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

PICTURE: A classic shot of Scotty in a Jeffries tube, colorful and well composed. The only indication that we're in the Mirror universe is that McCoy,at the bottom of the shaft, has a sash. A good-looking central composition with the flash of red exactly where it's needed for contrast. 3.5 here.

LORE: Sometime in the pre-release timeline, a typo made this card "Energy Conversion", so it had us imagining something different. When my brain is set to "off", I sometimes still refer to the card that way. Anywho, I know they're probably copying the terminology used in the show, but how "field density between universes" can "close" is beyond me, nor is McCoy's part in this really about completing modifications. I mean, he just stood guard. For these reasons, I can't go above 2.4 here.

TREK SENSE: Ok, you're stuck in another universe and need to use the transporter to get back. Transporter Skill, then, makes perfect sense, though Physics would be more useful than Astrophysics. A mention of the ion storms causing the strange beam-up might have helped, but not much. Parallel universes and such (as well as time travel) should really have been put under the heading of Physics, keeping stellar phenomena under ASTROphysics. 2 Physics would of course be required to cross over into a parallel world, but Astrophysics, not so much. In any case, the dilemma really should have been made more generic, especially with that title. The game text, lore, etc. all point to a situation where you must cross back from some other universe into your own using the transporter. How often would you have to perform that particular conversion? To make things worse, the card's a common! Because it's a space dilemma, you can't toy with the idea that the conversion must be made to make transport safe to or from a planet, though maybe it's one of those ship-to-ship deals where the ship is "included" like those Ensign Bobs. An extremely doubtful 1.6.

SEEDABILITY: A simple common dilemma that makes a fairly good wall for your money. Transporter Skill is still rather rare in most affiliations, and Astrophysics isn't common either, especially doubled up like this. Knocking out ENGINEERs and SCIENCEs beforehand might be indicated, but none of the requirements are really that easy to weed out. Simple and straight-forward, it's one of the few common space walls, and not a bad one at all. 3.5 should cover it.

TOTAL: 11 (55%) Ah, Trek Sense... the bane of many cards.

PICTURE: Whether it's the colors, the pose or the blur, they've found an Attack Ship shot that's different enough from the other Jem'Hadar ships to be its own vessel. That said, it's also the least attractive of the three. Just a 3.2 here.

LORE: As to the title, I might have hoped for "Advanced" rather than "Enhanced", simply to allow future cards to relate to this ship the same way it might the D'deridex and Keldon Advanced classes. Alas, that wasn't meant to be. Quadrant nativity is explained, which is fine, but I'm not clear on why the pictured ship had to be singled out as "one of the first...", as if it made any difference on a universal ship. A penalty for that drops it to 2.9.

TREK SENSE: This second Alpha Quadrant Jem'Hadar attack ship has attributes just like the original GQ model, i.e. it has one less point in Shields than the first Alpha does. Perhaps the Dampener has something do with it, since either its systems affect your Shields or it just needs the room you might have originally used to boost Shields by a bit. I'd rather see this ship as part of a timeline however. Alpha Attack Ship represents the new Alpha craft when they came out, uniquely adapted to AQ weapons, thus explaining the extra Shields. Later in the war, when this Enhanced model came out, the AQ affiliations had adapted to Dominion technology a bit, and so the Shields bonus is gone. This would also explain how Jem'Hadar ships would be no longer immune to Tractor Lock - the AQ powers would have fixed their Tractor Beams to counter whatever technology was protecting them before. It can all be justified, but of course, is a rather simple design. 3.7 here.

STOCKABILITY: In many ways, this ship makes other Jem'Hadar Attack Ships next to obsolete. The original is still the one that reports to the Gamma Quadrant if you're starting out there, but the Alpha? All it has special going for it now is an extra point in SHIELDS. That, and an immunity to Establish Tractor Lock which really isn't used very often at all. And while your Breen Warships also have Energy Dampeners, they're harder to staff. In any case, it's much more efficient to have the Energy Dampener on all your ships so that you can make use of the Breen Energy Dampening Weapon tactic no matter what ships are in your armada. The Dominion has a variety of Tactics specific to them, so this can also go in that varied Battle-Bridge side-deck. The Attack bonus on it is pretty good (+3) and it can disable RANGE, WEAPONS and special equipment! Excellent. And where Alpha Quadrant decks can report plenty of Jem'Hadar, the Dominion can't as easily report Vorta there, whether it's to command the ships or ration the White. Enhanced Attack Ship helps here since Luaran can report directly to it regardless of quadrant. A VR Headset later, and the ship's attributes get the usual boost. Not so much an alternative to Alpha Attack Ship as it is a replacement. Gotta go as high as 4.4.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) Still manages to fall a % point short of Alpha Attack Ship.

PICTURE: When watching TOS again for the umpteeth time, I noticed this guy getting disintegrated by NOMAD in "The Changeling", but later being still alive in the Mirror universe. I guess the fates were kinder to him over there! Decipher was too because the pic is pretty strong. His pre-salute pose is distinctly MU without offending anyone with the actual thing, the blue and yellow patches are well balanced behind him, and hey, it's just interesting to have so young a man with silver hair. Score adjusted for looking like he just came off "I Dream of Jeannie" ;-). Total: 4.

LORE: How do you write interesting lore about a background character with no lines? By making it about characters we know and love. The bit about dispatching him using a common TOS tactic (related to the old "you distract him, I'll hit him with the nerve pinch" trick) is a lot of fun. Score adjusted for not mentioning any kind of universality. Total: 4.

TREK SENSE: Though the lore makes no mention of his being universal, his part was so small as to allow him to be without objection from me - one of many guards probably all like this. Lots of icons, but they're all fine. He's from the Mirror quadrant, part of the Terran Empire, from another time (AU), specifically from the TOS era, and a Staffing ensign. That he would have Treachery makes sense since it's no doubt the most common skill of the Mirror universe. Unfortunately, that makes him a mission specialist in the field, and here, I have to state some concerns. See, Treachery is more a type of behavior, or an ethical code, than it is a "skill", so specializing in such a thing is borderline at best. In the case of someone like Selok, I take it to mean she's a "specialist in espionage", but Davis isn't a spy. Perhaps he does spy on crewmembers for the captain (or on the captain for others), so it could work. Might even be something Security guards regularly do. Integrity is way low, which follows his design quite well. Being taken by the hypo trick shows off his stupidity (Cunning 5). And the Strength is that of a security guy. The one real problem I found a way to explain away, so the total is 4.

STOCKABILITY: A Treachery mission specialist for the Feds? Do they even have Treachery-related missions? Well, very few, and always shared with other affiliations, but he can nonetheless get you +5 points on there. There are also a few dilemmas that require the skill, and it's relatively rare in the Federation. Of course, being part of the Terran Empire means he can ally with non-Feds who also are, including some Bajorans and Ferengi. Suddenly, that Treachery has a few more missions it can attempt. He's quick to report to OS ships if you need the skill, but can also report using Assign Mission Specialists, a Mirror ship or Defend Homeworld. All those icons do open up a number of possibilities for him and his kind. Attributes are weak, but he's got the STRENGTH to go with his SECURITY, never a bad classification. Ok, not the mission specialist who'll see the most action, but he might make a good supporting character for your complete specialist deck to handle certain dilemmas. Not a 4, no, but a 3.5.

TOTAL: 15.5 (77.5%) NON... SEQUITUR! ;-)

PICTURE: With Captain Kirk digitally removed from the image, Gaffney seems to be saluting to empty air, which certainly doesn't help this blurry image any. The pose is odd, especially at this angle, and he's really giving himself a double chin. The marks of the Terran Empire are plainly visible, which puts him in the right context, but I can't really recommend this silly effort. I kind of have affection for it, like I do Ed Wood films, but it doesn't get it over 1.7.

LORE: Ok, misses the boat on mentioning universality, but it really comes back to life in the second sentence. Not only does the lore justify the odd skill/classification combo, but also has that Mirror universe spin. Advancement in the Alpha Quadrant seems to come to helmsmen first, not security. A quick descriptor like "dedicated" is always nice too, giving a touch of personality to an otherwise non-descript character. A superior 3.9.

TREK SENSE: Now a Security personnel, he used to work in the sciences. Those sciences? Apparently Geology and Astrophysics. Unrelated as they are, they paint the picture of a personnel looking for advancement here and there, switching careers easily looking for opportunities. Sounds like a Cunning way to do things in the Mirror universe, adding to his obvious jack-of-all-trades quality to form a high attribute. His apparent bulk and Security classification qualifies him for high Strength, and his dedication makes him a candidate for relatively high Integrity. A simple design, but I'm not sure he should be relegated so easily to universality since his skill pool is on the odd side, but there may be dozens of people like him on Terran ships. Fine then, a 3.6.

STOCKABILITY: All affiliations and sub-affiliations require their own support personnel to help with mission attempts, reporting speeds, etc. Gaffney can thus help Terran decks, OS decks, and plain old Federation decks. Geology and Astrophysics are two not-so-common skills that see some action on dilemmas, and matched with SECURITY, won't be weeded out by SCIENCE hosers. For a Mirror universal, he's got pretty high attributes too. Neither of the skills are common (or even uncommon) on Federation support personnel, so his unique mix will be useful depending on your deck. He can use OS/Mirror equipment like the Dagger and Agonizer as side-bonuses, and can be used just as well with the modern Terrans as the OS kind. I'd call Gaffney a good 3.5.

TOTAL: 12.7 (63.5%) Needed more support on the pic.

PICTURE: The poor make-up job made evident by this particular image basically ruins the pic as everything else is muted in comparison, with that green rectangle in the back of her head only bringing out the eyeshadow more. The composition's not bad otherwise, but it's hard to go much higher than a 2.3 for aesthetic reasons.

LORE: Some have stated being offended by the mention of her romantic involvement. I, of course, am not, nor was I by the episode itself. Its presence here has some gameplay value thanks to Emblem of the Alliance, and I don't see why the relationship should get any less copy because it was same-gender. The rest of the lore works fine by me, including the way they've made her the opposite of Ezri Dax and unjoined in the same breath. A fine 3.4.

TREK SENSE: This Ezri played both sides, so I'm fine with her having both the Alliance and Terran icons, and working aboard Brunt's ship would get her a Staff icon. Without any kind of Starfleet structure in her universe, she's a Non-Aligned Civilian. With all the switch-arounds in "The Emperor's New Cloak", I can't believe Ezri doesn't have Treachery. Or Youth for that matter, especially since our Ezri's got it and is the same age. She crossed-over to our universe which makes the special download a natural, and using the Multidimensional Transport Device to do it makes her adept in Transporter Skill as well. Where Mr. Brunt was a bit timid, she was clearly the leader of the pair, so Leadership is believable. I'm not sure there's too much overt mention of her other skills in the episode. Science could have helped her figure out the mechanics of cross-dimensional physics. Stellar Cartography's always a help in ship navigation. And Geology? Could be an ingenious use of information from "Prodigal Daughter". There we learn Ezri's family runs a mining operation. What if she worked there too in the mirror universe, and only later became a mercenary? The real Ezri has that skill too... Attributes are about right across the board, from her "infiltrator Integrity" on. They loaded her up with skills, but forced some on there, while ignoring others. The buck stops at 2.9.

STOCKABILITY: A real skill-horse for either Mirror micro-affiliation, or for just anybody really since she's Non-Aligned. CIVILIAN isn't the best classification, but she adds the useful SCIENCE to it. Transporter Skill's rather rare and a welcome sight. Leadership allows her to initiate battle, but is also good for dilemmas, as are Geology and Stellar Cartography. Attributes are on the lame side though. Playing with the Alliance? Ezri can use the Emblem to report for free if The Intendent is in play (or allow her to do so, as well as Mr. Brunt is she herself is in play). She may even report directly to the Mirror Ferengi Shuttle, where Mr. Brunt always reports for free to command it. You'd rather download her? How about I'm a Doctor, Not a Bricklayer? As a NA, she can pretty much help Away Teams with any Mirror mission (solving Mine Dilithium all alone), but the Alpha Quadrant isn't safe from her. She can download Crossover easy as pie. If you're already downloading/reporting her to the Alpha or Delta Quadrant by some means, that download can simply go on the table, enabling other Mirror personnel to ignore their quadrant icon. Ezri can fairly easily bring her skills to bear, and that makes her worth something, but her nativity stinks. About 3.7.

TOTAL: 12.3 (61.5%) She ain't no Ezri Dax ;-).

PICTURE: Not as featureless as it first looks, the details are quite subtle and realistic. The atmosphere (?) gives the planet an nice glow that gets us in that gold rush mood. A good 3.5.

LORE: Competent stuff with an interesting title, I just don't really know why this trivial world was chosen as a mission since its role in the show was but an offhanded remark. 3.1 fits here.

TREK SENSE: Think of this as the unique form of the universal Planet mission. The idea is to exploit a world's mineral resources, and additionally, to be the first to lay claim to it. Geology's simple enough to explain in that scheme, and Greed appears here as motivation. Greed's also the "exploiter" skill, in my opinion. There are 2 possible ways to stake your claim. One is legally, with the Law skill. The other is illegally, which requires at least 3 Treachery. This is all pretty inventive. Because the planet apparently belongs to no one, any Away Team may attempt, and because Feldomite is a precious ore, the points are fairly high. A good design derived from an older one, it scores 3.7.

SEEDABILITY: Your Ferengi, Cardassians and now Klingons can always use a good Geology mission to drop their Forced-Labor Camp on, and these requirements shouldn't pose much of a problem. Indeed, the Klingon Sisters of Duras have everything you need save just another Treachery personnel. 35 points made easy (plus card draws if you're using the Camp). With a single affiliation, the Romulans, it's possible to get +20 points from mission specialists (Dr. Farek plus 3 Treachery specialists), while the Feds would have to settle for +15 using one Treachery and one Geology together with ol' Farek. That's still a relatively easy 50-55 points for those guys. Of course, you have to contend with the mission being attemptable by anyone, so do protect it, but it's a good place, for example, to make your Law personnel do something other than pass dilemmas. A cool enough 3.6.

TOTAL: 13.9 (69.5%) Didn't quite strike gold.

PICTURE: While the pink sky has got to go, and the Ferengi are more than a little indistinct, the whip is dynamically used. A pretty cool action shot instead of a boring prop shot. The haphazard (alright, downright messy) composition keeps it at 3.4.

LORE: Mentioning it as a "hand weapon" outright would have been dull without the nicely qualitative "unconventional". The game text gets explained, as does, in a way, the reason why we rarely ever saw Whips after the first season of TNG. It's not canon or anything, nor is it anything but vague, but laughing at Ferengi is always in vogue, and I like what they've hinted at here. What's YOUR favorite idea of what those accidents were? A cool 4.2.

TREK SENSE: This hand weapon never killed anyone onscreen, so the stun effect makes a lot of sense. What don't are the regular issues associated with hand weapons. The one card representing any number of Whips is a problem, what with the stun function only working once per turn (per Whip). So is there only one Whip after all? I can see the bonus being shared by a couple of Ferengi, one hiding behind the other, but one Whip to 10 Ferengi works the same way. I remain unconvinced. The cumulative nature of the weapon is also in doubt, especially with the Whip being so difficult to wield. Imagine a Ferengi with a Whip in each hand. And it gets even more ridiculous when you imagine that same personnel with more than two. The idea that it IS difficult to wield is represented by the fact that only Ferengi may use it, excluded NA personnel. Agreed. There's more than a trigger to find here. If these things really are that hard to handle, they don't really show it beyond that limitation though. Ferengi Civilians, for example, might have been forbidden to use them too. Hand weapons never really do well in Trek Sense, and even the good stuff here can't make the card rise above 2.8.

STOCKABILITY: Ferengi can certainly use a STRENGTH boost given that they're not the kings of that particular attribute. You wouldn't expect them to be aggressive attackers, but they do have incentives to be that way, like the 34th Rule of Acquisition. After each attack, you can download a couple of Gold-Pressed Latinum, which you can then trade in for downloading another weapon, making you even deadlier in future attacks. Not only does the Whip give each Ferengi +2 STRENGTH, but it also allows you to stun one adversary per battle, no matter its STRENGTH (per Whip). With enough Whips, you need not fear even the toughest of Jem'Hadar. Either you surpass them in STRENGTH already, or if not, you just stun them. What's good for offense is just as good for defense, and the Ferengi are usually pretty easy targets for aggressor species. It's certainly better than a Disruptor, but you might throw one in (if you need Diplomacy) or a Rifle (if you don't) just to be able to use Phaser Burns. It allows you to kill two stunned personnel, hehehe. They're not as universally required as disruptors or phasers, but they can still be dumped for points at Kressari Rendezvous. The Ferengi aren't weak, not when they can buy the right hardware. 3.8 for this card.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) Unwhippable!

PICTURE: Without another ship in the frame, you can't really tell a ship's proportions, but placing a lot of it out-of-frame really helps in making the ship look big. Sure, the effects are silly, but not overly so. A good and scary 3.6.

LORE: Short, telegraphic lore. There's a brief physical description, and mention of the mysterious First Federation (not to be confused with the affiliation), plus a matching commander that has to be aboard anyway to staff it. Okay, though not very exciting. "Unknown Class" is even more boring. A 3.

TREK SENSE: Balok's ship was only, so far as we knew, staffed by him, so his presence in that box is quite natural. You don't get the Fesarius without Balok. The free report to the ship works in a similar vein. He did seem to live aboard, after all. The ship has a Tractor Beam that could hold the Starship Enterprise easily, and besides is certainly big enough to take in shuttles. It should even be able to carry entire starships! The attack restrictions are interesting. Balok's bark was certainly worse than his bite, so though he threatened the Enterprise, it was just a test. The First Federation turned out to be a friendly entity, much like the affiliation of the same name. Range is fast for the 23rd century, which works. It's such a huge ship, the Weapons and Shields should be high to match, and they are. The Weapons aren't THAT high, but the 1st Feds are supposed to basically be friendly (plus, Weapons 12 is huge in the 23rd century). It's close to indestructable in that era besides. A good simulation worth 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: Wow, big Non-Aligned ship, much better than the Husnock Ship, but wait, you can't attack with it at your leisure. It's got Federation attack restrictions. Well, that still leaves Borg, but Borg have pretty high SHIELDS themselves. Tell you what: Put Captain Kirk aboard, and you can pretty much attack anyone. Now that we have that solved, there's the matter of staffing. Balok is the only personnel that can staff the ship. On the one hand, that means it can't really be commandeered, but on the other, it makes it impossible for you to use any other personnel to staff it. Decipher helps by making Balok reportable directly to the ship for free. Can't wait? Ready Room Door can download him directly there. And as long as you're obligatorily using a matching commander aboard his own ship, you might as well have Captain's Log and Dedication Plaque on the table. 11-15-21 attributes is even better than what's there now. Whether you use it to attack or not, those SHIELDS will provide protection against most any ship. Even a Borg Cube can't score a direct hit on this ship (not without a Kurlan Naiskos anyway). And WHAT Stellar Flare? ;-) A real sanctuary, and the vessel you want to hunt down the Borg Ship dilemma with. A good 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.5 (72.5%) A pretty big score, as the theme would require.

PICTURE: The bearded Spock's always been cooler than the regular Spock, so he's ahead of the game. Unlike many of the others, you don't need to see the uniform to know he's the mirror version, but what little you see of the sleeves is pretty funky. The large Terran Empire logo behind him also work wonders. It's still just a head shot, and the color palette is pretty limited. Hits around 3.6.

LORE: This whole "history will record" aspect makes this Spock's lore read as if it had been written from the DS9 era's point of view. It creates an epic sense about this ultra-rare card, but isn't in keeping with most other OS personnel lores as it looks to the character's future fate. Matching commander status adds a few decimals, so that's a 3.5.

TREK SENSE: FOS became the captain of the ISS Enterprise with the help of the Tantalus Field, so that game-related bit in the lore works even if we never saw it onscreen. The mirror Spock should look a lot like our own Mr. Spock, and the counterparts were more alike than any other character in "Mirror, Mirror" (the episode). His more ruthless universe didn't breed him to be a scientist as much, so he's only Science x1, but he's still a combination First Officer/Science officer. Mr. Spock's doubled Mindmeld is due to the many tricks he used on the show. FOS never got the chance to use these tricks in the short time we were with him, but it's not unlikely that he might be less inclined to follow mental disciplines in this harsh world. The rest of the skills are pulled from the episode itself, and don't really relate to anything on the Mr. Spock card (and that's fine). He let Kirk go and tried to reform an evil Empire, which would account for Honor. His ability to eventually sway that Empire toward a different goal would certainly require a large amount of Diplomacy (Leadership would have been too much like unreformed tactics). Finally, he was the one that used the special transporter procedure to make the switch between crews at the end: Transporter Skill. The broader a special skill or special download is, the less likely it is to have good Trek Sense, and that's a problem here. ANY OS equipment? Why? We saw him use an Agonizer and a Classic Phaser, but that's about it. No doubt, a science officer would use a Classic Tricorder, and both can be used by Science personnel. Communicators? Sure... Ok, ok, I guess that broad range works out, but it would work out on countless other personnel from the same era, so it doesn't particularly DEFINE First Officer Spock. Attributes are exactly the same as our own Spock, which is perhaps a little odd. I know they were very similar, but I don't it would have been offbase to give him a little less Integrity (even if Kirk called him a "man of integrity"), or even a little more Strength (glass skull not withstanding). Though it breaks down a little (only a little) at the end, this is a good example of pulling skills directly from an episode's storyline. Worth a good 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: The Terrans are really the better sub-affiliation from the mirror universe, and if you're lucky enough to have a FOS, you'll probably use him in your Terran deck. He's a strong OFFICER, but with the actually more useful SCIENCE classification. I'm not just talking about mission attempts, but also about using OS equipment cards. SCIENCE personnel can use both Tricorders to give themselves extra skills (consider that FOS could add MEDICAL, Biology, Exobiology, SCIENCE, ENGINEER, Geology and/or Physics), he's a leader for purposes of Classic Phaser (adds SECURITY to boot), plus whatever you want to share with the Classic Communicator. Yes, he could turn out to have 5 classifications on him at one time. See all those Equipment cards? Well, he can download the most necessary one at any time, either boosting your mission solving power or your assault team's STRENGTH. In addition to the toys mentioned above, he could also add to INTEGRITY and CUNNING with an Agonizer, even more to STRENGTH with a Mirror Dagger, or in some situations, add a Romulan Cloaking Device to his Enterprise. Oops, sorry, I skipped the skills didn't I? Well, Diplomacy x2 is always excellent and not easily found on mirror personnel, I'll tell you that. Honor's not too common there either, and is seeing some action on dilemmas. Plus, either of these skills will help you solve Federation missions in the Alpha Quadrant (you really can't stay in the mirror universe all game). Transporter Skill remains one of those rarer skills, so you'll be happy to have it along for the ride. Excellent attributes too. Speaking of rides, he's the matching commander for the ISS Enterprise, which can download him to make itself (with Plaque and Log) a more sensible 8-9-9 vessel. He's a Spock, so Agricultural Assessment is easy for him too (as is the closer Mine Dlithium, all you need is the Classic Tricorder). He'll work fine in an Alpha Quadrant crew, and you can get him there easily with an AU mechanics either at your outpost, Amanda Grayson's location or directly to Vulcan. Not a game breaker, but an excellent ultra-rare, I think. How about a 4.2?

TOTAL: 15.4 (77%) I want one. Boo-hoo :-(.

PICTURE: Great action pose, and though I don't care much for the background (the lighting bar seems disembodied, and those circles on the door are distracting), the fact that Fontaine is the only thing illuminated in red in the picture makes him more feral and devilish. A fun 3.8.

LORE: Engimatic is right. The lore basically admits that Fontaine's existence makes no sense (as the show's creators have in various interviews), which is then used as a springboard for the strange skill selection. Still fun, and a 3.5.

TREK SENSE: The Enigma icon gets a second appearance, redefining what it means in Trek Sense. Looking at what Fontaine and the Borg Queen have in common, it seems the icon is reserved for characters whose very existence is a paradox. If the Queen is one group-mind, how can they have an individual Queen? How can she be destroyed yet turn up later? For Fontaine, how can a hologram have a flesh and blood counterpart in a parallel dimension? The icon doesn't recreate this paradox exactly, but instead forces a game paradox on these personnel cards: They are neither unique, nor universal. Umm, huh? It's a paradox alright. Being a non-sensical character, the skills don't have to make sense, and they don't. We can imagine this "rebel" piloting a craft to get to the station, so Navigation could work, but what's the connection with Astrophysics and Medical, two very disparate skills? Music is our universe's Vic Fontaine's skill, but the mirror Fontaine wouldn't have anything like this, would he? Unless the hologram was based on a real 24th-century guy, but even so, it's doubtful there would be a Terran singer in the mirror universe. And no Treachery? Talk about paradoxes! So Civilian is just about the only unimpeachable skill here, but that doesn't matter. Fontaine is an impossibility, and they've playfully treated him as such. I don't dislike the way they've handled his allegiances either. He's a Terran rebel who is fighting the Terran rebels, so they've made him Non-Aligned, not Fed, and didn't give him the Terran icon (nor the Alliance icon). The download is clearly from the pic where he holds 2 disruptors. The wording makes sure he doesn't download anything bigger, like a Rifle. Attacking his own people rates him low Integrity, but also low Cunning since we'll never know what his motivations were. Whatever they were, he wasn't very smart about the whole thing, winding up dead within seconds of making his first appearance. Strength would support that as well. They had a lot of fun with this character, and it IS within Trek Sense to give him unreasonable skills: a 4.2 here.

STOCKABILITY: Fontaine's mix of skills is pretty broad, and that's always useful. Indeed, Navigation, Astrophysics and (especially) MEDICAL are excellent for both dilemmas and missions. Music is less so, but there are perks associated with it. The special download can be nasty in assault team decks, since he adds +4 to his, and his Away Team's, STRENGTH, suspending play to do so, even a surprise attack by your opponent can turn sour. And since Disruptors only require a Non-Aligned personnel to enable it for all personnel present, Fontaine will allow your Feds or Bajorans to use a Klingon, Romulan or Cardassian Disruptor, y'know? In the mirror universe, a lot of personnel can pull this kind of trick, so teaming him up with Bareil and Security Chief Garak makes for a well-armed Alliance team, while throwing him in with Mr. Sisko, First Officer Spock and Security Chief Sulu will do the same for the Terrans. Being an Enigma makes him the perfect candidate to go and take out a Tantalus Field since he can't be killed by it, so his ship can destroy the offending vessel without losing its staff. And now we have Vic Fontaine, something of a game-breaking personnel with his big download ability. Can we use his opposite to get him out faster? Well, perhaps. If Fontaine turns up first in your hand, you could use Transporter Mixup to beam him to a ship with a Holodeck and turn him into a downloaded Vic there. May be worth it. If using a mirror Nor, download him to Cargo Bay (you need Ops: Mirror Universe), get him to a planet and beam him to a Holodeck ship. There are none native to the Mirror Quadrant, but Holodeck Door will add one. Fontaine gets a big raise from his connection to Vic, more than he could have lost from the very poor attributes, so a 4.5 here.

TOTAL: 16 (80%) Hope he lasts longer in your games than he did on the show!

PICTURE: Damar egging his people on to rebellion/victory is convincing. The title is, after all, what he's chanting there. I don't care much for the odd color palette, but the pose can't be slighted. A competent enough 3.5.

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

TREK SENSE: This is set of conditions that basically makes Secure Homeworld different for Cardassians. The Cardassians, after all, were occupied by the Dominion whether they realized it or not, and even without the Dominion war in the picture, they are a paranoid people who would have vested patriotic interest in Securing Cardassia Prime from any intruders. As the game text begins, For Cardassia! is a Legate's objective to rally the people. Honorable Cardassians are more trustworthy leaders, so they would play it for free. The Legate then inspires Cardassians (including himself) to greater heights. They become more loyal (Integrity) and are more ready to fight for their planet (Strength). If the Legate in questions helps actually Secure Cardassia Prime, one of two effects may come into play. First is a download of Cardassians with Honor: it might mean that a corrupt government is overthrown (imagine Ghemor overthrowing Dukat's government here) and Honorable Cardassians are placed in positions of power. Interesting. The second possibility is that the Legate and some of his followers (2 other Honorable Cardassians) are killed for the cause, scoring points (achieving martyrdom). That's closer to Damar's fate. Any card that specifically recreates a storyline (or two) to make an affiliation more flavorful is alright in my book. This achives a high 4.5.

STOCKABILITY: While there are 5 Legates to choose from, only 2 of them allow For Cardassia! to play for free on them - Legate Damar and Tekeny Ghemor. But wait, Legate Damar downloads the card in any case (more free than free), so you don't need to wait for it to come into hand. You don't need to wait for Legate Damar to do so either. His SECURITY makes him downloadable through Defend Homeworld. He was part of your opening hand? Well, like any Legate, he reports for free at Central Command, which conveniently also make HQ: Secure Homeworld play for free. Before you have access to Secure Homeworld though, you might allow your Legate to hang around with your crews and Away Teams (indeed, you can have this objective played on any number of Legates in play) to boost their STRENGTH and INTEGRITY by +2. That's useful in overcoming the INTEGRITY defficiency of some Cardassians, but is also good for battling. Those higher attributes will also help you complete Secure Homeworld, which also requires skills that your Legates might have anyway. In fact Legate Damar can handle EVERY skill requirement on there (Turrel would be the worst choice, only bringing attributes to the table). Once you complete Secure Homeworld, you get a choice. You can download 2 Honorable Cardassians, of which there are 14 (including the Honorable Legate you're not using yet, Stolen Attack Ship commander Kira, universal SECURITY report-engine Ekoor, Equipment downloader Mila, and more. Having more than one Legate with For Cardassia! present could conceivably grab you even more Cardassians. Your second choice is only once per game, so none of that, but it's also possible to sacrifice your Legate and 2 Honor personnel to score points. They can't be recycled into the game (out-of-play), but 15 points isn't a bad booty for a follow-through to Secure Homeworld which would have netted you 35 points already. For 50 points, you can afford to throw away such cheap personnel as Parn, Vornar and Ari (it doesn't have to be high profile personnel, in other words). If using multiple Legates at the same location, you could conceivably score the points AND download personnel, so it's a fairly good deal. The Cardassians have a lot of the right personnel to smoothly accomplish this objective. A 4.3.

TOTAL: 16.4 (82%) Lots to admire.

PICTURE: The oft-seen cave does a good job here of framing Gantt. His pose smacks of going down into the dark pits of hell to his left. The color palette isn't very interesting, but otherwise, a very good image at 3.8.

LORE: I don't really like the "now a part of Kira's memories" part, which just feels like thin (and fairly unnecessary) justification for his AU icon. There's nothing wrong with the rest, but one can hardly say that being a member of the Shakaar resistance is an advantage (though it can be if you watch yourself). Can't go for more than 2.7.

TREK SENSE: Ok, the AU icon? You can see it as his being a figment of Kira's imagination/memory, in which case we could invent all manner of skills for him based simply on her impression of him, and possible idealization of him as a young man. That's something of a cheat, so I prefer looking at him as a character from another time. But was Kira young enough in those memories to sufficiently place her before the start of TNG (where "current" time more or less begins)? Maybe. My real concern is that he's a Medical BEFORE being a Civilian (which he isn't at all). Sure, he had medical skills since he tended Kira's father, but was he really a doctor or nurse? Given his Youth and the nature of the Occupation, I dare say he should have been a Civilian with an extra Medical. He's part of the Resistance, that's alright. Anthopology? Not explained here, and I can't quite remember anything from the episode which would lead me to believe it's deserved. Indeed, the Staff icon can't even be proven since he was never on a ship. Maybe he rode in one of those Bajoran Raiders, but they don't even require a staffing icon. And the "memory" leads us to believe he didn't get to grow up, so when did he serve aboard a ship? Integrity is a bit low for a care-taker, but sometimes, the Resistance had to do things its members regretted. Cunning's low, but might go with his fresh-faced Youth. Still a fighter, he gets reasonably high Strength. I can explain the attributes, but they don't necessarily feel spot-on. When the designers seem to be reaching a little when creating a personnel card, the oddness can be compounded when the character is universal. Overall, a 2.6.

STOCKABILITY: Yay, another universal Bajoran MEDICAL! MEDICAL of any sort are somewhat rare for the affiliation, but very important to the game. Being AU is also helpful, since you need AUs to staff the Bajorans' only really big ship, the Bajoran Warship. Gantts (yes, plural) can report aboard using Crew Reassignment, which makes him just as easy to report as other MEDICAL support personnel. You'd better use Space-Time Portal to play him though, since the small number of AU cards available to Bajorans doesn't quite warrant an Alternate Universe Door. Another plus: being a universal Resistance personnel. That allows him to be downloaded by Bajoran Civil War and to have his lukewarm attributes boosted by HQ: War Room. He's the ONLY universal Resistance, a skill useful for a variety of effects: helping Bajoran Phasers along, downloading capture-related cards at your Brig, report for free using Bajoran Resistance Cell and enable card draws with that same card. It's also on a mission and a couple of dilemmas, as well as on The Earring of Li Nalas (+3 to all his attributes if present, that's an 11-11-12 universal with that and War Room alone). Anthropology is more of a mission solver, and Youth, though rarely needed, can be of use for Ooby Dooby, Isabella, etc. Between the Warship staffing, the MEDICAL and the universal Resistance, I can safely say this guy is a 4.4.

TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) Comes through in the end.

PICTURE: I've always liked the Gorn, and on more than a kitsch level, so it's unfortunate that the image here looks like it's been sitting in the sun too long. The greenish tints show the age of the film to too great a degree (no CGI fix available?). Gorn with boulder in hand would have been more dramatic too. This is mannequin stuff, as far as I'm concerned. A disappointing 2.

LORE: Not bad. I think what's important here is that the Encounter was engineered by the Metrons. It's stated in the lore, and the game text can be understood through it. The part about mercy was, in fact, the episode's message. Good cue. A good 3.5.

TREK SENSE: Though no personnel are relocated to another planet, we may still infer that the Metrons are pulling the strings here, in the form of the "opponent". That's why the Gorn is not encountered by the entire Away Team. Instead, as in "Arena", the Metrons pit leader against leader, one of these being the Gorn captain, the other being the Leadership personnel. Leaders should, by definition, exemplify the motives of their "side" or team. The opponent's choice puts the Metrons' power into a player's hands, which works fine. The players are nothing if not powerful entities interfering with the Trek universe (and there are many to choose from). To beat the Gorn, the Leader must be a pretty good survivor. It's difficult enough to beat the Gorn by Strength alone, but Kirk did it, using ingenuity (Cunning) and skillful use of his environment. All the options are here: A personnel must have enough Strength or Cunning (printed, since Equipment and other resources were not carried over to the "arena") plus resourcefulness (expressed as the number of skills) to beat the Gorn. I think it works well, even if certain skill lists are going to be stranger than others. Still, storytelling-wise, any number of outcomes can be infered by survival here. The mild differences between the dilemma and the show are the only minuses, such as the fact the Metrons were able to pull Kirk off a ship, that relocation business, etc. A very strong 4.7.

SEEDABILITY: If only one personnel with Leadership x2 (or x3) is in the Away Team, then it becomes the Gorn's target. Some of these will survive (the Borg Counterparts, Dukat, Omet'iklan, Thot Gor, Captain Kirk, James T. Kirk, Admiral Riker, Karr, Culluh, Kor, Keras, Praetor Neral, Mr. Sisko), some won't (General Krim, the Kais, Legate Damar, Tekeny Ghemor, James Tiberius Kirk, William T. Riker, Admiral Hanson, Admiral Kirk, the Gowrons, General Korrd, Cyrus Redblock). How's that for complete lists? The dilemma gets interesting when there are more than one of these personnel (and Interlinked Borg will give his entire Hive the same Leadership rating), or none but lots of Leadership x1 personnel, or even none at all, in the same Away Team. That's when you get to select which Leader faces the Gorn, and so you can make sure (hopefully) that it gets killed through lack of attributes or skills. Any total under 13 will do it. Big tough Jem'Hadar, Hirogen and Breen, or brainy androids may be close to immune, but in many cases, you'll be able to take out someone important for the mission, or at least for the next dilemma. You might think of Lack of Prep to make sure Leaders are present for your dilemma at one of any Leadership-requiring missions. Leadership-related walls might also make sure you get more than one choice of Leadership personnel. Unfortunately, you can't drain attributes or skills (with Interphasic Plasma Creatures, for example) because it's all material as printed, but that also means your opponent can't boost their personnel, which is so often done these days that all personnel might as well have all the STRENGTH (at least) they need. A very good 4.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) A strong showing for our unfortunately only Gorn card.

PICTURE: Just a somewhat blurry guy on a transporter pad, sure, but Decipher did a good job of removing the other security guard that was next to him. The dead-on pose doesn't hurt either, giving Gorrus some solidity, and aside from the wasted blue space on the right, the background's not too routine. Builds itself up to a 3.

LORE: Pretty dry, but it does an adequate job of mentioning universality and contectualizing the character. Not too interesting, but then again, the character wasn't either. Another 3.

TREK SENSE: A Romulan guard from "The Enterprise Incident", I'm at a loss to explain how he could be a Navigation mission specialist. Security, no problem. But Navigation isn't a skill associated with Security, and furthermore, there's nothing in the episode or lore to explain it. Possible, sure, but so are a lot of things, which doesn't make them fact. Integrity vacillates between Romulan villainy and loyalty to the Empire. Cunning's on the low side, but all the guy did on the show was stand there stupidly when he got switched for Kirk or Spock. Strength is high, but that's a Romulan trait. That, and he's holding a disruptor in the pic, which is a show of force in and of itself. So, good attributes et al., I just can't support the single skill. A 2 this time.

STOCKABILITY: Navigation is an important skill, but extremely common. Does that hurt this little mission specialist? Well, not too much, and for a number of reasons. It's not that he's the only OS Romulan source of Navigation because that micro-affiliation is just too small to sustain a deck. Not that, but it helps that he's SECURITY, because the classification gets increasingly more exposure with time. As a mission specialist, he can be brought into play on the first turn, which could be helpful in protecting your interests (with Homefront, for example). It might be a matter of which skill you like the best, his, Mopak's or Tagus'. With his high STRENGTH, he'll be good in a fight, especially if Lower Decks is in play. For mission specialist points, Navigation may not come into play as often as Treachery, but it is, as I mentioned, a pretty common requirement. The Romulans can use him at more than a dozen missions, some of which, like Intelligence Operation, Investigate Coup and Investigate Rumors, also require SECURITY. The OS icon adds a little bonus, allowing him to use OS equipment and download to OS ships. Better than your average mission specialist at 3.6.

TOTAL: 11.6 (58%) An unmemorable character, what can I say?

PICTURE: Decipher had the unenviable task of removing all the characters from this shot, Halkans and Starfleet personnel alike. Unfortunately, the heavy CGI has given this platform and bench a totally disconnected feel. The ugly soundstage look typical of TOS doesn't help with that either. Given that the Halkans are mentioned in the lore, maybe keeping them there would have been alright (they ARE the Council, after all). As far as design issues go, that gray Mirror Quadrant icon in the lower right corner looks like it doesn't belong there. A poor 0.6, and that's for the designers' appreciated effort.

LORE: Short, but fun. I like the way the Halkans are described, at any rate. A better than average 3.2.

TREK SENSE: Representing Mine Dilithium's past, roughly matching Sherman's Peak's era (too bad you can't move from one TL to the other by the same means used to go between universes at regular spaceline locations), Halkan Council is where OS Mirror personnel are native from. The download of a Mirror Consitution-class ship is a bit providential if you ask me, but the story has to start somewhere, and the Terran Empire's interest in this planet's riches explains there presence there. OS Equipment may report here no matter its home quadrant since the mirrors used the same stuff we did, plus a few more (although Romulan Cloaking Device is debatable). As for the free report each turn, it follows the usual rationale that if personnel and things are usually somewhere, they may be counted on to be there already. The past Halkan Planet is pretty specific, but then again, we've never seen OS Terran Empire personnel anywhere else! Doesn't necessarily do enough, but a competent 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: Requiring fewer cards to enable than Sherman's Peak, it's a good starting point for Terran Empire decks. With a good opening hand, you can drop 4 TE cards on the table (minimum) in the first turn, as you download a ship, it downloads a personnel, you report another for free, then one as your regular card play. Then, you can use a Temporal Vortex (called up through Q the Referee if necessary) to head for the present. First stop: Mine Dilithium, which is easy enough and will give a boost to your OS ship's paltry RANGE. You can keep free-reporting personnel at the Council and go back any time to beam them aboard (the Vortex is a two-way street) or abandon the TL and use Crew Reassignment to report TE personnel, OS and not, aboard instead. Once you leave the Quadrant for the real world, you won't want to return if you can help it, though while still in the MQ, everything's really close together anyway. It's also a pretty safe card to use despite its allowing both players to download ships there: What are the chances of both players using the Original Series Terran Empire? Oh, it can happen since it's a good "affiliation", but I wouldn't worry too much about it. Halkan Council's success is practically predicated on the Terran Empire's power, and it enables it well. A 4.3.

TOTAL: 11.8 (59%) Can't win with that awful an image.

PICTURE: I didn't think they could make TOS planets look good, but Gateway proved me wrong. It's big, it's substantial, it looks like its surface from The Guardian of Forever, and the white specks on it kind of remind us of the ruins upon it (though I doubt they would actually be visible from orbit). The photo-brown color even matches the mission's title in theme. A strong 4.3.

LORE: I like it, and by that I mean I don't dislike it. Pretty standard, but holds my interest, perhaps because the mission is so unusual. A 3.1.

TREK SENSE: The thing about Gateway is that it must be a heavily guarded planet. If Kirk and Starfleet learned anything from "The City on the Edge of Forever", it's that the Guardian is not to be messed with. So is it fair to call this an "Any Away Team may attempt" mission? That's where I think the Honor/Treachery requirement comes in. You either have Honor enough that the Federation allows you access, or the Treachery needed to bypass Federation controls and access the Guardian in spite of a Federation presence. With neither of these skills above x1, that answer is a bit glib, but that's the best I can do. Lots of Anthropology and Archaeology are needed either way, since those two skills are the most interested in history. Since The Guardian of Forever was here, it makes sense that you could download it to the planet. That you only MAY is somewhat anomalous. Sure, you could beam down to another part of the planet, but the mission specifically mentions it, and I don't see how it could be completed without the Guardian "present". Finally, I have no problems with the points this would be worth, or the planet's distance from main spaceways. Overall, it does well, but not perfectly. A 3.5.

SEEDABILITY: 40 points, which can conceivably be turned into 55 with appropriate mission specialists (non-Feds will need Kathleen Tonell, and non-Klingons will need to attempt with Treachery). For more solid Away Teams, there are only a few personnel with both Anthropology and Archaeology, and again only from the original 3 affiliations, with Vash showing up as the better personnel, missing only one instance of Anthropology to match all requirements. The planet is also quite necessary if you want to use The Guardian of Forever, and obliges nicely by allowing you to download the Doorway during the seed phase. With The Guardian of Forever in play, your personnel can travel to and from Time Locations effortlessly, and with Guardians played from hand, allow you to get pretty massive card draws for traveling Anthropologists and Archaeologists. Hmm, the very same personnel that help complete the mission. Come for the time travel, stay for the 40 points. It's a bit complicated as a card-drawing mechanism (you need the mission, multiple copies of the doorway, a time location, specific personnel), but if you're using a time location anyway, say to report free OS or CF personnel, it can be a cool bonus. It succeeds as a mission, despite being pretty stealable, but is also part of a grander design. A 4.4 here.

TOTAL: 15.3 (76.5%) I like missions that are as distinctive as they were on the show.

PICTURE: I know the Horta has never looked good (alternately described as spaghetti'n'meatballs and a bathroom rug), but here it just looks like a foam set piece... in a larger foam set piece. Bonus points for showing the eggs and a tunnel, but the image is entirely too static for my tastes. Perhaps we need to see it opposite Kirk and Spock? A somewhat dull 2.8.

LORE: While we do get pretty much all the facts about the Horta's life-cycle, and why it would pose a threat to an Away Team, my secret wish is that they would have use the line "No kill I" somewhere in there. I just always thought it was a great counterpoint to "Shaka, when the walls fell" and other Tamarian dialogue, expecially in comparing Kirk and Picard in all those "one is better than the other" lists floating on the net. Anyway, what's here is fine, but does not rise above that level. A 3.2.

TREK SENSE: The Horta is treated as some kind of plague that stays on the planet and keeps killing until stopped. Ok, it did kill a lot of people before Kirk and crew disembarked. It was quick-moving, so the speed at which it kills is fine too. How do you stop it? Well, you need lots of Leadership to overcome your party's fear upon seeing the monster and coordinating the other skills (wouldn't a Phaser help too?). You need lots of Exobiology to understand the creature's life cycle (what, no Geology? or is that what Bricklayer represents?). And you need lots of Mindmeld to communicate with the big momma. Sure sounds like Kirk, McCoy and Spock. Mindmeld x2 does merit a closer look: Spock could presumably meld with the very strange alien because of his Mindmeld x2, but would two Vulcans with Mindmeld x1 really be able to pool their mental discipline this way? I wouldn't be that surprised, but it would look strange. Because an entire episode revolved around the Horta, the card seems incomplete, but it works. A 4.1.

SEEDABILITY: The perfect partner for something like Duonetic Field Generator that traps you on a planet, Horta will kill your personnel again and again (now and at the end of each of your turns) unless you can meet some pretty hefty requirements. 2 Leadership should be affordable, 2 Exobiology should be too if you haven't lost too many personnel, but 2 Mindmeld could be more difficult if not using Vulcans. Aside from Mr. Spock and T'Lar, there are no Mindmeld x2 Vulcans, so each deck would need two to survive here. Though x2s exist for the skills, you'd usually be stuck curing the dilemma with 6 personnel! That's tough. Thankfully, it's not a wall, so that personnel could continue the mission attempt while the Horta hunts. As dilemma-seeder, I'm sure you see the importance of stopping the Away Team as often as possible once the Horta's out of her hole. The body count rises steadily not only thanks to the dilemma combo, but thanks to Mission Debriefing and some beaming obstacles as well. The dilemma can even be set off by your redshirt on a planet you're using to strand opposing personnel on. The end of the spaceline where all the Love Interests go, next to Hippocratic Oath, or where you Alien Parasites strand their crew, are fine choices. Either way, there is a cheat out of the dilemma that doesn't even get you the first kill, and that's I'm a Doctor, Not a Bricklayer, a card that shows up for its other uses and could be used against your big dilemma. Still, it stands the test at 4.4.

TOTAL: 14.5 (72.5%) A good score for the Great Mother.

PICTURE: Tiny figures on a causeway aren't very interesting visually, especially given the color palette of the surroundings, but I'd like you to consider what set this is in: Mirror, Mirror. And lo and behold, those tiny figures are mirrored in the water. It's apparent that the designers made a conscious decision to thematically place this card in the expansion even if it didn't have anything to do with the Mirror universe. Brings up the score to 3.5.

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

TREK SENSE: Where Prisoner Exchange was about freeing one of your captives to make your opponent do the same to one of your personnel, Hostage Trade exchanges one captive for another, hopefully more useful, personnel. That part of the card works well enough, with the captive being escorted and released to a crew or Away Team at the same location. You can release any number of captives for that matter. Then, you may capture an equal number of personnel from said crew or Away Team. In other words, exchange one captive (or group) for another. The only odd thing about the effect itself is that your opponent need not agree for you to do this. In other words, no deal need be struck. You're quite the negotiator. It makes a lot of sense to play this for free when you have captives (it suddenly becomes an option), and indeed more so than seeding or playing it when you don't. How can you really have a Hostage Trade in mind when you have no captives? And it's only unique for game balance issues, because there's no reason why an affiliation couldn't conduct multiple Hostage Trades at the same time at different places in the universe. Finally, the limit on Prisoner Exchange and Fajo's Gallery may be thematic (Fajo's is about an android's capture), but wholly ridiculous. One doesn't have anything to do with the others. The main effect is well done though, so a strong 4.

STOCKABILITY: If going for actual Trades, you probably shouldn't seed or play this incident before you have captives, because its play is then free. However, you might have reason to fear from an aggressive capture deck and want to limit the excessive use of Prisoner Exchange or Fajo's Gallery. So since it's also a magic bullet, you might not exactly tip your hand as to what you're planning to do with your own capture strategy by playing the card before actually making a capture. You can bluff, can't you? See, Fajo's Gallery gives out 2 card draws for EACH unique captive a player gets. Multiple captures make for impressive draw engines. Hostage Trade will also curb your own activities, but Fajo's would still be a good card to have because you'd get card draws for your initial capture, and then again for your new capture from the Trade (for just one no matter how many you Trade in a turn because of the limit of course. As for Prisoner Exchange, it can destroy your own Trade strategy by releasing your captives before you can Trade for them. If you have a group, it'll be safe from completely being Exchanged before the Trade. And of course, there's the Trade itself. If you're interested in Brainwashing (or Impersonating) useful personnel, that dinky support personnel you got off a random selection can be Traded for a juicier main of your choice. As a side-bonus, it's of course a capture-related card that can be cycled with Prepare the Prisoner, and it may be downloaded by the Dominion's Keevan for quicker access. Both a magic bullet of sorts, and useful to the capture expert in you. A 4.1.

TOTAL: 15.47 (77.33%) Even of all those capture cards tend to all run together in my mind.

PICTURE: Looking a little bat-like, we've seen this shot often enough as a docked bird-of-prey, but of course here, the station in nowhere to be found. The details are good, and the shot unusual among carded K'Vorts. I'll give it a 3.3.

LORE: Fortuitous is right. This is about all that's known of the Ki'tang since it wasn't even seen on screen. Well told at another 3.3.

TREK SENSE: Birds-of-prey are pretty much gauged against the basic K'Vort, and there are a number of differences to consider. Attribute-wise, the Ki'tang differs from the baseline model by -1 Range, +2 Weapons and +1 Shields. Those are major differences, but it should be noted that the original universal K'Vort was from the TNG era when the Klingons were at peace. In DS9, they were more warlike and of course, would have advanced technically in the intervening years (at least as far as armaments go). Because it survived a special kind of attack, I would have put the emphasis on Shields rather than Weapons though. The other difference is the special download of Intermix Ratio. It's a fun one, but I would call it mostly thematic because  though it's that very Ratio that saved it from the Breen weapon, the Event does a very different thing. As for the necessary immunity to the Breen Energy-Dampener, that's taken care of on the weapon itself. This card gets a lukewarm 3.

STOCKABILITY: Though the Ki'tang has no matching commander, it does have good overall attributes, better than those of the universal K'Vort (aside from RANGE). WEAPONS and SHIELDS are pretty high for one Staff icon, and naturally so. And in case your opponent pulls a Breen Energy-Dampening Weapon on you from their Breen Warship, Enhanced Attack Ship or Stolen Attack Ship (so it's not just the Dominion), you need not fear losing those swell attributes. As a side-bonus, the ship can download Intermix Ratio, saving you the trouble of doing with Q the Referee, which you might have already used another way or want to suspend play, but don't want to discard the Ref (or download it to cycle it for a free card draw). You never know when you might need that one. Without a matching commander, I can't go over 3.4 however.

TOTAL: 13 (65%) Pretty middle of the road.

PICTURE: Rich blues highlight this alternative pic for Dr. McCoy, and though it kinda had to be the moment where he says the line, you sort of have to guess that's ciment on his hands. And some might not find the limited color palette that interesting. Well, it isn't, you're right. On the average side with an even 3.

LORE: Great title, of course, with the lore itself adequately describing the relevant incident. Nothing flashy, but no problems. A 3.

TREK SENSE: There are three functions, and each is an interpretation of events from "Devil in the Dark". For the first 2 functions, someone tells McCoy, or another attendant doctor, that bricklayer or not, he can do this, "this" being whatever geological task needs be done. In the strict literal meaning, that's healing the Horta thereby eliminating that dilemma with such a  show of good faith. Unfortunately, no Medical is actually needed here. More liberally, it means that a Medical personnel could act as if he or she had the Geology skill for a task (unless it gets to use Geology for a number of tasks until the end of the turn). Now this one, in some cases, could work. Think of Odo's Cousin, for example, which already requires the medical skill Exobiology, but in most cases, you'd have to technobabble an explanation as to why a personnel could apply his medical training to Geology. "A planet is like a living organism, with its life cycle and diseases," is what you'll end up saying. Hey, it's Star Trek. For the last function, the doctor in question tells Kirk (or whoever) to stuff it, and the commanding officer calls down a real Geologist to their location. This is well done: You need a commanding Officer to make the request and a Medical to refuse, and since not that many Geologists would be waiting in the wings, you can only do it once per game. It's the kind of card that fudges a few things, but does surprisingly well. A 4.

STOCKABILITY: A deck without Mindmeld might just use Bricklayer to nullify the Horta, and that's not a bad option to have against a dilemma that requires 6 skills to snuff. Otherwise, any Geology dilemma or mission may get a boost from a MEDICAL personnel present. If you're flying through the dilemmas, you might even get to use that Geology multiple times. Still, that's not an excellent effect because of the time limit. It gets better with Dr. McCoy. He can suspend play in the middle of a mission attempt, just when you need Geology (or to kill a Horta). Now, if you need Geology, and already have a MEDICAL, why not go for the last option? All you need is an extra OFFICER (not too rare) to download an entire Geology personnel. He doesn't just have the skill, you also gain a classification, possible other skills and some attributes to add to your totals. Of course, that's just once per game, but hopefully it'll help you build up your Geology base so that you don't need to add it to your MEDICAL later on. Note that some OFFICERs also have MEDICAL, which certainly cuts corners when it comes to that download. Stock it for the personnel download (they don't only have that skill, they may serve other, better, purposes), and maybe use your backup copy later for one of the other functions. A 3.8, methinks.

TOTAL: 13.8 (69%) Certainly helped Geology personnel come into their own.

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