To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for The Dominion expansion set.

PICTURE: A good angle puts the captain right in his seat, in full command. Sharp and clear at 3.5.

LORE: I'll start off criticizing the lame title which seems to trivialize the character. Inventing a first name would have been one way to go, and failing that, how about putting the word "Captain" in front of it. There's something about the way "Key-oh" sounds that doesn't make me think of captaincy. This is supported by the lore which says he was "ordered". Who wrote this? Dax? That said, the lore does get points for giving him matching commander status on a ship, and for the qualified relationship between him and Jadzia. Brings it back up to a 3.6.

TREK SENSE: Captain of a Galaxy-class starship at least qualifies him for Officer, Leadership and a Command icon. That's undisputable. The rest follows the logic that such a captain should be a well-rounded man with a long career behind him, and so, deserves a nice and varied complement of skills (so what's Benjamin Maxwell's excuse?). Honor seems reasonable given his character (even if there was tension between him and Dax). Geology and Physics are unconfirmed by the show, but not impossible under the logic described above. The special download IS confirmed by his using that attack pattern in "The Jem'Hadar" (as can be seen from Attack Pattern Delta's picture from that episode). A hard-as-nails guy like him might have deserved more Strength, but given his age, maybe not. The rest of those attributes are fine. A little too much invention for my tastes, but still a 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: At the very least, Keogh proves his usefulness by being the matching commander of a fairly strong (if staff-heavy) ship, the USS Odyssey. Its 8-8-8 becomes 10-11-11 if Plaqued and Logged, 11-12-12 in the Gamma quadrant, 11-15-12 with a Tactical Console (a Captain's Order if you're using Ready Room Door anyway, but requiring SECURITY to be there), and a whopping 10-18-12 in the fight during which Keogh downloads Attack Pattern Delta to double that last event. That's not counting defense and attack bonuses that might derive from that battle's Tactics of course. And Keogh can download you more options in that respect with Attack Pattern Delta's other function. He'll fit well, I dare say, in a Federation attack deck with various battle enablers. As a mission solver, he'll do okay with his fair attributes (except that STRENGTH which won't even pass Maglocks) and four standard skills. The Geology/Physics combo in particular is going to become more and more important in dilemma resolution, I predict (Geology already is). Better at fighting than solving though, which isn't the Federation's main thrust, what with their affiliation battle restrictions. A 3.6.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) Dax might not like him, but he isn't that bad. Of course, he's no Dax...

PICTURE: The "Ketracel dispenser" holds some interest, but being half-way across a lighted table makes the image unbalanced. That shadow is just too harsh as a result. Otherwise okay, and probably more of an Equipment card than if they had used a Ketracel delivery tube. Can't go higher than a 3.

LORE: Kinda makes you wonder when we'll get a shrouding card, huh? That anticipation aside, this card is wonderfully low on technobabble, and gives us a lot of information that goes to the game text, as well as the drug's nickname. Certainly better than average at 3.7.

TREK SENSE: By now, we're so used to taking this card's effects for granted, I felt like I was reading the game text for the first time. Obviously, the Trek Sense behing white deprivation must be discussed here. It's pretty much like on the show: when Jem'Hadar (those [K] icon personnel) don't get their White, they go berzerk and start killing anyone around, including each other. So Kertacel-White thus becomes the first Equipment card with a countdown, because it is a consumable piece of equipment. That's fine, though I dare say the old problem of "how many instances of the equipment to the one Equipment card" rears its ugly head. You see, it doesn't matter how many Jem'Hadar are present, the K-White gets used up at the same rate. One Jem'Hadar requires as much as 10, or 20 Jemmies would! The fact that Vorta can ration the White like they do on the show is a two-sided Kar'Takin blade. One the one hand, it does echo the show. On the other, it leads me to wonder how the Jem'Hadar can get at the White at all given that the "chests" are electronically locked. In any case, the fact that Jem'Hadar use up all Ketracel "chests" at the same time (without rationing) is ludicrous given their usual discipline. Goran'Agar seemed to be rationing his unit's K-White fairly well for example. I suppose you could say addicts will be addicts, but I don't buy it. The proper way to do it would have been to make the Ketracel-White card usable only by Vorta (with some Interrupt to break open a case), but that would have made the Dominion even harder to use. White deprivation gets high marks, but the White itself, only 2.4.

STOCKABILITY: Well, if you're playing the Dominion, unless you're not using Jem'Hadar at all (and there are a couple of deck archetypes devoted to just that), you'll need this card in multiple. It was always ironic to me that in the early days, Decipher would saddle us with dozens of useless common cards like Howard Heirloom Candle, but when they switched to the 9-card per pack fomat, they started including absolutely necessary commons like Adapt and the White. Anyway, Ketracel-White has its drawbacks - namely that it counts down when in the presence of Jem'Hadar and that without a Vorta present, multiple K-White will count down simultaneously, rendering the extra copies redundant and useless - but without the card, you can't use the very powerful personnel that are the Jem'Hadar. Without its soldiers, the Dominion has some nice features (infiltrators, highly-skilled personnel, shape-shifting), but it lacks battle savvy. The Jem'Hadar have unilaterally high attributes, especially STRENGTH which is quite superhuman at times, plus some great battle-related abilities. Throw in the special stuff, like growing from Birthing Chambers, sacrificing themselves for the Founders, their use in Planet Subjugation and other mission/objective requirements, etc., and you have good reason to include the White. Fortunately, Decipher has made it relatively easy for your Jemmies to get. First, it may be seeded from the outset on a Primary Supply Depot and report for free on the Remote ones. These facilities are important because they also reset the countdowns on those K-White cards. That basically means the equipment won't count down while there, useful for the beginning of a game while you're just reporting personnel until they can board a ship and do something. You wouldn't want your Jem'Hadar to use it all up in the waiting room would you? Ultimatum will also get you some early on, while Victory Is Life will download one to your Jem'Hadar that has just helped solve a mission or win a personnel battle. Subjugate Planet will also score you some in the form of a download. And Jem'Hadar Sacrifice can, in extreme situations, kill a Jemmie to keep it from counting down. Too bad the Vorta are not as easy to report as Jem'Hadar, but still, the one called Gelnon will be able to download one K-White card, so he's not a bad choice for rationer. It's true, you might have to do a fair amount of running around to make sure you have all the White you need without it running out (back and forth to the Depot, ect.), but it's worth it if you're planning on raiding the Alpha quadrant adequately. Watch out for Disruptor Overload and equipment-stealing dilemmas. For the former, at least, I recommend Gurat'urak (a universal) who can protect any one equipment from it. A necessary card, but not as necessary as an Adapt is for the Borg - the Dominion can work without Jem'Hadar. Still, a 4.5.

TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) You have to pay for what you get. It's all about balance.

PICTURE: They went wrong on this one, in my opinion. Vorta are at their most interesting when they are being hypocrites, and a shot of her bringing drinks in the desert, all smiles, would have worked much better here. Instead, she looks very pale, her make-up elongated her ears disproportionately. That red diffuse light in the background looks like a photography defect and really draws our attention away from the subject matter. An ugly 2.5.

LORE: All the elements are there (gender, species, backstory), and the last sentence is an interesting way to talk about her failure. Drew a smile, anyway. A 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Most Vorta are VIPs with Command icons, since they lead the Jem'Hadar without actually being commissioned officers. Her Leadership is thus also warranted. Diplomacy is a normal Vorta trait, but was also demonstrated in her dealings with Sisko. Treachery too. As for the rest, they seem like invention to me, and are strangely arrived at. Archaeology is a Science skill all right, but the way Archaeology got on there has to be scrutinized. Is the Jem'Hadar ship from the episode meant to be an artifact? The Founders might have sent a Vorta with Engineering capability to the site (for the ship) or Medical capability for the injured Founder, but Archaeology? I guess you could say she had these skills but never demonstrated them. After all, what do we really know about Kilana? She was no doubt soundly punished after this blunder so we never saw her again. To end, the attributes are fine, from the treacherous Integrity, to the devious Vorta Cunning, to the Jem'Hadar-needing Strength. Some license being taken keeps this one at 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: I may have complained about the Archaeology above, but here, it's important to note she's one of only 3 Dominion Archaeologists. Is that very useful? The answer would have to be no - there are no Archaeology for the Dominion to attempt without Espionage. That does kind of open up the Dominion to being hurt by The Charybdis, but not much else. The card extra for Kilana makes a point of her having Leadership and being able to lead Jem'Hadar into battle (one of 3 such Vorta), but since when have the Jem'Hadar had trouble finding Leadership of their own kind? That said, she does have a long Weyoun-like skill list, and I'm sure you'll find a use for SCIENCE and Diplomacy in many situations, while Treachery is a common skill used for many Dominion requirements. Great CUNNING too, but the INTEGRITY is lame, and the STRENGTH as well. Lead the Jem'Hadar into battle? What if she gets paired up with an able combattant? Of course, she shares the Vorta rationing ability of her brethren (and Vorta do appear as specific requirements themselves), but there's nothing here that makes her more valuable than the next Vorta. Good, but not great - a 3.4, which isn't as good as the card extra would have it seem.

TOTAL: 12.6 (63%) Ehh...

PICTURE: While the strange rock formation is really odd on a personnel card, it's part of the changeling, so appropriate. What I REALLY like about this pic is how artificial Kira looks. Almost like a wax statue or porcelain doll. (The make-up? The posture? The lighting? Maybe all of that.) And since it isn't the real Kira, that's a great shot. Whoever found that frame deserves all my appreciation. A 4.8 for revealing the changeling beneath.

LORE: Sounds like a soap opera doesn't it? Well, aside for the kitschiness of it, just calling this particular changeling "Changeling who..." is somewhat misleading, for reasons I will reveal under Trek Sense. Bold-italic lore (infiltrator identity) is actually a disadvantage, but a necessary one. I don't dislike it, I'm just not hot about it. A 3.

TREK SENSE: My main problem with this card is that this particular changeling was actually Founder Leader. No persona? Too bad! Whether it can be explained by "the drop becomes an ocean, the ocean becomes a drop" is open to debate. You might say this is taken care of by the card Shape-Shift, but would it really have hurt the designers to give us a changeling that shifts without an extra card (even if she does download it). Ocean or no, everything points to the changelings having individual identities. Kira Founder follows the usual changeling infiltrator pattern of basically being identical to the parent card, except for special skills, the adding of Treachery (uncontested of course), a drop in any multiplied skill and an Integrity set at a treacherous 4. I marvel at how good changelings are at imitating people. It's true they must somehow assimilate the same skills that person had, but it does lead to strange things. For example, Founder Leader has a Cunning set at 9, but dumbs herself down by turning into Kira. The other anomaly is the Officer classification. I agree that she should have it while infiltrating, but when acting as a Dominion personnel aboard a Dominion ship, she should be a VIP (to other Dominion personnel), and certainly doesn't serve the same function she would when "working" with Bajorans. The other changes are fine by the way. Having to learn all new skills in order to infiltrate, extreme specialties like Navigation x2 are bound to drop a point. And the special anti-Cardassian skill is based on Kira's hate for the affiliation, something not shared by the Founders. Mostly competent, with some design problems. A 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: The Founders are all important personnel to the Dominion. Their shape-shifting abilities have a number of support cards, and infiltrators like Kira have a number of others. They also have some pretty good skill selections and atypical attributes (except for that low INTEGRITY). Kira Founder is one of two you can use against the Bajorans (the other being Odo Founder), but she'll also fill a niche in your mission solving deck. Her skills are things usually held by Jem'Hadar but without the ketracel-white vulnerability. Useful for playing without the big thugs. Two classifications, the always useful Leadership, Navigation and Computer Skill, Treachery for Dominion missions... and Resistance. That last one's a rare skill for non-Bajorans, so is it of any special use? Well, it passes Palukoo and No Loose Ends for one thing. It's also used in combination with Holding Cells' downloads and War Room, though being a SECURITY/Treachery personnel makes that redundant. Maybe you'd be lucky enough to steal Li Nalas' Earring, and make her +3 to all attributes. But don't seed the artifact just for that. Still, if your opponent is Bajoran and did seed it, and you get it, it's a plus. It's even more of a plus since you can then infiltrate him! As an infiltrator, Kira has a lot of skills (important skills) to use Counterintelligence with. The card extra for her is dead on about Install Autonomic Systems Parasite affecting big (big... hehehe) Bajoran ships easily, and again Counterintelligence will make it harder to counter, barring any Odo, because of the SECURITY loss. Add to that all the other support cards, her being a Founder (which passes In the Pale Moonlight and Executive Authorization, plus reports her for free at The Great Link, etc.), and her good STRENGTH which allows her to mix well with the Jem'Hadar (or replace them), and you get a fine personnel whether it's for infiltration (though watch out for the real Kira Nerys who's so good, she's very often used by the Bajorans), battle or mission solving. A cool 4.3. A special skill would have been cooler.

TOTAL: 15.5 (77.5%) Looking good!

PICTURE: The blue lighting complements a Jem'Hadar's skin well, as this pic of Koret'alak coming out of a hazy wooded tunnel proves. Forbidding and mythic, I think it hits the right buttons. HOWEVER, and as you can see, it's a big however, this is obviously a picture of Goran'agar (sans Ketracel tube et al.). What happened here? Aesthetically good, but Decipher dropped the ball - a 2.8.

LORE: What he did in his single episode is mentioned, as is his allegiance to Goran'agar, though that last comment is a bit strange. If he's "typical" (and it's good that universality is mentioned) of Goran'agar's men, that's very different from other Jem'Hadar. Goran'agar only had one "Fifth", so right there... but also, he didn't have enough men to warrant "typicality". Will have to accept a plain 3.

TREK SENSE: The icons are fine (Ketracel-dependent, Staff, Gamma Quadrant, universal), as is the classification (escorting prisoners is a Security duty). The skills however... I dunno. As a "typical" Jemmie, and a marginal one at that, there's no reason to believe he doesn't have Physics and Stellar Cartography except that he doesn't use them on the show. Of course, on a planet, where is he gonna have a chance practice? It's just filling-in-the-blanks for the affiliation as far as I'm concerned. Never seen any Jem'Hadar really interested in these fields. The Integrity is no doubt low because he was ready to follow another Jem'Hadar rather than the Founders, and doesn't have Goran'agar's Honor to compensate. Cunning and Strength look fair given his skills and universality. Nothing too interesting here. Quite the contrary. Another dull 3.

STOCKABILITY: There's no lack of SECURITY in the Dominion, and there's also no lack of either of his skills, even among universal Jem'Hadar, and even his stats are lackluster (much weaker than your average Jem'Hadar). Still, he's a support personnel, so can be reported/downloaded to your ship at a moment's notice using Assign Support Personnel. Bottom line though, he's not very useful for solving missions, has unimpressive STRENGTH for personnel battle, and that Physics still isn't on a dilemma. Strictly cannon fodder. 2.1 here, and that's for the usual Jem'Hadar abilities like (kinda) reporting via Birthing Chambers, etc.

TOTAL: 10.9 (54.5%) The word of the day: boring.

PICTURE: I like it when it's hinted that the personnel is really an infiltrator, and here, it is, and not just by the evil smirk. Those shadows playing on his face, like light reflected in a pool, are very changeling-like. Even the background, the greens of trees, somehow looks like the Great Link from the Dominion expansion icon. To a color-blind player anyway. A sharp 4.4.

LORE: Well, the history part isn't very interesting, pretty basic really. "Appearing as" is also an odd, showbiz-like way to describe infiltration. A slightly off 2.9.

TREK SENSE: Like most Founder infiltrators, he mimics his target as perfectly as possible, having all three of Leyton's regular skills. Of course, the special skill allow the Feds to attack the Dominion makes no sense on a Dominion personnel, so everything else is extra. He can report on Earth, interesting since he was one of the changelings supposedly on Earth for a while before the Feds got wind of the infiltration effort. Works, though when you factor in that the Bajoran Wormhole need not be in play to report Leyton there, you start getting problems. The special download works in that the bird on Flight of the Intruder is Leyton Founder. The stunt is also mentioned in the lore. Attributes are mimicked as well, but the Integrity drops to its usual 4, what every Founder infiltrator gets. It's only a drop of 1 point from the standard Admiral Leyton, so I bet even his friends couldn't tell the difference. A basically good personnel card, Trek Sense-wise, with the Earth business being a small anomaly: a 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: As a straight Dominion personnel, his skills are pretty redundant. Neither Leadership nor Treachery are rare in this affiliation, and most Vorta and Founders are VIPs, while a lot of Jem'Hadar are SECURITY. His special download may be helpful in protecting not only him, but all your Founders present (at least once), by getting to the defensive Flight of the Intruder. His reporting to Earth makes him reportable again by bypassing the Gamma quadrant, so even bringing him back to hand doesn't cause as much of a delay. As an infiltrator, he shines a bit more. Reporting to Earth brings one of the Founders necessary for completing Espionage Mission, while providing a perfect platform for infiltration. The way I read it, you don't even need to be playing Dominion (or a Gamma quadrant) to report him there and start creating havoc. Of course, if you get exposed, he'll have no place to go (Flight of the Intruder and report to Earth again!). Admiral Leyton won't be present in most Fed decks anyway, unless they are heavy on battle. Of course, if your opponent isn't using the Federation, you better have a Dominion to go adventuring with. Add all the infiltration and shape-shifting support cards, and you're in for even more fun. Remember when I said you could solve Espionage Mission with only one more Founder? Well, use Shape-Shift to turn Leyton into some other Founder, and you can report him from hand again next turn. Two Founders, just like that. Repeat procedure to bring an entire changeling army to Terra Firma. Who says you need a Gamma quadrant? Another way to get him in with your opponent's cards is Open Diplomatic Relations using his VIP classification. He allows for free Espionage: Dominion on Federation plays. And is a Founder for purposes of mission solving, dilemma passing, reporting to The Great Link, etc. Not hot on skills (though he can initiate battle), but not too bad otherwise. A good support personnel, especially against the Federation. And even without Feds, a self-seeded Earth can quicken your deck! An easy 4.1.

TOTAL: 15.2 (76%) I like it when they make them nasty.

PICTURE: Most Jem'Hadar look bluish or greenish, but Limara'Son is more on the gold side. So is the background, so our collection of Jem'Hadar personnel really highlights a certain chameleon-like property of their scales, something ignored (or untrue) on the show. That limited color palette looks quite nice, and the expression on his face is determined and more attractive than your usual Jemmie (being younger and thinner perhaps). A crisp and clear 3.8.

LORE: Pretty boring, but then, these universals don't always have interesting stories. This one has a mention of universality at least, is put in context with other Jem'Hadar and has that somewhat cool (but short) but about his demotion. A simple 3.

TREK SENSE: Soldiers are reprensented as the Security classification since handling weapons and strategizing are all things security/tactical personnel do. The rest of the skills, however, remain unsupported. As a "typical" (universal) personnel, they can justify giving him pretty much anything, but while Navigation could be used by soldiers to fly ships, Astrophysics isn't very useful to the warrior caste. It's especially disturbing when we don't see that particular personnel ever do anything remotely connected to those skills. The icons are all okay though, and I think the attributes aren't bad either. The low Integrity has to do with his breaking rank to fire his weapon. Perfect. The Cunning, based on the same event, may be a bit high, unless it's there to support his science-related Astrophysics, which I didn't like in the first place. The Strength is a good 9, which is fine. In total, a 2.9 since the "right stuff" is pretty standard for all Jem'Hadar.

STOCKABILITY: Universal Jem'Hadar are useful in that they can be substituted for Young Jem'Hadar reported just about anywhere via Birthing Chambers. This one is also a support personnel which you can report even quicker using the correct Assignment card. As far as skills go, none of them are too rare in the Dominion, especially the SECURITY, but they are all useful, whether for missions, dilemmas or other things. Bringing Limara'Son in to pass a certain Navigation-requiring effect could be one way to use his support status, for example. Attribute-wise, his INTEGRITY is pretty lame, but the rest are okay, and while the STRENGTH isn't over 10, it's still very good (you realize I wouldn't be saying this if he wasn't a Jem'Hadar). Lower Decks in combination with these guys makes them even better. And how about adding War Room to that? Limara'Son becomes a universal 7-11-13 support dynamo. Useful as much as the next guy, but not primordial by any means. Other Jem'Hadar combinations could do the same. A 3.3 then.

TOTAL: 13 (65%) The little people have a place in society!

PICTURE: Actually a shot of Lovok Founder because Lovok had already been done away with by the Dominion by the time we met him. In any case, it's a fairly good headshot, as smug as any Romulan, but reveals little of his character otherwise. As far as composition goes, it's pretty plain. A 3.1.

LORE: Aside from the rank, there's his small part in Trek history. Not much here, but no mistakes. A 3.

TREK SENSE: Having never met the man, we pretty much have to go by the Founders' approximation of him. The Tal Shiar/Officer makes perfect sense of course, but the rest is pure invention. Computer Skill is an old stand-by that could be given to anybody. So is Navigation when it comes to people who've spent the better part of their lives on a starship. Transporter Skill? Not impossible, though a task pretty far removed from the upper command echelons. Decimals come off here. Science is also fairly unsupported, there isn't even a Science skill in the batch (unless you want to count Computer Skill as a Science skill). In fact, wouldn't Diplomacy have been a better skill for him? How about a Cardassian dual-affiliation? Or matching commander status on an Advanced D'deridex? Integrity is somewhat high for a Romulan Tal Shiar, but he was able to ally himself with the Obsidian Order, so I don't see a problem there. The Cunning seems about right (Romulan smarty, but bamboozled by the Founders). The Strength, however, seems way too low. The Romulans are stronger than humans across the board, and he's a warrior for sure despite the taste for espionage. All in all, about a 3.1.

STOCKABILITY: Romulan 5-skill personnel are generally useful, and Lovok is no different, really. A strong Officer with an added Science classification who unfortunately doesn't command his own ship (though you might say he gives a similar bonus to the Advanced D'deridex by being Tal Shiar). Computer Skill and Navigation are uber-skills that can be used in a great variety of situations. Tal Shiar is great not just for Romulan missions, but for passing Primitive Culture, using Plans of the Tal Shiar, gaining Leadership through Defensive Measures, downloading capture-related cards in the brig, reporting for free at the Continuing Committee and boosting Flaxian Assassin to name most, but probably not all. Finally, there's Transporter Skill, a rather rare skill which is seeing more and more use, including for Scan Cycle Check which can give more flexibility to your cloaking and phasing Romulan ships. Integrity's not a liability either, nor are any of the attributes. And just in case, you have the guy to expose Lovok Founder if he shows up (and he's a good Dominion personnel who might just show up). Totals a 3.8.

TOTAL: 13 (65%) Don't know about Lovok Founder yet.

PICTURE: I really like this pic. Why? Well, first of all, the Founder looks real artificial, stiff and shiny like a plastic action figure or something, and he SHOULD look artificial. He's a fake! There's also the matter of the background. Oftentimes, a background will somehow match the affiliation color. A lot of Klingons are bathed in red light, for example, and many Romulans have green panels behind them. Here, though the character looks Romulan, we get a Dominion brown background, but with green detailing lines to mark his Romulan connection. Excellently chosen at 4.6.

LORE: The story's there, as is the species. Well told, all in all, but nothing spectacular in the least. How about a 3 for the gentleman?

TREK SENSE: A carbon copy of Lovok, or is he? All the skills are there, plus the requisite Dominion infiltrator Treachery. Looks good from here. But look at those attributes. The Integrity is a 4, as usual. It's what all the infiltrator Founders have. But look at that, where Founders usually immitate every attribute exactly, Lovok Founder shows some differences. Indeed, he's a point smarter than the real Lovok (maybe for outsmarting him and the rest of the Tal Shiar), and a point weaker. Now that last one, I can't understand. Changelings seem to be as strong as any other race, sometimes stronger. Why can't they mimic Strength 7? It's ridiculous. Is it the only problem? Well, some might ask if Tal Shiar can be immitated. I say yes, in the sense that when you take a Tal Shiar's place, you're suddenly in a position to get at a lot of sensitive information and contacts. So none there. Basically as good an effort as any Founder, though not as intersting as one with special abilities (like an appropriate special download of Inside Operation). A 3.8 because of the Strength snafu.

STOCKABILITY: If you want to infiltrate your Romulan opponent, this is pretty much your man. Counterintelligence is a good idea here because he has a total of 7 skills (with the classification) plus a lot of CUNNING. And that includes precious Tal Shiar (possibly killing the staffing on Advanced D'deridex among other things), Transporter Skill (pretty rare), with the rest being important skills too, especially in multiple. He of course can use all the other infiltration and shape-shifting cards too. Lovok is a pretty good personnel, so watch out for exposure. The real McCoy will show up at least 50% of the time. But since the Romulans will only show up as adversaries once out of 8 affiliations (though Romulan players are quite loyal to their favorite affiliation), you can't be sure you'll be able to infiltrate. So, is Lovok Founder a good personnel to stock anyway? 6 skills man, and they're useful ones. Computer Skill and Navigation are standbys, Treachery can be used for mission solving at the very least, Transporter Skill can be used in conjunction with Invasive Transporters among other things, and SCIENCE is an excellent second classification (and with Treachery, makes an effective Un/Scientific Method counter). And that Tal Shiar! What, you say? How's that useful to a Dominion player? Plenty! Not only can it be used to steal (Espionage) Romulan missions such as Quash Conspiracy and Intelligence Operation, it can also download capture-related cards at your Brig, allow your Dominion to attack an opposing Dominion with Defensive Measures, and double Flaxian Assassin. I'm sure there'll be more. Tal Shiar also enables your Founder to report for free at your opponent's Continuing Committee as an infiltrator. Biggest weakness: probably the truly lackluster STRENGTH. About a 4 here.

TOTAL: 15.4 (77%) Some excellent elements meshing well together, but not a risk taker.

PICTURE: Gul Dukat with a beard! Well, we can't fault Paramount for going back and grabbing the actor who did the best Cardassian ever to be Deep Space 9's recurring villain, can we? Macet is noble in this picture, going in the same direction as his skills. Those original uniforms were prety ugly, but we don't see much of them here. Maybe not enough contrast between the background and the foreground. A 3.5. It's still basically a headshot.

LORE: Makes him a Gul, and even ties him more than conceptually with Central Command. Was this canon or is it a veiled reference to Marc Alaimo playing Dukat? I definitely like "strict disciplinarian". It suits him. And "observer" is also nicely put. Has anyone thought of collecting all the "incidents" mentioned in the lore? There are more and more, it seems, to refer to specific episodes. A more than competent 3.6.

TREK SENSE: Obviously an Officer, Gul Macet deserves his Command icon, but would probably have merited Leadership as well. Diplomacy makes sense given that he played the ambassador aboard Picard's ship. Honor? Well, he did chastise his men for conducting industrial espionage aboard the Enterprise, but it was never clear to me if he was protecting his own back by doing so. It would be very Cardassian of him if he had ordered the espionage in the first place. Along with that high Integrity, it looks like Decipher's design team were pretty naive in this case. Medical? Uh... There's simply no justification for this, either in the show or in the lore. It's there because the Cardies were lacking in that area, no other reason, and that's gonna hurt Macet's score. Cunning's a little low for my tastes, since I happen to think he was a lot more duplicitous than he was given credit for here, but the Strength looks fine. Off-track at 2.7.

STOCKABILITY: Macet has a lot of nice traits, including his ability to report for free at Central Command, and being matching commander of the Trager which, Plaqued and Logged, becomes a ship-shape 10-11-10. Same as the Aldara, in fact, if Danar is aboard. You can use both, but if you have only room for one of the two Guls, I'm not sure which to recommend. Danar has that extra ENGINEER, but Macet has the MEDICAL (doubled with Medical Kit present). Well, the Cardassians have almost half as many MEDICAL as they do ENGINEERs, and we know how important that classification/skill can be! Along with the multi-purpose Diplomacy and a small dose of Honor, Macet comes off as a pretty peaceful mission-solver. Or more likely, dilemma-solver. You see, though there's demand for OFFICER, Honor, MEDICAL and Diplomacy on Cardassian missions, they only occur sparingly (except OFFICER, but you have plenty of those). High attributes help on missions, but you'll note that the Cardassian missions require relatively low attribute totals. So aside from Protect Shipment, Macet isn't really suited to solving what missions the Cardies do have. Easy to report (whether through the HQ, Ops, or Ready Room Door), but may not see too much action. His MEDICAL keeps him at 3.4.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) I like him and all, but that's just it - they didn't do him justice.

PICTURE: I'm not too impressed by this one. The pic is generally on the dark side, its background holds little interest, and the arrow-like peach marking on the Jem'Hadar's nose is way too bright. A dull, colorless effort at 2.5.

LORE: Not bad, but not great. We get rank (though it currently has no bearing on gameplay), and a little backstory. There's entirely too much redundancy though. For example, "Jem'Hadar guard and soldier" tells us close to nothing since all Jem'Hadar are soldiers, and the last phrase about being assigned to the security section makes him a guard anyway. That last line does place him in "Sacrifice of Angels", which is economical episode placement. Aside from that little plus, and the fact that universality is acknowledged, not much more than a very average 3.

TREK SENSE: Makla'Gor is one of those mostly invented stand-ins. A Jem'Hadar gets few or no lines in an episode, yet he gets to be a three-skill personnel. How? By invention rather than extrapolation unfortunately. I mean, Security makes sense (as do all the icons on the card) given his species and lore. But scientific skills like Astrophysics and Exobiology? Sheer nonsense. He'll find no use for any of that. Honor is at least related to soldiering and associated with the disciplined Jem'Hadar. Integrity agrees with that, the other attributes look fine too for the species (though that Cunning's pretty low for somone whose mastered such diverse fields as Exo, Astro and Security). A subpar 2.4.

STOCKABILITY: Truth be told, except for the omni-present SECURITY, Makla'Gor's skills won't help solve many Dominion missions. Sometimes you'll find Astrophysics or Honor, but only rarely, and that's it. You really have to count on your opponent using dilemmas that have these requirements, and there are a few now that do and that can be a pain. But is Makla necessary or redundant? Well certainly, SECURITY is an incredibly common Dominion skill. He's one of 6 Astrophysicians, one of 7 Exobiologists (a rare Jem'Hadar with the skill) and one of 7 Honorable personnel. Looking at the skill lists, he's basically a Gamma quadrant Edan'Atal with an Exobiology instead of an ENGINEER. Not that great. Still, 3 uncommon skills on a universal Jem'Hadar means you can switch your Young Jem'Hadar for more than a support personnel, but again, those skills aren't incredibly necessary to your Dominion deck. Not on many personnel anyway. Fair attributes for a Jemmie, but it all falls a little flat. A 3.2.

TOTAL: 11.1 (55.5%) This way down says the arrow on his nose.

PICTURE: I'm a little disappointing, frankly, because this shot of Martok lacks the drama we've come to expect from the character. An undecisive look to his left and that's it. Even the lighting isn't very Klingon. Pretty plain - a 3.

LORE: First off, the lore gives two important facts about Martok, that 1) he's a general, and 2) that he's in the High Council. Both terms confer special abilities to the personnel. The rest is adequate backstory, including "familial relations" and the loss of that eye, which would be a conspicuous trait people who don't watch the show so much might want to know about. A 3.5 here.

TREK SENSE: As a general, Martok certainly deserves the Officer, the Leadership and the Command icon. The Honor is also appropriate to this noble character. I'm not entirely sure about the double Navigation. Sure, one shot of the skill makes sense - he does have his own ship after all - but two? One way to look at it is that he has to command multiple ships in attacks. Maybe plotting such courses for armadas requires more of the skill? Speaking of armadas, his tactical mind also makes Klingon ships better attackers. That's cool enough, and though you could say his having to be at the same location is ludicrous (he can plan tactics from afar), that's not the Klingon way. The D'k Tahg download is sensible for almost any Klingon, and Martok's no different. We've often seen him with the weapon, often just to test people for changeling cooties or doing a blood brother kind of thing. Easily concealable, there's no problem with the knife coming out of nowhere into his hands. Stats are all very sensible, presenting an honorable man with a keen strategic mind and the battle-savvy of a Klingon. I'd imagine he'd match Worf's 10 Strength if he still had his two eyes. A very competent 4.2.

STOCKABILITY: Though the OFFICER/Leadership/Honor is as common as they come, it does help with Klingon mission redundancy, and that Navigation ain't bad for it either. As a double dose, the skill will also help against Badlands decks (or with them). The D'k Tahg download isn't that great, seeing as the hand weapon can already report for free, and even suspend play to report to a battle. The +1 STRENGTH is weaker than other hand weapons' bonuses as well. But reporting easily doesn't mean you have it in hand when the situation calls for it, and downloading it may become necessary. The D'k Tahg also doesn't suspend play to report to a team facing a dilemma, so Martok can bring it into play for that. But really, Martok's best use is as a ship booster, and in armadas can be deadly useful. He's matching commander for the Rotarran, but also gives it a natural boost to WEAPONS. All told, the ship becomes a 9-12-11 for a single staffing icon (his). Add ships to the location and you start to pile on WEAPONS bonuses to the tune of 2 per ship. The universal K'Vorts (the workhorse of the Klingon armada) get more sensible WEAPONS of 8 with Martok directing them. Like bigger ships? He can act as matching commander of the Negh'Var too, and make that ship up to 11-15-12, but it's so hard to staff. His attributes are great all around. But that's not all. Martok has a couple of bonus abilities thanks to other cards (and I'm not talking about all the cards that can play on Klingons with Honor, though there is that): as a member of the High Council, he reports for free at The Great Hall; as a general, he's one of the few personnel who can pass Executive Authorization; and as the real Martok, he can expose Martok Founder who's a nasty piece of Dominion work. What a great personnel, very useful in the best Klingon strategies. A 4.4.

TOTAL: 15.1 (75.5%) One of the better Klingon mains.

PICTURE: Like the real Martok, a little unsatisfying. Aside from the totally blank background, we get a "look how my shampoo's given me great hair" pose. It's not all bad, but there's very little insight to be found here. A 2.9.

LORE: Makes mention of everything necessary, like true species and who he's supposed to impersonate. They've also wisely chosen to highlight his Treacherous Advice (since the card doesn't exist yet and the title is ambiguous) over the Dial Martok moment, which is more obvious. A bit better here at 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Like other infiltrators, Martok Founder tries to mimic the real McCoy (I mean, Martok) as closely as possible, but there are always some evil changeling conceits they must obey. For example, infiltrator Integrity is 4, and Treachery is always added to the skill list. That's infiltration for ya. Also, skills the original is especially specialized in (x2) drop to x1, as is the case here with Navigation. Then, any skills (especially special skills and downloads) which would make no sense for the fake to have are removed and replaced by something else (if there's room). The Honorable Martok is probably the personnel which had to be changed the most here. Honor, which could co-exist with Treachery, but rarely does, had to go. The D'k'Tahg download won't do much for a non-Klingon, nor would the bonuses to Klingon ships. Instead, the changeling gets an either/or special download of Dial Martok for Murder (a card on which he is pictured, and an effect he used) or the as-yet-unreleased Treacherous Advice explained in the lore. No problems there, especially since he replaced Martok when he was an adviser rather than a battlefield general. Attributes seem sound as well, especially since the Cunning matches that of a universal Founder. One small complaint about infiltrators though: that they can use Officer even when on a Dominion ship. I don't think the Jem'Hadar would see Martok Founder as anything other than a VIP, myself. A competent effort with no more than the usual bugs. That's a 3.9 in mathematical terms.

STOCKABILITY: The only Dominion infiltrator that can befuddle the Klingons, he's useful against that affiliation to be sure. Thanks to OFFICER, he can Issue Secret Orders, separating at least one ship from a possible Klingon armada (or leading the whole thing astray). You can also use Install Autonomic Systems Parasite for similar evil effects. Homefront allows him to report for free on the Klingon homeworld (which could prove useful even against the Romulans, or at your own seeded Qo'noS) in addition to your own Great Link. The Klingon infiltration icon is especially useful because it allows for the Espionage on Klingon to play for free AND replaces 3 whole VIPs on Archanis Dispute. His download of Dial Martok for Murder is a natural since it puts his STRENGTH at a whopping 13. Of course, since the Klingons have slightly higher STRENGTH than most, that'll help less against them, but you might catch one or two unaware (and not be exposed!). The other download isn't out yet, but it'll be useful in infiltration no doubt. But since you can't be sure your opponent will play the Klingons unless he's got some kind of unpronounceable handle, Martok Founder better be useful as a Dominion personnel. Truth is, not that much. Oh, that's when you'll use his icon to Espionage Klingon missions and solve Archanis, and he's got good stats for a Founder, but his skills are really, really common, and his special download not very useful in straight mission solving. Good for skill redundancy and to supplement low-on-Ketracel decks, but far from some of the powerhouses the Dominion has to offer. And Martok is a very good Klingon personnel, so the odds are good you could be exposed by him even in an infiltration strategy. Founders all get relatively high marks simply because they can do so many things, like use shape-shifting cards, and pass a number of difficult dilemmas, so the 3.4 I'm giving him is a low mark.

TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) Well, you know, he still comes out of it in front of Bashir Founder.

PICTURE: The best shot of Meso'Clan is doubtless the one on Jem'Hadar Sacrifice, and this profile shot, though highlighting the Security aspect of the character, is pretty far from that. The shot has a lot of what, in graphics talk, people call "garbage" in the background, that is, distracting elements. Here, I mean O'Brien fiddling around with the medical gear and the blurry flashes of light and color. The gun also looks very fake here, thanks to its stopped-up muzzle. Not bad on Meso's pose, but disappointing as a whole. A 2.8 here.

LORE: I always kinda figured Meso'Clan's name was some kind of invention because it used two words which had a meaning in English (and French for that matter) spelled just like they were for real (not Klan, but Clan). After all, the name doesn't appear in the episode. But I've since learned that is appears in the script, and this is where Decipher took its information. Just a side-note, sorry for the digression. Since the name isn't an issue after all, the lore itself mostly plays on his sacrifice, which sums up the entire character, I guess. One note, but just - a 3.2.

TREK SENSE: He looks like a lot of other Jem'Hadar with his Ketracel icon, Staff icon (he's only 4th), Gamma quadrant icon and Security, and there's no problem there. Since the gist of the character was to show Jem'Hadar were willing to sacrifice themselves for their unit, that's well represented here, not just in his special download (for a card on which he appears), but in his Honor and high Integrity as well. The third skill, Stellar Cartography, remains unsupported, and though not impossible, I usually question the attribution of space skills to Jemmies only seen on the ground. Biology might have fit the setting (and Goran'Agar's goal) better. You could always say he helped find the special planet again. A follower and not a leader, the Cunning 6 is probably deserved. He was outwitted by O'Brien too. Strength is well within Jem'Hadar norms. Does pretty well for itself without being too inovative. A 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: Not really that great for mission solving since all his skills are pretty common, especially among the Jem'Hadar, and not that useful (save the ultra-common SECURITY) for Dominion missions. Good attributes which again doesn't set him apart from other Jem'Hadar, especially with a rather lackluster CUNNING. Meso'Clan's saving grace is that special download for a back-up card you probably wish you won't need to use. As with many such cards, they're often better in your Q's Tent, so if they're not needed in the course of the game, they won't cost you a card draw and sit in your hand doing nothing. Indeed, I find the Tent a great place for special downloads, where I can get to them without even the need to overload my draw deck with Tents. For back-up stuff like this? Even better. Meso'Clan can save you from Ketracel deprivation if you just haven't been able to get to your stock of Ketracel-White, or save your Founder who was just targeted for death. Those are valuable personnel you probably don't want to lose! And since Meso'Clan's skills aren't particularly important once the special download is expended, you won't mind sacrificing him. It's just too bad he isn't universal (with a renewable download). Protection, nothing much more. A 3.3.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Good for the Clan ;-).

PICTURE: "The Die Is Cast" isn't necessarily the seminal Eddington episode, but as far as his Federation persona goes, it'll do. (We better see a fully Maquis Eddington soon though.) In the pic, he's serious about what he's doing, but not necessarily trustworthy from his body language. An okay 3.4.

LORE: What? Nothing about his lucky looney!?! Let me then insert another call for another Eddington persona. I bet the next one will talk about his Canadian heritage! As is, we get some basic facts, nothing great. A 2.9 because of the disappointment.

TREK SENSE: Eddington is obviously a Security officer, no problems there, and though he's still in Starfleet at this point, he's secretly part of the Maquis. There's no problem having both alliegeances on the one card. A Federation infiltrator could have been cool, but the right mechanic hasn't been invented yet! Lt. Commander certainly entitles him to a Command icon. Engineer helped him disable the Defiant's cloaking device, as did Treachery. There really can't be any disagreement about that last skill, but Honor? I think it's deserved given his ideals. he's not in the Maquis because he's a bad guy, but rather because he's a good one. His methods simply set him apart from the nobler Starfleet characters we watch week in, week out. Computer Skill is certainly warranted given his ability to contact the Maquis yet elude station personnel so totally. Are the Stats as well defined? Integrity of 6 indicates someone selfless enough, but able to commit acts of Treachery. Cunning is equal to that of Sisko, which made for the great battle of wits and guts between the two. Neither deserves to get higher than the other since they each had their defeats and victories. Strength seems a bit low for a Security guy though, especially one who'll turn out to be a resistance fighter. That's my only real qualm, making him a strong 4.

STOCKABILITY: A good 4-skill dual classification personnel, they have yet to create a cool Maquis sub-affiliation engine, but when that comes out, he'll be even better (especially being other than Non-Aligned, I'll bet). For now, the Maquis icon allows him to pass Arms Deal which isn't an easy task for the Federation, so that's good. The SECURITY/ENGINEER is a rare and useful combo, though he'd be able to use more equipment if the classifications were reversed. Still, both a great for passing dilemmas and/or solving missions. Treachery/Honor are diametrically opposed skills, not that useful to the Fed missions, but not without their uses. For example, his Treachery allows him to pass By the Pale Moonlight (another Federation toughie) and make use of his Brig's downloads, and there's always all the Treachery dilemmas that have come out recently. An unorthodox Treachery deck or Treaty with Klingons or Romulans could also be create a niche for the cool Canuck. Oh, and there's Computer Skill which is never a waste. His STRENGTH is low, but I could post him next to an Airlock with his CUNNING. With an interesting mix of skills (for a Fed anyway), he'll fit easily in a fair number of decks (plus, in Canada, we're legally obligated to include him in any non-Borg deck). Another 4.

TOTAL: 14.3 (71.5%) Well... maybe not "legally"... but "morally"!

PICTURE: Were there ever so many rocks on the same mission card? This asteroid field is particular because of all the smaller rocks floating around like so much dust. Sure it's gray, but it's got a kind of subtle grandeur. A 3.6 for something that looks more real than a lot of others.

LORE: The importance is definitely placed on explaining the game text and not so much on the mission objectives, though that's covered too. A deft word economy for 3.5.

TREK SENSE: A lot of interesting stuff here. First of all the Mining Survey, a mission that truly can be attempted by anyone, requires Geology to make the appropriate determinations, and Engineer to see how physically feasable it would be to mine the asteroid field. Science and Physics aren't so obvious - they may be there to determine how best to go about it given that the standard mining operations are usually planet-based (asteroid movement, shifting gravity fields, etc.). The mission has another requirement: a working Ore Processing Unit. While that site makes mining possible, I'm afraid it invalidates the card's title. If we're only surveying, why do we need actual mining equipment? It should be a straight mining mission. That said, the rest of the card actually fixes some Trek Sense problems inherent to other cards. See, in the episode "Empok Nor", it is revealed that that station mined ore in space, in the Trivas System. Empok Nor however, according to its game text, seeds at universal missions. But we saw it at a specific location (à la DS9). In addition, Process Ore claims that you can only mine planet locations. Yet Empok Nor was a mining station without a planet. Well, that location, at least, allows both for seeding Empok AND ore processing (by any Nor by the way). And by requiring a Nor to be present, it really makes the mission "equal opportunity" - for non-Norers, the mission can be just as much "Commandeer Nor (or Empok Nor)" as "Mining Survey". Needing all this extra equipment ups the points to 40, no problem with that. And the Span looks fine given that we've seen multiple trips (even a long-range beam-in) to this place from the "center of the universe", Deep Space 9 ;-). A definite 4.1.

SEEDABILITY: A great location for Empok Nor, since the universal missions are known for their easy-to-steal natures, and this mission, though being open to all affiliations, really requires a Nor present, and that's not going to be part of every deck. Of course, even if you seed the Nor, it can be commandeered by your opponent, so there's always a danger. But 40 points for doing something you essentially wanted to do anyway? If your Klingons or Romulans or what-have-you (excluding the Feds and Bajorans) want to Process Ore, they have to commandeer a station. Empok Nor may be their best bet since it initially can't be used by your opponent's Cardassians. Seeding it here instead of any ol' universal place has its advantages, namely that you can use its sites to report the personnel and ship you'll need to conduct the survey! That OPU you need anyway? ENGINEERs'll report there, plenty of which have Geology and/or Physics. And SCIENCE can be brought in through the Science Lab of course, who could also have the necessary skills. (Not to mention equipment that'll add one classification to the other.) While you're using the Lab anyway, might as well scan the space mission to get rid of a dilemma, eh? You can even use Ops to download the appropriate personnel. This of course hinges on an efficient commandeering of the station. For the Cardassians, it's even easier with a universal Nor! The requirement that it seed at a [Car] mission is lifted here, so you can start getting the right personnel right away and get some of the easiest 40 points available in the game. A simple enough 4.

TOTAL: 15.2 (76%) Relatively impressive for a non-homeworld mission.

PICTURE: Taken out of context, you have a pretty good image on a slight tilt, highlighting the chaos of the situation, but in context... this is what they picked for Mission Fatigue? The fight between O'Brien and Worf  doesn't quite scream out that title. Still, it's got some merits and is more dynamic than somebody sleeping, I guess. A 3.4.

LORE: Again, the lore doesn't really describe the title that well, but it does describe the picture. Fairly good prose worth its 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Right off the bat, someone could complain that your personnel could be Fatigued on their first mission, and that *is* a problem. Otherwise, you need Leadership to give a good pep talk to your tired troops, and Empathy to perhaps detect the problem. Unfortunately, they're equating Empathy with counseling here, which I don't have a problem with except that it quite clearly represents a form of telepathy when it comes to the rest of the game, including the fact that being a counselor (or counselor-type) does not get you Empathy. Anyway, unless the problem is fixed right away, true Fatigue sets in and personnel become "stopped" one by one, no doubt catching their breaths or being sent to bed. They're certainly not as useful as they would otherwise be. Borg don't get tired (of course). The stopping method (encountering dilemmas - and glad to find Q-Flash mentioned too, that Q can be tiresome) is sound enough, since it's those unforseen obstacles that get the better of you. Of course, your personnel can wait out the countdown icon, symbolically resting. But it comes back down to the dilemma affecting the mission rather than the personnel when you consider that 1) like I said earlier, you can get hit on your first missions (though a particular mission itself may be tiring regardless of other missions)ag; that 2) the random selection also disregards such things as who already solved missions and who just reported; oh and that 3) you can "rest" by attempting another mission instead, leaving the countdown icon to do its business on that first mission. And where's the fighting? Pic and lore did such a good job, you'd think there'd be more than "stopping" here. A 2.6.

SEEDABILITY: The dilemma that hits again and again... First, if you don't have Leadership and Empathy, your entire Away Team or crew is stopped. It's the Empathy that's the real trouble here, since not every affiliation has that skill. There's Non-Aligned help available, but is it present? After stopping personnel, it gets placed on the mission where, for 3 turns, it stops a personnel when any dilemma (or Q-Flash) is encountered, just before that dilemma has its own effect. Can the crew/Away Team pass the dilemma with one less personnel? Every time a personnel is stopped on a planet, it becomes its own little one-man Away Team for you to snatch with Thine Own Self, or better still, to kill with a follow-up Risky Business, which goes back under the mission to kill and kill again. Given these kinds of dangers, your opponent may just opt to wait the 3 turns until the card counts down. If that's the case, you get less bang from your buck, but it can slow down your opponent considerably. Win-win, though one of the wins is inferior to the other. Factor in that against the Federation, it has fewer chances of working, and against the Borg, you'll get nothing but the original "stop", and you have a score of 3.4 here.

TOTAL: 12.7 (63.5%) You'd think I'd be suffering from this by now ;-).

PICTURE: How many dilemmas actually print their requirements in the picture? I always found it funny that this one did (at least partially). This screen shot from the conference lounge set is kind of a cop-out though, and doesn't really indicate any Hazards. Those dots are star systems and that's part of the Wormhole to the right. Still, good unity of colors, and it does point to the requirements if not the title. A 3.3.

LORE: "The known universe"? Aren't we being overly dramatic here? This isn't a TOS card or anything. I mean, ships are restricted to relatively limited portions of the Milky Way galaxy. Let's not go overboard. The rest is good enough, but seems to exclude non-deep space, non-unfamiliar locations. Space missions inside the Bajor system for example shouldn't be in danger of this dilemma as written. A 2.7.

TREK SENSE: Glaringly simple, this says that in the advent of Navigational Hazards, orientation skills (Stellar Cartography and Navigation) are required to move around. My beef with this dilemma is that it doesn't damage the ship or anything. It just looks like your personnel can't get out of the proverbial paper bag unless they have an outrageous amount of navigational expertise. Sure, they can get in or out of the location, but they can't get to the mission objective. Ever. Since the requirements are so steep, it just seems silly to me that they would be caused by such a simple (and common!) occurence. Keeps this one at 3.1.

SEEDABILITY: A simple common wall, it has the virtue of requiring 3 whole skill levels. Unfortunately, Navigation is ultra-common so the multiple requirement isn't very scary. Stellar Cartography is really getting there too, though not quite as common. Worse still, these skills are often found on the same personnel card, usually on pilot types. Amat'igan, for example, has everything needed here, right down to the double Nav. Same goes for Selveth. You can put chances on your side by filtering out SCIENCE personnel who might have the Stellar Cartography, but that won't help with the Navigators who are often OFFICERs. Strafing Runs make good damage markers to set up for this, so a ship-damaging dilemma might do the trick. I don't have much faith in this one: a 2.9.

TOTAL: 12 (60%) A pass (pun not intended).

PICTURE: The expression on O'Brien Founder is just un-O'Brien enough to represent a whole other character, and those green orbs in the background do add a slightly surreal atmosphere to the card. I think this one's a success at 3.6.

LORE: There's not much we know about this changeling, but the mention of three other Founders on Earth jibes with what he told Sisko, and the last sentence recounts the character's only scene. The bold/italic name makes him exposable, so that's a small minus, but not much. A competent 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Like other changeling infiltrators, this one simply takes the person impersonated as a template, drops the Integrity to 4, turns any Honor to Treachery and changes any special download to something more appropriate. That follows the usual pattern. Here, they didn't even have to turn a x2 skill to x1, since DS9 Miles (the template) didn't have such a skill. The usual questions apply - how can changelings actually mimic skills and experience? If they had Transporter Skill in one form, don't they have it in another? At least, there are no real persona questions this time: We have no real reason to believe he's the same changeling as Leyton Founder, and the reference to "liking Sisko's company" is too cryptic to be taken as a sign that we've seen this shape-shifter before. The special download of Homefront makes sense given this Founder's presence on Earth, though he can't use it himself to report for free (the first function has no real relationship to him though). Still, it might get those "other 3" infiltrators there. The one thing that doesn't follow the template is the staffing icon - Command instead of O'Brien's actual Staff. Why's this? On the one hand, it makes more sense for a Founder to have Command if it's gonna command the respect of Vorta and Jem'Hadar when working with their own affiliation. On the other, when infiltrating the Federation, the icon is just wrong. Of course, I'd prefer they err on this side rather than the other (as was done with Bashir Founder). Not entirely satisfying, but good. A 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: The only Dominion ENGINEER-classification personnel is quite capable seeing as he's a double ENGINEER. That's a great skill to have in spades, and though not actually a Dominion weakness, they don't have as much as some other affiliations. Transporter Skill is a great Dominion skill since it works with Invasive Beam-In, and you'd probably rather leave the important Founder aboard ship and send out the Jem'Hadar instead. Computer Skill is always important, in any deck, and Treachery is a good Dominion mission solver. Add the rarer Physics, and that ENGINEER/Physics combo is great for Construct Depot. That's not to forget the advantages of using those exact skills to Espionage juicy Federation missions, for free thanks to the infiltration icon. Lots of missions of interest there. The Homefront download can be used in two ways: Report him for free (as usual) to The Great Link and lock up your own homeworld's mission from being solved by greedy Cardassians or Romulans, though this unfortunately prevents you from using free plays at the HQ unless you have 4 SECURITY present. No real biggie, just use the SECURITY download to get Odo Founder, adding 2 SECURITY to 2 others you would have played before (say a free Kira Founder and a not so free Jem'Hadar everyman). The other way is to allow other infiltrators to report for free at their target affiliation's homeworld. now, he can't use it for himself, but maybe it's not even the Feds you want to infiltrate. The incident will work just as well in getting Martok Founder to the Klingon homeworld, for example. Saves you a card play, but not the most interesting of special downloads. Of course, O'Brien Founder also benefits from the perks attributed to all changeling/Founder/infiltrator support cards. In particular, he has a nice bunch of skills to take away with Counterintelligence; Inside Operation and Install Autonomic Systems Parasite seem perfect ironies for an O'Brien imposter; and the latter in combination with Counterintel would make the cure much harder to get. The one hic, of course, is that Miles O'Brien exposes him, and he's not a bad personnel card at all. I'd say this is one Founder who could be exposed on a regular basis. But with all the other stuff (including remarkable dilemma-passing power), that's not a big worry, nor are the rather lackluster attributes. A good 4.2.

TOTAL: 14.6 (73%) Ranks up there with most other Founders.

PICTURE: Since it's his Office after all, the president gets to make an appearance on his card (mirroring Neral's on the Proconsul's Office), but since it's a card about the place, not the man, his presence isn't emphasized. An other nice touch is that we can actually see the Eiffel Tower outside the window, Subtly played, that one.Otherwise, we get a lot of boring carpeting and chairs. Lots of light is good for the Federation, and there's enough here for a 3.5.

LORE: Not much to discuss. The Office is simply located and the political structure of the Federation given short shrift. A simple 3.

TREK SENSE: Well, first off, with most Federation personnel being enlisted men and women, why didn't they use Starfleet Headquarters as the Fed HQ? Most of the playable personnel are Admirals anyway! And it's not like there are too many Presidents (or even Ambassadors) yet. As is, while I'm sure Admirals speak to the Prez all the time, his Office just doesn't represent the hub of Federation activity, not as it is represented on the show. The other affiliations often have it easier being militarily-oriented governments, but on Star Trek, the real "authority" is almost always Starfleet Command. I would have more easily believed in the high Shields too (basic for pacifist HQs but still high when compared to Outposts) if it'd been a military facility. Simply looking at it as the Federation HQ, I think it should seed, but not be played unless the first copy is destroyed. The seat of government should be in play at the start of the "series" (game). HQ cards of course play here for free, absolutely no problem with that, and as for the types of personnel, they seem to make sense also. The President is an obvious choice, Ambassadors and Admirals make frequent visits here (at least, from Star Trek VI's vantage point) too. Why only Federation Ambassadors though? Wouldn't he more frequently get visits from alien ambassadors? I should think so! Vice-Admirals didn't really need to be mentioned here and are just wasted space (a rule clarification and no more). Anyone missing? No one comes to mind. All in all, pretty sensical, though I fault the exact choice of locale for the HQ. A 3.9.

SEEDABILITY: 16 personnel to date may report here for free, and all your compatible personnel may report here normally too. With very high SHIELDS, it has better staying power than an Outpost, and its Earth-bound nature means ships reporting here will never have docking/undocking problems. Among the personnel that report for free, you'll find such favorites as Admiral Riker with his Enterprise download, the combined battle savvy of Admirals Riker, Hayes and Leyton, Ambassador Krajensky's ENGINEER to go with Visit Cochrane Memorial, and the President himself, Jaresh-Inyo, who downloads HQ: Secure Homeworld even faster than you can play it for free. It also allows some turkeys to report freely such as K'Ehleyr, Kareel Odan and Nechayev, but even these aren't totally terrible since they can contribute to skill redundancy in Diplomacy decks. Other simply have a large array of skills, usually with Diplomacy too, like Spock and Lojal. The HQ cards are also handy to play for free, especially the Orbital Weapons Platforms and Secure Homeworld, since Earth is too often a sitting duck. Offering both powerful personnel and high skill redundancy, this may be one of the better HQs. Even if your opponent can use it too, the Federation personnel he'll call up are usually non-aggressive. Watch out for Founders, and fit your deck to the redundancies for maximum efficiency. A 4.3.

TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) The first review of 2001 is a winner!

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