I’m the first to admit that I’m not a Star Trek fan. That’s not to say I don’t like Star Trek, I have never sat down and watched an episode. I now have access to Hulu thanks to my subscription to Spotify, and I have considered watching the original series or Star Trek: Next Generation. When my uncle bought Star Trek: Ascendancy, I wasn’t sure if this game would be for me because of my limited Star Trek knowledge. I’m astonished because I thought this game was massively addicting.

Star Trek: Ascendancy was published by GaleForce Nine which is a company also producing the Doctor Who board game which is another game I deeply enjoyed. Star Trek: Ascendancy allows the player to choose out of four factions to travel deep space with. These include: the Federation, Romulans, Klingons, and the Cardassians (which I believe is pronounced similarly to the Kardashians?). I picked the Romulans as everyone in my gaming group had wanted to play the other factions. The objective is to build up your fleet and take over another faction or acquire five Ascendancy tokens.

From the above picture, this is towards the middle of the game. To win the game, it’s crucial to explore different planets. They can net resources for the faction which can be utilized to build or upgrade ships. This allows for better success in intergalactic space battles.

Each faction starts with a card that gives them an added benefit to the game. I had “the Romulan cloaking device” which allowed me to strike first in space battles. I never used the device because my main premise was to explore other planets. Another aspect of the game is offering “trade agreements”. These agreements are established between planets to avoid conflict and gather resources. Trade agreements are violated when you betray the faction and attack them instead. In our game, I had a trade agreement with my brother. I wholeheartedly believe that if we had time to finish our game, he would have stabbed me in the back and attacked me.

I will admit, that turn orders are extremely time-consuming. As a player, my attention wavered because I was waiting for my turn. Turns are split into a “build” and a “command” phase. Building ships and formulating upgrades always happens first. Once you spend your resources, you flip the turn card over and command your ships across the galaxy. As my gaming group started to learn the rules, turns weren’t as lengthy, but it felt like a round took forever.

Ultimately, I did enjoy this game and I’m not a “Trekkie”. I’m inspired to watch more Star Trek, so I can understand where all the references come from. I have heard nothing but good things about Star Trek: Next Generation. I think that might be my new TV-watching project after finishing up How To Get Away With Murder. Until then, I’ll keep up my galactic conquest with the Romulans.