Agent: Code name Colonel Anastasia Komananov. KGB. Femme fatale.

Mission profile: Komananov will fit easily into Klingon and Federation decks, putting a premium on Honor and Diplomacy, or else she can patch those holes in a more treacherous deck. In any case, she'll work for the highest bidder as a Non-Aligned agent.

Special Talents: This agent is armed with earrings that can be converted into a Smoke Bomb which can then be used either to prevent a personnel battle if her team is unprepared, or simply to "stop" an Away Team or crew. The latter can even be used on your own Away Teams to stop a mission attempt you've rashly committed to, since the download suspends play. The former is great for protecting her when she acts as an intruder aboard an opponent's ship, which she would do to Issue Secret Orders. Beam her over to an opposing ship with a Mobile Holo-Emitter and she can make it attempt any mission you choose. Not everyone has access to infiltrators, but everyone has access to Komananov, and everyone hates to have their deadliest dilemma combo evaded just because it wasn't at the right mission.

Aliases: Colonel Komananov is a version of the Kira Nerys persona, which currently includes Bajoran, Cardassian, and Federation versions. All will be able to switch back and forth with the Russian agent for more skills and battling power.

Combos:

Anastasia Komananov + I've Been Waiting for You: Lead an opposing crew astray, then switch Anastasia for a more aggressive hologram, like Chaotica if they have a lot of holograms aboard, Duchamps to battle their flesh and blood personnel, or Felix Leech to handicap their mission attempt.

Anastasia Komananov + Open Diplomatic Negotiations: She can Issue Orders to make a ship go, or Smoke Bomb its crew to keep it exactly where it is.

Anastasia Komananov + Ensign Chekov + Nikolai Rozhenko: Not only can she teach them what a real Russian accent is like, but it's one more fine reason to play Parallax Arguers.

Species 8472 was one of the most powerful hostile forces the Voyager crew encountered during their long trek back to the Alpha Quadrant. Their superior attitude toward species in what we think of as normal space did nothing to endear them to Janeway and company. Dilemmas relating to species 8472 tend toward the truly nasty end of the spectrum, and Your Galaxy Is Impure ranks right up there with the harshest. You attempt the mission, I kill one of your personnel (my choice). Signed, sealed, delivered, pack it up and go home. The implications really are staggering.

Think about it: you basically need complete double redundancy at the start of the mission attempt to have any hope of completing it. You begin to attempt, say, Historical Research, with Jean-Luc Picard and Richard Galen as your only sources of Archaeology. You encounter Your Galaxy Is Impure; I kill Richard Galen. You cannot complete the mission. You add Vash to the team and begin a new mission attempt ... but as you do, Your Galaxy Is Impure lets me kill Vash. Lather, rinse, repeat. And if you started with all three? I might pop off an Anthropologist. Yes, double redundancy for all mission requirements (or a handy-dandy Dixon Hill) is the ticket.

The gruesome results of the wounds species 8472 inflicted in hand-to-hand combat sent The Doctor scrambling for a counter-agent based on Borg technology. Like a microbe felling the Martian invaders in The War of the Worlds, it's the tiniest little thing you can imagine that can save you from cascading cellular degradation: Borg Nanoprobes. You need no better reason than Your Galaxy Is Impure to stock those tiny robots.

Combos:

The Weak Will Perish + Your Galaxy Is Impure: Your opponent's Nanoprobes can only nullify one dilemma per turn. Make them pay for a poor choice.

Any good filter dilemma + The Gatherers + Your Galaxy Is Impure: Get rid of the Nanoprobes before they get rid of your dilemma. In space, use Common Thief instead; support either combo with a generous helping of Disruptor Overloads.

Bareil, Mila, or Yeggie + Borg personnel vs. opponent's Your Galaxy Is Impure: Save your special download until you're sure you need it, then glide past the dilemma like fluidic space through a sieve.

Giving the Romulans a boost in Holodeck Adventures is a new version of the Neral persona. The original support personnel is hardly a fitting way to show a leader of the Romulan Empire, is it?

Neral has kept his V.I.P. status and his Treacherous nature, but has added quite a few new skills over the years. Biology isn't the most common skill in the Romulan affiliation, and his Leadership x2 will come in handy for things such as Friendly Fire. A smattering of Diplomacy doesn't hurt either.

Most interesting is his special skill – all your Tal Shiar personnel in play gain SECURITY. Combined with his ability to report for free at the Continuing Committee (as well as all those Tal Shiar), he's a fantastic addition to a Romulan POTS deck. And while they're all gaining the same skill, SECURITY is great to have in multiples, for anything from Kazon Bomb to Beserk Changeling and Komar Possession. And it might not be a bad idea to check out Extradition again – with all those Tal Shiar, you won't have a problem finding SECURITY to beam across. Flaxian Assassin is both easier to pass, what with Neral's Biology and all, but nastier for your opponent, killing two personnel instead of one.

Combo:

Praetor Neral + Continuing Committee + HQ: War Room: All your Tal Shiar play for free and get attribute enhancements.

The small-bodied, big-brained Talosians generated mental rather than holographic illusions, but their scenarios were no less powerful for being all in their captives' heads. Only a truly powerful psionic force (in game terms, 3 Empathy) or someone well acquainted with the Talosians' mind tricks (Christopher Pike) can hope to withstand their power. If you think your opponent can muster the 3 Empathy, consider setting up Talosian Cage with Empathic Echo and Eli Hollander at the same location. (Oh, and speaking of them Hollander boys, notice that since Talosian Cage "discards" personnel instead of "killing" them, it works plenty well against those annoying holograms.)

Careful calculations underlie all Talosian actions--except, perhaps, when they are trying to penetrate a mental screen of belligerent emotions. Likewise, you'll need to be on your cognitive toes when your opponent encounters your Talosian Cage. Then comes the big question: should you discard two females at random, or the male with the most skill dots? Your decision will depend in large part, no doubt, on the remainder of your dilemma setup. Which brings us to:

Combos:

Talosian Cage + Female's Love Interest + Matriarchal Society--or maybe not: Using Talosian Cage as a setup for Matriarchal Society is as obvious as the veins on a Talosian's head, since Talosian Cage can eliminate two females, and Matriarchal Society requires two females to pass. But the strength of such a combo is debatable. If you eliminate two females with Talosian Cage, the affected Away Team will be stopped, giving your opponent a chance to bring over two more females to pass the expected Matriarchal Society. The Female's Love Interest in the middle makes that a little tougher--ideally, your opponent should need five females (or four and a couple of extra turns to go get the runaway) to get through that stack. However, if your opponent's initial Away Team includes only one female, the setup is thrown off track. It might be better to use Matriarchal Society as the setup, to guarantee you two targets for Talosian Cage ... but are you really that misogynistic?

Talosian Cage under opponent's Assist Cooperative, Combat Training, Cure Deadly Virus, Establish Settlement, Kazon Conference, etc.: Use your Talosian Cage selection to pop off a [Com] Borg or two, a Maje, Danara Pel, or other personnel boosting the point value of the mission. It isn't a sure thing, since the females are selected randomly and, in either case, your opponent could add reinforcements to the "stopped" Away Team later on. But if you can deny your opponent one or two personnel and 5-10 extra points, and throw in a one-turn delay to boot, your seed slot has done you good service.

Volcanic Eruption + Talosian Cage + hefty wall: Put the fact that Talosian Cage is a "stopper" to work for you by snagging three or four of their personnel before they have a chance to supply reinforcements for a second go at the mission. If you'd rather discard all four on a single turn, substitute a Horta for Volcanic Eruption. Or, if you have room for a four-card combo, use both.

Leading the way in nifty new personae is The E.C.H. (Emergency Command Hologram) – the good Doctor has exchanged medical blue for command red, and has swapped most his skills at the same time.

Only his Computer Skill and MEDICAL come across intact – his skill set is now firmly in a tactical mindset. Complementing his OFFICER classification (and the included Command Star) are Navigation and Physics, useful for dilemmas (and battle-avoidance via Asteroid Sanctuary). And reflecting his tactical database, he can pull up any Maneuver card you need on demand, letting him draw on the past experience of Picard or La Forge. (Or if that Kazon Warship is too close for comfort, Evasive Maneuvers might be a better choice.)

His holographic nature makes him resiliant against random deaths caused by Tactic cards, ensuring that you'll always have a leader available. And if you're on Voyager, he's even the matching commander – nice when Janeway is unavailable.

Combo:

The E.C.H. + The Doctor + The President of Earth (+ I've Been Waiting For You): One of the Doctor's personas will have the skills you need. Persona swap to whichever one suits your fancy – or use I've Been Waiting For You if an unexpected opportunity (or need) for battle arises.

Species 8472 was one of the most powerful hostile forces the Voyager crew encountered during their long trek back to the Alpha Quadrant. Their superior attitude toward species in what we think of as normal space did nothing to endear them to Janeway and company. Dilemmas relating to species 8472 tend toward the truly nasty end of the spectrum, and Your Galaxy Is Impure ranks right up there with the harshest. You attempt the mission, I kill one of your personnel (my choice). Signed, sealed, delivered, pack it up and go home. The implications really are staggering.

Think about it: you basically need complete double redundancy at the start of the mission attempt to have any hope of completing it. You begin to attempt, say, Historical Research, with Jean-Luc Picard and Richard Galen as your only sources of Archaeology. You encounter Your Galaxy Is Impure; I kill Richard Galen. You cannot complete the mission. You add Vash to the team and begin a new mission attempt ... but as you do, Your Galaxy Is Impure lets me kill Vash. Lather, rinse, repeat. And if you started with all three? I might pop off an Anthropologist. Yes, double redundancy for all mission requirements (or a handy-dandy Dixon Hill) is the ticket.

The gruesome results of the wounds species 8472 inflicted in hand-to-hand combat sent The Doctor scrambling for a counter-agent based on Borg technology. Like a microbe felling the Martian invaders in The War of the Worlds, it's the tiniest little thing you can imagine that can save you from cascading cellular degradation: Borg Nanoprobes. You need no better reason than Your Galaxy Is Impure to stock those tiny robots.

Combos:

The Weak Will Perish + Your Galaxy Is Impure: Your opponent's Nanoprobes can only nullify one dilemma per turn. Make them pay for a poor choice.

Any good filter dilemma + The Gatherers + Your Galaxy Is Impure: Get rid of the Nanoprobes before they get rid of your dilemma. In space, use Common Thief instead; support either combo with a generous helping of Disruptor Overloads.

Bareil, Mila, or Yeggie + Borg personnel vs. opponent's Your Galaxy Is Impure: Save your special download until you're sure you need it, then glide past the dilemma like fluidic space through a sieve.