Tools of the Trade
Crafty Use of Command Cards
by Tony DuLac
Welcome back, my "megacorporate" brethren. Today we're going to examine some very effective Command Cards in four key areas: What is it? Why is it useful? When to use it? and Who to combine it with? So read on and delay no further! War ravages the galaxy and your foes grow stronger by the minute!
Divine Retribution
What is it? — Divine Retribution provides Brotherhood players with one or more free attacks against an attacking figure during their opponent's turn.
Why is it useful? — Divine Retribution helps you avoid spending Order actions to place units on Guard while also providing an extremely sneaky means of ambushing your foes. Normally, when you place a unit on Guard, it's visually obvious to your opponent since the Guard token rests on or near a unit's base, but with Divine Retribution, it'll come as a complete surprise and may cost your enemy a high-value unit.
When to use it? — You'll usually want to play this Command Card when you have a number of friendly units who can attack the opposing figure and when that enemy unit is a valuable strategic target (e.g., a key unit for your opponent's strategy or even just a highly valued Gold unit).
Who to combine it with? — The main combo candidate is Keeper of the Art (#35, Brotherhood, Gold rank, Rare — "Adjacent friendly Brotherhood units roll an additional red [light melee] die when attacking."), who can provide a small (red die) short-ranged boost to friendly combat rolls during a Divine Retribution attack.
Flow of Acid
What is it? — Flow of Acid allows you to divide a single unit's attack damage onto multiple targets, rather than just the original target.
Why is it useful? — It's not unusual to roll a large amount of attack damage, only to see most of it wasted as overkill on a single unit. Flow of Acid offers you the unique ability to allocate that damage as effectively as possible among the targeted unit and foes adjacent to it. For example, you attacked a Capitol Ranger Elite, rolled 4 points of damage and that Ranger unit was adjacent to two enemy units — one of those units had 3 health and the other one only had 2. You could then decide to only use the full 4 points of damage to destroy the original target (the Ranger Elite) and one of the other 2-health units OR you could place the damage entirely onto the 3 health unit instead. Flow of Acid is all about giving you damage distribution flexibility."
When to use it? — You'll want to retain Flow of Acid specifically for close-combat situations or for those times when you'd prefer to choose who you'll destroy with your damage. When faced with a variety of tactical choices, you'll use it to kill the more dangerous, high-value unit.
Who to combine it with? — Flow of Acid is useful with any high-damage dealing Algeroth unit, but the high Command Icon requirement (3 Algeroth Command Icons) means that only a very small group of units can use it. Among them, your best choice is Golgotha (#2, Algeroth, Gold rank, Unique unit, Rare — "Grapple. Golgotha can make 2 attacks, each against a different target, with a single attack action."). Her vicious Necrotech/Carcass Claw ability to attack two different targets with a single attack action allows her to fully realize Flow of Acid's multi-damage effect.
Heavy Artillery
What is it? — Heavy Artillery represents a basic attack boost that adds some heavy-range (blue dice) firepower to any Bauhaus unit's attack.
Why is it useful? — Its primary use is for taking out a tough enemy unit or to catch an opponent off-guard by boosting a less-potent unit's attack into something much more powerful.
When to use it? — A good example would be if you were slowly but steadily moving a Bronze Bear Trooper (attack value = one green light-ranged die) into range of your foe's valuable Gold Ranger Commander. Your opponent doesn't recognize the Bronze Bear Trooper as much of a threat until you surprise him by whipping out a Heavy Artillery to boost the Bear Trooper's attack into something that can suddenly destroy the Ranger Commander.
Who to combine it with? — The Venusian Ranger Kapitan (#26, Bauhaus, Gold rank, Uncommon — "Burst Fire: When Venusian Ranger Kapitan is attacking alone, all units adjacent to the target are dealt damage equal to that assigned to the target.") has the cool Burst Fire ability that just begs to be combined with an attack boosting Command Card such as Heavy Artillery!
Radio Target Coordinates
What is it? — Radio Target Coordinates is an attack-boosting Command Card like Heavy Artillery that was designed specifically for Capitol units.
Why is it useful? — Strengthening any attack is never a bad thing but what sets Radio Target Coordinates apart from similar Command Cards is that it's more of an Accuracy boost than a damage boost. The green dice provided by this Command Card represent long-range since they provide the single-highest range score of all the combat dice (an "8"). So playing this excellent Command Card in conjunction with a heavy-hitting unit (one fielding blue, yellow, or both of those colored dice) can create some devastating possibilities!
When to use it? — Radio Target Coordinates is most useful for Capitol forces as an unexpected range boost used to catch their opponents off-guard.
Who to combine it with? — There are four strong candidates to combine with Radio Target Coordinates. The first is the Ranger Commander (#51, Capitol, Gold rank, Rare — "Accuracy +3. Adjacent friendly Ranger units gain 2 green [light ranged] dice. After Ranger Commander attacks and destroys an enemy unit retrieve one of your used Capitol Command Cards.") — you can either match him with this Command Card directly for a very accurate red (light melee), blue (heavy range), and green (light long-range) attack OR you can use it as an extra range enhancement for the Ranger units that Ranger Commander is boosting.
Either of the other two Capitol Rangers (e.g, the Silver Ranger Elite or the Bronze Capitol Ranger) will also enjoy improved chances of success when matched with Radio Target Coordinates. The Martian Banshee Sergeant (#49, Capitol, Silver rank, Uncommon — "Flying. Dodge 1. Martian Banshee Sergeant rolls an additional 2 green (light ranged) dice against double-based units.") already rolls 2 green (light ranged) combat dice with an extra re-roll, so Radio Target Coordinates can either boost his already accurate (though weak) attack OR it can really pump things up for targeting double-based units, providing him with six green (long ranged) attack dice and one re-roll!
Finally, for one of the more potent, well-rounded attacks in the game versus double-based units, play this useful Command Card with the Free Marine Tank Hunter (#44, Capitol, Silver rank, Rare — "Armor Piercing. Tank Fighting: Free Marine Tank Hunter rolls an additional 2 yellow [heavy melee] dice when targeting double-based units.") giving you a whopping two yellow, two red, and 2 green dice with which to attack those large figures!
Those are our tips for this installment of "Tools of the Trade!" Be sure to keep an eye on our website for some forthcoming Mutant Chronicles CMG GenCon information. Also, don't forget to pre-order your copy of the Mutant Chronicles CMG Starter Set either here at the FFG website or at your local game retailer, so you can nab your very own Golgotha Promo card while supplies last! Until next time, Happy Mutations and may all your attack rolls be accurate!
