It's Cold Outside

by Charlie Plaine, Acting First Edition Brand Manager

22nd December 2017

"But we have reason to believe that the twenty second century is a front in this cold war. What happens here could affect millennia to come." - Daniels, "Cold Front"

The Continuing Committee is proud to announce Cold Front as the newest First Edition expansion. Cold Front is the third and final expansion in the 22nd-century block and contains fifty-four (54) new cards for a myriad of decks. The expansion will be released on Friday, January 12th, 2018 and will be legal in all constructed formats one week later. Cold Front, like all of our virtual expansions, will be available for download here at trekcc.org.

Meet the Team

As with all of our projects, there are a large number of volunteers that have toiled to bring you Cold Front. Please take the time to thank all of our play testers, rules experts, creative team members, artists, and proofreaders. All of our volunteers work because they love First Edition, and all deserve significant recognition for making this game thrive. In the mean time, as is customary, I will introduce you to the design team for this expansion:

Dan Hamman [SirDan], Lead Designer
Designer Profile: Dan Hamman
Cold Front is Dan's seventh go as lead designer for a First Edition expansion, and his thirteenth project overall. Dan likes to push boundaries and venture boldly into areas that I avoid, which makes his expansions feel very different than mine. I was eager to see Dan's take on a "third" expansion in a block that didn't have the baggage of introducing a major new affiliation theme (as The Terran Empire had.)

James Heaney [BCSWowbagger], Assistant Designer
Designer Profile: James Heaney
James makes his debut as a First Edition designer with this project. James has an exquisite knowledge of the rules and a first-rate intellect, and has contributed some fantastic work to Cold Front.

Michael Moskop [comicbookhero], Assistant Designer
Designer Profile: Michael Moskop
Michael's third turn as a designer was with Cold Front. He didn't put in as much time on this project as he has with previous ones, largely due to the birth of his first kid. Congrats! Even so, he managed to contribute to the team and even found a home for his 2014 "Cool" Tournament Design-a-Card Prize!

Mending What is Broken

In a lot of ways, Dan and I are pretty opposite to one another. I don't like the Borg; Dan does. Dan enjoys making cards around stories I avoid. And while I love "broken links," Dan is not a fan. So I wasn't at all surprised to hear that Dan and his team made it a point to close as many broken links as they could in Cold Front. In fact, depending on how you count, there are thirteen (13) broken links that are closed in Cold Front.

If you aren't aware of the term, a "broken link" is an in-game reference to a card or group of cards that does not yet exist. For example, the Romulan ship Devoras names "Admiral Mendak" as its matching commander. And while there has been a "Mendak" in the game as long as the Devoras. That makes a personnel named "Admiral Mendak" a broken link... or at least it did. Cold Front closes that broken link by giving us a new personnel - Admiral Mendak, welcome to the game!

Other types of broken links are less obvious. Consider the special game text on Locate Telepaths, which gives if you have an Aenar, a Breen, or Shran present. Shran is a broken link because he doesn't yet exist in the game, but he's not the subtle broken link. While there are plenty of Breen in the game, prior to Cold Front there was only one Aenar: Gareb. Because the card implies there should be more than one Aenar, it was a broken link. However, now that a new Aenar, Lissan, is in the game, that broken link is closed.

You'll see even more broken links mended in the spoilers over the first week.

Timey Wimey

The temporal cold war was a major theme on Star Trek: Enterprise for the first two seasons, and it's been largely untouched in the game. With Cold Front and Temporal Benefactor, that's about to change. Temporal Benefactor is a linchpin in new "temporal agent" themed decks; and, if you're worried, don't fret that there are only three (3) temporal agents. Cold Front doubles that number, including a temporal agent version of Jonathan Archer.

Temporal agents and their cold war come with all sorts of tricks, including some interference like Bigger on the Inside. This event lets the chaos of the timeline-spanning conflict spill into any era and keep opponent's from staying on task, unless they can stay focused. It's just one of a few new cards that are temporally themed in Cold Front including a new card-drawing interrupt you'll have to see to believe.

Romulans

Of course, the 22nd-century block wouldn't be complete without a helping of cards added to the mix. The Romulans appeared only briefly in Star Trek: Enterprise, but their appearances were memorable. One of my favorite, if anachronistic, of their appearances was in "Minefield" which is partially represented with the mission Inspect Strategic Snare. (Notice the fact the mission only has the icon on it? That's not a coincidence, but you'll have to stay tuned to find out why.)

Of course, the Romulans are up to their old tricks as well. Talok makes his debut in Cold Front, after being held back from Live Long and Prosper and he can help you infiltrate and conquer the Vulcans. Cold Front also delivers on the promise of Holographic Skin, but you'll have to wait until the last week of spoilers to see all of the Romulan's surprises.

Behind the Scenes

In addition to broken links, temporal-agents, and Romulans, Cold Front introduces a number of other themes in its exploration of the twenty second century. You'll find new cards for the augments, the Ferengi, and more support cards for all manner of decks. Cold Front also introduces a new trading post, the Tellarite Trading Post, to go along with many of these new cards. But I'm sure that spoiler provokes more questions than anything, but you'll have to wait to see what other secrets Cold Front hides.

It's exciting to bring another block to a close, and we can't wait for you to see what Cold Front has to offer. First Edition is a great game and this expansion is filled with possibilities like the best expansions before it. Cold Front will be releasing on Friday, January 12th, 2018. Until then, enjoy the spoilers, have a happy holiday season, and we'll see you on the other side!

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