To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Deep Space 9 expansion set.

PICTURE: An Interceptor flying over the surface of Bajor, its back end facing us. Ehh. For one thing, Iève always though the picture was silly. The ship looks like a cross between an owl and a dragonfly from this angle. The building below aren't part of Bajor's classic architecture (could be any old planet). And to boot, you can hardly tell there's a civil war on. The ship's not firing, you don't see Bajorans fighting Bajorans... why not Kira and others, weapons ready, walking down a ravine and being shot at? It's not a bad picture mind you, there are no other pics like it, but it's on the wrong card as far as I'm concerned. Scores a 2.

LORE: Simple and to the point. There was room for more though. Decipher was afraid to name names? Good, but not excellent: a 3.

TREK SENSE: First, let me say how glad I am that various civil wars are taking different bents. This is not Klingon Civil War, nor should it be as the two affiliations are very different. Two possible functions. The first allows your Bajorans to attack your opponent's Bajorans, sort of a Defensive Measures for the affiliation that has no "crooked police" skill. The rationale behind this is that one player must be playing the side of the provisional government, while the other plays Red Circle members and sympathizers. Is that really the case in a game though? If it ever actually turned out that way, with Colonel Day et al. on one side (a Bajoran treachery deck) and Kira and most other DS9 personnel (a Bajoran honor deck as it were), I think Parallax Arguers would be in order. Now, every game is an "alternate universe" or sorts, so who knows how allegiances get formed in the game universe. It's certainly possible that Shakaar was in league witht he Circle there. Problem with taht is that many personnels' allegiance to the Red Circle is part of their lore. So no go. Trek Sense-wise, it would have been a better idea to make Civil Wars create restriction on personnel mixing. In this case, your opponent's Bajoran members of the Red Circle would not be able to mix with others (the Klingons wouldn't work with the Duras family, the Romulans with Unificationists, etc.) The second function allows, in this state of emergency, the download of personnel associated with war and/or martial law: Officers, Security and Resistance. They're the ones who know how to fight, give orders, etc. They have to be universal to boot, since these are only expendable soldiers, redshirts as it were (brown shirts for Bajorans). Holes in reasoning will still park this puppy on 3.6.

STOCKABILITY: Good thing there's an all purpose second function, because the first one depends on your opponent playing Bajoran. With as many affiliations as we have access to, how could we ever be sure enough to waste a card slot on something like this? That, plus you have to want to battle as part of your strategy (not uncommon for Bajoran decks, mond you). It might be a nice backup, but the second function is where the action really is. Make like the Borg and start downloading drones... er, Bajoran nationals with this Activate Subcommands-type card. The personnel to be downloaded are going to be relatively weak (universal), but will mostly be able to attack and have a reasonably high STRENGTH. And before you go trying to download guards to a just-initiated personnel battle (where, admittedly, they would do the most good), remember that this is an Event, costs you your card play, and must occur before you execute orders. If you're planning an ambush, two high-STRENGTH personnel at the right place can be quite an asset. The card's no good for reacting though. What's sweet about downloading is that you can send you guys anywhere. Make 'em pick off a MEDICAL under Hippocratic Oath, for example. Strategy-specific, affiliation-specific, but not bad. A 3.8.

TOTAL: 12.4 (62%) Basicly a good card, better than the Klingon equivalent.

PICTURE: The ugliest Bajoran ship by far and a terrible hunk of junk in general. The model isn't very interesting, the pose is plain and static and no details are really highlighted. A zoom in might have done it some good... then again, maybe not. A 1.

LORE: One of the better freighter lores. Its universality is acknowledged, its uses, well explained. They even give us rationalization for why many Bajoran ships look alike. Cool, but unnecessary given that all the Bajoran ship pics look very different thanks to the angle of photography (back, side, front). Better than average: 3.2.

TREK SENSE: The Freighter is just a space hulk assigned to cargo duty. Consequently, it's got very low weapons. Range is also the lowest in the fleet (if you factor in the Interceptor's in-region speed). I would have thought that emphasis would have been placed on Shields, but no, it's a 6. Not a problem though, since that seems to be the maximum shielding for ANY Bajoran ship. Boring design, like many universal ships. Nothing to really dispute, but nothing to rave about. A 3.

STOCKABILITY: Sure, it gives the Bajorans a freighter for Kressari Rendezvous, but it's not like they can't use the much tougher Non-Aligned Rigellian Freighter. It's got no special equipment, a staff icon that makes it impossible to use with Establish Landing Protocols, and very low stats. Even with Captain's Log, the attributes don't measure up to the rest of the fleet. And since all Bajoran ships are universal and easily staffable, I recommend leaving this one in spacedock. The worst of the bunch at 1.1.

TOTAL: 8.3 (41.5%) I didn't mean to say it should be hauling garbage, I meant to say it should be hauled away AS garbage. ;-)

PICTURE: The nicest looking ship the Bajorans have, it's the only one you see clearly. No fuzzy lense, no gigantic shadows. It's got a cool design and seems to be turning around to intercept an intruding vessel. The only problem is that it looks too much like a model or a computer drawing. It almost looks too well defined. Still really cool - a 3.7.

LORE: Muddled. I understand that high orbit is pretty big, but it makes the ship sound like it can't go outside a region. Also, for a universal ship, the backstory is a little specific with its syntax. Bumpy: a 2.7.

TREK SENSE: Well, all the reference material on Interceptors tells me they are indeed sublight vessels. That means they don't have warp, so how can they go outside their region? Sure the Range has been reduced, so to speak, when not flying inside the same region, but it probably should have a zero. Even in-region, there are some problems. Not with most regions, but what about the Neutral Zone? It spans multiple systems across an entire border. Same with the DMZ. Take-off and landing capabilities make sense for such craft which must be deployed at a moment's notice. The attributes and staffing are fine. A mixed 2.9.

STOCKABILITY: A great ship for Bajoran swarming, it is easily staffed and remains the equivalent of a Klingon K'Vort. It's at once the fastest and slowest in the Bajoran fleet, so staying in-region is probably a good idea. Set up a wide-spanning region and dare your opponent to cross it under penalty of interception. In a pinch, you can land your entire armada, making it impervious to attack. The only place it shows itself inferior to the other Bajoran ships, is for mission solving. Unless you're only doing missions in the same region that is. I'm not sure why anyone should use any of the other ships. Except if you hit a Cytherians, you might be in trouble. That kind of thing. A 4.4.

TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) A perennial favorite with stronger game appeal than design.

PICTURE: In this and all other regards, our first outpost shares the problems of all outposts in the game. Granted, it's a lovely image. Beautiful even. I've always thought the creators had done a good job of rendering the various species' homeworlds in their model/mat painting glory (especially Bajor). But that's the problem you see, the picture is of the homeworld, where such a facility cannot exist! Even worse, outposts are space facilities (at least in orbit) and this shows a planet surface. Bajor is a nice little planet though, isn't it? A 3.

LORE: Starkly plain. No flavor. The new affiliations have even dryer text on their outposts than the original ones. Just a 1.5.

TREK SENSE: First, I see little evidence of Bajoran space facilities. We've seen these for most affiliations, but the Bajorans are a special case, with less territory and economic and developmental problems. I don't believe they're up to building space stations yet. The other problems are again shared by all outposts. 1) There's no real reason why there couldn't be one on your own homeworld (regardless of icons there, and no, HQs aren't really the same thing); 2) they can be built at locations that, while not homeworlds, clearly belong to an opposing affiliation (Bajoran outposts in the Cardassia region?); and 3) I've always thought that it was amazingly easy to build an outpost with just the one Engineer. One guy oversees the whole thing? Even so, why can't you subcontract to a Non-Aligned agency? It takes all this for the game to work, I know, but that's neither here nor there. Shields are standard for the peace-loving organisations (like the Feds), but the Bajorans aren't really pacifists. Here, I'll take the reasonning that they are slightly behind technologically. They at least get their shield generators from their allies, the Federation. Scores a 2.

SEEDABILITY: Well, of course these cards are near impossible to do without if you're playing the matching affiliation. Sure, you could go for a Headquarters instead, or Deep Space 9, or even a Neutral/Non-Aligned Outpost, but all of them are limited compared to the real deal. For maximum versatility, you'll need the Outpost. It can't be commandeered or used by your opponent's personnel, and has no restrictions on the type of personnel you can report. Building one later is not a bad idea for the Bajorans as their ships are a little slow. You can build another outpost out in the boonies and report your personnel there. But since you can do this with a moving human outpost, The Emissary, that may not be necessary. Still, a lot of players are keeping one in reserve in case the Borg or Sheliak decide to attack. Practically indispensable: a 4.4.

TOTAL: 10.9 (54.5%) All the categories keep the most important card type in the game from hitting the top ten.

PICTURE: The only things really interesting about PADDs, design-wise, is 1) seeing an example of alien writing and 2) seeing if the design corresponds to the culture. Now the Bajoran version has nice copper overlays, very artistic like their culture. The writing is hard to discern, but the Bajoran insignia appears making it absolutely clear whose PADD this is. It's oddly photographed however, horizontal where it should be vertical. In fact, before looking at it much, I had the impression that Bajorans had a tray-like PADD, read horizontally. Not the case. The lines of the table also give the impression that the PADD is much longer, much bigger than it really is, making this one a bit of a failure. A 2.3.

LORE: I don't think we really needed another explanation of what "PADD" means with all the PADDs available. I'm not sure what else could be said as Equipment is pretty boring, but hey... it's dull. A 1.8.

TREK SENSE: Okay, it's Bajoran-specific. Why can't somebody else learn to use them? Can't Dax or Sisko read Bajoran? At least it'll work for a Federation Bajoran like Ro or Sito. The real problem with PADDs though is there game effect. +2 CUNNING? What have we seen of PADDs on the show? Reports are written on them, keeping fellow officers (especially superior officers) abreast of various situations. Maybe they should have been all about skill sharing. Not that the CUNNING boost is totally non-sensical. It's just uninspired. More ranting when I do Cardassian PADD I guess. ;-) In the meanwhile, this one gets a 1.9.

STOCKABILITY: PADDs are the worst type of Equipment cards. +2 CUNNING? That's hardly useful. Instead of adding a card with CUNNING, how about adding another personnel with CUNNING, INTEGRITY, STRENGTH and skills? Sure, the CUNNING boost really adds up in large Away Teams, but with large Away Teams, you usually have more than enough of every attribute. And look at the Bajoran missions, very few have CUNNING requirements and nothing above 35 (often much lower). Now look at your Bajoran personnel. They pretty much all have CUNNING between 5 and 8, most rated at 7. They don't really need the boost. Maybe use it as decoy Equipment in case a Common Thief pays you a visit? Gee, why not use something you can actually use in the meantime instead. A 1.2.

TOTAL: 7.2 (36%) Way down there. Send out a report.

PICTURE: More of an action shot that a prop shot, it shows that Bajoran design isn't as compact as Starfleet's. The phaser's color reminds us of some golden metal, it has nice pictographic overlays and the odd blue "barrel" in the shape of the Bajoran icon. The card is a bit dark however, the background and hand somewhat distracting. A 2.9 for this ugly gun.

LORE: Boring equipment lore that mentions the Bajoran Militia to make it more interesting. The comparison to Starfleet phasers seems gratuitous filler to me, needless cross-referencing that takes away from the Bajorans. A 1.8.

TREK SENSE: Affiliation-specific equipment always has the same problem. Mainly, that there's no physical reason why personnel from another affiliation couldn't press the trigger just as well as, in this case, a Bajoran. Sure, you could say they only come into play because of the Bajorans, but why can't captured phasers work for the Romulans? The NAs do it. Why a Non-Aligned Cardassian, but not somebody like Garak who has worked on DS9 for a long time? And Kai Opaka knows how to use one? The effect itself (+2 STRENGTH per personnel) reminds us that that it isn't one phaser, but many. In fact, as many as there are compatible personnel persent. The boost in STRENGTH is a boost in firepower (mucho sense), but there are problems. For example, if the card actually represents a bucketload of phasers, why do they always stay together? If one Bajoran leaves the group, he doesn't bring his side-arm with him. It isn't represented as a second gun for one away team member either. Phasers disappear when personnel leave a group, and come out of nowhere when others join it. Multiple phasers in the same Away Team would mean the same personnel is firing more than one at the same time. Okay for two, but what about three, four, five phasers. How would that increase anything but your encumbrance? Maybe cumulative up to a limit of two would have made more Trek Sense. A solid effect mind you, but not when you explore the ramifications. Becomes a 2.

STOCKABILITY: All the affiliations can use hand weapons at the very least to protect themselves from one another, but each affiliation will have different needs. Bajorans can benefit greatly from phasers since most of their STRENGTH  tops off at 7 (mainly the OFFICERs) and the rest swim around in the 2-5 category. People like Kai Opaka will need a couple phasers just to survive a battle! Their collective STRENGTH is so low that they have very few missions that require it (only three). Aside from that, a hand weapon is a hand weapon, useful to pass a number of dilemmas, take advantage of a Site here, an Objective there, etc. I'd say the militant Bajorans need their guns, but this one's not as strong as the Rifle. At least it can be brought to Cardassia for Orb repo. A good 3.6.

TOTAL: 10.3 (51.5%) I didn't start off shooting to kill...

PICTURE: The rifle looks strangely flat in a rather uninteresting prop shot. The cargo bay background is far from interesting as well. Details are crisp and the prop design itself is imaginative... a 2.1.

LORE: Better than that of the Bajoran Phaser because it doesn't invite comparison with Starleet's phaser rifle. Still a little stale, but at least has some flavor. A 2.5.

TREK SENSE: See my comments on the Bajoran Phaser for considerations pertaining to hand weapons in general. (To recap: good effect, but problems with cumulative nature of weapons, who gets to use what, and number of weapons represented by card.) Rifles are stronger than regular Phasers by an extra +1. They should be more powerful, or else why use them? Who needs the extra bulk in a fight unless there are other advantages? Delightful as far as Trek Sense goes is the drop in Diplomacy. People see you with those (they ARE hard to conceal) and immediately adjust their attitudes. Rifles scream "Warmaker", which goes against the precepts of diplomacy. Great idea. On board a ship, the rifles can be stored so as not to interfere with Diplomacy. That, and quite possibly, space icon Diplomacy missions require negociation by viewscreen alone, so no rifles are in view or relevant. A 3 here.

STOCKABILITY: As mentioned under Bajoran Phaser, the Bajorans can greatly benefit from hand weapons, the stronger the better. Their average STRENGTH is low, but they don't have many missions requiring that particular attribute. Still, personnel battles, dilemmas, etc. still require it. They currently only have 4 planet missions that require Diplomacy, including the key Orb Negociations (but also the one Kira can solve by herself, Rifle or no). Even Diplomatic dilemmas aren't that much of a danger. Most are only walls, with the exception of Armus-Sticky Situation, and a Rifle will actually save you from a Zaldan (unless you have a super-diplomat). Scores 3.9.

TOTAL: 11.5 (57.5%) A better showing than Bajoran Phaser, if only slightly.

PICTURE: For everyone who's ever wondered why the Assault Vessel was pictured from the back, here's the reason. The Scout Vessel is the exact same ship, only from the front, and presumably smaller. It's terrible. It's at once blurry and grimy, and and has no dynamics going. A 1.1.

LORE: Function is described, and the above-mentioned fake-out is paid hommage to, so it's all quite workable. Also, Tahna Los is made matching commander which always boosts the points. A 3.7.

TREK SENSE: As a Scout ship, it has the highest possible Range available to the Bajoran fleet, and the worst Weapons and Shields. These things are recon, not battle.Well, the Freighter actually has one less point of Weapons, and the Shields of 4 aren't that bad when you consider that no Bajoran vessel has Shields higher than 6. Such is the condition of this fleet. A weak ship like this requires no particular staffing, I'll buy that. Now, let's talk about the matching commander. Tahna Los is it by virtue of his once stealing such a craft. Am I the only one who sees the folly of this? William Riker isn't even matching commander of the Enterprise, and he commanded it often. It's like saying Geordi is matching commander of any Galaxy class just because Picard left him in charge of the Enterprise a couple times. Drops the score to a 2.4.

STOCKABILITY: Its Range equals that of the Assault Vessel, but the other stats are paltry at best. Yes, it has a matching commander (optimally making it a 10/7/7), but so does EVERY Bajoran ship (Rinnak Pire). So why use this one instead of any other? No staffing? It's not like any of them have huge staffing requirements. The fact that it is a scout ship and can conceivably be carried inside larger ships with Launch Portal, possibly doubling your Assault Vessel's reach by lauching it, is unique in the fleet. So it's not a total waste - easy to staff, relatively quick, carryable and landable - but I would guess most players would either go mission solving with an AV, or swarm the Bajoran region with Interceptors. Somewhere around a 2.5.

TOTAL: 9.7 (48.5%) When the picture's close to terrible, that tells me Decipher didn't have that much faith in the card to begin with.

PICTURE: The Wormhole has always been gorgeous, hasn't it? And this close-up shot of the opening is more revealing than the side view we are usually privy to on the show. Look at those rolling blue streaks in the middle. Fixed in time by that particular pull, they look like the fingers on a godlike hand. A hand that holds a ball of fire. Is this the hand that hands the Gamma Quadrant to the Federation? Or the one that hands the Alpha Quadrant to the Dominion? I can also imagine this "Prophet's Hand" crushing the Jem'Hadar ships at the end of one of the war arcs. I saw the Wormhole open for the last time this week, not without some sadness, so I'm glad it got the bleed treatment accorded to doorways, rather than the smaller screenshot of an interrupt. A 5. So there.

LORE: N/A (Score will be adjusted accordingly.)

TREK SENSE: My discussion on the regular Wormhole may be of interest here, but let's not forget that this is a stable and very particular wormhole. While the Wormhole interrupt "exists" in the space between spaceline locations (the ship has started to move away from one towards another), this one IS a spaceline location. Two are required, an entrance and an exist (though those are reversed depending on the direction you're going). I'm glad to see one entrance downloads the other, which eliminates my main concerns about the interrupt version, that a Wormhole includes the entire length of it, not just one hole. Cool too that the Wormhole MUST be discovered in the Alpha Quadrant like in the show. And since it is a unique wormhole, it sits at specific places - one end in the Bajor Region, the other in the Gamma Quadrant. Problems arise here. The Wormhole is in the Denorios Belt, you even see it start to open on Characterize Neutrino Emissions (which refers to it), yet it needs not be anywhere near. A Span of 1 may mean you get to it quickly from anywhere in the system, but why are you stuck navigating from the Denorios Belt to Bajor to Near Bajor, back to the Belt? And it realy jumps around when you consider the Gamma Quadrant end. Ships move through it but are stopped. That's fine. The inside of the Wormhole has been shown many times to be hard to navigate, and the stopping represents the time it takes to get through (a kind of span). There's no real problem with using it to cancel its destruction or closing. We've seen this happen often enough, usually at the Prophets' whim. A very strong 4.4.

STOCKABILITY: Instrumental to decks that want to go to another quadrant swiftly and easily. The Dominion are better off Establishing Footholds and Subjugating Alpha Quadrant Planets than staying at home. And there are always points to be gained by Exploring the Gamma Quadrant for the Alphas. For the Alpha Quadrant affiliations, there are some great missions sitting beyond the Wormhole, and Bajorans are probably going to be using their region anyway (not that you need it since this card will create its own Bajor Region if none exists). The usefulness of Bajoran Wormhole really boils down to the usefulness of other quadrants. If you're seeding an extra quadrant just to field trip your opponent, or to let your Borg scout missions unmolested, then don't stock any Wormholes. But if you're planning on traveling to it, it's a must. You can't depend on limited forms of travel in such a strategy. And yes, your opponent can make use of it, but if you stock some Wormhole Navigation Schematics, he'll be delayed if he ever follows you, while you're cruising ahead at warp 9. So you can even fly into the Celestial Temple to hide from enemy ships! A 4.

TOTAL: 17.86 (89.33%) Maybe I'm just sentimental... Gonna miss that big hole in space.

PICTURE: Great atmospheric lighting on Bareil makes the whole card appropriately mystical. The candles, huge Bajoran symbol in stained glass and the orb all add to this peaches and cream picture. I'm really glad Bareil isn't in close-up too, since I've always found the make-up makes him a little cross-eyed. Never undertood Kira's kick on the guy. A 4.5.

LORE: First, some stuff that has to go in there logistically. That he's a Vedek is important for missions (and other cards) that require them. We all know he's a Vedek, but unless it says so on the card, it's inadmissable. His relationship with Kira is acknowledged, which might become relevant eventually (or else, why always mention these relationships?). Then comes the really neat stuff. Great line about gardening which brings us back to Bareil's first appearances and really helps with armchair Trek Sense. The best part is obviously "Follows springball religiously". It's a great play on his religious service and on an admitted interest. I'm sending this one home with a 4.9.

TREK SENSE: There's a lot of good here. As a high-ranking member of Bajor's clergy, he deserves to be a VIP. His Diplomacy is doubled because we've seen in the position of being "the only man they'll listen to" when he negociated for five months with the Cardassians. Honor comes from his honest dealings with people (hand in hand with Diplomacy), and his loyalty to Kai Opaka whom he covered for in the Kendra Valley massacre scandal. Biology is the skill given to botanists, but does gardener equal botanist? Barely. Then there's that SCIENCE which has always bugged me. Because Biology and Anthropology are there, he gets the companion classification as a bonus? He's BARELY a biologist. He's also barely an anthropologist, by virtue of understanding his own culture, and maybe that of the Cardassians. He has had an Orb experience, that's clear. What isn't is that he can actually serve as staff on a ship. A clergyman and gardener? Hmm. Finally, the attributes do work. His high Integrity works with his Honor; his Cunning could have been slightly higher, but there's no reason to disagree with a 7 here; and his Strength is consistent with a healthy pacifist. The only thing that's really bothersome is those extra skills. I understand Decipher's wish to give good "bridge crew" to the Bajorans, but doesn't it seemed forced in this case? Still, a 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: One of the big Bajorans, along with Kira, Shakaar, Opaka and a few others. And he's a bigger Bajoran than he first appears to be. His skills are in high demand on Bajoran missions. In fact, more than half the Bajoran missions can be half-solved by Bareil! Yes! He'll usually bring at least two skills to each mission attempt, especially on planets. VIP has some odd uses (Open Diplomatic Relations and the like), but SCIENCE is getting to be a better and better dilemma solver. Diplomacy is always useful (x2 gets you through a Q-Net with your eyes closed), and the others are good against more specialized obstacles. Better yet, he's a Vedek, easily reportable to the Chamber of Ministers, and has an Orb icon, great for Orb Negociations and Return Orb to Bajor. All that, and he won't even stand idle aboard a ship. Good stats too, with Strength being a major weakness in personnel battles. A mission solving 4.5.

TOTAL: 17.8 (89%) The Bajorans get their first high score with this great mission solver.

PICTURE: It's a baseball alright. Ehh. An uninspiring 1.5.

LORE: Cool text, telling the story with nicer words than usual. A confusion exists for those who aren't as versed in Trek lore as some others, being that Dukat is not a Dominion personnel. But that's minor, and the lore score hits 4.

TREK SENSE: First of all, when points are concerned, I expect some kind of "mission" to score them. Commandeering a Nor is just that and well worth the 20 points. Unfortunately, the rest of the card makes less sense. If it's meant to be symbolic of a commandeering effort, they've chosen the wrong lore and title to go with it. Sure, it goes to Sisko's original commandeering of DS9. But when Dukat retook the station, he didn't throw the ball out an airlock (nullifying its points). No, the card makes great showing of the baseball being a sign that Sisko would return. The baseball would work better if it were played on YOUR Nor that has just been commandeered. If you took it back, you'd get the points. Another card (an objective?) could have given incentive to commandeer in the first place. In fact, that would have made the card more stockable by garanteeing that there would be a target (you seed your own Nor) and providing meta-game deterrent for would-be invaders. Also, who, except humans, knows what baseball is? Very few people even know about it in the Federation! Yet, all affiliations are leaving these around. A paltry 0.8.

STOCKABILITY: Commendable in that it gives incentives for commadeering. 20 points plus use of a Nor is nothing to sneer at. Unfortunately, it all depends on your opponent playing with a Nor, not every man's strategy. If your opponent does have a Nor, that's great, but it doesn't mean commandeering will be easy. And those points are lost if your opponent takes the Nor back (easy unless you keep it defended) or Amanda Rogers intervenes, the skank. Maybe if you let your opponent take over YOUR Nor (or Empok Nor), perhaps by making it real easy for him. Seed an appropriate "intruder-friendly" site like Guest Quarters or Garak's Tailor Shop (on DS9) and let him report there before you do. He commandeers, thinks he's all that, but you're quite prepared and take it back, netting the 20 points. Seems like a lot for so few points, so go solve a mission already. It's at least downloadable by Benjamin Sisko, of which I'll have cause to speak next week (fun how they alphabetically follow each other). A limited 2.3.

TOTAL: 8.6 (43%) Steeee-rike!

PICTURE: A pretty cool picture of my namesake. I like how he's shot with a star-filled background, much more evocative of Star Trek than the beige interiors of the Enterprise-D. His expression is one we've seen often since the war with the Dominion started, brutal impatience with a Vulcan-like, quizically raised eyebrow. You just know he's gonna start screaming at someone! Not an incredible amount of insight, but at least true to the character. A 4.1.

LORE: Standard telegraphic style without much humor to it. The Federation-Tzenkethi war is not a detail I would have used, not for someone with such a rich backstory. He's acknowledged as an engineer which is good. The Jake reference is obligatory, and the mention of baseball fairly obvious. I am interested though in the first phrase: are we to expect matching commanders for facilities now? I hope it's a fun mechanic! An average 2.7.

TREK SENSE: Obviously an Officer with the usual skills of Leadership and Diplomacy which are a staple of that post. His Engineering skills were demonstrated on a number of projects such as the Defiant and reproduction of a Bajoran Sail Ship. He also builds models etc. Navigation? He was at a Runabout's helm a number of times. Honor could be debatable since he's made a number of awkward decisions since the war started, but he has shown a knowledge of Klingon culture and tradition both in his dealings with the Klingons aboard DS9 and in disguising himself to infiltrate a Klingon ceremony. I often equate that type of knowledge with "Honor". Obviously, the Baseball is his and he should be able to download it. It's unfortunate that the Baseball itself has very weak Trek Sense though. The attributes are all crazy eights which is fine on the surface. After all, this is a Starfleet captain, one of the best. Integrity could have been a point lower though. If FC Data drops to a 7 for considering to join the Borg for a split second, then Sisko should at the very least make the same drop for going along with Garak on Vreenak's murder (well, covering for him anyway), for launching biological weapons on a Maquis planet, etc. Come on! The other point of contention is that he doesn't have the Orb icon. Since he had his first Orb experience in the pilot episode, there should definitely be one on any version of Sisko we've ever seen, right? Well, it IS there in a sense, since his persona (The Emissary) has it and they can be switched. Still, anything about him being the Emissary in the lore, or as an icon (which there would easily have been room for) would have been nice. Only a few problems, but mostly because he's too cool a character to fit on that small a card. A 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: Personnel with high attributes and six skills are rare and usually very good, and Sisko is no different. His mix of skills is pretty common, but nevertheless useful. Navigation, useful for the Badlands. Diplomacy, useful against Q-Nets. ENGINEER, useful on a number of dilemmas. These three are also found on an uncommon number of Federation missions. Leadership and Honor, while less useful, are growing more and more in demand. The download isn't bad, but will only work if your opponent is packing a Nor. It could mean 20 extra points though, just for a back-up card stocked on your Tent. More importantly, Sisko is matching commander for two ships. One is the USS Rio Grande, a little runabout that can be jacked up to (with Plaque and Log), starship levels: 9/8/8. The other is the Federation's only non-AU cloaker, the Defiant which can elevated to an impressive 11/13/12 with him aboard. What really puts him over the top is his excellent persona The Emissary. The FC bridge crew personae are often the same as their Premiere counterparts with a few skill changes and a sparkly new download. Which one you include really depends on your deck's needs. With Sisko though, his persona is actually different enough to include both. Regular Sisko is a matching commander and mission solver, but switch him at any time to download the Bajoran Wormhole or report/boost some Bajorans. He really comes into his own in a Fed/Baj Treaty deck. A very good 4.2.

TOTAL: 15.1 (75.5%) Sisko might be flattered that he got the same score as his hero, James T. Kirk.

PICTURE: A pretty straight shot of Q in close-up as he appeared on Deep Space 9, grayer and in a different uniform. What I like about it is how the left side of his face is darkened. Place your hand over the right of the picture and you'll see a benign friendly Q. Place it over the left, and you'll see a more nefarious version of the same being. Goes the extra mile and scores a 3.8.

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

TREK SENSE: A little strange that being wary of Q would be an objective, but I rarely quibble about card types (or else most Events would bite the dust). Beware of Q celebrates Q's unpredictability and way of showing up at the worst possible time. With the second function for example, Q supercedes an existing danger and substitutes a Q-Flash (or series of Q hijinks). In the third, again he decides to conduct a Q-Flash where none was planned. The first function falls a little short however. While it goes with the unpredicatble nature of Q that he could appear without the Q-Continuum doorway being opened (I suppose we could say it was hidden), but him just doing one trick (the Q-dilemma) and moving on? Q comes in Q-Flashes because he's always an episode unto himself, never leaving before the entire crew has suffered at his hands. Playing him in single dilemmas is out of character. And I like how the Q's Tent (Q's private domain) can be used to bring Q-cards into play, not just your hand. All in all, a 3.9.

SEED/STOCKABILITY: This card has brought new life to the Q-Continuum and to a number of Q and non-Q cards. Let's go function by function. Seeded on the table, it will allow you to seed Q-dilemmas like regular dilemmas. It still costs you a seed card (Beware instead of Q-Flash), but the trade-off is great. The problem with Q-Flashes is that they are random. Now you can insert the Q-dilemma of your choice in an actual combo. And because they were designed for Q-Flashes, not many of them have requirements, most have triggers and a couple (Mandarin Bailiff, Fightin' Words, even Guilty-Provisionally) will instantly hit! Seed a Risky Business after a Love Interest or Hippocratic Oath and you get to kill the wayward lover or doctor, it's great. What about self-seeding Pla-Net? Pay 5 points, eliminate a dilemma. And note that you don't need a side-deck anymore to enjoy the benefits of Q's friendship. Three-way treaty anyone? The second function allows you to replace any dilemma you seeded just encountered by the opposing player with a Q-Flash. This will help greatly with failed combos and injects new life into those dilemmas that have very specific triggers. Bendii Syndrome won't work against non-Vulcans, Maman Picard against non-Federation ships, etc. You can also get rid of Retaskable Borg Ships and bonus point dilemmas about to be scored by your opponent's mega-Away Team. With enough Q-Flashes in your deck (and Tent), you can fix all the mistakes you didn't know you'd made. The last function is less useful because it's not a seeded, repeatable function. It has you play both a Beware of Q AND a Q-Flash for a single effect, that of putting said Q-Flash under a mission after the seed phase is over. It's a nifty trick against players who want to steal your missions and know everything that's under there cuz they seeded the location themselves, but I wouldn't stock a Beware just in case. Of course, you can play a Beware later than the seed phase for the second function, so you could keep it in reserve. A useful 4.4.

TOTAL: 16.13 (80.67%) Now where can we get some more Q-dilemmas?

PICTURE: I don't know if it's the puffy hair, but this particular Klingon "warrior" has a very small body for his head. A properly menacing gaze cancels out his ridiculous frame, but not by much. The hairspray king gets 2.8.

LORE: Tells the story adequately, with some effort spent in justifying his skill list. No problems and no fanfare. A 3.2.

TREK SENSE: All we really know is that he's a spy (Klingon Intelligence) who beamed (Transporter Skill) a surveillance device in some guest quarters. The rest has been inferred, sometimes reasonably, sometimes not. While SECURITY might have been a logical choice for an Intelligence operative, ENGINEER works just as well. After all, if he's a transporter expert, he might as well be an engineer (à la Miles O'Brien). And who's to say he didn't build the surveillance device? Cybernetics and Astrophysics are inferred from the inferrence, two skills related to engineering (though Astrophysics belongs more rightly with SCIENCE). There is no evidence that Bo'rak had these two skills or that cybernetics had anything to do with the bug he planted. As far as attributes go, Integrity is medium low, enough to be loyal to the Empire, but low enough that spying doesn't give you the jitters. The Cunning is relatively high (Klingon "intelligence"). He is, after all, a scientist of sorts. And his Strength is low for a Klingon, perhaps because of his slight build. Really reads like a "fill-in-the-holes" skill-wise, so only a 3.3.

STOCKABILITY: Check out that skill selection. Except for Astrophysics, they're all second generation skills. By that, I mean skills that didn't exist when Premiere came first came out. As a result, fewer personnel have them, especially in the original and less explored (depending on the expansion) affiliations like the Klingons and Romulans. The Klingon Intelligence is only available on two other personnel, Atul and Morka, and is good for Espionnage Mission and HQ: Defensive Measures. Atul may be an ideal choice for Espionnage Mission if you're using Assign Mission Specialists, but a more rounded personnel like Bo'rak is a better overall investment, especially when using Defensive Measures, as it'll add Leadership to his skills. Transporter Skill is only on two other personnel as well, but isn't in demand all that much for Klingons. Unless they are spying, they currently have no missions and only two dilemmas they might want to fiddle around with. He and Kitrik are the only two Cyberneticists, a good skill to pass the invasive Borg Servo and report Soong-Type Androids for free. Astrophysics is also as rare (3 Klingons have it) and is good for half a dozen missions, including Seek Life-Form which yields high points and can be two-thirds solved by our boy here. The real clincher is that he's the only multi-skilled, rare ENGINEER in the Empire. A very useful classification that was sorely lacking in the Klingon affiliation for too long. Kromm? One of the least used skills in the game. K'Tesh? A hologram for an affiliation with very few Holodecks. From 7 Missions and the ability to build Outposts and Particle Fountains, to Engage Shuttle Operations and move Garbage Scows, that all had to go to personnel who could lose the skill to Reflection Therapy and such, or to Non-Aligned individuals. Bo'rak is a little specialized skill-wise, but a still a good addition to your team. A 4.

TOTAL: 13.3 (66.5%) Sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do, even if it hurts the design of a card.

PICTURE: In my opinion, one of the best Cardassian pics in the game. Much more in close-up than most, his furtive look tells us he's in a hurry to cut off communication with us. The lighting is interesting, especially those white bars to his right and the glow of red on his armor to his left. For someone who was basically seen on a vid-screen only, very crisp and clear. A 4.3.

LORE: Are we to expect a card that affects seconds-in-command? We've got Federation Commanders, Romulan Subcommanders, Bajoran Colonels, Jem'Hadar Seconds and Cardassian Glinns. Other than rank, we get all the information we need to understand the character and fit him in the DS9 storyline. A straight 3.

TREK SENSE: Glinns are the equivalent of commanders, so deserve Command icons as much as Riker or LaForge do. The OFFICER classification is debatable, though not unreasonable. We could have seen here our first ENGINEER/MEDICAL (talk of cybernetics and bio-implants), but he may well be more of a first officer than a department head. As a biotechnology expert, I'm sure he does deserve ENGINEER and Cybernetics, but I really think something akin to Biology, if not outright MEDICAL, would have been in order. The Greed is necessary for him to be bought by Quark. The Smuggling (a really neat skill - DS9 has way more criminal behavior than TNG, doesn't it?) would be used to get the technology to whoever could pay for it. Integrity is justly low, since he is a criminal and a traitor. Strength goes with a high-ranking military man. Cunning however is much too low. Sure, the guy made a mistake in ordering Garak's spare part, a mistake which may have cost him his life, but he's not just a pencil-pusher at the implant store: he's an "expert". To my knowledge, Cybernetics is a pretty complicated thing. 5 Cunning won't even get your through the introductory courses. So, mostly good, but with a couple of holes for a 3.6.

STOCKABILITY: The Cardassians have plenty of OFFICERS, but his other skills come at a premium. He's the only Cyberneticist, for example, and one of the most endurant in the game. You'll need him to get rid of pesky Borg Servos and to report your Soong-Type Android army for free (one 'bot at a time of course). ENGINEER is an all important dilemma-passing skill that the Cardies were initially low on. Smuggling is required of 3 Cardassian missions, but only found on two of their personnel (the other is Silarin Prin). Boheeka can even solve Kressari Rendezvous by himself. Unfortunately, they are all low-yield missions, or have alternate ways of being solved, making Boheeka less indispensable than he could be. He's also your only ticket through Arms Deal, yeah, like that dilemma ever killed anyone. His Greed is also rare in the Union (two Cardassians have it) and is not entirely useful, but can nab you some bonus points with Worshiper and Lockbox. Other than that, he's a good fighter, but a poor Firestorm survivor. In a focused deck, a good way to patch the holes: a 3.2.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) Strong design went into this little-known Cardassian.

PICTURE: A cluttered picture with too many lights in the background for so dark a figure. It's still better than a lot of TNG cards since DS9 had better (or at least, more atmospheric) photography. Not that bad at 3.

LORE: Mostly invented as Borad is just a background character. Gives an interesting reason for a Cardassian to have an Orb icon, and the last part is funny to me. In the case of Winn, the Prophets choose to say nothing. When a Cardie comes calling though, watch out! They give him nightmares. A fairly good 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Since nothing is really known about Borad, I'll go by the lore and picture. SCIENCE and Archeology are supported by the lore. Exobiology isn't though. The biology is expressed as his study of orbs on nervous systems, but it's CARDASSIAN nervous systems. "Exoarcheology" is the study of alien archeology, but the "exo" can't be transferred to his other skills, can it? Youth seems apparent from the picture. The Staff icon does too, as he's sitting at an Ops-type console and in any case, he's too young to have Command. The Orb icon is obvious from the lore, but not from a gameplay standpoint. What IS the Orb icon? Is it simply the fact of having had an orb experience? Or does it mean you have been "touched by the Prophets", somehow chosen? The cards that make use of the icon are ambiguous on this point and leave me to believe I may have been wrong to doubt Decipher on this. Attributes? The Integirity may be a bit high for someone who has, in a way, participated in the pilfering of a culture's heritage, but other than that, they're all right. Overall, a 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: A great Cardassian as he'll get you halfway through a number of missions, including Uncover DNA Clues (with just Ocett), Camping Trip and Quest for the Sword. He's one of the few Cardassian with Archeology, and his other skills are sort of rare too. Add to that a unique Orb icon, and you've got the only non-Baj/Fed who can benefit from Orb icon-related cards without having Orb Experience played on him. He can spy on Orb Negociations, do some Orb Returning to Bajor for points, and peek at cards thanks to the aforementioned Orb Experience interrupt. Maybe seed a few Orbs under Characterize Neutrino Emissions (which is just as much the Cardassians' as it is the Bajorans') to make use of it. And with Borad, you'll never worry about The Charybdis. Overall high stats. Fits well in a Treaty with the Romulans. I'd say he gets a 4.3.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) For such a minor character, they sure did give him a good card.

PICTURE: What a lovely picture. Very romantic, what with Jadzia and her loverboy reflected in a pond full of colored lilypads. Upside down, you have a hard time recognizing them, making the dilemma all the more universal. A nice 4.2.

LORE: A good explanation which lacks the generic nature of the pic, but fine nonetheless. Presupposes you've seen the episode to really understand the story though. A merdian... I mean, medium, 3.

TREK SENSE: Pretty basic really. Whether you're in space or on land, one of your personnel loses some valuable time on their romantic agenda rather than on the mission. Very Star Trekky. Your opponent chooses the gender of the dilemma-produced lover (in a roundabout way) and makes somebody fall in love. Works much better than the too extreme Love Interests, and deserves a 4.9. (There's something not right about some characters falling in love.)

SEEDABILITY: It's not a common for nothing. A random filter which will get you one delayed personnel of your preffered gender. At least it filters out for an extra turn, not just the one when the attempt was made. That may be a boon actually. If the Away Team still completes the mission on that turn, it still has to wait around for another turn or be forced to leave somebody behind. I'd say it's better on planets then. Since you can choose the gender of the target personnel, you can try to play the odds and choose the one that includes the personnel you least want going on. Or you can put Brief Romance in a combo with Matriarchal Society (or any dilemma that requires or targets a certain gender). This will really hurt affiliations with few females, like the Dominion. Against the Feds, it can also be a fair lead-in to a dilemma that requires MEDICAL, since many of their Meds are women. Against the Borg however, the dilemma's a waste. Not a strong effect, but you can plan for it. A 3.2.

TOTAL: 15.3 (76.5%) A brief review for a brief romance.

PICTURE: Don't really like it. Why the shadow here? Yes, the planet is a mystery, and you could argue that the Dominion is the blight across the planet, but at the same time, the mission itself (requirements and all) is pretty inocuous. And for a forested planet, it's pretty blue. A plain 2.7.

LORE: The title is funny enough, although it doesn't exactly describe the mission from the lore. As for the name of the world, it sounds like a universal mission. Really odd too, since most unique missions have an actual name. Nicely mysterious lore though. A 3.

TREK SENSE: I'm really surprised at the Ferengi being able to attempt this one. It just doesn't seem their style to escort students on a botanical survey. The Feds and Bajorans however, have an outpost near the Wormhole which would make forays into the Gamma quadrant like this one, a normal thing. The students are represented by the Youth requirements, while the SCIENCE may be teachers or more advanced students. The Cunning is necessary if one wants to actually learn from the experience. Then, there's that special ability: Vorta and Jem'Hadar can report directly there. This is just like in "The Jem'Hadar" when Sisko and son (and representatives of the affiliations listed on the card) met their first Dominion foes. So there's a secret outpost on the planet. This follows the show, but not what we later saw of the Dominion in later episodes. Of course, the Vorta in that episode had telekinetic powers, so there were some changes. The card actually subverts Sisko's camping trip and turns it into a similar yet different mission. Points are a little high for an infantile mission. Overall, not bad at 3.8.

SEEDABILITY: For non-Dominion players, good points for easy requirements, but at what risk? You could be inviting your Dominion opponent to send a wave of Jem'Hadar (under Red Alert for example) to butcher your attempting Away Team. It's not even a place to seed your Ferengi Trading Post since that facility is Alpha quadrant-specific. For the Dominion, it's another place to report your personnel. Not a great place mind you since 1) it's still in the Gamma quadrant where you presumably have a Primary Supply Depot. And 2) it won't let you report changelings and equipment (like vital Ketracel-White). It's still useable to report your CIVILIAN Young Jem'Hadar to a Colony directly, and in a more protected sector of the galaxy. But Colony decks are becoming riskier and riskier, and besides, you need to Espionnage the mission first to even build a Colony there. Could also be part of a bluff strategy. Don't seed an outpost, report your Vorta there, find a way to get a ship on the spaceline, eventually build a Remote Supply Depot... your opponent won't know you're playing Dominion, but he'll also have his 100 points before you even have a homebase. A pitiful 1.9.

TOTAL: 11.4 (57%) I'm not sure I get the point.

PICTURE: What a dinky pistol. Not only the design itself, but the way it's being held. The background is very plain as well. At least it's not a prop shot of a gun sitting on the floor like a lot of Premiere equipment. A 2.1.

LORE: What kind of people have the same issue weaponry on their civilians and military alike? Answer: the Cardassians. Other than that little tidbit, the lore is dry and uninteresting, like a lot of equipment cards. A 2.

TREK SENSE: Well, I've discussed hand weapons at length under Bajoran Phaser, taking the tack that a hand weapon card represents a weapon for each member of a group. That resulted in a Trek Sense score of 2. The only change between the Bajoran and Cardassian models is that it makes more sense for civilians and VIPs to work the things because of the Cardies' militaristic culture, whereas Bajorans have Kai Opaka and the like. When the article came out, someone opposed its reasoning by seeing the hand weapon bonus an other way: basically, that one hand weapon would give a tactical advantage to the entire group. Sure, one person firing a disruptor will give the entire Away Team the chance to maneuver around the opposing team. But a +2 for every personnel? One disruptor = +2 for a lone man. +4 for a two-personnel team. +16 for a battalion of 8 Cardassians. Where's the limit before that one disruptor doesn't matter much anymore? So we're back to our 2, and because of the small distinction I made before, it ends up at 2.3.

STOCKABILITY: Hand weapons can be used by any affiliation to good effect (an Objective here, a dilemma there, etc.), but each affiliation will need a particular amount of help from these equipment cards. The Cardassians are all over the map STRENGTH-wise, some having high 7s and 8s, where others have 5s or less. Disruptors will equalize matters. Only 4 STRENGTH requiring missions for this affiliation, and almost never asking for very much, but you can never be too careful. As for the choice between this and the Rifle, it all depends on your strategy, but the Cardassians are not particularly dependent on Diplomacy as far as their missions go, so maybe the other is the better weapon. A 3.4.

TOTAL: 9.8 (49%) There's a reason cards like this never get a strategy extra on Decipher's web page.

PICTURE: Fairly undramatic, the picture shows how small the Cardassian Rifle really is, and how it looks a lot like a snake. Sure, Cardassian design is very reptilian (like they are), but this gun looks almost silly, very delicate and a strange color. Can't give it more than a 2.4, especially with the poor choice of holders. Tora Ziyal?!?

LORE: An Engineer's dream lore ;-). The only hand weapon to go into this much technical detail, it at least separates itself from the usual boring bla bla. Not bad at 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Okay, what can I say that I haven't said before about hand weapons and rifles in particular? (snip) Good effect, but problems with cumulative nature of weapons, who gets to use what, and number of weapons represented by card. Rifles are stronger than regular Disruptors by an extra +1. They should be more powerful, or else why use them? Who needs the extra bulk in a fight unless there are other advantages? Delightful as far as Trek Sense goes is the drop in Diplomacy. People see you with those (they ARE hard to conceal) and immediately adjust their attitudes. Rifles scream "Warmaker", which goes against the precepts of diplomacy. Great idea. On board a ship, the rifles can be stored so as not to interfere with Diplomacy. That, and quite possibly, space icon Diplomacy missions require negociation by viewscreen alone, so no rifles are in view or relevant. (end snip) But look at that Picture score: these rifles are dinky as far as I'm concerned. Maybe they don't affect your opponent's wanting to negociate with you ;-). A 3.

STOCKABILITY: When I talked about the Cardassian Disruptor last week, I mentioned that, given the Cardassians' lack of reliancy on Diplomacy, the Rifles were probably the better deal. They'll need the boost to their lower STRENGTH personnel (Cardies are a little uneven as far as this attribute goes) in case of personnel battles. Four of their missions require STRENGTH, and usually not that much, so Rifles'll help there, but not as much. And of course, there are dilemmas that need to be survived, and any hand weapon will becomes handy in today's playing environment. I'm going for a 3.8.

TOTAL: 12.6 (63%) To think there are now four other Rifles that have to be reviewed...

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