The Borg Set To Invade Star Trek: Ascendancy

Red Alert! The Borg are invading Gale Force Nine’s Star Trek: Ascendancy hobby board game later this year. The Borg Assimilation expansion adds an all-new threat to the game. The Borg are an independent menace, attacking players’ ships and assimilating civilized worlds. If the Borg are not dealt with, they could overwhelm the Galaxy. Can the great civilizations put aside their rivalries long enough to face the Borg as a united front? Or will they try to combat the Borg onslaught individually, seizing Borg technology for themselves?

The game expansion contains everything you need to add this galactic threat to your game, including a Borg Command Console and Cube Combat Card, 6 Borg Cubes and 6 Borg Spires game pieces, and 18 Borg Assimilation Nodes, as well as 20 Borg Tech Cards, 30 Borg Command Cards, 7 new System Discs and 20 Borg-themed Exploration Cards.

The Borg can imperil the game in two ways. Players will encounter the Borg while exploring the Galaxy; a ship may discover a Borg Cube when they explore a new system or they may discover an entire planet that has already been assimilated by the Borg and is the process of constructing a Borg Cube. Or players may start the game with the Borg invading the Alpha Quadrant by starting with the Transwarp Hub System in play. Each turn, a Borg Cube may emerge from the Transwarp Hub and attempt to assimilate players and neutral civilizations. Any System assimilated by the Borg will begin to build new Borg Cubes.

The Borg are controlled by a unique Command Deck. During a game round, the Borg take a turn, just as if they were a player. When the Borg turn begins, they build new Assimilation Nodes on Borg-controlled worlds. When enough nodes have been built, the Borg World launches a new Cube. Each Cube then takes a series of actions. First a Cube will engage any players’ ships in adjacent Sectors in space combat. A Borg Cube is formidable in battle, so players with have to muster vast fleets of Starships if they hope to defeat the Borg. The Borg attack indiscriminately, so players from opposing factions may find themselves making a stand together against the Cube.

Next, a Borg Command Card is drawn for the Cube and the Cube will execute the orders on that card, often moving towards developed star systems targeted for assimilation. Finally, if Cube ends its movement in a developed system, it will attack the world in an attempt to assimilate the population and its technology. If successful, the Borg will erect a Spire on the planet to harvest its resources and construct additional Cubes. Then the next Cube will execute its actions until every Cube in play has taken a turn. Unless players can deal with the onslaught of the Borg, they threaten to overrun the quadrant.

While the Borg represent an existential threat to the entire Galaxy, a player’s goal remains the same: to become the dominant civilization - either through cultural ascendancy or military conquest. The onslaught of the Borg makes that goal much more difficult to achieve.

It's all hands to battle stations when Star Trek: Ascendancy – Borg Assimilation invades game stores in late summer!

Assimilate more Borg information in the coming weeks at http://startrek.gf9games.com/