Fantasy Flight Games

2020 Spring World Championships

Published 10 December 2019 | Star Wars: Armada

2020 Spring World Championships

Details for the Upcoming Star Wars World Championships at AdeptiCon

“That lightsaber was Luke's. And his father's before him. And now, it calls to you.”
–Maz Kanata, Star Wars: The Force Awakens

War continues to spread across the galaxy, but the greatest battles have yet to come. Join the fight by taking part in the Star Wars™: Legion, Star Wars™: Armada, and Star Wars™: Imperial Assault World Championships! You can face off against the best competitors around at AdeptiCon 2020, the world's premiere wargaming convention, taking place in Schaumburg, Illinois from March 25–29.

World Championship events are the pinnacle of Organized Play, bringing players from countries around the world out for the thrill of competition, a spread of fantastic prizes, and the chance at becoming the next World Champion. With these three World Championships taking place at an epic convention that's the home of hundreds of events for thousands of attendees, you can join in on all of the excitement and an assortment of tabletop activities as you experience your favorite Star Wars™ game at its very highest level.

Registration for AdeptiCon closes on Friday, February 28, 2020 at 12:00 PM (CT), so be sure to get your badge before then! While these events will mostly consist of players who have earned invitations, both the Star Wars: Armada and Star Wars: Imperial Assault World Championships will both have Last Chance Qualifier events, which offer players without invitations one last chance to compete in a Star Wars World Championship! These qualifiers are first come, first served for all AdeptiCon attendees.

Each of these World Championships will be further detailed below, but for now, here is a quick look at these upcoming events.

Star Wars: Legion	Star Wars: Armada	Star Wars: Imperial Assault
March 26: Heat 1 March 27: Heat 2 March 28: Day 2 March 29: Semifinals/Finals	March 26: Qualifier March 27: Day 1 March 28: Day 2	March 26: Qualifier March 27: Day 1 March 28: Day 2

For players with invitations, you will need to claim your reserved seat by filling out this form by January 10. After submitting this form, you will later be sent an email from AdeptiCon that includes a private link for you to purchase your ticket for the event. The entry fee for each World Championship is $25. The entry fee of each Last Chance Qualifier is $25, but if you qualify, you do not have to pay an additional fee to participate in the main event. Players who are unable to qualify will still be able to participate in side events.

For more information about the upcoming World Championships, we first turn our focus to Star Wars: Legion.

Star Wars: Legion

The most capable armies of the Star Wars galaxy—Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance, Galactic Republic, or Separatist—come to all-out warfare at the Star Wars: Legion World Championship! Unlike the other two Star Wars: World Championships at AdeptiCon, this event does not feature a Last Chance Qualifier, so if you'd like to participate in this World Championship, you'll have to qualify for it through other events like Rallypoint Qualifiers, Prime Championships, Grand Championships, and Continental Championships.

Fierce competition won't be the only draw for this World Championship, as a host of exclusive prizes await you along with fun side events, including a standalone tournament that uses the brand-new 500-point Skirmish format. As this format reduces the size of armies, commanders are invited to adapt their playstyles and come up with creative, new strategies. Stay tuned for more details on side events!

The Star Wars: Legion World Championship formally begins on Thursday, March 26, with the first Heat consisting of four Swiss-paired rounds. Players with a 3-1 record or better will advance to Day 2. The second Heat will take place on Friday, March 27, and will follow the same structure as the first Heat. Day 2 will consist of four rounds, where those who qualified in the two Heats will fight to make the Top 4 cut on Day 3.

Those four elite players will then battle it out in a final elimination bracket on Sunday to determine the new Star Wars: Legion World Champion! We'll have more detailed information about the Star Wars: Legion World Championship soon, as well as a preview of the prizes that you can win!

If you want to be a part of the action and participate in the Star Wars: Legion World Championship, make sure to register for AdeptiCon, and if you have an invitation, fill out this form by January 10. If you earn an invitation after that date, please contact us directly at OrganizedPlay@FantasyFlightGames.com so we can accommodate you.

With this event being invite-only, you can expect a highly competitive field that's certain to challenge your abilities as a seasoned commander. Cut through the fog of war and outmaneuver the opposing forces with your specialized army to seize victory!

Star Wars: Armada

The Star Wars: Armada World Championship kicks off on Thursday, March 26 with the Last Chance Qualifier event, offering up to 80 players one last chance to compete in the main event. After four Swiss rounds, a minimum of four players will qualify and advance to Day 1 of the main event. For those who don't qualify, you will still be able to play and participate in Star Wars: Armada side events, including an epic Team Battle side event. We'll have more to share soon on these side events!

The World Championship proper will begin on Friday, March 27. With a capacity of 80 players, only those who have earned their seats can take part in this spectacular series of space battles, on a scale like no other. Competitors will play four Swiss-paired rounds and the Top 8 players will advance to Day 2.

Only the most skilled and cunning fleet admirals will make it to the final engagement on Saturday, March 28. Here, the eight remaining players will play three Swiss-paired rounds to crown a new World Champion. We'll have more detailed information about the Star Wars: Armada World Championship soon, as well as a preview of the prizes that you can win!

If you are planning on participating at this World Championship, make sure to register for AdeptiCon, and if you have an invitation, fill out this form to secure your seat by January 10. If you earn an invitation after that date, please contact us directly at OrganizedPlay@FantasyFlightGames.com so we can accommodate you. Otherwise, you may attempt to earn your spot through the Last Chance Qualifier.

Whether you fly on behalf of the Imperial Navy or the Rebel Alliance, ensure your personal fleet is in tip-top shape, as your adversaries will unleash everything they have in order to defeat you!

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Muster your greatest soldiers and seek out the ultimate mission objective: become the last Star Wars: Imperial Assault World Champion! Running alongside the Star Wars: Armada World Championship at AdeptiCon, the final Organized Play event for Star Wars: Imperial Assault serves as the grand finale for this spectacular game of combat and strategy.

Starting on Thursday, March 26, the tournament begins with the Last Chance Qualifier event, offering up to 80 players one last chance to participate in the World Championship. Consisting of six Swiss-paired rounds, at least four players will qualify and advance to Day 1 of the main event. Those who are unable to secure their seats may still play and participate in Star Wars: Imperial Assault side events. Stay tuned for more details!

Day 1 of the main event begins on Friday, March 27, with a capacity of 80 players with invitations or those who have earned their seats through the Last Chance Qualifier. All competitors will play six Swiss-paired rounds and those with a 4-2 record or better will advance to the Day 2 elimination rounds.

Those who advance on Saturday will play off in an elimination bracket until a new World Champion is crowned. If needed, byes will be granted to top seeds in order to generate a bracket. We'll have more detailed information about the Star Wars: Imperial Assault World Championship soon, including a preview of the prizes that you can win!

If you would like to take part in the final Star Wars: Imperial Assault World Championship, make sure to register for AdeptiCon, and if you have an invitation, fill out this form by January 10. If you earn an invitation after that date, please contact us directly at OrganizedPlay@FantasyFlightGames.com so we can accommodate you. Otherwise, you may attempt to earn your spot through the Last Chance Qualifier.

In the end, one player will triumph where all others fall short. Rally your forces and secure the title of World Champion!

Ready to Deploy

Whether in the deep reaches of space or on the battlefield of a distant planet, you can take part of the thrilling Star Wars action in March. Play your favorite game while facing off against some of the best players in the world! Don't miss out—make your plans to compete in one of these World Championships today and join the excitement of AdeptiCon!

Stand by as we'll have more information to share soon, including full schedules with additional tournament details, and a reveal of the awesome prizes!

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Raiding the Opposition

Published 5 November 2019 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Raiding the Opposition

The Gray Cap Cantina Raid is Now Available in the Legends of the Alliance App

You've explored the depths of Malastare and somehow managed to survive. Maybe you’ve even inscribed your name in the Hall of Legends. But can your ragtag team of Rebels survive their next daring raid?

The Gray Cap Cantina Raid for Star Wars™: Imperial Assault is available now in the Legends of the Alliance app, which can be downloaded through the App Store, Google Play, Amazon, and Steam!

In Search of Fame

Raid Mode is a tactics-based cooperative adventure for Imperial Assault that sees Rebel agents hold out against waves of Imperial forces while trying to accomplish a goal. In the case of The Gray Cap Cantina Raid, players will have to survive six rounds of enemy assault as they try and gain fame by taking out off-duty Imperial officers.

You won’t be going in cold, each player will receive some XP and equipment options to customize their character. If you can put together the perfect team and survive, you may even be good enough to have your named immortalized in the Hall of Legends!

This raid requires both the Twin Shadows and Heart of the Empire expansions for Star Wars: Imperial Assault.

A New Challenge

An oppurtunity has presented itself to your team of Rebels. With the element of surprise on your side, can you defeat a legion of Imperial officers? The time for hesistation and recon is over, prepare for an all-out firefight in the Gray Cap Cantina Raid for Imperial Assault!

Do you have what it takes to survive in the Gray Cap Cantina and etch your name in the Hall of Legends? Find out today with The Gray Cap Cantina Raid in the Legends of the Alliance app!

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2019 Star Wars: Imperial Assault Prime Championships

Published 15 October 2019 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

2019 Star Wars: Imperial Assault Prime Championships

Prizes, Dates, and Locations for the Imperial Assault Prime Championships

“It's not wise to upset a Wookiee.”
–Han Solo, Star Wars: A New Hope

Star Wars™: Imperial Assault players, prepare yourselves for the upcoming Prime Championships, where the very best Imperial, Rebel, and Mercenary armies will meet on the battlefield for a series of spectacular skirmishes! In this article, we're excited to share dates and locations, as well as the prizes for these rousing Star Wars™ events!

Previously known as Regional Championships, Prime Championships are high-level tournaments that draw in talented players from all over to compete. These events are a central part of the Organized Play path that leads the World Championship, offering an invitation to the one player who outsmarts the competition on the ground and claims the title of Prime Champion! Not only do these events serve as challenging conflicts where you can truly put your personalized army to the test, but they're also excellent opportunities to form new friendships in your area as you play Star Wars: Imperial Assault with other passionate fans!

Before you lock in your final roster and deploy your armies, make sure you first get the full briefing on the prizes available at these engaging events! Among these prizes, you'll find acrylic tokens, extended art cards that include errata, deckboxes, and of course, an invitation to the next World Championship! After the prize preview below, you will find a full list of dates and locations for this upcoming season of Prime Championships.

Placement Prizes

At a Star Wars: Imperial Assault Prime Championship, each player in the Top 32 will receive an extended art version of the imposing Gamorrean Guard. Players who fight their way into the Top 8 will win a plastic version of Spectre Cell, with added errata. Then, those players who prove to have extraordinary abilities and make the Top 4 cut will receive a set of eight green and red activation tokens. Separately, the Top 4 Imperial players will receive an extended art version of The Grand Inquisitor, the Top 4 Mercenary players will earn Bossk and finally, the Top 4 Rebel players will win an extended art version of Leia Organa, with errata.

Finalists and Champion

Both finalists of a Prime Championship will win an Imperial Assault trooper box, but only the Prime Champion, the one player who overwhelms the opposition at every turn, will win a medallion emblazoned with the damage symbol and an invitation to the next World Championship!

You Are in Command

Listed below are dates and locations for the upcoming Prime Championships. Find one of these events near you and make your plans to attend one today! Check back for more events as we update this list. For specific event details, please contact the event location directly. Retailers, if your information is listed incorrectly, please send the corrected information to organizedplay@fantasyflightgames.com and we will update it.

Updated: October 15, 2019

United States

Date	Store	City	State
December 7, 2019	Pastimes Comics & Games	Niles	Illinois
December 7, 2019	Blackfyre Games	Pleasant Grove	Utah
December 7, 2019	The Realm Games & Comics	Brea	California
January 11, 2020	Epic Loot Games	Springfield	Ohio
January 11, 2020	Atomic Empire	Durham	North Carolina
January 18, 2020	Heroes Comics & Gaming	Louisville	Kentucky
January 18, 2020	Fantasy Flight Games Center	Roseville	Minnesota
February 8, 2020	Bluegrass Magic Gameshop	Lousiville	Kentucky
February 8, 2020	Game Wizard and Blue Sky Hobbies	Bremerton	Washington
February 22, 2020	Eternal Games	Warren	Michigan
February 29, 2020	Mythic Games	Littleton	Colorado

International

Date	Store	City	Country
January 18, 2020	Dueling Grounds	Peterborough, ON	Canada
January 25, 2020	A Muse N Games	Winnipeg, MB	Canada

An Explosive Finale

Defeat is not an option. Push through any obstacle you encounter and do whatever it takes to win, even if all you leave behind on the battlefield are ash and cinders. Don't miss out on these one-of-a-kind Star Wars: Imperial Assault events. Make your plans to attend a Prime Championship today and seize your reward!

Be sure to check this page regularly as we will continue to update the list above with more events from around the world. Now, prepare for the coming battles that lie ahead and lead your army to victory!

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14 Years

Published 26 July 2019 | Star Wars: Outer Rim

14 Years

A Retrospective Journal from Corey Konieczka

I started working at FFG on July 1, 2005. Before then, I had designed games as a fun hobby, so being able to do it as a career was (and still is) an unbelievable privilege. At the time, FFG had twenty or so people, and we had no idea that the company (and the hobby games industry) was about to grow in leaps and bounds.

It doesn't seem that long ago until I do math and realize that I’ve been doing this for fourteen years. While I still have much to learn, I have experienced much through my years at FFG, and I thought it might be fun to examine my career through the lens of the games I've worked on.

World of Warcraft: The Board Game – 2005

I started my career at FFG designing bosses and equipment for World of Warcraft: The Board Game. I remember spending an afternoon solo-testing boss fights that went roughly like this: roll a handful of D8s on my desk with a clatter. Record data. Scoop and repeat.

Warrior Knights – 2006

We had the rights to republish Derek Carver's Warrior Knights, and my boss wanted more than just a new coat of paint. Bruno Faiduitti and Pierre Cléquin took a stab at a redesign, and I was asked to take it even further.

When testing the game, I vividly remembered one piece of advice from Christian T. Petersen: "Your game is too short." This really caught me off guard. The game was already three hours long, and I'd been doing everything I could to shorten it. I didn't heed this advice, and when the game was released, the fan feedback was: "The game ends just when it's getting exciting." Luckily, I got to fix this in an expansion, but this greatly shaped how I evaluate feedback from others.

This was also the first time I worked with Andrew Navaro on a project. The gorgeous graphic design and cardbacks were made by the man who would one day become the head of FFG studio!

Twilight Imperium: Shattered Empire – 2006

I'm not going to talk about expansions in this article, but I have to make an exception for this one. The third edition of Twilight Imperium was the game that introduced me to Fantasy Flight Games.

Before working at FFG, my friend Gary and I created a small homebrew expansion for the game. Months later, when I applied to work at FFG, I included a copy of it with my resume. Luckily, they liked my additions, and I was hired. A year later I was given the opportunity to work on a Twilight Imperium expansion, and some of my fan content ended up in it!

While working on Shattered Empire, I vividly remember writing hilarious backstories for the new planets. I soon found out that Twilight Imperium is a serious universe, and I had to start over. In hindsight, this was pretty obvious.

Tide of Iron – 2007

My name probably shouldn't be on the box of this game. I designed a few scenarios and helped out, but I didn't design any of the core mechanics. Fun game though!

StarCraft: The Board Game – 2007

I was introduced to the StarCraft videogame at a LAN party in high school. I was hooked immediately, and I sank way too much time into that game and its awesome map editor.

Needless to say, I was over the moon when I was given the opportunity to design the board game. Christian proposed zooming out the scale of the game to show multiple planets, as well as the idea of using A Game of Thrones: The Board Game-style order tokens (but stacking them). With those mandates I dove into my first "from scratch" game design.

Looking back on it, I still like most of the individual mechanics, but holy cow, is it complicated. A 48-page rulebook? Was I crazy?

World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game – 2007

The goal was to create a simpler World of Warcraft game that could be enjoyed by both casual gamers and hobby gamers. In the end, I learned that trying to appeal to everyone meant that it appealed to no one. Except one guy. And he really liked it.

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game – 2008

I spent the next six months working on game expansions, and then came the opportunity of a lifetime: we had secured the rights to do a Battlestar Galactica board game.

After my first playtest of the game, I knew that we had something special. Instead of needing to strong arm people into playtesting my game, I had people approaching me to ask when my next playtest was. To top things off, some of these people had never even seen the show!

I think what made the game successful was not in how it recreated the events of the show, but how it made people feel. The game exudes an intoxicating mix of deception and mistrust, which was rare among board games. When you secretly look at your loyalty card and see that you're a Cylon, your heart rate immediately picks up. As much as you want to smile, groan, or shout, you have to pretend that your card is blank. It's exhilarating.

Middle-earth Quest – 2009

I was tasked with creating an asymmetric game that had one player taking on the role of Sauron and the other players embodying heroes of Middle-earth. It was a unique design challenge in that I was really designing two different games: Sauron was playing a strategy game, while the heroes were playing an adventure game. I love a challenge.

My most vivid memory for this game was spending a week at Christian's house rewriting the rulebook in his home office. I learned more about rulebooks in that week that I had in my first four years at FFG.

Space Hulk: Death Angel – 2010

The moment that sticks with me about this game was when the late Harald Bilz (in charge of our partner Heidelberg at the time), played my game and said: "It is good, but not great." He then listed the issues with the main card mechanic and how it did a poor job of capturing the theme. He was right. The original mechanic was shelved and would later find its way into the Gears of War boardgame.

I really appreciated the frank feedback, and I think it was instrumental in making this game a great success.

Runewars – 2010

Back in 1998, FFG made a fantasy take on Twilight Imperium known as Battlemist. I was tasked with making a spiritual successor that lived in our Terrinoth universe (used both in Runebound and Descent: Journeys in the Dark).

While the premise of the game was the same, the mechanics were designed from scratch. This was definitely one of my heavier designs and included everything from huge strategic battles to heroes sent on personal quests. In hindsight, it was probably trying to do too much, but perhaps that was part of the charm?

Mansions of Madness First Edition – 2011

My most vivid memory of this game was a discussion with Tim Uren that went something like this: "If we tell players to not, under any circumstance, go into the freezer, do you think they'll listen?" "Hard to say. Let's make players lose the game if they ignore the warning."

The answer is that when you tell players not to do something, it jumps to the top of their wish list. Many people died because of my curiosity, and I learned a lesson.

Rune Age – 2011

This one has a special place in my heart. It was my attempt to add direct player interaction to a deckbuilding game. While it wasn't a huge hit, it still has some dedicated fans and I'm proud of the game.

Gears of War – 2011

I had dipped my toe in the "co-op" design pool with Death Angel, but this was my first deep dive into a fully cooperative board game. I'm most proud of the AI system I designed to control the Locust enemies, and this design later became an inspiration for AI in apps like Road to Legend for Descent: Journeys in the Dark.

My favorite memory was visiting the Epic Games studio to play my prototype with the Gears of War dev team. It was great to show them my game and meet everyone, including the great Lee Perry, who would later help design a little game called Fortnite.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition – 2012

The planned amount of content in this game was staggering, with more hours of scripted playtime than I'd ever been a part of. Luckily, we had a big team (including myself, Adam Sadler, and Daniel Lovat Clark). The plan was to draw on Kevin Wilson's first edition, but to include a campaign from the start. I learned how to split up design tasks among big teams and gained a new appreciation for this style of game.

Eldritch Horror – 2013

I was tasked with building a world-spanning Lovecraftian adventure that borrowed heavily from Richard Launius and Kevin Wilson's amazing Arkham Horror Second Edition.

Nikki Valens came in halfway through the design process and asked some hard questions about this game. She was a key proponent in streamlining the mechanics to what it is today. Before that point, there were probably twice as many token types (including money tokens).

Star Wars™: Imperial Assault – 2014

A Star Wars version of Descent: Journeys in the Dark? Sign me up!

The biggest challenge with this game is that we wanted to have two distinct games in the same box: a traditional dungeon-crawling campaign and a two-player head-to-head skirmish mode. I spent most of my time working on the skirmish game, and I got to geek out and design abilities for this little-known character called Darth Vader.

Star Wars™: Rebellion – 2016

Christian was a fan of the old Rebellion video game, and he thought it would be the perfect inspiration for a board game. Although I had only played that game once growing up, I loved the idea of the game.

I focused my design on what I enjoy most about two-player games: bluffing and mindgames. It's a game about outthinking your opponent and living out Star Wars fantasies in a unique way. If you've ever wanted to blow up a planet, this game is for you.

Star Wars™: Destiny – 2016

In my youth, the Decipher Star Wars CCG was one of my favorite games, so to have an opportunity to work on a new Star Wars collectible card game was a dream come true.

Lukas Litzsinger was the lead designer on this, and it was a pleasure to work with him on this one. From the start, we knew that we wanted to use unique printed dice, and that presented a huge challenge. CCGs with dice have a notorious history, so our first goal was to find a way to integrate them in a fun and novel way. I am super proud of the end result, and I think we created a unique CCG that is engaging, fun, and accessible.

Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition – 2017

This project was weird in that I played the role of guide and overseer, while the actual development work was done by the talented Dane Beltrami. I helped identify the best parts of third edition that we wanted to keep, and I also provided ideas to try and improve an already great game system. My favorite contribution was the new trade system and how it provided even more opportunities to form and break alliances.

I could talk for hours about the development of Twilight Imperium Fourth Edition, and if you want a glimpse into this, be sure to check out the wonderful mini-documentary that Shut Up & Sit Down created.

Discover: Lands Unknown – 2018

I first pitched this game idea in 2014 as my homage to exploration and survival video games. It later was combined with Christian and Eric Lang's brilliant idea of creating a board game in which no two copies in the world are the same (the full history of which is cataloged here).

I feel like this game was a little lighter than many people expected, but I'm really proud of how it turned out, and I think it deserves a second look (especially if you haven't seen the fully cooperative rules).

Star Wars™: Outer Rim – 2019

This game is inspired by space exploration videogames from the mid ‘90s, like Wing Commander: Privateer.

My goal was to create a game that wasn't about delivering colored cubes from one space to another, and instead lean into the flavor of the universe. My fondest game memories always revolve around the people and the stories, and I think we've provided all the tools scoundrels need to tell emergent stories in the Star Wars universe.

....................................................................................................................................................................

Looking back on fourteen years makes me realize how malleable memory can be. Did we have the concept meeting for Battlestar Galactica on a plane ride to visit Blizzard? I think so, but I'm not sure. Human memory doesn't work like a computer, it flows and rewrites itself to make sense of the world. Memory is built from impressions, feelings, and snippets of conversation—our mind fills in the gaps, but I'm never quite sure which bridges are fabricated.

I do know one thing for certain though: this long list of games are not my accomplishments; they are the accomplishments of hundreds of people. They only exist because of other designers, producers, artists, graphic designers, editors, licensors, playtesters, and more.

I was born in the right place and in the right century, and I have had the pleasure of working with wonderful people to craft fascinating games. The future beckons, and my journey continues.

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Celebrate Star Wars with Us!

Published 29 March 2019 | Star Wars: Outer Rim

Celebrate Star Wars with Us!

Take a Look at the FFG Schedule for Star Wars Celebration

Star Wars Celebration Chicago—the ultimate Star Wars fan experience—is only two weeks away, and we couldn’t be more excited to be there! If you’re attending, we want to make sure you know exactly how you can bring gaming into your Star Wars Celebration experience—especially since you’ll have to bring your X-Wing™ squadron or your Star Wars™: Destiny decks if you want to play in some of our tournaments!

Check out our full schedule below—every event listed here is completely free to Star Wars Celebration attendees!

THURSDAY, APRIL 11

1:00pm: X-Wing Furball (Room #W184BC). Includes participation card and prize card for each day’s winner.

1:30pm – 2:30pm: Darren Tan will be signing his exclusive Star Wars Celebration art print (Booth #4018).

3:30pm – 4:30pm: Live Star Wars™: Legion painting tutorial with Sorastro, from Sorastro’s Painting (Booth #4018).

4:00pm: Imperial Assault campaign (Room #W184BC).

4:00pm: Star Wars RPG, Edge of the Empire scenario, “Unwelcome Arrival” (Room #W184BC).

5:30pm – 6:45pm: “Make Your Own Promo Card” – put yourself in your very own Star Wars: Destiny promo card (Booth #4018).

Open Play: 1pm to 10pm in Room #W184BC. Guests can check out any of our Star Wars games and play.

Paint & Take: 1pm to 8pm, Booth #4018. Stop by our booth and learn to paint your very own Star Wars: Legion miniature.

FRIDAY, APRIL 12

10:00am: X-Wing Furball (Room #W184BC). Includes participation card and prize card for each day’s winner.

10:00am: Imperial Assault campaign (Room #W184BC).

10:00am: Star Wars RPG, Edge of the Empire scenario, “Unwelcome Arrival” (Room #W184BC).

10:30am – 12:00pm: “Make Your Own Promo Card” – put yourself in your very own Star Wars: Destiny promo card (Booth #4018).

11:00am: X-Wing Hyperspace tournament, including assorted prizes (Room #W184BC).

12:00pm: Star Wars: Destiny standard tournament, including assorted prizes (Room #W184BC).

12:30pm – 1:30pm: Darren Tan will be signing his exclusive Star Wars Celebration art print (Booth #4018).

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Brian Rood will be signing art prints (Booth#4018).

3:30pm – 4:30pm: Live Star Wars: Legion painting tutorial with John Shaffer, head of the FFG miniatures department (Booth #4018).

4:00pm: Imperial Assault campaign (Room #W184BC).

4:00pm: Star Wars RPG, Edge of the Empire scenario, “Unwelcome Arrival” (Room #W184BC).

5:30pm – 6:45pm: “Make Your Own Promo Card” – put yourself in your very own Star Wars: Destiny promo card (Booth #4018).

Open Play: 10am to 10pm in Room #W184BC. Guests can check out any of our Star Wars games and play.

Paint & Take: 10am to 7pm, Booth #4018. Stop by our booth and learn to paint your very own Star Wars: Legion miniature.

SATURDAY, APRIL 13

10:00am: X-Wing Furball (Room #W184BC). Includes participation card and prize card for each day’s winner.

10:00am: Imperial Assault campaign (Room #W184BC).

10:00am: Star Wars RPG, Edge of the Empire scenario, “Unwelcome Arrival” (Room #W184BC).

10:30am – 12:00pm: “Make Your Own Promo Card” – put yourself in your very own Star Wars: Destiny promo card (Booth #4018).

11:00am – 12:00pm – Fantasy Flight Games panel discussion (Twin Suns Stage).

11:00am: X-Wing extended tournament, including assorted prizes (Room #W184BC).

12:00pm: Star Wars: Destiny infinite tournament, including assorted prizes (Room #W184BC).

12:30pm – 1:30pm: Darren Tan will be signing his exclusive Star Wars Celebration art print (Booth #4018).

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Chris Trevas will be signing art prints (Booth#4018).

3:30pm – 4:30pm: Live Star Wars: Legion painting tutorial with Sorastro, from Sorastro’s Painting (Booth #4018).

4:00pm: Imperial Assault campaign (Room #W184BC).

4:00pm: Star Wars RPG, Edge of the Empire scenario, “Unwelcome Arrival” (Room #W184BC).

5:30pm – 6:45pm: “Make Your Own Promo Card” – put yourself in your very own Star Wars: Destiny promo card (Booth #4018).

Open Play: 10am to 10pm in Room #W184BC. Guests can check out any of our Star Wars games and play.

Paint & Take: 10am to 7pm, Booth #4018. Stop by our booth and learn to paint your very own Star Wars: Legion miniature.

SUNDAY, APRIL 14

10:00am: X-Wing Furball (Room #W184BC). Includes participation card and prize card for each day’s winner.

10:00am: Imperial Assault campaign (Room #W184BC).

10:00am: Star Wars RPG, Edge of the Empire scenario, “Unwelcome Arrival” (Room #W184BC).

10:30am – 12:00pm: “Make Your Own Promo Card” – put yourself in your very own Star Wars: Destiny promo card (Booth #4018).

11:00am: X-Wing Hyperspace tournament, including assorted prizes (Room #W184BC).

12:00pm: Star Wars: Destiny standard tournament, including assorted prizes (Room #W184BC).

12:30pm – 1:30pm: Darren Tan will be signing his exclusive Star Wars Celebration art print (Booth #4018).

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Brian Rood will be signing art prints (Booth#4018).

3:30pm – 4:30pm: Live Star Wars: Legion painting tutorial with John Shaffer, head of the FFG miniatures department (Booth #4018).

4:00pm: Imperial Assault campaign (Room #W184BC).

4:00pm: Star Wars RPG, Edge of the Empire scenario, “Unwelcome Arrival” (Room #W184BC).

5:30pm – 6:30pm: Learn to paint Star Wars miniatures. Join Sorastro and John Shaffer as they take you through the basics of painting a Stormtrooper from Star Wars: Legion (University Stage).

5:30pm – 6:45pm: “Make Your Own Promo Card” – put yourself in your very own Star Wars: Destiny promo card (Booth #4018).

Open Play: 10am to 10pm in Room #W184BC. Guests can check out any of our Star Wars games and play.

Paint & Take: 10am to 7pm, Booth #4018. Stop by our booth and learn to paint your very own Star Wars: Legion miniature.

MONDAY, APRIL 15

10:00am: X-Wing Furball (Room #W184BC). Includes participation card and prize card for each day’s winner.

10:00am: Imperial Assault campaign (Room #W184BC).

10:00am: Star Wars RPG, Edge of the Empire scenario, “Unwelcome Arrival” (Room #W184BC).

10:30am – 12:00pm: “Make Your Own Promo Card” – put yourself in your very own Star Wars: Destiny promo card (Booth #4018).

12:30pm – 1:30pm: Darren Tan will be signing his exclusive Star Wars Celebration art print (Booth #4018).

2:00pm – 3:00pm: Chris Trevas will be signing art prints (Booth#4018).

3:30pm – 4:30pm: Live Star Wars: Legion painting tutorial with Sorastro, from Sorastro’s Painting (Booth #4018).

Open Play: 10am to 4pm in Room #W184BC. Guests can check out any of our Star Wars games and play.

Paint & Take: 10am to 4pm, Booth #4018. Stop by our booth and learn to paint your very own Star Wars: Legion miniature.

Of course, in addition to a full five days of Star Wars gaming, we’ll also be at Booth #4018 for the entire show! There, you can pick up our exclusive Star Wars Celebration Darth Vader miniature for Star Wars: Legion, get demos of the newest Star Wars games, including Outer Rim, and paint your very own miniature to take home.

We can’t wait to see you there!

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Join the Party

Published 29 March 2019 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Join the Party

A New Direction for Star Wars™: Imperial Assault Organized Play

"Will you join me for a little refreshment? Everyone’s invited, of course."
–Lando Calrissian, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

The Organized Play program for Star Wars™: Imperial Assault is about to become a whole lot bigger!

Starting with Season One 2019, Imperial Assault Seasonal Kits will no longer focus solely on tournament play, but will reward everyone willing to travel to their favorite local game stores and support the Imperial Assault community. This is true for players looking to enjoy their skirmish games in a more casual setting—as well as for players looking to earn Organized Play rewards for furthering their campaign games.

As the 2019 Season One Kit kicks off the first Imperial Assault Open Play Nights, you'll find more ways than ever to play your favorite Star Wars missions, to make new friends, and to earn custom prizes.

You can now take part in Imperial Assault Open Play even if you've never attended a single tournament. There's no requirement to the number of games you need to play on a given night. There are only two things you need to do:

Show up at your favorite local game store.
Play Imperial Assault.

In return, you can earn some cool, extended art cards to upgrade your favorite army—or to throw against the heroes in your Imperial Assault campaign!

The More You Play, The More You Earn

The 2019 Season One Kit for Star Wars: Imperial Assault introduces six different extended art cards that you can earn by playing games at your favorite local retailer. You can earn two of these cards per month—as many as two copies each.

Month	Card 1	Card 2
1
2
3

How do you get these cards? You earn them by tracking your games with the store's representative after you complete them.

Each participating retailer will have a tracking sheet on which you'll record the games you've played. Play one game; check off one box. Each time you complete a whole section, you'll earn the associated extended art card.

For example, after you complete a single game—either a campaign game or a skirmish—you can report to your store's representative and check off the month's first box. That box also happens to be an entire section, and you'll earn your first promo card—the double-sided, extended art Death Trooper deployment card. Complete three more games, and you'll earn a second Death Trooper promo. Then, two more games will earn you the month's second promo card—the double-sided, exended-art Rancor.

With this system, you have tremendous freedom to play your games however and whenever you like. You just need to play them at your local game store.

If you can only play a single game on your game night, that's okay. You can still check off a box.
If you and your friends want to play through a whole campaign and record the results of all eight of your missions, that earns you all eight boxes checked off.
If you participate in a tournament that lasts four rounds, those games count, too. You'll check off four boxes. (And if you play an extra game just for fun? Check off another box.)

We Would Be Honored if You Would Join Us

Since its release, Imperial Assault has delighted fans with its tense, fast-paced ground missions and tactical combat. Players have enjoyed the game's head-to-head skirmishes—as well as the chance to lead groups of heroic Rebels on daring campaigns against the Galactic Empire.

We have always touted the game's dual nature—the fact that you can use its components to enjoy the skirmish game or the campaign game—and the idea that each version of the game offers a different, complementary take on the core Imperial Assault experience. Now, we're excited to bring both sides of this beloved board game more fully into our Organized Play program.

Join us in Season One for the first Imperial Assault Open Play Nights. Talk to your local retailer about how you can get involved!

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Risks and Rewards

Published 22 March 2019 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Risks and Rewards

The 2019 World Championship Prizes for Star Wars™: Imperial Assault

“Unless you take risks, do what must be done, there will always be limits to your abilities.”
–Maul, Star Wars: Rebels

The 2019 Star Wars™: Imperial Assault World Championship begins Saturday, March 30 at AdeptiCon in Schaumburg, Illinois. There, after facing numerous opponents, testing his or her abilities in the most demanding situations, and surmounting all risks, the winner will claim the game's top honors—its ultimate rewards.

What are those rewards? They're extended art cards, custom tokens, dials, and dice that commemorate players' victories and that they can use to upgrade their armies. These rewards start at the participation level and increase in value and rarity as the field narrows.

Most importantly, the prizes at the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship are only available to those who assumed all the risks involved—entering the battlefield, dodging blaster fire, parrying lightsaber blows, challenging for objective points, and fighting for the fate of the galaxy!

A Rebel strike force confronts Lord Vader during the 2018 Imperial Assault World Championship.

Participation

Each participant in the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship tournament receives a set of four double-sided, extended art skirmish upgrades—one for each of the game's three factions and one neutral card.

Galactic Empire: Rule by Fear and Zillo Technique
Mercenary: Devious Schemes and Black Market
Rebel Alliance: Balance of the Force and Spectre Cell
Neutral: Extra Armor and Heavy Fire

Round Completion

No plan survives contact with the enemy, but every player who stays in the fight—whether they're winning or simply pressing forward despite their injuries—will receive a set of acrylic damage tokens for each Swiss round they complete. These include one five-damage token, one three-damage token, and three one-damage tokens.

Faction Leaders

Which faction will you support throughout the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship? The answer matters more than ever. Not only will participants want to help shape the fate of the galaxy, but we'll reward the Top 16 players from each faction with a special Galactic frame version of one of their more notable characters.

Galactic Empire: Thrawn
Mercenary: Maul
Rebel Alliance: Ahsoka Tano

Top 32

The Top 32 competitors will be able to upgrade not only their armies, but also their battlefields with a range of custom tokens. Each player making the Top 32 of the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship will receive six custom crate tokens, six closed door tokens, and six open door tokens.

Top 16

As the battles rage on, and the most successful commanders help their armies secure the battlefield's most important positions, the Top 16 players will earn a bounty of dice to use in future games—two sets of ten dice each.

Top 4

The Top 4 participants each receive a set of all three Galactic frame deployment cards: Thrawn, Maul, and Ahsoka Tano.

Runner-Up

It will take fantastic determination to reach the final table of the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship—the sort of single-minded focus on a goal that can drive an individual to survive and thrive in the harshest conditions… even when others might perish.

Such determination is aptly rewarded by the Finalist plaque that features a vengeful Maul, snarling and ready to confront his foes with his signature double-bladed lightsaber.

World Champion

After having risked it all—and successfully rising to each new challenge—the World Champion will claim an assortment of prizes well worth the completion of his or her mission!

The 2019 Imperial Assault World Champion will win several one-of-a-kind prizes, including an acrylic point dial featuring a print of the young Force user, Ezra Bridger; an acrylic card box to hold his or her command deck; a stunning four-pillar trophy; and flight and accommodations for the 2020 Imperial Assault World Championship!

Unlock Your Potential

If you want to tap the full measure of your abilities, you need to take some risks. And that's why we're rewarding all those who chose to risk their armies—the heroes and villains—during the tense, fast-paced skirmishes of the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship!

Who will win? Who will claim the event's various prizes? We'll post live updates during the event on Facebook and Twitter @FFGOP, and we'll share highlights in an article shortly after the event concludes!

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New Maps, New Challenges

Published 18 March 2019 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

New Maps, New Challenges

The Imperial Assault Tournament Rules Have Been Updated

"I lost my way for a long time, but now… I have a chance to change things."
–Kanan Jarrus

With the recent release of the Coruscant Back Alleys Skirmish Map, the Star Wars™: Imperial Assault Tournament Rules (pdf, 227.7 KB) were updated to incorporate the alleys' narrow corridors and neon wash into the upcoming map rotation for all Organized Play events—including the upcoming World Championship at AdeptiCon!

This means that—effective Monday, March 4—you'll need to navigate the dangers presented by the gangsters and propaganda of The Triple Cross and Propaganda War, as well as the challenges presented by the other maps currently in rotation. The currently active maps are:

Tarkin Initiative Labs
Lothal Wastes
Coruscant Back Alleys

What's in a Map?

Since every Imperial Assault skirmish is a tense, fast-paced duel to 40 victory points, in which characters often start meeting their demise as early as the end of the first round, you want to sit down to the table with a clear plan of how you'll beat your opponent to those 40 points.

Who will dash to the nearest terminal to help you draw more command cards? How many points will you try to win from the scenario's objectives? Where will you need to send your units to gain those points? How will pursuing the objectives place your forces in danger? How can you turn the tables on your opponent and lure his or her forces into your deadliest attacks?

These are the types of questions that three-time World Champion Daniel Taylor argued can easily shape the course of a whole game—even before it gets started—and they're questions with answers that vary from map to map.

So if you're headed to the 2019 Star Wars: Imperial Assault World Championship, now is the time to start practicing on the World Championship maps. And if you're not headed to the World Championship, now's your chance to explore the challenges those players will face. How would you fight your way out of the corners in which they'll soon find themselves?

For Every Challenge, a Solution

The updated Imperial Assault Tournament Rules are available for download. The battlefields have recently changed—and with each change, the challenges of battle change. The solutions? Those are up to you.

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Prepare Your Strike Team

Published 18 March 2019 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Prepare Your Strike Team

Announcing a New Skirmish Map for Imperial Assault

“Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your friends, out there on the sanctuary moon, are walking into a trap, as is your Rebel fleet.”
–Emperor Palpatine, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

The battle between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire spans countless worlds. Your adventures have taken you from the back alleys of Coruscant to the once-fertile fields of Lothal. Now, it’s time to venture to the forest moon of Endor for a new conflict!

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Endor Defense Station Skirmish Map for Imperial Assault, available now for pre-order from your local retailer!

The Endor Defense Station Skirmish Map is a 26” x 26” slip-resistant mat for use in your Imperial Assault skirmish games, making setup quick and allowing you to jump right into the action with a pre-constructed map.

The Endor Defense Station Skirmish Map sees you navigating the hallways of an Imperial defense station and taking cover among the lush trees of Endor. Two different skirmish cards provide the context for your battle. Renovation sees players competing to claim fuel cells for a shield generator, while Claim the Ruins challenges you to claim dominance over the battlefield.

Regardless of your objective, the forest moon of Endor is a dangerous battlefield—does your team have what it takes to overcome your foes?

Your Next Battle

Learn a new field of battle while keeping your skirmish games organized with the Endor Defense Station Skirmish Map for Imperial Assault! What awaits your team on the mysterious forest moon?

Ready your strike team with the Endor Defense Station Skirmish Map (SWI62) for Imperial Assault, available now for pre-order from your local retailer!

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Available Now – February 28

Published 28 February 2019 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Available Now – February 28

A New Skirmish Map for Imperial Assault Is Available Now

Take a look at the latest products from Fantasy Flight Games, now available at your local retailer!

Coruscant Back Alleys Skirmish Map

While Coruscant is the center of the Star Wars galaxy, it is far from the safest place. In the undercity, far from the eyes of the Emperor, skirmish battles rage on!

The Coruscant Back Alleys Skirmish Map is a 26” x 26” slip-resistant mat for use in your Imperial Assault skirmish games, making setup quick and allowing you to jump right into the action. This skirmish map takes your battles to the neon-soaked back alleys of Coruscant, where dark corners and narrow passageways make for tight-quarters combat.

The Coruscant Back Alleys Skirmish Map also includes two different skirmish cards that change the way you play your Imperial Assault battles!

Pick up your copy of the Coruscant Back Alleys Skirmish Map (SWI61) from your local retailer today!

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Critical Operations

Published 19 February 2019 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Critical Operations

Three-Time World Champion Daniel Taylor Prepares for the World Championships

“I will start my operations here and pull the Rebels apart, piece by piece. They will be the architects of their own destruction.”
–Grand Admiral Thrawn

What will we see at the 2019 Star Wars™: Imperial Assault World Championship at AdeptiCon? Will we see the galaxy's Mercenaries continue to profit amid the chaos of the Galactic Civil War? Will we watch as Grand Admiral Thrawn concocts a plan to bring the Rebels to their knees? Or is this the year the Rebel Alliance finally wins?

The Rebels have fought their way to the Imperial Assault World Championship final table twice, but have never won. Desmond Miller played Rebels in the 2016 World Championship Finals, and Greg Monson played them to the final table of the 2018 World Championship.

But now the Rebels have gained the support of Kanan Jarrus , Ezra Bridger , Zeb Orrelios , Sabine Wren , and the other members of their Spectre Cell . These new Rebels have proven wildly successful in the current metagame and lead us to wonder: just what would it take for the Rebels to claim the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship?

As we look forward to the 2019 World Championship tournament in Schaumburg, Illinois, we put this and other questions to three-time World Champion Daniel Taylor.

Daniel Taylor with his 2018 World Championship trophy

An Interview with Three-Time World Champion Daniel Taylor

Fantasy Flight Games (FFG): Hi, Daniel. Thanks for talking with us today! I know that AdeptiCon and the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship are getting closer. How do you feel about your odds of going four in a row?

Daniel Taylor (DT): Hah, who knows? I've had pretty good luck so far. But there's a lot of good competition that's been developing, so it will be a challenge to keep it up.

FFG: I don't think you can chalk up three victories just to luck, and we don't want to get too deep into the metagame just yet, but what have you seen of this upcoming competition? Are you seeing a lot of new players, or are you seeing the current player base raising their game by developing new skills?

DT: A little of both. There's a pretty good community of players that talks and plays together. Some of the community podcasts like Zion's Finest do a lot to help people communicate about the game.

A painted Mercenary list from the 2018 World Championship

FFG: How much of the game do you see in the command deck—versus the deployment and upgrade cards—versus your knowledge of the map and objectives?

DT: The command deck is absolutely a very important part of the game. How you build the command deck can greatly affect your figures' mobility, damage, or survivability, depending on what you choose to focus on. Movement cards like Urgency or Fleet Footed —versus damage cards like Positioning Advantage —versus defense cards like Brace for Impact . Cards like Celebration and Rebel Graffiti also can change how you approach a match.

FFG: Would you say you focused on the same blend of those aspects over the past three years?

DT: I always try to focus on how I can get the most out of my figures with my cards. For example, at last year's World Championship, I played almost the exact same list as someone else, but I played Urgency instead of some other command card they played. And there were definitely times where being able to use that card helped me win a game.

FFG: Does that mean you're of the school that uses cards to mitigate weaknesses or the school that maximizes strengths?

DT: Cards fall into a few different categories. There are cards that help you solve dice problems by giving rerolls or adding damage. And there are cards that let you solve positioning problems. Then there are all the other random tricks you can do, like point manipulation and stuff.

Fixing dice and positioning seem to be the most valuable, so that's generally what I focus on when list building.

You can see Daniel's discarded command cards at the right edge of the board.

FFG: Okay, let's step back for a moment. I'd like to know how you first got started with Imperial Assault.

DT: One of my friends bought the game the first year it was out—I'd never heard of it—and we played the campaign. We pretty quickly realized the game was super interesting, and when I found out there was skirmish game and there would be events, I couldn't resist getting it for myself and going to compete. We missed the first Worlds since tickets had already been sold, but I've been hooked since.

FFG: Have you continued to play the campaign as well as the skirmish?

DT: We've played each campaign at least once, except for the latest one and the newest app campaign. We've played a few of them multiple times, switching heroes and who plays the Empire.

FFG: Do you feel that playing the campaign adds to your appreciation of the skirmish, or vice versa?

DT: They're similar, yet completely different kinds of games. The skills you learn in one can definitely help out in the other though.

FFG: What is it that you like about the skirmish game?

DT: Skirmish gives you the opportunity to customize your team exactly how you want when you go to take on the other player. It also provides for a quicker way to get to the most exciting battles, as you don't have to go through the early stages of the campaign where you don't have very many abilities. You lose the teamwork aspect of a campaign, but you can still work with your friends to try to come up with the best lists to use.

I'm a very competitive person, so I have lots of fun in finding the right moves to win.

Daniel and Greg Monson (left) at the 2018 World Championship final table

FFG: So you like the whole "puzzle to solve" aspect and the focus on finding the right decisions to outmaneuver somebody?

DT: Exactly.

FFG: But did you come to the game because of Star Wars?

DT: I really like Star Wars, but there are way bigger fans than me. The fact that the game draws from Star Wars means the battles will always be super cool.

It also brings a lot of players to the game—and makes its battles “pop.”

FFG: Do you mean that the fact that the game’s based around Star Wars battles means the figures look cool and can do cool things in ways that connect with your experiences as a fan?

DT: Exactly. It would still be a good game with a different skin, but Star Wars might be the edge that makes it something special.

FFG: All right, let's dive into more of the competitive stuff now… What do you enjoy about the tournament scene? Can you walk me through your approach to the Store Championships season? And the Regional Championships?

DT: I love seeing all of the different lists that people come up with and debating about which choices or options are better and why.

I don't really have a specific approach for the various tournaments other than playing games and trying out various things.

Han Solo leads a Rebel army into action during the 2018 World Championships.

FFG: Do you end up using these events to experiment? Or refine your list of choice?

DT: I'm always experimenting with different lists, so I try to bring a different one to every event.

FFG: At what point do you start settling into your World Championship list and practicing with it over and over?

DT: Last year, I had no idea what I was playing until maybe a week before. It's so hard to decide sometimes. There's almost always two to three lists that I feel are very powerful, and even then you can usually customize one or two things about them.

FFG: What have you seen at the events you attended recently? Any surprises? Anything that caught your eye as particularly fun or formidable?

DT: Spectre Cell is obviously the biggest meta-shaping list at the moment. You have to bring your best—otherwise you can get absolutely wrecked by it.

Other than that, there are still a few options in each faction.

For the Imperials, Darth Vader and Grand Admiral Thrawn are very popular, but what exactly goes best with them is still hotly contested.
For the Mercenary faction, IG-88 tends to be a common factor, but which other Mercenaries you bring or who you bring in from Rebels can have a big impact on how your list plays.
For Rebels, Han Solo is going to be in pretty much any non-Spectre list, but whether you have Alliance Rangers , or Drokkotta , or Sabine Wren, and what other combination of support figures is still up for debate.

In any competitive game, you're generally going to find that anywhere from two to four archetypes show up as the lists to beat.

FFG: Care to predict which of your Top 4 lists is going to win the World Championship in March?

DT: Oh, tough… I said I couldn't figure out these things until the week before!

Right now, though, maybe an IG-88 Mercenaries list has the best options—although Han Solo and friends could certainly make a run for it. They made it to the finals last year.

FFG: If a new player were to talk to you about getting started with the skirmish game, what advice would you offer?

DT: Find the community members who have compiled various purchase guides and new player resources. There's a lot of good info already out there. And have fun, since that's what the game is all about!

Learn from the best! Watch Daniel Taylor's 2018 World Championship victory.

Pursue New Operations

Which list do you believe will prevail at the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship? Will the Rebels find their way to victory with Spectre Cell or Han Solo? Will the Mercenaries recruit the right army once again? Or will the Imperial leadership outwit everyone, deploy their troops effectively, and restore order to the Galactic Empire?

Share your thoughts in our community forums. Tell us what you'd play. Let us know how you prefer to use your command cards. Then stay tuned for our report from the 2019 Imperial Assault World Championship!

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Return to Echo Base

Published 15 February 2019 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Return to Echo Base

Tony Fanchi and Todd Michlitsch on the Latest Campaign for Legends of the Alliance

"Wars not make one great."
–Yoda, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Imperial walkers close in on the Rebel base as the last transports flee. Amidst the chaos, a few select heroes step forward to protect the refugees, never knowing that they may be forced to return to the very planet that they had once fled.

You may have already had the chance to play the free Return to Hoth campaign in the Legends of the Alliance companion app for Imperial Assault. Today, we take a peek behind the curtain at the trials and triumphs of its design process with Tony Fanchi and Todd Michlitsch in this week's designer journal!

Tony and Todd on the Return to Hoth Campaign for Legends of the Alliance

At the opening of the Return to Hoth campaign for the Legends of the Alliance companion app, it is several days after the Battle of Hoth. Our heroes are stranded on the Imperial-controlled ice planet and they must find a way to escape. Luckily, they are not alone. Joining them are two Echo Base troopers, Lieutenant Talcon and Corporal Kish—who you might remember from the Legends of the Alliance tutorial missions!

As the heroes and their trooper allies trudge across Echo Base’s now-defunct trench line, they are assaulted by Imperial forces under the command of General Sorin. Accompanying this Imperial patrol is a vehicle the heroes have never seen before, the SC2-M Repulsor Tank. This vehicle proves too well armored for the heroes and troopers, so they must find an alternate means of taking it down.

Much of what you encounter in this campaign may be familiar if you played through the physical Return to Hoth expansion, but for this new take on the Return to Hoth campaign in the Legends of the Alliance app, we decided to make Sorin’s Repulsor Tank central to the plot. We wanted the tank to not only make an appearance in the opening mission, but to be impervious to normal attacks. Thus, the opening mission presents the players with a formidable puzzle: how do you defeat an indestructible enemy?

The initial version of the mission presented a satisfying puzzle, but once it was solved, it became a little too easy to rush to the ending of this mission, especially upon repeat plays. As we revised, we decided that players would need to not only defeat the tank, but the entire Imperial patrol! This incentivizes you to spend more time dealing with the other Imperial forces, rather than just rushing to defeat the tank… but you still can’t take too long to take out the tank, however, because it is such a powerful threat. Leave it alive too long, and it will blast your team to bits!

Another late addition to this mission was the DF.9 Anti-Infantry Battery. Players first encountered one of these laser turrets (albeit in less-than-working condition) in the introductory mission from the original Return to Hoth campaign, which also has a mechanism for allowing the heroes to fire this turret. So, we decided to bring this mechanic back, with some tweaks to take advantage of the app’s functionality.

In the original campaign, this turret could only be fired four times in the entire mission. For the digital mission, it can be fired any number of times, but only twice per round. This keeps the turret as a tool the heroes can use throughout the mission, but also limits the frequency with which it can be used. And as you might expect, there are some other interesting ways that you could use the turret, but if you haven't played the campaign yet, we'll leave those for you to discover.

One other element of this mission that we liked a lot is the Echo Base Troopers. On this mission, the heroes are accompanied by Lieutenant Talcon and Corporal Kish, in the form of a regular Echo Base Trooper group. These Echo Base Troopers are a powerful pair for the players. Their Front-Line ability gives them strong attacks, stronger even than most hero starting weapons, so long as they are in close with the enemy. At five health, they won’t survive long in close quarters, so keeping them alive becomes a challenge. However, you may find it's worth your while to keep them alive through the entirety of the mission…

Designing a Mission

As we continued to move forward, we knew the second mission of the campaign needed to introduce the main villains: General Sorin and Dengar. A general bent on hunting the surviving Rebels on Hoth would likely be camped at Echo Base and would probably have a shuttle to steal! And if a general like that were desperate enough to prove themselves to the Empire, they may even hire an elite bounty hunter to help them in their task.

After choosing the mission’s premise, we took stock of the Return to Hoth box expansion’s components. We wanted to use as many of the tiles and figures as possible, and it quickly became clear that if we were going to visit Echo Base and encounter Wampas in this campaign, the second mission was our best chance!

With a hazy feel for what the mission might contain, we looked at what it needed to accomplish. Over the course of the second mission, the heroes needed to evade Imperial pursuers, encounter Wampas, elude Dengar, infiltrate Echo Base, steal a shuttle from under Sorin’s nose, and escape from Hoth. Noting the Wampa tunnels running beneath the base, the story seemed to write itself!

But now that we knew the story our second mission would tell, how would it go about doing that?

First, we considered how we wanted players to feel as they played the mission. The heroes would be running low on supplies as the Empire closed in around them. They would be chased into the uncharted caves below Echo Base where they would be lost and cold—maybe even a little frustrated, too.

A maze where you can’t even trust the map’s geometry seemed like the perfect way to make players feel as lost as their characters. We theory-crafted a few concepts before deciding to use a maze we knew we could build, along with a few tricks to make it difficult to remember where you’d been. The mission seemed like a perfect embodiment of the vision. And the maze was glorious!

But the mission was not. The heroes spent too much time walking through empty hallways, setting up map sections, fighting minor skirmishes, and freezing to death. On top of that, it was much too long. Some playtesters reported wandering the caves for as many as five hours! Each week we trimmed a little more of the maze, and each week it was still too long. Eventually we accepted that the original vision was too ambitious. Reluctantly, we stripped out everything that we thought defined the mission and sent it back to the testers.

To our surprise and joy, the reports were positive! From our isolated perspective we felt like we’d had to sacrifice our vision. But in reality, players were finally experiencing what we’d set out to create. We had to remember that Imperial Assault is first and foremost a tactical combat game. While the mission’s initial design had strayed too far from this core experience, we could still deliver on the vision.

We were satisfied with the mission’s buildup, but we still needed a satisfying conclusion. Reinvigorated, we got to work building on this stable ground.

Rediscovering a Mission

The longer we work on a mission, or any game project, the more we learn about what it isn’t. We know so much about what isn’t in the mission anymore, that it can be difficult for us to see what the experience really is. Sometimes during playtesting it’s helpful to take a step back, refocus, maybe ask another developer to play your content, and critically analyze what the game is right now.

When we reexamined the second mission, we noticed that it flowed well, but toward a natural conclusion that was, at the time, far too complicated. With fresh eyes, we saw that we were trying to do too much storytelling “on camera.” It was interfering with good mission pacing. With a new sense of what the mission really was, we reconfigured the ending to carry the story with core Imperial Assault mechanics. The front of the mission was already interesting enough to be memorable. Now, we just needed to let the heroes play.

Reimagining the Return to Hoth campaign for the Legends of the Alliance app was a wonderful experience—and it went far beyond these two missions. Each of the six missions in the campaign (five of which you'll play in a single playthrough) offered its own unique challenges and rewards, and we hope you find the new campaign similarly challenging and rewarding.

Thanks for reading!

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The Future of Organized Play

Published 30 January 2019 | KeyForge

The Future of Organized Play

What to Expect from FFG Organized Play in 2019

A Foreword from Alex Watkins

Hello FFG gamers! My name is Alex, and I am the new Global Director of Organized Play for Asmodee North America. For the past several years, I have been working on the Organized Play and Marketing teams in the UK and Europe. I’m very excited to be taking on this new role. As an avid gamer, I know first-hand how important Organized Play is. I’ve made many friends and had a lot of fun organizing and playing in OP events over the years and across multiple platforms. This is my passion, and I hope to bring that passion into this role.

As I have been transitioning into this role, I’ve had the opportunity to speak to a number of players and retailers to get a sense for how FFG’s Organized Play has been performing out in the world. I’ve heard a lot of really positive comments, and I’ve also heard some very legitimate concerns. We’ve already been hard at work developing strategies and processes to help alleviate these concerns, and we will continue to explore every aspect of Organized Play looking for continual improvement with all of our programs and offerings. We have a really amazing Organized Play team in place, and we’re adding several new faces this year. We’re already seeing a lot of fresh ideas and innovation from our team, and I can’t wait to reveal some of that to you in 2019.

Below is an article highlighting some of the changes coming to Organized Play. As we move forward, I want to encourage all of you to reach out to us with any additional thoughts or feedback—both good and bad. I will personally be at a number of events this year, so if you see me, please feel free to come say hi and maybe play a game or two.

Have a great year in gaming!
–Alex Watkins, Global Director of Organized Play for Asmodee North America

Alex Watkins (left) in a recent episode of Crucible Cast

The Future of Organized Play

Fantasy Flight Games Organized Play was created as a way to build and grow gaming communities—to help players around the world meet other players, make new friends, and have fun playing the games you love. Years later, this continues to be our primary objective.

While our central focus has not changed, 2019 will be a year of significant change for FFG Organized Play. We have several new faces on the team, new leadership, and we're taking a fresh look at all of our events, programs, and processes to deliver the best Organized Play experiences we possibly can.

Today, we are happy to outline some of the changes that are coming in 2019 and how these changes will help us move forward on our goal of growing great gaming communities.

Seasonal Kits and Open Play Nights

The events you enjoy in your favorite local games stores are the bedrock upon which all of Organized Play is founded. In-store events are critical for welcoming new players, growing communities, and providing regular gaming nights for your favorite games.

Our Organized Play program's support for these in-store events has come primarily in the form of Seasonal Kits, which are going to become far more accessible in 2019. Historically, Seasonal Kits have focused on tournament play, providing stores the materials they needed to run tournaments that awarded prizes based on performance.

Going forward, stores will still be able to use Organized Play Seasonal Kits to run tournaments; however, we are also going to emphasize our support for casual play and for players who want to play regularly, but who would prefer not to enter a tournament.

Seasonal Kits will support Open Play Nights and will reward players for their in-store participation. We want in-store events to be as accessible and welcoming to casual players as possible.
Local organizers may continue using Seasonal Kits to run Open Play Nights as tournaments if they so desire.
Most Seasonal Kits will come with enough prizes to support up to eight players through three months of weekly play. Some games may feature different prize structures, but will still support three months of play per kit.
The prize cards within Seasonal Kits will change each month. Participants will have the chance to earn multiple copies of most cards.
Changes to the pricing and distribution of our Seasonal Kits will make them easier for retailers to obtain and release on schedule.
Some games will also receive Seasonal Premium Kits in addition to their regular Seasonal Kits. Retailers and event organizers can use these Premium Kits to support their communities with additional gaming experiences, either casual or competitive. Players participating in events supported by these Premium Kits will contend for prizes that are a step up—a bit more "premium," if you will—than those included in the standard Seasonal Kits.

With these new Seasonal Kits, you can expect support for both a more casual Open Play experience as well as plenty of materials to support in-store tournament play.

Championship Events

In 2018, we introduced several new naming conventions for our events and corresponding kits. This experiment proved unsatisfactory for many of our customers, so in 2019 we are changing our naming structure to something more intuitive and consistent across all of our games.

Store Championships	These are fun, local tournaments that your favorite local game store gets to hold twice per year (per game). Store Championships represent a chance to test and refine your competitive skills while playing for a range of custom prizes.
Prime Championships	Formerly known as "Regional Championships," Prime Championships are high-level tournaments that are run at select retailers and draw players from across a wider region to compete for custom prizes and qualification for top-level events. The winner of each Prime Championship reserves his or her seat at the game's next World Championship.
Grand Championships	Formerly known as "National Championships," Grand Championships are high-level events that take place only once per year per nation or territory. These events feature top-level prizes and qualify the Top 4 players to their game's next World Championship.
Continental Championships	Continental Championships are international events that are open for all who wish to attend. These events draw top players from multiple nations—as well as aspiring players looking to make their mark—and encourage them to compete for top-level prizes, including the World Championship invitations awarded to the Top 8 participants.
World Championships	The pinnacle of any game's competitive Organized Play program, each World Championship is a showcase of the world's greatest players and strategies. In 2019, the World Championships for X-Wing™ and Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game will be invitation-only. By 2020, the rest of our Organized Play World Championships will be invitation-only as well.

Open Events

In addition to the Championship Event tiers listed above, we will continue organizing several Open Events, such as the System Open Series for X-Wing, the Kotei Series for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game, and the Galactic Qualifiers for Star Wars™: Destiny. The Vault Tour for KeyForge will also be joining these events in 2019.

These Open Events are high-profile events that offer players more opportunities to earn top prizes, as well as invitations to the World Championships. Because they draw together so many talented and enthusiastic players, Open Events are simultaneously fantastic platforms for competitive players to test their skills and exciting social events where casual players can get better connected with the larger gaming community.

Because these Open Events typically run alongside our standard Organized Play structure, they may or may not interact with Championship Events. These interactions will be determined and communicated on a case-by-case basis.

We hope to see you travelling in your teams and gaming groups to these different Open Events, many of which are scheduled to take place at major gaming conventions around the world!

Global Event Manager

One of our key initiatives for 2018 was the development of a new tournament software platform known as the Global Event Manager ("GEM" for short). GEM has already been soft-launched and is a crucial component to the Organized Play program for KeyForge.

GEM allows us to track player results, award digital prizes, and offer an improved tournament experience for stores and tournament organizers. It will also power our Store and Event Locators, making it easier for retailers to communicate their support of local gaming communities and for players to find all the events nearest them.

Our development of GEM will continue throughout 2019, and we will be adding to and evolving the feature-set all year long.

GEM is already central to our support of KeyForge Organized Play, and retailers will want to talk with their Asmodee representatives to make sure they are positioned to take advantage of all the ways GEM will improve your Organized Play experiences.

Communication

We are constantly striving to improve the ways we communicate with both stores and players, and our improved communication will be a major point of emphasis throughout 2019. Many of the changes discussed in this article are the result of feedback we've received, and we want to keep that communication flowing.

Expect to see more engagement and interaction from us in 2019 and beyond, as we'll be expanding our ways to connect with both players and stores.

We also want to hear from you! You can share your feedback through our FFG Organized Play Feedback Form, or you can reach out to us via Facebook or Twitter.

The Year of Organized Play

We're very excited about our Organized Play offerings for 2019. We have a lot of new faces on our team—and a lot of big plans.

Whether you're new to FFG Organized Play or a seasoned veteran, you'll find 2019 full of new ways to enjoy your favorite games, meet other players, and share thrilling experiences.

As a final note, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to all of the stores and players around the world who make our community so great!

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2019 World Championships

Published 11 January 2019 | KeyForge

2019 World Championships

Details on the 2019 World Championships for FFG's Organized Play Programs

There are a number of changes to Fantasy Flight Games Organized Play headed your way in 2019, and these include some significant changes to the World Championship tournaments for our competitive games!

First and foremost, our World Championship tournaments will be held at four different times throughout the year, rather than two. Our X-Wing™ and Star Wars™: Legion World Championship tournaments will be invite-only. And the World Championship tournaments for Star Wars™: Armada and Star Wars™: Imperial Assault will be held at AdeptiCon 2019 in Schaumburg, Illinois, rather than at the Fantasy Flight Games Center.

These changes are not wholly indicative of the shape of things to come—apart from the Organized Play team's intent to reevaluate the best ways, times, and places to hold these top-level events. Apart from that, 2019 represents a year of transition, and we will be working throughout the year to improve our programs and events, meaning that we're aiming to deliver better and better play experiences—including those you might enjoy at the pinnacle of your game's competitive Organized Play: the World Championships!

A group celebration at the 2017 X-Wing World Championship

March 2019 World Championships

The World Championship tournaments for Star Wars: Armada and Star Wars: Imperial Assault will be held this year at AdeptiCon in Schaumburg, Illinois. AdeptiCon runs from March 27–31, the 2019 Star Wars: Armada World Championship runs March 28–29, and the 2019 Star Wars: Imperial Assault World Championship runs March 30–31.

The initial public offering for these tournaments has sold out. Players who qualified for these events through Regional Championships, National Championships, or previous World Championships have until 11:59 PM CST (UTC -6) on March 3 to reserve their seats. Any remaining seats will be made available to the general public at 12:00 PM CST (UTC -6) on Monday, March 4.

Players in action during the 2018 Imperial Assault World Championship

June 2019 World Championship

The first-ever Star Wars: Legion World Championship will take place June 21–23 at the Fantasy Flight Games Center in Roseville, MN. This highly exclusive event is limited to the Top 8 finishers from the High Command Invitational at AdeptiCon.

If you have earned a seat at the High Command Invitational, be sure to plan your trip to AdeptiCon and use our form to let us know you're coming.

One of many battles from the 2018 Maximum Firepower event at Gen Con Indy

Q4 Star Wars 2019 World Championships

The exact details of the 2019 World Championship tournaments for both X-Wing and Star Wars™: Destiny have yet to be finalized, but they will take place in the fourth quarter of the year.

The 2019 X-Wing World Championship tournament will be an invite-only event, showcasing some truly top-level play from those players who have earned their seats by qualifying at System Open Series, Hyperspace Trials, and National Championships. The tournament will be preceded by the 2019 Coruscant Invitational, which will see the winners of the year's System Open Series events going head-to-head on livestream the day before the World Championship begins.

Players competing during Day 1 of the 2018 Star Wars: Destiny World Championship

The 2019 Star Wars: Destiny World Championship tournament will remain open to the general public. Registration is not yet open. We will open registration once we have finalized the event details.

Note: Players who earn more than one reserved seat for either X-Wing or Star Wars: Destiny should fill out the appropriate form once per qualification once it is made available.

KeyForge Celebration

KeyForge has enjoyed a tremendous reception thus far, and our Organized Play program is off and running. While the Organized Play is building toward a World Championship in 2020, we are planning to celebrate all things KeyForge with a special, massive Celebration Event in late 2019.

We are still finalizing details and will share more information about this event—and how you can be a part of it—as soon as we are able.

KeyForge demos at Gen Con Indy 2018

Q4 Living Card Game® 2019 World Championships

The 2019 World Championship tournaments for A Game of Thrones: The Card Game and Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game will take place in the fourth quarter of the year at the Fantasy Flight Games Center in Roseville, MN.

Registration is not yet open for these events. You can expect more information about this event in the weeks to come, and we will open registration with the full announcement of the event details.

Note: Players who earn more than one reserved seat for either A Game of Thrones: The Card Game or Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game should fill out the appropriate form once per qualification once the forms are made available.

2018 A Game of Thrones: The Card Game World Champion Lennart Paga

Meet Players. Make Friends. Enjoy More of Your Favorite Games.

Do you have to be a brilliant tactician and world-conquering hero to enjoy the action at your favorite game's 2019 World Championship tournament? Absolutely not!

Sure, the World Championships are the pinnacle of our competitive games' Organized Play programs, but that "pinnacle" represents not only a high level of skill, but also of investment, identity, community, and enthusiasm. Attend one of these events, and you'll find yourself in the company of new friends who share your love of gaming and your thirst for sportsmanlike competition.

Even if you can't attend, you'll be able to join your game's World Championship community as a spectator. Thanks to our livestreaming and social media coverage, you'll get a small taste of what it would be like to attend, you'll get to follow all the dramatic turns of events, and you'll learn new tricks and tactics from the world's best players.

Attend if you can. Watch if you can't. Be a part of the World Championship community. We hope to see you for our 2019 World Championships!

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Focus on the Kill

Published 19 December 2018 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Focus on the Kill

Claim New Bounties During Season Four Organized Play for Imperial Assault

"Bounty hunters. We don't need that scum."
–Admiral Piett, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

The skirmishes of Star Wars™: Imperial Assault Organized Play are a fast-paced balancing act of focused strategies and clever tactics.

As you race your opponent to 40 victory points, you need to survey the ever-changing battlefield, think two steps ahead, and look for ways you might outmaneuver your rival. Sometimes you'll find opportunities to claim the lead by scoring valuable objectives. Sometimes you'll dispatch units to bait your opponent's forces out of position. Sometimes you'll simply want to focus on the kill.

There's no other path to victory quite so visceral as launching a full-force assault against your opponent's army. It's not always the most effective path; you have to know when the odds are against you. But when you see the chance is there—or you just don't want anyone to tell you the odds—there's no more direct approach to victory than to focus on the kill.

Accordingly, the 2018 Imperial Assault Season Four Tournament Kit comes with plenty of incentive to rush after your opponent's units and take them out of action!

Elevate Your Game

Whether you are primarily a fan of the campaign game or you're a dedicated skirmish player whose interest in Imperial Assault lies primarily with the battles you enjoy through the game's Organized Play events, the 2018 Season Four Tournament Kit's prizes will make a stunning addition to your game, quite likely elevating your play experience to a whole new level.

Core Prize

The Tournament Kit contains seventeen copies of an alternate art version of the Empire's Jet Troopers, illustrated by Caravan Studio. With the elite Jet Troopers on one side and the standard Jet Troopers on the other, this card's dynamic artwork hints at the impact your troopers can make on the battlefield.

One copy of this card is intended for the tournament organizer to keep or distribute as he or she sees fit; the other sixteen are to be awarded to participants in the season's Organized Play. At an Entanglement tournament, the Top 16 players should each receive a copy.

Elite Prizes

While you can certainly provide your Imperial army an incredible measure of mobility and tactical flexibility from the deployment of your Jet Trooper units, you may still, at times, find value in a less traditional approach—such as you might gain by sending out the call to some of the galaxy's most fearsome bounty hunters.

At these times, when you're willing to admit you might benefit from hiring the scum, or you simply throw in your lot with a whole Mercenary army, you can either demand your bounty hunters show some measure of restraint or free the deadliest of them—like the assassin droid IG-88—to use whatever means necessary as they Focus on the Kill.

There are three copies of this alternate art skirmish upgrade card in each 2018 Season Four Tournament Kit. The art is provided by William Thomas Arnold, and one copy is intended for the tournament organizer. The other two are awarded as elite prizes.

At an Entanglement tournament, these elite prizes are awarded to the top participants in the order of their finish, with each choosing to claim either one copy of this alternate art card or one set of the tokens awarded as the other elite prize.

The 2018 Season Four Tournament Kit comes with two sets of stun tokens—each featuring purple paint on white acrylic. Each set contains five tokens—easily enough to wreak havoc upon your enemy's forces.

Race to Battle

Jet Troopers or IG-88? Complete your objectives or launch an all-out assault on your opponent's units? Use your prizes to decorate your skirmish armies or your campaign games? The choices are yours to make, but you can only make them on the battlefield—and only during Season Four Organized Play.

Take part in this year's most explosive Star Wars skirmish battles. Talk to your favorite local game store about getting involved with Imperial Assault Organized Play!

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Focus on the Mission

Published 14 November 2018 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Focus on the Mission

Aim for Victory at the 2018 Star Wars™: Imperial Assault Regional Championships

"I'm all for sticking it to the Empire, but what was in that convoy? You never told us why the mission was so important."
–Sabine Wren, Star Wars: Rebels

There's been a rise of Rebel insurgency in recent months. Since the August release of the Tyrants of Lothal campaign expansion, Sabine Wren, Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus, and all the other Spectres from Star Wars: Rebels have been taking Star Wars™: Imperial Assault by storm—battling Stormtroopers, exploding Imperial resupply depots, and getting away.

Now, as Grand Admiral Thrawn sets his trap for these Rebels, they'll soon face their greatest Imperial Assault battles to date—the 2018 Star Wars: Imperial Assault Regional Championships!

Will the Spectres and the Rebel Alliance strike yet another critical blow? Will Grand Admiral Thrawn successfully outmaneuver them and secure victory for the Empire? Or will the galaxy's Mercenaries prove to be the real winners—contracting themselves out to subdue their targets and collect their credits?

The forces are newly reinforced. Stronger than ever. And battling for some of the game's highest stakes…

Top 64

A capable and trustworthy astromech is an invaluable asset to any good Rebel team, so when you make the Top 64 at your 2018 Imperial Assault Regional Championship, you'll be happy to get an alternate art version of C1-10P "Chopper"—even if it means putting up with his infamously rough personality.

Top 16

While there are few teams as talented and successful as the Spectres, the Rebel Alliance's ultimate victory depends on the successful coordination of all its teams. Leadership is vital, and few leaders have proven as valuable to the Rebels of Imperial Assault as Gideon Argus.

For their efforts, the Top 16 players at each 2018 Star Wars: Imperial Assault Regional Championship receive a plastic version of this esteemed Rebel leader.

Top 8

No matter how thorough the planning, every mission seems to go sideways at some point, and the only teams that prevail are those who can adapt and hold their own in battle. Make your way to the Top 8 of your 2018 Regional Championship, and when you're pressed to hold your own in battle, you'll be able to do so with this set of twelve custom dice.

Top 4

When you're always outnumbered, you want to be sure to make every one of your shots count for all it's worth, so if you make the Top 4 at a 2018 Regional Championship, you'll be glad to win and start applying this set of five acrylic bleed tokens when you battle your foes.

Regional Champion

Successfully complete every mission at your 2018 Star Wars: Imperial Assault Regional Championship, and you just may find yourself honored as the Regional Champion!

As Regional Champion, your heroism will be honored with a trophy inspired by the medallion ceremony that took place after the Battle of Yavin IV. Your troops will root for you as you look to carry on with the next mission—with a first-round prize bye at an upcoming Star Wars: Imperial Assault National Championship!

Dawn of Rebellion

With the recent release of the Tyrants of Lothal campaign expansion and accompanying Ally Packs and Villain Packs, we stand at the beginning of a new age for Star Wars: Imperial Assault. Will we find ourselves headed into an age of rebellion? Or will we see Grand Admiral Thrawn coordinate the Imperial military response with fantastic precision and efficiency, crushing the newest Rebels as soon as they reveal themselves?

It's a thrilling time to take part in the high-stakes skirmish battles of Imperial Assault, so head over to our list of 2018 Star Wars: Imperial Assault Regional Championships to find one near you!

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Battle for the Wastes

Published 25 October 2018 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Battle for the Wastes

A New Skirmish Map for Imperial Assault Is Now Available

"Lothal is just as important to our Empire as any world in the galaxy."
–Maketh Tua, Star Wars: Rebels

The battles of the Galactic Civil War have overwhelmed countless systems, sweeping away the memory of peace with the specter of the Empire’s tyranny. Yet the flame of hope is kindling to life, fanned into flame by the growing Rebel Alliance and teams like the Specters of Lothal.

Now, you can take your Imperial Assault skirmishes to the birthplace of rebellion with the Lothal Wastes Skirmish Map, now available for order at your local retailer!

The Birthplace of Rebellion

When your skirmishes take you back to Lothal—perhaps with the recently released Tyrants of Lothal expansion and its associated Ally Packs and Villain Packs—you’ll be able to play out your battles in style with the Lothal Wastes Skirmish Map. This 26” by 26”, slip-resistant game mat is perfect for your skirmish battles, with the entire map boldly printed on its surface and plenty of space around the outside for your cards, tokens, and defeated miniatures.

With a skirmish map like this at your fingertips, setup never takes more than seconds, and the two included Skirmish cards make it even easier to find the rules of your mission! Combine that with gripping art of a menacing death trooper and a grizzled clone warrior to draw you into the Star Wars galaxy, and it’s clear that there’s no better way to battle for the future of Lothal than with this skirmish map.

You can order your own copy of the Lothal Wastes Skirmish Map (SWI60) at your local retailer today!

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Battle in the Back Alley

Published 12 October 2018 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Battle in the Back Alley

Announcing a New Skirmish Map for Imperial Assault

"Coruscant, the capital of the Republic. The entire planet is one big city."
–Ric Olié, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

Coruscant is the center of the Star Wars galaxy, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bastion of safety. While politicians squabble in the top layers of the city planet, in the undercity far away from the eyes of the Emperor, tactical combat rages on!

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Coruscant Back Alleys Skirmish Map for Imperial Assault, available now for pre-order from your local retailer! The Coruscant Back Alleys Skirmish Map is a 26” x 26” slip-resistant mat for use in your Imperial Assault skirmish games, making setup quick and allowing you to jump right into the action with a pre-constructed map.

Hidden Alleys

This skirmish map takes your battles to the neon-soaked back alleys of Coruscant, where dark corners and narrow passageways make for tight-quarters combat. The skirmish cards included with the mat add new twists to your games. The Triple Cross sees you and your opponent dealing with neutral gangsters in the back alleys, scoring points for defeating them while they do damage to every character in sight. Meanwhile, Propaganda War sees players defending and placing propaganda posters, trying to recruit citizens to the cause of the Rebel Alliance or the Galactic Empire while trying to undermine your opponent.

Battle in the City

Regardless of your mission, the Coruscant Back Alleys Skirmish Map is a unique battlefield that sees classic Star Wars battles rendered in the neon glow of Coruscant, and lets you defeat your opponent in style.

Take your battle to the center of the galaxy with the Coruscant Back Alleys Skirmish Map (SWI61), available now for pre-order from your local retailer!

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"I Play to Win" Is a Lie

Published 28 September 2018 | Star Wars: Armada

"I Play to Win" Is a Lie

A Designer Journal from Nate French

Are games meant to be won? If not, why do we play games that have strong competitive scenes? In today's Designer Journal, designer Nate French takes a look at the nature of competition and suggests some alternative ways of thinking about winning.

It is helpful from time to time for those of us in the competitive gaming community to reflect on our own relationships with gaming and competition. What can we do to ensure that our hobby of competing with one another through gaming brings out the best in our selves, rather than the worst?

This designer journal is one of my own recent attempts to wrestle with such a question.

The statement “I play to win” has been used to rationalize and justify a fair bit of behavior that runs the gamut from off-putting to questionable to unethical and downright evil. As a competitive gamer who’s had some success in various arenas in the past, such a mindset has never been one that I have been completely at peace with.

“Winning isn’t everything—it’s the only thing.”

This overused quote and idea is often attributed to Vince Lombardi, but it is believed the original speaker was UCLA Bruins coach Red Sanders. Regardless of where it originated, it is frequently embraced by high-level competitors to focus on the supposed ultimate goal (winning) and to motivate them to do what they need to do in order to win.

It shouldn’t be difficult to see how such a belief is unhealthy, and leads to many evils, great and small, in the world of competition. Unfortunately, such an idea is deeply engrained in our culture, and countless competitors find strength and reassurance in an “I play to win” approach to their sport or game.

I should know, I’ve been there myself. Winning is seductive, and easy to fall in love with. As you win more, it feeds back into your identity as a so-called “winner.” Losers, on the other hand, are often derided: the very term is frequently used as an insult. But seeing winning as “the only thing”—the point, the end that justifies all means in any type of competition—is a mistake, a dire mistake that we must continually guard ourselves against believing. This task, I feel, is one of our deepest imperatives as competitive gamers.

Making the task somewhat easier, I’ve found, is this: while the “play to win” attitude cloaks itself in the guise of strength, when you really dig in to the idea you begin to realize that it comes from a place of weakness.

The Trap

The biggest self-defeating trap in the “play to win” mentality is this: winning is a result, and we don’t get better at games by following results-oriented thinking. This is a concept I came across while studying poker, but the idea can transfer to any form of competition.

What is results-oriented thinking? Basically, it’s judging the quality of your decisions (and your decision-making process) based on outcomes rather than judging the quality of those decisions on logic or objective analysis.

Why is this type of thinking a bad thing? Ultimately, it’s because competitors don’t truly have any control over the outcome—the only thing we competitors can control is the quality of our decisions, and the outcomes take care of themselves.

Don’t believe me? Let’s look at a few examples from different types of games.

It’s easiest to see this in perfect information games, as they do the least to hide the connection between our decisions and our results. Consider a simple game like Tic-Tac-Toe. If both players play perfectly, the game inevitably ends in a draw. Put another way, you can only win a game of Tic-Tac-Toe if your opponent makes a mistake. As there is nothing (within the rules) that a player can do to “force” their opponent to make a mistake, winning this game is entirely reliant on a factor that I, as a competitor, have no control over. I can only play perfectly, and hope my opponent messes up.

“But Tic-Tac-Toe is a simple game with a known solution. What about a more complex, unsolved game, such as Chess?” you might ask. While it is true that—as of this writing—Chess remains an unsolved game, this does not grant a competitor any additional agency in forcing a desired result. If both sides play perfectly, the outcome (currently unknown, but it will either be a draw, a win for black, or a win for white) is inevitable, and it is only through imperfect play by one player or the other that other outcomes can be achieved.

Let’s now move our consideration to other types of games with variance and hidden information. In a broad sense, each of these devices serves to disguise the ways in which player error determines a game’s outcome.

Variance is easiest to see. Imagine you make a play that, 99 times out of 100, is going to win you the game… and then the fated dice roll the one result that defeats you, throwing the win away. Curses! Even in such extreme cases, a truly results-oriented player would believe they made the wrong decision or, if they were on the other side of the improbable roll, believe they played the game perfectly. And either of these conclusions would be an obvious impediment to their development as a player.

Hidden information (such as the hole cards in Texas Hold’em, or a player’s hand in a customizable card game) also serves to disguise the concept of “perfect” play, in that it demands competitors evaluate and analyze their play against all possible (or likely) holdings, and then choose optimal lines against the various possibilities an opponent could be sitting on.

With such games, it’s very possible to make a correct play (correct against the possible range of cards the opponent could have) that in a particular instance turns out to lose the game (because they happen to have, against the odds, the one card in their deck that could beat your play). It’s also possible to blunder (make a play which would be wrong against their likely holding the vast majority of the time) that turns out in this particular instance to win the game because your opponent didn’t happen to have any of the dozens of likely outs that could have defeated your play. Such outcomes are not examples of superior or inferior play, they’re simply another case of running up against the wrong (or right) side of variance.

Once variance and hidden information enter the picture, it’s possible to make terrible decisions and still win, and it’s also possible to make good decisions and still lose. Or, as co-host Andrew Brokos of the Thinking Poker podcast once suggested, “the end result of you winning the pot does not change the fact that the way you played the hand was a complete disaster.”

What are our takeaways from these considerations of various types of games? Essentially, we as competitors don’t have as much control over our results as we’d initially believe. If a game is not decided by bad (or good!) luck, it was decided by a mistake (or series of mistakes) made by one of the competitors. Just as we cannot control luck, we cannot control whether or not our opponents make mistakes. All we can do then, as competitors, is eliminate as many mistakes as possible from our own play, and be prepared to capitalize on the mistakes our opponents do make.

A more profound way of thinking about this is the realization that at the heart of all competitive gaming—in which we strive to control the sole thing we have any control over, by eliminating mistakes from our own play—we are only competing against ourselves.

This casts our opponents in a completely different light—they are no longer our enemies or adversaries that we must defeat and crush and overcome at any cost, but rather our allies, a mirror against which we can measure ourselves in our effort to grow and improve at our chosen game. And this realization, more than anything else, might change the way we treat those opponents—in victory and defeat.

Nate French is the longest-tenured member in the card game department, and serves as a mentor and coach for the team. More often than not, he’s working on a project he can’t say anything about… yet! In his spare time he is an avid poker player and enjoys reading, writing, sports, (older) heavy metal, and talking about LeBron.

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Rebel Spirit

Published 23 August 2018 | Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Rebel Spirit

Tyrants of Lothal and Four Ally and Villain Packs for Imperial Assault Are Available Now

"Stand up together, because that's when we're strongest—as one."
–Ezra Bridger, Star Wars: Rebels

Join the crew of the Ghost and take a stand against the Galactic Empire. Five new products for Imperial Assault are now available from your local retailer!

Tyrants of Lothal brings all the action of Star Wars: Rebels to Imperial Assault, the strategy game of epic missions and thrilling combat. A full mini-campaign features your band of rebels joining the crew of the Ghost to take on some of their most dangerous foes, including the brilliant Thrawn and morally nebulous Hondo Ohnaka! Tyrants of Lothal also offers new ways to upgrade your skirmish games, as you fight head-to-head in the wastelands of Lothal. Meanwhile, an assortment of Ally Packs and Villain Packs offer new missions and lend new depth to the other characters populating the Tyrants of Lothal campaign.

In addition, Tyrants of Lothal and these four Ally Packs and Villain Packs are now implemented into the free Legends of the Alliance app, allowing you to play cooperative Imperial Assault with all the newest heroes and enemies! You can download Legends of the Alliance from the App Store, Google Play, Amazon, and Steam!

In the Empire’s Grasp

Tyrants of Lothal includes two new Rebel heroes for use with any Imperial Assault campaign.

Tress Hacnua is a Cybernetic Brawler who uses a variety of combat styles to take down her opponent. Whenever you resolve an attack with a melee weapon, you gain a style token, which can then be spent to enhance weapons like the Reinforced Cyberarm! These styles allow you to perform several weaker melee attacks to build up to a devastating blow that takes out your foes in style.

Joining Tress in Tyrants of Lothal is Clone Trooper CT-1701, or “Wildfire.” With the ability to use a ranged weapon multiple times per attack by sacrificing accuracy, the source of this clone trooper's callsign leaves little to the imagination. However, when Wildfire starts collecting damage power tokens, he can unleash a highly accurate barrage of devastation on Imperial forces!

Both Tress and CT-1701 are perfect candidates for use in the Tyrants of Lothal mini-campaign. As the Empire continues to tighten its grasp around Lothal, your heroes have had enough and begin trying to join a burgeoning Rebellion! This is where your story begins. Thanks to the unlikely assistance of the pirate Hondo Ohnaka, your heroes have learned the location of an Imperial arms shipment, ripe for extraction. It's now or never—time to step out of the shadows and join the Rebel Alliance! This six-part mini campaign can be played on its own or slotted into any other Imperial Assault campaign. Be prepared to team up with the crew of the Ghost to find your own path to becoming a hero!

The stage for your first mission in the Tyrants of Lothal mini-campaign!

Furthermore, Tyrants of Lothal includes two new skirmish missions for use on the Lothal Wastes map built from new tiles featured in the box. Look for unique versions of Tress Hacnua and CT-1701, as well as new battlefields and missions!

The Spectres

Releasing alongside Tyrants of Lothal are four Ally Packs and Villain Packs that will give new dimensions to both your campaign and skirmish games! Daring missions, powerful command cards, and beautifully sculpted figures await you in each of these packs.

The Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus Ally Pack introduces a degree of brashness and ingenuity to your games. Kanan Jarrus, Ezra’s wise Jedi master, can give your rebels valuable intel by forcing the Imperial player to select their next unit to activate at the start of Kanan's activation.

Ezra Bridger, on the other hand, can cover the entire battlefield with an ability that allows him to move up to four spaces before his activation!

Meanwhile, the Sabine Wren and Zeb Orrelios Ally Pack brings the heavy hitters of the Ghost to the Imperial Assault battlefield! Zeb enters the game with his signature Bo-Rifle, which allows you to make a free melee attack during your turn, making Zeb a versatile brawler.

Meanwhile, Sabine uses all the tools at her disposal to become an evasive target. As an action, Sabine can take evasive maneuvers, moving up to two spaces and recovering two damage, making her a target that's difficult to hit. With three dice rolled for a ranged attack, Sabine can quickly make her way across the map, damaging any target she chooses with either a ranged attack or a final parting gift.

Cunning Villains

While the Spectres provide a boon to a burgeoning Rebel Alliance, taking on the tyrants of Lothal won't be easy. The empire has sent some of their most fearsome forces to hunt down and eliminate the Spectres.

Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the Empire’s most brilliant military commanders, and with an order to destroy the Phoenix Squadron, nothing will stand in your way with the Thrawn Villain Pack!

Thrawn always thinks three steps ahead, and when he successfully discovers the plans of his enemies, he wipes them out. When you have Thrawn on the battlefield, at the start of a round, the Imperial player may choose one Rebel hero. If that player is the first player to activate that turn, they become stunned. If you’re the type of Imperial player to predict your opponent’s plans and punish them accordingly, Thrawn is the perfect ally for you.

Meanwhile, titles like hero or villain fall away when it comes to profit, at least in the eyes of Hondo Ohnaka, the respectable businessman found in the Hondo Ohnaka Villain Pack!

Whenever Hondo declares an attack, the heroes must choose to either increase threat by two or increase the damage of the attack. Furthermore, Hondo increases your threat whenever he enters a space with a crate. With these abilities, it’s clear that Hondo is a harbinger of things to come, pushing the threat forward and allowing the Imperial player to deploy ever more dangerous groups to fight alongside Hondo against his foes.

The Tyrants of Lothal

Your journey in Imperial Assault has led you to the once-vibrant planet of Lothal. Here, the Empire rules with an iron fist. Will you and the Spectres stand up to these Imperial forces, or will you fall before the tyrants of Lothal?

Join the Rebellion with Tyrants of Lothal (SWI54), the Ezra Bridger and Kanan Jarrus Ally Pack (SWI55), the Sabine Wren and Zeb Orrelios Ally Pack (SWI56), the Thrawn Villain Pack (SWI57), and the Hondo Ohnaka Villain Pack (SWI58), available now from your local retailer!

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