Fans looking for a fast-paced, interactive and fun way to relive the epic battles in The Empire Strikes Back can now do so with the latest expansion set for the Star Wars Trading Card Game from Wizards of the Coast. Whether you've never picked up a single card before, or are already a veteran player, this expansion that covers the Battle of Hoth provides plenty of fast-paced, exciting gameplay.

In addition to the standard booster packs, this expansion introduces The Empire Strikes Back Two-Player Starter set, designed especially for beginners who want to learn the game for the first time. Each two-player trading card game contains identical cards and components including two all-new card decks, a play mat, a complete rulebook, counters and six dice. Players choose either dark side or light side, and do battle with cards representing characters, vehicles, effects and more. The strategy comes in selecting which cards to use in your deck. This starter set allows for a beginner to build decks quickly. The instructional mat explains parts of the game in an easy-to-understand manner.

The 210-card set also introduces new units with Armor, as well as new cards with the ability to enhance or disrupt the effects of Battle cards and an entirely new card type that lets you take your conflicts to specific locations in the Star Wars universe. Simply choose your side and continue the epic struggle.

The rulebook for The Empire Strikes Back game includes changes and additions made to the rules since the A New Hope set. For example, the turn order at the start of each turn has been modified so that each player now draws one card per turn at the start of the build step instead of before the build begins. Also the ability to disrupt Battle cards appears on some cards, allowing players to effectively cancel an opponent's Battle cards.

The game features two new card mechanics: Armor and Enhance. Units with Armor are more durable that their unarmored foes. They can only be hit when your opponent rolls a 5 or higher on their attack roll. Many cards (mostly Battle cards) have an "Enhance" cost in addition to their normal cost. If you can afford to pay the Enhance cost you get a much larger effect.

"The Design Team: myself, Michael Elliott, and David Eckelberry, sat down and watched The Empire Strikes Back a few times, taking notes to mark down all of the cool potential unit, mission, battle, and location cards. Then, we spent the next three months attaching mechanics to those cards," Henry Stern, Wizards of the Coast R&D Lead, explained.

"Usually, it would work something like this: I would assign the team to work on a specific arena, say Space," Stern continued. "Then in a meeting we would all bring in our space units, and we would argue about which ones we liked best, which ones captured the feeling of the movies best, and which ones would be the best for the environment. Often at these meetings we merged two peoples' cards into one, or even decided to create extra versions of a card if we really liked some of the designs."

A new card type called "Location" allows players to access special places and fields of battle in the Star Wars universe, providing a number of new deck-building strategies and themes, as well as enhancing the Star Wars experience for new and veteran players alike.

"Locations are a new card type which are built like any other unit or mission, and when completed are placed into their appropriate arena," Stern explains. "Locations have an effect upon the game, most often affecting that arena but sometimes affecting other aspects of the game. Locations are great because it is a nice way to introduce this very flavorful aspect of the Star Wars universe to the game. At the same time, they give players another aspect of the game to consider while playing and building their decks.

In addition to be an ideal card set for beginners, the The Empire Strikes Back trading card game is also challenging enough for advanced players. "The Empire Strikes Backgame introduces new mechanics that even the most advanced players will have fun exploring," Stern continues. "Armor can significantly change the unit versus unit battles, and the Enhance mechanic will challenge their Force management."

To learn more about The Empire Strikes Back set go to the official Wizards of the Coast site.

For more tips on how to play Star Wars Trading Card Game sets, check out this helpful guide.