The Harbinger Saga is the second block of Star Chamber cards. The Atok Incident is the first of the three Harbinger Saga sets and features 300 cards of all races and tech. All new mechanics like Conquerors and activated abilities add new strategies and dynamics while familiar faces like General Nargha and Professor Hernandez return in new versions! In 2006, the Descent and Maelstrom sets will add over 300 more cards to complete the block!
The Story So Far... The Origins block (which consisted of Origns, Incursions and Rebellions sets) detailed the rise of the Star Chamber, the political hub of the Galactic Republic where all races meet to broker power and policy. The prime reason for the creation of the Republic was to protect the Gateways, the ancient hyperspace doorwarys that dot the Galaxy, but many have sought to use the Republic's resources for their own agenda.
When the Emperor, the eccentric but influential leader of Star Chamber politics, was replaced by an imposter, the seeds of war were sewn. The Ferrier, once a proud race that ruled a giant empire, used the incident to declare martial law. Their abuse of the Star Chamber was answered by a violent revolt led by Kuldarch Darkmane, a charismatic Clave who drew the support of many races to his side.
The Harbinger Saga opens with The Atok Incident, the event that takes the Republic from rebellion to war. As the Ferrier and Clave wage war in space and in the Star Chamber, the Android allies of the Clave discover something amazing: Minerva, an ancient world that archeologists believe is the homeworld of the Atok, the ancient race that built the Gateways! Soon, all eyes are on this valuable planet and war of ideology becomes a war for the ancient legacy of the Atok. The Ferrier and their allies (calling themselves the 'Coalition') tip the tide of battle and are poised to capture Minerva from the Rebels. Unable to lose such a valuable prize, the Androids resort to a plan of scorched earth... As the Coalition troops overwhelm the Rebels on the surface of Minerva, all eyes turn skyward to see an titanic Android ship in orbit: The Harbinger. In one moment, the legacy of the ancients and the hope for peace vanish into oblivion.
The new cards in The Harbinger Saga take you into the escalating war of the Republic. Each of the ten races has new Leaders, new ships and new armies thirsty for conquest. Hundreds of new zaps and mods add tricks and tactics to combat, construction and voting. Two entirely new game concepts make their debut in the Harbinger Sage: Conquerors and activated abilites.
| Conquerors Conquerors represent the heroes and armies that are proud crusaders for their nation. As a game mechanic, Conquerors have special game texts that triggers if they are at a planet when it's conquered by friendly forces. If your Conqueror is at a planet when you capture that planet, you place your flag (a special marker) at that planet and your Conqueror's special game text triggers. Conquerors come in a variety of themes. Some are ruthless warlords that kill enemy forces in response to taking a planet. Some conquerors are ambitious traders who exploit the new planet's resources and add Build Points to your homeworld. Other conquerors are charismatic leaders who inspire your people with stories of victory and add Destiny. And some conquerors have special racially-themed abilities that let them do something especially crafty. Take for instance the Hand of Conquest . The Silica are masters of mimicking other life forms with cards like Replicant and Dimensional Duplication . Each time the Hand of Conquest is there to help overthrow a planet, he clones a random non-unique citizen, possibly one of your enemy's citizens! Not only do Conquerors get special benefits for marching across the map, their leadership and resolve enhance other cards in play. Ship of Conquest is one such card that has its effect (giving your ship influence everywhere but the Star Chamber) doubled when there's a Conqueror present. The Flag marker that each Conqueror places down has no effect by itself, but cards in the Descent and Maelstrom sets will use the Flags for special card effects... stay tuned... | |
| Activated Abilities Activated abilities are a game feature that you will see for the first time on some cards in The Atok Incident set. Cards with activated abilities have special game texts that are dormant until the card's controller pays an added cost. During your planning phase, when you decide which cards to play, which fleets to move and what entities to build, you can decide which of your activated ability cards you'd like to use for the turn. Each Activated Ability can be used once per turn and costs tech, so you can't always rely on using their ability every turn and you have to decide if you'd rather have your tech spent on getting cards into play. Activated Abilities represent some of the most powerful card effects in the game and with good planning, you can use these abilities at key moments to swing the game in your favor. In fact, the most destructive card text in the The Atok Incident comes from the card bearing the name of the block: The Harbinger. The Harbinger isn't just a powerful capital ship, it's a portable apocalypse. Once you have the Harbinger in orbit over your prey, you can feed it 3 Cyber and 3 Entropy tech to trigger its activated ability. If it's still alive at the end of combat, the planet gets crushed into a singularity -- a black hole that generates -2 Destiny per turn for the player that created it. | |
| Victory, Vanguard and more… Take a look at the Harbinger and you may see two more important game elements. The Harbinger's first line is "Vanguard 30." Vanguard is a short-hand term for effective hull for purposes of targeting. Any fleet going up against the Harbinger will have a bit of incentive to shoot it down (Hey look, it's about to annihilate our planet! That's were we keep all our stuff!) and so the Harbinger acts as if it had 30 more hull when it comes time to determine targeting calculations. More importantly, take a look at the last line of the Harbinger's text. The Harbinger Saga will introduce new ways to win the game through card texts! These special victory condition card texts are often easier said than done, but with right mix of skill and luck, you can win a game of Star Chamber without achieving the normal conditions of a Military, Cultural or Political victory. The Atok Incident is the single largest Star Chamber set to date and brings with it a host of new cards, new options and new strategies. Not only will you find Conquerors and Activated Abilities, you'll also find new hero and ship combos, special 'agenda' cards that will change how you use the Star Chamber, citizens that build ships, new ways prepare for war or declare it, cards to make modifications eternal and more... The Atok Incident releases on November 26th. Cards are available in 15-card booster packs and in four different 43-card pre-constructed starter decks that contain 2 cards only found in starters, as well as 3 random rares. Be sure to take a look at the Matrix Release of the Harbinger Saga which features a host of cards from The Atok Incident set, as well as 5 exclusive promo cards and story-based single-player missions that let you command the battles of the Rebels and Coalition forces from the death of Kuldarch Darkmane to the final moments of Minerva. |
