Hold the Salad...

by Paddy Tye, Puppy of War

15th March 2021

"We are creating a new way to fly." - Gabriel Lorca

OK, why have I started an article about a new DS9 set, with a quote from Discovery? Well, in the context of the Dogs of War design team, we weren't developing a new way to fly, but we were instead developing a new way to play. Not based on free plays, just one big, mega card play!

In trying to develop a new mechanic or deck type that works around the "Alpha Quadrant Alliance" there were a lot of different factors to build in. For example, there is already a 3-way treaty for the major powers, but the forced exclusion of side decks was problematic. How do we stop it stacking with Red Squad cadets? Combined Task Force already lets a Federation / Klingon DS9 treaty deck have a free play (as do the respective Headquarters) but how would we add in the Romulans? Also that deck excludes the use of Nors like DS9, which should feel like the central core of the show (especially during those last 10 episodes)!

With an ever increasing array of free report mechanics, and to avoid creating another, complicated "free report salad", the design team instead went back to the drawing board to seek a simpler solution, and that solution became Staging Ground! What if we took away all those free reports (so no risk of free plays stacking) and instead simply let you "report with crew" each turn, giving you a ship and a rainbow of personnel aboard (limited to one per affiliation)?

Now, in the end, using the phrase "report with crew" made it quite binding (the need to be fully staffed etc) so we've made a simpler version of report with crew that doesn't use the phrase "report with crew" (so no associated rules baggage)! We also enforced the "rainbow" idea to ensure that this approach didn't just make Here By Invitation decks redundant.

To make them all work together, we added a download of Treaty: Alpha Quadrant Alliance, a new 4-way treaty, with a DS9 specific restriction and an Alpha Quadrant restriction on your missions (instead of the side deck restriction on the 3-way treaty). For a long time we had built this compatibility into Staging Ground itself, but offloading it to a Treaty seemed simpler. This treaty can be nullified though, so I'd recommend keeping Kai Winn and a spare Treaty in your tent to download to your Guest Quarters!

So, in exchange for your normal card play, you get a ship, up to three personnel aboard and possibly an equipment card. The trouble is, you need to carefully balance your deck to do it! Maybe you've only drawn 2 personnel of different affiliations! Maybe you didn't get a ship (hint: maybe seed a Space-Time Portal so you can return a ship to hand)! This deck has potential dangers, but if you get the balance right, it can be simple and effective! Your personnel and ships all need to be native to the Alpha Quadrant! You can have up to 4 affiliations to choose from, 5 if including Non-Aligned, or 6 if using Community Leader!

The other new card today is the U.S.S. Magellan, which adds some "Galaxy Class" action to your allied fleet! As Admiral Ross's flagship, it has U.S.S. Enterprise level attributes, but it is slightly harder to staff. The download adds a really useful SHIELD boost - very handy if you're about to go into battle!

The great thing about this deck is the vast number of DS9-logo cards which were previously harder to justify including in your deck: Elizabeth Lense, Enrique Muniz, Bo'rak, T'Kar, Sorus, T'Rul, etc. The main difficulty now generating enough card draws to ensure you have a sufficient supply of ships and personnel to fuel your fleet!

I'll be posting a basic decklist tomorrow to take advantage of this engine and pay tribute to a fallen comrade. But for now, set a course for Cardassia!

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