Review - Star Trek Away Missions - Battle of Wolf 359 Core Set - Federation vs Borg by Gale Force 9

[@donaldhouf8377]

I’m hoping we get a solo expansion to this at some point in the future! I’d love to be able to dungeon crawl the Enterprise.

[@OGbigdaddom]

Excellent! The first vid I’ve seen to fully work through the mechanics. Thank you dude!

[@olivergunson]

Favourite Star Trek Episode is a very difficult question, however I think "Darmok" is a classic and always in my top three

[@Skullyweb]

City on the edge of forever from the original series all good things for next gen. tied the whole series up nicely

[@joeswift403]

Got mine yesterday. Really like the sculpts, had intended to swap them out for my Modiphius ones but won't be now. Gameplay is fun, might need to change the Borg a little, it's quite a challenge for them.

[@stormwalker628]

Favorite Star Trek episode: A Piece of the Action.

[@henryrodriguez6260]

Great vid. For those curious about gameplay, ST:AW is heavily inspired by GW’s most excellent Warhammer Underworlds (“WU”). In fact, I would call it a direct descendent of WU. I recommend Agents of Sigmar on KZbin for a video or two for a revealing insights on what ST:AW will be like. The turn order, activation system, dual deck design and modular board are all WU creations (though ST:AW gives its own spin to some of these). Boardgamegeek is, as always, a good resource. But note that WU has been around for 6 years and has had numerous coresets, starter sets and faction expansions. The most recent is called WU Wyrdhollow. GW games have relatively fewer player engagement on BGG.

[@MaryJoSminkey]

Enjoyed the review. Got my copy of the game + expansions recently but haven't had a chance to play it against someone, but playing against myself I feel like the Borg are a tough team to win with so I look forward to trying the others teams to see how they match up. I like how it has a "starter" game to teach new players and more advanced options as you learn it, and there are some pretty good online guides to how to play different teams on the GF website. Negatives.... the expansions should include the matching dice (the store I bought them at didn't even have them for sale) and there definitely should have been an expansion that included the additional boards to expand the game to 3-4 players. Expecting players to buy a second base game just for extra boards is RIDICULOUS and since I more typically play board games with 3-4 people (none of which plan to buy this game) it greatly reduces my chances to get to play this with other people. Favorite episode, I guess I would pick The Offspring since I did a Lal cosplay so have a fondness for that storyline in particular.

[@WonderfulPlays]

In my first game as the Borg I scored 225 points. In the other games the lowest the Borg scored was 175. I don't think Federation can outscore it that easily.

[@keithpalmer4547]

Most other reviewers say the Borg are too easy.

[@DeathMortarion]

I could see quite a bit of potential in this game, hopefully they release Cardassians as their own team, and the Dominion with some DS9 station modular tiles.

[@Crosis101]

Word is that there are plans for other conflicts… Next two sets are the rest of the enterprise bridge crew and the house duras

[@MaryJoSminkey]

@Crosis101 The question is whether those will be just miniatures and cards like the current expansions or will actually include the additional boards to allow you to play with more players. I'm not paying for more expansions that do NOT allow you to play with more players without buying an entire base game again.

[@Crosis101]

@@MaryJoSminkey ok

[@AndrewMcColl]

I got to playtest an early version of this game and it was a whole lot of fun. The asymmetric play was interesting and early on it felt a bit more like Warhammer Underworlds, but with phasers.

[@thediminutivesoldier]

ive watched several videos trying to gauge this game and yours has been the best! Subbed! I really wish they would release more maps for this game. Would be cool to have non ship maps too, like down on planets.

[@henryrodriguez6260]

My favorite (?… there are so many) episode was from TNG - “Chain of Command.” An unbalanced starter is something that Warhammer Underworlds has dealt with off and on. Sometimes this issue is resolved by accessing deck-building in the advanced game. Other times it requires the company to actively balance the game with faction changes via balance FAQs.

[@RogerODell]

Everything I have seen so far with this game looks promising. Although I have not played it yet, I think my only concern is the 3 rounds. I think 5 would be a better number. I'll know more when I eventually pick it up. I think the miniatures are fine. They look similar to the size of the Aliens AGDITC miniatures which are quite small. Making them in this style helps reduce the realism factor at that scale. I look forward to painting them. I am sure there will be more map expansions and even more character packs beyond the two that were announced along with this core set.

[@MaryJoSminkey]

The 3 rounds actually is a fairly long amount of time and quite a lot of game, I suppose you could decide to do more rounds but having played it I am not sure you would want to.

[@Shaggeechaos]

The best of both worlds is the best episode, I remember watching with my father and my child mind being blown away.

[@NelsMonsterX]

Really excited for this game! My favorite episode is Who Watches the Watchers. I love how Picard always chooses to do the right thing even though he could be worshipped as a god.

[@CaffeinePanda]

This may be the Star Trek game I've been jonesing for, thanks for the walkthrough! My favorite ST episode is a hard choice, but may have to go with DS9's "In the Pale Moonlight."

[@kaimada.s]

I think i can live with it. 😉

[@Crabbok]

Great episode for sure!!!!

[@markusneb2889]

best episode. Then again DS9 gives so many fantastic ones

[@thatblastedsamophlange]

While I'm not a fan of the the miniatures, I may consider picking this up. I'd love you to do a review with some of the upcoming factions, and HOW it plays with more than 2 players. I know it will NEVER happen, but I'd love to see Tholians (though would prefer them in Ascendancy). Species like the Gorn, or Cardassians could be fun too, and with the way they have named it, we could get different scenarios - We could very well get a DS9 Dominion war type of game.

[@MaryJoSminkey]

The problem is that to play with more than 2 players you not only need the expansion sets you need an entire second copy of the game too!! Ridiculous to not have an expansion that will let you play with all the additional away teams.

[@MithrandirAv]

I'm excited for this game. I've seen these minis painted and I think they look way better.

[@nerdstuffandreviews7578]

The two-part episode the core set looks based on was some of the BEST material from the TNG series. I don’t love the mini design, but the game does look like fun. If I feel the minis are throwing me off, I can always swap in my Modiphius minis in a pinch, but I don’t expect that to be necessary if the game is good.

[@corrinap]

Really cool dice battling system

[@Gitch_Games]

Terrific review, thank you. It was very thorough and informative.

[@anakinstwin202]

First things first, I love that MF'in shirt! Now, on to the game. It looks like it could be really fun! Thanks as always for giving a heads up to some of these games that we might not have been focusing on, you rock!

[@Crabbok]

Any time!

[@aquilaprimedesign]

kind of wondering if getting all the borg on the table by turn 2 would help(?)

[@leesweeney8879]

Borg tiles! Looks fun.

[@quantumsheep]

Thanks for this review - definitely picking it up! :D Fave episode is Yesterday's Enterprise. It's just perfect :)

[@Ironbudha23]

Looks pretty nifty. Great video. Keep up the good work!

[@bamboozledgreatcrowd8982]

Do you feel this has high replay or just playing the same thing just with different factions. The great thing about imperial assault was you got different board pieces.

[@DeathMortarion]

They'll probably release a set of double sided boards for Klingon/Romulan ship interiors.

[@bamboozledgreatcrowd8982]

@DeathMortarion Looks like the factions are only figures and cards.

[@GaleForceNineGames]

The board is built fresh at the start of each game, with lots of possible combinations to build a new spaceship every time

[@bamboozledgreatcrowd8982]

@@GaleForceNineGames That adds to the replayability but will be boring playing with the same tiles over and over. You need planet tiles and tiles that are other ships. You could make the tiles double sided. It's star trek away missions not star trek boarding parties.

[@GaleForceNineGames]

@@bamboozledgreatcrowd8982 The tiles are double sided, the other side is The Borg cube...

[@jeffreysanders3442]

What suggestions do you have to make the scoring more balanced for the Borg? I think in your video you mentioned giving them a 50 point advantage to start?

[@sirsully]

Seams like a fun game. I like how the board can be different every game. But I doubt I will get it. I just don't think I need another collectable / expandable game...

[@smoker420la]

My fav is S5E25 "The Inner Light" Earth's future so powerful.

[@Crabbok]

Beautiful Episode!

[@Crosis101]

Having played the core set at Gencon I feel the BORG can run away with the game. So many of their abilities chain off of one another. I hope to play more of it as I picked it all up at the con

[@MaryJoSminkey]

Interestingly enough most people have the opposite comment, that it's much harder to win playing the Borg, to the point that some complain about it being too unbalanced (it's really just a matter of working out the correct strategy to use with the Borg, but it's definitely a harder team to win with.

[@josephmoberly2109]

Looks like a fun game, especially for Star Trek fans!

[@TheInquisitiveRogue]

Looking forward to star trek content :)

[@ArchExcel]

Don't actually watch star trek! But totally enjoy the video

[@Monster_zaczac]

Looks fun. Not sure about the artwork though

[@xanderbaby]

Awesome video matey

[@nickhartung6941]

This looks interesting

[@FASAfan]

Pitiful, ol' Star Trek fan here amongst my more "upscale", "embarrassment of riches" Star Wars cousins... Star Trek always gets the shaft on miniatures (Star Trek: Attack Wing vs. Star Wars: X-Wing, Armada, etc.) and this game is no exception. These miniatures are bizarre.

[@slenaas]

I disagree. Star Trek Attack Wing was a really successful game. However, the only reason that it died out was that Wizkids didn’t market it as well as FF marketed X-wing. Also FF licensed the game mechanics for Attack wing out to Wizkids for Attack Wing so that when Asmodee bought FF in ‘17/‘18, Asmodee canceled Wizkids license to use those mechanics and effectively shut down a competing game killing Attack Wing. Not to mention since you reference Star Wars Armada, if you had done your research, you would know that Asmodee has also effectively shut down the Armada line among other games has made FF successful prior to the merger (yes even X-wing has pretty much been killed off).

[@darrengamer8189]

I agree... Truly terrible miniatures that are putting a lot of people off buying this.

[@spyhardman]

Yeah, I enjoyed Attack Wing more than X-Wing, but the difference in mini quality was stark. Looking at Away Missions... even the packaging is hideous!

[@spyhardman]

@@slenaas I think FASAfan was specifically talking about the design and manufacture of the miniatures themselves.

[@FASAfan]

@@slenaas are you kidding me? I was praising the quality of Armada and X-Wing miniatures compared to ST:AW - not jusdgint he success of any game. Did you “do YOUR research” and actually read my post? You got your back up for nothing, doof. And why the hell is this a highlighted post? Well, hello there… and goodbye, Crabbok.

[@ryancaputo1671]

I might just sundrop mine rather than paint

[@olivergunson]

Anyone else notice that Crabbok sometimes calls this "Star Wars"?

[@Crabbok]

ROFL when 900 years you reach, speak as goodly, you will not?

[@olivergunson]

@@Crabbok I'm half tempted to suggest you make it a drinking game though this is a family channel so maybe not 😅

[@rickmonson6793]

Looks similar to Imperial Assault but for Star Trek.

[@henryrodriguez6260]

It is a successor to GW’s Warhammer Underworlds

[@thatblastedsamophlange]

Why does the federation seem more powerful? Because the greatest defensive technology they have - 'Plot Armour'.

[@drbasseri]

My main gripe with GF9 is that is seems they always create games with weird or low starting player counts, then they add "expansions" to make you buy more product and thus, increasing player count so you can actually play with your friend group

[@keithpalmer4547]

Actually I heard the Borg was much easier to play.

[@eomat]

3 rounds really puts me off. Seems too short.

[@scepteredisle]

WHY are the miniatures so horrible