First I will state the obvious, there are no new Borg affiliated or Borg use only cards in Voyager.  Does that mean the Borg don’t get anything in Voyager?  Certainly not.  There are many pros and cons in Voyager for the Borg.  I think the pros outweigh the cons.

 The introduction of Voyager does away with the interim Borg Outpost rule from First Contact.  Now the Borg Outpost must seed at a Mission with a [DQ] icon and no affiliation icons.  This has its ups and downs.  You will lose some of your element of surprise and you are forced to seed a Mission you cannot Service the Collective at.  These aren’t too bad considering you get a Mission you can scout with the protection of an Outpost near by.  But, this means your Outpost is no longer safe from the hazards that other Outposts face.  Fending off Tribbles and the occasional battle shouldn’t be too tough for the Borg; there is a much bigger problem that they have to worry about.  This Mission that you must seed to use a Borg Outpost might be protected by Fair Play, but there is no realistic way to keep your opponent from attempting it.  This means you could conceivably trip a Dal’Rok at your opponent’s Borg Outpost on the first turn.  This will really hurt most Borg players.  I hope a fix is on the way soon.

 With Voyager comes twenty-nine dilemmas, some new, some old.  There are a couple that are particularly nasty against the Borg.  Hanonian Land Eel, for instance, will have to be Adapted to.  Twisted, Trabe Grenade, and Volcanic Eruption will also cause some trouble.  On the brighter side, some of the more nastier dilemmas will have less or no effect on the Borg.  Hull Breach will only kill one person rather than two.

 There are cards in this set that actually help the Borg.  Containment Field, with a little creativity, can be used for probe rigging.  Handshake can also be used to rig probes as well as giving you some draws; it is a bad probe though.  Quinn is also a bad probe but you get the use of a Kevin Uxbridge, Amanda Rogers, or the Devil for the cost of only one bad probe.  Since the –5 are bonus points, they don’t affect the Borg at all.  Nanoprobe Resuscitation is not only a good probe for most Borg Objectives but it has good uses as well.  The Borg are also immune to Villagers With Torches as they do not attempt Missions.
 There are a few interesting Delta Quadrant Missions in Voyager.  Salvage Operation will allow you to target it with Salvage Starship.  Prison Break will let you seed two [DQ] Personnel under it.  Borg players with only one Borg Queen can now get her easily by seeding her at Prison Break and scouting that mission first.  Both of these are space [DQ] Missions without affiliation icons so you can even seed your Outpost at one of them.  There are enough Delta Quadrant Missions to make a good Service the Collective deck for Locutus and Dukat.  It will be a stretch for the others, though.

 So when you look at the big picture, Voyager does offer some help to the Borg.  The Dal’Rok Outpost thing will be a pain but the Borg are resilient and they will adapt.  Voyager should not be viewed as the end of Borg decks, but rather a new beginning.

~Kor
sclicque@mcla.mass.edu