DECIPHER.com : Star Trek CCG

This sample game, using cards from the Star Trek (TM) Customizable Card Game (TM) Introductory Two-Player Game, illustrates the major steps of setting up and playing a game to its conclusion. The object of the game is to score 100 points before your opponent does. The main point-scoring mechanism is completing missions.

Seed Phase Part 1: Doorways
Neither of you has a doorway card (introduced in the Alternate Universe expansion set), so you skip this part. Expansion sets, which contain new cards that you can add to your existing decks, are explained on page 16.

Seed Phase Part 2: Missions
Separate into piles your six missions, six dilemmas, and your outpost (see illustrations, page 5 [9, 23, 12]). Normally, each player would shuffle this pile of missions and draw them at random to form a spaceline. However, to simplify things, place the missions in the pile in this order :

You take the first mission from your pile - Reported Activity - and place it face up on the table, with its game text facing you.
Your opponent takes his first mission, Cargo Rendezvous, and places it to the right of Reported Activity, facing himself (he could have placed it to either side). Again, all right/left directions will be from your point of view.
You place your second mission, Avert Danger, to the left of Reported Activity. He places Survey Instability to the right of Cargo Rendezvous.
You place Gault to the right of Survey Instability.
In this fashion, the two of you continue to alternate in seeding missions, until the spaceline looks like this:

The missions, from left to right, are:

Sensitive Search , Hostage Situation, Distress Mission, Avert Danger, Reported Activity, Cargo Rendezvous, Survey Instability, Gault, Homeward, A Good Place To Die, Reopen Dig, Gravesworld

Seed Phase Part 3: Dilemmas and Artifacts
After the spaceline is completed, each player may seed dilemmaand artifactcards under missions. Dilemmas represent obstacles to completing a mission, while artifacts represent objects with special powers which may help you. This introductory game does not use artifacts. You don't shuffle your dilemmas (and artifacts); you may select exactly where and in what order you wish to place them (but see below). These cards are never shown to your opponent as you place them.

The players take turns seeding dilemmas one at a time under missions. (If you were using artifacts, they would be seeded interchangeably with dilemmas. Only you know which they are.) Normally, you would select each dilemma to go wherever you wanted, but in this sample game, we've already set up where the dilemmas will be seeded to help you along. Most pre-customized decks will place more than one dilemma under each mission, but for this sample game, we will only place one under each:

What's an affiliation?
An affiliation (page 4 [3]) is one of the major powers or empires in the game. You should be familiar with these powers from Star Trek: The Next Generation. In this game, the Federation and the Klingons are the two affiliations (one for each player). Other affiliations include Romulan, Cardassian, Borg, and Ferengi. Typically, a player will only play one affiliation, but some customized decks will use two or three affiliations.

Sensitive Search: The Gatherers
Hostage Situation: Malfunctioning Door
Distress Mission: Male's Love Interest
Avert Danger: Impassable Door
Reported Activity: Anaphasic Organism
Cargo Rendezvous: Female's Love Interest
Survey Instability: Hidden Entrance
Gault: Archer
Homeward: Microvirus
A Good Place To Die: Ferengi Attack
Reopen Dig: Hunter Gangs
Gravesworld: Alien Labyrinth

Seed Phase Part 4: Outposts
Once all dilemmas and artifacts have been seeded, players may seed one or more outposts. Your outpost represents a base constructed by your affiliation. This is the location where your ships and personnel will report for duty. You are allowed to seed a maximum of one outpost for each affiliation you control. (Non-Aligned personnel do not represent an affiliation.) Your outpost may be seeded at any mission (yours or your opponent's) which has a matching affiliation icon.
You control only the Klingon affiliation, so you seed a Klingon Outpost at Gault.
He seeds a Federation Outpost at Cargo Rendezvous. The spaceline is now complete.

PLAYING THE GAME
Each player would now normally shuffle the remainder of his 60 cards to form his draw deck,place it face down on the table, and draw seven cards from the top of the deck to form a starting hand. As mentioned previously, for this demonstration, you'll just be taking the cards you are instructed to draw into your hand, so there's no need to shuffle. Because you won the original coin toss, you also go first in the game. Each player's turn follows this sequence:

1. Play a card from your hand. You can play only one card per turn (unless a card's text allows you to play more), and it must be the first thing you do on your turn (other than possibly playing an interrupt card). However, it is not mandatory that you play a card. The card you play will usually be one of the following types: personnel, ship, equipment, or event. The exceptions to the one-card-play-per-turn rule are interruptand doorwaycards. These cards do not count as your normal card play. (These decks do not use doorway cards.)

2. Execute orders. This may include loading, unloading, or moving ships; beaming personnel to planets or between ships; attempting missions (including encountering dilemmas); and engaging in battle. These actions may take place in any order, as long as the cards are not "stopped" from performing further actions (more on that later).

3. Draw one card from your draw deck to your hand. This signals the end of your turn.

TURN 1: KLINGON
You draw seven cards from your draw deck for your opening hand. You have five personnel (Dukath, Dr. Farek, B'iJik, Torin, and J'Ddan), an interrupt (Countermanda), and an event (Yellow Alert).

Your opponent has Spock, Taitt, Christopher Hobson, Wormhole, Particle Fountain, Vekor, and Long-Range Scan.

Card play: You report Torin for duty to your outpost.

When you play a personnel, ship or equipment card to your outpost, you simply take the card and place it below your outpost (see page 9 [13]) This symbolizes that the card is "at" the outpost.

Execute orders: You beam Torin down to Gault and attempt the mission.

Beaming is an unlimited action - you may beam as much as you want in a turn, "unless you are stopped." In this case, you are beaming Torin down to the planet (the outpost is located in space, orbiting the planet). To do this, simply take Torin and place him on top of the planet location.

Torin attempts the mission and reveals the dilemma Archer. This dilemma says that an Away Team member is killed unless SECURITY and MEDICAL are present. Since Torin possesses neither, he is killed and goes to your discard pile. The dilemma says "Discard dilemma," so it passes to your opponent's discard pile. (It's his dilemma - cards always go to their owner's discard piles.)
Card draw: You draw Vekor to end your turn.

TURN 1: FEDERATION
Card play: He reports Spock for duty to his outpost.
Execute orders: He elects to do nothing.
Card draw: He draws a Runabout to end his turn.

TURN 2: KLINGON
Card play: You report J'Ddan for duty to your outpost.
Execute orders: You elect to do nothing.
Card draw: You draw Kle'eg to end your turn.
For the next few turns, you and your opponent simply alternate reporting personnel for duty at your outposts and drawing cards, without executing any orders.

TURN 2: FEDERATION
Report Taitt for duty, draw Mendon.

How can Torin attempt the mission?
He doesn't have the skills to complete it. This is a strategy known as "red-shirting." A single personnel attempts a mission in order to encounter, and if possible eliminate, dilemmas. Even though the personnel cannot complete and score the mission (and in fact may be killed or disabled by a dilemma), he helps to clear the way for personnel who do possess the required skills. But it can be a dangerous strategy, because a single personnel may trigger a dilemma with far-reaching and unpleasant consequences.

TURN 3: KLINGON
Report Bi'Jik for duty, draw Divok.

TURN 3: FEDERATION
Report Christopher Hobson for duty, draw Taurik.

TURN 4: KLINGON
Report Kle'eg for duty, draw Vekma.

TURN 4: FEDERATION
Report Taurik for duty, draw Spacedock.

TURN 5: KLINGON
Card Play: Report Vekma for duty.
Execute orders: Beam Vekma, Kle'eg, B'iJik, and J'Ddan down to Gault and attempt the mission.
There are no dilemmas left, so you only need to satisfy the requirements on the Gault mission card. It requires Exobiology (J'Ddan), OFFICER (Bi'Jik), and Honor x2 (Vekma and Kle'eg). You slide the mission card towards you (see picture, at right), and score 30 points!
Card draw: Draw a K'Vort and end your turn.

TURN 5: FEDERATION
Report Vekor for duty, draw Montgomery Scott.

TURN 6: KLINGON
Report Dr. Farek for duty, draw Kromm.

TURN 6: FEDERATION
Report Montgomery Scott for duty, draw another Wormhole.

TURN 7: KLINGON
Report the I.K.C. K'Vort to your outpost, draw Wormhole.

TURN 7: FEDERATION
Report a Runabout for duty, draw Darian Wallace.

TURN 8: KLINGON
Card Play: Play Yellow Alert.
Yellow Alert is an Event card. You decide to play that instead of a personnel or ship. The card says (among other things), that all your personnel gain +1 CUNNING. You simply place the event somewhere on the table in front of you, out of the way of your other cards and the spaceline. Event cards stay in play until some other card specifies that they be discarded. Note that you cannot simply discard an event if you feel like it.

Execute orders: Beam Dr. Farek, Vekma, J'Ddan, Kle'eg, and Bi'Jik to your K'Vort. Move the K'Vort to Cargo Rendezvous.
The K'Vort has a RANGE of 8. Look at the Spans on the bottom of the Mission cards you are traveling across. Survey Instability has a Span of 3, and Cargo Rendezvous also has a Span of 3. Since your ship has a RANGE of 8, you can travel to Cargo Rendezvous, which uses up 6 (3 + 3) of your RANGE.

But Cargo Rendezvous isn't your mission!
That's alright. As we mentioned in the red-shirt box above, all you need to attempt a mission is a matching affiliation icon. Since Cargo Rendezvous has three affiliation icons (Federation, Romulan, and Klingon), your Klingons can attempt the mission.

Beam down your Away Team to Cargo Rendezvous and attempt the mission.
You uncover the dilemma seeded under the mission - a dilemma you seeded yourself. The dilemma is Female's Love Interest. This dilemma selects one female at random and moves her to the far end of the spaceline. Since the only female in your Away Team is Vekma, she is selected and is transported to the farthest planet - Gravesworld.

With the Female's Love Interest gone (it said "Discard dilemma"), you check to see if you can still do the mission. There are two sets of requirements for this mission, and you have to meet at least one of them to complete the mission. The first listed set requires an ENGINEER, which you don't have. So, you look at the second set of requirements. You need Greed (supplied by Dr. Farek), Treachery (supplied by J'Ddan), and a total CUNNING of 32 or more.

But Gravesworld isn't your mission!
It isn't even a Klingon mission. That's alright. While Vekma can't attempt the mission (because it only has a Federation icon), anyone can just beam down to the planet. You don't have to attempt a mission when you beam down to the planet.

The CUNNING numbers printed on all your personnel cards totals 24. But, the Yellow Alert adds one to each personnel's CUNNING, giving you a total of 28 - not quite enough! If you still had Vekma in your Away Team, she would add 6 more CUNNING (5 on her card, +1 for the Yellow Alert), for a total of 34! Curse that dilemma!
With nothing else to do on the planet, you beam your Away Team back up to the ship.

Card Draw: You draw Torin and end your turn.

TURN 8: FEDERATION
Card play: He reports Mendon for duty at his outpost.
Execute orders: He beams everyone down to Cargo Rendezvous and attempts the mission.
His Away Team, consisting of Mendon, Taitt, Spock, Montgomery Scott, Taurik, Vekor, and Christopher Hobson, beam down to the planet. Since you already cleared away the dilemma, he can just meet the mission requirements at no risk to himself. He chooses to satisfy the first set of requirements, which is ENGINEER (Taurik or Scotty) + Physics (Mendon) + INTEGRITY > 32 (he has a total of 44). He completes the mission and slides it towards himself for 35 points.
Your opponent plays the Interrupt Particle Fountain.
Remember, an interrupt can be played between actions at any time during your turn or your opponent's turn. It does not count as your card play. Just after completing the mission, your opponent chooses to play the interrupt Particle Fountain, which says "If 2 ENGINEER present in Away Team, play particle fountain (maximum of one) on just completed planet mission for bonus points." Scotty is a double ENGINEER himself, settling the requirement for 2 ENGINEER, so your opponent gets 5 bonus points.
Score: Opponent 40, you 30.

He beams everyone up to the Runabout and moves to Survey Instability. He then beams everyone down to the planet and attempts the mission.
He uncovers the dilemma. It's Hidden Entrance, which requires Geordi La Forge (which he doesn't have) OR ENGINEER + CUNNING > 32 (which he does have). He overcomes the dilemma and checks the mission requirements.

Can he do that? He already did a mission this turn.
He sure can. Until his personnel are "stopped" (explained below), he can continue to perform actions with his ship and crew.

He has Geology (Taitt) and a total STRENGTH of 36 (he needs STRENGTH > 35). He slides the mission towards him and adds 25 points to his score.
Score: Opponent 65, you 30.
He beams everyone up to the Runabout and returns to the his outpost. Card draw: He draws Linda Larson to end his turn.

TURN 9: KLINGON
Card play: Report Kromm to your outpost.
Execute Orders: Move the K'Vort back to your outpost and pick up Kromm. Move the K'Vort to Homeward.
The Span on Survey Instability is 3, on Gault is 2, and on Homeward is 3 (for a total of 8, which is equal to the K'Vort's RANGE).

Card draw: Draw Batrell and end your turn.

TURN 9: FEDERATION
Card play: He reports Darian Wallace to the outpost.
Execute Orders: He beams Darian Wallace up to his Runabout and plays two Wormhole cards.
Wormhole says: "Requires two wormholes. Play one on any ship just as it begins to move. Play the other where the ship immediately emerges." In effect, this pair of cards lets him "teleport" his ship to any location! He moves his ship to Homeward in this fashion.

He beams down the Away Team consisting of Spock and Darian Wallace and attempts the mission.
Since the mission only requires two skills (Anthropology and Computer Skill), he decides to beam down only two personnel to attempt the mission, leaving the rest on board the ship. The dilemma is Microvirus, which says "Kills one Away Team member (opponent's choice), unless MEDICAL and SECURITY present. Discard dilemma." Since he doesn't have SECURITY or MEDICAL, you choose one of his personnel to be killed. You choose Darian Wallace.
The remainder of the Away Team (which only consists of Spock) is now "stopped." They cannot perform any more actions this turn.
That should teach your opponent to attempt missions with his valuable personnel on the line! If he would have attempted the mission with other personnel, leaving Spock and Darian Wallace on the ship, he could have taken care of the dilemma and beamed down Spock and Darian Wallace to complete the mission.

Why Darian Wallace? Isn't Spock better?
In the long run, perhaps. But you know that Darian Wallace is the only personnel he has with Anthropology (you've been paying attention as he reports them). You know that if you kill Spock (who has Computer Skill), your opponent could just use Christopher Hobson to supply the Computer Skill. Without the Anthropology Darian Wallace provides, your opponent can't complete the mission. Paying attention to all of your opponent's moves can be very valuable.

Card draw: He draws Gorta to end his turn.

TURN 10: KLINGON
Card play: You report Batrell for duty.

Execute orders: Beam Batrell up to the K'Vort, move to the Homeward, and attack!
You choose to initiate a battle between your K'Vort and his Runabout. Here are the steps in battle:

	1.Both ships must be at the same location.

	2.Any ship wishing to use its WEAPONS in battle must have a leader. A leader is classified as any personnel with OFFICER classification or the skill of Leadership. B'iJik satisfies this requirement for you, and Christopher Hobson for your opponent. If either of you did not have a leader, then you would not have been able to use your WEAPONS in the battle (explained in step #3).

	3.Compare your WEAPONS (6) to your opponent's SHIELDS (5). Since your WEAPONS are greater than his SHIELDS, you damage his ship. He rotates it 180 degrees to indicate the damage. If you would have had WEAPONS greater than double his SHIELDS, you would have scored a direct hit, destroying his ship.

	4.Now, he compares his WEAPONS (5) to your SHIELDS (6). Since his WEAPONS are less than your SHIELDS, his counterattack has no effect. This step would occur even if his ship had been destroyed in step 3. All battle is considered to be simultaneous, so no ship has "first strike" in a battle.

Battle "stops" all cards involved in that battle (ships and personnel). So, you cannot do much else this turn.
Card draw: You draw a Wormhole (your second) to end your turn.

Stopped? What does that mean?
When personnel or ships are stopped,they cannot perform any more actions on this turn. They cannot beam, continue a mission attempt, or initiate a battle. A stopped ship cannot move. Typically, cards become stopped in one of two ways. If a dilemma has conditions (such as "unless SECURITY and MEDICAL present"), andthe Away Team or crew does not overcome the conditions, the Away Team or crew is stopped.(At a space mission, the ship or outpost from which the mission was attempted is also stopped.) The key word to look for on a dilemma is "unless." That usually signals a condition. Also, any participation in a battle stops all cards involved in the battle. Stopped cards become "unstopped" at the beginning of the next turn.
If a ship is stopped, any personnel on board are also stopped. If an Away Team is stopped, the ship they beamed from is notstopped. Also, note that earlier (on your Turn 8) you were not stopped when you were simply unable to complete a mission.

TURN 10: FEDERATION
Card play: He reports Linda Larson to his outpost.
Execute orders: He beams Spock up and moves the Runabout to Survey Instability.
A damaged ship only has a RANGE of 5, so that's as far as he can go.
Card draw: He draws Calloway and ends his turn.

TURN 11: KLINGON
Card play: You report Dukath at your outpost.
Execute orders: Move the K'Vort to your outpost, pick up Dukath, and move to A Good Place to Die. Beam down everyone and attempt the mission.
You have enough RANGE on your K'Vort to accomplish this, moving from Homeward to Gault (2 Span), back to Homeward (3 Span), then to A Good Place To Die (3 Span). The dilemma underneath the mission is Ferengi Attack, which requires the skill of Greed or a total STRENGTH + CUNNING greater than 68. Rather than take the time to add up your attributes, you simply look at Dr. Farek, who has Greed which overcomes the dilemma. You solve the mission with Physics (Kromm) and a total STRENGTH of 44 (you needed STRENGTH > 33). You beam back up to the K'Vort.
Score: Opponent 65, you 55.
Card draw: You draw Where No One Has Gone Before.

TURN 11: FEDERATION
Card play: He reports Calloway to his outpost. Execute orders: He moves the Runabout to the outpost.
It will take a few turns to repair the Runabout, so your opponent elects to wait for a bit.
Card draw: He draws Simon Tarses to end his turn.

TURN 12: KLINGON
Card play: You play the event Where No One Has Gone Before.
Not impressed with your personnel, and wanting more versatility with your movement, you elect to play the event instead of a personnel. Like Yellow Alert, this event simply plays on the table and grants you a special benefit - your ships can go off one end of the spaceline and reappear on the other!
Execute orders: Move to Reopen Dig, beam everyone down and attempt the mission.

The dilemma is Hunter Gangs. This instructs you to randomly select two personnel and "examine cards separately. Personnel escapes if CUNNING is even, killed if odd." The personnel selected are Batrell and Kromm. Batrell's printed CUNNING is 3, Kromm's is 6. But wait! The Yellow Alert you have in play adds one toyour personnel's CUNNING!

Now Batrell has a CUNNING of 4 (he lives) and Kromm has a CUNNING of 7 (he dies). Fortunately, you still have the Archaeology (Dukath) and two OFFICERs (Batrell and Bi'Jik) to complete the mission. Good thing Batrell survived! You beam your personnel back up to the K'Vort.
Score: You 80, Opponent 65.
Draw Klag and end your turn.

TURN 12: FEDERATION
Card play: He plays Spacedock on his outpost.
Normally, it takes two full turns to repair a ship at an outpost, but this event card immediately repairs his ship! Uh-oh!
Execute orders: He beams Linda Larson and Calloway up, moves the Runabout to Reported Activity, beams everyone down, and attempts the mission.
He's trying to steal one of your missions! The dilemma he encounters is Anaphasic Organism. This states that the female Away Team member with the highest total attributes resigns (is discarded) unless SECURITY and MEDICAL present. He has no SECURITY present! Another good reason to select Darian Wallace over Spock several turns ago!
The female with the highest total attributes is Taitt. She goes to the discard pile and his Away Team is "stopped," because he did not overcome the dilemma (note that it says "unless"). However, his Away Team still has ENGINEER x2 and Navigation, so he can complete the mission, gain 35 points, and win the game - next turn!
Card draw: He draws the U.S.S. Nebula to end his turn.

TURN 13: KLINGON
You better act - fast!
Card play: You report Klag to your outpost.
You've got a plan, and it doesn't depend on you reporting any particular cards for duty. However, it's always a good idea to play a card anyway, just in case something goes wrong.
Execute orders: You move the K'Vort to Gravesworld and beam up Vekma.
Remember Vekma? She was hit with a Love Interest a long time ago and was just sitting on Gravesworld. You'll need her for what you've got in store!
You start to move your ship again, but instead play two Wormhole interrupts.
Right back at him! You play your Wormholes in the same fashion he did earlier, moving your ship to Distress Mission.
You beam everyone down to Distress Mission and attempt it.
The dilemma is Male's Love Interest - not another Love Interest! This time the random selection falls upon Dr. Farek, who runs off to that romantic getaway known as Gravesworld.
Fortunately, you still have Honor x3 (Vekma, Batrell, and Kle'eg) and your total STRENGTH is 39, which is greater than the 36 you need. The mission is worth 35 points, bringing your total to 115 - you win! A final look at the game: