Fine Paint: The Official Starships Collection Issues 148 and 149

AH HA!

This month feels like we're back on track with the Jem'Hadar Battle Cruiser and the Krenim Warship.

Two fantastic models this month. The latter isn't too glamorous but it still looks great from every angle. Now believe it or not, it's been four and a half years since the last Jem'Hadar ship graced the collection in the form of the Fighter (issue 29) and that was a great model. Now we have the third and final piece of the Dominion fleet with the Battle Cruiser. 

Already replicated in Attack Wing (recently reviewed in their Dominion Faction Pack), the Eaglemoss version is bigger, bolder, more detailed and all round epic. Sizewise this one clocks in just a smidge over the length of the standard black base and is one of the most intricately finished starships that's come out of the collection.

In comparison, both the Fighter and the Battleship are fairly simplistic whereas the Battle Cruiser has every millimetre of its form covered in surface detail. The base coat here is a purple-hued metallic  colour which helps draw out the panel lines, recesses and callouts right across the craft. The surface looks like a piece of art from bow to stern with every outcrop or undulation another mesmerising feature.

Out to the front of the cruiser we have two metal-cast prongs which give a hint of the rest of the ship. These two striking points might only be a very small piece yet Eaglemoss have still managed to introduce a second level of paint and detail although it pales when you look to the rest of the hull. All the way from the front to the back we have the purple base coat overlaid with a grey tiger-stripe pattern that compliments the eye-watering panelling. Thinking of how the Jem'Hadar were designed with rhinos in mind you can see the hard shell segments at the edges of the hull as well as some larger more regular segments on the dorsal section of the craft. It's a metallic work of art in no uncertain terms and outstrips both of the previous Dominion starships by a country mile - just disappointing we've had to wait so long to see it. 

The smaller inset panelling in metallic grey are exquisitely painted in as are the pink segments on the rear engine block and the scattering of yellow sections. It's got to be among the highest quality results from the collection and may well explain why we've had to wait so long to ensure it's been done justice. Even more impressive perhaps is the use of open sections of the hull within the wings of the Cruiser. 

To either side of the central hull we have two cutaway pieces which are linked in to the underside plastic section and are visible through the ship. It looks amazing and adds immense depth to the finished item. It could have just been done in recessed metal as part of the top hull section but Eaglemoss have chosen instead to go all out and make it a separate entity. Brilliant.

Nothing sits out of place here with every piece easily identifiable. The rear engine unit sits proud of the main hull and is a plastic addition yet its finish is a fluid transition from the metal of the main ship. Its also two straight halves locked together with the upper in metal,and the lower, plastic. This also makes it very easy to identify which way is up for display. You can also see the difference with top and bottom through the grilles on the upper sides of the engines and also in the golden hued bridge module that sits centrally in the forward module.

The strength of the engine block and the outboard pods is very noticeable with both offering very little "give"  but it's how that plastic under section is worked into the main body which is exemplary - and unique part of this edition. Both metal and plastic work closely together for the finished result and it works fantastically well.

I'm in love with this one in a big way so its limited TV appearances are even more cutting. The model relays such a threatening presence with its sharp, aggressive dynamic which Eaglemoss have captured perfectly. Everything on the Cruiser points menacingly to the front, even in the engines and weapon pods and it looks damn sharp.  

For me though the underside is even more interesting when it comes to the construction. The speckled purple/grey paint scheme wraps all the way round with some smaller panels again picked out with pink and yellowed sections.  On the underneath there does seem to be more in the way of panel lines too plus a nice array of bladed structural work that stands proud of the hull. 

All these underside pieces continue that gorgeous patterning in grey and are sturdily fixed into place. It adds a lot to the ship that these aren't moulded in but instead items added on externally giving depth and detail to the Battle Cruiser. Indeed, even more impressive is how these additional plastic pieces actually come together as part of the main hull and appear to integrate themselves into the metal - it really is a damn fine piece of sculpting; one of Eaglemoss' most well thought out concepts that looks amazing in the flesh.

Stand positioning for this one is from the rear with a single over/under grip leaving the Battle Cruiser "suspended" over the black base. To be honest I reckon you could stick this on a toilet seat and it would look just as brilliant. Love it - a real late bloomer in the series.

Now to the mag and the introduction offers up information on the reason for the creation of the Cruiser plus a range of its key features which came into play during the war against the Federation.  Most of the shots are from the Valiant episode plus the later Dominion battle from What You Leave Behind along with the new CG that helps bring the craft up to date. The discussion around the design of the supersize starship covers the next two(!) pages including some sketches of the process before heading into an issue filling interview with Deep Space Nine's Nog; Aron Eisenberg picking out highlights, memories and key parts from the series. A nice read but there will be a lot that fans are already very much aware.

Second out of the cardboard box this time is the Krenim Warship. Featuring briefly in Before and After, the craft would see more extensive televisual action in the following season's Year of Hell. Like the Battle Cruiser it's been a while since the Krenim have featured (June 2014 would you believe) with their distinctive Temporal Weapon Ship and it was in the magazine for that edition that we were teased with a shot of the Warship that Eaglemoss have now slipped into the expanding collection.

In the bigger picture of the franchise this is small fry but I guess now we are getting into the real dirt-under-the-fingernails stuff since some of the last "obvious" entries have been ticked off with the Jem'Hadar Battle Cruiser this month and recently the Merchantman and the Fesarius. It's unique if nothing else with an odd swept pair of engines that seem to sprout from the rear of the starship and lunge forward.

I think that the model we have here is pretty fine and very, very different from the Temporal Weapon Ship with the two Kremin "kraft" having no distinct parallel features. You can tell a Klingon ship is Klingon or a Romulan one Romulan but between the two entries for this alien race you'd never put two and two together as each is very individual.

This Warship has a reassuringly used look about it, carrying all sorts of galactic muck and scum on top of it's rather eye-catching orange and grey paint scheme. Starting out at the matt black nose what does become apparent is that there is a lot of small detail on this ship and somehow the painting hasn't quite worked out for the best with greys and oranges mixing a little with the colours they're next to because of tiny gratings or an odd angle. 

It's not a horrendously blatant issue but you do pick up on it after a couple of passes over the hull. It seems, strangely, blotchy and a little haphazard particularly around that forward grey bridge piece where it also seems a total amateur painted on the windows and stripes. The actual metal casting detail is spot on with everything that should be raised and everything that should be lowered done correctly it's just that what's gone on over the top of that isn't on par with other creations.

Of course the main problem is that it's going to look a bit crap next to the stunning Jem'Hadar Battle Cruiser also out this month but I shall endeavour to continue. The Warship has a surprisingly large amount of hull detail whether it's green piping, grey fins or silver engine elements, there's something going on everywhere and thank god it's on a decent scale. Anything smaller than this and the whole effect would have been lost.

Following the central green tubing detail off the bridge module and back into the main hull area, there are, perhaps hints across to the design of the Temporal Weapon Ship to the rear of the neck section the oval grey panelling is not too dissimilar to that on the earlier model but even then I think I'm pushing for a physical connection that probably isn't there. 

Saying that, the detail on this piece is pretty good but you'll find you're looking at the two translucent elements just ahead of it which protrude forward and hide behind the bridge module. These would seem to be warp engines and their cleanliness does make them look a bit out of place against the mucked up hull of the Krenim vessel.

This oval shaping design feature extends all the way to the rear here where the base orange coat is again messed up with the over painted grey and white striping and more of the Temporal Weapon Ship-alike grey shading. 

The shape of the Warship is highly curve-ball with, as stated earlier, the engines erupting from the rear portion of the body and sweeping round to the sides. The propulsion sections are marked out prominently with the off-white panels at the back, middle and forward points of this "U"-shaped ship piece. Again the build quality is exceptional and the melding of the different sections is indistinguishable on the craft. These protrusions are also very solid and well supported given that they extend forward, unattached at the front and retain the dirtied look that is so evident across the other sections of the ship.

Indeed the engines also near one of the two features which helps tell whether you’re looking at the top or the bottom in the shape of the triple stripped metalwork which curves enticingly around the fronts of the oval propulsion units. These grilles are not repeated on the underside and you can also see that the bridge module’s mirror block is black and scooped. Otherwise the paint scheme and weathered appearance are very much alike with its assortment of oranges and greys covering the remaining hull plates.

The paint effect here is a big winner and you can appreciate the intricacies of the pattern a lot more than you could from the episode and certainly from the stills contained in issue 149. Oddly the CG in the magazine make the Warship look a lot cleaner than it does in model form; the episode didn’t do the craft any justice. In fact the amount if grilles and raised hull sections is pretty impressive with the Krenim vessel. Each is very neatly defined with the whole model providing a very tactile experience due to its undulating surface. 

Finishing the  Warship off at the back is the equally checked impulse engine. The join between the top and bottom halves is obvious here with the exhaust point simply flat and grey. It might be covered by the stand but it should still be finished. 

The stand on this one slips easily around the rear engine unit of the Krenim ship to provide the slick "flying" pose just as with the Jem'Hadar Cruiser. 

The magazine does contain a lot of fuzzy images from the Warship's original Voyager appearances (and not specifically of the ship) plus some much more recent and certainly more crisp pics CG'ed up for the collection. The initial article on the craft covers its impressive weapons systems which caused all sorts of havoc for Voyager as well as mentioning the differences which occurred when Annorax's Temporal Weapon Ship altered the timeline. 

The plan views are lovely and clear but unsurprisingly give the minimal - and most obvious - comments on the features of the ship. That said the detail is excellent and you can make out a lot more than was evident in the episodes.

Designing the Krenim Warship is a brief two page article with 50 percent of the space dedicated to two versions of the same picture which seems a bit of a waste. Tragically the design process seems more a strike of luck than it being heavily planned out.

Flipping back to the onscreen action, Shows That Unhappened looks at that wonderful curiosity that Star Trek has dabbled with on multiple occasions - times when events have been erased by resetting the clocks so to speak - Year of Hell for one plus Deep Space Nine's Visionary and Children of Time are among the selection which are highlighted from the extensive back catalogue. Interesting article this one but more of a reminder and summation than really diving into any serious depth of the episodes.

Decent couple of ships here to add to the shelving and the Krenim one was a real surprise. Beautifully crafted, it's a little hidden gem however the winner has to be the mighty Jem'Hadar Battle Cruiser with its sublime level of surface detail and one of the best paint finishes ever. That metallic purple/silver looks amazing and is razor-sharp across the whole surface no matter what it's made from. The other clever element has to be wrapping the plastic underside sections into the main hull. Eaglemoss have tied a lot together in this one and it works perfectly. Top Marks.

Next month - it's the fourth of the Miranda Class variants with the USS Antares from Deep Space Nine and secondly the easily forgettable B'omar Patrol Ship from Voyager.

Which was the winner this month? Is the Battle Cruiser out on top with that paint job or does the Warship clinch it with it's more used finish?

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The Final Wave? Attack Wing's Ship Expansion 31

With the introduction of fleet packs, card packs and the revamping of the starter set for Attack Wing, it appears that Wave 31 was the last batch of individual ships released for the game.

All the major factions have now been covered with the Xindi completed in Wave 30. That left the last wave - 32 - to purely be filled out with repaints from earlier selections. This latest - and last -set of three was a pleasant surprise in one respect but a downer in another. Let's examine...

First up let's get the refit USS Enterprise out of the way. It's a reissue and repaint of the ship from Wave Six. For that review drop across to this entry for the full breakdown. The only difference here is the paint scheme with the refit starship painted up in silver. It's a more precise paint job all round in the silver and especially in the smaller detail around the warp nacelles and the deflector dish. The problem is that while the paintwork is a step up the model is exactly the same one as Wave Six which means the saucer and the warp engines are totally misaligned. For me it's one of those packs where you have to deal with a poor miniature to get to what is quite an exciting expansion with a great single player mission to try out.


Now with that sorted, let's get to the pair of ships I'm really excited about. The remaining two repaints from Wave 31 belong to the Dominion, the only faction I'm severely lacking in participants. So far I have the Dreadnought Missile, the generic Jem’Hadar ship in the Robinson expansion and. That's. It. Odd really since I adore Deep Space Nine.

Leading my foray into the Dominion fleet is the 5th Wing Patrol Ship. The pack is originally from Wave One and now features a rather swanky updated paint scheme. I'd go as far to say that this is possibly one of the best repaints in the history of Attack Wing. 

The Patrol Ship is exquisitely detailed on every surface and Wizkids have managed to include different coloured panelling right across the craft as well as a stunning metallic finish which really sets this little model off. More spectacular is that the ship panelling has ZERO bleed, the engines are both aligned perfectly to the hull and - well - screw me but this is nigh on flawless. Yes, I'm actually going to praise a Wizkids model to high heaven.

But don't just rush out to get this micro-size model without truly understanding how great this Attack Wing expansion is.

Based on the fourth season Deep Space Nine episode To the Death, the pack introduces a lot of cool Dominion features and characters to bolster - or start up - your ranks.

This is my second Jem'Hadar ship after the Robinson (although that wasn't specifcally a Dominion expansion) and attacks with three dice, defends with two, has three hull points and three shields. Your optional extra slots can take two Weapon, one Tech and one Crew upgrade alongside the standard Evade, Target Lock, Scan and Battle Station actions.

The 5th Wing Patrol Ship costs 22 points and as its unique action allows you to add an extra attack die in for the round at the cost of one defence die. Great way to "transfer" power from one part of the ship to another and keep yourself in the fight. The generic version loses a shield point, a weapon slot and that unique action to cost 20 points. 

Three Captain options sit in this pack with, as usual, one being the zero pointer. The four point costing Weyoun offers a skill of six plus the chance to disable him to stop a crew upgrade from itself being disabled. Useful to the max allowing quick double use of what could be a much needed upgrade. Luaran costs just two points and might be a stronger option even with the reduced captain skill of theee purely because she also decreases the cost of one of your Dominion upgrades by two points. This opens up the chance to use the spare credit from choosing her not Weyoun and those couple of points from the cheap upgrade to invest in more abilities for your Warship. 

For crew you are given three new cards in the form of Jem’Hadar soldiers which all cost five points each. Toman’Torax can only be used on Dominion ships and is discarded for the opportunity to remove a Crew card from an opponents ship at range one and active shields aren't an issue! Second up is Omet'Iklan who, I personally think is an essential upgrade for any Dominion ship since he can convert any rolled result (one die of...) into a Damage result. Dead handy considering how unlucky I can be on the dice with this game even if I've employed a cloaking device. Finally there's the word heavy card for Virak'Kara offering another Action possibility which is oddly similar (to begin with) to Toman'Torax. 

In fact I'd go as far as to say that if you had to choose between the two I would pick this one without a second thought because this time you can disable an enemy upgrade as well as disabling your own card before using your opponent's card's Action as a free Action during the round. It's a disable rather than a discard so there are multiple chances to use this during the game and I could see this being a real pain-in-the-ass card if you have some high powered Crew cards in play.

For Tech there are two cards in play with the expansion with the costly five point Suicide Attack and the two point Long Range Tachyon Scan. The first is an Action card which relies on you remembering to make a forward one manoeuver during the Activation Phase and place an Auxiliary Power Token on your ship. It's a lot to spend on one of those "Might Happen" cards that need specifics to take place and this one needs a lot of luck. It requires you to end up overlapping another ship's base  after having made the move and placing the token just so you destroy your own ship and roll eight dice to damage your opponent. It gets to defend but it seems a costly option for such a random moment in the game to come into play. 

The Long Range Tachyon Scan is more realistic as when you are attacking a ship at range three you can spend an in-play Scan token to force the enemy to roll two less defence die. There are a lot of ships out there you could really hurt that use a maximum of two at the best of times.

Finally there are two Weapon choices both costing five points. The ever-present Photon Torpedoes is available at all ranges and is back with the old spending of the Target Lock and being disabled to use the five attack dice in a single hit. Phased Polaron Beam is useful at range three and is another card to be disabled and is effective at range one to two.

This time the damage inflicted by the three attack dice ignore shields and go straight for the hull which could open up some Critical Damage cards earlier than you might expect.

Taking its lead from the sixth season of Deep Space Nine, players can try out their skills at The First Battle of Chin'Toka placing a Federation, Klingon and Romulan fleet up against a Dominion opponent. Each side has 150 points to spend but the Dominion player must equip Suicide Attack and take control of four Orbital Weapons Platforms which are placed around the planet token. The Dominion player has to either destroy the opposing fleet or perform a successful Suicide Attack to win. The Federation player needs to destroy the four platforms. 

This looks like a killer scenario with a lot of possibilities and a cool additional piece in play from the Orbital Weapons Platforms. Also loving the combination of the allied fleet putting three different races into play with different abilities.

Next; the Dominion Fourth Division Battleship model is a beauty. Wizkids have perfected the paint scheme on this one with aplomb. The purple/grey finish is glorious with the panels all finely marked and a really impressive, worn finish right over the whole hull. Given the scale of the ship, you might expect there to be a dodgy edge or a panel line that doesn't line up but this Battleship is almost verging on a mini work of art given the scale and precision. These repaints have really brought life into the range and expressed just how much improvement has gone on within the development of the waves.

The Fourth Division Battleship is a behemoth of a ship and one that will strike fear into the heart of many opponents. Landing with a solid six dice for attack, none for defence, seven hull points and five shield points, there's a lot of firepower on offer out of the box for your 36 points. The upgrade bar is jammed full with the chance to stack up to three Weapon, one Tech and two Crew abilities on the craft. If there's a friendly ship within Range one to two (must be a Jem'Hadar ship) then they can have a free Action  each round they are within the catchment area. 

Should you want to use one of the inbuilt Actions on the Battlecruiser, there are Scan, Target Lock and Battle Stations on offer too. The generic version loses one Shield point, the unique action and a Weapon slot. Now considering that it's a juggernaut this has the worst movement options of any ship I've seen. 

It can manage a top speed of five with only banking turns available at speeds one to four and full 90 degree turns at speed three but that will incur the cost of an Auxiliary Power Token. Overpowered and lumbering might be the final word on how this thing works up.

There's a second Weyoun in this pack costing five points for a steady Captain Skill of seven and the Elite Action slot. Weyoun here opens up two extra Crew slots each of which have a reduced cost by one point as long as they are Dominion upgrades. 

Galnon costs three points with a Captain Skill of five. He lets you launch a two dice attack during the Action stage of the round as long as the opponent craft is within range one. That craft will incur damage as usual with the additional benefit that Galnon allows you to place a Battle Stations token on your ship if one of the dice you roll shows the corresponding Battle Stations symbol. There is also the standard zero points costing Captain should you want to spend your points in other ways.

As with the fighter there are three Crew upgrades packed into the expansion but this time there are varied costs to the Jem'Hadar soldiers. Least expensive at two points is Ixtana'Rax. An elder warrior in the series, his Action is to flip over all Critical Damage cards assigned to your ship and disable the Crew card into the deal. Fairly useful for reanimating your ship if those cards have taken away manoeuvrability or abilities. 

Kudak'Etan costs four points and allows you to disable all the Crew upgrades on an enemy ship at range one even if that craft is cloaked or has active shields. A close quarters advantage that can have a long term effect on an enemy ship. Last but not least we have Ikat'Ika who costs five points and is a Discard upgrade. This one forces an enemy ship to re-roll any dice you want it to when you're under attack. It's only for one ship and a one time only use which does make a lot of sense given the power it wields. If you want to use this on a non-Dominion ship it's going to cost an extra five points.

You'll have to scour other packs for more upgrade options because the Battleship only comes with one Tech upgrade, Shroud. Brilliantly it allows you to discard this card rather than the one you're using and therefore giving you a second use of the ability. I can see this coming into its own with Ikat'Ika or Toman'Torax from the fighter.

The Weapon upgrades are the exact same as the Fifth Wing Patrol Ship with the exception that Phased Polaron Beam uses four attack dice instead of the three in effect on the fighter. 

Finally there's the Ketracel-White Elite Action card for two points that is discarded so you can reactivate any disabled Crew upgrades. Dead useful again because you can max out on your equipped cards before doing a single move to re-enable them all. 

Included here we have the Collect Technical Data mission which is a slight spin on the Deep Space Nine episode Valiant. It's a one on one battle although the Dominion player has 80 points available to the Federation player's 20. Now, if you've collected the later wings you'll have the Valiant pack and can play the story "as was". The Federation player has to equip Scan on their ship and if it is within range one or two of the Battleship it can perform a Scan action and place a Mission Token on the Federation ship card. 

Three of these collected means the full data has been collected - but will you choose to get the data and escape or destroy the Battleship? Each Mission Token collected means one attack die can be re-rolled by the Federation player upping the chances of Dominion defeat.

I'm loving the two Dominion packs in this (final) ship wave and they offer some real devastating options that I'm glad I've had a second chance to get hold of. Just need to keep my eyes peeled for some Cardassian ships now to bulk out the fleet and offer some proper opponents for Deep Space Nine and the Defiant.

What do you think to the latest Attack Wing updates?

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Beyond a Joke?

There are 104 days left until Star Trek Beyond hits UK cinemas.

So why is it that we're still devoid of pretty much anything at all in the way of promotion?

To recap to date we have one very un-Star Trek trailer and two photos only one of which is actually from the movie, the other is behind the scenes tomfoolery.

On reflection by this time with Into Darkness we had three trailers - two long running and one slipped into the Superbowl ad break but with Beyond we really are in darkness. Are Paramount afraid that blowing the trumpet as much as they did with Into Darkness is a bad thing seeing as how that movie was received by fans (but a notable success with the mainstream audience) or are they simply waiting for a more suitable time to hit us with a full power campaign once Batman Vs Superman and Captain America: Civil War are out of the way (for example).

What we've seen already plus the reshoots doesn't instil confidence so far but early days however the fact that we are now in April and July is ever so close is worrying. By this point a lot of movies seem to have their trailers out and the big countdown is beginning whether we expect them to be or not (see Batman Vs Superman once again). Just remember though that this time three years ago we were days away from the premiere of the second reboot and that might actually be distorting our vision on when we should be seeing footage/trailers etc. If we go on that as the example then it was just a month before that we got any seriously juicy trailers, posters and the viral campaign was barely a couple of weeks before (check out the posts from March and April 2013 on Into Darkness to see just how much it ramped up). Who knows if they'll chance another Are You the 1701?

Don't forget that we also had the charity campaign where you could win a chance to go on set but that was before the advertising machine started up so we can't really count that nor can we include those tantilising set pics of a crashed starship (I don't want to say it's the Enterprise but...) nor those of apparent crowds of Federation citizens mingling in Dubai. Again more pre-promo than actual release promotion material.

That trailer did the upcoming movie no favours but the pics that followed did even less. The non-descript shot of Sophie Boutella's still unnamed alien character and Simon Pegg's Scotty staring into darkness (yes, I'm proper milking that...) is as exciting and inspiring as paint drying and begs for a caption competition. Don't get me wrong, the quality of the picture is fantastic but if I want to watch two people in pitch black with a torch I'll turn on The X-Files. Honestly, I actually felt a bit down and even hoped it might be the Stay Puft man they can see. Wow, watch out for that twist.

The second image posted on First Contact Day (April 5th) brought two new aliens and Justin Lin smiling. Apparently these are individuals he's worked with previously but no-one seemed that bothered and instead crossed their fingers/suggested/hoped that the alien to the left of the pic was a Jem'Hadar. Now I'd love for Beyond to recognise the larger Star Trek universe and the elements that shows such as Deep Space Nine brought to the franchise but, aside from the jawline tusk pieces I just don't see it. If it is then I'm horribly disappointed they've been "remastered". The second guy on the right looks like a sort of orcish prison thug/guard although if these are "secret" guest stars then they might be relegated to the background.

As fans we're crying out for more footage, more bits of information to get us excited but at the moment there really is nothing to suggest we're going to be and I cant make up my mind if Paramount/Bad Robot and everyone else involved almost wants it to be released on the quiet as if they know it ain't gonna be good. Is it an embarrassment? Is it a movie which has been dragged through the mud enough already after all the changing roles, additional writing credits? Is there a genuine concern that this won't be the offering we will relish for the 50th anniversary?

Are you desperate for more on Beyond? Worried that we seem to be getting nothing?

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A Trio of Unexpected Twists: Attack Wing Wave 21

Well here's a threesome that isn't the regular set you'd be expecting from Wizkids.

First to be pulled from its plastic box is the Cardassian ART-4107 otherwise known as the Dreadnought misleading featured in Voyager's second season. As far as I'm aware there are no other replicas of this vessel in existence and not even a suggestion that it'll be dropping onto the Starship Collection anytime soon. 

The model is pretty good. A metallic broke sheen covers the whole surface which is nicely detailed with a fair amount of panelling across the whole body. She's also quite large given the nature of the beast and I'm sure that in the episode the missile wasn't on this scale. Perhaps it could have done with being a little bit smaller as it nearly dwarfs the Attack Wing Voyager model. But the enjoyment is not just in a decent recreation of the deadly space weapon but in the joyous pack of upgrades that come in the box. 

The Dreadnought itself starts off with a standard 30 points as its base which places it quite high on the ship stats. Carrying a six in attack, zero defence, four hull points and four shield points she's a killer but not immortal by any stretch. The Dreadnought also carries the Evade, Target Lock and Scan actions along with slots for one Tech upgrade and three weapon upgrades - it is a big explosive after all. Her unique action allows you to discard up to two of your own upgrades to cancel out an equal number of your opponent's attacking dice. Certainly this mirrors the advanced weapon and defence capabilities of the Dreadnought which we saw in the episode. The standard version drops points to 28 losing a shield point and also the Tech upgrade. 

The missile is a fast little bugger maxing out at five with red hard right and left manoeuvres at speeds two and three. There are no 180 turns available on the Dreadnought with only forward available at four and the top five plus slight right and lefts only at speed one. Again it does mirror the missile origins of this expansion with the weapon being quick since it would intentionally be directed at a specific target and let go. Being a flying bomb the Dreadnought bins off having a captain making it one of the rare craft, along with the fighter wings, that doesn't have a commanding officer slot. In its place is a simple Dominion faction pennant with a Captain Skill of just one point.

Ok, so let's start with the Tech upgrades first. Lowest costing is the four point Kinetic Detonator. Providing an attack at the Action stage of the game, you can discard this card and one of your weapon upgrades in order to inflict one damage point to ALL enemies within range one. Big issue is that you'll receive one point of damage yourself but it'll be one heck of a bang. The other two Tech cards included here cost a slight bit more at five points. Evasive Attack Route offers a further chance to escape during the Modify Defence Dice step. Rather than having to preempt the possibility of getting a whooping you can discard a weapon upgrade (plus disabling this card) and gain two Evade tokens. 

Counter Measures, again a discard, lets you roll two additional defence dice  but then immediately perform a two dice attack against the very ship which targeted you. If it's attached to another Cardassian ship other than an ATR-4107 then it does cost five more points. Interesting that all three of the Tech upgrades are all focuses around self-preservation to ensure it reaches its target. I would immediately have Counter Measures provisioned just to add that single layer of defensive capability given the ATR-4107 starts with nothing. 

The pack includes four Weapon upgrades starting off with Plasma Wave. Unusually working only at range one and using only three attack dice you might initially be put off due to the perceived low ability however it works on all targets within that range. Brilliant - an outstanding option to perform multiple attacks at short range and potentially cause all of them damage. Also it nicely counter balances the Kinetic Detonator function. Also costing five points is Thoron Shock Emitter. A discard option operating between ranges one and three, it costs a Target Lock to work and fires with a reduced five dice over the Dreadnought primary weapon value of six however it allows you to re-roll any number of attack dice into the bargain, making that attack, hopefully, a little bit more destructive. 

Also dropping your attack dice number from six to five is the Quantum Torpedoes upgrade. The standard option spends the Target Lock and incurs the Time Token penalty players will be familiar with from the last few waves. For me this has made the older disable versions of Photon and Quantum Torpedoes pretty much redundant.  Also a point to recognise here is that this is the only rear firing option that comes with this expansion. Finally the only upgrade cars which increases the number of attack dice in the pack is the "purpose" of the Dreadnought if you will, the Matter-AntiMatter Warhead offering seven attack dice but only at the distant range three. 

As with the torpedoes it's a Target Lock trade off but if it hits then everything within range one of the ship you're firing on  will receive an Auxiliary Power Token.  While only forward firing it's a beast of a weapon with added bonus effects. In fact looking at this pack more carefully its very different in a lot of ways, providing the chance to inflict damage on multiple targets in one hit as well as counter-attack options when someone takes a pot shot. What you start to appreciate about the Dreadnought expansion is just how expensive the upgrades are. 

Finally there's Maintenance Crew. An upgrade that doesn't require a specific slot and also lets you add another Crew position to the ATR-4107. This card gives a hint of the self-preservation and consciousness that were part of the missile featured in the episode as you can discard it and one Crew upgrade to repair up to two damage. Again it also reminds you that this piece of technology will keep on going rebuilding itself and beating off any attack - or just anything that gets a bit too close.

The Kinetic Detonator is the least expensive at four points with the Warhead costing a chunky seven. Still it's a great expansion and one that is very memorable because of its multiple differences. Rounding out the pack is Planetoid Alpha 441 - your mission is to destroy the munitions base or the Maquis fleet before you get a pasting. Note to players that the Independent/Maquis ships can't have a hull value higher than three in this encounter. 

Ok, ship two in this wave is the commandeered Jem'Hadar attack ship from Deep Space Nine's The Ship and later A Time to Stand/Rocks and Shoals from the sixth season. As the named version, the Robinson is classified as a Federation craft with a points total of 22. She attacks with three, defends with two and has both a hull and shield value of three. As with most Federation ships her action options include Evade, Target Lock, Scan and Battle Stations and there are four crew slots to fill - but no Weapon or Tech gaps as the Robinson.  

As the standard Jem'Hadar attack ship you do lose a shield point to bring the cost of the vessel down to 20 but nite that this version does allow you to add a Crew, Weapon and Tech upgrade rather than just four crew slots. The model is one of my favourites in a purple with some cracking surface detail and a tight paint finish to top it of. The accuracy on this tiny replica has to be among the best of the series and just looks the pat from every angle. Her unique action is a little on the suicidal side with the chance to ignore red damage being inflicted to instead suffer a Warp Core Breach from the critical damage deck. Quite an escalation if you ask me! Her moves are pretty decent too with a full range including the super-useful come-about at speed three. 

The Robinson does max out at four but the variety of turns balances that out adequately. We have just the one captain option along with the Generic one-pointer and its, unsurprisingly, Benjamin Sisko. Standing strong with an eight point captain skill, Sisko allows you to bite back and each time you suffer one or more hull damage points you can roll an attack die. It does result in you taking on an Auxiliary Power Token but a critical or normal damage result from the roll will damage the opponent as normal while a Battle Stations symbol will allow you to place a token of the same next to your ship. 

Sisko will also let you field the only Elite Action included in the pack, Infiltration. Instead of offering some form of attack or defence rolling options, it offers a safety blanket where you are within range one or two of an enemy but not within the same range of any friendly ships. No one can attack you and it provides the chance to slip past enemy lines and maybe try attacking from a different angle. Cool move and not bad for a five point discard. Lowest scoring of your crew options is Elim Garak for three points. Here classified as Federation character, Garak can be disabled at the beginning of the Combat Phase to increase your Captain Skill by two or can be binned off to re-roll either three attack or defence dice. 

For such a low price having the dual purpose is a big bonus especially as Garak will give you an advantage in battle two different ways. Nog, Jadzia Dax and Julian Bashir all cost four points each on the other hand. The Ferengi cadet, here classed as Federation, can be disabled to spend a Scan token beside your ship and change it to either an Evade or a Battle Stations. Neat huh? I thought so since there have been a few occasions I've wished I'd chosen a different token during the Action phase and paid the price heavily. So is this the fourth or fifth Jadzia floating around the game?! Not sure, however she does offer the benefit of gaining an Evade token if you use a red manoeuvre. 

Bashir's re-roll of any die for the cost of a discard is also just as standard and a bit of a let down after such an interesting start to the expansion with some genuinely exciting upgrade options being introduced. Most expensive of your new crew choices is Miles O'Brien. Deep Space Nine's Chief of Operations lets you disable any remaining shields to target a ship at ranges one or two which isn't cloaked with no active shields and inflict one point of damage to its hull. 

It's been a while in Attack Wing since we've seen such a situational card as I've come to term them. For one point of damage you need a lot to happen. I would have raided the cost here and offered at least two points of hull damage because a lot of bits need to fall exactly in place for this to work. Five points is hefty for just one blip of damage I think. With no Weapon or Tech upgrades to speak of it's not the most exciting of packs overall but there are certainly some highlights in there worth stripping out. Finally the mission sticks with the opener of the sixth season and is named A Time to Stand. 

Requiring two players, a planet token and three mission tokens, the job is to take out a ketracel-white facility while facing off against two Dominion ships (with a hull value no higher than three). Surely a no win scenario if ever there was one? That brings me to the third offering from Wave 21 and the Denorios. 

Jeez, this isn't going to see a lot of action I can tell you. To date I have just the two Bajorans craft including this one and the other is the Ratosha scout craft. I think if I turned up to play against anyone with that fleet they'd beat me in about a two rounds. Costing a rather pitiful 12 points this might be one of the most unattractive ships to purchase for the game so my big question after seeing the pack was - what is its redeeming feature? 

The model itself certainly isn't with one of the smaller sails a bit lopsided and the micro-scale definitely not working in the favour of the struts that support most of the vessel. It comes across as a bit blobby and lacking any visible detail due to the scale. But that's not all. With an attack of just one, two for defence and three hull (no shields here), that redemption isn't coming from its basic stats. The Denoris also only has slots for two Tech upgrades alongside the standard Evade and Scan options which I suggest might be seeing some extremely heavy use. In the instance that someone does attack you (come on...this would be your first target to eliminate), you can place an Auxiliary Power Token next to your ship to cancel out one of the Critical Damage results. 

Given a hull value of three I'm not sure how much use that will be. Adding insult to injury, the Solar Sailor can only max out at speed three and at ranges one and two it has a full set of moves including the ever-useful but Auxiliary Power Token earning Come About. Whether it's useful or not, the generic Solar Sailor has exactly the same stats and cost as the Denorios but does lose one of the two Tech slots plus the unique named craft action. Why would you pick this over the Denorios and in anticipation of questions, why the heck are you fielding more than one of these things in your fleet????!!! 

The false Emissary Akorem Laan comes in as your captain with the option to let him field up to two Bajoran Elite Actions. His skill is only a two and he costs just the single point. The generic captain included drops a point from the skill and cost. So talking of the Elite Actions, there are three to choose from and all cost five points individually. D'Jarras (the Bajoran caste system) is a discard letting you target a friendly ship at range three which can, in turn, perform one of its own crew upgrade actions. The cool twist is that if the upgrade on that ship is Bajoran it classes as a free action for that round. Bonus (has that redeemed the pack?)!!! Emissary lets you renewable all your disabled upgrades at the beginning of the Activation Phase not just on your ship but on any Bajoran ship within ranges one to three. That's a great option to have and could turn the game around if you're in need of that photon torpedo launch or a regeneration of a hull or shield point. 

Being specified as Bajoran ship I can see this being a winner if you're not playing faction pure and have the Ratosha, for example, fully tooled. Keeping with the theme of Accession from Deep Space Nine's fourth year, the Legendary Hero Elite Action does help when it comes to keeping your head above water in combat. Chucking this card in will add not just two defence dice or two attack dice but BOTH for the whole of the round. It's Bajoran captain and Bajoran ship specific so both of those criteria need to be met to use this but having three attack and four defence dice at your disposal will certainly come as a surprise to any opponent. 

The Denorios has three Tech options too starting with Solar Sail Powered for three points. It turns any manoeuvre green after its revealed so those Come Abouts won't incur the tragedy of an Auxiliary Power Token. It's also a disable rather than a discard meaning it can be kept for use during the whole game and not just for a one off. Providing an extra layer of defence and possibly very useful in conjunction with Legendary Hero, Mainsails (four points) lets you place two shield tokens onto that card and these get hit first before your ship receives any further damage. It does state it can't be used with any other ship feature or upgrade but to have a buffer on the ship will be welcomed to anyone who considers flying this into a hail of phaser fire. 

Third and last is the five point Tachyon Eddies. Remember that the Solar Sailor can only trundle along at speed three? Well this means you can add up to another three to your revealed manoeuvre's speed. Yay! But I'll stop you there because adding two or three to your speed will incur either two or three points of damage to your ship and the latter could effectively see you blasted out of the game on your own actions. Be warned because it does seem to sound better than it is! The scenario here, Ion Storm is, for those of us with no friends, a single player mission. Unfortunately it's virtually a mirror of the mission included with the Pegasus a few waves ago. Get from A to B in one piece while a ton of asteroids move around. It is good fun but as I said back then it takes a long time to set up and then to move all the blips each round. If you've not played a lot of Attack Wing I would say this is a good starting scenario to help understand some of the fundamental actions within the game.  

In answer to my question on the Denorios, it does have some redeeming features which do see its defences increased and have a remote chance of outrunning an enemy. Cleverly though it's going to be a difficult ship to run given that it can actually damage itself so I would be tempted to run this well behind the lines offering to help out larger craft and re-enable their disabled upgrades. 

Wave 21 is probably one of my favourite selections to date even though the Solar Sailor is a bit naff. Wizkids have thought outside the box here and for once there are a lot of new and different upgrades which I would seriously consider using. The Robinson was a bit of a surprise to me with its unusual features plus the chance to fly a Jem'Hadar attack ship in a Federation fleet. The Dreadnought is very cool, unique and horribly dangerous given that getting anywhere near it could result in some painful consequences. It does cost a lot but then you are getting a lot in return from the package and not just in terms of standard out-of-the-box firepower. 

Recommended? Perhaps not all three but certainly the Dreadnought and the Robinson are ships I would urge you to consider. If you're just looking for something to fill up a few points then I might point you towards the Solar Sailor.... 

Thinking of investing in Wave 21? Would you add a missile or the attack cruiser to your ranks? Am I wrong about the Denoris?!

Up now is our review of Wave 22 - you can find it HERE

Wave 21 is available now with all ships recommended to retail at £11.99 each. You can track down your local stockist HERE

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