I think that's the card I'm thinking of; Plant False Leads.

The rebel player gets to take 4 random probe cards from the imperial player and place them either on the top or bottom of the probe deck.

I've only played two games of Rebellion so far so I could be missing something, but could someone please explain why placing the probe cards on the bottom could in any way be useful???

It helps to cycle the probe deck in a way useful to you. Early in the game you want to hide remote systems and long range possibilities for a new base on the bottom of the deck away from the probe attempts of the imperial player. In the middle/late game, when you're prepping to move the base, you will want to stuff imperial systems on the bottom, improving the top 4 to 8 cards for your relocation.

Yep. It can be helpful to know early on a couple systems the Imperial player hasn't drawn. Then you can more effectively bluff a false base.

Actually, I don't think either of these responses are helpful; the Imperial player knows the cards you put on the bottom, so you're not hiding anything from them. If you want to keep information from them, you're usually better putting them back on top so that you can stall their next meaningful probe draws.

The one time you may want to put them on the bottom, and it is a niche scenario, is if you are also relocating your base this turn. If this is the case, picking the best option out of the four you took and putting it on top, while the other 3 go on the bottom, means that when you relocate, not only do you get to look at 3 new cards, but the Empire doesn't know if you chose a new location, or one of the four they lost (because they don't know which cards you put on the top or the bottom, only how many). This forces them to recheck all 4 that they lost, and reduces the number of dud cards you get for your relocation.

It also means the Imp cycles the probe deck slower. You have just added four more cards to teh deck. Whether he knows what they are or not, he will still have to draw them, (again).

False Leads: take 4 probe cards from the Imp hand and place them at the top and/or bottom of the probe deck.

additional info: The Imp player knows which 4 you removed, and knows how many you placed where, but not where each individual card is placed.

Strategies:

Delay: Stick all 4 at the top of the deck in order to just force the Imps to use 1 more round before getting useful probes. Limited usefulness unless the Imps haven't done much physical searching or probes.

Assist in picking new base: You pick the best base location from those 4, place it at the top, put the others at the bottom. This makes your RM a sure thing as you know you have at least 1 good location to move to. Sometimes good to place 2 potential base locations at the top if the Imps haven't used their probe mission (would hate to lose your 1 good location).

Fake out during new base location: You pick potential base location(s) and place them at the top, stick the others at the bottom. During RM, don't pick the systems you drew with FL, but move defenses to one of those locations. Now the Imp player may assume that is your base and waste time dealing with it rather than you actual hidden base.

Preparing for the future: If you've played enough games that you have a good handle on predicting the next couple rounds of play, you could FL and put good locations at the bottom and leave the bad locations at the top. You waste the Imps turn getting probes they already know, but you also buried potential base location(s) for future RM use. The Imp player may be forced to then spend time/resources securing these locations, or they may be available to you later.

I didn't realize the rebel player was allowed to look at the cards. My bad. That changes this a little bit, but still seems most beneficial to put them on the top in 99% of scenarios.

I didn't realize the rebel player was allowed to look at the cards. My bad. That changes this a little bit, but still seems most beneficial to put them on the top in 99% of scenarios.

If you are playing it just to slow the Imps, yes. Play false leads, dump them on the top and move on. It works. I've done it. In general though, it's not the best use of the card.

But more often than not, I save False Lead for use with Rapid Mobilization. In this scenario, putting them at the top is actually bad. You only want to put cards that could help you, or mislead the Imps at the top, and the rest at the bottom. You've still added the same amount of cards to the deck, so you will slow them down just as much, plus you've either given yourself a viable base to move to, or you've created a scenario where the Imps have to waste time backtracking to systems they once knew about.

Like many other missions in the game, alone, they can be useful. But combo them together an you get some remarkable results that are way more effective together than they were apart.

I rapid mobilize every turn starting after round 3. The ability to see cards and move the deck helps you in many cases. Splitting your hand here helps as the Empire doesn't know, if you move your base if you picked one he's already seen. Placing them on the bottom means it'll take time before he can be sure.