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Back in February, the gaming company WizKids put out a Clix game that I have long been expecting, Star Trek Tactics. The game's rules are pretty much the same as their current game HeroClix and uses the same Powers and Abilities Card as HeroClix. I bought a starter and a threesome of boosters for the game online and I think I got some good pulls. Much like WizKids HeroClix game, they sell boosters either by the brick or by the case. You can also go into your local game store or online and buy them individually.
The starter was well worth the $19 I paid. For that price you got the rules, a laminated cardboard Powers and Abilities card (PAC), two maps and four non-blind boxed ships to play with. I find their choice of ships to put in the starter rather curious. There's the USS Enterprise-A, the USS Rhode Island (Captain Harry Kim's ship from an alternate dimension), the IKS Bortas and the IKS Rotarran. To make the game as balanced as possible, each ship is assigned a point value of somewhere between 50 and 150 points (In increments of 25 points) depending on how many clicks of life the ship has as well as its stats and special powers per click. Smaller science ships like the USS Yosemite (50 points) cost less because they are not meant to be combat powerhouses like the USS Defiant (100 points) or the USS Enterprise-E (150 points). Points wise the starter is balanced with 200 points of ships for each side. Wizkids is known for being kind of skimpy on the maps that they put in starters, but this game is the exception. They included two double sided maps in the starter each with different scenarios that you can play. That should give you hours of replay time as you try out different fleets on different maps.
The boosters as mentioned above come in bricks of six boosters or a case of twelve boosters with the case breakdown being six common, four uncommon and two rare ships (cut each number in half for a brick). The set is so small that you should be able to buy about five cases at $42 a piece online and get a complete set for about $210. Compared to the average HeroClix set where buying five cases will set you back approximately $1000, and even then you might not get all the pieces in the set. The great part about this game is that there are no chase figures like they put into their HeroClix game back starting in the Hammer of Thor expansion. The only thing that might be considered a chase is the Warship Voyager LE that is a prize at Star Trek Tactics Organized Play events. The only bad part about the boosters is that you have to pay $5 (retail) for a one ship booster. I managed to luck out and get my three boosters for $3.75 each online, before the price went up to $4 apiece. You could always go to somewhere like E-bay or an online singles seller and buy the ships you want, but those rares are going to cost you. My younger brother purchased a case and a few boosters from a place online and cracked open the case and got two of the same common in it. Thankfully I was there to buy one of them off of his hands for $4. It was a science ship and I wanted to try a science keyword fleet since I already had the USS Voyager and USS Rhode Island from my purchases.
The game is pretty basic and if you are a regular player of HeroClix then you already know all of the rules. For those of you not in the know, you agree with your opponent on a point level that you are going to build your fleet with. You build your fleet (they call them teams in the rules) and get to playing. You can have any ship work with any other ship, but there are special bonuses if you build fleets with the same keyword. Like I mentioned above, I want to build a fleet with the scientist keyword . If I build my fleet with all scientist ships then I will get some free abilities to use in the game based on the number of points my scientist fleet is built around.
My only complaints are that the game was put out so quickly that they needed to go through the rules and PAC and reword them to be specific to that game instead of throwing in the HeroClix rules from last year. I have read on various message boards that they are going to be putting out a rules update to the game soon that focuses on the Star Trek side of things, but knowing how Wizkids is, that will be some time between now and when the sun explodes. The only other complaint is that there are some people out there that play HeroClix that want to play with Star Trek ships in their super hero teams and are already thinking of ways to break the game by adding Star Trek ships. This is why they needed to be more specific with the words they used on the advertising for the game. They said something to the effect of that it would use the HeroClix rules system. Which it does, but the wording in the press releases made it sound like that it would be a separate game that the pieces could not be used to supplement HeroClix teams. This is why I am staying away from tournaments that are not Star Trek only until something comes out saying to the effect that Star Trek Tactics is a separate game from HeroClix. I don't think that they are going to be using the double character, giants or stairs rules any time soon in Tactics so that is why they needed to go back and change the rules for the game. The third thing is that there are only two real affiliations to play in the game; Federation and Klingon, but this is just the introductory game so I hope they add more affiliations like the Romulans, Cardassians, Dominion and Borg in future sets. That is if they don't drop the ball.
My older brother and I sat down and played a game not too long ago and here's what I can remember. We played on the Kobayashi Maru map. There's no special rules on the map so there was nothing to keep track of there. He played Klingons and I played the Federation, and the fleets were only built with the three boosters and the starter I purchased. I played the USS Enterprise-A, USS Defiant and USS Voyager while he played the IKS Negh'Var, IKS Rotarran and IKS Bortas. After a couple of rounds of jockeying for position He strikes first with the Rotarran firing on the Enterprise and hitting. The Defiant tries and misses ranged attacks for a couple of turns on the Rotarran while the Negh'Var and Voyager peck at each other from a distance. The Rotarran eventually finishes off the Enterprise, and the dice finally find their sweet spot as the Defiant starts hitting and eventually KO'ing the Rotarran. The Defiant then turns its attention to the Bortas and starts playing a game of cat and mouse with it. There are some stoppages in play a few times because I have to look up rules in the rule book for multiple ranged attacks and later on for breakaway when the Negh'Var closes to close range against Voyager. The Voyager makes its breakaway roll on the second try when I roll a six and the Negh'Var has plasticity, but it is still an automatic breakaway according to the rulebook. The Bortas makes short work of the Defiant because of its Penetrating blast ability and the Defiant's Invulnerability does not stop it from taking less damage than it already does. The dice are not in the Defiant's favor once again as the ship falls to the Bortas. That just leaves the USS Voyager for me and the Negh'Var and Bortas for him. Voyager has the Negh'Var on its last legs as a well placed phaser blast and a missed super senses roll takes it out. Voyager was on its last two clicks when it went up against the Bortas and one good shot took it down the next turn.
When the game was over, older brother clicked the Bortas to the end of its dial and it had five clicks of life left. I had fun and I want to play more of this game if I can just round some people up around the house to teach the game to. I first have to learn the rules and PAC inside and out so I don't waste time looking things up.
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