“It’s them! Blast ’em!”
   –Stormtrooper, Star Wars: A New Hope

Since it launched, Star Wars™: Legion has grown to encompass iconic units from across the Star Wars saga, including both the Galactic Civil War and the Clone Wars. From grizzled veterans willing to do whatever it takes to defeat the Empire to intimidating special forces units like Imperial Death Troopers, each unit opens new possibilities for its faction, adding variety to your armies while expanding the strategies you can pursue.

Now, both sides of the Galactic Civil War are taking a different approach, outfitting the troops that have formed the backbone of their armies from the very beginning with new weapons and gear with the Imperial Stormtroopers Upgrade Expansion and the Rebel Troopers Upgrade Expansion!

In addition to containing four miniatures featuring different sculpts than those found in either the Star Wars: Legion Core Set or their respective Unit Expansions, these Upgrade Expansions also include upgrade cards featuring new heavy weapons and personnel options, giving you even more power to customize these units.

These upgrades can be seamlessly incorporated into your existing Stormtrooper and Rebel Trooper units to suit your strategy. At the same time, the heavy weapons miniatures can also be assembled with their standard weapons, giving you even more sculpts to choose from as you create your units! Join us today as we take a closer look at the new ways you can outfit some of the Galactic Civil War’s most iconic troops!

Shock and Awe

The E-11 blaster rifle may be the weapon most closely associated with the Empire’s ubiquitous Stormtroopers, but it is far from the only weapon they utilize in the field. These troops actually carry a wide range of heavy weaponry into battle, with each new weapon serving its own purpose on the battlefield.

In the Star Wars: Legion Core Set alone, Imperial Stormtroopers could add the long-range power of a

DLT-19 Stormtrooper

or hammer enemy vehicles with an

HH-12 Stormtrooper.

The Imperial Stormtroopers Upgrade Expansion adds two more heavy weapons to their arsenal, allowing them to take on an even more specialized role within your army.

Rebel units are known for their ability to dodge incoming fire, but a

T-21 Stormtrooper

gives their unit a better chance of hitting their targets no matter how quick they move. Sometimes, though, you need to target an enemy at longer range. During those moments, an

RT-97C Stormtrooper

can unleash a torrent of fire against an enemy that thought it was safe.

But heavy weapons aren’t the only way for Stormtroopers to mix up their tactics. Although their stark white armor makes it hard to discern one from another, specially trained Stormtroopers can bring benefits to the entire unit. Every corps unit risks becoming rattled in the thick of battle, but a

Stormtrooper Captain

assuming command can keep their troops steady in the face of adversity. Better yet, a Stormtrooper Captain brings much needed discipline to their unit, adding a valuable training icon to the unit’s upgrade bar. This opens the door for them to freely

Duck and Cover

from enemy fire without worrying about being suppressed during their own activation provided a nearby commander keeps them from panicking.

While they may lack the leadership abilities of a Captain, a

Stormtrooper Specialist

can contribute in their own way. This mini can spot targets for the unit, helping them fire more accurately. They also give the unit the option of equipping additional gear, making the unit more versatile. Combining some

Grappling Hooks

with

Environmental Gear,

for instance, makes the unit highly mobile—and all the more threatening to the enemy.

Burning Bright

The Rebellion’s greatest strength is its ability to draw beings from every planet to its ranks. Banding together to fight the Empire, these soldiers do much more than diversify the units they’re a part of. They also bring a wide variety of weaponry into battle beyond the standard A-280 blaster rifle, helping Rebel Trooper units across the galaxy adapt to changing battle conditions.

The Star Wars: Legion Core Set already gave Rebel Troopers two powerful options to deal with common battlefield situations. The Rebel Alliance knows that its troops are likely to face powerful Imperial vehicles any time they engage Imperial troops, and an

MPL-57 Ion Trooper

can prove invaluable when they do. Likewise, the Empire has entire legions of troops at its command, and a single

Z-6 Trooper

can quickly help the Rebels even the odds.

Despite these powerful options, Rebel Trooper units can contribute to their armies in even more ways with two new heavy weapons. An Ithorian equipped with an

SX-21 scatterblaster,

for instance, makes their entire unit extremely lethal at close range, even against enemies sporting thick armor. On the other hand, a

Theelin DLT-20A

Trooper can not only target enemies from a distance, they can also punch through armor and cover with a critical hit.

But some problems can’t be resolved with heavy weapons alone. One of the biggest challenges the Rebel Alliance faces is keeping the fires of rebellion burning even when all hope seems lost. An Ishi Tib

Rebel Trooper Captain

makes these moments a little easier for the troops under their command to bear. What’s more, combining their ability with the training slot they provide can help the captain lead their unit on an

Offensive Push

toward a critical objective.

On the other hand, Rebel Troopers are trained to nimbly dodge incoming attacks and a Gran

Rebel Trooper Specialist

can further complement this ability. Just like the Stormtrooper Specialist, they also open up new possibilities by giving their unit the chance to carry more gear. With their defensive capabilities enhanced by the Rebel Trooper Specialist, your unit might be more inclined to head deep into enemy territory loaded with some

Recon Intel

and

Emergency Stims

to help them along the way.

Outfit Your Armies

As the Galactic Civil War escalates, both sides look to better equip their troopers fighting on the ground. Enhance your units and switch up your strategies with these Upgrade Expansions for Star Wars: Legion!

Look for these Upgrade Expansions at your local retailer in the fourth quarter of 2019. Pre-order your copies at your local retailer or online through our website with free shipping in the continental United States here!

“Victory—true victory, not simple reclamation of what is ours—is a taste we have been denied for too long.”
   –Matsu Tsuko, Roar of the Lioness

In a state of constant war, the Lion have been denied victory for too long. They fight for scraps to reclaim what is already theirs. With a lack of meaningful progress, of direction, what do the Lion have to offer to the empire? This is the question that plagues Matsu Tsuko, burning with vengeance for the loss of her beloved Akoda Arasou. But Tsuko has a plan, one that may change the fate of the Lion Clan forever.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to present “Roar of the Lioness” by Annie VanderMeer Mitsoda, a new short story set in the world of Legend of the Five Rings!

A New Path

“Roar of the Lioness” continues the story of the Lion Clan—whose roots can be found in “The Price of War”—and can be downloaded here (2.0 MB). The story also follows up on events found in both “The Fate of Flames” and “The Fires of Justice”.

Be sure to check back frequently for even more Legend of the Five Rings fiction.

Discover the new path of the Lion with The Emperor’s Legion Clan Pack (L5C27) for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game, available now for pre-order from your local retailer or our website with free shipping in the continental United States!

Each hero in Marvel Champions : The Card Game is dedicated to fighting evil, but they all go about in their own way, whether it’s through the power of science and technology like Iron Man or through raw strength like the mighty She-Hulk. Though each hero has their own methods, they all allow you to harness the power of a champion!

Join us today as we preview the heroes of the Marvel Champions: The Card Game Core Set!

Marvel Champions invites players to step into the role of Marvel’s most iconic heroes. The Core Set features Iron Man, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man, and She-Hulk, but the adventure is just getting started. More heroes are on their way, including Ms. Marvel and Captain America, adding even more options to your repertoire of heroes!

Assemble the Team

One of the smartest men alive,

Tony Stark’s

 (Core Set, 29B) powers come from his genius level intellect and of course, his iconic

Iron Man

 (Core Set, 29A) suit. In Marvel Champions, your game plan with Tony Stark will be to construct your suit using various Tech upgrades found among Iron Man’s Hero Cards. Upgrades like

Arc Reactor

(Core Set, 35) not only increase Iron Man’s ability to attack villains and thwart schemes, but can increase his overall hand size as Iron Man incorporates efficient new upgrades.

Of course, Tony Stark also has heroic allies to call upon for additional firepower. James Rhodes has his own modified Iron Man Suit, calling himself

War Machine

(Core Set, 30) Rhodey can just be just as effective as Iron Man when it comes to stopping villains. Not only does he have the firepower to fight off villains, he can unleash a devastating explosive ordinance, damaging every minion and villain on the field! When Iron Man needs backup, War Machine is always ready to answer the call! 

If you want to embody a more straightforward hero,

Jennifer Walters

(Core Set, 19B) can take on any threat without fancy tech! As a lawyer, she has the oppurtunity to use her knowledge to thwart the villain when they least expect it. And as the mighty

She-Hulk

(Core Set, 19A), she can smash anyone that stands in her way! Whether that means targeting every enemy on the field with an earth-shattering

Ground Stomp

(Core Set, 22) or preparing a massive

Gamma Slam

(Core Set, 21) to stop any enemy in their tracks. You’ll have to time the Gamma Slam right to get the most out of it. Its power grows as She-Hulk sustains more and more damage, and being able to turn that damage back on an enemy can put an end to any fight in a dramatic manner. 

When she needs assistance, Jennifer can always count on Patsy Walker AKA

Hellcat

 (Core Set, 20) to get her out of a jam. Like most allies, Hellcat takes a damage whenever she attacks or thwarts. However, as an action, you can always return her to your hand, saving her from defeat and letting her return later to mix it up with any villains that are standing in Jennifer’s way!

The King of Wakanda 

T’challa

 (Core Set, 40B)  has many titles, but none strike fear into enemies like that of the

Black Panther

 (Core Set, 40A)! Like Iron Man, T’Challa can slowly build up his suit through upgrades like

Panther Claws

(Core Set, 47) and

Energy Daggers

(Core Set, 46). Unlike Iron Man, Black Panther can unleash his power in an explosive fury with

Wakanda Forever!

(Core Set, 43A) which allows you to trigger each of your Black Panther upgrades back-to-back! The more upgrades you have on the field, the stronger Wakanda Forever! becomes. This all-out assault will quickly show any villain why they call T’Challa King.

Black Panther can always rely on his sister

Shuri

 (Core Set, 41) to support him when it matters most, able to research and deliver new upgrades to him whenever she enters play! But Shuri can also hold her own in a fight, making her the perfect ally for the Black Panther in his quest to protect Wakanda. 

Ms. Marvel, Warbird, Binary, Captain Marvel,

Carol Danvers

(Core Set, 10B) has had many names, and all strike fear into the villains of the Marvel Universe! Infused with the power of the Kree,

Captain Marvel

(Core Set, 10A) is a master of energy manipulation.

Energy Channel

(Core Set, 18) lets you spend energy resources to build up a massive attack. The more counters you place on Energy Channel, the more damage it can do when the time is right.

Energy Absorption

(Core Set, 14) can provide a significant boost to this strategy, providing three resources at the cost of just one card. Of course, you can also use this energy to power a

Photonic Blast

(Core Set, 13), an event that both puts the villain on notice and lets you draw a card from your deck, giving you even more momentum on your turn!

When Captain Marvel needs to take a more tactical approach, she can call on

Spider-Woman

(Core Set, 11) to assist her. Not only can Jessica Drew thwart and attack with equal efficiency, she confuses the villain when she enters the fray, preventing them from scheming during their turn! While Captain Marvel is the hammer, Spider-Woman can step into the role of the scalpel with ease. 

The final character included in the Core Set is

Peter Parker

(Core Set, 1B) AKA Your Friendly Neighborhood

Spider-Man

(Core Set, 1A)! The Old Web-Head is a more defensive hero, able to avoid attacks with a stylish

Backflip

(Core Set, 3) on a moment’s notice! He can even avoid the villain’s treacherous plans with his

Enhanced Spider-Senses

(Core Set, 4 )! With plenty of tricks up his sleeve, the Amazing Spider-Man can always find a way to wiggle out of trouble.

Sometimes friend, sometimes foe, Spider-Man is never sure whether or not he can trust Felicia Hardy, the infamous 

Black Cat

(Core Set, 2). In Marvel Champions, Black Cat is willing to help out Spidey when it matters most…for now. Trusting Black Cat is a risky proposition, she can either fill your hand with mental resources, or discard important cards from your deck depending entirely on your luck. Are you willing to take a chance on Black Cat? 

A Day Unlike Any Other

Each of the five heroes in the Marvel Champions: The Card Game Core Set offers a unique way to play. From the pure power of Captain Marvel to the spectacular agility of Spider-Man, each champion has their own role to play. What hero will you embody when Marvel Champions: The Card Game Core Set releases on November 1st!

Join the fight against evil with the Marvel Champions: The Card Game Core Set (MC01en), available now for pre-order from your local retailer or our website with free shipping in the continental United States!

“I fear you are searching for the perfect answer. Sometimes there is none, and you must still make a decision.”
   –Agasha Sumiko

At the upcoming Winter Court World Championship, you can experience the Emerald Empire of Rokugan like never before through participating in the new Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game draft side event, hosted by developer Tyler Parrott! Represent your Great Clan at the Winter Court in this unique side event, earn prize tickets that can be redeemed for exclusive prize wall rewards, and potentially spar with Tyler Parrott himself! Now, join Tyler as he details this exciting side event!

Tyler Parrott on the 2019 Winter Court Draft Side Event

Each winter in Rokugan, the champions and emissaries of the Great Clans gather together to determine the policies and alliances of the coming year. For some, it is a chance to outwit rivals, elevating themselves and their clan in the eyes of the Emperor. For others, it is a chance to renew bonds of friendship and share experiences that forge future alliances. For all, it is often one of the more spectacular events of the year.

The Winter Court is much the same for players of the Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game. For those attending on November 6–10 at the Fantasy Flight Games Center in Roseville, Minnesota, the chance to play their favorite game and connect with the global Organized Play community is looking to be a varied and exciting opportunity. The main attraction, of course, is the World Championship that will be played out over that weekend, but there will be plenty of other events for those not competing in the main tournament.

Ongoing games allow players to accumulate victories for their clan in a persistent contest for the Emperor’s favor, while another ongoing game series encourages players to experiment with all ten elemental roles. Space will be made for games of Enlightenment multiplayer and/or player-organized casual matches. There are even RPG events on some days for those interested in exploring the rich stories that Rokugan has to offer. But for those seeking something new, fate has allowed for a unique Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game experience that will truly present a challenge of skill and the chance to find new and creative uses of cards that may not always make it into decks.

For the first four days of Winter Court, I will be running five special draft events that will challenge players’ deckbuilding abilities as much as their play skill. In each of these events, seven players will sit down at a table with me and we will draft cards from a common pool until we each have a pair of decks, a row of provinces, and a stronghold that our opponent is trying to break. After Winter Court, the tools players will need to draft with their friends will be made available online, but this represents the first opportunity for anyone to play an exciting and dynamic new format of Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game!

Drafting Samurai

If you’re unfamiliar, drafting is a type of game format in which players are given a small pack of cards from which they must choose the strongest, or their favorite, to add to their deckbuilding pool, before passing the remaining cards in the pack to the player sitting next to them. Packs are passed around the table in this way, with each player taking a single card at a time, until each player has a collection of cards they have specifically chosen for their power level or synergy.

Using the cards that you have drafted, you’ll build a pair of decks to play against the other players in the draft pod in a contest to see who was able to build the strongest decks and/or pilot those (often not optimized) decks to victory. Because this process requires randomized packs of cards, drafting is a format most often found in collectible games rather than Living Card Games®. However, the draft pool I have constructed creates random packs that can be drawn from, played with, and returned to the box to be repeated again at a later date with the same—or different—players. Importantly, the draft pool can be built with the contents of a single collection, including three Core Sets and one copy of each other expansion.

Because decks that have been drafted are often not optimized in the same way as standard constructed decks, they often look very unique and involve a more creative use of cards. This often requires the mixing of factions, and this new draft experience allows that to happen in both decks—often leading to unexpected card combinations!

Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game requires several specific card types to construct a deck, so when drafting from a limited card pool, it is possible for a player to fail to find a key piece. Perhaps every other player picked up a stronghold right away, leaving you with nothing that remotely matches your drafted clans, or you were able to secure a province of every element except Earth. The draft pool compensates for this by giving each player a ten-card draft starter that contains unique, “Draft format only” cards, ensuring that every player ends up with playable (and fun!) draft decks.

The draft starter supplies each player with a stronghold, five provinces, and eight roles so that they can focus on drafting their conflict and dynasty cards. That said, not everyone ends up using the same stronghold and provinces, as the draft pool also contains most of the strongholds and provinces you’re used to playing with… but if you want to upgrade your deck, you have to draft the stronghold or province out of a pack!

During the draft, players select one card at a time from packs of sixteen cards, each curated by the developer to maximize the fun of the experience. Twelve of these cards are “commonplace” cards, each included in the draft pool in triplicate (except singleton provinces) and chosen to provide base functionality to decks. Some may be very strong, but most of the time these cards support a particular clan’s playstyle rather than incentivizing players to commit to that clan.

The final four cards in that pack are “distinguished” and only appear once in the entire draft pool. This is where players can find the most powerful effects in the game, and/or incentives for constructing a particular style of deck.

Moto Nergüi

(Disciples of the Void, 17) and

Meishōdō Wielder

(Core Set, 113) may be commonplace, but the more powerful or specialized

Utaku Tetsuko

(Underhand of the Emperor, 16) and

Iuchi Shahai

(All and Nothing, 91) are distinguished enough to only appear once, making them much more valuable cards to select.

At the end of the draft, each player will end up with 80 cards from which they will build two 30-card decks with a stronghold and row of provinces. For players who do not end up with enough dynasty or conflict cards, their decks can be filled out with

Wandering Rōnin

and

Good Omens,

respectively—though I don’t recommend it!

New Roles

To make the draft work, eight new “Draft format only” roles are used. These roles unlock most of the cards in the draft pool but require players to commit to two (or three) clans. Per the text on the seven Allied roles, a player may include any number of cards of their allied clan, ignoring influence values—dynasty, conflict, and provinces. This means that if I have a Unicorn stronghold and I’m Allied with the Scorpion, I can include every Unicorn or Scorpion-clan card that I draft in any of my decks!

The Allied roles also contain a plethora of traits, as the card pool for draft is expanded to allow all elementally-locked cards to exist in the same decks. The limited card pool already restricts players’ ability to access powerfully elementally-locked cards, so that deckbuilding restriction is mostly ignored in draft. This can result in some powerful deck constructions if the correct cards are chosen!

But there is also an eighth role, which suggests greater power at a greater cost. This is the

Allies of Convenience

role, which represents a daimyō who can call upon no allies of note, but whose position allows them to hire or recruit samurai from neighboring clans in a short-sighted attempt to vanquish their foes. The Allies of Convenience role allows a player to include cards from two different clans that don’t match their stronghold, nearly doubling the available options to draft! However, that added flexibility comes with limited power: they cannot include unique cards or provinces from those two additional clans and cannot include role-restricted cards at all!

If a player wishes to pursue the Allies of Convenience role, they may prioritize non-unique cards from several clans, allowing them to bring together effective combinations of potentially synergistic cards but without getting to use some of the more powerful cards available. Playing

For Greater Glory

(Core Set, 168) to put fate on a

Shiba Yōjimbo

(Core Set, 89),

Hero of Three Trees

(​Shoju’s Duty, 116), and

Army of the Rising Wave

(A Champion’s Foresight, 96) can be powerful, especially when the counterattack is defended by

Mirumoto’s Fury

(Core Set, 159) or

Display of Power

(Core Set, 179). But when Phoenix and Lion are both only Allies of Convenience, that player misses out on powerful cards that they could only include if they had Allied with one clan or the other.

Draft opens up a huge array of new strategies and tactics that aren’t usually employed in Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game. For example, if a player recognizes which clan the other players are not drafting, that player can capitalize on the availability of the clan and end up with a consistent collection of synergistic cards. Imagine if you figured out that no one was taking the Crane cards—you would get one or more good Crane cards from every pack! But figuring out which clan is available can often be difficult, especially when different players evaluate the power level and importance of cards differently. Will you collect the right combination of cards to formulate a successful strategy?

Glory in Victory

The draft event at Winter Court will take place on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Two draft events will be run on Wednesday for players not participating in the Last Chance Qualifier, because they already have their invitation to the World Championship tournament. A draft will run on Thursday and Friday for players not playing in the World Championship that day, and another draft will run on Saturday morning for players who did not make the top cut.

One player from each Great Clan will be selected for each event, resulting in seven players who will be drafting alongside—and potentially playing against—myself. These players will be drawn from registration lists where players sign up under the clan that they will play in their primary tournament (whether that’s the World Championship or the Last Chance Qualifier). Of course, each player can only draft once during the Winter Court so that more people get an opportunity to participate! If drafting is not your thing, don’t worry­–there are several other side events being hosted throughout the Winter Court that you can participate in!

Each player who participates in the draft event, as well as many players who sign up but are not able to play, will be given a draft starter so that they can use it when drafting with their friends after the event. In addition, players who do well during the event will win prize wall tickets: a tangible reward for illustrating their deckbuilding skills and ability to adapt to unexpected game states!

Drafting is one of my favorite ways to play games, as every game is wholly unique. By adapting this format for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game, I hope to inspire players to engage with this great game in a new and exciting way and provide a way for a larger group of players to play together. I had a ton of fun developing and playtesting this format, and I think that players will enjoy it as well!

I look forward to getting to meet and play Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game with many of the players who will be attending Winter Court next month. For those who are not attending, this format will be made available after the event through downloadable files on the website. But for those who attend and participate, they will be given the exclusive first opportunity to try the format. And who knows, maybe they’ll find something unexpected when they open up their first pack to draft!

I’ll see you at Winter Court!

“I don’t think we can protect two transports at a time.”
   –Carlist Rieekan, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

From small skirmishes between scouting craft to unexpected encounters in the depths of space, every engagement between starfighters in the Star Wars™ galaxy has the chance to escalate into a fully pitched battle between ships of all sizes. You’ll soon have the chance to create your own large-scale starfighter battles with the Epic Battles Multiplayer Expansion for Star Wars™: X-Wing!

In addition to new rules for flying groups of ships in formation, this expansion broadens the possibilities of X-Wing with eleven cinematic scenarios that evoke iconic Star Wars scenes. Featuring unique objectives and mechanics, each scenario invites players to tackle new challenges as they enter chaotic free-for-all battles, intense team-based conflicts, and much more.

Whether you’re mobilizing your squadrons to intercept a planetary strike or escorting a wave of devastating warheads as they barrel toward key targets, these scenarios can put you in command of individual starfighters or massive fleets, including new huge ships like the CR90 Corellian corvette or the C-ROC cruiser. Join us today as we take a closer look at one of the scenarios included in the Epic Battles Multiplayer Expansion!

Prepare for Evacuation

Few moments across the Star Wars saga are as thrilling as desperately evacuating a planet while the enemy closes in. When this happens, fighting is just as likely to break out in the space above the planet as on the surface. Whether you’re looking to recreate the Rebellion’s hurried escape from Hoth, the Resistance’s bold evacuation of D’Qar, or something of your own creation, the Epic Battles Multiplayer Expansion puts you directly into one of these tense confrontations.

In the “Cover the Evacuation” scenario, three transport vessels attempt to plot a jump to hyperspace as an attacking force approaches. Each team is composed of one to three players, with one side playing as the defenders, hoping to buy time for the vulnerable transports to escape, while the other side becomes the attackers hoping to destroy them.

The defending team must buy enough time for the three shuttles to make the jump to hyperspace!

Taking place on a 6’ x 3’ play area, the defending team begins this scenario with three shuttle remotes scattered across the battlefield. Unfortunately, performing the precise calculations required to jump to hyperspace prevents these shuttles from moving, making them vulnerable to attack.

But that does not mean they are totally defenseless. In addition to their thick hulls, every

shuttle

is better at evading attacks when it has an escort. These remote shuttles add an evade to their defenses while a friendly ship is in the attack arc, helping them shrug off some of the attacks headed their way.

Ultimately, though, a shuttle’s goal is not to survive, but to make the jump to hyperspace, a task that becomes easier the longer the scenario continues. During each end phase, the defending team rolls attack dice equal to the round number, placing one objective token on a shuttle’s remote card for each standard and critical damage result.

It is the End Phase of Round 3, so the defending player rolls three attack dice, placing one objective token on Shuttle #1 for the standard damge result and one objective token on Shuttle #2 for the critical damage result!

Once a shuttle accumulates three objective tokens on its card, it jumps to hyperspace and the defending team scores all of its objective tokens, claiming 25 points per objective token (added to their standard score for destroying and damaging ships). The attacking team, on the other hand, scores all of a shuttle’s objective tokens after the shuttle is destroyed.

The struggle to accomplish these goals will involve more than just a handful of starfighters. This is a large-scale evacuation where both teams have 500 points, putting each player in command of one chunk of a larger fleet. Each team is free to select any ships from the faction of their choice, of course, but “Cover the Evacuation” leaves plenty of room for teams to make use of the huge ships, no matter if they’re using the cards from the Huge Ship Conversion Kit or the cards and miniatures from huge ship expansion packs.

A GR-75 Medium Transport loaded with a group of

Echo Base Evacuees,

 for example, is ideal for such a mission. Although lightly armed, the transport can support faster and more maneuverable friendly ships as they protect the shuttles, spending its own energy to remove red and orange tokens or even helping nearby fighters recover their shields. Better yet, the ship can take this one step further if it is outfitted with some

Adaptive Shields,

 spending energy or sacrificing its own shields to cancel damage against friendly ships.

If the situation becomes truly dire, the GR-75 can use its considerable bulk to shield a shuttle from incoming fighters and grant it an extra defense die as long as the transport is obstructing the attack. In fact, a transport such as the

is particularly well suited for such a task. It can begin in the play area close to a friendly ship, giving it a chance to move in and block the easiest paths to at least one shuttle before the enemy can reach it.

On the opposite side, the attacking team has plenty of options to counter these defense plans. With both ships and obstacles in their path, attacking ships will have to rely on precise flying to get clean shots on the shuttles. If they choose to play as the Empire, this task becomes all the easier with some of the Imperial Navy’s best officers commanding their forces. An experienced officer like

Captain Needa,

 for example, can help his ships plot a better course, allowing them to change their dials to another maneuver of the same difficulty and speed as the one they’ve revealed. Similarly, a high-ranking officer like

Admiral Ozzel

is accustomed to directing both large and huge ships, however clumsily.

But the attacker doesn’t have to base their strategy solely on commands from officers. They can also designate one of their starfighters a

Dreadnought Hunter

and directly target any huge ships that might be blocking their path to the shuttles. As long as the huge ship is in your bullseye arc, your ship bearing this designation can apply the extra Precision Shot effect on a huge ship damage card no matter what arc it attacks from. No matter what factions you’re playing, “Cover the Evacuation” presents a cinematic scenario that broadens the possibilities of your games of X-Wing.

New Battles

“Cover the Evacuation” only gives you a taste of what to expect in the Epic Battles Multiplayer Expansion. Ten more scenarios await, each putting you in thrilling new engagements that shake X-Wing to its core. For more Epic X-Wing, check out our stream of the Free-for-All “Aces High” scenario on YouTube here and our stream of the Head-to-Head scenario “Atmospheric Entry” here! 

Look for the Epic Battles Multiplayer Expansion (SWZ57) to launch with the huge ships in the fourth quarter of 2019. You can pre-order your copies of these expansions at your local retailer or online through our website here!

“They worshipped, so they said, the Great Old Ones who lived ages before there were any men, and who came to the young world out of the sky. Those Old Ones were gone now, inside the earth and under the sea; but their dead bodies had told their secrets in dreams to the first men, who formed a cult which had never died.”
   –H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

Your adventures in the Arkham Horror Files universe have pitted you against countless challenges, facing evil cults and eldritch monstrosities, and you have always done everything in your power to stop them. But in Arkham Horror: Final Hour, you arrived too late. The rite has been completed, and now an Ancient One tears through reality, spilling hordes of monsters onto the campus of Miskatonic University. Now all that is left for you to do is hold back the masses and try to find some way to reverse what has been done.

And time is running out.

Last week, we showed you how to fight against the horde and discover the ritual components you need during the Action Phase. But with every step you take; you will find the forces of evil pushing back against you. You must be ready to face the unthinkable trials ahead. Today, we offer you a glimpse into the horror of the Ancient One Phase in Arkham Horror: Final Hour—now available for pre-order at your local retailer or online through our website with free shipping within the continental United States!

The Day of Reckoning

In our last preview, which you can check out here, we examined the possibilities that you and your fellow investigators have during the Action Phase, fighting monsters, looking for clues, and building wards to protect Miskatonic University. Regardless of the number of investigators in your team, you can only perform four actions and you need to make them count, as once the Action Phase ends, the Ancient One steps forth to wreak havoc as they break through the veil that divides our world from their own.

During the Ancient One Phase, the Ancient One’s malign influence strikes the campus, and the eldritch monstrosity comes closer to walking the world. Your investigators resolve this phase in three steps: Reckoning, Gates, and passing the Lead Investigator. The lead investigator makes all decisions during this phase.

First, during the Reckoning step, your team discards the priority cards you played during the Action Phase and count the number of omen icons on those cards. This will determine how the Ancient One will act, as detailed on their Ancient One Sheet. The more omen icons present, the worse the effect will be. For example, if the Sleeper in R’Lyeh, Cthulhu, only finds one or two omen icons, he will order the activation of all his minions currently on the board, then spawn two Deep Ones. But if he finds seven or more, he will automatically force each investigator to lose two health.

The Investigators played priotity cards with a total of seven omen icons and therefore they must resolve R’lyeh Risen!

If by some miracle the total number of omen icons is zero, the Ancient One is powerless and you do not resolve any effect, but you may find that the risk of invoking the Ancient One’s wrath will be worth it to ensure that you can perform the action you wish. If you wish to survive long enough to undo the rite, balance will be key.

Monsters Unleashed

The second step of the Ancient One Phase is activating Gates. Gate tokens represent portals to unnatural and alien otherworlds that are home to all manner of dangerous beings and the horrors you discover in each will depend on which Ancient One you battle in any given game. Over the course of the game’s eight rounds, the gates grow larger, releasing more monsters onto the campus and becoming ever more difficult to manage. You must work quickly! During this step, the lead investigator reveals the top gate token on the gate stack and places it on top of the matching gate token on the board. Then, the lead investigator spawns a number of monsters at that location equal to the number of gate tokens there.

Sorority Row has two gate tokens, therefore it spawns two monsters!

Monsters spawn one at a time and any decisions for where they are placed or where they will move if a location is already full are made by the lead investigator. When a monster spawns at a location, the lead investigator takes one random monster token and places it in an empty space in that location. If there are no empty spaces for the creature to spawn into, it moves following the arrows along the campus paths that correspond to the monster’s token color. Blue monsters follow the blue arrows and stay along the walkways, while red monsters follow the red arrows, which may sometimes make a path between locations that are not adjacent. If there are still no empty spaces in the monster’s new location, the monster moves again and again until it reaches a location that has an empty space, even this means looping around the entire campus back to its original spot.

However, a monster’s ultimate goal is to reach the ritual location where the rite was first conducted to allow their glorious master to pass into our world. And if a monster cannot reach an empty monster space on the campus, it moves directly to the ritual location instead. Monsters do not move out of the ritual location unless forced to move by an item card or the top effect of an action card. If the monster moves into the ritual location and cannot be placed there because all of the spaces are full, the location is overrun, and your investigators lose the game along with all hope of saving humanity!

The final step of the Ancient One Phase is to pass along the lead investigator token, guaranteeing that no matter how many investigators you have, everyone will have a chance to lead and be forced to make these difficult decisions at least twice. Just as every person is unique, so to may be their leadership style. You must trust and rely on one another if you are to have any hope of overcoming these horrors. With the fate of the world at stake, you must remain united. Only together can you undo the rite!

Stop the Clock

The Ancient Ones have awoken from their slumber and now, with the help of unhallowed rites, they have arisen to claim the world as theirs once more. Humanity teeters on the edge of extinction and only you can stop them now. Gather your team, face the maddening Ancient Ones, and undo the ritual before time runs out!

Pre-order your copy of Arkham Horror: Final Hour (AFH01) at your local retailer today or online through our website, with free shipping within the continental United States here!

It’s a brave new world for the Emerald Empire. As the most turbulent night in Rokugan’s history draws to a close, the fallout must now begin. Bayushi Shoju prepares to sit as the Regent of the Emerald Empire, and his first order of business will be to deal with the betrayal of his wife, Kachiko. What fate awaits the Scorpion, and what of the Dragon army moving into the city? Many questions remain, and the weight of the answers now falls upon Imperial Regent Bayushi Shoju to answer.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to present “Behind the Empty Throne” by Mari Murdock, a new short story set in the world of Legend of the Five Rings!

“Behind the Empty Throne” serves as both an epilogue to the Inheritance cycle of fiction and a precursor to what’s to come, and can be downloaded here (5.1 MB). It’s a new turning point for the story of Legend of the Five Rings; be sure to catch up on the story by visiting our fiction page here and influence the story itself by playing Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game!

The New World

A missing prince, an Emerald Champion who has seemingly disappeared overnight, the mysterious death of the Emperor. These events changed the fate of Rokugan in an instant. What shifts will Imperial Regent Bayushi Shoju bring to the Emerald Empire?  What fate awaits the Great Clans of Rokugan?

Be sure to visit our website next week for even more Legend of the Five Rings Fiction!

“All life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward dreamings…”
   –H. P. Lovecraft, “The Silver Key”

Your adventures in The Dream-Eaters cycle have drawn you across the colorful and deadly Dreamlands, bringing you face to face with creatures that defy explanation. You came here in search of evidence that proves this world’s existence to those you left behind, and hopefully save both this world and the other dreamers trapped within it. Now, a rescue mission draws you to the far side of the moon, where the one person who may hold the key to your entire investigation has been taken by murderous creatures who now guard their prisoner with a watchful eye.

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce Dark Side of the Moon, the third Mythos Pack in The Dream-Eaters cycle for Arkham Horror: The Card Game—now available for pre-order at your local retailer or online through our website with free shipping within the continental United States!

Silence Falls

Dark Side of the Moon is Scenario 3–A of The Dream-Quest campaign for Arkham Horror: The Card Game. This scenario can be played on its own in Standalone Mode or combined with the other expansions in The Dream- Eaters cycle to form a larger four or eight-part campaign.

After the events of The Search for Kadath, the investigators who ventured into the Dreamlands are drawn even further from the world of the waking than they could have ever thought when Virgil Gray, the occult author whose stories started this whole adventure, is taken to the cold, distant moon. The silence of the place is deafening. There is no wind whistling through the air, no chirping of birds, no idle sound of any kind. This is a dead world. Though you know danger lurks around every corner, you hear no sign of the beasts or the Corsairs who call this place home. You must remain even quieter in order to stay hidden. You know that Virgil is being held captive somewhere in the vast, strange city of the moon-beasts. You must be quiet and cunning if you are to find him and escape unnoticed.

Remaining hidden will prove to be the most difficult and most important part of your rescue mission as you must contend with the Alarm Level. At the start of this scenario, each investigator must place 1 doom on their investigator card, marking their current “alarm level.” While your alarm level is marked using doom tokens, it is important to note that an investigator’s alarm level is not doom, and it does not count toward the agenda’s doom threshold, but it does add a new sense of urgency to your mission.

As you attempt to escape from the grasp of the moon-beasts, your respective alarm levels may increase or decrease based on your actions and decisions. A higher alarm level means you are closer to being discovered, which will significantly hinder your attempts to escape, but if you do not take any risks, you may never recover Virgil Gray and fail in your mission altogether. Your alarm level has no effect on its own, but it may alter or strengthen other encounter card effects, such as the

Moonbound Byakhee

(Dark Side of the Moon, 227) that will pursue you only if your alarm level is three or higher. If an effect raises your alarm level by any amount, you simply place that much doom on your investigator’s card. Likewise, if an effect reduces your alarm level, remove that many doom tokens from your investigator’s card. Take care that you do not raise the alarm levels too high—you cannot hope to save Virgil if you are captured yourself!

A World Your Own

As you prepare to take to the moon, this Mythos Pack offers you a variety of new player cards to fortify your deck and prepare you for the cosmic trials ahead. In addition to two cards for each class, Dark Side of the Moon also offers a new neutral card for investigators to consider with 

Lucid Dreaming

(Dark Side of the Moon, 205). This Spell offers you greater insight into your investigator deck and control over it, allowing you to choose a card in either your play area or your hand and search your deck for another copy of that card and draw it. While surely a boost for any investigator who includes multiple copies of cards in their deck, this may prove particularly useful for the new Guardian

Tommy Muldoon

(The Dream-Eaters, 1), ensuring that he has a new copy of a favored asset in hand when one on the field is about to be defeated, or for

Mandy Thompson

(The Dream-Eaters, 2) if she is looking to use her ability to gather every

Segment of Onyx

(The Dream-Eaters, 21) in a single swoop.

But while such new powers over your sleeping mind are wonderous, your time in the Dreamlands is beginning to take its toll. This manifests in the form of a new Weakness,

False Awakening

(Dark Side of the Moon, 233). False Awakening begins each game next to the agenda deck, with one doom on it. If you wish to dispose of this, you must use an action to test any skill against a value of 2. This may not seem so bad initially, but the test gains +1 difficulty per investigator, meaning the very bonds that have allowed you to make it this far are now working against you, forcing you to face a difficulty value of six in a four-player game before you have even had a chance to build your board state. Success means removing False Awakening from the game, but only until your next scenario begins. If you are afflicted by this Curse, there is no true hope for escape. The pull of nightmares will always be there, waiting. As a small comfort, because your team is all sharing in the same dream, any investigator may trigger the action ability to free you for the time being. But are they truly with you, or is their presence nothing more than another dream?

Day of the Moon

Virgil Gray needs your help and you cannot leave him to the Corsairs and other Moon-beasts, no matter how great the danger. Ready your deck, steel your nerve, and prepare for the dangers ahead. Who knows what will be waiting for you on the Dark Side of the Moon?

Pre-order your copy of Dark Side of the Moon (AHC41) at your local retailer today or online through our website—with free shipping in the continental United States—here!

“You don’t have to be someone else to impress anybody. You are perfect just the way you are.”
   –Yusuf Khan, Ms. Marvel #5

Already struggling with who she was, and who she wanted to be, teenager Kamala Khan just wanted a simple life. But when she became trapped in a Terrigen Mist enveloping New Jersey, Kamala’s life went in a different direction. After emerging from the mist, Kamala discovered she was able to morph her body into nearly anything. Inspired by her idol Carol Danvers, Kamala took on the name Ms. Marvel and New Jersey gained its very own teenaged crime fighter!

Fantasy Flight Games is proud to announce the Ms. Marvel Hero Pack for Marvel Champions: The Card Game!!

Ms. Marvel is one of the most flexible heroes in the game, able to fit into whatever role is needed while learning to be a hero and protecting her friends from harm by reusing event cards from her hand!

Morphogenetic Master

Even when out of costume,

Kamala Khan

 (Ms. Marvel, 1B) is always preparing for her next battle, with her Teen Spirit ability allowing her to discard cards form the top of her deck until she finds a Ms. Marvel hero card! While this will discard aspect and basic cards, it guarantees you’ll be ready for the job when it’s time to step up and be a hero. With five recovery, staying in the Kamala Khan alter-ego form is a surefire way to refill your hand while recovering plenty of hit points.

While

Ms. Marvel

 (Ms. Marvel, 1A) may be inexperienced, with low attack, thwart, and defensive values, she truly shines in her versatility and flexibility. Any time Ms. Marvel plays an Attack, Thwart, or Defense event, you may exhaust her to return that event to your hand! Ms. Marvel’s hero cards feature three different events that have these traits, representing her ability to morph her body in strange new ways.

Ms. Marvel doesn’t need a big attack value when she can just use

Big Hands

(Ms. Marvel, 3) to put a villain in their place! By enlarging her hands, Ms. Marvel can deal a devastating four damage to an enemy. And because Big Hands is an Attack event, Ms. Marvel can exhaust to return Big Hands to her hand, able to play it again immediately or save it for just the right time. The flexibility of Ms. Marvel allows you to get the most out of her big events by replaying them!

Of course, you still have to pay the cost of these events, but luckily, Kamala Khan has the love and support of friends and family in her quest to become a hero. Best friends since childhood,

Nakia Bahadir

 (Ms Marvel, 8) and Kamala Khan have always supported each other, and Nakia can help Kamala in her superheroics by reducing the cost of cards. You can only use Nakia when you’re in your Alter-Ego form, but that doesn’t mean you can’t flip your identity immediately afterward, prepared to kick butt at a discounted cost!

But Nakia isn’t Kamala’s only ally in her fight against evil. Kamala’s other best friend,

Bruno Carrelli

(Ms. Marvel, 7) was one of the first to know about Kamala’s powers, and is always ready to help her carry the burden of being a Marvel Champion.

As an Alter-Ego Action, you may attach cards to Bruno facedown, letting you draw more cards at the end of the player phase. Then, when the time is right, you can bring up to three cards attached to Bruno back to your hand, setting Ms. Marvel up for a massive turn! 

Valiant Protector

With the ability to heal by returning to her natural form, Ms. Marvel fits right at home in the Protection aspect, which fills up the majority of her pre-constructed deck included in the Ms. Marvel Hero Pack. Kamala can deliver a devastating

Tackle

(Ms Marvel, 15) to her foes, both stunning them and dealing damage if you paid for the card using a strength resource! With the enemy stunned, they won’t be able to attack the first hero they activate against, letting Kamala Khan protect her friends while dealing some serious damage to her foes.

Ms. Marvel  can also use more directly protective measures.

Energy Barrier

(Ms. Marvel, 17) follows a similar pattern to Tackle, letting Ms. Marvel strategically soak up damage and deal it back to her enemies.  

Teen Dreams

Of course, like any hero, Kamala Khan has her own personal obligations and history to contend with. As a teenager, Ms. Marvel has to deal with a problem other heroes simply don’t: curfew. Kamala always has to be

Home By Dawn

(Ms. Marvel, 25) , or else she faces punishment from her over-protective parents, losing access to some of her good friends!

One of Kamala’s first tests as a hero was taking down The Inventor, a clone of famed historical icon

Thomas Edison

(Ms. Marvel, 27)! After she thwarted his plans to use the youth of New Jersey as an alternative energy source, The Inventor has held a grudge against Ms. Marvel, and is ready to strike when she least expects it!  

Also included in the Ms. Marvel Hero Pack are three-copies of one card for each of the other three aspects. As the leader of the Champions, Kamala is also a solid fit in the Leadership aspect!

Morale Boost

(Ms.Marvel, 32) can give Ms. Marvel or a teammate the boost they need to overpower the villain and defeat their evil schemes! 

Get Some Space

Show your inner-hero with the Ms. Marvel Game Mat for Marvel Champions: The Card Game! 

This 24×12 slip-resistant game mat gives you plenty of space for your hero’s deck, identity card, upgrades, supports, and more while showing off beautiful art! Show your dedication to becoming a hero with the Ms. Marvel Game Mat at your side!

The New Normal

With the ability to morph her body into nearly anything, Ms. Marvel is one of the most versatile characters in Marvel Champions. Bring powerful events back to your hand and smash the villain before they complete their scheme!

Become the hero you were always meant to be with the Ms. Marvel Hero Pack (MC05en) for Marvel Champions: The Card Game, available now for pre-order from your local retailer or our website with free shipping in the continental United States!

“Alert all commands. Deploy the fleet.”
   –Admiral Piett, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Attention! Attention! A swarm of squadrons and capital ships have begun to converge in the heart of the galaxy! Fleet admirals, assemble your squadrons now and have your ships plan a course for the Star Wars™​: Armada Prime Championships, where these epic battles will take place between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance. As you make your final preparations for the assault, get the full report on the prizes in contention as well as the dates and locations for these exciting 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 at AdeptiCon, offering a World Championship invitation to the one admiral who overcomes all odds and claims the distinguished title of Prime Champion. While these events are excellent opportunities to test the capabilities of your fleet while making new friends, don’t let down your guard while facing your fellow rivals amongst the stars—the galaxy is at stake, as are a host of exclusive prizes.

By expertly fulfilling your duty as an admiral, you can obtain the rewards below, including extended art cards, tokens, range rulers, and of course, an invitation to the Star Wars: Armada World Championship! After the prize preview below, you will find a list of dates and locations for this upcoming season of Prime Championships.

Top 32 and Top 16

During a Star Wars: Armada Prime Championship, the Top 32 players will an extended art version of the Quasar Fire I-class Cruiser-Carrier, as well as the Hammerhead Torpedo Corvette, two ships outfitted for a variety of challenging engagements. The Top 16 players will also receive a set of three objective cards, evoking the iconic title crawl of the Skywalker saga.

Top 8 and Top 4

Players who can prove themselves and make it into the Top 8 will receive a plastic card of the durable flotilla freighters: the Gozanti-class Carriers. Those who are able to secure one more win and advance to the Top 4 cut will be rewarded with a number of prizes that include sets of red and white tokens (five of each type of token per player) and similarly styled ship and squadron range rulers. The Top 4 Rebel Alliance players and the Top 4 Galactic Empire players will also receive a double-sided alternate art card of the X-Wing Squadron card and TIE Fighter squadron.

Champion

The sole player who secures their victory at a Prime Championship will be handsomely rewarded for their heroic efforts. In addition to the rewards previewed above, the Prime Champion will also win a one-of-a-kind damage deck, a metal coin adorned with the navigate symbol, and of course, an invitation to the next Star Wars: Armada World Championship!

New Orders

Below are the list of dates and locations for the upcoming Prime Championships. Find one of these events near you and make your plans to attend 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 8, 2019
 

United States

International

Bigger is Better

If you’re going to overcome these challenges, you’ll have to outwit the opposition and dispatch calculated strategies. Stay the course and follow through with a full-on assault—show the enemy no mercy!

Be sure not to miss out on these epic, action-packed conflicts that will determine the outcome of the Galactic Civil War. Make your plans now to attend a Star Wars: Armada Prime Championship. Check this page regularly as we will continue to update the list with more events from around the world. Take the helm of your most powerful capital ship and navigate your way to victory!​