Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. "A Matter of Honor" continues with a universal ship...
PICTURE: The red is rather dark and hard to see on this model, or "publicity" shot, and there are few unmuddled details. The bird's wingspan is respected, but the ship looks like it has a pronounced (read: ugly) hump on its back. It's not really bad, but is a little boring. Too bad, because close inspection shows there IS a lot of detail to these miniatures, we just can't see them here. 3.1, I think.
LORE: The relationship to the B'rel (they used the same model, but at a different relative size) would be more interesting if we'd had a Klingon B'rel ship to really compare it to (the Ferengi version just wouldn't serve in the same fleet). There's a line of blank space which could have given us some other tidbit (maybe that they've been in use since the Movie-era days, or something technical). It's such a waste when that space isn't used. Another boring 3.
TREK SENSE: I will usually gloss over most of the details when it comes to K'Vort-class ships, bu this is the standard, so let's get into it. The K'Vort has a minimal crew, represented by a single Staff icon. Does this mean they could be commanded by junior staff? There's always something odd about ships well outside the range of shuttles that do not require a Command icon. I suppose it means that a crew would be allowed to fly it without a commander. I buy it, but it does make me raise an eyebrow. The ship has a Cloak, that's well documented, as is the Tractor Beam. The attributes are a little surprising, however, with Weapons and Shields pretty low compared to Range. And here I thought the Klingons were principally interested in battle. In the show, a single bird-of-prey represented a threat to the safety of the Enterprise, but it took two or three to make Picard think they were outgunned. In DS9, however, a K'Vort is clearly able to destroy a Jem'Hadar Attack Ship, and the two seem fairly equivalent. In the game, this has translated as more and more powerful unique K'Vorts with the DS9 property logo, ships that are farther and farther from the baseline attributes. Most of this stuff could be justified, so I'll call it an average 3.
STOCKABILITY: The K'Vort-class ships are at the center of the powerful Klingon armada strategy. They are incredibly easy to staff, so you could have one K'Vort per personnel in play. But why use the universal model with its lower WEAPONS and, especially, SHIELDS (their attack is cumulative, but they defend alone) when you could use a unique one with a matching commander? Well, the universal can be Spacedoored, so you'll have one to start the game with and then can discard less useful cards from your hand (hopefully to be recycled later) to flip the Spacedoor open once again and download another ship, and another, and another. Meanwhile, use alternate card plays to report personnel that can fly the things. Bam. But those SHIELDS... Unless you boosted them somehow (and doing so usually takes away from the speed of such a deck), you'd be pretty sure to have a ship damaged once per battle, and with Tactics, there's a good chance a resulting casualty would kill the entire crew. The sacrifice is very Klingon, so see those ships and their staff as expendable. Of course, also watch out for Obelisk of Masaka which would force you to double up on staff. This was such a powerful strategy, they've created counters for it, but the balancing effect doesn't kill it. The universal version is well balanced all things considered, and those fast, universal, downloadable, cloakable fleets are worth 4.5.
TOTAL: 13.6 (68%) Actually giving high marks to a universal ship from Premiere!
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