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Tenth Anniversary Collection:
The Grass Is Greener On the Other Side of the Neutral Zone

by Kathy McCracken (Major Rakal)
Star Trek CCG Intelligence Officer and Tal Shiar Agent

When I heard about the Tenth Anniversary Collection of ships and their commanders, I fleetingly wished that Major Rakal had a slightly stronger claim to being the commander (albeit briefly) of the Khazara, thus becoming eligible for the Romulan slot in the collection. Alas, the designers seemed to think that the few brief minutes that Deanna Troi seized control of Toreth's ship didn't really qualify as command experience in the Romulan Star Empire, and so my hope of a "Deanna Troi, Major Rakal" with "Commander: Khazara"– foil, no less –was dashed.

What we do have is a Romulan general, commander of the flagship of the fleet during the final battles of the Dominion War. Velal, Reluctant Aggressor has the Leadership and Officer skills you would expect of a general, plus Security and Archaeology – the latter coming in handy for completion of the kind of missions you need in order to play any of the new artifacts from Necessary Evil. One of the lowest-cost (2) commanders in this set, you can play him directly aboard his ship, the Rovaran, for only 1 counter with Captain On the Bridge. Once he's aboard and assuming you have enough events in play, Escaping Detection allows him to be "at" all missions in the quadrant during your opponent's turn – a perfect setup to use his ability to draw an extra dilemma and spend one extra in dilemma costs when that opponent attempts a mission.

Having the commander aboard his ship is of course useful for lots of other cards, like Standing Your Ground, which lets you destroy that card instead of a Maneuver event to start a battle, saving the difference in play cost between the Maneuver event and Standing Your Ground's 1. But the Rovaran goes that scenario one better with what amounts to a built-in Maneuver card. You still need a Maneuver card handy, but in your hand rather than on the table. Just discard it directly from your hand to begin your engagement (no-cost Maneuver!) and when you win, you get to remove a card from your opponent's hand from the game. And you don't even need Velal aboard to use his ship's ability.

It almost makes up for missing out on seeing Deanna Troi, Major Rakal ensconced in the "big chair" on the Khazara. ;-)

April 16, 2004