FFG: Fantasy Flight Games News

[RSSFeeder]

2015 X-Wing(TM) Regional Championships

Apply by February 6th to Host a Tournament

                                         

Are You a Retailer?                           Apply today to host a Regional Championship!

Fantasy Flight Games is excited to announce X-Wing™ Regional Championship applications are now prepped and ready to go to lightspeed! Retailers are invited to apply now for this year’s Regional season, running from May 1st through July 31st.

If you are a United States retailer or tournament organizer interested in hosting a 2015 Regional Championship event, fill out our online application form before February 6th 23:59 CST (Central Standard Time) to be considered.

If you are a retailer outside of the United States, please contact your distributor to apply to host a Regional Championship or ask questions. International applications must be submitted before February 6th 23:59 CST (Central Standard Time) to be considered.

How Do Regional Championships Fit into Organized Play?

Regional Championships are your chance to create a community that spans beyond your town or city and the first big test for competitive players on their road to World Championship Weekend in November. A premier event, Regional Championships attract players hoping to earn the precious first-round bye at their National Championship and gain a leg up on their opponents.

Regional Championships are exclusive events and there are a limited number of them run around the world each year. We are excited to announce that this year we are increasing the number of events to better serve the needs of players. In the United States, each region can host up to three Regional Championships (see the map below). If you are outside of the United States, contact your distributor for more information on Regional Championships in your country.

What Does Premier Level Mean?

Premier-level events are the most prestigious tournaments FFG supports. Players can come to these events expecting the highest level of competition, as well as the strictest enforcement of rules. From the X-Wing tournament rules:

Premier events are the highest level of competition for Fantasy Flight Games tournaments, and all players, judges, and tournament organizers involved are held to the highest levels of conduct. Players are assumed to be familiar with the game’s rules, as well as the latest FAQ and tournament rules, and should expect all rules to be strictly enforced. Regional Championships, National Championships, and World Championships are premier events.

Regional Championship Prizes

A bye is not the only prize on the line at X-Wing Regional Championships. In addition to a poster and info sheet, each Regional Championship kit comes with exclusive prizes for up to 64 players.

     
• 1 Regional 2015 trophy
     
• 1 card granting the winner a first-round bye at the country’s National Championship
     
• 4 sets of acrylic maneuver templates
     
• 8 sets of alternate style dice (not pictured)
     
• 16 packs of acrylic shield tokens (not pictured)
     
• 64 Boba Fett alternate art cards

 

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

Apply Now

Apply today by completing the United States online application form for the chance to host some of the most resilient and inventive pilots in your region. International retailers should contact their distributor to apply. Don’t wait! Apply before February 6th 23:59 CST (Central Standard Time), or Regional Championship applications will close and you will be left drifting in vacuum!

...

Source: 2015 X-Wing(TM) Regional Championships

[RSSFeeder]

The Dark Tide Approaches

A Preview of the Helm's Deep Scenario from The Treason of Saruman

“Branched lightning smote down upon the eastward hills. For a staring moment the watchers on the wall saw all the space between them and the Dike lit with white light: it was boiling and crawling with black shapes, some squat and broad, some tall and grim, with high helms and sable shields. Hundreds and hundreds more were pouring over the Dike and through the breach. The dark tide flowed up to the walls from cliff to cliff.”

    –J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

After The Black Riders and The Road Darkens allowed players to accompany Frodo Baggins along the first stages of his epic journey to Mount Doom, the Fellowship has broken. Now, Frodo must find his way toward the dark mountains of Mordor without the help of his former companions. Those companions, meanwhile, must swiftly recover from all the early losses that fate has dealt them, for one wizard’s betrayal threatens to cripple their efforts, as well as those of all the forces who would stand against the Dark Lord.

The Treason of Saruman is coming soon for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, and as its three scenarios carry players through select events drawn directly from the first half of The Two Towers, the expansion gives us a new villain, whose White Hand baters against our heroes at every turn. While Saruman’s Uruks, his magic, and his evil are at the heart of all three of the expansion’s scenarios, there’s perhaps no greater illustration of the scope of his power than in the scenario that allows us to accompany Aragorn and the Riders of Rohan for the Battle of Helm’s Deep.

In a period of several weeks, we’ll be able to stand atop the walls of Helm’s Deep, alongside Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Théoden. Until then, however, developer Caleb Grace offers a look at the all-new fashion in which The Treason of Saruman brings this momentous battle to your tabletop.

Developer Caleb Grace on the Battle of Helm’s Deep

The Treason of Saruman is coming in a number of weeks, so let’s talk about the scenario that everyone is dying to play: Helm’s Deep! It’s arguably the most exciting chapter in The Two Towers and one of the most memorable battles in fiction. And the design team is proud to have come up with a way to stage this battle in The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game that we believe lives up to the legend!

In order to give life to your defense of Helm’s Deep, the scenario has you switch places with the encounter deck by making it the players’ job to prevent the encounter deck from placing progress on the current quest. Each stage that the encounter deck advances brings the army of Isengard one step closer to capturing the fortress. If stage 4B is defeated, then Helm’s Deep falls and the players lose the game.

In order for the players to defeat the scenario, they must defend Helm’s Deep through a long night of constant battle. To do this, the objective card, The Defense of Helm’s Deep (The Treason of Saruman, 33), tracks the passage of time by collecting one resource token each round, and the players advance to stage 5A when the last resource token is placed on it. At stage 5, the players join the Riders of Rohan as they charge out of the fortress at dawn and ride over their enemies. When they defeat the last enemy in play, they win the battle!

Making it to stage 5 will not be easy though. The defensive nature of the scenario turns some elements of the game upside down and creates challenging decisions. For example, you don’t necessarily want to explore locations. The locations in this scenario represent the different parts of the fortress, meaning it’s your job to defend them and keep them in play. When a section of Helm’s Deep leaves play, that means it has fallen to the enemy, and that can have dire consequences. Consider Deeping Wall (The Treason of Saruman, 38):

“While Deeping Wall is the active location, each hero gets +1 defense strength.

"Forced: When Deeping Wall is explored, raise each player’s threat by 4.”

By traveling to Deeping Wall, you can increase your heroes’ defense strength and slow the encounter deck’s progress on the quest by using the active location as a buffer. However, if Deeping Wall is explored, you and your friends must each raise your threat by four as part of the fortress is overrun.

Of course, if you don’t explore any locations, they’ll continue to add their threat strength to the total threat strength of the staging area as it rises, and it will become increasingly difficult to keep the encounter deck from placing progress on the quest. Accordingly, you will probably have to make some choices where neither option feels good, and you might face some moments of real desperation, too. That’s an appropriate feeling when you consider how close Saruman’s army came to capturing Helm’s Deep.

In fact, if it were not for the valor of a few outstanding allies, the men of Rohan would have been overmatched by their enemies, so the design team is pleased to announce the arrival of two of those esteemed allies: Legolas and Gimli!

Keeping Count

One of the biggest challenges with the Saga Expansions has been finding space for all the cards we want to include. Tolkien created such a rich world, full of amazing characters, that there just isn’t enough room in each Saga Expansion to include all the characters that we’d like. That’s why the design team made the difficult, early decision not to release two members of the Fellowship in either of the first two The Lord of the Rings Saga Expansions, but to save them for The Treason of Saruman. That decision was made, in part, because both Legolas and Gimli are already available as heroes in the Core Set, but also because so much of the battle of Helm’s Deep revolves around these two unlikely friends.

To any fan of the book, the game that Gimli (The Treason of Saruman, 4) and Legolas (The Treason of Saruman, 5) play at Helm’s Deep is as unforgettable as the outcome. Eighty-three fewer Orcs survived the battle as a direct result of their competition!

Hopefully, players will find their ally versions just as unforgettable as their participation in the battle of Helm’s Deep. Tactics players will be glad for a new way to draw cards by combining Legolas and his Response effect with his Ranged keyword. That seemed like a fun way to merge his Silvan far-sightedness with his skill with a bow.

Gimli’s effect was inspired by his flavor text: “Give me a row of orc-necks and room to swing and all weariness will fall from me!” Accordingly, when an enemy is revealed from the encounter deck, Gimli throws off his weariness and readies. That means you can use Gimli’s two Willpower to quest and still take advantage of his two Defense Strength and Sentinel keyword if an enemy is revealed.

Each ally is strong in his own right, but they also work together very well, as they should, allowing you to defend and attack any enemy in play, even one engaged with your friend. That’s important because you, your friends, and your characters, will have to work well together if you hope to emerge victorious from the battle of Helm’s Deep!

...

Source: The Dark Tide Approaches

[RSSFeeder]

What Secrets Reside Beneath the Cover Up?

A Preview of For the Greater Good for Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game

“The stir of the Suydam investigation made it certain that these unauthorised newcomers were flooding Red Hook in increasing numbers; entering through some marine conspiracy unreached by revenue officers and harbour police.”

    –H.P. Lovecraft, The Horror at Red Hook

The Agency-focused deluxe expansion, For the Greater Good, is nearly here. In our last preview, we explored some of what its new government characters and conspiracies may soon add to the faction and to Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game as a whole. Their new synergies and abilities look to significantly strengthen humanity’s ability to fight against the dark and evil cults that seek to plunge the world into chaos.

However, Call of Cthulhu and its eerie fictional setting are full of dark secrets and terrifying twists, and many of the valiant men and women who serve the government, believing they’re working for the greater good, may in fact be advancing the far-sighted designs of some nefarious cabal.

In Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, it’s just as easy to mix two factions together as it is to make a deck that uses only a single faction, and you can readily build a deck that features some unholy alliance between factions that no one may have ever suspected of working together. These alliances, in turn, lead to countless deck types, inhabiting alternate worlds, and they may include two factions, or three, or even more. There’s no limit to the decks that players can create, but each new deck reveals its own secrets.

Accordingly, as we continue exploring For the Greater Good and the conspiracies it introduces to Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game, we turn our attention to two outwardly similar Agency decks:

   
• One is pure Agency, relying upon the efforts of its operatives to explore the eerie circumstances surrounding three copies of Eldritch Nexus (Core Set, 154), shielding humanity from the horrors by wrapping them up within an elaborate conspiracy, The Blackwood Initiative (For the Greater Good, 35).

   
• The other deck is also an Agency deck and shares twenty-three of the same core cards, but as it hides the truth within the layers of its conspiracy, we begin to recognize a darker influence. In this second deck, the Agency’s operatives are being subtly manipulated by a cabal of powerful conspirators and the cult of Shub-Niggurath.

   
       
           
           
       
       
           
           
       
   

Heroes of the Agency                         The Eerie Circumstances:             Eldritch Nexus x3             The Conspiracy:             The Blackwood Initiative x2             The Cover Up:             Cover Up x3             Dr. Christine Maire x1             Local Sheriff x3             Officer Gibson x3             Paul Lemond x3             Shotgun Blast x3             The Foundation x2                         Humanity’s Secret Defenders:             Abbess Allegria Di Biase x2             Beneath the Burning Sun x3             Church Operative x3             General Edward Irving x1             Lt. Wilson Stewart x3             Marshall Greene x1             Military Attaché x2             Red Tape x2             San Marco Basilica x3             Shotgun x3             Special Agent Clarkston x2             Trial Judge x2

Plunged into Darkness                         The Eerie Circumstances:             Eldritch Nexus x3             The Conspiracy:             The Blackwood Initiative x2             The Cover Up:             Cover Up x3             Dr. Christine Maire x1             Local Sheriff x3             Officer Gibson x3             Paul Lemond x3             Shotgun Blast x3             The Foundation x2                         The Government Conspirators:             Karl Heinrich x2             Terrible Old Man x3             The Nefarious Cabal:             Descendant of Eibon x1             The Claret Knight x1             The Mage Known as Magnus x1             The Red-Gloved Man x1             The Cult of Shub-Niggurath:             Black Dog x3             Book of Iod x3             Grasping Chthonian x3             Hungry Dark Young x3             Savio Corvi x3             Shocking Transformation x3

Strategy:                         The key card in this deck is The Blackwood Initiative, which forces players to discard a card in order to resource a card. Given that players only draw two cards in the draw phase each turn, The Blackwood Initiative forces your opponent into some painful decisions early in the game as he decides whether he’ll forfeit an entire turn’s worth of card draw in order to resource a domain, or if he’ll forfeit the opportunity to resource a domain in order to hold onto the cards he’s just drawn.             In the meantime, you have to make the same decisions, but you have a strong early game built around your one-cost characters, Officer Gibson (For the Greater Good, 4) and Paul LeMond (Core Set, 4). Equipped with a Shotgun (Core Set, 14), Officer Gibson is capable of taking on nearly any foe, and Paul LeMond can copy any icons in play, provided you have the domains open to pay for them.             As the game goes on, you should be able to reduce the pain that resourcing would cause you by reducing the cost of your characters with Special Agent Clarkston (Aspirations of Ascension, 61) and Lt. Wilson Stewart (For the Greater Good, 16).             The two can help you build into late-game characters like General Edward Irving (For the Greater Good, 18) and The Foundation (For the Greater Good, 20).             Finally, the deck features a number of synergies built around its government traits, day mechanics, and the presence of its conspiracy:             Military Attaché (For the Greater Good, 15) provides nearly universal Arcane icons.             After The Blackwood Initiative forces your opponent to discard cards in order to resource, your Church Operatives (Terror in Venice, 3) compound your opponent’s suffering, forcing him to discard cards in order to target your Agency characters with any detrimental effects.             While secretly performing her sworn duties, Conspirator Abbess Allegria Di Biase (Terror in Venice, 1) will not be cowered by any terror nor slowed by anyone seeking to wound her. Not even the dread Khopesh of the Abyss (The Shifting Sands, 16) can harm her.

Strategy:                         In this deck, the many layers of the conspiracy, The Blackwood Initiative, carefully conceal the fact that a nefarious cabal of conspirators and the cult of Shub-Niggurath have infilitrated the Agency’s highest ranks and have been manipulating government officials in order to advance their diabolical plot.             Duplicity is critical to their success, so they rely upon the powers of Shocking Transformation (Core Set, 140) in order to ensure the pieces fall into play without anyone the wiser.             The deck’s restricted card, Shocking Transformation allows you to quickly bring into play such powerful characters as The Claret Knight (Seekers of Knowledge, 38), The Foundation (For the Greater Good, 20), and Karl Heinrich (For the Greater Good, 17).             In fact, Karl Heinrich doesn’t just appear as some naive dupe in this deck. Quite the opposite, he comes across as a twisted and cruel sadist who is all too eager to discard the resources for which your opponent has had to sacrifice so much.             So long as you can destroy your opponents characters in Combat struggles – any Combat struggles, not just the ones in which Karl Heinrich participates – the haunted commander roots characters out from your opponent’s domain.             Accordingly, even after The Blackwood Initiative forces your opponent to discard to resource, Karl Heinrich demands that your opponent resource non-character cards, or risk seeing his resourced characters bleed out from under his domains. This means you’re less likely to face any nasty surprises, even if you don’t play Dr. Christine Maire (For the Greater Good, 6), who simply eliminates all speculation about what your opponent might have in his hand.

Layers Within Layers of Dark and Deadly Secrets

The sample decks above illustrate but two of the nearly infinite ways the new Agency cards from For the Greater Good can be put to use for good… or for evil.

Will you grab your shotguns and fight back against the forces threatening to unmake all of human civilization? Or will you manipulate endless troops of unwitting government officials, using them all to advance some dark ritual or open portals to other worlds?

Among all the ways that Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game evokes the eerie fiction of H.P. Lovecraft, perhaps the most terrifying is that the characters in your deck never truly know if they’re the heroes, or if they’re merely being played to some nefarious end.

Dozens of the Agency’s most noble men and women will soon put their lives on the line, not just the overburdened detectives like the King John (For the Greater Good, 8), but also the Overworked Bureaucrats (For the Greater Good, 3) and forensic psychologists like Dr. Christine Maire. How will you use them all? If you haven’t already pre-ordered your copy of For the Greater Good, go pre-order it at your local retailer today!

...

Source: What Secrets Reside Beneath the Cover Up?

[RSSFeeder]

Beasts of Legend

Announcing Two New Reinforcement Packs for BattleLore Second Edition

The dragon stirred restlessly on its hoard, sending gold and jewels cascading down the sides. It could sense a thief approaching, already close. When the thief arrived, he would be greeted with snapping teeth, rending claws, and a blazing stream of fire, but for now, the dragon could only impatiently wait. Then the ground began to rumble beneath the steps of the approaching thief, and the dragon realized its foe may be a worthy challenger.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the first Reinforcement Packs for BattleLore Second Edition: the Mountain Giant Reinforcement Pack and the Great Dragon Reinforcement Pack!

Legendary creatures have strode across the battlefields of BattleLore Second Edition since the days of the Core Set. Roc Warriors and Chaos Lords currently serve the Daqan Lords and the Uthuk Y’llan, while Siege Golems and Doombringers will soon arrive with the upcoming release of Hernfar Guardians and Warband of Scorn. You can easily build an army around these legend units, and each one can deal unprecedented destruction to your opponent’s forces.

But some creatures are wild by nature; they cannot be controlled by one army. They may be temporarily harnessed for battle, but in the end, they can never be tamed. Mountain Giants and Great Dragons are two such creatures, and you can bring their might to your battles with these Reinforcement Packs.

Both the Mountain Giant Reinforcement Pack and the Great Dragon Reinforcement Pack contain a detailed plastic figure, the cards you need to muster this unit in your army, three new lore cards to customize your lore deck, and a new terrain tile. In addition, each Reinforcement Pack offers a pre-constructed scenario that highlights the new unit and challenges you to fight for victory in entirely new ways.

From the Mountains

The mountains of Terrinoth are home to terrifying beasts of all kinds, including the Mountain Giants. These enormous humanoids are usually content to stay close to their lairs, but when one is enticed to venture out, the very ground shakes beneath his massive feet. A Mountain Giant is undeniably a fearsome combatant on the field of battle. He can cast boulders with stunning accuracy at your foes or cut a swath around himself with his club.

A Mountain Giant’s strength can also reduce the buildings of the realm to nothing more than rubble. By playing the Crushing Force lore card, you can replace a building hex near the Mountain Giant with a rubble hex – terrain which provides no benefits and damages any unit that enters! Two other lore cards are also included in this Reinforcement Pack, and if you field the Mountain Giant in your army, you can include these cards in your lore deck.

You’ll aid the Uthuk Y’llan with the Mountain Giant’s power in the included pre-built scenario, The Sound of Thunder. In this scenario, the Daqan Lords have taken a handful of Blood Harvesters captive, but an Uthuk Y’llan raiding party has assembled to free the prisoners – and they’ve enlisted a Mountain Giant to help. The Daqan Lords must protect the prisoners while the Uthuk Y’llan use the Mountain Giant to destroy buildings and liberate the captives. Although this scenario puts the Mountain Giant under the command of the Uthuk Y’llan, you can bring the Mountain Giant’s strength to any army in your other games of BattleLore.

Nowhere to Run

In all Terrinoth, few creatures can match the might and ferocity of a Great Dragon. These beasts commonly collect treasure of all kinds into a massive hoard, and they would face any odds rather than see a single piece stolen from its glittering mass. Unfortunately for would-be thieves, a Great Dragon is well equipped to defend its loot. A Great Dragon in the service of an army is a terrifying thing – it flies across the battlefield, breathing plumes of flame on any who cross its path.

When you muster a Great Dragon in your army, you must place the hoard terrain hex underneath it. The hoard is full of all kinds of treasure, and if the enemy occupies it at the start of his turn, he claims the treasure as victory points. Thankfully, the Great Dragon watches over its loot vigilantly. Whenever ordered, a Great Dragon may return to the hoard hex instead of moving and attacking. You may even use the Great Dragon’s Firestorm lore card to dissuade enemy units from approaching the hoard. Firestorm places inferno markers next to an enemy unit, and whenever a unit enters an inferno marker, it takes a damage.

Even without a supporting army, a Great Dragon is a dangerous foe. In the Into the Fire pre-built scenario, the Daqan Lords and the Uthuk Y’llan compete to claim the dragon’s hoard. Both armies start on the same edge of the battlefield, and they must compete to overpower the Great Dragon and be the first to claim its hoard. The task may sound simple, but the Great Dragon is a mighty combatant, and your opponent’s army is just as desperate for treasure as your own. You can introduce fiery danger to every game of BattleLore Second Edition with the Great Dragon Reinforcement Pack.

Reinforcements on the Way

New reinforcements for your armies arrive as legendary creatures walk and fly onto the battlefields of Terrinoth. Will you call upon the might of a Mountain Giant, or unleash an inferno with the Great Dragon? The choice is yours.

Look for the Mountain Giant Reinforcement Pack and the Great Dragon Reinforcement Pack at your local retailer in the second quarter of 2015!

...

Source: Beasts of Legend

[RSSFeeder]

The Ethereals Arrive

Gift of the Ethereals Is Now Available for Warhammer 40,00: Conquest

“I shall reap a terrible bounty from the death that I sow in your name, Father Nurgle…”

   –Typhus the Traveller, Herald of Nurgle

The Tau Ethereals guide their entire race, shepherding them towards their rightful place as rulers of the galaxy. Now, the Ethereals have led the Tau to the Traxis sector! Swell the ranks of the Tau and every other faction with the Gift of the Ethereals War Pack for Warhammer 40,000: Conquest, now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore.

A new Tau warlord strides onto the battlefields of the Traxis sector in this expansion, but the Tau are not alone in receiving reinforcements. Dark Eldar mercenaries fight for whoever can pay, the Astra Militarum call countless legions to arms, and White Scars Space Marines ride to battle on their bikes. You may repair your supports with an Ork Repair Krew, or foretell the future with the power of the Eldar.

Of course, the minions of Chaos are not idle as the Tau arm themselves under a new warlord. With new Chaos cards from Gift of the Etherals, you can devote yourself wholeheartedly to Father Nurgle and follow Ku’gath Plaguefather!

The Fetid Stench of Nurgle

The forces of Nurgle receive a new army unit in this expansion: the Rotten Plaguebearers (Gift of the Etherals, 59). This unit has the Daemon trait, allowing you to reduce its cost with your Cultists, but it also bears a powerful Action. When you use the Rotten Plaguebearers’ Action, you exhaust the unit to deal one damage to any other unit at the same planet. This ability has dozens of possible uses. You could use it to deal a damage to an enemy unit before any other attacks can be made, or to damage one of your units, such as Ku’gath Plaguefather (The Scourge, 23) himself. Many Nurgle abilities, including Ku’gath Plaguefather and Fetid Haze (The Scourge, 27) require a unit that has been damaged. The Rotten Plaguebearers give you another way to activate these abilities.

You’ll find another way to quickly deal damage to your enemies with the Nurgling Bomb (Gift of the Ethereals, 60). When you play this event, you may choose any planet. Every non-Nurgle unit at the planet either takes one damage or is routed back to its controller’s headquarters. By playing the Nurgling Bomb on a crucial planet, you force your opponent to choose between two unappealing options. Either he sees widespread damage dealt to his units, or his entire force is routed to his HQ, leaving your forces in possession of the planet. Either way, your Nurgle units escape the damage unscathed.

The third Chaos card included in Gift of the Ethereals gives you another way to take advantage of the typically high-cost cards in Chaos decks. This card is the Throne of Vainglory (Gift of the Ethereals, 61). As an Action, you can exhaust this support to discard the top card of your deck. If the discarded card costs three or more resources to play, you may put two Cultist token units into play at your HQ! Cultist token units can be sacrificed to reduce the cost of your Daemon units, which are among the most expensive and powerful units in the game. Whether you’re trying to summon a Soul Grinder (Core Set, 91) or a Black Legion Heldrake (Core Set, 87), a reliable source of additional Cultists can easily keep pressure off of your resources.

Choose Your Tactics

Whether you’re spreading disease with the servants of Nurgle or following the inspirational leadership of the Tau Ethereals, your armies can benefit from the additional troops, steadfast supports, and powerful events contained in the Gift of the Ethereals War Pack. Muster your forces and prepare to take the Traxis sector by storm!

Pick up your copy of Gift of the Ethereals at your local retailer today. 

...

Source: The Ethereals Arrive

[RSSFeeder]

The Game Begins

A Deadly Game Is Now Available for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game

“You shall ride with me, and Shagga and Conn for the Stone Crows, Ulf for the Moon Brothers, and Timett son of Timett for the Burned Men.”

   –George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

The game of thrones is played in shadowy alleys and on bloody battlefields. It stretches from the deserts of Dorne to the court at King’s Landing and the icy wastes beyond the Wall. No one escapes its reach, from the poorest peasants to the greatest lords and ladies in the Red Keep. Whoever plays the game must quickly realize one thing – the game of thrones is deadly, and only ruthlessness can keep you alive.

Now, you have new cards to harness as you plunge headfirst into the struggle for power that is the game of thrones. A Deadly Game is now available for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game at your local retailer!

A Deadly Game continues to explore the major themes of the Wardens cycle. You’ll find powerful and iconic unique characters to lead and inspire your forces. You can also draw upon new “limited responses” and trait-based decks, even as more Castle plots offer increased rewards for players who choose to fortify their position before making a decisive attack. No matter which path you pursue to victory, the cards in this Chapter Pack offer new options for your path to the Iron Throne.

Call the Clans

Some of the most unlikely players in the game of thrones are the clansmen of the Vale. For years, they were content to raid travelers and passerby without involving themselves in larger affairs. But the arrival of Tyrion Lannister changed that forever, and Clansman characters can form a crucial part of the Lannister forces in A Game of Thrones: The Card Game. With the arrival of A Deadly Game, you’ll find more Clansman to lead across Westeros.

A new unique Clansman character arrives in this Chapter Pack: Ulf Son of Umar (A Deadly Game, 26). Ulf Son of Umar bears an ability that can prove crucial in many Clansman-focused decks. His ability reads, “Any Phase: Discard a card from your hand to give Ulf Son of Umar any keyword or crest printed on another character in play until the end of the phase.”  Obviously, gaining keywords and crests can quickly make Ulf Son of Umar a force to be reckoned with – especially since you can copy keywords and crests from your own characters or your opponent’s characters. But the cost of this ability can also prove beneficial. Many Clansman cards offer additional benefits when you have less cards in hand than your opponent, and Ulf Son of Umar offers a reliable, unlimited way to ensure that these abilities are always active.

Your Clansman characters gain another boon in the Moon Brother Harriers (A Deadly Game, 27), warriors belonging to Ulf’s clan. This character bears a War crest, making it a useful for using cards like Die by the Sword (Lords of Winter, 47), and what’s more, the Moon Brother Harriers have the opportunity to enhance your other Clansman characters. By paying one gold during a challenge, you can give your participating Clansman characters one additional STR until the end of the challenge. What’s more, you can activate this ability once per challenge, and the Moon Brother Harriers don’t even need to participate in the challenge to trigger their ability. When enough of the Valemen unite, the Moon Brother Harriers and the Lannisters’ coin can sway any challenge in your favor.

The final House Lannister card in A Deadly Game – the Vale Encampment (A Deadly Game, 28) – helps you bring your Clansman characters into play even quicker. You can discard the Vale Encampment in the marshaling phase to reduce the cost of the next Clansman card you play, and when you do play that card, you draw an additional card, giving you more options for coming challenges. With these cards, A Deadly Game provides you with the tools you need to lead the clansmen out of the Mountains of the Moon and sweep across Westeros.

Player or Pawn?

From the clansmen of the Vale to the Dothraki across the Narrow Sea, no one is exempt from the game of thrones. You must only choose whether you will decide your own fate as a player or be swept along as a pawn. Join iconic characters like Brienne of Tarth and Khal Drogo in A Deadly Game for the future of the Seven Kingdoms.

Pick up your copy of A Deadly Game at your local retailer today!

...

Source: The Game Begins

[RSSFeeder]

Defending Deephall

Guardians of Deephall Is Now Available for Descent Second Edition

“None fall faster than they that flee.”

   –Lord Hawthorne

The city of Deephall lies defenseless before the dark forces of the overlord. Only you and your fellow heroes stand between the city and the oncoming tide of evil, but can you truly hope to defeat the forces arrayed against you? Find out with the Guardians of Deephall Hero and Monster Collection for Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition, now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore!

Like other Hero and Monster Collections, Guardians of Deephall includes thirteen detailed plastic figures previously only available through the first edition of Descent. Now you can fight to hold the walls of Deephall with Sahla, Silhouette, Lord Hawthorne, and Mordrog, or command hordes of dark priests, wendigos, and crypt dragons as the overlord. In addition, Guardians of Deephall offers two brand-new quests, challenging you to defend Deephall and uncover the artifact that is the source of its troubles. Whether you fight for Deephall’s salvation or its destruction, you’ll find the heroes, monsters, and quests you need in this Hero and Monster Collection!

A Savage Fighter

One of the most unlikely heroes to come to the defense of Deephall is Mordrog, the orc. Mordrog has long fought to defend Terrinoth, but no matter how many monsters he slays, he remains unable to teach humans the true superiority of orcish nature. From his hunts in the Mountains of Despair to battles before Nerekhall’s gates, his accomplishments are ignored in favor of inferior human heroes. Such prejudice does not trouble Mordrog, however. He simply pities the humans for their weakness and lack of warrior spirit. Now he sees the defense of Deephall as one more opportunity to prove the prowess of an orc.

During your quests, the overlord may do well to avoid enraging Mordrog. Mordrog’s hero ability allows him to recover one fatigue every time he suffers one or more damage. With no limit on the amount of times this ability can be triggered, Mordrog can easily recover enough fatigue to trigger his Class cards on multiple consecutive turns. Of course, Mordrog has to take damage to trigger his hero ability, but with fourteen health, he can absorb even the most punishing attacks and respond with lethal force.

When Mordrog picks his target, he pursues it with dogged tenacity and unrelenting force. After he performs an attack that does not defeat its target, he may trigger his heroic feat to perform an additional attack against the same target. What’s more, the second attack receives a bonus surge, enhancing the power of Mordrog’s chosen weapon. With this heroic feat, you can quickly finish off any monster that survives your initial onslaught.

Protect the City

The fate of the city of Deephall lies in your hands. Can you defend the city and recover the pendant that causes its woes, or will the overlord triumph and bring darkness sweeping over the realm? The choice is yours in the Guardians of Deephall Hero and Monster Collection.

Pick up your copy of Guardians of Deephall at your local retailer today!

...

Source: Defending Deephall

[RSSFeeder]

Where Is Humanity Headed?

Order and Chaos Is Now Available for Android: Netrunner

“And in other news, we’ve learned that yesterday’s traffic accident in the SanSan High Lane has claimed the lives of three individuals, including twenty-nine year-old Leon Hargrove. An alleged hacker and self-avowed human rights activist, Mr. Hargrove was scheduled to go to trial for the recent data breach in J2 Construction, a Weyland Consortium subsidiary…”

    –NBN Live at 5

Where is humanity headed?

Order and Chaos, the third deluxe expansion for Android: Netrunner, is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore!

The world of Android is constantly changing. Megacorporations such as Haas-Bioroid and Jinteki continually introduce new work efficiencies with their bioroids and clones. Other corporations, like the Weyland Consortium, remake the world itself, changing its face with the destruction of old buildings and the construction of new ones. Even invisibly, the world changes, as the network that binds its people together extends further outward into the solar system, to the colonies on the Moon and Mars, and channels ever more data. Amid all these changes, humanity, too, must change, but how will it change? Where does its future lie?

With 165 new cards (three copies each of fifty-five different cards), Order and Chaos pours new fuel upon the heated struggles between two wildly different visions for the future of humanity.

Bigger and Broader Horizons

First, you have the Weyland Consortium, which is constantly looking for new ways to expand humanity’s horizons and, accordingly, the company’s business opportunities. Even though the company’s founder, Jack Weyland, has stepped down from the board of directors to pursue his own endeavors, the Weyland Consortium continues to test new possibilities in energy sources, lunar colonization, and other development. Its successes could change the very course of human history, so it always safeguards its most far-sighted and futuristic ambitions with bleeding-edge ice and operations.

Meanwhile, the Weyland Consortium has always been willing to play hardball to get what it wants, and Order and Chaos adds to the Corp’s history of Aggressive Negotiations (Core Set, 97) and Hostile Takeovers (Core Set, 94) by adding such hardline new cards as Argus Security (Order and Chaos, 1) and Government Takeover (Order and Chaos, 6).

Though there’s never been any evidence to substantiate the rumors that the Weyland Consortium has used Punitive Counterstrikes (True Colors, 79) and Scorched Earth (Core Set, 99) policies to defend its propriety data from would-be Runners, rumors of such activities continue unabated. In fact, Order and Chaos offers even more grist to the rumor mill in the form of such operations as Housekeeping (Order and Chaos, 20) and Traffic Accident (Order and Chaos, 22).

Altogether, these new cards, along with the expansion’s advanceable ice, suggest that even as the Weyland Consortium is pursuing new business opportunities, it is sticking to its core strengths, and that may be cause for concern among those who don’t appreciate the Corp’s mercenary use of the planet’s resources or share its particular vision for humanity.

Exploding Society’s Hierarchical Structures

This brings us to the expansion’s three outraged new Anarchs, who seek to undermine everything that the Weyland Consortium and other corporations have built upon the backs of humanity’s downtrodden. While just a handful of megacorps control nearly all the world’s wealth, these angry Runners work against the injustices they perceive by lashing out against the Corps, flooding their servers with viruses, rooting through their headquarters for secrets to expose to the media, and using hammers to smash in the metallic skulls of their biotic workforces.

However, while much has been made of these Anarchs, their brazen personalities, and their strongly individualistic tendencies, comparatively little attention has been given to their digital fingerprints on the net. Still, it’s here, on the net, that we may truly find the Anarchs’ greatest legacy. Though Anarchs are known far more for burning down servers  than for any constructive activities, their widespread use of virus programs has littered the back alleys, corner rooms, and other niche spaces of the network. And in those spaces, it appears, all these various virus programs and AI programs have been breeding.

In Order and Chaos, the Anarchs get their first five-influence card, and it’s a powerful virus that’s likely to define the faction for a long time to come. Hivemind (Order and Chaos, 42) represents a possible evolution of the network, liberating it from such hierarchical structures as those imposed on Corporate servers, and transforming it into a fully level playing field in which all data communicates with all other data. Each virus counter on Hivemind is considered to be on each other virus program in play; that means this one card can fuel your Parasites (Core Set, 12), Datasuckers (Core Set, 8), Mediums (Core Set, 10), and other viruses.

Though Hivemind can’t gain virus counters on its own, clever Anarchs will find plenty of ways to boost this universal link, including the new Virus Breeding Ground (Order and Chaos, 52). And once you get virus counters on your Hivemind, you won’t want to see them eliminated by a Corp player who chooses to use three clicks to wipe virus counters. Accordingly, you’ll want to consider hosting your Hivemind on the daemon, Progenitor (Order and Chaos, 43).

What’s Your Vision of Humanity?

In the Order and Chaos deluxe expansion for Android: Netrunner, you’ll find two wildly different visions of humanity pitted against each other in a struggle for survival. Which vision will you support? Where will you lead humanity?

Head to your local retailer today to pick up your copy of Order and Chaos, or order it online from our webstore!

...

Source: Where Is Humanity Headed?

[RSSFeeder]

UFOs Sighted!

XCOM: The Board Game Is Now Available

   
       
           
       
   

What Is XCOM: The Board Game?                             Read the Early Reviews                             Learn More About the Game from Our Series of Previews

All attempts to contact the invaders thus far have failed. Their only purpose seems to be destruction and chaos. One fact is quite clear: the militaries of the world are severely outgunned. In the absence of a miracle, this could very well be the end of civilization as we know it…

Calibrate your laboratory instruments, prep your Interceptors, and get your soldiers into battle armor. Reports of UFO sightings have now been confirmed. XCOM: The Board Game is now available!

You Are Humanity’s Last Hope

In XCOM: The Board Game, you and up to three friends assume the roles of the leaders of the elite, international organization known as XCOM. It is your job to defend humanity, quell the rising panic, and turn back the alien invasion.

Where the world’s militaries have failed to stand against the alien invaders, you must succeed. To do so, you must make strategic use of the resources available to you. You must launch Interceptors to shoot down alien UFOs, assign soldiers to key missions, research alien technology, and use that technology to defend your base, all while you try to keep the world from collapsing just long enough that you can coordinate one final mission to repel the invaders for good.

All the while, the game’s innovative and free digital companion app coordinates the alien invaders, randomly selecting from one of five different invasion plans. Each invasion plan represents a general outline that the alien commanders will use to coordinate the arrival of new UFOs, plan strikes against your base, and respond to your successes or failures as it seeks to conquer Earth. Moreover, the app manages all of these tasks and heighten’s the game’s tension as it forces you to respond in real-time.

Read the Early Reviews

Based on the critically acclaimed and much-beloved XCOM computer game series, XCOM: The Board Game has exploded into the media since we first announced the game ahead of Gen Con Indy 2014. Coverage has run across sites dedicated to board games, as well as those that traditionally focus more on computer games, and even such traditional news media outlets as The Guardian have remarked upon the game’s use of a digital companion app.

In fact, the game’s app and its integration into gameplay have been the most commonly discussed topics. However, many reviewers have also remarked upon the game’s novel and compelling interpretation of the XCOM experience. What’s common to nearly all reviews, though, are the claims that XCOM: The Board Game offers a unique take on XCOM, cooperative board gaming, and the hybridization of board and digital gaming.

It is that hybridization that interests The Guardian:

“The forthcoming XCOM board game gets the balance right, letting four players co-operate in saving the world from an alien invasion while a companion app tosses an element of randomisation into the mix – and lets one player pretend they’re hooked into the global defence network for real.”

The review from Polygon carries this idea even further and states it a bit more strongly:

“It's not a regular board game. It's a board game with a companion app, one that can be run inside a web browser or on a tablet. And the app isn't a gimmick. It's an integral part of how the board game works. It creates a tension that is wholly unique, bringing it closer to something like the Artemis Bridge Simulator or the indie iOS hit Spaceteam.”

Of course, it’s not just the use of the app that matters, but the end result, and the early review from PC Gamer offers an excellent summary of what XCOM: The Board Game brings to the XCOM experience:

“Most of the time, the theme of the videogame seems like a weird bolt-on to the cardboard version, both watering down what might be good gameplay mechanics and failing to create a meaningful connection to original game. XCOM: The Board Game avoids both of these traps, both delivering a new, fun coop experience and conjuring up the XCOM world in interesting ways.”

Can You Find a Way to Defeat the Unknown Foe?

Hello, Commander. In response to the alien threat, this council of nations has chosen to activate the XCOM project.

You are humanity’s last hope. Against an overwhelming alien invasion force, you and your friends must find a way to destroy UFOs, research alien technology, defend your base, and uncover the alien invasion plan. To do so, you’ll need better knowledge of the enemy, much of which you gain from our series of previews.

   
• In “Alien Intelligence,” we take a closer look at the game’s companion app and the role of Central Officer.

   
• In “The Desperate Defense,” we look at the alien invasion’s key threats: UFOs, enemies, and global crises.

   
• The push-your-luck dice rolling mechanics of the game’s resolution phase and the role of Squad Leader are the two focal elements in “Pushing Deeper into Danger.”

   
• How is XCOM: The Board Game different from other cooperative board games? We explore this question, as well as the role of Commander, in “Something Has to Give.”

   
• Finally, in “Salvaging Hope from the Wreckage,” we review the critical importance of XCOM’s ongoing research and high-tech weapons, as well as the role of Chief Scientist.

It’s time to save the world. XCOM: The Board Game is now available at your local retailer and online through our webstore!

...

Source: UFOs Sighted!

[RSSFeeder]

The Wastes of Eriador

Announcing the First Adventure Pack in the Angmar Awakened Cycle

“What roads would any dare to tread, what safety would there be in quiet lands, or in the homes of simple men at night, if the Dúnedain were asleep, or were all gone into the grave?”
     –Aragorn, The Fellowship of the Ring

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of The Wastes of Eriador, the first Adventure Pack in the Angmar Awakened cycle for The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game!

For nearly seven-hundred years, the Witch-king of Angmar terrorized the North from his home in Carn Dûm. Though his forces were eventually defeated, the shadows of the Witch-king’s evil have lain across the lands through all the centuries that followed his departure from the region.

Now, in The Wastes of Eriador, several of Middle-earth’s heroes must join forces with the noble Dúnedain who have long guarded the region’s simpler folk from the untold evils that still reside within Carn Dûm and its environs. Following immediately upon the heels of the epic events that unfold in The Lost Realm deluxe expansion, the scenario from The Wastes of Eriador tasks you to rescue a captive Ranger. However, as you pursue the enemies who have captured him, your trail leads you ever northward, ever deeper into the hills of Angmar. There, as day fades into night, the howling of wolves suggest that your party of hunters may soon become the hunted…

In addition to its new scenario, The Wastes of Eriador also contains a new hero and three copies each of nine different player cards. In the lands traveled so often by the Rangers of the North, you’ll find new Dúnedain, Hobbits, Scouts, and side quests. You’ll also find new ways to protect your heroes from damage, as well as the new Valour trigger, which continues to gain strength throughout the Angmar Awakened cycle.

For more about The Wastes of Eriador, the Valour trigger, and the Angmar Awakened cycle, we turn to lead developer Matthew Newman.

Lead Developer Matthew Newman on Angmar Awakened

Greetings,

I am very excited for the Angmar Awakened cycle!

Like The Ring-maker and Against the Shadow cycles before it, Angmar Awakened continues a tale that begins with the events of the deluxe expansion that precedes it – The Lost Realm. Altogether, this epic, nine-scenario adventure takes place within a new region, with new challenges. Throughout their journeys, your heroes will have to trek across snowy wastes, escape from the clutches of wicked goblins, investigate the ruins of an ancient kingdom, and uncover a terrible secret that threatens all of the North!

Meanwhile, the cycle’s new player cards take The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game in several different, all-new directions. For example, in previous cycles we’ve seen various Secrecy cards that reward players for keeping their threat low, hiding from enemies, and sneaking their way through locations and around obstacles. But what about those heroes of Middle-earth who choose to face Sauron’s forces head on, confronting them face-to-face upon the field of battle? For those who do not shy away from risk and danger, we introduce a new ability trigger – Valour.

Valour cards are inspired by a quote from Boromir that I think highlights the difference between his philosophy and perhaps the rest of the Company of the Ring:

“But always I have let my horn cry at setting forth, and though thereafter we may walk in the shadows, I will not go forth as a thief in the night.”

If you like to take risks and tend to play aggressive decks, Valour cards are for you. Still, being brave doesn’t mean being foolish and taking unnecessary risks, and these cards can see play in any deck. They will simply be most powerful when your threat is high and your situation is dire.

Unlike Secrecy cards, which benefit you when your threat is twenty or less, Valour cards benefit you when your threat is forty or higher. This is typically later in the game, when you have already built up your strength and resources aren’t quite as much of an issue. So instead of offering effects at a discounted cost, these cards offer powerful effects that can only be triggered when your threat is forty or higher.

Valour cards are designed to save you when you face overwhelming odds, and they can help you secure victory when victory might otherwise be out of your grasp. However, Valour cards are only prevalent in those spheres with little to no threat reduction – Leadership and Tactics. This means that a Valour-heavy deck will often straddle the line between victory and defeat, as the encounter deck is typically most dangerous when players’ threats are at their highest.

Valour cards aren’t the cycle’s only new focus, though, and all four of the game’s spheres gain cards in Angmar Awakened that strengthen existing themes and explore new ones. In addition to their new Valour cards, Leadership and Tactics players can look forward to several Gondor and Dúnedain cards. Meanwhile, Lore players can look forward to manipulating the encounter deck and victory display, as well as cards that reward them greatly for their forethought and wisdom. Finally, Spirit players will be able to explore what it really means to be a Noldor Elf, with cards that introduce a new strategy for the High Elves of Middle-earth.

Will You Aid the Rangers of the North?

The Rangers of the North have long guarded the region’s simpler folk from the dangers that roam the wilds. Now, one of their number has been captured, and his captors are dragging him deep into the hills of Angmar. Will you aid the noble Dúnedain? Will you brave the The Wastes of Eriador?

Look for The Wastes of Eriador to arrive at retailers everywhere in the second quarter of 2015. Until then, keep your eye on our website for more words from the developers and other The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game news!

Note: As the first Adventure Pack in the Angmar Awakened cycle, The Wastes of Eriador introduces our new LCG® packaging to The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game Adventure Packs. While the packaging is now molded plastic, every Adventure Pack still contains the full complement of sixty cards.

...

Source: The Wastes of Eriador

[RSSFeeder]

Uncertainty Principles

Preview Events, Skills and the Rules of Gates of Arkham

Just where the supreme horror lay, I could not for my life tell.

   –H.P. Lovecraft, The Thing on the Doorstep

Arkham has always been home to witches and cultists, and filled with uncanny places where most people fear to walk, let alone dwell. Yet in the Gates of Arkham expansion for Elder Sign, the city has fallen deeper into chaos. Gates are destabilizing time and space so that formerly safe locations are now the entrances to treacherous Other Worlds. Terrifying abominations such as Night Gaunts and Leng Spiders are pouring through these open gates and rampaging in the streets. Two secretive, underground organizations, the Sheldon Gang and the Order of the Silver Twilight, control the streets more than the Arkham police.

Today we will preview Event cards, which bring to life the constant uncertainty that reigns in Arkham. Some events are welcome and help you with the adventure ahead. Others are harmful and hinder your progress, if they don't make the situation in Arkham worse. Fortunately, Gates of Arkham also introduces skills, which grant investigators enduring abilities to help them navigate the this legendarily cursed city.

To guide you through the chaos and uncertainty, we have also uploaded the rules of Gates of Arkham. Download them (pdf, 7.2 MB) from the Elder Sign support page, or by clicking the thumbnail on the right.

Unpredictable Events

When you enter locations in Arkham you are often venturing into the unknown. Even when you know the adventure that lies ahead of you, however, an Event can introduce unforeseeable complications. If you’re at an adventure with an Event icon (pictured on the right), you must draw an Event card at the beginning of your resolution phase. Some Events only affect the adventure in play and the investigators engaged in it; others can affect the entire game.

Perhaps you choose to attend a play at Independence Square. Even before the curtain is lifted, you must draw an event: perhaps Unexpected Difficulties occur, lock one of the green dice and making it more difficult for you to succeed in this adventure. But those difficulties only last for the present resolution phase. You might decide to remain at the performance and try again to mitigate the madness this play unleashed in the audience. So, on your next resolution phase you draw another event and now strike a Devil’s Bargain – if you successfully resolve the adventure, you must add two doom tokens to the doom track, bringing the Ancient One closer to coming awake.

Not all Events are bad. If you find yourself trapped in the Forbidden Library of the Witch House, a Narrow Escape will allow you to avoid losing your sanity or advancing the doom track if you try and fail to retrieve the Elder Sign hidden among the dusty volumes. Since you cannot leave the Forbidden Library until you resolve the adventure, this Event card can also make it possible for you to survive multiple turns locked inside.

Survival Skills

If you do make it out of the Forbidden Library alive, you’ll be rewarded with a new skill. Unlike Spells and Common Items, which are usually discarded after a single use, skills can be kept. Any Medical Training gained from your research, for example, will benefit your team of investigators for the length of the game, or, in an emergency, you can exhaust it to save another investigator’s life. You may even stumble upon some good Luck that will enable you to avoid particularly bad Events.

But you’ll need more than skills to survive in the Streets of Arkham game mode. Gates of Arkham also introduces new Spells, such as the powerful Reach of the Mind. You’ll also come across Items that couldn’t have been found inside the museum walls. You might find a Roadster with a full tank of gas ready to speed you across the city to another location. Or a mysterious stranger may give you a Suitcase of Cash that you can use to purchase a useful Item, some sanity, or even membership in the Sheldon Gang.

Confront the Unknown

Nothing is certain in Arkham. A respected doctor might actually be a mad scientist seeking to resurrect the dead. Where the altar once stood in the South Church, there might now be a gateway to a mysterious ancient civilization. A stop at Velma’s Diner for coffee and pie might turn into a battle for your life against a rapacious monster, or a room in Ma’s Boarding House that has been haunted for decades may suddenly seem welcoming and free from horrors. But amid the chaos and uncertainty caused by the Ancient One’s awakening, you must fight for order. You must confront the unknown in Arkham to keep its horrors from taking over the world.

Gates of Arkham will be available soon.

...

Source: Uncertainty Principles

[RSSFeeder]

Take Command of the Rebel Fleet

Preview Three Rebel Starship Expansion Packs for STAR WARS (TM): Armada

“I just said you were a fair pilot. I didn’t know they were lookin’ for somebody to lead this crazy attack.”
     –Han Solo

Our last preview of Star Wars™: Armada focused on the Victory-class Star Destroyer and the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer, the two Imperial starships coming out in the game’s first wave of expansions. Today, we continue our exploration of the game, its ships, and its expansions with a look at the three different capital ships with which the Rebellion will soon be able to confront these Star Destroyers.

CR90 Corellian Corvette Expansion Pack

The miniature CR90 Corellian corvette found in the CR90 Corellian Corvette Expansion Pack is identical to that found in the game’s Core Set. Still, the expansion is well worth the consideration of anyone looking to field more than one corvette in battle.

First of all, most ambitious Rebel commanders are likely to want their fleets to count a good number of corvettes. Certainly, it’s possible to bring more than one to battle. The CR90 Corvette A weighs in at just forty-four of your three-hundred fleet points, and the CR90 Corvette B costs you a mere thirty-nine fleet points. For those points, though, both ships offer you three-dice attacks from your primary, forward-facing weapons; four hull; and a total of seven shields.

 The ship cards for the CR90 Corvette A (left) and CR90 Corvette B (right).

However, the expansion’s benefits extend far beyond the additional miniature you’ll find within it. As with the Imperial starship expansions, each Rebel starship expansion pack introduces a number of upgrade cards, several of which are unique to the expansion.

For example, the CR90 Corellian Corvette Expansion Pack allows you to recruit Mon Mothma as your commander should you prefer her to the Core Set’s General Dodonna. It also comes with the valiant Raymus Antilles and two different titles, meaning that you can fly the iconic Tantive IV or daring Jaina’s Light alongside the Core Set’s Dodonna’s Pride.

As the lightest and most agile ship within the Rebel fleet, the CR90 corvette offers a great deal of tactical flexibility not available to your other ships, and the expansion capitalizes upon this flexibility. Not only does the expansion’s Raymus Antilles allow your corvette to double up on the effects of any command it chooses, gaining a token even as it executes the command from the dial, but a number of other cards allow you to exploit the different upgrades available to the CR90 Corvette A and CR90 Corvette B.

Where the CR90 Corvette B features an ion cannons upgrade, the CR90 Corvette A instead features the turbolaser upgrade. Accordingly, you might add the Leading Shots upgrade card to a CR90 Corvette B equipped with the Dodonna’s Pride in order to deal faceup damage cards directly to the hulls of enemy ships, especially in a fleet with General Dodonna as commander. Or you might equip your CR90 Corvette A with the H9 Turbolasers upgrade, and if your opponent’s Victory-class Star Destroyer has spent one of its redirect tokens, you can convert one of your damage results to an accuracy result in order to force your opponent to soak the damage you deal on the hull zone you’ve targeted.

The way Armada allows you to upgrade and customize your ships ensures that you’ll have tremendous control over the way they fit into your overall strategy, and the CR90 Corellian Corvette Expansion Pack greatly increases the number of roles your corvettes can play within your Rebel fleet.

Nebulon-B Frigate Expansion Pack

The second Rebel ship found in the Core Set is the Nebulon-B frigate, and the Nebulon-B Frigate Expansion Pack enhances its utility and versatility within your fleet by adding a pre-painted Nebulon-B miniature along with eight upgrade cards.

The Nebulon-B is a ship that is truly designed to play one of two different roles within your fleet, and the Nebulon-B Frigate Expansion Pack further highlights the distinctions between the roles, allowing you to use it as a powerful support ship or as a potent fighter escort. Of course, once you have both the Core Set and the Nebulon-B Frigate Expansion Pack, you can field two Nebulon-B frigates in battle, potentially utilizing both the Nebulon-B Escort Frigate and the Nebulon-B Support Refit in the same fleet.

 The ship cards for the Nebulon-B Escort Frigate (left) and Nebulon-B Support Refit (right).

Both these types of Nebulon-B frigate feature the same attack dice, shields, hull, and upgrade slots. There are two key differences that merit the six extra fleet points. First of all, the Nebulon-B Escort Frigate gains an extra blue die to its anti-squadron armament, making it far more effective at eliminating enemy squadrons, either to protect itself or free up your fighters to attack enemy ships. Additionally, it gains an extra squadron value, meaning it can activate an extra squadron whenever it reveals the squadron command. This is particularly meaningful if you equip your Nebulon-B frigate with the expansion’s Yavaris title, which allows your squadrons to attack twice when you activate them with the squadron command, so long as they don’t move. Add Luke Skywalker to the mix, and the differences between the two types of Nebulon-B designs becomes profoundly noticeable.

Of course, there’s plenty to say in favor of the Nebulon-B Support Refit. For starters, it comes with all the same attack dice, but at a discount of six fleet points. This is a great option for fleet admirals who plan to use their Nebulon-B frigates to attack directly. For starters, the Salvation title adds extra damage with each  result it scores from its front hull zone. Then, the addition of an Intel Officer or XI7 Turbolasers (or both) can minimize your opponent’s ability to defend against your attacks, ensuring that they hit for maximum, targeted impact.

The Support Refit is also, arguably, the better ship to outfit with the Core Set’s Redemption title, which is the title you’d likely select if you wanted your Nebulon-B to play a more defensive role than offensive one. It grants an extra point of engineering to friendly ships within Range 1–5 whenever they resolve the repair command, either from the dial or from a token. Either way, that extra point may make the difference between merely moving a shield and recovering one, or between recovering a shield and discarding some harmful faceup damage card. Additionally, that extra point of engineering piles up quickly; the more you resolve the repair command, the more value you get from the Redemption.

Assault Frigate Mark II Expansion Pack

The third of the Rebel starship expansion packs in the first wave of Armada releases is the Assault Frigate Mark II Expansion Pack.

Featuring one pre-painted Assault Frigate Mark II miniature and fourteen upgrades, this is the big Rebel expansion for admirals who want to battle the Empire’s Star Destroyers on more even terms. While neither the CR90 corvette or Nebulon-B frigate wield firepower that measures up to a Star Destroyer’s, and both demand that you fly them carefully about the battlefield in order to limit their exposure to your opponent’s main weapons, the Assault Frigate Mark II can fire attacks of four dice from either its left or right hull zone.

Those are attack values that match the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer’s best attacks for total dice, but at a greater distance, and while they don’t quite measure up to the Victory-class Star Destroyer’s forward attack, they give the advantage to any Rebel commander who can maneuver an Assault Frigate Mark II alongside a Victory-class Star Destroyer, whose left and right hull zones attack for only three dice each.

As to be expected, as with each of the other ships, there are multiple ways to outfit your Assault Frigate Mark II, and you will find notable differences between the eighty-one fleet point Assault Frigate Mark II A and the seventy-two fleet point Assault Frigate Mark II B.

 The ship cards for the Assault Frigate Mark II A (left) and the Assault Frigate Mark II B (right).

For the extra fleet points it costs you, the Assault Frigate Mark II A gains an extra blue attack die from its forward and rear hull zones. It also features a more impressive anti-squadron armament of two blue dice, instead of just one. On the other hand, the Assault Frigate Mark II B features a squadron value of “3” instead of “2.” It may not be as well-equipped at dealing with enemy fighters directly, but it can better coordinate any fighter wing sent to escort it.

However, both versions of the Assault Frigate Mark II feature a command value of “3,” meaning that it’s noticeably less responsive than the Rebellion’s other ships. As is true of all the starships in Armada, the more powerful ships demand that you plan further ahead.

Still, the ship’s larger command value also means that it can hold more command tokens for later use, and that pairs well with the ability of the expansion’s commander, Garm Bel Iblis, who in both the game’s first and penultimate rounds allows you to add a number of command tokens to each of your ships equal to their command ratings.

 

Garm Bel Iblis is accompanied within the expansion’s upgrades by another unique Rebel, Adar Tallon, who serves equally well aboard the Assault Frigate Mark II B and the Yavaris. For ten fleet points, Adar Tallon basically allows you to get double the value out of your best squadron pilot every round, and if you choose to go all-in on the investment in your squadrons, you may also wish to consider equipping your Assault Frigate Mark II B with the Gallant Haven title, which reduces by one the total damage dealt to any of your squadrons at distance “1.”

Like the Nebulon-B frigate, the Assault Frigate Mark II also seems to be meant for one of two roles, and if you opt not to outfit it as a fighter escort, then you can add the Paragon title to add one black die to any attack your ship makes as a second attack against the same target. With the Paragon title, your Assault Frigate Mark II A can concentrate its fire upon a single foe for as many as eight attack dice, or nine if you also outfit it with the Enhanced Armament upgrade.

Even Star Destroyers have a hard time concentrating nine dice at the same foe, and if you start launching those sorts of explosive attacks against your enemies, it’s worth taking a look at adding the Sensor Team upgrade to your ship. At the cost of two dice, the Sensor Team allows you to gain an accuracy result when you need it to prevent your opponent from halving the damage his ship would otherwise take.

The Fleet Will Be Ready Soon

The Rebel fleet is gathering outside of Sullust and will soon be ready for action. How will you meet the Imperials? Will you swarm them with your corvettes? Will you use the Yavaris, Gallant Haven, and Adar Tallon to get the most out of your ace fighter pilots? Or will you bring out the big guns of your Assault Frigate Mark II A?

In our next preview, we’ll take a look at the fighters and pilots in the Rebel and Imperial Fighter Squadron Expansion Packs. Until then, head to our community forums to share your favorite Rebel fleet designs with the other members of the Armada community!

...

Source: Take Command of the Rebel Fleet

[RSSFeeder]

Halls of Terra

Announcing a New Expansion for Relic

He stood in front of the massive, ancient, marble doors of the Sanctum Imperialis, feeling the pitiless gaze of the Adeptus Custodes penetrating him as he waited. He hoped that the rusted dents on his armor, the long scars across his face, and the token of the Inquisition’s support would attest to his piety and loyalty. He knew that what he was asking for  – an audience with the God-Emperor – was a privilege unknown to any but the most dedicated and uncorrupted servants of the Imperium. He could only pray to be deemed worthy of it. At long last one of the guards approached and tonelessly spoke. “Your wish has been granted. You may enter the Eternity Gate and approach the Golden Throne.”

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of Halls of Terra, a side board expansion for the Warhammer 40,000 board game, Relic.

The Antian Sector is on the brink of succumbing to heresy and Chaos. In Halls of Terra, your quest to save the Antian Sector takes you to mankind’s homeworld, where you must persuade the ruling powers of the Imperium to endorse you as an Imperial Champion. Not only the fate of the Antian Sector, but also your life and honor are at stake in your negotiations with the devout Adepta Sororitas, the ruthless Inquisition, the cold-blooded Adeptus Arbites, and even the God-Emperor himself. You’ll soon find that politics and diplomacy can prove as deadly as any battles inside the Warp Rift, and that corruption haunts even the Imperium’s capital.

Relic: Halls of Terra features a side board depicting locations in Holy Terra and nearby Mars. A new orange Threat deck brings these worlds to life and challenges players as they strive to gain affiliations and prove themselves worthy to appear before the God- Emperor. Three new characters and another terrifying Nemesis enter the game, while additional scenarios reshape the struggle against the forces of Chaos.

The Ancient Home of Humanity

The most sacred place in the entire Imperium is Holy Terra, the teeming birthplace of humanity and home of the immortal God-Emperor. An endless stream of pilgrims travels to Terra seeking merely to touch its sanctified soil, but you have much greater ambitions: to win the support of one of the Imperium’s governing organizations and with that support, enter the Sanctum Imperialis and seek the Emperor’s endorsement.

On your journey towards the Palace Gates, you’ll likely visit one of the satellites Titan or Luna. The former is home to the fortress-monastery of the secretive and uncorruptable Grey Knights, the latter is a Civilised World and major crossroads where you may use Cunning to win the favor of the Imperial Nobilty. You may also choose to visit the Forge World Mars, headquarters of the Adeptus Mechanicus whose arcane knowledge produces the technology that fuels the Imperium’s eternal war effort. Once on Terra you may face trial at the Halls of Judgement or discover the secrets of the Scholastia Psykana, the training center for the mysterious Adeptus Astra Telepathica. Then you may approach the fearsome Titanoliths that surround the Palace and the Adeptus Custodes who guard it. They only permit characters with the utmost Cunning, Willpower, or Strength to stand before the Senate and the God-Emperor, and therefore will challenge you in your best attribute.

War by Other Means

For every organization whose favor you earn in the Sol System, you’ll collect an affiliation token, but these are hard to win and easily lost. At least one affiliation is necessary merely to pass through the Palace Gates. The more affiliations you possess, the more likely you are to earn a Relic from the High Lords of Terra or the Emperor.

You may arrive on Terra thinking that political battles cannot possibly be as lethal as the bloody fights you have endured in the Antian Sector, but some Imperial powers will take your life if you fail to conquer them in a battle of Cunning, Willpower, or sheer brute Strength. Political battles may also yield military rewards. If you manage to enter the Sanctum Imperialis and lay eyes upon the immortal God-Emperor, he will name you a Champion of one of the Imperial powers, such as the Adepta Sororitas, and grant you a lasting advantage in the ongoing war against Chaos.

Corruption Is Everywhere

Even in the Sol system, the holiest part of the Imperium, you can encounter corruption and heresy. A False Pilgrim may be attempting to hide among the hordes of religious devotees, or you may meet a Fugitive Witch on the crowded streets. The Inquisition itself could even question your innocence, forcing you to use Cunning to convince them of your piety. Indeed, some citizens of the Imperium thrive on corruption, manipulating it in order to achieve their own ends. The darkly pragmatic House Belisarius Navigator, a member of the Imperial Nobility, accumulates Corruption easily and even has some immunity against it. Her character abilities allow her to both exchange Corruption cards for movement points and decide when certain Corruption cards activate. So, although constantly welcoming Corruption, she nevertheless may keep her mind and body pious and pristine.

 

Any taint of corruption is so unwelcome in Terra that you may be given a mission to root out corruption and combat it.  The Cleanse Holy Terra mission charges its bearer to eradicate any unclean souls who have violated the sanctity of the Sol System. The rewards is not only a completed mission, but also affiliation with the Inquisition. You might even please the Emperor and gain the Adeptus Arbites affiliation by revealing another character’s apostasy or corruption. If you are already affiliated with the Adeptus Arbites, you can force the corrupt character to lose an affiliation – or two lives.

A Deadly Game

A visit to Terra is no secure undertaking. You may lose your life attempting to win over the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, or become a victim in the Inquisition’s merciless war on heresy. But with the support of the High Lords of Terra or the God-Emperor, you will be far better equipped to conquer the horrors of the Antian Sector and triumph in the ultimate confrontation with Chaos.

The voyage to the Sol System begins in the second quarter of 2015. Stay tuned for upcoming previews of the dangers and rewards that await you on Holy Terra. 

...

Source: Halls of Terra

[RSSFeeder]

Upgrade Your Hyperdrive

The STAR WARS (TM) Dice App Has Been Updated

“They’ve just made the jump into hyperspace.”

   –Darth Vader, Star Wars: A New Hope

Upgrade your hyperdrive and prepare for the jump to lightspeed! The Star Wars™ Dice app for Android and iOS has been updated to support both Imperial Assault and Star Wars: Armada!

With this latest update, the Star Wars Dice app has been expanded to cover even more of Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars RPGs and miniatures games. Now, you can easily roll digital dice for Imperial Assault and Star Wars: Armada, as well as X-Wing™ and all iterations of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game: Edge of the Empire, Age of Rebellion, and Force and Destiny.

Ready for Adventure

Imperial Assault presents six unique dice types for every combat. Attack dice determine how accurate your blaster fire is, how much damage you deal, and how many surges you can use to trigger unique abilities. Defense dice, on the other hand, allow figures to block damage, evade surges, or dodge entire attacks. With newly updated Star Wars Dice app, you can even preset commonly rolled dice combinations, putting every attack or defense at your fingertips.

You command fleets of capital ships and fighter squadrons in Star Wars: Armada, and with the Star Wars Dice app, even the largest turbolasers can be easily calibrated, aimed, and fired. Whether you’re firing at long-range or unleashing a devastating barrage at close quarters, you can quickly roll as many Armada attack dice as you need.

In addition to dice for both Imperial Assault and Star Wars: Armada, the Star Wars Dice app supports both X-Wing™ and every iteration of the Star Wars roleplaying game. Whether you’re engaged in a breakneck dogfight or tense negotiations, the Star Wars Dice app will ensure that you can quickly and easily learn the results of your choices, keeping the action tense and the battles cinematic.

With its convenient radial menu, the Star Wars Dice app allows you to roll up to twenty of these dice in any combination, and even includes standard polyhedral dice in seven types! This means that even when you’re not playing a Star Wars game, the Star Wars Dice app is the only dice roller you’ll ever need.

Into Hyperspace

With top-notch equipment, you can take on the whole Empire yourself. If you haven’t already, pick up your copy of the Star Wars Dice app from the App Store or the Google Play Store, and enter the Star Wars galaxy!

...

Source: Upgrade Your Hyperdrive

[RSSFeeder]

Smugglers and Assassins

Preview Two Figure Packs for Imperial Assault

“You should have paid him when you had the chance. Jabba’s put a price on your head so large, every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you.”

   –Greedo, Star Wars: A New Hope

The galaxy is a dangerous place. Smugglers risk their lives moving valuable and illegal cargo past Imperial patrols, and anyone can become the target of a trained bounty hunter. These low-lifes make up the seedy underworld of Star Wars™, and you can bring that underworld to your games of Imperial Assault with the Han Solo Ally Pack and the IG-88 Villain Pack!

In October, we announced seven new Ally Packs and Villain Packs for Imperial Assault, inviting you to embark on new missions and expand the campaign and skirmish games. Like the Luke Skywalker Ally Pack and the Darth Vader Villain Pack included in the Core Set, these figure packs offer detailed plastic figures to bring these iconic heroes and villains to life alongside a new side mission for any campaign and two new skirmish missions that share the same map. In addition, Ally Packs offer new Reward cards for the heroes, Villain Packs give the Imperial player new Agenda cards to draw on, and all figure packs contain new Command cards for enhancing your Command decks in skirmish missions.

Today, we’ll preview two of the seven new Ally Packs and Villain Packs: the Han Solo Ally Pack and the IG-88 Villain Pack!

Never Tell Me the Odds

In your games of Imperial Assault, Han Solo’s smuggling wiles can prove extremely helpful. With his Ally Pack, you don’t just gain a sculpted plastic figure – you gain new missions to highlight Han Solo and new cards to make him even more dangerous to the servants of the Empire.

The Han Solo Ally Pack introduces new content for the Imperial Assault campaign game, beginning with the Imperial Entanglements side mission, which invites you to repel Imperial boarders from the Millennium Falcon with Han Solo. Successful completion of this mission grants you a new Reward card: the Quickdraw Holster. While equipped with the Quickdraw Holster, you may suffer a strain and deplete the card when an attack is declared against you. Then, you may interrupt your opponent’s turn to attack your would-be attacker! With the Quickdraw Holster, you’ll always shoot first when it matters.

You’ll also find two new missions for the skirmish game in this expansion. Local Trouble challenges you to fight for control of a cantina, but the local thugs will attack anyone who comes close. Alternatively, you can gamble for victory in Sabacc Standoff by battling to control a sabacc table and increasing the victory points at stake with the Command cards in your hand. Whether you dive into the underworld with these missions or other skirmish missions, six new Command cards give you plenty of ways to enhance your Smugglers.

You may use Slippery Target to stay a few steps ahead of your opponent’s figures. By playing this card when a hostile figure moves adjacent to one of your figures, you can immediately move your figure away. Alternatively, you could sabotage your opponent by playing Disable to keep an adjacent figure from using surge and action abilities. You may even use I Make My Own Luck to seize initiative at the start of the round, ensuring that Han Solo makes his activation before any other figure has the chance to act. With these Command cards and the others included in this figure pack, Han Solo and your other Smugglers will leave their mark on any skirmish mission.

A Mechanical Hunter

Of course, for every being like Han Solo with a bounty on his head, there’s someone willing to hunt them down and collect the profit. IG-88 is one such bounty hunter, but he’s far more than just a killer. To some, IG-88 is a revolutionary, fighting to reject the inferiority imposed on Droids by the biologicals.

In your games of Imperial Assault, the Empire can take advantage of IG-88’s revolution with the Droid Uprising agenda set. This set begins with the Binary Revolution side mission, challenging the Rebels to survive a deadly Droid revolt and rewarding the Imperial player for victory by allowing him to use IG-88 as a villain in later missions. The agenda set continues with Sabotaged Plans. By playing this card and spending an influence, you may discard one Side Mission card, allowing you to keep the Rebel heroes from even starting the most profitable missions. Finally, by purchasing Firepower Upgrade, you can spend an influence to allow your Droids to trigger surge abilities up to twice per attack, granting them unparalleled combat prowess.

You’ll also find two new missions for the Imperial Assault skirmish game: Mind of its Own and Most Dangerous Game. The first of these missions challenges you to control terminals as an automated laser sweeps through the Ord Mantell junkyard. The second invites both players to hunt down their opponents’ figures with designated bounty hunters. Both missions promise new encounters and fast-paced combat in the Star Wars universe.

Whether you play one of the included missions or another skirmish mission, the new Command cards in the IG-88 Villain Pack bring new powers to the Droids and Hunters in your strike team. Merciless allows you to place your opponent in an unenviable position: he must discard the top two cards of his Command deck or you gain three victory points. Dirty Trick can be used whenever a hostile figure enters an adjacent space, forcing the figure to suffer three strain or become Stunned. Finally, you can use Blaze of Glory on IG-88 to ready his Deployment card, granting him an additional activation in a round! IG-88 suffers three damage at the end of the round, but an extra activation can result in far more damage to your opponent.

Hunter or Hunted

Whether you smuggle goods and fight for the Rebel Alliance alongside Han Solo, or hunt down your prey with IG-88, you’ll find cards and missions to enhance your games of Imperial Assault in these figure packs. Join us next time for a preview of the Chewbacca Ally Pack and the General Weiss Villain Pack.

Pre-order your Imperial Assault Ally Packs and Villain Packs at your local retailer today!

...

Source: Smugglers and Assassins