Wings: Discovery's Klingon Bird of Prey

 Ah Discovery. Remember seasons one and two when it all went down? 

Yep, me too and I hope that in season five we'll get back to some of the quality that the first two batches of episodes provided.

For the time being though I can still gaze longingly at some of the models that were produced by the now-extinct Eaglemoss as I round out the last splatterings left in the "IN" pile. Oddly though it seems the right moment to look back since several sites are not selling these editions plus we have masterreplicas.com promising more on the way.

Now these are going to be older models that most people who followed the collection will have but for the sakes of my own completism and desire to ensure that everything from them I've got is documented, here are the last of the regular series Discovery ships I have.

These were actually purchased in that last gasp for breath sale the week before it all went Pete Tong and I had to pick quickly!

First up there's the rather impressive if unwieldy Bird of Prey. One of the things levelled against it is that it looks nothing like the classic design nor does it even come close to anything that's been seen since The Search for Spock, even in Enterprise. Still, it fits with the rest of the fleet - as it was designed to  and that's what counts. After all we're not reviewing the model design, more the model itself as a replica of what was on screen in both detail and construction quality.

The Bird of Prey is, honestly, one heck of a beautiful design for the show. From the front you can very clearly see the distinct shape of a classic version of the vessel but that's where the similarities tend to stop.

As we'll see in all the Discovery designs and models, the detail is mind-boggling. Just taking in the wing shape and features here is a task in itself. Aside from the dirt and weathering which is good but not overbearing,.

Constructed in metal, the curving wings have a very textured finish with ribbing extending from the centre of the ship out and just beyond the edges. These are distinctly raised on both the upper and lower surfaces and coloured bronze against the brown base coat. There's also a clever feathered effect at the wing edge which you just can't appreciate on a TV screen but certainly can here. That bronze edging is in evidence right across the Bird of Prey from the wings into the main body and then into the neck and head section. There's a distinct Gothic feel to the way in which this has been designed and that shows through in the model itself.

But there's also an organic piece to the Bird of Prey as running down the centre is a structure that can only be described as its spine replete with a protruding "bone" structure. Again, the detail is just magnificent although, when compared to the images in the magazine you can see that some of the higher level texturing has been lost to the weathering effect.

Some of the detail is there, notably along those feathered wing edges but into the main body the paint finish is smoother just as the bodywork itself tends to become more complex. 

The neck and head section are masterpieces when it comes to modelling with the translucent blue section touched up with bronze detail to seem an integral part of the vessel. There's something almost Alien (intentional capital) about the shape of the ship's body as if it would genuinely open up and strike out a razor sharp tongue. Everything about it says aggression and Eaglemoss managed to replicate its onscreen persona pretty closely.

Plastic models are unforgiving when it comes to cost though and sadly that real finishing texture that's so evident in the magazine does get lost a little. 

Where there is a bit of a tragedy is that these Discovery ships seem to have very little if any annotation to give you an idea of what parts are what. I can work out from the images that the wings do fold with the ship displayed in attack but what's the little piece that sits under the wings and has a piece of transparent blue at its centre? 

The design might look good but fans do want to know there's thought behind some of the features and why certain things are in set places - it's just the way they are!

The only real letdown as far as the Bird of Prey goes are the two forward facing antenna that are fairly obviously much larger than they should be. Any thinner and we'd be approaching Solar Sailor levels of delicate but these two protrusions are fairly solid. The ship is well put together with the metal and plastic sections both curving and meeting with very little indication towards the front of the sweep.

In the magazine the coverage of the design is the clear highlight with the first section only covering the Bird of Prey as part of the Klingon fleet and the actions they were used for in the first season of Discovery. At least with the design article there are a good chunk of pictures to illustrate the extensive work to create this new take on a classic starship. Even goes as far as working out the scale!

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Attack Wing Wave 24 - Updated Classics

Firstly apologies because the Wave 24 review will be a ship short.

It seems that the repaint of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 is already out of stock due to stupid levels of demand so we are only privy to the IKS Drovana and the IRW Algeron for June.

The big thing you'll immediately notice is that there have been some shakeups in the waves with shuttles, warbirds and Xindi ships seemingly cast aside for a trio of reboxes. However while this is true of the Enterprise it's not strictly speaking the case for the Drovana or the Algeron. 

The Drovana is the first time since the Starter Pack that we've had a Vor'Cha Class Attack Cruiser released to retail and it's been worth the wait just for the playing piece. The matt green paint now has a slight metallic glint to it and the surface detail really stands out. It's a thinner paint job certainly but the engine colouring is much more accurate and  really makes a difference to the ship as you can see from the comparison. 

The second craft, the Algeron is a bit disappointing just for the fact it's the same old K'T'inga/D7 mould to the point that it's even carrying a Klingon emblem on the underside. Straight rebox if ever there was one! Still the  entire pack is purely Romulan themed and, contrary to the scattered focus of the Drovana it's based around the classic third season episode, The Enterprise Incident. Sadly there's no Romulan imposter Kirk (now there's a card - dual faction, high skill...) but we do get lots of tasty new goodies to take your mind off the very average model. 

Offering five in attack, one agility, five hull and three shields, the Drovana will be able to hold its own in a battle and costs 28 points for the ship. You can upgrade her with a Tech, two Weapon and a Crew upgrade as well as being able to utilise four standard actions - Evade, Target Lock, Cloak and Sensor Echo. As a unique action you can discard a non-disabled upgrade during Compare Results to cancel out a Damage or Critical Damage result.

The accompanying generic ship holds the same stats as the version in the Starter Pack, losing a shield, a Weapon slot and the unique action for 26 points. In terms of movement, we have a max speed of four with red 90 degree turns and a red Come About at speed three. There are also green forward and bank turns at speeds one and two.

Unusually the Drovana comes with two equally strong command options in Gowron and Kurn. For a cost of three points and with a skill of five. Also allowing you to equip him with an Elite Action, Gowron can be used as a Fleet Admiral however, oddly, he won't improve your captain's skill but will be able to pass his skill across to another of your ships. What he does offer in that case is the chance to drop a Battle Stations token next to your ship and, if you're a Klingon captain on a Klingon ship, the opportunity to then perform an Action Bar action as a freebie. Seeing as the Drovana doesn't carry Battle Stations it's a very useable feature that doesn't leave you disabling features.

Kurn also costs three points and has a skill of five and allows you to re-roll one of your Battle Station results each time you defend. If it's assigned to a Klingon ship you can re-roll two. Nice card to use since it offers improved defence and costs nothing extra - no Auxiliary Power Tokens, disabling cards  or removal of upgrades. Low cost, big value. He can also field a Klingon Elite Action even though he doesn't have the emblem on the card.

As for that Elite Action, the Drovana comes with Detonation Codes for four points. An Action, it allows you to target a Minefield Token within range and then roll the number of attack dice on the Mine card minus one. It results in every ship within range one of the mine to suffer Damage or Critical Damage as normal and without the chance of using any defence against the results. Of course it does rely on there being a minefield in play!

Which is a good thing that Cloaked Mines is one of the three new Tech options. A discard for three points, it lets you drop the Minefield token within range one of your ship but not within range three of an enemy vessel. If any enemy ship passes within range one of the token it has to roll three attack dice and suffer the consequences of any Damage or Critical Damage results. The craft does not get the chance to roll any defence in this case which is standard against such an item.


Second there's Emergency Power costing four points. Effectively it allows you to ignore any  Auxiliary Power Tokens you have in play on that vessel and perform either a red manoeuvre or an Action. Certainly super-useful and reusable since it's a disable not a discard. Certainly a card that will help you get out of a sticky spot quickly.


The final Tech upgrade is Security Sensors costing five points. If you're targeted by an enemy captain or upgrade you can immediately place an Evade in play even if you already have one active. Good news here that it's something you can keep on using and therefore an absolute essential to any Klingon fleet because of its reuse factor and increased defence. 

Bo'Rak is your new Crew option (five point cost) and can be disabled to force a defending ship to re-roll a die of your choice. He also allows you to defend with a full set of dice even if your opponent is fielding the Scan token. As you might be seeing, this is a Klingon set which offers a lot of increased defensive chances which, for a ship with a single agility point, will be very advantageous.

For a Klingon vessel the offensive capabilities are a bit limited beyond the standard five attack dice. Indeed even the Photon Torpedoes offer the same number as standard however if fired from a Vor'Cha Class you do get to use six dice. There's no specification that it can be fired a certain way, only that it will result in using three Time Tokens. With the note of the use on a Vor'Cha it does push this card to be used on a specific ship which doesn't have a rear firing arc (possibly hence the lack of detail).

As for the mission cards, the Drovana adds Detonation Codes. It's a very different mission, placing the Detonation Codes card onto a Federation ship which must be destroyed by two Klingon vessels including one Vor'Cha Cruiser. The Federation ship can use the Klingon Elite Action once per turn as the ships skirt in and out of the minefield which is also set in the playing field. The Federation player can win by damaging one of the Klingons and destroying the other (must be some damage caused by Detonation Codes), both Klingons are destroyed or all the minefield tokens are obliterated.

The Romulan ship here in Wave 24 is the IRW Algeron, a member of the D7 Class. A Klingon design given to the Romulans in exchange for cloaking technology (or a cheap reuse for the third season of The Original Series), it's another miniature reboxed.

The K'T'inga/D7 cruiser in this pack has a decent paint job and still carries the Klingon emblem on its underbelly which is a disappointment but I suppose re-hacking the mold would be a nightmare.  I can't really say a lot on this one aside from the point that the finish is fairly crisp and the engines and bridge module are actually on the right way.

The Algeron fires with three dice, defends with one, has a hull score of three and two shields. Standard actions are Evade, Target Lock, Cloak and Sensor Echo with slots for one Tech, Weapon and Crew option. This basic ship will cost you 18 points to field. As for your unique action, the Algeron will let you perform a one speed ahead move before declaring a target as long as you're not cloaked. I love this feature as it will give you a lot of flexibility to get into range for that final shot. Note that there's no limit to when and how often you can use it. 

The generic Romulan Battlecruiser loses a shield point and the chance of using a Crew upgrade plus the unique action to bring the cost in at 16 points. As to moves, you can max out at a speed of four with only the come about at range three requiring an Auxiliary Power Token to be deployed. There's a full set of turns available at speeds two and three plus green banks and aheads at speeds one and two. This is the standard it seems and it's been a while since we've had a strong, fast ship that gives us a five or a six like Voyager or Prometheus.

As we said, the pack is based on the third season's The Enterprise Incident with the female Romulan commander, Liviana Charvanek (not her name from the episode for note) as your first choice to captain. With a skill of five she costs three points and does have the badge to perform an Elite Action. Charvanek will let players cloak and then perform a free action during their turn which means you could pack out a turn with this and adding that one manoeuvre in too. This captain can be flipped to a fleet admiral role and therefore pass this action out to other ships in your armada. She does also add one point to the captain of the ship you assign her to.

Along with the generic captain card you have a second option to use Tal as your commander. He bears a skill level of three and costs two points and lets your ship use the Battle Stations action even if its not on your standard actions list. Tal won't allow an extra free Action for that round but for Romulans it will offer more in game chances to bear down on their opponents (as long as you're not cloaked).

Command Pod is one of two Elite Actions (four points) and simply lets you cancel one die result when defending. It's a discard that can only be used on a D7 Class ship. For five points you might want to employ Cloaked Attack where you can discard the card and spend your Cloak token and gain two dice for attack. That would effectively give you a five dice attack with the Algeron which makes it a very strong opponent for a turn - especially when you combine it with the ship's additional move ability and Charvanek's free action for example. That's a lot of bits you can pull in for a single turn.

The Weapon slot can be filled with a standard Plasma Torpedoes upgrade giving you four dice in attack and lets you re-roll any blank results. It does incur the Time Token penalty an can be fired fore or aft (if you have those arcs). Nothing new here although very useful and costing three points. There's also a lone Crew upgrade with Romulan Technical Officer (two points) who can be disabled to place a Scan token next to your ship. It's another one of those cards that gives you access to a "standard" action not available with the core ship card as there seems to regularly be with a lot of expansions.

The final upgrade here is Impulse Drive which can be disabled to perform a "white" manoeuvre even with an Auxiliary Power Token next to your ship. It does however mean you skip performing an Action for that round. For a two point cost and the fact it can be reused it might be useful however movement-wise there's only the 180 turn that will bring about an Auxiliary Power Token on the Algeron so there might be better ways to spend points or look to assign it to a ship where there are a lot more red turns that you could abuse and therefore warrant the need for this card.

The mission also plays to The Enterprise Incident with a Federation ship attempting to outrun three Romulan craft (including a D7) and install a stolen cloaking device. Mission tokens represent steps of installation and once all six are active the device is online. Rolling Damage points will mean that process is successful and if all six rolls have the Damage result then it's a free action. The Romulans need to stop you before exiting the north end of the playing field.

Another cool and different scenario to play out that isn't a straight one on one rehash with a planet in the middle. I reckon this could easily be changed to a one player mission with you controlling the Romulans. The big challenge here is that you'll only be able to use a Federation ship with a hull of four or less and Romulans with hulls of three or less.

So a good wave overall once you get past the disappointment of some reshuffling between 24/25/26 and having three ships that are repeats. The cards however for the Drovana and the Algeron do offer new features and the missions have some originality which is very refreshing. I'm a bit gutted I have not yet grabbed an Enterprise but from what I understand it's a straight rebox and repaint job from the earlier version. If I acquire I will update!

UPDATED!!!

With some scurrying around across the internet I picked up the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 repaint which completes Wave 24. First thing is first - if you've bought the original pack don't bother with this one unless you want a second The Original Series Constitution Class starship because aside from a new silver coat of paint it's the exact same pack. Luckily I didn't so this hasn't been a waste of money because it's a brilliant set of cards even if I fear that the model is so small I could lose it.

Cudos on the detail of the Tinyprise because Wizkids have managed to add in window detail, get those nacelles aligned and finish the model off with some nice touches such as the red bussard collectors, a golden deflector and a gold, highlighted bridge module. It's not the most stunning item to come out of the game but it does what it needs to do and you can tell exactly what ship it is. I've only seen the original version a couple of times and to be honest there's not a great deal of difference between them. Perhaps the paint job here is a bit neater.

The Enterprise has an attack of three, agility of one, four hull points and three shield points. In relation to the refit version that's a single shield point less. As with all Federation craft we have the standard Evade, Target Lock, Scan and Battle Stations actions as well as four Crew slots and a Weapon slot to upgrade the starship. The basic ship will cost you 22 points. As for its unique action, the Enterprise can still perform an Action from the standard bar even if it has an Auxiliary Power Token assigned. That has to be one of the most useful options available to a ship in the whole game. The generic Constitution Class vessel loses one shield point, two Crew slots plus the unique action to cost 20 points.

Movement is pretty flexible with a full set of turns at speeds two and three (sharp right and left on three are red) plus a top speed of four although you can't bank at that level. Speed one will allow bank turns while there's a most welcome speed two reverse to help you back off a bit sharpish. Odd point but the move card and the generic card both carry a picture of the refit Enterprise rather than the one from The Original Series. 

Clearly the first captain option in this pack has to be James T. Kirk (six point cost). Carrying a skill of nine and the ability to field two Elite Actions it has to be one of the go-to command cards for Federation players. Kirk costs six points and any Elite Action cards you pick for him cost three points regardless of their face value. Also being able to keep them face down until "activated" means other players can't see what you're planning although I expect Cheat Death will be in there.

Second option is Christopher Pike. A logical choice since the movie version has Decker. While not as amazing as the Kirk card, Pike does offer a skill of six for four points and has an Elite Action slot so don't dismiss him straight away. He'll also mean that those Crew upgrades cost a point less each and considering the Enterprise can take up to four that's a good saving when it comes to budgeting. Finally there's the generic captain with a skill of one and a zero point cost. It uses the image of Ron Tracey from The Omega Factor and I would have liked to have seen him as a "proper" captain rather than to fill out a useless card.

You get five Crew choices with the Enterprise with only Chekov not making the cut of the standard crew (no sign of a Rand of a Chapel card either but y'know...). Both Spock and Montgomery Scott cost five points to equip while Sulu, Uhura and McCoy cost three.

Spock allows players to convert Battle Station results into damage during an attack as long as your ship carries the Scan token. Nicely there's zero need to disable or discard this one wich makes it eternally useful not does it say that you can't utilise the Scan ability when altering your attack result. Scotty offers a double advantage which, like Spock, makes that higher cost much more appealling. Firstly he can be used to disable two shield points  and add two attack dice (in the case of Enterprise it would take you up to a five) or you can reduce the attack roll by two dice and repair a shield. Super useful and that second one doesn't specify the need for the engineer to be disabled. This is another huge win card and beyond question one that you will always want to have on the table.

So to the three pointers and Leonard McCoy. Offering a "medical" alternative, the good doctor will let one of the other Crew upgrades operate as a freebie for that round. He is a discard so make that one extra ability count!

Sulu on the other hand doesn't specify that discard/disable handicap and adds two dice to your defence (agility) for the round. It is an Action so you have to note it's enabled rather than it just being there all the time. Potentially one to use with McCoy depending on how bad things are getting! Sulu will also let you convert a Battle Stations result into an Evade during the round in which you declare him active.

Finally there's Nyota Uhura who is again a discard but will let you change your manoeuvre before you move. It's a bit of a classic card and one that helps a lot especially if you're loaded with a high skilled captain (i.e. Kirk). Does mean you can check out the enemy and then do what you need to do to better position for the next round.

As for Weapons you get just the original version of Photon Torpedoes (cost of three points). Yep, that's right it literally is a repack with not even a Time Token update for the later waves. In fact even the inners of the packaging are from the original box and there's no reference to it being part of wave 24. This does make me think it might have been a very late - and cheap - swap for something else. Photon Torpedoes here still utilises the disable feature which hasn't been used for a while now. Standard two to three range here with an increase to four dice and the chance to convert one Battle Stations result into a Critical Damage hit.

Unusually the pack has three Elite Action cards included all costing five points individually (or three if coupled with Kirk). Cochrane Deceleration Maneuver is a discard which lets you Come About right after performing a forward speed one move but will incur the old Auxiliary Power Token penalty. A risky move but one that could well put you into a much better firing position and turn that retreat into an attack. Chancey but if the enemy don't know it's coming it will be a big surprise.

Second you have Corbomite Maneuver taking its name from the classic first season story. Again a discard it stops you being attacked but you can't go on the offensive either. Might give you a chance to reform your fleet and get some repairs completed. Last but by no means least is one of the most controversial cards in the history of Attack Wing; Cheat Death. Man have I heard about this one over the years!

If you're destroyed then you get to remove one Damage Card at a time until the amount of damage is one less than your  Hull Value and then you can flip the remaining card face down which eliminates their effects on your ship. I guess this means one Damage Card per round so for the Enterprise for example you can ignore the fact you've been obliterated and then each of the next three rounds you remove a Damage Card. The remaining card is then turned over and treated as normal damage. You can see why that's caused a stink and certainly if you're playing Kirk and this is hidden face down its going to always be ready to play. Probably the biggest game changer but with your enemies always assuming it'll be played, whatever ship it's on will be taken out damn quickly.

The legendary Kobayashi Maru scenario comes with the Enterprise pitting your 50 point ship against a triple Klingon threat of 80 points. Set out as a standard two player game it's all about strength of character as it's severely weighted to the Klingons. Will you rescue the stricken freighter or die trying? Sadly there's no chance to just re-programme the simulator and win. Dammit. I don't believe in a no win scenario!!!

For anyone who already has the USS Enterprise from Wave Zero I wouldn't bother. I'm happy to have been able to find it given that the earlier one is a hard find (not as hard as Excelsior) and there are some serious killer upgrades in this set that you would be stupid to miss out on. Late adopters will find this pack one of the most essential to get their hands on and use if only for that Cheat Death although the crew choices are solid as well.

What Wave 25 will look like is potentially still in the air as I've had trouble locating exactly what it will include and it's been a while since the Wave 24 previews. It might be a shuttle, a revamped Negh'Var, Xindi. Who knows - will we even get a wave 25 or are we going to be looking at Frontiers...?

What are you waiting for? Are the Klingon and Romulan expansions here what you wanted?

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Big Things Coming: The Official Starships Collection Issue 70 and 71

What a month and what a couple of corkers we have to talk about.   

Eaglemoss have actually surprised me on both counts with the Voth City Ship and the Klingon Transport being better than I had expected. One thing that has struck me in the bigger picture is how we've managed to get both of the Voth ships very close together yet we have yet to see a single Kazon or Vidiian design, both of which appeared in a lot more episodes than the singular saurian race.   

In the case of the City Ship from issue 70 the pictures we've seen so far have not done her justice. Being one of the biggest starships ever to grace any series of Star Trek there's a lot to do in such a small scale. I did fear that the detail would be lost given the size however you'll be amazed at what they've managed to cram onto the silver hull. Take a close look at the hull too because on the upper and lower surfaces you'll see that there's even a hint of panel tone differentiation that just brings it away from one solid colour and the fear of looking a touch like a toy.

On top of that metallic silver base coat we have multiple tiny coloured sections representing community areas, warp field generators and power conduits. To the rear we've also got the huge transwarp engine that powers this mammoth, seven mile long vessel. One thing I didn't expect or remember from the Voyager episode which featured it, Distant Origin, were the runes which are etched into the surface edges both on the top and underside of the craft.    

The lines are very cleanly finished on the Voth City Ship but I would expect nothing less seeing as there are very few extremities to be concerned with on the sleek end product. Had this been produced as per some of the original sketches shown in the magazine I can imagine this being a nightmare for the collection to manufacture.     

I had thought this was going to be a very plain design but the runic paneling and colouring make this a very impressive result which displays well in its rear-grip stand. Even flipping her over the City Ship detail carries right on down to the rune edging and smooth silver base.  In fact the story within the magazine does comment about how much smoother the final design actually is. It might well be but Eaglemoss have still gone to a lot of trouble to ridge along the hull and colour specific sections giving it a deep 3D feel even though it's still a very slender ship to look at.

Could there have been any translucent sections dotted around the hull? Honestly no. I think that with the scale here that was a physical impossibility as the blue hues painted on are very small and tend not to be that close together. I can only think it would be hell to try and bore out such small areas from the large upper metal section to make that happen. The choice to only have the lower surface in plastic has been a big success here. It's the only single flat piece on the City Ship while all the remainder of the craft has had its lumps and bumps formed in the stronger silver metal.

With the magazine we have 100% focus on the brilliant Distant Origin. Having two ships from the episode, for me, is a big win and the magazine offers much more in depth background on both the episode and the design of the craft too than the sub-standard Voyager Companion ever did (synopsis, trivia, jot all else). Ok the initial ship overview is a near retread of the piece from the Voth Research Ship with a spin towards the later phase of the episode which did take place within the sprawl of the City Ship. 

No new pics aside from the initial CG recreations but tightly written and to the point. Collectors are more likely to flick to the Designing article which brings in the perspective of its creator Rick Sternbach. Always (and I do mean always) a magical insight to the background of Star Trek, the sketches show it could have looked very, very different and morphed over time from a complex, layered craft into its more recognisable and smoother lines.  

The next article ahead of the Key Appearance (it's only appearance by the way) covers Ancient Life Forms. Taking a lead from the saurian race of Distant Origins we are provided with an overview of some of the other older creatures the crews have faced including the Progenitors from The Chase, Apollo from Who Mourns for Adonais and even the an anaphasic life form, Ronin, from Sub Rosa...although I'm sure we'd have been happy if this had been omitted! Finally Writing Distant Origin covers the path that led from dinosaurs with guns to a stunning Voyager story that remains a personal favourite. Offering the elements we have with this magazine and with the issue accompanying the Research Ship we now have a superb archive on a key story and certainly the package here makes issue 70 unmissable for any serious collector.   

As for the Klingon transport featured in the second season Enterprise episode Bounty, this could well slide into my top five. It's a majestically simple horseshoe design and almost as flat as the City Ship if you stand the two side by side. Ironically you have one of the largest ships ever designed along with one of the smallest in the same month (and the transport looks substantially bigger!)

No frills, no extras here but the paint tones skip between a grey and a green dependent on the light and the raised panel effects make it stand out like no other. As I've waxed on about before, the Enterprise models have become the real hidden gems and standout entries in the Starships Collection. In fact I can only think of the Nausicaan fighter being the weak link and even then it wasn't that bad.   

Goroth's transport ship works well given the larger scale it benefits from and just looks beautiful from every angle. In fact that red photon torpedo launcher slap bang on the front of her adds a gorgeous finishing touch as do some of the darker grey panels dotted across the upper and lower hull. Looking further to the back there are the highlighted green warp grilles at the 'wing tips' plus some easy-to-miss on-screen Klingon emblems boldly emblazoned on the upper port and starboard sides. Those grilles to the sides of the wings are in fact translucent although the red impulse engines hidden away just below them are simply painted in. Factually the colouring of those emblems does seem to be incorrect if you refer to the episode stills in the mag where these are seemingly line-etched into the ship rather than stuck on in four colours. It bugs me and I suspect it will you too.

From a detail point of view, the underside is 100% as good as the top with a distinctive loading hatch to the rear and a lot of technical elements prominent across the surface. Perhaps there could have been a little more definition around the disruptors and the photon launcher but that is very picky of me to point out as would be the suggestion that it could do with some weathering to really look "proper Klingon". As it is it looks a bit too new although again, picky me.  

She's got some weight behind her as well being a more chunky blocky mass than the City Shop we've also seen dock this month but I do have a severe leaning that this is the stronger entry into the collection for April 2016. For note as with the Voth ship, the underside panel is the only piece made from plastic giving you a ship that is about 70% metal and looks fantastic. Honestly, simple and flat it might be but I really am impressed with the design and did not expect to be in any way.

Into the magazine now and following on from the standard episode synopsis and screenshots we get another whammy from the John Eaves collection through more sketches and recollections of the design process. Actually it's not totally original for the Bounty episode as you'll find out. Less articles in here than issue 70 with a section on returning aliens filling out the second half before that solus key appearance. 

The point that Gene Roddenberry was never keen on bringing back Klingons, Vulcans and Romulans for The Next Generation is again documented but here we also turn to Enterprise and that it was absolutely essential that races such as the Andorians and Tellarites (with improved makeup) were brought into the prequel fold to show the evolution of their intergalactic relationships.   

Have to say that both here and in the Voth magazine the plan views do no justice whatsoever to the finished models and look rather bland in comparison. I've come to terms with the minimal notes but it's good to see that the main attraction - the ships - are now topping the images produced for the mag.

So to May and issues 72 and 73. We could have some interesting opinions with the former as it's the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A. Will Eaglemoss right the wrongs of the movie refit from issue 2? We pray. We really do. Second we'll have the Borg ship from Descent which has already been spotted and I'm not massively keen on so far. For those wondering where the heck my NX-01 refit review is, I'm wondering where the package itself is. Hopefully it will make it here soon....

What's your thoughts on the Voth and Klingon ships from April's releases? Better or worse than expected? 

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Core Factions with Wave 19

Us Brits have had a bummer of a deal when it comes to Wave 19.

Originally planned for early November issues around shipping meant that we had to sit and watch YouTube vids or read the startrek.com previews to have any idea of what was coming. On the flip side they did arrive the same time as Wave 20 so there is a silver lining!

Echoing Wave 16, we have another trio of ships coming from the central forces of the Federation, the Klingons and the Romulans. Let's kick off with a look at one of the smallest ships to date - and one I nearly lost in the bin, Voyager's super shuttle, Delta Flyer.

It's the second retail shuttle release after the Quark's Treasure and carries all of the rules which affect these smaller craft. If you want to check out what they are, drop over to that review HERE for more on their new dynamics. 

Painted up in that odd silver colour that seems to be endowed on all the recent Federation ships (Thunderchild, Phoenix) but it does have some great hull detailing top and bottom which is great especially as it's so stupidly small. Not quite on scale with the Eaglemoss Voyager though if you're considering matching them up.

So to the stats and she has some teeth with three attack dice, two for defence, a hull value of two and a shield value of two bringing the ship cost in at just 20 points. Note too that she's light of a Battle Station from the usual quartet of standard actions on Federation ships and comes with slots for an additional two crew, one weapon and one for tech. As for unique abilities, you can only attach weapon upgrades costing four or less (no photon or quantum torpedoes from the Defiant then...) and you can fire your primary weapon rearward but only rolling two attack dice. At least it's not going to incur disabling or dropping on a few Time Tokens.

For movement she might not be super quick topping out at three on speed but at one and two there's a full range of turns including a 180 on both speeds, none of which will mean you're sticking Auxiliary Power Tokens on the table.

Perhaps a little annoying is that the ship's usual pilot and commander, Tom Paris is relegated to second fiddle with Tuvok as your higher skilled officer and captain choice. Weighing in with a skill of five and a cost of three, he does let you stick an additional Tech upgrade onto the Delta Flyer and it will cost one point less to purchase. Tom does play more to his piloting ways with the potential to turn a forward three into a forward four move at the expense of an Auxiliary Power Token (reminder token included). Paris only costs two points but will have the advantage of speeding up your entry or exit from that combat situation.

Neither captain has the option to field an Elite Action nor are there any included in this expansion so we're straight over to the crew and in the box you get a new B'Elanna Torres, Harry Kim and Seven of Nine. B'Elanna allows you to disable an active shield and her card to cancel a hit of either variety while Seven lets you perform a free Battle Station action during the Activation Phase. Both cost four squadron points and are offering good advantages to improve the measly defensive capabilities of the Delta Flyer. Frankly without some of these defensive options you'd be lucky to stay alive against a paper bag.

Costing a point less but just as useful is Ensign Kim at three points. Creating more defensive options, you can add two Evade tokens to sit next to your ship BUT you can't defend or perform an Evade action that round (reminder token included). While for the Delta Flyer it guarantees a full result from the two dice you could have rolled, for anything larger it's only a respite.

While the pack offers some good options in the way of defence - and one or two of those I might pinch for other ships - there are two cards which will vie to fill your lone weapon slot. Costing three points you have Photonic Missiles. A poor man's torpedo, the missiles will cost a Target Lock and bring those Time Tokens into play. Operating at ranges one and two it'll be available from the rear and forward firing arcs (both active on the Delta Flyer) and uses three attack dice to land its hit. Cleverly though the hit will not only cause normal damage but, if successful, add an Auxiliary Power Token to your opponent's ship. Now that's useful isn't it? For such a small craft to pop an action restricting token into the game makes this card one to consider using especially due to the low cost for something reusable.

Also on the table is the standard Photon Torpedoes card but now including the legend that it's only a single use upgrade if fired from a shuttlecraft. That explains the slightly lower than usual four point cost although for one go it does up your attack potential from three to five dice.

Finally for the Delta Flyer we have three Tech upgrades to suit all galactic budgets. For just two points but has to be discarded if used, we have Parametallic Hull Plating. Combined with Kim's double evade this is one that could elongate your life with the shuttlecraft and give you another damage dodge. It's a faction pure option though as using it on anything other than a Federation ship does cost three more points and you can only have one per ship.

Upping to three points you can equip Immersion Shielding to up the shields by a point (the Flyer's would increase to four) and when you bump into an obstacle you get to re-roll the attack die and avoid additional, unnecessary damage. Again it costs three more points if on a non-Federation ship and it's a one-per-ship rule. I also don't see this being often-used since obstacles are usually very scenario-orientated. 

Finally the Borg inspired Unimatrix Shielding adds two points to your shields for a cost of five points but it has the crazy and rather useful ability to disable up to two of your shields to cancel the same number of damage or critical damage results - if you're being attacked by the Borg. This is a truly brilliant idea which keeps in line with the show and offers at least a little more resistance to the seemingly indestructible Borg faction. Perhaps one to consider only when you're facing them but an unusual addition nonetheless because it's so specific to one side.

So to the mission and we're heading into fifth season Voyager territory with Extreme Risk. Two players get to split 80 points each between two ships with the Federation player fielding the Delta Flyer and another ship with a hull value of at least four. At the centre of the play area there's an objective token with a mission token atop it. The game is pretty straight forward with each team attempting to retrieve the mission token/probe but the atmosphere of a gas giant is a treacherous place which drastically affects the speed of your ship. Take care!

As a ship this is one heavily defence-biased little gem of an expansion. The model is so-so but the pack itself certainly offers cards that can be punted out onto larger ships and give you more chance of lasting out a game - maybe even against those annoying cubes, spheres and octahedrons.

Second up for Wave 19 is another Bird-of-Prey, this time from the worlds of Deep Space Nine and General Martok's flagship, the IKS Rotarran (note to Wizkids: can we have a Kruge Bird-of-Prey please?). Crisply painted up, these Birds are some of the best miniatures in the game and not just because they are painted in the right colours (cough Delta Flyer cough) but because the finish isn't messy and there are very distinctive markings across the hull surface. A beautiful finish on something of this scale so why can't they do it for all ships?!

But what makes this different from all the other B'rel Class ships? Why would you want another? I have two myself (Chang's and the Ning'Tao from Wave 15) and a third does make a nice wing but did we need it?

Possibly not however, the Rotarran isn't as combat-shy as the teeny Delta Flyer. With four attack, one defence, three hull and three shield points for starters it's standard Klingon Bird-of-Prey fare but with this one you can choose to use your Action and make a second manoeuvre at speeds one or two but it does cost you an attack and incurs the dreaded Auxiliary Power Token penalty. As for upgrades you can stick two Crew, a Tech and a Weapon on here.

Martok is your sole "proper" captain option with the Rotarran with a skill of seven and a cost of four. He's my third Martok after the ones I acquired with the Negh'Var and the Ning'Tao. His advantages are two-fold; dropping the cost of all your Klingon upgrades by a point and also letting you roll two less attack dice for a guaranteed damage hit. Pleasantly and great for those of us who choose to go Faction Pure, you'll only lose one attack die instead of the two if you're only using Klingon cards. Mega advantage there and nice to see Wizkids catering to different styles of play - certainly something missing from the earlier rounds aside from the standard increase of costs if you're mixing and matching.

Now when I say "proper" captain here it's not because I'm classing the generic Klingon captain in the pack but because the crew version of Worf can be utilised as your ship commander if something befalls the initial captain. He increases your Captain Skill by three anyway if selected as one of your crew choices but in command he attains a skill of five but can return to the crew if the captain recovers. Not bad for a card costing just two points. I'd have this in a heartbeat if I was facing a foe that could do a lot of damage to selected bits of your fleet.

The Rotarran is a crew-heavy pack with another four crew cards available as well as this new Worf (might be my fifth Worf but I'll have to check as he pops up all over the place). Taking lead from the Deep Space Nine episode, Soldiers of the Empire (good Klingon one that), we have Leskit. An older warrior in the episode, this crewman allows you to change a revealed red manoeuvre into a green and you can even perform a Sensor Echo if you're cloaked. Seems to be a trend in this expansion to have a few cards with two abilities rather than just one. Not complaining just an observation!

While Leskit costs three points and Worf two, Jadzia Dax, Kornan and Tavana are a little higher priced at five points each. Dax is actually a Federation card but you won't be penalised if you use her on a Klingon ship and lets you spend a Scan token to turn a Battle Station into either a damage or Evade result. How nice to have something which helps take all that indecision out of a moment in the game? Sometimes you just don't know which way to turn to save your skin or take a pot shot and with this upgrade you can have some freedom to do either when the question arises.

At first glance Kornan is a little more standard, but while you Target Lock you can also perform a free action from the Action Bar. This isn't rocket science but still opens you up to cautious defence or all-out attack dependent on the way your fight is going. Tavana on the other hand veers more in line with the early-episode Rotarran dogged with bad luck and seeking escape as she operates to repair a shield token and if you're cloaked she'll even repair hull damage. There is a cost however (shocker) because you can only attack with two less dice in the round she is used and disabled..

The Photon Torpedoes card is your only weapon upgrade included with the pack at the reguar cost of five points and using the Time Token reload feature. Only weapon addition it might be but for a ship with a Tech slot you don't get a single Tech card to use and that's not something we see very often with the expansions. Usually there's a card to cover all eventualities. 

Finally your captains have three new Elite Actions to select from starting at a cost of three points. Alert Status One is a discard to place a Battle Station token next to your ship. Yes, I did check and the Rotarran, as with other Klingon ships does not have Battle Stations on it's Action Bar. First time I've seen this being accommodated on a Klingon ship and again, showing a cool twist on the standard game in Wave 19.

The Day is Ours! punches more into the offensive capabilities of the Bird-of-Prey allowing you to discard this four point card to add a Critical Damage result to your roll. A guaranteed result is always useful as I've had some games where the dice just failed to play (Independents versus Klingons actually) and a couple of certain rolls would have eased the pain. Supreme Commander is a five point discard that allows an allied ship at range one to three to perform a free action from it's Action Bar or any Action if it's a Klingon ship.

Soldiers of the Empire once again appears in the included scenario which sees the Rotarran take on a Dominion ship to rescue the crew of the IKS B'Moth. You have three crew to rescue but will be unshielded and uncloaked when you do so which obviously makes you a sweet target for your opponent. A complete victory for the Rotarran will see the crew rescued and your Dominion adversary vanquished. Piece of cake.

A very crew heavy pack with the Rotarran and one that focuses more on attack than any other aspects of the game. As a Klingon vessel that's no surprise but there are still a couple of choices if you do want to try and offer some form of defence to the ship. 

Last up for this delayed batch is the IRS Talvath. While as detailed on the plastic surface as the Rotarran it's in god-awful translucent green. Yuck. This is the second semi-see-through Romulan ship I've received and I'm not a big fan as they look a bit cheap and flimsy (also see the Vrax) - the earlier wave versions were much better. Additionally the Talvath was never actually seen on screen since it was at the other end of a micro-wormhole in the Alpha Quadrant.

It's not the most offensive of craft in the game, even less than the Delta Flyer with only a single dice for attack, two for defence and two points for hull and shields. It can also only field three Tech upgrades so leading the battle won't be top of the agenda for this ship.

As a unique action the Talvath allows you to roll three defence dice as long as you're within range one to three of an enemy vessel and to place an Evade token next to your ship for each Evade result you roll. Costing just 14 points the science vessel will fill a tiny support roll in your fleet but could leave you wanting if you're up against a stronger attacking force. Oddly the generic version of the ship loses a shield point (down to just one) and loses two Tech upgrades but adds a crew upgrade for 12 points. There's a first. Usually you just lose bits!

She is very manoeuvrable, hitting a top speed of four with all moves available at one and two plus that handy 180 turn at speed two. Three gives slight turns to the port and starboard while four only gives you a full ahead. Certainly handy for getting out of scrapes.

Themed around the Voyager episode Eye of the Needle in which the Talvath was named but didn't actually appear(!) we have Vaughn Armstrong's Romulan (Doctor) Telek R'Mor as your first captain choice. He's a pretty cheap selection too costing just two points but with a low skill of three in the mix. Pushing the need to sure up your defences he adds an extra defence die to your Combat Phase as long as there's a Scan token by your ship. Comparing the ship's defences against some other larger ships, two defence die to start aren't a disadvantage but a third roll will help as attacking won't be your forte and the Talvath could well be the first main target of your opponents. R'Mor can also field the Secret Research Elite Action upgrade even though he doesn't bear the relevant emblem on his card.

There's the Generic Captain too but Wizkids have also slipped in The Defector's Alidar Jarok (four point cost) for a second time since he actually appeared on the RIS Vo back in the early days of the game. Jarok can function either as a captain with a skill of six or add two points onto a captain by taking up residence as your Fleet Admiral. Either way he'll let you strip a token from a ship at range one (Evade, Scan, Battle Stations or Target Lock) which I can see being more effective on that fleet level with your ships spread across the board.

That Elite Action we mentioned, Secret Research, is the only one included with the Talvath but it does add the Scan feature to your Action Bar to sit alongside Evade, Cloak and Sensor Echo. It seems you can keep it to use Scan as a normal action or choose to use Scan as a free action and therefore discard the ability. I'm not sure why you would want to throw it away mind.

The generic science vessel version of the ship bears a crew upgrade and if you choose that and look through the expansion you will be a little befuddled since the Talvath only comes with six tech choices (yes, six!). Test Cylinder is your least expensive option at three points. Available only for Romulan Science Vessels you'll need to be uncloaked, unshielded and target a ship at range one. That's quite situational to then disable (not discard) the Test Cylinder card and one crew upgrade on the enemy vessel. It's not inspiring me the more I read it back to be honest since there are a lot better cards out there that will allow the same result.

Four points will buy you Warp Core Ejection System to repair one Hull damage and flip a Warp Core Breach card. That's very dependent on getting that card so potentially a card for another day especially since it limits you to a speed of one but hey, you can't get a second Warp Core Breach so everything's good huh?! Really not a fan of this card as it's more of a hindrance than a bonus. Advanced Scanning  for five points adds Scan to your Action Bar as with Secret Research but this card lets you double your Scan tokens for the cost of an Auxiliary Power Token so your defences are a little better off.

Another five pointer to consider is Temporal Displacement and it's probably the highlight of the pack allowing you to effectively cancel an entire attack and "reset" to a point before that attack was made. By that I mean that any cards used return to the state they were in before the attack began. It also stops your opponent from attacking again since their attack on you will have been made null and void. Really do love this because (while it is a discard) there's no negative impact on your ship and you can wait until the attack has been launched to see if you want to use it. I can absolutely see it's use on a smaller ship - the only type of ship it can  be used on!

Signal Amplifier is a five point card which allows you to spend a Scan to bolster your attack or defence with an additional two dice. Shame you'll have to spend ten points to equip it on anything other than a Romulan Science Vessel but at least those players limited to retail releases will now have two to choose from on which to install this feature. Then, finally in this mass of Tech upgrades there's Graviton Field Generator. Yep, five point again but with two options. The first, a disable, lets you perform a forward manoeuvre BUT you also have to disable up to two of your active shields as well AND you can only go forward the same number as the amount of shields you disabled (phew). 

If you're more of a discarder you can perform a green manoeuvre and give yourself an extra two shield tokens. If you suffer damage these are the first to go but here's the interesting point - there's no specification that they can only be used on Romulan Science Vessels or that they only last for that turn or that they can only be added up to the number of your original/standard original shields total. I'd be interested in slapping this one onto something like the Valdore Class or the D'Deridex Warbirds for that extra edge. 

A standard two player set-up starts up Eye of the Needle with the Romulan player attempting to make contact with the Delta Quadrant through a micro-wormhole while not getting blown up. Simple and nothing too mind-blowing as a scenario. Please can we have something more imaginative in the next few waves?!

The Wave 20 review isn't too far away but let's just reflect on 19. A classic selection of three major players with some great features especially on that Romulan Science Vessel. I'd go to say it's my highlight of this release over the Delta Flyer. That is nice but it's not quite as exciting as the Talvath which edges away from just straight attack/defence and utilises a lot more of the game tokens and features in different ways. Certainly I'd be using Scan and Evade tokens a lot more if I chose to go Romulan. 

It's also a wave which hasn't gone hopelessly situational and relied on multiple points to happen before an action can take place. In the case of the Delta Flyer and the Talvath they are much more support function vessels to back up your capital ships. Perhaps the biggest disappointment is the Rotarran. It's an OK Bird-of-Prey but the variety with the other two ships of Wave 19 do mean it takes a back seat and I'm not sure how many Worf, Martok and Jadzia variants I need...

Wave 19 is available now with all ships recommended to retail at £11.99 each. You can track down your local stockist HERE

Played with Wave 19? Good, bad, indifferent? What's your take on this recent gaming release?

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