Review of Star Trek: Frontiers - The Return of Khan

Blurb from the publisher: 'The Return of Khan is the first expansion for Star Trek: Frontiers. In this expansion, players will be able to control the U.S.S. Enterprise-A under the command of James T. Kirk while he seeks to restore his crew and defeat the tyrant Khan.

The nefarious Khan, hatching new schemes aboard his renamed Jem'Hadar battle cruiser, the Pequod, travels throughout the sector seeking a supreme device held by the Borg. Cpatain Kirk must join forces with Captains Picard and Sisko to overcome Khan, and Kirk must even bargain with General Martok and the Duras Sisters to destroy their common foe.'

What you get: Your USD 49,99 or equivalent will buy you Star Trek: Frontiers - The Return of Khan, the first (and only, until the time I submitted this review) expansion for the Star Trek: Frontiers game line. It is reminded that the base game is a brainchild of Vlaada Chvátil, uses similar, but not identical mechanics to Mage Knight Ultimate Edition, works on the premise of proto-RPG elements and deck building, and can accommodate from one to four players in anything from almost two to above four hours.

In addition to the 20-page Rulebook that can be found on the publisher's website free of charge, the expansion also contains the following: 114 Game cards (8 base game Errata cards, one Enterprise-A Ship card, 2 Skill Token Reference cards, 20 Action cards, 6 Advanced Action cards, 6 Undiscovered cards, 6 Regular Crew cards, 6 Elite Crew cards, 15 Challenge cards, 40 Khan Deck cards, 4 Tile Reference cards), one Data die, 6 Data Crystals (one per colour), one U.S.S. Enterprise-A ship figure, one Pequod ship figure, 5 Space Map tiles, 15 Encounter tokens (Dominion Ship tokens), 20 Skill tokens, 2 Round Order tokens, (Enterprise-A, Khan), 15 Faction tokens (Enterprise-A), 6 Level tokens (Enterprise-A), one Away Team token (Enterprise-A), one Khan token, and 6 Round Tracker tokens.

Gameplay: The Return of Khan adds numerous new elements to the base game. The simpler amongst them revolve around new space map features like the Deep Research Station and Dominion Starships, enemies with two attacks, and enemies that can avoid long-range attacks.

The main volume of the expansion however relates to Khan, the most recognizable villain in the Star Trek universe. Khan takes the place of the impersonal dummy player in the cooperative and the solo scenarios; he is now the active opposition and can win the game himself long before the players run out of time. Even though he is depicted by the Pequod, a clix Jem'Hadar ship, Khan commands a full fleet. The players will need to destroy his fleet in order to defeat the arch villain. Khan conforms to most, but not all, the rules that relate to combat. Players can mount a cooperative assault on the Pequod, while in other scenarios they can even defend cooperatively.

Variant rules include the fleet of Khan taking the place of a Borg Cube, a challenge deck that increases the difficulty of most of the Encounter tokens, as well as control over the Advanced Action and Undiscovered offer.

The game includes three scenarios: the Epic Return of Khan, the Blitz Return of Khan, and Khan's Quest. They are all solo or cooperative, and with the exception of Blitz which lasts four rounds the other two scenarios last six. The players win by destroying Khan's fleet, boarding the Pequod and subduing Khan, even though in one case they can contend with destroying his ship after destroying his fleet. Khan himself can actively win Epic without the players running out of time if he confronts the Borg cube before the players destroy it, or if he searches the remains of the Cube twice without the players mounting a defence. He can also win Quest if he enters the Wormhole space and then performs one more move.

The strong points: Confounded as one might be by seeing Khan, the Borg and the Jem'Hadar mixed together in the same scenario, they actually work! This might not be the best thematic mix possible for hard core Trek fans, yet it adds character to a game whose only coop scenario could be lost if the players ran out of time. Tactics have to be wildly re-evaluated seeing how your opponent is actively pursuing his own thing. This doesn't increase the length of the game; on the contrary, everything feels much more fluid and logical. Even though the expansion introduces only three scenarios it has quite the replayability. This is what Star Trek: Frontiers was missing in the first place: additional solo and coop scenarios. The scenarios are dynamic and each offers a different experience. Even though Blitz is Epic toned down, the transition has been implemented thoughtfully and without tampering with balance.

Theme-wise the new scenarios feel more Trek than did the ones in the base game where the Federation acted at times like the Terran Empire. Note how the fleet of Khan has to be destroyed and Khan himself caught and subdued, even though in one scenario the players might not have the luxury of doing all that. Good work, and definitely an improvement when compared to the theme of the base game.

This does not mean however that the expansion is worth it only if one plays with its three scenarios. All the additional elements add to the base game. The new recruitable characters also deserve a thematic praise. If one wants to polarize Star Trek fans, he can always throw Will Whea- Wesley Crusher into the mix. Lo and behold, the dude is there, as are less known characters like Kurn (Worf's brother) next to the stars of the franchise (Scotty, Uhura, and Deanna Troi), and even more so, the stars of The Original Series who appear here for the first time.

The two spaceship miniatures are good. Enterprise-A has a high number of details, even though at its ludicrously small size one needs a magnifying lens to perceive them. The Pequod, a much bigger and scarier ship, is a clix unit in contrast to the Enterprise. Both ships are grey; don't expect anything near miniature painting tournament quality so that you don't get disappointed.

The game's production values are high. The insert houses everything tightly, too tightly if you ask me. The first thing anybody who is as space-starved as I am will do is to dump the insert of the base game, and fit all the material of the base game and the expansion in the box of the former. Like in the base game, all the cards are numbered. This should have been standard practice in every single game out there.

The weak points: Admittedly the scenarios in the expansion play better as solos than they do as coops. Ultimately any solo game can be played as a coop, this however does not mean that it will be a successful one. Rules-wise there are better games out there for coop experiences since they better individualize the role of each player.

Star Trek: Frontiers is a demanding game, and The Return of Khan adds to it. The rulebook is not ideal. I have numerous objections with rulebooks which discuss their way through their rules instead of flat-out stating what goes on. Just like the base game, the expansion's rules as not as concise and iron-clad as I would have liked them to be. There are repetitions, there are circular discussions that take ages to make their point, there is poor organization. Expect to flip through the rulebook a lot when you try these scenarios the first handful of times. With a bit of editorial TLC, this rulebook would have been both shorter and clearer. Have your glasses nearby; with such a small font, you will definitely need them.

I do not need to readdress how the theme blends elements from so many different Trek series that some fans would find it annoying. I don't, and I knew that even before I playtested the game. The designers could have created something original, yet then fans would have then been complaining about elements that they can't empathize with since they are not a part of canon. Here everything is a part of canon, even though the implementation could have been more innovative instead of such an obvious mashup.

Don't expect the tenets of the base game to change. Even with the new elements competitive scenarios will keep on feeling like multiplayer solos.

The Return of Khan does not reduce the footprint of the base game. The galaxy is a big place.

This is where I complain about the box being tighter than it should have been, and that you can't sleeve your cards if you want to. Seeing how most of us will keep this product's contents in the box of the base game, this hardly matters. What does matter however is the fact that the publisher felt that players really enjoy having separate boxes, and made an insert so tight as if it were housing a base game. The insert is a means to an end, not the end itself. Nobody wants to bother with a setup that includes two boxes and forces one to separate materials that have otherwise no reason of being separate. This is a design failure no matter how I see it. Designers: people want neat, tidy games in a single box. Keep this concept in mind when you design expansions and their boxes.

I remember reading some time ago that no second expansion for the Star Trek: Frontiers series was forecasted. That's a saddening though; I believe that the designers could do a lot more with this line, even more than what they did with Mage Knight.

Conclusion: The Return of Khan is a worthy addition for the players of Star Trek: Frontiers who hunger for more solo scenarios. Its additions work nicely with the base game, the gameplay works as expected, the production values are high. If you have the base game and want to defeat Khan yourself, now is the time.

To find out more about Star Trek: Frontiers - The Return of Khan and Wizkids take a look at https://wizkids.com.

Shameless plug: for more gaming news and content (including, for example, pictures of Star Trek: Frontiers - The Return of Khan that I am unfortunately not able to upload on RPG.net for the time being), and to better keep track of my reviews, subscribe to my Antonios S facebook and twitter page.