Mot's Useless Card Review #87: Phaser Burns

The following card has received official errata:

The errata, as printed in the First Contact rules supplement, updates the term "Away Team battle" to the current "personnel battle", and clarifies that the opposing personnel must be stunned.

When first released, Phaser Burns was not a particularly popular card. Personnel battles were not that common, and the use of phasers and disruptors even less so. A lot has changed since then. We have Common Thief ready to take out anyone without equipment, Maglock demanding a STRENGTH that several Federation OFFICERs cannot provide, Voles waiting to Infest ships without hand weapons, Borg coming after you with Talon Drones, and soon (according to a recent article) the threat of Jem'Hadar beaming through your SHIELDS to beat you senseless. And of course there's Neela, Tasha Yar - Alternate and Lightner, all able to download a phaser of some kind.

Many more decks are consequently using phasers and disruptors than used to. Maybe time to consider pulling Phaser Burns out of the binder. After all, one phaser or disruptor rifle is usually enough to guarantee you'll stun at least half your opponent's forces, and yet even two weapons won't always guarantee you'll mortally wound anyone (unless your personnel had a high STRENGTH to begin with, or your opponent's personnel was very weak). Consequently, while the revised personnel battle rules did create a situation where smaller numbers could overcome larger numbers, it often still has the same result: you kill a single opposing personnel.

Enter Phaser Burns, a beautiful way to exploit the personnel battle rules. Imagine killing at least three of your opponent's personnel in a single battle. That's faster than they can report replacements without Red Alert on their side! And now it's easier than ever to force a battle situation on your opponent. Nor stations, Dropping In, Mission Debriefing, Open Diplomatic Relations - all are great for trapping your opponent in a bad situation.

So grab a handful of your strongest personnel, a couple phasers or disruptors, and make your opponent wish they had Thermal Deflectors on their side! :-)