Wizards of the Coast held a chat session last night with game developer Rob Watkins about the Star Wars Miniatures game, which included some exciting details.

The AT-ST will be in the Universe set. I believe its stats will be the same as seen in Ultimate Missions, except the point cost has been reduced to 54. The AT-AT would be a separate item that comes with a double sided map sheet. I believe the AT-AT will be 13" tall, 5" wide, and 15" long.

The Universe set has 7 factions... Republic, Separatist, Fringe, Imperial, Rebel, New Republic, and Yuuzhan Vong.

A board game style starter coming out with the Revenge of the Sith movie. It will also have expansion packs available with a typical tableau of 60 different characters available. The Universe set arrives later this year, introducing huge figures, two new factions, and rules for light side vs. dark side in different eras. There will be an Ultimate Missions book out for Clone Strike, and I think Revenge of the Sith... but we are leaning towards transitioning toward putting less scenarios in the Ultimate Missions and more maps/tiles. I am not certain when that effect will take place.

We have the AT-AT coming later in the year, with a double sided battle sheet of Hoth. We have organized play kicking off with plans for constructed play, booster draft, and starter set play. We have new terrain tiles and templates coming from organized play this year, along with alternate paint miniatures. We are currently plotting out set lists for three more sets in 2006. The only plans at this time are to rerelease Rebel Storm in Europe. Other reprint decisions will be made by brand. So I believe there are some exciting times ahead!

The decision to go ahead with the AT-AT came after our opportunity to put snowspeeders into the Universe set. We will put snow speeders into an Ultimate Missions book, and you can be certain that there will be snowspeeders in the next huge set. There are rules for how lightsabers interact with the AT-AT. It will be scenario based rules that explain how to cut a hole into an AT-AT and toss a satchel charge inside.

There are currently no plans for NJO to get its own starter. The Knights of the Old Republic, Clone Wars, Rebellion, and New Jedi Order eras are likely to be presented together in sets.

Thanks to John Ling for the report.