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

PICTURE: I'm quite satisfied with this one. The drab color palette goes perfectly with the guy's all too serious attitude. The shot from slightly under his chin is original, like we're an anachronistic tribble passing unnoticed as he smuggly looks around. And the composition is excellent with those lines accentuating the entire effect. A strong 4.

LORE: Lots of fun tidbits following his role in the first phrase. There's an Easter Egg relating to the X-Files (Dulmer is an anagram of Mulder after all), the starting at the beginning "joke", the fact he doesn't LIKE jokes (after two have already been told), and his quirky desire to meet Kirk. Excellent, and an easy 4.4.

TREK SENSE: A Temporal Investigator would no doubt be a cross between Science and Security because on the one hand, they're time cops, but on the other have to wrap their heads around paradoxes and such. Dulmer complements this with Anthropology which can be regarded as a History skill in some instances. And Exobiology, because he knew what a tribble was (a bit of a stretch, that one). I don't think his Integrity should be so low just because he admitted to the Kirk thing, especially since Lt. Sisko doesn't go so low and he actually DID jeopardize the timeline this way. Cunning and Strength look about right. It almost all checks out, setting the score at 3.9.

STOCKABILITY: A collection of skills and not much more, Dulmer doesn't have a single useless ability. Dual-classifications are always nice and the SCIENCE/SECURITY combo is not only rarer than most, it also features the 2 classifications which were at first ignored by dilemmas, but are now on an increasing load of them. Unfortunate that he can be targeted by Unscientific Method though. Anthropology and Exobiology aren't pushovers either, ready to bear on a number of dilemmas (rarer skills, both of them) and enough missions to warrant his inclusion. He can be downloaded by Temporal Investigations, or by a chain started by his partner Luclsy. They do make a good pair, with nicely complementing skills. Of course, his usefulness is mitigated by the Federation's incredibly expansive personnel pool (212 and counting, not taking into account dual-personnel principally considered another affiliation). It makes few of their personnel "must-include". But he might very well make your deck if you need to patch some skill holes, or if your deck is geared toward scientific planet missions. A good 3.6.

TOTAL: 15.9 (79.5%) Whoah! How'd this guy get this high on the totem pole? Methinks someone's been manipulating history.

PICTURE: It's not bad, but TwT's over-reliance on images from its title episode doesn't necessarily give us the best images of the bridge crew characters. Chekov has a very strange expression on his face, and the brown background is hardly his native element. Composition's okay, but the pic just doesn't capture Chekov's personality. And that's all-important for a main character. Only a 2.7 then.

LORE: We get his full name (from "The Way to Eden", I believe), his age and his post. At least one Russian reference had to make it in, and they chose the Tribble-specific Klingon/cossack stuff. Good enough. A couple of things are a little off however. One is calling Chekov "feisty". I'm not saying it's not true, but it may not have been the best qualifyer for him. Makes him sound like he's 6 years old. The other is that he's apparently Spock's protégé. Has this been established? I mean, he shares an interest in the sciences, but he's no more under Spock's wing than Uhura, for example. He's no Saavik or Valeris! Those keep the card at 3, there mostly thanks to the cossack joke.

TREK SENSE: Wearing the gold shirt at a forward station makes him Officer, true enough, and as navigator, he of course needs Navigation. His Youth was part and parcel of his character, and is interesting here since his age is actually given in the lore. So Youth is attributed (to humans at least) if they're at least 22 and under (probably) 25, but Bashir's early attitude might put it at before 30. But I digress. Science is plain enough for those who've watched the show. When Mr. Spock is on a planet, Chekov usually fills his boots at the science station. Finally, we get a special skill which has everything to do with his spot in the navigator's chair, but I don't agree with it. A ship's speed is rooted in the doings of its engineer(s), not its navigator. Ok, you'll say that plotting a course might actually benefit the ship's actual Range, and you would be right, but this would imply that Chekov was somehow better at this than every other navigator/helmsman in Star Trek history. And only for the Starship Enterprise. Navigation should be affected more by exterior stellar phenomena than a specific ship's systems. A conceptual ability then. Integrity's a little too low for my tastes, and strictly based on his hatred of the Klingons in the pictured episode. Sure, he was young and foolish, but quite loyal to his captain. That ain't no 6. The rest of the attributes, as well as all the icons, are fine. Not bloated on skills, Chekov's design works fairly well, though he's far from perfect. A 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: The youngest member of the TOS bridge crew has few skills (especially with Youth's low usefulness factor), but he still fits well in an OS deck. The Starship Enterprise has low starting attributes, but can be easily staffed with personnel that will boost those attributes. In Chekov's case, it's +2 RANGE, and he can just as easily report aboard the ship with Crew Reassignent as any OS personnel as download to it. Aside from OFFICER, he has a second classification, the excellent SCIENCE (still can't use Tricorders though), and Navigation is always useful. Attributes aren't great, but fair. Classic Phaser will add to his STRENGTH and skill pool, with the Trek Sensical SECURITY. And he's specifically named on Agricultural Assessment, which is at Sherman's Planet. As soon as you Temporal Vortex your ship out of the corresponding time location, attempt the mission! (Download Chekov if you don't already have him aboard, though Mr. Spock might be a more appealing choice.) A useful 3.6.

TOTAL: 12.8 (64%) Could have been better, but could have been worse.

PICTURE: O'Brien really isn't enjoying himself, is he? Well, not in this pic, which seems to have been chosen simply to give him a handy download. There were a lot better key moments for the character, from his interrogation by Kirk, to his misidentifying the captain in the first place, to saying Watley was just using Bashir to get to him and being the subject of stress experiments (quite a cover). The pic as is has rich colors and a cool background thingamagig, but is it the best we could have had? A 2.8.

LORE: See above for more interesting things to put on the card. With Tribbles being a tongue-in-cheek expansion, they could have gone much wilder on some of these lores. O'Brien simply gets slapped with the plot of the episode. Bleh. A disappointing 1.5.

TREK SENSE: This Miles O'Brien shouldn't be too far off from the DS9 version, even though he's considered an OS character. That whole mechanic doesn't quite sit right with me, especially given the unfamiliarity of some of the characters with OS equipment, mores and personalities. The icon then, is better interpreted as something that allows your personnel to pass themselves off as people of that time period, but then Barry Waddle did it and doesn't have the icon, and it still doesn't answer questions about actual OS mechanics. It's the same as alternate versions of undercover personnel, who really shouldn't be considered as part of a particular affiliation. Back to O'Brien. The unfamiliarity spoken of earlier turns up as a single Engineer instead of a doubled one (remember how he pulled out the wrong component in that wall access). Computer Skill, Physics and Transporter Skill all remain - not enough changes in those fields for that unfamiliarity to be an issue. Honor does too, as technology has nothing to do with it. The special download of a Communicator is from the picture, where it is confirmed he has one on his person. Not particularly original, but there you have it. The attributes all remain the same, except for Strength which is at -1, an odd choice since he was involved in the bar brawl with the Klingons. That should have dictated an Intgeriy or Cunning drop instead. Again, I register disappointment. A 2.8.

STOCKABILITY: Ensign O'Brien can be used in an OS deck obviously, even reporting to the Federation ships of that era with Crew Reassignment or the Starship Enterprise download (not to K-7 though, since he has no AU icon). He'll supply some nice skills, from the very useful (ENGINEER, Computer Skill and Transporter Skill) to the sometimes useful (Physics and Honor). None are especially rare in the Federation OS micro-affiliation, but multiples are always appreciated. And more multiples you can easily get from the downloaded Classic Communicator, turning him (or anyone present) into a kind of mini-Interlink drone. It adds one of his skills to another personnel, or adds one of theirs to his list. In fact, O'Brien can use other classic equipment to add even more skills to his base 5. Once reported this way, he can be switched for one of various versions of the Miles O'Brien persona for different skill mixes (especially the TNG one). Which doesn't mean he's not useful in a non-OS deck. He reports normally in the "present" timeline, and can use his Communicator to share skills with any of the other time-displaced mains in what could be a pretty tight deck design. I wouldn't switch him around too much with the DS9 version because of the redundancy of their skill lists though. Nothing actually makes him a must, though he'll be useful in any given OS deck. A 3.4.

TOTAL: 10.5 (52.5%) I think they focused on the wrong aspects of the character.

PICTURE: A very clear close-up of a PADD, and you can tell it's an executive PADD by its wooden frame ;-). Very fancy. Jaresh-Inyo's cow-finger somehow evokes the gorilla hand in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but that's probably just me. Good colors, and of more interest than your usual PADD shot. A 3.6.

LORE: Basically the story behind the picture. It doesn't quite relate directly to generic situations, but enough can be inferred to get a working theory off the ground (see below). An adequate 3.1.

TREK SENSE: When this dilemma is encountered, it's as if the mission was the ship commander's initiative and that at a certain sensitive juncture, permission from on high was necessary. Mission initiatives are often dicated by a ship's captain, no problem with that assumption, but rarely do authorizations have to come from so high. A Starfleet captain would ask an Admiral, not the UFP President. And in any case, this would be done through subspace, not in person. You don't risk the prez on an Away mission. The dilemma plays at more than the homeworld, and therein lies the problem. There is none with attempting Secure Homeworld and hitting Executive Authorization, but at almost every other mission, it's odd. I do appreciate their trying to fit all the big leaders on here, but there is a question as to why Bajoran Generals are included in addition to Kais and Ministers, but not Starfleet Admirals. The Klingons are covered by Chancellors and High Council Leaders (the same thing, but early lore didn't use the term Chancellor) plus Governors, while the Romulans have their Proconsuls and Chairmen. The Alliance has the Intendent, but not the Regent. Ferengi will make do with the Nagus, Borg with their Queen and counterparts, Cardassians with Legates and the Dominion with Founders. All would have enough leverage, and with the Bajorans' provisional government, I'm not that surprised they have a three-tier system (military/political/religious) each with its own authority. The ones that miss out, though, are the Delta Quadrant affiliations, but then again, the Kazon were too tribal to have an executive authority, we never saw the Vidiian central leadership, and the Hirogen are basically loners. Non-Aligned personnel that fall within these categories are not, for the most part, anomalies, but do hold the proper political clout. The card loses a little credibility by including a simple PADD as an alternate requirement. I'll have to assume your Away Team got permission beforehand and show off the signature storred on said PADD. Flimsy, but hard to believe in the case of Medical PADDs and Engineering PADDs, etc. Finally, let me say that I don't quite see the need to make this a planet-only dilemma. There are plenty of space missions where you might need a special permission (to run down Maquis for example), and plenty of planet ones you wouldn't (Botanical Surveys and stuff). Likeable, but not as fine-tuned as it would propose to be. A 2.4.

SEEDABILITY: Difficult because the personnel that can pass are very specific and most of us refuse to use PADDs. Well, Medical PADDS, Science PADDs and the like all work and are more useful than the CUNNING boosters, so you should really try to pass it that way, especially if you're playing a Delta Quadrant deck. Because of the release timing on this card, there are just no Kazon, Vidiian or Hirogen "Executives", but that doesn't mean no DQ personnel can pass it. Well, who CAN pass it (regardless of quadrant)? A lot of personnel that report for free to Headquarters, so you might very well already be using the right personnel. Presidents: The Feds have Jaresh Inyo, but the DQ has the NA President of Earth! And though Praetor Neral isn't a Proconsul anymore, he IS "president" of the Continuing Committee and would pass it for the Romulans. High Council Leader: K'mpec and Gowron, both Klingon. General: The Bajorans have Hazar and Krim, the Klingons have Martok and Regent Worf (he makes it after all), the Dominion has Thots Gor and Pran, and the Romulans have Movar and Velal. Legates: It's all Cardassians including Broca, Legate Damar, Parn, Tekeny Ghemor and Turrel. Chancellors include the new Chancellor Gowron of course, but also the Non-Aligned Marouk. Only the Romulans have a Proconsul: the original Neral. Chairmen are a little more open, featuring the Romulan Senator Vreenak and Koval, the Ferengi chairman of Slug-o-Cola Nilva (anomalous) and the DQ NA Magistrate Drang. There's only one Intendent. Bajoran Ministers include First minister Shakaar, Jaro Essa and Minister Rozhan, while their Kais are Winn and Opaka. There are a number of Founders for the Dominion to use, and three Naguses on the Ferengi ballot. Governors? Governor Worf, Torak and Vagh are all Klingon, while the DQ NAs can add Mabus. And while only the Borg have counterparts (though only one at a time), they're not the only ones with a Queen anymore. Nope there's Arachnia now, yet another DQ NA (a kind of Trek Sense anomaly). So is the dilemma that difficult? It's getting to be less and less of a wall as time goes on. Still very specific, especially once you've knocked off a few personnel (perhaps the ones listed) with other dilemmas beforehand. As much as a 3.5 still.

TOTAL: 12.6 (63%) With your permission.

PICTURE: Well, if the sickly green background doesn't turn you off, the odd (CCG-boosted?) features will. A very boring 2.

LORE: Flavorful as well as useful. The whole second half of the lore has the flavor, since it's always nice to get to know the character a little beyond his rank and post. This gives us some insight into his personality. What is useful is the mention of Bractor. As you know, Ferengi lore mentioning other Ferengi can be an important asset. See below. In the meantime, I'll give this one a 3.7.

TREK SENSE: He's a tactician, but not Security. That's a problem, especially given his lower rank (see his Staff icon), which indicates he hasn't graduated to commander or anything. Now, I don't pretend to remember "Peak Performance" very well, but I'm not sure even his two skills are warranted. Treachery isn't a big leap, but I don't remember Transporter Skill being part of the story. In fact, the only thing that rings a bell here is the special download. Since he was the one firing on the Federation ships, it stands to reason he can access a Marauder's basic weapons and know their tactical profile. Attributes seem fine, though his under-estimation of the Federation might merit one less in Cunning. Reads like a skill patch for the Ferengi, and I don't buy most of it. Only a 1.9.

STOCKABILITY: Only a handful of Ferengi personnel have Transporter Skill, a rare and useful skill which can be used on close to the same number of their missions. Falar certainly comes in handy there. He adds the pretty common OFFICER and Treachery, the last of which is good for many Ferengi missions including Kressari Rendezvous. I mention that last mission because its points hinge on the number of hand weapons you can discard there. Turns out Falar's Treachery allows him to get rid of his commanding officer, Bractor, in exchange for 2 equipment cards (or a ship if you needed that) with the 6th Rule of Acquisition. That's 2 more to sell the Kressari! His special download of a Tactic is only mildly useful 1) because the Ferengi aren't necessarily going to go look for a fight, and 2) because Ferengi Energy Weapon is their baseline Tactic. There's a good chance that their Battle Bridge has a lot of these, and that one will be pulled during battle. A download for a rarer Tactic such as Plasma Energy Burst would have been more useful. A good but short skill base, with a couple tricks... that's a 3.5.

TOTAL: 11.1 (55.5%) Not sure he has "the iron".

PICTURE: The card seems to have been thought up by Keevan, and we do get his point of view in the pic. The way the Ferengi are bunched up at the back helps create the illusion that the frame is really full of them, even if there are only half a dozen. Largely busy though, with flashy metals grabbing all the attention. It's a 3.1.

LORE: Strange title, funny in that the Ferengi seem to be thought of as rats. The important thing is the mention of Empok Nor enabling this dilemma to seed under the station. The other nice thing is that the card Prisoner Exchange, pulled from the same episode, is mentioned in the lore as well. Well written, though it's not clear how it is a "dilemma" to all affiliations and in all situations. A 3.6 with what's there.

TREK SENSE: Well, I'd hardly call 2 Ferengi an infestation, but 6 is exactly the number of Ferengi which were sent to Empok Nor where, coincidentally, this dilemma can be seeded. The dilemma is actually in two parts. The first actually puts a Ferengi Away Team in the attempter's way. We remember 6 from Empok Nor, but we've also seen smaller groups, such as Arridor and assistant in Voyager. Of course, the attempted take-over of the Enterprise by Lurin (a space occurence) was done by more than 2 personnel. There were also a little more, well, one more, on the "Last Outpost" planet. But that doesn't really matter, does it, since you can only download them to a facility. The 2/6 limit, then, is a little arbitrary (indeed, you can download just 1, and it's still an Infestation). Note also that only males need apply, since after all, most Ferengi women are dabo girls and old women. They're not quit what the dilemma had in mind (though decrepit old men are apparently not a problem). The second part of the dilemma represents the Ferengi's entrenchment, whatever it may be. So you would require some Security obviously, but since the Ferengi are so devious, lots of Cunning as well. The Dominion were indeed tricked in "The Magnificent Ferengi". Apparently, 1 Ferengi "entrenches" himself as much as 6 do. Hmm. Well, in any case, if no Ferengi are downloaded, the dilemma still creates them as waiter Bobs, much like Ferengi Attack does. They just don't become Personnel, that's all. This idea may just cover the discrepencies between the 1-6 Ferengi download, and is certainly in effect any time there is no facility present. Maybe supporting characters (non-personnel) are there as well, but just don't enter play as more than just requirements. Would have been stronger if Ferengi could infest more than just facilities, but still a 3.9.

SEEDABILITY: For the Ferengi, this is the equivalent of the Cardassians' Sleeper Trap. They get to download up to 2 personnel to a facility present, up to 6 at Empok Nor. Of course, Ferengi aren't incredibly tough creatures, but a well-placed Leck will kill a personnel of your choice and not be considered a battle initiation (Feds and Borg can't rettaliate). That doesn't even require you to play the Ferengi at all, and can be used by any non-Borg player to build on the dilemma. Similarly, it's one way to introduce Brunt and Writ to the game without having any particular facility to report him. The hard part will be insuring the mission is attempted by your opponent and that there is a facility there. Other tricks include capturing an Empath with Tog leading to an Empathy dilemma (after the Away Team is stopped of course), or seeding Ferengi Attack next and having Taar double it. Other tricks are possible, but not as easy to pull off, such as downloading Gint, then the 47th Rule of Acquisition to get one of those inflated 7+ skill Voyager personnel back to the deck. Much less likely, but if you get the chance... If you're not playing Ferengi, but still want to be able to use the downloaded personnel, there's always Bok, Dr. Reyga and Dr. Farek, not to mention Nog and the Son of Keldar for specific affiliations. 6 Ferengi on Empok Nor stand a good chance of beating the attempter to Ops to commandeer the station, though it'll be difficult for 2 Ferengi to do much harm on any non-Nor facility. Download them or not, the dilemma is still a wall requiring quite a lot of CUNNING (usually at least 6 or 7 personnel) and 2 SECURITY. The Away Team being stopped then opens the way for your Ferengi to leave the facility, play a Rule, attack or commandeer Empok Nor, whatever's possible. Versatile, but only if it allows downloads, and that hinges a little too much on your guessing where facilities will be. Mission IIs are prime targets, and you could conceivably build facilities all over the place, but the card stands at an even 4 for now.

TOTAL: 14.6 (73%) More interesting than I had expected.

PICTURE: Is it me, or does the lighting make him look pink and prissy? Nice arches in the background really helps composition, but I can't see why Kira would go for this fool (ooops, that's not coming from an objective standpoint). All kidding aside, good composition, blah coloring and a workable expression. Thus, a 3.4.

LORE: Yeech. I understand we had more limited space in which to tell his story, but do we need to know he was elected First Minister when it's in his name/card title? Pretty redundant, and riding the heels of a syntaxically dubious phrase, not strong on articles. The mention of his former cell is as much a liability as an advantage when dealing with Silarin Prin. Won't go over 1.6.

TREK SENSE: A comparison must be made with the original, pre-election Shakaar, of course. From Civilian, he of course becomes a VIP, if an uncomfortable one. As the uniter of a people, Diplomacy makes sense, and I wouldn't dream of disputing his Leadership. Honor is likewise sensical, though they might have gone overboard on the Integrity. 9? He had second thoughts about being First Minister, kept mucking about with Odo's security arrangements for the sake of "love", and got thrown out of Kira's birthing ceremony. Honorable, sure. That high on the Integrity quotient? Not likely. I'm not sure what to think about Law. He's a law-maker alright, but seems to me that going from farming to suddenly being skillful in Law is a stretch. Must've learned on the job pretty quickly. What I find difficult to swallow though, is the lack of Resistance skill. Since the Resistance no longer functions, there are no "current" members (unless AU), so the skill represents a network of connections and contacts. How could you lose that? And do you really think a politician wouldn't use these connections to his advantage? The special skill is cute and allows him to hold audiences open to the public (he's a "man of the people") at the Chamber of Ministers. Works well enough, though not something the show really delved into. Cunning remains a steady 8, and Strength dips by 1 point for his non-physical new job. No problems there. Can't same the same for the rest of the card, so only an even 3.

STOCKABILITY: As a version of the Shakaar Edon persona, I like him. He has a very different skill list, which makes switching between them a useful commodity. The skills on the First Minister are more generally common - though that Law is pretty rare - but pretty useful as a result. Great attributes too. The special skill is really where it's at though. As a Minister, he'll report for free to the Chamber of Ministers. Once there, you can start reporting free CIVILIANs as well. There are plenty of these to choose from, many with multiple skills and classifications. When you're done with all the reporting, which can go pretty fast, Shakaar's good for mission attempts, and could turn into his former self to lend STRENGTH to his assault team. Add to that his ability to pass Executive Authorization and his download to Sharish Rez (no waiting), and you've got a clear winner. A 4.5 from me.

TOTAL: 12.5 (62.5%) Rough-going for a while, but Kira's feelings were finally vindicated ;-).

PICTURE: Slightly blurry, it's still an impressively clear picture of this cheap TOS model. The goofy painted bird is quite visible on the underside and everything. As much as a 3.3.

LORE: The ship of course had no name in "Balance of Terror", but Decipher was pretty clever in picking up a Romulan geographical name from "The Defector" to attribute to the vessel. The lore mentions the source too. All the bird-of-prey stuff, which could have a game effect as hinted by the Cha'Joh's restriction box, doesn't clutter up the lore by turning up as the ship class. It gives rightful matching commander status to Keras and adds that the ship could be the first with a cloak. It was the first encountered by a Federation ship certainly, but that piece of guesswork does make the Gal Gath'thong a historic, even legendary, vessel - the Romulan equivalent of the Starship Enterprise. That's good stuff. A well thought-out 4.

TREK SENSE: A Romulan ship from the Original Series era would be both AU and OS, yes, but it wouldn't necessarily be staffed by AU personnel, which could mean future and even present personnel. No, it would more likely be staffed by an obligatory OS personnel. The special download is for such a personnel, after all. That download isn't a problem. Ships are meant to be staffed, and a download like this is tantamount to saying the personnel was already aboard (but inactive or on an off-shift).The ship did have a Cloaking Device, though more primitive than today's. This isn't adressed however. A Tractor Beam? I don't think we had proof of that, and the ship looked a bit small to carry shuttles. Then again, I think it was meant to be a match for the Enterprise and was probably of similar size. A Tractor Beam wouldn't be out of the question. Attributes? Well, we'll have to ignore the idea that the Romulans didn't have warp drive back in the day since it was absurd even then (what kind  of Earth-Romulan war would that have meant?), but that slowness is expressed by a simple 5 Range. That's one down from its adversary, the Starship Enterprise. Weapons are +2 from the Enterprise, expressing the special beam weapon it had, which grew in strength as it traveled toward its target. That could have been a really cool special ability (still waiting on the Tactic), but as a simple high Weapons value, it works less originally. Shields are equal to the Enterprise's, and that's where they are a fair match. Not perfect by any means, but still a fair effort at 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: Though its attributes are lower than a modern ship's, there are still reasons to saddle yourself with the Gal Gath'thong. Its WEAPONS are still a pretty decent, and with Keras aboard, can be brought up to a 10 (total attributes with Plaque and Log: 7-10-9). The ship can download its own staffing personnel in the form of any AU Romulan (OS or not), including its matching commander, but you might want to use Ready Room Door for that, bringing in some other unique Romulan to be by his side. Keras can use that Cloaking Device right away by downloading Engage Cloak. The Romulans have relatively few AU personnel, but Crew Reassignment will allow them to report aboard the ship after that. The ship can report to K-7 (possibly for free) or to the spaceline if an AU mechanism was in play. But is the ship better than the similar Battle Cruiser? The Battle Cruiser can be Spacedoored, has just as good (or better, according to your needs) a matching commander, and is a little faster (the Gal's RANGE is its biggest weakness). The trade-off is 2 points of WEAPONS, 1 point of SHIELDS and being able to download a unique, rather than universal, personnel. Makes them roughly equivalent, I guess, but being unique would allow Keras, armed with an Engineering Kit, to download the ship with Construct Starship. Charvanek can't do this with the Cruiser. Then again, as a Romulan-only ship, it misses out on some of the flexibility. I'll say 3.5.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) The past is alive and well.

PICTURE: A simple headshot with little or no background (but then, the episode didn't really feature any either), and its success hinges on two things. One is how much you like pastel hues, the other is how pretty you think Gem is. A pretty clear close-up from TOS, it deserves its 3.4.

LORE: The repetition of the word "saved" is unfortunate as "healed Dr. McCoy" could have worked just as well. Better even, since I think her powers are more than a little vague as phrased. We do get her species and all the backstory we need, so it's close to the edge at 2.8.

TREK SENSE: The Minarans were unknown to the Federation, so should be Non-Aligned. Gem herself was quite the Civilian in both appearance and attitude and yes, an Empath. Now, Empathy has unfortunately become the place to dump all psionic abilities. Empathy for Empathy itself or a similar limited ability, and Empathy x2 for full-blown telepathy or some other psionic power of note. Gem wasn't really a telepath, but a true empath, yet she did have that healing ability. But is this really Empathy x2? I would rather have had an Empathy x1 personnel here, with a special skill that could heal personnel (turn mortal wounds to stuns, for example). As is, there is no hint of her healing powers at all. Honor and high Integrity are supposed to be covered by her sacrifice for McCoy, and though it took her a while to make the choice, she did make it in the end. I'll give her that. The low Cunning certainly didn't help in her decision-making, and perhaps her being mute disadvantages any Cunning idea she might want to share with her Away Team. If it's naïveté, then Youth would have been more appropriate. The dismal Strength, I think, is well deserved, though her resistance when taking in wounds might warrant more. In battle though, she'd be dead weight. In the final equation though, the lack of any healing skill is both non-sensical and a waste. Drops her down to a 2.

STOCKABILITY: Her function is clear. She's an Empathy support personnel useable by all non-Borg affiliations, and an Empath for OS decks. Empathy doesn't really exist for most affiliations unless they do this kind of importing, and at x2, will take care of Letheans and get you on your way to curing Frame of Mind and passing Talosian Cage. By using Assign Support Personnel, you bypass quadrant reporting restrictions, so that she's a viable option for Kazon, Vidiians and Hirogen. The Honor is less important, but is often lacking in the same affiliations that are Empathy-free. These same affiliations will also enjoy the super-high INTEGRITY, though the other 2 attributes are definitely dangerous drawbacks, especially STRENGTH! No regular staffing icons, but she can lend AU or OS to those kinds of ships. It's the only real thing making her more interesting than Maques (along with female gender which has to count for something), because his Diplomacy is more useful, and he has generally better attributes. VIP and CIVILIAN have similar values, depending. Boils down to Honor vs. Diplomacy in most cases. Or you can use both to backup that Empathy. Neither is universal after all... Redundancy holds her back a little, but she's still a 3.5.

TOTAL: 11.7 (58.5%) She had so much potential too...

PICTURE: Yes, the Pakleds are more than a little ugly (no Vidiians, of course), but do their card images have to be ugly too? Maybe it's the lighting, or that there are no real clear shots of them, but even the Mondor's commander gets a somewhat blurry, yellowish brown pic with a yellow square bitten out of it. Just a 2.

LORE: The tradition for Pakled lore continues, with their simple-speak in quotation marks. Grebnedlog speaks for all his people (as leader), so the card's a little generic in dealing with him. "Our ship" may make him matching commander or may not depending on your interpretation (this is cleared up on the Mondor card). Extra points for verbatim use of his special download. I'd say a good, but not specific enough 3.3.

TREK SENSE: The Pakleds are a kinda dumb Non-Aligned race, and Grebnedlog represents the brightest (Cunning 6) the race has to offer. He commands the Mondor (Officer/Command icon), but is not an able leader. He's motivated by Greed and seems unable to respect humanoid rights (low Integrity). I'm not entirely sure the Anthropology is warranted, but his ship having systems pilfered from various races might warrant it, or just using the Samaritan Snare strategy itself. Of course, the skill failed him miserably in gauging humans. His main goal was always to Look for Things, so the special download is a natural. And his principal gambit, also represented by the dilemma Make Us Go, was to capture an Engineer to get at certain technologies. His special skill simulates that well, and his Strength is high enough for him to pull it off too. Well done, with only one really questionable skill, I rate him at 4.

STOCKABILITY: To use We Look for Things, you need a staffed Pakled ship. To staff a Pakled ship (the Mondor), you need only one Pakled. Grebnedlog is the matching commander of the Mondor and can download to it with Ready Room Door pretty easily once you have the ship out, and he can immediately download the incident and start you off on your quest for enhancements. Or wait for an opposing ship to be present and download its enhancement of choice even as it attacks, suspending play to get the card into play (provided you stocked a copy). Since he's a matching commander, Captain's Log is a prime choice (making the ship 8-11-11), but his ability to capture an ENGINEER shouldn't be overlooked in this equation: acquire some Nutational Shields, capture and then Brainwash an ENGINEER, and you've got an extra +2 to SHIELDS where your opponent has nothing no more. And it's just a good capturing mechanism to take away one the most useful classifications (and thus, personnel) from an opposing crew or Away Team. His STRENGTH makes him a Maglock-passing OFFICER, but he'll always fall victim to "Crimson Forcefield" with the CUNNING. His skills are okay, though I doubt his primary use will be to attempt missions. Good for guerrilla tactics, he's worth his 3.9.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) We rate cards.

PICTURE: Total fabrication, of course, and I'm left wondering how they achieved it. My guess is with action figures (action tribbles?) modified, painted up in bronze and/or beheaded, then touched up on the computer. Whether I'm right or not, it's a very fun reproduction of Waddle/Darvin's vision. A few decimals off unfortunately for the bland and confused background which does nothing for me.What's that ugly gray wash over most of the image? A 4.8 I might have put higher. [After posting this on Decipher's BBS, I was set straight by Mot the Barber about the methods used: "The Art team really outdid themselves on this one. As you know, there's a scene from "Trials and Tribble-ations" where Barry describes his statue -- him with a tribble in one hand, and Kirk's head in the other. He actually illustrates this with his empty hands. We took an image pull of that moment. The Art team then took that pull, removed Barry and placed him on the new background, then gave him the statue treatment, washing out the color and giving him the sculpted look entirely in the computer. Kirk's head I believe came straight off his personnel card. Same deal there -- they took the head and gave it the statue treatment, then positioned it in Barry's hand. The tribble they either created from scratch, or yanked out of one of the dozens of tribble images we had on hand." None of this changes the score.]

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

TREK SENSE: First off, since the vision is of a present which would never come to be, maybe the card should have sported an AU icon (game balance issues or not). Otherwise, the card stands a good chance of scoring high since it's part of a storytelling scheme, that of trying to reproduce the episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". The objective starts off in the "present" because it is known that Captain Kirk is on Deep Space Station K-7 at a certain point in the past. To represent this knowledge, Kirk is immediately downloaded there and cannot move, "fixing" the exact moment in time on the Station. Thanks to this card, the window of opportunity never moves from that moment in history. Fair enough. Next, the timeline is disrupted if Kirk is killed, this squarely being Waddle's objective. Waddle's trap of choice is the Tribble Bomb which, storytelling-wise cannot be played without Waddle, but Hero of the Empire does allow for contingency plans so that any action by opposing cards resulting in his death (discarding) would work just the same. Now, that's a little odd. Yes, he's your Captain Kirk, so his enemies would be opposing cards, but the objective to kill him is YOURS! Indeed, Barry Waddle would be yours too (thankfully, his Tribble Bomb still does the trick), or he might not be in play at all. Further confusing the issue, Kirk can die elsewhere or some other way, and it would not cause timeline disruption. Well, I agree that it wouldn't disrupt the timeline THIS way at least, since the death must appear to have been caused by Arne Darvin so that he becomes a "Hero of the Empire". Still, no repercussions? Of course, that could be asked about any AU personnel from the past dying, so we'll leave that can of worms closed for now. In any case, it's more about Darvin becoming somebody than about Kirk being dead. So the timeline's been disrupted and Darvin's a Hero, now what? That one's harder to justify. Here's what I came up with: Starting with this victory, the Klingon Empire becomes a more important power than the others in the quadrant. As such, their missions are more important goals, while the others' are much less so. This is represented by point box adjustments to the appropriate missions. Opposing Klingons not benefitting is an unfortunate double-standard, but considering Klingon attack restrictions, maybe opposing Klingons are in the wrong House or something. I like my explanation, but of course, the disruption effect can't possibly cover every change. An excellent storytelling tool nonetheless at 4.1.

STOCKABILITY: A powerful device for Klingon players who spend more time playing armadas and not enough solving missions. Why not make those missions more lucrative? Hero of the Empire would not only add 10 points to your missions (even ones already solved), but also dock 10 points off your opponent's (net gain: 10 points per mission whether you solved it or they did - EXCEPT if your opponent is using another quadrant, eeech). But does it take too many cards to pull off? You'll need a K-7 Station and Sherman's Peak, and a downloaded Captain Kirk. You'll also need Barry Waddle (downloadable to Cargo Bay if you don't want to wait for him, though that would require a Nor) and Tribble Bomb to do the dirty deed. For that you'll also need a group of Tribbles, so a Storage Compartment Door. Did I mention you'll need a card to time travel Barry to the past? Well, you do. Pray that your opponent isn't fooling around with time travel (or OS personnel) too, or else they might try to nullify the Bomb, also discarding your Hero of the Empire. No Tribble Bomb/Waddle at all? Ouch, good luck finding a way for your opponent to kill Captain Kirk somehow. What the text means is that they won't be trying to stop your objective that way (or destroying K-7 for any reason). So that's 4 seed cards at the very least, and a few stockables. You decide if it's worth it and how you can monopolize on those obligatory cards' other uses. Note that while I made this out to be a Klingon card, it really isn't. Barry Waddle is Non-Aligned, and nothing stops affiliations other than Klingons from attempting missions with the Klingon icon. Those missions often have other attemptability icons (yours) or can be Espionaged if they don't. Really requires your deck to work at it, but it's mighty cool when it works. Giving it a 4.3 myself.

TOTAL: 17.6 (88%) Jolly good show!

PICTURE: Leyton, stiff and aloof, taking tea with the Federation president, while Sisko is scape-goated and surrounded by security forces is all fine and dandy (gives a chance to look over the Office from another angle, at any rate), but this isn't what I would have picked. How about security guards beaming all over downtown New Orleans? Matches the game text much better in my opinion, and would have saved us from a busy crowd scene which loses much of its meaning without dialogue. A disappointed 2.

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

TREK SENSE: When you suspect your homeworld of being under siege, you have to do what must be done. In this case, it's a security lock-down of the planet. First, you can report Security personnel directly to the planet (downloading them since this is an emergency, but using up your resource allocation for that turn). Second, the lock-down keeps personnel from attempting the mission (which is always a transgression on the homeworld's soil) unless they're "in control" of the mission site by having 4 Security there. That Security contingent is supposed to be enough to counter the off-screen (and on-screen) Security forces, but that's arguable when the other player might have more Security than you do. When you want to solve your own mission (with Secure Homeworld), then it represents your own Security contingent, making sure the mission is pulled off without a hitch even as suspected enemies are all around. The same contingent is required to report personnel for free at Headquarters, the rationale being that during lock-down, security checks slow everything down unless, I suppose, you're "in control" and the contingent clears your VIP types. You can also play the other side in this, the ones ATTACKING the Homefront. One way is with slow security checks (the first function) created through paranoia. The other is to actually infiltrate homeworlds with, well, infiltrators, free-reporting (or "activating") them there as part of your plans. Taking both sides into account, the card is both action and reaction, and reproduces events from the similarly titled episode pretty well. At 4.7 level even.

STOCKABILITY: Defend Homeworld is always quoted as downloading you that very special SECURITY personnel, but Homefront can do it too, again and again. Of course, each one takes up your regular card play and then denies you your card draw, so I can see how DH still offers a useful effect. Homefront was actually created to counter some of the dangers inherent in seeding the super-useful Headquarters cards. You want them because they allow tons of personnel for free, but they're dangerous because your opponent can use them too. No one likes having their reporting personnel beaten over the head by opposing personnel who have reported there before, especially those nasty NA mercenaries. Homefront doesn't stop regular reporting, but it does stop free reporting. And any opposing personnel that do report won't be able to attempt the mission right from under your nose. Meanwhile, you're downloading SECURITY personnel (and you can really play fast and loose if you pick and choose carefully during deck-building), which can use Captured to get rid, in turn, of opposing intruders, or else just beat them over the head the old-fashioned way (if their affiliation doesn't restrict their battle activities). As soon as you have 4 SECURITY, you can use your HQ again and play Secure Homeworld for free and attempt it. To be nasty, you can also play it on someone else's homeworld denying them the use of their free plays or their own Secure Homeworld attempt. Depending on what your opponent plays, your Dominion (or, in rarer cases, another affiliation) could play it on table to easily report infiltrators there for free. Gets personnel in play very quickly in order to attempt that mission (with the appropriate Espionage card). While that function can't be seeded, O'Brien Founder can download it. Of course, then HE can't be reported there... unless he Shape-Shifts back to your hand, and then he could. Indeed, Earth is the biggest target when it comes to these things, but they can also use Homefront to get 4 SECUITY out the fastest, having 2 personnel with double-SECURITY (Primmin and Sloan). With the advent of the homeworldless Delta Quadrant, Homefront may be a bit of a gamble in its aggressive uses, but defensively, it still has some bite. The question is: are you willing to live with the effects it has on you? Clocks in at 3.8.

TOTAL: 14 (70%) And this despite a low Picture score.

PITCURE: Though technically, I liked the look of these things better when they were inactive, showing them all teeth is the better approach. The planet in the background makes this a truly "orbital" card, and gives us the necessary "homeworld" of the game text. A pretty cool-looking effects shot at 3.8.

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

TREK SENSE: The necessary conceit is that the Platforms can only be played at a homeworld, but really, couldn't they be made to protect any spaceline location? In fact, in "Tears of the Prophets", they were defending the Chin'toka system! Aside from that, the Platforms work pretty well. They may be brought to bear on any ships that attack your ship or facility present ("your" of course being material that matches the homeworld's, and thus Platform's, affiliation). The game text is phrased in such a way that the Platforms are the first line of defense and get to engage the enemy first. Each Platform (or really, CLUSTER of Platforms) fires at one enemy ship, damaging it automatically but never scoring a direct hit. Let's examine that a bit. First, I mention clusters of Platforms because they seemingly cannot be destroyed, or rather they probably can, but there are enough so that the "minefield" is never empty of Platforms. This is still a problem though, as there was a way to destroy them by cutting off their external power source, but of course, no way to do this in the game. The fixed damage is strange because it allows the Platforms to deal out the same damage to a Kurlaned Borg Cube as to a puny shuttle. And no amount of fancy flying (use of Tactics) can change that. The saving grace of the mechanic is that the engaged ship loses its target lock on whatever ship or facility it was initially firing on (though not necessarily, as I guess you could allow your ships to be engaged while firing at the enemy's backside). Finally, all that's left is the Referee icon, which is a purely mechanical feature with no bearing on Trek Sense. We can still analyse it on the basis of necessity: does it actually counter a cheesy strategy? Well, it can put the kibosh on HQ-destroying aramdas, so I guess it counts. There's a lot to admire here, though some of the details are shaky at best: a 3.5.

STOCKABILITY: There's nothing worse than losing your only facility to a rampaging armada (or single mega-ship), then having no way to report your personnel. Orbital Weapons Platforms is one way to counter this, but of course, we've since gotten others, from the built-in Outposts of the mission IIs to such reporting mechanisms as Home Away From Home and Assign Support Personnel. Each has its advantages and limitations of course. For the OWPs, it's that they can only be played at your homeworld (Delta Quadrant affiliations need not apply). The card is easily put into play through either your HQ's free card play or Q the Referee's download, and you can have as many as you want, each one providing you with more firepower. A single OWP is enough to damage a single attacking ship, either stopping it in its tracks, or if its target had WEAPONS (a ship or Nor), possibly allowing it to hit so you can retalliate. In some cases, each of your cards could score a hit destroying the offending ship. Note that it doesn't matter what kind of SHIELDS the opposing ship has, it is damaged nonetheless. Bam. Armadas may necessitate more that one OWP, but let me suggest a combo with Defend Homeworld. Keep it as a Hidden Agenda until the homeworld is attacked, then flip it to download any number of OWPs (along with other cards if you want). That's a nasty, nasty surprise for your opponent, and may, in the meta-game, act as great enough a deterrant that your homeworld need NEVER be attacked for fear of this strategy. Thus you may protect your HQ or Nor, or harbor your ships safe from that roving armada. As a Ref icon card, it can always be recycled/discarded if your opponent isn't the armada type, so no losses there. The only thing keeping the score less than outrageous is that the DQ can't make use of it. A 4.5 then.

TOTAL: 15.73 (78.67%) Cool in the game too.

PICTURE: The DS9-era models of these old ships are pretty nice, and there's enough detail to the Gr'oth that it avoids looking at all hokey. At least a 3.6.

LORE: The story is well told and well written, and the lore also specifies a matching commander, but oddly, not the OS version (Captain Koloth mentions the ship himself). A fair 3.3.

TREK SENSE: The Gr'oth is a unique battle cruiser, with an extra point in Weapons. Why Weapons when the ship didn't fire them during its episode? Well, you don't head into Federation space without being prepared, I suppose. Fairly arbitrary all things considered, but you gotta set yourself apart from the universal model. Another difference is that the ship doesn't have a Cloaking Device, which at this point, was technology the Romulans hadn't shared. If it did have a cloak, then I'm sure Koloth would have kept his presence hidden during his approach of K-7. Finally, there's the question of the download. This ship isn't "shared" between the Klingons and Romulans, it's specifically Klingon. Also, the download covers any OS Klingon, not just the universal ones. This is standard for unique OS ships, and represents crew already aboard. You could count on nameless universals being aboard a nameless universal ship, but specific ships might have specific personnel. It works even if it's a little fuzzy in actual use (we know Captain Koloth was aboard, but Kras probably never was, for example). Speaking of that matching commander, while I'm sure the older Koloth might remember how to command his old ship, is it really appropriate to make him matching commander of the Gr'oth? Seems anachronistic to me. And a final word on the staffing: As with the Battle Cruiser, I object to the icon being AU rather than OS because that AU Klingon has just as much chance (more!) of being a Klingon from the future who would be unfamiliar with these old systems. It's a wonder the Klingons from "Prophecy" couldn't staff this ship either, but that's a matter for those personnel. The Gr'oth reads like a 3.3.

STOCKABILITY: While at first glance, the Gr'oth's low attributes might not be interesting to a Klingon armada, don't let that fool you. Its matching commander, Koloth, can be downloaded aboard (special download or Ready Room Door) or report there later using Crew Reassignment, and with his special skill PLUS Log & Plaque, he can boost those stats to a maximum of 11-12-11 (with 2 other OS Klingons aboard). An Organian Peace Treaty gets the ship played for free at Deep Space K-7 if you want it, where the matching commander can be downloaded, yes, but the same could be said of drawing engine Arne Darvin. That download as relatively few choices, but it has enough good ones to make up for it (and includes TwT's Worf). Not using the time location? Nothing stopping you from STP-dropping the staffed Gr'oth right on the table. In a Blood Oath deck, the ship can be downloaded to the location of 2 Blood Oath personnel, one of which, Koloth, can also be considered matching commander (without his Captain self's special skill, the attributes rise to 8-9-8). In these situations, the AU staffing can be called up rather easily thanks to the special download, so it's not like it'll sit in space waiting for the right personnel to come up. Indeed, you don't have to rely on OS personnel at all, since the staffing may use Klingons like Governor Worf, Mogh or the host of new Klingons which will soon be issued in TMP. The lack of a Cloaking Device may be a limitation, but it's a slim one all things considered. A very good 4.

TOTAL: 14.2 (71%) They've done a good job of making the older ships useful despite their "obsolescence".

PICTURE: Yeah! I'd rather look at ships in action poses any day, in particular those which belong to classes with plenty of pictures already. The Ning'tao is going back to the Dominion fleet, guns ablaze. Sure, there's a lot of blur (the focus is on the disruptor pulses), and those pulses seem to be converging on an invisible target, but it's still a strong 3.7.

LORE: Very interestingly, the Ning'tao is described as destroyed, taking the story as far as it went in the show, but by making it a presumption on all our parts, gives the ship an aura of mystery. A legend indeed. This seems to be a ship that is still out there, fighting the good fight, sighted from time to time, but never having its existence confirmed. A lot of fun. Bonus points go to adequately explaining the special "skill" and giving the ship a valuable matching commander. A cool 4.

TREK SENSE: Making the ship a legend goes a long way attenuating Trek Sense problems, but I'll mention them anyway. For one thing, Kor was matching commander for a very short time (one battle), so the idea that he knows the ship enough for Captain's Log etc. to kick in is dubious. It must help being a Dahar Master. The boost to Shields has to do with its surviving for so long (or entirely if the legend is true) against multiple Jem'Hadar ships, but of course, that's more thematic than anything the way it's done. According to the logic here, the Ning'tao's Shields were 27 during this battle! As for the attributes, they differ from the universal K'Vort by -1/+1/+1, which works well enough. The ship was involved in a glorious battle, after all, and opted for not retreating. Its legendary status allows for a certain optimization of the ship (and lucky 7s on the attributes), but it does take a few liberties. A 3.5 for making the effort though.

STOCKABILITY: While this K'Vort's attributes aren't the best available, they're still potable. Kor is a fine personnel, and as matching commander, he can Plaque & Log his ship to a good 9-10-10. Against the Dominion, it can be an armada counter. Putting your important personnel on this ship affords them a lot more protection against fleets trying to blow you out of the sky. Of course, multiple ships bring more than 2 WEAPONS to the battle each, so you better have more than that to work with. It's not a bad advantage against single ships though. Extra points must go to Blood Oath's ability to download the craft to your Blood Oath personnel (which may or may not include Kor who can then be downloaded via Ready Room Door anyway). A good bet for Blood Oath decks, but the SHIELDS bonus won't necessarily be useful. Your opponent has a good chance of playing another affiliation entirely. Make it a 3.6.

TOTAL: 14.8 (74%) Perhaps not worthy of the legend.

PICTURE: All the primary colors show up for this pretty funny picture in the mess hall, and it's a much sharper image than the detail used on the 10 Tribbles card. Scotty's missing finger is still visible if you look for it, and his expression is priceless. The problem, of course, is that the scene in no way takes place in the engine room, but at least, Scotty mentions in (see the lore). Fun enough for a 3.5 though.

LORE: The titles on Trouble cards are a bit clumsy with their ellipses, but I like the idea here of using Scotty's words as a quote. Though the scene isn't pulled from the engine room, the text gets the idea across well enough. 3.4 here.

TREK SENSE: Because the engine room allows Jeffries tube access to the inner workings of the ship, throwing Tribbles in there may cause problems with various systems. A 100 Tribbles are enough to gum up both Range and Weapons, but not Shields. There are only a 100 after all. The attribute penalties are a bit arbitrary and might have been cumulative, but they work fine. When a 1000 Tribbles are present, you need as many as 3 Engineers to throw them out of engineering at regular intervals, or else you have to shut things down every time the ship's moved. By then, the Tribbles have gotten into sensitive areas and must again be cleared out. A cute effect. Nors don't move, of course, and don't quite have an engine room, but the related engineer area seems to be the Ore Processing Unit. Fair enough. It's a big room, so a hundred Tribbles might not cause much of an inconvenient, but 1000, well, that's enough to stop all Ore Processing there. It's easy enough to imagine the Trouble Tribbles could cause to Engineers, and that's carried over well enough. A sound 3.7.

STOCKABILITY: 100 Tribbles already cause a lot of trouble by requiring 2 Leadership to attempt missions her, but drop this capital "T" Trouble on it, and it causes a little more. Reduction in RANGE and WEAPONS is good, but at -1 only, it's not that great. With 1000 Tribbles, it gets much better though. Yes, you need only breed from 100 to change the effect to stopping a ship every turn, kind of like Engine Imbalance though the RANGE isn't spent so you could use What Does God Need With a Ship? to unstop and continue. But in combination with spaceline hazards such as Borg Ship or The Nexus, it prevents your opponent from "jumping over" such dangers. Thanks to the Tribbles' own effects, ENGINEER skills listed first in the game text box become moot, so it might be a little harder than you'd think to override the Trouble. Against Nor users, it can hose Process Ore strategies even in the Mirror Quadrant where Reactor Overload isn't so efficient. Troubles bring the baggage of having to be part of a Tribbles deck, but where these things are considered, it's one of the easiest to use regardless of your opponent's strategies. A cool 3.7.

TOTAL: 14.3 (71.5%) No trouble here.

PICTURE: Well, the candy colors are bloody awful, and I always thought this scene looked fake, the way they just stood there in the middle of some beamed tribbles. That said, I appreciate the total absurdity of the pic. A 3.4 then.

LORE: I know they had one less line to devote to text, but the lore lacks a generic quality that would have helped it. Maybe not mentioning Kirk and Spock by name? It explains the pic, but weren't other tribbles moved in this fashion? I don't think it's a big mistake, but I won't go over the standard 3.

TREK SENSE: When there are 100 Tribbles in your transporter room, there's bound to be some on the pad itself that might be beamed with the actual transportee. Well... in the 23rd-century maybe. But aren't 24th-century transporters a little more discriminating? I mean, they can weed out blood parasites and the like. The simple mention of a Transporter Skill-related cure would have helped here. Anyway, the means of Tribble propagation works well enough once you accept that they could be beamed off the ship or facility. It would be impossible for all 100 to be mistakenly transported, but 10 or less might be able to sneak off. Note that it's not just accidental transport, it may be wilful as well since Tribbles are so endearing and make cuddly companions. How else can you explain that they may move from Site to Site with "walking" personnel? Now granted, the mechanic works within Trek Sense, but has little to do with Trouble in the Transporters. The Tribble Bomb, being a single special Tribble would have to move in the latter fashion, planted on an individual or something. It's too specific to be accidentally beamed. It's really too bad the game text leaves no room for more troubles, since I'm pretty sure 1000 Tribbles would clog up the transporters altogether. Ah well. Technically sound, it's bigger than its title concept. A touchy 3.3.

STOCKABILITY: Dumping Tribbles on your opponent's ship or facility means little if they simply beam to another vessel and continue on their merry way. Abandoning ship has been a stopgap strategy since Tsiolkovsky Infection, and you'd expect a Tribbled crew to simply leave their troubles behind at the first chance. That's what this Trouble card is for. Use it as insurance to make sure your side-deck isn't made useless. If 100 Tribbles have already been bred there, groups of 1 or 10 Tribbles can accompany any fleeing personnel. Since personnel often board ships from a reporting facility, you can infect entire armadas through this card. On a Nor, Tribbles walk around with personnel, going where they can do some harm (the Ore Processing Unit, the Bajoran Shrine...). It's cheaper than Trouble on the Station, though you might have less control over their movements. If your own personnel is on the Nor though, there's no reason why it couldn't move the Tribbles to the desired location. Once in their new home, they can breed like crazy causing whatever complication you'd like them to. I know 10 Tribbles can already report anywhere, but this keeps Tribbles from just becoming piles of fur doing nothing on rotting hulks somewhere. Better management. This can also work with Tribble Bomb to keep its target from escaping death at countdown's end. In this particular case, you really wouldn't want to have it wasted. Not a huge boon, but one you'd need to protect your strategy. A 3.5.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) Moving right along...

PICTURE: How is it that Jenok and D'Vin are such poorly made-up Romulans? Well, they don't exist in any episode, but are instead make-up test pictures that have found their way into various books and CD-ROMs about TNG. Decipher has access to these same archives, and given the scarcity of Romulan material, have had the insight to go and pull these out of obscurity. Still doesn't make them good-looking, of course, and Jenok's awash in yellow light, with a background reminiscent of a museum exhibit. A curiosity worth around 3.4.

LORE: When the character has no backstory or even an episodal context, you gotta make stuff up. What's here is clearly in the service of the game text and is quite well done considering. Universality is acknowledged, they use his small size in the image to make him young, and his "citation" covers his other skills. A likeable effort at 3.4.

TREK SENSE: Lore is everything in a case like this, and they matched up the two boxes well enough. He's a young scientist (Youth/Science) with particular expertise in planetary exploration (Geology/Exobiology). Neat and safe. He was good enough to get a citation, so the high Cunning despite universality looks good from here. His Youthful idealism nets him better than average Integrity (for a Romulan), while his small stature insures below average Strength. Nothing spectacular, but really nothing wrong. Decipher's missed the mark on marrying invented lore with appropriate skills before, but not this time. Giving it a 4.

STOCKABILITY: Though uncommon in the Star Empire, Youth still isn't that great a skill, and certainly not when it's tagged onto Jenok instead of leaving him as a more useful support personnel. Because otherwise, you've got something going here. SCIENCE, Geology and Exobiology are all great for missions as well as dilemmas, his INTEGRITY is Firestorm-proof, and his CUNNING goes up to 10 with Lower Decks in play. Plus, you can have any number of this guy hanging around with those juicy skills. So it's unfortunate that he can't be reported/downloaded a bit faster because of his much less useful Youth. Blah. He's still good, mind you, but not all he could have been with a better skill. Hits 3.5 nonetheless.

TOTAL: 14.3 (71.5%) Not bad for a nobody.

PICTURE: The tight close-up reinforces the idea that she's a prisoner, boxed in as she is, and I like the dark, grill-like background, which is both unusual and thematically sound. Kalenna herself is a bit greasy-looking, but that doesn't stop the image from garnering a 3.8.

LORE: The syntax is a bit quick on the draw, jumping one article that could have been included given the space allowed, but her background is all there. Just background though, nothing you'd need to watch the actual episode to know. A rather lackluster 3.

TREK SENSE: The task force mentioned in the lore was Tal Shiar/Obsidian Order, so they could have made her Tal Shiar. That they didn't isn't necessarily a mistake, given that the ships were probably staffed by non-operative as well. The Security classification helps with that, making her a simple footsoldier. Her two first skills are more thematic than actual in my opinion. Having spent time in the camp with members of various species, she's become acquainted with their customs (Anthropology) and biology (well, shouldn't that be Exobiology then?). It's not that strong an argument. The Honor was awarded her because she helped the good guys escape, but really, wouldn't any reasonable being have done so if it meant escape for themselves? The same reasoning was applied to her Integrity (well, at least she didn't betray them at the first sign of trouble, no doubt fighting her Romulan psyche every step of the way). Fairly high Cunning seems fine, and may have helped her develop her "thematic" skills in the first place. No problem with Strength either given species and build. I think everything here can be justified in some way, but I'm not convinced it was the way to go. 2.9 then.

STOCKABILITY: Guess what, she's not too bad at helping solve Intelligence Operation (Anthropology/SECURITY). Indeed, Anthropology's not a very common skill on Romulans and would be welcome. Heck, Biology and Honor aren't common either! So Kalenna patches some odd holes in the Romulan skill base, and has potable INTEGRITY to boot. Only 3 skills, sure, but some excellent ones when it comes to dilemmas. A cool 3.5.

TOTAL: 13.2 (66%) For the Romulan player trying to distance himself from his Treacherous reputation.

PICTURE: Purples and pinks are, as usual, terrible colors, but the red lighting on Keras' face (and the red sash) make the background less disturbing, more a part of the whole. The worried face is perhaps a bit cramped, but I think it gets the Gal'Gathong's dire situation across well enough. A strong image at 3.5.

LORE: Interesting that they would call him a strategist right off the bat, rather than going into the usual rank (commander, in this case). I like it though. Both full sentences are strong, giving us not only his motivation, but also the line about calling Kirk a friend in another reality. Lovely bit of lore. Another strong feature is the name they've given to this hitherto anonymous "Romulan commander". Keras is Sarek reversed, and we all know Mark Lenard played both characters. An excellent 4.5.

TREK SENSE: Being Kirk's counterpart on the Romulan side, I daresay he deserves the Leadership x2 skill. Not only does it mirror Kirk's, but it was quite clear he could lead his men into a suicide mission without being disobeyed. The Honor he certainly showed by dying rather than surrendering, all the while respecting his opponent. That fortitude of character also shows up in his high Integrity. The other two standard skills, I don't really know about. Astrophysics may be useful in operating the cloak, but I don't really know. Geology? Not in his only episode, I'm afraid, unless they're talking about his destruction of Federation outposts built inside asteroids(?). These aren't impossibilities for such a character, but there's just no real proof of any of it. Too bad. The special downloads are sound, with Engage Cloak going to the commander of the first ship to bear such a device (to our knowledge), and the Auto-Destruct being actually used at the end of the episode. The attributes mirror Captain Kirk's exactly, again because they are basically counterparts, but since they countered each other move for move, events do support this claim. I think they went a bit far afield in the skills department, but the rest works well enough. A 3.4 here.

STOCKABILITY: A strong OFFICER, he'll legitimize any OS Romulan strategy. There are very few OS Romulans, but throw in some AUs that can report to the OS ships (with Crew Reassignment), and you could get something working. His skills will help in any number of situations, whether it's dilemma encounters (Leadership x2 is excellent), space missions (Astrophysics) or planetary ones (Geology). All of these, and even Honor, can be found on relevant dilemmas and missions. The Romulans have little need of Honor, of course, but they can find a use for it (Historical Research, Khitomer...). Skills on OS personnel aren't just skills either, they can be shared with a Classic Communicator. Oh, and Keras can give himself SECURITY (and STRENGTH 10) by using a Classic Disrutpor too. Downloading Engage Cloak saves one seed slot to be sure, though you'll need Keras out before any of your cloakables if you want to go that route. Auto-Destruct, in the meantime, is one of those cards that is over-reliant on specific circumstances, so a special download for it is the best way to get it into play. Keep it Tented for when you get boarded, for example. This brings us to Keras' ship, the Gal Gath'thong. OS ships are notorious for their weak attributes, but Captain's Log and Dedication Plaque can boost them. In this case, the small cloaker goes as high as 7-10-9 and can download Keras himself. Great attributes too, and with his friend The Centurion present, they're even better (9-10-9). Strongly skilled, though the special downloads aren't THAT interesting. I'll give it a 3.9.

TOTAL: 15.3 (76.5%) 0.2 more than his counterpart.

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