“Attack pattern delta. Go now!”
    –Luke Skywalker, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the upcoming release of The Battle of Hoth , the fifth Force Pack in The Hoth Cycle for Star Wars ™: The Card Game !

In The Battle of Hoth , massive and heavily armored Imperial AT-ATs march forward in inexorable waves while Rebel snowspeeder pilots employ daring group tactics to slow their advance. Meanwhile, the desperate fight on the desolate ice planet of Hoth is destined to have tremendous repercussions throughout the galaxy. Will the Empire’s AT-ATs and stormtrooper legions surround, siege, and destroy the last remnants of the Rebellion? Or will the valiant sacrifices of the Rebel Alliance’s rearguard hold the lines long enough for their allies to find safety?

Inspired by the early scenes from The Empire Strikes Back , the five new objective sets in The Battle of Hoth allow players to recreate the movie’s events or to imagine alternate outcomes. This Force Pack could witness the end of the Rebel Alliance, or it could open an opportunity for its noble spies and smugglers to conduct critical espionage while the Empire’s eyes are turned toward Hoth. With the fate of the galaxy on the line, can Rogue squadron’s snowspeeders actually win the day and strike a massive blow to the Empire’s aspirations for galactic domination?

Outmanned, Outgunned, and Resilient

Few of the light side’s weapons are powerful enough to punch through the thick hull plating of an Imperial AT-AT ( The Battle of Hoth , 296). Accordingly, when those monstrous, mechanized engines of destruction start to stride the battlefields of Hoth, the Rebel Alliance and its allies need to adopt new tactics, and the light side gains one such valuable tactic in The Battle of Hoth .

Coordinated Strike ( The Battle of Hoth , 290) can change the shape of an entire engagement by allowing two light side units to strike as though they were one: “After you resolve a strike, immediately strike again with another ready participating unit you control.” This is a powerful trick to keep up your sleeve when your Speeders need to confront a powerful dark side unit, such as the AT-AT.

As an example, if your opponent commands a ready and undamaged AT-AT when you launch Rogue Two ( The Battle of Hoth , 281) and another Snowspeeder ( The Battle of Hoth , 185) against his objective, he may choose to defend. Even if he loses the edge battle, your opponent might expect his Walker to survive the initial strike by Red Two, after which he could destroy your Snowspeeder and prevent two damage to his objective – one from the Snowspeeder’s edge-enabled  icon and one that you would have gained had he let the attack go undefended. Furthermore, your opponent may view his chance to defend your attack as a chance to gain a swing in momentum; by destroying your Snowspeeder, he gains an advantage in the number of units on the table. However, by winning the edge and employing a Coordinated Strike, your Speeders can fire in rapid succession. Together, they can destroy your enemy’s AT-AT before it can retaliate and deal four total damage to your opponent’s objective. Furthermore, since your opponent can no longer retaliate, both your units will survive the engagement.

Maximum Firepower

Look for the AT-AT, Rogue Two, Coordinated Strike, and the other cards from The Battle of Hoth to give shape to the dramatic engagements inspired by this fifth Force Pack in The Hoth Cycle once it arrives at retailers everywhere. Hoth will never be the same!

The Battle of Hoth is scheduled to arrive in the second quarter of 2013.

The characters, starships, and situations of the original Star Wars trilogy come to life in Star Wars : The Card Game , a head-to-head Living Card Game ® of tactical combat and strategic planning that allows two players to wage cinematic combats between the light and dark sides of the Force.

© and ™ Lucasfilm Ltd.