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I'll Have the Romulans with a Side of Events and Interrupts

by Brad DeFruiter
Decipher Game Designer

Oh, those sneaky Romulans. Just when you least expect them, you should expect them. With the upcoming Necessary Evil expansion the Romulans get a lot of new tools to work with. I'm not even going to go into all the great fun the Necessary Evil expansion provides for corresponding commanders (which the Romulans have a good share of) nor any of the other game-breaking and thought provoking Romulan personnel. I'm going to write about some of the Romulan events and interrupts.

Guess who's back – back again – they are back –
tell a friend – guess who's back – guess who's back ...

We Are Back boosts more personnel than any one card in the game has so far. Each of your Romulan Officers is cunning +2 while this event is in your core. This flat out bonus is always on and suddenly the Romulans have that much-wanted cunning boost. Sure your opponent can get rid of your We Are Back by playing an event to their core but they cannot play events to their core the turn you play We Are Back and that is the turn to take advantage of it. It is an added bonus if they don't play an event to destroy it. The fun thing about We Are Back is that your opponent may hold onto an event longer than normal if they see that you are playing Romulan in hopes of destroying your soon to be played We Are Back. Making your opponent do things that they wouldn't normally do is what the Romulans are all about.

Another boost that the Romulans get is the interrupt Chance Observation. This Donatra-imaged interrupt gives a Romulan affiliated personnel a sizable attribute boost when facing a nasty attribute-demanding dilemma. Of course if your opponent has an event on top of their deck Chance Observation isn't as strong but Prejudice and Politics can help out with that situation. Just top-deck the event out of the way before you attempt a mission and help your odds of hitting a big +3 attribute bonus.

Which way did he go?

Romulans have always had a good grasp on redirecting things. From Twist of Fate to Ruwon to Dissolving the Senate the Romulans know how to change things up in their favor. And in Necessary Evil they find even more of it. B'Etor and Lursa may be able to keep needed skills around but Outlining the Stakes actually removes the need for skills. That is right, for the cost of 5 points you can ignore a mission requirement.

Let me sidetrack for a moment to talk about the timing of this card and the timing of Secret Conspiracy. Secret Conspiracy plays when an opponent is about to complete a mission. This is done after a player checks requirements. So, Outlining the Stakes would be played before Secret Conspiracy could be played. Except, that when Secret Conspiracy is played is creates another chance for the attempting player to check requirements – that player has to check to see if they have the skills added by Secret Conspiracy. So, Outlining the Stakes could be played after Secret Conspiracy is played to remove one of the skills that Secret Conspiracy added.

The Romulan redirection doesn't end with Outlining the Stakes because the Romulans have some selection mojo going on as well. Lying in Wait shows off Romulan misdirection and redirection better that any card to date. It does this mostly because it doesn't just work for your Romulans but can work against your opponent as well. If you want to save that one personnel (like your one Security that isn't smart enough to throw the Trabe Grenade back) or if a big Personal Duty is looking to stop too many of your personnel, you can use Lying in Wait to exclude a personnel. Of course your opponent gets to choose who will be selected but by then it might be too late.

Also, Lying in Wait is another weapon for those Romulan players who want to mess with their opponent. Letting your opponent exclude a personnel so that you can choose one for the nastiness of one of your dilemmas can always be a boon. And speaking of messing with your opponent, the Romulans of course get more cards that let them do this.

You can run but ...

Romulan players have had the ability to confound and mess with their opponent's strategies from the beginning of Second Edition. Necessary Evil provides some more of this and will not disappoint fans of this strategy.

Deep Hatred removes opponent's interrupts from the game but at least one of those interrupts needs to be played first. Now, when your opponent plays that interrupt that just makes you cringe, you can end the madness with some Deep Hatred. Just play this to look through their discard pile and yank out that interrupt. Then peek at their hand and yank another copy if they have one there – but keep track of what was in their hand for your Sensing a Trap. Then rifle through their deck and get rid of any other copies of that interrupt.

But if you think going through your opponent's deck to remove cards is good, you need to read Far-Seeing Eyes. Go ahead and re-read it. Yes, that is right for 5 points you can take two key cards out of your opponent's deck and remove them from the game. The Romulans see your opponent's plans before your opponent can. So, grab two Comfort Women. Yank out two Ro Larens. Remove two Secret Conspiracies. Pull out two Far-Seeing Eyes.

Far-Seeing Eyes has a definite meta change. A player cannot rely on drawing into certain cards for their strategy. More run time choices must be made. Stocking just one copy of key personnel just won't work when that personnel is removed from the game.

Romulans have many cards that let them mess with their opponents but the big hit against these cards has been that you have to waste valuable time chasing around your opponent instead of working toward completing missions. Well, with Escaping Detection a lot of that just got easier. As long as your opponent's personnel are in the same quadrant and it isn't your turn, your Romulans aboard cloaking device ships are there.

Vreenak and Sirol just got that much better. Secret Conspiracy is a no-brainer with Escaping Detection. Vile Deception become more vile. There just doesn't seem to be any escaping the Romulans — now, they are everywhere.

The events and interrupts that the Romulans get in Necessary Evil help push them into the forefront of deck construction consideration. And of course these new cards, be it We Are back or Far-Seeing Eyes or Escaping Detection, will have players thinking twice about the Romulans while building their deck — it is just as the Romulan Star Empire wanted. Mwahahahaha!

February 5, 2004