Released in November 2012, the Mercenaries expansion for the Resident Evil deck building game has added quite a few new cards–and some very interesting new mechanics–to the existing game. Read on to see a sampling of the new and improved cards!

Big Change #1: Basic Resources, Reinvented

One of the new updates, long-needed and well-deserved, comes on the 10 basic cards each player begins the game with. Ammo cards, the basic Knife, and the basic Handgun have been revisioned for the Mercenaries set, seen below:

Ammo Cards

1. Ammo x10: Now it’s much easier to get rid of this without losing the Gold for the turn you Trash it out. You still can’t just Trash it by itself–you’ll need something like Shattered Memories, Quirk of Fate, or Anticipation (which you’ll see later in this post).
2. Ammo x20: Fast upgrade to the big ammo, anyone? This is a great way to both boost your Decoration count AND get your ammo changed out.
3. Ammo x30: Late-game, I don’t know how you wouldn’t be Exploring every turn, but if you find yourself without an Explore and you just want to buy stuff with your biggest Ammo and Gold, this new effect allows you to put that spent ammo/gold back on the top of your deck, to be drawn again next turn. Awesome!

Basic Weapons

1. Reliable Blade: This even has a chance to kill the Chicken (new in the Mercenaries mansion), but you can also combine it with other weapons to defeat an Infected. Once you do, then you can get +10 Gold and Trash out the blade, getting rid of it without having to waste a turn later.
2. Custom Standard Sidearm: Instead of getting Gold contingent on defeating an Infected, you can simply give the Standard Sidearm +10 damage, and then trash it out at end of turn. Useful!

Big Change #2: Skill Cards

Notice anything about Rebecca here? She’s only got one Decoration Level each, unlike earlier sets. The game creators haven’t made a mistake, though–they’ve introduced a whole new way to look at Character skills. As in, they are changeable and customizable, through Skill cards.

This is what skill cards look like. Drafted randomly at the beginning of the game, you can choose 3 of these to boost your character’s abilities. For instance, Toughness Lv. 1, here, provides you a shield from damage if you’ve built up “XP” on this Skill. (You get 1 XP every time you Explore.) You start the game with none of your chosen Skills active–you have to Explore to gain XP, and once you have enough XP to match the red number on the top right of the Skill card, you can take an Action to move all the required XP over to activate the Skill. (You can’t move XP one at a time–you do it all at once.)

Levels 1, 2, and 3

As you see by the set of Medic skills displayed here, there are 3 levels of each Skill, with slightly different abilities for each level. Having all 3 of the same set doesn’t give you any bonuses–actually, you’ll do better to diversify which types of Skills you take–but being aware that there are various levels within each Skill type is helpful.

Generally, Level 3 is the best kind of skill for that particular type, but it usually takes a lot of XP to activate, so you’ll be waiting longer in-game to get that awesome effect. Sometimes taking a Level 1 or 2 Skill is just as good, depending on your Character’s needs and your personal playstyle.

The Giant Killing set of skills, above, gives you more awesomeness while Exploring, just as the Medic set improves the effects of Healing. Check out more Skills, below, for previews of what they do as well!

A Small Sampling of Skill Cards

These certainly aren’t all the skills in the new Mercenaries set, but this gives you at least an idea of what’s out there. Skills provide many new ways to give your character an offensive boost, a defensive shield, and even ways to get the best hand or best play, turn after turn!

Big Change #3: Other New Updates

	Move over, Shattered Memories, this is my new best Trashing friend. You wouldn’t believe how fast you can ramp up to the best Ammo just by using this little beauty. Trash two Ammo x10 cards from your hand, and not only do you get +10 Gold from each of them for Trashing them, but Anticipation then gives you +20 extra Gold for Trashing two cards of the same type! You end up with 40 extra Gold, which can buy you an Ammo x20 easily.
	One of the new XP-specific Weapons–remember that every time you Explore, you get XP. You don’t have to automatically move that XP to a Skill–you can keep it on your character to boost this Rifle if you wish!
	This Weapon gives you 1 additional XP for Exploring–great for building up XP fast to activate those Skills!
	A First Aid Spray with variables! Works to either give a BIG heal or a little one, since some Skills and Characters are dependent on having less than Maximum Health to get the best effect.

For More Information/Credits

Most of these images were scanned in by hand by my awesome boyfriend who owns a copy of the game. Any other images have come from the following websites. (All images are used in this post for instructional purposes only.)
Resident Evil Deck Building Game: Official Site
Resident Evil DBG: Mercenaries @ BoardGameGeek.com
Resident Evil DBG @ Wikia