WizKids Inc., a subsidiary of the Topps Company, has announced the June release of the Star Wars PocketModel Trading Card Game, which combines features of trading card games (TCGs) with elements of constructible strategy games (CSGs).  As is the case with WizKids' Pirates CSG releases, no starter set is necessary for game play in the new collectible Star Wars game.  Each Star Wars PocketModel TCG Game Pack (SRP $4.99) contains four to eight styrene constructible vehicle models, six game cards, two micro dice, assembly instructions and complete rules.  Players can use cards, which feature characters and action scenes from all six Star Wars movies, to help control their fleets of PocketModel ships as they attempt to destroy each other's objectives.

 

WizKids plans to place the Star Wars PocketModel TCG in specialty retail and mass market channels as well as the core hobby.  All channels will be shipped simultaneously in June, but the game will be previewed (and samples given away) at the Star Wars Celebration IV, which will be held from May 24-28 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

 

The announcement of the Star Wars PocketModel TCG represents an extension of the licensing partnership between Lucas Licensing and the Topps Company, which as Ira Friedman, Topps Vice President of Publishing and Licensing, noted goes back 30 years to the very beginnings of the Star Wars franchise.  Topps has had the trading card license for Star Wars from the very first movie in the six-film saga, and now its subsidiary WizKids will be producing the only current Star Wars TCG.