The Last 'Clone Wars' Comics

After five seasons, Star Wars: The Clone Wars ended abruptly last year with the final episode left in limbo. Lucasfilm later announced that the last season would be released in October on Blu-ray and DVD, with bonus content that would include what had been in the works for season six. However, that meant that story arcs that never made it to full production would remain unresolved - including the subject of the series: what happened to Darth Maul.

Dark Horse recently announced that it will release a four-issue miniseries as a final chapter to Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir will debut in May!

According to series writer Jeremy Barlow, the story arc is not a "series finale." "The Maul comic is very cool, but it wasn't the series finale," and from a tweet from Pablo Hidalgo - Lucasfilm Sotrygroup Member - "It was a 4-part arc that fell beyond what was already in production."

*This is the final year for Dark Horse's comic license for Star Wars.

Star Wars VII - In Theaters December 2015

Disney officially announced yesterday that the seventh and latest Star Wars film in the series will premiere December 18, 2015. Director J.J. Abrams also confirmed that the reason he and Lawrence Kasdan took over the screenwriting was due to the time pressure exerted by Disney to have the movie roll out in 2015:

"It became clear that given the time and given the process and the way the thing was going that working with Larry in this way was going to get us where we needed to be and when we needed to be."

The question in Bad DM's mind now is, will the quality of the Star Wars: Episode VII script succumb to Disney's pressure to meet a self-imposed deadline? Will Star Wars fans be let down yet once again? Please, share your thoughts with us.

FFG's Store Championships

Running from February through March 2014, Fantasy Flight Games announced a new tournament level for organized play: the 2014 Store Championships. This new "premier tier"  format is the result of the reduction in the number of FFG-run Regional Tournaments. Through these new Store Championships, local stores will be able to host "high level" events that are a few steps below a Regional Championship tournament but bigger than the "standard 2014 tournament kits."

Stores that host successful Store Championship events will be considered as candidates to host one of the Regional Championship events later in the year. The six games for which Store Championships will be available are:

1. A Game of Thrones: The Card Game;
2. Android: Netrunner The Card Game;
3. Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game;
4. Star Wars: The Card Game;
5. Warhammer: Invasion The Card Game;
6. X-Wing

The event kits are a step up from FFG's standard 2014 tournament kits. Besides exclusive prizes, they also include prizes for the champion, finalists, Top 4, and participation prizes for up to 32 players. The living card game kits feature a championship plaque and deck box for the winner, a deck box for the runner up, four custom "Top 4" playmats for the top four participants, and 32 alternate art cards with full-bleed graphic design as participation prizes. The X-Wing kit will include a championship plaque and card box for the winner, a card box for the runner up, four acrylic range rulers for the top four players, and 32 Ten Numb ship cards featuring movie still art as participation prizes.

This is not the same format as FFG's Game Nights.

Top 5 RPGs - Summer 2013

Top 5 Role Playing Games
1.  Pathfinder (Paizo Publishing)
2.  Star Wars (Fantasy Flight Games)
3.  Dungeons & Dragons (Wizards of the Coast)
4.  Iron Kingdoms (Privateer Press)
5.  Fate Core System (Evil Hat Productions)


*  This chart of the Top 5 Roleplaying Games (hobby channel) reflects sales in Summer 2013.  The charts are based on ICv2 interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

Top 10 Card/Dice Games - Summer 2013

Top 10 Hobby Channel Card/Dice Games
1.  Munchkin (Steve Jackson Games)
2.  Marvel Legendary (Upper Deck)
3.  Android: Netrunner (Fantasy Flight Games)
4.  Quarriors! (WizKids/NECA)
5.  7 Wonders (Asmodee)
6.  Smash Up (AEG)
7.  Bang! (daVinci Games)
8.  Dominion (Rio Grande Games)
9.  DC Deckbuilding Game (Cryptozoic Games)
10.  Star Wars LCG (Fantasy Flight Games)


*  This chart of the Top 10 Card/Dice Games (hobby channel) reflects sales in Summer 2013.  The charts are based on interviews with retailers, distributors, and manufacturers.

Summer 2013 - Best Summer Ever For Games

According to a new report in ICv2's Internal Correspondence, the long bull market for game sales continued throughout the Summer season, with some retailers describing it as "the best summer ever". For the first time, single-category stores selling almost exclusively CCGs, with event space, appear to be developing as a viable business model.

The Kickstarter phenomenon is still kicking - no pun intended - with more Kickstarted products going into trade release and, in general, selling in rough proportion to their popularity with Kickstarter.

Exposure on the second season of TableTop continues to have a sales impact when it comes to bringing games to your tabletop - again, no pun intended - with varying opinions on whether its the same size or a little smaller when compared to last year. As owner/operator of a gaming store, we can tell you that TableTop has had a considerable impact on the sale of board games. Every month we get several orders for whatever board game Wil Wheaton just featured in TableTop. If he ever visits Puerto Rico, dinner is on me!

Major shifts in the bestseller charts include Shifts below the top in collectible games, a new #1 in board games, Steve Jackson's Munchkin's return to the top in card games, Star Wars moving up in miniature games despite supply problems, and a *BIG* move in the RPG category. All these lists and more coming up tomorrow and the following days!

Star Wars RPG: Suns Of Fortune

The fourth quarter of 2013 will see the release of another sourcebook for Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. The upcoming book, Suns of Fortune, will focus on the Corellian sector and the vehicles it is famous for.

The setting described in Suns of Fortune is famous for being the birthplace of smuggler extraordinaire Han Solo, as well as Wedge Antilles. It is a region of space struggling to remain independent during the Empire's consolidation of power.

Suns of Fortune will feature nine "modular encounters" for the Game Master to integrate into his Edge of the Empire campaign, as well as dozens of new vehicles and three new alien species. SRP will be $39.95.

Star Wars: The Card Game - The Battle Of Hoth Force Pack

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

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

The Star Wars #1 - George Lucas' Original Screenplay

Creators: (W) Victor Gischler (A) Juan Ferreyra (CA) Dave Johnson

Before Star Wars, there was The Star Wars! J.W. Rinzler and Mike Mayhew present this authorized adaptation of George Lucas’s rough-draft screenplay of what would eventually become a motion picture that would change the world! High adventure and derring-do from longer ago, in a galaxy even further away!

Available in regular, variant and ultravariant covers, Dark Horse offers customers the official adaptation of George Lucas's original Star Wars screenplay. Written J.W. Rinzler, executive editor at LucasBooks, The Star Wars tells the intergalactic tale of good versus evil featuring the popular characters that made the franchise legendary.

“While researching in the Lucasfilm Archives I’ve found many treasures—but one which truly astounded me was George’s rough draft for The Star Wars. His first complete imaginings were hallucinating to read—mind blowing,” said writer J.W. Rinzler. “While working with George on another book project, I once asked if we could adapt his rough draft. He was hesitant. Years later, with Dark Horse’s invaluable help, we showed him a few drawn and colored pages of what it might look like. He gave us the okay.”

Star Wars RPG: Edge of Rebellion

Fantasy Flight Games will release a limited edition beta-test rulebook for Star Wars: Age of Rebellion soon. The book will be available through Fantasy Flight Games' webstore and participating retailers. The Star Wars: Age of Empires beta-test rulebook will consist of 224 pages and will be softcover. It will be retailed at a MSRP of $29.95. The beta period will end on October 8, 2013.

There are three planned cross-compatible Star Wars RPG systems from Fantasy Flight Games. The first is the recently released Star Wars RPG: Edge of the Empire Core Rulebook. The first adventure for this system - Beyond the Rim - shouldbe released before the end of the 3rd Quarter. Star Wars: Age of Rebellion is the second system and Star Wars: Enter the Unknown the third.  Star Wars: Enter the Unknown is expected to be released during the 4th Quarter of 2013.

Star Wars: Age of Rebellion allows players to take the roles of Rebel Alliance members fighting the Galactic Empire during the Rebellion time period. Unlike the final version, this book will have much less art and background material because, being a beta, it is intended to generate feedback. For the same reason, the information on adversaries, equipment, and vehicles is abbreviated to focus on the playtesting.

Balance Of The Force: Star Wars TCG Expansion

According to Fantasy Flight Games, the fourth quarter of 2013 will see the release of Balance of the Force, the second deluxe expansion set for Star Wars: The Card Game.  The expansion will introduce two multiplayer formats and new objectives sets for the game's six affiliations.

The multiplayer formats allow two-versus-two team play, as well as a format where as many as three players to team up against a single threat.    The new objective sets allow the use of new mechanics and characters that can be used in both head-to-head play as well as in the new multiplayer formats.

The Balance of the Force expansion will contain 154 new cards, including Jerjerrod's Task (a dark side challenge deck), The Hunt for Skywalker (a light side challenge deck), 6 new objective sets, 1 multiplayer Death Star dial, and new rules.

Expansion Packs for Star Trek: Attack Wing

In March, WizKids announced plans for Star Trek: Attack Wing, a new board game in its Star Trek Heroclix line.  Expected to be released in August during Gen Con Indy, the game uses miniatures and the same FlightPath maneuver system as the Star Wars X-Wing game from Fantasy Flight Games.

Games will be played on Star Trek space maps distributed via an organized play program and will be sold in non-blind configurations with three-ship starter box sets. However, despite sharing the same mechanics system, the Star Trek: Attack Wing game is not compatible with Star Wars X-Wing.

Just this past Monday, WizKids announced eight single-ship expansion packs for Star Trek: Attack Wing.  The first expansion packs for the game are:

1. Federation U.S.S. Reliant Expansion Pack.
2. Federation U.S.S. Enterprise Expansion Pack.
3. Romulan I.R.W. Valdore Expansion Pack.
4. Romulan I.R.S. Apnex Expansion Pack.
5. Klingon I.K.S. Gr'oth Expansion Pack.
6. Klingon I.K.S. Negh'var Expansion Pack.
7. Dominion Kraxon Expansion Pack.
8. Dominion Gor Portas Expansion Pack.

Star Wars Rebels: The Rebellion Begins

When the popular series Star Wars: The Clone Wars was cancelled, recent LucasFilm purchaser Walt Disney Co. ("Disney") promised a new Star Wars animated series that would be set in an era as of yet unexplored by any previous Star Wars movie or TV series. Star Wars Rebels is Disney's attempt at fulfilling that promise.

Today, Disney announced that it had already commenced work on the upcoming new animated series Star Wars Rebels.  The new series will be set in the 20-year period between Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.  This is the time when dread sith lord Darth Sidious ruled the Empire and his efforts were focused on securing the Empire's iron grip on the galaxy by hunting down the remaining Jedi knights.  This also the time when a fledgling rebellion against the Empire was born and began to take shape.

Simon Kinberg (X-Men First Class, Sherlock Homes, Mr. and Mrs. Smith) is writing the first episode and is also consulting on the new live action Star Wars movies.  He is also co-executive producer of Star Wars Rebels, along with Dave Filoni (supervising director Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and Greg Weisman (Gargoyles, Young Justice, The Spectacular Spider-Man).

Star Wars Rebels will be produced by a team from LucasFilm Animation formed by many of the talents that made Star Wars: The Clone Wars.  Among them are former design lead and now art director Killian Plunket; and Joel Aron, CG Supervisor for the Clone Wars series who will also be CG Supervisor for Rebels.

The 1-hour premiere of Star Wars Rebels will be in fall 2004 in the Disney Channel.  It will be followed by a regular half-hour animated series on the Disney XD channel.