Lockdown Ascendancy with the Borg

Attack Wing has been my game of choice for some time but with another UK lockdown underway, it's not really designed for a one player experience if you're looking for that tabletop Star Trek escapism.

I've tried to tweak it slightly but it's just not quite right somehow. Playing two fleets you've meticulously built against each other means you will subconsciously outthink yourself although it does help pinpoint weaknesses in your strategy and ships to avoid!

Besides that, there's only so many times you can run the Endgame, Pegasus or V'Ger scenarios once you've nailed them - let's not even consider the Solar Sailor one in this discussion.

So I've turned to Ascendancy to not only give me a bit of Star Trek gaming variety but also for the chance to dive into a more structured one player game.

Ascendancy hasn't really expanded since the introduction of the Andorian, Vulcan, Ferengi and Cardassian factions and nor does it seem likely to. Each of those has added some more systems to the playing field (10 per box) as well as Exploration options. The biggest advancement however is Borg: Assimilation.

I'm a little behind when it comes to the game but when I spotted that this had a one player option it was a big draw. With the lockdown situation as it is, there's not much chance to be able to meet up with any form of group to battle it out across the galaxy. This on the other hand does allow for a healthy dose of Trek tabletop gaming.

The basics are the same as the original Ascendancy; Build, Execute Commands and then Verify your progress each round. I found that the initial set up could take an age but after a couple of refreshers I was getting the table ready in minutes rather than half an hour. Then you're into the game, building ships, sending out fleets to explore the galaxy, discover new worlds to colonise and engaging any enemy forces or hazards that might be out there. All of this is great if you have friends around in your social bubble to join in but otherwise it's a dead end.

The Borg: Assimilation pack includes an additional set of system discs, tokens as well as new Exploration cards. The Borg are non-playing and are controlled via their own Command deck of cards, one of which is drawn and used per Cube in play per round. Generally it'll move a Cube in the direction of your Home system (Earth for the Federation, Q'onoS for the Klingons...) in an attempt to assimilate developed worlds and ultimately your origin point.

The instructions direct you to place the Transwarp Hub (when playing solo) 18" away from a Home System but after three run throughs this is incredibly close. Each time I've found that the speed of play is incredibly quick and before you've started or even explored a world or two you've got the Collective on your doorstep. To make it "harder" there's even the suggestion to move the Hub closer but that's beyond overkill!

Pushing the Transwarp Hub a little further out offers you the chance to develop worlds and by default, the chance for the Collective to assimilate them and mix up the scenario a little bit as well as allowing you to explore and expand rather than just facing off an immediate attack on the first world you discover.

You can switch your faction to any of those available (Federation, Klingon and Romulan come with the base game) and each has its own characteristics. The Federation can't colonise anything pre-warp for example and the Klingons are not allowed to retreat from battle. So, once you're bored of playing one faction you can give another one a try and see how far you can get. 

On the downside, the rules aren't all that clear in some respects when it comes to battles, and specifics of movement. This can slow you down as you're flicking through two rulebooks to cross-check the rules on Borg warp abilities. Reaching the player goal of five Ascendancy is a bit of a pipe dream with the Borg playing since their attacks are so devastating. Again, try and lengthen the playing area to give yourself something of a chance.

But, Ascendancy does take a lot shorter time to set up than Attack Wing and the gameplay time versus that is well worth it. The latter is a marathon just to build a fleet and having a casual game is nothing short of impossible to do in an evening. The huge amount of cards can be overwhelming so I'd thoroughly recommend that you plan a fleet a few days early and then have a good couple of hours battling it out.

But don't write Attack Wing off completely because there's a vicious rumour that Alliances might actually be released in 2021. Even more surprising, it could be by the end of January!

Why so excited in relation to the near catatonic Attack Wing? Because all of the components of that WizKids game are compatible with the new updated Alliances spin. Now that's a clever move in order to keep your older lines alive and bring something different to the party.

It's also supposed to have a one player mode which means that it will be immensely more playable in your social bubble than trying to outthink your own tactics in a round of Federation versus Independents. Unless there's some official way of creating an "AI" experience on the Attack Wing mat then it will die out as soon as Alliances hits the shelves.

So for now I'm sticking with Ascendancy. I'll have to do some disc shuffling, expand the play area and give myself some new ways to explore in order to really understand the dirt under the nails of the game, but for ease in virtually all departments it's just that step ahead. 

What are your tips for Ascendancy?

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