As Barbie wisely said, “Yay space!” Yes, this month – for really no particular reason other than I feel like it – we’ve got a space theme this month, looking at – and giving away – 2 new Away Teams for Star Trek Away Missions plus delightful all-ages Space Cat boardgame ML’EM as well! And we’re be taking a deep dive into Apiary, the latest offering from Stonemaier Games – BEES 🐝 in space! Yay space indeed.
Oh, and of course we’ll be revealing the winner of last month’s mahoosive Marvel Crisis Protocol Giveaway – all thanks to our lovely chums at Asmodee UK!
A side note – regular Geeks will notice that this is a mid-month post, not the usual first Monday. Well, partly because of the irregularity of February, but mostly to preserve my sanity, we’ve just rolled both into a single post – which will probably be the way moving forwards. Keep an eye out on the SECOND Monday of the Month in future!
STAR TREK AWAY MISSIONS: House of Duras and Picard’s Away Team
(RRP: £20 each)
I must confess: I am a traitor my ancestors, a disgrace to the Empire, I have no honour, I will never pass Fek’lhr into Sto’vo’kor… I absolutely LOVE the House of Duras. I have quite mixed feelings about Gowron’s Away Team on the table, insofar as whilst they do feel very Klingon – Gowron is a combat monster – the level of combat that he brings doesn’t feel very Star Trek as a whole. The Duras, on the other hand, are scheming, duplicitous and cunning – but equally, can be played as attempting to REDEEM their honour. They have the maddening interference of the Romulans, but a bit more durability; they have interesting Honor (Americanism!) scoring of the regular Klingons, whilst still feeling mission rather than combat focused (well… they have an Assassin, too).
I like the new specialist, too, so you can round out your mix of combat Klingons as you see fit. The sisters themselves are very potent leaders with a great mix of skills, particularly for a 5-strong away team – Toral is a bit meh, but then he’s supposed to be – and your emphasis is about keeping the two of them alive to score. Their starting deck flows smoothly out of the box (hiccups of the Gowron box have been avoided) although some Lursas are mis-named B’etor on the base (B’etor is“the pretty one”, according to Worf). The sculpts are also cracking, with Klingon heads lending themselves to the chibi style well.
Picard is another five-strong team, and where Riker can bring the fight if he needs it, Picard is all about negotiation (and of course Tea, Earl Grey, hot). His diplomatic skills come to the fore, and it’s much more about negotiating openly and directly with other players, finding a balance for mutual benefit. He lends himself to a very different style of play, particularly at higher player counts (it starts to feel a bit like Ascendancy, actually, which is no bad thing) – and of course, if you stack your deck right and blow up the damn ship after turn two, you can pull off a very sneaky victory. Talking of stacking your deck, Troi is the power character here: her Empath abilities allowing you to manipulate cards in your deck and hand (and that of your opponent). I really love that she is very much an integral part of a Picard team and not just an afterthought – she gets the limelight, as she rightly should.
As a Specialist (usable in any Team), Geordi is pretty unstoppable: not as tough or versatile as data, but when it comes to Engineering, he’s a miracle worker (no wait, that’s Scotty, next month) – get an Engineering Kit on him and he really racks up those bonus points, and he is a strong contender to swap out for Shelby in Riker team (and, arguably, she fills a Security gap in Picard’s). The team is rounded out by the Crushers: Beverly is everything a dedicated Medical should be, her rapid healing a strong counter to murderous Klingons (and Borg determined to add your biological distinctiveness to their own); Wes, as well as being a decent Science character (he’s no Data, but he is good) is a Traveller, which provides some really unique movement and scoring mechanics. Once again, a release which perfectly marries interesting and unusual mechanics to the Star Trek theme.
ML’EM
(RRP: £30)
⌚ 30-45 mins approx.
👥 2-6
❓ 8+
⚖ family-light
🎲 push your luck dice
In this charming game, you aim to send your team of 🐈 cat astronauts (catstronauts?) on missions into deep space 🚀 ✨ racing to be the first to colonise moons 🌚 and planets. Each time you roll the dice your left with fewer to reach your goal – can you make it all the way to deep space? Cats are as we know TROUBLE and cats in deep space are deep trouble – and they keep pushing their luck till their ship crashes! When you get in trouble it’s time to bail out!
The player who last tended to a cat’s needs (read: dealt with the kitty litter) takes the role of lead astronaut, choosing one of their team of 8 to lead the mission. Each of your cats has a different ability: scoring double at a planet, for example, or being able to bail out before crashing (#spoileralert the rocket often crashes, it’s the lack of opposable thumbs). Cats that crash still get to go back to base for another mission, but the aim is to use all 8 of your cats to colonise, explore and score.
This is a lot of fun, albeit 8+ seems a little off – there’s quite a lot to process, especially in the rulebook, and 9/10+ seems a bit more accurate. That being said, my wee girl loved it and took over playing from me once she had the hang of it, and demanded a copy for her 8th birthday 🎂 😻 The game’s component quality is superb, with a huge stitched neoprene mat, beautiful wooden rocket and ufo meeples, heavy Cardstock boards and tokens that cute but not cutesy plus all different sizes by value – so big 👍 for accessibility.
Whilst it’s great at all ages and player counts, it’s worth mentioning that UFO and Exploration tokens add layers of complexity. It’s very clever that the game’s variant modes build upon one another: it means the game grows with your kids and can be played as a satisfying light-mid weight grown-up game also.
All in all, a big hit! Blast off!
APIARY
(RRP: £75)
⌚ 2hrs approx.
👥 1-5
❓ 14+
⚖ mid
🎲 worker placement, engine building
If it’s not Cats out-evolving us, it’s Bees, apparently. In this new treat from Stonemaier Games (Scythe/Expeditions, Wingspan, Viticulture and let’s not forget our absolute favourite Red Rising), after we are long extinct it is the Bees that have replaced us as the dominant species… but like us, they have over-used the planet’s resources, and it is time to waggle dance with the stars!
You start small, but aim to spread out, initially feeling very conventional with your basic worker bees gathering resources. Unlike regular worker placement, however, which as we know can lead to frustration and analysis paralysis, you can “bump” an opponent’s bee – but, that which bumps me makes me stronger! Yes, bumping a bee returns it to its home hive, but in turn increases its strength. Hit 4 strength, and you can generate a new dance and placement space – in other words, if you build it (in this case, your engine) and they will come (dancing)! But, at the same time, that great space bee will enter hibernation, providing a natural cap that neatly prevents a single player’s engine running away to dominance. It’s all a very effective combination of mechanics which are at once familiar in feel and innovative in their application.
Whilst not fully 4X (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate), it does have some elements of that: the deep space sections of the board are resource rich and so that late-game, the competition for the top spots can feel quite aggressive even if there is no direct combat as such.
With 20 (!) sub-species factions out of the box, there’s a wealth of content here – it’s a level of asymmetry that feels strongly reminiscent of Twilight Imperium (which surely must be a deliberate nod, minus the 4-day long gameplay). But with a whole galaxy to explore, this is a rich and engaging game that will keep on bringing you back for more of its sweet space honey! Another top-notch Stonemaier effort!
GIVEAWAY TIME!
So, want to go Star Trekkin’ with the family cat? This month, you can win yourselves both the House of Duras and Picard’s Away Team Star Trek Away Missions sets, along with a copy of Ml’em!
To enter, just tell us your favourite space game in the comments section below! Easy as that. Thanks, as always, to our chums at Asmodee UK!
And remember to Like, Comment and Share across your socials (FB, Insta and/or the artist formerly known as Twitter, if it survives) tagging us @bigcomicpage & @games_with_graven to bag yourself a bonus entry! UK entrants only unless you’re willing to fork out the postage, alas.
And finally, the winner of the last months MCP Giveaway is… Mike Bissell!
Congratulations! Remember to get in touch with admin@bigcomicpage.com within 30 days to claim your prize!
The Writer of this piece was: Sam Graven
Article Archive: Geeking Out
You can follow Sam on Twitter and Instagram
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