To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the First Contact expansion set.

PICTURE: A shot of the actual swelling of music during first contact in the film (though I can't believe Trekkies didn't figure the Vulcans as the race as soon as he stepped off the ship in his robe), it makes for an action shot while still remaining a more standard headshot. The colors are very nice too, that blue well highlighted against the lander in the background. My only problem with the pic is the intrusive figure of T'Shonra in the background. A nicely chosen 4.

LORE: The lore itself isn't very long, but it does manage to be a little poetic by including the Vulcan phrase of "peace and long life", denoting in very appropriate fashion the meeting between him and Cochrane. The other point of interest is his name, not given in the film, but nonetheless known to the Star Trek canon as Sarek's grandfather (mentioned in Star Trek III). A nice coincidence showing this is one noble Vulcan bloodline. I like enough for a 4.3.

TREK SENSE: It seems like a lot of the material here has more to do with the myth surrounding the first contact figures than anything else. After all, there's no evidence as to his Honor, Integrity or restriction box, except that the historical figures responsible for events that brought a lot of good with them must've been inherently good. Yeah, like Cochrane was really as selfless as the Enterprise crew thought. I'm not against the idea of playing up the myth, but when it's done by removing skills that would have made more sense, such as Leadership and Diplomacy, I have a little more trouble (at least Officer and the Command icon are present). The restriction box in particular is too harsh to go unjustified. One Treachery personnel present, and he just clams up and refuses to do anything? The two scientific skills must be part of the survey mission package, so they're sound, and really have little to do with first contact (though I'm sure they both came in handy). The special download makes sense as far as he gave the greeting to Cochrane, but that card's problems with Trek Sense tend to carry over to the personnel. You just have to ask yourself if Solkar can "do" any of the interrupt's effects: save a Vulcan? how? returning an opponent's discarded personnel to hand for card draws? again, how? Cunning is high, but not extremely high for a Vulcan, which could just be attributed (ehh) to his being from a less knowledgeable past. Strength is high because Vulcans are biologically superior to humans, though an 8 seems a little high for a pacifist scientist. At least there's no trouble with the affiliation (he's pre-Federation), AU icon or (obviously) Mindmeld. I'm less than impressed with the choices here: a 2.9.

STOCKABILITY: Vulcans are a good species when relating to other cards, whether it's to pass Primitive Culture or to use support cards such as Mindmeld, Nerve Pinch or Death Grip, and so the Non-Aligned variety will see some use from non-Federation affiliations. The best use for them though is to report to the Vulcan Lander for immediate and easy landing. Solkar is matching commander of that craft and will Plaque and Log it up to 9-4-10. He'll even download there via Ready Room Door if you can't wait to simply report him there. He's got very high attributes all around and a good mix of skills for mission solving. Exobiology in particular is great. The special download has some use in actually suspending play to save his life if ever in trouble, or alternatively (and more usefully), to get card draws by returning a discarded personnel back to your opponent's hand. The problem with Solkar though is that he won't work with personnel with Treachery. That means you'll have to be careful when building your deck so that his shipmates are never the evil kind or else he'll just stand around uselessly. That really limits his usefulness to the affiliations who would most benefit from a high-INTEGRITY Honorable Vulcan, like the Romulans. If he's just going to work with the Federation (and they might use him to help stop Stop First Contact), well, just add him to the bunch. Still, he's not bad at mission solving, if you don't want any Treachery around that is, and with In the Pale Moonlight around, maybe you do after all. Certainly keeps him at a 3.2.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) Could go into a Spock's Family deck since mirror Spock doesn't have Treachery.

PICTURE: Prop shots are notoriously unexciting, this one being no different. At least, it looks natural sitting on a table it might actually sit on in real life. Colors are good, composition's fair (though perhaps a little too bric-a-brac). Going for an over-average 3 here.

LORE: The syntax displeases me even if the information all appears to be correct. The first sentence has two parts, the first of which has no verb, but the second does ("and WITH a longer..." would have been more appropriate). And then the last sentence seems quite inconsequential. Under the line at 2.4.

TREK SENSE: Well, we've discussed Rifles before, but this is the first time I'll disagree with the fact that Non-Aligned personnel may make use of a particular hand weapon. Starfleet just isn't in the business of sharing weapons technology with anyone! Of course, in the past, I've said it was a weakness of hand weapon cards that they limited useability to particular affiliations, like a Romulan couldn't figure out a Klingon trigger, but that has more to do with stealing or borrowing equipment once reported. When it comes to reporting, the NAs really shouldn't be able to get their hands on Federation weapons that easily (not without the intervention of some other card for example). Otherwise, the Rifle is just like its cousins. On the plus side, the Diplomacy dip is a charming feature that really fits, and the increased Strength bonus makes some sense (except that the Type II can be set to level 20 - total disruption - leading me to believe the Rifle just has more charges, not more power, though the modulation might be an advantage). On the minus side, questions about who carries the gun, who benefits from it, how many copies of it exist at any given point, and cumulativity remain unanswered and damaging. If the Bajoran Rifle got a 3, this one can only hit 2.6.

STOCKABILITY: Given that the Federation is lower on STRENGTH than any other attribute AND higher on Diplomacy than most affiliations, I'd have to say they have the most to gain from using Rifles. +3 STRENGTH really brings up their average, and they might not lose all their Diplomacy by using the gun (Premiere Picard keeps one level of the skill, Sarek keeps 2). The STRENGTH boost isn't so much needed for missions (though it could come in handy depending on your selection), but dilemmas and personnel battles are an entirely different matter. They currently have enough battle enablers (not even counting a possible Borg opponent) to warrant the Rifle's inclusion for offense, and it's a must for defense. You probably don't want to encounter the Combo Nagilum on a planet holding this thing, but other Diplomacy dilemmas won't really upset you - mostly walls anyway. Diplomacy decks may not want to apply however since it could jeopardize those planet missions. As a bonus, Lightner can download it, suspending play (and any battle) to do so. Nice. A powerful instrument for the Feds at 4.1.

TOTAL: 12.1 (60.5%) Went right over that barbed wire.

PICTURE: From afar, it could well be that we're looking a some sort of ship or structure exploding, but it's just a guy being thrown off a bunker. Just about the only pic that would fit without stealing from other potential cards (like Orbital Bombardment), but I still would have liked a little more cause and effect. For example, why not see the energy blasts coming from the sky? Here, it just looks like the building is exploding by itself. That said, it's a reasonably composed image. I'll give it a 2.9.

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

TREK SENSE: Part of a very story-intensive strategy, and these usually do well. And the story it tells does work: The Borg are trying to assimilate Earth and it's just not working out. They target the past (Montana). If they time-travel there (which they would usually try to do at this point), they can destroy the Phoenix (a Defense icon makes complete sense as a probe) and thus disrupt the timeline and assimilate the planet. Other little details include the fact that there's a time limit before the Phoenix could make its historic flight after all and stops Stop First Contact (indeed, if either the Vulcan Lander lands or the Phoenix is launched, Stop First Contact is discarded even sooner). Also, once the Borg are free of this objective, they may download another. Can't leave them without a task. The hitch I see is that it's a little too stiff. The attack on the Missile Complex wasn't just designed to destroy the ship, but to kill Cochrane (no Zefram, no First Contact). Indeed, without the Enterprise-E's crew, there would have been no First Contact since too much damage was done, too many people killed. And we really should discuss timeline disruption in 2063 since there's no other place to do it. If the card had been big enough, the text would have been placed on it anyway. So here goes: The Borg nip the Federation in the bud before it can be born, assimilating the whole of humanity right then and there. The effect: Humans are all placed out-of-play wherever they are in play, in the draw deck, discard pile, really everywhere. Makes sense, though the thing about drones with a Human biological distinctiveness also being placed out-of-play seems unnecessary to me. Wouldn't humans just all be drones now anyway? Non-human Federation cards also share the same fate, though I might have converted them to Non-Aligned or true-species affiliations instead (Worf becomes Klingon, etc.). On the other hand, wipe out Federation history and replace it with a Borg presence in the Alpha quadrant and how can ANYTHING be the same? I dare say the Klingons, Romulans, Bajorans, et al. would be affected tremendously. The game just can't handle that though. Protected cards include AU cards since they come from another universe where this did not happen (though the point of divergeance is often shown to have occured way after 2063), but that doesn't explain personnel that are simply from the past, especially when that past is post-First Contact (like the Enterprise-C). Mirror cards are also protected on the same basis, and the point of divergence here has been mentioned (in some non-canon sources) as occuring before 2063, so it makes more sense. And finally, there's the inherent protection in time-traveling yourself. That at least respects sf time-travel laws, if not true physics. So... we've got a lot of ideas here, most of them good, but I really think they bit off more than they could ever chew. Keeping it relatively low at 3.2.

STOCKABILITY: Stop First Contact is notoriously hard to do, and it should be! After all, it's more than an alternate way of assimilating a homeworld and scoring 40 points (though it does that too), it destroys an opponent's Federation deck! Just takes all the unprotected Federation cards and places them out-of-play, even from the draw deck, discard pile, etc. Non-Fed decks might lose a personnel here or there, like Kassidy Yates, but there, the effect will be minimal. But here's what you have to do: Scout Earth, then time travel to Montana Missile Complex, probe correctly within 3 turns. Sound simple? Well, you have a rival player to contend with. If your ship remains staffed and the Phoenix does't take off and the Vulcan Lander doesn't land (these ships and their crews may report directly to the time location mind you) and you meet the deadline? Then it could work. Still, that requires your opponent to actually have stocked Zefram Cochrane or a Vulcan Lander to work, or at least have a way of following you to the past to unstaff your ship. The deadline remains a problem, but one that is helped by Build Interplexing Beacon, an alternate way of Stopping First Contact. Note that while Stop First Contact downloads Montana Missile Complex, Montana can do the same to SFC, so it doesn't matter which card you get into play first. So it's doable. Now, should I do it? Some might say the incentive is lower than it once was. I was never very worried that I was facing a completely AU deck in the old days, but OS decks have really taken off and so it's not so unusual anymore. Add fast Terran decks to the mix, and that's even more Feds you can't assimilate in the past. And of course, you have to factor in that your opponent may not be playing Fed at all! Thankfully, EFC brought us Population 9 Billion-All Borg. It gives extra rewards for Stopping First Contact. Among these is the ability to use Earth as a full-blown Outpost, speeding up the rest of your plays. Even better though, is that your objectives completed in the Alpha quadrant from here on in are worth double their normal points! 50 points for a simple planet or gateway, 60 for Salvage Starship, and a whopping 80 points for another homeworld. Yep, the Borg only need to complete one more objective after that first one to win the game. Jacks up what used to be a too-difficult-to-be-worth-it objective to a 4.2.

TOTAL: 13.73 (68.67%) Far from straightforward, but still dangerous.

PICTURE: A fairly unified color palette with a central patch of color and a fun perspective still don't inject that much pep into this pic, or not as much as I'd have expected. I think it may be that fact that the maître d' is way too low in the frame, breaking the ¾ eye level rule used by television, film and photography. Still has some good qualities... a 3.6.

LORE: A fun title (from the script) is followed by lore that aptly makes sense of the game text. Enough for a 3.6 here too.

TREK SENSE: The idea is to send someone to interfere with the bad guys, and that person gets killed. A Diplomat will buy you those precious seconds, of course. A hologram will too, and you won't feel so bad sending it to get is matrix destabilized. When I saw the 2 Defense drones there, I thought the designers may have been reversing the situation, but no, the Borg having neither Diplomats nor holograms would just send Defense drones. The fact that two are required is suspect however. There are two in the picture, but they aren't facing the dilemma, they are causing it. Drones always seem to get killed in numbers on the show so I can't really nitpick this too much. If no personnel creates the appropriate diversion (and apparently, no one else can cause the appropriate delay, which is buggy in and of itself), your opponent (who controls the "bad guys") chooses a personnel to be killed. All very pat if you ask me. Unfortunately, the unanswered question here is as to the nature of the aforementioned bad guys (the "threat"). What is it? Why does it only strike in space (when a planetside diversion would be just as plausible)? Why does the mission continue afterwards? Where does the threat go after it kills someone? Though the line of thought follows that of the film, it's missing a few parts in the game context. Still a very good 3.7.

SEEDABILITY: No matter what happens, the dilemma kills a personnel. That makes it an excellent dilemma, and for space missions to boot! Either your non-Borg opponent let's a Diplomacy personnel or hologram die, or you choose a personnel to die yourself. Holograms aren't used by everyone (often for lack of a Holodeck and useful holos), so following up with a Diplomacy-related dilemma isn't a bad idea at all. Nagilum gets a little tougher, Shaka too. Against the Borg, 2 Defense drones is a big drain on a Cube's staffing, but they'll do pretty much anything to protect that Queen. If you suspect Borg involvement in a game, you could follow this dilemma up with something requiring SECURITY (those drones being the best source of the classification). In a sense, it's a your choice/your choice dilemma (speaking to the seeder here). You target Diplomacy/holo/Defense specifically (so you KNOW who gets knocked off) or else you choose who gets hit entirely. An excellent 4.3.

TOTAL: 15.2 (76%) No need to be strict here.

PICTURE: I'm not sure if this pic was enhanced by Decipher because I don't think she was ever seen from that close. With the similar Sevek, there was some amount of enhancement detectable, I thought, but not here. Unused footage? Character shot pasted on top of the Lander background? Not sure, but the image is relatively crisp and color-coordinated, and the costume is interesting to look at too. A fair 3.4.

LORE: So she was the one to actually detect Cochrane's first flight? Cool. It had to be someone. The Vulcan perspective (calling Sol an uncharted system) adds the right touch to this lore making it a 3.7.

TREK SENSE: We don't know much about T'Shonra expect what's been invented for her lore. Do the skills (et al.) match what we've been told? Science seems a given. Mindmeld too. Navigation and Stellar Cartography are linked skills that, while not as relevant to her discovery as Physics perhaps, may well have led her to it. Music is clearly invention (didn't see her enjoy Roy Orbison), but not impossible given the Vulcans' artistic tradition. The attributes all make sense except the Strength which should be higher for her species. Icons and affiliation check out given her post and the era she comes from. The details here make as much sense as anything. A 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: Obviously, the Non-Aligned Vulcans from First Contact can be used by any affiliation for their usual gifts - passing Primitive Society, staffing the Vulcan Lander, using Nerve Pinch, Mindmeld and Death Grip, etc. T'Shonra specifically has the mission-solving Stellar Cartography, the oft required Navigation, the always good SCIENCE and... Music. Well, that last one can be used to supplement Ressikan Flute decks, especially in combination with " found" musicians from a Cryosatellite. With her, the Klingons can achieve a 3-musician Cryosat (T'Shonra-Mogh-K'chiQ), but other affiliations still won't get close to the Federation's proficiency here. Good attributes are otherwise handicapped by her low STRENGTH. When Decipher's own card extra suggests sacrificing her to pass Lack of Preparation in space decks (after Mindmelding with a more competent personnel), you know she can't be that hot. Still a 3.4.

TOTAL: 14 (70%) Just above average across the board.

PICTURE: A nice enough effect, somewhat reminiscent of Transwarp Network Gateway, but actually pulled from the film. The pic is dynamic, with the real mystery being why there are three lights showing (perhaps corresponding to the sphere's quadrants). I don't much like the gray "wall of force" beyond that, especially since it doesn't bleed under the game text box. Overall? A 3.8.

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

TREK SENSE: AU effect? Definately. Momentary enough to merit a countdown icon? Well, that's a more complex question which I'll keep for the body of the review. At first sight, the Vortex shouldn't even LAST 3 turns, but it all depends on the effects. Let's get to those then (4 possibilities). The first is very close to the movie, creating a conduit between a time location and the "present". The countdown here makes the conduit semi-stable, which it really wasn't in the film. I suppose you could say "results may vary" depending on the method used, but this set IS called First Contact. The Sphere never left a return path home. Another thing about this: Couldn't you travel from one Time Location to another (not the present) both at the same location? While this hasn't come up yet, I'm sure we'll eventually get more TLs at Earth. Food for thought. Furthermore, the card being played on a Time Location, not the present, seems backward, and the fact you don't need a ship to create the Vortex is likewise perplexing. A natural phenomenon? The second function also points to some kind of natural effect since, again, it doesn't require a ship to implement. This time, it gobbles up The Sheliak or a Borg Ship dilemma, Temporal Rift-like, for the duration of the countdown (here representing the span of time it jumps forward or is lost in another time). It also comes upon them quite suddenly since it suspends play. I'm at a loss (Trek Sense-wise) to explain why these two cards should be targeted while other ships (including the very similar Cubes), Calamarain, etc. are unaffected. The third function is an odd one: It creates a span of time in which Distortions of the Space/Time Continuum cannot occur. So... the Vortex PREVENTS temporal anomalies now? Hogwash, even conceptually. As for the last function, it's a strange return trip which bends space as well as time (not unheard of) and is totally unpredictable (destination is opponent's choice). This acts more like some of the wormholes we've seen than the movie's Vortex, but has a good handle on storytelling. Just think of all the episodes that had the characters stranded in the past. Haven't they always taken a lot of chances to return home? Including not really knowing where they were going? Ultimately, there's just too much here to truly hit a high note. A 2.2 only.

STOCKABILITY: To get to and from a Time Location smoothly and effectively, Temporal Vortex is the card. The Borg will enjoy going back to Earth's past to Stop First Contact, perhaps quickly enough to come back using the same Vortex. Others will want it to bring their OS personnel to the present, whether we're talking about the straight guys from Sherman's Peak or the mirror Terran Empire. These are powerful personnel, with ships that'll do the rest once reported and staffed thanks to Crew Reassignment. All you need is the original Vortex. Other functions are less impressive. Sure, a strong counter for The Sheliak/Q combo or the very tough Borg Ship dilemma, but you can't be sure you'll encounter these. If you do though, you'll appreciate the fact that it suspends play to whisk these things away perhaps just as The Sheliak was orbiting your Colony, or that Borg Ship was about to destroy your fleet. Distortion of the Space/Time Continuum isn't too abused where I'm from, but multiples of the card could lock you out of the game while your opponent runs ahead of the crowd. Temporal Vortex can be used in those situations as a kind of Goddess of Empathy with a little more lasting power, but a more finite focus. The last function is a little stranger. After all, if Temporal Vortex can already create a bridge between past and present, why would you want to use it as a "blind alley", actually allowing your opponent to decide where you're gonna land (which may as well be another quadrant or in the arms of a waiting fleet). Not the most trustworthy transportation available, but the only one if the corresponding spaceline location has been lost to the Black Hole. Add to all this the special download by the Queen's Borg Sphere to make those Borg Ship dilemmas disappear faster AND the more recent addition of a Referee icon thanks to Q the Referee to really make the most of the card. The first function is what's truly necessary to some decks, with the rest being interesting mostly to the meta-game. A 4.7.

TOTAL: 14.26 (71.33%) H.G. Wells would have been proud.

PICTURE: That's pretty much the only shot they could have used, but it's a little gray. Assimilated Earth peeks out from under the effect, but that's hardly a concern. I guess the anomaly could have been a little more central to the card. 2.8 from me.

LORE: Simple and to the point. No mistakes here, but the phrasing isn't particularly interesting either. Good enough for an average 3.

TREK SENSE: Yes, the Wake allowed the Enterprise to follow the Borg through the Vortex, but how exactly? By allowing it to remain unchanged by the disruption of the timeline. The Vortex is the actual anomaly allowing the ship to go back in time. So here's the thing: time travel doesn't always alter the timeline, so Wake should not always be necessary. And the card doesn't even protect a ship from timeline disruption should it occur. Furthermore, I've just never seen a Temporal Wake an Away Team could follow. Ok, all this may be due to an error in title. "Follow Them Back" might have been a better one. In that case, well, it would work easily for Temporal Vortex, but other time travel methods are more nebulous. Still, Spock could always reconfigure his tricorder to track McCoy back through the Guardian I guess ("real life" example). What the Wake has to do with the Anti-Time Anomaly isn't clear. Seems like they're equating it with the subspace bubble formed by three ships or something. Sitting in a Wake could protect you from the timeline disruption caused, but the Wake should protect only one ship, not destroy the Anomaly. I'm not panning the entire card because I do find fault with the title rather than the game text, but there ARE errors. Only a 2 here.

STOCKABILITY: Played on your own ship/Away Team, it could be used to make sure you have personnel in the past to stop the Borg from assimilating Earth (or whatever else your opponent is planning) or to make an extra ship travel with the one carrying the Orb of Time (if that is your method of choice). Temporal Vortex already allows for multiple ships, so you might want to use that card instead. Played on your opponent, you can kidnap a ship or Away Team and strand it in the past. If your opponent didn't stock time travel cards (including Temporal Wake), they may be stuck there for a while. If time traveling, you may want the card for added flexibility. If not, you'd have to believe that your opponent will. Not exactly money in the bank. As for the last function, it would be crazy to stock it in case your opponent just happened to nihilisticly play the Anomaly. If you're planning to play it yourself, then it makes for a good nullifier immune to The Line Must Be Drawn Here in case things go wrong. But so would Mercy Kill while also being more flexible. Examine Singularity can make the most out of your Wake by having you download it as often as once per turn even from the discard pile. Some cute tricks, but certainly nothing necessary here. A 3.3.

TOTAL: 11.1 (55.5%) Perhaps too FC-centric?

PICTURE: Just your standard Borg zombie, not particularly suited or unsuited to his function. The bright shaft of light to the right neither harms nor helps. Pretty straight down the ambivalent line at 3.

LORE: Tachyons (that theoretical faster-than-light particle) has long been used in Star Trek to help detect cloaked ships (from "Redemption" to "Flashback"), so "Tachyon Drone" is a good appelation for this drone. "Concealment systems" for cloaking devices is also cute Borg-talk. Nothing extravagant, but what's here is very well done. A 3.8.

TREK SENSE: The primary function of this drone is to counteract cloaking devices, and that has been translated as a special skill which makes sense enough. Though we haven't quite seen the Borg force ships to decloak, it's just another technology to adapt to. Sending out a burst of tachyons to force a ship to decloak would require a ship of course, and would seem to be a one-at-a-time thing. An acceptable limit. Why the drone would be part of the Navigation subcommand, I'm not clear on. It might fall more easily in the Communications field. As a Navigation drone though, he gets the Navigation skill. And I suppose Astrophysics is somewhat related. Lacks focus once you get into anything but the special skill, but at least there's no quadrant issue (humanoids are a dime a dozen). Like two cards merged into one, 10 of 19 only gets a 3.

STOCKABILITY: Here's one thing Borg-hunting decks can do - use cloaked ships to avoid Eliminate Starship until a decent armada can be assembled. Even decks totally uninterested in molesting the Borg might stock a cloakable ship to conveniently hide a personnel targeted to be a counterpart. Either moves could cripple your own strategies. And with the three Cloaking Device equipment cards, it's not even restricted to the Klingons and Romulans (plus assorted ships here and there) anymore. A Tachyon Drone in your deck will come in handy in those situations. You probably won't just stock one to be downloaded at the appropriate moment either, since that Astrophysics - required for such dilemmas as Gravimetric Distortion, to name only one - is only featured on one other Borg personnel (Scout Drone). Navigation is more common, but more useful (including appearing on Astrophysics dilemmas). 10 of 19 makes a fair to good dilemma-buster and will be necessary in some situations you can reasonably expect to occur. A 4.

TOTAL: 13.8 (69%) Less limited than he might have seemed at first.

PICTURE: Though this could just have been a "line placement" shot (this is where Picard said the line, so that's our pic), the image has a lot more going for it. While Picard's expression is great (it's a great, great scene), it's the "broken little ships" background that makes it excellent. And not just because they are the result of his anger. To the left of the image, they shimmer as if representing Picard's anger bubbling inside him. To the right, they are lines of force going outward. Here, they are his anger lashing out jaggedly at the Borg. It's very striking. Very much worth a 4.5.

LORE: One of the best moments in First Contact, I always felt there was an unspoken "to me" at the end of those words. That Patrick Stewart managed to say them without speaking them is part and parcel of what made the scene so good. The lore also features a rare word in all caps. Normally it would have been italicized, but the lore already was (as a quote). Despite knowing the reason, it really works. A real shout. I think adding some kind of context to the lore box would just have diluted the power of the words, so I'm giving this short riff a very high 4.3.

TREK SENSE: Since it's one player telling the other that The Line Must Be Drawn Here, this one will have to remain in the conceptual arena. It's emphasis on points also helps keep it there. It has nothing to do with the Borg as Picard meant it (a reprint with Quark would have nothing to do with the "new" Ferenginar), but with player abuses. Some players abuse the triad (Kevin, Amanda and Q2), so they must be punished for making things too easy for themselves. It'll even work against the Borg which is at least one link to Picard's line. The Hidden Agenda: Well, you might not tell your opponents that they've crossed a Line, just to make sure you do get your revenge, and that's really how this card works. The countdown: You can't stay angry forever. It takes too much energy. A lot of fun justifications, but it all remains conceptual. I mean, your personnel are not doing anything special, nor is there an effect on their reality. One thing that'll up the score: Because of the card's cumulative nature, you can play/seed a large number of them which will appear as if you draw a Line of Hidden Agendas. Dare your opponent to cross it by playing a costly counter ;-). I'd say that makes it one of the more successful conceptual cards at 3.2.

STOCKABILITY: Not a card to counter counters, but to HOSE counters. And it's a nasty one. If you're tired of having your events and interrupts nullified, you can put a stop to it in one of three ways (more or less). One is to dissuade your opponent from playing his triad entirely: Build a rather long line of Hidden Agendas (you can even bluff by having some of them not even be The Line) that'll make them afraid to ever play one of the counter interrupts. Even a line of 4 cards will mean a disastrous 20 points, so they might stay on their best behavior. Another is to punish them severely or lightly so that they don't repeat the action: When they play an Amanda or something, flip one or more Lines to administer the point penalty. A -5 might sting enough that they wouldn't want to play more, especially if they see you have more where that came from. Finally, you can just let the meta-game do it for you: You don't even have to stock The Line for it to work its magic. Players might be replacing their triad with Goddess of Empathy, Energy Vortex, Mercy Kill and now Quinn, but those cards are all more limited and more manageable. Speaking of Goddess of Empathy, when it comes to counters, The Line Must Be Drawn Here will afford you a 4-turn cease-fire when flipped, until the card counts down. Also great is that it hits the Borg despite their immunity to bonus points both positive and negative, and that as a Hidden Agenda, you can use your own counters until you do flip The Line. Want to be truly nasty? Play Oof! on top of The Line to make them pay AGAIN for their mistakes. Though Quinn has just taken a bite out of it, I still like the card for the mind games you can play with it. For example, seed/play a long line of Hidden Agendas, and your opponent won't use his triad. Then, flip over a non-Line card, and they might try a counter thinking it's not The Line after all. Flip over the remaining 8 cards for a -40 whammy... OR don't put down a line, just place them in a block or something innocuous. Your opponent might not figure it out before it's too late. An excellent 4.1.

TOTAL: 16.1 (80.5%) The bar has been set there... this high and no higher.

PICTURE: Gee those hyposprays can punch through thick material... Beverly inoculating herself is a fine alternative to an impossible picture of invisible radiation, and the background does feature machinery which might be emitting it. Surprisingly effective for such a simple shot at 3.6.

LORE: I'm not sure how the throttle is really part of the warp drive, but according to this card, it practically has to be since there's a subspace connection. Of course, this is not part of Trek canon. There's no mention of the physical cause of the radiation in the film or in any reference material I've looked at. I do like how the dilemma is given in a last sentence as the punchline. The possibly inaccurate information keeps it at 2.8.

TREK SENSE: The card supposes that a ship or outpost here is damaged so that it gives off Theta Radiation harmful to living beings. This actually infirms the lore even more since outposts do not have warp drives. (Maybe a ship contained aboard, or other kinds of subspace systems?) Naturally, it kills people unless they are inoculated against it, and the Medical Kit provides the hypospray necessary for that. This is actually a lot better than simply requiring Medical personnel which somehow usually seem to have all appropriate medication with them. A Hypospray alone wouldn't be enough probably because you wouldn't normally carry the pharmaceutical payload you needed for this rare occurence. The Kit does. That said, there's something a little ridiculous about "kills once per turn" dilemmas. Sometimes it works, but here it doesn't. After all, if the air is saturated with Radiation, why isn't everyone affected at the same time? Certainly, personnel of the same species and Strength would die during the same turn. And even if no two personnel are ever created equal (except Gorath and Kle'eg), there's no reason they could die from the same exposure some 5 to 10 turns apart. Sure, this could happen if they were at different places on a ship, but shuttles don't afford that kind of luxury. Lastly, the repair of the leak requires an outrageous number of Engineers. I'm not against it if the damage is severe enough, but the affected ship or facility has no other problems and isn't even considered "damaged". Furthermore, the game is inconsistent if it requires 6 Engineers to make repairs to an outpost, but only 1 to build one. The first part does well, the last, not so well. A 3.2.

SEEDABILITY: I think you might wish for a lucky seeding at an outpost for a number of reasons (more options if there's also a ship or ships there, the chance to slap it on a facility and bump personnel off before they even get aboard a ship). Unfortunately, the fact that an outpost would easily have ships present (they can just report them there, after all) makes this less than ideal a place. Personnel can just jump from the affected place to another, effectively escaping their fate. I mean, you might be glad to catch a break if an Away Team had no attendent ship, just the outpost, but I wouldn't wish for this specifically. The same might go for armada-supported mission solving. Note that until cured, the dilemma still takes away one of your opponent's ships or outposts. That's still not bad. They would have to reshuffle their Medical Kit to the right card to keep using it, that's IF they have a Medical Kit at all. That's the great thing here: the requirements are fairly difficult. Medical Kit is one specific card (on which you may play Disruptor Overload, or which you may weed out with Common Thief) and 6 ENGINEER is a LOT (and you can take one away with Make Us Go). Since the ship turns into a death-trap, follow up with Cytherians to keep them IN the trap. If the Kit isn't aboard (the odds aren't really in your opponent's favor), every turn it takes to reach the end of the spaceline will kill one personnel. Hope they don't run out of staffing before then. This card has always served me well. A clean 4.3.

TOTAL: 13.9 (69.5%) One of the first dilemmas to make you stand up and notice.

PICTURE: This Defense drone is well chosen seeing as it's walking down a corridor, responding to a threat. Its hard features also work for the subcommand, and the pipe in the ceiling gives the composition the right direction, though it may distract the eye a bit too much by its glare. I like the earth tones (uncommon on a Borg card), but the slight blur is unwelcome. A positive 3.7 when all's said and done.

LORE: "Tactical Drone" is an easy enough identification to come up with, and the usual Borg-speak is there and on-target, though not showy. A 3.4 should do.

TREK SENSE: Pretty simple, I should say. Defense drones are SECURITY personnel at heart (I mean, in function), and that's all 13 of 19 has as far as regular skills go. His tactical function has to do with "offensive capabilities", and that's Weapons (Strength would not be a "tactical" issue). The cumulative nature of the card goes with the Borg's strength in numbers approach, and his being a humanoid avoids any problems with the DQ icon. That's the long and (mostly) short of it. A somewhat unimaginative 4.

STOCKABILITY: On Cubes, you might not care for WEAPONS boosts. On Scouts and Spheres however, they're much more useful, and in numbers, could boost a smaller ship's stats to Cube levels. Of course, you'd need Guard Drones to up the SHIELDS as well. Still, you don't really want to depend on so many personnel in a swarm deck where the combined WEAPONS of the armada will act as its own booster. If launching from a Cube however, protecting the escape craft becomes more important. As for his single skill, 13 of 19 matches other SECURITY Borg in that it's always their only regular skill, so it really does come down to the special skill(s). Talon Drone remains the best for assimilation strategies, and it and Assault Drone are better at personnel battle (a Borg weakness where space battle really isn't). Sorry Tac Drone. A couple of him won't do any harm in a deck since his [Def] icon is useful against dilemmas, can be downloaded via We Are the Bog, etc., but he falls a little short when it comes to patching Borg strategical holes. A 3.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) Superior First Contact design wins again.

PICTURE: The background is a bit too gray, but this is generally a good picture for someone who's been out fighting the Borg all day. Only Data doesn't break a sweat doing this kind of thing (and maybe Worf). Hits 3.3.

LORE: Well, let's start by mentioning the grevious error in the title. Though this guy didn't get a name in First Contact, he reappeared in Insurrection, this time as "Lt. Daniels". With different last names, you can't even claim they were brothers or something. I know it's not Decipher's fault (I guess the once-proclaimed canonicity of the cards isn't part of the current agreement), and that you'd think SOMEone at Paramount would have noticed (if I were the actor, I'd have my card tucked in my wallet for just such an occasion). Ah well. And you just know I'm gonna penalize the card for it. The lore itself is competent, though unremarkable. The transfer from the Hood is interesting, but I fail to see any real reason for it. Was the Hood mentioned in the film maybe? If it is, it's the same stunt as Eiger's Tyco City reference. Everything converges to form a middling 3.

TREK SENSE: Senior Enterprise-E officer, but not deserving of an E-E icon? That darn thing strikes again. Maybe his transfer's real recent. Yeah, I'll buy that, and he IS deserving of a Command icon. Security is obviously his bag, that's uncontested. Leadership is good too since he led assault teams against the Borg. Exobiology? Basically unproven, but may be related to his fighting an alien race (knowing where and how to strike, etc.). I know battling the Borg is tough, but they didn't make his Integrity high enough. Even if he vascillated when ordered to fight hand to hand if he had to, I don't see it as a sign of cowardice, but rather concern for the lives of his men. Pour on the Integrity people. No problems for the other attributes though. Not so impressed, I'm afraid. A 2.5 here.

STOCKABILITY: A SECURITY personnel with a useful scientific skill isn't a common thing, and McClure will certainly protect that skill from dilemmas that often weed it out like Hippocratic Oath and Unscientific Method. The Leadership is more standard, but does allow him to initiate battle. Good STRENGTH for just that purpose as well. That was pretty much it for lil' Tommy here until the appearance of Assign Support Personnel. The Feds have a lot of Leadership coming from such a source, but very few Exobiology personnel. So when reporting personnel directly to ships when you're in a bind, McClure will bring both skills into play, plus his pretty useful classification. In fact, this is what sets him apart from Shelby who has the same exact skills, but a more common and less useful OFFICER classification. Much better attributes too. He's definitely the man for those Exobiology cures you're always needing. Calling it a 3.6.

TOTAL: 12.4 (62%) I doubt we'll ever see a Lt. Daniels card.

PICTURE: Quite possibly the coolest drone we'll ever get, Talon has great and crusty armor, a nice diamond shape in his forehead which gves him presence, and a coldly sadistic expression (unchanged when in attack mode as seen on Assimilation Tubules). The background doesn't hurt either, being just out of focus enough to give him the right definition, and the orange glow adds some spice and danger. The slightly atilt angle also brings danger and creepiness to the image. Love it. An easy 4.7.

LORE: Well, "Talon Drone" is, again, very cool (the CLAW!!!). And his task is lifted right out of the Borg playbook. Plus, his humanoid distinctiveness creates no Trek Sense questions about DQ reportability. I'd say a swift 3.7 here.

TREK SENSE: Stands to reason there would be "assimilation" drones out there since it's one of the Borg main goals. That would be part of Defense (also known as Offense, wink, wink) which would in turn infer Security. Since he used the Tubules to assimilate, the special download is likewise quite natural. His can actually Tubule/assimilate more than one person each turn, thanks to his special skill. Is that ok? Well, think of Tubules as pumping nanites into a mortally wounded personnel, reviving them and turning them into Borg. That's like a separate action for the Talon drone which requires an extra card to be played and occurs after a personnel battle has been fought and won. The special skill however, works during a battle when Talon stuns someone and takes that opportunity to abduct and/or assimilate them. Quick and deadly, just like in the film. It's all very efficient and seemingly flawless, though the fact that other Borg cannot use Tubules or assimilate personnel like this hurts the concept a little. Just a little though, so a 4.6 here.

STOCKABILITY: If running an assimilation strategy (often in order to counter personnel attacks on your unshielded ships), Talon drone is certainly a must. First, he's as good a source of SECURITY as any Defense drone, and you'll want to pair him up with an Assault Drone to boost his STRENGTH and make him able to at least stun opposing personnel (We Are the Borg can download one and the other). A personnel battle that goes in your favor will actually get you some new drones and deprive your opponent of key personnel. With Assimilation Tubules, you can actually get two assimilates per Talon Drone per battle! So long as you mortally wound personnel (for Tubules) or stun the personnel paired with Talon itself. Talon Drone will also automatically assimilate (or assimulate as George Dubya would say) an intruder aboard your ship or facility. That'll stop 'em from boarding you and stopping your crew with needless battles. AS an intruder, he makes a great defense during attempts to Assimilate Starship because he can add drones to your defense effort even as some Computer geek probes for the right icons. An excellent 4.3.

TOTAL: 17.3 (86.5%) I'm assimilated--I mean, convinced.

PICTURE: This one feels like a Star Wars card. I mean, they had a concept for a card, and the picture had to come from the movie, so they're using individual moments from that movie. That technique gets real boring when all we get is talking heads that have no real relationship to the card's effect if you haven't seen that movie. I could imagine some kind of CGI for this instead, or if they'd waited for Voyager, a shot of the "new" Queen being assembled. Holds very little interest at 0.9.

LORE: The title is all wrong. What the card describes is NOT 3-dimensional thinking, but something more (4D, 5D, whatever). It's even there is the lore, a line from the film making it plain that if you use 3D thinking, you won't be able to understand the Queen's "relocation" as it is called here. I generally appreciate getting lines from the movie, but the whole thing really doesn't mesh well, and when I started this series, this title was something I really aimed to pan. A 1.6, no more.

TREK SENSE: Title aside, this card attempts to explain how the Borg Queen can be destroyed and later reappear. Of course, in the game, any unique (enigma still has the unique reporting restriction) personnel can be re-reported after it was killed (thanks to recylcing, second copies, etc.), no questions asked or supplied. The Queen is something special though. She can actually resurrect herself since she's basically the sum of the Collective and could inhabit any number of bodies. Unless you destroy the Collective entirely, you can't destroy the Queen. What the card does, however, is quite different. First of all, it doesn't protect a Queen from death per se, only from ship destruction. Is her consciousness transmitted at the last second by some deflector dish? Could be, but that invalidates my theory about Queen=Collective. Also, it transmits the entire ship's crew! This could be the fact that the Queen activates a similar entourage at her new location. Thin, but plausible. What is less plausible is that the counterparts would have a similar ability. I don't think Locutus could be relocated this way. It's just not the same organizational relationship. There's definitely no proof of it. Maybe I'm thinking too Three-Dimensionally still, but if you thought that excuse was thin in the film (and it wasn't really, I bought it), then excusing a card's game text away by saying it works based on principles not understood by Man is even thinner (for real this time). Here's another attempt at explaining it all away: Borg ships would have personal transwarp doorways (assimilated Iconian Gateways if you will) the Queen and counterparts can manipulate. Workeable, but unfortunately, entirely fiction, and doesn't explain her resurrection between First Contact and Voyager. No basis for much of this, so a 2.3.

STOCKABILITY: When playing Borg, protecting your Queen and/or counterpart can be very important. They have skills and abilities (especiallty the Queen) you need to win the game. 3D Thinking does a little more than protect the Queen however. It saves an entire crew from destruction. So if your opponent heads for your ship with his armada, he might get the bonus points, but you won't start over from square one. Of course, you're better off not letting him have any points at all, and you might consider Auto-Destruct Sequence (also useful when being infested by intruders) to simply relocate all your personnel to another scouting location. It certainly allows you to use your Queen in combination with Scouts and Spheres which don't have big SHIELDS. Basically a defensive card, so limited in scope, but it can be used more flexibly when destroying your own ship (set off a Supernova where you've Hailed your opponent, then escape to a waiting Cube at your Outpost, just an idea). I'll give it a 3.4.

TOTAL: 8.2 (41%) Too focused on Borg mechanics.

PICTURE: Great action shot, with the Tommygun being pulled out of a violin case. Dix's cut-off head makes the "heater" more universal too. Card would be an outright classic if not for some zoom-in artifacts throwing off some odd shadows. Still very classy at 4.

LORE: I, for one, am disappointed. Where's the wonderful "Dixonese" we found on Dixon Hill's Business Card? While I think using it in game text would make us break out the rule sheets a little too often, lore is a great place to use it instead. What we get is some of the usual Equipment stuff which sounds like a catalog description from an NRA magazine. Can be fun, but speaks of a missed opportunity in this case. The only Dixonese would be the word "pinched", and putting it in quotation marks suppresses that aspect of it. Good, but inappropriate for a straight 2.

TREK SENSE: Our only piece of holographic equipment for now, the Tommygun cannot truly kill anyone in personnel battle unless Safety Protocols are off. That's fine, but the stunning effect is untested. I mean, when Protocols are on, what happens to a character whose been shot? Is it even stunned? Well, let's say it is, kind of like rubber bullets, but even less harmful. It considers Rogue Borg personnel too, which is fine. Since it is a kind of machinegun, why only the one target though? Couldn't you sweep with it? Picard killed 2 Borg with it after all. Another problem: if a holographic personnel is hit, why can't it be killed? Protocols don't apply to holodeck characters, do they? Now, granted, the Tommygun can instead mow down (erase) up to 100 holographic characters. 100? Cute, but I doubt this trick could be achieved in the real world. You'd never get the line of sight required, for one thing. It's really too bad because 100 holos attacking you will never happen, so a lesser number could have been used. And why the different mechanics? If you can sweep with the gun using one function, why only one target with the other? Erasure would also not be the result of a "fatal" holographic bullet. The character would be killed and could be reactivated. Killing one with Protocols off would not be erased according to the first function. So there you have it: A two-headed monster which makes plenty of mistakes. A 1.6.

STOCKABILITY: Currently, there's no way to bring it with you off a ship, so it'll remain a defensive weapon only, and only if you have a Holodeck. If your opponent does come aboard your ship to battle, you could use it to stun an opposing personnel (same for Rogue Borg Mercs), inching you closer to winning that particular battle. First of all, I wouldn't advise anyone to use the Equipment without Disengage Safety Protocols. Killing is preferable to stunning. The target personnel is taken out of the equation at the very start, not pairing up and not adding its STRENGTH to the totals at the end. In the case of single intruders and pinging RBMs, Tommygun them down and that's that. Not like you couldn't have done that simply with numbers. Either way, I believe you would still be "stopped", so... Against larger groups, it's unfortunate that the stun/death is a random selection. If there's a hologram using a Mobile Emitter in there, you might snag it instead, and it won't really die. If there's more than one hologram, you can erase them all, really helping your chances. Unfortunately, in this kind of scenario, what are the chances of a ton of holograms equipped with Emitters raiding your ship? Slim to none, I'd say. The Holo-Projectors errata has really brought the card down in this respect by taking away any chance of such a confluence of events. I'm sure it'll go back up with Holodeck Adventures, but for now... a 2.8, pretty much only for the first function.

TOTAL: 10.4 (52%) Probably be a special download in H.A.

PICTURE: There are Transwarp Network Gateways (the other TNG) in The Next Generation (the original TNG) and Voyager, but not in First Contact, so they had to go for a digital effect. A huge Cube entering a TNG was a hitherto never-seen shot and is still impressive today. It's a bit dark though, and too much like Temporal Vortex (same special effect, flipped, with Sphere substituted for Cube), so I can't go above a still excellent 4.4.

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

TREK SENSE: While we've seen Federation ships make use of the Network, they never established a Gateway, only ran through pre-established ones the Borg had made (Borg-only it is then). The seed limit of one seems to go against the idea of a "Network", but with Borg Outpost's special download, you get a natural balance while also creating that Network (or at least a direct pipeline to the Delta Quadrant). That TNG seeds at the end of any spaceline which duplicates the way the Borg suddenly  enter the "edge of known space" at episode's start. You can play them where Navigation drones are present too, since that is basically part and parcel of their function. Once a Gateway has been established, any player may use it to move from one TNG to another, bringing in those afore-mentioned Federation ships. All you need is another TNG or a Transwarp Conduit (another version of the same card, really) to "open" the door, kind of like the two ends of a Wormhole. Unlike Wormhole, all your ships present may use the open Gateway, which is much more sensical. The similarity to Transwarp Conduit is a bit odd. In fact, it looks like TNG is a rewrite of Conduit. Both cards' functions are reconciliated by the Conduit download through this card. Neatly answers the question as to why sometimes Transwarp does one thing, and sometimes another. Elegant, and leaving all the blame on the original card (poor Premiere again). Borg story-telling cards are generally very well done, and this one is no different. A smooth 4.8.

STOCKABILITY: Borg ships don't generally have impressive range (especially the smaller swarming vessels), but TNG helps with this a great deal. On the one hand, you can use one to download Transwarp Conduit to double the RANGE of any one ship, but that's not what you're going to be using it for most of the time. No, you really need it to get out of the Delta Quadrant and onto your opponent's stomping grounds (or to a desolate Quadrant for scouting in peace). Your Borg Outpost can thankfully download one so that you have an entry to your seeded TNG's exit. Even if you're going to limit your activities to the DQ, this allows you to have the Outpost in one part of the spaceline and a TNG direct line to another. After your original seed'n'download, there are plenty of ways to get more. The first is to simply play one from hand wherever you have [Nav] Borg. Easy enough. The Borg Scout Vessel can download one to anywhere you report it, for example, which brings up an important use: Reporting Scouts with crew to your TNGs. This is one of those things that makes Scout decks so viable and the effect works both ways. Scouts report to TNGs and reporting Scouts can leave TNGs in their wake. Good stuff. The other way to download a TNG is to complete Establish Gateway. 25 points and easy access to the region in one fell swoop. Watch out though: Establish Gateway forces you to download a TNG ("if possible"), and since you need to play a TNG to activate a spaceline TNG, you should be careful not to exhaust your deck of them. Stocking Transwarp Conduits gives you a non-exhaustable (in that sense) way into your Network. They don't make good probe results (TNG has the [Nav] icon at least), but they do have another function (doubling RANGE). To extend Borg ships' RANGE, there's nothing better than a smoothly working Network, better than a Wormhole by virtue of allowing any number of ships to go through at one time. Your non-Borg opponent would have to stock Transwarp Conduits to gain access, but that's not a very likely event - at least, not multiple times in the same game. When not using the DQ, it's simply necessary to go where the action is. As high as a 4.5.

TOTAL: 18.26 (91.33%) High marks for yet another FC Borg staple.

PICTURE: With that facial expression, I think the drone has been severely de-Klingonized. You almost can't tell he used to be a warrior. Otherwise, the cybernetic appliances look nice enough, I like the background with its dark and distorted Borg "staffing icon", but overall, the card is dark and lacks any kind of actual connection to its function (he's from Data's escape attempt). Balances out to a 3.

LORE: Having everything to do transporters, "Transport drone" is a fine callsign, and the Task is well written. Even the short "Adapt". Nothing awful, nothing great. A 3.1.

TREK SENSE: The drone's skills are pretty much derived from its special skill (task). We've seen the Borg do this often enough: he allows your transporters to beam through Shields. Transporter Skill is the correct skill to assign to him, and Engineer is quite related. The Delta Quadrant icon is more or less an error as far as I'm concerned because this drone was assimilated and died in the Alpha Quadrant without ever going to the DQ, but since we're talking about a universal here, we can be lenient. The Navigation icon? Well, transporting is a form of movement, but I'm not sure I would go that far. In fact, busting through Shields and invading ships sounds more like Defense's purview to me. Essentially works, though I do have my misgivings. A 4.

STOCKABILITY: A Collective looking to nab a personnel to Assimilate Counterpart is gonna need a way to get to that personnel. Though there are other ways (such as on planet surfaces), a personnel protected by a ship requires you to use some kind of invasive beam-in. Transport Drone is it. Aside from this ability which also allows you to send over Sabotage Drones for example, he also has useful skills. ENGINEER is always good, of course, but he's currently the only drone with Transporter Skill and so is required to solve a handful of dilemmas. What, you want to expend your Adapts on every Emergency Conversion that crosses your path? Transporter Skill can even help in other situations, such as keeping Anti-Matter Pods from blowing up on your Cube's behind. I'd say ol' 2 of 11 isn't outdated yet. A 3.9.

TOTAL: 14 (70%) Often depends on how badly you want that Counterpart.

PICTURE: You'll remember this guy because he walks in front of Picard and Lily a couple times in the film, and because he's so unblinkingly creepy. That stare remains, and the most elaborate eyepiece is interesting too. Weaker is the fact that he seems to have little relation to his function from what we saw of him. Still a memorable drone at 3.5.

LORE: Simple Borgese that makes a lot of sense, with an Identification that's equally obvious. Both the words Transwarp and Network are in there, so all that would be missing is Gateway. And no forseeable problems with a DQ humanoid. 3.4 here.

TREK SENSE: The epitome of the Navigation drone. Since the Transwarp Network is the Borg's most important means of locomotion, you can bet the subcommand is in charge of it. 2 of 19 rightly downloads either a doorway (TNG) or an interrupt (Transwarp Conduit), and in a balanced way to boot. He needs a ship, for example, since drones don't actually have the power to create Gateways from a planet (or while floating around in space). He also has the two best navigation skills, Navigation (duh) and the related Stellar Cartography, all to plot TNG starting points and destinations. Simple, clean, elegant. A very strong 4.6.

STOCKABILITY: In a pinch, 2 of 19's ability to convert card draws into Transwarp cards could be useful, giving you that extra RANGE you happen to need in one way or another. More than just in a pinch actually, since you can only make use of your Network by playing Transwarp cards on them. So if the Network is part of your strategy, you'll want some of this drone around. It's a fine way to get yourself to where you want to be next turn by converting your end of turn card draw into Transwarp. If you want to do so at the start of a turn, allow me to recommend Seven of Nine's ability to turn normal card plays into card draws. It can even be done mid-turn through some other method, like with Borg Kiss (even during opponent's turn, that one). Both his skills have a use against dilemmas, and while Navigation is fairly common, he's the only FC universal drone with Stellar Cartography. The Borg set may add more, and probably will given that it's an obvious hole, but this drone is still a clear 4.

TOTAL: 15.5 (77.5%) High, but barely enough for a top ten mark in the Borg Collective.

PICTURE: With the purple lips and the doo-dads on his face, 2 of 17 looks positively diseased. He's downright icky. The bored expression isn't quite Borg either. The cool gray palette is one of the good things here, and brings the whole package to a 3.4.

LORE: The ID has a couple problems. One is that, as a Collective, the Borg are all unified just fine without anybody's help. Just seems redundant. The other, a minor point, is that it reminds one of the episode "Unity" from which this drone definitely is not. The Task explains both Anthropology (the first part) and the special skill (the corelation business). A good effort there, with an iffy ID. That's a 3.4 for you.

TREK SENSE: Anthropology has little to do with Unity, but the lore does give an explanation as to its relevance. The special skill creates the collective mind we know they have by allowing Borg on a ship, for example, to share Cunning with Borg on a planet, or opposing ship or whatnot. Only the Communictions drones (and Unity most definitely is one from such a subcommand) can relay this computing power to other drones present which makes perfect sense. The only thing I have against the card is that they more or less slapped two Tasks together on one drone, and they only tenuously mesh. I can't believe the Borg only use this kind of brainpower on such a specific field. All things considered, still a 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: A little like the Interlink drone, 2 of 17 instead shares CUNNING. Before The Borg, this was a tremendous help since a lot of dilemmas require CUNNING, and there was no way a lone scout could pass such a wall. With Unity drone on the ship, that lone Communications scout would have its ship's crew's CUNNING added to its own. Add Interlink and he could have a lot of skills too. Clan People, Shaka, New Essentialists, Trabe Grenade, Assassin's Blade... and many others could be passed this way (sometimes with the right Interlinked personnel). They still can, but now the Borg are no longer forced to scout one by one. Unity Drone, then, might help redshirting attempts, or any attempt where you'd want to leave personnel aboard ship (say, your Queen and counterpart). With the massive killers that are now out there, that may not be a bad idea. Let's not forget he's the only pre-TB drone with Anthropology, a skill which we've been seeing more and more of lately. Time will tell if The Borg expansion will offer any others, and you don't really want to count on Bareil of Borg for the skill, do you? A high score before the rules changes (couldn't they have been DQ rules, with the old rules still in effect in the AQ? I know, I know, too complicated for the kids), but now drops to a merely "very good" 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) Some cards get boosts, others drops.

PICTURE: Not from First Contact (it was only mentioned), and not from "Cause and Effect" (no such shot), it's a competently doctored pic that adds a little color to the usual Miranda images. There are a lot of lights and even the registry number (paying hommage to Pearl Harbor, no less) is visible. I have to mention the faulty layout showing an uncentered Command icon in the staffing box. It's a simple image, but some craft did go into it, so a 3.6.

LORE: The 23rd-century mention may seem confusing to people looking for an AU icon, but is nonetheless true. There's a matching commander, and some heretofore unreleased information about Borg-battling systems. That justifies its "appearance" in First Contact, though there's no real proof it even survived the encounter with the Queen's cube. It's all a bit drily put though. A 3.5.

TREK SENSE: The Soyuz class is very similar to, yet older than, the Miranda class, and quite close to the Reliant class. The difference seems to be that one has a large shuttlebay, while the other has a sensor package, etc. It isn't AU because it's from modern times. It may have been AU at one time (prior to crossing through that Temporal Rift), but this version, if you will, is squarely from Picard and Co.'s time. The staffing is "higher" than a Miranda's which is an anomaly. Maybe it's the Miranda which is at fault (a medium cruiser without a commander?!). It could have had a Movie icon too... ah well. The ship is certainly big enough to get a Tractor Beam (the shuttlebay is actually visible on the card). As I said before, there's no proof the Bozeman was modified to fight the Borg specifically, and it even seems improbable given how old the ship was. Why bother, y'know? In fact, the lore doesn't actually say the ship was modified to fight the Borg, but rather just modernized so that it could (perhaps only as much as a modern ship could). The bonus works if you believe this little tidbit, and doesn't if you don't. The Weapons have been modernized to 8 in any case, and the Shields to 7. But why stop there? Why is the Range so low? It's even lower than an older Constitution-class ship! Big points off there. That gives us a 2.8.

STOCKABILITY: The low RANGE is the major disadvantage here, so at the very least, you should be packing Plasmadyne Relays if you want to use the Bozeman. A Dedication Plaque could boost it to a more normal 7 as well. Morgan Bateson is the matching commander here, an easily reportable support personnel, but not as valuable as a Picard or a Sisko. With Captain's Log, he'll make WEAPONS 11 and SHIELDS 10, which is really holding its own give that he's the only staff necessary. Against the Borg (or a Borg Ship dilemma), the ship could become a vessel upwards of 13/12, which make it a good part of a Federation Borg-hunting deck (along with the Enterprise-E perhaps). But there's the rub: unless you seed a Borg Ship for yourself to hunt (inviting the wrath of Writ), you can't be sure the ship can be used to its fullest potential, and with that low RANGE, you'd only be handicapping the Federation's mission solving skills. The ship and Bateson could go into your Tent, but I think it's actually a rather rare sight. I'll give it a 3.3.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) A fun surprise in FC, but not very much beyond that.

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