STAW - New releases for 2017

Bring your Star Trek adventures in 2017 with Wave 28 and Wave 29 of Star Trek Attack Wing. With an all-new ship and the return of two classics in both of the waves! RELEASING JANUARY 2017 CUT-OFF DATE TO PREORDER DECEMBER 2016 RRP: £13.99 WZK71283 Borg Sphere 4270: WZK71268 USS Defiant: WZK72338 Calindra: RELEASING MARCH 2017 CUT-OFF DATE TO PREORDER JANUARY 2017 STAW Wave 29 RRP: £13.99 WZK71281 Bioship Alpha: WZK71272 USS Excelsior: WZK72335 Muratas: This line will be order only and we will not be getting any stock for the shelves. So if you want any please order them with us before the deadline date.

Tiny Leaders

Across the Multiverse, there have been many different kinds of leaders. Khans led the clans of Tarkir. Praetors led the sections of New Phyrexia. Konda led the armies of Kamigawa. But lately, there have been new, very popular kinds of leader. And they look something like this:




Geist of Saint Traft; Ezuri, Renegade Leader; Slobad, Goblin Tinkerer; andSygg, River Cutthroat

Yes, those are all legends—but don't think this is just Commander. No, the Tiny Leaders format is a new variant of Commander, and something that is quickly exploding in popularity.

Welcome to the Tiny Leaders format!


Geist of Saint Traft | Art by Igor Kieryluk

Whether you've heard of the format before or this is your first time discovering it, you're in the right place. Today, I'm going over the format's rules and history, and then jump right into to some of the decks you can build in it!

It's a format that's sort of a mix between Commander and Legacy—and it's incredibly fun.

TINY RULES, BIG GAME

Popularized up in frosty Manitoba by Bramwell Tackaberry and Steven Hamonic, the format is a spinoff of Commander with a few twists. The biggest one encompasses the "tiny" nature of the name: none of your cards (including your commander!) can have a converted mana cost of more than 3!

This makes for an interesting deck-building challenge. First, find a commander that fits the restriction that you want to build around. Then, figure out how to make it work with only cards that cost three mana or less.

Let me lay out the base rules here:

Each player starts with 25 life.
You have a legendary commander that determines your deck's color identity. You can cast over and over for 2 more each time, just like in normal Commander, except it must cost three or less.
Your deck size is 50 cards and it must be singleton (except for basic lands).

In addition to everything on the Vintage banned and restricted list, other banned cards include: Counterbalance; Earthcraft; Edric, Spymaster of Trest; Goblin Recruiter; Karakas; Mana Drain; Metalworker; Mind Twist; Mishra's Workshop;Painter's Servant; Skullclamp; Strip Mine; Survival of the Fittest; and Umezawa's Jitte.

You can't use Derevi, Empyrial Tactician; Erayo, Soratami Ascendant; or Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary as your commander

The format is generally played one-on-one, unlike Commander, but you certainly can play multiplayer.

Notably, another departure from Commander is that there is no commander damage.

You can see the full rules here. But, to shortcut in your head, if you think one-on-one Commander with 50-card decks and only cards that cost three mana or less, you're there. (And, while we won't be getting into the intricacies of sideboarding in a new format today, you're also allowed a ten-card sideboard.)

New for Pokemon

New this week for Pokemon fans are two new triple packs with pins...

Both of these come with three packs of Steeam Seige and cost £12

Star Wars : Empire v Rebellion

Gambit Games is going to be helping to host a Star Wars themed gaming evening for a local company very soon and because of that I have been looking at a number of games that we have to see if they can be played in 30/45 minutes.

The first one I have looked at is Empire vs Rebellion from Fantasy Flight.

This is a really nice 'black jack' style game for two players. It has been a while since I played so I refreshed my memory of the rules by having a look at the DICE TOWER review of the game which covers it reasonably well...

I will be bringing this along to the Tuesday game night this week, so if you want a game please let me know.

STAW: Temporal War FINAL STANDING

After three events the final score for the event was ...

1) Brendan Hay-Ellis: Win-Win-Win (365 Fleet Points)

2) Chris Braz: Win-Loss-Win (341 Fleet Points)

3) Peter Knapp: Loss-Win-Win (270 Fleet Points

4) Ash Hay-Ellis: Loss-Win-Loss (201 Fleet Points)

5) Rob Garcia-Palmer: Win-Loss-Loss (145 Fleet Points)

6) Will Page: Loss-Loss-Loss (106 Fleet Points)

There was a general sentiment that the difference between drawing the Bajoran Interceptor blind (2 attack, 3 total HP) and Bioship blind (6 attack, 11 total HP) was a little extreme! Ash still managed to come 4th with the Interceptor draw... The Bioship draw fleet ranked first - did that influence the outcome?!

We all had a good time, interesting to see the winning fleet used two old TOS Constitution class ships (with fighter support), Rob once again played a joke fleet: the Ferengi! Fun, but lacking some punch. I gave a trick fleet to Will and seeing it was his 2nd time playing wasn't able to fully utilise it (and had to leave early)...

Archer

A few weeks back we got copies of the new love letter game ARCHER...

Archer: Once You Go Blackmail... takes the engine at the heart of Love Letter and adds intrigue, vice, and phrasing as well as new card effects.

In short, each player starts the game with one character card in hand; one character is set aside out of play. On a turn, a player draws one card, then plays one of their two cards, carrying out the effect of their character. Try to knock others out of the round or have the highest number in hand when the round ends. Win enough rounds, and you win the game.

This version of the game includes cards that interact with the hidden card and changes the game a little.

Here are the new cards, including those with new rules...

I think it looks pretty cool. I have a demo copy for anyone that fancies a game.

Legendary Firefly

Following Legendary Encounters: Alien and Legendary Encounters: Predator comes Legendary Encounters: Firefly, a stand-alone game utilizing the Legendary Encounters system set in the Firefly universe.

It came in last week and is a game I have been looking forward to. Here is a quick look at some of the cards...