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

PICTURE: An interesting and very different underside shot, which helps since the Kazon ships all closely follow the same design, only bigger or smaller. It's particularly interesting to note that behind the large nose these ships present, there's a much sleeker, thinner body. Though a Trabe design, it suits the Kazon that they would use a show of intimidation. Aesthetically, the pic owes a little to bric-a-brac. Hits 3.4.

LORE: Because of the shorter length, takes a few shortcuts in telling the story of the Kazon rebellion, and is the poorer for it. Dates generally put me to sleep. The last line is interesting, though of course, the game doesn't really differentiate between sects that way. 2.9 here.

TREK SENSE: The Raider is meant to be an intermediary design between the Fighter and Warship, and that's what it is. It manages to be faster than the bulkier Warship, as raids should be quick hit-and-runs, but other attributes are median between the Fighter/Shuttle's low and the Warship's high. Staffing is also appropriate, as it seems to be about the size of a K'Vort-class bird-of-prey. Still big enough to have a Tractor Beam and the ability to carry and launch shuttles. Allowing shuttles to report aboard ships is a good ability for the Kazon who seem to live aboard their ships more than most. Like other Kazon ships, it lacks any kind of transporter technology. No trouble here, though the design is pretty standard. It gets to 4.2.

STOCKABILITY: Better attributes but the same staffing as a Klingon K'Vort? Great little ship for armada strategies. Its RANGE also makes it an ideal mission solver. It's the fastest ship in the Kazon fleet, and that can be added to by playing Russian dolls with the Warship and either type of shuttle (the Fighter actually reports aboard for free if no other ships aboard, so you can use a Raider as a quick launching pad for numerous support vessels). The attributes can be further boosted with Plaque and Log by having the right matching commander aboard. And there's more than one to choose from: Culluh, Haron and Surat can all make a Raider 11-10-10 with the appropriate cards in play. More Raiders if you Scission the commanders. An excellent little ship that can help report the smaller ships you need to land on planets. A 4.1.

TOTAL: 14.6 (73%) When you live aboard your ships, you make them good (or steal them good, whichever applies).

PICTURE: Very nice. The Shuttle is coming at us with its ramming apparatus in full view, the thing that makes this ship truly different, and the background is a luscious nebula, none of that boring starfield stuff. Hits 3.6.

LORE: Very short here to fit in that restriction box, but everything we need to know is there. That, and they didn't shy away from giving a dual-class to the craft. A fine 3.1.

TREK SENSE: The Kazon Shuttle's truely cool abilities were covered in the Boarding Party review, but at least one Shuttle can download that card, basically download its function. Too bad the limit is one such download per game no matter how many Shuttles you use. Like other Kazon ships, it has no transporters. The landing ability is well handled, and I definitely like it better when they build in these capabilities into landers rather than option it out to an event or incident. Attributes are pretty much those of a Shuttle, slow and not very well armed. The hardened hull makes Shields a bit better than normal. It's more dangerous than this, but like I said, you need Boarding Party to unlock the fighting goodness it contains. But certainly a 3.7 here.

STOCKABILITY: The Kazon Fighter has higher stats, can report for free to the Raider, and can initiate landing capabilities with its download of Blue Alert, but does it make Kazon Shuttle obsolete? The answer is no. It does take some of the pressure off the Shuttle, since you no longer need the small craft as a lander for Away Teams, but the smallest ship in the Kazon fleet still has one trick no other ship can pull off: Boarding Party. Report your boarding pod to a Raider or Warship (it can do that) and throw it at an opposing ship you want to board. The Shuttle'll even download that card for you. (Culluh can do the same for a second attempt.) You ram the ship, unload its crew, discard the cheap Shuttle, and stand a good chance of winning a commandeered ship for your trouble (+ 20 points). A good deal, you'll agree. An instrumental 3.8.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) Inches out its fellow shuttle, the Kazon Fighter.

PICTURE: Kazon (Trabe) ships look really beautiful, like they were carved out of wood and polished with care. The way the windows are distributed on it also help with scale. Looks like a flying city. We get a good look at the nose here, as well as the mechanic's nightmare that seems to be the underside. Lighting's a bit stark, and the whole ship isn't visible (again, helps with scale), but this is nonetheless a very cool 3.7.

LORE: While it's a bit odd to mention the D'deridex when the Kazon have never met the Romulans, this is still good lore for the space afforded it. Might be related to a comparison made by the Voyager crew, or a relationship with the D'deridex's lore, which also concentrates on how big it is. Those seeing a link to the TV show Red Dwarf may be reading a little too much into it, no matter how much the Kazon ship looks like a vessel in that series. Anyway, the focus is on size, and that's not a wrong way to go at all. A 3.8.

TREK SENSE: The hugeness of the Kazon Warship is translated into its attributes, certainly, with the still powerful engines still not making it that fast, and Weapons and (especially) Shields being extremely high. The sheer size of the thing also shows up in its special ability to carry and launch any ship with fewer staffing icons. This is fine for Kazon ships, but what about Non-Aligned and allied ships with 2 or fewer icons? Can Voyager really fit inside this thing? Going by size, yes, but are there actually bay doors wide enough to tractor in a starship? How about the Fesarius? It's got less than 3 staffing icons. Or the very small Phoenix, which does have 3? Some anomalies like that aside though, most ships could fit inside. I guess we just never saw the bay doors. If 2 Voyager-sized ships could fit inside, I'd be a little surprised though. The Warship's own staffing is a little suspect. Only 3 staffing icons for a ship almost twice the size of a D'deridex? And at least twice the size of a Negh'Var, which has 4 icons. If a lot of ship space is taken up by civilians - the Kazon have no real homes, so they live aboard their ships - then it's possible. But just to man to massive Weapons would seem to require more. Final note: Yes, yes, the Kazon have no transporters, we know. Certainly not perfect, but it at least plays on a theme. A 2.9 here.

STOCKABILITY: The biggest bad boy in the Kazon fleet has the highest attributes and not for that much staffing either. Considering that The Kazon Collective allows your Kazon personnel and ships to report aboard directly, it shouldn't be hard to keep it staffed. From it, you can launch Kazon Shuttles for Boarding Party maneuvers, Kazon Raiders and Fighters for a little armada action, whatever. It's like a flying Outpost. Using that aspect, you can Wormhole the entire fleet to a neighboring quadrant. It can even load up on allied or NA ships with 2 or fewer icons. Razik may act as matching commander for the thing, bringing up its already impressive attributes to a Plaqued an Logged 10-14-15 that'll survive a hit even from an unenhanced Borg Cube. Worth a 4.1.

TOTAL: 14.5 (72.5%) All the Kazon ships have gotten a score in the 70s.

PICTURE: I'd rather have long-haired Kes rather than the more elfin first seasons' version any day, but they are stretching the limits by taking her pic from her very last regular episode ("The Gift"). Of course, it's where she's at her most powerful, and it helps explain the special downloads. The red costume really pops, and sickbay in the background is an appropriate location for her. I guess my beef is with the expression which is so unlike Kes. She is usually so patient and stable, but here, she's undergoing a dangerous transformation. Of the 2 available templates, I think the Federation card looks a little better, playing off her eyes, but it's not a big difference. Pic gets a 3.4.

LORE: I'm thinking that even Spot is older than her, so she's probably our youngest personnel, and the lore leads with that surprising age. Her two mentors get equal time, and then there's a mention of her psychic powers. Vague, but ok. Her unfortunate romantic involvement with Neelix then gets the usual (and by now, boring) mention. Competent, but nothing too cool. Gets to 3.2.

TREK SENSE: No Youth?!? Well, no. At 4 years old, Kes has gone through almost half of her 9-year lifespan. She's even having her midlife crisis! ;-) In only three years (she came aboard Voyager when she was already a year old), she's become a competent member of the ship's crew (Staff icon), in particular as substitute Doctor (or perhaps only nurse). Medical, Exobiology and Biology were all learned in record time. She also developped mental powers, here represented as Empathy. She's not a full telepath, her powers covering a whole range of other psychic powers but not developping that one too much. She did feel souls dying as early as "Time and Again", got into Tuvok's mind at least once, and made contact with Species 8472, so there's at least a touch of "Empathy" there. Her other mental powers are put into her special downloads. The Gift is one she gave Voyager's crew by moving it through space a long way with her mind when leaving it. The card does this pretty well. Before her powers got that strong, she could still peer Beyond the Subatomic, but this card is very mechanical and doesn't mesh well with events portrayed on the show. That, and there's no reason she should only be able to download one OR the other. They aren't mutually exclusive. She started out as Non-Aligned, but was absorbed into a Federation crew, so the dual-affiliation is a natural, I suppose. I'm not sure she'd choose to work with Vidiians or Kazon, but there you have it. Her patience with Neelix and others and the way she could expose a moral problem sometimes has given her high Integrity. Her quick learning abilities would have her a genius, but her relative naïveté tempers her Cunning, keeping it at a reasonable 8. Strength seems fine too, though I'd expect a younger version to be weaker as she played the victim more often back then. A good job here, getting 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: Here's a DQ personnel that can be used by any DQ affiliation, but she still "matches" the Federation, and can report to its various Homes Away From Home. As an NA CIVILIAN, she can make use of War Council to boost her CUNNING and report for free, or simply report for free to the Ocampa planet, Liberation, where some ships will start anyway thanks to the Caretaker's Array. Once in play, she's got the excellent MEDICAL/Exobiology/Biology combo that'll help any affiliation out. The Kazon and Hirogen are generally low on that rather invaluable stuff, and she'll fit right in with the Vidiians' plans. Empathy is a rare skill in the Delta Quadrant, yet many dilemmas require it. Kes is an excellent source of the skill. She has two possible special downloads, and they aren't bad. With Beyond the Subatomic, she can get at a card type you desperately need, or perhaps even a specific card if you stocked low amounts of the named type. Maybe you really need a ship or you've only got Q's Tents as Doorways. The second option (it's one or the other, folks) places Kes out-of-play to relocate your ship anywhere in the same quadrant. End-of-game gambit? Just protecting yourself from a Borg armada? Better yet, since the download suspends play, you can use it to relocate a ship facing a dilemma you don't want to deal with just yet. Cool. Whatever the reason may be, it's the kind of backup that works well as a special download. There's another version of her persona she can switch back and forth from, the "geezer" Kes from The Borg expansion. She offers a pretty different skill list and cannot be stunned, so using both will give you more flexibility in mission attempts as well as in defending yourself. Not overly powerful, Kes is nonetheless a good personnel, fitting easily into many DQ decks. A 4.

TOTAL: 14.7 (73.5%) Not bad for 3 years' training.

PICTURE: Really sumptuous backgrounds contrast well with the pastel costume, and those window bars smack of the prison the Delta Quadrant became for this character. A sumptuous prison, but one nonetheless. Nice and pretty, it yields a 3.5.

LORE: A complete circuit between his TNG and Voyager appearances, but not much besides the facts. How about 3.1 for "clever, but a bit dull"?

TREK SENSE: Kol was one of the Scientists sent to the Barzan Wormhole to evaluate its worth to the Ferengi Alliance. That's what Stellar Cartography is for. Having piloted the the shuttle into the wormhole, he also gets Navigation and is rated for a Staff icon (unnecessary for a shuttle, but quite acceptable). The fraud he and Arridor perpretated on the Takarians makes him both Greedy and Treacherous, and Computer Skill was an element of the deception - programming the replicator, for example. Kol has low Integrity of course, though a certain loyalty to Arridor that fits a 4's profile. His low Cunning makes him the stupid one, and Strength's about right too. One odd element is the absence of a Delta Quadrant icon. The character started out in the Alpha Quadrant, but then, so did the crew of the Voyager. And though he returned from the Delta Quadrant, he stayed there longer than, say, Stadi. If this is Kol after his return, then why the DQ pic? Not wrong, just annoying. Still, a fair representation, if devoid of any daring. Gets to 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: The Ferengi have few SCIENCE personnel, and even fewer with a large number of skills. That makes Kol a good addition to a Ferengi deck. Most help with dilemmas will come from Navigation, Computer Skill and Stellar Cartography, even if they are common enough skills, while Greed and Treachery are excellent for missions and Rules (including the 6th, being referenced on Dr. Arridor). Kol has nothing that can't be found elsewhere, of course, but he has them all together in one place, and makes a good back-up for them all. Skill redundancy is his biggest asset, you might say, and if he becomes too redundant, have Arridor turn him into resources using the aforementioned 6th Rule. The affiliation would call him a 3.5.

TOTAL: 13.9 (69.5%) Not really a "Lesser" Ferengi.

PICTURE: Like many Voyager pics, for some reason, stiff by virtue of not being close-up enough. Tuvok's hand looks like it's the Komar spirit's, which is a subtle way of representing possession, and... is that its head floating above the body? It's a little silly, like the Three Stooges' Moe took control of Tuvok. Dull because of its presentational style, the fx aren't exactly ground-breaking. A 2.5.

LORE: The story is told simply with the traditional Voyager technobabble elements in place, but not taking over. A plain 3.

TREK SENSE: One personnel is Possessed at random (the Komar don't necessarily distinguish) and so doesn't help with any tasks, i.e. is stopped. The personnel remains Possessed until the cure arrives and further stops another personnel through its activities. Think of it as a non-lethal Garak Has Some Issues. The Possessed personnel might force an investigation, knock someone out, distract with conversation, sabotage, etc. Or is it meant to be the effect of neural collection? Or in an even more complicated twist, is the second personnel supposed to be the jumping spirit of Chakotay trying to counter the Komar? Doesn't really matter, let's just say that there's sufficient justification for it. Whatever it takes to stop another personnel. A sufficient amount of Security discovers what the Possessed personnel has been up to and apprehends him or her. An incomplete cure, since it doesn't tell us how the Possession is reversed. Presumably, the Komar leaves the body when it is compromised, but what prevents it from jumping to another body? How do you get rid of the Komar altogether? In the show, you had a flight into a nebula, not to mention the Chakotay spirit helping things along. Works ok, but is a little muddled at times. I can see myself giving it a 3.5.

SEEDABILITY: Non-lethal, but effective, Komar Possession starts off by filtering out two personnel at random (no requirements, so the Away Team or crew charges into the next dilemma), and then at the start of each turn, does it again. Mission attempts will always be missing two personnel, and thanks to the timing of the card, the affected personnel will stop another personnel before its player has a chance to beam his personnel away from the Possessed. 3 SECURITY is a hefty cure, though of course not impossible to come up with. SECURITY-targeting dilemmas like Angry Mob and Trabe Grenade make sense for any Komar combo, though these are planet-only. A good enough filter with lasting consequences, I like dilemmas that make affected personnel liabilities. (Sorry Tuvok, you're no longer invited to the good parties...) Hits 3.8.

TOTAL: 12.8 (64%) The pic could've used more work.

PICTURE: A little plain, with the usual gray backgrounds Voyager used regularly (as opposed to TNG's beige). The yellow stripe helps a little, tying it in with the Non-Aligned template, but no more than that. Kurros himself winds up looking a little like a Jedi knight, but it's still a plain picture. Let's say 3.1.

LORE: Not a fan of vague species like "humanoid", but that first sentence at least doesn't forget to mention the Think Tank, which has a gameplay use, and describing the group in a generally fun way. Decipher shows consistency in calling Kurros a tactician, yet not giving him any Security-based skills, as was done with the Tactic Drone. The last sentence explains that tactical ability, but is also an inside joke about Jason Alexander's role in Seinfeld. Remember the episode where George decides to do the opposite of his every instinct, and suddenly finds himself successful? Sure you do :-). A funny 4.

TREK SENSE: As one of the Think Tank, Kurros is a super-Science personnel, but he seems to have no scientific specialty. I agree. He brainstorms with the rest of the Tank (2 Science and very high Cunning), but his abilities lie elsewhere for the most part. He leads the group (Leadership and Command icon), and is the front man with potential "clients" (Diplomacy and Acquisition). No Greed? Well, I don't think that's a mistake. The Tank isn't after monetary rewards, only things (and people) that will help them further their scientific knowledge. Kurros is ruthless about this, willing to cheat, lie, kidnap and kill for all this, so double Treachery and low Integrity are called for. Go back on your word with him and he'll unleash the full fury of the Tank's scientific discoveries. Strength's my only sore point, since the guy seemed to have about zero combat ability. He's stoutly built, but 5 is a bit too much. Well done, though collections of skills are less audacious than special skills, et al. A 4.4.

STOCKABILITY: Kurros has a lot of bells and whistles to call on. 2 SCIENCE is a rare super-skill, and very useful, especially since it's followed up by skills more often found on an OFFICER, including Leadership to initiate battles. The Acquisition allows him to use a number of Rules of Acquisition, and is fairly rare in the Delta Quadrant. The 34th and 35th Rule can both get you card draws here, depending on whether you want to do battle or not, and any foray into the Alpha Quadrant should include the 75th. And that Treachery x2? Protection Racket is one option, as is The Art of Diplomacy (to download a hand weapon, perhaps an Organ Harvester for your Fennim-protected Vidiians). I Do Not Take Orders From You turns him into an assassin, and there aren't many personnel who do not have lower CUNNING than he does. It also protects him from Sabotaged Negotiations. And he's the matching commander of the Think Tank's Ship, as well as the entire staffing for it if you so wish. A rare DQ Cloak and Holodeck, and extremely high SHIELDS that can be boosted further with Captain's Log. Plaqued and Logged, it reaches 11-9-21, sustaining a hit from a Borg Cube well enough. The ship can also be used to download Kurros via Ready Room Door, and Make It So adds a perk or two. Ah yes, and he can complete Research Phage by himself. A good skill list, if not necessarily well tuned to DQ missions, and lots of extras makes Kurros hit 4.2 here.

TOTAL: 15.7 (78.5%) Can't argue with his success.

PICTURE: Well, the effect looks a little better than on the FC version, there are more colors and more depth as well. It's a good and unusual take on the beam-in, anyway. And where I thought the Away Team from the FC card WAS rather prepared, as the lore points out, this one wasn't. Thumbs up and a 3.9.

LORE: While the original was very generic and explanatory, this one's more anectodal. I like the example used and the way it's written. Not too great, but generally better than the original at 3.7.

TREK SENSE: Being unprepared can certainly cause problems, or at least delays (this is a wall, after all). If you're doing a mission, and you don't send the skills required to complete that mission, then that mission won't get done. But while the 10-point penalty is more mechanical than sensical, it does reinforce a Star Trek staple: that of the bridge crew beaming down to a planet every week while expendable Ensign Bob stays aboard ship. Those that can, do. Picard never sent Mot the Barber into the jaws of death just to scout the place out. The Borg solution is a little weaker, assuming that as long as the three subcommands are present, all you need for a scouting attempt is there. I don't disagree, but it seems a bit glib. There's really nothing different from the original incarnation of the card, so the 4.1 sticks.

SEEDABILITY: This is a very good way to counter redshirting - not only is it a wall, but it'll cost your opponent points if he or she didn't have the proper personnel present. So it's a good starter dilemma that forces your opponent to actually put the personnel necessary for the mission at risk. It's best placed at a mission requiring a lot of skills or very specific personnel (like Symbiont Diagnosis on both counts). The Borg have it easier, with the very common icons and no point loss. I wouldn't even seed it at a space mission, since Borg ships tend to have plenty of drones aboard. Since the original version came out, one change affects this card: the Borg no longer scout planets one personnel at a time, so that's one less trick they used to be able to rely on. Before The Borg expansion, you could self-seed Lack of Preparation to be encountered first, and then build a little army of drones at the base of the wall before sending the final icon down. Now there's no need for that strategy, nor is the dilemma too effective AGAINST the Borg. Oh yeah, and I'm not forgetting that Preparation nullifies it. It's not a huge blow since the point loss still takes place. A slight drop from the original, but still good in many combos (especially in front of specific killers, hehe). Takes a step back to 3.6.

TOTAL: 15.3 (76.5%) A net gain of 0.4 points!

PICTURE: As it appeared on the show, obviously, though a lot cloudier than it appeared from the ground ;-). In fact, the clouds look a little fake, like illustration more than photo. Pretty, but basically a dust ball, so a 3 should do.

LORE: Fairly standard, and side-stepping a problem if the place had been called "Ocampa homeworld". The word "sect" is quite important as we'll see. A 3.1.

TREK SENSE: The Feds are the galaxy's good samaritans and would help an Ocampa in need. The Ocampa prisoner may have made other friends (like Neelix), which makes the Non-Aligneds fair helpers too. But what are the Kazon doing here? Sure, this allows them to set up an Outpost here as per the show, but why would they liberate their own prisoner? The key is the word "sect" in the lore. Kazon other than the ones holding the prisoner might want to deal a blow to the opposing sect. "Liberate", I don't know. Maybe capture for themselves. And then there's the idea that the Ogla are supposed to be here, but could be used to solve the mission. In fact, because the Kazon affiliation disregards sects entirely (in the game), the point is pretty much moot. In other words, the Kazon icon will never quite work here. As for the mission's requirements, Security is used to break a person out of captivity, sure enough, but you also need a little more to get through a horde of Kazon. This can either be Transporter Skill (the Kazon don't know about the technology so aren't protected from it) or the love and passion of Neelix (love makes you go beyond yourself). Cute, though it loses its sense if Kes is already somewhere in play. Hey, maybe he's saving one of her loved ones. Yeah, that works. Since this is the Ocampa homeworld, reporting Ocampa here for free would seem to make sense. Unfortunately, when you look at the Ocampa we have available, that doesn't make the most sense. Kes (the original) works fine, obviously, but Tanis is far away with Suspira, and the older Kes doesn't live there anymore ("I can't return", etc.) Or if she has returned, it should take some kind of effort, and so isn't the best choice to play for free. Points and Span, meanwhile, are pretty standard and not very noteworthy. The various problems don't allow the score to go any higher than 2.2.

SEEDABILITY: Any deck that uses the Caretaker's Array to get their ships into play, either from the far-away Badlands, or at the start of a game (any non-Borg DQ ship, so all other DQ affiliations qualify), are going to need this mission. It's the only place the Array will seed! It's a powerful incident for DQ decks and will feature prominently. Thankfully, it's also fairly easy to solve. The Kazon can do it with Seska, though the Kazon are otherwise bereft of Transporter Skill. The Feds, for their part, have everything on two personnel. In any case, any affiliation can theoretically attempt the mission with a Non-Aligned personnel, and if that's Neelix, they don't even need the rare Transporter Skill. Only 30 points, but if you HAVE to seed this misson for other reasons, might as well take care of business. Liberation also the special ability of reporting Ocampa for free. It only includes 2 unique personae (and 3 personnel, since there are two of Kes). These are good NAs that will work with anyone. Of course, by its very nature, this mission will be a hot spot of activity, inviting enemy marauders to attack just-reported ships and personnel. A good place for an ambush, and well, let's not forget how Stratagema has hurt the Array. Taking the risks into account, this is still an important 3.8.

TOTAL: 12.1 (60.5%) The first DQ planet visited by Voyager isn't first in any other category.

PICTURE: Brad Dourif has made a career on playing the unhinged, from "One Flew Over a Cuckoo's Nest" to "Lord of the Rings". On Voyager, he took a turn as the crazy Betazoid, Lon Suder. Betazoid eyes never seemed so black before, his creepy gaze made more effective by the low contrast on the blacks in the background. All the intensity is kept on him. As for the two templates, the Federation blue may be a bit too soothing, with the Non-Aligned gold coming out ahead for once. Pic gets a nice 3.6 from me.

LORE: The style is a bit too telegraphic for my tastes, but you can't argue with the amount of information you get this way. His story, his hobbies, his problem... it's all there, and worth 3.3.

TREK SENSE: He's the Betazoid without Empathy! This is either a by-product of his mental illness, or its cause, but it's right for his card. Because he's a Maquis, he gets the Fed/NA dual-affiliation, and indeed, the Feds could never really trust him. He could switch affiliations at a moment's notice and initiate battle against his own. Well, not really in the sense that the game doesn't actually allow that, but his special skill does allow him to do so against opposing Feds even if he's in Fed mode, and even if he isn't a leader. Ok, but wouldn't an "assassin"-type skill have been more appropriate? Murder isn't really personnel battle, is it? Suder's an Engineer, that much is sure, and Physics makes a fine companion skill. His cultivation of flowers requires Biology (seen as botany). Treachery allows him to kill and hide his misdeeds, but Honor redeems him somewhat. He doesn't want to commit these murders, and furthermore, actually took steps to correct his behavior, finally sacrificing his life for Voyager. Integrity tries to show this as well. Like all psychopaths, he's got high Cunning, as well as the Strength required to attack a full-grown man. The special skill doesn't quite do him justice, though the rest is fine. I'll go with a 3.2.

STOCKABILITY: Even without his special skill, Lon Suder is a natural for Delta Quadrant decks thanks to his ENGINEER/Physics combo. Those skills appear extremely frequently in that part of space (thanks, Voyager technobabble episodes!!!), and he can help solve a lot of missions there. Biology has always been useful too, and the Treachery/Honor dychotomy allows him to fill whichever hole you need filled, whether you want to go with or against the grain. The special skill is like a universal version of Captain Kirk's, Admiral Riker's, et al., that removes ALL attack restrictions for personnel battles. This is good for the DQ affiliations, since they don't really have "Intelligence" personnel to use with HQ: Defensive Measures, so this is more than just useful to the Feds. Since Lon Suder is also Non-Aligned, he can help the Vidiians fight the Vidiians, etc. His STRENGTH is capable enough (all his attributes are relatively good), and can be boosted thanks to Captain Chakotay (perhaps they both reported to the Liberty). The usual Maquis tricks would all apply, including the more recent 2E stuff like You Could Be Invaluable, Rebecca Sullivan and Macius. Don't get stuck with your big DQ soldiers without an Away Team to target: grab Lon Suder, and he'll even help with more. A 4.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) Second card in a row that I did the card extra for as well - just a small coincidence.

PICTURE: A good picture, with plenty of atmosphere, a good expression, and those googly eyes we're used to seeing on warrior race leaders ;-). A strong 3.5.

LORE: The only Kazon of his sect we've ever seen, and his story is well told, with interesting political implications. A 3.4.

TREK SENSE: From the lore, you'd expect to see Diplomacy here. Kazon or not, I think it would have been a matter of survival for the Hobii. Instead, we get a lot of stuff that can't be proven from on-screen evidence (except for Officer and Leadership, of course). If he's head of a weaker, small sect, we can infer that Medical knowledge would be required to heal up after attacks from other sects. Physics might be used to hide one's ships from others. Archaeology, for its part, might be the key to salvaging useful artifacts to boost the sect's power in the quadrant. Stretching? Of course I am! At least nothing looks outright false. Integrity's floating around the middle of the scale because he WAS a peace-maker, and yet still infused with warlike Kazon values. Cunning and Strength are good for a leader who nonetheless hasn't really made things work in his favor. Too much invention, and in one case, actually ignoring the lore. Only 2.5.

STOCKABILITY: Being a maje has its uses, but unfortunately, Loran can't use The Kazon Collective to report more of his sect. There are no others! Combat Training and Kazon Conference will have to be it. Skills? OFFICER and Leadership are very common in the affiliations, and all other skills show up 4 or 5 times each. The Kazon are a very tight affiliation when it comes to skills. Well, you can never have enough MEDICAL, so that's certainly his strong point. Physics appears often on Delta Quadrant missions. Archaeology is less useful across the board. His attributes are ok, but not stellar (at least the INTEGRITY is Firestorm-proof, but few majes dip too low anyway). A ho-hum 3.1.

TOTAL: 12.5 (62.5%) I can see why most players never took to the Kazon.

PICTURE: Vidiians are ugly by nature, so it doesn't bother me much. To me, he looks like he's on stage with a bright spotlight on him and a dark stage at the back. That atmosphere adds pathos to the Vidiian's fate, which I think is appropriate. Still, universals are rarely all that interesting. I'm gonna say 3.3.

LORE: The first phrase gives Losarus a job (as well as the necessary universality). The rest gives us the details of his disease, a disease that defines this species. An interesting 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Vidiians are scientifically-minded, so the typical Scientist should be knowledgeable in a wide range of fields. Losarus is that typical Vidiian, with astronomical (Astrophysics and Stellar Cartography) and planetary (Geology) sciences at his beck and call. The attributes seem fair too. We've got the mid-range Integrity associated with a people that will do anything to keep their culture alive. The Cunning is high enough to support his skills, but not too high since he's just a "typical" researcher, not a unique genius. Finally, Strength is on the low side because of his weak heart. It all checks out, no mistakes, and yet, no surprises. A 4.

STOCKABILITY: In an affiliation as small as the Vidiians', each skill shows up about 4 times in total. This is true of Losarus' SCIENCE, Geology and Stellar Cartography, but Astrophysics appears only half of that. And yet, it's an important skill for passing dilemmas, whether you include missions that require it or not (the Vidiians have specific access to Study Internment Site, which does require Astrophysics, and there are "any may attempt" missions in the DQ that do too). So Losarus is important as a universal source of the skill. Well, another thing that's true about small affiliations is that every personnel is important. The rarer skill makes him a 3.4.

TOTAL: 14.1 (70.5%) All the Vidiians so far got passing grades.

PICTURE: On the one hand, I really appreciate that the card shows junior officers around a table, in a mirror of the original version of this card. On the other, I might have preferred a shot from "Good Shepard" which really did feature "lower decks" characters. Here, the concept becomes associated too much with the Maquis, which shouldn't be the point of the card. The Maquis pictured should be universal, but Chell, in the back, isn't (he's the Ogawa of the group). I'm of two minds, but the score must settle at 3.

LORE: A different, but just as valid, justification for the attribute boost is given in the first sentence, but I'm afraid the second focuses too much on Maquis. There were enough unique Maquis on Voyager to make this less appropriate. 3.1 should do.

TREK SENSE: Whether you believe the original's justification about junior officers boosting their attributes because they compete as well as cooperate, or this one's claim that close friendships create the necessary attribute support is academic (they're all good reasons). It remains that Lower Decks' central conceit is something of a cheat, since being a junior officer (or just low-ranked because you happen to be a Maquis) does not necessarily mean you're universal (think Harry Kim), nor are all universals junior officers. Indeed, does cooperation/competition really hold in the case of Civilians? How about personnel that are clearly not from a "lower deck" like universal Generals, Founders, etc.? Holograms are exempt from these boosts, possibly because they cannot better their programming. And the card is clearly marked as a Captain's Order now (indeed, the entire game text has been cleared up), which again, places doubt on the justifications above. Were the bonds of friendship ordered from on high? I'd say it's a Captain's Order in the sense that the lower deckers are invited to step up to the challenge as per "Lower Decks" and "Good Shepard". Another good justification for the boost, and one that works better in certain respects. None of the justifications work for the Borg though... My revised score for this card is a middling 3.

STOCKABILITY: Universals generally have lower attributes than uniques with the same affiliations and classifications, but high-attribute universals have progressively come on the scene, making this card even better than it was. Its usefulness is of course still predicated on the number of universals you're using, but especially when it comes to STRENGTH, it may be fun to build assault teams from the same personnel over and over again. Jasad's STRENGTH is 10 using Lower Decks, for example, and Jem'Hadar all have high STRENGTHs, universal or not. Borg drones are for the most part universal, so this is a fine card for them, turning low 5s and 7s into 7s and 9s. Low-INTEGRITY universals can be brought up to a level where they need not fear from Firestorm and the like. Since my original review, a couple things have changed. One of these is the easy special download by Federation universal Sam Lavelle. Cool, but not major. The other is 2E's wonderful Cost 2 non-unique personnel. The Cost 1 weenies are ok, but 3 skills and no classification makes them less useful than support personnel. The Cost 2 personnel, however, tend to offer 4 or 5 skills, and sometimes even a special skill. 2E attributes are generally lower than 1E's because of the standardized scale, so Lower Decks can bring them back up to 1E normal. And again, there are some cool high-attribute personnel among them (Rodak'koden comes to mind as a fair example). And it's a Captain's Order with everything that entails from other cards (Ready Room Door, James T. Kirk, Commander's Office, etc.). An actual boost from the original - a 4.

TOTAL: 13.1 (65.5%) Much lower than the original's score.

PICTURE: A bit lost in the Copa Cabana background, the two viruses (sic) aren't as scary as they could be. A kind of silly 2.5.

LORE: As ridiculous a concept as any Voyager ever presented, but the medical technobabble here sounds at least plausible. Sorta. A 3.

TREK SENSE: Space virus only? Well, it managed to attack Voyager while it was in space, so I guess that's unimpeachable. Can't survive on a planet though? Surprising, since planets have many more life-forms than outer space does (of course, the mention of a ship means the dilemma wouldn't work at a planet missions, but that's neither here nor there). The rest works relatively fine, with the Macrovirus infecting the ship for as long as it isn't "cured", and killing off anyone not strong or smart enough to survive its attacks. The opponent's choice is jarring however, since the virus can't possibly be intelligent enough to target specific personnel. The cure uses Exobiology because this is an alien viral agent, and Science because the problem is a little outside ordinary medicine (and the viruses are outside the body). The problems I mentioned keep this one at 2.4.

SEEDABILITY: Exobiology and MEDICAL are frequently found together and in large enough doses to cure most medical dilemmas, but Macrovirus requires 2 SCIENCE, which isn't as common. The opponent's choice is limited to certain personnel, but if any part of the requirements is present on a target, get rid of it first before it cures the dilemma or is later built upon. So the requirements must still be present AFTER the first kill. It's not a full-on opponent's choice, but at the very least, you get a choice between two personnel. In the case of any tie for last, even more options. The Borg, with their self-same attributes should be in trouble (though a Vinculum can replace the Interlink Drone). And the Macrovirus kills at the start of each turn, so you can keep it going by a number of means. Quarantining the ship would be nice since the Macrovirus in no way prevents your opponent from beaming off (Aphasia Device perhaps?). Cytherians is always nice for this sort of thing, and if the ship loses its key staff, the crew is as good as dead. I'd say there's enough power in this one for a 4.1.

TOTAL: 12.1 (60.5%) Pass the Tylenol.

PICTURE: This Tam Elbrun look-alike ;-) features fairly good color contrast and some dynamic background lines, though the latter makes the whole pic a bit tipsy. Just your average, forgettable Non-Aligned personnel. A 3.

LORE: Some good stuff here, telling us who he is beyond his job, and a little something about his culture too. The Easter Eggs are really obscure, but the same actor played a character named Ralph Drang on "Dear John", and was the boss of a (strong) vampire named Faith on "Buffy". A 3.3.

TREK SENSE: An official with some oversight authority, but little beyond that, I easily buy the VIP classification without any kind of Command icon. Dealing with Voyager shows his Diplomacy (and high Integrity), and being on a judicial committee certainly asserts his Law skill. His profound faith and knowledge of his own religion gives him Anthropology, and since that religion comprises elements that are in a physical cave (the one that almost kills Kes), Archaeology seems appropriate. A reasonable man, his Cunning is about right, and only his Strength seems a bit high for a pencil-pusher. A solid 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: When Voyager came out, Non-Aligned skill buffers had to be created to fill out whatever holes the DQ affiliations had. Indeed, Magistrate Drang was specifically inserted in the Voyager starter decks to help make those decks playable. Fairly good attributes and 4 skills is good, even in the absence of any truly useful classification. Law, in particular, remains rare, and is totally absent in either the Kazon or Vidiian affiliations (the Hirogen and DQ Feds have only 1 each). Archaeology isn't a big Delta Quadrant imperative, but more Archaeology dilemmas popping up (after Voyager and then in 2E) means the skill can be useful in any quadrant. Diplomacy (oft required in the DQ), Anthropology... nothing's useless here. I personally prefer Nimira for my DQ Law (plus Empathy and 2 classifications), but Drang makes a good back-up, and passes Executive Authorization. A 3.4.

TOTAL: 13.5 (67.5%) Though his faith is unimpeachable.

PICTURE: The generous busom won't pay off until the lore, but perhaps that's why we only catch a glimpse of the plums in the lefthand corner. Fake "outdoor" lighting, lots of bricabrac in the background, and an unattractive expression on the girl's face... We get a 3 here, but only with an assist from the lore.

LORE: Appropriate for an all-ages card game? Funny, yes, but a bit juvenile. Or is it all in our own minds? Either way, can't pan one of the most celebrated jokes in STCCG history. The rest of the space should have been used to make the dilemma more generic, because as is, it's always the same girl. A 3.8.

TREK SENSE: A number of problems still plague this dilemma, although I do agree that it's the kind of thing that can occur anywhere and in multiples (unlike many dilemmas). At least, in the Star Trek universe. But the buck stops there since Star Trek romances very rarely end with the guy flying off to the end of the spaceline (instantaneously, apparently) with the new-found love. They might be stopped for the episode, feel miserable afterwards, or even decide to stay on the planet, but taking off like that, shunting all responsibility... You'd expect an Integrity requirement to control that kind of thing. Also, we've seen enough space romances to know this dilemma shouldn't be planet-only. Like its cousins, a 2.3.

SEEDABILITY: No actual change since I reviewed the Premiere version, so to recap... Since everyone uses males, taking one out of a mission attempt, even at random, without possibility of reprieve, is always good. The personnel goes to a far planet (try to seed one at the very end of the spaceline), which may not be that far depending on the number of quadrants in play, but even if close, he's still taken out of the attempt. The attempt doesn't end there either, as the Away Team barrels into the next dilemma. The male, all alone on his planet (that fickle woman has already left him), is prone to Thine Own Self. The Female's Love Interest is more useful because of female-requiring combos, but you'll rarely be denied a male target. Not as strong as the Combo Dilemma with Plague Ship, it's still way cheaper to get a hold of. And of course, it's useless against the Borg. 3.5 here.

TOTAL: 12.6 (63%) Passed where the original didn't.

PICTURE: Appropriately resentful in the pic, and clear shot of his tartan, but still rather non-descript, despite the Voyager background whose colors do not distract. A 3.

LORE: Universality is established, but a little vague for my tastes. The rest gives him more life, indeed shows that he was specific enough to be a unique personnel, with his particular jealousies, etc. A little off-base at 2.9.

TREK SENSE: Where to start? Well, he was sort of Culluh's second-in-command, and the Officer/Command icon/Leadership supports that, but that seems too much for a universal member of a specific sect (he's clearly a Nistrim). No matter what the turnover is in a sect, a universal first officer may be too much. Well, each ship in a fleet would have its captain, second-in-command to the Maje, so maybe it's not so much to ask for. Ok. As a representative of that, Maniz doesn't do extremely well however. Can we believe in his Leadership when his opinions were always countermanded by an outsider (Seska)? And where's the Engineer he should have for overseeing repairs on an alien ship? Navigation would be a typical skill for the ship-based Kazon, but there's no evidence of Archaeology, apparently a plug for a hole in the Kazon skill pool (though his "idol", Culluh, has the skill). Integrity shows loyalty to his maje, and a sense of right and wrong that made him suspicious of Seska, but it doesn't go overboard, and a 6 is appropriately self-serving. Cunning and Strength are equally well handed out. But good attributes can't really save this guy, and he gets only 2.1.

STOCKABILITY: The Nistrim have a strong sect with multiple personnel, so they become easy to report with The Kazon Collective/Culluh. Can't say Maniz is especially well suited to Kazon missions, except Corner Enemy Ship (but the two skills he brings to the table are quite common anyway), with Archaeology not having as much use as the others. Essentially though, none of his skills (even Archaeology) are rare, including the classification, and you'll even find them on other universals. Good attributes, battle initiation ability, and all that, but he's no more (or less) useful than any other basic Kazon. A small affiliation usually makes use of all its members, and if you're using Culluh, all the Nistrim are going in the deck anyway. As such, a somewhat redundant 3.2.

TOTAL: 11.2 (56%) A tired Kazon.

PICTURE: Not a bad "typical" Maquis, showing the resentment you'd expect. There's just nothing to keep your interest beyond that. The templates are both fine, playing off the console colors in the background, but as usual, the Federation blue is better and complements the Starfleet uniform. An average 3 in either case.

LORE: Her universality is well established, more than usual even, and the rest tells us a little of her story before joining Voyager's crew, again, something universal many Maquis can relate to. On that basis, a 3.4.

TREK SENSE: A lot of things fit on the typical Maquis trapped on Voyager - the icons, of course, with only the rare Maquis making it past the Staff icon. The Federation/Non-Aligned dual-affiliation works in the case of a reluctant Starfleet officer. She was a Fed that became NA (Maquis), then was forced into those Federation blues again, but would go back to NA in a snap. The kind of character that would switch easily from one to the other. They've made her an Officer, which is as generic (and thus universal) a classification as they could make it. Computer Skill could equally be featured on most 24th-century personnel. Is the Geology because the Maquis sometimes hid in caves? I guess. Integrity shows someone fighting for what she believes in, but undisciplined to say the least. She's got the Cunning to be able to do her job. Strength? Might be a bit low for a Maquis fighter, but when Tuvok put her through the paces, we saw she wasn't in the best of shape, so it works. Essentially true to the character and the Maquis crewmembers as a whole, getting 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: A support personnel you can basically use with any affiliation (NA) and in any quadrant (by reporting her through Assign Support Personnel). An OFFICER without Maglock-passing STRENGTH isn't too hot, but the skills are at least useful, if pretty common. Despite her true universality, the Maquis might get a little more mileage out of her, reporting her through Crew Reassignment and boosting her with cards like Ro Laren and Captain Chakotay. Non-Fed DQ affiliations might use her to supplement their skill pool. But with such common skills, she makes for a very average 3.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Yeah, average.

PICTURE: The gunmetal gray backgrounds in Voyager frequently bore me, as here, though Marla's caught in the right kind of expression - at once uneasy and sympathetic. Too much black at the bottom of the frame sort of cuts her off too. As for the two templates, I would usually say the Federation blue matches her eyes and provides more contrast, but in this case, her golden locks and uniform seem better complimented by the NA yellow. On that note, I'm not too impressed overall, and hand out a 2.8.

LORE: We start out with her post on the Equinox (important to game effects), and then an acquired personality trait that's fairly interesting (and actually ties in to the USS Equinox game text). The last line reads a little like filler, though it IS her ultimate fate - she joined Voyager's crew and then was never seen again ;-). A good enough 3.3.

TREK SENSE: The Equinox crew have all been made Fed/Non-Aligned because while a Federation crew at first, they had stepped out of the bounds of Federation law and Starfleet protocol by the end of their journey. When they met up with Voyager, they intermitently were Feds again, but only intermitently. Marla may be the senior Engineer, but she's still an ensign, having been promoted the hard way - because of crew deaths - so she only rates a Staff icon. She's got the right skill set for her job, including the pretty usual Computer Skill. Physics would have helped adapt the engines to the Ankari spirits' energies. Transporter Skill was used to steal hardware from Voyager. Her Integrity is that of a Fed that's lost her way, but doesn't feel good about what she's doing. I've seen the 7/4 Cunning/Strength combo so many times on Feds that I now accept it out of hand as that typical competent non-combatant. Nothing wrong here, though there's not really anything special either. A 3.8.

STOCKABILITY: ENGINEER and Physics appear on so many Delta Quadrant missions that Marla could be an asset to any deck based in the region. Good thing she's Non-Aligned if you want her to be. Come to think of it, the region has more than enough need for Computer Skill and Transporter Skill too. That skill set is also well suited to dilemmas that have come out in the Voyager environment, to cards like Divert Power, and to running Transporter Modules for the Kazon. She can report directly to either Voyager or the Equinox with Home Away From Home, and on that last ship, makes sure engines are running at full capacity (i.e. RANGE 11). If you're using that ship on NA mode, she might just be there to boost its RANGE for, really, any affiliation. And with RANGE to spare, Divert Power can make the right kind of splash. Perhaps not as useful as if she'd been universal (there's Spatial Scission, I guess), but still a very good 3.7.

TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) Found herself in the best environment for her.

PICTURE: More lovely ladies (with rainstick accessories) than on the Premiere original, but it doesn't sell the idea as well. On the original, we saw a subservient male, which helped make it Matriarchal. Here, it's pretty much Matriarchal by default. The color palette is also very retro, as is the set design, looking for all the world like it comes from the Original Series. Ok, but somewhat static at 3.3.

LORE: We get a Delta Quadrant Matriarchal Society for the Voyager environment, dealing more with the reasons than how that society is run. None of that "male hunt" stuff, for example, which would detract from the concept. Still muddles Trek Sense, as we'll see, but written well enough for a 3.

TREK SENSE: The game text was originally written for the chauvinistic women of Angel One, where it worked well. You needed females in the Away Team to actually deal with the Matriarchal Society because they didn't trust or respect the males. The card was limited by that mindset, refusing to acknowledge any other kind of attitude from this Society, or any other way out of it (Diplomacy, perhaps, or truly fearsome males like those of the Klingons). Another problem was that the dilemma could be seeded under worlds we know not to be Matriarchal Societies, though there, we could imagine that there are untrusting women present that pose the dilemma. Now with this new version, all of that remain true, but Angel One is no longer on the card. I'm trying to see how Taresia is like that, and well, it isn't. In fact, it proves the point about all Matriarchal Societies NOT being like Angel One. The women of Taresia don't mistrust men, they want them for mating! Overcoming this dilemma may well require discarding a male or two! The truth of the card is still there, but the switch in examples hurts it. Still giving it a 3.

SEEDABILITY: I practically just did the original - less than 250 reviews ago - and nothing's actually changed (we're still post-2E). It's still a good wall dilemma because females are still rarer than males (especially in DQ affiliations like the Kazon, Vidiians and Hirogen, though the Alpha Quadrant isn't immune), and there are plenty of other gender-related dilemmas to filter them out of an Away Team. Kidnappers, Strange Bedfellows and the Romance dilemmas are pretty good at doing this, though the best are Female's Love Interest (always hits) and Talosian Cage (which can lead to two female discards). The Borg, of course, aren't affected. Fixed at 4.

TOTAL: 13.3 (66.5%) A 0.5 drop from the original.

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