Below is a brief blurb for each of the decks, along with a note as to its current status. If you try any of them-- but especially if you try one that needs testing-- e-mail me and let me know how it worked out.

• Nute Gunray : Download (122K ZIP'ed PDF)
• Lando and Lobot : Download (363K ZIP'ed PDF)
• Young Luke and Old Ben : Download (163K ZIP'ed PDF)
• Bounty Hunters : Download (90K ZIP'ed PDF)
• Master Qui-Gon and Padawan Obi-Wan : Download (57K ZIP'ed PDF)
• Grand Moff Tarkin : Download (82K ZIP'ed PDF)
• Jedi Master Even Piell : Download (47K ZIP'ed PDF)
• Jedi Master Kit Fisto : Download (48K ZIP'ed PDF)
• AT-ST Walker : Download (235K ZIP'ed PDF)
• Paper miniatures : Download (107K PDF)

Nute Gunray

Download (122K ZIP'ed PDF)

This deck has Nute Gunray, viceroy of the Trade Federation, backed up by two powerful droideka and two weaker battle droids. There is a special rule that governs the droideka shields.

In Phantom Menace Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon encounter a few droideka and it ends up as a stand-off. I take this to mean that the jedi can't easily dispatch the shielded droids, but they aren't in terrible danger either. The deck is designed to represent this: Nute and the droids are very resilient and are hard to defeat, but they don't have any powerful attacks that let them put the finishing moves on their opponents.

The deck requires some careful strategy. With no over-whelming attack cards, it's all about persistence. Nute has enough defense cards that you can find your hand filled up with them; then it's time to play some of his combat cards as attacks, even if they don't seem all that powerful. The deck is somewhat weak in Singles play, but really shines in Team games where the droideka can outlive their Neimodian master.

Status: A prior version of the deck was extensively playtested and proved modestly successful; the shield rule works especially well. Several people complained that the old deck was too weak, so I made some small changes. These and the Variants described in the file are pretty much untested.

Lando and Lobot

Download (363K ZIP'ed PDF)

This deck pairs Lando Calrissian, administrator of Cloud City and everybody's second-favorite scoundrel, with Lobot, Lando's cyber-linked major domo. It is approximately equal in power to the Han/Chewie deck, although some different strategy is required. Lando's cards are essentially a reflection of Han's; Lobot has powerful special cards, but unlike Chewie has few hit points and no serious attacks.

Status: The deck has been played quite a lot in its present form. It's great fun.

Young Luke and Old Ben

Download (163K ZIP'ed PDF)

This deck has young Luke Skywalker, a fragile shooter character, as the major character and old Ben Kenobi, a tough jedi, as the minor. Exploiting this pair requires a bit of strategy, but they can be very powerful. Use Ben to keep opponents away from Luke, especially opponents that can't attack at a range.

The original idea for the deck was that Ben would be a force ghost who affected the game most in his passing. The result was that the opponent would never attack Ben, and (since all his power came from dying) he couldn't make them. This revised version of the deck balances things better-- it has certain strengths while Ben is alive, and different strengths when he has passed on.

Status: The current version of the deck has been extensively playtested. Everyone seems to like it.

Bounty Hunters

Download (90K ZIP'ed PDF)

This mix-and-match deck was designed cooperatively by members of the Epic Duels YahooGroup. It represents the miscellaneous bounty hunters that Darth Vader hired in Empire: 4-Lom, Bossk, Dengar, IG-88, and Zuckuss. You pick one to be the major character, pick another to be the minor character, and then pick which equipment they should carry into battle. There is some strategy involved here, but I haven't figured it all out yet.

Although the deck should now be tough enough to hunt jedi, you might want to play with this optional rule: In order to win against the bounty hunters in a Singles games, a jedi/sith player must destroy both the major and minor bounty hunter characters. The bounty hunter player only needs to destroy the jedi/sith major character. (This makes some narrative sense: Both the hunters are after the bounty and they score it as soon as they capture their target.)

Status: The first version of this deck was so weak that even Lando could beat it without breaking a sweat. The new version is completely revised, and it has done well in playtesting.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan

Download (57K ZIP'ed PDF)

This deck has two jedi-- Master Qui-Gon Jinn and the padawan Obi-Wan. Many of the cards play on the synergy between the two, and several force you to make tactical choices. Do you keep them together or split them apart to flank the opponent? There's even a card that allows Obi-Wan to become the major character as Qui-Gon passes on, just like in the movie.

Along with the Young Luke/Old Ben deck and the original Obi-Wan Kenobi deck, you can have three Obi-Wans on the table at the same time. What fun!

Status: This deck is a modified version of Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan decks that people on the YahooGroup had been playing with for over a year, so it should be reasonably well balanced. I've played several games with it, too, and it seems all right.

Grand Moff Tarkin

Download (82K ZIP'ed PDF)

This deck has Grand Moff Tarkin flanked by four stormtroopers. Rather than make it just another shooter deck-- like Nute Gunray in an Imperial uniform-- I decided to give Tarkin cards that would be especially effective against jedi or sith opponents. The idea was to create a sort of rock-paper-scissors situation: Tarkin has an edge on jedi, jedi have an edge on other shooters, shooters have an edge on Tarkin.

Status: The deck is mostly untested, although a few people on-line have tried it and reported back favorably. The deck especially shines in team games, which seems fitting.

Assorted Jedi Masters

Download Even Piell (47K ZIP'ed PDF)

Download Kit Fisto (48K ZIP'ed PDF)

These decks were exercises in coming up with new cards for straight-forward jedi master decks. The first features the floppy-eared, cyclopean master Even Piell. The second features the smiling master with meat dreadlocks, Kit Fisto. Each is accompanied by a pair of clone troopers.

Status: I have not really tested either of these. Comments from on-line visitors suggest Even Piell is woefully underpowered, but that suits a guy who gets exactly zero character development and about twelve seconds of screen time. Comments about Kit Fisto led me to revise his deck a bit, and he is perhaps balanced now.

AT-ST Walker

Download (561K ZIP'ed PDF)

This isn't just a new deck. Instead, the AT-ST is a vehicle that other characters can fight over, under, and with. Any player who can get a character into the cockpit can move the walker, attack with it, or draw walker cards.

Status: The AT-ST has been tested and revised. This is effectively a stable beta version.