Star Wars PocketModel TCG



The Star Wars PocketModel TCG (Trading Card Game) is manufactured by WizKids, Inc. The trading card game incorporates the use of constructible starship models, punched out of styrene cards, as well as special gameplay cards and dice rolls. The game was officially released in June 2007. Ship models include ship classes from all six films, representing Rebel, Imperial, Republic, and Separatist forces.

Rules
The game is played out in turns between 2-8 players. Each player has a deck of cards, used for combat and as objectives, and a fleet of playing pieces, called units. Each unit has a value represented by build stars. The number of build stars a unit has tells you what the unit costs to add to your fleet. Build stars are also often referred to by combat cards, objective cards, and in the rules of the game. Each unit also has four values (Attack, Damage, Defense, and Shields). Units that a player controls in the game are called friendly units. Units that the opponent controls in the game are called opposing units.

A game is played with at least 30 build stars of units (20 in the player's home zone, and 10 in reserves) along with a deck of at least 30 cards. Players use units to "strike" objectives in their opponent's home zone while defending their own home zone's objectives against opposing units. In order for units to "battle" each other, both players roll dice adding attack bonus attributes when applicable, trying to beat or tie the total defense value of the opposing unit. If a unit is hit, damage is cumulative and is calculated by adding the damage power of the friendly unit to any bonuses that may apply, and comparing that to the opposing unit's shield rating. If the damage sustained is greater than the shield value, the opposing unit is destroyed. A player loses when either all friendly units in play or all of their objectives are destroyed.

Cards
There are two types of cards in this set: Combat cards and Objective cards. Combat cards can be played only during a combat action, and they have special effects on the game. Objective cards mainly can be used only in the home zone of the player that the card belongs to. With the release of the "Scum and Villainy" expansion, new objectives, called Forward Objectives have a special ability allowing them to be played in the contested zone one at a time. Objective cards represent essential resources that opponents will seek to destroy, and also have special effects on the game.

Although not pertinent to game play, cards are numbered in each set according to rarity, beginning with common cards, then uncommon, followed by rare. Though not any rarer than previous rare cards in a set, the last few cards are printed with foil. These were initially exclusive to combat cards bearing images of prominent characters from the Star Wars Universe. With the release of the second expansion of the game (Order 66), however, foil printed objective cards were introduced. Reprints of other rare cards in foil with alternate images were issued for the purpose of being used as tournament prizes. Two versions of the "alternate art" foil cards were printed for prize support. The word "WINNER" appears in silver letters on the bottom-right side of the card designated for the tournament champion. Fellowship winners (runners up) are awarded the alternate art foil missing the "WINNER" label. These foil reprints have the same collector number as the original counterparts from the sets they are from.

Base Set Tournament Foils
 * 061 Nien Nunb
 * 082 Admiral Ackbar
 * 088 C-3PO
 * 091 Darth Vader
 * 093 Grand Moff Tarkin
 * 096 Lando Calrissian
 * 099 Mace Windu

Ground Assault Tournament Foils
 * 081 Boss Nass
 * 083 Chewbacca
 * 089 IG-100 MagnaGuard
 * 091 Lama Su
 * 098 R2-D2
 * 099 Rune Haako
 * 100 Wampa

Order 66 Tournament Foils
 * 39 Mace Windu
 * 45 Commander Cody
 * 49 Obi-Wan Kenobi

Icons
Icons printed on cards are used in conjunction with the icons printed on the bases of playing pieces (ships, vehicles, or creatures referred to as units) in the game. When a unit in a battle has an Icon in common with the combat card played with that unit, it receives the ability from that card. Units with green Match Icons benefit from card abilities with matching green icons. Units with silver Power Match Icons benefit from card abilities with matching silver icons, yet gain other special persistent abilities during game play as well. Gold Wild Icons grant abilities to a variety of units, such as those with a certain number of build stars.

Match Icon (green hexagon) — Card abilities work on units with matching icons on their bases. Wild Icon (yellow/gold triangle) — Unless specified, may be used with any unit. Power Match Icon (grey/silver diamond) — Card abilities work on units with matching icons on their bases, but also grants a persistent special ability.
 * Droid (astromech)
 * Laser (target lock)
 * Torpedo (proton torpedo)
 * Trooper (stormtrooper helmet)
 * Leader (4 delta shapes in formation with the lead highlighted)
 * Battle droidGA (battle droid head)
 * BlasterGA (blaster rifle)
 * TransportGA (line of clone troopers)
 * EliteO66 (two military stripes)
 * AirborneO66 (Republic gunship)
 * RuthlessSAV (Mandolorian helmet)
 * CommandCW
 * Force (lightsaber with wings)
 * Luck (dice)
 * Carrier (3 TIE fighters in a hanger) — You may use this ability instead of taking an action this turn. If this unit occupies your opponent’s home zone, put up to 2 build stars of units from your reserves into your opponent’s home zone.
 * Turbolaser (white starburst) — +1 damage against or units 4 or 5 build stars.
 * ArmorGA (black shield) — Reduce damage dealt to this unit by 1.
 * VeteranSAV (white heraldic banner w/black star) — If this unit destroys a unit that has the same or more build stars, flip its base and use the values printed there. This unit begins the game with the Veteran icon showing.
 * ConvertCW

GA First introduced in the Ground Assault release.

O66 First introduced in the Order 66 release.

SAV First introduced in the Scum and Villainy release.

CW First introduced in the Clone Wars release.

Units
The playing pieces in the game are made up of different starships, vehicles, and riding creatures from the Star Wars universe. A space unit is identified by the black background on its base, while a ground unit has a base with a beige background. Space units are able to attack other space or ground units in any zone. Ground units only attack other ground units in any zone, but are allowed to attack space units in a home zone, as well as defending against space units in the contested zone.

Affiliations
A player does not need to use units of the same affiliation, but may may mix and match units from different affiliations and eras to build a fleet. Affiliations are identified by their respective logos printed either on the base or the support stem. Affiliations may have significance in a game, due to certain cards targeting specific factions.


 * Republic
 * Separatist
 * Imperial
 * Rebel

Alternately, with the release of the "Order 66" expansion, the Jedi Order can be considered to be a faction in of itself with the introduction of combat and objective cards that target units with the word Jedi in the unit's name (i.e. Mace Windu's Jedi Fighter Tank).

Initially, the only unit without an allegiance to any faction is the Episode III variant of the Millennium Falcon unit which was released with a commemorative tin at the Star Wars Celebration IV event. However, with the release of "Scum and Villainy", more units were printed without faction affiliations.

Sets
Each set (the first set - also called the Base Set - and any subsequent expansion sets) is available in foil packs, which have a MSRP of $4.99. Designed to be playable in a mini-version of the game right out of the pack, each pack of the Star Wars PocketModel TCG includes:
 * 4-8 PocketModels on 2 styrene cards (usually one common card, and one uncommon or rare card)
 * 6 game cards
 * 2 micro dice
 * Rules

The full game is played with a fleet of PocketModels of up to 30 "build stars" (a fleet size point limiter with units ranging in point values from 1 to 5), and a deck of 30 cards.

The Base Set and the Ground Assault expansion contain 120 game cards (some of which are printed as foils), and 36 styrene cards of units (larger units filled an entire card, while smaller units fit 2 to 4 on a card). Units available in these packs include ground units with biege bases, and space units with black bases. Silver or gold borders around the bases indicate uncommon and rare trade value respectively, but have no bearing on gameplay. Units without a colored border on its base are common.

Beginning with the third set (or second expansion), Order 66, sets are comprised of 60 cards as well as a fewer number of styrene sheet of units.

Base Set
The Base Set (BS) was comprised of 83 space-only units of the following types:
 * ARC-170
 * A-wing
 * Corellian Corvette
 * Droid Fighter
 * Droid Tri-Fighter
 * Eta-2 Interceptor
 * Geonosian Fighter
 * Lambda-class Shuttle
 * Nebulon-B Escort Frigate
 * Providence-class Carrier/Destroyer
 * TIE Advanced
 * TIE Fighter
 * TIE Interceptor
 * Venator-class Star Destroyer
 * V-wing
 * X-wing
 * YT-1300
 * Y-wing

Ground Assault
The Ground Assault (GA) expansion set was released on November 14, 2007. This expansion includes ground units, such as AT-ATs and Spider Droids, and new rules for the use of ground units. The expansion includes 120 cards and 67 units.

Products for this expansion included the Battle for Hoth Tin (BOH), which included a fixed 30 card deck focusing on the Battle of Hoth, and AT-AT, AT-ST, snowspeeder and tauntaun PocketModels (MSRP $19.99). The tin also included an exclusive emplacement to be used with an equally exclusive objective card. Each Ground Assault expansion pack (MSRP $4.99) for this release contained 2 styrene cards (4-8 PocketModels), 6 cards, 2 dice and a rules sheet.

The pre-release tournament for Ground Assault was held at GenCon 2007. The expansion was originally scheduled for release in September 2007, but the release date was postponed to November. A promotional playmat poster was made available through mail-in offer with the purchase of five packs from participating retailers.

New gameplay rules and concepts in the Ground Assault expansion include:
 * Rules for ground units
 * New icons: Battle Droid, Blaster, Transport, and Armor

Unit types include:
 * Acclamator-Class Landing Craft
 * AT-AP
 * AT-AT
 * AT-ST
 * AT-TE
 * B-Wing Starfighter
 * Clone Turbo Tank
 * Imperial Landing Craft
 * Jedi/Republic Fighter Tank
 * Shield Generators (exclusive to the Battle of Hoth tin)
 * Snowspeeder
 * Speeder Bikes (trio)
 * Spider Droid
 * Tank Droid
 * Tauntaun Riders (pair)
 * TIE Bomber
 * TIE Crawler
 * Trade Federation AAT
 * Trade Federation Battleship
 * Trade Federation Landing Craft

Order 66
Order 66 (O66), a Jedi-betrayal-themed expansion set, was released on March 5, 2008. This expansion includes new ground units and airborne units, such as Republic and Droid Gunships and the AT-OT, and new rules for the use of discard objectives. The expansion includes 60 cards and 18 units, making this the beginning of a series of smaller expansions for 2008.

Products for this expansion included a starter set, Elite Assault Theme Deck (EA), which included a fixed 30 card deck focusing on the events surrounding the time that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine issued Order 66, a set of units which included two prebuilt Jedi Starfighter PocketModels (MSRP $19.99). Each Order 66 expansion pack (MSRP $4.99) contained 2 styrene cards (4-8 PocketModels), 6 cards, 2 dice and a rules sheet.

New gameplay rules and concepts in the Order 66 expansion include:
 * Discard Objectives
 * Cards with Jedi-specific targeting abilities
 * New icons: Elite, Airborne
 * Pocketmodel decals

Unit types include:
 * ARC-170
 * Droid Tri-Fighter
 * Droid Gunship (Confederacy HMP - Heavy Missile Platform)
 * Jedi Starfighter (Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor)
 * Jedi Interceptor
 * Geonosian Fighter
 * Swamp Speeder
 * BARC Speeders
 * Republic Gunship (LAAT/i - Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry)
 * AT-TE
 * AT-RT
 * AT-OT
 * UT-AT
 * Acclamator-class Landing Craft

In addition to units found in this collection, an additional oversize unit called a Mega Model was available during April as a prize for one of the tournaments scheduled for that month. It is a reprint of a unit with the same name form the collection (with the same statistics and markings), but printed on a 1/4" styrene sheet. Though a third taller than a 12 fl. oz. (355 mL) aluminum can, the unit is considered competition legal and may be used in games and tournaments.


 * 212th Attack Battalion Republic Gunship

Scum and Villainy
Scum and Villainy (SAV - sometimes S&V), a smuggler/bounty hunter-themed expansion is set to be released on May 28, 2008. Included with the usual booster pack distribution of this set, a starter set titled Thermal Detonator Theme Deck (TD) will be released with a fixed 30 card deck and set of units.

New gameplay rules and concepts in the Scum and Villainy expansion include:
 * Forward objectives (objectives played in the contested zone)
 * Units with alternative statistics on the reverse side of their baseplate
 * New icons: Ruthless, Veteran

Unit types include:
 * Outrider YT-2400
 * Jango Fett's Slave I Firespray-31
 * Boba Fett's Slave I Firespray-31
 * Imperial II-class Star Destroyer
 * Padme Amidala's Nubian Starship (rare chrome game piece)
 * Padme Amidala's Nubian Yacht
 * Jabba the Hutt's Sail Barge
 * Bantha-II Cargo Skiff (Sand Skiff)
 * Luke Skywalker's T-16 skyhopper
 * Cloud Car (Storm IV Twin-Pod Cloud Car)
 * Sandcrawler (Jawa Transport)
 * Elite Black Sun Z-95 Headhunter
 * Dewback Riders

In addition to units found in this collection, an additional Mega Model was available during May as a prize for one of the tournaments scheduled for that month. This unit is also considered competition legal and may be used in games and tournaments.


 * Slave I Firespray-31 (Jango Fett's)

Clone Wars
The Clone Wars (CW) expansion is set to be released July 26, 2008, to coincide with the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated theatrical release. This is the first of two sets WizKids will release that will focus on the clone wars-era.

New gameplay rules and concepts in the Scum and Villainy expansion include:
 * New icons: Convert, Command

Unit types include:
 * Twilight (Starfighter)
 * Munificent-class Star Frigate
 * General Grievous' Starfighter
 * Palpatine's Theta-class Shuttle
 * Republic Y-wing starfighter
 * V-19 Torrent Starfighter

Secret Weapons
The Secret Weapons (SW) expansion is set to be released sometime in 2008. Nothing more is known about this set other than the proposed name.

Galaxy at War
The Galaxy at War (GW) expansion is set to be released sometime in 2008. Nothing more is known about this set other than the proposed name.

Special Releases
The following is a list of special releases that were available in addition to the game's expansion updates:

Demo Pack

 * X-Wing w/2 TIE Fighters and 2 Cards (Star Wars Celebration IV WizKids Booth. Note: also available in Series 1 booster packs)
 * X-Wing w/2 TIE Fighters and 2 Cards (participating game shops on launch date only. Note: these had different colors)

Star Wars Celebration IV Tin
The Celebration IV 30th Anniversary commemorative tin (CIV tin) included the Millennium Falcon YT-1300 Light Freighter Episode III - Revenge of the Sith variant (called the CIV Falcon by collectors to differentiate it from the Millennium Falcon game piece in the Base Set), and five sealed booster packs.

Imperial Power-Up Pack
The units exclusive to the IPuP are: The promotional mail-aways are redeemable with three booster pack wrappers - the LGS IPuP has no such coupon.
 * The Imperial Power-up Pack (IPuP) come in three versions, all with exclusive ships and a 30 card Imperial-themed deck.
 * Devastator Imperial-class Star Destroyer
 * Darth Vader's Lambda-class Shuttle
 * Talon Squadron X-wing
 * Ebon Squadron TIE Fighter
 * Spear Squadron TIE Fighter
 * 2 Dice (Red or Black)
 * The Target version came with three "No Disintegrations" combat cards, plus a mail-in form for Bull's Eye Squadron ARC-170, Wing 20 Droid Tri-Fighter, Wing 38 Droid Tri-Fighter
 * The Walmart and Meijer version came with three "I Am Your Father" combat cards, plus a mail-in form for Razor Squadron ARC-170, Wing 85 Droid Tri-Fighter, Wing 57 Droid Tri-Fighter
 * The local game shop (LGS) version came with three "Meditation Chamber" combat cards

Battle of Hoth Tin
This Star Wars 30th Anniversary commemorative Battle of Hoth tin (BOH or Hoth tin) introduced a new type of playable piece called an emplacement that was deployable with an included exclusive Echo Base objective card. Due to factory errors, no rules book/model construction sheet was included, and, along with the exclusive card, only the following items were packaged in the tin:


 * 1 Blizzard Force AT-AT
 * 2 Blizzard Force AT-ST
 * 2 Blizzard Force Speeder Bikes
 * 4 Echo Tauntaun Riders
 * 4 Rogue Recon Snowspeeders
 * 1 Hoth Shield Generator

Battle of Hoth Playmat
A mail-away coupon for a promotional Battle of Hoth-themed playmat (Hoth mat) was available on the official WizKids site, or at an LGS upon the purchase of five booster packs, and redeemable when sent in with five wrappers with the corresponding receipts for them. The playmat is divided into zones for use in playing the game, with other areas labeled for placement of cards and game pieces held in reserve.

Elite Assault Theme Deck
The Elite Assault Theme Deck (EAD) was a starter set from the Order 66 expansion containing a fixed 30 card deck and a fixed set of units.

Thermal Detonator Theme Deck
The Thermal Detonator Theme Deck (TDD) is a starter set from the Scum and Villainy expansion, and will contain a fixed 30 card deck and a fixed set of units.

The Force Unleashed Tin
Among the PocketModel units that will be available in Lucasfilm's multimedia release, the following are three units exclusive to The Force Unleashed Tin (TFU or TFU tin):
 * Rogue Shadow (Juno Eclipse's starfighter)
 * Bull Rancor
 * Rancor Rider (Felucian on Rancor)

Also introduced with this special release is a cloaking ability not yet elaborated on by WizKids.