Mutability and Materiality in Star Trek - Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games - page 99

uneasy relationship with the other series, and creates its own “Prime” universe
narrative, complicating the cohesiveness of the Star Trek whole. Fleet Captains
centers on the conlict between the Federation and the Klingons, and each player
controls one leet of ships, broken into diferent lotillas, that battle each other in
an expanse of unexplored space. his “best-of ” the Star Trek series serves as an
acknowledgment of the reach and inluence of the original universe of Star Trek ,
celebrating rather than extending the series.
In contrast, Expeditions is a cooperative game based on the Abrams movie
series, and features characters who have a number of diferently themed
missions to accomplish. Given the ilm's emphasis on a Romulan enemy, it is
telling that the game concentrates on the more traditional Klingon enemy—the
game's narrative seems to jump past that of the original ilm to follow a more
serialized storyline (see Chapter 7). Much like in the ilm, each of the main
characters has unique attributes and particular strengths; the characters can
combine their strengths to accomplish their missions. While cooperation is
certainly a theme within the 2009 ilm (all the characters have to learn to work
together, despite their diferences), the ilm is much more focused on space
combat, so a more competitive mechanic in the game might have seemed more
appropriate for connecting the paratextual board game to the ilm. he fact that
the game is largely cooperative, therefore, is an important factor in how the
game connects to the larger cult world and how it recreates the “experience” of
Star Trek. Expeditions extends the narrative in time as well as in space, opening
up unexplored possibilities and adventures for the new crew of the revamped
Enterprise .
Both games manifest similar aspects of paratextual board games as they
connect to the Star Trek franchise. First, utilizing the WizKids HeroClix system,
a “lexible game system … that aims to simulate the action” of the game's
requisite text, both games feature miniature igurines of people and ships to
model elements within the Star Trek universe. 3 For both Fleet Captains and
Expeditions, the HeroClix igures mirror the characters and ships from the
Star Trek universe and make use of a mutable base that “clicks” into diferent
positions. Each position indicates a shiting set of attributes to simulate power
loss (clicking down) or healing (clicking up). he collectible nature of HeroClix
turns many WizKids games into “starter sets,” with booster and expansion packs
released with additional models that add to the game play, collectability, and
narrative developments within the world of the game. As Geraghty describes,
the physicality of the objects helps cohere the object to the player. 4 his focus on