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Thursday, November 16, 2006

Organized Play League: new bonus cards

STEVE COLE WRITES: One of the more fun aspects of Federation Commander is the Organized Play League, where (all across the country) hundreds of players meet at least once a month to play scenarios. For prizes, the store managers are sent a set of "Bonus Cards" which give a victorious player a benefit for one-month of future gaming. (Stores that sign up for the Organized Play League are regularly sent a package of signs and bonus cards.)

The first set of six bonus cards included:
#1. Legendary gunner, subtracts one from all direct-fire die rolls.
#2. Legendary helmsman, able to make one extra safe high energy turn per battle.
#3. Heavy drones, the ship has four drones which take twice as much damage to destroy and have warheads twice as big.
#4. Captain’s Gig, a shuttle mounting its own 360 degree phaser-3.
#5. Scatter Pack, one shuttle holding six drones.
#6. Master Chief, gives the ship one extra repair point per turn.

A second set of bonus cards has now been printed, and will be used in mailings to stores starting today. It includes:
#7. Legendary Engineer, gives the ship one extra point of power each turn.
#8. Commandoes, which have better odds raiding enemy ships than mere Marines.
#9. Aegis Fire Control, allows a ship which misses an incoming drone to take a second shot.
#10. Plasma Shutgun, allows a Plasma-S launcher to instead fire three Plasma-F torpedoes (each must have a different target).

Cards #11 through #16 have also been printed, but we aren’t going to reveal their contents until we start mailing them out early next year.

Bonus cards are fun, and worth working to win, but while they give you an edge they won’t win the game for you. Note that each card is good for one calendar month (you write the date you first used them on the back) but remains good until you start using it. Over time, we will continue sending out the first six cards along with the ten new ones. If you win an earlier card later in the year, it’s still good!