Battle Reconnaissance

by Matt Zinno, Staff Writer

6th August 2013

Homefront IV contains two Delta Quadrant missions (that's right, listmakers, exactly two.) Both conversions from backwards-compatible Second Edition cards. The first of these is Battle Reconnaissance. Like yesterday's Signal for Rescue (and tomorrow's card!), it first appeared in Call to Arms, the set which introduced the Borg to Second Edition. Like in 2E, it's a 35-point space mission, attemptable by all affiliations (though for 2E, this meant Borg also, but of course in First Edition they don't attempt missions.)

The first thing to notice about this card is the image. It's a close-up view of a Species 8472 ship against a backdrop of a damaged Borg cube. It's a gorgeous and very distinctive image, with not a lot of actual outer space to be seen.

The solving requirements have changed slightly from the 2E version. Computer Skill (printed for 2E as "Programming") and Transporter Skill (printed for 2E as "Transporters") remain, as does the Strength requirement (greater than 32). Gone are Exobiology and Security, in favor of the Voyager-friendly ENGINEER.

The mission location has been updated for First Edition, now gaining a region. This mission is in the "Northwest Passage Region", which was the narrow corridor through Borg space which Janeway thought would be safe. There are no other missions in this region yet, but there might be in the future. The span has also changed, increasing to 3 ... I suppose the Northwest Passage is a bit farther away.
 

 As I mentioned, the mission is attemptable by anyone. But which decks are most likely to use it?

• Since it has no affiliation icons, it's a location where you might seed a Hirogen Outpost, a Borg Outpost, or Unicomplex.
• Any affiliation can boost it to 45 points with Assign Mission Specialists, using Narik and Hogan.
• The Federation can boost it one more level to 50, using Leah Brahms. A Children of Light deck can do the same with Dr. Leah Brahms.
• There are four Delta Quadrant personnel who are each capable of supplying all of the skills listed. Just add enough other people to provide the strength and you're set! These are Seska for the Kazon, Kejal for the Hirogen (or Children of Light), and B'Elanna Torres or Marla Gilmore will work with anyone as Non-Aligned.
• There are also 14 others from other quadrants who have all the skills, in case you want to take a trip or use Temporal Micro-Wormhole: 4 Starfleet, 3 Feds, 2 each from the Romulan and NA affiliations, and one each from Ferengi, Klingon, and Dominion.

What deck will you use it in?

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