(Photo credits to Gale Force Nine)
Written by Ed Carter, Staff Writer
Star Trek: Away Missions
2 players
Miniatures, Star Trek, dice rolling, earning points
More than a skirmish game
Upon first glance, one would think this is another miniatures combat game, but in Star Trek this is not the case. While there is a potential for combat, this game is all about completing missions in an efficient way as possible. The game only lasts 3 rounds so if you focus on fighting, you will lose. The setting is the aftermath of the battle of Wolf 357. Picard is now Locutus of the Borg and the away team is led by Riker. The starter set comes with Riker’s away team and the Borg collective. Players race to complete missions from their hand of missions cards while keeping their enemy at bay.
Four to beam down: Game set up
To set up each player decides what away team they will play, The Federation or the Borg. Put out the main hallway. Each rolls a die and the highest gets to place the first tile adjacent to the main hallway following the rules that they must place the tile with the most doors adjacent to the hallway. The next player then lays a tile until all 4 are laid out. Then place the three turbolifts out and the board is ready to go.
Next take the character boards and place the pegs in each of the holes on the boards. Then the first player places one figure on any space then their opponent places two figures down and the process continues until all figures have been placed. Next each player shuffles their mission and support decks and draws five from each deck for a hand of 10 cards. Each player can discard any cards they want and redraw back up to 10. Finally each player rolls a die and the highest activates a figure first.
Set phasers to stun, we’re not alone: A game round
The game is played in phases; the draw phase and the activation phase. In the draw phase, players will draw up to 5 cards from each deck. In the action phase, first assign any bonus actions to their away team. Bonus actions are awarded when one side has less figures to activate. Players roll for first activation and then activates a character. A character can take two actions and can choose to either move, attack, take cover, complete their special action, draw a support card or draw and discard a mission card.
To move, each character can move 2 spaces for each point of movement they have. To make an attack, select a target, check for line of sight, then each player rolls dice equal to their attack and defense. Players can discard any cards to reroll any dice they want before they finally compare their dice from highest to lowest. If the attacker has a higher roll than their defender and each uncontested die is a 4 or higher, they score a hit and deal damage. Each hit scores 1 point of damage and the defender removes 1 peg from any section on their characters board. When a character has no more pegs, they are neutralized and removed from the board.
Players move their characters to specific locations on the board to score missions. Some missions reward bonus points as well. To attempt a mission. Make a skill check with their skill level. If they get a success they pass the test and score the card. Some missions can be opposed by their opponent. In a contested skill check, it plays out like a combat round. If the player opposing the check gets higher dice, they block the attempt and the mission fails. A player can take a special action indicated on their player board. Taking cover will add 1 extra die to a defense roll.
Finally they can either draw support cards or discard a mission to draw another. The game continues for three rounds then each player will total up their completed missions and the player with the highest score wins.
Captains log: Final thoughts
This one surprised me. At first look, as stated earlier, this game is not a skirmish game. It’s a race to complete missions and earn the highest score of completed missions to win. Missions are asymmetrical based on the away team. There are more away team expansions to use than the base game (Klingons, Romulans, and more Federation) to add to the game experience. I find it challenging to get the characters in the right place in order to score the mission. In the games I have played so far, combat has been only engaged when the enemy is threatening a mission.
I would think Star Trek fans will enjoy this one and as long as you know what the game is really like its one that offers quite a challenge.
Until next time, keep moving those meeples and happy gaming!
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