One of the most direct ways that the Borg can manifest in the game is to encounter a Borg Cube while exploring a new planetary system; The Borg Cube Crisis simply places a Borg Cube in the System. Thankfully, the Borg Cube won’t take notice of the explorer’s vessel yet. However, even if there are no Borg in play, the Borg are always dealt a Turn Order Card in the Initiative Stage, so there if the explorer’s turn is before the Borg turn, the Cube will react to the presence of the intruding vessel during the Borg turn. If the player doesn’t have enough Commands to move away from the newly discovered Cube, the encounter may turn deadly later in the round.

When a new planetary system is discovered, they may find that a planet has already been assimilated by the Borg. This Borg World will already have a Borg Spire in place and could even have a number of Assimilation Nodes constructed. Assimilation Nodes convert the resources of the world into a new Borg Cube, but they also protect and defend the Borg World, providing both offensive capability and defensive shielding against planetary invasions. During the Borg turn, the Borg begin with a build phase, each Borg World adds a new Assimilation Node to its Spire. Once three Nodes are in place, a Borg Cube will be placed atop the Spire in the following build phase. Only a successful Planetary Invasion can scour the Borg from the planet and reclaim the world. 

On occasion intrepid explorers may stumble across Isolated Borg Drones or the wreckage of Borg Cubes. In these rare instances, civilizations may gain an advantage by studying the Borg’s superior technology. The player will be able to draw a number of Borg Tech Cards and choose one to Develop. Some Borg Tech Cards mimic the rules for Advancement Cards and must be researched at an open Research Node before they can be utilized; others require no research and are put directly into play.

There are eleven Crisis Cards, three Discoveries and six Civilizations in the Borg Assimilation Game Expansion. Depending on the level of Borg activity players want in their games some or all of these cards will be added to the game’s Exploration Deck. In order to ensure that early exploration is not overwhelmed by the powerful Borg, players should shuffle all of the non-Borg Exploration Cards and deal out a number of cards equal to twice the number of players. After those dealt cards have been set aside, players should then shuffle the appropriate number of Borg Exploration Cards into the Deck and then place the set aside cards on the top of the deck. 

The threat of the Borg will make space exploration more perilous, but a civilization needs to expand in order to grow. Confronting the Borg will test the mettle of all of the Galaxy’s factions when the Borg Assimilation Game Expansion arrives later this year.