Homefront VI: You Can Go Home Again

by Charlie Plaine, Homefront VI Contributor

25th May 2015

"The Gamma Quadrant, gentlemen. Millions of new worlds at our very doorstep." - Grand Nagus Zek

The Continuing Committee is proud to announce the release of Homefront VI, the sixth expansion in the "Core" block. That means that, like the previous Homefront expansions, these cards are a permanent part of block and don't rotate out when other expansions do. This forty-eight (48) card expansion will release for free this Friday, May 29, 2015 and will be legal in all constructed formats one week later. This Homefront expansion is special, because it's the first one designed entirely based around the needs of the Block format, adding key tools and cards to the format.

Meet the Team
As has become tradition, I'd like to spend a few moments introducing the design team that worked on Homefront VI before we delve too deeply into what you'll see inside this expansion.

Corbin Johnson [Corbinq27], Lead Designer
Designer Profile: Corbin Johnson
Homefront VI  is Corbin's first time leading an expansion, though it's his third expansion overall. Corbin is a very meticulious and process-oriented designer, and those qualities demonstrated themselves in his leadership of this expansion. From day one, he worked to make sure every card was serving a greater purpose and serving the needs of the block format. Corbin has done great work, and I am confident we'll see him back in the saddle again.

Incidentally, normally the duties of writing this article would fall to Corbin as the expansion's lead designer. However, timing worked out so this expansion is releasing just after his wedding! Congraduations on your recent nuptuals, my friend, and enjoy married life!

Allen Gould [AllenGould], Assistant Designer
Designer Profile: Allen Gould
Homefront VI is Allen's second opportunity to work on a design team, following up last year's The Maquis. As a veteran player, Allen is a First Edition purist and as the former Rules Master, has a great knowledge of the inner workings of the game. His knowledge, experience and passion are evident and he no doubt contributed to the quality of this expansion.

Michael Moskop [Comicbookhero], Assistant Designer
Designer Profile: Michael Moskop
Michael has been on my radar for some time, and I'm proud to say he's joined the First Edition design team as of Homefront VI. Michael, as a former member of the Creative Team, brings a much needed story-based (a.k.a. "top down") perspective to the team. In addition, he's demonstrated his design chops not only as a two time winner of the design-a-card prize of GenCon's annual "Cool" tournament (the dilemma Socializing with the Staff was his), but as a contestant in the most recent Make it So. When we were looking to fill some open positions, Michael was a natural choice. (And in case you're wondering, his inviitation was approved by Make it So winner James Monsebroten , who's debut will be later this year.)

Finally, I would be negligent if I failed to mention the hard work of the dozens of volunteers that work on First Edition. Kudos to all of our play testers, rules guys, creative team members, our Art team, and the man that is learning to keep us all on track: First Edition Brand Manager, Cristoffer Wiker (Smiley). All of our volunteers do so much work and all deserve significant recognition for making this game thrive.

If you appreciate the hard work of all of our volunteers and enjoy having this website available as a hub for our community, we encourage you to make a donation to our operating costs today. Without the support of our community, this site wouldn't exist!

Huffing and Puffing
Homefront expansions have gone through quite an evolution and their purpose has evolved over time. The original Homefront was designed to provide printable versions of hard to get and popular cards, to ease the barrier of entry for new and returning players. Homefront II expanded on that goal and added conversions to the menu, allowing these expansions to offer new cards in addition to reprints. By the time Homefront III rolled around, Block was on the horizion, and some of the choices started to be about what Block would need in addition to providing printable and converted cards. But eventually, all of the cards became printable and we realized that Homefront-style expansions would have a new, singular purpose: to be core Block expansions. While we could still look to convert cards, produce new cards, and provide high quality printable AIs (especially of older cards), the reason for these expansions to be created and produced would be to service block. And thus, Homefront VI is the first of its kind to be built from the ground up with Block in mind. (To be fair, Homefront IV was as well, but it was almost entirely missions.)

The design team often thought of this expansion as the "Block Deck Builder's Tool Kit," and the majority of the cards within fit into that idea. There are baseline cards here designed to allow players to have access to key, important functions when building their decks. However, it was a tough line to walk, because the design team needed to be mindful of not overshadowing future block themes. For example, imagine the Homefront VI team put a card like the original Genetronic Replicator into their expansion. (And before anyone worries, it's not. Still banned. Sorry!) GR would be an incredibly powerful anti-kill card, and it would make the design of a future block that wanted to be more "lethal" very difficult. In other words, having Genetronic in core would overshadow death as a block theme, and that was something the Homefront VI team sought to avoid. Instead, they provide basic level tools that can be used in the absence of other options. If you really need to be able to get back a dead or discarded personnel, A Second Chance at Life will give you that opportunity; likewise, Cellular Peptide Cake will allow players to deal with troublesome events. Neither of these cards will be the preferred choice in larger card pools, and might be supplanted by better cards in any given block, but that's entirely the point. These are building block cards, and they will do an excellent job of being building blocks. If you're curious about Cellular Peptide Cake, Writing Team Manager J will have an article about this card for you tomorrow (Tuesday).

Aside from the building blocks, the design team wanted to find cards that the current blocks might need, but would be equally useful in all future blocks. One of those cards is Holding Cell Door, which I will be the first to admit should have been included in Emissary: Supplemental. Fortunately, my mistake is the entire Block format's gain, as this card is now reprinted in Homefront VI. Players can now guarantee themselves a Brig in any block deck, which will make capture dilemmas like Underestimating the Founders and capture support cards like Articles of Jurisprudence and Internment more useful. There are a few other cards like this in Homefront VI, that both patch a current need and provide future utility. 

Blow the House Down
Though it's where the expansion ended up, the "Block Deck Builder's Tool Kit" was not the origin of Homefront VI. Homefront VI began with feedback from the community; specifically, feedback that our dilemmas were "weak." (I might be using more delicate language than the community used.) The First Edition design team, as a whole, did some digging into the problem and realized that one big issue was the constant need to create starter-level dilemmas. Every block, and every expansion in the block, needed to create around ten (10) new dilemmas for each starter deck, as only half the combos were based on Core Block cards. We realized we could open up a lot of space in each block expansion if we created new combos for the starter decks, and put them into Homefront VI. So that's where the expansion started - seeking to create three (3) new combos of three (3) dilemmas each for use in future starters. And I'm happy to say, the team accomplished that goal and more. While the individual dilemmas in Homefront VI might not be stronger than the status quo for the past few years, they have definitely opened up room for future expansions to "bring it." The design team even found room for a few key reprints in their dilemma selection, so there is a lot to see in this expansion.

But even though the Homefront VI team focused on building an enhanced stable of starter-level dilemmas, that doesn't mean they didn't provide some new tools for Block and non-Block decks alike. One of my favorite dilemmas will be featured in an article by Matt "commdecker" Zinno on Wednesday, but it's a great example of the work of this design team. They took a weak backwards compatible card and turned it into a powerful conversion I'm looking forward to using in my next OTF Complete deck. And speaking of articles, don't forget to read today's other article, by infamous player Niall "sexecutioner" Matthew, taking a look at one of the other dilemmas built to be part of Block combos.

Days of Future Proofing
Homefront VI is filled with dilemmas and deck building utility cards, but is that all? Of course not! There is a lot of future proofing going on in this expansion. For those of you that aren't familiar with the term, "future proofing" involves making decisions - in this case, including cards - that will enable future projects. An example: Homefront VI features a cycle of outposts. We realized that, when The Next Generation and its block rotates out in the fall, it would necessitate reprinting the Federation Outpost, and that this would likely be a common problem. Did we want to have to continue to reprint outposts, perhaps multiple times over the next several blocks? Or did it make more sense to reprint them all once, in a Core block expansion? Obviously, we made the decision to do the latter. The Design Team even found a need for a new outpost to join the reprints, and Homefront VI designer Allen Gould will be writing about this facility on Thursday.

Aside from outposts, there are many other cards included here for future use. New Arrivals, Call for Reinforcements, and Raktajino were designed as part of Emissary to be building blocks of future starters, and they're reprinted here to enable that purpose. We've also made the decision to reprint Continuing Mission and Reshape the Quadrant, to enable future block designers to rely on these cards without needing to anticipate them and reprint them in supplemental-style expansions. 

Where the Heart Is
Homefront VI is the first Core block expansion built to truly embrace what that means for Block and for the game itself. The expansions forty-eight (48) cards are designed to enable smarter and better deck building for players, and to offload many responsibilities of future blocks into a single expansion. There are reprints, conversions, and new cards all designed to address player concerns in Block and allow future Block expansions more room to breathe and develop themes. We're excited to bring this expansion to you, this Friday, May 29, 2015. Check back all week for articles and spoilers as we roll out Homefront VI!

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