Space Commandos

## Overview

Finish the Fi- er, Complete the Combat with the Space Commando faction! Launch your tactical assault by positioning your minions on adjacent bases, and reduce your target base's breakpoint from afar. Once you've been able to reduce a breakpoint sufficiently, converge onto it with the factions' various movement effects for a big score. Be careful to manage your resources carefully - there's limited card draw and recursion in this deck, but also some very powerful abilities that you'll want to time right. They may be a simple faction with a simple game plan, but do not underestimate the damage or else you'll be saying Halo to your demise.

### Details

#### General

* Name: Space Commandos
* Author: Onassi
* Complexity: 1/5
* Version: 1.0
* Last updated: April 11th, 2023

### Breakdown

Cosmoballers have the standard 10 minions and 10 actions, with a total minion power of 30 and an average minion power of 3. Among their actions, they have:

* 1 play-on-minion actions: Power Shield
* 3 play-on-base actions: Orbital Interstellar Command Patrol, Piggyback, Pave The Way
* 6 standard actions, 3 of which directly affect one or more minions (in bold): **2x Complete the Combat**, 2x Co-Op Mode, Missing in Action, **Gravity Mace**
* 2 actions directly increase a minion's power: Gravity Mace, Pave The Way

### Minions (10)

* **1x Jeff-127 (5):** Talent: Reduce the breakpoint of this base by 1 until the end of the turn. You may give this minion power equal to the breakpoint reduced from the starting breakpoint on this base until the end of the turn.
* **2x Harvestman (4):** Talent: Reduce the breakpoint of another base by 1 until the end of the turn. You may move this minion and another one of your minions here to that base if it has a lower breakpoint than this one.
* **3x O.I.C.P Trooper (3):** If the breakpoint on this base is lower than its starting breakpoint, play an extra action OR give this minion +2 power until the end of the turn.
* **4x Underpaid Grunts (2):** Talent: Reduce the breakpoint of a base where you have no minions by 2 until the end of the turn.

### Actions (10)

* **2x Complete The Combat:** Reduce a base's breakpoint by 2 until the end of the turn. You may move one of your minions to there.
* **2x Co-Op Mode:** Play an extra minion on a base with a breakpoint less than its printed breakpoint.
* **1x Gravity Mace:** Choose a base. Move a minion there to another base OR reduce the breakpoint of the base by 1 and give a minion there power equal to the breakpoint reduced from the starting breakpoint on that base until the end of the turn.
* **1x Missing In Action:** Discard any number of minions and search your deck and/or discard pile for a minion whose power is equal to or less than their combined total power. Place that minion in your hand. Play an extra action.
* **1x Orbital Interstellar Command Patrol:** Play on a base. Talent: Look at the top three cards of your deck. Place them on the top and/or bottom of your deck in any order.
* **1x Pave The Way:** Play on a base. Ongoing: When the breakpoint of this base is reduced, you may move one of your minions here and give it +1 power until the end of the turn.
* **1x Piggyback:** Play on a base. Talent: Move this action and up to three of your minions here to another base.
* **1x Power Shield:** Play on your minion. Ongoing: Your minions here and unaffected by other players' actions. Special: After this base scores, you may shuffle this minion and two other minions in your discard pile into your deck.

### Bases

* **(27) Nimbus (421):** At the start of each turn, place a counter on this base. Its breakpoint is reduced by 2 for each counter on it.

* **(21) Trash Compactor (432):** At the start of your turn, reduce the breakpoint of this base by 5 if you do not have any power here.

## Clarifications

* **Missing In Action:** The recurred minion's power must be equal to or less than the *discarded* minions' total power.
* **Starting Breakpoint** refers to the base's breakpoint before being modified by abilities; usually, this is printed breakpoint but not always (in the case of Overgrowth or Marking Territory and a few others).
* **Printed Breakpoint** is always the breakpoint printed on the base card, i.e.) 27 for Nimbus.

## Strategy

### General

Space Commandos have a very simple game plan: set your minions and actions up on bases different from the base you aim to break, and converge onto it all at once when it's time to score. This may be easy to understand and a little tougher to execute, but it can be quite an effective strategy - Space Commandos can often take down just about any base from 0 power to breakpoint if your opponents let you. Their minions all support this simple but effective game plan: Grunts allow you to stage themselves elsewhere and use their talent terminally when the time is right, Harvestman can reduce from afar and converge themselves and a passenger, OICP Trooper can be played terminally *on* the target base to start a bigger chain of events, and Jeff-127 can reach insane amounts of power when supported by the rest of your cards. The minions are quite clear in what they want to achieve.

The deck's actions tell a similar story. Both their double features, while ideally used terminally, can be used to either reposition your troops or stage extra minions on a base to help you get set up for a victory someplace else. Pave The Way and Piggyback are both easy-to-play actions that can support your minions reaching their target base on subsequent turns. Gravity Mace can serve as a burst similar to Jeff-127, or an extra means of movement, and either can be incredibly useful. The rest of the actions fill a more supportive role, with Power Shield offering protection and recursion, Missing In Action being able to bring back your high-impact minions, and Orbital Interstellar Command Patrol bringing an effective sifting tool to make up for the deck's lack of card draw.

To say Space Commandos are inflexible would be disingenuous. They may only be able to target certain bases with their Grunts' abilities, they can still manipulate the breakpoint of a base they already have presence on in other ways, and those 2-power minions end up filling their role as added power instead of reduced breakpoint. Ideally you're playing minions safely on higher breakpoint bases to avoid power-creeping as much as possible, especially minions like Harvestman, and then moving them off later on even if it's towards a base you already have minions on.

Space Commandos certainly aren't without glaring weaknesses. The lack of card draw and limited recursion means they have to choose their battles very wisely, and aim for that solo score as often as possible. They also do not have phase 3 abilities whatsoever, so any opponent that can manipulate the state of the game after the Play Cards phase can be devastating to them.

### Partner Suggestions

To both compensate for the weaknesses mentioned above as well as further extend Space Commandos' effectiveness, partners that can add some Phase 3 value to their game plan and partners that can add to their setup or burst potential will be extremely ideal.

#### Published

* **Halflings:** Halflings offer the burst potential and card draw that Space Commandos really need. Since their minions require either you having no minions on a base for extra plays, or other players having more power there than you, it should be no problem to burst with Halfling minions on the target base and move all your other minions over with Space Commandos. Refill your hand with two copies of Lunch Run, and you'll be unstoppable. Halflings even offer Space Commandos some Phase 3 plays.
* **Sinister Six:** Sinister Six specializing in lowering breakpoints makes for a perfect partner. With more power activation than Commandos have, and with Commandos offering movement Six previously lacked, this combo will surely be effective and consistent.
* **Kaiju:** What better way to get around Grunts' no minion requirement than to just not play minions? Kaiju provide power with their actions, allowing Space Commandos to get away with only having limited minion presence on bases anyways. Furthermore, Kaiju appreciate the 3 base modifiers Commandos bring and also provide some much needed removal to slow down the game until they're ready to score.
* **Steampunks:** Steampunks can provide insane power with Rotary Slug Thrower and Aggromotive, activated only when minions converge on their bases. This is a great way to get around power creep. While card draw may be lacking, both factions seek to play similarly and will complement each other way. Steampunks provide a little extra recursion, and you really don't mind trading Steam Queen for Jeff-127 with Missing In Action.
* **Action Heroes:** Action Heroes have plenty of support for Space Commandos. If you start a chain with Grunts' talent, then play an Action Hero (or Jeff-127), and then continue using breakpoint reduction from all sides, you can more easily land a victory with just one minion on the base. Action Heroes also provide some pretty amazing actions to help Space Commandos find their crucial cards or play them as extra cards on a lone base.

## Author Notes

This was made for a friend who really loves Halo, and maybe hasn't quite grasped how to play Smash Up effectively just yet. Thus, a simple faction featuring the UNSC was born. I hope you find them fun to play!

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