Three Faction Fleet: Updating Attack Wing Reviews

Deep in the depths of the internet you can still hear them... the lost expansion packs...the last ones roaming free in the wild...

Problem is that most of those aren't exactly super collectible and if you do want one of those rarer than rocking horse doo doo ones you'll be waiting for a delivery from Australia.

Anyway, I've caught three more to fill out the collection this month and all of them are fairly ancient in Attack Wing terms.

The classic Romulan Bird-of-Prey from Balance of Terror (plus the remastered The Enterprise Incident) is a real gem and one I’ve wanted for a while to be able to run TOS themed games with more than just Federation and Klingon ships.

The model itself retains the simple grey paint job of the Wah Chang design plus that stunning bird decal across the bottom. This might be basic, but it’s a nice model that works because there aren’t any complex details. 

So to the cards and the IRW Gal Gath'Thong sports two attack points, two for defence, three hull and two shield points placing as quite a fragile ship if you play it against any of the 24th Century armada. Equipped with Evade, Target Lock, Cloak and Sensor Echo Actions, the Bird of Prey can also add up to two Crew and two Weapon slots. On big benefit here is the ability to fire Plasma Torpedoes while cloaked without the need for a Target Lock. This saves an Action to use for something else (I'd suggest Evade!) while also packing a four dice attack which we will come to shortly.

Movement wise she's not too difficult to swing about with a full set of turns and banks at speed two and three plus a Come About (red) manoeuvre at speed three. Top speed maxes out at fur and you can also bank at speed one. Given the cloaking ability and the use of the torpedoes I think this is well balanced.

If you choose the generic version you'll lose the Unique Action as well as a Shield point and a Weapon slot for a cost of 16 points versus 18 for the named ship.

There's only one named Captain with this expansion in the form of Marc Lenard's Romulan Commander. Costing five points, he does offer up an unusual two Elite Action slots as part of his seven Skill. As an Action the Romulan Commander will allow you to attack first but with the charge of an Auxiliary Power Token. Very costly when it comes to moves since you'll have to perform something at speed one or a straight two to get that removed.

Plasma Torpedoes can be target locked to a target if you don't have the Unique Action of the Gal Gath'Thong and at ranges one and two this can hit an opponent with four attack dice. This costs three points as does Nuclear Warhead. 

The expectation would be for this to provide a kick-ass dice roll of five but instead it launches the Minefield token at the end of the Activation Phase and any ship that runs into it rolls three attack dice and receives Damage or Critical Damage as normal without defending. Brutal and also an ongoing effect, I would want to have both this and the Torpedoes aboard the Bird of Prey given their ferocity and ease of use.

As for Crew the Centurion is oddly cheaper (four points) than the Romulan Officer (five points). However his ability is only to be discarded if another Crew or the Captain were to be removed from play - effectively a sacrificial card if you have something better available not to lose!

The Romulan Officer is also a discard and adds two die to your attack if it is begun while cloaked. A great card to use in conjunction with the Gal Gath'Thong itself and the Torpedoes card however it removes any chance to defend so it might be a final, big offensive move if you do.

As there are two Elite Action slots with the Romulan Commander there are also two Elite Action cards in the pack. The five point Double Back (not a reference to ZZ Top's single) Allows players to perform a one or two reverse move after performing a Sensor Echo at the cost of discarding it. This is a neat chance to get out of trouble especially if you're planning on a big attack.

Decoy (four points) gets discarded along with ne Weapon or Tech upgrade to force an opponent to roll three less attack dice in the round but it has to be played before any rolls have been made. I expected the discard here to be a Crew card which would bring the Centurion into play so having a Tech option on there is odd since this pack doesn't have one. 

The Destroy the Outposts mission recreates the classic Balance of Terror story with the Romulans tasked with destroying two Federation Neutral Zone outposts while all the opposing player needs to do is destroy the Bird of Play. It's a solid one versus one scenario that will really test the pack and see if you can outwit a Starfleet ship.

Now to our second arrival and the Bajoran Interceptor Five. First seen in the capable hands of Kira Nerys in DS9's The Siege, the small fighter is a tiny but well painted up miniature with the panelling distinctly marked up. It's not super pretty however the result and the work on this one are decent enough given the size of the playing piece. In fact it's easily the best looking Bajoran item in the game but that's not saying a lot.

Rocking a less than boot shaking 16 point cost, the Interceptor boasts two Attack, three Defence, three Hull...and no Shields so don't expect to have this one around too long in a game. Operating with the Evade, Target Lock, Scan and Battle Station Actions, the ship also has slots for one Weapon, Crew and Tech upgrade. As for its Unique Action, it's one that will only come into play in very, very specific circumstances. The Interceptor takes no damage overlapping planets, obstacles or ship bases so a great ship to use in tight skirmishes and asteroid fields but not necessarily in lots of open space. Maybe with the Bajorans as a subset of the Federation now, this would be ideal to use as a minor support ship.

The generic version loses no Shields but doesn't have Scan or a Crew slot - however it still costs 16 points which makes using the generic version pretty pointless unless you're equipping a fleet of these things.

Nor is it the fastest craft you'll play but it makes up for that with stunning manoeuvrability at speeds one and two with no penalty for Come Abouts. At speed three it can only bank and move forwards so don't expect to get out of anything sticky too quickly.

Building on the close combat and obstacle-friendly nature of the Interceptor, Hazar would be your first Captain option (four points). Skilled to seven and with an Elite Action slot, he forces enemy ships to attack with one less die if your ship is within range one of a planet or an obstacle. This mirrors the Interceptor's better manoeuvrability in atmosphere where it can strike back harder with less consequences.   Option two for Captain is the two point Lenaris Holem. With a skill level of three, Lenaris allows you to re-roll a defence die if you have an Evade token in play. Brilliantly this again builds on the smaller, nippier nature of the Interceptor and makes this pack one that may well be very underrated and under estimated. 

Fitting into the tight second seat for the Bajoran ship can be either Neela (five points) or Anara (three points). Neela is the big attack card of the set. Targeting a ship at range one to three, three dice are rolled and if at least one Critical Damage comes up then the opposing craft receives that result. If the attack works the card is discarded but if not then it's only disabled allowing an odd second shot!

Anara does shore up the defences of this ship. Remember that it's got minimal hull to begin with and ZERO Shields so her ability to repair a Hull point is nigh-on essential to the longevity of the Interceptor. Given it's more about moves, there's only one Weapon upgrade with Phaser Strike which increases your firepower to 3 attack dice. 

It also acts as though your Captain is skilled to ten and works up to range three. Fortunately it's a card which is disabled after use and so can be reused repeatedly. It can only be attached to a ship with a Hull of three or less and costs four points to install. If it's not the Interceptor you fit it to, Phaser Strike costs an additional five points (that's a silly nine!!!)

Over with the Tech, Maneuverability is a hefty five points to purchase which is just to pay off the amount of text on the card. It also explains why there's an additional move template in the pack. If you reveal a one sharp left or right or a Come About, you can implement the new move but it is treated as a Red Maneuver although if it overlaps a planet there are no penalties and you GAIN a die in defence. As with Phaser Strike, the cost is an extra five points if you fit this to anything but an Interceptor. However , what a move to pull off and one that has no downside or need to be disabled or discarded!

Warp Drive Refit is, to be fair, almost as good and costs two points in comparison. If you reveal a three maneuver you can up it to a four. Unsurprisingly it can only be purchased for a ship that doesn't have a four as one of its speeds. 

Finally there's the Elite Action, Militia (three points). A discard, it allows you to place a Battle Station token into play even if the ship already has one in play at the start of Combat. If it's on a Bajoran ship then that craft gains an extra two attack dice on the first attack using this ability. 

The Interceptor pack abilities are surprisingly good and certainly make it useful in close combat and scenarios where obstacles and planets come into play as it will be unheeded by these items. 

As for the mission, Blockade recreates the Bajoran face off with the Romulans as featured in DS9's seventh season Shadows and Symbols. Each player has a maximum point spend of 100 while the Bajorans cannot field a ship with a Hull of greater than three. The Romulan player is tasked with placing three mission tokens (representing Launch Sequencers) onto the Bajoran moon. The Bajorans cannot attack until one of the mission tokens from the Romulans is placed on the moon. Nor can the Romulans attack until they are themselves attacked.

To win, the Bajorans must prevent three sequencers from being placed while the Romulans win by completing the task and then exiting the playing field via their starting spot. Sound easy? You've got eight rounds to do it in!

Third and last for this time is the D'Kyr Vulcan starship. After first acquiring the Ni'Var and then the Vulcan Faction Pack, I've developed quite a liking for this group. The D'Kyr itself is a decent kick-ass ship attacking with three dice, defending with one with five Hull points and four Shields for a cost of 26 points. Now in my opinion that's a decent base to start with only increased by the fact that if you attack from range three with this ship you can add an extra attack die. Why would you not want something that offers exceptional long range?

Coming stocked with the standard Evade, Battle Stations, Target Lock and Scan, the D'Kyr can also include two Tech slots plus a Weapon and a Crew upgrade. This is one decent pack just from the off!

The generic version loses a Shield, a Tech upgrade and the Unique Action for only a two point reduction at 24 points. Where she does fall a little is in the movement ability. Maxing out at speed four, the D'Kyr suffers from red hard left and rights at speeds two and three although it does offer full banking at these speeds plus a one reverse (although that's also red).

The shallow banking can be a challenge if you're looking to spin for a quick attack meaning your aft will be vulnerable as there is no rear firing arc. 

Soval is your top pick for Captain with a skill of seven and costing four points. He can also, as you might expect, field an Elite Action. Soval's ability lets him remove a Scan or Battle Station token from an enemy ship at range one although given the weapon abilities on the D'Kyr it might be wise to use him on another ship in your fleet - maybe a small support ship to cause havoc amongst the lines. This action will incur an Auxiliary Power Token when used however, potentially stilting your moves even more to regain the Action ability.

Tavek is a dull "Add a Crew upgrade" card but only costs two points with a skill of three so nothing much to see here. For your Crew, T'Pol will let you reroll up to two defence die if you have a Scan token in play that will certainly slow down any damage. and costs a mere three points. Muroc is little more expensive at four points and is discarded to activate. 

Targetting a ship at range one or two players roll two attack dice and for every Damage or Critical Damage result you can disable an active Shield and if it's a Cloaked ship then a Damage result flips its token. 

As for Weapons, the D'Kyr comes laden with Photonic Weapon for three points which increases the ship's attack to four at ranges two and three. Acting like a Photon Torpedo, it does require the spending of a Target Lock but can be fired forward or back and even provides a re-roll of one blank result. That's a lot more flexibility than Torpedoes ever provide and it can be reused. Aft Particle Beam is significantly cheaper at just one point and allows for a rear firing attack with three dice. It works at any range and doesn't require the use of a Target Lock which I think makes this a brilliant addition to any Vulcan craft capable of firing backwards.

On the Tech front, the five point Sensor Grid can be discarded to target a friendly ship within range three and both you and the target ship receive a Scan and an Auxiliary Power Token. But what's the point? Well, every cloaked ship within range one or two of your ship must then flip its cloak to the red side, effectively making them a much easier target. Another must have card but only if Cloak is a feature of your opponent!

Auxiliary Control Room costs three points and would work nicely with Sensor Grid seeing as it can be disabled to remove an Auxiliary Power Token at any time (those three key words).  Not much more to say on that as it's useful to keep you in the action and able to perform, well, Actions.

Finally the sole Elite Action is Vulcan High Command. Pumping an extra two Upgrade slots onto your ship (Crew or Tech; your call), it can only be equipped to a Vulcan Captain on a Vulcan ship. If the captain is lost then you have to discard any excess upgrades until it comes within the restrictions of the ship itself. Honest opinion on this; I wouldn't bother. Five points is a lot to add slots on when you're playing points capped games. If you were maxing out a ship then yes, but it's rare that situation would come around.

As a bonus, the D'Kyr comes with a single player scenario in which it must find out what happened to an Earth ship with a Vulcan crewmember and rescue it. On arrival the Vulcans discover that the Suliban are to blame and it's a race to save the Earth ship and get it back to safety with any evidence it might carry. For those of us with few opportunities to play, this is a great chance to be able to test out strategies and dust off a few ships. Well worth an investment!

The D'Kyr is a strong ship especially considering it's from the Enterprise era and outclasses both the Romulan and Bajoran ships here by some distance even before using the upgrades. However, there's something very tempting about pulling out the Gal Gath'Thong for  bit of classic Star Trek battle action. In fact it would go well against the Gorn, Tholians or even a D-7 or NCC-1701 - lots of options for an Original Series face off!

Next up we'll be retro-reviewing the Gor Portas, IRW Haakona and the IKS Somraw...

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

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