WizKids announces Star Trek: Frontiers Board Game, a new spin on Mage Knight

Not that the writing wasn't already on the wall for Star Trek Fleet Captains with the half-developed yet still released Dominion expansion, but I think we can consider that coffin fully nailed shut now.

So my first thought was one of disbelief. "No way is this going to be any good." Now that I've thought about it for a little while I'm genuinely excited. I think there's a great game to be had here.

I doubt it could be a straight port, although that'd probably be fun too. It would probably need to de-emphasize combat and emphasize exploration to really feel like Star Trek. But then I think about the way the reputation mechanic could be used to make diplomacy with alien species really pay off, and how as the game goes different races could become enemies. That's pretty cool, and already pretty much there with Mage Knight.

Also I agree that the system could use some streamlining. Like Grudunza said, nothing extreme. Just make it so that combat isn't quite so onerous.

Yeah, this is awesome.

If you become an early adopter for the base set, prepare to be fucked by printing inconsistencies in later expansions. Wiz Kids will often do another print run of the core game which will be consistent with the expansion release, but if you have earlier editions it's on you to come up with "solutions" to hide stuff like visibly different tiles, cards, chits punched the wrong direction or of different sizes etc, etc.

I love Mage Knight but I don't think the way it tells a story really suits Star Trek... this is the first time I've felt this way in years but I kind of feel like a good Trek game with real exploration and social problem solving like in the OS needs a decent amount of text helpers. It's one of the few times I've felt this way and I'm actually kind of surprised that I do. Mage Knight is great but the way it tells it's story and the repeating encounters ... I'm just not sure yet. It will take a major overhaul of the system to pull this off.

That said, if they do it, if it works. I'll be buying everything that comes out for it and play the living hell out of it. I may or may not be excited... but I am certainly curious.

I wonder if they'll fix the major flaw where movement is random but combat isn't.

I'm curious about the scale...is it space-based, flying the galaxy...or land-based, where your away team shoots lizardmen or something,

It's space scale. I'm assuming that you'll have very abstracted planetary encounters though.

Done some thinking about it and most of the elements seem to port over easily enough, much of it is obvious. The only thing I'm stumped on is spells.

JonJacob wrote: . . . this is the first time I've felt this way in years but I kind of feel like a good Trek game with real exploration and social problem solving like in the OS needs a decent amount of text helpers. . . .

Mage Knight seems like a misfit, one that was available instead of one that is right. Likely the only work needed was to rename the pieces and the monsters involved though, an easy way to resell the same game.

I always thought Voyage of the B.S.M. Pandora would nail Star Trek with just a minor retheme effort and new paragraphs. Expansions could be published that would add new planets and encounters to the game. That would be a really good fit for Star Trek. It would also be very accessible for more casual players.

My guess is that John Butterfield (yes, THAT John Butterfield) and Edward Woods now hold the rights to Pandora at this point. Seems to me they should be calling someone in spite of that game's age. It's interesting to play and there's more than enough room for red shirts aplenty. I generally get my ass kicked playing it.

S.

Josh Look wrote: The only thing I'm stumped on is spells.

Technologies? Although, that was the first thing I thought of for the Advanced Ability cards. So maybe spells could be some kind of upgraded equipment?

Hmmm ... Mage Knights is easily one of my favorite games. I don't really care about Star Trek all the much ... but as mentioned if it streamlines the game a little I could be game for it. But hmmm ... I dunno I don't like just taking a game and slapping a new theme on it.

Oh, it's definitely munchkining.

Yeah, between Quarriors, Mage Knight and X-Wing Wiz Kids may never need to design another game.

Just remove spells. They're not integral to the design.

Grudunza wrote:

Josh Look wrote: The only thing I'm stumped on is spells.

Technologies? Although, that was the first thing I thought of for the Advanced Ability cards. So maybe spells could be some kind of upgraded equipment?

I did a little bit of playtesting on this, and enjoyed it.

There are some tweaks to the original design, mainly around the addition of 'away teams', but if you're at all familiar with the original you won't have any trouble here.

Movement is also simplified, which I thought was a good thing. And the click-base Cities are now Borg Cubes.

Spells were in, and were basically techs.

I didn't play a final-final, so somethings may have changed since then.

Geoff