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

PICTURE: I really didn't know what they would use for the 35th Rule, but I certainly didn't expect this. I'm both tickled and disapproving. On the one hand, the whole silly hippie peace sign our two characters had to perform here is a fun way to represent "peace", but on the other, it has nothing to do with business or with the game text. Add to that the overly bright light (just look at the flowers' shadows) that dulls the colors and the fact the characters are more or less being "humiliated" here by both their gesture and Kira's "broken nose", and you get a card that scores most of its points from the clever starting joke, but not from anything else. A 3.4.

LORE: Most Rules, I give a straight 2 since Decipher didn't create much of anything - they simply took the Rule as written. But when a Rule is especially clever, I may give more. In this case, just the idea of making a 35th Rule to go with the opposite 34th Rule (something clever on the show in the first place) is worth a little something. Say a 2.3.

TREK SENSE: Rules of Acquisition are good business advice that your personnel follow and which reap whatever rewards are represented by the card's effects. In this case, an Acquisition personnel (those who have either learned the Rules as a child - Ferengi - or those who have come upon them through their own business acumen - the others) uses a time of peace (a turn in which no battles are fought) to make its business grow. The extra money made can come in the form of Latinum or actual resources (a card draw). It's really quite simple and effective. And since it is an opposite to the 34th Rule, it can nullify that card, and the opposite is also true. That's a fun idea, but it fails here when you look at it other than conceptually. See, though war does signal the end of peace, and peace the end of war, battling should nullify the 35th Rule, and not battling the 34th. I don't see why an Acquisition personnel would forget the Rule just because someone, somewhere is using the 35th. I do appreciate that both Rules can't co-exist on the same personnel because of this clause, but I also don't think someone couldn't use both. That way, you'd never be strapped for cash. The card was doing perfectly until that last part. Drops to a 4.

STOCKABILITY: Probably one of the easiest Rules to use, all you have to do is not battle to get an effect, either a Gold-Pressed Latinum which can be used with many other cards and to buy Equipment or a simple but useful card draw. That's excellent, and makes the card a natural for Nog since the Feds never initiate battle anyway. The Ferengi aren't particularly good at battling either, so I see them using it too. Hanok and the Klingons, not so much ;-). Actually, Hanok can download the Rule early as you stockpile weapons and ships before making your attack. The best time to play this of course, is at the very start of the game, before your opponent has the cards necessary to attack you. But how to get it into play that quickly? Here's one way (though given the nature of the Ferengi affiliation, I'm sure there are others): Seed a Cargo Bay on your Nor (might as well put Quark's Bar here too) and use it to download Grand Nagus Gint (an Acquisition personnel). His special download'll allow him to get the Rule of your choice! Then start raking in the cards and/or Latinum at the very start of the game. Sure, 34th Rule gets you more cards/Latinum, but battling puts your cards in harm's way (the more the risk, the greater the profit after all). When you're ready to battle, you can always switch strategies anyway. But the point isn't to compare the two. The link is that they nullify each other, so that multiple copies are advised. See, even if your opponent cancels your 35 with his 34, you can 35 that 34 right back as soon as you can. The function is both a liability and a bonus. Thanks to Non-Aligned Acquisition personnel, all the affiliations can use it (only the Romulans have no natural Acquisition), but it's more useful to the Ferengi. A 3.9.

TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) Hey, peace man.

PICTURE: While a point could be made that Kira has been placed on the side of "light" and Bareil "dark" in the image, that's just not enough to overcome the pic's difficulties. First of all, the image is of relatively poor quality. Far from being crisp, you only have to look at the noses to see they're missing their Bajoran ridges, just part of the overall distortion of the image. Second, I don't think the pic is particularly representative of the concept. Sure it goes with the line used for the title, but DS9 has plenty of other pics with people pointing guns at others at an airlock, which would at least have *suggested* a ship. An effort to give us a picture specifically from a mirror universe episode may have been wrong-headed. I'm not going above 1.9 here.

LORE: Does its best to explain the game text, and extra points must be given to the one-liner title. It's at least original. A fine 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Basically, someone "invisible" from your side takes someone hostage (your choice) and asks for a ship. If he doesn't get it, he kills the hostage, though your opponent might send someone in to take the bullet instead. You'd also imagine that, especially in space, the kidnapper is brought down in those cases. If he gets the ship, he commandeers it. That's the basic plotline behind the dilemma, now for the details. A rescue attempt as the personnel are headed for the shuttle bay or transporters could be mounted, but only bodyguards and, in Borgland, the somewhat equivalent Guard drones being able to actually intercede before the hostage is killed (and at the cost of their own life to boot) is severely limiting. The dilemma's much harsher than any similar situation seen on the show. In fact, most people who take a single hostage in Trek (and most other fiction) don't generally kill the hostage at all. Anyway, the fact that a ship must be empty to be commandeered makes sense, but the buck stops there on that particular facet of the dilemma. An empty Galaxy-class ship, for example, isn't really empty, is it? All those Ensign Bobs inside certainly didn't disembark with the Away Team. Ships without staffing icons aren't generally a problem, but anything better needs an actual crew to function. That's another thing: you're actually able to commandeer a ship without personnel. That means that once you've commandeered the ship, it can just sit there waiting for your personnel to actually come aboard. Wouldn't the kidnapper at least try to run away? He wanted a fast ship, no? The most unortunate thing though, is that the kidnapper never actually gives the victim a chance to empty a ship to save their crewmate. Either they already have an empty ship standing by or tough luck. That hurts the plotline plenty. I like the original treatment, but too many holes for more than a 2.3.

SEEDABILITY: Opponent's choice killers are among the best dilemmas there are, and this one's no different. Like all the others, it makes for a great dilemma combo building block, weeding out the right personnel at the right time. Of course, there are ways to avoid death, but they'll often be either absent or else putting the victim between a rock and a hard place. Bodyguards aren't exactly a dime a dozen, for example. Indeed, many affiliations will have to use the Non-Aligned Krozh or Ruk in lieu of someone more familiar to them. And bodyguards aren't always disposable personnel either! Guard drones are more common, and a Borg player would probably sacrifice one readily so save the Queen. The other option is to let you commandeer an empty ship here. That's a fun one because you gain a ship for your trouble, but I'll bet in most cases, your opponent will let the personnel die instead. Consider: You seed this at a planet mission. Your opponent beams down her entire team from the USS Defiant. A Fast Ship targets, I dunno, Data and there are no bodyguards around. What would you do? Sacrifice your best personnel? Or give away your ship and strand your Away Team on the planet (hey, great place to also seed Dal'Rok). I'd send Data to the scrap pile, myself. At a space mission, you might have more luck in a sense. If you want the kill, you're at least sure the attempting ship won't be empty. If you want the commandeer, you have a chance of getting a carried shuttle, scout or Jem'Hadar attack ship. The Jemmie ships are real nice, but the shuttles may not be worth it, especially since you can't fly out of there until you get personnel aboard. Aggressive species may just blow the craft out of the sky before you get your hands on it (or even just after, these are not known for their high SHIELDS) and send it back to their own discard pile. Combining this dilemma with one that downloads personnel may be a way out, especially since the mission attempt continues after this one. Scout Encounter and Sleeper Trap are two possibilities. A real win-win dilemma, you're assured a kill (your choice or a bodyguard or Guard drone) or a ship (the important thing is that your opponent loses it). I'd give it a 4.2.

TOTAL: 11.8 (59%) Playing fast and loose with too many design elements has made this one a failure.

PICTURE: The origin of an icon... Yep, this is it: the Mirror, Mirror expansion icon, right down to the angle and shadows. I like it on its own basis too, with all that pain-ridden red. And it's a very clear close-up for an Original Series pull (of Transporter Chief Kyle) and that finger poised over the button holds a lot of suspense. A definitive 4.1.

LORE: The same thing is said, more or less, a couple times, but the text is appropriately dry, and the game text is, in part, explained. A good 3.2.

TREK SENSE: Coming from the 23rd-century, the equipment just had to have both an AU icon and a TOS icon (sorry, just can't get used to calling it an "OS" icon). The effect isn't bad, insuring loyalty (Integrity) through pain and fear. That Cunning would also be affected must have something to do with alertness, but that part of it is more debatable. When I'm scared, I tend to make mistakes, but I see their point. Unlike other attribute-boosting equipment, just one Agonizer on someone's belt SHOULD have an effect on everyone present. And I actually like the cumulativity limit since there's only so much pain or fear you can take, but more Agonizers than there are personnel present should simply invalidate the effects entirely. Afraid you'll push your own button? The targets however are a little too wide-ranging. Terran Empire personnel of course use this thing. 24th-century Agonizers were in used by the Alliance as well, as evidenced in "Shattered Mirror". But the Terran Rebellion? Did they ever bring the item back? They might have used them on Alliance members for torture, but on their own. I really don't think so. And if you thought I was gonna say there was no evidence of TOS Klingons ever using these, well, I almost did. But then I noticed the Klingons in "Day of the Dove" used the same exact prop for the same exact effect (discipline). So I guess in "our" universe, it's the Klingons that used it. No one does now though (I'm surprised at the Cardassians and Romulans, but this is supported by canon). So the problems are small after all, and it turns out that Klingon mention is inspired. A 4.2.

STOCKABILITY: High INTEGRITY for a Mirror universe personnel is around 7 (only beat by First Officer Spock), but the average is much lower. That means that these personnel can up that most difficult to boost attribute, up to a maximum of +3. That's more than Kukalaka unless someone is also using Leeta (not an option for all INTEGRITY-disenfranchised affiliations), but it requires more cards. TOS Equipment is a little easier to get at however, with the Agonizer being downloadable by Transporter Chief Kyle and more generally by First Officer Spock. It helps too that it can report for free at K-7, especially for the Klingons (which I'll get to in a moment), and Halkan Council. The CUNNING boost is more incidental, but always good too. As for the TOS Klingons, there are only 6 of them, but they aren't necessarily the smartest or most integrious in the Empire. Heck, at the very least, it's a better choice for Mirror cargo runs than an ol' PADD. Good, but limited to too few personnel to be very good. A 3.5.

TOTAL: 15 (75%) Wow, that's pretty high for an Equipment card. We must be in the wrong universe.

PICTURE: Though slightly blurred à la TOS, I like this pic's vertical composition. Everything's very straight, so Chekov's bended position sticks out more. That, and there's a good perspective effect created by the rank of figures, and the varied colors are pretty. The Booth never looked so painful than in freezeframe (his hand looks charred against the toaster-element background). A 3.9.

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

TREK SENSE: The Agony Booth seems to be some kind of equipment (all the more because, unlike other technological cards like Genetronic Replicator which indicates an advancement shared by all crews, it's tied to a specific ship), but isn't an Equipment card. It's not even an Event like the Replicator, Bynars or the various Shields cards either. Too much text, so it's an Incident instead. Seems odd. Card type aside, the Booth exists on a single ship (per copy of the card of course), and that ship must be from the Mirror universe. Makes sense, since they're the only ones that made use of it, except all the mirror ships can't possibly support a large piece of equipment like this. We know the large Terran Consitutions had them, and the Alliance Cardassians and even Klingons surely adopted them too, but the Terran Rebellion Raiders? The Ferengi Shuttle? I don't think there's room even if there was intention. An Agony Shoe Box maybe. ("Stick yer foot in there.") The Agony Booth's effect being unrelated to the Agonizer's is perhaps interesting, though not wrong (a small link would surely have helped however): it still enforces discipline in a sense. If your crew doesn't "perform", i.e. win battles or complete missions, the personnel whose fault it is (apparently a random thing, too bad, or especially cruel) must return to the ship (or go down to the hold) to receive punishment. Problems with this part of the card include the punishment not doing much except stopping you (ooooh, now I'm scared), the aforementioned random nature of the punishment (always the fault of ONE guy? even if that personnel actually did the best, like the only one to mortally wound a foe?) and the fact that a single personnel failing a mission attempt, will go back to its Shuttle and inflict pain on itself (those mirror masochists, eh?). There's also the matter of the reward for succeeding at those tasks: up to 3 card draws? Where do those resources actually come from? I understand the concept of positive reinforcement (the crew is so zealous that they give everything they've got), but on the show, it never balanced the negative reinforcement of the Booth. When you rule with fear, you don't need to reward the men. Of course, that's the incentive for using the card, or else it'd be a "play on opponent's ship" which wouldn't see much use. The reward may be for the leaders of the Empire/Alliance (get more work for their buck), but the Booth should actually make personnel so afraid of failure, they get a personal boost when performing target activities. A mess from top to bottom, though with its heart in the right place: a 1.8.

STOCKABILITY: Card draws you say? Up to 3 you say? If they're easy enough to get, you got yourself a pretty good card, since the current playing environment emphasizes getting at your cards in the most efficient manner possible. An on that front Agony Booth is a success. Winning battles shouldn't be too hard with mirror personnel, since their ships generally have high combat attributes and the personnel themselves often download hand weapons which can be used to win those card draws in battle. Completing missions may not be as easy due to wall dilemmas, but it's still not that hard. The penalty for not succeeding isn't too severe anyway. At a space mission or battle, stopped personnel won't have to move at all, and will just be unstopped at the start of the next turn. At a planet mission, a personnel would simply relocate to the ship, but unless your opponent had something up her sleeve against that Away Team during her turn, the personnel's absence probably shouldn't matter. Still, in the middle of a losing personnel battle, expect to lose again on the counterattack - a riskier proposal than completing a planet mission. The card draws also flexibly allow you to draw "up to" 3 cards, so that you can manage your hand against Scorched Hand and the like. The ability is renewable, unlike Kivas Fajo-Collector's. While the Terrans will do okay with this, the Alliance will make the most out of the opportunity to torture their brethren: They have more powerful ships than their mostly OS counterparts, and their capacity to process ore makes them better deck managers overall. A strong showing at 4.1.

TOTAL: 13.07 (65.33%) Trek Sense REALLY hurts.

PICTURE: A lot of shadows and a darker gray color palette truly spells out "mirror universe". I'm not sure I really like those garish yellow lights - they may have a dangerous look to them, but they just cut into the shadows like crazy. Nice detail: I think there's a Klingon affiliation icon on the wing in addition to the Cardassian one. Finally, bonus points for leaving the ship at warp - it's just a more dynamic shot that way. A cool 3.5. Could've been more, but Galor-class ships are intrinsically ugly.

LORE: Basic ship lore that manages to give more than the very basic, but there's something I'm not comfortable with about marrying the comment on universality ("typical") with the stationing at Terok Nor. Specific details like these work for personnel, but you seldom see them on ships, or else you shouldn't unless the syntax allows it. "This was one stationed...", for example, could have avoided the problem. A 3.

TREK SENSE: The mirror universe being more violent than our own, it should come as no suprise that their ships are more militarily-minded. So compared to the Alpha quadrant Galor, it gains a +1 to both Weapons and Shields. Otherwise, it's just like the real thing, with the Alliace icon substituting for the Staff icon on staffing. This is more than just a matter of consoles being specially configured in the other universe (they don't appear to be any different), but a way to validate the ship's presence. After all, if there are no mirror universe personnel around, what's the ship doing here? The other problem of course, and it's the same for AU ships, is that all Alliance personnel are not equal to a Staff personnel (Javek Len or Mr. Quark for example). All of that considered, it's hard to find real fault with this simple a design: a 3.1.

STOCKABILITY: Just a big strong ship for the Cardassians? What can I get here that I can't get from a Keldon, or any old Galor with a matching commander? I'll tell you what: A way to report Mirror universe personnel to the Alpha quadrant. Since Spacedoor's download ignores the quadrant restriction rule on reporting cards, you can make this universal ship report directly where you need it, without the need for another quadrant. It's got the same stats as the Keldon but with one less staffing icon. Also note that the Alliance icon will allow you to report Mirror icon personnel to the ship through Crew Reassignment, which makes the ship (or any number of copies) reporting stations for those personnel. Add an Emblem to get more than just the Cardassians and also allow some of them to report for free, staffing your ship much more quickly. And don't worry too much about the ship having no matching commander, Regent Worf will take care of that. Obviously, the ship will also be useful if you ARE using a Mirror quadrant as it has the best staffing-to-power ratio next to the mirror K'Vort. Just bringing in the Alliance personnel from out of the cold is worth a 4.1.

TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) 0.4 more than the Alpha standard.

PICTURE: A great shot of the Interceptor which makes it look big and mean, like the mirror universe itself. Here we get to see a lot more detail than on the Alpha version, and it's one of the few attractive Bajoran ships. A welcome 3.8.

LORE: Good stuff, well-written... I especially like that it's "one of the few military contributions" by Bajor. After all, Bajoran ships up to now haven't been very sophisticated or powerful, and they're not the ones that have taken center stage in the mirror episodes, so you had to wonder what Bajor's part in the Alliance really was on that front. A cool enough 3.5.

TREK SENSE: Just a Bajoran Interceptor from the mirror universe, you have to look at the differences to see if it holds up. First, there's a change of staffing icon. An Alliance icon is fair game for the mirror universe Bajorans, but unfortunately, I don't consider it equivalent to a Staff icon. Some mirror Bajorans don't have either Staff or Command, indicating that they can't really staff a ship, yet, they can. Or if you consider that a regular Interceptor has no staffing icon at all, then why does the mirror version require staffing (the extra Weapons?). I usually say that it's justification for the ship's existence in our universe, but what about when it's in the other universe? The attributes, which I thought were fine in my review of Bajoran Interceptor, just get a +1 boost to Weapons, which is in keeping with the mirror universe's more violent nature. The sublight nature of the ship being turned into a Range boost in-region makes as much sense as it ever did - that is, it works for the Bajor region, but not for skipping to another region (or non-region) or in a region like the DMZ or Neutral Zone which aren't just one system. Landing capability is good. The same as its Alpha cousin: a 2.9.

STOCKABILITY: If playing with the Alliance from the mirror universe, this ship will give them landing capability in addition to another easily staffed ship (like the Alliance K'Vort) that can report to an Alliance Nor. Its SHIELDS are low, but the WEAPONS are pretty high for a small fighter. The RANGE isn't so bad depending on the way you map out your spacelines. Mirror Bajor is in the same region as the Mirror Wormhole, which leads to the Alpha Wormhole which is in the much larger Bajor region. Still, you can't really swarm indiscriminately with that kind of "warp power". Rinnak Pire is still matching commander, though he can't supply the staffing by himself, but you can use Regent Worf to name somebody else too. Let's not forget Alpha Bajoran decks however! This universal ship can be downloaded to the Alpha quadrant via Spacedoor, then Alliance personnel can be reported to it with Crew Reassignment, all without having to seed an extra spaceline. So the ship allows you to use mirror personnel as part of your normal crew complements (Bareil's not bad, for example, but also think of the Non-Aligned ones like Ezri or the Emissary-reporting Professor Sisko) as well as adding bigger guns to your landable armadas. Swarming gets a little better, and this card gets a 4.5 which is a little better than its predecessor.

TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) A little better than the Alpha version across the board.

PICTURE: Though the aggressive posture of the ship coming at us, weapons armed, is very mirror universe, I've seen better in terms of picture clarity. A little lacking in details, but adequate enough given that the bird-of-prey has been photographed from every possible angle already. A 3.4.

LORE: Mostly likeable, though at times a little "standard", yes. What I like is the last sentence, which is much harsher (mirror-style) than most. Something of a 3.4 too.

TREK SENSE: The mirror K'Vort is, as is now expected from the militarily-minded mirror folk, better on Weapons and Shields than its Alpha counterpart. Some might say the Klingons are aggressive in either universe, and they would be right to doubt the attribute change on that basis. But it could also be due to the fact that mirror Klingons have no Cloaking Device (at least, not according to later episodes - that's a problem with the SHOW's Trek Sense) and would have to make their ships tougher to compensate. The other change is the staffing icon, Alliance instead of Staff, which, as mentioned in similar reviews, is not necessarily on the up and up. Some personnel have no Staff icon, but would still be part of the Alliance, but how can they pilot/command a ship if they have no actual "shipworthy skill" as represented by a true staffing icon? The Klingons currently only have one of those, Loreva, and aren't likely to get any more, so that mitigates the point. Simple and effective design, with the usual questions thrown in. A 3.

STOCKABILITY: The Klingons are unique in the Alliance in having more than one ship available to them. The K'Vort is actually the best one for the same reason Alpha quadrant K'Vorts are generally better than Vor'Chas. Their low staffing yet relatively high attributes make them great for armada building . And the Alliance K'Vort is actually a shade better by virtue of an extra point in both WEAPONS and SHIELDS. Of course, no Cloaking Device does cut off a few options, but then again, it's nothing other affiliations don't have to deal with. No matching commander, but Regent Worf can name one if he's aboard, which is a real boost to the armada. For the mirror player, it's an easy-to-staff ship without the RANGE limitations of an Alliance Interceptor. For the Alpha player, it's a ship you can Spacedoor to Crew Reassignment mirror personnel without any more fuss. The question there is if the mirror Klingons are worth the trouble (though you might think the attributes are). Well, I can't say they are that great compared to similar Alpha Klingons. Worf and Rinox might have special downloads that could be nice, and Loreva is a good mission specialist (though AMS can bring her in, ship or not), but the rest are mostly skill lists. If you just want to use a couple of Alliance personnel, you could find your ship staffless if you ever lose them, so watch out. Fairly strong, but not that useful to the Empire - only a 3.7.

TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) Another routine examination.

PICTURE: Clever. Look at what they did here. If you hold the Nor card from DS9 up to this one, you'll see the Alliance Nor is a reverse image of it, yes, a MIRROR image. And since that's a little subtle for the eye to catch, they made it a little different with a very attractive dark blue cloud. A cool 3.8.

LORE: Well, this is pretty much the lore used for the regular Nor, with the Alliance substituting for the Cardassians. Boring, but devoid of mistakes. Universality is even acknowledged. A 3.

TREK SENSE: The mirror universe Nor may be used by the Alliance (so has the Alliance icon), but not by the Klingons or Bajorans unfortunately. Now, I understand that it uses Cardassian architecture, so obviously, it's Cardassian, but couldn't it have been triple-aligned? Actually, the Alliance ships aren't, so no real gaffe here. Emblem of the Alliance is a kind of Treaty that supercedes all this. It plays or seeds at any Mirror location except the Badlands, and that makes sense too. After all, everything we've seen of the Mirror quadrant now belongs to the Alliance (never mind the artificial - and non-Trek Sensical - ownership determined by attemptability icon of other facilities). The Badlands wouldn't be a very safe place for a station, and anyway, that's where the Terran rebels hide out. Good stuff here. And since there's a separate Mirror card for Ops, the old version should not be able to seed in the Mirror quadrant. That almost goes without saying, but of course, it has to be. The usual limited Weapons have been increased in the militaristic mirror universe, as have the Shields. This follows the trend begun by other cards. A good effort to fit this universal card in the mirror universe, it actually does the real thing a little better. A 4 from me.

SEEDABILITY: The Alliance Nor(s) rehabilitate(s) ore processing more than a bit. I mean, Ore Processing Unit still seeds on them. Overseer Odo downloads Process Ore. And Emblem of the Alliance protects the strategy from Reactor Overload if 2 ENGINEERs are present. Good stuff! Unfortunately, the Mirror Terok Nor does all this too and more (better attributes and Quark's Bar). But if you're worried that your opponent might outseed you in the dilemma phase (and Terran decks are popular enough), or if you have a smaller collection, you can use the Alliance Nor for all the basic functions: reporting/downloading personnel, equipment and ships, filing mission reports, make cargo runs, special card draws, Science Lab dilemma scanning (eventually maybe), a Brig, etc. This thing can't lose its Alliance icon even if commandeered either, so you could still use the Mirror Ops game text, so that's another advantage, as is seeding location flexibility. What limits the station is the fact that another card more or less duplicates it better. A 3.9 (so Terok Nor might do a little better).

TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) Who said universal cards have to be losers?

PICTURE: From this angle, the Vor'Cha is a strange looking beast, and while I don't dislike the more organic look of the thing, it makes the ship seem ill-designed and fuzzy. For example, the perspective makes one wing much longer and thinner than the other, and that other wing has a very fat nacelle. All trompe-l'oeil, I know, but just not as sharp as most other ships. A 2.8.

LORE: Much better than the regular Vor'Cha's lore, this one has some interesting details on the ship's weakness, plus uses some good qualifiers when speaking about the vessel. 3.4 from here here.

TREK SENSE: You know, maybe there are two mirror universes (given the quantum possibilities), because the Klingon ships in "Crossover" COULD cloak. In later episodes, they suddenly couldn't. That's more a matter of the show lacking Trek Sense, and if I consider the card to spring from later shows like "Shattered Mirror", the special equipment is a-okay. Otherwise, we get the usual mirror universe ship conversion: +1 Weapons and Shields, and one staffing icon turned into either the Alliance or Terran icon. The attribute change seems to be due to the fact the mirror universe is more militarily minded, but then, the Klingons are so minded in the Alpha quadrant too. Possibly, the change is due to the lack of a Cloaking Device, forcing ships to become a little tougher in response. The staffing icon has the disadvantage of making personnel with no staffing ability (neither Command nor Staff icons) still be good staffers. For the Klingons, that's just Loreva, but add an Emblem, and you get a few more "staff-worthy" Civilians. Not a statisfying element. Too bad the ship's weakness (as per the lore) wasn't somehow integrated into the card because the ship is pretty typical (so kinda boring). A 3.2.

STOCKABILITY: Certainly, Vor'Chas are powerful ships, and the Alliance actually builds them tougher (+1 to both WEAPONS and SHIELDS), but are they worth it compared to the more-easily staffed K'Vorts? The Vor'Cha shares a number of advantages with the bird-of-prey: it's universal and can be downloaded through Spacedoor regardless of quadrant; from there, it can use Crew Reassignment to report Alliance personnel in the Alpha quadrant; furthermore, it's attributes can be boosted through Captain's Log thanks to Regent Worf's special skill (up to, if I include the Plaque, 11-12-11). But though its regular attributes are higher than the K'Vort's by 1-2-1, the smaller ship's staffing makes it way better for building armadas. The Vor'Cha could make for a tougher base ship in the mirror quadrant, but it really isn't superior to the K'Vort for most Klingon strategies. How 'bout a 3.3?

TOTAL: 12.7 (63.5%) Am I finally done with those Alliance ships?

PICTURE: In reference to the lore, Aramax seems to both clash with the colorful background and melt into it, almost as if those orange pipes are part of his armor. The image is kind of busy, garish and fuzzy, but it works in context. Not great, but okay. A 3.4.

LORE: The first sentence makes it sound like he's the only universal mirror universe Cardassian, and he isn't. They might have mentioned his classification(s) or something. The flavor text is well done however, and funny too. Like that enough to raise the score back to a 3.9.

TREK SENSE: Well, we know nothing about this guy except what can be read into its lore. The pic itself doesn't reveal much, except maybe create a basis for the low STRENGTH. Face it, he looks lame. His coming from the mirror universe, you might have expected differently, but his fear of the Security Chief may mean he's a weakling. Ambition may be translated as Greed, especially in the world he lives in, good call there. What doesn't jibe so much is the dual-classification. While not impossible by any stretch (the two are related), if he had them both PLUS high enough Cunning, wouldn't have succeeded in being noticed by his superiors? Maybe, maybe not. Maybe the fact that he's stretching himself across two disciplines is a sign he's trying hard. Works for me. Good enough, but no actual basis, either in the lore or the pic, for those exact classifications. Being universal doesn't help him since it means a bunch of Cardassians are so skilled without reason. Winds up around a 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: Here's where he'll do some good. An Alpha quadrant Cardassian would do well to bring Aramax into his game via a Crew Reassignment/Spacedoor/Alliance Galor combo or something (I'll tell you that "something" a little lower). Two useful classifications are always good, but when MEDICAL is part of that combo (something the Cardies are generally short on, especially on good personnel), you've got a winner. The SCIENCE isn't all that common either, and he's immune to Unscientific Method. Both classifications will serve missions and dilemmas. Alliance decks will find him to be a strong source for both skills. And how about that Greed? Would you believe that's one of his best features? Yes, the little-used skill in combination with his high CUNNING makes him the only Cardassian that can pass Chula: The Game aside from Perak. Not the nastiest dilemma, but a delay nonetheless. And with only two skills, he's more readily available than Perak - you can report/download him through Assign Support Personnel regardless of quadrant. Getting replacement classifications that efficiently should be taken into consideration. Ah, and with Emblem of the Alliance, he can report for free if Security Chief Garak is present. A high 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.5 (72.5%) Finally got noticed.

PICTURE: That's obviously Kirk's stand-in running through a minefield (sorry, artillery attack), but it's still an impressive pic. The size of the character gives the explosion the right scale, and the outdoors location is a nice change of scenery. A good 3.8.

LORE: Two things. First, I'm left wondering if we'll eventually get a Dathon-like personnel that can nullify Gorn-related dilemmas (I guess it would have to be the Gorn commander). Second, note the subtle use of "landing party" instead of the more contemporary "away team". Original Series terminology for OS cards. I like. A 3.6.

TREK SENSE: Artillery would no doubt kill members of an Away Team. How many would be the x-factor, yes. That number is more-or-less appropriately left up to chance. More because there's something fairly random about dropping a bomb in the middle of a group off people and hoping it'll hit the right ones. Less because the skill of an attacker and/or defender might have been controlling factors as well. Probe results fall into the conceptual sphere, but are often well chosen (as we've seen on a number of Borg objectives). How about here? Well, the number of skill dots on a probe card would be the killer result, and that would be a way to make mention of the attacker's skill... EXCEPT the personnel belongs to the player getting attacked. Still, there's at least the mention of skill. An Equipment card would indicate no deaths, but I can't for the life of me figure out what equipment would actually protect you from an Artillery Attack. No duranium umbrellas in the game as yet. The "Otherwise, X=1" is just arbitrary. So while the idea is interesting, and the crosshairs nature look of the game text isn't lost on me with all those X's, the probing stuff is just too convenient for a very high score. Still think it's a 2.8.

SEEDABILITY: An almost sureshot killer, Artillery Attack will, most of the time, at least clip you one personnel. Equipment is very rarely the dominant card type in a deck, but personnel often is. That means a "no-kill" result will be somewhat rare, while a multiple kill will be more frequent. Mission specialist decks don't have as much to fear perhaps, but you'll often grab yourself 2 to 4 kills if not more. Indeed, as affiliations become smaller (and the Voyager environment will no doubt create a number of smaller affiliations before it's done), skill concentration on personnel rises. The Ferengi, for example, could very well lose as many as 8 personnel on a really badlucky probe. The trick, of course, would be to rig the opposing deck before it encounters Artillery Attack, so that the probe IS a personnel card with mucho skill dots. Rigging can be accomplished with Thought Maker (which we haven't seen a lot of since downloading was introduced) for example, or by leading with New Essentialists to put an Away Team member atop the draw deck (effectively using that member against its own team) or with the more recent Handshake. If you have the right personnel present, you may be able to use the 47th Rule for the same effect. It's like an Armus with a slight chance of failure, but a good chance of multiple kills. A nice dilemma that penalizes the use of super-characters. A clear 4.4.

TOTAL: 14.6 (73%) You can run, but you can't hide.

PICTURE: Now, THAT's a disappointment! Big ship like that looking smaller than any other in the Bajoran "fleet". It's not even in focus, and certainly not attacking, but rather, running away. Decipher had a great opportunity to create something with CGI here since the ship was never seen on screen, but they copped out. Sure, most Bajoran vessels have the same hull design, but this was an alternate reality. Too bad, but I can't give it more than a 1.

LORE: The unusual structure here is that the card first talks about the parallel universe and only then of the ship itself. There's nothing patently wrong with that mind you. It just goes against the regular format. A well-written version of events in any case at 3.2.

TREK SENSE: We know very little about the ship from its single (non-)appearance except that it could take on a Galaxy-class ship. Of course, that's a parallel Galaxy-class, so who really knows? Similar staffing requirements and attributes are, of course, suggested. The thing about any AU requirement is that not all AUs come from the appropriate alternate universe (in this case, none do). Does Gantt, who is from our timeline's past (relative to the show), really understand how to staff this thing? Attribute-wise, they did pretty well, including giving it massive Range to account for its being far from its home sector. The Tractor Beam is no surprise, but the other two are. Even by gobbling up Cardassian resources, the Bajoran wouldn't get their hands on that special equipment. I don't even remember the ship cloaking or de-cloaking. Of course, it's a briefly seen parallel universe, so anything's possible. Still, not entirely on the up and up at 3.

STOCKABILITY: Bajoran have long needed a big, powerful ship... or have they? For armada purposes, the Interceptors are much better, if a bit slow. For mission attempts however, they would have to rely on an Assault Vessel as support craft. No longer. 10-9-8 instead of 8-7-6? That may be a good trade off against slightly more difficult staffing. Not to mention the ability to cloak (though the Holodeck has little value for the Bajorans). And it can still use Rinnak Pire as matching commander (total possible stats = 12-12-11). Both he and the Bajorans' only AU personnel can be downloaded via Bajoran Civil War, so you might take advantage of that card to staff the ship a little more quickly. If you ever lose Gantt, make sure you have another to report there directly with Crew Reassignment. It doesn't have to be him either, since there's a host of Non-Aligned AUs that could do the trick, include Navigator extraordinaire Thomas Paris and even, in a reversal of fortune, the AU Garak. For battle decks, you might even enjoy using Ruk or Zon, even Wyatt Earp. While the ship can definitely take on some of the bigger vessels available to other Alpha quadrant affiliations, the RANGE is probably going to be the greatest asset, especially in mission solving. That and low SHIELDS has always been the bane of the Bajoran fleet. Now they can get out of their region. Very specific to strategy, in my opinion, and not necessary for every deck. Still a nice base ship at 3.8.

TOTAL: 11 (55%) The lame picture really cut it down to size.

PICTURE: The reverse Wormhole isn't nearly as nice as the regular Wormhole (which got a 5).The image looks grainier and lacks the "hand of god"-like features of the original. The presence of a runabout further distances is it from its cousin and is interesting, and I have to admit that the mouth of the Wormhole looks more dangerous too. That goes with the concept, but just doesn't have the majesty of the other card. The back end gets a 3.7.

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

TREK SENSE: The Mirror Wormhole obviously fits in the Mirror quadrant, and of course, still in the Bajor region. The Span of 1 still holds. Now, when you open/discover this Wormhole, it opens the regular universe's Wormhole. In the DS9 Bajoran Wormhole review, I said a wormhole must by definition have an entry and an exit, one can't exist without the other. The downloads make sense, and in the context of the show, we don't need an entry/exit in the Mirror Gamma quadrant. As to how to actually cross over using the Wormhole, you'd need the same damage that was affecting Kira and Bashir's runabout when it made it through the first time, or the skills necessary to duplicate that accident. The first is simulated by having a damaged ship, in which case I'm not sure the crossover should be elective. The second requires both Science and Engineer which seems to be a good way to go about it. The ship is still "stopped" as with the original Wormhole representing travel through the Wormhole reasonably well (it is jarring without the Schematic). And like the original, it can nullify the destruction or closing of another Bajoran Wormhole, something that we've seen on the show (usually due to the Prophets' interference). I don't see a huge problem with the Mirror Wormhole stopping the destruction of the Alpha Wormhole. The phenomenon seems to exist in multiple quantum realities. I think it does very well with itself, with good storytelling at 4.5.

SEEDABILITY: The Mirror quadrant just doesn't have the mission pool necessary to win the game there alone. You have to visit other quadrants to make that happen. Now, there are a few other ways to cross over, but they usually only cross over personnel (Crossover, Multidimensional Transport Device). If you want to use Mirror ships however, you have to use the Wormhole. Yes, the universal ships can be Spacedoored instead. And Sisko or Smiley can use Construct Starship to grab the Defiant. Only Regency 1 will have to go through the Wormhole to reach our universe. If you plan to do a couple things in the Mirror quadrant before moving on, then why abandon your ships there? This is in fact the best reason to use the Doorway. You can also use it in reverse, sending your regular universe cards to the Mirror quadrant to attempt its missions. No big points there, but Mine Dilithium has that RANGE reward (and easy requirements), and two homeworlds for the Borg to assimilate. The requirements for crossing aren't very difficult to come up with (I recommend the classification combo rather than the damage, of course). The Wormhole also benefits from its link to the DS9 Wormhole. For one thing, the chain of Bajoran Wormhole downloads can start here, during seeding! Seed this one, then download the two others (BW allows you to download another) to network 3 of your quadrants. The colon rule means that the cards that affect one Bajoran Wormhole, may affect the other. So the Mirror version can be downloaded by The Emissary, Examine Singularity and Ultimatum (in a pinch, or to protect one of your Wormholes from nullification, which Operate Wormhole Relays will do anyway). Wormhole Navigation Schematic will suspend the "stopping" just as well for this hole in the sky (you already have the SCIENCE presumably, so all you need is the ultra-common Navigation). Obviously, this Bajoran Wormhole isn't as instrumental to decks as the other (I think the Dominion would agree the Alliance and Terran Empire have it relatively easy), but it still has plenty of potential. A 3.7.

TOTAL: 15.87 (79.33%) Not quite on par with the original.

PICTURE: All pastels, but that brings a kind of chromatic unity to the image. Very TOS, it stands out as one of the sharpest pictures from that series. A good 3.6. (Who still wishes they'd taken the dummy head from a great number of end credits instead?)

LORE: I generally like it. His species is given, as is the reason why this little tyke didn't get Youth. The mysterious First Federation is mentioned, and the lore uses plenty of adjectives to describe Balok. And I'm sorry, but that "Gentle Ben" reference (Clint Howard starred in that too) is quite lost on me, and probably on most other players. The last sentence is fluff, but not bad fluff. No extra points for matching commander status as that was left for the Fesarius instead. Like I said: generally positive. A 3.5.

TREK SENSE: The First Federation is NOT the Federation, so Balok is Non-Aligned. All his icons make sense, including the Command icon since he was in command of the Fesarius (though it was unclear WHO he commanded, if anyone). Same question on the Leadership. His dealings with Kirk and crew may not have smacked of Diplomacy, but he did show that skill at the end, and I would believe the Honor too. Too bad he couldn't be given something else as well. His testing of the Enterprise's intentions might have merited Security or Anthropology for example. I just don't know. Integrity is just enough, though the other attributes might have been just a tad lower. On the one hand, he was fooled by Kirk's corbimite maneuver (what, his ship has no sensors?) and on the other, his dwarven stature doesn't exactly put him on par with, say, Deanna Troi. Even the Officer is iffy if you see him more as a kind of lone VIP (again, without a crew). Left hungry at this point so a 2.8.

STOCKABILITY: Balok's just another DipHoLe, a fairly common skill combo. The Feds, Bajorans and Klingons have lots, but other affiliations have fewer or none. Still, Dathon is also Non-Aligned and has all these skills and more (Diplomacy x2, for example)! Well, Balok has the OS icon which can be used, among other things, in tandem with Classic equipment. As a leader, he can add SECURITY with the Classic Phaser, and of course share skills with the Classic Communicator. The real power behind Balok though is his ship, the Fesarius. That monster has stupendous WEAPONS and SHIELDS which Balok can boost further (to 11-15-21 with Log and Plaque). He reports directly aboard and is the only person that can drive it around. Add Captain Kirk to remove those silly affiliation battle restrictions and voila. That big ship can easily be made to resist/destroy Borg Cubes and Ships, or for such missions as Intercept Maquis. And his 3 skills are so baseline as to fit in any affiliation. Though simple in design, I'd have to say Balok comes out a winner at 3.8.

TOTAL: 13.7 (68.5%) And that's the short of it. ;-)

PICTURE: An action shot is always cooler than a simple head shot, and I like my Mirror personnel dangerous. The phaser here does this just fine, though I don't much care for the candy-colored highlights. The background is... original. It just looks cheap, that's all. Finally, who can stand Bareil's cross-eyes? The Bajoran make-up never looked good on Philip Anglim. It's nothing against people plagued with misaligned eyes, but if a simple operation can fix this in the 20th and 21st centuries, why not in the 24th? So basically good, but the elements are a little lacking (maybe I'm just jealous too - love that Kira). A straight 3.

LORE: The title which drops the given name is fine and "tougher" as a name for a Mirror character. The lore itself does well, with a useful mention of The Intendent plus the fun irony of his having dated two Kiras. Through all this, it manages to explain a couple of things from the game text and icon list. A more than competent 3.5.

TREK SENSE: The Mirror universe Bareil has led a very different life from his Alpha quadrant "brother", so I'm a little surprised at the duplicated Biology. It doesn't seem that there was room for a garden in his backstory. The rest is more in line with being a thief. Certainly, such a "profession" isn't part of any kind of military structure, which means he's a Civilian. The Computer Skill and Security both show a great familiarity with security systems, computer locks and the like. The Treachery goes without saying, but Bareil also showed loyalty to Kira which accounts for his Honor. May have been a bit late to grow a conscience, but he did grow one. Anthropology is a more difficult sell. Is it meant to represent the knowledge he was armed with to function in our universe? If so, it wasn't very complete since he seemed surprised by the attitudes he found there. Another crossover skill like Biology? Looks like it. The download is a bit wide for my tastes. A hand weapon, sure, it's even there in the pic, and the Multidimensional thingamagig which he did use, but the rest is iffy. I suppose you could say he swipes whatever he needs, but what's he gonna do with a Science Kit? A Mobile Emitter? A Classic Communicator? The download is a bit too... convenient. Icons work fine: He's in the service of The Intendent's Alliance, can certainly staff a ship if he was gonna steal one, and did have an Orb experience (which may be at the root of that conscience). Integrity seems to be on the edge of Treachery but with the touch of Honor thrown in, fine. Cunning is actually a point higher than Bareil Antos', but he did pull the wool over Kira's eyes (didn't seem too hard). His less tranquil lifestyle probably made him swifter mentally. And the Strength could have been a touch higher tough I don't really think he was ever much of a physical threat. A couple of odd design decisions keep him at 3.6, but a generally good effort.

STOCKABILITY: Bareil offers your Alliance a great number of skills, including the very useful Computer Skill x2. That double skill allows you to download him to your hand at the very start of a game with Quark's Isolinear Rods. Once reported, he can get the Multidimensional Transport Device and start beaming personnel to the Alpha quadrant. Use Crossover to get the Device instead and keep his download for something better like a hand weapon or Kukalaka (since Mirror personnel are usually a little INTEGRITY-deficient). Or you could always use Defend Homeworld to get him to Bajor thanks to his SECURITY. In any case, he'll bring a number of good skills to the table, including Biology (for Aphasia Device), Anthropology (for The Guardian of Forever or a quick pass on Primitive Culture) and the aforementioned Computer Skill. If your Alliance Klingons are to solve missions in the Alpha quadrant, his Honor will certainly serve them in good stead, while the Treachery will be more germane to Cardassian missions. In Mirror Away Teams, his download will get weapons into your Away Teams real fast, especially when combined with Fontaine and Security Chief Garak. Let's not forget the Alliance icon makes him reportable to Alliance ships with Crew Reassignment. His lore has him report for free if The Intendent is in play. And that Orb icon? Not only does it give the Bajorans (and Alliance!) another personnel to solve Orb Negotiations, but he can also Return Orb to Bajor! Oh, and use the Orbs of Wisdom and Time (the former great for boosting your low INTEGRITY and affording even more free card plays). And of course, less useful card peeks with Orb Experience. Clearly, an Alliance "main" at 4.1.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) Not on par with the "real" Bareil, but not all bad.

PICTURE: TOS era ships were a little silly-looking at times, but aside from the lack of surface detail, the old Battle Cruiser doesn't look too bad. Decipher HAS brushed up the image however, at the very least by giving it a greenish tint. It was actually gray in the episode (à la T'Ong). While this change makes it more Romulan, it's also a deviation from reality. In any case, the it's not like the pic is dramatic in any real way. A 2.6.

LORE: The lore is purposely vague to make the ship more universal, and it's a good alternative to the "typicals" usually used for this. There's a reason why the ship is Romulan rather than strictly Klingon, and a matching commander. This ranks around 3.6.

TREK SENSE: Unlike the badly affiliated B'rel, the TOS Battle Cruiser is both Romulan and Klingon. Since it started off as a Klingon design, I do think it should have been Klingon first, even if Charvanek is named as matching commander. Maybe a totally Romulan unique version should have been matched to her. They did share the technology though, so it's a better compromise than we've seen in the past. The ship has the normal perks of such a vessel: a Tractor Beam, a Cloaking Device, and like most TOS ships, a download of a period personnel. That personnel will be some kind of Ensign Bob if you will because they specifically state it must be a universal. And either a Romulan or Klingon will do, in line with the ship's dual affiliations. I'm a little concerned about the staffing icon though. A TOS personnel would have been the thing to do. An AU icon unfortunately includes future personnel like Governor Worf, K'mtar and Commander Tomalak. Are they really versed in D-7 staffing? Nonsense. The attributes are low, but normal for older ships, the universal D-7 clocking in at -1 Weapons from the IKC Gr'oth. It has a profile similar to the USS Constitution, though emphasizing Weapons over Shields in the Klingon style. So the card is usually sound, with some iffy propositions in places. A 3.6.

STOCKABILITY: Though TOS ships have weak attributes, a number of features makes them as appealing as other ships, if not more so. The universal Battle Cruiser is actually pretty flexible. For one thing, it's universal so though you might report it for free to K-7, you can also Spacedoor it anywhere and anywhen. It can be used by either the Romulans or the Klingons, giving a Cloaking Device to the TOS Klingons (which the Gr'oth doesn't have) or another matching commander ship for the Romulans (Commander Charvanek boosts it to 8-8-8 with the right events in play and is an excellent personnel to Ready Room Door for). A ship that has an origin different from its affiliation (say you use it as Romulan) also has some other uses, such as multiplying the number of Tactics you may stock in your Battle Bridge. For example, this ship could use Pulse Disruptor as well as Plasma Torpedo, covering more area when it comes to damage. Better yet, your Romulans could use Klingon Civil War to score points, though you'll need enhancements to destroy opposing Klingon ships. Of course, it also makes this ship vulnerable to Civil War and the Klingon Incoming Message. The AU staffing icon allows you to combine non-TOS cards in your crew with Crew Reassignment and is not as limited as a TOS icon would have been. Finally, you've got a nice special download which could be kept open until you need a specific personnel to save you from a dilemma by suspending play (just two personnel per affiliation unfortunately, but D'vano is a great dilemma-buster), though it'll get you your staffing personnel as soon as the ship is in play. All the bells and whistles makes this a 3.6.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) Stays the course towards 3.6, but held back by Picture a little bit.

PICTURE: In case you're wondering, those fingers belong to the original Bashir Founder, also known as both Krajensky Founder and Odo Founder, actually framing someone by making their blood turn into changeling plasm (the test tube is no doubt part of the changeling, as was the blood "drawn"). This shot placement is great and starts something which will continue in the Trek Sense. It's a good thing because I'm not particularly impressed by the big pink fingers, though the eerie blue haze in the background is kind of nice. It's a 3.5.

LORE: If the game text is hinted at in the pic, it's defined here. What we thought Blood Screening would be is upended when we get to the second sentence which reveals that Screenings themselves create problems, as seen in Homefront/Paradise Lost, for example. The 3.5 continues.

TREK SENSE: What's cool here is that, yes, an shape-shifting infiltrator will be exposed by a Screening, but the paranoid atmosphere Screenings engender will cause problems for a while before you finally find the shifter. Worse still, as was shown in The Adversary at least (and elsewhere... Martok in Way of the Warrior was a Founder, but still managed to shed blood), changelings have found ways around Screenings that keep them from being exposed right away. So the card is more about the mistrust between crewmembers than it is about exposing infiltrators. Cool. This translates as personnel not being able to pool skills (work together) though they can still pool attributes and icons. After all, they weren't totally incapacitated by the situation. The solution is fair and works for me. The group is also quarantined since you don't want the shifter to get off the ship or out of the Away Team. The card does presuppose one thing: That the infiltrator has somehow shown its hand. After all, anyone fighting the Dominion should be warry of infiltrators, and most would institute Blood Screenings everywhere, not just when an infiltrator is present. Unless you KNOW a shifter is present, you wouldn't get to this level of paranoia. I'm not quite so happy with the immunity to Kevin Uxbridge, since his morals would tend to interfere with bad mojo like this, but the situation is so psychological, it may not be within his perview (that, and he'd have to nullify the exposure too). Kudos for going beyond the obvious on this one and still making it work. A 4.5.

STOCKABILITY: In a pinch, yeah, I guess you could expose an infiltrator in your midst, but the penalty is a little severe for that, and I'd rather stock a useful shape-shifter of my own and have it use the interrupt-speed Caught Red-Handed instead. No, this card really is for your own infiltrator to cause havoc on your opponent's personnel. First, it quarantines the group, which is great (see Aphasia Device), and second, personnel can't pool skills which makes them unable to pass many dilemmas or solve most missions. Ok, a couple things would seem to hurt this strategy, but guess what, you can work around them. First is the countdown - the event (ah, those slow events) only lasts 3 turns. That one, you can't really do anything to help aisde from piling on the End Transmissions as usual. Second, it's unlikely your opponent will attempt missions with his quarantined crew. That's okay in a sense, since it slows them down considerably while they wait for the shifter to finally be exposed, but imagine the damage you can do if they DO attempt a mission. Well, by using an OFFICER or VIP Founder, you can Issue Secret Orders and force them to attempt a mission. And who knows where your best combos are better than you? The third and final problem with the card is that, well, it DOES expose your infiltrator, making it vulnerable to capture or attack once it is. Flight of the Intruder is certainly a must in most cases, but if you were lucky enough to get a Bajoran opponent, Odo Founder just cannot be exposed by Screenings. The countdown will discard the event, but you could conceivably use it again and again to destroy whatever group it was infiltrating. A well-placed Shape-Shift should even get you an Odo Founder as the card counts down, though you'd usually have to turn back into the other Founder afterwards or be unable to infiltrate their affiliation. Don't forget your other infiltration cards either. Before you're exposed, you'll want to backstab your opponent at every opportunity with Inside Operation, Dial Martok, what have you. Just thinking about all the dilemmas unpooled personnel could die from (especially the ones with staying power, maybe adding quarantine upon quarantine) makes this card rank pretty high among the infiltrator tricks. And it can't even be Kevined. A srong 4.4.

TOTAL: 15.9 (79.5%) Now, that's great design.

PICTURE: Mirror Bashir looks pretty nasty in profile with a five o'clock shadow and a sneer. That's good though I'm less impressed with the spike of light at his back. A pretty standard pic all in all at 3.3.

LORE: Though the middle sentence seems to be built around the need to name "Julian Bashir", at least it translates as a special download. The rest is pretty cool as I like descriptives (here: hot-headed) and funny references to the show (the fact everybody named themselves captains). There's a chuckle in there somewhere. Worth a 3.6.

TREK SENSE: First of all, I'm not entirely convinced Terran Rebels should be Federation. I respect that the Terran icon can represent both the OS Feds (which really was an alternate Federation) and the rebels (who are trying to revive some semblance of that past government), but calling the rebellion anything resembling the Federation is far-fetched. Heck, even if it were as organized, I'm not sure even the OS gang is "Federation". The Mirror personnel couldn't exactly work with the Alphas, could they? But that may be a minor point (AU Feds need not have the same goals as regular Feds after all). Mirror Bashir is a captain and so an Officer with a Command icon. Leadership is appropriate too. He piloted an Interceptor, which warrants Navigation, and use of torture often merits Biology (where to inflict pain, etc.). On that last one, I tend to give more credit to the agonizer, but maybe there was more to it. Smuggling is a rather natural skill for rebels who have been living in a secret hiding place for a while. Science is possibly due to his using warp shadows to confuse the enemy, though this is a little thin (and I think he deserved matching commander status on an Interceptor at least as much as Smiley does). The special download has to do with his Interrogation of the Intendent using, you guessed it, Torture. Either will do for him which is fine. The Integrity could have been lower though his cause is basically a just one. They haven't made him very smart, but he does tend to think with his fists (and that accounts for the high Strength). I mentioned at least one skill was "thin", well, there's a lot of thinness here when you think about it (where's the Treachery?), so only a 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: Captain Bashir starts off with a dual-classification (OFFICER/SCIENCE), then continues on with some common, but generally useful, skills (Leadership, Navigation and Biology), then finishes with a rare skill (Smuggling). That last one can be used to report to a Mirror Nor's Cargo Bay for one thing. He's the only Federation Smuggling personnel in fact, but that doesn't mean much as there's little call for it (2 dilemmas with other options). Maybe you can use Bribery to get captives released, or grab a Small Cloaking Device (the Nog persona is the only other Fed who can do so). Bah. The special download offers two possibilities for some kind of Federation (or at least Terran) capture deck, which is nice, but not entirely useful. He can Disrupt Alliance (is a requirement) which is an efficient way to make use of what little Mirror spaceline there is. No real tricks other than that since he doesn't have the Treachery for The Art of Diplomacy, the ENGINEER to Process Ore, etc. A good enough skill list, but you'd have to do a little capturing to make him worthwhile. I guess there's always that Terok Nor brig (especially if you don't have the personnel that download such cards present). A lukewarm 3.4.

TOTAL: 13.8 (69%) A jerk anyway.

PICTURE: A nicely colored pic of the Mirror Dax, with aggressive reds as well as dark passionate blues. The lighting is sultry and the shadows consistent with the mirror universe ethic. The background is a little busy, but the only element that's disturbing is the large shadow to the right which looks like the back of someone's head (but isn't). That flaw keeps an otherwise nice card at 3.8.

LORE: I'm glad they included a couple of adjectives to describe her, because the rest of the lore makes her out to be little more than a love interest for various characters. I understand the need to differentiate Ben Sisko from his mirror opposite, but "Mr. Sisko" lacks the intimacy required of the relationship (though "mistress" is a nice mirror word for "romantically involved"). Falls somewhere in the middle at 3.1.

TREK SENSE: Can't say we saw much of mirror Dax, so her skills are up for debate. Leadership fits a leader of the Terran rebellion, and both Navigation and her special download go with her distracting the Alliance fleet while the Defiant was being made ready. The rest is pretty much speculation. Engineer is believable since rebels on the run would have to be handy with a wrench, just in case. Geology may have something to do with the Terran HQ being underground (presuming she had anything to do with it). Archaeology though... A link to our Jadzia? Speaking of our joined Trill, the only difference between the two, attribute-wise, seems to be -1 Cunning for the mirror version. Same Integrity? Really? She was one of the good guys, but they could have "mirrored" her a little more (a 6 or even a 5). Since she's no scientist, I'll buy the lower Cunning. Strength at 7 is fine for either version (rebel training as opposed to Klingon training). One last mark against her: The Staff icon. I know they were handing out Captainships to everyone, but as one of the movers and shakers of the rebellion, I would have thought her Command authority would have been acknowledged. Poorer than I would have hoped at 2.6.

STOCKABILITY: 6 skills and good attributes, but is there a solid reason to use Captain Dax? I'm only asking because the Federation has tons of personnel to choose from. Well, in a mission solving deck, Geology and Archaeology will be useful for planet missions (Geo appears on the mirror mission Mine Dilithium), while Navigation and ENGINEER are better for space missions. Leadership might appear on either. Nice flexibility. ENGINEER is a nice classification in any deck, but she can use to Process Ore in the Mirror universe (thanks to Emblem of the Empire). Navigation is likewise useful for a variety of effects, including reporting her to a Type 18 Shuttlepod (in the Alpha Quadrant) which requires no staffing so is perfect for her highly defensive Evasive Maneuvers. Such a download actually makes that Tactic more useful. It's not the type of thing you want to stock a lot of because it IS so defensive. Just stock a couple then, and have Dax download it when you really do need it. In a Mirror deck, to stock up on the right skills, she's good. In another deck, you'll want to report her easily or else not at all. 3.5 here.

TOTAL: 13 (65%) Is that number lucky in the Mirror universe?

PICTURE:  Per force, this isn't really the mirror Scotty, just the regular Scotty in his opposite's clothes. We don't have much of a choice in the matter, but wasn't there an angrier shot of him? For such a severe taskmaster, he looks like a wuss.The shirt pins at the bottom of the image look terrible, and the color saturation is a little deep for me (can't imagine what it's doing to color-blind players). The Mr. Scott card looks meaner, so this is a 2.5.

LORE: Fun, fun stuff. Once the "who's the opposite" stuff is out of the way, we get some nice descriptions of the evil Scotty. Wouldn't want to work on HIS engineering deck. A cool 3.6.

TREK SENSE: All the icons match up including the Staff icon. See, Sulu is the second officer of the ISS Enterprise, where Scotty is second officer on the Alpha Quadrant version. This Scott and his opposite share two skills, the double-ENGINEER and Transporter Skill as well as a special skill. Where our Mr. Scott can boost the attributes of any Constitution-class ship, this one can only do so to mirror ships. There's no real difference since all the OS Mirror ships are Constitution-class, and we're not likely to see any otherwise-affiliated or -classed vessels. Note that it's exceedingly difficult to figure out just what mirror Scotty was like since he gets no real screen-time. Taking our Scotty's skills used in "Mirror, Mirror" would be cheating, but I don't really think they did that. Physics is a fine Engineer-related skill, and Stellar Cartography isn't impossible, though less relevant. What IS missing is some measure of Treachery and lower Integrity. The turnover in his department would indicate he's logged plenty of Agony Booth hours for his personnel, which might deserve these abilities more than the Cartography. As opposites go, I see no problem with having the same Cunning and Strength. I guess what hurts here is the fact that we never really saw him in the show, so some holes are showing. Still a relatively-competent 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: Double-ENGINEERs are great in any case, but Chief Engineer Scott will be especially useful to Terran and OS decks. First, he has a nice little skill list, and he can Process Ore at a mirror Nor. His boosting of the ISS Enterprise to 8-8-8 is good, but can be raised higher by bringing in his opposite (Mr. Scott) for 10-10-10, then James Tiberius Kirk and Captain's Log, the other ISS Enterprise-boosting personnel, maybe a Wall of Ships or two... You can have quite the powerhouse, and it actually makes the mirror ship a little better than its Starship Enterprise equivalent. Note that the same can be done with a Spacedoored ISS Constitution at the cost of 1 WEAPONS, and you can use Crew Reassignment to get your Terrans aboard. If you are using him with Mr. Scott, you could also bring in Montgomery Scott just for fun (they all pass Blended together) and have a very, very good ENGINEER deck with a broad enough range of skills (even more with a Classic Tricorder). Another strong Federation personnel, though like most of them, not primordial. A strong 3.8.

TOTAL: 13.4 (67%) The first OS Mirror personnel reviewed isn't a wash.

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