Halo TCG - Halo - UNSC (8/27: "She's blue, but she's hot!")

[Elf_Lvr]

•Bravo 22, Heavy Support [UNSC]
Ship • Transport • Pelican
Weapons: 4
Armor: 2
Staff: 2 Silver
When you play Bravo 22, you may play up to 2 [UNSC] weapons from your draw deck.
Each time you play a [UNSC] weapon, you may discard a [UNSC] card from hand to make the twilight cost of that weapon -1.
"‘Chief, Bravo 22 was bringing us some heavy weapons. After I saw we were up against Hunters, I thought you could use them.'"

Cool.

Anvil-II Missile Pod [UNSC]
Possession
Weapons +2
Plays on a Pelican or SkyHawk. Limit 1 per ship.
Anvil-II missiles are normally mounted via rocket pods on Pelican dropships or SkyHawk atmospheric jump-jets for clearing ground targets and landing zones of enemies.

Basic weapon. Good.

UNSC Shuttle Pod [UNSC]
Ship • Shuttle
Capacity: 3
Armor: 1
Staff: 1 Silver
Company: Transfer a companion (except the Hero) in the company or aboard your Capital Ship to this ship.
Maneuver: Add to transfer a companion aboard this ship to the company or your Capital Ship.

Seems fine.

[AgentDrake]

Well, no in-depth review, since they're pretty basic, but...

Nice. All three. Me likey.

It occurs to me that, since there's the addition of ships, staff, et cetera, decks would have to be a lot bigger than 30/30. So larger amounts of playing stuff from the deck brings up chances of getting cards into play up to a more reasonable level, at limit 4 per deck. Also, means more costs will be payed each turn, so I think that sorta balances out some of the higher-powered cards.

Just a thought.

[MR. Lurtzy]

What's the difference between [UNSC] and [Human]?

[AgentDrake]

I don't think there is [Human]; just [UNSC] (United Nations Space Command).

[DáinIronfoot]

Actually, there WILL be a difference between [UNSC] and [Human]. The [UNSC] is a FP-only culture that will cover the bulk of our human companions. The [Human] culture will be a FP/Shadow culture that encompasses non-UNSC human companions (mostly civilians) and rebels, criminals, and other less savory Men on the Shadow side. Anyone that's read the novels knows there are plenty of rebels alone to fill this culture, but the criminals are a fun little subculture.

We won't get to them for a couple more sets, though. For now, we just have our [UNSC] Men...and a few more of their toys.

Marine Armor [UNSC]
Possession • Armor
Vitality +1
Bearer must be a Man.
If bearer is a marine or ODST, bearer may not be overwhelmed unless his or her strength is tripled.
1U?

M7057 Flamethrower [UNSC]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +2
Close-range. Bearer must be a Man companion.
At the start of the regroup phase, wound each opponent's character for each [UNSC] token on him or her. Remove all [UNSC] tokens on characters.
Skirmish: Exert bearer to place a [UNSC] token on each character skirmishing bearer.
"The M7057 Defoliant Projector is a standard chemical flamethrower which projects and ignites a stream of volatile, semi-liquid adhesive."
1R?

M9 Fragmentation Grenade [UNSC]
Possession • Grenade
Bearer must be a Man.
Maneuver: If bearer is a companion, reveal the top card of your draw deck; wound each minion whose twilight cost is the same as the card revealed. Discard this possession.
Sniping: Exert bearer and discard this possession to wound an opponent's companion or minion.
"The M9 high-explosive, dual-purpose grenade is a thrown fragmentation device. Used to suppress or disable vehicles. It can be thrown, rolled, bounced or ricocheted into places direct fire weapons can't reach."
1C?

[Elf_Lvr]

Marine Armor [UNSC]
Possession • Armor
Vitality +1
Bearer must be a Man.
If bearer is a marine or ODST, bearer may not be overwhelmed unless his or her strength is tripled.
1U?

Neat.

M7057 Flamethrower [UNSC]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +2
Close-range. Bearer must be a Man companion.
At the start of the regroup phase, wound each opponent's character for each [UNSC] token on him or her. Remove all [UNSC] tokens on characters.
Skirmish: Exert bearer to place a [UNSC] token on each character skirmishing bearer.
"The M7057 Defoliant Projector is a standard chemical flamethrower which projects and ignites a stream of volatile, semi-liquid adhesive."
1U?

Two questions: is Close-Range a loaded or unloaded keyword? If it is unloaded, how is it going to effect gameplay?

Okay, another one, out of curiosity: Is placing [UNSC] tokens on minions a flamethrower-specific thing (which is a really cool way of expressing a weapon that sets your enemies on fire) or is it going to be a theme in the culture?

The card is awesome. I LOVE fire.

M9 Fragmentation Grenade [UNSC]
Possession • Grenade
Bearer must be a Man.
Maneuver: Reveal the top card of your draw deck; wound each opponent's character whose twilight cost is the same as the card revealed. Discard this possession.
Sniping: Exert bearer and discard this possession to wound an opponent's companion or minion.
"The M9 high-explosive, dual-purpose grenade is a thrown fragmentation device. Used to suppress or disable vehicles. It can be thrown, rolled, bounced or ricocheted into places direct fire weapons can't reach."
1C?

Wound an opponent's companion? Could this be potentially used by a shadow player? I note that bearer must be a man, but is [UNSC] a dual-culture, like [Human]? I realize I may sound really stupid right now but it's mostly because 1) I know nothing about Halo and 2) I jumped into this thing kinda late.

My point is, the maneuver ability is OP if used by a shadow player; it has the potential to pretty easily wound (almost) every companion.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Marine Armor [UNSC]
Possession • Armor
Vitality +1
Bearer must be a Man.
If bearer is a marine or ODST, bearer may not be overwhelmed unless his or her strength is tripled.
1U?

Pretty nice, although the vitality bonus makes it a little nicer than Armor. Granted, that's only conditional, so it works.

M7057 Flamethrower [UNSC]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +2
Close-range. Bearer must be a Man companion.
At the start of the regroup phase, wound each opponent's character for each [UNSC] token on him or her. Remove all [UNSC] tokens on characters.
Skirmish: Exert bearer to place a [UNSC] token on each character skirmishing bearer.
"The M7057 Defoliant Projector is a standard chemical flamethrower which projects and ignites a stream of volatile, semi-liquid adhesive."
1U?

Bwahahahaha.... +1 to awesome for this card. Like EL, love the idea of setting guys on fire.

M9 Fragmentation Grenade [UNSC]
Possession • Grenade
Bearer must be a Man.
Maneuver: Reveal the top card of your draw deck; wound each opponent's character whose twilight cost is the same as the card revealed. Discard this possession.
Sniping: Exert bearer and discard this possession to wound an opponent's companion or minion.
"The M9 high-explosive, dual-purpose grenade is a thrown fragmentation device. Used to suppress or disable vehicles. It can be thrown, rolled, bounced or ricocheted into places direct fire weapons can't reach."
1C?

Hmm, nifty. I like the telepathy-style gameplay.

[DáinIronfoot]

M7057 Flamethrower [UNSC]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +2
Close-range. Bearer must be a Man companion.
At the start of the regroup phase, wound each opponent's character for each [UNSC] token on him or her. Remove all [UNSC] tokens on characters.
Skirmish: Exert bearer to place a [UNSC] token on each character skirmishing bearer.
"The M7057 Defoliant Projector is a standard chemical flamethrower which projects and ignites a stream of volatile, semi-liquid adhesive."
1U?

Two questions: is Close-Range a loaded or unloaded keyword? If it is unloaded, how is it going to effect gameplay?

Unloaded. Since close-range ranged weapons are used at...well, close range, there will be some cards that penalize those that use them, giving advantages to those that can do damage from further away. There are also some cards that benefit those that use hand weapons and/or close-range weapons, since they're much less numerous in Halo TCG than they are in LOTR TCG (which heavily favors hand weapons rather than ranged ones). But we'll get to that later.

Okay, another one, out of curiosity: Is placing [UNSC] tokens on minions a flamethrower-specific thing (which is a really cool way of expressing a weapon that sets your enemies on fire) or is it going to be a theme in the culture?

Not a theme, no. There are very, very few ways to get tokens on characters. The Needler, for those familiar with Halo, will be another very similiar way, but outside of those two, there's not much to speak of. A very unique way of expressing, as you seem to love, being on fire.

M9 Fragmentation Grenade [UNSC]
Possession • Grenade
Bearer must be a Man.
Maneuver: Reveal the top card of your draw deck; wound each opponent's character whose twilight cost is the same as the card revealed. Discard this possession.
Sniping: Exert bearer and discard this possession to wound an opponent's companion or minion.
"The M9 high-explosive, dual-purpose grenade is a thrown fragmentation device. Used to suppress or disable vehicles. It can be thrown, rolled, bounced or ricocheted into places direct fire weapons can't reach."
1C?

Wound an opponent's companion? Could this be potentially used by a shadow player? I note that bearer must be a man, but is [UNSC] a dual-culture, like [Human]? I realize I may sound really stupid right now but it's mostly because 1) I know nothing about Halo and 2) I jumped into this thing kinda late.

[UNSC] is FP-only. [Human] is not. I envisioned this being borne by [Human] minions...rebels especially.

Not stupid. Just catching up.

My point is, the maneuver ability is OP if used by a shadow player; it has the potential to pretty easily wound (almost) every companion.

Hmmmm...a good point. Perhaps I'll limit that ability to companions.

[Elf_Lvr]

[UNSC] is FP-only. [Human] is not. I envisioned this being borne by [Human] minions...rebels especially.

Well, since this is a [UNSC] culture card, you couldn't play it on your minions... since during your shadow phase, it'd be inactive, right?

[MR. Lurtzy]

They are groovy, though I wonder why the flamethrower isn't rare...

[sickofpalantirs]

yeah I would say the flamethrower could be R...

[AgentDrake]

Don't really have anything to add... However, I hereby endorse the above opinions.

[lem0nhead]

Marine Armor [UNSC]
Possession • Armor
Vitality +1
Bearer must be a Man.
If bearer is a marine or ODST, bearer may not be overwhelmed unless his or her strength is tripled.
1U?

Wow is this Dain Ironfoot himself commiting one of his own bugbears. A non unique vitality splash? Shame on you.

M7057 Flamethrower [UNSC]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +2
Close-range. Bearer must be a Man companion.
At the start of the regroup phase, wound each opponent's character for each [UNSC] token on him or her. Remove all [UNSC] tokens on characters.
Skirmish: Exert bearer to place a [UNSC] token on each character skirmishing bearer.
"The M7057 Defoliant Projector is a standard chemical flamethrower which projects and ignites a stream of volatile, semi-liquid adhesive."
1R?


Argh the bain of multiplayer, i loathe flamer players theyre so indiscriminate with their napalm..

See?

Intriguing mechanism which is awesome, but i dont like how its triggers in the regroup as by then your less concerned about wounds and im sure there will be better cards for regroup dealing with mininons. It would be so much more useful if you did the exerting in say the assignment or maneuver and then wounded in skirmish.


M9 Fragmentation Grenade [UNSC]
Possession • Grenade
Bearer must be a Man.
Maneuver: If bearer is a companion, reveal the top card of your draw deck; wound each minion whose twilight cost is the same as the card revealed. Discard this possession.
Sniping: Exert bearer and discard this possession to wound an opponent's companion or minion.
"The M9 high-explosive, dual-purpose grenade is a thrown fragmentation device. Used to suppress or disable vehicles. It can be thrown, rolled, bounced or ricocheted into places direct fire weapons can't reach."
1C?

Cool.

[lem0nhead]

Bump. lem0n wants more Halo TCG!

[DáinIronfoot]

Your wish is my command.

Johnson, bad@$$ he may be, isn't the only Sarge around. Here are a couple more, including two copies of the one that has some of the best lines in the entire Halo series...and appears in every game! Enjoy!

•Sgt. Stacker, Platoon Commander [UNSC]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Signet: Keyes
Star: Gold
Marine. To play, add a threat.
Each marine bearing a ranged weapon is strength +1.
"‘Time to earn your paychecks, marines!'"
1R?

Sort of a compliment to the earlier Sgt. Johnson, Sarge, which boosted weapon-toting marines with a damage bonus. That one was conditional on those marines also being unwounded, though...this one is not. Obviously makes him a great splash into virtually any marine-centered deck.

•Sgt. Stacker, Wisecracking Marine [UNSC]
Companion • Man
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Signet: Master Chief
Star: Gold
Marine.
Sniping or Skirmish: Exert 2 marines (or Stacker) to play a [UNSC] sniping or skirmish event from your draw deck.
"‘Quit making love people, no letter writin', move move move!'"
1U?

This ain't a bad alternative, letting you grab events as needed from your deck. The sniping part might seem odd, but keep in mind that Stacker often appears as a sniper in the games, so it made sense to ME, at least.

•Sgt. Mobuto, The "Other" Reclaimer [UNSC]
Companion • Man
Strength: 6
Vitality: 4
Signet: Sarge
Star: Gold
Marine. Defender +1.
To play, spot a Monitor or a [Flood] card and add a threat.
Mobuto is strength +1 for each [Flood] minion in his skirmish.
"‘I didn't know you, Sarge, but I sure as #$&*@! wish I had. You must have been one hard-core son of a b*tch.'"
1R?

This guy is probably only known to those that have read Halo: The Flood, and his role was very, very brief. He's actually never seen alive, but he's shown in the novel as having made it ALMOST all the way through the Flood-infested "Library" on Halo, and even Master Chief can't help but admire the tenacity and determination the man must have had to make it that far. As such, he shows up here as one of the more powerful marines in Halo TCG: though with some hefty and unusual spotting requirements. There ARE Monitor companions, so you can control hat aspect of things, but the 2 threats almost makes him more like a Wraith than a normal Man.