Introducing the Masked Meeple, this secretive and nameless meeple is bringing us some great reviews of various board games. I dare not ask it for its real identity as it is shrouded in mystery, all I know for sure isit is called the Masked Meeple .
‘Ghostmaker’
The Masked Meeples Review: Star Trek Fleet Captains and Star Trek Fleet Captains Romulan Empire expansion.
To boldly go where no one has gone before; that is the feel you get when playing this gem of a game. The Romulan expansion introduces the Romulans as a 3rd faction to play along with the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The players are randomly assigned ships based on their faction which in turn decide what missions are available for your fleet to attempt. As one would expect, the Klingons are more likely to get combat missions, Federation science and Romulans Espionage type. You then get to build your draw deck based on your mission types from a selection of card groups that are faction appropriate such as the ‘Picard’ deck, ‘House of Martok’ deck and ‘Science of War’ deck. Each deck provides special upgrades for your deck, special crew and other effects that will help you throughout the game.
As you travel through unknown space, you reveal new tiles which provide the backdrop for the game. For example, revealing an open space tile may give you a low chance of a random encounter while revealing a inhabited planet will give you a higher chance to encounter something of interest. In order to fight the enemy, travel between systems or simply scan anomalies, the players need to decide what energy settings each ship will have for the turn by turning the hero clix dials to the appropriate setting. Different settings have different levels of Weapons, Engines, Shields and Sensors which determine the dice you get to roll to accomplish tasks.
The game while entertaining does have its flaws. The overall manufacture is not quite as high grade as you’d expect with the ships being somewhat fragile. They are easily repaired though as their assembly is modular. The cards and tokens are not sturdy card but the box does come crammed full of ships, decks and tokens to make up for it. While a 10 point game is recommended, it can lead to frustrating games where the Federation breezes ahead due to the ease of science missions while the Klingons who need time to build their strength for combat missions find that by the time they have managed to do so, the game is over. Thus the popular suggested point game is 12-15. The addition of the Romulans brings a much needed 3rd faction that makes the game more dynamic and interesting.
Overall, Star Trek Fleet Captains is a recommended game and will provide hours of entertainment in the Star Trek universe. As always, reviewed games are available to play in the Hub or to purchase from 6s2Hit!
