Reman Scorpion Attack Flier: Unreleased Eaglemoss

One of the smallest craft to feature in Star Trek and the only ship from Nemesis never to be released in the original line, the Reman Scorpion Attack Flier was the penultimate bonus edition to be produced by Eaglemoss.

The small, two man craft was stored aboard Shinzon's Scimitar and used by Picard and Data to escape the Reman battleship. The Eaglemoss model, sold through Master Replicas is a beautiful, streamlined piece and well worth the wait.

With the main hull itself in metal and only the side venting and top weapon pod added on in plastic, its got a bit of weight to it. At only 10cm long and a maximum of 5cm wide, it's also packed a lot in.

The paintwork on this one is particularly striking with an almost pearlescent effect right across the surface giving off grey or black tints depending how the light catches it. In some spots, especially at the front grilles, the paint job isn't right into the corners but overall the effect works and is highlighted with the blues of the engines at the rear wings and two emblems resembling the Scimitar on both rear winglets.

The panel design is very simple and there's noticeable difference in the height of the lines to the main sections. Detail too is perhaps at an appropriate minimum with only a few cut outs to break up the surface on top.

On the underside it's a little different with an extensive segmented finish and what one would assume are exhaust ports facing to the rear. It also retains that singular pearlescent paint scheme. That certainly pair with the Scimitar and that sense of superior stealth/cloaking technology. 

At the rear is a four-segment engine which wouldn't look out of place on Michael Keaton's Batmobile, encased as it is in a conical shroud. It's also hugged by two plastic add on shoulder pieces which seem to be intakes. Sitting right on top there's a silver weapons pod which has an interesting sweeping design that arcs forward towards the front of the Scorpion. 

It's an incredibly slim design and the mould of this is pretty impressive since it appears that 90% of it is a single block. Perhaps the only downer is the lack of interior detail that's covered up with the smoked cockpit canopy. In the right light it's completely blacked out and absolutely adds to the menace but catch it in another way and you can see it's just a flat slab. Is it an issue? Not really given the scale and price - and the fact that none of the translucent shuttle canopies provided a view to a detailed interior.

Minus points also for the placement of the clear clip stand that wraps right over part of the Scimitar emblem. Annoying and unavoidable.

Tragically although the box waxes about the included magazine, Master Replicas have been unable to include them either because of warehousing issues or maybe because they were never actually printed. Either way, this is still a really nice model that offers some form of completion to the models of the movies pre-2009. Small and perfectly modelled, the Scorpion Attack Flier cuts an impressive swansong for Eaglemoss.

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Attack Wing: Secrets of the Tal’Shiar

To top the excellent Ships of the Line is going to be a hard act to follow but it looks like this new Romulan faction pack has just the cahoonas to do it.

Featuring four Romulan ships; a scout, a D’Deridex warbird, Valdore class warbird and the Scimitar, Secrets of the Tal’Shiar has gone exceptionally dark. Just out of the box, the biggest thing to notice is that the four models have all been "cloaked". Rather than polish them up with a new paint scheme such as Ships of the Line did in its nod to Online, these pieces have gone to the other extreme.

Translucent plastic, the ships retain their distinct features from previous expansions although this time their colouring is speckled with a "stars" effect to simulate the activation of their stealth technology. For the sake of repetition let's skip over analysis of the models as they are exactly the same as before. One further point - what the hell has happened to the quality of the stands and pegs? Ships are leaning all over the place and putting the clear poles together seems to have become a monstrous and rather frustrating task. The stand bases are fine but the pieces between the model and those elements can do one. They're equally as poor as the fittings from the Ships of the Line pack which saw the Sovereign Class nosediving.

As with the new expansions, the pack has taken account of the new points scoring for the fleet with a few points deducted from each vessel. For once the Scimitar is not too far out of reach to make a decent build but we'll come to that and some of its unique additions in a bit. 

Dropping a whopping four cost points, the Reman Warbird retains its six attack, two defence, seven hull and four shields but now utilises its unique feature to remain cloaked while attacking although it does acquire an Auxiliary Power Token,  The named version also slightly changes its upgrade bar to two Tech, two Crew and only a single Weapon upgrade where previously there were two Crew and one Weapon slot available.

With the Twilight's Wraith D'Deridex Warbird there is a two point adjustment down to a cost of 28 points and the IRW Belak by three to 27. One of the big wins in both this and the Ships of the Line pack is that there are more than one option for your included ships but here only in the case of the D'Deridex and Valdore Class Warbirds. In turn it allows players to tweak their formations out of the box for either a more offensive or defensive strategy. It can also provide balance to a fleet or adjust play so that captains can utilise more flexible tactics on the field.

In terms of the Captain options, Shinzon makes a welcome return with his ability rewritten and significantly shortened. Now a six point rather than an eight point cost, the Picard clone also wields space for two Elite Actions and the chance to use a free Action while cloaked which will counter the Auxiliary Power Token incurred if the Scimitar fires while cloaked. His flip side i also different should players opt to place him in the Admiral position as Shinzon can then remove Disable or Time Tokens as a Fleet Action. 

The additional four Captains (yes, another four!) of Donatra, Koval, Rekar and Lovok all tend to focus on more offensive abilities and I suppose this is in keeping with the more aggressive nature of the Tal'Shiar. One point here - shouldn't Lovok actually be dual faction Dominion?

The only reason I would question this is because amongst the Crew options B-4 is dual Romulan/Independent. Nicely plated with the Soong android as well since his ability also has the chance to directly affect an opponent ship if it's named Enterprise with an additional two Time Tokens on the Captain card as well as being able to alter the maneuver of the target ship.

As with the Captain choices, the Crew complement is packed out with Varak, the Reman Viceroy, Reman Helmsman, T'Rul and Nevala providing various additions to your ships of either two or three points. This might be the ability to equip a Cloaking Device, alter your own moves or increase Captain skill as well as providing some additional forms of defence considering how attacking a lot of this set is. Interestingly B-4 is a five point cost, marking him a significantly higher price tag than any of the other cards in the pack with the exception of Shinzon and a certain super weapon.

Over in the selection for Elite Actions there is that leaning towards more secretive aspects of the organisation with Covert Research working around the Scan feature and Outflank utilising the Cloak ability (two of this card are included which kind of emphasises its usefulness). I am impressed with the Fire Everything card here as provides a chance to turn an ineffective attack around.

Deep in the Weapons selection we have standard Aft Disruptor Emitters (x2) which hits ships out of your firing arc and Disruptor Pulse which allows players to hit multiple targets within the firing arc of your ship. Both are blindingly good upgrades which do make me wonder what players will do with a large chunk of their older cards thanks to these more useful cards and not just because of the cost reductions. Flanking Attack is most effective on the Valdore Class as it provides two additional attack dice. More so if you're firing at a ship not in your forward arc since it reduces the opponent's defence by two dice which is a big reduction.

Of course there's also the Thalaron Weapon which has been somewhat neutered since its original appearance. That cost a ridiculous and game breaking ten points with a ten dice attack. This version is half the cost for a six dice attack that forces the opponent to remove a command or Crew upgrade off the bat and by cancelling a further Critical Damage if successful it can take another of those upgrades away too. Wisely it's a one off discard but still worth a punt for your Reman Warbird if you want to deliver an early crippling blow.

As for Tech, Secrets of the Tal'Shiar offers two Romulan Cloaking Device upgrades which does benefit craft outside of this expansion as well as the chance to use tighter turns instead of the Sensor Echo shift. Advanced Cloaking means you don't decloak this round but incur an Auxiliary Power Token while Improved Cloaking is even more substantial although purely useable with the Reman Warbird. Instead of flipping all shields to deactivated, only one needs to be turned red adding an incredible level of defence to one of the game's deadliest ships.

Romulan Ale offers a get out of jail free option by taking Disable tokens from Captain and Crew to be replaced with Time Tokens as well as placing three onto the card itself plus reducing the effectiveness of attacks at and from the chosen ship. 

A cost of one point is more than reasonable here although it is a card that will reduce your battle readiness in some respects although it will counter by not needing an Action to re-enable some upgrades.

Keeping in line with other packs from the last 12 months, Secrets... includes two Ambassador cards in the form of "It's a Fake!!!" Vreenak and the ill-fated Kimara Creetak. The Ambassador upgrade is something I've still not really tackled in gameplay although the negotiations piece is a nice twist where either acceptance means a "levelling" of the playing field or an increase in hostilities. For these cards there's the chance to increase offensive capability or disable upgrades for one or provide repairs or deduction of Time Tokens on the other. Either way there seems to be a decent advantage - it just depends how you want to play it!

Fortunately with this box you don't need to go hunting under the insert tray to find the missions as they are back on the standard cards. Crossing the Rubicon faces Donatra against the Scimitar. In the second, The Human from Remus, Shinzon boards a D'Deridex Class Warbird, specifically the Twilight's Wrath to defend a planet against the Dominion. This one does require additional ships and cards from other packs to play out but I suspect that's a clever tool to get players to invest in the other recent faction packs!

The Romulans are one of my preferred factions if not playing as the Federation and in this set there are lots of quality options to really utilise them to the best of their subversive abilities. All of these later expansion packs have truly delivered another level to the game. Secrets of the Tal'Shiar might be a pack where you use the cards and ignore the models but it's certainly worth using.

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Attack Wing: Romulan IRW Haakona, Breen Gor Portas, Klingon IKS Somraw

Another month and thanks to a find via Australia, the Attack Wing collection continues to grow.

This time we're tackling the Klingons, Romulans and Breen with three older expansions. Our jump in point is the IKS Somraw seen in Enterprise and the only Raptor pack offered to date.

An 18 point ship, the model of the Raptor Clas ship is well detailed for its size with clear panelling and an oddly light finish which makes it look a little bleached. I would have hoped for something a bit darker green however the accented red stripes and darker feature blocks do provide good definition. There's some artistic licence here but let's dive into the real meat of the pack.

The Somraw's three point attack is well worthy of the low cost although don't expect much more for your money with one defence point, three Hull and two Shields. As for standard Actions, you'll be piloting a ship without a Cloak or Sensor Echo feature. This one carries Evade, Target Lock and Scan alongside one Tech, one Weapon and one Crew upgrade slot. Fortunately this unusually light Klingon ship does allow you to convert up to two Battle Station results on a Defence roll into Evades. Note that the ship itself only has a single die for Defence meaning you'll be relying on finding a suitable upgrade option to help you out as much as possible.

The generic version loses the Crew upgrade slot as well as a Shield and the Unique Action for 16 points. As for movement, the Somraw maxes out at speed four with full bank and hard turns at speeds two and three. Speed one allows for banking and none of the standard moves aside from the speed three hard about (180 turn) come with the red warning of an Auxiliary Power Token, making this fairly manoeuvrable.

Along with a generic captain there's Somraw Commander who rides in with a Captain Skill of five at a cost of three points. His long range attack is a blessing which keeps his ship out of trouble and allows for maximum damage as if attacking at range one. He adds a further die to your strike at the cost of an Auxiliary Power Token. This can only be used if one of said tokens is not already in play on the ship. 

The sole Weapon addition is the standard Photon Torpedoes (three point cost) card providing fire fore and aft at ranges two and three. As with the earlier sets it comes with the Disable feature once Target Lock has been utilised and one Battle Station result can be converted over to Critical Damage. 

Surprisingly there's only one Crew upgrade card in here with Bu'Kah. Costing four points you can ditch her off to repair two Hull points as long as you've performed a Green Maneuver. A large cost but one that will extend your ship's life in the game.

Tactical Sensors is the higher priced Tech upgrade (four points) which can be disabled to place a Scan and a Battle Station token besides your Raptor (and only a Raptor). Certainly one to up the defensive capabilities of the Somraw it'll work well in conjunction with the ship's own inbuilt Unique Ability to convert a Battle Station to an Evade if necessary.

The less expensive Shockwave for two points is a discard that would get you out of a sticky situation to perform a speed one reverse  instead of your chosen move. A good one if you have a high captain skill and can see where you may want to get out of danger rather than plunging further in. Good tosee this one isn't limited to use on the Somraw or a Raptor.

Last up for upgrades is the Elite Action, Klingon Honor. Tragically using the explosion from The Undiscovered Country as its backdrop, the five point price is worth it for the reusable nature of the text. Disabling the card adds one Attack die to your roll as well as converting a Damage into a Critical Damage. Sounds good - but the price on the other side is the loss of all defensive capability for the round which then aligns with the picture - it's a suicide tactic that makes sure you go out in a blaze of Klingon glory. Expensive but one fun way to end your appearance on the table!

The Somraw's mission is Escape the Gas Giant and sees a Federation player taking on the Klingons with 80 points apiece. Moving near the Gas Giant (represented by the large planet token) will incur additional damage as the two sides fight it out and even at range three there's still some effect on players' ships. Ultimately the goal is to escape with at least one ship in tact after defeating your opponent while enduring the stresses of the star. A cool twist on the standard two player game but nothing super exciting here.

Only my second D'Deridex Warbird, the IRW Haakona seems to hold some form of legendary status within the Attack Wing fold. A 30 point starship, the model is a repeat from the Starter Set although it would take 12 waves before reappearing. While the three point Attack and two point Defence are nothing to write home about especially if you compare to the Somraw above, the Warbird rocks it out on Hull and Shields with six and four points respectively. She might not be a hard hitter but the Haakona may take a while to take down. She also packs in three Crew and two Weapon slots plus a standard set (for Romulans) of Evade, Target Lock, Cloak and Sensor Echo. A large fleet is also super-beneficial as the Haakona gains an additional Primary Weapon die for every additional Romulan ship in your fleet when attacking cloaked. There's an upper limit of four but for a faction pure game she's a massive advantage.

The generic D'Deridex is reduced by a Shield, one Crew slot and the Unique Action to cost 28 points - but it severely loses the attraction over the hefty onslaught of the Haakona. Compared to the Somraw, it's exactly as manoeuvrable but instead of a speed three come about there's a speed one reverse that will incur an Auxiliary Power Token. High Weapons and good to move - what else could you want?

There are three skilled Captain options in here too with Mendak (six point cost), Taris (four points) and Centurion (two points) all adding something to the mix. With a skill of six, Mendak also offers an Elite Action slot. He targets a friendly ship at a maximum of range two and then can place a Battle Station onto it as long as one isn't already in place, nor can the target ship use that Action this turn. Taris might be more useful with a lower skill of five but costing the same. She allows you to discard a Crew upgrade from your ship to declare a target outside your forward firing arc. No need for Target Lock or torpedoes here which is a benefit and easily reusable as long as you have a number of Crew. Centurion is skilled to two and allows players to re-roll one Battle Station result. Fairly decent card here at low price  that might offer a better hit ratio.

There are three Crew card options in here with Romulan Security Officer upping your Captain skill by one point dependent on how many of this card are equipped to your ship up to a maximum of four. There are three in the pack which reduces your options with the Haakona since there are the same number of cards in total regardless of duplicates.

Romulan Security Officer can also be disabled to re-roll a blank result during defending so it has decent dual use in the game for its two point cost.

Romulan Helmsman can be disabled if you play a Red Maneuver to treat it as though it's a White Maneuver for two points. Finally there's Romulan Sub Lieutenant who costs four points. 

His ability is somewhat more complex. Discarding the card targets a ship at a maximum of range two and if that vessel has a Hull value of six or more then it has to disable two active Shields. If the Shield value is less than six it only disables one. This greatly reduces the number of hits required to take out an opponent and could ideally be comboed with something that would offer up a straight attack afterwards.

A trio of Weapons upgrades all have a cost of five points a piece. Disruptor Pulse hits with three Attack dice at a maximum of range two. Understandably a disabled card to complete the attack, every target in the forward firing arc and in range is hit with a separate three die shot. This is a powerful attack to have in one card and to be reusable is even better.

Plasma Torpedoes spend a Target Lock and hit with five Attack dice with any blank results rerolled. Operable from forward and reverse arcs, the torpedoes can hit at up to range two. Last up is Disruptor Beams which can have an effect from ranges one to three. Again a disabled card, it carries an increased possibility of damage. For every hit suffered another Attack die is rolled and if you roll at least one Damage or Critical Damage then the target receives another hit. The Haakona has a storming set of Weapon upgrades here that are essential to any self-respecting Romulan fleet.

Finally and with probably the longest script ever is Make Them See Us!. It's also very reliant on a very very specific set of circumstances and costs five points. In this case you need to remove a Target Lock from a ship you have already selected and be overlapping with either your own ship's base or manoeuvre template. Both ships take damage up to four hits determined equal to your speed in that manoeuvre. The captain with the higher Skill rolls the number of defence dice equal to the difference between the Captain Skill levels and deducts any evades from the result. 

Yes... it's a big one with a big hit reward but could backfire and cause you major issues. I'd say this is one of those last gasp moves to ensure you take something with you at the very end.

Based loosely around the episode of the same name, Contagion is the Haakona's special mission. Placing one Federation ship against a D'Deridex Warbird, the scenario sees the two ships attempting to download Iconian data while also tackling crippling malfunctions caused by orbiting probes. First they'll take down upgrades before hitting Shields and Hull so it's a race to recover the information - but there's a twist - because players will need to work together to remove the malfunctions from their ships and escape. This is a brilliant concept and very much foreshadows Alliance which has expanded on that co-op scenario. Definitely looking forward to trying this one out!

Last up and actually one of the very first expansions released is the Gor Portas. The lone Breen entry to the game, the ship is allocated to the Dominion meaning it'll be lining up with Cardassian and Jem'Hadar ships if you're staying faction pure.

Weighing in at 26 points, the Breen starship attacks with three dice, defends with two and has four Hull and four Shield points. Heavily armed, the Gor Portas offers four Weapon upgrade slots and just one Crew slot with standard Evade, Target Lock and Scan Actions. As for its Unique Action, the ship does need to have a Target Lock in play to fire torpedoes but you don't discard it once used. Not that's a bit nifty.

The model itself is quite impressive too with a black base coat accented with almost pink highlights to draw out the detail. Bit of a shame this was its only appearance in the game as a later wave could have redone the paintwork and offered some more Breen alternatives. Sadly we only have this one.

It's generic version loses a Shield, a Weapon slot and the Unique Action to cost 24 points. While it's well armed, the movement for the Gor Portas is a different matter. With red arrows on sharp three turns and the Come About, the ship is manoeuvrable at lower speeds which might make it seem like an easy, slow moving target until you get close. We'll come to it's Weapon abilities in a minute...!

Given the slots for upgrades, Thot Gor is your de facto Captain unless you're thinking of something radically different. With a Skill of six and a cost of four points, the Breen commander reduces the cost of each Weapon upgrade equipped by a point meaning you can take full advantage of those slots. Sar isn't too bad with a one point cost and a Skill of two. He also makes the generic version with no ability sort of redundant since he provides an extra defence die unconditionally.

What is bizarre with the Gor Portas is the lack of cards in the pack. Four Weapon slots is massive and there are just two upgrades with the Breen warship. One is the five point and very expected Photon Torpedoes which utilises Target Lock as standard with five Attack dice while Energy Dissipator provides damage but only at very close range.

A further disabling card, if the attack hits then the target ship receives one Energy Dampening Token and then you can immediately attack again with another Weapon. For the effects you then have to refer to the accompanying reference card which shows that the target ship loses Shields and cloak if applicable. Nor can it attack and during the subsequent Planning Phase it can't move and in the Activation Phase it then moves at speed one forward. Once all this is complete then the ship returns to its normal sequence of events. 

As it's a close range attack (one), this certainly means that any second or third bombardment onto the enemy ship is likely to incur some heavy damage. Only for Breen use, I'd be equipping this.

The only Crew upgrade in the set is Breen Aide who allows you to convert a blank Attack die roll into a Damage point as long as you have a Scan token in play. Not even needing to disable to use, this is only two points but adds a bit of kick to your attacks.

The Gor Portas mission is unusual in that it's a three player game rather than the standard two person set-up. The Breen have to manoeuvre by two Mission Tokens out in the field before heading to a third representing Cardassia Prime and therefore escape. 

This is The Fall Back to Cardassia Prime and "alliance" players are there to stop the Breen from getting to their safe haven. Both Federation alliance players have just 35 points while the Breen Battle Cruiser has slightly better odds with a 50 point payload.

I'm fairly pleased with the turnout on these three packs with the Haakona just beating the Gor Portas in my preferences here. The Breen ship is horribly light on upgrades and even the captains don't have Elite Action slots. The mission is nice but as a pack, the Warbird is an absolute storm of a set and highly powered. I didn't expect that to be the stronger pack but it does push me now towards the Vulcans, Dominion and Romulans as my top three factions of choice in the game.

Next up on Attack Wing
- the Dominion Faction Pack: Cardassian Union 

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

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Three Faction Fleet: Updating Attack Wing Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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More from the Yard: The Official Online Starships Collection Issues 13 and 14

Time for a second Romulan starship in the STO Collection with the RRW Aelahl. 

A more striking design than the Vastam, the Aelahl displays the speed, grace and agility that you would expect from the Romulans.

In their signature green, this advanced design is the first to come from the Republic following its formation after the destruction of Romulus. Most prominent is the fact that it resembles a squat and stretched D'Deridex Warbird with the continuation of the use of negative space around the elliptical hull shape and the distinctive beak at the nose.

The Aelahl does also have a distinct physical comparison to the White Star from Babylon 5 but that's probably more of a coincidence than anything else!

This is one of the most slender Romulan ships out there, almost streamlined from nose to tail. Eaglemoss have once more recreated the complex bodywork patterning to a tee on this vessel. The two tone scheme almost looks like dirty panels against clean from one angle while simultaneously highlighting the meticulous panel lines across the hull. 

The surface levels on the Aelahl are just as impressive to behold with sunken segments on the nose most prominent. Wisely again around that section the windows have been spot painted on after rather than any attempt to align then with recesses on the metal body. The forward section and the main structural spine here are metal with the surrounding wings in plastic. The joint lines are more noticable than on previous entries as is the discernible weight prominence towards the front. 

That said, the wings are solid as anything and there's no movement even from the lower, thinner strip that arcs into the underneath of the central ship body. On the underside of the upper arcing piece we do have two weapons pods symmetrically placed either side of the spine denoting the aggressive nature of this front line craft. If anything, the warp engines are the most flexible piece of the model puzzle here and they're not especially bendable. What the design size does mean is that some smaller and perhaps translucent engine detailing is lost but that's negligible given the clean reproduction of this starship.

Clearly a Romulan design, the Aelahl keeps a lot of the crumbled Empire's physical hallmarks in its design but has stepped a little into a new age. Flatter, more defendable and sized for effectiveness not for the dominant presence that the immense D'Deridex Class would have provided. These are lighter, faster and a strong signal that the Republic is prepared to defend itself and look damn good while doing it. 

The mini-mag in the box for issue 13 ticks your expectations with the in-universe history of the Aelahl Class and its evolution as part of the Republic Navy before heading into depth about the establishment of New Romulus which was a key part to the early set up and success of the game. Indeed there's a significant episode that sees you running around the colony a lot - and repeatedly from memory.

Another of the STO revamps brought back from Yard 22 is the Shran. Originally a Discovery design from the 22nd Century, STO has retooled and polished up the flying saucer homage into a 25th Century craft complete with all the Online whistles and bells.

I'm not one for the circular craft-of-all-trades because it looks like either it's missing pieces or it's a cast off Xindi design but once more Eaglemoss have done a cracking job of translating pixels into plastic and metal. Sporting the distinctive black and white STO Starfleet paintjob, the USS Shran NCC-91413 has to be the most compact design to leave a drawing board. Even the oversized warp nacelles are tucked into the saucer shape to maximise power in a small space.

The compact Shran does manage a few things within its circular impression. Notable straight off are the translucent bussard collectors to the front and  warp grilles at the back. The scale has doen a lot of favours and that's one of them. 

It also continues the standard light and dark/white and black trademark paint scheme of Federation ships from the game. Rather than going for the classic aztec though, the white hull has a finely speckled effect that adds a bit of grain and depth to the hull. To the front there's a patch of well executed black hull panelling which is continued right across both dorsal and ventral. 

Actually this is a pretty decent model to give it its dues. The decalling especially is crisply applied with the Starfleet pennants prominently striped down the inboard nacelles. There's also red trim around the bridge as well as more on the underside. 

As a full model all of the parts work really well on the Shran with the ventral portions of the ship looking as good if not better than the top. What you do see on the flipside (so to speak) are the warp field generators to the rear as well as some more inset panels for the warp engine. It is incredibly detailed in its execution and looking back over the pictures as well as the model itself there seems to be more and more I'm picking up on. Just goes to prove that a starship doesn't have to have pylons, two hulls and stringy engines to be a great looking piece of kit.

The lower hull is filled out with grilles, inset vents, phaser strips along with their bookend red decals, a rather psychedelic sensor array in the centre and more of that segmented black hull plating. Also well worth a good look around the edge of the saucer which not only has some reaction control thrusters marked out but manages to have a series of windows painted in (along with a black encircling stripe) to add to the sense of scale. 

I admit this is a class starship. The model perhaps is let down a fraction by the baby blue painted deflector dish but the smaller details that can be amplified on this ship because of its scale work wonders to enhance the product. Even the stand is a good fit into the base and holds the Shran steady from the back. 

Issue 14's magazine treads the standard waters of in-game use and design features of the Shran with the usual unprecedented array of photos and first hand info on bringing the ship to life for STO. Interestingly the in-game topic of this magazine is squadron tactics. This is a step away from the usual history lesson but does provide more of the explanations behind STO which ship fans (but not regular players) may benefit from in the long run.

Check out all our Online Starships posts HERE

You can find out more on the Star Trek Online Official Starships Collection by visiting the Hero Collector website HERE

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