First Contact Demo Tour Sample Game
By: Marcus Certa, aka The Emissary

Here is the sample game, developed by Star Trek CCG Emissary Marcus Certa just for the worldwide demo tour introducing Decipher's Star Trek Customizable Card Game: First Contact expansion. This game includes one pre-ordered Borg deck and one pre-ordered Federation deck. Follow them closely, in the exact order they are given, and you should be able to follow the First Contact sample game without any difficulty.

The sample game does not follow Star Trek CCG rules exactly. This is so principle points of play can be demonstrated in the simplest and most complete manner possible. The Borg and Federation game decks each give just 4 missions to a player. In order to demonstrate all major points of Borg gameplay introduced in First Contact, including use of objectives, scouting, probing, and battle, the decks are "stacked" in the given order, and are used in just this order when following the game script.

For the purposes of this demonstration, there are a few situations where you will not follow normal rules. For instance, you will normally shuffle your deck after any download. DO NOT shuffle this deck, as it will place the remaining cards out of sequence, and it is very important that the sequence be maintained. The first 10 cards of the Federation deck are the seed cards. The first 11 cards of the Borg deck are the seed cards.

The Federation player starts the seed phase. For this demonstration, please seed the spaceline in order, from right to left (from the Federation viewpoint).

Borg hand should be: Borg Cube, Nine of Eleven, Four of Eleven, Two of Nineteen, Two of Eleven, Borg Scout Vessel, and Activate Subcommands.

Begin Play:

Fed: Reports Vekor to Federation outpost. Draws Spock. End turn.

Borg: Reports Borg Cube to Borg outpost. Draws Six of Eleven. End turn.

Fed: Reports Spock to Federation outpost. Attempts Mission. Encounter Male's Love Interest. Simon Tarses selected (random selection). Still have Archaeology, score 25 points, plus 5 points for Dr. Royce as a Mission Specialist. Draw McKnight. End turn. (SCORE: Federation 30 - Borg 0)

Borg: Plays Activate Subcommands. Reports Two of Eleven, Nine of Eleven, and Four of Eleven to Borg Cube. Downloads Transwarp Network Gateway to Borg Outpost using special download icon (Do Not Shuffle Deck). Draw no cards this turn. End turn.

Fed: Reports U.S.S. Galaxy to Federation outpost. Draws Montgomery Scott. End turn.

Borg: Reports Two of Nineteen to Borg Cube. Draws 1 of 11. End turn.

Fed: Reports Montgomery Scott to Federation outpost. Puts Spock, Vekor and Dr. Royce on U.S.S. Galaxy and moves range of six to the (Federation player's) right to Survey Instability and picks up Simon Tarses. Draws Asteroid Sanctuary. End turn.

Borg: Reports One of Eleven to Borg Cube. Draws Eleven of Nineteen. End turn.

Fed: Reports McKnight to Federation outpost. Returns U.S.S. Galaxy range of six to Federation outpost. Draws U.S.S. Bozeman. End turn.

Borg: Reports Borg Scout Vessel with crew (Six of Eleven and Eleven of Nineteen) to Transwarp Network Gateway at Repair Mission. Moves Borg Scout Vessel range of three to the (Borg player's) right to Study Stellar Collision. Reveal Establish Gateway (hidden agenda), targets Study Stellar Collision. Scouts mission. Encounters Maglock. Away Team stopped. Draws Adapt: Negate Obstruction. End turn.

Fed: Reports U.S.S. Bozeman to Federation outpost. Spock, Vekor, Dr. Royse and McKnight board the U.S.S. Galaxy and moves range of seven to the (Federation player's) left to Study Plasma Streamer. Montgomery Scott and Simon Tarses board the U.S.S. Bozeman and move range of three to the (Federation player's) left to Covert Installation. Draws Thomas McClure. End turn.

Borg: No card play. Scouts Study Stellar Collision. Encounters Maglock. Plays Adapt: Negate Obstruction and discards dilemma. Scouting complete. Draws Three of Nineteen. End turn.

Fed: Reports Thomas McClure to Federation outpost. Moves U.S.S. Bozeman range of four to the (Federation player's) left to Study Plasma Streamer. Crew of U.S.S. Galaxy attempts mission. Encounters Lack of Preparation. Loses 10 points. U.S.S. Galaxy stopped (SCORE: Federation 20 - Borg 0). Crew of the U.S.S. Bozeman attempts mission. Encounters Lack of Preparation. Meets dilemma requirements (discards dilemma). Completes mission. Scores 30 points, plus 5 points for Simon Tarses as a Mission Specialist (SCORE: Federation 55 - Borg 0). Draws Medical Kit. End turn.

Borg: Reports Three of Nineteen to Borg Cube. Probes for Establish Gateway Objective. Probe card is Assimilate Planet. Probe is successful. Scores 25 points. (SCORE: Federation 55 - Borg 25). Downloads a Transwarp Network Gateway to Study Stellar Collision. Downloads Assimilate Planet as new current objective. Targets Fever Emergency with Assimilate Planet. Draws Thirteen of Nineteen. End turn.

Fed: Reports Joseph Travis to Federation outpost. Moves U.S.S. Galaxy back to Federation outpost and beams off crew. Moves U.S.S. Bozeman range of three to the (Federation player's) right to Covert Installation. Draws Richard Wilkins. End turn.

Borg: Reports Thirteen of Nineteen to Borg Cube. Moves Borg Scout Vessel range of six to the (Borg player's) right to Fever Emergency. Beams down Eleven of Nineteen to scout planet. Federation player plays Thine Own Self. Eleven of Nineteen placed beneath Fever Emergency mission. Borg player beams down Six of Eleven to scout planet. Encounters Impassable Door. Six of Eleven is stopped. Draws Change of Plans. End turn.

Fed: Plays Prepare Assault Teams face-down (hidden agenda). Moves U.S.S. Bozeman to Federation outpost. Beams off Montgomery Scott and Simon Tarses. Beams Spock, Thomas McClure, Vekor, and McKnight to the U.S.S. Galaxy. Moves U.S.S. Galaxy range of three to the (Federation player's) right to Fever Emergency and fires on the Borg Scout Vessel, damaging that ship. U.S.S. Galaxy is stopped. Draws Escape Pod. End turn.

Borg: No card play. Beams up Six of Eleven, moves Borg Scout Vessel range of three to the (Borg player's) left to Survey Instability. Using Two of Nineteen's special skill, Borg player downloads a Transwarp Network Gateway in place of his card draw. End turn.

Fed: Reports Inge Eiger to Federation outpost. Moves U.S.S. Galaxy range of three to the (Federation player's) right to Survey Instability. Fires on Borg Scout Vessel, destroying ship and earning five-point bonus (SCORE: Federation 60 - Borg 25). U.S.S. Galaxy stopped. Draws Long-Range Scan. End turn.

Borg: Plays Transwarp Network Gateway from hand to move Borg Cube from Transwarp Network Gateway at Borg outpost to Transwarp Network Gateway located at Study Stellar Collision. Moves Borg Cube range of three to the (Borg player's) right to Survey Instability. Borg player then plays A Change of Plans to discard Assimilate Planet and downloads Assimilate Counterpart, targeting Spock. Borg player beams four drones (Three of Nineteen, Four of Eleven, Two of Nineteen, and Thirteen of Nineteen) over to the U.S.S. Galaxy (using Two of Eleven's ability to beam through opponents' shields), and initiates an Away Team battle with the crew of the U.S.S. Galaxy. The Federation player immediately reveals his hidden agenda, which is Prepare Assault Teams.

He downloads a Starfleet Type Three Phaser Rifle from his draw deck (Do Not Shuffle Deck) and splits his crew into two teams, one consisting of Vekor and McKnight (team one), the other of Spock, Thomas McClure and the phaser rifle (team two). Both assault teams are placed on the table face down. The Borg player must choose one of the two assault teams to attack, without knowing which personnel are in each team. For this demonstration, the Borg player chooses team two, which, fortunately for him, contains his target, Spock.

An Away Team battle ensues. Both players shuffle their personnel involved in the battle. (For this illustration, have your pairings happen as follows): The Federation player turns over Thomas McClure, whose strength is 8 plus three for the phaser rifle (strength 11). The Borg player turns over Three of Nineteen (strength 7). Three of Nineteen is stunned. The Federation player turns over Spock. The Borg player turns over Four of Eleven. Since Spock is the targeted personnel, Four of Eleven "abducts" Spock and the two beam back to the Borg Cube and are stopped. The Borg player has two drones remaining. Two of Nineteen and Thirteen of Nineteen. They have a combined strength of 12. The Borg player wins the overall battle (the total strength of those remaining in the battle and not stunned or mortally wounded) 12-11. One Federation personnel participating in the battle must die (random selection). Since Thomas McClure is the only remaining personnel, he is killed (discarded). The Borg player draws Assimilation Table. End turn.

Fed: Reports Richard Wilkins to Federation outpost. Vekor and McKnight (aboard the U.S.S. Galaxy attack the three drones still on ship. Vekor and McKnight have the plus-three strength bonus from the phaser rifle. Both players shuffle their battling personnel. Again, for this illustration, have the pairings happen as follows: The Federation player turns over McKnight (strength 6). The Borg player turns over Three of Nineteen (strength 7). McKnight is stunned. Three of Nineteen uses his special skill to immediately abduct McKnight and assimilate her (both personnel immediately beam back to the Borg Cube and are stopped, with McKnight now a Borg drone). The Federation player turns over Vekor (strength 9). The Borg player turns over Thirteen of Nineteen (strength 7). Thirteen of Nineteen is stunned. The Borg player has one remaining personnel in the battle (Two of Nineteen). The Federation player wins this overall battle (total strength remaining of battling personnel not stunned or mortally wounded) 9-7. One Borg drone must die (random selection) from those remaining at the battle site and not mortally wounded. For this demonstration, Two of Nineteen is selected. He is killed (discarded). Federation player draws Wormhole. End turn.

Borg: Plays Assimilation Table on Borg Cube. Beams Thirteen of Nineteen back to the Borg Cube. Counter-attacks against U.S.S. Galaxy, destroying ship with direct hit. Federation player plays Escape Pod to save Vekor. Since the Borg player attacked on his turn, he cannot probe for his Assimilate Counterpart objective. Draws fifteen of Seventeen. End turn.

Fed: Reports Medical Kit to Federation outpost. Entire crew at outpost is placed on U.S.S. Bozeman, which begins to move to the (Federation player's) right. The Federation player plays two Wormholes to move the U.S.S. Bozeman from the outpost to Survey Instability. The crew rescues Vekor from the Escape Pod, then everyone beams to the planet's surface and attempts the mission. The Away Team encounters Archer.

The Away Team overcomes the dilemma (discard dilemma), and completes the mission, scoring 25 points plus five points for Inge Eiger as a Mission Specialist (SCORE: Federation 90 - Borg 25). Beam Joseph Travis aboard the U.S.S. Bozeman, where he fires on the Borg Cube. The Borg Cube is not damaged, and in its retaliation shot, destroys the U.S.S. Bozeman. The Federation player draws the U.S.S. Nebula. End turn.

Borg: Reports Fifteen of Seventeen to Borg Cube. Since the Borg player was attacked on his opponent's previous turn, he cannot probe this turn. Draws Eight of Nineteen. End turn.

Fed: Reports Nebula to Federation outpost. Draws Obarakeh. End turn.

Borg: Reports Eight of Nineteen to Borg Cube. Probes for Assimilate Counterpart. Probe card is Two of Seventeen. Probe is successful. Spock is assimilated. Borg player scores 25 points (SCORE: Federation 90 - Borg 50). Borg player draws Two of Seventeen. End turn.

With their newly-assimilated counterpart, Spock, the Borg are ready to continue their strategy of eliminating the Federation. In a full game situation, with more missions and objectives, the Borg would try and use their new counterpart to reach 100 points before the Federation could get their Nebula staffed and recover the Away Team stranded on Survey Instability. Who will win? There's only one way to find out....