Being a look back at cards from the Star Trek CCG, and what I thought of them back when they were fresh and new... in EPISODE order. More Sherlock shenanigans, though Pulaski at least played "herself"...
PICTURE: Rich colors and good costume detail make this a nice pic, even if the focus isn't as crisp as it could be. I think a 3.3 should do.
LORE: The lore tells the beginning of the story, but doesn't give away the ending. That's fine, though a little plain. It also makes it clear that she started the chain of events that created the sentient Moriarty hologram. I do like the "Madam" title, matching the 19th-century Guinan's. And of course, the mention of Sherlock Holmes is important. All of which brings us to a fair 3.4.
TREK SENSE: The usual problems crop up, as only the skills and abilities relevant to the holoprogram are mentioned. That's thematically sound, but does Pulaski actually lose the use of her skills, affiliation and staffing icons just by donning the costume? After all, missions will be attempted normally, not "in-character". As such, Pulaski isn't really Non-Aligned, and isn't really a Civilian. At least they left her one instance of Medical. The attributes likewise do not change from the baseline version, since it was all in the same season anyway. The special skill is again thematic, but it is interesting. It plays with the idea of challenging Data to an original (unique) mystery (mission). The challenge she makes, presumably to her colleagues, makes the mission objectives more important than they were. Pride and ego add 10 points to the mission. The "bet" seems to be: "You can't complete that mission before our opponent does." Fun stuff, and translatable to actual missions given Pulaski's temperament, but it's still a little conceptual (for example, she doesn't need to be present). I appreciate the special skill, but the card has many problems, and so only scores 2.4.
STOCKABILITY: She's one of those "holo-personae" that will work with anyone, and doesn't actually need a Holodeck to survive. If you do have a Holodeck, of course, you can play Holoprogram: 221B Baker Street on it, and later download Madam Pulaski in place of your normal card play. MEDICAL is always nice, even if she has little else to offer in the way of skills or even attributes. If you're playing the Federation, you could use Katherine Pulaski for actual dilemma-busting, but Madam Pulaski to avoid the beaming restriction. Timing issues may arise if you want to get the Madam's extra points from such a mission attempt, though. Fed or not, Madam Pulaski's main draw is her special skill, but is it enough of a draw to actually include her for it? +10 points on a mission is great, but your opponent must have seeded the same unique mission(s) you have. How likely is that in a game that features more than 200 unique missions? I'm afraid I have little faith in the strategy. A 1.8.
TOTAL: 10.9 (54.5%) To Katherine's 12.1.
Comments
Are you certain that's what the rules text is meant to read there? Because my first interpretation is that "unique missions seeded by both players" is intended to mean any unique mission, not ones that are duplicated between players. You could argue that the word should have been "either" rather than "both" there if that was the intent, but we've seen far more sloppy English in the course of this series. Also, "either" would then raise the question of whether a duplicate seeded by "both" players would qualify, so it's just shoving the question down a different path.
Ideally, it would have been "seeded by either or both players" but that would have been a tight fit.
This one looks like a card that needs a FAQ, errata, or calling a judge for a ruling.
"This personnel's special skill gives you additional points for each unique mission you solve which was seeded by both players (i.e., both players seeded a copy of the same mission), not all unique missions seeded by either player. She must be in play when the mission is solved (but need not be present)."