To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Alternate Universe expansion set.

PICTURE: Well, aside from the fact that she's butt-ugly, it's a pretty standard headshot with a brown background. I give it a 1.

LORE: All the information is there, and there wouldn't be any room for flavor text. So it's functional: a 3.

TREK SENSE: I never really got the whole seed card destruction scheme of Ajur and Boratus. Instead of a skill like Archeology or Physics, she gets a special ability unlike anything she does on the show. They probably should have worked Vorgon Raiders into the Vorgon personnel rather than have it as a separate card. No more than a 1.9 here.

STOCKABILITY: I, for one, have not played many games where there were more than 3 dilemmas under a single mission. It happens, but not enough to include either Ajur or Boratus. Her low Strength and Integrity and total lack of standard skills makes her a pretty pitiful Security guard. Ajur gets a cool 1.7 from me.

TOTAL: 7.6 (38%) A dismal failure. Ajur was an uninspired attempt to punish players who seed to many dilemmas. Forgettable.

PICTURE: It'one of those images you can't remember ever seeing in any episode (actually, from "A Season Too Short"). Doesn't look like much of a maze, nicely balanced composition though... a 2.

LORE: I like it. It expresses pretty well how such a thing can be a dilemma in many cases while mentioning the specific source of the picture. A 3.7.

TREK SENSE: I believe this was the first dilemma to carry a required Equipment card... very interesting and it's how Star Trek always gets out of labyrinths. Two engineers can also overcome it probably thanks to visual cues. The problem is, while it makes sense that civil engineers might have this skill, Star Trek engineers are usually SHIP engineers and couldn't find their way out of a paper bag. Oh, it's possible, just unlikely. A 2.8, mostly thanks to the flavorful game text (instead of boring old "stopped unless").

SEEDABLILITY: What do you expect from a common? If it only asked for a Tricorder, it could be a fair wall dilemma, but 2 ENGINEERS is way too easy to get these days, and most away teams will have them. In Sealed Deck format, sure. Otherwise... a 2.

TOTAL: 10.5 (52.5%) Its lore kinda saves it from being a total waste.

PICTURE: This is one of the great pictures in the game! It's an actual "doorway", has a great design, and just look at Picard's expression... priceless! Let me also mention (though it won't affect the score) the AU icon. Well... it's pure drivel. A squiggly red line separating two universes of black(?). Boooooooring. I'm glad Decipher changed the overall design of their expansion packs. Back to the card at hand: it gets a 5.

LORE: N/A (score will be adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: With no lore, Trek interpretation can be much wider. The Seed function makes sense of course. I can see why it would interfere with the Subspace Schism (in effect, the door bringing Riker back from the Solanagen universe) and the Temporal Rift. Interfering with the Revolving Door, while a necessary game mechanic, makes no Trek sense as the Royale was never in any "alternate universe". Same for the Q-Net... no canonical evidence of AU doorways getting anybody out of one of those. So it's a mish-mash of pros and cons with my finger stopping on... (drumroll please)... 2.9.

SEEDABILITY: As far as seeding goes, a 4. AU Personnel and Ships are very often high-powered. Who wants to play without their Major Rakal? But the newer affiliations don't have any yet, so unless the Cardies are playing with essential AU dilemmas or something, no AU Doorway there. STOCKABILITY: The stockable uses are all defensive. I might keep one handy just to get rid of pesky (and oft-seen in my particular circle of gamers) Temporal Rifts (and you get to keep it!) It's also insurance against Revolving Doors, especially for the Borg player who doesn't want to lose access to his Transwarp Network. Inversely, I don't think it sees much use in stopping Schisms or Q-Net strategies (again, except for Borg). A 3 for stockability, for an average of... 3.5 altogether for the card.

TOTAL: 15.2 (76%) A good adjusted score. I think doorways might get an advantage in the Rolodex - they are usually multi-functional (so more seed/stockable) and can't be penalized for poor lore.

PICTURE: A nice view of the saucer section shooting out anti-matter charges. I especially like the way the charges are reflected on the hull. The Borg ship looks oddly one-dimensional though. A good 3.8.

LORE: A good attempt. Explains well the tactic and its context. I'd have to give it a 3.5.

TREK SENSE: We know the tactic works on Borg ships from the show. It also makes sense that personnel with low intelligence would be confused by it. Confusion here is represented by a reduced competence in battle (lower Weapons). I'm not sure a shuttle (or Gomtuu!!!) would have anti-matter charges to spread about. I'm not sure Trek Sense admits a difference between Borg Ships and Borg Cubes either, but hey, it's only a game, right? ;-) Because of these reservations, a 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: It's a great Borg battling card. Whether you want to nab the dilemma's points or those of an affiliated Cube, this is the one you need to survive the encounter. It reduces the dilemma's Weapons by 8, giving your (hopefully enhanced) ships a chance. Against the Borg affiliation, well... do you know any drones with Cunning above 8? They've all got 5s and 7s, reducing a staffed Cube's Weapons by a minimum of 7 (unless Locutus or the Borg Queen are aboard). It's also FC Riker's download, so I'm sure it's seeing more use. Not sure I would use it against other affiliations though... a 4.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) A good card sure to get better when the new ship-to-ship battle rules are released.

PICTURE: One of our fuzziest pics, but fun nonetheless. I wonder how much the picture has to do with phobia though. Sure, those visions CAUSED Barclay to be phobic (a step up from uneasy), but... I'm just a nitpicker at heart, I guess. 3.1.

LORE: A clear explanation of the facts leading to Barclay's behavior. Of course, Decipher didn't have to look so far. Why Barclay? Pulaski and even McCoy had misgivings about transport. You don't always need to have giant leeches after you to get the creeps. A 3.1 too.

TREK SENSE: I suppose what scares people about beaming would also scare them about dimensional shifting and walking through an Iconian gateway (sorta like standing on the edge of a precipice, eh?). Plexing cures just like in the show. A good, solid 4.7.

STOCKABILITY: Everybody beams and few people stock Plexing, so it can be effective. Strand 'em all on a planet, I say. The other modes of transport are either impossible for now (Shifting) or harder to get into play (Gateway). How about a 3.8?

TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) A good nuisance card with a fair design. (So where's that Dimensional Shifting already?)

PICTURE: Since there's no way to actually SEE Baryon Particles, the sweep is a good image. Nice detail work on the Enterprise, but a relatively static image. 2.9.

LORE: Well done, informative and relevant to the game text. A big strong 4.

TREK SENSE: No evidence to actually suggest that baryon particles slow down a ship. Rather, episodes such as "Suspicions" indicate that high levels of Baryon particles are deadly to living organisms (it is Jo'bril's suspected cause of death). The remedy is correct and "cumulative" nature of the card prefect, but the symptoms are inventions. A 2.5.

STOCKABILITY: Slowing down an opponent can be beneficial, but not if you slow yourself down in the process. Baryon Buildup is unfortunately an Event and inherently slow to use. Before you can REALLY cripple a ship, you'll have to lose a number of turns playing Buildups. Tip: play in conjunction with Parallax Arguers. "You didn't think that was cool? Here's some Baryons. Oh that wasn't cool either? Here's another." Hold it above your opponent's head. You can also slow down a ship for Abandon Ship! Good, but far from great. A 2.9.

TOTAL: 12.3 (61.5%) An ok card with few highlights.

PICTURE: A nice one that shows Berlingoff's mischieviousness and propencity for stealing equipment (that doodad in his hands). The easter egg is fun and the blue flash of color is welcome in an otherwise beige beige beige beige beige background. What IS it with future fashions? A 3.5.

LORE: The repetition of centuries past present and future is mildly amusing, and the reference to New Jersey totally ridiculous. A 4.1.

TREK SENSE: Berling is indeed a Civilian from another time (AU). Gets Treachery for lying to the bridge crew, Greed for stealing equipment (and wanting to profit from it) and can jump into a Time Travel Pod and go back to his time with it (discard both). Archeology is an odd choice though. He PRETENDS to be a historian from the future, but isn't really. Maybe because he found the pod? I find my keys every morning, but I'm no archeologist... At least there's nothing wrong with the stats. A 3.

STOCKABILITY: Few players use him. However, the treachery/greed/archeology combo makes him right at home with the Romulans and Romulan mission theft decks. He can staff an AU ship in a pinch too. His stats are mediocre though and the special ability barely usable. A 2.5.

TOTAL: 13.1 (65.5%) More of a collector card than a player card. Fun but not impressive.

PICTURE: I like. Bev's figure really stands out from the background (has it been subdued electronicly?) which is a soft purple. I didn't even notice Professor Data in the background until I leaned down on the card for this article. Also, and this goes more to the show's creators than the cards', this is some of the best aging make-up I've ever seen. It doesn't look rubbery, it's very subtle. A strong 4.1.

LORE: Game-wise, the lore makes her matching commander to the Pasteur, and eventual "family" cards might link her to Picard. The thing about not being able to say no to him is cute flavor text. A 4.

TREK SENSE: This version of Beverly is an officer and a leader and she keeps her status as a super-doctor and biologist. In the next 25 years, she will lose her exobiology skill. Perhaps she stops using it for so long once she becomes captain... sounds okay, but no fireworks. A 3.2

STOCKABILITY: In an AU deck in which you're planning to use the Pasteur and Future Enterprise, she's great. She gives her ship bonuses in its two lagging stats (its Range is already great, and goes to 15 with Defiant Dedication Plaque), a ship which makes the FE easier to use to boot. MEDICAL is always useful and Biology pretty good too. Of course, if you're not using the above strategy, you might want to keep her at home. The other Beverlys are better (Exobiology is rare, and they can solve Evaluate Terraforming) and don't need an open AU door. A 3.6.

TOTAL: 14.9 (74.5%) A good AU personnel, but not as good as the real Crusher.

PICTURE: I can't help but compare this card to its clone, Ajur, so bear with me. Boratus is actually a more pleasing card to the eye. Maybe because a guy in ugly make-up isn't as disturbing as a gal in same make-up. Maybe because his eyes are larger (it's what made E.T. more personable). The background isn't as brown... a 1.9. (Ajur got a 1.)

LORE: Basicly the same as Ajur's but slightly reworded. The same functional 3 then.

TREK SENSE: I still don't get the whole seed card destruction scheme of Ajur and Boratus. Instead of a skill like Archeology or Physics, they get a special ability unlike anything they do on the show (like stealing artifacts). No more than a 1.9 here (just like his partner).

STOCKABILITY: His Strength is better than Ajur's, but he lacks the staff icon. In any case, the special ability is his only skill and it's not very useful. The only real way to get anything out of it is to misseed a bunch of dilemmas under your point-heavy missions. Once you destroy all but three seeds there, you possibly only have one dilemma to go through, and it's one of your own choosing. But in other decks (honorable ones), Boratus stays at home. A 2.5 and no more.

TOTAL: 9.3 (46.5%) A considerable step up from Ajur's 7.6, but still a failing card.

PICTURE: Eerie like many of the cooler AU cards, the straw in the head isn't the only spooky thing here - there's Riker's expression too. Now if they can only make a Troi cake card, I could die happy... a surreal 4.1.

LORE: This "book of dreams" nevertheless gives no clues as to how the game text can happen in the "real" (Trek) world. An unsatisfying 2.3.

TREK SENSE: None, unless you decide that, since it's AU, it actually happens to affected parties, that, in effect, somebody sucks out their brains with an actual straw, in the waking world. Unless you use that flimsy explanation, nothing works. 1) The leeches never removed any intelligence from anyone; 2) the straws aren't IPC boosters, merely representations of them. A generous 0.3.

STOCKABILITY: Somewhat useful! You can drain the skills out of an important mission solver (or dilemma solver) just as he or she is about to do his/her thing. This either slows down your opponent or makes him walk into a neatly set trap. Notice the sheer number of special skill personnel present in the game now. At the start of your opponent's turn, drain a personnel whom you just know will use his or her ability. Kill Spot for good... or prevent the Interlink drone from sharing skills. You can see the possibilities. Special downloads suffer the same fate, by the way. As for the second ability, at least it's permanent and lasts for the rest of the game. But this isn't really where the action is. A 4.2.

TOTAL: 10.9 (54.5%) If Brain Drain fails here, it's because it hinges too much on game mechanics and not enough on Trek Sense.

PICTURE: The picture is speculative as Valt Minor never actually appeared on screen, I don't think. What's nice is that it looks bruised... a victim of Brute Force? A better than average 3.6.

LORE: Again, a speculative mission. Nothing wrong with the lore, so a standard 3.

TREK SENSE: First, Valt Minor is a Klingon mission by a somewhat circuitous route. The episode "The Perfect Mate" establishes that Krios and Valt Minor are uneasy (at best!) neighbors. The episode "The Mind's Eye", source of the mission Krios Suppression, establishes Krios as part of Klingon space. Put two and two together and this becomes the companion to Krios Suppression. What? Not in a Region? The requirements are cool, but illogical. Are we to believe the Kriosians are pumping out a number of rebels proportional to the number of Away Team members? If they've got the resources to take on 6 Klingons, why don't they use them against the 3 that actually beam down? Other than that, Brute Force naturally only necessitates Strength. An uneven 2.8.

SEEDABILITY: A difficult to steal Klingon mission (even spies will have a hard time solving it), hurt by its difficulty. You'll need hand weapons or extra-tough Klingons (like Fek'lhr and Koral) to even try. It also cries out for strength filters (Armus-Sticky Situation springs to mind) to be seeded here. So unless you WANT to bluff off those dilemmas (heeeyyyyyyyy, there's an idea), lose this 30-point turkey. A 1.7.

TOTAL: 11.1 (55.5%) Odd mission requirements are a breath of fresh air, but are unable to save this particular planet.

PICTURE: Odd really. Why show Dathon's handwritten logbook when we are so much more used to the Starfleet version? Sure, most of the time, the captain's log is a voice-over, not reproduceable as a card image, but I'm sure we've seen logs on screens before. But since computer screen shots are often dreadfully boring (see most Scans for proof), I'm glad for the change. It just doesn't seem to fit very well is all. A 2.8.

LORE: The first line is the true definition. The second gives it color and explains the chosen image. The title of the card is a classic, a line that has started us on so many Star Trek adventures that we can't count them. I'm glad that, unlike Where No One Has Gone Before, it's a card we see a LOT of. A 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Depends how you look at it. Literally, it doesn't really work. Logging your thoughts into a book or computer in no way boosts your ship's attributes. But the entire matching commander phenomenon bears scrutiny. It says that ship comamnders or captains know their ship inside and out, that they can get just a little more juice out of it and its crew. That translates as a boost in fighting ability in this case. The Log is merely the card that "proves" this,, that is, makes it a reality even though it's probably true without it. Some matching commanders make little sense according to this logic (Data on the Sutherland comes to mind), but that's the fault of those cards, not of this one. I'll say a 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: Only the Dominion and Borg using a swarm deck will leave this one in the binder, as most affiliations have a fair number of matching commanders. And with battling become more and more prevalent, you pretty much need those two +3s on your battling stats. While the Federation and Klingons have their fair share, it's the Romulans and Bajorans who stand to gain most from the Log. Most Romulan ships have a matching commander (usually an otherwise good personnel card) and the Bajorans have a universal matching commander that can command any or all of their ships! The Cardassians are getting there, but they're not there yet. So for most affiliations... it's a clear 4.8.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) With each category yielding it a better and better score, this staple card makes the cut.

PICTURE: Just this side of terrible. The card would have been much more effective visually if the designers had put a pic of Picard hanging naked from the ceiling. Maybe they're keeping that one for Torture (but methinks there are plenty of shots of Geordi and O'Brien getting that treatment for that particluar card). In any case, the trap is an unattractive prop, sitting in the plain old "Planet Hell" set and giving noone who hasn't seen the episode any clue as to how it captures personnel. In fact, there are conceptually so many traps Cardassians could set (remember, it's also a space dilemma), that putting the end result (a captured Picard) would have been much better than any specific trap. Enough ranting, this ends up with a pathetic 1.2.

LORE: Fine, fine. I would have liked a little something about native Cardassian cleverness, but this does just fine. I like the simple, "he was captured in 2369" which smacks of Cardassian effectiveness. All around a 3.5.

TREK SENSE: A lot to like. The trap captures unique personnel, because nobody wants to extract information from Simon Tarses. The personnel also has to be non-Cardassian obviously, since the Cardassians have set the trap (though I wouldn't put it past the Obsidian Order). The skill needed to pass the dilemma is an odd one certainly, but justifiable. It basicly says that if Troi had accompanied Picard on the Celtris III venture instead of Worf, he would never have gotten captured. Maybe so, but it seems to me there are plenty of ways you could get around a Cardie Trap - lots of STRENGTH and/or SECURITY, lots of CUNNING, etc. The strange things about this card are the stuff I'll be giving thumbs up to under seedability. The fact that it doesn't get discarded until SOMEBODY gets captured (if no Empathy, of course) is very strange. The all-univeral or all-Cardassian crew calls up their ship and says: "It's a trap." and nobody listens? Cardassians also have to face the possibility of seeing their non-aligned allies get caught by their own people. Something wrong with this picture. Most of it is good though, a 4.

SEEDABILITY: This is one of the most regularly seeded dilemmas in my particular circle of players. It's a great combination of killer/filter(rather capturer), stopper and (potentially) wall. First, you need Empathy to get through it unscathed. The Federation is the only affiliation with any kind of reasonnable supply of Empaths. The rest will have to go to Non-Aligned to supply them with the skill. So the requirement is rare enough to give some players a hard time. I suggest leading the Trap with Blended to filter out the one Empath likely to come along. If it hits, you get to capture an opponent's unique (often meaning better) personnel. In many ways, capture is a fate worse than death. That personnel cannot be Res-Qed or Duranjaed, but still takes it away from its owner. You can even score points off it or use it as your own, and Cardie Trap is instrumental to Interrogation and Brainwash strategies. Seed it in multiple if you're including any of those two events in your deck. Also note that the big "Unless" is there, so "captured" also means "stopped". Finally, the odd thing, if no Empathy present, and no unique non-Cardassian is available for capture, the dilemma doesn't go away - a real pain for the Cardassians incidently. The one thing I don't like is the mechanic of putting the trap next to the captured personnel. Why? It clutters up the table for no reason since it's not like it can be nullified after it takes effect, and there's no difference between a personnel captured this way and one captured during a Q-Flash, say. So it doesn't go into your Regenerated deck, big deal. Still, a very good dilemma: 4.6.

TOTAL: 13.3 (66.5%) If it wasn't for the ugly picture...

PICTURE: A great image of Beverly's cloned hand coming out of some rasberry mousse. The colors are just as striking too. A 3.8.

LORE: A clean and proper explanation of the coalescent organism phenomenon which also hints at the game text. A bit better than average at 3.1.

TREK SENSE: Exobiology detects and neutralizes it since it is an alien life-form. Its effect is to kill one personnel, then infect and do the same to another. It dies when it has no personnel to infect (remember, it must change form every few days). One obvious problem is that if you fail to cure it the first time, no exobiologist is EVER going to clue in! My only question is: isn't an infected personnel killed immediately? The answer is yes, as a copy of that personnel hangs around the others until the organism is ready to morph once again. This doesn't contradict the game text in the least, but it does make you think... you're out there solving missions with a coalescent organism! A 4.0.

SEEDABILITY: Exobiology not being the most common of skills, Coalescent Organism is a good choice for either type of mission (planet or space). If you play your cards right, you can kill again and again with it. Slapping a quarantine dilemma right after it for example, will keep a crew together and keep coalescent fodder around for a while. And while an infected personnel can still work on mission attempts next turn, your opponent will probably choose to get delayed by stranding it somewhere away from the rest. As Exobiology becomes more and more required, it will become more and more available, so watch for this score to drop. For now, it's a 4.2.

TOTAL: 15.1 (75.5%) In the C+ range and deserving it.

PICTURE: His usual severe look and the Romulan symbol behing him, Commander Tomalak is on par with his non-AU Premiere self. Nothing great, but nothing to rave about either. A 2.9 (I just really dislike the gray background.)

LORE: The big mistake: Tomalak was actually from an alternate present or not very far into the future at all. Q's involvement might have been mentioned. The word "nemesis" appears though without the game context of nemesis icons. And though it says Tomalak cooperated with Picard, his warbird was nowhere to be found near the anti-time anomaly in the show. Low on actual details and wrong on the most important one: 1.5.

TREK SENSE: Boooooooooring! Except for one extra point of INTEGRITY and an AU icon, he's exactly the same as the earlier Tomalak. Let's look at the changes first: AU is a natural of course. The extra point of INTEGRITY is due to his readier cooperation with Picard and the "forces of good". As for the rest, his negociating skills are rendered as Diplomacy and the OFFICER/Leadership combo puts him in command of his never named D'deridex. His STRENGTH is high (Romulans are stronger than your average bear), his CUNNING pretty normal for a wily Rommie and his INTEGRITY just a bit high. I'm not arguing as he's been seen trying to save his crew and often compromising with Picard after much posturing. The main thing is: a cool guy like Tomalak deserved better than his Premiere card and this wasn't it! It just looks like the Romulans needed an AU personnel to help staff the Decius and no real thought came into his creation. A 2 for what's there.

STOCKABILITY: If you really need AU personnel to drive the Decius or some other ship, grab Major Rakal and Dr. Telek R'mor, but leave Commander Tomalak at home. His skills are easily found on other personnel, and he's not even a matching commander for any ship. All he really has going for him is unusually high attributes. That'll just make him a juicier target for Archer and such. A 2.

TOTAL: 8.4 (42%) A personal disappointment as I was looking forward to finally owning a Tomalak (the not-so-great Premiere still eluding me).

PICTURE: The dark of the nebula or dust cloud speak well of secrets, though I've always thought the cloud wasn't fixed in space. It really looks like a puff of smoke passing by. Still, it's a pretty good image. A 2.8.

LORE: While the lore is only on the Klingon/Romulan side of the card, maybe some effort should have been made to include the Federation as well. They have to "gather information leaked from this remote border sector". The design of the cards probably doesn't allow it, but it could have been nice. There's not a high correspondance between the lore and the game text either. A 2.4.

TREK SENSE: The real jewel here is that the mission is attemptable by different affiliations depending on its orientation. The player who seeds it must attempt with Klingons or Romulans, while the opposing player must attempt with the Federation. The mission is indeed "compromised" as the two players "rush" (the lore says it right) to solve it first (if they want). The Span of 4 truly is remote and 35 points makes sense for a mission of "national security" importance. The game text isn't so flawless though. Treachery... Computer Skill... It looks more like the Federation's requirements than the Klingons' or Romulans'. Remember, the Reds and Greens want to plug the information leak, while the Blues take adavantage of it. The Federation is spying on the other two. They're the ones who need Treachery (what I call the spy skill) and Computer Skill (though this can be used by either party). Strength works for stopping spies or for defending them. Another problem: this is a space mission, but the requirements are closer to those of a planet mission. I can understand how Treachery fits in space and even Computer Skill too (receiving transmissions), but STRENGTH??? Is there a facility at Sector 2520 that we don't know about? Or are the Klingons arm-wrestling the whole time? A great idea tarnished by the time we hit game text... a 3.8.

SEEDABILITY: No more than reason. If you're afraid of mission theft, you're actually in less trouble than if the mission had the same affiliation icons on both ends. There are fewer affiliations who can attempt it without an Espionnage card. The requirements are easy for the Romulans and Klingons to muster, less so for the Federation who are inherently weaker (Strength-wise) and nobler (Treachery-wise). 35 points is a good payoff. This scores 3.9.

TOTAL: 12.9 (64.5%) Clever, and that puts the card over the bar.

PICTURE: Like Asteroid Sanctuary, it features a tiny Enterprise. This picture is more effective than the other though, with the menacing command station pointing one of its legs (a humungous cannon?) at the starship. I'm also glad to see that, even though the same model was used for both the Lysian command station and the Edo Vessel, you can't really make the connection from their respective cards. I like it, even though it doesn't express the dilemma as well as the pic from Memory Wipe would have. A 3.7.

LORE: The lore is okay, but is slightly off. There's a lot of talk of attacking the Lysians, but we all know that's not going to happen in the game. The title of the card (always part of the Lore score) is evocative and borrowed from the actual episode. Some points there, bringing the score to 3.1.

TREK SENSE: AU? Why? Memory Wipe's not AU. The only explanation is that the ship wouldn't, in normal reality, attack the opponent's ship. Well, it's being affected somehow and not by anything from another dimension, timeline, etc. I don't see an AU icon on Alien Parasites for example. As for the rest, I wish the lore hadn't made such a big deal out of the Satarran/Lysian thing. In effect, the dilemma may be caused by any race in order to attack any other race. For example, species X may have a thing against the Klingons, tricking your Bajoran crew into attacking the Bortas. One thing is for sure, you will never be tricked into attacking a Lysian. Just like in the show, high Integrity saves you from making the wrong choice (that's the conundrum). But actually, in the show, the Enterprise DID destroy a ship. It just stopped short of attacking the station. The dilemma neither gives the choice of attacking a facility, nor a continuance of carnage after the first. Too big an idea to fit on one card (that's why we also have Memory Wipe I suppose): a 2.4.

SEEDABILITY: Two ways to go about it: seed against your opponent, or seed on yourself. In the first case, since you decide which ship your opponent will have to chase, you can pick a very strong ship, just to give you a chance to counter-attack (especially if playing Federation, with Wartime Conditions in reserve), or on a ship you're planning on sending to another Quadrant (if not already there). That last option creates a wild goose chase scneario that locks the ship into a potentially eternal Cytherians. But you can also self-seed Conundrum to give you the chance to attack an opponent's ship. If playing Borg for example (or even Federation), your options are limited in that respect. Conumdrum can give you a free Eliminate Starship of sorts. Just make sure your Cube has low enough INTEGRITY and that you launch a Sphere to keep scouting/probing the location. Finally, I would suggest placing this dilemma towards the end of the dilemma combo to make sure there are fewer crewmembers by that time. INTEGRITY>40 is fairly easy to have on an entire ship, depending on the affiliation and since it sends the ship away, it is a wall of sorts. Strategic use can prove fruitful: 3.9.

TOTAL: 13.1 (65.5%) Slightly above average. Many affiliations will find a use for it.

PICTURE: A much prettier picture of Amanda than the basic Amanda Rogers card. It uses the old Star Trek principle that if you put a soft focus lense on a woman, she'll appear more beautiful. Well, it works. I particularly like the white light environment also seen on Res-Q. Like that card, Countermanda is a helping hand. Plus, she can affect the result of Res-Q, as if she's in the same "afterlife realm" as Q, perhaps taking people away to Paradise instead of offering them devilish deals. An angelic 4.6.

LORE: A great explanation of her place in the ST:CCG universe though the syntax is a little bumpy. A few words on the name of the card itself, as this falls within the venue of LORE. I remember when the Warp Pack first came out, some players felt that "Countermanda" wasn't a Star Trek word, that perhaps it belonged more in Star Wars or something. Well, whatever the case may be, I think it's a wonderful card name. Great pun that even contains the game word "counter"... and what else is Amanda? Well thought-up: a 3.9.

TREK SENSE: Well obviously, Amanda was never in any episode with the Alien Kidnappers or Palor Toff or anything like that, but that's not too important here. Like her other card, Amanda doesn't like people to take advantage of others, and acts as a counter for abusive strategies. The effects are pretty arbitrary though. One: she doesn't like Telepathic Alien Kidnappers because they mistreat humanoids for their own selfish experiments. Two: she seems to believe that once you've lost someting, it should stay lost, especially the powerful stuff. I wouldn't have thought Amanda would have been so set against resurrecting the dead since she interned in medicine. The card was created as a counter to its day's abusive strategies and it shows. Can't give it more than 2.1.

STOCKABILITY: Countermanda was made to limit abusive strategies that are no longer around. 1) The Alien Probe/Telepathic Alien Kidnappers combo. That was a real pain which even had to be outlawed at tournaments for a while. In today's playing environment, the combo works (legally), but isn't as effective since the victim player's hand is hidden and shuffled when the discard selection occurs. Plus, there are other cards that kill the strategy, like Heisenberg Compensators and Kevin Uxbridge. Stocking Countermanda in case somebody pulls a TAK on you is dangerous. You might be wasting valuable deck space. 2) Retrieving artifacts from the discard pile and using them right away, in particular Betazoid Gift Box. This strategy is now useless. The rules now say an artifact must be acquired to be used, so a Res-Qed artifact would have to be reseeded before being reacquired. The function still works mind you. It'll let you put cards out-of-play no problem. Most people do have Res-Qs and Palor Toffs in their deck in case they lose a valuable card. Steal them from under their noses and Res-Q is effectively shut down when it loses its target. If you're trying to score a Gift of the Tormentor with Are These Truly Your Friends, you might want to get rid of all the cards with no point boxes. Pretty good, as it kills a number of cards (like regular Kevins and Amandas, but very limited) AND places some cards out of reach permanently. A 3.2.

TOTAL: 13.8 (69%) Kinda happy to see it when the Warp Pack first came out, but hasn't come out of my binder in a long time. May I should take it out for a stroll.

PICTURE: A nice shot of the satellite, with the markings very clear on there. Note the visible numbers: 04, 03, 02... and how many cards can you seed in combination with Cryosat? 4! It's almost like each numbered compartment contains one of the seeds. Good color too. A 4.1.

LORE: Well, I sort of buck at having an object called both a satellite and a vessel, but other than that, it's pretty clear. The choice to extend the use of the Cryosat to "humanoids" is a good one that gives all the affiliations use of the card. A 3.3.

TREK SENSE: It seeds in space rather than on a planet, of course. Inside you'll find personnel, yes. And they join the crew when you unfreeze them, fine. Then it gets rough. For on thing, I'm not sure the AU icon is all that much relevant here. AU icons may be given to people and things that come from the past, but I would say these are only AU if they couldn't exist in present day Trek unless some kind of time traveling were involved. For example, Montgommery Scott comes from the past, but is in the "present" because he somehow survived until that time. Same for the Cryosatellite in my opinion. It's worn and ancient and was found in the present (unlike the Ancient Machine Gun which never made it to the 24th century). It's not AU. As for its abilities, they are too wide-ranging. So you can seed 3 AU personnel and an artifact in there. Let's look at that, shall we? There are 4 reasons a personnel could be AU. 1) It's from the past. 2) It's from a possible future. 3) It's from a parallel universe. And 4) it's from some sort of dream sequence. So unless personnel are of the first type, why would they be in an ancient cryosatellite? Even if we accept that the Cryosat is AU exactly because it might come from a parallel universe or even the far future, things don't match up to the show's events. The artifact similarly should be from the past for it to belong there. There's no reason, for example, that an Interphase Generator should have any place aboard the satellite. Since we have to justify too many things: a 2.2.

SEEDABILITY: Why waste four seed slots when you can just stock the personnel and seed the other artifact on a planet somewhere? Well, there are plenty of good reasons to do this. One is speed: getting three personnel after solving a mission let's you go after another one without the need for going back to an outpost. That's three personnel on the table without using up your card play after all. And many AU personnel have a wide range of skills and abilities. The Klingons in particular have most of their super-personnel from alternate universes (Governor Worf, Mogh and Grandpa Duras). The Romulans have Dr. Telek R'Mor. The Borg have their shiny new counterparts. And everybody can use Zefram Cochrane. Another reason to use Cryosat is that you no longer have to seed an AU Door just to play a couple of good AU personnel. You can seed a Space-Time Portal, your satellite and its contents, and then use the STP for some other function. Your AU personnel are in play without you having to keep an open doorway for them to report through. Much more efficient and makes AU stuff more viable. A lot of good things: 3.9.

TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) Has a lot of holes, but still can hold an atmosphere.

PICTURE: Classic headshot, a little dark to boot. In a word: boring. Since it fits with the character, I'll give it a 1.7.

LORE: Good lore. The first part takes care of the androngynous ambiguities of the picture (all Romulans have the same haircut, and here, D'Tan could have been a girl). The rest is nice favor text. A 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Well designed. He's obviously a young Romulan civilian, who could argue? Youth is very well represented as a skill here. When we see Youth as part of the requirements on missions such as Study Plasma Streamer, you ask yourself some questions. What is Youth, the skill? Well, I think that Youth confers a certain enthusiasm for things new and strange that adults have lost along the way. D'Tan is full of that enthusiasm. His Archeology stems from his discoveries and interest on proto-Romulan artifacts. His special ability is an attribute booster, the first I've come across in the Rolodex I think. How do these work in Trek Sense? The personnel either works as inspiration or works really well with the boosted personnel. Here, it has to be inspirational. The other Romulans (the more honorable ones anyway) see their future in the young boy and it forces them to act with more Integrity. In other words, with the young one around, they have to "give a good example". All the justifications in the world don't cover the odd fact that D'Tan inspires himself (effectively having INTEGRITY 8). The stats make sense - high Integrity for following Spock, fairly high Cunning because of his archeological skills and low Strength for his physical slightness. While Romulans are generally super-strong, I suppose their youth don't have the battle savvy of older specimens. Much good, with the blanket booster ability hurting the card some. A 4.

STOCKABILITY: One of very few Romulan CIVILIANs and Youth, he's not a bad choice to include in your deck. Since he slides easily into a Romulan archeology deck, might as well have him around to boost everyone's Integrity enough to pass the deadly Firestorm. Or so I thought. After doing some checking, I found that, of the 45 available Romulans, D'Tan can only boost the Integrity of 26, and most of these are already well above the required 5 INTEGRITY. It makes sense after all that the least Integrious Romulans would be the ones with Treachery, and those are not covered by D'Tan's skill. In fact, 4 Romualns will still die in the Firestorm even with the INTEGRITY boost, and only 7 will be saved. The seven? Personnel like Thei, Jera, Takket, Jaron, Tarus... not super-personnel by any means. Still, some of them are valuable mission specialists. So the ability is good for passing Q and solving certain missions, but don't count on it too much as a Firestorm counter, which, ironically, I believe was the intention behind the card. Some rare skills, some necessary skills, but let's not go overboard. 3.3.

TOTAL: 12.4 (62%) Brings a few things to the table, but not enough to warrant a higher score.

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