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Here’s to the Pacifist
by David Kludt Well, we all know that Blaze of Glory was hyped up and labeled the Battle Expansion, but for all of you out there who detest battle and prefer to stay within the confines of archeological digs, scientific explorations, and going where no man has gone before, Blaze of Glory isn’t half bad in helping you accomplish those goals. Let's start out with verb cards: Defense System Upgrade is a great card for defending your facilities. More WEAPONS to retaliate with, and 6 extra SHIELDS to possibly delay that armada one more turn. Best of all, it’s cumulative. The second phrase isn’t shabby either, finally a way to repair those damaged facilities, and all you need is an ENGINEER aboard. Great card, I’ll consider putting one (or maybe even two) in my deck, and it certainly has a place in my Tent. Playing a Fajo-icon heavy deck? Fajo’s Gallery is for you. Draw extra cards just for reporting the likes of Lore, Dr. Soong, The Sisters, or Miles O’Brien. You never know when that one extra card advantage will make a difference. Hate those all-space or all-planet decks? Give them a tough time with The Big Picture. Make them complete a space and a planet mission, or be forced to score another 40 points to get the win. One of the cards I'm really looking forward to is Access Denied. Finally, a counter for those annoying Scout Swarm Thief decks. It’s well worth a seed slot in my deck to be able to cancel their attempt to Establish a Gateway. Computer Skill is becoming more useful all the time, the first use of Access Denied will cause me to put more of it my decks, for sure. Wake of the Borg is a great anti-colony and PNZ card that’s pretty powerful. The ability to destroy a facility early in the game without firing a shot can be devastating to an unprepared opponent, and those annoying anti-social colony decks won’t last long with the Borg on their trail. Bonus points because it can’t be nullified. Finally, there’s Examine Singularity. Besides closing a Black Hole for a respectable 15 points, it lets you relocate your ship(s) to any spaceline location you wish. Or if you don’t use it for the Black Hole, you can download Bajoran Wormhole’s for any Gamma Quadrant deck, Temporal Vortex for those nasty Anti-Time Anomaly decks, or Deactivation for a non-Uxbridge counter to Red Alert and that pesky Static Warp Bubble. Now onto the noun cards: For the Federation, some of the highlights are a Miles O’Brien for those of us who did not get the Fajo Collection, Admiral Ross is a typical DipHoLe, but with the Section 31 twist and Anthropology, and the long awaited Donald Varley combines an interesting selection of skills in Archeology, Stellar Cartography, Computer Skill, and also gives the Federation a shot at a few other missions. For the players that play Klingons peacefully, there’s a SCIENCE / ENGINEER combo with the beautiful Jadzia Dax, the 3 warriors: Kang, Kor, and Koloth who all are useful personnel, and the black border version of Worf Son of Mogh. If you want to stay clear of capturing and battle with the Romulans, several of the Romulan personnel in Blaze of Glory are great for passing dilemmas and solving missions. Chief O’Brien is a great ENGINEER / SECURITY hologram, Senator Letant is a decent V.I.P / SECURITY with the skills of Stellar Cartography, which is great for several missions, and Computer Skill x2 which allows for easy passing of the Scanner Interference, and Parthok combines ENGINEER and MEDICAL, along with Tal Shiar, Computer Skill, and Leadership. I love dual classification personnel! :-) For the civil side of the Bajorans, there’s Furel, who combines three useful skills along with an ENGINEER skill, Riker Wil (great name!), who’s a walking espionage card, and Ro Laren, who gives a good boost to all Maquis present. The Cardassians and Dominion are pushed farther down the path of war, but I have to say Elim’s skill selection is a perfect representation for that side of his character, and the Alpha Jemmies kick! ;-) While a lot of the ships are geared towards war, I thought that a few of them are perfect for non-combat situations. The Federation gets the U.S.S. Thunderchild. For a normal three staffing, you get a great RANGE of 10, and decent SHIELDS and WEAPONS, and a high +4 against any Borg Ships (affiliation or dilemmas). The Klingons get the I.K.C. Negh’Var. Four is rather high staffing, but it is the flagship. You get the Holodeck with this ship, which is rare for Klingons, and decent stats all around. While the Romulans get two ships, and a lot of people think the Goraxus is great (which I don’t deny), I love the Romulan Shuttle. You sacrifice the two extra RANGE from the Scout Vessel, but gain a Cloaking Device, which is great to stay away from your battle-crazed opponent. Finally, there’s the defensive Tactic cards. If you don’t plan on attacking your opponent, there’s a few options you can use for pure defense. First off, you can make a Battle Bridge full of only Evasive Maneuvers. With the highest defense bonus available, and two extra if you’re using a ship with no staffing requirements, it’s great for defending yourself from your opponent. If you want, you can throw in a few Crimson Forcefield's and try your luck nullifying your opponent’s Tactic card. Although the majority of cards in Blaze of Glory enhance battle mechanics, there are still many new options for those of us who want to avoid conflicts and keep WEAPONS offline. Here's to the Pacifist, David Kludt
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