naDev thlInganpu' tu'lu'

by Chris Heard (uzo@unicomplex.org)

With twenty-one Klingon personnel and seven Klingon ships, The Motion Pictures expansion offers the largest infusion of new Klingon blood into the Star Trek CCG since the premiere set. Even Blaze of Glory, which introduced such great Klingon cards as Blood Oath, the Sword of Kahless, Bat'leth Tournament, and A Good Day to Live, only featured twelve Klingon personnel (one of them a Ferengi!) and three ships. Truly, the heart of a Klingon warrior beats in The Motion Pictures.

QaStaHvIS wa' ram loS SaD Hugh SIjlaH qetbogh loD

The new Klingon personnel in The Motion Pictures expansion span the gamut from lowly warriors to the heights of imperial power. Obviously, there are too many Klingons in the set to examine them one by one here. Nevertheless, several are worthy of special note.

To start at the top, The Motion Pictures introduces two new Klingon chancellors, Gorkon and his daughter and successor, Azetbur. Both have relatively predictable skill sets (although Azetbur's Exobiology and Gorkon's Anthropology are increasingly in demand) for top-ranking government officials. That is not to say that the younger chancellor and her father are redundant. Gorkon alone can protect his crew or Away Team from The Clown: Guillotine, and Gorkon and Azetbur together provide the core skills (lacking only attribute levels) to pass Aggressive Behavior, Implication, the new Linguistic Legerdemain (with which they need no help at all), Primitive Humanoids, and other such dilemmas – not to mention that the addition of two chancellors boosts the usefulness of Going to the Top for Klingon players and reduces the effectiveness of Executive Authorization for their opponents. Of course, Gorkon's and Azetbur's regular skills are not their whole story. Azetbur's ability to grab a Treaty: Federation/Klingon and her father's ability to protect it from nullification enhance the treaty deck type as an option.

Lower levels of Klingon government are also represented in The Motion Pictures expansion, including Kamarag, the Klingon ambassador featured at the beginning of Star Trek IV; General Korrd, who will be as popular with Sybok decks as with Klingon decks; and Colonel Worf, whose skills are appropriate to a warrior pressed into judiciary service (even the Archaeology may subtly imply "digging for clues" to a case) but also useful on deep space assignments. Among the most interesting of the second-tier (and lower) Klingon government officials, however, is Brigadier Kerla. His SECURITY classification befits the chancellor's military advisor, and makes him downloadable via Defend Homeworld. Kerla, in turn, can special-download any [CF] Klingon chancellor. This download presents several strategic possibilities. For example, you might download Kerla and Azetbur at the beginning of the game to power a Klingon/Federation treaty deck without using valuable seed slots for Open Diplomatic Relations and the treaty itself, or download Kerla early and save the special download until Gorkon's or Azetbur's skills are needed to overcome a dilemma.

Naturally, the Klingon military contributes a large number of personnel to this set, including a classic films era Captain Kang from Voyager's "Flashback" episode along with Kruge, Valkris, Klaa, Vixis, General Chang, and less prominent warriors from the various films. Perhaps one of the most useful special skills among The Motion Pictures expansion's new Klingons is found on the otherwise unassuming Woteln. As an ENGINEER with Computer Skill and Stellar Cartography, Woteln might otherwise be overlooked. However, his special skill supplements a ship battle deck quite nicely. Incorporate Explore Typhon Expanse and Survey Mission – Klingon space missions with spans of 5 – into your deck and seed outposts at one or (using a Neutral Outpost) both. Get Woteln aboard as soon as possible (perhaps using Spacedoor to download an I.K.C. K't'inga, which in turn special downloads any [univ] [CF] Klingon) to boost your opponent's span to 7 at each of those missions. When your opponent finds it necessary to stop at that location due to lack of RANGE, you'll be ready to pounce.

batlh Daqawlu'taH

While the majority of Klingon-themed cards in The Motion Pictures expansion are personnel, the Klingons benefit from several other features of the set.

Notably, six of the seven Klingon ships introduced in this expansion (excluding only the universal K't'inga) have matching commanders who are also found in the set. Captain's Log brings most of the [CF] Klingon ships to 8-9 WEAPONS and SHIELDS. Adding Captain Kang's WEAPONS bonus (if at a [Klg] mission) and Krase's SHIELDS bonus pumps the ships to 10-11 WEAPONS and SHIELDS with minimal effort. Moreover, the universal Ch'Dak can boost his ship's RANGE by 1; although his skill isn't cumulative, there's no reason not to use one per [CF] ship. Three of the ships – the Chontay, Kla'Diyus, and Bounty – can now land and even report on [Klg] planet missions thanks to Duj Saq. (Note that while the I.K.C. Kla'Diyus qualifies as a "B'rel-class ship" for Duj Saq, it is not the "same class" as a universal Ferengi B'rel, so don't try to christen a Ferengi ship using '45 Dom Perignon to get the Kla'Diyus out quickly.)

The Camp Khitomer time location can enhance any deck that includes a significant contingent of [CF] Klingons by providing a free reporting ability similar to that already familiar from Sherman's Peak. While Sherman's Peak offers its own particular advantages – such as the ability to manipulate point values thanks to Hero of the Empire – Camp Khitomer provides a free reporting solution for a more robust roster of Klingon warriors and ships. In fact, a creative combination of Camp Khitomer, Sherman's Peak, and The Great Hall could permit the majority of your deck's personnel and ships to report for free, thus leaving your regular card play open for useful events, incidents, and so on.

chay' Dochvam vIlo'

The sample deck here is pretty straightforward. Set up your outposts on Explore Typhon Expanse and Survey Mission as described above; use the Spacedoor to download a universal K't'inga, which in turn downloads Woteln and adds 2 to the span of the appropriate mission. Pull down Brigadier Kerla with Defend Homeworld, Azetbur with Brigadier Kerla, and Regnor with Assign Support Personnel. Other than that, just report personnel and ships as fast as you can using the free reporting mechanisms; in the deck list below, each ship and almost every personnel card is keyed [1] = reports free at Sherman's Peak, [2] = reports free at Camp Khitomer, and/or [3] = reports free to the Great Hall. Concentrate on battle first, then mission-solving later. You could enhance this deck by using Historical Research with Guardians of Forever to power card draws; by using Wormhole Negotiations and Barzan Wormhole drops to get your staffed ships into play faster; and/or by adding a Hero of the Empire module to increase the point value of your missions.

April 10, 2002