Hi all, new to getting an id for forums, but not new to forums or game. I think the new bw expansion is awesome, and as i stated in another post, my favorite part of the new expansion are the leadership cards. I'm writing this as a general fyi to people who haven't bought theirs, or received theirs yet, and also as a kinda poll/give your opinion on my theorys of it.

Now each faction has 7 leadership cards to choose from which add a lot of depth, stategy, and imagination to each of them. There are 3 for the stage 1 phase, 2 for the stage 2 phase(where each faction can bring a hero into play if they want), and 2 for the stage 3 phase. Each player can pick one of them for each phase of the game. Unlike the first game, the only way to get a special victory now is to choose the stage 1 leadership card that has it. For stage 1, each faction has a special victory card, a mega resource card, and a powerful ability card. They are as follows;

Overmind Faction: All in all, solid cards, not one weak card except for one of their level 3 cards. And 2 really powerful installations. (The Cerebrate Doggath for level 2 is really good too)

Stage 1;

Special Victory- You win if you have a base on at least 3 different planets at stage 3 of the game.

4 Zerglings, 1 Hydralisk, 1 Transport, 8 workers

Mega Resource Card- Add 1 mineral and 1 gas to your permanant resources.

1 Zergling, 2 Hydralisks, 1 Transport, 9 workers

Powerful Ability- Place the Overmind token in any friendly area. While the token is in play, gain 1 con. pt. at the start of each regrouping phase

3 Zerglings, 2 Hyrdalisks, 1 Transport, 7 workers

Queen of Blades Faction: No powerful installations like the Overmind faction, but a little more starting units, and the best Hero in the game imo- Sarrah Kerrigan.

Stage 1;

Special Victory- You win if you control at least 3 areas that provide con. pts. during stage 3 of the game

3 Zerglings, 2 Hyrdalisks, 1 Transport, 7 workers

Mega Resource Card- During setup, you choose where to put each players z-axis routes. Place 1 transport on each navigation route of the planet with your base

1 Infested Terran, 4 Zerglings, 9 workers

Powerful Ability- When setting up the galaxy, you receive 2 bases. During setup, place 1 of them on each planet you place

6 Zerglings, 2 Transports, 8 Workers

Arcturus Mengsk Faction: Powerful abilities on cards, and not a single weak card. Also has best Level 3 card in the game imo; Scorched Earth Policy.

Stage 1;

Special Victory- You win if you control every area on 2 planets during stage 3 of the game

2 Marines, 1 Firebat, 1 Ghost, 1 Transport, 8 Workers

Mega Resource Card- Before players receive starting planet tokes, you may select which tokens you receive. Give the first player token to any player

3 Marines, 1 Firebat, 1 Transport, 9 Workers

Powerful Ability- You may use the Star Order Token. (It's a token that you use the same way as your other order tokens). You may choose to use it as a Mobilize, Research, or Build Order, and can choose to treat it as a build order, following special order rules and restrictions.

3 Marines, 1 Medic, 1 Goliath, 1 Transport, 7 Workers

Jim Raynor Faction: Scrappy faction, and the best Faction for Resources of any of the 6

Stage1;

Special Victory- You win if you control at least 6 areas containing minerals and/or gas in stage 3 of the game

2 Marines, 1 Vulture, 1 Firebat, 1 Transport, 8 Workers

Mega Resource Card- At the start of the game, receive 3 resource tokens of your choice. At the start of each regrouping phase, gain 1 resource token for eac worker in your worker pool, (maximum of 3 per regrouping phase).

3 Marines, 1 Vulture, 1 Transport, 9 Workers

Powerful Ability- Place 3 Ghosts on this card. When you resolve a Mobilize Order, you may move any Ghost(s) from this card to the active planet. When you build a Ghost, you may place it on this card

3 Marines, 2 Firebats, 1 Transport, 7 Workers

Aldaris Faction: On a scale of 1-10, all cards are 8-9, but no 10's

Stage 1;

Special Victory- The number of conquest points needed for each opponent to win is raised from 15 to 20. When 2 or more 'The End Draws Near' cards are played, you win the game.

2 Zealots, 1 Dragoon, 1 Transport, 7 Workers

Mega Resource Card- At the end of each Regrouping Phase, you may undeplete 2 partially depleted Resource Cards. In addition, your resource cards may not be depleted by opponents' Event Cards.

1 Zealot, 1 Dragoon, 1 Transport, 9 Workers

Powerful Ability- Whenever you build a unit, you may place it on this card rather than on a planet. When any player's Mobilize Order is revealed, you may move any units from this card to a friendly area containing one of your bases, (obeying unit limits)

2 Dragoons, 1 Transport, 8 Workers

Tassador Faction: The only faction with 2 hero choices for level 2 cards, and both are really, really good. Warp Gate is sick for level 1, and solid level 3's

Stage 1;

Special Victory- You win if you control more areas than each individual opponent during stage 3 of the game.

3 Zealots, 1 Transport, 8 Workers

Mega Resource Card- Add 2 minerals to your permanant resources

1 Dark Templar, 1 Zealot, 1 Transport, 9 Workers

Powerful Ability- After you place your starting units, place the Warp Gate installation in any friendly area. At the end of each regrouping phase, you may move any units from this area to any one friendly or empty area on any planet.

2 Zealots, 1 Dragoon, 1 Transport, 7 Workers

Sorry for the long post, but hope this helps, and who does everyone think has the best leadership cards, or card?

I would say either the Overmind Faction, or Mengsk faction for overall best cards, and the Scorched Earth Policy card, (a level 3 card that gives you 2 Battlecruisers or 2 Siege Tanks for free. And if you choose Battlecruisers, they gain the ability, Collateral Damage), from the Mengsk faction

You should look at the UED Leadership cards too.

Warp Gate is hillariously sick. It really makes people play defence and keep at least one unit on each are as opposed to stretching themselves thin and expanding quickly.

Nice Post.

Ya I would have to agree with warp gate being hilariously sick. Gives you so many options and keeps all opponents on their tows. Make sure you don't let it get destroyed like i did in the first round lol. I got overrun by zerglings from the Kerrigan faction. But if you get your foundation/economy even semi-set, the fun you could have with it...

I just looked at the Human Directorate Faction, and they are cool too. I wonder if after a month or so, they'll throw in another zerg/protoss faction, and do the same for the last race. My guess would be ya.

Well, with the way they built the factions in this game, pretty much anyone could make up their own faction. Just write up some cool leadership cards, throw them into a PDF and Post here. Same thing goes for New Senerios. If only FFG would release some sort of downloadable outline to make creative map creation easy. ...much like Starcraft the computer game.

Well, the Warpgate definitely is heavy - but the downside is that you will be under constant attack by ALL players, because you can hurt anyone. It's like with the installations of the Overmind, very heavy, but invites attacks.

Let them attack. They better Win or some one MIGHT just sneak a few forces behind their lines and take their cookies. Warp gate trumps the overmind in my opinion. I rarely have a game last long enough to go to conquest points. Always Special Victories.

Can you please post the rest of the leadership cards?

I often see games won by CP. You can prevent the Special victories, but it is hard to prevent CP-victories, cause you can't take the gathered points away from a player that has already acquired them. The areas can be conquered away every time, CP not.

BlindFaith said:

Here are all Leadership cards from Brood War: boardgamegeek.com/thread/365728

(no UED though)

Stefan said:

Ya i agree completley. And not that many people i know even play the special victory leadership card, bc they other ones are so cool.

BlindFaith said:

So what say u BlindFaith? Which faction's leadership cards impress u the most?

I really like the Arcturus Mengsk faction, mostly because the specail order card and the CP tokens.

The special order rocks, that's for sure. But mighty are all of them, and since I have played only one game so far, I don't know which is my favourite.

Stefan said:

I haven't played the EP yet, because The game will only arrive at the end of January to Israel.

BlindFaith said:

Not to mention, my favorite card from them, Scorched Earth Policy, which gives you 2 free battlecruisers with Collateral Damage. I would say Mengsk doesn't have one weak card, and has some of the most powerful ones, if not the most powerful ones. Not to take anything from Raynor though, cause he's really good at getting you resources. His level 1 Storage Facilities is really good, and if you choose his other level 2 card, that is not the Jim Raynor Hero; Make do with a Little, that one is amazing too. It allows you to build a free worker or transport with every build order, and every Module now counts as 2. That's amazing! But it's hard not picking the hero card because they're so cool, and it's fun playing with an ultrapowerful unit.

Mengsk- Ultra Powerful ablities

Raynor- Loads of Resources