To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Holodeck Adventures expansion set.

PICTURE: An ingenious image for many reasons. It's meant to be a kind of Emblem card for holograms, so it's appropriate that it's so iconic - a central and symetrical object in the middle of the pic. Better yet, the symbol (console), Hirogen in origin, but looking like a stylistic photon with rays coming out of it, is surrounded by holograms from many possible affiliations/species. You've got Cardassians, Bajorans, Vulcans, Starfleet, Borg, Jem'Hadar and Romulans. Again, very appropriate for what is essentially a treaty card. But it doesn't stop there: That grid pattern on the floor reminds us of the holodeck (right there on the expansion icon if it isn't fresh in your mind). Excellent stuff with only a slight blur. I'm gonna go for a high 4.8.

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

TREK SENSE: The first function establishes Iden's treaty between all holograms. Whether he liberated them or convinced them to join his cause, all your holograms, regardless of their affiliation, will be able to work together. After all, they are all "Children of Light". Iden's children don't really care if they hurt organics, so attack restrictions are lifted. Ok, but while that seems fine for the Hirogen Starfleet holograms, they'd have to fix the programming on truly Fed holos. Possible, of course. The second function works maybe a little less well. It seems like the capture effect is Iden's liberation of holograms, but they never do join his cause (your personnel). He never actually convinces captives to join his cause (not unless you throw in Brainwash). So the Doc never really joins up. As long as we're talking about capturing, Iden also captured B'Elanna Torres, but she's no hologram. It's too bad too, because the way the capturing is conducted is well-designed. Iden's the only hologram fanatical enough to actually do any of this, and the card requires him specifically. If your holo is present with him, then one of them has access to a projector or emitter, so Iden can download the captured program into whatever's at his disposal (as he did with the Doc's emitter, stealing the projecting technology at the same time). The Olarra being equipped for holo-living, Iden can also download holograms from damaged ships' databases, liberating them into the friendly environment of the ship. The Olarra is (almost) the only completely holo-grided ship in the game (along with the Prometheus, another mark against Children of Light), so I guess its specific mention is ok (but not great), even if I wouldn't it put it past Iden to modify another vessel for this function. In fact, I'm pretty sure he could use any holodeck to snag holograms off ships. I'm afraid it's gotta be only 3.3, which is still good.

STOCKABILITY: Holodeck Adventures offers enough in the way of holographic stuff that it could be fun to play holograms only. Well, not holograms only, not really. Not with cards such as Deactivation and Tommygun in existence. Still, what are the chances of those cards actually coming up in play? (I hope you didn't brag about your "Light Deck", or that they at least thought you were talking about Star Wars!) Reactor Overload may show up more often however. Seriously though, they are hard to kill, deactivating instead and being right back where you need them next turn. You usually have to destroy their ship to get rid of them. They are downloadable and flexible (I've Been Waiting For You is one example). They actually boost the points on a couple missions, and are immune to such things as Ceti Eel and Organ Theft. Of course, you need Mobile Emitters to send them to other ships, and Holo-Projectors to turn them into planetary Away Teams. Just to have someone to throw the right switches, I might include fleshy Lewis Zimmerman (holos report to him for free once each turn) or Donik (Hirogen holos report to his location). The Olarra has the same ability of course, but doesn't include an organic. No problem, it's a Hirogen ship, so Hirogen may report to it to staff the thing for the holograms. But with many holograms already being compatible, I'm not sure we needed to have a treaty/emblem like this. I mean, many of them are Hirogen, and another large bunch are Non-Aligned. So what if they don't want to work with K'Tesh? Aside the The Doctor, there aren't really a lot of holos I'd want to ally with Iden. Maybe for the lifted attack restrictions? Better include Disengage Safety Protocols too! Thankully, there's another effect listed on the card. This one is limited because you really need Iden in play, and he'll only regularly work with Hirogen or Bajorans (with anyone if they are holograms, of course). He enables a capture strategy that only works on holograms. And you can never be sure your opponent'll have any because of the cards that have to be included to support these personnel. Iden alone can't even do all that much, not eithout an Emitter or Projector, because opposing holograms will only be present then. Using the Olarra works out better, but you have to damage the ship with the holos aboard. It's a good ship and you have a chance, but it may be a lot of work. Then again, it may be no work at all if your opponent isn't playing into your hand. Much less useful than I would have thought, probably because they made so many holograms compatible already, and then too strictly limited the capture function. Just a 2.

TOTAL: 13.47 (67.33%) Great pic though.

PICTURE: Though the color palette is rich (I would maybe even say gaudy), it all comes out a little dark and blurry. The basics are pretty good though, from the triad of characters to the "echoes" of the concentric diamond shapes. The à propos composition really saves the card and earns it its 3.6.

LORE: Discussing events that would have happened not long after Chula: The Lights, the lore does its job ok. Not boring, but not outstanding either. A 3.1.

TREK SENSE: This Chula dilemma has two things that really hurt it. One of these is the whole mechanic behind Chula dilemmas, i.e. that there isn't any. I find it hard to believe that a complicated Gamma Quadrant game would be encountered on any mission, and that each time, you'd possibly only face one small part of the overall game. Each dilemma isn't even a whole chap! Micro-detailing the Wadi game hurts this all too human one. The second problem is, of course, that there is no real difference between an "even" attribute and an "odd" one. So how does the dilemma stand up aside from these mechanical concerns? The card shows 3 personnel, so you need 3 personnel. If the smartest of them has an "odd" way of looking at things (which is the best I can do to justify this concept), the trio is stumped (stopped). Umm... ok. The Echoes were designed to split up the group, but that isn't done here, not really. Yes, the filtered personnel would be split up from the Away Team or crew, which would be fine if the card didn't ask for a whole trio to be stopped. The three go off together to follow the echo? I'll buy it, but we're getting farther and farther from the episode's events. And it still doesn't explain the odd Cunning thing. I can believe the group would listen to the smartest personnel in a situation like this, but it's a bit arbitrary that the odd ones would be the ones that would go for the red herring. Working it all out on screen has certainly helped make sense of the card, but I can't give it above 2.4.

SEEDABILITY: Are redshirts now hanging out in groups of 3, or even 4 (for Lineup)? That's what it's come to with such dilemmas as Echoes that require at least 3 personnel to move on. Even with 3 personnel present, they may all be stopped if the smartest of them has odd CUNNING. Taking a sample of various geniuses, I see that Data has an even 12, but Lore an odd 13. Other oddballs include Julian Bashir (and corresponding Founder), Einstein, Dax, Iden, Seska, Elim Garak, Weyoun, etc., while the even stevens count among their number the Borg Queen, Dr. Soong, Kurros, The Traveller, Moriarty, Spock, Ishka and more. Just a small sample of personnel with 9+ CUNNING, and it shows a lot of odd personnel, especially if your smartest is CUNNING 9. Of course, any three personnel in a crew or Away Team may well be your stupidest, like Batrell and a couple of Targ, so it's really hard to control. If a large group hits this, your opponent won't be able to control which three personnel are targeted (nor will you), but there's a fair chance that the three will be filtered out of the mission attempt. 3 is a lot to lose. Note that it may still be redshirted by fewer personnel, which will tell the attempter that sending down 3 even-CUNNINGed personnel will allow you to go on. But if they go on, they rush headlong into the next dilemma. Better make it a mass killer or Alien Parasites or something. 3.7 here.

TOTAL: 12.8 (64%) Only one to go!

PICTURE: Fairly good composition thanks to the concentric diamonds, with some interesting bas-relief, but too dark on the whole, and too contrasty in places. That, plus it doesn't really inspire the title. A 3.

LORE: An interesting bit about Chula as a whole, hints at the game text while also relating to the picture. A good 3.2.

TREK SENSE: As I've mentioned repeatedly in dicussing Chula dilemmas, their existence causes Trek Sense problems. In brief, it is surprising that such an obscure Gamma Quadrant game would be played just about anywhere. Furthermore, it hardly makes sense that only small elements from the game would be encountered at a time. As a side-deck of some kind, maybe. As is, there's a chula craze sweeping the galaxy. Chula dilemmas are also frequently conceptual and/or mechanical, which hurts their score further. Trickery has such components. If I were to give it a storytelling spin, the Chula game creates a puzzle that relies on your personnel's memory. Unfortunately, it's not about memorizing the maze, it's about remembering a personnel's abilities (mechanically to boot). What does the specified personnel have to do with the puzzle? Maybe you're trying to answer "Is that really Bashir's voice leading us in direction X?" The dilemma allows you to try to determine what is real and what is illusion. Unfortunately, the card doesn't work very hard to make this work, using random selections and such to pick the exact personnel. And since you can't very well lie about the attributes, there's not much Trickery involved. The ideas from the lore are interesting however, and there's the concept that as you play, you might learn attribute numbers just as you might learn chula as you go along that's at work here. A 1.8 for what conceptual material is there.

SEEDABILITY: This dilemma preys on your opponent's lack of mnemonic skills, IF indeed she lacks them. Seems to me that expert players with decks they know intimately are pretty safe from this wall. Rookie players and/or sealed deck players might be at risk however. Against anyone though, you could get lucky if they play with more than one personnel with the same stats. It's possible. But that's if you randomly choose one of those personnel. In fact, the random nature of the targeting can void any stopping power this dilemma might otherwise have. Even a player who can't remember his personnel's attributes will recognize 8-12-12 as Data, y'know? Borg players using lots of universal drones will be more at a loss however. But since the dilemma discards, it simply doesn't have the staying power that other walls often do. It's dangerous to underestimate your opponent, folks. A weak 2.

TOTAL: 10 (50%) I think we've had enough Chula dilemmas.

PICTURE: That's one ugly clone growin' in there. Is it Riker's? I can't quite remember (doesn't look like him much ;-). Anyway, the eerie lighting makes the image because the gray machinery is pretty standard. An interesting enough 3.4.

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

TREK SENSE: Cloning isn't a very common thing, so before heading into the exact mechanics of the thing, let's discuss the requirements. First, you need a cloning facility. That can be Mariposa, the society of clones from "Up the Long Ladder"; Boreth, where Kahless was cloned; a Dominion facility, which we know clone Vorta; and an Infirmiry, which does contain the necessary equipment as seen in "A Man Alone" when Bashir cloned Ibudan's cells. Can't really think of anywhere else, so that list is pretty complete. Second, you need someone to do the cloning. Apparently, that's anyone with low Integrity who also has either Medical, Biology or Exobiology. I see a couple of things wrong with that. One is that it makes cloning absurdly easy in a universe that doesn't do a whole lot of that. All three skills, maybe, but one of the three? That describes a LOT of people, including field medics and botanists. The low Integrity is presumably meant to show that only a person of dubious morality would carry a clone to term (what about Bashir? he let that Ibudan walk out of the Infirmiry). In Trek, where genetic engineering is illegal, that may well be, but how about the Mariposans? They simply did it to survive, though I agree that cloning Riker without his knowledge was wrong. It helps that the big cloners are the low-Integrity Dominion, I guess. One exception is Koroth, who cloned Kahless, but had higher than 5 Integrity. He's covered specifically. And the effect? It allows you to clone a unique personnel so that you have more than one in play. It of course reports to the cloning facilities, but for free? That makes it seem like the process is a quick one, something I doubt very much. Androids and holograms being technological rather than biological are not covered. While Jem'Hadar seem to be grown but fairly unique, Vorta actually have "series". That is represented by the possibility of downloading a copy of a Vorta's persona as soon as it dies. In essence, it reproduces Weyoun's ability to show up again after he was killed. Duplication of personnel has its problems, of course, such as where the DNA is coming from (especially cross-quadrant), and how the clones could have all the knowledge and skills of the original (Vorta not withstanding). There's a lot to like here, so I'll spring for 4.3.

STOCKABILITY: An Alpha/Gamma Quadrant version of Delta Quadrant Spatial Scission, but far from as easy to pull off (i.e. it ain't broken). First, you need a specific place to play it on. Mariposa isn't in the game yet, Boreth is a Klingon-only mission (which shouldn't stop other affiliations from using its cloning facilities) and Infirmiries are most often the perview of Cardassians and Bajorans (you need a Nor in any case). The Dominion will have it easiest since any of their facilities can be used. They also get more bang for their bucks. The required personnel to conduct the cloning is pretty easy to come across: One of 3 skills, one of them a classification, that's simple, which leaves the low INTEGRITY to take care of. Even the highly Integrious non-Mirror Feds can use some Equinox crew or one of various EMHs (with Mobile Emitter) to pull it off. And while there's no way to duplicate ships this way, you're not limited to 2 copies of any personnel card. An army of Khans is possible, as is a Dr. McCoy on each of your ships (good luck getting the ultra-rares though). It's a good way to backup skills or use special abilities all over the place. For the Dominion, it's also a good way to report personnel to the Alpha Quadrant. Report your unique Vorta or changeling in the Gamma Quadrant, then clone them in the Alpha using Thot Pran or somebody. All you need is to build a facility in the AQ as soon as possible with Ultimatum. The quadrant hopping game can be played with just about anyone, as long as you're willing to report the "real" personnel in their native quadrant, perhaps (or probably) having them combine forces later, or else doing their own thing in each part of space. The clone reports for free after all. The Dominion gets a little extra still: When you lose a Vorta, you may immediately suspend play to download another copy of that Vorta right away. It doesn't even have to be a unique card. You won't be losing your White-rationer or skill horse THAT easily. Clone Machine is also mentioned on another card: It'll protect you from Doppleganger (just a bit of frosting). An excellent and versatile incident worth its 4.6.

TOTAL: 16.4 (82%) Much more likeable than DQSS.

PICTURE: These robots remind me of something out of Dr. Who... Anyway, the idea of being an old (one might say antique) automaton is carried across by the "golden idol" look and stone-like throne that is 122's chair. The background lines remind us of a church... it's all very archaeological. Brings something to an otherwise straight-on mug shot. 3.6 from me.

LORE: The first sentence established universality and context. It's fine. Then follows a little tidbit about 122 himself, again fine. Finally, he gets matching commander status on the Cravic Warship. A bonus there. Amounts to 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Pretty standard, really. Many very similar androids can be built, so his universality is more sensical than most. Built to command a warship, he's an Officer with a Command icon and the Leadership skill. Androids are classically adept at using computers, so Computer Skill is here. And working aboard a vessel gets him Navigation. No problems there. Waging war for eternity lowers an Integrity basically fueled by loyalty to his masters. A 5 works well here. These 'bots weren't particularly smart, as their participation in a useless war shows, so 7 seems enough. And as mechanical men, they have higher Strength than we do. Everything's on the money. How about the Nemesis icon? Well, all Cravic cards are nemeses of Pralor cards, both personnel and ships. Evenly matched mutual enemies, they would try to destroy the other side at any opportunity. I think one of better applied Nemesis mechanics. One note on the icon: the gray ball at its center is a bit too close to yellow/gold for comfort (don't confuse with the Data/Soong/Lore Nemesis icon), but it's the right color for mechanical men (the Pralors are more silver). Traditionally, an icon pointing back (or left) is reserved for the more villainous of the two sides, and since B'Elanna befriended a Pralor, not a Cravic, it works here in a relative context. Rather high marks at 4.4.

STOCKABILITY: Attempting to fill in the android niche in the Delta Quadrant to take care of various android dilemmas (or required of other card functions), the Cravic and Pralor units are fine, but the two factions are mutually exclusive because of their Nemesis icons. Now, because 122 is the only Cravic android available, he can only be backed-up by himself. The Pralors are thus a better choice because they have 2 personnel, one unique, the other a universal that shares 122's abilities to the letter. And they have identical ships to boot. Not to say that 122 can't be useful out of context. He commands the already powerful Cravic Warship, potentially boosting it to 9-13-12 using Plaque and Log, and it's a Spacedoorable universal ship. But he's the same as 6263 who commands an identical Pralor Warship. Either ship suffers attribute drops when it doesn't have an appropriate android aboard, so you'd again be stuck backing 122 up with another copy of himself. With skills as common as his, that may not be efficient deck building. Even as high-STRENGTH, Cybernetics-reportable, cannon fodder for your assault teams, the Pralors will do as good a job (all these androids have the same attributes). That said, you might expect your opponent to use Pralors, so your Cravics could throw a wrench into the works by Nemesisizing them right out of existence. But you're playing the meta-game by now... Because he's outclassed by the other side, I'll only go as far as 2.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) Computes.

PICTURE: DQ android Warships look pretty awful, possibly because they were meant to be fairly ancient. The Cravic one looks a little more like a ship (from the angle), where the Parlor model truly looked more like a space station. One of the interesting things is that it's more golden in color than the Pralor, just as the androids of that denomination are. Not so interesting is the ship design, despite its meaning-well gear shape on the top, so only a 2.9.

LORE: Yeah, that's pretty much it. Matching commander status can be found on Unit 122, so no extra points for the ship's lore.  Just a 3.

TREK SENSE: Obviously, these ships were meant to be tough. They were Warships, and they had lasted centuries. High Shields and Weapons were quite necessary. Range is secondary, and looks right at 7, though being even slower might have accentuated their age. They are certainly big enough to take in such things as shuttles, so Tractor Beams and high staffing make sense. Because these things were the base of operation for Cravic androids, they may report aboard. Indeed, we never saw any OFF their ships. Similarly, we've never seen anyone but those androids aboard, so not having a Cravic aboard would drop the ship's attributes considerably. Only they can make it run smoothly. Normally, I'd point to the Star Trek knack of figuring out controls for most any ship in under a minute, but we have to remember that these androids probably had capabilities greater than most humanoids, and that may have influenced ship operations. Maybe Engineering is unshielded from radiation, etc. Such difficulties would affect the ship's attributes to a point, I'm sure. Finally, there's the Nemesis icon. Not only does it keep enemy Pralors from serving aboard (though they technically could as long as they never ended their turn on the ship), but it represents pretty well the war between the two factions. Note that like the android units themselves, the Warships are factory-made to be just like one another. Aside from the android types, the Cravic Warship is exactly the same as the Pralor Warship. Well done at 4.2.

STOCKABILITY: It's a powerful Non-Aligned ship with its 10/9 WEAPONS/SHIELDS, but like the Cravic Unit, I wonder why you'd use it over the Pralor model. They are, by all accounts identical: Both have the high attributes; both have a universal android as matching commander (with identical skills and attributes), bringing the ship's stats to a potential 9-13-12; both must have the right type android aboard to keep its stats at the high level (a lame 4-7-6 without it); and both can report those androids aboard (and with a Cybernetics personnel aboard, they might report for free). Now, the Cravics have only one android to their name, and one with uninspiring common skills to boot. That means you need to back-up that android with itself. The Pralors have 2 very different androids, which make the back-up much more useful in its own right. If you count on the fact that most players would use the Pralor Warship over the Cravic one, you might use the Cravic to destroy that ship (and all aboard) via the Nemesis icon. But there's the rub: The ship is just too risky to use. It needs specific personnel to run well, and it may be poofed out of existence by its Nemesis. And it's not like the Delta Quadrant was low on high-attribute ships. I can't go above 2.1.

TOTAL: 12.2 (61%) A factory knock-off.

PICTURE: Though not in a medical environment, the background is fun, well-lit, and the camera angle gives Moset an air of smug superiority rarely achieved by non-Cardassians. At the same time, he's quite personable. Dangerous because you want to like him. A less dangerous, but equally likeable, 3.9.

LORE: Pretty basic because of the lost line, I would have liked more about the hologram's relationship to the Doctor, but what we get here about the real Moset is ok. A 3.

TREK SENSE: Between the hologram and the real man, I think only the special skill wouldn't really stick to the holo. Of course, this IS the holo, so it's gonna play against the card. He's the Cardassian answer to a super-Medical personnel, but of course, he uses his gifts for evil. Well... evil... let's say the ends justify the means for him. That's not proper, civilized behavior according to the game's Integrity scale, so low Integrity and Treachery are indicated. He does have considerable, almost intuitive, medical ability, especially when it comes to Exobiology. I'll take the x2s if you'll give 'em. I'd even have given him higher Cunning, but an 8 will do given the power of the Doc's database. The same computer program created both doctors, and the Doctor's Cunning is also an 8. Both the Strengths are 5s for that matter, and sure, they seemed evenly matched. Now for the special skill: It supposes that Moset can use someone in an experiment (taking that personnel out through death or disease, discarded in any case) to a) help a sick Cardassian somewhere, which allows you to report it in the flower of health and/or b) use the medical knowledge gained to get at some resources (card draws). Now, card draws can yield so many things, they won't always make sense. Personnel can use the same justification as the Cardie report, and you could even say his research helped improve a just-drawn Disruptor, or figure out how to Interrogate better, or give some of it to the Dominion for War Efforts, etc. Yeah, you can pretty much make anything up. Ships don't cooperate as well, but there you have it. The speed at which the experimentation is conducted may be a problem (he's not even stopped), but overall, I think we have a winner here. Not without its faults, Crell gets 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: The Cardassians are normally so low on MEDICAL that Decipher has done its best to include the "skill" on a variety of personnel that have little to do with medicine (Lemec, Mila, Makbar...). A super-MEDICAL, then, is a welcome addition! He's still only one of 3 Cardassians with MEDICAL as his classification, and sometimes, it's the classification you need. What, you say? Cardassian ships have no Holodecks, and what about his DQ icon? Not real problems. If you want to use Moset, make sure to include Holodeck Door in your game plan. He can then report to the Doorway regardless of quadrant. Holodeck Door would allow your Moset to be carried aboard a ship without problems. Better yet, try to grab a Mobile Holo-Emitter to allow him to join Away Teams as well. Crell Moset may be your only Cardassian hologram anyway (though if using Holodeck Door, you might want to use a few NAs as well). In addition to the very nice MEDICAL x2, he brings the very useful Exobiology x2 to the table, and Treachery, which fits in well with Cardassian missions. All excellent, and he'll even pull his own weight staffing-wise thanks to his Staff icon. And of course, there's the special skill. At once a card drawing and personnel reporting mechanism, all you need to do is discard a personnel present to get an extra personnel reported that turn, and/or (AND/or!!!) draw up to 2 cards. A few ways of doing this: You can sacrifice one of your lowly personnel that has outlived its usefulness. You'll report another one anyway, plus draw cards. This tactic's the easiest to pull off if stuck in a Holodeck, and the card draws can help you get that elusive Emitter. The other, nastier, way to do it is to discard opposing personnel. Yes, you can do that. No battle necessary, your opponent will lose a personnel, and you'll be rewarded. If stuck aboard a Nor or ship, your Cardassians can bring you captives (he'll at least act as deterrent for intruders). If not, hunting season is open for guinea pigs. That skill alone makes Crell attractive to other affiliations (in particular, the DQ ones that ally easily with others), and the super-MEDICAL certainly doesn't hurt. A very high 4.8.

TOTAL: 15.5 (77.5%) A favorite for many made quite a splash when he finally came out.

PICTURE: Not very impressive. Even if I thought B'Elanna was the most appropriate Cyberneticist to picture, which I really don't (how about Lal being built instead?), she's behind a mess of equipment. And that equipment, as well as the Terminator arm she's working on, is blurry and over-exposed. Sorry, but just 0.9.

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

TREK SENSE: Everything that was part and parcel of the Cybernetics skill can be found in this card now instead, plus a little more. Cybernetics skill personnel can, with this Expertise, build androids so that they report for free. That's fast! Closer to what we saw in "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" than "The Offspring". So there is precedent for quick-building androids in Star Trek, but it's also a little odd. Cybernetics x2 personnel, on the other hand, can build them wherever they are, without any other reporting mechanism. That's actually closer to what the main effect should have been (without being for free). However, it leads to some strange goings-on as your Dr. Soong manages to build an android while stranded on a deserted planet à la MacGuyver. Sure, that was pretty much his lifestyle, but he didn't just drop out of the sky and start building them, it took a while to set up a lab. Finally, more in line perhaps with B'Elanna's foray into the field, the card allows an android to be repaired by pulling it out of the discard pile, but not without the expenditure of some resource (a card is discarded in its stead). This new effect actually works better than the stuff that was attached to the skill before. In all? A 2.3.

STOCKABILITY: What Cybernetics personnel used to pretty much do alone, you now need a card to do. It's not downloadable or anything, but it can be seeded if your strategy depends on it. Ok, so is it worth it? Depends on how dependent you are on androids. With a lot of NA androids these days, using the "species" isn't just an option for the Feds anymore (and none of that Lore's Fingernail business required). Androids, whether you're talking about Data's family, the DQ Units, or the OS Ruk and Dr. Korby, androids are generally excellent personnel. They have high CUNNING and STRENGTH, often lots of skills and react differently to some dilemmas (either being unaffected, or less affected, though sometimes being targeted outright). The ability to report them for free is good, and in a number equal to Cybernetics personnel present means you can get more than one per turn, depending. I say depending because most affiliations have at most a single Cybernetics personnel. The Feds only have 2! The Romulans actually have 3 if you count Orrum, but in both cases, you gotta deal with AQ/DQ issues. The Bajorans and the DQ-only affiliations have none at all. If you plan to rely on Cybernetics Expertise, you'll certainly need to use the few NA Cyberneticists then: Korby, Soong and Ira Graves. Korby is good because, like Juliana Tainer, he is an android that may have benefitted from this card and now adds to its reporting power. Soong, however, is the best by far, and should definitely be included (too bad the Fajo Collection is such a pricy product). Not only does he allow 2 androids to report for free each turn, but he also allows them to do so at his location. No lounging around at your Outpost. Obviously, it could be possible for, say, B'Elanna, to use Home Away From Home on an NA Equinox to report Cravic Units, etc. Where there's a will, there's a way. Get Soong to the DQ with a Micro-Wormhole though, and you can make your AQ androids cross interstellar boudaries pretty easily. Android armies/assault teams are no longer figments of your imagination. Universal Soong-Types are a dime a dozen, but if you lose an android you really care about (like Data or Lore), you can fish him out of the discard pile with this card, in exchange for something you're willing to sacrifice in your own hand. He'll be easy to report again thanks to the aforementioned effects. And you can even use him in combination, say, with Crell Moset to discard, draw cards and redraw, as a cycle engine. Just an example. Overall though, it's not that useful unless you want to concentrate on androids a good deal, but in a pinch, easily grabbing that evil Lore, or that Exocomp repairman, could be very useful. I'd call it a 3.7.

TOTAL: 9.2 (46%) Back to the drawing board...

PICTURE: The brown tones work well for a Dixon Hill character. It's got the right period feel (like the black and white of the Captain Proton stuff). It's not a very exciting palette, of course, but there ya go. The pic is a good headshot in any case, sharp and well composed. The late Lawrence Tierney was apparently a maniac, but he sure has presence. A good 3.5.

LORE: The stuff about the "item" is resolved on the relevant Holoprogram card, which would make little sense without its appearance here. I like what precedes it, as it gives us his personality and attitude. Seems like being a "re-creation" of so-and-so isn't as important to put on a card as it used to be though. A fairly good, if workmanlike, 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Very poor. Sure, I'll accept that this Federation-made hologram was Non-Aligned because in the episode, the Enterprise lost control of the program and allowed him to act independently (à la Moriarty). Usually, I don't like the NA affiliation on holograms. I mean, he's based on Earth literature (low-brow literature at that), so why would the Romulans be running his program, you know? As a mob boss, he can't be anything but Civilian, and his Integrity should be pretty low. His Cunning seems a little high though. Is it the civility or the fact he sort of found out he was on the Enterprise or what? Seemed pretty one-dimensional to me, a one-track mind unable to really comprehend his situation. Strength, on the other hand, could have been higher. It's Lawrence Tierney! A mean ol' Reservoir Dog! Remember that line about being like the Fantastic Four's Thing in that Tarantino movie? Well, it's also true of Cyrus Redblock! A gangster his size would be a powerful physical opponent, I should think. He's only got one skill, and I wouldn't dispute Leadership, but Leadership x2? Sure, his minions followed his orders, but he's got Leadership on the same order as Kirk or a world government leader! I don't buy it. And then there's the special skill. It's unfortunate that so many personnel in Holodeck Adventures have special abilities that read like Events because while they work thematically (and are fun), they just don't work within Trek Sense. Here, no matter where Cyrus is, he can murder someone when they face certain dilemmas. It's got to do with his belief that you only kill for a purpose, so that in the game, dilemmas that mention murder should kill (they are purposeful). I see the logic, but it's go nothing to do with Redblock himself. Sorry, but that spells a low 0.6 for this hologram.

STOCKABILITY: On his own, Cyrus Redblock is a medium-powered hologram. The Leadership x2 is a good skill, which takes care of a number of mission and dilemma requirements. And the special skill is interesting if you use the "murder" dilemmas in combination with him. He adds teeth to Angry Mob, Lockbox, Empathic Echo, Framed for Murder, Implication, Ankari Spirits, Scientific Method and Dejaren. Some of these are just walls, but now they also kill. Maybe the death will impair the crew or Away Team so that they can't pass it after all. That's all cute and fine, but throw in a couple of other cards, and Cyrus Redblock becomes, some might say, a game breaker. Holoprogram: The Office of Dixon Hill allows Cyrus to report for free, then enables the "item" mechanic. What is this? Well, as long as Cyrus remains in that Holodeck (present with the Holoprogram), you can, every turn, put a card from hand face down on the table. From there, it either plays for free or gets placed out-of-play. If it plays for free, you further get a card draw. If it's placed out-of-play, you score 5 points. The problem is, your opponent decides which. That's why I don't consider it game-breaking. You can lose an awful lot of cards to the out-of-play region, and 5 points each turn is only worth so much if your opponent hoses you with Intermix Ratio (but he needs to give you a LOT of points if you keep completing missions in the meantime, before you're actually hosed). It's a risk to play a card you want to play. Still, you might count on your opponent's dislike of giving away points, and get that free play/card draw combo. So it's a risk to put a card down that you don't want to play too. Risky for you, but a pain for your opponent. The proverbial rock and hard place. More fun with Redblock: Felix Leech can download him. This is especially helpful since Felix downloads to the Office of Dixon Hill. You want Cyrus in play as fast as possible after all, to enable his effects. Again, there's a catch: Your opponent must have attacked you. That may not be difficult against certain decks, but against others, you might need some kind of Conundrum/Saltha'na Clock incentive. A lot of checks and balances technically keep Cyrus from being too cheesy, but he's still a strong (and a little cheesy) 4.5.

TOTAL: 11.9 (59.5%) In memoriam.

PICTURE: More than just a creature shot (which might have tended to look a bit rubbery), it shows us the dilemma in action, and part of its solving. The lines behind the Doctor give a curved composition that follows B'Elanna's figure, and otherwise mitigates its haphazard nature. Nothing spectacular, but not badly done: a 3.2.

LORE: Goes a loooooooooooong way towards explaining the game text, because it's more about having the right expertise present, than it is about the creature itself. The first sentence sounds like it was written by the Doc himself, if you ask me. An adequate 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Now, either this is about the creature and its forced symbiosis, or it's about having the right expertise to handle mission complications. The 3 Exobiology required is strictly for the Cytoplasmic Life-Form itself. If you have loads of Exo, you figure out how to take care of it, and it's over. The other part though, recreates the Doctor's dilemma from the start of that episode, mainly that he couldn't solve the puzzle alone. If the Cytoplasmic doo-hickey was the mission, then the Exobiology had to come from different sources (the Doc and Crell Moset), for example. Unfortunately, you can't tie the creature to all (or even most) missions. It doesn't even put a personnel in stasis like it did B'Elanna! It jumps on someone offstage, and suddenly, you need 2 personnel to Transport Colonists, where a single Honor/Diplomacy personnel would have done fine before. It's conceptual nonsense, and I can't give this thing better than 1.5.

SEEDABILITY: A perfect seed for missions with lots of skill requirements, you'd need 6 personnel to complete Hunt for DNA Program, 7 for Symbiont Diagnosis... and that's at a minimum. Remember, you'd need the right distribution too. You might have several personnel to choose from when attempting Inversion Mystery, but your only Astrophysics skill can't be on the guy that supplies the ENGINEER or the Diplomacy. Tight mission selections and strategies that reward the fewer personnel the better will have trouble with this dilemma. Once you factor in other dilemmas that kill off that extra skill you needed separate from the rest, you can see how some missions might be rendered very difficult to complete. Of course, there's a requirement. 3 Exobiology isn't easy to come up with, but there are enough Exobiology dilemmas to make such personnel valuable commodities, commodities that are bound to show up in every crew or Away Team. In threes though? We'll see. Packs enough of a punch for my 4.

TOTAL: 11 (55%) That Trek Sense'll do it every time.

PICTURE: They had to pull background detail to get this Breen holo alone in a frame, so that's why the pic's a bit blurry. I'm more concerned with the eclectic garbage in HIS background. Comes off as average. Of the two borders we have access to, I think the Hirogen blue complements Dar the best, matching highlights on his helmet. A 3.

LORE: I love it. The Breen have long been the Alpha Quadrant's most mysterious race. Every time they were mentioned, we got a little more information about them, sometimes conflicting or wrong outright. Because by the time Voyager left the Alpha Quadrant, we hadn't even seen the Breen in all their Dominion War glory, they possibly knew even less than we do. This is well told in the lore, and I give it a strong 4.

TREK SENSE: On the dual-affiliation, I suppose the Hirogen could control the hologram if they wanted to (or you could consider the Children of Light to be a Hirogen subset), but if given the opportunity, it would join the Breen. I wasn't convinced that Voyager's databanks would know the Breen were now part of the Dominion, but "The Killing Game" (when the information is shared with the Hirogen) happens after the first transmission with Federation space using their old communications network. Unfortunately, closer inspection of episode airings shows that the Breen joined the Dominion much later than that. Another design point I disagree with regardless is to have made him Dominion first, and Hirogen as the alternate (as per the asterisk in the rarity box). Since Dar is a Breen soldier by the looks of it, he's Security (besides, I think the Hirogen would more readily make Security personnel because of their battle skills). The skills may seem a little haphazard, and they are, but I believe we're seeing some pretty subtle conceptual design here. Let me explain: The holographic Breen was created with incomplete knowledge of what a Breen really is. Consequently, he himself knows little about himself (he basically knows what rumors we do). So he knows his own Biology (Breen have no blood, etc.) and a few things about his home planet (Breen winters are very cold, etc.) and where Breen space begins and ends, which might account for Stellar Cartography. Note that as far as fragmentary personnel go, his name, "Dar", sounds like the fragment of a name, more than a real name. Delicious! As for attributes, he's got a ruthless Integrity, the Cunning we might associate with the old saying, "Never turn your back on a Breen", and his people's high Strength. Look, I know his skills are mostly invention, but as long as you're gonna invent, do it like this. A very good 4.3. High for a support personnel!

STOCKABILITY: When it comes to supplementing the small Hirogen personnel base, the holograms are pretty good. Not only do they plug skill holes, but they also have photonic power going for them (they aren't really killed, etc.). Of course, many cards cause them trouble (if included in a deck), and they need card support to go on planet missions, board other ships, etc. Venatic Hunters at least have the required Holodeck, and the Olarra in particular can report holograms aboard without the need for Holodeck Door. As a support personnel, he could report aboard the standard Venatic Hunter directly too. Biology and Stellar Cartography are two skills that work great to counter dilemmas, so he'll find his niche, even in multiples. There are a handful of Hirogen personnel with either skill, including some holograms. Without holos, this usually drops to 2 or 3. The Dominion has a nifty trick with support personnel: Dominion War Efforts keeps your Assign Support Personnel from discarding after downloading a 2-skill personnel. That means Dar can be downloaded with hardly any fuss. The Dominion will enjoy his skills too, though Stellar Cartography already appears on a couple of Jem'Hadar support personnel, and SECURITY is incredibly common with them. He can only exist on the Dominion Battleship though, unless you use Holodeck Door elsewhere. No matter who he works for, a universal with this kind of STRENGTH deserves Disengage Safety Protocols. Though using holograms isn't always very efficient, Dar has enough to recommend. Warning: Do not try to use him as a Breen to staff Breen ships, he's hologram species. I'm giving him 3.5.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) At least the real deal, Lam, got a higher score.

PICTURE: Another shot from the infamous poker scene in "Cause and Effect", the close-up doesn't do much for me, and indeed, Data isn't even dealing cards here, but rather shuffling them. Of course, we might be telling him to deal as he's shuffling, but whatever. The blur of motion in the deck itself may be worth up to 2.6.

LORE: A couple of elements make this one of the funniest lores in the game. The first sentence doesn't just refer to card-playing, but also to the episode "The Naked Now" when Data replaced all the isolinear chips in engineering in superspeed motion (in fact, the line is pulled from the episode). It's a play on the meaning of "shuffling" and talks about the same android super-power. As for Riker's amusing quote, it refers just as much to what YOU are doing with this card, i.e. stacking your deck. I've also always liked to bring attention to the worst poker party ever, what with the card-counting android, the blindman who sees through card backs, the anti-bluff empath, and a Klingon sore loser (somehow, Riker still wins). All that amounts to a 4.5.

TREK SENSE: In the world of the game, this does nothing. Data may be playing poker somewhere, but it can't possibly have an effect on your resources, destroyed or otherwise. So the effect basically just ties in conceptually, as you're allowed to "stack the deck" just like in the lore. Of course, you don't even do this like Data could (through a shuffle) or even by really dealing cards. You "deal" cards into your discard pile (the cards on the show weren't being used for play anymore, just to prove the paradox), then draw from that discard pile (umm... doesn't refer to anything in particular). There IS a relationship to the episode, in that the future (cards in deck) was a rehash of the past (discarded cards), but all of that is incredibly conceptual, and can't amount to more than a (generous) 1.4.

STOCKABILITY: A none-too-bad deck manipulator, it allows you to rescue 3 discards in exchange for your next 3 cards. Now, you don't usually know what those 3 cards will be, so it's a gamble. While a couple cards take peeks at the top card only, Handshake is a better one to assess your losses if you use Keep Dealing, even rearranging the top 5 to your liking. Can get a bit involved (or risky), but if you really need those discards, they won't be far in your deck. No cycling to the bottom of the draw deck, they're right on top where Kivas Fajo-Collector can grab them in a single shot. Or you can be patient, especially if you don't need to make downloads, and get them one at a time. The interrupt could even be used for other reasons, such as getting rid of ships in the discard pile to circumvent a just-dropped Salvage Starship objective. Oh, and if you really needed those cards you just discarded, you can put them back on top of your deck right away. Great way to rig some probes. About 4.4.

TOTAL: 12.9 (64.5%) Tell Data he passed.

PICTURE: Creepy in that blue light, Dejaren's coming up behind you with a pick-axe... watch out! The background lines make for a good, focused composition too. A strong 4.1.

LORE: Lots of descriptives and humanoids referred to as "filthy animals", all perfectly appropriate and in-character. The second part of it has more to do with the dilemma's game text. "Murdered" is useful too. Good stuff that earns another 4.1.

TREK SENSE: You can't try to overcome this dilemma with Computer Skill (the skill related to deactivating a rogue hologram) because he takes you by surprise. You don't know he's a killer. Of course, his two victims (a number pulled directly from the episode, since there's a holo, let's say the Doc, and a non-holo, like B'Elanna, that are included) can escape if they're smart enough to realize something is wrong and avoid Dejaren's traps. If whoever survives has the computer know-how to deactivate Dejaren, then the dilemma is overcome. If not, you keep hunting for him into your next turn. Does the episode rather well, but it's too literal to really be universal. First, there's the title, which would have been more generic as "Killer Hologram" or whatever, but the game text is even worse. Why must he attack a holo along with a non-holo? He doesn't hate holos per se, and might actually be embraced by the Children of Light. The Doc was just too "assimilated" into humanoid culture. And if the crew or Away Team is bigger, why can't they keep an eye on him? At least, he'll kill again on the next turn if not deactivated now. It's just overkill on the holos when his real targets are flesh and blood personnel. One thing that does deviate from the episode is the space/planet icon, and that's usually fine. Holos are used on ground facilities as well as ships. Of course, those totally wild planets don't have many emitters... Its specificity hurts it even if it emulates an episode very well. A 3.2 here.

SEEDABILITY: CUNNING 9 or more is pretty rare, and CUNNING boosters are usually limited to specific personnel boosts and - ugh - PADDs. That means this dilemma will kill more often than not. How many is up to your opponent. Players using some of Holodeck Adventures' key holograms might lose these (they're not usually very smart), but only for a short while, as they would only be deactivated by the kill. For holos, then, it's little more than a filter. If your opponent never comes up with 2 Computer Skill, the same holo might always be stopped, but when the dilemma IS overcome, the holo will be filtered out of the attempt. The non-holo won't just be filtered though, it'll be quite dead. As long as it doesn't have high CUNNING, this is an automatic kill. If the Computer Skill requirement isn't then present, the dilemma goes back under the mission and will kill again. That's great, though of course, Computer Skill is insanely common. You might hit the best or only Computer Skill personnel with the dilemma though, so there's a chance. A slim one. Access Denied brings up the requirements to 3, I guess. In any case, it's a "murder" dilemma, so Cyrus Redblock can add another kill to it, this one for sure (cross your fingers, it might be a Computer guy). So for the score, we get a very good 4.

TOTAL: 15.4 (77%) Squeezes into the top 10 dilemmas.

PICTURE: There are a lot of TNG pics, like almost anything aboard the Enterprise, that are a very dull beige. And that unfortunately includes some scenes in the holodeck! And on a Non-Aligned card, everything looks the same. The boring color palette isn't helped much by the ridiculous subject matter (and I never even found the Klingon kid too believable in the first place). It's not particularly bad, mind you, just uninspiring in the extreme. A 2.5.

LORE: Told as a one-sentence synopsis of the episode's premise, we get nothing really interesting about the character Alexander is playing. Maybe trim the more-or-less irrelevant Barclay stuff to make room for it? Room that is already shortened by the already heavy species lineage. Again, quite dull, and a 2.5.

TREK SENSE: The problem associated with holodeck versions of a character persists here. Namely, the personnel "becomes" the holo-story character, gaining skills and an affiliation related to that character, yet keeping some 24th-century abilities or characteristics as well in many cases. At least Alexander doesn't suffer as much as some others. He's got no staffing icon to get in the way and is too young (Youth is self-explanatory) to necessarily keep his affiliation when playing make-believe. Of course, the Security and Law are part of the Deputy character, so walk out of the holodeck, and Alexander can't really use them. In the game, he's allowed to, even on away missions. It's ridiculous. Even the kind of Law he has, which would be Old West (sorry, I mean Ancient West), wouldn't really work in 24th century situations. The special skill is an interesting one involving bonus points. Points are a conceptual artifact that represent achievement of goals. Goals can be set by anyone, really, from affiliations (as with missions) to individuals (Aamin Marritza's own goal is to die, getting the Phoenix to fly is Cochrane's). When Alexander's dad stuns a bad guy, he cheers. His dad's achievement is worth the 5 points. It's gotta be a stun result because we're just playing here (holodecks should be safe), and they must have Treachery to be real villains. Now, of course this gets ridiculous when you remember that personnel battles are not gonna occur on the holodeck. Even if Alexander would cheer his dad in any battle, well, why must it be Sheriff Worf? Any Worf should do, no? At least the attributes make sense. At this point, he's a little more obedient, so his Integrity jumps from the basic version's 6 to a 7. He's still a stupid kid, so the low Cunning is fine by me too. And because he's older, and in a rough-and-tumble scenario, he gets a small boost in Strength. Makes up for some of its inherent problems, so a 3.3.

STOCKABILITY: Any real use of the Holoprogram: Deadwood card would obviously require Deputy Rozhenko. He reports to any ship that has the Holoprogram, but you still need to get him in hand. Same for Sheriff Worf. Once they're together at the Holoprogram, lots of cool stuff happens. The present mission's span gets longer for your opponent, at least +2 thanks to the duo's SECURITY skills; opposing personnel need more SECURITY than you here to initiate battles (so at least 3); and Sheriff Worf can overcome SECURITY dilemmas just like that (limited to space missions, of course, which stills means Assassin's Blade, Barclay's Protomorphosis Disease, Berzerk Changeling, Center of Attention, and plenty more). Furthermore, whether they are together or apart, you score 5 points each time the Sheriff stuns an opponent with Treachery, and since they're NAs, they have more chance of getting into that kind of situation than as Feds. Of course, you need to control just who Worf is paired with, so may I recommend Bodyguards? I'd also recommend leaving the Deputy aboard ship while you go fighting - he's got really low attributes. Despite that last fact, Deputy Rozhenko has some mission-solving ability. Law is a rare skill, and he could be a fair source for any affiliation low on it. SECURITY is also much better than the expected CIVILIAN. And Youth? Well, you never know. Persona-switching isn't too important here, though you could get the support personnel Alexander Rozhenko reported/downloaded first, but I really wouldn't use that card. With the use of a couple other cards, the Deputy can rank itself at 3.8, but watch out for the Hollanders!

TOTAL: 12.1 (60.5%) Hey, it's still annoying little Alexander.

PICTURE: They've got a good film noir atmosphere going with those shadowy blinds, but the glint in Picard's right eye is a little creepy. A good effort at 3.6.

LORE: Oddly, it's written about the fictional character (which should be an AU then), not about Picard who is mentioned without being linked to the role himself. A detailed enough literary history doesn't really compensate for the lack of Dixonese, long expected since the Business Card. Sadly, only 2.7.

TREK SENSE: On the usual problems associated with "holo-personae", I must say Dixon Hill does a little better than these usually do. See, it's always difficult to swallow that the Starfleet personnel would take on a fictional role in the holodeck, but keep that persona in real life too, on mission attempts, etc. Fortunately, Picard's worn this costume on the bridge ("The Long Goodbye"), even staying in character there ("Shhhtep on it"). He's also used the character during a mission to good effect, in First Contact! That said, Picard remains Picard, and I don't think he'd work with, say, the Romulans even as Dix. So the Non-Aligned nature of the card doesn't work. Dixon Hill was a Civilian, but Enterprise personnel would still obey him like an Officer with a Command icon if they saw him walking around the halls in trenchcoat and fedora. Of course, a private eye might have gotten Security for a classification instead, no? As for the skills, it's all about what he used AS the character. Anything? Not really. He was a fish out of water most of the time (especially in this early shot), so Anthropology, which could have been a natural, is out. Diplomacy for dealing with Cyrus Redblock and Felix Leech? Still didn't keep one crewman from being shot. Really, there's nothing crucial missing except Security. The special download is fine on the surface in that the Business Card is something Dixon had on his person. Of course, its effects are so conceptual that they can't really be linked to the Card or to Dixon Hill. The download essentially makes Dixon Hill responsible for the effects, which can work in the case of the capture Interrupt, though Dix doesn't have to be there, so it really doesn't. And there's not even that amount of justification for the Event effect. The special skill which allows Dix to disregard requirements when solving a mission has little basis in fact. Picard never really completed a mission as Dix - the closest he's come to is greeting the Jarada in the costume, using Picard's, not Dixon's, linguistic training - and certainly never went on a planet mission. The ability seems to be based on the fact that he's "solved dozens of cases". How many missions on a spaceline? Oh, a dozen. He can solve them all as long as he's allowed to attempt them. Quite conceptual, thank you. Attributes are those of Premiere Jean-Luc Picard, but with one less Integrity point. As Hill, he was a little less stuffy, working alongside the law, but not necessarily within its bounds. It's fine. What isn't fine is almost everything else. Can only give him a full 1 with difficulty.

STOCKABILITY: There's a reason this guy is ultra-rare - he's a powerful mission solver. No skills (CIVILIAN is hardly a skill, I'm sorry), but once the dilemmas have been passed, he can solve any mission's requirements as if they were nothing but himself. So long as you protect him through the dilemmas then, it doesn't matter who else survives, you can solve it (which doesn't invalidate Lack of Preparation earlier on, mind you). He would be particularly useful at missions with either lots of requirements (like Pegasus Search) or very specific ones (like Investigate Time Continuum). Losing personnel at these can totally kill the mission attempt, but not with Dix as your back-up. Another way to use him, of course, is as a version of the Jean-Luc Picard persona. Other versions have plenty of skills, so they can guide your personnel through dilemmas, and only turn into Dixon Hill at the end if necessary. Dixon Hill also has a good special download. As an Interrupt, the Business Card can be called up just as a non-Borg redshirt is killed to capture another (great, because it keeps happening while you don't have the card in hand). As an Event, you can more easily pick and choose when exactly your opponent must play a universal or hologram, and makes it a free play too. Dixon Hill also interacts with other cards. If with Data's Carlos, you can draw your cards from your discard pile instead of draw deck. Great manipulation, and all you need to do to reverse the process is separate the two, or switch one back to another version. If Lily is present, then you can cancel a personnel battle here, which may protect your Dix from being killed by marauding personnel. Some great stuff available to all non-Borg affiliations, but of course, you gotta get your hands on the card(s). Even the attributes are decent. Picard was never so good: a 5.

TOTAL: 12.3 (61.5%) Barely passes even with a 5! Too many sacrifices in other design stages.

PICTURE: A lot of things going on here, and lots of color, but the composition, busy as it is, has lines directing us to the center screen and keeping us there. A lot of affiliations are represented on the card at the same time, which is another plus. The Breen to the right represents the Dominion proper, while the hardware is Cardassian. You'll also find a Cardassian icon on the screen, representing the Cardassian fleet. Other fleets on the board include the Klingons, Feds and Romulans. Even Deep Space 9 is pictured on there (Bajoran). I bet the Ferengi sold Central Command a couple of isolinear chips ;-). Screen shots are often a little dull, but this one looks great. A 4.1.

LORE: The lore finds a way to make both Dominion and Cardassian troops expendable during the Dominion War. Jem'Hadar because they can be quickly bred, any others because they are worthless solids. The only problem I find is that it's a little hard to make sense of the syntax on the first pass, but then again, the Cardassians kinda missed that fine print too! A very good effort (heh) and a 4.4.

TREK SENSE: Whether the Dominion is breeding Jem'Hadar or drafting Breen and Cardassians, they do it efficiently and without thinking twice. Their overall military strategy is to throw as many ships and troops at the enemy as possible, even on suicide runs, so they must quickly replace them as they fall, which they do. Dominion War Efforts represents this well, though there is one problem: You don't need to play the Dominion to use the card. By that I mean that a Cardassian player would use the same strategy even if there's no alliance with the Dominion. Sure, the Cardassian military complex is a solid one, and they are known as the Quadrant's wastrels, but if you give them access to this, why not give it to other militarily-minded affiliations? The Klingons and Bajorans start fighting at an early age, humanity seems to be real good at spreading out (high birth rates and adaptability), etc. I don't really fault the card for giving this to the Cardies (for the aforementioned rationale), just that other than the card's title, there seems to be nothing to stop other affiliations to do this kind of thing on similar terms (and didn't many of them participate in the War anyway?). With the Dominion at least, troops are basically cloned (except for Breen). Thankfully, the Dominion has no non-combattants as support personnel, not even Vortas. Again, the Cardassians don't necessarily follow that rule, in particular with Ulani Belor. Since it's a way of doing things, not an actual event or piece of hardware, I agree that Kevin Uxbridge couldn't nullify it. Strong despite its implications and another 4.

STOCKABILITY: Assign Support Personnel can be used to allow support personnel to report directly aboard ships throughout the game, but the download effect discards it from the table, so it winds up costing you a card play to pay for the download. Some players will find the seed-for-an-early-personnel a fair trade. Cardassians and the Dominion get a nice boost with War Efforts by allowing their support personnel to be downloaded without discarding the objective. Of course, there's still the limit written into Assign Support Personnel: you can only download each personnel once per game per card title, so only one Meso'Clan, one Lam, one Daro, etc., per game. Still, these two affiliations have more than their share of support personnel. The Dominion has about a dozen and the Cardassians only a little less. Those are easy and cheap downloads in addition to your regular reporting, they usually have good skills (if necessarily few), and make for easily assembled assault teams. You can't say no to free personnel plays, can you? For the Dominion, it also means they can keep Deyos mobile and keep those card draws coming (as many as 2 each turn thanks to this). I'd say that's worth 4.4.

TOTAL: 16.9 (84.5%) Worth the effort.

PICTURE: A fairly non-descript Cardassian, at least the light fixture adds a little interest, and all the lines that are part of composition keep our attention inside the picture. A 3 with no problems or flashiness. The two border colors are very close to each other, but I'd say the Hirogen one was the better of the two, being more in tune with the image's colors.

LORE: Doran's universality is unimpeachably stated, and what they've given him to do is something a number of holograms must have done, and makes sense. Better than average at 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Well, what's "typical" for a hologram based on information about the Cardassians in Voyager's databanks? Or did the Hirogen use the basic biological/cultural templates and just arbitrarily equip them with skills? I really don't know. Security and Archaeology are a little odd together, though either of them might work with Transporter Skill. Really, I can't see how Archaeology would be something the Hirogen would care to put into a hologram that's made for fighting/running. I have a nagging feeling the skill is there as a tenuous connection to giving memories to the Doctor, for what are archaeological artifacts but memories of a bygone era? The middling Integrity works for these holograms that are basically good guys (victims), but willing to do some pretty outrageous stuff through desperation. The high enough Cunning matches the Cardassian profile, and the Strength is fine too, probably boosted a little to make him better prey. A minor note about the dual-affiliation: Doran is Cardassian first (the asterisk is on the Hirogen copy), and I'm not sure that's right. Made by Hirogen, he's more likely to show up there (actually, totally unlikely to show up in a Caradssian holodeck), and that's the affiliation that makes him compatible with other Children of Light (without an extra card, of course) even if you think rebelling from the Hirogen reverted him to Cardassian mode. Like I said, minor. The odd skill selection is more of an issue however. Scores 2.7.

STOCKABILITY: Cardassian ships don't naturally have Holodecks, but with Crell Moset, they may very well be tempted to install them. Holodeck Door will allow these DQ personnel to report anywhere anyway. And so, Doran, Harath and Kejal all become viable personnel. Cardies may even use the vast number of new Non-Aligned holograms to supplement their strategies. Now Doran is a support personnel to boot, so can be downloaded specifically without Assign Support Personnel being discarded thanks to Dominion War Efforts. Archaeology isn't too useful as far as dilemmas go, but Transporter Skill certainly is. Attributes are very good too, and as a hologram, he can't properly be "killed" as easily as flesh and blood personnel (or moved around unfortunately). For the Hirogen, he's a skill hole-plugger, as are most Hirogen holograms. Not that Archaeology will be that useful to them, but Transporter Skill always is. Being less mobile, for example, Doran can stay aboard ship to protect your hunters from Now Would Be A Good Time. With the Children of Light (and relevant Incident), he allows them to attempt Cardassian missions, for which you have some back-up (3 other DQ Cardassian holos). Overcomes some of his limits to settle around 3.3.

TOTAL: 12.4 (62%) Fair, but necessarily in the bottom tier.

PICTURE: Sisko as Dr. Noah gives an evil look, and is surrounded by his riches. I'd have liked him in front of his flooded map of the world, but this one has a simmering menace about it that does the job. I'll say 3.4.

LORE: Does a good job setting up the role of this holo-character and its persona, with a second sentence that's fun and over the top (plus, helps explain his special skill). I'd have like to see his first name listed though (it's Hippocrates). Ok, goes for another 3.4.

TREK SENSE: On the subject of mains-as-holograms, I think it works fine in that the persona cannot be both in and out of the Holodeck since it's their real body, but nothing else has to be the same because it's not their mind. The only real question I had was as to deactivatability. The unchanged crewmembers were concerned that killing the holograms could kill the real bodies. This doesn't happen in the CCG, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because hey, they were never sure exactly what would happen.. Dr. Noah is the leader of an international criminal organization, so Leadership is a necessary skill. I was gonna say that killing off the vast majority of the human (and animal!) population in a mass flood would have given him Treachery x2, but Bond villains (let's call him what he is) have a kind of roguish aspect that makes us like them. Is that, and their Dr. Evil-like propensity towards a twisted sort of honor, enough to leave Treachery at x1? Mmm, maybe. He was never expecting to win, after all. What seems to be missing as far as skills go is some kind of scientific expertise. Sure, he had to get a team of scientists to do his dirty work (in a manner of speaking, as water is more of a cleaner), but they do call him "doctor". Science would have been a much better classification than the default Civilian. Or how abour VIP? He was setting himself up to be leader of "this island Earth" ;-). The special skill makes some sense, in that he was kidnapping Earth's most brilliant minds to create his new society, the best humanity had to offer in the arts, sciences, etc. It translates as the most Cunning of any given group, but that's iffy at best. What about that herd of Targ? Even the smartest is dumb, y'know? I don't think he was ever "present" to do this, he operates from afar. Then again, all characters in a Holodeck are present together, no matter their holo-geographical position.  And let's not forget he is a holographic character. Why would he be kidnapping Klingons and Romulans? How exactly would he do it? His resources are part of the holographic world. Attributes? The very low Integrity is required to kill off most of the human race. Cunning is high, but not so high Mr. Bashir couldn't outsmart him. And Strength is not that of a physical combattant, but still of someone who can take care of himself. That all works, but it doesn't mean everything passes the test. A good try, I'll give it 3.3 this time.

STOCKABILITY: Holoprogram: Noah's Mountain Retreat allows Dr. Noah to report or download aboard a ship or facility thanks to his mention of Secret Agent Julian Bashir in his lore. Thanks to the Holoprogram, your Transporter Skill personnel can turn Noah into another version of the Benjamin Sisko persona. Basically, it means that you can download any Sisko you want with the help of a Holodeck and TS personnel. The Bajorans will enjoy getting The Emissary early, and I'm sure the Feds can make use of Ben or Lt. Sisko, while the Klingons can use Jodmos. But maybe you don't even want to flip from Dr. Noah. After all, his capture skill works each turn. EACH TURN! He'll always grab the most CUNNING personnel present, and on and on until there are no personnel left. He's of course limited by his holographic nature. Without Holo-Projectors or a Mobile Emitter, he would be stuck only capturing intruders. Bleh. Once you have an enabling card though, he'll capture to his dark heart's content. Only Secret Agent Julian Bashir can stop him now! He can still help on mission attempts, in particular with Leadership, Treachery and random attributes. CIVILIAN isn't so hot. He's not meant to be a mission solver though, he's a capture tool through and through (can even be recycled by Prepare the Prisoner). Dr. Noah's not the end of the world, but he does score a fat 3.9.

TOTAL: 14 (70%) Can't trash a Siskoid, now can I? ;-)

PICTURE: Great pic. Worf in white tux is cool enough, and the cigar had to be instrumental in picturing him (it's the gadget that gives him his special skill), but the smoke ring takes the card to the next level. It's fun, captures the moment quite well, and hints at the cigar switch trick: the blowgun had a different ring. Ta-daa! And so, a strong 4.6.

LORE: The mentions of Secret Agent Bashir and Dr. Noah are a must for working with the Holoprogram, so they're there. Cute bit about the baccarat, but not that strong a way to introduce the first of those two names. The rigged cigar had to make an appearance here as it also does in the picture and game text. Finally, we have mention of the Worf persona, which is ok, but I've seen better from this particular group of holograms. Reads like they had to hit a number of key points, which controls the entire text. Ah well, a 3 isn't bad.

TREK SENSE: Before heading into the specifics, I've got to mention the same ol' concerns with these persona holograms. They use the real personnel's patterns as physical templates for the holograms, so if they're erased, the personnel are killed. In other words, yes, Duchamps is a version of the Worf persona. They cannot coexist. In the show, however, there was concern over whether killing (deactivating) these holograms would kill the personnel as well. We never got an answer, so maybe it's ok to treat them as real holograms here. Ok, moving right along, we've got the Civilian classification, which I have no trouble with. Treachery makes sense for Noah's group (they plan to kill almost everyone on Earth). Security allows him to act as a thug/spy of sorts. As for the special skill, it represents the rigged cigar, allowing him to stun up to three personnel (Bashir, Garak and Anastasia) with knockout gas. And since he didn't mistakenly stun his own guys, he gets his choice of victims. Great stuff there, and simple. Integrity is that of a loyal enough henchmen who's nonetheless a killer. He seemed a smart fellow, good at complex gambling games and such, so the Cunning is believable. Strength is fine too, given what we saw. A very good effort, especially when it comes to the special skill. Easily 4.2.

STOCKABILITY: Using Holoprogram: Noah's Mountain Retreat, he reports for free to your ship or facility with a Holodeck, although his CIVILIAN would allow you to do so with War Council as well (with a CUNNING boost waiting for him). Heck, Defend Homeworld can download him at the start of the game if you're in such a hurry. The SECURITY/Treachery combo is a good one, opening up strategies such as Brig downloads, for example. In any case, you're using him for his personnel battle features. Start of the battle, bang, you take up to 3 personnel of your choice out of the equation. The 3 strongest please! Huge advantage in a fight. Throw in Phaser Burns, and two of the stunned personnel are killed. Cigar burns indeed! Or use Captured to grab one of those stuns, and later use his skills to download nastiness to your Brig. I recommend getting him that Mobile Emitter for Christmas so he can battle anywhere. When requiring a Holodeck, he'll be limited to stunning intruders. At the Holoprogram, Transporter Skill turns him into any other version of Worf thanks to a nifty download. That means the Klingons and Federation can pull such a switch easily and make Duchamps just a little bit more useful, but so can everyone else thanks to the NA Worf from TwT! The other Worfs are better for mission attempts, and aren't bad in battle, but a quick switch to Duchamps can give you the upper hand at the right time. A very cool, if balanced, option worth its 4.1.

TOTAL: 15.9 (79.5%) A champ!

PICTURE: A lot of style in this Deanna Troi pic, mostly from her relaxed and confident position and lighted-up cigar. The shirt and scarf add just the right amount of color to an otherwise beige setting. On the minus side, the smoke from her doobie might as well be dust on her hat, it doesn't have much presence, and she's looking too directly into the camera. It creeps me out, and not in a good way. Overall, a fun image, and a 3.9.

LORE: Her two species flow very naturally, and they don't neglect the mysterious stranger angle. I've always found this sudden interest of Troi's more than a little convenient, but that's not Decipher's fault. A well done 3.5.

TREK SENSE: As usual, there are problems with these holodeck versions of mains because they can interact normally with any crew or Away Team (save Borg). I don't think Troi would work with the Cardassians just because she's dressed as Calamity Jane. I believe even less that they would work with HER! Likewise, just because she's able to play a role, doesn't mean she loses herself in the part so fully that she would forget how to staff a ship, for example. We could take Durango out of context (and will), but the Empathy remains. As if a cowboy would ever have that power. It's not like Troi can even use the skill fully on the holodeck, what with most holodeck characters registering as blanks. As an Ancient West character divorced from the 24th century, Durango otherwise works fairly well. Modeled somewhat around Clint Eastwood and/or the Lone Ranger, she does things out of Honor, riding into town and helping out. It's easy to see gunslingers as Security personnel, but in this case, I believe Worf did deputize her. Speaking of Worf, her special ability boosts Sheriff Worf's Strength. They work better together than alone, though I'd think Troi would be a better counselor as to Cunning. Attributes are all different that the base version of the persona. You've got less Integrity, because laws were more nebulous in the old west (sorry, that Ancient West stuff is ridiculous, I can't go on with it - it's as if we started calling the Renaissance the Middle Ages instead just because it was now farther away from us). You've got more Cunning because she knew a lot about this genre/time period. And finally, the holodeck gives her "character" more Strength than she would otherwise have. A lot of unreconcilable stuff does lead to a lower 2, but the attributes are good at least.

STOCKABILITY: The lesser of the Deadwood personnel because she doesn't do much. She doesn't really interact with the Holoprogram, though of course, she could use her SECURITY there to stonewall opponents. She doesn't even report to Deadwood. Defend Homeworld would work, of course. Her special skill boosting Sheriff Worf's STRENGTH is a little redundant given that opposing SECURITY already do that, but the more STRENGTH the better, I guess, to defend the personnel that really shines with the Deadwood card. You don't want to lose him in battle, after all. She's a source of Non-Aligned Empathy, which is worth SOMEthing, but no better than others of her ilk unless you also use the Sheriff. Honor's ok, but not the best of skills. Not bad, just no must-haves. Feds and Romulans might use persona-exchange to flip between one or another of the Trois (won't really work for the Ferengi), but the advantages are slim. Either they're not worth it, or else Durango isn't. A 3.2, and that's about it.

TOTAL: 12.6 (63%) These are fun, but not necessarily high scorers.

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