Star Trek: Ascendancy

Boldly go where no one has gone before.

I quite like a bit of Star Trek, despite the fact it is under-represented in my game library, so I was excited to see the release of this epic exploration and conquest game by Gale Force Nine. Then the price tag and the fact that the core set only supports three players put me off purchasing for a couple of years.

But after seeing it on special I couldn’t resist boldly buying, and I’m glad I did. It’s complex but flows well and is very involving, and if luck can unbalance things a bit, and there’s a tendency to gang up on the leader, these things can be overlooked in return for a long evening of thematic enjoyment as you build up your space empire. It’s one of those games where you settle in for the long haul and always have a fantastic time. Just keep an eye on your rivals, because you can easily win the game without firing a shot!

There’s a huge range of expansions that increase the player count, and I enjoy the game so much they quickly became essential additions. Each faction features very thematic strategies that bring that particular starfaring race to life. Adding the Borg expansion also makes it possible to play solo or with two, though those relentless Borg are an extremely challenging threat.

Make sure you grab yourself the updated rulebook PDFs from Gale Force Nine, especially the Borg one.

For gamers who are Star Trek fans then, this is a must buy. Live long and game well!

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Update Log

Date Version Changelog
Sep 2024 4.1 Small cosmetic typo fix in Winning the Game section
Sep 2022 4 Added Dominion War and Breen expansions, and reorganised layouts
Mar 2021 3 Added the rest of the current expansions
Mar 2021 2 Reworked after release of updated rules PDFs; added the Borg expansion rules
Jul 2018 1 Original release

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