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(written from a Production point of view)

Star Trek: Fleet Captains was a multi-player table game set within the "prime reality" of Star Trek. The game was created by game designers Ethan Pasternack and Mike Elliott, produced by WizKids, and was released to general retail in August 2011.

Wizkids Star Trek Fleet Captains box cover

Game box

The game utilized the "Clix" system of game mechanics first seen in WizKids' series of HeroClix games. Wizkids initially referred the game as "Star Trek: Star Fleet Battles" in published reports but this name was discontinued shortly before the game's release. [1]

Although the game's starship miniatures were originally advertised as being "fully painted" in early press releases, the final production ships included with the game were unpainted and molded in either white or green plastic. The game's D7-class and K't'inga-class Klingon ships shared the same mold.

Some Fleet Captains starships had names and registries borrowed from non-canon sources including Star Trek novels and the Star Trek Customizable Card Game. Some names and registries were newly created for the game, in conjunction with CBS Consumer Products.

Star Trek Fleet Captains set

Base game

Fully-painted versions of all of the ships from the Fleet Captains base game and its expansions were subsequently released in WizKids' Star Trek: Tactics game. WizKids also released the Star Trek: Attack Wing game in August 2013. Like Tactics, a number of its ship molds were identical to those used for Fleet Captains but stands, paintwork, and other gaming elements differed. [2]

Gameplay[]

A new sector of unexplored space had opened up for colonization and possible resource excavation. However, all the major powers wanted control of the planets in the sector and have pitted their starships against each other to determine who could best explore and take advantage of it.

Wizkids Star Trek Fleet Captains expansion ships

Base and expansion ships

Playing the base game, players commanded multi-generational fleets of starships representing either the Federation Starfleet or the Klingon Defense Force. Later expansion sets allowed fleets from the Romulan Star Empire and the Dominion to join the fray, separately or together.

With the base set, the game allowed two players (one Federation player versus one Klingon player) or four players (two teams with two players in each faction). Each expansion set could add one or two additional players per set, allowing a maximum total of eight players. Twenty-four starships were included in the base set with a further twenty-four available in the expansion sets.

Players assumed the roles of Fleet Admirals commanding fleets of starships and each game started with ships being "drafted" from a particular fleet Ship Deck. Each fleet's composition was limited by the quantity of Victory Points (VPs) required to win the game, a goal agreed upon by all players at the start of the game. Each ship was a different "size" (a number between one and six) and the starting size of a fleet could not exceed the number of VPs necessary to win the game. Additionally, the specific ships chosen determined the quantity and type of Missions (Combat, Influence, Science, or Espionage) each fleet could undertake.

For gaming, a sector of space was represented by a series of hexagonal "Locations" tile cards, some of which were dealt out onto the playing surface between the fleets' starting bases. This allowed for a different "game board" every time the game was played. The size of the gaming area was limited only by the total of Locations tile cards available for the game.

Ships traveled to these Locations to explore the phenomena located there (planets, stars, nebulae, etc.). While doing so, the player could Combat enemy starships and establish facilities such as Outposts, Colonies, and Starbases. Ships could encounter various alien lifeforms and scenarios, both benign and malevolent, through the "Encounter" card deck.

Star Trek Fleet Captains Starship Promos

Starship promos

Ships were set on "Clix" bases and each ship had a "Starship Display Card" assigned to it. Unlike other "Clix"-based ship-to-ship battle games (such as MechWarrior or Crimson Skies), the "Clix" base dials determined how the ship's energy resources were distributed to the four main systems (Weapons, Sensors, Engines, and Shields) as well as reflected damage to the ship. The number of options available for how these resources could be assigned varied, depending on which of four possible operating modes it was in: normal undamaged operating mode (shown by white background), lightly-damaged Yellow Alert mode (yellow background), heavily-damaged Red Alert mode (red background) or cloaked mode (blue background). All Romulan and most Klingon ships could Cloak but only the USS Defiant of the Federation fleet had this ability. Dominion ships could not Cloak.

Each player had a deck of "Command" cards that could improve their ships' abilities, hinder their opponents' ships, or add key Crew members to their ships. Each deck of one hundred Command cards was divided into ten ten-card "Subdecks". The player chose four of the Subdeck cards (from a total of forty cards) to combine into their Command Deck.

Winning the game required the successful completion of Missions, Encounters, and Combats in order to accumulate the necessary number of Victory Points for supremacy. The duration of a single game with the base set was estimated between thirty and sixty minutes.

Base game[]

Starships[]

Federation[]

Star Trek Fleet Captains Federation ships

Fleet Captains Federation ships

Klingon[]

Star Trek Fleet Captains Klingon ships

Fleet Captains Klingon ships

Game components[]

  • 24 × Starship Display cards (one for each Clix starship, divided into two 12-card "Ship Decks")
  • 4 × Command Post tiles (2 Federation & 2 Klingon)
  • 50 × Locations tile cards
  • 200 × Command cards (100 Federation & 100 Klingon, each divided into ten "Subdecks" of 10 cards)
  • 50 × Encounter cards
  • 76 × Mission cards (25 Science, 26 Influence & 25 Combat)
  • 60 × Control tokens (Double-sided for Federation or Klingon use)
  • 2 × Deck Consoles (to help organize all the above cards)
  • 42 × System tokens
  • 15 × Installation tokens (10 with Outpost & Colony sides; 5 with Starbase on both sides)
  • 14 × Cloak tokens (12 Klingon & 2 Federation)
  • 12 × Action tokens (6 Federation & 6 Klingon)
  • 12 × Scan tokens (Double-sided for Federation or Klingon use)
  • 10 × Victory Point tokens (marked with "1VP" and "2VP" sides)
  • 3 × Away Team tokens (Double-sided for Federation or Klingon use)
  • 2 × Dice (six-sided)

Romulan Empire expansion[]

Star Trek Fleet Captains Romulan Empire Expansion Pack

Star Trek: Fleet Captains Romulan Empire expansion ad showing painted prototypes

The Star Trek: Fleet Captains Romulan Empire expansion was the first expansion pack for the game and was released in October 2012. [3] These twelve ships were molded in a lighter shade of green plastic than the Klingon ships included with the base set.

Starships[]

Romulan[]

Game components[]

  • 14 × Starship Display cards (a 12-card Romulan "Ship Deck" and alternate "Espionage" cards for the USS Excelsior and IKS Kronos One)
  • 2 × Romulan Command Post tiles
  • 100 × Romulan Command Cards (divided into ten "Subdecks" of 10 cards)
  • 10 × Encounter tile cards
  • 25 × Espionage Mission cards
  • 90 × Control Tokens (Double-sided for Federation or Romulan use; rule sheet lists only 30)
  • 21 × Romulan Cloak tokens (rule sheet lists only 14)
  • 9 × Additional Klingon Cloak tokens (not listed on rule sheet)
  • 6 × Romulan Action tokens
  • 12 × Scan Tokens (Double-sided for Federation or Romulan use)
  • 6 × Victory Point tokens (Marked with "3VP" and "4VP" sides)
  • 3 × Away Team tokens (Double-sided for Federation or Romulan use)
  • 2 × Dice (six-sided)
  • 12 × additional System Tokens (exact number not listed on rule sheet)
  • Updated Mission Deck console (with Espionage side added; meant to replace that in the base set)
  • Supplemental Rule Sheet with expansion rules to build upon the base set's game play, including 3-player game support to allow Federation vs. Klingon vs. Romulan play (no 6-player/3-team game support is mentioned, but it is implied that such can be done with the included materials)
Some of the quantities of certain included components are actually larger than the amounts listed on the supplementary rule sheet. Such discrepancies are noted above, where appropriate.

Dominion expansion[]

Star Trek Fleet Captains Dominion expansion

Star Trek: Fleet Captains Dominion expansion prototypes

The Star Trek: Fleet Captains Dominion expansion was the second expansion pack for the game and was released in August 2014. Its composition of Jem'Hadar, Breen, and Cardassian ships reflects the combined Alpha Quadrant and Gamma Quadrant forces allied with the Dominion during the Dominion War. These twelve ships were molded in a lavender plastic rather than the darker purple plastic seen in the image of the prototype ships on the right.

Starships[]

Dominion[]

Game components[]

  • 14 × Starship Display cards (a 12-card Dominion "Ship Deck" and alternate "Espionage" cards for the USS Excelsior and IKS Kronos One)*
  • 2 × Dominion Command Post tiles
  • 100 × Dominion Command Cards (divided into ten "Subdecks" of ten cards)
  • 10 × Encounter cards
  • 25 × Espionage Mission cards *
  • 6 × Dominion Action tokens
  • 12 × Dominion Scan Tokens
  • 6 × Victory Point tokens
  • 3 × Dominion Away Team tokens
  • 2 × Dice (six-sided)
  • Updated Mission Deck console (with Espionage side added; meant to replace that in the base set)*
  • Additional System Tokens (exact number not listed on rule sheet)
  • Supplemental Rule Sheet with expansion rules to build upon the base set's game play, including 3-player game support to allow Federation vs. Klingon vs. Dominion play, and 4-player game support for play with all 4 "powers" (no 6-player/3-team or 8-player/4-team game support is mentioned, but it is implied that such can be done with the included materials)
* The two alternate Starship Display cards, the deck of Espionage Mission cards, and the Updated Mission Deck console were the same as the ones included in the Romulan Empire expansion. If using both expansion sets, only one set of each should be used. Like the Romulan Empire expansion, the number of certain included components may not exactly match what is listed on the supplementary rule sheet and detailed above.

See also[]

External links[]

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