Tyrion Lannister. You may muster your fleets on the Iron Isles with Victarion Greyjoy or plot vengeance for past wrongs in the south with Doran Martell. You may even cast your lot with Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons across the Narrow Sea.

A starter deck for each faction is included within the Core Set for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition, and as you build decks, agenda cards enable you to ally with other factions. You can call upon the allegiance of any other faction when you build a deck: House Stark may call upon the warriors of House Baratheon, or Daenerys Targaryen may embrace an alliance with House Greyjoy.

Battle for the Iron Throne

“It is the one true king of Westeros who stands before you.”
    –George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

Your path leads towards the Iron Throne, but only the greatest commanders and most cunning schemers will succeed in reaching their goal. Call the banners of your House and prepare to battle for the future of Westeros in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition!

Visit the description page for more information on the second edition, read lead LCG developer Nate French’s open letter to the A Game of Thrones community, and watch our website for a series of in-depth previews that will explore the game in detail. Look for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition to be released at Gen Con Indy 2015! 

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Source: A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition

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The Things We Do For Love

An Open Letter from Nate French to the A Game of Thrones Community

I played A Game of Thrones: The Card Game for the first time in the Fall of 2002. Little did I know of where that game would lead...

As a player in the early years of the game’s CCG era, I quickly discovered an insatiable appetite for all aspects of the game. Building decks, flipping plots, drawing cards, and winning challenges became a focal point of my existence. I couldn’t get enough of it, and was known to drive all about the midwestern states in an effort to find more opportunities to play. I even quit my job in the restaurant industry so I could attend Origins 2003 and play in the Thrones events. (I took a lot of heat at the time, but in hindsight it’s one of the best decisions I ever made.) It was there that I met and traded blows with players like future World Champions John Bruno and Casey Galvan for the first time.

That convention was also where I discovered that--in addition to the many joys it offers in play--this game also has a friendly, intelligent, and mature community of players. As addictive as the game can be, this community is even more remarkable. Every time I interact with the community at a major event, I am reminded what an exceptional group of people the game attracts.

As a designer, this is the game that launched my professional career when I joined Fantasy Flight Games as a developer in 2006, and I enjoy working on it to this day. I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to work on a number of other wonderful games and settings – Lord of the Rings, Call of Cthulhu, Warhammer, Star Wars – but you can never quite escape the ghost of your first love, and I always find myself coming back to Thrones.

The above is just a brief outline of my own experiences with the A Game of Thrones card game. Outside of those experiences, thousands of other players all over the world have developed their own unique relationships with this game and its community. If you’re reading this, chances are good you are one of these players, and you have your own set of reasons for loving this game. I’m writing this letter because we have that love in common, and I know that if I were in your shoes I would want someone to explain to me, in terms I could understand and relate to, what was going on with the game I cared so much about.

A Game of Thrones: The Card Game is one of FFG’s most successful, consistent, and longest running lines. The LCG era alone features more than 70 product titles, all of which are relevant today. The game is currently published in 8 languages (English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese) around the world. In 2013 we held our largest ever World Championship tournament, with 138 people competing in the joust event. In 2014, we had our largest ever turnout for the GenCon tournament. Each of the two draft sets was a popular addition among fans. And many of our most devoted tournament players believe that the current environment and metagame are as healthy and engaging (or better) as any time they can remember in the game’s history. In each of these respects, A Game of Thrones is very much alive and well.

But is it as  “alive and well” as it could be? In spite of all the great things I can say about the game, it is--without a doubt--showing its age. With products and expansions dating back to 2008, the size of the competitive LCG card pool is close to 2000 cards, which presents an ever-increasing burden for attracting both retailers and new players to pick up the game. While a detailed rotation policy would address this first issue, it is not the only obstacle facing our game. Over the course of its 12 year run, A Game of Thrones has accumulated a considerable mass of outdated mechanics, a ponderous rules set, and what at times can be some pretty obscure ability templating and language choices. The game also rides upon the back of a core set that is more than 6 years old, was designed before we fully understood the meaning of the LCG experience, and was released as an expansion at the tail-end of the CCG era. Instead of providing an ideal entry point for new players and a solid foundation of useful cards for tournament deckbuilders, this product provides a fragmented experience that does more to hold the game back than it does to showcase its finer aspects. We who love the game have come to accept these truths as a small burden to bear, the quirks that we put up with because we so love the other charms... But does it have to be that way?

Considering all of the above, we at FFG found ourselves facing a difficult decision. On one hand, we had the option to hold on tightly to what we had. To put forth a rotation policy that could address the immediate “size of the cardpool” concerns, and see if we could squeeze 2 or 3 more good years out of a game that faced the other challenges described above. The alternative.... Well, what if we were to relaunch the game with a new edition, an overhauled rules set, an improved core set, and some exciting new features? The idea took hold, and as we discussed the possibilities, it became more and more intriguing. Instead of a 3 year plan, we wanted to establish a foundation upon which the game could conceivably thrive for the next 10 years or more.

Once we decided to move forward with this plan, the first step was to identify the elements that make A Game of Thrones: The Card Game the game that we all love. These are the elements that are the heart and lifeblood of the game, and if these elements were not preserved, it could not be called the same game:

     
• The plot deck. In many ways, the plot deck is the game’s most distinguishing feature, and is frequently the first element that players identify when asked what they like about the game.
     
• The challenge phase as we know it, featuring the military, intrigue, and power challenges. The challenge phase is the game’s most tactical arena, and is usually the phase in which the most direct conflict between the players occurs.
     
• Characters are central to the game’s action. George R.R. Martin’s series is heavily character-driven, and the game should be as well.
     
• Unique characters must die! The discard and dead pile capture this important aspect of the A Song of Ice and Fire novels.
     
• The game is won by accumulating power on your faction card and on characters you control. A game’s victory condition establishes what a player is trying to do, and this motivation informs a player’s decision making--and thereby his or her experience of the game--in a number of direct and indirect ways.
     
• The nature of “the flop.” Having the game begin in media res, as opposed to the gradual amping up that defines many card games, enables players to quickly focus  on its most engaging elements--the plot phase and the challenge phase--instead of obsessing on early game tricks and development concerns. It also adds to the game’s replay value, by adding more differentiation to the opening of each individual matchup.

From there, we needed to identify the elements that we felt were holding the game back. Each of the following can be trimmed to make the the final product more appealing:

     
• Moribund. If one word encapsulates the layers of confusion and frustration and eye-rolling that are associated with the AGoT timing rules, that word is moribund. Originally released a couple years into the life of the CCG era as a solution to inconsistencies and paradoxes that emerged in the CCG cardpool, “moribund timing” was never an intended part of the game’s design. Rather, these rules were reverse engineered from the cardpool as a practical means of solving fundamental problems the game’s language was having at that time. Because the solution did its job, it stuck, and has been a major sticking point for many players who seek to understand how and why things work the way they do to this day. Re-engineered timing rules will replace “moribund” and thereby make the game far more straightforward and user-friendly.
     
• Influence was designed during the CCG era as a mechanic to provide players with a persistent resource engine to use throughout a game round, as each player’s gold did not last beyond the marshalling phase. The introduction of persistent gold and the taxation phase made the need for influence obsolete, but as the core set was originally designed as an expansion in the CCG era, influence made its way into the LCG version of the game. With the new edition, influence no longer carries a necessary function, and is being discontinued.
     
• With the exception of the shadow crest, crests are little more than “glorified traits.” To simplify the game’s learning curve, we are cutting them from the new edition.
     
• Other timing quirks such as a special class of response (the “save/cancel response”) and the dreaded “passive effect with a trigger” are being cleaned up and re-templated in a more user-friendly manner.
     
• The first edition suffers from a fair amount of keyword bloat, with far more keywords than a healthy game needs, especially when you are trying to teach that game to new players. In the new edition, we are trimming the excess in this area, and moving forward with a smaller set of the most essential and interesting keywords.

Finally, we identified a number of areas where we felt we had an opportunity to improve the game experience by making a revision or adjustment. These areas are:

     
• The attachment card type. Historically, attachments have been regarded as a “weak” cardtype among competitive players. They harm a deck’s flops, and they have an extra layer of fragility when compared to other cardtypes. In the new edition, we are taking some steps--one of which is making the effect of the “setup” keyword a built in aspect of the attachment cardtype--to make these cards a more viable subset of the card pool.
     
• The gold curve. With a few outliers, the majority of the cardpool for the first edition lies in the 0 to 5 gold cost range. And most of the cards used in competitive decks lie in the 0 to 3 gold cost range, with only a few key slots in these tournament decks being devoted to higher cost cards. In the new edition, we are stretching the game’s cost curve, so that more gold is available to players and more cost slots are relevant when building decks.
     
• The draw cap was added to the game in late 2003, as a “band-aid” to rein in abusive draw decks. It’s a functional fix, but is not elegant in that it forces players to keep an untracked memory count of drawn cards throughout the course of each game round. For the new edition, we are doing away with the draw cap and replacing it with a more elegant and dynamic check against abusive card accumulation strategies by adding a reserve value to each plot card that caps its owner’s hand size in the taxation phase.
     
• Plot deck building. When building a plot deck in the new edition, players are able to run a second copy of any one plot card in the deck. This allows for the construction of more specialized plot decks, and also maintains a bit more in-game uncertainty: the first time a player sees a plot card, that player can no longer eliminate the possibility of seeing that plot again until the used pile cycles around. Some plots--like Valar Morghulis--may be excluded from this option for balance reasons by a “max 1 per plot deck” restriction.
     
• Treaties. The gold penalty is a clunky means of addressing “faction mixing,” and no treaty or alliance agenda yet printed has felt completely right. A new loyalty mechanic combined with the ability to select a support faction in lieu of another agenda makes combining factions a more balanced and viable option than we have yet experienced.
     
• The factions. We decided that there was room in the game for more than 6 factions, and are expanding and adjusting the color pie accordingly. (To help narrow your speculation: House Brax will not be a core faction.)
     
• The new edition also showcases a veritable feast of gorgeous original artwork and striking new graphic design.

With all of these changes and revisions in mind, it should be clear that the two editions of the game are not compatible with one another. This point raises another important question: what about the first edition?

I understand that many of you are deeply invested in the first edition cardpool. There is a financial aspect to this investment, but also a very real emotional aspect: you enjoy playing the game with these cards and exploring the dynamic environment and metagame they have formed. I also understand that, as exciting as some of the changes in the new edition may sound, there is a world of difference between playing a card game with a mature, multifaceted environment (such as we now enjoy), and playing a new game with only a few products’ worth of cards (such as we would have upon the launch of the new edition).

For these reasons – and because we too love the current cardpool and metagame – we are committed to continued support of the first edition as we make this transition. To that end, FFG will run sanctioned National and World Championship level tournaments for the first edition (as well as events for the new edition) at GenCon 2015 and at next year’s 2015 World Championship Weekend. Tournament kits will be available to support first edition events throughout the 2015 tournament year. This will provide players with an opportunity to continue to enjoy and compete with their first edition cards at sanctioned events while the metagame of the new edition matures. Additionally, just as the CCG era cards remained a popular draft option well into the time frame of the LCG era, the Westeros and the Ice and Fire draft pools will continue to see support at major AGoT events while the new edition expands to a size that can support a draft format of its own. Finally, the Wardens cycle will soon be releasing, as a swan song expansion that completes the first edition cardpool.

One last question I can anticipate is, “What about the champion cards?” In my opinion, the champion cards are one of the highest honors that can be achieved in our gaming community, and each of these cards functions as a mark of a player’s lasting legacy upon the game. Any champion who has earned the right to design a card for the game but has not yet done so will still be able to design that card for the new edition if he or she so desires. Further, just as we brought the CCG era champion cards forward into the LCG, I will make every attempt--at the appropriate moment for each card--to bring recognizable versions of the first edition champion cards into the new edition.

So where does that leave us? The new edition is knee deep in development, and I will be recruiting an external beta playtest group throughout the course of our World Championship Weekend. (If you’re interested, make sure you talk to me!) We will begin previewing the new game in greater detail in late spring/ early summer, and – if there are no unforeseen delays outside of our control – we’re looking forward to the launch of the new core set at Gen Con Indy 2015. In many ways, this new edition is built upon passions we have felt and lessons we have learned over the course of the past 12 years, and I’m looking forward to sharing this product, the quintessential experience of one of my favorite games, with the rest of the world.

Nate French
 November 2014 

Nate French is a Senior LCG Designer at Fantasy Flight Games, and has been involved with the development of A Game of Thrones: The Card Game and other games since 2006. For more information about A Game of Thrones: The Card Game Second Edition, visit the minisite.

...

Source: The Things We Do For Love

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Battle for the Galaxy

STAR WARS (TM): Empire vs. Rebellion Is Now Available

“This will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of Kenobi, it will soon see the end of the Rebellion.”

   –Darth Vader, Star Wars: A New Hope

Side with the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance and battle for the fate of the galaxy in Star Wars™: Empire vs. Rebellion, a card game of skill and deception for two players, now available at your local retailer!

The galaxy is torn between two sides in a massive civil war. On one side, the Galactic Empire rules the galaxy, stretching its totalitarian regime across hundreds of planets. Opposing the Empire and the tyrannical rule of Emperor Palpatine are the heroes of the Rebel Alliance. A ragtag coalition of soldiers, politicians, spies, and freedom fighters, the Rebellion strives constantly to rid the galaxy of the Empire’s unrelenting oppression.

In Empire vs. Rebellion, you take command of the forces of the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance. Using your military power, diplomatic clout, strategic reconnaissance, and knowledge of the Force, you must best your opponent in a series of events drawn from the classic Star Wars films. Whether you replay the events of the movies or reshape their outcomes in your favor, every game of Empire vs. Rebellion offers you the chance to experience the thrill of the Galactic Civil War.

Gather Your Resources

To achieve victory in the Empire vs. Rebellion, you must claim several key events by winning a struggle. You must use the resources of your chosen faction included in your deck to overthrow your opponent’s plans. Four different kinds of resources compose both players’ decks: military, diplomacy, recon, and the Force. Each of these cards has a resource value shown in the upper left-hand corner. To win an event, you must bring the total resource value of your resources as close as possible to a target shown on the event card, without surpassing it.

Resource cards bear special abilities to help you in your struggles against your opponent. Military resources allow you to discard your opponent’s most useful cards, whereas a diplomacy card can discard one of your own cards, allowing you to modify your total resource value and avoid surpassing your target. Recon resource cards give you the chance to gain vital intel by looking at the top of your deck or your opponent’s. Finally, resource cards that represent the power of the Force allow you to exhaust your opponent’s resources, keeping him from using special abilities.

Iconic characters from the Star Wars films introduce their own talents to your struggles over events. Both the Empire and the Rebellion have access to eight characters that they can include in their decks. These characters offer some of the most powerful abilities in the game, and they can boost your resource value significantly.

At the beginning of each struggle in Empire vs. Rebellion, you and your opponent also select strategy cards. These strategy cards can give you a powerful advantage, but they are kept secret until the end of the struggle, giving you the opportunity to trick your opponent or lure him into your trap. After both players finish playing resources in the struggle, strategy cards are revealed before the final victor is determined.

For a detailed overview and example of how resource cards, events, characters, and strategies interact in a game of Empire vs. Rebellion, read our past preview.

Choose Your Side

The struggles of the Galactic Civil War lie before you. Gather your most potent resources, call upon iconic characters, and determine the outcome of key events from the Star Wars saga. Pick up your copy of Empire vs. Rebellion at your local retailer today!

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Source: Battle for the Galaxy

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Fantasy Flight Games Is Now Hiring

Apply for the Position of Application Developer Today

Fantasy Flight Games, leading hobby-market publisher of board games, card games, roleplaying games, and other tabletop games, is now hiring for the following position:

   
• Application Developer (pdf, 133 KB)

Details can be found in the pdf document linked above.

To apply for this position, please submit a cover letter with salary requirements and resume to HumanResources@fantasyflightgames.com; under the subject line “Application Developer” no later than end of business day Friday, November 21, 2014. Please do not call or visit.

Our offices are located in Roseville, Minnesota, a suburb of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Candidates not already living within commuting distance must be willing to relocate. Fantasy Flight Publishing, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer committed to a diverse work force and a work environment free from discrimination.

...

Source: Fantasy Flight Games Is Now Hiring

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The Valley

Announcing the First Data Pack in the Upcoming SanSan Cycle

“Better genes for better lives.”

    –Jinteki

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of The Valley, the first Data Pack in the SanSan Cycle for Android: Netrunner!

As it boots up the SanSan Cycle, The Valley transports players deep into the heart of SanSan, the number one place for all the top tech. This American megacity sprawls along the California coastline from San Diego in the south to San Francisco in the north. There, you’ll also find Biotech Valley, most often called just “the Valley,” home to the world’s biggest biotech firms and its most advanced genomic research. Home, additionally, to Jinteki Corporation’s flagship American R&D facility, the J-Plex.

With its sixty cards (a complete playset of twenty-two different cards), The Valley explores Biotech Valley and its massive investment into bleeding-edge bioengineering. This is a meatspace heavily colored by genengineering, a highly educated workforce, tech startups, capital investments, and the presence of Jinteki’s J-Plex. You’ll find numerous assets, region ugrades, genetic resources, and a new Jinteki identity. Of course, even in the Valley, you’ll need more than good genes to get by; you’ll also find new programs, ice, and currents for both Corps and Runners.

Additionally, as the first Data Pack in the SanSan Cycle, The Valley introduces our new LCG® packaging to Android: Netrunner Data Packs. While the packaging is now molded plastic, every Data Pack still contains the full complement of sixty cards.

Lead Developer Lukas Litzsinger on the SanSan Cycle

The SanSan Cycle is a worthy successor to the Lunar Cycle. We had a lot of fun exploring the moon as a a singular, geographic location, so when the time came to lock in the next cycle, it was something I knew we needed to continue.

Like the Lunar Cycle, most of the cards in the SanSan Cycle are inspired by the locations in which they’re set. SanSan is a megacity that stretches along the Californian coast, from San Diego to San Francisco. It is the cradle of high-end tech and a home to beautiful beaches. It is also still recovering from the Big One, the cataclysmic earthquake that opened up the San Andreas fault and redefined America’s western coast.

Unlike the Lunar Cycle, and for the first time in the history of Android: Netrunner, each Data Pack in the SanSan Cycle was designed individually before it was integrated into the whole. Each one tells a story about a specific part of SanSan and the people who live in it. You will discover the genetic experimentation of the Valley, dive deep into the criminal elements of the Underway, and experience the sights and sounds of a World Expo.

From a mechanical standpoint, the SanSan Cycle aims to shake up the metagame and force players to adapt. While many of the Corps in Heinlein and other parts of the world have trended toward scoring agendas from HQ with the use of SanSan City Grid (Core Set, 92), the Runners that learned their trade on the streets of SanSan have developed effective counter-measures to this strategy. But even as Runners find ways to slow the Corps down, the Corps get more benefits from scoring agendas, making each installed card all the more important.

This cycle also marks the addition of some extra rules complexity in the form of a double-sided identity, Jinteki Biotech (The Valley, 12). This was not a decision made lightly. We want to make sure that the game remains accessible to players, and one way to do that is by preventing complexity creep. I hope you agree that the small amount of additional rules are worth it when you see how the card functions (keep reading!). Among other things, I believe this identity is proof that, as the game evolves, we will continue to look for ways to bring exciting new concepts to life. It’s also our goal to introduce them in the simplest way possible.

We hope that you enjoy exploring SanSan as much as we enjoyed creating it!

Jinteki Biotech

The Valley is all about biotech, and there’s no bigger name in the field than Jinteki. Everything in The Valley is influenced in some measure by the corp’s work. Not even those runners who steal from Jinteki, seek to burn it down, or treat it as their playground find themselves immune to the allure of the megacorp’s work in genengineering.

For starters, The Valley introduces a new Jinteki identity, Jinteki Biotech, which comes with a unique distribution model within the Data Pack and a unique set of rules. While The Valley still comes with a complete playset of each of its cards, it doesn’t contain three copies of the same Jinteki identity. Instead, The Valley contains three copies each of its nineteen other cards and three different, double-sided versions of Jinteki Biotech. The front of each Jinteki Biotech is identical, and at the beginning of your game, you can swap your Jinteki Biotech for any other Jinteki Biotech. Then, the front text of Jinteki Biotech allows you to spend three clicks to “flip” the card, triggering one of three different back text abilities that trigger “When you flip this identity.”

What effects do each of these Jinteki Biotech identities have? Click on the images above to “flip” the cards and find out.

Jinteki have long been the masters of the Android: Netrunner shell game, and as we draw near their flagship American R&D facility, this identity only reinforces that factional strength.

Meanwhile, even as they work against the megacorp on the net, the game’s Runners take advantage of the genetic modifications that Jinteki offers. The Valley introduces no fewer than four different genetic resources that, like Enhanced Vision (The Valley, 5), each provide a unique benefit the first time each turn you meet its triggering condition. Moreover, if you spend enough time checking into the Gene Conditioning Shoppe (The Valley, 6), you can trigger your genetic resources up to two times each turn. And when you consider that these benefits are introduced at the outset of a cycle designed to slow down the Corp’s fast advance ambitions, it’s a sure bet that they’re going to pay off for some Runner. The question is, will it be you?

Nature Versus Nurture

Even as Jinteki continues its work with Genetic Resequencing (The Valley, 13), The Valley ensures that both Corps and Runners will find ample opportunities for investment, improvement, and new business ventures.

Welcome to Biotech Valley. It’s time to invest in your future!

The Valley is scheduled to kick off the SanSan Cycle in the first quarter of 2015.

...

Source: The Valley

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A Champion's Perspective: X-Wing (TM), Pt 1

An Article on Preparation by 2014 North American Champion Rick Sidebotham

As we look back on the 2014 World Championship Weekend, we finish our series of Gen Con wrap-up articles with 2014 X-Wing™ North American Champion Rick Sidebotham’s unique preparation and how it affected his results. If you plan on attending a major tournament such as Nationals or Worlds in the future, Rick’s advice can be a valuable tool toward improving your experience and your results.

Prepare to Make Your Run

Greetings X-Wing players! Because my experience at Gen Con 2014 has been covered in the past, it was really important to me to include some fresh material in this article. Therefore, I’ve decided to share how I prepared for the tournament, how that preparation (or in some cases, lack thereof) affected my performance, and the potential benefits to thinking outside of the box.

The Squadron

This squadron was not originally built to be flown in a major tournament setting, but rather for an evening of casual play shortly before a Regional Championship earlier this year. At the time, I thought it would be fun to fly a list that included a TIE Phantom, a TIE Interceptor, and a Lambda-Class Shuttle.

When I made the decision to try the list at the Kingston, ON Regional Championship, the final pilots and upgrades were based on making the squadron as competitive as possible with those three ships. While fielding a squadron that was fun to fly was my primary motivation, I at least wanted to make sure I had a fighting chance against the most likely competitive combinations I could expect to face.

   
• Whisper (32) with, Fire Control System (2), Gunner (5), Advanced Cloaking Device (4), and Veteran Instincts (1)

   
• Soontir Fel (27) with Push the Limit (3)

   
• Captain Yorr (24)

Tournament Preparation

While I believe the squadron itself is solid, I think the primary reason why I was able to have success with it at both Kingston and the North American Championship was due to my preparation. In preparing for my first-ever X-Wing tournament earlier this year I created a list of the squadron archetypes that I expected to see. Ever since that first tournament, I’ve been adding to the list along the way. So now, whenever I decide to work on a squadron for competitive play, I always refer back to my master list. An abridged version of my list prior to the North American Championship consisted of the following:

   
       
           
           
       
       
           
           
       
   

Rebel Archetypes

Imperial Archetypes

4-Ship Un-named (B-Wings/X-Wings)                 3-Ship Named (B-Wings/E-Wings/X-Wings)                 Named YT-1300 plus Support                 Named YT-1300 plus Z-95 Headhunter Mini-Swarm                 Double YT-1300                 Rebel Swarm (Z-95 Headhunter/A-Wing)                 YT-1300/B-Wing/E-Wing/X-Wing plus Z-95 Headhunter Mini-Swarm                 Biggs                 Board Control (Ion/Stress/ORS Blocking)

TIE Swarm with or without Howlrunner (TIE Fighter/TIE Bomber/TIE Interceptor)                 Double/Triple Firespray-31s                 3 Lambda-Class Shuttles plus Support/4th Shuttle                 3-4 “Push the Limit” TIE Interceptors                 Jonus plus Ordinance-Carrying TIE Bombers or HLC TIE Defenders                 TIE Bombers with Bombs                 Super Flankers (Whisper/Echo/Soontir Fel)                 Doom Shuttle (Lambda-Class Shuttle with Darth Vader Crew)                 Board Control (Stress)

 

This was my best educated guess of the potential squadrons I could face. If you decide to do some similar preparation before your next league event or tournament, I encourage you to create a list of your own based on your knowledge

and experience.

Once I had an idea of what squadrons I could expect to face, I had to get in some practice playing against them. Between work and family commitments, I was only able to get in about three or so games per week, not nearly enough time to play against everything out there. I decided there were a few steps I could take to streamline the process.

The first step was to try and figure out a way to put some of these archetypes into larger groups based on the squadron I was fielding. As an example, early in the process, I was able to develop a good general plan for opposing squadrons that came at me in a large block of ships. I generally had success if I could engage in a military pincer with Yorr securing the middle and Whisper and Soontir Fel on each flank. Now, if there was something special within that block of ships, I’d have to modify my tactics accordingly, but having a general plan to deal with a large group of archetypes was a great time-saver for me.

The next step I took was applying some priority to what I was going to practice against. I looked for archetypes that I felt I had a smaller chance of facing and then further selected ones from that group that I felt confident my squadron could handle most of the time. This allowed me to eliminate another large portion of my list from the playtest pool. For example, I looked at the Jonus archetype and didn’t think there was a good chance of facing it, and I didn’t think it would give my squadron too many problems if I did.

In further prioritizing squadrons for preparation, I looked for those that I felt would be both most difficult for my squadron to face and had a high probability of being represented. Whisper with a mini-swarm, a named YT-1300 with a Z-95 mini-swarm, and Han Solo with Veteran Instincts (making him Pilot Skill 11) plus support were the three squadrons that I playtested against the most. From there, I tried to play each of the remaining semi-unique archetypes at least once.

As my playtesting continued, I considered making some tweaks to further overcome some of the squadron’s shortfalls. In the end, I decided those tweaks caused more harm than good. With my squadron finalized, I was ready for the North American Championship!

Or so I thought.

The North American Championship

The format for the North American Championship involved two preliminary flights of up to 128 players. The top 32 of each preliminary flight would move on to the Finals to compete in five rounds of Swiss play before cutting to the top 8 to play in a single-elimination bracket. I had purchased a ticket to play in the first preliminary round and decided that I was going to give it just that one shot, so I had to finish in the top 32!

My first loss was against a squadron that consisted of Han Solo (with Veteran Instincts and other upgrades, but didn’t include Gunner or Luke) and 4 Z-95’s. This squadron fit into the archetype that I had considered my biggest challenge. I had practiced against it more than anything else and had an overall strategy and some specific in-game tactics that allowed me to win more times than I lost against it. The biggest thing for me was that I couldn’t make a mistake.

Of course, I ended up making a number of small mistakes about two thirds of the way through the round. A combination of failing to see a potential block, choosing a maneuver that limited me to one decloak location, and letting emotion cloud my judgment led to my defeat. As hard of a loss as that was, it had confirmed everything I learned in my preparation. My squadron had a very good chance of beating one of its worst matchups, even when piloted by a very skilled player. (My opponent was Matt Baxter who finished in the top 8 overall.) It also confirmed that my squadron is not forgiving.

My second loss came in the very next game. I played against a 2-ship “shield-gaining build” that included Corran with R2-D2 and Luke with R5-P9, in addition to a slew of other upgrades on each. I hadn’t playtested against anything even remotely similar, but I knew what my opponent’s general strategy was going to be. He was going to try and hit hard, and once one of his ships took a bunch of damage, break it off and let it regain shields while occupying my squadron with the other, then switching the two roles once the initial ship had regained its shields. I hoped that having two mobile ships in Soontir and Whisper would allow me to catch the damaged ship and finish it off before turning my attention to the other.

Well hats off to my opponent, Christian Bush! Even knowing in principal what he was going to try and do, I couldn’t stop it from happening. I had Corran down to one hull but failed to have a move the following turn to take him out. I wasn’t confident that I could accurately guess where he’d be in two turns, so I felt I had no choice but to switch up and go for Luke. I worked on Luke until he was down to one hull when Corran returned and killed Whisper right as time expired. This was my first game against a squadron I hadn’t prepared for, and it ended in a loss.

After a couple wins, I experienced my third loss of the day against a squad that consisted of Whisper with Veteran Instincts, Soontir Fel, and Carnor Jax, all with a number of nasty upgrades. Looking back at my list of archetypes, you won’t see anything like this there.

I knew Jax had the potential to be a huge problem. Both Soontir and Whisper rely heavily on focus and evade tokens when they are unable to arc dodge. With my opponent also having Whisper and Soontir, I was either going to lose shooting first or lose the ability to dodge arcs against two ships that were great at reacting. I felt like keeping my focus and evade actions was critical, and my on-the-spot plan was to try and create a pincer such that I could catch Jax in the middle.

As our ships maneuvered closer, I was able to engage just as I thought I had wanted, but I was unable to take Jax out. At this point, I realized there was a huge flaw with my plan; if I couldn’t take Jax out next turn, he’d be within range 1 of all three of my ships, not allowing me to take or use the tokens that are so essential to my list. Engaging that way was a huge mistake.

I failed to kill Jax the following turn and proceeded to get massacred by my opponent. If I had playtested against Jax at least once, there’s a chance I would have been able to see how devastating Jax could be if he got into the middle of my pincer and lived. I again tip my hat to my opponent, Randy Baker, for handing me my worst loss of the North American Championship.

In the end, I finished the preliminary rounds with a 4-3 record. That, combined with my strong margin of victory, allowed me to barely slide into the Finals at 28th out of 32. Not my greatest day of X-Wing, but the most interesting part as I reflect back was the squadrons I lost against and how those squadrons compared to my preparation.

Tune In to Worlds Coverage

Thanks, Rick!

Be sure to return tomorrow to read how Rick did in the Finals, including an undefeated record on the way to becoming North American Champion!

© and ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.

...

Source: A Champion's Perspective: X-Wing (TM), Pt 1

[RSSFeeder]

The Valley

Announcing the First Data Pack in the Upcoming SanSan Cycle

“Better genes for better lives.”
     –Jinteki

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of The Valley, the first Data Pack in the SanSan Cycle for Android: Netrunner!

As it boots up the SanSan Cycle, The Valley transports players deep into the heart of SanSan, the number one place for all the top tech. This American megacity sprawls along the California coastline from San Diego in the south to San Francisco in the north. There, you’ll also find Biotech Valley, most often called just “the Valley,” home to the world’s biggest biotech firms and its most advanced genomic research. Home, additionally, to Jinteki Corporation’s flagship American R&D facility, the J-Plex.

With its sixty cards (a complete playset of twenty-two different cards), The Valley explores Biotech Valley and its massive investment into bleeding-edge bioengineering. This is a meatspace heavily colored by genengineering, a highly educated workforce, tech startups, capital investments, and the presence of Jinteki’s J-Plex. You’ll find numerous assets, region ugrades, genetic resources, and a new Jinteki identity. Of course, even in the Valley, you’ll need more than good genes to get by; you’ll also find new programs, ice, and currents for both Corps and Runners.

Additionally, as the first Data Pack in the SanSan Cycle, The Valley introduces our new LCG® packaging to Android: Netrunner Data Packs. While the packaging is now molded plastic, every Data Pack still contains the full complement of sixty cards.

Lead Developer Lukas Litzsinger on the SanSan Cycle

The SanSan Cycle is a worthy successor to the Lunar Cycle. We had a lot of fun exploring the moon as a a singular, geographic location, so when the time came to lock in the next cycle, it was something I knew we needed to continue.

Like the Lunar Cycle, most of the cards in the SanSan Cycle are inspired by the locations in which they’re set. SanSan is a megacity that stretches along the Californian coast, from San Diego to San Francisco. It is the cradle of high-end tech and a home to beautiful beaches. It is also still recovering from the Big One, the cataclysmic earthquake that opened up the San Andreas fault and redefined America’s western coast.

Unlike the Lunar Cycle, and for the first time in the history of Android: Netrunner, each Data Pack in the SanSan Cycle was designed individually before it was integrated into the whole. Each one tells a story about a specific part of SanSan and the people who live in it. You will discover the genetic experimentation of the Valley, dive deep into the criminal elements of the Underway, and experience the sights and sounds of a World Expo.
 

 

From a mechanical standpoint, the SanSan Cycle aims to shake up the metagame and force players to adapt. While many of the Corps in Heinlein and other parts of the world have trended toward scoring agendas from HQ with the use of SanSan City Grid (Core Set, 92), the Runners that learned their trade on the streets of SanSan have developed effective counter-measures to this strategy. But even as Runners find ways to slow the Corps down, the Corps get more benefits from scoring agendas, making each installed card all the more important.

This cycle also marks the addition of some extra rules complexity in the form of a double-sided identity, Jinteki Biotech (The Valley, 12). This was not a decision made lightly. We want to make sure that the game remains accessible to players, and one way to do that is by preventing complexity creep. I hope you agree that the small amount of additional rules are worth it when you see how the card functions (keep reading!). Among other things, I believe this identity is proof that, as the game evolves, we will continue to look for ways to bring exciting new concepts to life. It’s also our goal to introduce them in the simplest way possible.

We hope that you enjoy exploring SanSan as much as we enjoyed creating it!

Jinteki Biotech

The Valley is all about biotech, and there’s no bigger name in the field than Jinteki. Everything in The Valley is influenced in some measure by the corp’s work. Not even those runners who steal from Jinteki, seek to burn it down, or treat it as their playground find themselves immune to the allure of the megacorp’s work in genengineering.

For starters, The Valley introduces a new Jinteki identity, Jinteki Biotech, which comes with a unique distribution model within the Data Pack and a unique set of rules. While The Valley still comes with a complete playset of each of its cards, it doesn’t contain three copies of the same Jinteki identity. Instead, The Valley contains three copies each of its nineteen other cards and three different, double-sided versions of Jinteki Biotech. The front of each Jinteki Biotech is identical, and at the beginning of your game, you can swap your Jinteki Biotech for any other Jinteki Biotech. Then, the front text of Jinteki Biotech allows you to spend three clicks to “flip” the card, triggering one of three different back text abilities that trigger “When you flip this identity.”

 What effects do each of these Jinteki Biotech identities have? Click on the images above to “flip” the cards and find out.

Jinteki have long been the masters of the Android: Netrunner shell game, and as we draw near their flagship American R&D facility, this identity only reinforces that factional strength.

Meanwhile, even as they work against the megacorp on the net, the game’s Runners take advantage of the genetic modifications that Jinteki offers. The Valley introduces no fewer than four different genetic resources that, like Enhanced Vision (The Valley, 5), each provide a unique benefit the first time each turn you meet its triggering condition. Moreover, if you spend enough time checking into the Gene Conditioning Shoppe (The Valley, 6), you can trigger your genetic resources up to two times each turn. And when you consider that these benefits are introduced at the outset of a cycle designed to slow down the Corp’s fast advance ambitions, it’s a sure bet that they’re going to pay off for some Runner. The question is, will it be you?

Nature Versus Nurture

Even as Jinteki continues its work with Genetic Resequencing (The Valley, 13), The Valley ensures that both Corps and Runners will find ample opportunities for investment, improvement, and new business ventures.

Welcome to Biotech Valley. It’s time to invest in your future!

The Valley is scheduled to kick off the SanSan Cycle in the first quarter of 2015.

...

Source: The Valley