To see the cards themselves, check out this Card list for the Trouble with Tribbles expansion set.

PICTURE: The background is total garbage, all muddled where that Dominion icon might have been more visible, but the figure itself is interesting. I always found Broca to look like a pharaoh for some reason - I guess the lines of his face - which goes great with the scarab-motif the Cardassians use. What makes the pic even better though, is Broca's posture, almost leaning forward as if pushed over a precipice, again very appropriate. And is that a sour taste in his mouth I detect? Quite good at 3.8.

LORE: Lovely stuff. The way they get him to be a legate (a useful appelation) is fun enough, but the next sentences are good too. Note that he doesn't believe in the Dominion, only "says" he does. Very Cardassian. His real dilemma is then given in the last sentence, which is well-written also. I'll go as far as a 4 here.

TREK SENSE: Broca didn't get to do much (he was just a puppet, really), so his abilities would be a little sketchy, but we can still infer a number of things. As a legate, the Command icon and VIP status are deserved, and the way it was all done, I agree that Leadership should the last skill he should have. Well done there. A missed opportunity: Since he was obviously a collaborator, why not award him a Dominion icon too? Heck, if you ask Damar, he was probably more Dominion than Cardassian, at least when the pic was taken. Treachery and the low Integrity agree with that too. Then, the card falls apart. Here's the thing: Personnel cards that come late unto the scene are often made with an affiliation's shortcomings in mind. That said, the reason for Broca's other skills is... probably to boost the level of those skills for the Cardassians. I mean, while Engineer and Geology would be expected of almost any officer who's worked on Terok Nor, there's no real evidence of any of that here. Archaeology? Sneaked a peak at Broca looking over a Bajoran idol or something? Nope. The worst thing is, though I agree completely that the Dominion went and chose one of the less devious minds to be the next puppet king (Cunning 6), that's not the Cunning you'd expect from someone with 3 "scientific" skills. Yeah, Strength is fine. Mostly a bust at 2.2.

STOCKABILITY: Legates are always cool, I suppose, reporting for free at Central Command, being downloadable by Going to the Top and passing the hellish Executive Authorization dilemma. Unfortunately, Broca isn't the best to play For Cardassia! on, as only the Treachery can go towards solving Secure Homeworld (plus a few attribute points), and he doesn't have Honor. His rarest skill is Archaeology, shared by only 4 other Cardassians, but it isn't required very often by their missions. There's always The Guardian of Forever's card draws, but there's no real advantage to using him for it over more readily available Anthropology personnel. Hunt for DNA Program is a more definite possibility. Geology is a little more common, but much more useful when it comes to both missions and dilemmas. ENGINEER is always useful, no matter how many personnel you put it on. So there is that, and Treachery which also finds a place on a number of Cardie missions. The low INTEGRITY is useful in many situations (such as In the Pale Moonlight), but the rest of the attributes are nothing to really speak of. This guy isn't useles by any means, but you have to wonder what his exact role is in a Cardassian deck. A mission solver, though the best matches here are possibly Quest for the Sword and Covert Installation II. Not that great, though not bad: a 3.5.

TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) He's no Dukat. He's not even a Damar. ;-)

PICTURE: Without a doubt our best shot of the Ferengi shuttle, right down to the insignia on its wing (or "fang"). Likeable even more because it seems to be in docking position which relates to its special ability. A simple design, but well presented. A 3.6.

LORE: With words like "liquidation" and "rag-tag" used deadpan, I wouldn't be surprised if Rules of Acquisition didn't yield the most colorful lores in the history of the game. All that plus a matching commander? A 3.7 here.

TREK SENSE: 7-3-6 for a Shuttle? Possible given Brunt's wealth and connections, but it may be a little too far from the universal Shuttle. How much can you modify these puppies? Considering that Ferengi refer to these are their personnal ships (rather than shuttles), I'm going to be lenient on this. They may all be very different from one another except for the models attached to the military (the universals). In fact, Quark's Treasure has very high Range instead of more general enhancements. Taking the ship as a single then, I see nothing particularly wrong with it. Nothing that goes against the show attribute-wise at any rate. The special ability is a whole other matter however. While it's meant to duplicate the events of "The Magnificent Ferengi", I'm worried about WHERE it comes into the story. Rather than making the ship appear regularly as it did in the show, it jumps a couple acts and commercials forward as if it came into the story already at Empok Nor, already staffed with the Magnificents. In more general use, there's no reason it should be able to do this staffed with different personnel on a different mission. In fact, I'm ready to bet the ship would be used to commandeer Empok Nor which just doesn't have any bearing on Brunt's usual doings. While it works in a sort of in medias res way, it just doesn't match the rest of the rules. That and you could report a crew that could never fit inside the small shuttle. Good effort though, so still a 2.8.

STOCKABILITY: For such a small ship, it can be a tremendous help to the Ferengi and non-Ferengi player alike. For the non-Ferengi, it can be reported without a matching outpost at an uncontrolled Empok Nor either with its matching commander aboard or using Ready Room Door to get to him. There you have it: one of the ways to get Brunt and thus, Writ of Accountability into play. You would still use Empok Nor the normal way after that. For the Ferengi, it's even better. You can still use the Brunt trick, of course (who can Log/Plaque the shuttle to 9-6-9), getting the ship into play normally or with the 6th Rule. Since it reports with crew, you can hold out on playing personnel until you get access to the ship (Hidden Fighter/Space-Time Portal might get it into hand faster, or more than once), then swarm Empok Nor with all the personnel you need to commandeer it. You can even use Ferengi Infestation against your opponent to download up to 6 Ferengi to the station, then get them the ship (perhaps with back-up personnel) by discarding some family members and the 6th Rule. When Empok is yours, use its Cargo Bay right away, or whatever suits your fancy. If Empok Nor belongs to your opponent, why not send over your Brunt-bought Nausicaans to start a fight? The ship might just contain an army! With enhancements, the ship isn't very vulnerable, so there's no real downside to using it in any of these ways if you're careful. A strong reporting engine worth 4.5.

TOTAL: 14.6 (73%) There's nothing like a clown car.

PICTURE: I really like it. The stark lighting and rich yellow colors are not something we see very often, and the graves are laid out in a pattern reminiscent of some Bajoran symbols we've seen. Kira and Dukat supply some scale and context for the stones, but I could have done without the piece of ship sticking out from the frame. A cool helicopter shot (I know it was done with a crane, not a 'copter, but the angle has a sweep to it), austere and dignified, at 4.3.

LORE: The story of the picture is well told, with most elements mentioned somewhere in those three lines of text. Certainly adequate at 3.2.

TREK SENSE: Very little, I'm afraid. Conceptually, placing a card "out-of-play" means you've verified its "death", so it can't ever be used. Putting all other cards of the same type out-of-play as well represents the Burial Ground itself: there's more than one person lying there. Well, this might work with personnel that were all killed at the same spot, or ships destroyed in the same battle, but it can't be justified in other situations. Personnel that do not die together are not normally buried together (or are, but there's no need to "discover" the burial site.). Even worse, objectives, incidents, events, interrupts, etc. do not "die". While I appreciate the use of the word "bury" in the game text, I can't go above a 1.8 here.

STOCKABILITY: Playing this on your opponent may cause him or her to face some hard choices. If they wanted to Palor Toff, Res-Q, Regenerate or Process a particular card, they'll avoid putting it (or one of the same type) out-of-play. That may help probe their intentions if nothing else. Of course, most of the cards in the discard pile are going to be personnel (if you've done your job well), so by playing Burial Ground repeatedly, you can eventually force your opponent to get rid of them all. This can handicap a card recycling strategy if done well. Still, some players don't really get anything back from their discard piles, or else can often get rid of a card alone from its card type before another goes in there. It's up to you to strike at their most vulnerable moment. In combination with Telepathic Alien Kidnappers, you could force your opponent's hand (so to speak) into piling up a certain card type in the discards. Played on yourself, it's an effective way to get rid of dilemmas before playing Regenerate yourself. Risky against an opponent, but with some management possibilities for you. A fair 3.5.

TOTAL: 12.8 (64%) Won't bury your opponent, but could hurt him.

PICTURE: Really odd verdegris and bronze shades dominate this TOS image, but what is principally remembered is the terrible early Klingon uniform. Yuck. Also, a hypocritically smiling Koloth would have been more in character. They didn't have that much to go on, but they did have better. A 2.9.

LORE: The lore takes a little hit from the long game text, but it still does well for itself. First, there's mention of matching commander status which works better than it did for the modern Koloth. Then, we get the backstory. Good, good. Finally, a little joke about Koloth and Kirk calling each other "my dear captain so-and-so" throughout the episode. Funny stuff even if you might at first scratch your head at it. A strong 3.9 here.

TREK SENSE: All the icons make sense, that's certain, but the skills may be a little harder to find in the episode. Diplomacy's the clearest: Though his politeness with Captain Kirk was obvious posturing (and they both knew it), he still demonstrated more diplomatic finesse than most Klingons. We also know that a distinguished diplomatic career was awaiting him from his appearance in Deep Space 9. The Anthropology may be because he knew how to interact with humans. The Science... Well, if they are somehow drawing a connection between Koloth and Sherman's Planet, it could be argued that he knew something about agriculture or more generally, about planetary ecologies. Chekov also has Science, possibly for those same reasons. As for the special skill, I'm of two minds. Taken out of context, yes, it makes sense that a period ship (from the TOS era) would function better if Klingons from that same period were aboard. A 20th-century human would have no trouble driving, I dunno, a Neon, but might have difficulty getting a steamcar or even a Model T to start. Unfortunately, that seems to be a characteristic of the SHIP, not its captain, and I'm not entirely sure how he confers that ability on the Gr'oth. It's not Captain's Log (that's its own card), though it might be a kind of inspirational bonus. Using that perspective, Koloth doesn't boost the ship, but the crew. They staff it better because of his guidance. That's a better justification than the first one I gave because that one was somewhat redundant (the ship already requires TOS staffing to function). That leaves us with attributes. Integrity is a bit high seeing as he seemed to be aware of the grain poisoning (from his expression when Arne Darvin was caught). Cunning and Strength look fine, though they don't represent my opinion of early Klingons as portrayed in the episode ;-). To sum up, everything's fairly justified, but I had to work much too much to get there. A 3.5 then.

STOCKABILITY: Though not a version of the Koloth persona, he can still fit in a Blood Oath deck. Blood Oath will download the Gr'oth, and then the ship can download him immediately after. With Crew Reassignment, you can later fill the ship up with AU Klingons (not just OS ones), though he's all you need to staff it. Its attributes are a low 6-6-5, but he automatically adds +1, and with a Log, a Plaque and 2 more OS personnel, he'll bring it up to 11-12-11. Whoa, mama! Of course, the danger with this is that if you lose him, that ship becomes a liability. Aside from the ship enhancement, Captain Koloth also provides two classifications and two skills besides. OFFICER and SCIENCE are both good, particularly the latter. The Diplomacy is less rare, but always useful, and the Anthropology is VERY rare in the Empire, yet is featured on three 40-point missions they can attempt. You can throw in some OS equipment to give him even more ability. A Classic Disruptor will afford him SECURITY, and Agonizers will raise that 6 INTEGRITY to higher levels. I think the Blood Oath gang will take that support ship after all, but you may just as easily opt for a Sherman's Peak-centered deck... A 3.9 in any case.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) Oh my, a % point ahead of his older self.

PICTURE: I understand Decipher CGIed the Armada cards themselves, only basing the pic on the game's graphics (which just didn't have the appropriate resolution). Well, good job there. Though the Jupiter looks a little painterly, it's a very nice and detailed shot of its saucer section. I don't like the directed energy as much, mostly because its shooting across the entire length of the ship deadens the composition quite a bit, but I do think its richly textured. A good shot all things considered, so a 3.8.

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

TREK SENSE: These Armada cards are preposterous, and that's gonna hold them back every time. Where the USS Jupiter itself didn't cross the line too much, Chain Reaction Pulsar is much harder to swallow. Not only has the technology never been seen or mentioned on the show, but it doesn't even conform to the laws of physics (even in the more "elastic" Star Trek universe). That said, the Tactic has the advantage of really being two cards: Chain Reaction Pulsar and "Scanners off line" (the damage marker). But let's enter the video game world for a bit, and see what we find... The Pulsar has a requirement for installation, which is something I would have liked to see on many other Tactics. After all, why should Federation ships be able to use Spiral-Wave Disruptors when they shouldn't even be equipped with the technology? But they can. Pulsar isn't attached to any particular affiliation, but it does require a large enough ship. Runabouts shouldn't be able to carry this big gun, nor even Excelsiors. I think the Nebula had the space, but hey, that may be a problem with the class. Since it seems ready-made for an Akira-class, those ships get an extra bonus. Fine. And it IS a big gun, with its 5 Attack bonus, and probably too unwieldly for a Defense bonus. I'll go with that. As for the effect, I don't play the game so all I know is that it's supposed to bounce from ship to ship, but that can only be accomplished with another card. On its own, CRP seems to have a disrupting influence on a ship. It certainly disrupts one event enhancing a ship, plus the effects of its own damage marker (which hits sensors and Shields mostly). Nullifying an enhancer is way too wide to make much sense. On the one hand, it disrupts such technological boosts as Bynars Weapon Enhancement, on the other, it kills something personnel-enabled like Captain's Log. Hard to believe also that, in that last case, the Pulsar would kill that enhancement for every ship in play! The damage marker section is more sensible, whether you tie it to the Tactic or not. Sensors are often off line following an attack, so this made for a natural consequence of damage. Removing a ship's ability to conduct Scans (Scans of dilemmas are the only ones that have any real relationship with storytelling) is a good way to do this, but the wording creates a non-sensical side-effect. It spreads the effect to every other damaged ship in play, regardless of their being hit or not by a Pulsar. Is that the vaunted Chain Reaction the card talks about? No real problem with the attribute adjustments, so let's go right to the score. As an Armada card, it starts off a little lower on the chart than canon cards, and then there are the few plot holes I mentioned. Otherwise, competent within its universe. An AU icon would have gone a long way toward helping this card... A 2.3.

STOCKABILITY: It's one of those über-Tactics whose effects greatly outweigh its balancing elements. It offers a whopping +5 ATTACK bonus (+6 if an Akira is firing) and adds it to a force that already contains a large 3+ icon ship. In exchange, it can't be used in one of those stripped-down super-efficient armadas where all the ships require one staffing icon at most. It doesn't stop you from using a mothership as a supplement to that armada though, like the Dominion sometimes does, and is possible for most affiliations. The attack automatically destroys one Event card that's boosting the target ship. That's a powerful effect that'll often affect all ships in play (for Events played on the table). Nullifying Metaphasic/Nutational Shields can really cripple a fleet, and no one wants their Captain's Logs in the discard pile. You may want to go after ships just to get rid of these offending events. In exchange, the Tactic does a little less damage, placing only one damage marker (this one) on the target. For a card with a high ATTACK bonus (though no DEFENSE), it still does a lot of HULL damage. That's not so common. And that -3 reduction to SHIELDS will greatly reduce your opponent's DEFENSE even as your own Tactics give you a large ATTACK bonus. Add to that a Scan hoser (yes, another one) that also overarcs multiple ships, and you have a card you can enjoy even as a damage marker. But that's not all. Chain Reaction Pulsar also wins by its relationship to other Armada cards. The USS Jupiter can download it at the most appropriate time, enabling that +6 bonus. Even more though, Chain Reaction Ricochet allows it to do a lot more damage. When it hits one ship without destroying it (and since it only places one damage marker on its target, it probably won't), it keeps on damaging ships present! The next ship gets 2 damage markers, the third, 3, and so on, until one of them is destroyed. Attack the smallest ship and work your way up crippling that armada. In a single big ship mission-solving deck, this is the best Tactic against straight armadas. Lots of hosers piled into this one, but useful in any case at 4.7.

TOTAL: 14.4 (72%) Bounced back with Stockability.

PICTURE: Basically an altered image of the Queen's Borg Sphere, I like the explosion, but the energy beam is a little unconvincing, rambling as it does. Its momentum just doesn't seem right. Though a little limp, there's something to be said for cool CGI. A 3.5.

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

TREK SENSE: If the Chain Reaction Pulsar didn't do very well in this category, what are its companion card's chances? It's mostly the fact that the technology doesn't make any sense. It's very video-gamey and has no bearing on the real Star Trek universe. That said, we can still look at how the computer game's concept has been translated into a card. First, the Hidden Agenda isn't a bad idea, since such technology, if it does exist, must be kept secret. It may even help explain why we've never heard of Chain Reaction technology on the show (though an AU icon would have been better in my mind). The effect pretty much mirrors the one from Armada, bouncing from ship to ship, increasing its damage as it goes along until it actually destroys a ship. It may seed odd at first that the weapon is actually split into 2 cards, but it does seem to lend more credibility to the Pulsar, leaving the truly absurd stuff to the Ricochet. One thing bugs me in addition to the screwy physics: That the incident is discarded after use, as if the technology had been lost, the weapon burnt out, whatever. Without an explanation, I can't really accept any of that. Silly in the extreme - just a 2 that still respects the computer game.

STOCKABILITY: It's perhaps ironic that a card from a game called Armada is so anti-armada. Chain Reaction Ricochet can only be used in conjunction with Chain Reaction Pulsar, but the USS Jupiter can at least download that Tactic once. It's a great Tactic anyway, but you may want to give yourself more options when getting so many damage marker flips in one battle. This is almost the equivalent of the Borg's Multiplexor Drone (and still useable by the Collective). If using the CRR, you should decide what effect you want to get out of it and plan your Battle Bridge side-deck accordingly. You can stock lots of highly damaging Tactics to really cream your opponent, and this'll work well against smaller armadas. After all, the bigger the armada, the surer you are of destroying a ship at the end of the cycle, but smaller fleets merely get damaged (but all damaged). In fact, you may want to stock Tactics that do little damage, so that your opponent's ships are still in one piece but have very low attributes (Outgunned anyone?) or lots of casualties (possibly setting up for a Commandeer Ship followed by a quick trip to a Spacedock). Casualties will be maximized by stocking the appropriate Tactics, but Obelisk of Masaka can't hurt in piling on the personnel inside those armada-friendly K'Vorts and Interceptors. If you draw and use the Pulsar, but don't think the situation warrants a Ricochet, just don't flip it from its Hidden Agenda shelter. It's a very strong incident, though won't do you much good against non-armada strategies. Against them though, seeding more than one could definitely be devilish. A 4.4.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) I think I can wait before I see more computer game-related cards.

PICTURE: I really like this one. The haze is from the poison gas, not some unfortunate design blunder. Bashir, as the one who figured the puzzle out, is rightly the one to take a drink. And the whole shot is tipsy (Bashir's face even half-hidden) as if the cameraman was succumbing to the poison as well. The only flaw: The Wadi on the left is just one big frontground eyesore. Too bad he couldn't be edited out. A 3.7 here.

LORE: Hehehe, so... was Bashir clever or foolish? Parentheses are just the greatest punctuation mark aren't they? (Well, I'm biased.) For irony, in any case. The lore is well-constructed, just telling us about one particular Chula challenge, not overstepping its bounds. I'm giving it a 3.4.

TREK SENSE: All Chula dilemmas have the same basic problem. There's just no way these things could be encountered alone without a whole game of Chula being played, and even if each represents a game, are the Wadi now so commonplace as to play with every passing ship or Away Team? This was material for a side-deck-type dilemma à la Q-Flash, not as a series of stand-alones. (We can always dream of a new ruling...) Now, what does this particular set of obstacles require? It's a good portrait of the episode. Four personnel (Bashir, Dax, Kira and Sisko) are "tested" (always fun to see flavored game text) with poison gas. The gas only stops them (it's not really lethal) unless one of them is either clever (Cunning 10 or more) or foolish (Cunning 5 or less) enough to take The Drink. Great stuff (though I think I'm probably somewhere between 6 and 9 and I figured it out right away). The only real flaw I see is that you NEED 4 personnel. If you have less you have to wait around until you can be tested. What if the team had lost somebody on some earlier shap? Ridiculous limit. If you have more, the excess isn't affected (door closes before they all go in?). Clever, but a little foolish too at 3.5.

SEEDABILITY: Not as random an experience as some other Chula dilemmas, The Drink simply makes a good anti-redshirt/filter dilemma. It requires 4 personnel so can be followed up by large Away Team hosers, but at the same time, mega-Away Teams might lose 4 personnel even if one with the required CUNNING is present (if not randomly drawn). And that requirement isn't very easy to find. You need either incredibly stupid personnel or incredibly intelligent ones. The Feds, as usual, have little trouble here with plenty of androids, famous physicist holograms and mutants. The Klingons will have to go the other way with Targs at the very bottom, but like 20 or so personnel with 5 or less. The Romulans have few options, people like Chief O'Brien and Data'n'Picard. The Dominion has a smart Vorta, Founder and Jem'Hadar plus the dumb universal Young Jem'Hadar. The Cardassians have Elim plus about a half-dozen others. Bajorans? Have some 5s from a number of classifications. The Ferengi thankfully have Ishka and Frool, but few others. The Borg have no problem since all the Communications and Defense drones are dumb as nails, and the Queen's really smart. The Kazon and Vidiians only have one idiot each (who'd have thought?) and no geniuses. Of course, there's always Non-Aligned support. In the Delta Quadrant, that's Kurros and Arturis, while elsewhere, there are almost 20 to choose from, including universal androids. It all depends on preparation, but it seems like it'll be a tougher dilemma in the DQ (even the DQ Feds only have Chell). If you're at risk, make sure you have enhancements (from War Council, PADDs, Sword of Kahless, whatever). Still, the effects are useful only if you know how to construct your dilemma combos. A 3.6.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) I'll drink to that!

PICTURE: A striking enough image, with Bashir not quite recognizable, making the dilemma all the more universal in appearance. The lighted entrance being off to the side a bit is good composition too. A simple but nice 3.6.

LORE: Where the pic was universal, the lore really isn't. It's not a bad thing per se though. What is not so great however is the last sentence which seems to go out of its way to plug the card's title. I would have liked a little more subtlety here. A rather average 2.9.

TREK SENSE: All the Chulas have the same basic problem, namely that they are all part of a mega-dilemma, but not per force encountered together. Stringing Chula dilemmas across the spaceline is ridiculous due to the Wadi's less than pervasive presence in the galaxy as well. That said, how's this chapter of the game? Well, it seems like they went for the actual scene by requiring three personnel (Sisko, Dax and Kira), but that's not very open to all the siatuations that might arise during Chula. What if the team lost more people? They can't take the Way Home (or avoid it)? Why not? And if you have more than 3 personnel, why are all the moral decisions made by 3 random guys? No explanation there either. We didn't actually see the consequence of following the Way Home, but if falling in the Abyss results in being sent back to Quark's, it's a fair bet this hole will do the same. That the Chula game is always at a facility or Quark's bar (since the exit is) goes fine with the episode, but doesn't concord with the location of the dilemma itself. Just how powerful are those Wadi transporters supposed to be?!? The requirement for keeping a personnel from falling through the Way Home is sound enough: If your remaining personnel have less than an average 7.5 Integrity, they're more likely to tell the one leaving to "go ahead" because getting out is more important than thinking things through. More Integrity means the opposite. Of course, that doesn't explain why the less integrious personnel don't follow the lucky one through, or why a high Integrity personnel chosen to go doesn't make the decision for him-or-herself. Chula dilemmas already start the game late, and nothing here helps The Way Home do anything but lag behind. A 1.5.

SEEDABILITY: First off, it's a redshirt counter because it requires 3 personnel at a minimum. If it doesn't stop the Away Team or crew right there, it filters out one personnel, not by stopping it, but by sending it away. One possible destination is that personnel's facility which isn't so bad unless your opponent is playing around with multiple quadrants in which case it's a full round trip. Another possible place is Quark's Bar even if you control the Site. The Way Home thus provides a good place to battle personnel or play Captured on them. Ambushes are always fun and you might even put Deep Space 9 at Bajor to use Defend Homeworld's massive download. Treaties can make this useable by more than just the Bajorans. And it's not so hard to get a target, since of the three personnel, if ANY two of them have a combined INTEGRITY below 15, the other one may be sent away. Even the high-INTEGRITY Feds are big on 7s, two of which still send that 10 Guinan to Quark's. Other affiliations won't be that lucky. No, you'd need 3 personnel (randomly selected at that) with 8s (no more than one 7) to avoid getting snared here. You can even play around with INTEGRITY dilemmas to achieve the right combo, from In the Pale Moonlight as a setup, to Firestorm as a follow-through. Works well enough, so a 4.1.

TOTAL: 12.1 (60.5%) Chula has come home.

PICTURE: Just a prop shot, but at least it comes directly from an episode. I just don't like the background though. All those geometric shapes clash and the straight pipe position of the Communicator isn't dynamic. A low 2.

LORE: So that's an antenna, eh? Cool way to explain how ridiculous it actually is, and I like the tuning too (we've seen Kirk fiddle around with the knob often enough). I'm sure all this comes from some technical manual somewhere, but it's cool to get those details here. The rest reads like a lot of other Equipment cards. Just enough for a 3.5.

TREK SENSE: The big question is... Why isn't there a Modern Communicator card? In fact, modern communicators are much handier and allow for constant contact between a ship and its Away Team. I don't mind seeing a Classic brand, but there's no reason more modern personnel shouldn't be able to pull this trick. Of course, a modern equivalent should be less limited. Here,  I can believe the limit of a single personnel profiteering from this. There is some confusion as to where the two personnel actually are. I mean, the card allows two people in the same Away Team, standing next to each other, to share a skill via a Communicator. Classic Communicators were also seldom used aboard ships even if you were on different decks. And why only one skill? That would depend on the length of a turn. If short then, maybe personnel only have time to counsel each other on a single aspect of the mission. But if longer (and evidence would tend to point to their being longer), that's just not right. The basic idea is a good one, and one I think should have been incorporated into the game way before (and for modern users), but some of the details are a bit offbase. Going for a 3.1.

STOCKABILITY: Nowhere near as powerful as Interlink drone, or even Vulcan Mindmeld, this piece of equipment is nonethless more permanent than an interrupt, and of course, not limited to the Borg. It IS limited to OS personnel however, but there may be sufficient NAs to help affiliations other than the Feds, Klingons and Romulans. The trick is this: You supplement your Away Team with a skill from someone aboard your ship, thereby not leaving that ship empty. Players that routinely use Ship Seizure or the Crisis dilemma must be countered somehow. It also allows you to send expendable personnel to a planet, but still use the skills on a protected (shipboard) personnel. The limit of 1 skill can be subverted a bit by using multiple Communicators, but you'll need as many OS personnel as there are Communicators. And the personnel don't even have to be far apart. If you need two of a skill, but only have one, that OS personnel can call a friend maybe a meter away to "double" his skill (Arne Darvin's Klingon Intelligence at Earth, for example). Certainly creates more flexibility in your skill pool. And since you may directly download it to 3 OS personnel - Ensign O'Brien, NA Odo and the mirror James Tiberius Kirk - (4 with First Officer Spock) you can get it into play more quickly. Add other classic equipment to give your OS personnel even more skills they can share. And if you look at all the OS personnel, there are plenty who boost their ships in one way or another, like the Scotts, the Chekovs, Lt. Sulu and Captain Koloth. You'd want them to stay aboard. Also think of skills that do special things, such as Roger Korby's Cybernetics (order twice the androids by phone!). Or make any OS human an ENGINEER worthy of Visiting Cochrane Memorial in the face of It's Only a Game. Certainly not as limited as it might seem. A clean 3.8.

TOTAL: 12.4 (62%) Hey, that's actually not bad for equipment.

PICTURE: I like the fact that the design on the two classic tricorders isn't the same - different colors anyway, hard to tell if there's anything else (probably not). And that's really due to the lighting because they were probably all the same prop on the show. Bashir's holding it if you're wondering, and he downloads it. Everything checks out. A simple but effective 3.3.

LORE: Well, the two last sentences are pretty much stock, but the first isn't as bad, just a little arid. Ho-hum like a lot of equipment cards. A 2.5.

TREK SENSE: The Classics are much better than their more modern cousins when it comes to reproducing the uses of such equipment as tricorders. The modern kind have very broad databases that give personnel an entire classification's worth of information and skill, sure, but supply it to an entire, sometimes rather unrelated, other classification. The Classic equipment feature smaller databases (already, this is much easier to gobble up) useable by related personnel only (much much better). Case in point, the Classic Medical Tricorder. This can be used by Medical and Science personnel (fields related to medecine) to give them Medical (ok, an entire classification, but it IS a "medical" tricorder), Biology or Exobiology (the two basic medical skills). And it works because Medicals and Sciences have the proper background to make us of these databases. If I were untrained in medecine, I'd have a hard time interpreting biological data given me by a Tricorder, I bet. The re-selection each turn is the basic limit of these older models - that they can't really co-relate their databases. The fact that only OS personnel can use one is perhaps fine in that the interface doesn't seem very user-friendly, but the DS9 crew seemed to be able to use them easily enough. Yes, that version of them is OS, but they're still from the 24th century. And there's the usual caveats about just how many Tricorders are present per card (answer: as many as there are personnel, but don't try to have them split up with your Away Team). That amounts to a good, but not perfect, 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: Where standard equipment of this type give you more classification for your buck, the Classic Medical Tricorder is a little more flexibe, offering the MEDICAL, but Biology or Exobiology as an option too. It further offers these skills (one at a time of course) to two classifications (MEDICAL and SCIENCE). There's a good chance these personnel (the MEDICALs in particular) already have these skills (and certainly MEDICAL), but the Tricorder is better used to double up on skills. A double-MEDICAL like either McCoy for example, would become a triple-MEDICAL (or double-to-triple Exobiology, etc.). You'll like that flexibility when facing dilemmas that require a lot of any of these skills. You can't re-select a skill in the middle of an attempt, but will be useful against walls that have already stopped you. If you do want to suspend play to grab either of the three skills as you encounter a dilemma, three personnel can special download it: Lt. Bashir, Chief Surgeon McCoy and First Officer Spock. Of course, the rub is that it only works with OS personnel. That's 6 MEDICALs (including one Mirror, one Romulan and one NA) and 10 SCIENCEs (from all over) who can also use the Classic Tricorder for another skill. Obviously, free OS equipment can report to K-7 and the Halkan Council for easy reach. Oh, and it counts as "any tricorder" for sch things as Tribble/Kazon Bombs, Founder Secret, a couple missions, etc. A must for OS decks at 4.

TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) A classic, I guess.

PICTURE: Great "action" shot for this piece of equipment, since Dax made a point of stroking its contours and such. We do get a good look at it. One unfortunate flaw is the odd gray line (and speckle) on her left hand. Not sure what caused that. I'd also mention the poor background. A still good 3.6.

LORE: Great, great line to be inserted into the lore, though the way they've done it a little clumsy ("this one"? don't they all look the same? I know, I know, non-Federation ones...). The first sentence is stock, but not badly written. The quote brings it up to a 3.5.

TREK SENSE: As mentioned for the Classic Medical Tricorder, the Classics are more believable than their 24th-century descendents, holding specific databases which can be accessed separately. The newer models have broad classifications, but seem to have very little specific information, and they impart this information on unrelated classifications. Here, Science and Engineer personnel can use it to consult databases (skills) which fall within their field of expertise. I wouldn't be able to use Physics information as well as a scientist would, for example. Specifically, the Tricorder may be used by Science and Engineer (the latter of which aren't seen with Tricorders quite as consistently), but poor yeomen are left behind. What will Janice Rand use when they finally make a card of her? I doubt she'll be an Engineer! The skills they can glean from the Tricorder make sense. They co-relate each other (Science/Engineer) and offer skills that can be useful on a planet (rather than in space where actual ship's sensors are used instead). Physics for radiation sources, etc. and Geology for the terrain itself. They left Biology to the Medical model, but it might be argued that this one has that database too. That only OS personnel can use them is fine by me since the interface isn't very user-friendly to more modern personnel. The problem of the number of Tricorders per card still isn't adressed of course, as you could have just one Tricorder making more than half a dozen Engineers Geologists at the same time, but if there are more than one represented by the card, why can't we split them up if the Away Team does? (And why must they all select the same skill?) Slightly weaker than its Medical counterpart at 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: Half a dozen ENGINEERs and ten SCIENCEs can use this gadget to enhance their skill lists. The ENGINEERs are all Feds, but the Mirror universe is represented. It's also represented in SCIENCE which also includes Klingons and Romulans. Its 4 choices, which in fact, may be added to the Medical Tricorder's skill. Geology is coming into its own as far as dilemmas go, but it's also required in multiple on Geological Survey. Physics finally got some dilemmas and could be useful too. Neither is represented that well in an OS deck, especially those other than Federation. SCIENCE and ENGINEER are, of course, very important classifications, sometimes required in large numbers. Your personnel can get the one they don't have or double up on the one they do. The Scotties, for example, become triple-ENGINEERs! They report for free to K-7, but 3 OS personnel do download them: Marlena Moreau and First Officer Spock in the Mirror universe, and Lt. Dax in ours. All of these double up on their SCIENCE, and allow other personnel to benefit from the equipment as well. Sure, it only works for the OS crowd, but centering your deck around them is both feasable and profitable. It's a good Tricorder to act as "any Tricorder", for example, for Founder Secret and the like. Again, important to OS decks at 4.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) A true classic.

PICTURE: This shot, taken from "The Galileo Seven", is as good as any, or better since it's an action shot rather than a prop shot (deadly especially for action-related hand weapons). We don't get much detail on the gun, but the pose is worth it and well composed. Identity of mystery shooter: Lt. Gaetano, who gave Spock so much trouble. A good 3.6.

LORE: I think "Classic Hand Phaser" would have been more in keeping with TOS terminology, I do like the lore. The last part is a fun tidbit I knew about, but is cool nonetheless. Oh, and the crossover into the next century, while true, will cause problems for the card in the next category. A well-engineered 3.4 otherwise.

TREK SENSE: A lot of little details to cover. First is what I just mentioned above. If the same model was used until the start of the 24th century, then Excelsior icon (or call them Movie icon) personnel should also be able to use it, and it should be able to report to their Time Location. That's all if and when we get such a TL, but evidence would seem to suggest that that's how the Movies will be handled. Not necessarily a lack of foresight here, as a Movie-version of the Phaser might be included then (boooooring), but an inconsistency with the lore. Only the Federation may use it, not even the NAs here, which is as ridiculous as ever, since it's really just a matter of pressing the trigger. I accept it for reporting reasons, and I agree it works better without the NAs grafted on there to make us question that reportability issue. But since a hand weapon IS relatively simple to use, the OS icon-only limit is harder to swallow. You mean Riker or Worf couldn't figure out where the trigger was? The addition of Security into the mix is an interesting one, and one I'm glad they committed some ink to. After all, there are no Security PADDs or Security Tricorders (although I don't think these would be impossible looking at Odo's activities) or Security Kits (nahhh). Hand weapons were always dedicated to those Strength boosts and never tried to include the personnel classification most likely to use them. Well, they still don't, not really, but put a Phaser into someone's hand, and they can act as Security. Makes sense, though my feeling was the classification included more than just guarding doors or battling as a skill package. Hand-to-hand fighting, security locks and procedures... none of that would require a gun, nor would a gun help there. The choice of who to give it to (leaders) is sound though, since those are the personnel who can already initiate battle. They know a little about battling already (the tactical aspect), and could easily be turned into Security personnel. Finally, I really don't want to get into the same Equipment/hand weapon battle I usually do (about number of objects represented, cumulativity issues, etc.), so I'll just say hand weapons already start out with a handicap and leave it at that. Some of the ideas here help the card up from that handicap though. A 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: OS Federation decks (including Terran decks) will need hand weapons just like the rest of us. Yes, they can already use the modern equivalents, but the Classic Phaser is a better weapon for them. It gives the same cumulative STRENGTH bonus that the modern Type II does, but adds SECURITY to all your OFFICER and Leadership personnel. When you're working from a smaller personnel pool, all the extra skills come in handy. Terran decks even have the ability to ignore attack restrictions so that they could use hand weapons more aggressively. In a mixed OS deck (Organian Treaty), you'll need a Federation personnel present to enable the card, but all OS personnel present will benefit from it, regardless of affiliation. But sticking to the Federation, I count a dozen OFFICERs (5 are Mirror, 1 is "modern") and Mr. Scott as a non-OFFICER Leadership personnel. He even downloads the Phaser specifically, as does Security Chief Sulu on the other side of the looking glass (he makes himself SECURITY x2). First Officer Spock might also use his special download for a weapon. Aside from the downloads, like any OS card, it has free report ability on K-7. Summing up, with the current situation of only 4 OS SECURITY Feds (3 of which are Mirror personnel), you'll definitely want a way to add SECURITY to your OS Away Teams. This is the way to do it, giving you a STRENGTH boost to boot. A good 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.3 (71.5%) Why are the older models better than more "modern" ones?

PICTURE: Fun what you can do with a milk carton, no? Sure, the design looks terrible, but seems to me Decipher may have enhanced the picture some (either that or the local station's episodes are getting grainy). The NCC-1701 / 2 is clearly visible on the back of the shuttle (it's the Enterprise's secondary shuttle?), which is well worth the back shot. Fun enough for a 3.5.

LORE: Well, first of all, I can't really agree with the title. Yes, this is a shot of the Columbus, but making the ship universal, it should have born the name of its class (maybe Classic Shuttle or something), not that of a specific craft. The lore makes it more universal, but I think the word "seven" should have been spelled out the same way the episode title did. Using the shorter "7" makes little sense when there's still lots of space left in the lore box. Of course, that may be the ship's full name because close-ups of the Galileo show its registry as NCC-1701 / 7, but that would make it Enterprise support craft 7, no? Unless the Enterprise was a kind of Voyager that lost plenty of shuttles and this would have been the seventh one with that name. Seems improbable. A substandard 2.1, I'm afraid.

TREK SENSE: Title aside, the lore tells us this is a "typical" shuttle, so universal. Shuttle back then were quite underpowered compared to "today's" and certainly didn't have transporters. The Range may be a bit fast here since shuttles had very limited power supplies (in The Menagerie, Kirk quickly hits the point of no return while following the Enterprise... at least it seemed to keep pace, which helps here). Didn't really think they had Weapons either, but 1 is small enough to be believable. And the low Shields are fine. As for the special ability, this is the kind of thing they might have done well to include on all the shuttles to make them more interesting. As complement to Constitution-class ships, it is perfectly matched in this case. They had the guts to create a rather underpowered card, and it's quite close to Trek Sense. A 4.

STOCKABILITY: In an OS deck, you can get a shuttle directly to your ship, whether it's at a Time Location or not, once you've time traveled forward with your Starship Constitution or Enterprise. The built-in Engage Shuttle Operations-like ability is good, but won't let you land so you'll need Establish Landing Protocols to do that. You'll certainly need it if you're going to use the shuttle to attempt planet missions. Without transporters, you can't get personnel to the surface otherwise. Now, while I don't deny that a purely OS deck might want the option of landing one of their ships to a protected position (given the relatively low WEAPONS and SHIELDS of OS ships), the lack of transporters still hurts, as do the very weak attributes (including a RANGE that can't reach some missions). This is probably made worse by the fact that no OS personnel can actually boost the shuttle through a special skill or matching commander status. I understand the ship's function in the game, but just don't think it's overly useful. A 2.4.

TOTAL: 12 (60%) A great explorer almost gets the shaft ;-).

PICTURE: Not to be confused with War Council (though the title and imagery are similar), Council of Warriors suffers from being a little too busy. The grid pattern on the table, the various lighted columns, the strategic map in the background, and various Klingons at different field depths (so not all exactly in focus), all of this distracts the eye and leaves us with a rather unremarkable picture. Composition wasn't bad... texture was. A 2.3.

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

TREK SENSE: Council of Warriors provides an alternate source of points for Klingons, and where you have points, you need a goal to achieve. That goal is very Klingonesque: Destroying ships and killing personnel, and their worth, according to the warrior's code, is equal to either Weapons or Strength (i.e. the enemy's fierceness). That in itself is quite appropriate and elegant. Why the Council? Possibly because planned mayhem makes battling a goal, while just happening upon that battle does not. What has me scratching my head is all the hoops you have to jump through to trigger this effect. I understand the game balance required, but I find little to explain why you must complete a mission under those conditions to get a Council together. It vaguely feels like you have to prove you're a warrior (Klingons only, no cheater Scans, no big missions which would just make you greedy rather than honorable - though the homeworld is another possibility - and a time limit to show yourself capable and worthy), but something that proved you were actually at war would have been more satisfying. Really half and half, I'll give this one a 3.2.

STOCKABILITY: Klingon decks and armada decks have been one and the same for a while now, but until Council of Warriors, you basically could only use the armada to foil your opponent's plans, not to further your own. After all the expenditure of cards, you still had to solve some missions separate from that. CoW does Klingon Civil War much better by lifting the affiliation restriction on possible targets, though at the cost of solving a mission before you can start things off. Once you have though, you'll get points for destroying ships and killing personnel, stuff you would have done for free anyway! Boarding ships (with Open Diplomatic Relations, for example) and killing the crew, before going back and destroying the ship itself can be very lucrative, and fairly easy considering the Klingons' strengths. Ships will rack in somewhere around 7 to 10 points usually, while personnel will vary more wildly. By all means, stock up with hand weapons and go hunting for pointworthy Jem'Hadar. To enable the card, you do have to solve a mission though, and under a special set of conditions. For one thing, you cannot play a non-Klingon in this game before attempting it. No biggie, but it does eliminate, for example, a Non-Aligned android to wear the dilemma-peering Ocular Implants. Second, you cannot Scan the mission to find out what hides beneath. Again, there are so many counters to this kind of thing, many players are now using other means such as Preparation, which are more limited, but still give you an advantage. Finally, the mission must offer less than 30 points and have a Klingon icon. Again, not so bad considering that Bat'leth Tournament is a 25-point staple of Klingon decks, easy to solve, and boostable with the Sword of Kahless and/or a mission specialist. That said, solving Secure Homeworld on Qo'noS can also be done despite the 30 point price tag, and offers the benefits of a Headquarters where you can report your personnel. The first mission solved is ideally the one where your facility is, since you don't have to go anywhere for either the initial Away Team/crew or later reinforcements. A planet mission like this doesn't even require a ship. The only real hic is that you must solve it by the end of your next turn, 2 turns then. Choose your mission well then (perhaps the one with the least seed cards under it), and watch out for Feedback Surge if you want to play Senior Staff Meeting on it to speed things up. Once you succeed, that may be the last mission you need to solve, depending on your opportunities for battle. In Borg-hunting decks, a universal Cube is worth as much as 69 points (with the built-in bonus)! More, if you got the chance to slaughter some drones at 5 or 7 points a pop beforehand. An important (and fun!) new play aid for the Klingons, it gets a 4.6.

TOTAL: 13.46 (67.33%) This council of one has spoken.

PICTURE: This is undoubtedly the most out-of-focus, grainiest, badly lit personnel card ever made, rivaling the low quality of Fleer's Original Series card game. He was such a background character that it couldn't be helped. If Decipher really wanted more Pakleds, why not pull one of the twins often seen on Deep Space 9? They were in the background too, but more in focus than Lardo here. No? A very poor job at 0.4.

LORE: The name is invention, I believe, but similar to the Swiftian names of other Pakleds (i.e. distinctive and fun), and the lore itself is a quote in Pakledese. These are funny, and especially on a character with absolutely no background story, are integral to the success of the card. Plus, he's Security, so he wants to be strong. Oh, and though universality isn't specifically mentioned, the fact that he says "WE are Pakleds" means he represents the entire army. Appropriate. Good, clean fun at 4.

TREK SENSE: What do we really know about this guy? We can only try to undertsand him through his relationship with other Pakled cards. For example, his two skills, while not specifically ties to his Security classification (which we'll take as a given), is absent from both Grebnedlog and Reginod. So who flies the ship? Well, Danderdag I guess, that's why he's in the background so much. He's got duties to attend to. See? That works, and is the perfect spot, game-wise, for a support personnel. The Integrity is higher than his colleagues', but again, he wasn't as involved with Geordi's kidnapping, and as a universal, shouldn't necessarily pay for the crimes of his root character. The Cunning is way low in Pakled fashion. And the Strength is bit high perhaps, but certainly inspired from his classification and physical bulk. Since this guy didn't really have much to do on the show, the logic is all internal to the game, but it works. A 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: Danderdag fills two niches in the game. On the one hand, he's a Non-Aligned universal support personnel with two common, but very useful skills. In that capacity, he's a good source of Computer Skill for the Romulans and Ferengi who have no such support personnel. The Navigation, on the other hand, might fit more the profile of the Cardassians. Of course, many affiliations might profit from more help in those areas regardless, and the SECURITY is an added bonus. On the second hand, he's a universal Pakled, and while he doesn't have all the nifty options of the unique members of the species, he does have a few generic uses. He can staff the special equipment-heavy Mondor, for example, and is easier to bring out than either Reginod or Grebnedlog. The ship has to be staffed for you to play We Look For Things. And on a tour of the Delta Quadrant, he's a cheap Pakled to throw at Acquire Technology. He's got lame-to-fair attributes, but you might still need him to tighten up your deck, or backup your bigger Pakleds. A 3.6.

TOTAL: 11.8 (59%) The terrible look of the card accounts for the score.

PICTURE: An OS Klingon that looks very little like a Klingon (his only make-up is a little grease paint). The green and sunny surroundings of Organia are likewise not very Klingon. Beggars can't be choosers though, and since few Klingons were actually featured in the Original Series, we'll take what stuntmen we can. The barrel-chested scientist gets a 2.5 from me thanks to a potable composition.

LORE: I like the idea of "field scientists" for the Klingons who aren't the most scientific of peoples, but it's sheer invention here since all of the Klingons in "Errand of Mercy" seemed to be guards (i.e. Security). Universality is definitely not established here. I'll give it a 3.1 anyway.

TREK SENSE: Taking the lore at its word, I'm not sure he was given the right skills. The "field" in a science-fiction setting may well be outer space, but with his efforts on Organia, the field should probably have been planetside. Anthropology, Biology, Geology, Exobiology... any of these would have been more believable than Astrophysics. Or was Kor so poor at selecting personnel that fit mission profiles? Computer Skill may well be useful in establishing a command center, so I'll leave that one alone. OS Klingons being a little more ruthless, I might not have given him Integrity that high. Cunning 6 is always a little out of place on an Astrophysics personnel (or is that as easy as 5th grade calculus?). I'll buy the Strength though. Not too appropriate an effort at 1.5.

STOCKABILITY: Though you can of course use him in an OS deck, reporting him for free to K-7, or downloading him to an OS ship (Crew Reassignment would work on certain ships under the Organian Peace Treaty), but you can also use Assign Support Personnel to use him in any Klingon deck. Computer Skill is always useful, and Astrophysics is a bit rarer, but still useful for dilemma-passing. And Daval can be more than a 2-skill personnel. Add Classic Tricorder and Classic Medical Tricorder for 2 extra skills (which can be switched around), all thanks to an easily gotten support personnel. That SCIENCE classification is useful in its own right, of course. Fairly good attributes for a universal as well, as since he IS universal, he's a good source of any of any skill he has. He's in fact the only OS Klingon with either skill. A stronger than expected 3.5.

TOTAL: 10.6 (53%) Why not give us some of Kang's men for these skills instead?

PICTURE: The TOS K-7, rather than the DS9 model? Well, it still looks pretty nice, and I'm trying to remember if we ever see K-7 in its entirety in DS9, or if only close-up details are shown. The words "Federation of Planets" are visible on its main saucer, so it shows enough detail. But while I'm sure that's an antenna on top, it sure looks like a string holding the model in the air. Hey, what's TOS without a certain anount of hokiness? I, for one, am not displeased with the older image. A 3.4.

LORE: The information in the second sentence is directly from the show(s), and I like the fact that it is mentioned as a "frontier" station. With that "Deep Space" in the title, it relates well to Deep Space 9 with that word thrown in. The connection warrants an above average 3.2.

TREK SENSE: K-7 is the only object trapped in a past Time Location. Unlike personnel, equipment and ships from a TL, it cannot be brought forward. So it can only be played in 2267, as represented by Sherman's Planet. It happens to be nearby, so the geographic specificity of the TL doesn't really pose a problem. That all players' cards can use it mirrors Deep Space 9's open port policy (where certain sites are basically open to all), and that's also how it worked on the show, with not only aliens, but Klingons being allowed to visit. Sherman's Planet actually allows reporting, but K-7 makes some of these reports free. That it's all OS reporting, I have no problem with since the station is from that very era. Free reporting, however, is harder to justify and more mechanical. Usually, free reporting can be seen as personnel being more easily there (Ministers in the Chamber of Ministers, for example), but if an Outpost has no such reporting, why should K-7 which is a frontier point with no real contingent of ships? Equipment, ok, but personnel and ships... I didn't think this was a particular hub of activity, especially for the Klingons and Romulans. The Shields are way low for a facility, but that's due to the time difference. Indeed, it matches the weakest present facility, the low-security Terraforming Station. I like most of the elements, with only a couple details seeming off by a degree. A cool 3.6, but a special download of Storage Compartment Door would have been fun.

STOCKABILITY: While Sherman's Planet is actually the basis for the OS deck, K-7 isn't far from it. With its free reporting, it acts as a kind of Headquarters for OS personnel. Personnel? I should say CARDS. Not only is the free reporting non-discriminating (aside from the OS limit) for personnel, but ships and equipment carrying the icon are also included in the deal. While Crew Reassignment usually allows your personnel to report to your ship once it's under way, there is incentive for your cards to stay in 2267 a bit longer. The biggest incentive is the free reporting, of course, which effectively doubles your reporting speed. Fill up your ship(s) and only then take the next Temporal Vortex out. If you're playing with Klingons (even if playing Feds with the Organian Peace Treaty), reporting Arne Darvin will get you extra card draws for every [Kli] or opponent's [Fed] personnel you report there. The more cards you draw, the more personnel you have in hand to report for free, etc. Klingons may also want to disrupt the spaceline, playing Hero of the Empire here, downloading Kirk and blowing him up with a Tribble Bomb, from then on, reducing the point box on opponent's missions, and raising them on yours. The station is also easy to bring into play, thanks to its parent card's download, so no problems there. The fact that it can be used by both players will not matter if your opponent doesn't use non-Mirror OS cards. Even if they do, that doesn't really offset the card's usefulness, especially for the Klingon (ironically) who can't normally be attacked by the Feds (if Kirk tries it, Tribble Bomb him). A big part of a couple of strong enough strategies, I give it a 4.6.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) The compartments weren't empty in this case.

PICTURE: Always an impressive shot on the show, here, the fact it's so tiny lessens the effect, but the image is sharp enough for us to distinguish a number of Jem'Hadar ships and orbital platforms. The irony is, of course, that Cardassia down below isn't really the Dominion's homeworld (especially at this point). A cool-looking, and very detailed, 4.

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

TREK SENSE: The card gets in trouble with its Hidden Agenda icon even though it wouldn't really work without one, because I don't think you would hide the fact you wanted to defend your homeworld. After all, who doesn't? And in the context of the game text, I would probably not wait for an attack before showing my fortifications. An early show of force would make the homeworld an unpalatable target, y'know? Be that as it may, the whole idea of fortifying your homeworld makes sense in and of itself, and the download here represents forces that were present all along (but hidden or undetected). That too works, as only Earth is sometimes left undefended with "only one ship in the quadrant", and only ever in the movies. Since response to an attack would be military in nature, the download is specific enough: leaders, ships, Security and hand weapons. The addition of HQ cards is less solid, tying in nicely to Orbital Weapons Platforms, War Room, Defensive Measures and the like, but not Ferengi Credit Exchange or Return Orb to Bajor. The discard-for-Security effect is more of a peacetime option, with a single Security or HQ card defending the planet (or overseeing its defenses really), and works a little more smoothly than the first effect. Referee icons are purely mechanical in nature, since most affiliations don't really have a notion of fair play, but in the game, they usually try to counter cheesy strategies. Does it here? Partly. The first effect is meant to discourage players from destroying another player's Headquarters with an armada, but the second isn't a Referee effect at all. Like I said, it's all mechanical anyway. Overall, this does a great job with maybe a couple icons being questionable. A strong 4.4.

STOCKABILITY: A Referee icon card is easy to get into play even if you don't seed it (with Q the Referee), and this one has two good functions. The first is difficult to put to work, and is basically meant to discourage armadas from attacking your precious HQ. If they do, however, you flip your Hidden Agenda over and massively download all your OFFICERs, Leadership, SECURITY and ships to the location. Not only do they get to counter-attack in a major way, but it's also quicker than Red Alert to get your cards out. Alternatively, you could use the attack to get an HQ card out of your deck. Orbital Platforms are obviously the most appropriate here, attacking opponent's cards, but in case of a personnel battle, you might prefer the bonuses of War Room, the attack possibilities of Defensive Measures, or the more defensive Secure Homeworld. Such situations are rare however, so the real trick is forcing a battle here. A card like Conundrum, if your only ship is at your homeworld, can instigate the necessary action, or Saltah'na Clock and some luck at directing your opponent to the correct coordinates. The second function is used much more however, since it can get you a first-turn SECURITY personnel or HQ card (a couple of which do not have a seeding option). Matched with cards such as Assign Mission Specialists and Spacedoor, you can get yourself a nice little ship and crew early and go mission solving on your first turn. Better yet, use Defend Homeworld to get certain special abilities into play when they'll do the most good - Deyos' card draws, various download strings, etc. And it doesn't have to be used on the first turn either. Q the Referee will recycle it if need be, and you can get your key SECURITY personnel at any time. Very, very good indeed. A fine 4.5.

TOTAL: 17.2 (86%) Oh yeah, hits the spot.

PICTURE: This is a terrible picture, way below Decipher's usual standards. The Battleship is extremely out-of-focus, seems pasted onto the starfield somehow (the edges look cut out of a magazine) and we're seeing its backside (why is such a powerful ship running from us?). The worst of it is that there are a lot of clearer pictures of the ship available on the show, even in the source episode used here ("Valiant"). A poor, poor choice... I'm so disappointed, I'll give it a 0. You heard me.

LORE: Wait, I'm still trying to get over my disappointment over the pic... Ok, let's try to move on. The lore is rather well written, with descriptives used, and a proper context given. I like that the Valiant incident is mentioned too, since it was the best example of a Battleship in action. A clean 3.5.

TREK SENSE: Though built for the Alpha Quadrant war, they've chosen to make the Battleship a Gamma Quadrant native. Not sure about the timeline here, but with the wormhole blocked off for most of the war, wouldn't it have been more prudent to make it Alpha? Especially since the one in "Valiant" was said to be "new" and was in the Alpha Quadrant. Staffing is as massive as the ship itself, requiring 4 personnel. It actually requires 2 Command personnel (perhaps for various parts of the ship, more coordinators) and 2 which must be Jem'Hadar. Since no one else requires Ketracel-White, it's a good way to make them elligible for Crew Reassignment. The icon may as well mean "Jem'Hadar". The only little flaw is that it cuts off Goran'agar, but since he went a little rogue, it's not so bad, and he does have a Command icon. There's no evidence that the ship had a Holodeck, but it's been hinted that the Dominion has access to holodeck technology, and it's become standard equipment on very large ships (see the Fek'lhr). No real proof of it though. Invasive Transporters are standard issue on Jem'Hadar vessels, and Tractor Beams on large craft. The attributes are likewise massive, since it did beat the Valiant very easily. The ship wasn't staffed with adults, but still packed a lot of power. Even the Range can be justified by its huge engines. The only real problem is with nativity... A 3.1.

STOCKABILITY: It's one very big ship, fast, powerful and tough, and it can be Spacedoored. Better yet, Jem'Hadar can report directly aboard via Crew Reassignment which makes it a roving outpost in any Quadrant. Load it up with Attack Ships using Engage Shuttle Operations: Dominion to unload an armada staffed with all those Jem'Hadar soldiers. No matching commander, but VR Headset will make a Vorta one, plus nudge up the already incredible WEAPONS and SHIELDS. No real reason to use the Holodeck yet (except with maybe a Federation Treaty), but Holodeck Adventures will no doubt fix that. In the meantime, Invasive Transporters are still a great way to aggress your opponent's personnel even in the safety of their ships. You'll always have Jem'Hadar on hand to beam over with the special reporting rules. Plus, good flexibility with Tactic cards. The staffing might be a bit tougher, you can use this as your homeship and still have an armada accompanying it. A strong 4.2.

TOTAL: 10.8 (54%) And that's without a working picture.

PICTURE: Bones sometime before he identified Arne Darvin as a Klingon. Well, the golden brown behind him is rich, and the composition is sound (good play between the line in the background and the strap on his shoulder), but I'm disappointed with the choice. I understand that the set was titled after the popular (yet, in my opinion, over-rated) "The Trouble with Tribbles" episode, but did the entire TOS bridge crew have to be pulled from it, even when they played only a minor part? There are some good, defining moments for McCoy (For the Earth Is Hollow..., The Man Trap, Shore Leave, any argument with Spock, etc.), but Tribbles really isn't one of them. Given that, I can't find the pic used more than just workmanlike. A 3.

LORE: Not much room with that cool special skill, is there? We get his full name, including nickname. We get his position on the Enterprise (which in TOS-speak was more often referred to a "chief surgeon"). We get a fairly irrelevant detail from his character biography... I'm not sure if the "achievement" is part of the hommage to DeForest Kelley, but it's pretty boring. Something about his feuding with Spock, friendship with Kirk, or declaring people dead would have been immensely more satisfying. TOS has that classic kitsch quality, why not use it? A poor man's 1.5. (For a 5 in lore, check out Admiral McCoy, ironically.)

TREK SENSE: Those CMOs are always Medical x2, which is fine, and McCoy wrote some famous Exobiology papers, so double that skill too. Biology is a pre-requisite for the job as well. Then we get into the meaty stuff. Obviously, a special download for "I'm a Doctor, Not..." cards is right on the money. Had to be done, and I hope to see more of those soon. The more special skill is an interpretation of the first bridge crew's legendary status. Back then, they had poorer facilities, but you could always count on the doctor to come up with a solution to any problem. And McCoy does exactly that, once per turn. Sensical? In a TOS perspective, it is, and no doubt, "modern" doctors would agree with that assessment of Leonard H. I am going to contest the Staff icon however, because Bones was part of the main trio, had a staff of his own, and could give orders that superceded even the captain's. No real comment on the attributes, even the Cunning which doesn't seem to match his skills. The reason is that the doctor was often a little dense, taken more with emotion than reason, a recurring theme on the show. Despite one flaw and some exaggeration, this is an excellent version of a dear character. Worth its 4.6.

STOCKABILITY: Highly stockable. Some personnel can nullify one dilemma, or in special cases, a couple (like Dathon), but he can nullify any dilemma requiring a certain skill! That's immense, especially when that skill is the very popular MEDICAL. Note that he has most of the skills necessary to pass the tightly-focused MEDICAL dilemmas - 2 MEDICAL, 2 Exobiology and Biology (more if he makes use of Classic equipment! - so he can pass those normally, and keep his skill for the next one which might not. After all, it's only once per turn, and combos might be stacked against MEDICAL. It's great to finally nullify the ones that have an effect no matter what, like Hippocratic Oath or Tarellian Plague Ship. Usually, it'll allow him to simulate having a lot of other skills, from Cybernetics for Borg Servo, to the bucketload of skills, attributes and equipment required of The Cloud or Invasive Procedures. I don't often mention Temporal Micro-Wormhole in personnel reviews, because it would take to long to speak of a personnel effectiveness in every possible affiliation, but McCoy is a perfect choice for it. Who could NOT use his special skill? Non-Federation affiliations don't generally have the big MEDICAL personnel, so not only will his skill list be a godsend to them, but the special skill makes it even better. The buck doesn't stop there of course. A special download of, for now, two possible cards, can come in handy. Not a Bricklayer can suspend play to nullify Horta (yes, yet another dilemma), download a personnel or give McCoy another skill. Not a Doorstop can only be used if you pair him up with a hologram to them cancel a personnel battle, or if opponent's holo, stop it. Neither is a game-breaker, but they do offer some strategic flexibility. McCoy also allows Nurse Chapel to report for free, adding to the TOS gang's fast reporting. And though I'm not talking about his skill list per se, you know it's as good as any of the top MEDICALs, right? The bread and butter of this game. The simple boost of being an attractive choice for almost any affiliation (the Borg will just have to assimilate him) gets him up to a 5. Just too strong a mission solver.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) Deserved to be an ultra-rare, and not just as a sign of respect for Mr. Kelley.

< Previous 20......................................................................................................................Next 20 >