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Vulcan Review #1: Vulcan Mindmeld by B.H. Pratt Sure, the Borg assimilate, the Dominion desiccate, and the Ferengi frustrate (Kudos to anyone noticing a little internal rhyming going on). But the true power in the game of ST:CCG is not one of the above affiliations, nor is it an affiliation that I have failed to mention. Rather, it is a race. The most logical, scientific and most-overlooked personnel in this game. (And if you have yet to deduce who I am about to mention, take another look at the title of this article.) Yes, the Vulcans, a premiere race, members of the Federation, but not at all restricted to that affiliation. Now many people have expressed interest (and I mean, many many people) in how to create a deck based around the Vulcan race. So I am going to delve into the intricacies of playing such a deck archetype and help reveal the true glory of the Vulcans. Since this is the first article I will start with a general overview of the Vulcan cards available. There are to my count (and with a little assistance from the WNOHGB Database) a total of 15 Vulcans covering all classifications save CIVILIAN. The only stand-out special abilities are Ensign Tuvok: ability to cancel 1 battle per game at a nebula and Sakkath's ability to suspend Bendi Syndrome (woo hoo). A casual observer would remark nothing special, nothing outstanding about these individuals. But of course everyone knows that Vulcan's do one thing best: mindmeld. Vulcan Mindmeld Interrupt Ancient Vulcan ritual which telepathically links minds to intimately share each other's thoughts and knowledge. Allows all Mindmeld personnel, at one location, to add to their skills. For one turn, add all of the skills of another personnel who is present Now here is a powerful card indeed, or is it? This card is tricky, on the surface it seems to be incredibly strong....all Vulcans gain the skills from any one person. The tricky part of this card is deciding what personnel is worth mindmelding with. Most likely you are going to be needing these extra skills for dilemmas and unfortunately you cannot mindmeld in the middle of a mission attempt. So the key is finding out which dilemmas are most likely to be used and to prepare for them. Lately dilemmas such as Scientific Method, Unscientific Method, Tarellian Plague Ship, Aphasia Device, Berserk Changeling and Odo's Cousin (to name only a few) have been popping up in incredible numbers. For most of those Vulcans already have one major advantage, the abundance of SCIENCE. With the likes of Spock and Tuvok Scientific Method is no problem. For the others mindmelding comes into play. Mindmelding with any old personnel will not do, the targets must be chosen carefully and made accessible in your deck. For the dilemmas mentioned above three people come to mind as key personnel: Beverly Crusher (FC), George Primmin, and Luther Sloan. Beverly Crusher and Primmin deal with Aphasia Device handily; once your whole crew has Biology the dilemma is no problem. After that just make sure you have a medic to beam over. Crusher even adds the plus of downloading a Medical Tricorder, which gives all your scientific Vulcans the skill of MEDICAL. Primmin and Sloan deal with Berserk Changeling; mindmeld with them and 3 SECURITY is not so daunting any more. Now I could go through and show which personnel are best to be mindmelded with for each dilemma in particular, but I believe I have shown a decent example how to do that on your own. The personnel must be chosen ahead of time, and if you have scanned the mission all the better. With some preparation and a little luck you should be able to decimate any dilemma your opponent throws at you. Live Long and Prosper, B.H. "General Chang" Pratt Next Time: The Other Vulcan Interrupt - Vulcan Nerve Pinch