Back in the 80s I bought a few of the Star Fleet Battles board game manuals. Loved going through them all and imagining how complex a game could be, but never was able to actually set up any gaming sessions (after all it was even more niche than D&D, and very dry in the tons of rules). When I ran across the Star Fleet Command series years later, it was like I could finally participate in what I had dreamed about. Granted it didn't have all the rules (maybe that's a good thing) and it was set in the "standard" familiar universe and many of the board game unique races and ships weren't there, but it felt like playing the spirit of the board game, setting up scenarios and seeing what you could do.

FWIW, anyone who isn't familiar with the board game, the Andromedans are probably where some of the ideas used with Borg came from. The alternate history and ship developments due to the wars that break out are also great.