With new cards, comes new strategies! Sandy Wible outlines important details about Hidden Agenda Cards below.
Make sure you check out the previous article entitled Phasers: Don't Get Caught Without One!.
The Strategy of Hidden Agenda Cards
by Sandy Wible
One of the new strategies introduced in First Contact is implemented by a new "hidden agenda" icon on some cards, usually Event or Objective cards. This icon looks like a small card back, and appears on the left of the title bar, in the same position as the Alternate Universe symbol has appeared on previous cards.
The rules sheet explains how this icon works. Basically, cards with this icon represent secret objectives or other clandestine strategies. When you play such a card, you announce it as a hidden agenda card and place it face down on the table without showing it to your opponent (this counts as your normal card play). While face down, its identity is concealed and thus it is immune to general-use cards such as Kevin Uxbridge. In fact, your opponent doesn't know what card type it is!
You may activate a hidden agenda card by turning it face up at any time, even as a response to another action. This immediately activates the cardŐs game text. If there are any conditions specified by the card, you must meet them at this time (if you cannot, you must immediately turn the card face down again). Once activated, the card remains face up until removed from play.
Some hidden agenda cards may be seeded (they say so in their game text, such as "Seeds or plays on table") and thus it's your choice as to how you want to play them. You can spend a seed card slot, or else spend a card draw and a card play. Sometimes you might even want to do both: seed a copy of a specific hidden agenda card as well as stock one or two of that card in your deck or Q's Tent.
Bluffing using hidden agenda cards is very cool. When you seed or play one, your opponent has absolutely no idea what gameplay twist is hiding and awaiting for that critical situation! Your opponent never knows whether you will reveal your hidden agenda card to penalize a particular card play, or perhaps to surprise his attacking Away Team with your Prepare Assault Teams objective.
Timing is also important with these cards. When and how you reveal them can drastically affect their result. For example, a hidden agenda card that affects both players is a double-bladed sword, penalizing a specific card or strategy no matter which player is taking a turn. Wait until your opponent tries to get away with it before you reveal the card, and thus postpone affecting yourself until the last possible moment. In addition, you may wish to wait and hurt your opponent more, but waiting too long might be disastrous!
Above all, these cards are a wonderful tool which add a great deal of strategy with the simple elegance of a short rule and icon. Enjoy playing with them!
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