Tactic cards increase your offensive and/or defensive abilities during ship engagements, and double as damage markers, doling out penalties to enemies who cannot withstand your firepower. Introduced in the First Edition expansion Blaze of Glory, this card type enhanced the ship battles in the game by adding the ability to inflict damage upon the opponent instead of simply damaging them with one attack and destroying them with another. This quickly caused balance issues as players were not required to use them. A player who used Tactics would inflict incremental damage upon their opponent while the player who was not using them did not.
Tactics in this edition will be a standard part of the game. Each player may draw one or two tactic cards from the top of the Tactic side deck. (Players may look at each tactic before deciding whether to draw the next.) A player who has thus drawn may decide to play one (and only one) tactic card face down on the table. If so, this card becomes his or her active tactic for the remainder of the current engagement. Any unused tactic cards are placed face-up beneath the tactic side deck. (Tactics cards are never discarded. Whenever the side deck is exhausted, face-up cards are shuffled and replaced face-down, regenerating the side deck.) Once both players have selected their current tactics (or chosen not to use a tactic during this engagement), they are revealed simultaneously by turning them face up.
Total the Weapons of all your ships involved in the engagement. Your opponent totals the Shields of all his or her ships. Compare totals. The player with the higher total is the winner. If the totals are tied, there is no winner. The winner places their active tactic on the losing ship as a damage marker (if the winner decided not to use a Tactic, they must draw the top card from their Tactic side deck and place it on the losing ship). The damage effect stated in the tactic’s game text now effects the ship. If a ship accumulates 100% or more of Hull damage, it is “destroyed” and is discarded with all crew, equipment, and other cards aboard. Damage markers on that ship are returned to the owner’s tactic discard pile.
For those who dread the use of Tactics, fear not! You can play without them using standard First Edition rules.
Comments