[dragoncymru]

When the Bough Breaks

"The legend will die, but the people will live." – Jean-Luc Picard, ‘When the Bough Breaks’

In this article for the STCCG1e solo project, I’m offering a new Dream card from this episode, a new way to select Missions for the game, plus a game report on clashes between the Federation and other Affiliations.

When the Bough Breaks: Not the best episode from Season 1 TNG as it contains the worst thing in genre shows – child actors in prominent roles! On the plus side it does have Jerry Hardin (who would later go on to play Sam Clemens in Season 5’s ‘Time’s Arrow’). The only 1 card from the episode is the Mission on Aldea, so I offer a new Dilemma Dream card (that would make that Mission very difficult):

Steal the Children: (Planet Dilemma) 2 random Personnel (3 if on Aldea) with Youth in Away Team or on your Ship here are captured unless rescued by SECURITY + STRENGTH >24 or Mission completed.
(There are a fair few Personnel with Youth and this Dilemma could be quite nasty for the Federation.)

Mission Selection: As the number of available Missions in the game is absolutely enormous, a player can be forgiven for not knowing all their requirements and it can take a very long time to actually choose your 6 for the game. In the solo version you are choosing 12 it can take even longer. So I’m offering a quicker alternative that gives some choice from a more limited pool plus some randomness that gives a challenge.

This variant uses a ‘standard pool’ of approx 20 universal Alpha Quadrant Missions (no other Quadrant in the solo game for me just yet – I’ll leave that for later...) with no specific episode link. These are mostly from Starter Deck II or the Official Tournament Sealed Deck but there are more scattered through the various expansions and are usually multi-Affiliation or even ‘Any Away Team’. I then add ‘base’ Missions that are simple in their requirements, represent the flavour of my chosen Affiliation and that of the Opponent to add to the pool. The ‘Mission deck’ is then shuffled and 10 Missions dealt to me and 10 to the Opponent. 6 from each are chosen for the Space-lane. I then add 2 Space cards and shuffle in both Outposts and deal out the Space-lane. When an Outpost is revealed it is placed at the closest Mission with a matching Affiliation Icon.

Game Report: I recently had the time for 3 games in 3 successive afternoons so thought I would play as Federation against each of the other Affiliations – Klingon, Romulan and Ferengi. Since we’re going through TNG from the beginning in these articles, I decided that the games would, as far as possible, feature Ships, Personnel, Missions and other cards from there too, so my deck featured all my Season 1 TNG Federation Bridge crew plus Personnel that had a guest role in the season. I also wanted to include all the cards, tweaks, side-decks and features that I’ve been discussing these last 4 months too.

The first game was against the Ferengi since they were the first of the 3 Affiliations Picard and his crew encountered in the show. This was a straight-forward win for the Federation who luckily managed to get many of the Bridge crew and the Enterprise out in only a few turns and then Picard was delivered in a Yridian Shuttle. Completing 3 Missions including Encounter at Farpointand returning the USS Stargazer to their Outpost meant they won the game with the Ferengi only completing Collect Sample.
The next game featured the Klingons. They made a brilliant first turn score of 40 points with Korris and Konmel (both from Premiere so they can play as Mission Specialists) completing Seize Freighter before their ship was destroyed by a Spaceborne Entity. After that however the cards weren’t kind to Qo’noS and the brilliant Federation Mission solvers completed 3 Missions – Establish Relations, Treat Plague Ship(where Admiral McCoy retired to treat the Tarellians) and Investigate Destruction - in as many turns. With 20 bonus points from Holoprograms and for killing Lore, the game was won.

Lastly, the Romulans made a return appearance and managed to get both the Deranas and a D’deridex Warbird out in a few turns – and each with a fair amount of Personnel. They completed Explore Interstellar Matter that was on the end of the Spaceline and encountered The Traveller. This meant they could take one of the Ships off the edge of the Spaceline and stole enough Missions to win the game before the Federation had really got going – especially when a Plasma Fire meant they had evacuate a Ship and maroon their crew.

Next time, I’m revisiting Artefacts in the solo game, discussing some Tweaks to a few cards such as the rather unique Terraforming Station and delivering on 2 Dream cards that I promised a few months back.

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’m currently just starting ‘Chapter 2’ of Season 1 of Discovery and the Mirror Universe.... I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter- so if you're interested in what I think about it, Follow me - @DWSSG01.

“Make it so...”

[dragoncymru]

Home Soil

“Ugly Bags of Mostly Water – we try at peace, you do not listen. Bag who drilled in Sand of Home had to die.” – Velara lifeform, ‘Home Soil’

And there is no quote better than that! Welcome to my latest article on the solo version of STCCG1e where, I’m revisiting Artefacts, discussing some Tweaks to a few cards such as the rather unique Terraforming Station that hails from this episode, and delivering on 2 Dream cards that I promised a few months back.

I’m quite fond of ‘Home Soil’ and it is clearly inspired by the TOS episode ‘The Devil in the Dark’. It also exemplifies one of the main advantages of 1e as you can easily play as Trek terraformers if you want and really theme your game by creating crews and Away Teams that can complete Evaluate Terraforming and similar Missions. Or perhaps you want to combine this with Missions that need SCIENCE to study stars and nebulas with Astrophysics or Stellar Cartography? I never felt it was as easy to do this with 2e which is why I’m so much a 1e player. Yes, 1e could be way out and wacky sometimes but it felt so much like Star Trek.

Terraforming Station: A Station from this episode and a perfect example of how the early designers of the game weren’t afraid to do the occasional bizarre card. This was an example of ‘metagaming’ before the phrase was even coined. Since having an ‘Opponent’ like this doesn’t exist in the solo version, I offer:

Terraforming Station: Seeds or plays on any unnamed planet or Velara III. If you have ENGINEER x2, and (Geology OR SCIENCE x2) present, score 10 points.

Artefacts: A few months back I wrote the article ‘Lonely Among Us’ that detailed how Artefacts play in the solo game. After playtesting, I’ve revised those rules so that Artefacts are now placed in the corresponding Dilemma deck, Planet or Space, depending on the Artefact. Most are placed in the Planet Dilemma deck of course but a few, such as Cryo-satellite, are placed in the Space Dilemma deck. The reason for this is since I’ve restricted the number of Artefacts I include in a game (now 10% of a Dilemma deck) the chances of discovering one are small enough without the chance of a mis-seeded one being discarded.

The article also detailed my rule that to increase the usefulness Artefacts in the solo game I allow returning one to your Facility where you have Archaeology gains 5 points. To return to my Mission statement about not changing rules however, I present my 2 Dream cards that replace that rule. Since not producing loads of Dream cards unless necessary is another of my Mission statements, I’m not ‘placing’ these anywhere yet – although they ‘feel’ more like DS9 than TNG to me:

Museum of Antiquity: (Incident) Seed or play on your Facility. If you have Archaeology x2 + no Greed present, place beneath this card your Artefact currently in play (must be present if possible) or from your hand; score 5 points for each such Artefact beneath this card (limit 3).

Illegal Auction: (Incident) Seed or play on your Ferenginar, Neutral or Non-Aligned Outpost or Ferengi Trading Post. If you have Archaeology + Acquisition + Greed present, place beneath this card your Artefact which is present or was played on table (or an Artefact from your hand); score 3 points and you may download one Gold Pressed Latinum here.

In my 2018 solo project, I also revised the Dig card from Homefront II as, although it is a hugely popular and powerful card, I felt it was unthematic so instead I had the card allowing Archaeology Personnel to search the Dilemma deck for Artefacts. Again, returning to my Mission statement and understanding that Dig featured in so many decks, I’ve resisted the urge this time around! I did toy with creating a new Dream card that did just that, called ‘Treasures & Trinkets’. I expanded the use to encompass a wider definition of ‘artefact’ that doesn’t just mean something you excavate from the ground, using the 2e ‘artefact’ skills of Acquisition, Anthropology or Archaeology to represent gifts or bought or stolen items. However, since this card uses the idea of a Dilemma pile which, outside a Dyson Sphere, doesn’t exist in 1e, it would only function in the solo game and thus against the Mission statement, so I finally decided against it.

Next time, I’m going to focus my attention on ‘Coming of Age’, the expansion released by the TrekCC in 2018, taking a look at the cards and, more importantly, the four Affiliation Starter Decks they created.

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’ve just finished Season 1 of Discovery, which I really enjoyed. I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter so if you're interested, please Follow me - @DWSSG01.

Finally, I’d like to wish everyone who is reading this Blog labour of love, a very Happy Xmas!

“Make it snow...”

[dragoncymru]

Coming of Age

“Well, personally, I hate losing. So you'd better be ready next year, Wesley. I won't be easy to beat.” – Oliana Mirren, ‘Coming of Age’.

Welcome to the latest article on the solo version of STCCG1e where I’m going to look at ‘Coming of Age’, the expansion released by the TrekCC in 2018, and in particular the 4 Affiliation Starter Decks they created.

Coming of Age: This expansion was released 6 years after The Next Generation set that celebrated 25 years of TNG. Apart from some new and reprinted cards, the expansion also offered updated versions of the TNG Starter decks released in 2012. These were designed specifically to revive older TNG cards so they were playable in a more modern environment as well as helping to re-introduce the game to returning players and teach the basics to new players. They really did a great job in 2012 and the updated decks from Coming of Age only improved them even more.

However, for me personally, I believe they don’t quite hit the mark. The draw deck for them is almost totally comprised of Personnel cards with virtually no other card types. This might be competitive, but certainly it doesn’t represent all the different basic card types that are available in the game and I would have liked to see a few more Affiliation-related Events and Interrupts than just the one included, so players can experience them in a game. In addition, for a Starter deck that purports to be a particular Affiliation, there are several Non Aligned Personnel included in each one. Surely there were other Affiliation Personnel they could have chosen with the same skill set? To compound this, some of the Non-Aligned Personnel chosen are confusing for first time players, such as including NA Data and Riker in the Ferengi Starter. There are 18 nicely balanced Dilemmas in each Starter but from a variety of different sources. I think if this was a TNG focussed deck, I would have selected chosen all the Dilemmas from TNG sources – there are certainly enough!

Federation: It’s certainly great to see all 7 TNG main Bridge Crew in the set and the inclusion of Spock is another fan-pleaser, especially if he can indulge in some Cowboy Diplomacy. The low number of Ships is concerning however, even if you can get 1 out quickly. The Missions are nicely diverse although sometimes reference cards not in the deck. The Dilemmas are pretty nasty though which could turn off new players.

Klingon: Some odd choices for Personnel with Picard, Riker and Worf making an appearance, which could be a problem if playing against the Federation Starter. I’m really surprised that Gowron didn’t make the cut, or since Duras is in there, why Lursa and B’torare absent. Klingon Death Yell is great fun and the Mission selection is sound. The Dilemmas feature some duplication from other Starters and some non TNG sources.

Romulan: The Personnel choices are confused here, with the standard ‘treacherous’ Romulans being mixed with Dissidents and Ambassador Spock – as well as another Picard! The choice of 2 Science Vessel Ships is a bit wimpy for the strutting Romulan Empire and the Mission Recover Prisoner has a Capture reference which might complicate things in a Starter deck environment. There is again some Dilemma duplication.

Ferengi: It’s great to see Quark and the other Ferengi, Lwaxana Troi is fine, but both Riker and Data are featured, as well as yet another Picard (so he features in all 4 Starters)! The Mission selection is very good, with standard and easily gained requirements for Ferengi, but Ships are unimpressive again. The Dilemmas feature some duplication and non-TNG sources. I would have included more copies of Ferengi Ambush.

To discover more about the Coming of Age expansion, the cards and the starter decks in more detail, check it out here: https://www.trekcc.org/1e/index.php?id=204

On a personal note, after writing about STCCG1e for the last 5 months, this expansion and its starter decks, (plus all the people over at the TrekCC Forums), have really deepened my knowledge of the game, popular card combos and current play strategies, so I’m very grateful to the design team.

Next time I’m going to pack my Batleth, eat some heart of Targ and jump into my Vor’cha cruiser as I discuss all things TNG Klingon, from the Affiliation in general, to base Missions and other important cards.

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’m about to embark on both Season 7 of TNG and Season 2 of DS9. I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter- so if you're interested in what I think about them, Follow me - @DWSSG01. Finally, I’d like to wish all the readers of this Blog a very happy 2020!

“Make it so...”

[dragoncymru]

Heart of Glory

“I have tasted your heart. You have been with them, but you are still "of" us. Do not deny the challenge of your destiny.” – Korris, ‘Heart of Glory’

Welcome to the 20th article, and the first for 2020, in my series about creating a solo version of the Star Trek CCG1e. This week I’m discussing all things Klingon - from Personnel, Ships and Missions, to key support Events, Objectives and Interrupts – as well as playing the Klingon Affiliation in the solo environment.

Klingon Affiliation: Klingons exist in all the various incarnations of Star Trek, from TOS to Discovery, and are a hugely popular part of the mythos. This is especially true after they were redesigned brilliantly with the forehead ridges for ‘The Motion Picture’ and evolved into a culture that is all about battles, glory and honor.

In the CCG they are represented with Personnel that have high STRENGTH, fairly good INTEGRITY but low on CUNNING. They have a good range of skills and Classifications, particularly OFFICERS, Honor and Navigation, but can be short on MEDICAL – perhaps there’s no glory in patching up wounded survivors! The Klingon Affiliation also has no attack restrictions, so can pick a fight with anyone at any time...

Klingon Personnel: A massive selection, from the unique Personnel that have Honor, such as Gowron or Kurn, to Klingons from the treacherous House of Duras, such as Duras or his sisters, Lursaand B’tor. Klingons also have some very powerful universal Personnel such as B’Somgh, Zegov, Vol’Jin or Qup’ta.

Klingon Ships: The TNG standard is the Vor’cha cruiser which matches the Federation USS Galaxy or the Romulan D’deridex, and there are some unique versions that are even more powerful, such as the Bortas. My favourite however is constructing a K’Vort armada – each Ship only needs a solitary Staff OFFICER to ‘cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war!’

Klingon Base Missions: To maximise the commonly available Klingon skills of OFFICER, Navigation and Honor, I often use Reported Activity, Cloaked Mission, Seize Freighter, Impose Order, Fever Emergency, A Good Day to Die, Krios Suppression, Relief Mission and Bat’leth Tournament.

Klingon Incidents & Objectives: There are 2 great ‘warp core’ cards in Legitimate Leader of the Empire, or for Duras fans and if you want to consort with Romulans, Illegitimate Leader of the Empire. Both can seed at the start of the game, along with Expand the Empire. If you want to get the most out of battling then Council of Warriors is an excellent Objective to see play.

Klingon Events and Interrupts: Some great choices that provide theme to Klingon decks and make you proud to be a warrior, such as Heart of Glory, Klingon Right of Vengeance, Klingon Death Yell, Honor Challenge,A Matter of Honor or Arbiter of Succession. All the Interrupts play from Expand the Empire too.

Playing Klingons: It’s very easy to play Klingons thematically and setting up The Great Hallon Qo’noS, arming your warriors with a Bat’leth and sending them off to battle is easy and great fun. A solo game using Klingon Civil War to pitch the Houses of Gowron and Duras against each other could also be terrific!

When playing a Klingon Opponent deck, Klingons are usually reasonable against the Federation, more so than if you’re playing Ferengi, whom Klingons disliked, or especially Romulans, who are the Affiliation’s mortal enemy. If you’re playing the House of Duras as the Opponent, things are quite different of course! I always also look at the skills of a ship’s Commander (OFFICER with highest stats or Leadership) and if they include Treachery decide they would probably be offensive and attack rather than attempting to complete a Mission. Likewise, if a Commander has Honor then I would have them attack less. When it comes to battles, I always think that Klingons are more inclined to go hand-to-hand and beam down an Away Team - especially if they want to die with glory! But I still like creating that K’Vort armada...

Next time, I’m creating a new deck around the Non-Aligned ‘mercenary’ theme that I discussed a few months back based on the TNG episode ‘Gambit’, and putting it up against a Federation deck.

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’ve just launched into both Season 7 of TNG and Season 2 of DS9. I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter- so if you're interested in what I think about these shows from 20+ years ago, Follow me - @DWSSG01.

“Make it so...”

[dragoncymru]

The Arsenal of Freedom

“Peace through superior firepower. To be totally armed is to be totally secured. Remember, the early bird that hesitates gets worms.”- The Peddler, ‘The Arsenal of Freedom’

Welcome to my latest article on STCCG1e. This week I’m detailing a new deck based around the Non-Aligned ‘mercenary’ theme that I discussed a few months back from the TNG episode ‘Gambit’, and putting it up against a Federation deck. Before that however, let’s take a look at the cards from the above episode.

Arsenal cards: Apart from some Federation Personnel, the very useful Holo-Projectors has its origins here. There are also 2 unique Dilemmas created by the CC – The Arsenal: Divided and The Arsenal: Separated. Both split your Personnel attempting the Mission and can be incredibly annoying to face. Finally there is the Echo Papa 607 Killer Drone, the automated defence system encountered on Minos. Strangely, in1e this is realised as an Equipment card, whereas it should be either a Planet/Space Dilemma, as Decipher did in 2e, or possibly an Artefact (as it is ‘found’ or bought). With my Mission statement in mind, less change is good so I’m tweaking it to an Artefact that is placed in the Encounter deck so it seeded at a Space or Planet Mission, as that’s how it was encountered in the TV episode – both on Minos and as an attack on the Enterprise.

Mercenary deck: The Personnel all hailed from the TNG episode ‘Gambit’, such as Baran, Tallera and Galen, but I also added a few extra that fitted the same theme, such as Vash, Jaglom Shrekand Kivas Fajo. I chose 6 specific Missions for the deck – Plunder Site, Raid Ancient Burial Site, Seek Illicit Relic, Steal Technology, Market Research and Study Cometary Cloud. The ‘Warp Core’ card for the deck is Mercenary Raiders that plays on Raid Ancient Burial Site and allows a seed of a Mercenary Ship. I also played a Husnock Outpost there to gain a seeded Husnock Ship too. Two more Mercenary Ship cards, the Jovis and an Yridian Shuttle completed the Ships of the deck. I have decided that the deck is going to be aggressive so have also included various weapon Equipment cards and a couple of Latinum Payoffcards too.

To enhance the theme of stealing artefacts and plundering sites, I have added Digand a few Artefacts, including the Vulcan Stone of Gol, to my Dilemma decks. To continue the theme further and include cards referenced or downloaded by Personnel, I also added Jaglom Shrek – Information Brokerand Palor Toff too.

Game report: I played 2 games of the Mercenary deck against a Season 1 TNG Federation deck and both were great fun. Highlights were getting together a crew of Baran, Tallera and Koralplus some universal mercenary personnel all armed with a Romulan Disruptor, to successfully complete Raid Ancient Burial Site. To make the Mission even more sweet, I actually found the Vulcan Stone of Gol there (what are those chances?) so I discarded my Mercenary Raiders to gain an extra 15 points – gaining 55 points in 1 turn! Going on to complete Steal Technology and Plunder Site, meant that they won the game even though the Federation had completed Evaluate Terraforming (with Beverly Crusher who can do it alone) and Jean-Luc Picard had discovered his old ship, the USS Stargazer.

The second game had the mercenaries not having much luck, but the Federation even less. However, because they have 2 Ships in play at the start of the game, they did manage to get going and uncover a Betazoid Gift Box. This meant they could get some key Personnel on the table, including Galen, resulting in Jean-Luc Picard going on a captain’s holiday...

The main problem was an appearance of a Q-Flash in a Federation mission attempt. Not only did Kozinskiget turned into a Q-type Android, but a Q-Net was put up in the middle of the Spaceline. Diplomacy as a skill is in short supply with mercenaries and since Picard couldn’t be played either, it proved a real barrier. To make matters worse for the Federation, they also opened an Alternate Universe Door and an encounter with Maman Picard who threw their USS Enterprise to the far end of the Spaceline. This was very close to the mercenary Outpost so Kivas Fajo led the Jovis, a Husnock Ship and a Mercenary Ship on a joint attack on the Enterprise that resulted in the crew abandoning ship in an Escape Pod. Needless to say, the mercenaries won the game and the Federation deck simply ran out of cards in the draw deck

Next time, I’m creating another new deck that I mentioned a while ago - the Non-Aligned Borg Personnel from the TNG episode ‘Descent’ - and testing it against a Federation deck.

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’m currently a few episodes into Season 7 of TNG and Season 2 of DS9. I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter- so if you're interested in what I think about both these shows, Follow me - @DWSSG01.

“Make it so...”

[dragoncymru]

Symbiosis

“The suffering on my planet is too great. People are dying. It doesn't matter whether we're entitled to it or not. We must have it." – T’Jon, ‘Symbiosis’

I know of lots of CCG collectors who have the same view...

Welcome to my latest article on the solo version of STCCG1e and to mirror the TV episode (and to enjoy the current popularity of TNG Borg...) I’m discussing not civilisations that exist in ‘harmony’ but a deck based on the Non-Aligned Borg from TNG’s ‘Descent’ - which definitely weren't...

Symbiosis: There are only 2 cards, both standard Dilemmas, which come from this episode - Magnetic Field Disruptions and Onaran Threat. I mainly remember it for being the show with a horrible and heavy handed ‘don’t do drugs, kids’ message, and in which you briefly see Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar waving goodbye to the audience as this was the last episode she actually filmed, after her death in ‘Skin of Evil’. It also features Merrit Butrick who was Kirk’s son David in the Star Trek movies and who died only a year later.

Non-Aligned Borg: Much more interesting, and still on the theme of ‘symbiotic relationships’, or rather the sudden complete opposite, is the min-Affiliation of Non-Aligned Borg led by Lore and who was challenged by Hugh. These were created in The Sky’s the Limit CC set with new versions of both Lore (The One) and Data. Four different universal Borg Personnel make up the ranks and these are joined by Lieutenant Crosis and even their own Ship, the Assimilator, and a Non-Aligned Repurposed Outpost.

For a deck featuring this ‘affiliation’ I added Dr. Soong and some Soong-type Androids, and allied them with Pakled Personnel and their Ship, Mondor, along with some easily staffed Combat Vessels. The Missions used were Foster New Collective, Investigate Raid, Install Emotion Chip, Mineral Survey, Investigate Incursion and Samaritan Snare. Some Rogue Borg Mercenarieswere naturally also included.

Game report: All games matched the Non-Aligned Borg against a Season 1 TNG Federation. In the first, Lore hit the table on the first turn along with a succession of various Personnel that could complete Foster New Collective very quickly and discovered a Blade of Tkon there to gain a bonus 10 points when returned to their Outpost as Govalhad Archaeology. Although the Federation managed to complete Samaritan Snare, they then had a Q Flash which got the crew, led by Data, Geordi La Forge and Deanna Troi, into a fair mix-up of Q cards. The Borg crew used this delay to their advantage and completed both Treat Plague Ship (for their own selfish gains no doubt) and, appropriately, Investigate Incursion to win the game.

The second game was another win for the Borg with Foster New Collective, Treat Plague Ship and Mining Survey being completed. This time Dr Soong joined the rogues, although it was almost the Non-Aligned version of Data from this episode, but the Federation got their version on the table first. The Federation did manage to get to Test Propulsion Systems and deliver Admiral McCoy to a Diplomatic Conference (which would have been amusing as an episode), but the Borg triggered a Supernova Dilemma at the same Mission as the Federation Outpost, so I couldn’t get any further Personnel or Ships in play...

The final game saw me make the Borg as aggressive as possible, taking every opportunity to harass and battle the Federation and at the expense of completing Missions. As soon as the Borg had enough Personnel to staff a Ship, I would send it against the Federation and if the Federation Ship was bigger, I would instead beam down Borg Personnel to battle any Federation Away Teams. This led to a hugely entertaining, though anarchic game with lots of battles and casualties on both sides. Lore and Data are particularly fierce in combat, but I managed to eventually kill both for 16 bonus points (as they are ‘Enemies’ in my solo version) and got ‘my’ Federation Data on the table. I also saved up 3 Rogue Borg Mercenaries led by Crosis who beamed directly aboard the USS Enterprise and battled the crew which was a lot of fun. In the end, even though Dr Soong, his androids and some Pakled buddies completed Install Emotion Chip, the Federation won the game by first Investigating Incursion (though sadly no bonus points as the Borg they encountered there aren’t Borg Affiliation), completing Espionage Mission on Earth usingHQ: Secure Homeworldfor a cool 40 points, and using Beverly Crusherand Jean-Luc Picardto complete Plague Planet.

Next time, I’m discussing that evil entity Armus and all the various dilemmas related to it, the tactics of ‘red-shirting’, how the CCG can mirror an ‘episode’ of Star Trek, plus a look at ‘Class H’ planets...

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’m currently about a third of the way through Season 7 of TNG and Season 2 of DS9. I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter- so if you're interested in what I think about both these shows, Follow me - @DWSSG01.

“Make it so...”

[dragoncymru]

Skin of Evil

“I do not serve things evil, I am evil” – Armus, ‘Skin of Evil’

Welcome to the latest article about my solo version of STCCG1e. This time I’m discussing that evil entity Armus and the various dilemmas related to it, the tactics of ‘red-shirting’, how the CCG can mirror an episode of Star Trek, plus a look at ‘Class H’ planets...

Armus: This evil pit of tar has no less than 4 Dilemmas with his name on, none of which are particularly pleasant and all designed to kill one of your Personnel. In looking at Armus - Sticky Situation however, I’m reminded of a story that Jonathon Frakes tells after he had to get himself covered in the stuff. Apparently Brent Spiner shook his head, smiled and said ‘Frakes, I would NEVER have done that!’ With the Event All-Consuming Evil, as long as you have the Save Stranded Crew Mission in play, the effects of these Dilemmas are doubled. Placing Armus - Skin of Evil on an important Mission for the Opponent would certainly make him think twice about attempting it, knowing that he would lose two Personnel – unless he uses that well-known tactic in the CCG - ‘red-shirting’...

Security Sacrifice: ‘Skin of Evil’ is known for killing off Denise Crosby as Tasha Yar. Gene Roddenbery wanted her to die a senseless death like any other security officer on the show and that’s what happens here. Much is made of course of the life-expectancy of security personnel, especially in the original Star Trek series where a non-regular character wearing a red shirt would die on a weekly basis, and where movies like the excellent ‘Galaxy Quest’ would poke gentle fun at Star Trek. The tactic of ‘red-shirting’, as it came to be known, is popular in STCCG where you send down one or two (expendable) Personnel to clear, or at least scout, some of the Dilemmas seeded there. This is also exemplified by Security Sacrifice where you can get SECURITY personnel to take the hit for you rather than anybody else getting killed. The card features Tasha’s farewell message, an emotional scene for characters and cast alike, with a lovely musical score.

Theme and Episodes: One of the real strengths of STCCG1e (much more so than 2e), and a real reason why I’ve stuck with the game for so long and spent countless hours playing, writing and creating material for the game, is that it is SO thematic. It really does feel like you’re creating an episode of Star Trek on the table.

Take this episode and the cards that come from it as an example. We have a Mission to Save Stranded Crewthat any Affiliation can attempt. In normal game if you played this Mission, you would probably also seed All-Consuming Evil and a few, now extra-strong, Armus Dilemmas too, keeping one back in your Q’s Tent to spring on an Opponent when needed. If you did seed the 3 Armus Planet Dilemmas here, it would really mirror the episode – especially if your Opponent played Security Sacrifice to save one of his key Personnel. It’s a slightly different set up in the solo game, but this mostly still applies.

Building an episode from cards isn’t the only way how the game has that Trek theme either. Each Affiliation has a different feel, with particular strengths and weaknesses, tactics and cards. The game maybe 25 years old, but I think current CCG designers owe much to, and can learn a lot from, STCCG1e.

Class H Planets: This idea comes from an idea of mine to have more thematic seeding of Dilemmas and something I wish that designers could have incorporated, but it might have been too fiddly. It riffs on the fact that all planets visited by Star Trek are ‘Class M’ planets, that means planets with a breathable atmosphere – and which the directors and set designers could build or find a suitable filming location.

It’s well known that the rocky planet set that appeared in countless TNG episodes was dubbed ‘Planet Hell’ by the cast and crew. My idea was to sub-divide the Planet Missions and Planet Dilemmas into either M or H (‘H’ for Hell!) categories so that we get a bit of variety. Currently you can play any Dilemma on any Planet which is beautifully simple but lacks theme as you can get wild occurrences – say a Male Love Intereston an Advanced Combat Training Mission. If each Mission was either M or H and you could only play matching Dilemmas, you would get more appropriate combinations, but it’s much too late for this now, sadly.

Next time, I’m feeling the love with a discussion on romantic partners, that ‘love-shack’ of a Holoprogram, ‘Cafe des Artistes’ and the various ‘love’ Dilemmas in the game.

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’m currently about a third of the way through Season 7 of TNG and also Season 2 of DS9 (and Picard starts this weekend too!). I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter- so if you're interested in what I think about both these shows, Follow me - @DWSSG01.

“Make it so...”

[dragoncymru]

We’ll Always Have Paris

“We would have been the richest, most gloriously happy two people in all the worlds.” - Jenice Manheim, ‘We’ll Always Have Paris’

Welcome to the latest article in my solo STCCG1e project where, I’m discussing romantic partners, the Holoprogram, ‘Cafe des Artistes’ and the various ‘love’ Dilemmas in the game.

Not many CCGs can claim to involve romance in their design, but since it’s a real part of Star Trek it would be really odd if it were ignored. All the different shows had their characters become romantically involved with incredible regularity, either with each other, such as Riker and Troi or Worf and Jadzia Dax, or with the guest star of the week, such as Kirk and, well, just about any new woman that appeared!

Love Dilemmas: The Male Love Interest and Female Love Interest Dilemmas have been around since Premiere and represent the ‘guest of the week’ scenario, although Personnel ‘running off’ didn’t actually happen in the shows very much. Having said that, encountering these two Dilemmas is always quite fun as you have to weigh up whether a trip to retrieve your love-sick Personnel is worth it or not.... I’d always say that Female Love Interest is the stronger of the two as more Personnel, especially in the non-Federation Affiliations such as Ferengi, are male.

Brief Romance is much more representative of what usually happens on Star Trek with Personnel becoming useless for a couple of turns. This Dilemma has a slight twist on the Love Interest Dilemmas above in that an Opponent can choose the gender it affects, so it always will affect one of your Personnel.

Parallel Romance is a slightly nastier Dilemma in that the romance lasts longer (although the affair shown between Worf and Troi didn’t...) and it affects two of your Personnel. However, for it to have any affect you have to have both genders in your crew or Away Team. You can still have some interesting couples though...

Cafe des Artistes: The Holoprogram: Café des Artistes was introduced for the 20th Anniversary Collection by the CC six years ago and finally gives some use to all those Personnel cards with ‘romantically involved’ in their lore. As I mentioned in ‘The Big Goodbye’ article a few months back, this is easily the most popular Holoprogram card and the only one that gets any real play in decks right now (although I do have plans for some new ones soon – watch this space...). This is because the ‘des Artistes love shack’ is by far the most powerful of all the programs and its’ use as a card-draw engine is excellent, especially if you get a few ‘loved-up’ couples buying drinks there. I have since made Holoprograms non-seedable in the solo version, but this is still a great card and it can also be used to download a romantic partner too...

Picard’s Top 3 TV romances: Since this Blog is primarily TNG based (and discussing Kirk’s romances might have taken far too much space...), let’s look at Picard’s various love interests over the years...

1. Beverly Crusher– the Enterprise’s chief medical officer has to take top position and the relationship between the two characters really developed over the seven years, from close friend to lover. The actors had real chemistry and it was very easy to see that they would eventually marry.
2. Vash– I really liked her two appearances on TNG and was really surprised that they didn’t get this slightly mercenary archaeologist back for more. Patrick Stewart was also rather taken with her...
3. Jenice Manheim – from this episode and called ‘Laura’ right up to the shooting day apparently. It would have been great to see her again later in the TNG run, perhaps with her husband having passed away and whether she could have rekindled the romance with Jean-Luc.

Dual-Personnel Couple Cards: I’m not overly keen on these Personnel cards but since I’m discussing romantic partners, there are some of these, such as Jean-Luc and Beverly or Worf and Jadzia, which have the romantic couple on a single card. Handy for your Cafe des Artistes and Worf and Jadzia also downloads The Beating Heart, a terrific Event from the Equilibrium CC set that stops either partner getting killed.

Next time, I’m investigating those shadowy corners of the Star Trek universe with Hidden Agenda cards, Intelligence skills and scuttling alien parasites that get your head to explode...

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’m currently about half way through Season 7 of TNG and a third of the way through Season 2 of DS9 (and Picard ep2 too!). I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter- so if you're interested in what I think about both these shows, Follow me - @DWSSG01.

“Make it so...”

[dragoncymru]

Conspiracy

"Damn it, Jean-Luc. I tell you that some of Starfleet's top command people are changing....officers I've known for years are bluffing their way through talk of old times." – Walker Keel, ‘Conspiracy’

Welcome to my 25th article on my solo project for STCCG1e and where this week I’m investigating those shadowy and dangerous corners of the Star Trek universe with Hidden Agenda cards, Intelligence skills and those scuttling Bluegill alien parasites that get your head to explode...

Conspiracy: I remember watching this episode very clearly when it aired in the UK in 1991 (3 years after US transmission), and also recall the fast edit that removed the final confrontation and Remmick’s head and body exploding in phaser fire and goo! The episode clearly warranted a sequel, but the Bluegills, as the alien parasites became known, were never seen or heard again (although I described my version of a sequel as a conclusion to Season 2 of TNG in my ‘missing episode’ blog ‘Too Short a Season’, a few months back). In the CCG we had the Alien ParasitesDilemma from Premiere, a mention on Alas, Poor Queen from First Contact (surely due a TNG virtual promo from the CC?) and then had to wait until All Good Things for Bluegill Infestation. There are some really great Federation Personnel in this episode, such as Picard’s old friend Walker Keel and several that were controlled by the parasites like Quinn, Tryla Scott or Savar, that sadly have yet to make the CCG (although versions of them do exist as Dream cards...).

Hidden Agendas: These cards – Events, Incidents or Objectives – were first introduced in First Contact and were a terrific idea to play cards face down so that you can surprise your opponent with sudden reveals. It really opened the game up to new possibilities and subtle tactics for all the Affiliations. Since the initial 12 cards in that set, most of which were Borg-related, there have been many more released. There are some really great Hidden Agendas that relate to capturing opposing Personnel such as E-Band Emissions or Psychological Pressure. These really capture the theme of the cards and devious Affiliations such as the Romulans or Cardassians. My favourite TNG Hidden Agendas however, are the ones that relate to an Affiliation and give a thematic bonus if your Personnel are at the Opponent’s Missions, such as Seek Out New Life, Expand the Empire, We Are Back and Ferengi Commerce Operation.

Intelligence: This is really several skills that represent the dangerous secret police and Military Intelligence organisations that exist in the different Affiliations - Section 31 (Federation), Klingon Intelligence (Klingon), Tal Shiar (Romulan), Obsidian Order (Cardassian) and FCA (Ferengi). The number of Personnel possessing these skills is fairly small, although the devious Romulans and Cardassians have a slightly higher number of Personnel with Tal Shiar and Obsidian Order. Personnel with Intelligence skills are almost always important characters within the Affiliation, with lots of other skills, low INTEGRITY and high CUNNING.
Intelligence skills have several uses, some matched with Hidden Agenda cards such as Plans of the Tal Shiaror Plans of the Obsidian Order, that both allow more freedom with Espionage cards. My favourite and the most thematic however, is HQ: Defensive Measures from DS9 that allows Intelligence skills to battle their own Affiliation and stops your Opponent from stealing your Missions.

Intelligence skills are also present on other cards, including various Missions. Of these, the appropriately titled Espionage Mission, is the most obvious and allows several Affiliations to try and get an advantage over the Federation. Staying with the brutal theme of the Organisations these skills represent, both the Holding Cell Door and the Security Holding CellSite allow Intelligence Personnel to download some nasty Events such as Torture or Brainwashing to play on a captive. The Continuing CommitteeFacility also allows a free report of Tal Shiar Personnel on Romulus.

Hidden Agendas and Intelligence: Playing Hidden Agenda cards face down to ‘surprise your Opponent’, is a little difficult in a solo game! To recompense players, link and expand the two concepts as well as open up some interesting game-play, I’m ruling that: Personnel with an Intelligence skill may be stopped once per game to download to the table a Hidden Agenda card.

Next time I’m finishing off my first ‘season’ of Blogs and taking a D’deridex cruiser to Romulus as I discuss all things TNG Romulan, from the Affiliation in general, to base Missions and other important cards.

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’m currently in the middle of Season 7 of TNG and Season 2 of DS9 (and episode 3 of Picard too). I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter- so if you're interested in what I think about Season 6, Follow me - @DWSSG01. Check out CardGameGeek for all my blogs in stunning colour too!

“Make it so...”

[dragoncymru]

The Neutral Zone

“Matters more urgent caused our absence.... Yes, we have indeed been negligent, Captain, but no more." –Tebok, ‘The Neutral Zone’.

Welcome to my latest article on my Trek through STCC1e as I develop and test a solo version. This week, as I finish off my first ‘season’ of topics, I’m taking a D’deridex cruiser to Romulus as I discuss all things TNG Romulan, from the Affiliation in general, to base Missions and other important cards.

Romulan Affiliation: Romulans have existed in almost all the various incarnations of Star Trek, appearing first in TOS with ‘Balance of Terror’ where the Romulan Commander was played by Mark ‘Sarek’ Lenard. They are most prevalent in TNG and then DS9, and are hugely popular. This is especially true after they were re-imagined for TNG and evolved into a culture that is all about subterfuge and manipulation.

In the CCG they are represented with Personnel that have fairly high STRENGTH, very low INTEGRITY but very high CUNNING. They have a good range of skills and Classifications, especially OFFICER and Treachery, although like Klingons, can be short on MEDICAL. The Romulan Affiliation has standard attack restrictions to other Affiliations so can be aggressive when they wish.

Romulan Personnel: A massive selection, from the unique Personnel that have Treachery, such as Tomalak or Sela, to members of the Romulan Dissident movement of Ambassador Spock, such as K’haric or D’tan, with higher INTEGRITY. There are lots of standard OFFICERS such as Toreth or Taris (amusingly played by the same actress, Carolyn Seymour) and some very useful universal Personnel such as Mengran.

Romulan Ships: The TNG standard is the D’deridex cruiser which matches the Federation USS Galaxy or the Klingon Vor’cha, and there are some unique versions that are even more powerful, such as the Khazara. Apart from this however, the Romulans only have a few smaller craft such as the Science Vessel or Scout Vessel. This means that the staffing requirements to get your Romulan fleet moving are greater than usual.

Romulan Base Missions: To maximise the commonly available Romulan skills of OFFICER and Treachery, I often use Covert Installation, Steal Technology, Investigate Destruction, Advanced Combat Training and Recover Prisoner. Cloaked Mission, set on Romulus, is also good with HQ: Secure Homeworld and although not sourced from TNG, Supervise Dilithium Mine, set on Remus, can be excellent too.

Romulan Incidents & Objectives: There are 2 great ‘warp core’ cards in Always a Chess Game, or for fans of the Dissidents, The Romulan Underground. Both can seed at the start of the game, along with We’re Back. If you want to get the most out of espionage, then Plans of the Tal Shiar is an excellent Objective to see play.

Romulan Events and Interrupts: Some great choices that provide theme to Romulan decks and make you enjoy you subterfuge and manipulations, such as all the various Romulan Espionage cards that can play on virtually any Affiliation, but also Explain Your Presence, Romulan Ambush and Romulan Reunification.

Playing Romulans: It’s very easy to play Romulans thematically by playing either: Office of the Proconsul or Continuing Committee(or both) on Romulus to get free Personnel for your Romulan Ships. A solo game pitting the traditionalist Romulans versus the Dissidents could also be very interesting...

If playing a traditional Romulan Opponent deck (Dissidents are not really ‘Opponent’ deck material), Romulans are the least reasonable Affiliation, particularly against the Klingons who (unless you’re playing those duplicitous Romulan conspirators Lursa and B’tor) are their mortal enemy. I always examine the skills of a ship’s Commander (OFFICER with highest stats or Leadership) and if they include Treachery (which can be quite often) decide they would probably be offensive rather than attempting to complete a Mission – although this doesn’t always mean a direct attack... When it comes to battles, I think that Romulans are more inclined to stay in their superior D’deridex cruisers than go hand-to-hand and beam down an Away Team.

Next time, after a short break, I’m embarking on a new ‘season’ of slightly longer articles, my versions of the Season 2 TNG Bridge Crew and a discussion all about the Youth skill in the CCG...

My re-watch of Star Trek continues and I’m currently in the middle of Season 7 of TNG and Season 2 of DS9. I Tweet my episode reviews on Twitter- so if you're interested in what I think about either, Follow me - @DWSSG01. Check out CardGameGeek for all my blogs in stunning colour too!

“Make it so...”

[dragoncymru]

Just to say that my season hiatus will soon be over and I'll be returning to my '2019' solo project in a new 'Solo Project 2020' thread in April.

[dragoncymru]

A little later than announced previously, I'm happy to say that I'll be posting the second 'season' of my solo blogs as from next Saturday 2nd May, and starting with 'The Child'.

Hope you all enjoy!