Star Trek “Enterprise” Fluxx (Archer and Porthos Expansions)

I has a sad. Today I review what has been announced to be the final products in the Looney Labs’ Star Trek Fluxx series. I’m collectively referring to them as “the Enterprise expansions” out of convenience, however, they are technically two separate 16 card mini-expansions called the “Archer Expansion” (named after Scott Bakula’s Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise) and the “Porthos Expansion” (named after Captain Archer’s dog).

Before I get to the reviews proper, let’s give them some context. Way back when, when we first reviewed Star Trek Fluxx and Star Trek: The Next Generation Fluxx, we included a bonus review of the “Bridge Expansion.” This expansion was a 12 card booster specifically designed to combine the two games. Then Star Trek: Deep Space 9 Fluxx was released. Then, Star Trek Voyager came out. Voyager was announced to be the final Star Trekk Fluxx release, which caused a certain amount of vocal disappointment from fans of the Star Trek: Enterprise series. There was also one other nagging complaint that the well-meaning Bridge Expansion created: there was no official way to combine DS9 or Voyager Fluxx wither the other sets, despite how much unavoidable crossover there is between shows. So to kill two targs with one stone, we find ourselves here, with a pair of predominantly Enterprise-themed crossover boosters.

THE ARCHER EXPANSION

This expansion focuses largely on the Temporal Cold War. The only three Keeper Cards we get are “Jonathan Archer”, “Daniels” (of the Department of Temporal Investigations) and the “Atavachron” device that I don’t remember to save my life.

Some of the included Goal Cards include “Faith of the Heart” that requires “Archer” + “Enterprise” (from TOS or TNG, his own Enterprise doesn’t have a card) and “The Temporal Cold Wars” that requires “Daniels” + “Temporal Rift” or any “Time Machine”. Here is one example of many people’s complaint about Fluxx, it sometimes requires common sense interpretation rather than literal interpretations. There is no card called “Time Machine”, but it includes the art from various cards based on time affecting devices from the different shows. “The Captain’s Table” requires “Archer” + a list of Captain cards (another term that is used but doesn’t appear on the cards specifically). Similarly, “Archer” means the card that is actually called “Jonathan Archer”

Probably the most important card in the set is the new Meta Rule: “Combined Decks.” Remember how I said there was no official way to combine most Fluxx decks? This fixes that by allowing one Goal Card from each Fluxx set you have combined to be in play at the same time. Technically this rule could be used for any Fluxx themes, but works better with Star Trek because there is so much crossover with loose terms like “Captain” and duplicate Keeper and Creeper cards from different shows like “Phaser” and “Transporter.” Not counting the amazing conversation on how a “Mirror Verison” of “Morn” would act, the biggest impact of this Meta Rule is ultimately on the length of your game.

THE PORTHOS EXPANSION

When it comes to the Porthos Expansion, It is very important to remember that it includes Spot! It’s actually not all that important per se, but yay for Data’s cat. The second 16 card booster expansion honestly has a very different flavour to it than the Archer Expansion. As should be obvious by featuring the Goal Card “Star Pets” on the packaging, there is much less gravitas here. The “Ode to Spot” Goal requires “Data” + “Spot, the “No Cheese!” Goal requires Porthos + either “Archer” or “Dr. Pholx” (whose Keeper Card is part of this set), and the previously mentioned “Star Pets” requires “Spot” + “Porthos.”

Like the Archer Expansion, the Goal Cards, mostly require a combination of cards from the different Trek sets. I’m particularly fond of the “Barkeep’s Finest” Goal that requires Roman Ale (included) + either Quark or Guinan. Also part of this pack is a Keeper Card of Kor, the Klingon Dahar Master who was a memorable adversary of Kirk in the original series, and close friend of Dax in Deep Space 9.

With both of these sets, you can add just a few cards to specific Trek Fluxx games, either on their own or as a way to combine sets. My only real complaint about these particular packs is that “The Captain’s Table” and “Starfleet Medical” require “Archer” and “Phlox,” respectively, along with any other Captains or Medical staff, instead of just requiring any two of those categories. If I play another massive game of all the sets, I may house rule them as such. Having now played a massive combined game, I am reminded of my issue about combining the sets from the beginning. It can be a bit frustrating to disassemble the combined decks or to figure out which Goal is which for the Combined Decks Meta Rule. Each set has its own font for cards, but they aren’t always easy to spot. As well, the Bridge Expansion, Archer Expansion, and Porthos Expansion all have the same font (and are collectively considered their own set under Combined Decks) which makes separating those sets out extra challenging if you care about that.

Ultimately none of those issues change anything or reduce the enjoyment of the additional gameplay options. It might be nice to have a fancy box or slipcase for everything, or maybe a printable tuck box template for these boosters, but that’s opening a giant can-of-worms with the dozens and dozens of Fluxx games, both current and out of print.

If you have even one of the Star Trek Fluxx games, these boosters are worth picking up. If you have more than one, it’s almost a necessity.

You can find a specific FAQ page on combining Star Trek Fluxxen HERE.

You can find more Looney Labs goodness online at www.looneylabs.com or on their Facebook page: facebook.com/LooneyLabs.