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. Another of Kruge's men - he might look familiar...
PICTURE: Good detailing on John Larroquette's Klingon costume, which has different do-dads than most others. The expression is dull however, and the diffuse, lollipop background is a total mess. I'm frankly bored, and can give no more than a 2.4.
LORE: After a typical opening phrase, we get a fun Easter Egg. John Larroquette played a D.A. in the hit sitcom Night Court, in which he (obviously) also worked the night shift. Cute. After that, his meagre story is told with some humor, as much as the scene itself in ST III. A totally endorsable 4.1.
TREK SENSE: Eh... Maltz WAS the guy in charge of beaming Kruge and company to and from the Genesis Planet, but that only confirms his Transporter Skill. Engineer may be reverse-engineered (heh) from that, though he was also in charge of scanning the damaged Enterprise. Ok then. Astrophysics and Geology may be relevant to the Genesis Planet, but did Kruge really include him on the bridge because of that skill package? Seems thematic rather than sensical. Staff icon's fine, since he only took "command" of the ship after all the other leaders were dead or gone (note that on small birds-of-prey, there is likely only one Command icon personnel anyway, and that's Kruge here). The mention of dishonor would seem to indicate he HAD the Honor skill, but lost it, though high Integrity remains. He's none too smart, just by his exchange with Kirk, so the 6 in Cunning is fine. I'm ok with the Strength too: a not-very-violent Klingon. Works ok, but not sharply focused in design. A 2.5.
STOCKABILITY: CF decks-only, I'd imagine. It's getting harder and harder to rationalize using 3-skill personnel, when 1 or 2 skills nets you special Assign cards, and 4 would just be better. Well, sometimes, that fourth skill is Music or somesuch, so let's look a little closer... Well, as far as Klingon ENGINEERs go, he's really not too bad. They have few such Klingons with 4 or more skills, and cards like Bo'rak are pretty specialized anyway (Cybernetics and Klingon Intel aren't everyday skills). Maltz has all-useful skills, including the rarer Transporter Skill. The last two are especially good against dilemmas. CUNNING's lame, but the attributes are generally fair. In a CF deck, he's a better mission solver than Woteln, so I guess he's the best pure ENGINEER of the era. In a wider Klingon deck, he's still useful, though could stand to have a little more. A 3.4.
TOTAL: 12.4 (62%) So a little Law would have been too much Easter Egging? ;-)
Comments