Card of the Week: Somebody Wake Up Hicks
By "Richard F. Cozzi" 
------------
Hello all and welcome to my weekly card reviews. It is here we discuss
the strengths and weaknesses of specific cards in the game and how best
to use them.

This weeks card is :

Name: Somebody Wake Up Hicks
Restrictions: None
Effect: Ready one character. Costs 1* (*=combat pool)
Caption: Your not going to get anything done sleeping

In order to effectively evaluate this card, we must first look at what
causes a character to rotate in the first place. According to pg 22 in
the rulebook, a character must rotate to perform a main action. These
include: declaring an attack; searching; activating certain cards;
picking up items; dropping items (except in the movement or search
rounds); and moving another character.Personally, I've very rarely
rotated a character for the last three actions so this review will
concentrate on the first three.

Attacking- According to the rulebook, you rotate when you declare
an            attack. Therefore, you would play this card immediatly
after
           one of your characters declares an attack, to get a free 
           attack (the character would declare his first attack, then
play the card, and rotate to declare another attack - against the same
or different target). This is almost necessary when playing predator and
confronting a squad of marines. 

However, the card could also be used to increase bonuses in attacks. For
example, Sgt. Bass can rotate to give all marines (including himself) a
+1 to hit. Play this card on him after he rotates and he too can attack
this turn. Play this card on Hicks and he could rotate to ready two
marines instead of one.

Search - When searching, normally only one supporting character or item  
         can be found. With using this card, now two can be found.
This           is the best use of this card (imho) for aliens,
especially early 
         in the game when it is most important to build up your forces.
Likewise, when playing marines, being able to find two weapons a turn
early in the game can give you the advantage because you can circulate
them among your people during the movement phase and have an armed squad
by the combat phase.

Activating Card Effects - This is where the card really shines. Most
good
                          event cards force you to rotate to activate 
                          them (ie overwatch, dodge and roll). With this
                          card and one combat pool, that is no longer a 
                          detriment. 
                          Likewise, some cards can force you to rotate
(ie Dead End). Somebody Wake Up Hicks effectively negates these.

In Summary, Somebody Wake Up Hicks is probably the most versitile card
in the game. It can be used effectively by all races and at almost all
times. For the one combat pool expenditure, it is underpriced for its
usefulness. Imho, each deck should have three of these in them as a
rule, not an exception. 

Here are a few combos I'll leave you with:

Marines - Overwatch + Somebody Wake Up Hicks ; Very effective
against              predator, considering you move first and can hit
him before he
          gets to hide again from his camo suit.

Aliens - 2 supporting characters + Somebody Wake Up Hicks ; Finding two 
         supporting characters a turn can give the aliens an advantage. 
         Use carpe corpus (1 or 2) to turn the civies into a tasty
snack.

Predator - Predator Ship or Shuttle Or Mothership + Somebody Wake
Up            Hicks ; Think how cool it would be to have both your camo
suit 
           and plasma caster on you by the end of the first turn!! I
do            it almost everytime I play.

Next Week : Dwindling Options

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