Previously when playing this game with my group we´ve had the president discard his hand of quorom cards and shuffle all the quorom cards together (except those removed from the game) if the presidency was shifted.

With the expansion we´ve observed 2 things which suggests that is not the way to do it:

1) Ellen Tigh can steal the president title for 1 round. This is too powerful as it both makes the president loose all quorom cards and (from Ellens PoW) limits her ability somewhat since she won´t be able to use the really kick-ass president abilities

2) When you get executed the rules state that you do NOT discard your hand of quorom cards. The presidency changes hands regardless, when the former president has been executed so stating that you do not discard the quorom cards suggests to us that is the way it is usually done

What we have been thinking is that in light of these observations the correct way to do it would be to let the hand of quorom cards, discarded quorom cards and the shuffled deck follow the president title to whomever may get it. The problem with this is that it will give other players an insight into the hand of the president as well as his options. Seing as all cards are supposed to be secret that might not be the best idea.

Perhaps let the discard pile follow the title as-is. Then shuffle the hand and unused cards together and draw the excact same amount for the next president (it can be a real hazzle to have to start over with the quorom cards if a player has been spending alot of time gathering quorom cards, which are essentially a resource)

Any thoughts on this?

Nerdmeister said:

We've always played it as you give the hand of Quorum cards to the new president, without discarding them. This isn't explicitly spelled out in the rules or the President card if I remember correctly, but they both refer to "the President controls the hand of Quorum cards."

And yeah, this does seem to be supported by the rules for execution.

We also play with the hand being passed as is to the next pres. And yes it gives some insight into the president. But that is one of the main points. Its a great way to see what your pres has been up to. And Ellen Tigh's ability makes it even better. Its not a serious secrecy problem since only the newest pres knows what cards weren't played. And its not hard to argue as former pres, you had no time and/or there was more important things to do than play this or the other card. And if you get totally caught out, well so be it, thats the risk of being a cylon with power.

It says in the rulebook "Whichever player has the President title has control over [the] hand of Quorum Cards" - when the title of President changes hands, so to does the hand of Quorum Cards. There is no hand limit for the Quorum Cards, so they never get discarded until they are played.

Just keep in mind that if you are playing with Pegasus, there is a rule that limits the Quorum hand to 10 cards. Extra cards must be discarded at end of turn just like skill cards.

Locutus Zero said:

I wonder if President Tyrol would (or should) be limited to 8 quorum cards, too.

Nah. While the rules are similar, they are two distinct things.

Nerdmeister said:

That's the whole point. When the president isn't being presidential, we will either hold elections or execute the president. It can be very revealing when the presidency is taken over only to find that the previous one was holding a bunch of Inspirational Speeches even though the morale was in the red.

As pointed out in the rules by others, when the presidency changes, the quorum deck goes, as is, to the new president.