Admin: Game Players Network and WARS TCG history

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Game Players Network and WARS TCG history

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{| class="wikitable expansion-infobox"
! colspan="2" | WARS TCG
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center;" | [[File:WARS-Incursion-rulebook-cover.png|260px]]
|-
! Full name
| WARS Trading Card Game
|-
! Publisher
| Decipher
|-
! First set
| Incursion (6 October 2004)
|-
! Last set
| Nowhere to Hide (7 January 2005)
|-
! Status
| Hiatus, May 2005
|-
! Inspired by
| Star Wars CCG
|}

'''WARS TCG''' ('''WARS Trading Card Game''') is Decipher's 2004 science-fiction card game. After Lucasfilm did not renew the Star Wars CCG license, Decipher built a new setting and reused the SWCCG turn, Force-pile economy, location control, and battle structure so existing Star Wars players could sit down without learning a different game.<ref name="rules">[https://www.cardgamecollector.com/images/wars-tcg/WARS-TCG-Incursion-Rulebook.pdf WARS TCG Incursion Rulebook], Decipher, 2004</ref>

It is not a Star Wars product. It is on this wiki because it is the game Decipher offered Star Wars CCG players as a replacement, using that system's bones.

[[File:WARS-introduction-cover.png|280px|thumb|Incursion-era introduction booklet cover. Earther, Gongen, Maverick, Shi, and Quay share the frame.<ref name="intro" />]]

== History ==

Decipher stopped publishing Star Wars CCG, Young Jedi, and Jedi Knights effective 31 December 2001.<ref name="ann">[https://web.archive.org/web/20020601152726/http://decipher.com/starwars/announcement122801.html The Star Wars Announcement], decipher.com (Wayback)</ref> The company kept other CCGs and in 2004 announced an original-property card game that used modified SWCCG mechanics. Working titles moved from ''WARS: The Mumon Rip'' to ''WARS: The Mumon Rift'' to ''WARS Trading Card Game'' before Gen Con 2004.

[[Game Players Network]] carried an early public leak: on 16 March 2004 Tim McKnight wrote from the GAMA retailer summit that Decipher was "bringing back the Star Wars CCG mechanic" in a game that fall, without naming a license.<ref name="gpnnews">[https://web.archive.org/web/20041012153722/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/news.asp?gm=starwars News Archives], gameplayersnetwork.com (Wayback, 12 October 2004)</ref>

'''Incursion''' released 6 October 2004 (330 cards: 110 rare, 110 uncommon, 100 common, plus starter-only cards and premium foils). Four 60-card starters and 15-card boosters (36 packs per box) were the SKUs.<ref name="rules" /> '''Nowhere to Hide''' followed 7 January 2005 (167 cards).<ref name="nth">[https://www.cardgamecollector.com/images/wars-tcg/WARS-TCG-Nowhere-To-Hide-Rulebook.pdf Nowhere to Hide Rulebook], Decipher, 2005</ref>

A third set, ''Edge of a Sword'', was written, art-cropped, and playtested; Decipher did not ship it. Playtest files later circulated. Further names on a late-2004 plan were ''Motion of Mind'' and ''Eye of Insight''. In May 2005 the game was placed on hiatus after sales and pre-orders for set 3 did not justify continuing.<ref name="warstore">[https://web.archive.org/web/20071215213437/http://www.thewarstore.org/Wars_TCG.html WARS TCG], The War Store (Wayback, 15 December 2007)</ref>

Chuck Kallenbach (a Star Wars CCG designer) wrote WARS fiction and rules-adjacent copy. Michael A. Stackpole wrote early short stories. John Howe designed the Quay. The printed introduction booklet is dated 10 November 2004, version 1.1.<ref name="intro">[https://archive.org/download/wars-complete-card-encyclopedia/WARS%20TCG%20-%20Introduction.pdf WARS TCG — An Introduction to the Story], Decipher, 10 November 2004 (Internet Archive scan)</ref>

== Setting ==

The booklet's premise: it is the 24th century. Three human factions already fight in Earth's Solar System when a rift — the Mumon Rift — admits a new planet and two alien races.<ref name="intro" />

* '''Earthers''' — Earth under the Central Governance Corporation
* '''Gongen''' — East Asian colonists on Mars, renamed Gongen after a 2071 disaster on Earth
* '''Mavericks''' — Outer Rim independents, often cybernetic
* '''Shi''' — advanced psychic aliens
* '''Quay''' — chitinous tribal slave race

'''Kizen''' are individuals with special abilities; on cards they are a character keyword. Independent cards work for any faction. Color, texture, and support icons along the left edge mark affiliation.<ref name="rules" />

== Mechanics (for a Star Wars player) ==

[[File:WARS-turn-phases.png|260px|thumb|Incursion rulebook turn strip. The six phases match SWCCG; "energy" is the Force pile.<ref name="rules" />]]

The Incursion rulebook's turn is the Star Wars turn with the nouns changed:<ref name="rules" />

{| class="wikitable"
! Phase !! WARS !! Star Wars CCG analogue
|-
| 1 || '''Activate''' — move energy from reserve to active pile || Activate Force
|-
| 2 || '''Control''' — drain energy at each location you control || Control / Force drain
|-
| 3 || '''Deploy''' — play cards from hand || Deploy
|-
| 4 || '''Battle''' — battle destiny, attrition, power, loss || Battle
|-
| 5 || '''Move''' — ships and units || Move
|-
| 6 || '''Draw''' — from the top of the active pile || Draw
|}

Battle still has destiny, attrition, power, and loss steps. Interrupts still respond; WARS names the response window a '''stack'''.

Differences a Star Wars player hits immediately:<ref name="rules" />

* There are '''five factions''' (plus Independent), not Light and Dark. Support icons on the left edge replace Light/Dark icons. Icons are a requirement, not a spend.
* '''Energy''' is Force. Reserve / active / used piles remain.
* '''Assets''' play like Effects (some sit under an opponent's location).
* '''Orders''' are a new type (compare Admiral's Order / Epic Event more than Interrupts).
* '''NōBots''' are a unit type next to characters, vehicles, and ships.
* '''Encampments''' are sites that can also sit under another location and grant icons only to your side.
* Battle vocabulary: '''casualty''' is Force lost from a lost battle; '''damage''' is "hit"; '''defense''' is forfeit.
* Locations still matter: sectors, stations, sites, related-location drains.

Starters were 60 cards, same as constructed Star Wars. Boosters were 15 cards (1 rare or foil plus 14 common/uncommon).<ref name="rules" />

== Sets ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Set !! Date !! Cards !! Notes
|-
| Incursion || 6 October 2004 || 330 || Base set; four named starters; 15-card boosters
|-
| Nowhere to Hide || 7 January 2005 || 167 || Adds Captain (ship + matching character: immune to attrition)
|-
| Edge of a Sword || unreleased (planned May 2005) || ~167 || Playtest files and scans later public
|-
| Motion of Mind || unreleased (planned Sep 2005) || — || Named on a 2004 schedule
|-
| Eye of Insight || unreleased (planned Jan 2006) || — || Named on a 2004 schedule
|}

== Pictures ==

Incursion card faces keep the SWCCG information density: destiny in the corners, lore under the title, type line, stats, game text, collector number. The back drops the Star Wars logo for aurora-over-space and the five faction names.

[[File:WARS-Incursion-sample-cards.png|640px]]

Sample Incursion faces (interrupt, asset, character, location, ship, order). Scans from the community encyclopedia of the printed set.<ref name="encyc">[https://archive.org/details/wars-complete-card-encyclopedia WARS TCG card scans and documentation], Internet Archive</ref>

[[File:WARS-card-back.png|200px]]

Card back.<ref name="back">[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WARS_trading_card_game_back.png WARS trading card game back], Wikipedia</ref>

== Later fiction ==

Decipher published free short stories to sell the setting. Mongoose released a ''WARS Roleplaying Game'' in 2005. After the TCG stopped, Grail Quest Books and later Arcbeatle Press licensed fiction (''The Battle of Phobos'', ''WARSONG''). That material is outside this wiki's SWCCG job; the card game itself ended in 2005.

== See also ==

* [[Decipher and the Star Wars CCG Lucasfilm license]]
* [[Game Players Network]] — GAMA leak of the SWCCG mechanic returning
* [[Creators of SWCCG]] — overlapping Decipher staff
* [[History of the Players Committee]] — what Star Wars players actually did after 2001

== Sources ==

* [https://www.cardgamecollector.com/images/wars-tcg/WARS-TCG-Incursion-Rulebook.pdf Incursion Rulebook] (Decipher PDF)
* [https://www.cardgamecollector.com/images/wars-tcg/WARS-TCG-Nowhere-To-Hide-Rulebook.pdf Nowhere to Hide Rulebook] (Decipher PDF)
* [https://archive.org/download/wars-complete-card-encyclopedia/WARS%20TCG%20-%20Introduction.pdf WARS TCG — An Introduction to the Story] (10 November 2004)
* [https://archive.org/details/wars-complete-card-encyclopedia WARS TCG card scans and documentation] (Internet Archive)
* [https://archive.org/download/wars-complete-card-encyclopedia/WARS%20Comprehensive_Rules_1.5.pdf Comprehensive Rules 1.5]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071215213437/http://www.thewarstore.org/Wars_TCG.html The War Store WARS TCG page] (Wayback, 15 December 2007)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041012153722/http://www.gameplayersnetwork.com/card/news.asp?gm=starwars GPN news] (GAMA mechanic leak, 16 March 2004)
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WARS_Trading_Card_Game WARS Trading Card Game] (Wikipedia, tertiary)

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<h2>References</h2>
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[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Decipher]]
[[Category:Card games]]

WARS TCG - Revision history

Admin: Game Players Network and WARS TCG history