Star Trek Chrono-Trek - First Play!

8th June 2023

Thursday night gaming in Aldershot continues with another first-play; Star Trek-Chrono Trek. A game about 'Discovering strange new games and boldly shuffling cards no one has shuffled before.'
Meh - I ran out of good Trek puns long ago. Also, strictly speaking as you may have gathered, this game is more about messing with the timeline.

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What's in a game?

• Cards: Chrono-Trek features lots of different types of cards.
• Character cards: Character cards or ID cards are all unique and each provides players with their individual goals for the game.
  Each card has a portrait of the titular character and below that, their objectives.

What.... nothing about baseball?

• Timeline cards: Unsurprisingly, these 36 double-sided cards represent events that have occurred throughout Star Trek continuity and will be familiar to fans of the shows.
  ​Each timeline card features a stardate, description of the event, how changing that event can change other parts of the timeline and usually a monochrome illustration.
  The other side of each card will display an alternate event which can occur if the timeline is altered.
  Finally, each card has a time index which indicates where in the timeline it goes.

Sample of timeline cards.

• Main deck: Perhaps not imaginatively but fairly accurately named; the main deck is where the bulk of the game's activities are involved.
  ​The main deck contains 7(!) different types of card which will be explained below. Main deck cards contain text explaining their functions and many also feature illustrations.

Some main deck cards.

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The cards in Star Trek Chrono-Trek are the standard quality you would expect from a modern game and unless treated badly stand the test of time.

The game wisely makes used of illustrations for artwork instead of stock photos - which generally look cheap in my opinion.
The artwork is colourful, definitely on the cartoony side and looks a bit quirky but the Star Trek personalities look more or less recognisable.  I quite like the style even though it seems a bit unusual for a Star Trek game.
Furthermore, this style also lends Star Trek Chrono-Trek a slightly humorous vibe and while it's not a comedy game per se, the game will involve 'jostling' between players with actions and reversals of those actions!
I also like the general aesthetic used on the cards which look reminiscent of the bridge console layouts from The Next Generation (Yes I'm geeking!). 

Most information conveyed on the cards is done through text, so iconography isn't an issue. There is some referencing done through letters/numbers but again, it's not really an issue.

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How's it play?
Setup

• Timeline cards: The 36 timeline cards are placed with their starting sides in a 9x4 grid. Each card has a tag showing where it should go.
• Characters: Shuffle the deck of character cards and deal 1 face-down to each players who should keep their cards secret.
  All character cards each have objectives that must be met in order to win the game. Additionally, all cards also have 1-4 'pips' (Yes, like on an officer's collar - sorry, more geeking.) that denote how hard it is to complete that character's objectives. Generally, character cards with harder difficulties have more objectives.
  ​This allows players to selectively alter the difficulty of the game or have mixed difficulties for different players.
• Main deck: Finally, shuffle the main deck into a face-down deck and deal 3 to each player.
  Adjust hand: Now players must adjust the size their starting hand according to the difficulty of their character card - it must match the pips. So a player with a 1 pip card must discard down to 1 and so on, meaning a player with a 4 pip character would get to draw an extra starting card.
• First player: Determine a starting player.

On to play
In Star Trek Chrono-trek, each player will be trying to complete their own unique set of 3 objectives, this will involve manipulating the timeline cards and acquiring artifacts.
The game utilises a traditional turn order with the active player resolving their turn before play progresses to the player on their left.
During their turn, the active player has 1 action and can either draw an extra card or play 1 card from their hand as described below.

• Draw card: At the start of the active player's turn, they must draw a card, then choose 1 of the following 2 actions.
• Draw extra card: The active player may spend their action to draw an extra card.
  OR
• Play card: The active player may spend their action to play one of the 7 types of action card.
  • Actions: When playing one of these, simple perform the action described on the card and then discard it.
  • Artifacts: When played, these are placed face-up in the players personal playing area. As well as completing objectives, artifacts are needed to complete assignments. speaking of which....
  • Assignments: These cards can only be played when the controlling player has the 2 required artifacts in their possession. In this case the assignment is played and completed - and its reward is earned.
    Alternatively, if the active player wishes, they may instead discard the assignment card as their action and then draw 2 more cards.
  • Events: When the active player draws an event card from the deck, they must immediately resolves its action. After this, they draw another to replace it.
    Note: If an event card is acquired during setup, it's discarded and replaced.
  • Fractures: Fracture cards alter the timeline by being played on top of cards in the timeline (Provided the fracture card's conditions are met.). After resolving a fracture card, the active player also draws an additional card.
  • Inverters: These are cards that flip cards in the timeline. Flipping a card in the timeline will generally cause a ripple effect that will also affect other cards further down the timeline.
  • Power actions: Power! These are similar to action cards.... but more powerful!
    Although, this does mean that they have requirements to be met before they can be played.

Power! If the conditions are met, this can will win the game. Power indeed.

• Next player: Once the active player has completed their action, play progresses to the player on their left.

Endgame
The first player to complete all 3 of their objectives wins, however, a player can only win in their own turn. Thus if their conditions are met in another player's turn, they wait patiently and hope nothing changes until they can act.

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Timeline cards set up.

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Overall
Star Trek Chrono-Trek fits its theme very well.  Star Trek shows have always been full of time-travel shenanigans from single episodes to season-long story lines and a lot of that is reflected in the game.
There's also a fair amount of other references and nods that fans of the shows will appreciate.

​Star Trek Chrono-Trek presents players with asymmetrical goals which they should keep hidden, meaning players will have slightly different motives for their actions.
Thus players will be looking for opportunities to both change the timeline to what they need and to acquire their required artifact.
This will require them gaining cards to achieve this. Additionally, players will need to adapt to what cards they do have in their hand and circumstances as they arise. E.g., if an opponent has acquired the artifact the player needs, then they'll have to try and find a way to steal it off them or find a way to undo changes others have made to the timeline. There's a fair amount of player interaction going on in that regard and players will need to keep an eye on what their opponents are doing or changing and potentially respond accordingly.
Players should definitely expect some 'to-and-fro' from the game

Whilst the rules are not what I would consider complex, they are a touch fiddly with what amounts to 7 different types of action, some of which are cards/actions requiring players to discard cards to draw cards or resolve events, etc. It's not complex but it's not quite intuitive either.
None of this is a gamebreaker though and otherwise consider this to be a light-ish game which, while is reasonably accessible for non-gamers, I do feel that some of the mechanics/concepts presented here might be a little obscure for them.
Fans of the shows though, will be immediately familiar with the time-travel theme presented here and should appreciate the Star Trek references, making it a more enjoyable experience for them.

I also found it to be somewhat frustrating at times when I could see an artifact I needed either for an objective or assignment card in the hands of another player without a way of getting it (No wonder players are given the option to discard assignments for more cards.) and was left with having to draw another card as my action.

Otherwise Star Trek Chrono-Trek is an enjoyable, light experience that provides a fair amount of player interaction with a dollop of humour thrown in as well some random gameplay, although I suspect that is as intended!