To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Blaze of Glory expansion set.

PICTURE: Incredibly hokey. Is crimson supposed to be this pink? The large Enterprise-D isn't bad, but those fluffy pink clouds really hurt the card. The forcefield is from a silly episode, so it works in that context, but... a 3 and no more.

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

TREK SENSE: To me, unless a Tactic has a "this one" arrow icon (as opposed to all "flip" icons), it counts as two cards, the Tactic and the damage marker. So this card is both "Crimson Forcefield" AND Cloaking Device off line. I'll evaluate the Trek Sense of both separately. The Tactic itself is well designed, even going as far as giving us makeshift lore ("Harmless pyrotechnic ruse..."). The gas scares an opposing crew, disrupting their own tactical abilities (their Tactic) unless their leader (an Officer) is smart enough to see through it. Of course, the Pakleds on whom this was really used were much more stupid than CUNNING 8, but this card has to be useful right? Also seems like the Borg, who are pretty low on Officers, would see right through this, no? The second time if not the first. Since the "Forcefield" is harmless, Attack bonus is 0, but the confusion does give Defense a +2. Makes sense. The ship still fires weapons though, so there is a flip icon there, but a single one only. Does the gas disrupt your own aim? Does it require energy that would usually be channeled to the weapons array? As it is, your weapons make less of a hit than if you used no Battle Bridge at all. (I, of course, understand the need for play balance this represents, but that's neither here nor there.) The damage marker doesn't have to have any tie to the Tactic itself, but it's nice to see a thematic link here. A Cloaking Device is like the "Forcefield", deceptive technology. Cool. Let's look at that damage marker: It should be possible to hit a ship's cloak and damage it, sure. Without a Battle Bridge side-deck, the Cloak is always offline on a damaged ship, but I do believe we've seen damaged ships cloak in the past. On Romulan ships, the Cloak is powered by a small quantum singularity at the heart of the ship (as are the rest of the ship's systems). Makes sense then that to cut through to it would cause this much damage to Shields and Hull. Disrupting a singularity would probably be disastrous for a ship. I don't know what the Klingons use to make theirs work, but it could be in as protected a part of the ship. I must say, while not perfect, this Tactic is very original and well-balanced. A good 4.4.

STOCKABILITY: No attack bonus, and only one damage marker for a single hit, and two for a direct hit. why would anyone want to use this? Well, I'm not sure armadas will be stocking it for its primary use too much, but it acts as a nullifier for your opponent's tactics (the Amanda Rogers of Tactics), so works well when defending. Not many OFFICERs have more than 8 CUNNING - the Cardies have Korinas; the Dominon has Ixtana'Rax and Lovok Founder; the Feds have Captain Kirk, Data, Jean-Luc Picard (FC) and Satelk. The rest are out of luck and will have to use non-aligned help: OFFICER Soong-Type Androids, Bok or a reconstructed Data's Body (yeah, right). It's either that or PADDs. And since no one is stocking those things yet, even with this card out there, you might as well accept that you've been Crimson Forcefielded. It's not so bad. Or go for better enhancers like Admiral McCoy armed with a Medical Kit, or a War Room. As a damage marker, it's the most powerful out there (since the Tactic itself is, in a sense, the weakest). -2-2-3-40% is immense. It hits all the systems, and the HULL and SHIELDS are the most hard hit. Of course, if you stock only Crimson Forcefields in your side-deck, you're assured of always getting this powerful damage marker on any hit, but since the "Forcefield" only has half the flip icons, even a "destroyed" result will only guarantee -80% hull damage, which doesn't destroy a ship. Plus, while nullifying a Cloaking Device can be useful, not all ships have one, and, as long as you're not actually destroying a ship, you should make sure you get some casualties in there instead. That, plus the fact that no ATTACK bonus might make it harder to actually win a battle with any kind of efficiency. A good mix of this tactic and others is called for then, and you can always use Battle Bridge Door and/or Attack Pattern Delta to make sure you can choose it when you need to, crossing your fingers when you flip for damage markers that you'll get one there too. The necessary balance keeps it at a 4.1.

TOTAL: 15.33 (76.67%) In another life, this one would have been called Corbomite Maneuver.

PICTURE: Picture's a little dark, though in keeping with other Klingon equipment cards, quite red. I'd rather see the equipment in action too, instead of some old prop shot, so this is good. It shows a better design ethic. Here, we see a ceremonial function. The blood looks fake and the shirtsleeve is Federation, not Klingon, but not a bad pic all in all. A 3.1.

LORE: A lot of little sentences make for a cool whole. I especially like how its culinary applications get a mention, and the "easily concealed" bit works well with the game text. A good 4. That's high for equipment.

TREK SENSE: A lot of nice things to say about this one. First, it's Klingon use only as it is a Klingon weapon. It reports for free because it IS ubiquitous (i.e. omnipresent) in Klingon society. Everyone has one on their person, quite probably, so the free reporting makes a lot of sense. And since everyone's packing, and it's easily concealed up your sleeve or down your boot, you can play is as a reaction to an attack. When cards report directly to someone or something, you have to infer that that card was there all along. Equipment just doesn't appear out of thin air. But when apparently unarmed Klingons get attacked, zip, there's usually a knife in each hand. Excellent work. The only thing keeping the score from reaching its peak is the same thing that keeps any hand weapon from making it: the same old problems with how many knives are actually represented by the card, why should the bonuses apply to all, the odd cumulative nature of fighting with 3+ knives, etc. At least the +1 bonus is relative to the weapon's size (but not necessarily to its deadliness). Still rises above at 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: The Klingons are a great affiliation for personnel battle. Their high STRENGTH, varied hand weapons and culture cards that affect battle make them ideal as raiding parties. Because the D'k Tahg can report for free, it makes it possible to make your arsenal grow by leaps and bounds, even if it's only by +1s. Keep them in hand until you initiate a personnel battle, sending all those knives to the correct location for an instant (and permanent) boost. Since this can act as a reactive interrupt of sorts, anyone foolish enough to attack a Klingon Away Team thinking they have more STRENGTH in theirs (probably uppity Jem'Hadar) could get a nasty surprise as you descend with your "hidden agenda" hand weapons. It's also a cheap way to use Captured (more hand weapons, at little price) or pass dilemmas that require hand weapons. Martok downloads one for even easier access. A good little weapon, well balanced, with a low attribute boost, but no less useful. A 3.7.

TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) I'm as surprised as you are.

PICTURE: The orange doesn't fit Romulans all that well. And is this guy CGIed at all? Everything looks a little blurry, but the hair's so black, it looks painted on. I'd say the Romulan emblem in the back is a plus, but the angles make for an odd composition, and those flashes of yellow just behind his head and neck are real distracting. A 2.1.

LORE: Pure invention. His universality is acknowledged which is good, and the rest, tying him to Dr. Telek R'Mor is interesting. Does it fit the Star Trek timeline? (I.e. can he have been assistant to R'Mor and still have Youth?) The answer is yes, since R'Mor only died in 2367 even though his card was pulled from the 2340s. So D'Vin would fit in the TNG timeframe. How 'bout a 3.5?

TREK SENSE: Obviously, SCIENCE/Astrophysics is a must for a graduate of the Astrophysical Academy. His apparent Youth (only an assistant) also keeps him at the Staff icon level. Navigation is unsupported, but not outrageous. After all, that's one of the skills almost anyone in Trek COULD have. Cunning is at a good level for a scientist. Strength's low for a Romulan, but not really for a scientist. And the Integrity's as lukewarm as you might expect it to be. Always hard to judge when the character's a nobody. Pretty average at 3.

STOCKABILITY: He's got Study Plasma Streamer written all over him. And Explore Interstellar Matter. And even Study Lonka Pulsar. And others. Bottom line: D'Vin is a good support personnel for your Romulan space solving deck. The Astrophysics is of course, the prime skill. SCIENCE is a good classification. Navigation's never a waste. And Youth... I thought it'd be rarer among Romulans, but it really isn't. And not that useful still. The attributes are okay (at least he can't be Firestormed), and he's universal so you can use many. Good if uninspired - 3.5.

TOTAL: 12.1 (60.5%) Hey, he's a nobody. What can I say?

PICTURE: Actually, an interesting shot of the station's weapons systems, often seen during the DS9 war arcs. I like that the Promenade and Ops are in the background. The colors are a little limited however. A 3.5 to start.

LORE: Pretty much the list given by O'Brien when the station was upgraded defensively. Nothing too interesting aside from that. A 3.1.

TREK SENSE: The first function makes perfect sense (almost). You can upgrade the defense (read: weapons) systems of your facility. Why in space only? Planet-based weapons could damage a ship, but the planetside facilities we have don't really seem adequate for this task. Terraforming Stations? Colonies? Even HQs are basically "town halls". And in any case, since WEAPONS and SHIELDS are used in conjunction with ship battles (for the most part), and those don't really occur except in space, it works. The upgrade adds WEAPONS for those facilities without them. Not very powerful at 6, but there nonetheless. Or more Weapons for those that already have them. Indeed, the card is cumulative, so you can keep upgrading your outpost with further defensive systems. Same goes for Shields. The second function has a certain measure of Trek Sense, seeing as a facility CAN be repaired, just like a ship can. It takes an ENGINEER (I would have said more than one, since facilities are much bigger than ships). It just doesn't work as a "Defense System Upgrade". Looks like there was room for extra game text and they decided to make a two-for-one. It just doesn't stick to the title that well. Oh well, relegates this one to a 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: With armadas becoming more and more powerful, and with Tactics making space battle more and more dangerous, facilities can become easy prey for marauding ships. Something had to be done, and this was the early remedy. Is it any good? Well, the +6 SHIELDS will come in handy, probably requiring an extra ship to damage your facility. The WEAPONS will at least give you a chance to rettaliate to potshot attacks. In battles occuring at your outpost, it will also allow you to add those 6 (or extra 4) WEAPONS to you attack or counter-attack. It's good it's cumulative, since you can actually make your station a little terror, or impregnable. Smaller outposts (like Neutral) get a little more in line with the norm too. Unfortunately, as an event, it counts as your regular card play, so it could take a while to build yourself up. Not very efficient. Of course, Miles O'Brien (DS9 edition) can download it to his location, so that's a good bet. The second function is a good fall-back plan for players who got hit badly by an armada. You lose your outpost, you lose your ability to report personnel (say you're not using anything else). You lose your Nor, that's a big investment you just lost. It'll even repair a land facility hit by a Breen bazooka. Repairing it only requires a simple ENGINEER (a part of every deck, of course). Cheap for saving your game! Gets a 3.9 from me.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) A good, hem, defensive card.

PICTURE: Far from as dramatic as it should it, you almost have to read the lore to figure out that people are dead here. The peach palette isn't appropriate for the scene, Martok is blurry, the large light fixtures take away from the flashing knife, the dead figures are less than visible... only a 1.8 here.

LORE: Extra points for the title of the card, a hommage to Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder". (Was the fact that J.G. Hertzler, aka Martok, actually played in the stage version of the Hitchcock classic responsible for the title? If so, I'm impresssed.) The lore itself is competent though it seems that those two dead Klingons are probably the least of Martok Founder's crimes. Here, it sounds like the only thing he was ever known for. The bonus points get this one to a 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Another trick an infiltrator might have up his sleeve is assassination. The way this works is that the infiltrator corners one or two people in a dark corridor or patch of woods and, taking them by surprise (+4 STRENGTH), slices them open, phasers them into their component atoms, whatever. Since the location was secluded, the infiltrator isn't exposed (no shape-shifting involved in any case). Minor point: if you've got an infiltrator posing as someone who has Treachery, would it actually take people by surprise when it tried to commit murder? Major point: I buck at the idea that this should be an Event, since this kind of thing reflects more the ethos of the Interrupt (lives interrupted, surprise). Being an Event makes it too premeditated, which I'm sure wouldn't always be the case. And what if you try to kill personnel and don't succeed, shouldn't you be exposed then? A strong showing for this one at 4.1, but that last point hurt it.

STOCKABILITY: If you're using infiltrators to disrupt your opponent's operations (the main reason for using them right now), bumping off one or two key personnel isn't a bad idea. With Dial Martok, you can do this, even selecting which personnel you want to attack, and not even be exposed! So you can keep killing, or issuing orders, or what have you. You can target up to two personnel, so make sure that with your +4 bonus to STRENGTH, you can take both on. You certainly mortally wound the one you pair with, then should be able to kill the other one in the final comparison of STRENGTH totals. Nasty. For tougher, armed opponents, you might even consider adding The Guardian (shapeshifters only) to this attack, making it +10, but that seems like overkill, and shouldn't be necessary unless you're infiltrating the Jem'Hadar or something (maybe with a Brainwashed personnel). It would also expose your personnel. The only big disadvantage is that this is an Event. Ok, we don't want anyone doing this kind of thing multiple times per turn, but costing your card play isn't very attractive to most players. One way to get over this is to use Martok Founder (hoping your opponent plays Klingon) and his special download. Then, this card plays for free... and at interrupt speed! Now, that's real surprise. So for killing off prime mission solvers, Ketracel rationers, or armada boosters, this one's quite good. At least a 4.

TOTAL: 13.3 (66.5%) That darn picture category handicaps the card.

PICTURE: Always been one of my favorite Cardassians cuz he was so goony-looking. The lighting from the bottom makes him all the more googly-eyed here, and the background is well composed. The spooky fish-eye lense effect alone is worth the 3.9 I'm giving him.

LORE: Mentioned as a Gul (required for reporting free at Central Command), but not in the usual way. Here, it's more interesting than the usual "Gul." at the start of a lore box, and it even makes him matching commander for an already pretty spiffy ship. That part is invention, since the Kraxon wasn't mentioned until "Defiant" (that's why "first" to command), but he did command a ship in "Ensign Ro", so... it'll do. The rest of the lore tells his story adequately. The little extras bring this one up to a 3.8.

TREK SENSE: As Gul, he should definitely be an Officer with a Command icon. Treachery is also a given since he destroyed a ship full of defenseless Bajorans (or thought he did). Navigation is a common skill, probably used to patrol the border. Exobiology is a surprise, but explainable. In this case, he probably knew a whole lot about Bajorans since he was after them. Stretching it? The boost to Cardassian ships' Weapons makes perfect sense in the context that he did command a NUMBER of ships - a kind of multiple ships Captain's Log. The Firestormable Integrity is fair for a duplicitous character, as is the high Cunning (he played his part like a Romulan). And the Strength is high (military man), but not that high (kinda thin). As previously mentioned, his matching commander status is invention, which doesn't help, but the card does well on its own. As much as 3.9 in fact.

STOCKABILITY: For mission solving and other ordinary duties, Dolak is okay. The Exobiology is semi-rare (on 4 other Cardassians), the Navigation and Treachery common, but the first is always useful and the second has some bearing on Cardassian missions. The CUNNING and STRENGTH are good, but the INTEGRITY is a weakness. No, what Dolak is really good for is Cardassian armadas. His overall +2 WEAPONS to all ships at the same location is nothing to be sneezed at, and will put your Galors (the best bet for armadas) in the 9-10 range (before any other adjustments) or even give your smaller ships a fighting chance. Since he's the matching commander of the Kraxon, he can further add +2/+3/+3 to that ship with Plaque and Log. That's 10-12-11 on that ship, plus the WEAPONS bonuses to other ships in the same armada. Add to that the ability to report for free at Central Command and you've got a good battle personnel at 3.9.

TOTAL: 15.5 (77.5%) I guess 3.9 was the number of the day.

PICTURE: There are odd effects at work here, probably because the shot is from the viewscreen as it was being affected by the Iconian computer virus. Weird shadows. I also don't like that big glass console to the back of him. In an effort to show how same-class ships has small differences, the creators just created 1) a design monstrosity and 2) inconsistencies, as no other differences like this were ever shown again, even on Nagilum's fake Yamato. Stops at 2.1.

LORE: The entire story is pretty much there, and without giving away its untimely ending, the lore makes a comment about it. I like. Mention of the Rosetta Stone is also cool. And, of course, the lore makes him matching commander of the USS Yamato, though that's a little redundant since the Yamato does the same. A good 3.7.

TREK SENSE: Captain of Starfleet's "other" Galaxy class ship (at least until they started building some more), Varley should be on the same level as Picard, right? Well, not quite, but he is aptly suited to his one reported mission. Both Reopen Dig and Iconia Investigation (which represent the search for the Iconians) are clearcut Archaeology missions. Searching for a planet requires Stellar Cartography. And deciphering the "Rosetta Stone" needs some Computer Skill, I'm sure. And while the two stated missions are NOT Federation missions, they apparently WERE attempted (or going to be attempted) by Federation personnel (Varley and crew). He actually helps the Trek Sense of those two missions. The planets lie under the influence of other powers (Klingons or Romulans), but Varley's obsession makes it a Federation interest. Even if he's not present, he can give information to other Federation personnel that will lead them to either mission. I'd even have gone so far as to make the ability "once in play" instead of the inferred "in play", since Picard went ahead and attempted Iconia Investigation after Varley's death. Officer/Command icon is a given for a captain. The attributes are good too: the Integrity somewhat low for Fed because he was led by his obsession more than Starfleet ideals. He was obviously a smart man, and the Strength matches Picard, no problem. Did really well, and may even have fixed problems inherent in other cards. 4.5 from me.

STOCKABILITY: The Feds aren't as suited to Archaeology decks as the Romulans, but they do make headway into that field with Donald Varley. Two more missions, which he helps solve a great deal (needs only one other OFFICER for Reopen Dig, or one other Computer Skill for Iconia Investigation, easily easily found, even in the mission specialist pool), plus his help on the other Archaeology missions. He never quite solves any mission by himself (except Excavation), but often comes close, sometimes shy of one skill. This is also the case, for example, with Investigate Rogue Comet. He's good for Hunt for DNA Program too. Stellar Cartography is a little out of place when it comes to mission solving, but it'll serve a purpose on the space missions that have to balance the principally planet-based archaeological digs. Not bad on the attributes. A matching commander for the Yamato, potentially making the ship 10-11-11, which isn't the Enterprise, but is pretty good nonetheless. He can also report directly there thanks to Ready Room Door, etc. So, a specialized but useful personnel at 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) More longevity in the game than on the show!

PICTURE: Just a guy in an underground crowd scene. I think it's kinda neat and relevant to the "Unification" episode that the picture looks like it was taken by a surveillance camera. The mood this sets up is worth a 3.6.

LORE: The name and lore are all invention (except membership in the Romulan underground), so let's look at it as such. Starts off with a big question mark: what in heaven's name is an astro-archaeologist? For the longest time, I struggled with this question. Seemed like absurd technobabble, but there might be a way to explain it by looking at his actual skills (which we'll do below). As far as I can figure it, astro-archeology studies star migration in the past, and how this has affected space-faring (and other) cultures. Makes sense in the context of the unification movement, answering question as to how the proto-Vulcans migrated to Romulus and Remus. The rest is pretty standard, like D'Tan's. Some interest, so a 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Again, all invention, so we only have the lore to work with. Astro-archaeology is apparently a combination of Archaeology and Stellar Cartography (which made me come up with the conclusions above, much better than Astrophysics which would have made him dig up stellar matter for artifacts). Honor and high Integrity is common among the unificationists. They are pacifists like the Vulcans. Engineer? I get the Civilian classification, but the Engineer is unproven. According to his skill selection, he should have been Science instead. Cunning is appropriately high for a scientist. Strength is a bit too low in my opinion, since though he may be a pacifist, he's a Romulan (and doesn't appear too aged). Still, no that bad. Ok invention, with one major mark against - a not-so-inspired 3.

STOCKABILITY: When I see basic skill packages for one of the original affiliations, I figure it fills some empty niche. Where does Koramar fit? It's a new combination, but nothing the Romulans don't have elsewhere, even the uncharacteristic Honor. When he came out, the Romulans were a little low on Stellar Cartography which is featured on one dilemma and more than a few of their missions. In any case, he makes for a better than average all-around mission solver. ENGINEER is a classic classification. Archaeology will allow him to work in that popular Romulan deck archetype. The attributes, except for the STRENGTH, are very nice (especially the under-represented INTEGRITY). He also boosts Tamarith's attributes (but again, he's not the only personnel that can do so). A 3.3.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Never be a principal player, but is better than some two-skill stooge.

PICTURE: The courtroom scene is shot at an appropriate point, as Simon Tarses (the "witch" being hunted in this case) gets examined. A lot of small figures, but crisp and clear, and I like the composition created by showing Tarses from the back. The tables are a little bright and cut the pic in half, but otherwise a fairly good attempt at 3.5.

LORE: Basically tells the story of the episode by the same name (a great episode and a great title), well told and with some flair in the second sentence. Glad they kept "witch hunt" in the lore rather than the title. A good 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Better thematically than in actual Trek Sense, they made a few odd choices on this one - some I understand well, others not so much. First, there's making this a space-only dilemma. Can't such things happen at planet locations? This is one of the ones I understand. It pays homage to the best bottle show Star Trek has ever produced (a "bottle show" is an episode which takes place entirely on the ship so as to make use of existing sets and save money). And if a crew is being investigated, then it should be a dilemma that affects an entire crew, not just members of an Away Team. Passes that test. The effect is to discard (drum out) a crewmember that fails to meet standard loyalty standards. I say loyalty, because we sometimes say that's what Integrity means, though some affiliations actually encourage low Integrity and Treachery. The standard seems to be 5, meet or pass it, or get out. Problem here is that Simon Tarses, who got the shaft in the episode, is Integrity 6! But that's okay, maybe Picard pulled some strings. After all, the episode actually says there are NO personnel with low enough Integrity aboard because it uses the "otherwise" game text (passed by Jean-Luc Picard). Let's look at that alternate effect: I think it's great that if no low Integrity personnel is found to be blamed for suspected treason, the inquisitors keep looking. You can't pass the dilemma unless you produce a scapegoat OR an able lawyer to talk some sense into them. That would be Law, or the personnel who most deserves Law in Premiere, Jean-Luc Picard. His little speech in "The Drumhead" was exceptional, and turned Norah Satie around. Her role in this card's effects is thematically très cool, but falls short in my opinion. If she's in play, she decides (points the finger at) whom she believes should be drummed out. Fine, but she can be anywhere in play and still do this while the offending personnel is light years, or quadrants, away. Fine, but she can do this even if the offender is from another affiliation! Fine, but. The other odd choice is that Plexing nullifies it. So if Norah Satie had just learned to relax a little, this would have never happened? Funny, but probably a little too ridiculous to be taken as seriously as it should. Still, a cute addition to a card that, while far from perfect, has some great ideas going for it. A 3.9.

SEEDABILITY: Either way, you'll get some good mileage out of this dilemma. It either discards one personnel (from the same batch as Firestorm - too bad they can't coexist in most combos - you might try the less efficient Thought Fire instead) or becomes a fairly impervious wall, impervious to all save Picard, Law personnel (only the Dominion and ferengi have more than one or two lawyers) and a card that, while progressively more useful, is still basically a limited counter, Plexing. That's so harsh, most players will opt for sacrificing a low INTEGRITY personnel. Not that they'll always have a choice. Only the Feds are actually low on low INTEGRITY, but the Bajorans won't find this a piece of cake either. The Borg will either lose Dukat of Borg or have to Adapt. For the Dominion, this'll usually mean losing a Ketracel-upkeeping Vorta or an all-important Founder. Along with In the Pale Moonlight, this one really forces the Federation player to use normally less (to them) useful personnel. If you pepper the spaceline with dilemmas that target low INTEGRITY personnel, you can put the chances of your opponent being stopped at this wall on your side. Bendii Syndrome in your combo MIGHT make everyone drop by 2 INTEGRITY to give you more choices to discard, but only if an appropriate Vulcan is present. If playing Norah Satie (she IS a mission specialist and reports for free at your HQ), you can make the selection for the personnel to be discarded. Against more treacherous opponents like the Romulans, Cardassians, Ferengi and aforementioned Dominion, you'll probably have some juicy morsels to pick from. Make sure the teddy bear doesn't get in the way though. If your opponent is using Norah Satie, then it becomes his decision who gets selected, but in a Fed deck, there probably won't have too many choices (unless they're stronger NAs). The way things are going, Plexing is bound to waste the 13th slot in many Q's Tents, so it affects the meta-game in more ways than one. A powerful addition to our arsenals, though limited to space missions. Gets a 4.2.

TOTAL: 15 (75%) A favorite episode becomes a favorite card.

PICTURE: Cool pic. Nice composition, a unified color palette, and a nasty-looking Jem'Hadar. This is one of the better Jemmie pics, since it highlights the darkness of their function while simultaneously giving credence to the specific Jem'Hadar's skills. A good 3.8.

LORE: The usual trappings are there - aknowledged universality, rank, who he served under, and a little backstory. A common 3.2 aught to do.

TREK SENSE: Jem'Hadar alphas obviously don't have a Gamma quadrant icon, but retain their physical dependence on Kertacel-White. A "typical" alpha is of course universal, so the Staff icon is a good bet. And these guys are all trained to man ships from adulthood. I dare say most Jem'Hadar are either Officers, or in the case or low-ranking ones, Security. They are soldiers first and foremost. Duran'Adar, on the basis of his helping repair the Defiant gets to be Engineer as well. And his location at the warp core means that's the part he worked on, making Physics quite reasonable. And Geology? Ahhh, here we see the problem with creating a good skill base in a new affiliation when the expansion set(s) aren't as large as either Premiere or Deep Space 9. Geology adds to that skill base, but isn't evident from either the lore or the show. The attributes are high for a universal (though Jem'Hadar are usually in this range), but again, it's all made up. I found the alphas to be less honorable than the good ol' gammas, so I might have expected an Integrity drop. The Cunning goes with his skill list. The Strength is more or less arbitrary. A patchwork character, with both good and bad. A 3.3.

STOCKABILITY: Duran'Adar is one of the universal alphas you can use to staff you alpha ships and start off more quickly in the Alpha quadrant, but his dependence on Ketracel-White will require you to get a Vorta there ASAP before your alphas gobble up all the Ketracel-White. As far as skills go, what does he bring to the party? SECURITY, while useful to the Dominion, is on most Jem'Hadar, so that's pretty standard. ENGINEER is likewise common as a Dominion skill (if not as a classification), but you can never have too much of it. Indeed, while Physics isn't rare either, it, along with ENGINEER, is important to solving Construct Depot. What's really new here is Geology, which really isn't a Dominion staple. It's all on CIVILIANs and VIPs and none of the utilitarian classifications have access to it aside from Duran here. This'll be useful not only in passing the Geology-based dilemmas like Odo's Cousin and Seismic Quake, but you'll notice this universal Jem'Hadar gets you almost everything you need to solve Mining Survey (in Empok Nor strategies) as well as for Test Propulsion Systems (giving your alpha ships a little speed boost early). That's a lot of solving power for a universal. Attributes are good if not over the top, but you'll note here that where Lower Decks brings most other affiliations' universals in line with unique personnel, it takes Jem'Hadar to 9-10-10s and the like. Strong and cheap at 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) I think a good picture can do a lot to disarm a reviewer.

PICTURE: That's how Geordi sees huh? Looks like a tv set out of whack. Gross colors, to be sure. And I know this is a problem with the show, but I take exception at the Romulan text present in the frame (the actual "Emission"). One, can Geordi actually READ Romulan? (If, in fact, those are his instructions.) And two, this would really tend to identify the senders of the transmissions as Romulans if it were ever intercepted. This, from the masters of subterfuge? An ugly card whose mild interest is nullified by the sense problems above. Doesn't go above a 1.9.

LORE: The story's there and well told, though the sentence structure is pretty artless. I like that both Kell and Taibak are mentioned, helping out with those two's presence in the game text. No room for Entek - he wasn't in the same episode - of course. A fair 3.

TREK SENSE: On the surface, it fixes Brainwash's limits. Basically, Brainwash never let us do what was done in the episode it was used in. You could use a brainwashed individual as your own (like some teen cult), but you couldn't have it keep working with the opposition as a man on the inside, which is more useful to governments than what was aloud before. That's on the surface. The actual execution sometimes falters, but not always. The Hidden Agenda icon, for example, is fine. If your affiliation has developped the technology to send E-Band Emissions to control its brainwashed infiltrators, it would be a good idea to hide it from your enemies. Seeding on table would mean you had developped it before the game ("series") started. I don't think that's how it was on the show. Seemed like new technology to me. Also, in the episode, Geordi was the perfect choice because the emissions could be broadcast to his VISOR. How does that work on other personnel? We may assume the technology now allows for transmissions directly to the infiltrator's brain, but that seems a little much. The idea that Kell, Taibak and Entek can protect the card from nullification ties the two conspirators from the episode to the card thematically, but there's no real reason to it. As long as they're alive, the secret of E-Band Emissions lives on and may be used again? Ok, that works for me. Entek's appearance here doesn't though. While I'm sure he created more than one double agent for the Obsidian Order, he never used any kind of E-Band Emissions deal, nor did he used captured nationals. What he did, he did to Cardassian agents ready to go deep undercover. Brainwash's sudden immunity to Kevin may be attributed to the hold the E-Band beams have on the brainwash victim, keeping anyone (even a godlike being?) from snapping said victim out of it. And if it wasn't enough, I really doubt the Federation would use this kind of technique (much like I objected to their Brainwashing captives). This Trek Sense fix job really only gets a 2.9.

STOCKABILITY: Now everybody can uses infiltrators!!! Simply capture and Brainwash a personnel (easier now with the Brig/Holding Cell Door), turn this one over and blamo! Instant infiltration power! Yes, even your Federation, Klingons, etc. can use infiltrator support cards (as long as they don't require the infiltrator to be a changeling or something). So... what can you do? Among other things, you can Issue Secret Orders, Dial Martok for Murder, sabotage your opponent's cards with an Inside Operation... Counterintelligence seems particularly appropriate here, since your opponent can be expected to stock personnel for their mission-solving skills much of the time. The capture takes away those skills, but your opponent had back-up personnel. Send back his personnel on a Counterintelligence run, and suddenly, it's like losing the skills twice! Who stands to gain most? Well, while the Cardassians, Dominion and Romulans already have infiltrators, they can't always know what affiliation they'll be playing against. Grabbing infiltrators from your opponent's own ranks quickly solves that problem. The Romulans successfully work with capture decks anyway, so why not take advantage? The Feds, usually barred from such "guerilla warfare" can have fun with this and later say, "moi? I can't even attack anybody!" Inside Operations for the Klingons might make their armadas even more efficient. I'm sure there's a little something for everyone. The card also comes with lots of little perks: 1) it's seedable so you don't have to wait to pull it before playing it; 2) three personnel, from three different affiliations, keep it from being nullified, including an easily grabbed mission specialist (Kell), a pretty useful Obsidian Order personnel (Entek) and the lamer though not altogether horrible Taibak; and 3) it protects Brainwash from nullification, insuring your opponent won't invalidate both it and E-Bands with one lone Kevin. All good side-effects to this otherwise pretty simple card. Infiltration is still something of a delaying tactic, but an interesting one. A neat 3.8.

TOTAL: 11.6 (58%) Who said torture, brainwashing and assassination were pretty?

PICTURE: The creepiest of all Garak pics, the camera angle, lighting and pose all adding to the effect. That overhead light fixture clearly puts us in the interrogation mood (there... are... 324... lights!), and the colors of Garak's suit make him colder and more reptilian than usual. The only real flaw is how the shadows dirty up the picture. A very good 4.3.

LORE: First, the title works well within the episode the card refers to. Garak is "the good son" in this one, and using his first name only makes him sound younger. And we're so used to calling him Garak, that he may as well be another character when he doesn't wear the name. As for the lore itself, it rightly makes Elim Garak the appropriate persona (like they were gonna miss THAT), but after that, just the story. His actions are colored on the side of good, but there isn't much more to it. A 3.5.

TREK SENSE: Of all the Garaks, this one deserves the most to be Cardassian. He's no longer an exile (if briefly). As Odo's master interrogator (he doesn't do much else before the Founders mess everything up), he uses his Obsidian Order training to, well, interrogate. That takes care of one skill and one special download (though there is more than a little evidence his techniques also involved Torture). That function (and membership in the Order) is also one of Security, so the classification goes great here. The Staff icon may be deserved because he obviously knew his way around ship systems, but hadn't gotten enough trust from his father and his father's allies to Command yet. The double Treachery may be forcing it a little. Yes, he tortured his "friend" Odo, but he was really doing it against his own moral fiber, and really was too scrupulous to really get results. The double Computer Skill wouldn't be surprising on any Garak however, since he's a master cryptographer, but it doesn't coincide much with this persona, unless running the shape-shift inhibitor counts as double Computer. Like other Garaks, he's got an ability related to random selections (a cool unifying theme). This one is squarely evil, so he chooses who gets to be hurt when something usually random happens at his spaceline location. It's like being offered to choose which of your friends to kill (a movie and television cliché, even before Sophie's Choice) except Garak's choice is made about which of your ENEMIES gets hurt. With Garak usually a good guy in the show, that's not so off as he gets to choose such things for Feds, Bajorans, Ferengi and even Klingons (and it works fine against opposing Cardassians since he's in their affiliation). Of course, you have to ask yourself how this really applies outside of the realm of the thematic. Why should he have any control over Rascals, or Armus? He shouldn't. Points for working within the theme, but not as much as if it were actually sensical. And how about them attributes? Compared to the baseline Garak (Elim Garak), he's got one less point of Integrity (well, of course), one more of Cunning (here, my objection goes to his getting a big fat 10 when he wasn't really too effective as Odo's interrogator) and with the same Strength (no comment). Some interesting choices, but not that strong at 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: Like Elim Garak, he can report to Garak's Tailor Shop for free and offer the advantage of Obsidian Order/Treachery there (card peeks, Cardassian reporting, a Computer Skill personnel to commandeer the station, and even Ore Processing capability with his SECURITY), but he doesn't afford the same mission solving capabilities. That's one of the cool things about the Garaks, they are different enough from one another that it makes using multiple personas a viable strategy (unlike, for example, using incompatible personnel like Picard and Galen, or very similar personnel like the FC versions of the bridge crew). Here, Elim is a little close to Elim Garak skill-wise, simply doubling up on key skills, but that does enhance his ability to pass some dilemmas. The double Computer Skill for example, will pass Ferengi Ingenuity, as well as give him the solving power of multiple personnel when it comes to Ancient Computer et al. Multiple Computer Skill and Treachery is also a staple of Cardassian missions, and he more than goes halfway with Alter Records and others. Note that those skills, along with the capture-related functions, makes him a fine addition to a Romulan Treaty deck as well. Let's look at the bells and whistles now. The special download of Interrogation is mimicked by any Brig, but he'll get at it faster. In combination with the other master interrogator (Madred), he can do a lot of damage. The special skill is where the action is however, because if you position Elim at a location your opponent's personnel are bound to encounter random selections (and you ARE seeding those right?), you turn them all into "opponent's choice" selections (you being the "opponent" of course). That goes for dilemmas (a specific Armus? hehehe), but it also goes to end of personnel battle deaths, Tactic casualties and the results of such cards as Captured. And Elim doesn't even have to be present (though his STRENGTH is quite okay in battle), he just has to be "here", i.e. at the same spaceline location. So whether you planted him on a Neutral Outpost at your opponent's big space mission loaded with random choice dilemmas, or dropped him on a Nor at a similar location, or are just moving him around the spaceline, you can influence card choices from relative safety each time. He's also downloadable by Quark's Isolinear Rods, so you can get him as early as they come (maybe on a Spacedoored ship for easy relocation?). Switching your other Garak for this one can prove a nasty surprise when you see a random death/capture coming. That 10 CUNNING is good for mission solving too, but watch out for the INTEGRITY which is under the safety level. More specialized than the others, it's still pretty evil at 4.1.

TOTAL: 15.4 (77%) Beats the baseline Garak by 1%!

PICTURE: Why is it that large Dominion ships are so rarely photogenic? The warship in this picture is all spikes and jagged edges, and it's difficult to see it as a ship, or from where the fighters are launched. The attack fighters themselves go from cute to undiscernable. A dymanic picture, but hampered by the angle of the shot. An even 3.

LORE: A very good explanation of what the Dominion does with its fighters, but while the title necessarily had to make use of the "colon rule", the term "shuttle" in there is less than apt. One notch down to a 3.2.

TREK SENSE: Well, it goes to reason that Jem'Hadar attack ships can be carried aboard larger vessels, but until now, since they were not shuttles, they weren't covered by Engage Shuttle Operations. The Dominion version now includes fighters, while also mentioning shuttles, and removes two features present on Engage Shuttle Ops that don't make sense here: one is the landability of ships since fighters don't regularly make landings (though the shuttles get the short end of the stick here); the other is the need for an Engineer to be present (which I criticized quite a bit when I reviewed ESO). Tractor Beam is still required as 1) it takes in the ship and helps it launch, and 2) it usually proves your ship is big enough to carry smaler ships. This version of the event is limited to Dominion warships and battleships (note its mention here), since indeed, this is meant to represent the mobile-base nature of the those vessels. Well suited to the Dominion's purposes and methods for a smooth 3.9. Not going any higher because, as with most card-enabled functions of ship special equipment, it seems like these should have been part of the equipment itself.

STOCKABILITY: The Dominion doesn't have shuttles specific to them yet, but they do have two breeds of Attack Ships, neither of which has very impressive RANGE. The warship and new Battleship have a better RANGE, so why not add both? You can fly your large ship to the ends of its RANGE, then launch fighters who can go to the end of theirs, reaching your intended destination. Or just launch attack ships to create an instant armada at your warship's location. The new battleship actually adds to this strategy by requiring Ketracel-White icons to staff it. With Crew Reassignment, you can report Jem'Hadar directly there, most of which can staff one Attack Ship apiece. You can seed it if you want to make sure you have access to this early on, or play it later if you can't afford the seed slot. And since it counts as an Engage Shuttle Operations, you can download it with Launch Portal, which can also protect it from nullification. Ostensibly, this would also extend the effect to scout ships (perhaps under Treaty?). Plus the doorway suspends play while you launch fighters, turning an all-out attack on your warship around. You were hoping to destroy the entire armada in one blow? HA! If you really care about landing capability (you're somehow using shuttles and/or scout ships in your Dominion fleet), then you can always use both Engage Shuttle Ops, but I don't see that as too viable a scenario. To conclude: extended RANGE is good in this situation, though no landing for attack ships is perhaps a little disappointing. 3.6 here.

TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) A cool card for a cool affiliation.

PICTURE: While there's a cohesive color palette, with that triangular sign in the back and the similarly colored uniform, it looks like Muniz went through some sort of odd computer process. How else to explain the way the light falls on him? It's like an over-exposed picture. Somebody dropped the ball on this one... a 2.

LORE: A lot of fun things here. His being highly valued by O'Brien is a nice hommage to their relationship. His nickname is also a nice touch. Ans they top it off with his bittersweet joke, bittersweet because we know Quique didn't make it that far. A great selection of facts worth its 4.4.

TREK SENSE: The Staff level Engineer is well reprensented overall, but some liberties were taken. The Computer Skill makes sense in the context of his duties, the Honor in that of his attitude, Geology probably has to do with his taking part in a (fatal) mining survey, but the Navigation sits in unproven territory. Of course, it's one of the skills that can fit on most any 24th century character, so no big whoop. As for the attributes, I probably would have given a more healthy Strength, but I understand he was no match for the Jem'Hadar in battle. As for the Cunning, his naiveté might have been worth lowering it by a point, but his abilities seem to call for that 7. The Integrity is just right. No surprises here: a 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: While ENGINEERs are never a waste, one with double Computer Skill is quite good. That one skill has many uses and in multiple levels like this passes Ferengi Ingenuity and makes Muniz downloadable through Quark's Isolinear Rods (the only such Fed personnel). Navigation is another of those "service skills" that are required by more than just missions and dilemmas, but to pass pollution events, etc. as well. Geology is on many Federation missions and now good for a few dilemmas. Honor is perhaps the least useful here, but still not bad, and, along with excellent INTEGRITY, will help an Away Team pass New Essentialists. STRENGTH is a bit of a liability, but otherwise, a good support personnel. 3.6 here.

TOTAL: 13.8 (69%) Quique unfortunately doesn't grab my attention with his simple skill list.

PICTURE: Possibly the ugliest Tactic card (and I'm counting the special effects on Crimson Forcefield), Evasive Maneuvers is so murky as to be undecipherable (pun not intented). In the pink gas, I can distinguish three ships (I think). I imagine that shuttle (is it a shuttle? a runabout?) is the one making the Maneuvers, since a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship and whatever that big boat is in the back most definitely have staffing icons. Plus, the attack ship is firing. Well, the shuttle isn't getting a whole lot of exposure here, and though it is evading that polaric beam, it almost looks like going through the nebula is actually how it evades its enemies. But then, the game text has nothing about nebulae... A mess because of all the pink, but also conceptually. 1.2 here.

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

TREK SENSE: Unless a Tactic has a "this one" arrow icon (as opposed to all "flip" icons), it counts as two cards, the Tactic and the damage marker. So this card is both Evasive Maneuvers AND Plasma leak. I'll evaluate the Trek Sense of both separately. Evasive Maneuvers more than any other Tactic before it, reveals some of the nonsense behind the card type. On the surface, it makes sense that this would be a "defensive" tactic, raising Shields significantly, even more if you're in a small (no staffing requirements), harder-to-hit and usually more maneuverable vessel. And sure, I don't dispute that the ship still fires during that battle, but since the primary goal is to get away, the Weapons are lessened (fewer hits or attempts to hit). The problem revealed is this one, if you have a NUMBER of ships participating in the battle, and there's a ship with no staffing requirements present, how can its smaller size and higher maneuverability affect every ship present's Shields? I have a hard time believing that a shuttle would confound a warship so as to make it less able to attack a more dangerous (and important) target. And does no one else think that giving this Tactic the same number of flips per hit is too much? As for the Plasma Leak section, it's only tenuously linked to the main card perhaps by virtue of the "plasma" in the picture, or of the idea of targeting the back of a ship where the engines and engineering is, though that's what the other ship firing is trying to do. In any case, Evasive Maneuvers doesn't become its own damage marker. The leak apparently results from colateral damage to the plasma-filled engines, and with that big Hull hit, probably damage to the back of the ship. The death in this case occurs somewhere near there because it targets Engineers. It also targets people working in the sciences, because Astrophysics and Physics personnel, while they could be Engineers, could also be just about anybody else. On a Nor, the place not to be is the Ore Processing Unit (where those Cardassian Engineers hang out). Same kind of thing. Plasma conduits could also be there and bust open. And how about those facilities making maneuvers? A little weak at 3.1.

STOCKABILITY: People not playing the side-deck for offense but rather for defense might very well use this Tactic, which can boost your SHIELDS by +4 to +6, which will make a shuttle pretty tough at the expense of its WEAPONS which wouldn't have been boosted nearly enough anyway for that battle. Even big ships going up against a Borg Cube might like to survive the assault with that +4. As a damage marker, it has a little more teeth. Sure there's only a -1 RANGE drain, but it's the HULL damage you gotta look out for. 35% will insure direct hits are killers, and is one of the highest HULL drains possible. Though only stocking these for this purpose isn't what's most efficient as there are other 35 percenters which are better in the battle itself (like Photon Torpedo for example). The ENGINEER et al. casualty is interesting however since it kills one of the best classifications on the market (and some pretty useful and rare skill holders as well). Hit and run strategies in an attempt to kill off important mission solving crew will do well with this damage marker. Indeed, you don't even have to battle to get the desired effect: seed ship-damaging dilemmas in combination with those that require ENGINEER or Astrophysics (still waiting for that Physics dilemma). Gravimetric Distortion makes both a good damager AND wall for this (didn't have the requiremens the first time? BAM! and now, it's even harder to pass). The Three Vipers could also damage then stop a crew in desperate need of an Astrophysicist. Of course, you still have to get that personnel randomly, but the pool is smaller than with the baseline Tactics. When attacking a Nor, the effect isn't so good, as there won't be many people using an Ore Processing Unit except the Cardassians, except maybe to report ENGINEERs (but why leave 'em there?). Still, since the Cardies have more access to Nors than anyone else, I suppose that's not much of a problem, and stopping their attempt to Process Ore with an ENGINEER is a noble strategy. So, more useful as a damage marker than a Tactic, but still pretty stockable. 3.6 from me.

TOTAL: 10.53 (52.67%) The picture really put me in a bad mood, I suppose.

PICTURE: I think it looks pretty nice for a screen display. The hazy effects are textured, and the tiny dots seem to be ships or facilities (or maybe even planets) within the sphere of influence of the singularity. That black speck in the middle of the graphic has the look of a printing defect, but is actually the black hole. And while the okudagrams surrounding it all are rather plain, it wouldn't be EXAMINE Singularity without them. A cool, though slightly straight, 3.7.

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

TREK SENSE: It's Examine Singularity, right? Not Destroy Singularity, and yet... But that can be explained. A ship with the appropriate skills (that would be the singular abilities of Science, Astrophysics and Cunning, no problem there) can make use of its study. Closing a Black Hole is probably not beyond 24th-century science (though we have no proof of that), and since the Hole is a location, any ships there must be relocated. Since the Hole IS a singularity, it may act as a wormhole in this case, and relocate any ships present to one other location. Points are scored since this study and closure should be considered a pretty hazardous mission-type objective. 15 points sounds okay. But why is this a Hidden Agenda? There's really no reason for it. Black Holes are like public parks, no one lays a claim to them. A Referee icon, I would have understood. Hidden Agenda, I don't. The second, continuous, function is likewise difficult to accept. I guess, in this case, you're seeking out singularities like the Bajoran Wormhole (but not regular Wormholes?), Temporal Wakes (can they be FOUND?) and... Deactivation? What's the point? I won't even go into the game mechanics nonsense (going into discard piles, Black Holes in the out-of-play zone). Strains credulity at 1.9.

STOCKABILITY: The comment about a Referee icon above was made because this card seems to be more of an abuse counter than anything else. The only reason it doesn't have the icon, is probably because people don't use Black Hole enough to warrant it being called "abusive". The most obvious use is to close down that Black Hole before it eats up your precious missions and facilities, and/or opens you up to damage from Balancing Act. With the various cards it downloads, it seems to be included to protect your gateway to the Gamma quadrant (or make sure it gets open), nullify Anti-Time Anomaly, and counter Red Alerts, Static Warp Bubbles and holographic Away Teams. And even if your counter gets countered, you can fish it back out of the discard pile to make sure what you nullify STAYS nullified. Can your opponent fish out a discarded Amanda Rogers? I didn't think so. As with other counters then, this card relies to much on the fact that your opponent will use the target cards. Let's look at it offensively then. You could play Black Hole yourself, using its devastating powers until it threatens to hurt your cards, then nullify it (it's not that hard) both for points and to send your ship(s) on a field trip to a necessary location. The Hidden Agenda may hide your plans to do this from your opponent once you've played the Hole, but there isn't that much point to that, unless you're trying to field trip your opponent at the same time by luring his ship to the Hole (there have to be easier ways... and there are!). Until you do all this of course, you have download every turn, limited to the discussed cards, but the Wake may be good for sending multiple ships back in time. Bah. Pretty limited, and not even an easy 15 points (there are much easier missions that are worth far more). I gotta wonder a bit at this one: a 2.

TOTAL: 10.13 (50.67%) I was really disappointed.

PICTURE: I like it. Data just standing there is almost like Kivas Fajo succeeded in "collecting" him. We also get a shot of some of the other acquisitions, though none has been made into a card (nor will they ever, I suspect), including a lapling (aw, sweet). The picture is dominated by Fajo's couch, which is the Fajo icon symbol. A good shot at 3.8.

LORE: Straight facts, well told all in all. And the bit about Kivas' morality is okay too. But there's not much of a link with the game text on that last one... or is there? Stands at about 3.1.

TREK SENSE: Fajo's Gallery is a card drawing engine, and as such doesn't hold too much Trek Sense. We can see card drawing as acquiring, producing or finding a resource. There's really no reason to produce more if you capture a personnel or report/play a part of one's collection, is there? Well, Fajo's moral ambiguity may mean these actions actually make him a better producer/acquirer. The thrill of succeeding at what he loves, boosts his power of acquisition, and he has no moral fiber to regret any of it. Maybe. Capturing unique personnel is meant to mimick what he did to Data, except "unique personnel" aren't really "unique" in the game, not in any collectible context. The only android? Sure. The only non-Founder changeling? Perhaps. Picard, Pardek and Kargan? I don't see what the point would be. Reporting/playing Fajo icon cards is meant to reproduce his collection, but again, there are problems. Not with the artifacts that ARE in his collection (including the icon-less Mona Lisa - hey! where's the Varon-T?), but with the people and ships who have nothing to do with Kivas (many of which aren't collectible at all) like Spot, the Sisters of Duras and the IKC Chang. I can believe he gets a kick (a card) out of reporting himself (always talking about Fajo here), but what's his connection to Q'apla!, Black Hole or DNA Metamorphosis. At least there's the Hidden Agenda aspect which works because Kivas' collection was a total secret. Not a bad link with Kivas Fajo-Collector, which also allows card draws, either. The conceptual beats Trek Sense down to a 2.

STOCKABILITY: Card draws, card draws, card draws. Are they that great? Well, maybe, especially, if like some Borg, you can convert them to specific downloads (reporting Locutus, then, but not a whole lot of other Fajo cards fit well into a Borg deck). Commander's Office might get lots of downloads too. There's also Guest Quarters, Blood Oath, etc. The requirements to draw are a little picky. Either capture a unique personnel (for 2 cards) or get a Fajo card into play (for just one). Sad to think the Fajo cards are so, on the whole, unused, that Decipher feels the need to boost their usefulness, huh? Since there are only 18 Fajo cards (plus Mona Lisa), and Decipher tried to help a number of affiliations and strategies with the product, you'll rarely be able to put more than a few of them in your deck. And while capturing is relatively easy these days (and unique personnel are juicier targets than universals), that's probably how you'll get most of your card draws. Go for a double-whammy by capturing via Dixon Hill's Business Card. But really, it's all about how badly you want to get extra card draws, and if you're ready to go the extra step to get them. If you are planning to use lots of Fajo cards OR to use a capture-heavy strategy, then you might as well use the Gallery. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't make the extra effort - you're just stocking more cards so that you can draw those same cards. Silly (or if you do this smartly, you'll be cycling your deck pretty quickly by drawing cards that let you draw even more, but be efficient). The Hidden Agenda doesn't have much of a use, unless you want to hide your strategy and/or use of Fajo cards (cool fake-out though, if you have the guts), but it'll keep your opponent from nullifying the card before you can do your thing, flip the card and get an immediate draw. Watch out for Scorched Hand and other big hand hosers, as well as Obelisk of Masaka which may reduce your downloading power. Pretty even at 3.3.

TOTAL: 12.2 (61%) Not a treasure, even in foil form (I can't unload my foiled extras).

PICTURE: Just looks like odd machinery, but the colors are good and bright, and though the composition is chaotic, it's meant to be. Without any kind of real action, it won't get a high score, but it IS a competent effort. About a 3.3.

LORE: The techno-babble is as ludicrous as it should be, and Quark's being a miser is cute too. The lore's good, but the title is a little odd since it isn't indicative of the dilemma, but of the cure. That little nugget hurts the score: 3.1.

TREK SENSE: Presents a situation where Computer Skill and ingenuity is required, whether on a planet or aboard a ship. While the holosuite presented in the pic and lore is computer-run, it looks like the make-shift repairs are made using Engineering. So I guess the internal working parts of computers are covered by the Computer Skill. Not what we're used to, but possible. "Ingenuity" is not covered by multiple computer users, but represented only by a true expert who has Computer Skill x2. That gets rid of the problem right away. If not, one person has to do it by themselves (why? can't you double up in this case?), but it takes 3 turns (the countdown) to do so. Only the most Cunning will be considered the right choice to work on the problem. This works better than I let on, because problems are often parceled out by commanders to the best personnel for the job, and since it's a filter, the rest of the Away Team/crew keeps going no matter what, facing the next dilemma while they leave a man behind. There's a new problem that comes with that explanation though: is the computer problem that bad if they can actually continue the mission attempt and even solve the mission while it is still in play. I think Picard would have just told whoever to leave it alone until they were done doing the important stuff. At times good, at times not. Note that Rom doesn't even have Computer Skill at all! The possibility that Ferengi Ingenuity is actually the dilemma - a Ferengi has screwed up your systems so bad with spatulas etc. - that your Computer Skill personnel have to get around all that fixes some of the problems, but adds new ones, including how a Ferengi would have touched a Klingon or Dominion ship's computers. Either way, 3.1.

SEEDABILITY: List of personnel who can get rid of the dilemma in a single blow: Odo (Bajoran), Elim (Cardassian), Lamat'Ukan (Dominion), either Data and Enrique Muniz (Federation), Quark (Ferengi), Quark Son of Keldar (Ferengi), Senator Letant (Romulan), 10 and 01 (Non-Aligned), and any Interlinked Borg if Computer Skill x2 is in the Hive. So to some Borg, it isn't very potent. Everybody else has one (maybe two) personnel that can do it (all good personnel). So to most affiliations, unless the right personnel happens to be present, the dilemma is gonna stop someone until it counts down. No Computer Skill? It acts as a wall. But in most cases, Computer Skill, as one of the most common skills, will be present, and the most CUNNING, probably a unique rather than a universal, will get filtered out. As a lead-in to other Computer Skill dilemmas (barring Impassable Door, nyuck nyuck), it can work pretty well. But since Computer Skill is so common, the more the next dilemma asks for, the better. "Pup" springs to mind, as does using Access Denied. Indeed, with Access Denied, the dilemma requires an impossible-to-get Computer Skill x3 personnel, and filters 2 personnel instead of one. A very good filter, but not very dangerous, all in all. A 3.5 at most.

TOTAL: 13 (65%) Not as ingenious as its namesake.

PICTURE: A very pretty tactic, with the ship at a distance and the beams being fired towards us. The pic is something of a fake-out since the frame, essentially pulled from "Yesterday's Enterprise", doesn't exist in the episode. Rather, they combined two phaser blasts from the same battle sequence to give us a better idea of the "spread". A cool, if a little unassuming, 3.8.

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

TREK SENSE: Since there are two seperate parts to a Tactic, I'll review both "Full Phaser Spread" AND "Science panel destroyed" (the damage marker). If there's any real link between the two, all the better, but it doesn't really look like it, unless Stellar Cartography/Galaxy class was done on purpose, which I doubt. The Full Phaser Spread is more of an attack tactic (+3), but still provides some defense (much like a porcupine's quills, you can't get too close). When compared to Phaser Banks, the attack is trippled. In fact, we've often seen ships fire as many as three phaser banks when going all out like this. The defense could have been helped too, but wasn't. An extra bonus goes to the Galaxy class ships (total of +4), probably because they are so large, they have the phaser banks to spare. With a bigger saucer, they can also cover more territory with their weapons. Other ships might fall into this category, but none are exactly as large. Otherwise, a pretty standard 2[flip]/4[flip] tactic. Pretty well done. Now, the damage marker: when a science panel is destroyed, it usually takes a personnel down with it, rather explosively usually. Given the nature of the console, someone in the Sciences would be a natural target. Alternately, someone with Stellar Cartography (presumed to be using their skill at said console) is killed. If I were to nitpick, I would ask "what were they doing using that skill during a battle?", because some of these personnel don't have any other relevant skills and wouldn't be at that panel normally. IF I were to nitpick ;-). On a Nor, the science consoles are mostly located at the Science Lab, so a personnel there becomes the victim, regardless of skills. Makes sense. The Science section not being a primordial ship system, I can easily see the penalties all staying at -1, and the Hull damage is okay too. A couple of reservations (including that the "evil" affiliations don't have phasers, but disruptors) don't hurt this card beyond a 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: When compared to other Federation-centric tactics, it has good base attack/defense bonuses, but rather lameduck attribute penalties as a damage marker. Add Galaxy-class ships to the mix, and you up that attack bonus somewhat, to +4. Not much of a difference, but those ships are already pretty powerful. As a damage marker, it's the only one that specifically targets SCIENCE personnel, so in a Battle Bridge side-deck used as support for ship-damaging dilemmas (and other cards), it can make for a nice lead-in for dilemmas requiring SCIENCE and/or Stellar Cartography. Weed out one personnel with the damage marker (or two maybe) and that follow-up dilemma will probably hit full-force. Damaging a ship protected by Metaphasic Shields has the unexpected bonus of lowering SHIELDS by more than -1. But that's luck. Attacking a Nor, though, it's less useful, since Science Lab isn't the most common of sites. For its good overall bonuses, and specific, but useful damage marker victim, it gets a 3.7.

TOTAL: 14.93 (74.67%) Took a shot.

PICTURE: While a bit dark, Furel's expression is very solemn and his clothing's colors a nice shade of green. The caves make for a pretty standard background, but not a particularly distracting one. Captures the character somewhat at 3.4.

LORE: Most of the lore is devoted to his lost limb, but it's handled well, especially in telling us why he hasn't had it replaced in this perfect medical future. I like the first sentence: it's flavorful and good personality background, something sometimes forgotten on guest star cards. On the downside, naming his resistance cell is actually a liability, but not a big one, as the hidden nemesis icon it represents can be used against the Cardassians just as well. A 3.2.

TREK SENSE: Furel is an old resistance cell member (Resistance) who is now effectively retired (Civilian). The rest of the skills aren't as easy to explain. Biology is sound enough seeing as he's become a farmer since the occupation. Farming and gardening are often represented as Biology. It's a bit of a stretch, but one the game supports. The Geology may be from the same source - knowing the lay of the land, I suppose. Again, a stretch. Engineer? I suppose he had to have a specialty when in the Resistance, but I don't think this is supported. It's possible though. Of course, given his Sniper download, maybe Security would have been closer to the truth. The reason behind that special download isn't that he can be identified with the same episode as Sniper, but that it's a strategy that was probably used by the Resistance. It actually also explains his rather high Strength for a one-armed man. Integrity at 6 is probably because he's done things he isn't proud of, but his extremely high degree of loyalty to the Prophets (he felt getting a new arm would show them disrespect) would seem to indicate a higher rating here. Cunning's fine, but I would probably have lowered it by a point. It's not like he survived the episode. A lot of stretching at 2.7.

STOCKABILITY: A large number of skills is usually a good thing on a personnel, especially when its affiliation is relatively new. Furel offers two classifications, one close to useless, the other possibly the most important in the game. Biology and Geology appear on a number of dilemmas, as Resistance does now as well. That last skill will also give Furel a boost with War Room, Holding Cell Door, Bajoran Phaser Banks and one Espionage card. The Sniper download is a good one, giving you a better chance of killing personnel in battle (something the Bajorans don't exactly frown on). As something that plays on the table, it doesn't have to be played strictly at Furel's location, which is another plus. The Bajorans' reliance on Orb artifacts can also be used here to more or less "fix" the probe for Sniper using the Orb of Prophecy and Change. One of the risks of using any Shakaar resistance cell member is that Silarin Prin can come along and foist a nemesis icon on them, but 1) that requires your opponent play Cardassians AND Prin, and 2) the nemesis icon can be used both ways, allowing your resistance cell to destroy Prin at the end of your turn. Not much of a risk. All in all, Furel's a fairly good support personnel, whose skills are also found on missions. Attributes aren't too hot, but not bad. And the special download is useful depending on your strategy. A 3.8.

TOTAL: 13.1 (65.5%) If he's missing something, it's a little Trek Sense.

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