Retired Military Almanac 1999 22nd Edition

What This Thing Actually Is

The Retired Military Almanac 1999 22nd Edition is a reference publication tied to the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SWCCG) by Decipher. It compiles rulings, corrections, and clarifications from the first several years of the game's life. If you are trying to play older sets with strict rules enforcement, this is one of the documents people reference when there is a contradiction between a card text and an earlier errata. It is not a standalone rulebook. It is more of a compiled FAQ and errata collection. The core content covers how specific cards interact, timing questions, and official responses to community-submitted queries. The "22nd edition" label just means it went through many reprint cycles, since Decipher updated it regularly as the game evolved. I picked up a copy around 2002 when I was running a casual Local Game Store event. The main reason was that two players disagreed on how a particular Hutt card triggered during the deployment phase. Instead of spending twenty minutes arguing, someone pulled the almanac and we found the ruling within a page or two. That is basically what it is useful for.

How to Use It in Practice

The document is organized in two main sections. One section lists card-by-card clarifications. The other contains general rules commentary. When you encounter a rules dispute, start by checking the card-specific section first. If your card is not listed there, move to the general section and look for the relevant timing or ability interaction. Do not assume every question has been answered. Many niche interactions were left to tournament judges or player interpretation. The most common mistake I see is treating the almanac as absolute law. It is not. It reflects Decipher's official stance at the time of each update. Later printings sometimes superseded earlier pages. If you are using a digital copy, always check the edition date against the set you are playing with. A 1999 printing will not cover changes introduced in later expansion waves.

Where People Find It

Decipher stopped publishing it years ago. The original print runs are out of print. Most people locate it through fan archive sites, PDF scans on collectible card game forums, or secondhand markets. There is no official current publisher. If you download a copy, verify that the scan is legible and complete. Some circulating versions are missing pages from the middle of the book, which is where the most important ruling disputes usually sit. I once ran into a problem where a friend's PDF was missing pages 47 through 52. Those pages contained the detailed timing clarification for a popular event card combination we were trying to use in a tournament. The workaround was straightforward. I searched a few fan forums and found another member who had scanned a complete copy. We compared our versions page by page, and I filled in the gaps from their scan. If you do not have access to another copy, posting a request on a SWCCG community board usually gets a response within a day or two.

What It Covers and What It Does Not

The almanac handles official errata, card interaction rulings, and clarification of ambiguous wording. It does not cover every possible edge case. Some interactions were never addressed and remain unofficial. In those situations, local tournament coordinators or experienced players typically reach a consensus, but there is no single authoritative source beyond the almanac itself. One counter-intuitive point is that the almanac sometimes reinforces ambiguity rather than resolving it. Decipher occasionally added a note that said a ruling was still in progress. That means you should treat certain entries as provisional. If you are preparing for a serious event, check whether a later version of the almanac exists. Later editions often replace those provisional notes with final rulings.

Downsides to Keep in Mind

The biggest issue is that the document is outdated for current playstyles. The SWCCG community moved toward different formats and conventions after Decipher ceased support. Some rulings in the almanac may feel stale or irrelevant depending on which era of the game you care about. Also, the physical book is small and densely printed. Reading it on a screen can be tedious because the font is cramped and the layout is not optimized for digital viewing. For anyone looking for a more modern reference, some community-driven wikis and forums maintain updated rulings that incorporate the almanac data along with additional community input. Those resources are not officially sanctioned, but they often fill the gaps that the original publication left behind. If you only need quick answers during a casual game, the almanac is fine. If you are organizing a tournament or writing a rules clarification document, you will probably want to supplement it with current community resources. The Retired Military Almanac 1999 22nd Edition remains a useful piece of SWCCG history and a practical reference for anyone playing older formats. It works best when you treat it as one source among several, verify the edition against your set list, and keep a backup copy in case a scan is incomplete. That approach usually saves time and avoids the most common disputes.