Forging The Empire: A Starfleet Battle Deck

by Charlie Plaine, Chairman

28th December 2009

Did you get the chance to participate in Final Cut: Allegiance? If you didn't don't worry - we liked the idea so much, we'll bring it back next time. And if you did happen to catch Final Cut, maybe you'll remember "Ship Team":

Helping Hand will make a great fit in any battle deck. In particular, species that tend to use one type of ship will really love having this new event in core.

For example, did you know the Klingon Empire can stock twenty-one (21) K'vort-class ships in a single deck (if they use the Naprem for some extra help).

For a truly terrifying armada, The Romulan Star Empire can collect thirty (30) different D'Deridex-class warbirds in a single deck!

But you can find lots of different Klingon and Romulan engagement decks. Let's try something a little different, and leverage the fact there are six different NX-class ships, and put together a 22nd century Starfleet engagement deck.

Unfortunately, Starfleet doesn't have access to any affiliation-specific engagement events, so they'll have to rely on the classics: Pierce Their Defenses, Point Blank Strike, and Precise Attack. These events will give you an additional boost to your WEAPONS, and allow you to blow up enemy ships (which is what you really want to do.)

The deck uses easy, low point missions, so to get yourself some speed (and some extra points), take advantage of Call to Arms and some high-cost personnel to get 10 points per shot. Since there are so many Commanders for these ships, some copies of Mission Accomplished can give you extra points, too.

The points will come in handy if your opponent hits you with the Phoenix or Causal Recursion; if not, you can go for a two mission win, or use them to drop a ton of counters with At What Cost?

The deck itself is large - you'll want to use Starting Over to move through it (but make sure to keep some ships in hand!). Having the cards in your discard pile is no problem, because the dilemma pile relies on Back to Basics, and you'll get them all back.

If you're curious about how efficient Starfleet's WEAPONS can get, here's an example. If you have Charles Tucker III (Standing In), Phlox (Sadistic Physiologist) and Lorian aboard Enterprise (Finally Ready to Swim), you have WEAPONS of 7. Using Precise Attack, that becomes an 11. Then, you can discard as many NX-class ships from hand as you need to damage any ship in the galaxy.

Imagine the hurt you can put on someone when three NX-class ships attack in quick succession, netting you 30 points and leaving your opponent with a cloud of debris where his or her ship used to be! Give the deck and dilemma pile a try at your next tournament. Tweak it to your liking - or take the concept and try it with the Klingons, Romulans, or even the Borg! Then, head on over to the Deck Designs forum and tell us how it worked!

This deck is currently eligible for the following family or families of achievements:

• Starfleet Player
• Tacking Into the Wind
• Unbroken I
• Crew Quarters: Enterprise
• Good Casting: Armstrong (Maximilian Forrest)

Decklist

Hide Deck Stats

Dilemma Deck Total Dilemmas 45 Space 15 (33%) Cost 1 4 Cost 2 4 Cost 3 5 Cost 8 1 Cost 9 1 Planet 17 (38%) Cost 1 5 Cost 2 4 Cost 3 6 Cost 5 1 Cost 8 1 Dual 13 (29%) Cost 1 3 Cost 2 1 Cost 3 4 Cost 4 4 Cost 7 1 Total Dilemma Deck cost 128

Draw Deck Total Draw Deck 75 Event 27 (36%) Cost 0 3 Cost 1 3 Cost 2 12 Cost 3 9 Personnel 30 (40%) Cost 1 4 Cost 2 8 Cost 3 9 Cost 4 9 Ship 18 (24%) Cost 2 3 Cost 4 12 Cost 5 3 Total Draw Deck cost 206

Skills Count Skill # Missions # Personnel 1x 2x 3x Total Acquisition 0 0 Anthropology 3 9 9 Archaeology 0 2 2 Astrometrics 1 6 6 Biology 1 7 7 Diplomacy 0 6 6 Engineer 1 7 2 9 Exobiology 0 1 1 2 Geology 0 0 Honor 0 5 5 Intelligence 0 2 2 Law 0 6 6 Leadership 1 14 14 Medical 0 4 4 Navigation 0 8 2 10 Officer 0 17 17 Physics 0 1 1 Programming 2 6 6 Science 0 7 1 8 Security 1 7 1 8 Telepathy 0 0 Transporters 2 5 2 7 Treachery 0 5 4 9 Icons Count Icon # Personnel % Personnel Staffing Icons Command Star 16 53.33 % Staff Star 11 36.67 % Temporal Icons Alternate Universe 15 50.00 % Future 1 3.33 % Past 29 96.67 % Keyword Count Keyword # Cards Admiral 4 Cloaking Device 3 Commander: Columbia 2 Commander: Enterprise 2 Commander: Future Enterprise 1 Commander: I.S.S. Avenger 3 Commander: I.S.S. Enterprise 4 Commander: NX-Prototype 1 Consume: 1 3 Decay: 4 3 MACO 1 Maneuver 12 Persistent 11 Region: Sector 001 1