What a Card: 100,000 Tribbles

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. Ok, now you've really let the probem get away from you...

EXPANSION: The Trouble with Tribbles

PICTURE 1 [Clone]: The classic picture of Kirk buried to the chest in tribbles is great (though the duplication of the picture on the Storage Compartment Door is unfortunate). There may not be 100,000 tribbles at that event (we never, ever saw that many), but the way the card's borders cuts the picture, you can't be sure there isn't a sea of tribbles there. And as the only "Clone" icon card in the lot, it might be appropriate that this same picture will be duplicated on the next two cards, albeit with different buried personnel. As the "original", a 3.9. It suffers from some of the digitally added tribbles (over Kirk's head) looking a little too "fixed in time" not to look digital. Also, design-wise, and this affects all three cards, that TwT expansion icon is too close to the text on this card, making it read like it prevents [TwT] personnel from reporting. Bad mojo.

PICTURE 2 [Discard]: Worf digitally substituted for Kirk is pretty darn funny, if you ask me, and Decipher found a silly way to repeat a card when there wasn't enough material to go around (and repeated 6 times too, if I count the booster pack art itself). Must've taken some doing to make them look right (especially the arms), and I'm happy to say the designers went the extra mile and fiddled with the tribbles both over and around the characters to make each card distinctive. As for Worf specifically, he *could* be present from his expression though it's hard to say. The tribbles aren't visibly reacting to him in any case. The hand looks kind of awkward, but what I like here is that the tribbles over his head are so packed together in the same color, they look like GIANT tribbles. That's what you need if you want to splatter a Klingon! (See the Animated Series for more.) As for the link to "Discard", it's tenuously there in opposition to Uhura's "Rescue". Worf hates tribbles (discard them), Uhura likes tribbles (rescue them). I admire the craftsmanship here - a 4.3.

PICTURE: 3 [Rescue]: Uhura's arms are well done in this one, but her expression makes it plain she isn't really there. Again, the tribbles themselves were altered, but the big tumbleweeds on Worf's card are still there (wish they'd gotten rid of them for the sweet Uhura). As with Kirk's card, the mid-air tribbles look too digital to be real, and indeed, the one here seems to be leaping down rather than just falling. Well made, but the card has some problems as well. A 4.

LORE: N/A (score will adjusted accordingly)

TREK SENSE: Though still mathematically fuzzy, I don't have any problem with the 10 for 1 breeding principle. Now, when there are this many tribbles in one spot, there's just no room for your personnel unless they shovel the furry critters out of the way. That's my way of explaining the "no report for free" ability. Cards report for free when it would be likely for them to "already be there". Tribbles keep people out of the infected facilities and territories, making them never "already there". As for the point loss to the planet mission, that's not as clear. Tribble infection seems to be a real problem (one the Klingon Empire once committed a lot of resources to), and planets that are overrun with them (though it seems to me that would take more than 100,000) could be more hostile to humanoids. So a Diplomacy Mission, for example, would be worth fewer points because the disputed land is worth less. Medical Relief is worth less because the true problem (the tribbles) remains. But in most cases, there's no real reason (and I reached for those!), so this one's gonna have to stay at 3.4.

STOCKABILITY: Strong abilities, but the big challenge will be to breed your tribbles to that point. 100,000 is 4 levels away from the 10 Tribbles that start the whole process off. But if you can get there, it makes a good counter to the reporting abilities of HQs, K-7 and Quark's. Those places can be abused just as Red Alert once was. The problem remains: since personnel are mostly reported at the beginning of the game, and breeding Tribbles takes a while, the counter isn't as limiting as you'd want it to be. For HQs, there's Homefront until the SECURITY personnel are there, then you let the Tribbles take over. As for the second function, -10 points on missions can be pretty evil, countering mission specialist bonuses for those who have them, and plain ol' mission points for those who don't. You could play 10 Tribbles on each planet, let them breed, causing havoc at various levels - as soon as the Away Team has the Leadership to pass 100 Tribbles, go to a 1,000, then if necessary, require Exobiology with 10,000 - and if all else fails, get them up to 100,000 for the point loss. In a sense, you're causing problems at any level your opponent attempts the mission at. You could also breed them yourself and drop 'em off with your Transporter Skill when you discover which mission your opponent is attempting. A big fat wall dilemma at each mission, and well staffed super-fast ship with Tribbles aboard is the best solution here. But being beamable, there's always the risk of your opponent simply beaming the 100,000 away, and since they have absolutely no effect on ships (unless they allow for free reporting, which is rare), not even with Trouble cards (none of which are used with this card), it's no problem keeping them there. Heck, your opponent can even go on to dump them on your own turf. A real balancing act here, at 3.3.

TOTAL: Clone-14.13 (70.67%); Discard-14.67 (73.33%); Rescue-14.4 (72%) I don't remember ever writing so much for Picture!