If you have read my previous blog, you already know how much I enjoy Star Trek Ascendancy. There are currently three expansions for the game; the first two add the Ferengi and the Cardassians as playable races, the third, the Borg, changes the game completely.
The Borg expansion introduces a whole new mechanism as the Borg are not a playable unit, they operate entirely on their own. Using a deck of cards to control their actions, they attempt to assimilate all races in the game. This expansion also introduces a solo element to the game.
The object of the Borg is not to get 5 Ascendancy but to assimilate the homeworld of the players. If a homeworld is assimilated, that player is out of the game. Now those treaties really come into play, as each player is striving for Ascendancy, they have to decide if they will ally with the other races to hold off the ever-growing Borg collective.
The Borg turn consists of rolling to see if they can add a cube to each trans-warp hub in play. If they roll less than the number of cubes currently in play, they may add another.
Next, they draw a control card for each cube. This says what the cube is going to do. It could be move and attack the nearest planet, or ship, or could have a specific location it has to travel to. If the Borg engage in combat, then the cube has a set of protocols it follows.
Fighting and defeating a Borg cube is no easy task. Each Borg cube rolls nine dice, and even though you get first attack (and you will need it) as in standard combat dice are rolled adding any modifiers and a roll higher than the current shield strength wins. However, if they roll a Borg symbol, they can return a die for each one they roll. And if that’s not enough each attack that fails to destroy it, increases their shields until eventually no damage can be made against them. However, if you manage to destroy a cube, you get a Borg tech card, which will better the odds when fighting them.
When a Borg attacks a planet, they want to destroy all facilities and control nodes. If they succeed, place a Borg spire on that world. Each turn the Borg add one control node to the spire and once it is filled, a Borg cube launches from there, the nodes are removed and the whole process repeats. For every world assimilated, the Borg attack strength increases as if they need it.
I really enjoy the expansion, even though I have never defeated them, and I have tried all 3 basic races, unfortunately the Federation fared the worst. The Romulans came the closest, were able to take down 2 cubes!! But alas Romulus did become part of the collective.
This is not, I repeat not an easy expansion but it adds so many new dynamics to the game it surely is a must have for any fan of Ascendancy. Resistance may be futile, but we never give up.
Written by Ed Carter
