Star Trek: Attack Wing Mini-Tournament at GenCon

As part of their release of their new miniatures game Star Trek: Attack Wing during GenCon, Wizkids announced yesterday that it will be hosting sealed/constructed format mini-tournaments in the tournament hall.  As explained in the release on their website:

"In these sealed/constructed battles, players will be grouped into pods of 4 players.  Each player will receive one of the initial 8 expansion packs by random draw.  Players must use the expansion ship they receive to fill out a 100 point build (players will need to bring their own collection of ships from the Starter Set and/or expansion sets which will be available for purchase at the WizKids Games booth).  Players in the group will be paired up randomly for the first round of head-to-head play.  The winners from the first round will play against each other in a second round to determine a final winner of the mini-tournament.  The mini-tournament winner will receive an additional expansion pack (by random draw) and a special Promo Card."

The entry fee for the mini-tournaments is $18 per person (entry fee includes the random expansion pack).  The Star Trek: Attack Wing Mini-Tournaments will run on Thursday from 1:00pm to 9:00pm; Friday & Saturday from 10:00am to 8:00pm; Sunday from 10:00am to 2:00pm.  The 4-player mini-tournaments will start once a group has four players.

Obligatory Cthulu Expansion For Smash Up!

When Alderac Entertainment Group announced their shuffle-building card game Smash Up, they sold out right there in GenCon.  In Smash Up, players draft two factions from the eight 20-card faction decks and shuffle them together and start competing to smash up bases.  The included factions are "Aliens", "Dinosaurs", "Ninjas", "Pirates", "Robots", "Tricksters", "Wizards", and "Zombies".  The combination of the factions is what provides the fun and challenge in this game.  For example, a Ninjas/Zombies deck must be played differently than a Ninja/Dinosaurs deck, or a Pirates/Aliens deck.

AEG just announced plans for an expansion to Smash Up.  It will be called The Obligatory Cthulu Set.  Set in the Cthulu universe, The Obligatory Cthulu Set adds a new "madness" mechanic to the shuffle building game.  It also includes recurrent Cthulu Mythos groups and themes, such as the Miskatonic University, the fishmen of Innsmouth, Elder Things, and Cthulu cultists.  Like the original Smash Up, each faction in The Obligatory Cthulu Set is composed of a 20-card deck.  The expansion also includes eight new bases, 30 madness cards, victory point tokens and game rules.  It is expected to retail at $19.99.

Star Trek: Attack Wing Organized Play To Begin In September

In September, WizKids will launch a 6-month long storyline organized play event for Star Trek: Attack Wing, its new Star Trek miniatures tactical space combat game.  Participating stores will host tournaments where players challenge each other for dominance of the Alpha Quadrant, as part of the Dominion War.  Players will collect a participation prize each month and will compete for a new playable ship that will be offered only through the organized play events.  At the end of the six months, the player with the best record will be awarded the title of Fleet Admiral as well as a special grand prize.

The Dominion War story line was mostly developed throughout the Deep Space Nine series and features the struggle and chaos faced by the Federation and their allies when the Jem'Hadar and the Breen Confederacy established a presence in the Alpha Quadrant and attempted to conquer everything in their path with the help of their allies, the Cardassian Union.

The Star Trek: Attack Wing Starter Set will be released in August and includes the U.S.S. Enterprise-D/Galaxy-class, the I.K.S. Maht-H'a/Vor'Cha-class, and the I.R.W. Khazara/D'deridex-class ships as well as a rulebook and all the components necessary for play.  August will also see the release of the first 8 expansion packs for Star Trek: Attack Wing, two each of Federation, Klingon, Romulan and Dominion faction ships.