Live Long and Prosper: Attack Wing's Vulcan Faction Pack

Vulcans. You can’t trust ‘em. Apparently. One minute they’re a faction on their own and then they decide they want to act as a sub-faction… as I said, can’t trust ‘em.

With that little twist to their existence in Attack Wing now a few years old it was somewhat of a surprise to see that they would be receiving their own faction pack and, in all honesty, it’s fairly decent.

Not just relying on Vulcans from Enterprise or multiple Spocks, the Live Long and Prosper box takes its lead from the prequel series as well as TOS and DS9 with callouts to The Immunity Syndrome and Take Me Out to the Holosuite. 

Dropping in two D’Kyr Class ships from Enterprise, the pack is fleshed out with the Constitution Class USS Intrepid and the Nebula Class USS T’Kumbra. There’s also a bountiful supply of captains, upgrades and missions to fulfil your fleet needs so let’s engage!

All of the models have been released before but unbelievably this is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of a D’Kyr Class starship - and two arrive at the same time. Coloured in the classic sandy Vulcan paint, the ships are among the best and most cleanly detailed in the Attack Wing collection. For once the hull lines are visible, there's distinct engine markings and - shocker - there's even multiple colour shades across the hull.  The D'Kyr is well suited to this scale so having two isn't a bad thing.

Now to the ship stats and it's a little surprising that the Nebula Class isn't the most powerful ship in the box. That falls to the 25 point V'Shar from the D'Kyr Class with 3 in attack, 1 defence, 5 Hull and 4 Shields. All the Vulcan craft operate with the standard Evade, Target Lock, Scan and Battle Stations Actions available. The V'Shar also provides the slots for 2 additional Tech, 1 Weapon and 1 Crew. As for a Unique Action, the starship can spend a Scan and on the next attack ignore its target's shields - big chance to hit some critical damage early on!

The 24 point Kir'Shara is the second of those D'Kyr Class ships in the box. Levelled out with the same attack, defence, hull and shield scores as the V'Shar it carries 2 Crew, 1 Weapon and a Tech upgrade option. Why there's a point difference (literally 1 point) is unclear. The Kir'Shara also uses Scan tokens but this time can convert up to 2 Battle Station results into Damage results if said token is in play.

Both the T'Kumbra and the Intrepid operate as dual faction ships, either Vulcan or Federation. The 22 point T'Kumbra is perhaps the best all-rounder with 4 Attack, 1 Defence, 4 Hull and 4 Shields along with a set best 5 upgrade slots comprising 2 Tech, 2 Crew and 1 Weapon. All Captain, Admiral and Crew upgrades from the Vulcan faction assigned to the T'Kumbra cost one less point and when it performs a Scan you can drop an extra Scan token into play. 

The 20 point Intrepid isn't quite as impressive but looks to hold its own with a 3 Attack, 1 Shield, 4 Hull and 3 Shields. You can enhance her with 2 Crew, 1 Weapon and a Tech upgrade plus her Unique Action is a freebie. By placing an Auxiliary Power Token beside the Intrepid you an then target a friendly ship up to range 2 and place a Scan and Evade token next to both craft.  That's a lot of scanning action overall between the four ships with each gaining significant benefits every time.

Stepping into play for your Captain options there's Sisko's Starfleet nemesis Solok with a skill of 7 and a cost of 4 points. All of the captains can field an Elite Action and s an additional perk, Solok is the only one operating dual faction Vulcan/Federation. He can perform his Action up to range 2 and, you guessed it, it's focused around Scan. When he does perform this move, Solok targets an opposing ship with a maneuvre dial that has yet to be flipped. Taking a look at that ship dial, Solok can then make his ship Sensor Echo at speed 1 even if not cloaked.  very tactical play if ever there was. 

Perhaps a little more well known is the 6-skilled T'Pol also priced at 4 points. The Enterprise first officer allows you to change any placed Scan tokens beside her command into either Evade or Battle Stations during combat. Note that there's no disable so this can be done every round and therefore allow you to second guess what's going on.

Muroc oddly costs less than TPol however rocks in with a 7 Captain Skill. Having a Scan available and in play with this captain allows players to convert 1 blank attack die result into a Damage result. Added bonus here too because if Muroc is facing an Independent captain he can convert that blank result into a Critical Damage.

Last there's pop sensation (sorry) T'Pau. Skilled at 5 and costing 4 points she allows a Scan token still in play to be replaced with an Evade and Battle Station which do not need to be removed during the End Phase. 

The Crew options come from TNG, DS9 and VGR - one from each show. T'Paal from Gambit has the Stone of Gol Tech upgrade hidden underneath at a 0 cost. She is discarded from your ship as is a Tech upgrade from a targeted ship within range 2. The Stone of Gol is flipped over and then equipped, ignoring any restrictions on the host vessel. For note, the Stone of Gol costs 3 points. Assassin Chu'Lak (2 points) can play as either Federation or Vulcan and operates as a Free Action to drop 3 Scan tokens next to his ship. Cleverly though you can then choose which Crew upgrade on his ship you discard as the cost for this - so choose wisely as you might be able to use this multiple times.

Voyager's Vorik is also dual faction Vulcan/Federation and costs 2 points. Placing 3 Time Tokens onto his card you can then remove a Target Lock or Battle Station from an attacking ship and place one of those Scan tokens next to his own.

Being Vulcans there are minimal Weapon choices with only Photonic Auto-Cannon and Aft Particle Beam contained in the pack. The former can be fired from both forward and rear-facing arcs at rages 2 or 3. Only able to be fitted to a Vulcan ship, it continues the Scan theme with that token (in play) being switched for 3 Time Tokens. The five dice attack on your opponent then converts all Battle Stations into Damage results.

The rear-only firing Aft Particle Beam (clue in the name), operates up to range 3 with a four dice attack. Costing 2 points, the weapon results in your ship receiving 2 Time Tokens. 

While the Vulcans might skimp on their Weapons, they make up for it with 6 Tech cards which I think is the most provided in any set to date. Most expensive is the 4 point Science Vessel Variant that can be equipped to both D'Kyr and Suurok Class ships, This option increases the defence and hull value of its assigned vessel by 1 point each. Likewise the cheaper 2 point Combat Vessel Variant raises just the Primary Weapon Value by1. Both of these cannot be placed on the same ship at the same time.

Three points will get you the Translinear Sensors. During an attack you can add 3 Time Tokens to this card if there's a Scan in play and the opposing ship can only roll a maximum of 2 dice in defence. The Stone of Gol costs 3 points - and 8 if you're wanting to place it on a non-Vulcan ship. It strikes out up to range 1 and targets an opponent Crew upgrade. The Stone allows you to roll the same number of attack dice as that Crew upgrade costs and if you roll a Critical Damage it's lost. If you don't, then the card receives a Time Token. The attacker ship (yours) also receives 3 Time Tokens onto the Sensors card. A win either way!

Graviton Telescope (2 points) offers the chance to discard it as long as there's a Scan in play on your ship to add a Damage result to your roll. Katric Ark stops a Crew upgrade being discarded as it's placed under this card when it would be lost. Reading into this one it's something you can keep in play until you need to use one of the "lost" Crew upgrades at which point any, other than the one you want to equip, are removed from play. I like this little 2 point safety net as it lessens opponents' effects and gives you a chance to deploy an upgrade as you might have planned.

Live Long and Prosper, the first of 2 Elite Actions, is a discard for 3 points. Available up to range 2, players can roll four defence dice during the Activation Phase and if there are at least 3 Evade results then the ship and a targetted ship cannot be attacked. Maybe a suggestion to fly your Vulcan fleet in close formation for the duration of the game?

The 2 point Logic is the Beginning of Wisdom is also played during the Activation Phase and works up to range 2. It targets a ship and can either put a Time Token, Continuous or Permanent Effect token by that craft - which means that neither of these Elite cards is effective on just enemy craft. 

Last up are the brand spanking new Ambassador cards. While Sarek has already been allocated to the Federation pack, we're handed V'Lar and Soval. Both cost a steady 3 points and have an Negotiation Accepted and Negotiation Denied action.

V'Lar, if accepted, allows opposing players to disable an upgrade on the other player's ship as long as it costs 3 points or less. If denied, she removes a Crew upgrade from the enemy vessel. With Soval, if two chosen opposing ships move into range 1 of each other they both receive an Auxiliary Power Token while denying relations will mean that the Vulcan ship launches a 3 dice attack on a specific ship which cannot be modified or re-rolled.

As with all the new Faction Packs there are also 2 new missions to try out. Assault on Andoria oddly requires a Suurok Class ship that's not in the set and requires the enemy player to use non-Vulcan ships in a straight pitched battle. This is set to a 10 round game with difficulty changed by increasing rounds or decreasing rounds. The "Andorian" player can win if they destroy the Vulcans or last to the end of the final (10th) round.

With Hold the Line, the use of the T'Kumbra and Solok indicates a more DS9 era scenario which is amplified thanks to the inclusion of the Dominion. This is one, potentially, you could spin as a 1 player game setting the Dominion ships in a straight flight from one side of the board to the other or use the evade move set from Alliance. 

As a set I'm surprised how much it relies on the Scan action however this does provide the Vulcans with a unique selling point. It's also an unexpectedly powerful and varied set with ships of 3 different eras and one of the broadest ranges of tactics I've experienced. There's also a lot of abilities which target Crew in here that balances nicely to the pack's decidedly low amount of Crew. The Vulcan leaning towards Tech is keeping very in character with the franchise and is carried off well in no small part to the amazing low cost of the upgrades included. As I went through the pack I think I was head-building a fleet from the off and had a real challenge deciding what I would have to ditch off for maximum effect. 

As one who has underestimated the abilities of the Vulcans, this pack was a real eye-opener and one that I would suggest any respecting Federation player gets hold of. It certainly polar opposes the Weapon heavy Klingons relying on more "intellectual" means than firing a torpedo to win the battle. This is probably a pack for a player who is looking to try more than standard attacks and a bit of pre-planning.

You can check out all our Attack Wing reviews over on the Gaming Section!

Enjoyed this article? Why not like and share to spread the word!

Like our page on Facebook 

Follow us on Twitter