Bored? Game! – Star Trek Catan

Star Trek is awesome. One of the most popular science fiction franchises today, its influence knows no bounds. Spawning five television series, 11 films (with the 12^th, Into Darkness, coming out this year), hundreds of novels expanding the universe and dozens of videogames, it only makes sense that it extends its reach into tabletop games and what better title to do it with than the classic board game Settlers of Catan?

In the same vein as Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan sees you establish and expand trade routes across a randomly-created board in order to expand  your empire and gain enough victory points to achieve victory. It’s more or less the same as the base game, except instead of settlements, cities and roads, you have outposts, starbases and starships. The robber, which comes into play when a seven is rolled, has been changed into a Klingon Bird of Prey, land features have been converted into planets and development, support and resource cards have been given a Trek spin, but other than that, there’s little else to differentiate this from the original game.

But that’s not really important as long as the game itself is good fun. So you’ll sit down with a few pals and get ready to play your first match…

Only to find out that the initial setup takes a while. Every piece comes with a separate stand, meaning you’ll have to piece them together before you can start playing. It’s not particularly difficult or fiddly, but due to the amount of pieces, this task can take a while to complete. If it’s your first time playing, you’ll want to follow the introductory game instructions to get an idea of how to play, but even following these can take a while: it’ll be a good half an hour before you understand the rules fully.

But when you do, everything soon settles into place: you’ll gain your resources, make your purchases and play your development and support cards and get into the rhythm of the game. Soon enough, everyone’s individual playing styles will shine though: you’ll get the person that purchases whatever they can whenever they can and hope it all pans out in their favour; the trader that accumulates their resources for that one big purchase that will ensure them victory; the magnificent bastard that monitors every move, every acquisition, every card played and strikes at the precise moment to win the game.  It’s great fun to adapt to everyone’s strategy and adds another dimension to proceedings.

Star Trek Catan is initially confusing and bit fiddly on your first play, but once you get used to the rules and get into your groove, it turns into an exciting exercise in resource management and negotiation between players. It could do with being a little bit more Trekky, particularly in branching out beyond just The Original Series, but it’s a nice addition to one of sci-fi’s most beloved franchises. The fact that the game is highly modifiable means that no two games will ever feel the same, something that can’t be said of the majority of other titles.

A logical choice for both veterans and people new to board games, Star Trek Catan proves that when combined, science fiction and tabletop gaming Khan offer an exciting and different tabletop experience.

Star Trek Catan

Designer: Klaus Teber/Franz Vohwinkel/Gero Zahn
Mechanic: Negotiation/Trade/Expansion
Number of players: 3-4
Length of Game: 75 mins
Complexity: Light/Medium
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