You love popular board game Settlers of Catan. You’re also an enormous Trekkie. If these two statements are true, it’s very likely that the above image of the forthcoming Star Trek Catan set your heart atwitter. The game is expected to come out in March of this year, but so far seems to only be slated for a German release. However, fans hoping for a complete re-imagining of the game may be left wanting.

From the information available, the game appears to use the familiar concepts of Catan with a Star Trek twist. For instance, it has large and small stations instead of cities and villages, little Constitution class star ships instead of roads, and a Klingon Bird of Prey instead of a thief. The traditional resources of the game have also been Trekified and are Dilithium, Tritanium, food, oxygen and water.

Even the board itself, which is normally divided into hexagonal biomes, has been altered only slightly. The Trek version opts instead for entire planets, which gives the board a rather cramped look. If it were to represent an actual sector of space, it would surely be a night mare of gravity wells and inhospitable worlds from the interactions of planets’ gravity, but that’s almost certainly over thinking it.

There is one new addition to the game. According to Board Game Geek:

The one new element in Star Trek Catan compared to the Settlers version is a set of character cards, each featuring one of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Scott, Uhura, Chekov, Chapel, Rand or Sarek. Each character card has two special powers that the holder can use on his turn, such as a forced trade.

While some are excited about seeing two franchises collide, others are disappointed by the apparent lack of innovation. This prompted Board Game Geek user Gavan Brown to post the following image, which likely sums up the feelings of the die-hard fans.

(Board Game Geek via Topless Robot, Thanks, Susana!)

Relevant to your interests

Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com