Back in early 2020, after massive layoffs, Steve Horvath gave an interview with Team Covenant at the GAMA Trade Show to address the future of Asmodee North America and FFG. He talked about Atomic Mass Games, the RPGs moving to Edge, and gave the first hints of FFG separating it’s board and card games and it’s miniatures games. The Miniatures games were separated into a new studio called Fantasy Flight Miniatures.
My conception of what the FFM logo may have looked like.
They worked for nearly all of 2020 on products for games like X-Wing, Armada, and Legion. Many of the expansions that are coming out now, have John Shaffer listed as “Head of Studio”. This might have surprised some as FFG’s Head of Studio has been Chris Gerber since Andrew Navaro left at the end of 2019. John Shafer was in fact head of studio for Fantasy Flight Miniatures, a dedicated gaming studio.
It is strange, that in November of 2020 this studio was dissolved and everyone was told that they were merging into Atomic Mass Games, under the guise of “Needing a dedicated miniatures studio”. Why not simply have FFM absorb Atomic Mass Games? We talk about this in the latest episode of Double Crit!
The new Dual Faction Wookiee Warriors expansion got some amazing new previews from Atomic Mass Games! Star Wars Legion might well be on it’s way to a sort of Wookiee Sub-Faction!
Wookiee Warriors – Kashyyk Defenders Units Card
The new Kashyyk Defenders unit card offers a new way to run wookiees, trading in black dice for white, but gaining range 3, and losing their melee benefits and a training slot, but gaining Sharpshooter 1. Combine this with some new heavy weapon options and we might get some really cool new options!
Wookiee Chieftan Unit Card
The wookiees also get a “Wookiee Chieftan” commander card. This card is unique, which might seem strange for a non-named character, but it boasts some very nice well rounded stats that should serve as a capable mid-level commander.
Wookiee Upgrade Card Spread
We’re also getting new command cards, a Long Gun wookiee, and a new upgrade called “Into the Fray”. These are still shrouded in Mystery.
Yoda’s Card Spread
Yoda will also be coming with a new way to run your existing Chewbacca miniature – this time as a commander for the Republic! While this expansion does NOT include a Chewbacca it will offer a new unit card and a new command card, (Which appears to be a 2-pip).
We also seem to be getting a host of new upgrades, such as “Protector” and “Burst of Speed” here too! Curious to see what these do. Will burst of speed be a force power that might also help Vader, Palpatine, and Luke? Will Protector be a guardian boost that also helps Royal Guard? Let’s wait and see!
Would you like to play a game? A Forgotten Dream is a brand new experience unlike anything I’ve ever done before! It’s an interactive adventure that you help contribute to directly!
Each chapter will follow a team of heroes through their adventures in the Star Wars Universe – and in much the same way that you would make choices in a Role Playing Game, you can leave character choices in the comments!
RPG-Level Supporters on Patreon can also add suggestions and will vote on multiple choices after each chapter! Then everyone gets to watch the next episode and vote on more choices! Where will the story take us?
The story so far:
Your team was contacted by Axe Lorras, a VIP of the Disphasia Fabric Company. He hired the whole team for a top secret mission to the forbidden world of Geonosis, to collect Geonosian Silk – a material so rare, you’ve never even heard of it before. He also wanted you to be on alert for “Anything else that looks valuable” – whatever that might mean. The team suspects that Disphasia Fabric Company deals in more than just fabric. The team arrived on Geonosis without incident – and upon finding a warehouse with some interesting containers and still-active computer terminals, the team was interrupted with a flash of light! Suddenly Imperial Stormtroopers had them surrounded and stun bolts were fired from all directions.
Ever wanted to change up your Armada game a bit? Secret Fleet is an alternative ruleset that has players keep their equipped upgrades and personnel secret! Once an upgrade is used it finally gets revealed! Imagine the possibilities!
Recent Reviews of Wave 10 have hit the internet and we’ve now finally got all the cards from Armada’s Wave 10 spoiled! Video breakdown shenanigans will continue, but for now I’ve gone ahead and cleaned up the card capture from video reviews and I’m posting the pictures here:
This year for April Fool’s Day, I had been preparing for awhile, the best possible use of those tiny little FFG Proof of Purchase tokens they give you in every expansion! Here’s the video!
If you liked the video and want the files to try and do this yourself – here are some of them!
Graphic for the full 6′ x 4′ image. Sample of the individual sheets I printed out to go on foam board terrain pieces!
You are free to use these for non-commercial purposes – and I’d love to see what you guys come up with! Be sure to tag me on social media and post pictures in discord!
It was a busy weekend full of streaming, and at the end of it all we have lots of updates for all of our favorite games!
Video Recap of Ministravaganza 2021
Legion
Star Wars Legion easily had the biggest showing – with lots of details on the new A-A5 Speeder Truck and the LAAT/le heavy vehicles getting ready to come out soon. But in addition to those reveal we also got tons of info on an entire new Kashyyk wave, including Grandmaster Yoda himself! Wookiees were confirmed to be dual faction, which not only bring the classic wookiee design that the rebels have seen, but also introduce a new ranged configuration to run wookiees! Lots of art was spoiled for almost everything in this new wave!
X-Wing
X-Wing was also not without surprises! In addition to spoiling the rest of the pilots from the upcoming squadron packs, we got a preview for a new Huge ship! The Trident Class Assault Ship, otherwise known as the Mechanical Squid of Doom, is coming as a dual faction huge ship for both the separatists and scum! It was also teased that the Razor Crest, from The Mandalorian, will eventually be making it’s way to X-Wing with a new piece of teaser art! It was also mentioned that the Razor Crest is pretty far out in terms of release date, so don’t hold your breath!
Armada
Unfortunately, Armada didn’t get any hints of future content past the Wave 10, it’s next big release slated for an April release. We did however, get some additional previews of 3 cards for each expansions pack. This will at least give the Armada community something to talk about in the mean time – but the lack of a dedicated Armada developer felt like a gaping hole in this entire weekend for me, as Armada is by far my favorite game and now it feels like it’s in a troublesome spot for new content.
Marvel Crisis Protocol
MCP got a nice slice of news, with a new Spider-Man focused wave coming soon, featuring classic villains like Kraven the Hunter and Mysterio, and an all new Amazing Spider-Man! Plus some teases for future X-Men releases in the way of Omega Red!
It was a weekend filled with lots of painting and hobby streams, and also a handful of spoilers – all in all pretty exciting! Let’s see what happens in September during Gen Con, when they are gonna try and do this again for MiniStravaganza 2!
To close out 2020, I’ve ranked my top 10 Miniatures of 2020! As I’ve done previously, I’m only concentrating on miniatures that I cover, and it helps that I can post unboxings for each of them! Here’s my video breakdown!
Top 10 Miniatures of 2020 Video
And if you’re interested in direct links to any of the mentioned products and their individual unboxings – Here is that list!
Links to the products listed:
Monster Fight Club Trees – https://youtu.be/U1w8XzXnQ9A Legion Terrain – https://youtu.be/CkEU4H-etII He Man – https://youtu.be/nUp0ENebd60 Skeletor – https://youtu.be/XjHNfwxFU-M Clone Wars Squadrons – https://youtu.be/hgcSk8Y0b6I Munificent – https://youtu.be/-OW6XNx-6lY ETA-2 w/Docking Ring – https://youtu.be/wXdGUyUoXB0 Magneto – https://youtu.be/ek5iVvv41fM TIE Brute – https://youtu.be/umHhK8MfBPg Clan Wren Mandos – https://youtu.be/H-IN9QyHJ0g Thanos – https://youtu.be/K1Ho4kMdw24 Wolverine – https://youtu.be/CMO9sVL100g ARC Troopers – https://youtu.be/_q99QXNuHwo Darth Maul – https://youtu.be/G0acFmJ8Ec0 Starhawk – https://youtu.be/GNW_M0E2OUA
Ahsoka Tano is one of the most popular characters in all of Star Wars, and is expected to finally show up in live action this season in The Mandalorian Season 2! Let’s take a look at her lightsabers from Galaxy’s Edge!
