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

PICTURE: That guilty look on Grandpa Sisko - I mean Admiral Cartwright - is worth the price of admission. There's a slight blur to the image, but the stark lighting really makes Cartwright look like he's just been caught red-handed. Also note the first of many TMP personnel cards with large letters behind them, which I think really defines the look of this expansion's "micro-affiliation". 4.1 here.

LORE: Titles are pretty common, so I like it when they add a descriptor on there. "Militant" really does the job. The rest goes on from there explaining his role in the ST VI conspiracy. That's all fine, but I wonder if I might have also liked a mention of his role in ST IV as well. It's not too important, he hits 3.5 without it.

TREK SENSE: Admirals sitting at a desk at Starfleet Headquarters are definitely VIPs, and Leadership kinda comes with the job. He's interested in the security of the Federation, so SECURITY is a natural secondary field for him. Indeed, even in Star Trek IV, he was in charge of Earth Security as the Whale probe bore down on the planet. Taking part in a conspiracy to assassinate Chancellor Gorkon (and later, the Federation president), Treachery's a definite must. But here's the leap: Section 31. Obviously, the concept didn't exist when ST VI was made, but I still think it's a reasonable assumption. If we go back in time and look at Federation history, we're bound to find individuals that have gone a bit too far to protect the Federation, especially against foreign aggressors. Cartwright's xenophobic actions easily fall within the modus operandi of Section 31. A neat fit. The whole point of his shennanigans was to nullify the Federation's treaty with the Klingons, and this is represented by his special skill. It goes a bit far, in that it doesn't designate the Klingons as the only enemy, but again, it's reasonable to assume that Section 31 wouldn't want the Federation to ally itself with ANY foreign power. Aside from the Bajorans, they've all been our enemies after all. But shouldn't a VIP have to die before the treaty is broken? Not necessarily. He operates behind the scenes, ordering special agents around, so there might be other ways to spread dissent, or else the assassinated VIP could be behind the scenes, unrepresented in the game. How about this: Any VIP that has died in the game could have fallen to the conspiracy's hand. Thought Lwaxana Troi was killed by Denevan Neural Parasites? Well, guess who ordered that mission be attempted knowing its dangers full well? And little did you know Lwaxana was so instrumental to the peace process. Fun to think about anyway. Integrity's a bit high perhaps, even if he otherwise seemed to be a good guy. If Sloan only has a 3, I don't see Cartwright getting more than 4 for similar, if less extreme, actions. Cunning's high enough for him to operate, but he does get caught (mindmeld aside, his reaction when Kirk and co. bust in was a dead giveaway). Strength is fine for a guy who no doubt went up the ranks in security but is now behind a desk. The liberties the designers took with this character are what gives him his spark. A likeable 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: Cartwright is going to be useful mainly against a Federation opponent. If that Fed is using a Treaty, it can be nullified at the worst possible time to put lots of people under house arrest and throw all crews into disarray. If not using a Treaty, his Section 31 interacts with HQ: Defensive Measures to allow him to initiate battle against them (making him Leadership x2 in the process). If any case, Cartwright can report for free either in the past (Camp Khitomer) or the present (Office of the President), while Going to the Top, Defend Homeworld or the USS Enterprise-A will download him more quickly. He's got a good secondary classification and can be added to the list of less-and-less-rare Federation Treachery personnel. Section 31 really needs an espionage-style expansion to give it a boost, but for now, he can use it to download Interrogation, Torture or Brainwash to a brig near you (of course, he could already do this just with the SECURITY/Treachery combo). Being good against a particular affiliation, and an even more particular strategy subset, I can't give him more than a 3, but he may be good as a Tented back-up.

TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) Will you look at that? Same as Luther Sloan. Coincidence or conspiracy? ;-)

PICTURE: Pulled from one of many pivotal moments for Kirk in the movies, this is in his "ready room" just after Spock's funeral. It refers to The Wrath of Khan, but looks ahead to The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home, the former of which had a role to play in The Undiscovered Country. Aside from that, the colors are well balanced and the background holds some interest without distracting the eye too much. A competent and well-placed 3.7.

LORE: Low on events, high on personality, I don't really mind the focus, but you'd think there'd be something about Khan in there somewhere, or about losing his ship, his son. Anyway, they do a good job with mentioning the root version of the persona and his matching commander status in a way that doesn't sound telegraphic. A well done 3.8.

TREK SENSE: In later years, Kirk accepted promotion and became an admiral, but that didn't stop him from commanding the CF version of the Starship Enterprise on occasion. In The Motion Picture, he bumped Decker (though here, he was everything BUT matching commander, since he didn't know the ship at all); in ST II, Spock gave him the center seat; and in ST III, Kirk stole the Enterprise and ended up destroying it. So it's only 3 missions we know of (the novels speak of a second 5-year mission from that ST:TMP on), but by the end, I think he knew the ship well enough (and anyway, the bridge crew always looked up to him enough to warrant Captain's Log bonuses, etc.). One anomaly, while I don't dispute the fact that Kirk would remember what the old ship was like, is that naming the Admiral as matching commander on that golden oldie is a bit off-theme, but that's the fault of the ship persona. As an Admiral who'se supposed to be a desk jockey (and hating it), he's relegated to VIP status, though I think Officer could have been squeezed in there somewhere given the nature of the movies' stories. They kind of make up for it by giving him a whopping Leadership x3 (complete with Command icon, of course). Leadership x3!?! The man IS a legend, after all, and his crew is ready to commit crimes and throw their careers away if he gives the word. Inspiring such loyalty may well be worth the multiplied skill. Where Captain Kirk seemed to have nothing but Leadership, Admiral Kirk also has Diplomacy (actually opposite to Captain Kirk's attack ability). He made contact with V'ger and convinced Gillian to give him the whales, but his diplomatic gambits in ST II and III were really hiding nasty tricks to use against Khan and Krudge. Remember that the events of ST VI were experienced by a later version, James T. Kirk. Diplomacy's ok, but is a slight stretch. The special download makes more sense than most however, since Kirk commandeered a suprising number of ships during his Admiral days. He took Enterprise away from Decker, later stole that same ship from drydock, and then commandeered the HMS Bounty. The special skill is perhaps a bit conceptual, but nonetheless fairly inspired. Lore-mentioned ingenuity apart, I believe it's based on McCoy saying Kirk always "turns death into a fighting chance to live". The quote is from The Search for Spock where Kirk discarded the Enterprise to draw Spock, if you will. Of course, there are so many possible cards, you can't all relate them to Kirk, and the Enterprise wasn't in hand to be discarded or anything, but that's why I call it conceptual. In a broader sense, Kirk always had a card up his sleeve, could easily improvise solutions, and was ready to scrap a plan that wasn't working in favor of one that would. One icon of note bears discussing: the Nemesis icon. His is opposed to Khan's, and that's a nemesis relationship if I ever saw one. Khan was definitely trying to kill Kirk, but ended up dead himself (by hiw own actions, but this wouldn't have happened without Kirk's involvement). They chose black for the icon, partly because there aren't a lot of appropriate choices left, but it does relate to Khan's black heart too. Attributes are pretty close to those of the younger Captain Kirk save for one less point of Strength. He's older, sure, but he was able to fight a Klingon hand-to-hand, so I don't know about a drop there. The high Cunning speaks to his ingenuity, and Kirk's Integrity could always be called into question by his cavalier attitude toward timeline disruption and poor behavior toward Willard Decker, the true captain of that Enterprise. I think Decipher did an decent job of fitting at least 4 films into one personnel card, but it's not without its hiccups: a strong 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: Captain Kirk was great - he could "stop" and stun personnel, could initiate battle against all but Federation personnel and had a useful download, ship and icon (OS). Admiral Kirk is different enough to warrant inclusion of both versions in the same deck if you want to go back and forth between them, but is also quite good on his own. As an Admiral, he can report for free to the Office of the President or download through Going to the Top. VIP may be less important to a game than OFFICER, but Leadership x3 will get you through even Alien Abduction without help. Of course, there's no other reason Leadership x3 would be superior to Leadership x2 since it's the only card that requires more than 2 Leadership. Diplomacy is a good added bonus, a useful skill that is nevertheless pretty common. The special download is a common one too, almost every affiliation having its own downloader. Kirk doesn't have Computer Skill unfortunately, but if he boards another ship with a few friends (and VIP allows him to do so using Open Diplomatic Relations), he could get himself into the right position. An already empty ship would be best, but he's capable of switching to Captain Kirk mode and attack the crew if not, then back to Admiral mode for the download. The special skill is really where he's at though, since it's useable once per turn. So every turn, you can manage your cards by discarding a useless card in hand for a potentially more useful one from your draw deck, like a mini-Mutation useable every turn. Obviously, a good recyling strategy is paramount in getting some of those discards back into your hand later. Even if you download Captain Kirk to the OS Starship Enterprise (and then Captain's Log), you'll keep your matching commander if you switch to Admiral Kirk. And even if you switch the Starship to the CF version of ITS persona, he can keep on upkeeping the bonuses. He'd make the OS Enterprise 8-8-9 and the CF one 8-9-9 with Plaque and Log, but there are plenty of personnel that boost those ships' stats even higher. Of course, Admiral Kirk better staffs the CF Enterprise. He's matching commander of another ship too: The HMS Bounty. It's a cloakable bird-of-prey with higher attributes than either of his Enterprises (though with fewer additional boosts). With Plaque and Log it becomes 9-9-9 if he's aboard. If your opponent is running a Khan strategy, you'll have to watch out for the Nemesis icon, though you have the chance to switch to a Nemesis-less version of the persona. Khan has no such option and could well be discarded in this fashion, but you'd have to be on your guard what with Wajahut's ability to drop in unexpectedly with the Reliant at your Kirk's location. Having Kirk around not only would give you the chance to kill Khan, but also protects your Feds from Khan's mission-blocking skill, and makes Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold only worth 15 points if completed. Lots of meat to this personnel gets him a high score of 4.3.

TOTAL: 15.9 (79.5%) And we'll see how his future self fares later.

PICTURE: Spock's mom has very expressive eyes and a kind expression, and is bathed in the golden light of Vulcan. Good contrast with her veil as well, this is a nice and appropriate 3.6.

LORE: Almost poetically philosophical, mirroring many of her speaches (in "Journey to Babel" as well as Star Trek IV), this is a good effort that thankfully lacks the phrase "Mother of Spock." A 3.6 again.

TREK SENSE: Her husband may be an ambassador, but she's just a Civilian, fair enough. Nevertheless, she was also a diplomat of sorts, trying to reconcile Sarek and Spock. This would also afford her a certain measure of Honor, I think. The Anthropology comes from understanding and living in an alien culture all her life. She's got the high Integrity that goes with her skills and attitude, is pretty smart in her own right, but at this point is an older woman with some vitality left. All attributes check out. The one thing that doesn't quite ring true is the special skill. See, while Sarek seems pretty used to bringing his wife along on diplomatic missions, it hasn't always been Amanda. And Spock doesn't spend much time with his mother at all! So while we could thematically accept that her family could report to her location (they were spending time with her at this point in the story), there are just too many Sareks and Spocks for this to be an "any" situation. Cases in point, the Premiere Sarek had another wife entirely, First Officer Spock is from another universe (which no doubt had its own Amanda Grayson, but not this one) and she was long dead when the TNG Spock was around. The rest is fine though (and this problem isn't that disturbing), so a 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: Amanda can actually report for free a small Vulcan army to her side when you consider that there are 2 Sareks and 3 Spocks that aren't versions of the same persona and could exist together. The only choice to make is if you include Mr. Spock or Captain Spock in your deck. Otherwise, both Sareks can be included, giving you a huge Diplomacy boost (Amanda also has an instance of that skill), and 3 Spocks with even more Diplomacy and a number of SCIENCE-related skills. If you're going for a Vulcan Diplomacy deck, you should definitely include Amanda Grayson, but she'll get you those mains in a jiffy in any old OS/CF deck. And thankfully, she isn't just a reporting engine, she's got skills of her own, 3 of them, all of which can be made useful. Fairly good attributes aside from the STRENGTH, so watch out for her until you've got all your guys on the table. A good, if specific, 3.6.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) 0.4 more than (one of her) son(s).

PICTURE: Placed visually in the same area of the picture as on his older self's card (from Premiere), this Sarek is more interesting. His robes are richer and deeper, the lighting is much more dramatic, and that stuff on the wall behind him almost looks like psionic energy he's throwing around (cone-shaped as it is). A strong moment from the film too, I give it a cool 4.

LORE: Did we need to be told he was an ambassador when it's already in the title? Thankfully, it picks up from there, giving us his motivation for his role in Star Trek IV as well. Nicely packed, it covers most of his appearances in the films (ST VI is missing). That's a 3.4.

TREK SENSE: He's very close to his older self, though of course he's a creature of another time (as per his icons). Still an ambassador, he's a VIP with Diplomacy (and as a Vulcan, has Mindmeld). At this time though, even if he's well respected, he's not yet the legend that'll deserve Diplomacy x3. x2 isn't a cause to complain, of course. Steeped in interstellar law (this IS from ST VI), the Law skill applies and would have probably made it on the older Sarek if the skill existed in Premiere. Finally, we get a download for a Federation Treaty, many of which he nogotiated, including it seems, the one with the Klingons. Works out well, though there are no real surprises. Integrity and Cunning have not changed between centuries. He's still a very honorable man who was trusted by the Klingons, of all people, and while you might think the later version's Bendii syndrome would have occluded his Cunning, and that therefore, this Sarek should get a higher score, remember that he's younger here. In essence, I could believe that he got wiser from this point, then dropped down again. At any rate, that's a problem with the older Sarek, since I don't think Cunning higher than 10 could be justified. The Strength is still quite high at this time, as Vulcans are very strong individuals and he wasn't too old just yet (if he lived another 70 years!), but being a pacifist, I'm not sure 7 really fits. A small point on an otherwise fine card: a 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: If you're running a Classic Film deck (or Vulcan deck), by all means, include Amabassador Sarek. He's got a useful double-dose of Diplomacy and the rare skill of Law. Attributes are sky-high too. Heck, you can use both Sareks together, since one is not a version of the other's persona. Both will report to Vulcan or for free directly to Amanda Grayson or at the Office of the President. But while this one doesn't have the extra multiple of Diplomacy his older self will possess, he's got a bit more going for him. I'm not just talking about Law either, or even about the much better STRENGTH (which will keep him alive for longer). I'm not even talking about the special download, since Open Diplomatic Negotiations does a better job of getting Treaties into play early (I simply cannot wait for Ambassador Sarek to be reported to combine my Fed and Klingon crews), though I do appreciate the flexibility of this download ("any" Fed Treaty). It's basically good as a back-up for Deviled Treaties, though even here, ODN can do the job (though not quite as fast or as cheaply). In CF decks, it's the icons that will make a difference, allowing him to report or download to ships. And these can be staffed just as well by Ambasador Sarek as the older one can staff regular ships with his Command icon. There are a couple of trade-offs, but I think you win using Ambassador Sarek over his Premiere self, though of course, you can use both in your Diplomacy deck. Comparative analysis aside, he'll work well in some decks, but doesn't bring a whole lot to the table that we didn't have before in most situations. 3.5 should do.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) At this pace, I should get to the other Sarek in about 70 years. ;-)

PICTURE: Sorry, I wasn't too impressed with the effects on Insurrection, as it all looked way too "painted" for my tastes. Just look at this nebula - it looks like something from a science-fiction paperback cover. That said, it's more interesting than a lot of missions, very detailed, but it just looks too fake compared to most other cards. To be fair, 2.8.

LORE: I like the "Briar Patch" as a reason, but is it really sectors wide? I guess it is. The lore is pretty standard stuff, though being a nebula helps in the seedability category. A 3.1.

TREK SENSE: The Briar Patch is in Federation space, so a Fed mission it is. The Son'a's involvement might have meant a Non-Aligned icon here too, but they did need Federation oversight to go there. The mission represents all parts of the Briar Patch nebula except for the clearing where the Ba'ku planet sits, so extending it by making it universal works for me. To study this region of space, Astrophysics is required (it's stellar radiation), as is Biology (it beneficially affects humanoids). A big deal is made about the area being confusing for sensors, and that ships have to be modified to enter it. Fair enough, that's where the Navigation becomes important. It also accounts for the long Span. Son'a ships move faster through the area because their ships are best modified to go through it, and they should since the Son'a are actually former Ba'ku, and no one knows more about the radiation than they do. It doesn't quite cover the concept of having to modify your ship, but it tries. The points are low, but probably should be if the Analysis is only a piece of an overall puzzle (or else the mission wouldn't be universal) whose answer is more readily available at Insurrection. A likeable 4.2.

SEEDABILITY: Universal missions are always good for mission redundancy, but in this case, being part of a region means they can create a long span with missions grouped together that your opponent might have to cross to get to her own missions. The span is a very long 5 and cannot be attempted by anyone but the Feds (or through Espionage). For your part, you can use Son'a ships to overcome the slowness of such a region, as they consider Analyze Radiation to only be Span 3. It's a Federation mission, right? So Hawk could also drop that span by 1 (it's a nebula). Is it easy to solve? Commander Chekov and Ilia can each handle it alone, as could Tom Paris if he were in the area. Want to better those 25 points? Attempt it with mission specialists! Soren, Ogawa and Gibson make a good team to attempt the mission again and again (each time, for 40 points). More mixed crews can take advantage of any Son'a you're keeping around for span reductions (in particular Rua'fo and Sharic). As a nebula, it enjoys certain perks, such as killing off opposing personnel with Isabella on their long journey through the Briar Patch (if no Youth aboard, they might have trouble importing it via standard shipping lanes), and preventing them from attacking your ships while in there thanks to Ensign Tuvok. Or let them attack, only to bash them over the head with the Riker Maneuver. I'd say an impressive mission, not just an accessory to your Insurrection/Collect Metaphasic Particles gambit. A 4.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) That's pretty high, actually.

PICTURE: A dignified picture, well balanced colorwise with the collar matching the lips and the chainmail and costume matching the eyeshadow. The expression is interestingly quizzical (it looks like the restoration of her father's faith scene, but is actually the revenge scene). The background, unfortunately, is more than a little boring. Ends up around 3.4.

LORE: Though in TNG and DS9, we were told a woman never served on the Council, Azetbur would beg to differ. Mentioning her as a chancellor is certainly useful, and as for style, her role in galactic history is well told. Nothing too interesting, but no mistakes either. Merits a 3.3.

TREK SENSE: The replacement chancellor is very much her father's daughter. She was a respected Leader amd Diplomat, and high Integrity VIP. That genuineness finally led to the signing of the Fed/Klingon Treaty, which she quite naturally downloads. She's a smart enough lady (Cunning 7) that doesn't seem bred for fighting (Strength 5). Really, the only qualm I have with the card is the Exobiology that seems to be derived from her willing association with human beings. Did she read up before accepting a dinner date aboard the Enterprise? Who knows, but I see little to support the skill. Honor, on the other hand, could have been justified (at the cost of creating another DipHoLe). What's there is worth about 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: Leadership and Diplomacy are good skills, but very very common among the Klingons. That leaves Exobiology, which almost never appears on the same Klingon missions (not at all in the Alpha Quadrant, at any rate) as her two other skills. Exo does appear on a number of important dilemmas though, and it's still relatively uncommon on Klingon personnel, so that's good for Azetbur. Her Treaty download is less than stellar however, like all Treaty downloads. If a Treaty is really that important, you're gonna be seeding it with Open Diplomatic Negotiations, a card that is also just as good at handling the return of a Deviled Treaty as a backup downloading personnel is (but see below). Fairly good INTEGRITY and CUNNING are offset by weaker STRENGTH. Of course, she's a chancellor which allows her to report for free to The Great Hall and pass Executive Authorization. That's always good. In a Movie Klingon deck, well, she can be downloaded to Kronos One, but getting the ship out early enough to make her Treaty download useful may be difficult. Her skills in that time period are also not rare, again except for Exobiology, but the CF icon can play a big part in making the Treaty download more useful than most. Brigadier Kerla can download her, and he can be downloaded via Defend Homeworld. At least good enough to save yourself a seed slot, and opening up an alliance with plenty of cool Federation personnel. A 3.5.

TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) I haven't restored HER faith exactly.

PICTURE: A challenging pose from Kerla looks pretty tough (and cool). Background's a bit dull, but the armor constrasts with it appropriately. A good 3.4.

LORE: Mentions the High Council, and that's good for game play, plus I like how they've provided him with a conflicting nature. Again, good at 3.5.

TREK SENSE: The Brigadier is basically a high-ranking soldier, so the Security suits him. I think his loyalty to the Chancellors should have given him Honor, especially since he had to go against his own opinion to serve them. The three skills we do get instead aren't unbelievable, but they are largely unsupported. We never saw him transport anyone or fly a ship. At least S.C. and Nav go well together. Bah, I'm left unimpressed. Having served the CF-era Chancellors, the download is more natural. That, I'll buy, though it all seems a bit reversed. It is Kerla that accompanies the Chancellors, not the other way around, which is what the download implies. Then again, assisting a VIP is a function of the assistant, not of the VIP itself, so the tag-along aspect of such downloads should be on the assistant. Ok. Ok. His high Integrity DOES match his level of loyalty, and his other attributes seem high enough from what we saw. It's the uninspired conjectural skills that drain the score to 2.5.

STOCKABILITY: A very good personnel that reports for free to The Great Hall, but that can be brought into play much sooner if necessary with Defend Homeworld. It may be useful to have him in play early, because he can then download either Chancellor, Azetbur with her Treaty download (access to some excellent CF Feds, if that's where you're going), or Gorkon who protects your Treaties already in play. So there's some flexibility in the seed card department there. And with Transporter Skill, he won't only be useful to CF decks. That skill is definitely rarer than most, and required if your Klingons want to board some ships with Target These Coordinates and the like (as well as for some dilemmas). Stellar Cartography and Navigation are much more common, but are no less useful since they recur on many dilemmas and missions, often together. And no rotten attributes either. A strong 3.9.

TOTAL: 13.3 (66.5%) One of the better CFs, though the micro-affiliation kinda lacks a cool mechanic.

PICTURE: What's NOT wrong with this picture? She seems to be looking at the camera, which is more than a little jarring. That hairdo unflatteringly anchors the composition to the top of the frame. And there's a fair amount of blurring. She hardly even looks like a Romulan. I've got to go with a 2.

LORE: Her deception was her pain? What a dull life she must have led. Seriously though, the lore's pretty well written, with nice personality cues, and the Romulan name for Sha Ka Ree, Vorta Vor. "Vorta"? Now I know why the Romulans signed a pact with the Dominion! ;-) Let's call it an interesting 3.7.

TREK SENSE: As an Ambassador, Caithlin gets VIP and Diplomacy. She was young enough (especially with all that eager stuff) to get Youth as well. Honor must stem from her pleasant attitude despite her Romulan heritage, and Exobiology, possibly something she studied in order to cooperate with other - Romulans would say lesser - species. The special skill infers that she and the listed personnel had their Pain Released prior to the game, since they can all work together despite their affiliations. I mention Release This Pain because Sybok is among the names. Otherwise, the Nimbus III arrangement would have made her compatible with the two others. Attributes look good considering her attitude and aptitudes. I'll give her a fair 3.6.

STOCKABILITY: In a Release This Pain strategy, you must use Sybok, but since he can only work with NAs and personnel he's released, he'll need all the allies he can get. Using an affiliation in addition to those NAs will get you the personnel to play Release This Pain on, so if you want to use the Romulans, Caithlin makes a fair companion that doesn't require the incident played on her. Her lore mentions Sybok, so she does add 1 to Sha Ka Ree's X already. That mission can be made really lucrative with enough copies of Release This Pain, yet you might not want to stock too many of them, or wait around to have that many played. Caithlin, Korrd, J'Onn and Talbot already add to X, and should be included. Youth isn't too great to pass dilemmas at Sha Ka Ree, but Diplomacy and Exobiology, even Honor, can be used to do so. I'm not in awe, and I think the special skill is more or less wasted space. Indeed, I wouldn't use her in anything but a Sybok deck. CF Romulans just don't have enough card support. Even Nanclus won't be able to use his special skill with her around. A 3.2, for what it's worth.

TOTAL: 12.5 (62.5%) A bit of a yawner, like Star Trek V.

PICTURE: Not only do we get a Starfleet officer and Klingon warrior cooperating on guard duty, giving us a preview of the peace to come, there are also a lot of details to pore over in the matte painting. Of particular interest are all the banners in front of the building, and I had never noticed the Romulan symbol on the main banner (the big one hung on the building itself). So the Romulans were providing neutral ground for the peace talks? Just makes me realize I don't know as much about Khitomer history as I thought I did. The Encyclopedia mentions the planet's proximity to the Romulan border, but nothing more specific, just that the Klingons only established an outpost there later. I don't quite get what that hole in the lake is supposed to be at the end of the dock (must be because the actual building used in the shot is a water treatment plant), but I'm giving the great vista a 4.7 anyway.

LORE: Plain, simple, nothing special, nothing wrong. Not badly worded or anything. A 3, I guess.

TREK SENSE: Ugh. This is one card that screamed out for some kind of relationship to the Federation/Klingon Treaty. Alas, it's the most boring Time Location EVER! The card basically only tells us who is native to the late 23rd century, a period roughly represented by the "Classic Films". Well, ok, but all the CF-icon personnel did not have access to Khitomer. Many died way before the conference, and it's not like the Feds would visit this planet in enemy space under any other circumstances. But when you forget about the named planet and just deal with the time period, then sure, it makes sense that CF cards would exist then, and you could draw the free report from that. Far from statisfying, I'm gonna give it a banal ol' 2.5.

STOCKABILITY: Seeing as CF personnel are all AU anyway, you could just as well use an Alternate Universe Door or Space-Time Portal and be done with it. Then again, if using lots of CF cards (and there are a lot, many with interesting special skills if nothing else), reporting one for free each turn may be worth. You then have to bring them forward in time though, so again, STP-dropping a CF ship with crew could be easier still. If you go the Camp Khitomer route, the first free ship might be able to download another personnel to speed things up even more. I'm thinking of the Starship Constitution, Enterprise-A, IKC K't'inga or Kronos One. These and the others can all use Crew Reassignment to staff themselves in the present anyway. That's once you reach it. There are actually enough ways to report or download personnel and ships that Camp Khitomer's single special ability can be reproduced some other way WITHOUT needing to use costly time travel. I'm sorry, but I'm being generous with my 2.

TOTAL: 12.2 (61%) All that wasted game text space...

PICTURE: All lines lead to Kang's face, and it's a big one! Yes, indeed, I'm not sure I like the fish-eye lens effect all that much, and I have to wonder just where Kang is on his bridge. The head almost seems disembodied. Creepy, like "God" or Cytherians. And umm... who's gonna tell him about that pimple? Can't fault it beyond a 3.

LORE: I'm glad they pulled together various things we know about Kang to put on this era's Kang. After all, he was just a big head on a screen in Voyager. Of course, more mention of his mission in "Flashback" would have helped explain the special skill somewhat. Still, we get the stuff about his son who was probably alive at this point, and a wink at his TOS appearance (still cardless). A very good effort at 3.8.

TREK SENSE: In "Flashback", Kang was shown to be patroling the border during Star Trek VI, interfering with Captain Sulu's attempts to reach Rura Penthe. This has been translated on the card as a Weapons boost for his ship if in Klingon territory. Well, that would be true if Klingon missions were actually in Klingon territory, which they aren't always (the Klingon homeworld, in fact, has no Klingon attemptability icon), but the icon at least represents Klingon interests in any given region. Leadership, Honor and Physics all appeared on his Blaze of Glory card. The first two are spot-on, since he commands a ship and is a "respected warrior". Physics I had a harder time with before, and have again, though here, he at least was conducting scans to find the Excelsior around a nebula. That would call for a little more Physics, yes. Diplomacy is an excellent replacement for Security (which would also have fit), since it shows up here with Sulu, as it did with Kirk way back in "Day of the Dove". Attributes are the same as on his older self, which might be surprising when you consider that some 70 years pass between the two Kangs. Would it have been so bad to give him Strength 9 here to mark that difference? Otherwise, everything looks fine. Quite well-designed nonetheless, I give it a 4.

STOCKABILITY: Though yet another Klingon DipHoLe, there are fewer of them in the CF subset (some come close, but only Gorkon also has the 3 skills), so he'll be useful to a focused CF deck. All 3 appear on a good number of Klingon missions anyway, especially Honor, a skill that's useful to Klingons for a variety of reasons. Physics is his other skill, one that's showing up more frequently on dilemmas now, but has always been on Klingon missions. Since the Klingons are an aggressive affiliation, any reason to boost their ships' WEAPONS is a good one, and Captain Kang will have no trouble giving +2 to his ship's whenever he's at a [Kli] icon mission (at the very least, every mission you seeded, though don't stay too long at the Camp Khitomer location). The ship in question may well be the K'elric, a bird-of-prey for which he is matching commander. With Log and Plaque, its understandably conservative attributes (it's CF-era) can be raised to 8-9-10, or 8-11-10 at a [Kli] mission. Wow, not bad. Captain Kang can be Ready Room Doored to it, or report there directly through Crew Reassignment if you already had him in hand. AU mechanics being what they are, you can even have the two Kangs aboard each of their vessels, roaming the spaceline together, perhaps on the same Blood Oath hunt. Maybe one day we'll have 3 Kangs to do this with. A cool 3.8 that's more ship battle where his older self is better in personnel battle.

TOTAL: 14.6 (73%) A single % point under BoG's own Kang.

PICTURE: A pivotal moment from Star Trek II - and Spock's life - is immortalized by this pic. That moment? The one where he decides that the needs of the many outweigh those of the one (him). Just after this, he heads down to engineering to meet his doom. Aside from that, it's a good, clear shot of Spock at his station, with plenty of color to make things interesting. It's an excellent 4.8.

LORE: The pic is pre-death, but the lore is post-death. That's no problem because it explains how Spock can be around despite being a gonner in ST II. Well written, but I suspect they could have done a little better with an extra line of text. A 3.4 as is.

TREK SENSE: Spock has a lot of skills in any incarnation, so it's important that he really did showcase the listed abilities in the 6 movies he was in. Did he? Well, as a Captain, he was more Officer than Science without losing that specialty (or seat, appearently) so the classification/skill inversion from the OS version makes sense. He showed plenty of Leadership ability in the films (ST VI especially), making the skill deserved for more than just the new rank. He's still good at computations (Computer Skill) as when he plotted a slingshot effect in ST IV. Physics also figured in that film, as it did in ST VI when he figured out how to find the cloaked bird-of-prey. Mindmeld is a Vulcan necessity, but it has dropped to x1 since his Mr. Spock days. In fact, Spock never used SUPER-Mindmeld tricks in the films, such a melding through walls, etc. (I wouldn't count dumping his katra on McCoy in this category, and he wasn't yet a Captain when he melded with V'ger.) He was instrumental in setting the stage for a peace between the Federation and Klingons, so Diplomacy is definitely in order. He gave his life for his crew and was extremely loyal to his friends, so his Honor isn't in dispute. And as for Music, we do catch him plucking at his harp in one of the movies (ST V, around the fire). Gone from the earlier Mr. Spock are one instance of Science (a fair trade-off balance-wise, but not necessarily true) and Exobiology (aside from ausculting a couple of whales, he didn't do much of this at all). The special skill directly relates to the events of ST II and III, namely that he can return from the dead once per game. Without a need for a Genesis Device as a catalyst, this may be hard to swallow, but when you look at Spock's entire history, it does have other instances of his living through things that would have killed a human being. But the way they've designed him mechanically makes for a long period (discard-hand-report again) as in the 2 movies mentioned. That sacrifice of his, plus willingness to forge a peace with the Klingons definitely explains the high Integrity. High Cunning is a must for this living calculator. And he has his race's high Strength, though dropped a point from his younger self. Very, very well done, even if the special skill goes a bit overboard. An excellent 4.4.

STOCKABILITY: The CF bridge crew are a powerful lot. Captain Spock offers a Maglock-proof OFFICER with a more useful SCIENCE, and plenty of excellent mission-solving and dilemma-passing skills other than that, like Leadership, Physics, Computer Skill, Diplomacy and Honor. Music and Mindmeld aren't as versatile, but the former fits in well with your Federation Ressikan Flute deck, and the latter in decks with little or no other Mindmeld, for those few times when it is needed. And the attributes, what can I say, are great. He's also the matching commander of the CF version of the Starship Enterprise, allowing you to Plaque/Log the ship away from its devil attributes to 8-9-9 (though you may add to that even more with various other personnel, Wall of Ships, etc.). The ship will allow him to report aboard thanks to its downloaded Crew Reassignment. A good opportunity for that is after you've lost him once (hey, it happens) and taken him back into your hand with his special skill. It's a simple matter to report him back to his ship no matter where it is. With so many skills you might depend on, that second chance isn't a bad thing at all. He's a version of the Mr. Spock persona, so switching for different skills can be of use. Basically, you'd sacrifice Leadership, Honor, Physics, matching commander status and the special skill for Exobiology, 1 more SCIENCE, 1 more Mindmeld, a more versatile OS icon and a personnel battle-related special download. There's enough of a difference to stock both. Note that either way, he'll be able to report to Amanda Grayson and solve Agricultural Assessment (he's any Spock). Lots of skills and a second chance at life? Hits a cool 4.2.

TOTAL: 16.8 (84%) 2nd place on the Fed-o-meter!

PICTURE: Noble or pretentious? You decide (I'd bet on the latter). It's a good bust shot overall, though with no fireworks. A 3.2.

LORE: Though there's funny stuff here, how many of us would have liked a Doogie Howser, M.D. reference in the lore or game text? Ah well... what's here is good though, descriptive and fun. A strong 4 at Styles' expense.

TREK SENSE: As a captain, he gets Officer and Leadership fairly easily, though that last skill might be in dispute being that he was kind of a fool. Yet, men followed his orders, and he was given a state-of-the-art ship to command. Since he worked on the design and building of the ship, his Engineer is very acceptable, as is the Physics required to work out a new mode of warp travel (transwarp). His relatively low Integrity is due to his rather uncivilized competitiveness with the Enterprise and his arrogance. He gets low Cunning because he was made a fool of by Scotty, and his vaunted transwarp drive didn't work. As for Strength, I don't dispute that he was an aggressive kind of guy, but 8 seems a bit much. Not too much to rail against, though some kind of special skill might have been nice. To be fair, a 4.

STOCKABILITY: There are a LOT of Federation personnel, so would you use Styles outside of a CF deck? 3 skills might not be enough. In a CF deck, he makes for a fair backup to Captain Sulu as matching commander of the Starship Excelsior, seeing that you might keep the Sulu persona in Lt. mode for the RANGE boost to the Enterprise. The Excelsior can be boosted to 8-9-10 levels using Plaque and Log, and with Styles' ENGINEER, he can use Construct Starship to download it no matter who later commands it. That's about all he has on Sulu, who has all the other skills and more. Indeed, all his skills are fairly common in the Fed CF subset. Good STRENGTH, but lame attributes otherwise... The Excelsior stuff may be worth the 3 I'm giving him.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) Now if only transwarp drive had worked...

PICTURE: While it's a solid, serious image of Sulu, I'm sorta disappointed that they took it from "Flashback" rather than Star Trek VI (though George Takei doesn't seem too much older - or pudgier - here). I understand the rationale of making all Excelsior material Voyager-compatible, but I don't deal in reality. So it's technically ok, but I could do without that headless uniform behind him. Ehh... just 2.9.

LORE: Lovely stuff. We get to know how he went from Lieutenant to Captain (minus William Shatner's opposition to it, nyuck, nyuck, in fact, contradicting his sentiments), and a sentence on his attitude toward his crew. A nicely written 4.

TREK SENSE: Captain Sulu is obviously an Officer, and certainly has Leadership. He still has Navigation from his days at the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and I'm guessing the same Physics he had then from his early days as one of the ship's physicists. From the Excelsior's extended mission in ST VI, Stellar Cartography might have been closer, bust studying "gaseous anomalies" could use Physics. I'll buy the Science for those purposes as well. And the big addition, Honor, is from his loyalty to his friends and crew. There's no denying that one. While his Strength didn't go up or down from his younger self (I'll agree to the 6 here, but have qualms about its presence on Lt. Sulu), he's +1 to each of the other attributes. That's easy to explain: The code of Honor he's developped has helped his Integrity along, and simple experience has raised his Cunning. While something special might have been nice, the skills and attributes are pretty much dead on. A 4.5.

STOCKABILITY: Where many CF mains have special skills, he simply sports a large skill list. In a CF deck, that means he lends skill support well enough. Of course, aside from the common Navigation, Captain Spock has all his skills and more. I won't say OFFICER/SCIENCE isn't useful, or that Leadership and Navigation aren't frequently requested, but still, there's redundancy here. Leadership and Honor further appear on a bunch of CF Fed OFFICERs. Well then, just a backup for skills you have plenty of? No, he's also the matching commander of the Starship Excelsior, not a bad ship since it has a built-in skill. Plaque and Log it to get an 8-9-10 vessel, equal to what James T. Kirk can get out of the Enterprise-A, but for more staffing. So to sum up, not a bad personnel by any means, but far from a must. Maybe you should use Lt. Sulu/Starship Enterprise instead, possibly downloading him as Captain Sulu on the Excelsior with Ready Room Door, then transferring him to Starship Enterprise and persona-switching to get the RANGE boost. Hits 3.4.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) Still a pretty good score for my favorite CF character.

PICTURE: The different rock textures behind her play with the artificial/natural paradigms integral to the character, and the color highlights are well chosen (the blue from jacket and eyes, for example, and the color of her jacket and hair). Plus, this is taken from an important scene, related in the lore. A strong 3.7.

LORE: Though I am kinda disappointed they didn't make her a cook, the subtext in the last sentence is pretty good. This is from the film, but the reference to "her world" when she is a creator of worlds, has a double meaning. A likeable 3.5.

TREK SENSE: For conceiving of the Genesis Device, she must be a pretty good scientist, even if she didn't do it all alone, and I'm not going to argue with the double Science or the double Biology. She IS a biologist after all, and Physics seems to be part of the equation, since matter is essentially re-written in the matrix. Leadership is there because she headed a research team, but it implies that she can initiate battles. Now, THAT I object to. I'm also not sure she couldn't Staff a ship, given that she works in space anyway. Her Integrity is high because she was a good woman, but not that high because her project had dangerous consequences she apparently didn't give a lot of thought to. Cunning's a shade off the genius mark, but very high anyway. Again, it's believable given her behavior and accomplishments. And the Strength works fine too - just a scientist, but definitely one with vitality. No special skill? Aw. What's here deserves a 3.6.

STOCKABILITY: There aren't a lot of double SCIENCE personnel compared to some of the other classifications, in particular in the Alpha Quadrant, when you remove the Think Tank from the equation. In the Federation, then, Carol's main competition is Mr. Spock and T'Pan. Well, she's not as good as Mr. Spock, but certainly better than T'Pan. She's more focused than either of them in any case, with most of her skills being in the SCIENCE vein. That doubled Biology is certainly useful in dilemma and mission situations, and Physics, while less so, is still good. Carol adds Leadership, which is excellent, and not often found on SCIENCE personnel. But really, it's the double-SCIENCE that is really attractive here, as classifications are generally more useful than skills. In a CF deck, she's a must. In a regular Fed deck, she may have a place too. Enough skill-power for a 3.5, but I'd have liked a little more meat.

TOTAL: 14.3 (71.5%) This review is respectfully dedicated to Bibi Besch.

PICTURE: The angular pool looks cool enough, and they did take the time to clean up the bottom part of the image by digitally removing the people there. That bench offers itself to us, and I guess we'd have to sit there to catch some more of the whales. Yeah, not much of either whale in this image, but at least one's visible. Great sky, but the contrast in the image makes it look a little fake (or else the buildings are). Not all that interesting, mostly due to color, it's a competent 3.4.

LORE: Date's right. Information's right. Nothing special. A plain 3.

TREK SENSE: A little dull when you consider something like Montana Missile Complex, it's also part of Earth's history. The focal point of this time travel adventure was getting the whales, so George and Gracie must be downloaded here. They aren't worth points here because they aren't important enough yet. Only when they will get to the future. And the natives are right. It's doubtful any other personnel could have been made from this time period even if 1E had continued. What can I say? Everything fits. It's just that I would have liked a little more flavor, especially since so much more happened in 1986. Ah well. Gotta give it its due for not making mistakes and actually supplying a tank for out aquatic personnel to survive in. A 4.5 should do.

STOCKABILITY: The ST IV mechanic isn't the most compelling one to come out of The Motion Pictures. The whales are basically a 15-point mission that requires you to time travel to the Cetacean Institute, which thankfully downloads them (they may only report there anyway), and return to Earth in any other time period. That's it. You can throw in Gillian Taylor to protect the whales from harm, but you're only protecting 15 points anyway. As standard personnel, they don't do much, especially since you probably wouldn't want to move them from Earth, though you might make an exception to fly them to The Whale Probe's location to nullify that dilemma. As far as "Earth" goes, maybe Montana Missile Complex would be a better location than Espionage Mission, simply because it would be harder to hurt them there. And you can use whatever means, of course, but the funniest to me is slipping them through the time-donut that is The Guardian of Forever, to Historical Research, then to Montana (break out the Parallax Arguers). Seems like a lot of trouble for what it's really worth. I can't see giving it more than 1.8.

TOTAL: 12.7 (63.5%) Just goes to show how Trek Sense can be a liability to usefulness.

PICTURE: Those things are pretty ugly, and I think it would have looked better in the sand, or as a larva crawling on Chekov's cheek. As is, the background is as dull as that kind of thing gets, and the bloody creature is just about to be killed. Perhaps not all that bad, but could have been better. A 2.4.

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

TREK SENSE: Not exactly equipment, these critters are played on the table to indicate they are in play, and they are pretty much linked to wherever Khan is by the game text. Unfortunately, they play for free. It seemed to me that it took a bit of effort to harvest them from their mother, certainly enough not to be played for free. We've never seen these used except by Khan, so he must be present for you to do so. Fair enough. They can't get into a hologram or android's skull, but sadly, changelings are once again left off the immune list (I won't even go into earless species). The Eel takes personnel over (you control them), their attributes take a drop (Integrity is definitely compromised, Cunning is addled, and I guess reflexes are down enough to impair combat skills represented by Strength) and they may work with Khan. That's not exactly what it says, but because they are not discarded by Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold, it is implied that they have "Khan" added to their lore, i.e. they work with (for) him (and together, of course, which is what is actually written). Not discarded, eh? That works for a while, but aren't Eels supposed to kill their host eventually? Not if you're Chekov apparently, but there just wasn't enough food up there ;-). Works the storyline fairly well, though it misses the mark in quite a few instances. A 3 and no more.

STOCKABILITY: A dedicated card, it pretty much only works in league with a strategy involving Khan. At its best, it's a kind of non-Borg assimilation, allowing you to take over (immediately brainwash) a personnel present with the tyrant, as often as twice per turn, and from an earlier free report. Khan even works with Feds if they've been taken over, despite a restriction against it otherwise. The personnel all take pretty big hits on all 3 attributes, which is certainly unfortunate, but they keep their skills and may help staff your Khan crew a bit better than the few personnel he actually has under his control. Fun for theme decks, not necessarily required in other deck types. If using Khan, you may well be using Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Cold. It allows your Khan-related personnel to report for free (and the Reliant to be downloaded), then gives you 30 points per turn if you've acquired the Genesis Device and have it aboard with Khan (only 15 if any Kirk is in play, of course). The downside is that all your personnel except the Khaners are discarded at the end of every turn. But Ceti Eel-infected personnel count AS Khaners! That means you can infect personnel you report yourself so they'll stay in the game, which is easier and more trustworthy a method than attacking opposing personnel. There is an incentive to do so, however: Mas'ud downloads one to put on just-stunned adversaries. Quick and easy. Have Sarod standing by too, and you may draw a card each time you infect a personnel. Maybe it's another Ceti Eel you can report for free! I'd use it to supplement my Khan personnel pool, but I wouldn't hide the Genesis Device at any mission requiring lots of attributes. That, and I'd take out as many opposing personnel as I could to stop them from getting at my Khan and stopping me from scoring points. That leaves a couple of problems, such as the vulnerability of the CF ship (remediable both normally and with its crew) and the Artifact's vulnerability to Disruptor Overload (maybe I'd infect Gurak'utak). Only as useful as the strategy it helps, but it's got a couple of "assimilation" bonuses. A cool 3.6.

TOTAL: 12 (60%) Shows I haven't been taken over... yet.

PICTURE: The lighting's all on one side, unbalancing the picture in an unflattering way. Other than that, well, it's a plain "guy behind a console" shot, and one that's generally too dark to boot. As boring as a 1.5.

LORE: Though the word "characteristic" is seldom used on universal personnel, it's a good way to say it. Of course, you gotta wonder how many pilots the Kla'Diyus uses because that's what he's characteristic of. I do like the motivation they've given him on the cloakable ship (he's having fun!), and that gets the score to 3.5.

TREK SENSE: While I've mentioned the strange universal treatment under Lore, relief for that comes in the form of his being rated on many designs. As a pilot, he gets Officer and Navigation, sure enough, and because he might work the cloak (remember, the new tactics he's learned are predicated on it), he might know the Physics surrounding the equipment. The designs he's rated on, Klingon ships of his era, get a bonus to Range when he's aboard, because he's so adept at flying them. It works, even if it's not too original. I don't really like the Cunning though, it's too low for a guy with such expertise. Had they not given him the skill, I would have been more comfortable with the low minion's Cunning. No problem with the other attributes though. He's a tough Klingon with loyalty to the wrong leader (we're "go" for a 6). Skills work fine, but an anomaly here and there. A 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: There are enough CF-icon Klingons to count this faction as a micro-affiliation, and Ch'dak fits in pretty well. His two skills are good ones and not that common in that personnel subset. Furthermore, he's an OFFICER with high STRENGTH for Maglocks. Hey, throw in Lower Decks, and it climbs to 10 just like that. Though universal, his special skill is not cumulative, so you can't boost a ship's RANGE more than +1, but multiple Ch'daks will help each ship in your armada get the bonus. CF ships, by virtue of their age, don't have attributes as high as some more modern ships, so any boosts to their attributes are welcome. Match up Ch'dak with Krase (+2 SHIELDS) and Captain Kang (WEAPONS +2 at your mission) and  those blah ships with all 7s and 6s (even 5s) get to have 7-9 (6 RANGE for the K't'inga) spreads. Ch'dak can use Crew Reassignment to get aboard any CF ship, but he'll download to the universal K't'inga, which needs him the most because of its paltry RANGE. It's kismet that brought those two together. Not bad, but only if running a CF deck. A 3.4.

TOTAL: 11.8 (59%) At least he had a special skill.

PICTURE: There are a lot of things to admire about this pic, including the symmetry and elegance of the transporter ceiling pads and sidekick Klingons, and the great detail on Gorkon's necklace (though I've never been impressed with the motorcycle seat epaulets). I do wonder, however, if this is the most appropriate of images for him. I mean, he's got real presence here, but he's really spooky too. Those dead eyes, that stern expression... they just don't play on his diplomatic side. Were there no clear shots of him toasting the undiscovered country? The pic's strengths do keep the score at 3.6.

LORE: Namedrops the title of his movie, and fairly eloquently. A straight, likeable 3.7.

TREK SENSE: Gorkon was, at this point, the Klingon with the most Integrity we'd ever met (chronologically speaking). I might even have doubled up on his Honor, but the attribute will do. He certainly paved the way for peace, and that's a function of his great Diplomatic skills (x2 feels right). As Chancellor, he would be a VIP with Leadership, and his openness toward another culture (or many cultures, as the case is with the Federation) is represented by Anthropology. A Klingon would most certainly need the skill to quote Shakespeare (I don't personally believe Hamlet was originally written in Klingon, no matter what my personal Klingon copy says). The Treaty protection ability makes sense from what we saw on the show, but doesn't quite go far enough. His fierce passion for peace created real opposition for any dissident movement against it, and did so beyond the grave. Maybe the skill could have been permanent and not dependent on his continued presence in play. It's a minor point however. Cunning and Strength are ok. That is, I have no objection to them. Overall, I'd say they did him justice, but I'd have liked him to be even better. So a 4.

STOCKABILITY: Basically a Klingon version of Turrel, he protects your Klingon treaties from nullification. Is that so useful? Well, it obviously depends on whether or not you want to mix the Klingons with another affiliation. In thematic play, if you're using OS or CF crews, it might be beneficial to use some Feds or Romulans with your warriors to take advantage of their special abilities or else broaden your skill pool. Getting a Treaty nullified (by the Devil, Cartwright, etc.) can really put a damper on your strategy, and some players keep a nullifier around just in case. Brigadier Kerla can download him or his daughter Azetbur who downloads a Treaty, so you can get it all into motion early no matter which personnel you get your hands on first. Another good way of downloading him is to Kronos One, a ship for which he is matching commander (pushes it to 9-10-10 with Plaque and Log) and that can download him directly as a CF personnel, or via Ready Room Door. Gorkon can also report for free to The Great Hall. Skill-wise, he fits in well with your Honor deck, but he is in many ways just another DipHoLe, quite frequent in the Klingon Empire. He's even one of 3 Klingons with Diplomacy x2! Anthropology's a nice extra, especially if you're gonna use The Guardian of Forever to get him to the present from Camp Khitomer. Of course, in a CF deck, all skills get new life breathed into them in a way. Pretty specialized, I can't go higher than 3.5, but that's not bad at all.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) Chancellor Gowron still lords it over him.

PICTURE: This is a great shot of Terrell after he's found by Kirk and explains that Khan had him under control. You think the danger's passed, but there's a CAUTION sign next to him.Yes, he's still under Khan's influence. A great bit. Good overall background, crisp foreground... it's a winner at 4.1.

LORE: We get matching commander status for the Reliant, which is good in and of itself (though why not "Captain"?), but it's the rest that holds out attention most. Next is his sense of duty, which will be demonstrated in his game text. And finally, we have a last sentence that may or may not be true, but is plucked from Khan's own lips. I love it even if it was supposed to be in the negative ("You mean he never told you...?). It's also interesting that Paul Winfield here gets a little something about story-telling, and also played Dathon of "Darmok" fame, a character who only communicated through references to ancient tales. A superlative effort at 4.2.

TREK SENSE: He's got all of the Captainly trappings, like Officer, Leadership and a Command icon. I didn't think he got to exercise his Leadership much in the film, but if he got respect from Chekov, I'm sure he was a fine leader. His mission was to inspect possible Genesis experiment sites for living organisms, so Biology fits. The Honor x2 represents how he managed to fight a Ceti Eel's control and commit suicide, rather than allow himself to kill Admiral Kirk. Yes indeed. That incident also accounts for his special skill, a sort of Security Sacrifice that makes him give up his life for that of a VIP (which are all Very Important Persons, after all). Integrity fits this high Honor character though not going so high that he could resist the Ceti Eel from the beginning. The low Cunning, I think, is borne out in his dumbfounded reaction to meeting Khan. He was all out of ideas pretty quick, it seemed. Strength's fine for a CF-era captain. Can't argue with much of it, so a 4.5.

STOCKABILITY: He's got good skills, with the always useful Biology making sure he's not another DipHoLe. The Honor x2 in particular could be of use in combination with his ability to die in someone else's stead. Here's how: Let him die in place of a VIP in personnel battle while No Way Out is in play. He'll be worth 8 bonus points. Ok, yeah, that's not much of a trick. That special skill can be used in many other situations though. Note that unlike Security Sacrifice, it doesn't just cover random selections. Any kind of selection will do. As long as it's a VIP getting killed, of course. In that way, he can protect a number of Admirals and such, but his skill's usefulness really depends on the usefulness of Federation VIPs. You might, in fact, be relying on some special skill held by a VIP, like Hayes' ship attribute bonuses, Hanson's ship reporting, Leyton's Dominion attack ability, or Admiral Kirk's card cycling. Many others aren't really worth saving. Terrell is also the matching commander of the USS Reliant. He may report aboard using Ready Room Door or Crew Reassignment, and may Plaque/Log it to a more competitive 8-9-9. It's better in the hands of Khan's minions (which makes him a Ceti Eelable backup MC for Khan decks, although with some work), but it's an ok CF ship for a thematic Federation deck. A rather average 3.4.

TOTAL: 16.2 (81%) Wow, too bad he has to die.

PICTURE: The image is... okay. It does what it's supposed to and doesn't have any big flaws, but it's just not very dramatic is all. The tiny ship, the smoky ring, a small slice of the planet... there's not much compositional sense. I'm gonna go below average with 2.8.

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

TREK SENSE: The mission at the Ba'ku Planet is Insurrection, definitely the Federation side of things. For the Son'a and their associates (which, of course, may include Feds), there was something else to do here: Collect Metaphasic Particles to use as a veritable fountain of youth. That "round the corner" mission requires a Son'a personnel (since they've dedicated their lives to this very objective), the Injector Assembly One (to physically collect the particles), a good deal of Treachery (the process would destroy the Ba'ku), and no opposing ships (we saw how even an Away Team disrupted the Son'a's plans). Succeeding means you have access to that fountain of youth, which is characterized in a number of ways. First, your personnel have more energy. They take a double turn right away (that first injection seems to be a doozy) and may unstop themselves once each turn (twice the activity). The extra vitality also translates as a Strength boost and the Youth skill. Youth is meant to be more than just physical age, of course, it's also a zest for life, and the particle energy does that too (see Picard's impromptu mambo). We never saw the particles applied in concentrated form, of course, so we don't know if they would reverse the aging process enough for personnel to physically gain Youth (sending them back to their teens or early twenties?). Works pretty well, but they forgot a couple of consequences here: The procedure was supposed to be lethal to anyone on the planet. It isn't here. And so, why can you still report Ba'ku on the planet? I also think this would have been a very appropriate Hidden Agenda. Those considerations take away form an otherwise very good effort: a 4.

STOCKABILITY: Insurrection isn't a difficult mission at all, but it's Federation-only. For more Treacherous affiliations, you can grab the 35 points (and more!) with this objective. Even the Feds might want to, to avoid the hefty STRENGTH requirement. Indeed, all you really need to do this is Ru'afo. He's the required Son'a personnel, has Treachery x2, and can download Injector Assembly One. That little ship can then download Collect Metaphasic Particles, and you're off and running. The only thing you have to worry about is keeping the location unopposed. The Briar Patch's RANGE limitations might act as a buffer while you complete the objective, or Ru'afo may be operating from the Li'seria to defend it. Opposing ships are also dangerous too because they can probably blow the Injector Assembly out of the sky. Now, another reason for even the Feds to use this instead of Insurrection is all the extras that come with the 35 points. You get an extra turn right then and there, AND for the rest of the game, all your personnel get +2 to STRENGTH (again, excellent for Feds, but not undesirable for others), Youth (which isn't terribly useful unless you're going to hit Ooby Dooby later, hehe) and, best of all, the ability to unstop themselves once each turn. Youch! That's major, as the usefulness of FC's Deanna Troi can attest. Away Teams and crews will go through dilemmas like butter, attack and re-attack on the same turn (with that STRENGTH boost), and make use of special skills even after stopped once. And for the Feds, there's Matthew Dougherty too, who adds 10 points to the win if he helps out. I see Collect Metaphasic Particles hit the table, it better be completed by the time I get my turn, cuz I'm targeting that puppy for elimination, y'know what I mean? But it's so easy to get into play. As high as a 4.5.

TOTAL: 15.07 (75.33%) A good, and not TOO card-intensive round the corner strategy. (Love that new buzz word.)

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