Resistance is Futile! The Star Trek: Away Missions Review

Peter reviews Star Trek: Away Missions from Gale Force Nine ... and gets into a deep dive on the difficulties of reviewing games.
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Intro music by Peter Miller (www.scribbletronics.com). Used with permission.

[@IlanMuskat]

I keep hearing "Core Set" as "corset", and thinking "yes, that would be a very restrictive play experience"

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

🤣 The deadline was tight!

[@sigurd1410]

​@@EsotericOrderGamers😂😂😂😂😂

[@MsDaFlo]

Thank you so much for this review and your thoughts! You are always putting so much effort in these videos and it's so appreciated.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Nice of you to say that, thankyou! I try. 😆

[@pasqualecirone9755]

I really appreciate all the extra effort you put into the review- multiple plays, research with other reviewers and even a play with GF9. Well thought out!

[@picton101]

Loved the review. We played out first (and currently only) game last week. From learning to completion took us 1hr 45m. Our experience was the opposite. Both myself and my opponent scored lots of missions, we started with a few fights on the bridge, the Borg seized control of the sick bay and armoury and I had to send Worf and Riker in to clear them out. I won the game with my last couple of actions thanks to a combination of a bonus action and Chief O'Brian beaming me onto the bridge to access a specific console. There were only 30 points between me and the Borg player at the end and he seemed to be leading for much of the game. I'm guessing we played it more thematically. I found the Borg intimidating from turn 2 and had to send some of my away team to harass them to slow their diabolical schemes, meanwhile my opponent spent his time holding stations with his Borg to slow my repairs and just trying to assimilate me for fun. You're not wrong about the art though. I don't mind the "bobble heads" as some have described them but the text layouts and some of the rulebooks terminology is horrible, which is strange considering how nice I thought Ascendancy looked and read. I'm hoping to play it again this weekend. Maybe my experience will differ but we both came away from our first game wanting a rematch. That said I remember my experience with GF9s Dr Who game. First play loved it, every game after that was horrible, so maybe that'll happen again. I hope not though 🤞

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Dr Who: Time of the Daleks also wasn't for me, I must admit! Interesting to hear about your experiences with this game.

[@buster0042]

First time watching one of your reviews. Great review. Loved the story of exactly HOW you came to the review and trials and tribbleations you ran into. Thank you! Will subscribe and look for future reviews of things. Hope to see a review of the Klingon and Romulan packs.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I'm really glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for letting me know - and subbing!

[@Pezzapoo]

Great review, maybe because Modiphius has the license for miniatures they had to do these bobbleheads? Its the main turn off for me sadly.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I haven't heard that, but who knows? I'm not crazy about them either, but I've been painting them lately and they look better painted.

[@coppershark1973]

Had exactly the opposite experience with this game. The Borg walk all over the Federation.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Oh come ON! 🤣

[@viperseven1922]

Excellent detailed review 🎉🎉🎉 especially your communication and test-game with GF9 illustrates your thorough research on this „game“-project. Please carry on 👍👍👍👍👍

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Will do sir! 🤣

[@Zod.the.Merciless]

Great review! Often games like this with asymetric player powers have strategy guides for how to get the best out of each faction. It sure sounds like this would have helped here.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

There are some brief strategy guides in the book and more on the GF9 website. I didn't have a problem with strategy per se, but more that it was possible to play a few games that could fall flat if you played a certain way.

[@mylor1066]

Excellent review showing just how committed you to giving each game is fair shit. Awesome hearing behind the scenes info on your process.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Very glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for letting me know!

[@Deabru3]

Great review and really interesting process!! Now this game looks interesting! Looks like a convination of WH underworlds and wildlands.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

It certainly shares aspects of both!

[@m.e.3862]

Thanks for the review. GF9 owes you because your experience is here for others to reference if they experience the same thing in their games using the starter box teams. Personally I’d probably have put the Klingons in the box instead of the Borg because at least you know how they would play instinctively. Not a fan of the minis, but the game would be fun if there were a community of steady players. GF9 has their work cut out for them though with so many games coming out. Funko has Star Wars Rivals a collectible Star Wars game coming out that is sort of like this. Plus magic and that warhammer game…. so many games, too little time….😊

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

It's true, the games industry in general is highly competitive, then each small sub-genre has its own pool of games vying for attention. I guess the good news is though, from the point of view of us consumers, we're spoiled for choice like never before!

[@SeanUCF]

What Magic game are you referring to? I'm not certain but I think Underworlds might be cancelled and is much more of a skirmish combat oriented game anyway, so I'm not sure if I would personally compare them.

[@dougcerulli8826]

Thanks for spending the time on this game. I bought it at Gen Con but have not yet had a chance to play it. I'll be sure to use your experience and advice once I start getting into it. I feel the strength this game will be in its theme, which is fine. I have a number games that I enjoy more because of the theme. I'm also banking on the pedigree of Gale Force 9 especially in reference to Star Trek Ascendancy, which I love. I'm usually not a fan of cartoonish figures (like Marvel United), but for some reason, I sort of like these minis and they work well with the style of the board. However I agree the choice of using still shots on the cards does seem odd with this style. Probably would have been better to go with new art that match the figures.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Star Trek Ascendancy is probably GF9's best IMHO.

[@ares106]

That was interesting. Like you said, I think most players will try this once or twice, complain about unbalance and never play again.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I'll be interested to see how the expansions play, and will try to post some feedback when I get a chance to explore them.

[@fy8798]

Great review and...discussing on reviewing. I'd consider this for my mother, quite a trekkie and occasional boardgamer. It sounds quite nice for that!

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I'd be interested to hear what she thinks of it!

[@nicholascamburako7326]

Thank you for the review, and clarification on the Borg and how best to play them. That said, for those of us who respond better to seeing something done, rather than being told it... any chance you can do a playthrough video, perhaps with the developer again, and share that?

[@raygun6271]

Really enjoyed the game review and the behind the scenes aspect! Everyone always thinks the other guys job is easy😃

[@oongowa]

Looking forward to playing this, should be arriving soon. I'd be curious to hear what you think about the game playing with the Romulans and Klingons.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I will talk about it somewhere when I get a chance to - after this saga I'm intrigued. 😆

[@WonderfulPlays]

I liked the review and the report of the process of the review, well done

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Thankyou, glad you enjoyed it.

[@joshualee6197]

I love this review! Thank you for all the time and information you put into making this. It would be great to see a game being played that shows how the borg should be played. We have played it with the same results you have stated here. Ignore the federation, you lose. If you attack the federation, you lose. So like yourself originally, there is something we must be missing. I love Star Trek, I love board games, I like this game, and I want to love it too. I get that luck has a lot to do with it, but we found that there seems to be hardly any low scoring card for the federation. It felt like the support cards were best discarded for mainly rerolls. For example, score 10 points for 1 success with 5 points for each additional success. Now with the bonuse dice for characters specializations and bounus dice from an assist, it came down to rolling on average 4 or more dice each skill test. With being able to discard for rerolls that small 10pt card turns into 25 to 35 pts easy where the borg had no way of getting additional pts for their easy scoring cards. We found the assimilation process to be near impossible. The borg have one atk dice out side of Locutuc, 2 if supported, where the federation roll 3 plus dice for defence. Also the federation have a bit more life points. It takes half of not more of the borgs actions to be able to whittle down for assimilation which durring that time the borg are not working on theirown missions which take at least 3 actions to compleat. The roughest being you have to use one to start the mission and then your other to start rolling. If you have moved your 2 spaces, your useing another characters action to even start to roll as the borg. The federation after the first turn if your characters are already set up at the correct terminals, you only have to use one action to compleat a 45 pt mission. Then the other characters may move, atk, or even compleat different missions. In essence it is like giveing the federation additional actions. It is great that the borg get powerups by acquiring adapt tokens. The problem we found was they come from the more difficult missions where they dont appear until close to the third round to be any affective and by that time, the federation already has such a high lead on points that they felt moot. I see that there are a few house rules to help over come some if these issues, but i would like to see how it was balanced initially. Thank you

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I'm no expert on how the Borg should be played, and in fact I agree with you; however I have played a game where the points were close. Can I be bothered to work at making the Borg more effective? Not really. I've played with some other factions (Picard and House of Duras) and found the game more fun. There is however a small boost to the Borg in the latest FAQ, so check that out. Not enough probably, but it's interesting that they have responded to the feedback and done that.

[@martinevans9757]

Excellent review, thank you! The exaggerated, cartoonish style of the minis reminds me of the 80's FASA 25mm Trek miniatures which also have disproportionately big heads.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Ah, it's been done before then!

[@samt9387]

Great vid 👍 I've been on the fence with this one. Seems as if the expansions might be needed, which might put it out of my range. Any chance of battle reports on this system?

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Probably not at this stage.

[@LordBollocks]

Have you had a chance to try out the expansions yet? I’m keen to hear your thoughts.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Not Romulans and Klingons yet, but the Picard and House of Duras expansions are great (See my separate video).

[@housecaldwell]

When the game was announced I was really interested...until I saw the miniatures. If the miniatures hadn't been bobble-heads, I could have used them for other wargames. So then I was still mildly interested but it would have to be good gameplay. And it sounds like it doesn't have that either. GF9 also makes a Firefly game that I want to like....but when Fantasy Flight came out with Outer Rim I realized it was how I wanted the Firefly game to be -- fun! So maybe GF9 and I just aren't quite a good fit.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Oh I like Firefly, it's a bit of a huge sprawling mess these days but very fun if you're very much into the theme as I am. It reminds me of Arkham Horror in that respect.

[@picton101]

I can't say I really noticed the "bobble-heads" in play as the miniatures themselves are all quite chunky. I'd say they're more along the lines of boardgame pieces as opposed to miniatures gaming pieces.

[@groggyorangutan]

This resonates with me. I've tried different approaches in the game without any success. Maybe the play style of the game just isn't a good match for me. Friends who are more used to that sort of playstyle have no problem with it and score high with either side. I think there's an element of knowing the cards as well, if you know your opponent's potential missions you can try to pre-empt them.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Indeed - I guess I'm a bit more flighty these days and don't have the time to devote to one game in that manner. I kind of just want it to be good right away!

[@th638]

This really is an outstanding review. I watched it last year and again, just now, having purchased the game. Thank you, Peter.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Thankyou so much - I rally appreciate that positivity. 😀

[@trioxin2457]

Good review, sounds like you had to work really hard to find the fun which is disappointing, I’ll give it a miss.

[@shotou]

Oh hey did you ask Phil about any plans for organised play events for the game?

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

No I didn't, sorry.

[@GaleForceNineGames]

That's definitely the plan if it takes off as we hope...

[@holden88]

This always seems to be the case with the Federation across mutiple games. In both the old ccg and Fleet Captains, if you leave the Feds alone they will run away with game.

[@pedrowayne4675]

Is this Solo-able?

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Nope.

[@jpotter2086]

I look at those character cards ... I look at my acrylic stockpile, and I think, "Opportunithy!" A good case, recessed bits for slightly larger, much thicker crystals(?) ... much prettier and user-friendlier solution. BUT ... is the game worth it? I'm not convinced.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I played a game the other day with the two new expansion packs and it was a lot of fun and very close, so it felt like a better experience without the Borg! But everyone has different tastes, just do some research and if it doesn't float your boat, so be it. 😁

[@23nacho23]

This game is really good. Of course I was taught how to play by one of the game designers.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Nice! I played a game with one of the designers too.

[@richardallenstubbs2972]

So my wife and I unboxed the core set and we both played this game for our first time tonight. I played as the Borg, totally ignored her for the entire game except for when she tried to attack me once. I won 110-85. Not sure where this perceived imbalance is coming from.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

well, problem solved then! 🤣

[@richardallenstubbs2972]

Lol it's also possible I got lucky this time. I assimilated the character she attacked me with.

[@travisnaganuma2542]

Damn I am so glad I watched this video before I bought the game. I'm still going to buy the game but I hate having a bad evening experience after spending money. Thanks again!

[@adrian-martini]

This would have been a decent looking game with great minis - in 1980. 😊

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

It certainly would have been - back then the closest I got to this was the Micronauts.

[@jshradnick]

what sleeves please?

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I use Swan Panasia 'Made for Magic the Gathering' 64x89mm.

[@shylevari]

Personally, I dislike screen-captures-as-game-art generally. I would have preferred a cartoonish art style on the cards as well. All of the graphic design feels like it got stuck in the 90's, but that's GF9 games for you :/ I think I'll just make replacements of my own to these tokens (like a starfeleet badge for.. something?) Oh and why do I need an "activated" token at all? Why not just slide the player card down or something. Tilt it sideways? For stunned, why not knock your miniature sideways (like in Arkham Horror). So many weird design decisions..

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I know what you mean - a little longer in the oven graphic design-wise would have been good I think.

[@electricfootballhero1349]

Thanks for saving me a lot of money. I'll stick with games that are fun without having to seek out developer assistance.

[@cook1tj]

I wish this game had a solo mode sooooo bad.

[@franciscoguerra5439]

What a fascinating video this was. I have to say, I was not convinced with this game - and I'm one of the people who really dislikes the miniatures - aaaaaaand yeah, I don't know... I think it will be a pass from me. I don't have the time to stick with a game long enough to feel balanced after multiple sessions, given the huge backlog in wait. Great video!

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

And fair enough too, and that's something I definitely want to get across, it's not for everyone. As always, I think everyone's likes and dislikes when it comes to games are very, very subjective, and I can definitely understand someone not investing in this type of game.

[@23nacho23]

To really understand the game and become proficient you need to become familiar with cards and that takes a few games

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Sure, that holds with pretty much any game that relies on card play.

[@thebestplaguemarine3130]

I like the look of the game but not the models I’d rather use the Star Trek dnd models

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Well then go right ahead! 😆

[@HivisoftheScale]

Custom Klingon dice..??

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

That's a very good point, they've left the appropriate custom dice out of the expansion packs.

[@HivisoftheScale]

@@EsotericOrderGamers wait, really?! What the heck? That would have been the main reason I would have bought the expac 😔

[@LordTechnopants]

I hope you have space for this and therefore you don't have to store it somewhere that is too much of a 'trek'. Making these licensed games is quite an 'enterprise'.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

This is the point where I encourage you and it starts after every review, or I shut it down now.... 🤣 ... Hmmm, actually it's really hard to come up with non-obvious puns about Star Trek!

[@LordTechnopants]

@@EsotericOrderGamers I think it's to your credit that you don't want to do anything obvious Peter. Better to not have a 'warped' mind or act on 'impulse'. I'll 'cling-on' to my ways for now as I feel the need to 'bridge' the void between the UK & NZ. If it gets you down I'll just come to a 'full stop', but if you need a pick-me-up I'll be here with a 'turbo-lift' sir!

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I canna take it anymore!

[@LordTechnopants]

@@EsotericOrderGamers I understand. My better half (looking over my shoulder) has demanded I stop too. Ya kanna change the laws of psychics, but 'all good things' etc.

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

You keep doing what you feel like doing, I'm usually up for a pun war

[@HeadCannonPrime]

As a reviewer I think asking the designer of the game how to make it fun is a HUGE red fag! If a game is actually good, then it should be good from the first game from complete novices. after all, every other player will be playing it without special instruction or help from the company. The full disclosure is appreciated but really makes me wonder if this and other reviews can be trusted if you can't express unfiltered negative opinions without consulting the company. We already have WAY too many reviewers out here that never give anything but positive commercialized "reviews".

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

I suspect you missed the point of this review - or I didn't express myself effectively. It was my long experience with games that made me do so, because I knew that something was wrong with our experience. After discussing the game and playing it with one of the designers, I could re-approach it and understand the reasons why that had happened, which I explain in the review. If I'd posted a negative review without diving into the game deeper, it would have been *then* that I would have done you a disservice. Remember, a negative review is not necessarily a better or more independent review. And you'll find plenty of realistic negative comments throughout all my reviews.

[@valhallam6940]

With all due respect I think you complete missed the point of this review. The game is tactical and each faction should be played according to their strengths and weaknesses. I played this game before watching this review and played the borg faction to their strengths and won the game. Asking for help and clarification from the designer is not a HUGE red flag as you put it. It shows commitment and professionalism from the reviewer in providing a fair unbiased comment. This is my opinion after all and of course I respect yours.

[@holysmoke8439]

The continuing mission.. To Explore new worlds!!! Check that your gonna find space garbage

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

Errr. ... thanks for that

[@holysmoke8439]

@@EsotericOrderGamers that was the watered down version

[@EsotericOrderGamers]

If you wanting to say something specific it's not quite coming across - well, to me anyway! 😆