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Reflections of a Game Designer II

The design work on Bounty Hunters is effectively done. There is still an outstanding issue between Lucas and myself over the Twi'lek Assassin. However, I have two versions of the character statted out, and we are likely to go with one or the other. The pacing over the last two months has been brutal. Every effort has been made to close the gap between Universe and Champions of the Force/Bounty Hunters and this has resulted in a hectic schedule, especially considering the convention season, AT-AT, and Attack on Endor all crept up during this time. I just cancelled out of the Wizard World Texas convention; I need a breather from the nonstop convention appearances of the last two years. I've enjoyed the forums, league play, tournaments, demos, and general convention scene... but I need a break. Sorry. Look for online postings, forums, and interviews for information.

Bounty Hunters took less research time than Champions of Force, although there were a couple of characters that prompted resident expert Bill Slavicsek to say "Who is that?" Coming up with a fresh concept for the 9th Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader was a bit challenging. Would a Vader that could potentially make 16 attacks in a single turn qualify as something different? There is a large fringe component with an emphasis on bounty hunters in this set, but there is also a strong Rebel line up which is going to cause the Stormtroopers some heartburn. I have waited a long time for an opportunity to flesh out the generic Rebel forces, and this is it.

The Extended Universe continues to have a strong showing. If you are a big EU fan, then 2006 is your year. I do not believe they will appear in these kinds of numbers in 2007.

On to starships...
Rob

The PS

The Vader in Champions of the Force is a commander, not a beatstick and weighs in at 50 points. I do not know what the Bounty Hunter Vader is going to cost, but he's a hybrid beatstick/commander. If he comes too close to the sheer terror of Darth Vader, Jedi Hunter I'll scale his abilities down a bit. I think people will have some interesting squad building decisions when considering the various commander Vaders.

The Rebels get a few figures in Champions of Force including a generic character that hits for 30, but it isn't exactly the cohesive solution I am looking for. Correctly costing the generic Rebel commander in Bounty Hunters is going to be an extremely difficult task.

We've started balancing point costs with an eye toward 200 point play. The two figures in Champions of the Force which cost more than Darth Vader, Jedi Hunter were costed as if they would be in a 200 point squad. We don't really care that you would only get a handful of points if you used them in a 100 point squad.

Bounty Hunters is indeed a huge set. But we couldn't pare down to 10 huges, so you'll get 11 instead.

Galactic Conquest is the current working title of the starships game. At this early stage in the design process, it is intended to be a separate standalone product.

Rob