The Wait is Over - Alliance is in the UK, Part I (Game Overview)

Followers of SKoST will know that I'm rather keen on Attack Wing, its expansions and beyond. I've played it for a fair few years but in a pandemic it's somewhat difficult to get a group together to play a physical game.

I've tried Zoom calls but it's a fiddly situation and less than perfect. Now you'll also know that Wizkids (the guys behind Attack Wing) have been working on another version for some time; Alliance. As long awaited as the Federation, Klingon, Vulcan and Cardassian Union faction packs, Alliance is, forgive the pun, game changing, when it comes to Wizkids' Star Trek offerings.

Those familiar with the set up of Attack Wing will have an easy time slipping into the new format. The way in which the game progresses is identical - Activation, Combat and End phases with players completing moves, actions and combat in sequence determined by Captain Skill. For more on the basics of Attack Wing, check out our review HERE of the original starter pack.

But in some respects you have to take Alliance as an entirely new product. It comes with its own manual - a lot of which is Attack Wing content updated - plus a Mission Book to start you off. Note too that this is the Dominion War Campaign which will become more evident shortly.

So as a new product the box is filled with everything you'll need to start off and for those scrabbling for a copy of Attack Wing's long sought, never seen Starter Pack, this will be the immediate go to as long as it stays in stock.

The five ships featured from the box lid have been available for some time as Attack Wing expansions. There are three Jem'Hadar Fighters along with Excelsior and Akira Class starships to represent the Federation players. All have received a slight upgrade on their paint jobs but nothing that's significant to write up about here. 

There's also a new set of maneuver strips, new dice, a torrent of Evade, Battle Station, Scan, Cloak, Target Lock, Time and Disable tokens to keep track of events. Wizkids have even chucked in some new obstacle pieces and a shiny new planet PLUS a new set of Damage cards. It really is the whole kit in one box which is good since Alliance does mainly rely on this single carton for all of its tweaks and tricks.

Sure, you can supplement tokens from Attack Wing if you need to but the Jem'Hadar Fighters here are totally unique because the Game AI plays as them against the Federation and their bases are used to help work this out. The two Federation ships are their generic versions with an initial Captain Skill of 2 however you can swap these out for other ship types after the first "test" mission so I might be dropping on the Defiant or a Nova Class just to change it up.

You could simply chuck in a Federation versus Jem'Hadar game as a one player against another but the twist with Alliance is that it's a co-operative game. This time you and any other players are on the same side with the Jem'Hadar's movements determined through your position and rolls of a six-sixed dice. The game itself controls your destiny if you will as each ship is activated in a pre-determined order and then carries out a series of points determined by the location of other items on the board - namely the Federation ship or ships!

Take the introduction mission that sees players picking up Mission Tokens to represent successful scans. Add in an asteroid field, spawning Jem'Hadar and suddenly it's a tense scenario to get in and out with minimal damage or cause a major galactic incident. I would however recommend that if you are one player definitely take both ships in as I only just made it out with the Akira and a single hull point.

There are teething issues in there too with a couple of the moves from the Jem'Hadar placing them in near peril or a collision situation. Also a few poor rolls (not on purpose) meant that my escape to Federation space was more down to luck than actual skill - but I'll still take the win thank you very much. 

The full 10 rounds lasted about 90 minutes and that was with me, an established Attack Wing player, picking up some of the new points around the AI and how it runs in the game. Fortunately there's a handy sheet with all the moves and combat decisions listed out so you're not left in the dark.

On Mission 2 I realised that as a 1 player scenario you're supposed to use both Federation ships so I activated the Excelsior Class. It made a huge difference, cutting the time to around 45 minutes and lasting just four rounds rather than 10. In, out, done.

The biggest challenge though is what's next. The Dominion War campaign is a great idea but once you've completed the six parts to the story (set after the destruction of the USS Odyssey) there's not exactly much to do unless you replay with different people and Federation ships. The next wrangle is that there's nothing saying there's going to be anything more in the future and as of now Alliance is a one shot. The £49.99 price tag might not be to everyone's taste or affordability but it does have absolutely everything in the box and ready to go right down to maneuver dials and stands for your little ships. 

Fingers crossed it doesn't go the way of one box and one expansion Frontiers that lasted all of five minutes a few years ago. While still available, that fizzled super quickly. Alliance has the benefit of Attack Wing's back catalogue to mine and with a crafty conversion kit, this could be the Version 2.0 that's needed to re-ignite the passion for the game and get us all back playing. 

Part 2 of this review will take us into a deep look at the new cards included!

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

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