++++Incoming Astropathic Transmission++++

Greetings Rogue Trader fans!

Welcome to the second designer diary for Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay: Rogue Trader!
One of the main goals of these designer diaries is to let the fans know just what the game is about, what the play experience will be like. Thus, I have turned to the Game Master Chapter to provide a list of the themes of Rogue Trader. Owen Barnes gets the credit for writing these great themes, and I am certain you will find them inspiring lots of great ideas!

Themes in Rogue Trader
The Warhammer 40,000 universe, and the Rogue Trader game which resides within it, are different from any other science fiction setting. To better evoke this universe and weave its flavour and colour into his games the Games Master should become familiar with its key themes. Being able to add these themes to a game will help to make it undeniably set within the realms of the 41st millennium and by extension help the Game Master’s players to better sink into the roles of their characters.

A License for Profit
Rogue Traders exist for a single purpose – the accumulation of wealth and power. Given license by the Administratum of Holy Terra itself they can travel freely and seek profit both within and beyond the borders of the Imperium. This gives them incredible power within Imperial society as they stand both above and beyond the teeming masses of humanity that live and die bound by class and duty. To be a Rogue Trader is to covet power and constantly seek to increase wealth and influence, for when the endless dark of the universe is yours to explore and exploit there can be no ambition too great.

The Ancient and the Forgotten
The Imperium is an ancient empire that has endured for thousands of years against an uncaring and capricious universe. It is filled with mysticism, fear and superstition and survives by keeping its eyes firmly averted from the shadows that circle in the void. Even for a Rogue Trader who treads the stars astride an ancient starship, both technology and the void are shrouded in mystery. He relies on the enigmatic and esoteric apparatus of the Adeptus Mechanicus—stagnant technology that is barely understood, but has served man for centuries uncounted. Likewise few charts exist that show even a fraction of the Imperium and its worlds. Those that navigate its boundaries must brave almost as many perils as those that travel beyond it, and even travel along well established warp routes is not without danger. Such is the nature of the Rogue Trader’s life.

Into the Unknown
As part of a Rogue Trader’s quest for lucrative trade routes, new markets and exotic goods they also become prolific explorers. This makes them a unique breed within the Imperium, a society built on the censure of knowledge and the restriction of travel. It takes a brave soul indeed to leave his home world and take the perilous journey between the stars, and it take a braver soul still to voyage into the unknown. Such is the vast scope of the galaxy that entire empires of xenos, never before seen celestial phenomena and lost human worlds have all been found either hidden within the folds of the Imperium or clinging to its edges. These are the prizes that await a Rogue Trader and his crew as they travel to parts of the void that no other Imperial citizen will ever see. It is said that the expanse of space is large enough to contain anything the human mind can conceive, and plenty of things it cannot.

Fear the Void
There is a good reason that most citizens of the Imperium look up at the night sky with fear, trying not to dwell on just what horrors lurk between the stars or gaze hungrily down upon them from the nightmare of the warp. Those that travel the Imperium know too well that while humanity may claim to be the masters of the galaxy, with dominion over worlds uncounted, theirs is but a feeble flickering light surrounded by an infinity of blackness. Rogue Traders know that the void holds many perils, beyond the deadly cold of vacuum and the hard radiation of stars there are things out there that no man was ever meant to see. Of course it is these very factors that make Rogue Traders the larger than life individuals they are, as they set off into the black with often only their courage to keep them sane.

By Roberto Di Meglio

One of the big design challenges of AGE OF CONAN was the definition of the role of Conan in the game. There was no doubt that the barbarian hero would have to be under the spotlight in the game. At the same time, we had a number of issues to deal with: Age of Conan was supposed to be a STRATEGY game, rather than a game focused on the adventures of the hero. The figure of Conan should have an impact on the Hyborian nations, rather than focus on his personal achievements. There would be only ONE Conan, and it was not acceptable to assign the role of Conan to any single player, making him ”cooler” than anybody else. Conan was to be an important element/factor in the achievements of the player, in spite of him not being controlled by any player. The hero plays a number of different roles in the original stories, and those should be somehow represented in the game.

We soon settled on the idea that the control of Conan would be passed along between the players, and that somehow three different areas of activity should be significant:

• Conan as an adventurer, roaming alone around Hyboria for his own personal purposes.
• Conan as a mercenary, chieftain, or general, serving the military of a player’s kingdom or a small neutral power.
• Conan as a bandit, brigand, and pirate, who can damage a kingdom through raiding and plundering on a grand scale.

This was a lot for Conan to do, especially considering that each of these activities would have to be resolved with simple mechanics: only one player at a time would be handling Conan directly, so too much detail would produce downtime for the other players. Moreover, the players would be acting as rulers of kingdoms, so they should have enough on their hands without bothering with Conan – but they should not be able to forget Conan, either!

The first attempt tried to handle all the different activities through what later became the Adventure deck. Unfortunately, the outcome of this system was in the end either too random, both in gaming terms and as a representation of the source material, or too tight and pre-determined. The turning point was the design of the mechanic for determining the control of Conan: with a simple system of limited bidding resources (tokens and cards) we were able to let the players decide for themselves if the cost of getting control of Conan was strategically worth the effort, or if those same resources were better spent for their own direct advantage. After that, the various elements more or less found their place. Once we decided that the presence of Conan was a significant military bonus for the player controlling him (mostly, the Conan player has the barbarian in the lead of his armies) we realized that Conan could work also as a hindrance to non-Conan players attempting to attack a neutral province simply containing Conan (a situation nicely representing the ubiquitous role of the barbarian in the stories showing up to boost the defenses of a small kingdom). More or less at the same time we found a way to accommodate two different needs through the same mechanic: the presence of the “Conan action” on the fate dice. The Conan action allows a non-Conan player to have an influence on the barbarian, interfering with the choices of the Conan player, while allowing the Conan player a direct use of Conan as a raider to damage and harass his opponents (a side note: the original concept was to use a different die - or multiple dice - to control Conan, but this was found to be unnecessary and the simpler solution used now was devised).

The adventure mechanic was possibly the most difficult to fine-tune: we wanted to have enough flavor to keep some of the elements of the stories, but we also wanted to keep this mechanic very simple. So, after a first attempt we discarded the idea of making each adventure card completely different in terms of how to deal with the adventures and their rewards. We decided for a slightly abstract approach, which still maintained the “archetypes” of the rewards gained by the hero, namely monsters slain, women in love, and treasures. We had a few ideas to make some of these rewards more definite, and while some of those ideas became what are now the Artifact cards, other ideas could possibly appear in a future expansion . The current adventure token mechanic, while quite simple, introduced the type of duality that we like very much in War of the Ring – the choice between character-oriented actions (destroying or hunting the Ring) and military actions. In Conan, this type of duality exists in the way you handle Conan and the adventure tokens.

You can decide to move Conan to help with your armies and intrigue – and lose tokens; or you can let Conan free to pursue his adventures – and gain tokens. You can decide to keep tokens to score in the end game, or you can decide to use them as immediate rewards to aid your kingdom. Such choices are very important in the game, and like War of the Ring, they can have a dramatic impact especially in the end game – when you can try to crown Conan as ruler of your kingdom. This brings us to the other big design challenge: how to deal with the rise of Conan to kingship. Of course this event was to be as significant in game terms as it is in the stories, and we considered various possibilities, from a mid-game event where one player would end up playing “Conan vs. everybody else” in the last part of the game, to an event which was only a bonus to a player, to the current version.

The ‘sudden death’ end of the game when a player tries to crown Conan was possibly the last significant development in the game design. The idea that a player can win or lose the game by this event made the choices involving adventure tokens during the game very significant. At the same time, you can still devise a strategy (like a purely military strategy in War of the Ring) where you just ignore this possibility and focus on developing your kingdom.

Many times, the player who successfully crowns Conan wins the game – but this is no way guaranteed, as the attempt itself may bring great reward or the loss of the game.

When everything was done, the Conan mechanics ended in taking up a very significant part of the game rules; the way it should be, in our opinion. This is the Age of CONAN after all, isn’t it? And how could we afford to risk the rage of our favorite barbarian?

The Cult of the Hundred has been set back, for now. As Shub's power wanes, the icy winds begin to blow. Hidden cells are activating bringing about the entrance of a rival Ancient One. Do you have what it takes to seal out the cold?

Find out with Chapter 2! (pdf, 967 kb)

Calvin is still with you. (png, 715 kb) right click and save as

Once again we shine the spotlight on another staff favorite. This week we look at the Silver Line title, Colossal Arena. A game by Reiner Knizia, Colossal Arena combines the elements of gladiatorial combat and placing bets on the combatants. This game was chosen by Nate French, game developer. Nate has worked on both the Call of Cthulhu LCG/CCG and the A Game of Thrones LCG/CCG as well as the Mutant Chronicles miniature game. I had a chance to talk to Nate about Colossal Arena. "This is definitely one of my favorite board games. I love the shifting alliances, this turn I may back a certain creature to piggyback on another player's bet. The very next turn I may choose to kill that same player's creature. I also love the variety. Each creature has a unique power. Overall a great game to pick up and play."

Few things are as exciting as stadium events. The roar of the crowd, the teams struggling for dominance on the field, rooting for your favorite, the feeling is intense. Colossal Arena captures this. Pitting 10 different mythical creatures against one another, you must choose your favorites and "cheer" for them. The game ends with three combatants standing proudly on the field of battle. Lets take a look and see how those three came to be victorious.

Colossal Arena puts you in the stands at a gladiatorial match between 10 fearsome creatures. You must make your bets wisely, as only the bets on creatures left standing at the end will pay off. Each round of combat sees another creature fall, and puts you that much closer to wealth.

The goal of the game is to accumulate the most wealth, this is done by choosing your bets wisely. Each player places a bet on one of the creatures each turn. After placing bets, players then play combat cards for the creatures. Once each creature has a card beneath it, the creature with the lowest numbered card is removed from the competition. At the end of five rounds, only three creatures are left standing. Then each player collects money for each correctly placed bet. Bet values depreciate each round, so a bet made in the first round that pays off is worth five. A bet in the second round is worth four, so on and so forth.

As Nate referenced above, a big part of the game is when to "piggyback" and when to stab in the back. Creatures with a bet on them are going to be fought for harder, where as creatures with no bets are generally slate to be taking a dive. Watch where other players are placing bets, you can often take a player out of contention if they have placed too many bets on the same creature round after round. Take care yourself not to place too many on any one creature, as you may find yourself hurting. In addition to the placing of bets, there is the secret bet. Only available on the first turn, this is an option to give players a big win if they choose correctly. Simply select one of the creature cards from your hand, place it face down in front of you with one of your betting tokens on top of it. At the end of the game, secret bets are revealed. If you chose correctly, you get an extra five gold!

The other part that changes the game are the creatures powers. Each of these legendary monsters has a unique power. After the first round of combat, whoever has the most invested in each creature becomes that creature's backer. The backer may activate their creature's power by playing a combat card on them. ie. You have decided to back the Amazon. You place a combat card featuring the Amazon in front of her, You may now activate her special ability, which in this case, allows you to draw three combat cards. Choosing which creature to back is a big part of the strategy, Each creature give you access to new options, but choose carefully, as other players can prevent you from becoming the backer by placing their bet with yours. As neither player has the most money invested, neither player becomes the backer. If you place your bet in the first round, but another player places a bet in both the 2nd and 3rd rounds, they become the backer, as they now have 4 gold and 3 gold invested. Watch your backer... er your backer's back.

Colossal Arena is a fast paced game that is very easy to teach. Age range listed on it is 8+, and 2-5 players can take part in the betting. With only 2 different decks of cards, the game is quick to set up and tear down, and the betting pieces are very high quality. Overall this game is great to add on those nights when you want something quick, but strategic. On average this game takes between 30-45 minutes.

So what are you waiting for? Pick your creatures, place your bets, and see which pay off in Colossal Arena!

Attention all Kingdom Hearts fans: the latest supported tournament for the Light & Darkness expansion is here and this time, the challenge and the stakes are high!

At stake: the second promo from Light & Darkness, a brand new Level 2 Sora! Click on the image to the left to view a larger version.

The challenge: the theme of this tournament is Highlander*, that is, "There can be only one" copy of any card in your deck except for Level 1 Traverse Town, Level 2 Traverse Town, and Level 3 Traverse Town (all from Set 1). You can have up to three of each Traverse Town in your deck. You can also have one copy per level of any Friend: Level 1 Donald Duck, Level 2 Donald Duck, Level 3 Donald Duck, etc.

Your deck must be at least 40 cards, plus your Player Card, and you can use cards from any of the three released Kingdom Hearts sets: Base Set, A Darkness Awakened, and Light and Darkness. You can also use any promo cards you might have (including the Level 2 Sora that you will receive for participating) but remember: you can only have one copy of any card in your deck except for Traverse Town!

There are very few limitations, but they should present you with unique deckbuilding challenges that you will have to put to the test in the Highlander Tournament!

Interested retailers: Just follow this link to the Highlander Tournament sign-up page and enter your store's information. Your tournament can be run any time between March 13th and April 5th. Stores that are approved to run the Highlander Tournament will receive:

24x standard "Level 2 Sora" promo cards
12x foil "Level 2 Sora" promo cards
6x foil "Level 0 Kairi" promo cards

Participating stores will be listed on the Community Page of our Kingdom Hearts website. US stores please allow one week for your tournament kit to arrive. Canadian stores please allow two weeks.

Players: tell your local game store that you want them to run the Highlander Tournament!

Winners: Send your results and decklists in to Jaffer Batica for FFG's traditional in-house "Clash of the Titans" Tournament. FFG's Finest will judge the winners of tournaments from all over North America, pit their decks against each other, and the ultimate winner will receive additional prizes! Sign up at your store to play today!

Click on the images below to view a larger version.

You can have up to 3 copies each of Traverse Town from the Base Set in your Highlander Deck

You can have 1 copy per level per character in your Highlander Deck

* Highlander is a reference to the 1986 film, starring Christopher Lambert, in which "There can be only one" is the signature line.

The journey is but a handful of steps thus far. Many have started their journey into madness, many more are to follow. Below you will find the first wave of results for the 2nd session of the Arkham League. The results are all in one list currently, but will be broken into investigator numbers with the next wave.

Click the image above to download the results (pdf, 3 mb)

A well deserved congratulations to all the teams playing thus far. Be fore warned, the next horror will be unleashed later this week...

6th Airborne Division

The 6th Airborne Division, nicknamed the Red Devils, was the British elite parachute division. Using these rules, players can now alter their setup by using an air deployment. While this allows for greater flexibility, the ramifications can be catastrophic if squads do not land where they are supposed to.

Think you are brave enough? Then take to the skies!

The following Initiative card and Smoke token can be used in any Tide of Iron campaigns and scenarios:

To download the pdf, right click here and save link as (pdf, 1.5 mb)

To download these tokens, right click here (division 1 png, 275 kb)
and right click here (division 2 png, 275 kb) and save link as

The Initiative card follows similar rules to 29th Infantry Division Initiative card found in the Normandy expansion. The card replaces the normal British Initiative card if both players agree. Before the start of a single scenario or a campaign, the British player using the 6th Airborne card must decide whether to use the text side or the non-text side. The British player must use the chosen side until the completion of the scenario or the campaign.

If the text side is chosen, the British player may alter his setup as follows:

1. Before placing his units during setup, he places up to 2 Smoke Signal tokens on the board. The Division 1 Smoke token can be placed into any legal placement for a Division 1 unit and the Division 2 Smoke token can be placed into any legal placement for a Division 2 unit.
2. British vehicles and equipment are placed normally.
3. British infantry squads are now placed anywhere on the map within 6 spaces of that squad’s division’s Smoke token. However, when placing squads, it is important to keep in mind the squads relative position to it’s division’s Smoke token as this will determine if the squad is in supply or not.

This completes the British setup. When both players have setup their units, the British player immediately performs the Landing Phase detailed below.

Landing Phase

The British player now checks on the the success of his proposed air drops (the placement of his infantry squads). To do so, the British player does the following:

1. Roll a black and a red die for Division 1.
2. Check to make sure that each squad is in supply as follows. First, count the number of hexes each squad is from its Smoke token. Compare this number to the number on the black die. If the number on the black die is equal to or greater than the number of hexes the squad is from the Smoke token, the squad has successfully landed. Otherwise, the squad is out of supply. For each out of supply squad, the British player must take damages according to the red die. Remove X units from each out of supply unit where X equals half of the number on the red die (rounded up). Then remove all Smoke Signal tokens.

Welcome back to the front lines soldier. The war has seen some new options open up and it is high time we reviewed them. We have gone through the horrors of the Reich. We have gone through the advanced weaponry of the Union. Now we delve into the strategies of the Matriarchy.

First - Firepower
While not known for their devastating volleys of fire, the Matriarchy is incredibly efficient at dealing damage. Using the power of Tesla's imagination, the Magnifier is capable of downing a poorly placed squad in one turn! Much like the smoke grenade, be particular to place Zor'ka on a circle with multiple colors. Since her weapon affects every model on the same path as her, teams will need to be very conscious of where she can move to on her turn. Don't forget that she may spend a victory point to move one space further, as this extra space can spell disaster for your opponent. Don't overlook the power of positioning, as opponents will be loathe to group figures together on the same path. Use this to your advantage and force them to split up, making them easy pickings for Irishka's Kaali. The Kaali can also be used to force your opponent into a suboptimal position. Once you have attached a meteop, that figure is now guaranteed to take damage from the next shot they take. This can make them even weaker against Zor'ka's magnifier attack, as the magnifier makes the meteops explode.

Second - Characters
The Union and the Reich have a very difficult task. They must balance the five characters they have for maximum effect. If even one figure goes down before fulfilling their role, the game is that much tougher for their team. Fortunately the Matriarchy is above such paltry concerns. Zor'ka is priority number one. She must be protected at all costs. This task is easier than for the other forces, as Zor'ka's stats are phenomenal at all levels. In addition, with the Legendary status, she is immune to the worst effects in the game. Always remember to leave a clear path from Zor'ka to a Voïvode within eight circles, as she may transfer wounds to them. Above and beyond this, remember that Zor'ka can call all of the Voïvodes back into service. Very few things are more disheartening than watching as over half of your opponents force stands back up.

Third - Role Selection (auto wounds, tanking...)
Lastly, the forces of the Matriarchy have a very unique ability, in that they can be specialized. Yes every force has multiple packs, and can be configured differently. However, the Matriarchy can do this to another degree. Knowing that the match will feature a take and hold objective, the Matriarchy can set up the army to match this. If Zor'ka takes her combat pack, she has access to the Awakening (which gives her a single stat of 9 for a turn, which is a great way to ensure her attackers have a difficult time damaging her) and to Rebirth (which restores all Voïvodes on the board). Both of these give the Matriarchy some serious staying power. But wait, you can also take Irina's Mental pack. Found within the Mental pack is the Liturgy of Faith, which allows Irina or an ally to heal one wound without spending a victory point. Yet another option to further this is to take Irishka and her Mental pack. The R.U.R. is capable of repairing any Voïvode or even of restoring wounds to Zor'ka herself. Also contained in this pack are the Summoning and Smiljan Modules. The Summoning module is placed on any legal circle, and allows any Voïvodes on the board to return to it instead of moving as normal. This lets the Voïvodes move out away from Zor'ka to focus the opponent into direct lines of fire, and on the following turn can be brought back to be redeployed in a more advantageous spot. In addition the Voïvodes can be moved back after Zor'ka uses Rebirth, meaning that all four Voïvodes can return and be sent out as a new wave of mechanical terror. Lastly to add to this are the Voïvodes themselves. Taking the Scretcha option allows the Voïvodes to repair Zor'ka, and with the Denitsa upgrade they gain a movement value of 9. With such a high movement value, they can funnel your opponents units more effectively.

Specific tactics
The Union
The Union is characterized by their large weapons and use of the smoke grenade. The Matriarchy has a number of options to deal with both of these. Zor'ka is immune to the natural 10 effects of the Flash Guns relegating them to the status of regular guns. This combined with her high stat values means she can wade into the Union troops with little fear. All three of the Matriarchy's heroes can be equipped with Tesla Coils, which automatically cancel one hit giving each of them more staying power. Don't forget that Irina can be employed as a Martyr, and in the later game can be thrown at the enemy forces to gain a much needed boost in Victory points.

Smoke grenades are also a staple of the Union strategy. Conveniently Voïvodes are completely immune to effects of smoke grenades. Send these mechanical horrors into smoke filled corridors and channel Zor'ka's magnifier into those heroes who thought they were safe. Alternatively, you can equip the Voïvodes for self destruction. This option prevents them from being repaired or brought back, but it does do an automatic wound to any adjacent character, and with four walking bombs at your disposal...

The Reich
Steeped in the occult, the forces of the Reich are formidable indeed. Boasting mental powers and guns that shoot around corners, they are a dangerous opponent. Once again the Matriarchy has a number of options to mitigate the Reich's impact. First, Zor'ka has a higher mental stat than the Marquis General, giving her a chance to overcome the effects of the Patmos amulet and the deadly Sha-Na-Ra. Once again the Voïvodes are incredibly effective when dealing with Hermann Von Heïzinger. Voïvodes lack any form of mental stat, which means they can not be targeted by mental attacks. Send these robots after the General and watch as he scrambles about the board to avoid them.

Voïvodes are also an excellent way to counter the other weapons of the Reich. They can be given the Denitsa upgrade, which gives them a movement value of 9. Use this to force Karl Zermann towards the heroes, or face repeated electrical attacks from the Smiljan Coil. Eva's whip is easily ignored by Zor'ka herself, as it loses its natural 10 ability. Both Irina and Irishka can work very well to funnel attackers into the waiting maw of Zor'ka, and Irishka can use Kaali to attach explosive devices to characters as she directs them towards Zor'ka. These devices do damage when hit by electrical attacks (see most of the Matriarchy's weapons) and can be used to force characters to hide.

Overall the Matriarchy is a solid force with a number of options. The biggest challenge is in the initial composition of the force. Each member can do a number of different things, but to truly excel, the force needs to be dedicated to a goal. Keep the missions you will be facing in mind, and tailor your force. A poorly chosen force can be taken out quickly, and a force that loses Zor'ka early will be hurt immensely. So put your faith in the Slavic God she embodies, and lead the forces from the frozen lands out to victory!
 

Universal Fighting System is celebrating its third anniversary. The multi-property CCG has experienced three exciting years of battling, community building, and hardcore competition in order to provide gamers the first healthy way to settle the age old dispute: who would win in a knock down no holds barred brawl, character X or character Y? With a stable of 156 different legendary fighting game characters from Street Fighter, Soul Calibur 3, Darkstalkers, King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, and the recent addition of Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur 4, no game in the world can provide a more complete answer to this question.

UFS is building momentum with the recent additions of the Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur 4 licenses, the development of our first original UFS IP, and a new lead designer: James Hata, also the current World Champion, whose last set created a surge in pre-release numbers. We believe that the next year could be our best yet!

Despite all this good news for UFS, we recognize that it’s a tough environment for CCGs. It’s understandably tough for retailers to take a chance on bringing in a new game. We are so confident that UFS will be as successful for you as it has for several hundred other retailers over the past three years that we are going to take the risk out of trying the game out in your store.

Universal Fighting System was kick started with a returnable product retail promotion that allowed shop owners to carry the product with no risk. This promotion proved very successful, creating the foundation that allowed UFS to flourish over the past three years.  The only complaint retailers had with that program was that it required too much paperwork, so we have created a streamlined version of that promotion. This time around we are making it even easier, sign up to run the following events and get the product For Free!

The new deal: Is very simple, all you need to do is agree to run a sealed deck event anytime the weekend of March 20th-22nd and constructed event anytime during the weekend of March 27th-29th for North American stores. For stores in the rest of the world the sealed deck showdown will be on March 27-29th, and the constructed tournament will be on April 3-5th.  We will promote all of the stores involved on our website to drive traffic to the events. Signing up is easy, all you have to do is e-mail Scott Clifton  and let us know you want to participate and we will sign you up and send you the following (FOR FREE!) to run the events with:

1 UFS Street Fighter Domination Starter Display

1 UFS Street Fighter: Domination Booster Display

1 UFS SNK: Cutting Edge Starter Display

1 UFS SNK: Cutting Edge Booster Display

1 UFS Soul Calibur 3 Playmat

8 UFS Promo Prize Packs

1 UFS Poster to advertise your special events

Both of these base set are tournament legal, giving you enough product to support up to 16 players, perfect to use for running both the sealed deck event followed by the constructed tournament the next weekend. We are even including fantastic prize support to hand out at the events.

We are giving you four displays of our current base set to run a UFS sealed deck showdown, and a constructed tournament. Any product that you don’t use for the events is yours to sell. This promotion will be a great way to introduce Universal Fighting System to your players. Let us take the risk and help you build a play group that will last for years to come.

We look forward to making you a part of the UFS family, welcome you to the team, and will see YOU in the arena.

Cutoff for sign-up in this promotion is Tuesday, March 3rd for international stores, and Tuesday, March 10 for stores in the United States. All requests must be received by 6:00pm Central Time on those respective dates.

Fantasy Flight Games licenses Tekken 6 characters for Universal Fighting System TCG

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) announced today that it has reached an agreement with Namco Bandai, Inc., to feature the characters from Tekken 6 for FFG's Universal Fighting System (UFS) trading card game.

"Tekken is the biggest, best selling fighting game in the world, and it makes perfect sense to include it in UFS," said Steve Horvath, VP of Marketing and Communications for Fantasy Flight Games and co-creator of UFS. "We are honored that Namco Bandai has allowed us to use some of the most well-known characters in videogames, and we know that UFS players will be very excited about it as well!"

"In addition, UFS Set 13 will be released months before the videogame," Horvath added. "UFS will be many players' first chance to see the new characters in Tekken 6!" Tekken 6 will be released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in Autumn 2009, and will be included in UFS Set 13 in June 2009.

The Universal Fighting System TCG features characters from fighting videogames battling each other for supremacy. Since 2005, UFS has released 11 different sets featuring characters from famous videogame licenses including Street Fighter, Soul Calibur IV, DarkStalkers, The King of Fighters, and Samurai Shodown.


About Fantasy Flight Games:
Roseville, Minnesota’s Fantasy Flight Games is a publisher of board, card, and role-playing games. Since it was founded by Christian T. Petersen in 1995, Fantasy Flight has published hundreds of successful titles, including Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, the Lord of the Rings series of board games; board and card games based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos and George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, and many original board games such as Twilight Imperium, Runebound, and Descent: Journeys in the Dark.

For more information, visit the Fantasy Flight Games website at www.fantasyflightgames.com.


For further information:
Fantasy Flight Games
Jeremy Stomberg
jstomberg@fantasyflightgames.com
Phone: (651) 639 1905