Blood Oath: Attack Wing's Klingon Faction Pack

Packing in a Negh’Var, two K’T'Inga and a B’Rel Class, the latest Klingon faction pack delivers a weighty punch.

With slight updates paint jobs, the four ships provide a full balanced fleet with a stack of new cards to provide that one stop shop to kick off a while faction in one go. As with the Federation’s To Boldly Go was more centred around the exploits of DS9, this set also latches on to the space station spin-off. This time it’s all about Blood Oath, the second season instalment that saw the return of the 3 TOS Klingons Kor, Koloth and Kang united on a quest for vengeance.

We’ll get to them in a second but as usual let’s examine those four ships and the cards that bring them into play. The obvious gripe that could be levelled against the pack is that there’s no Vor’Cha cruiser and seeing as there’s a new Negh’Var class it’s a valid point. Did we need more D7/K’T'Inga’s? Probably not but that might change when we take a look at what they’re toting. If you're looking for reviews of the ship models, check out the full set of Attack Wing expansions I've discussed HERE.

The IKS Devwl takes its name from Star Trek Online and is the pack’s clear capital ship. A 28 point cost is validated with 5 attack, 1 defence, 6 Hull and 3 shield points. Standard Actions of Evade, Target Lock as well as Cloak and Sensor Echo are available on all four craft here with the Devwl providing further upgrade slots to maximise its abilities. 

Players can add up to 3 Crew, 1 Weapon and 1 Tech card here and you’d be foolish not to boost those defensive capabilities. Disabling one of those Crew upgrades when attacking and Cloaked will stop you from decloaking and also gain a Battlestation token for the remainder of the round. 

The generic version costs 24 points losing the Unique Action, a Hull point and 1 Crew slot but that’s fair for the price. The IKS K’Tanco and IKS T’Acog both cost 21 points as K’T’Inga Class ships but each has a slightly different spin. Both operate a 4 attack, 1 defence, 4 Hull and 3 shield basic but the K’Tanco allows for 2 Crew and 2 Weapon upgrades while the T’Acog has 2 Crew, 1 Weapon and 1 Tech. Both are also very good contenders in your fleet with the K’Tanco allowing a free 4 point or less Tech upgrade to be equipped even if it exceeds restrictions while the T’Acog can perform a Sensor Echo as a free action even while cloaked. If it is cloaked it can Echo using a 3 move template rather than just a 1 or 2. These are insane Actions to have on such ships and do tempt me into using the Klingons more often!

Two generic versions cost 16 points losing the Unique Actions plus a shield with one offering each upgrade slot while the other has 2 Weapon and and 1 Crew space. 

Finally there’s the IKS Kos’Kari; the Albino’s Bird of Prey. Unusually it’s dual faction with players able to use it either as a Klingon or Independent and with a 16 point cost it’s an attractive proposition. Only dropping a Hull point versus the K’T’Inga's, the B’Rel class stands firm with 4 Attack, 1 defence, 3 Hull and 3 Shields. This ship genuinely excites me as it’s designed to be taking on bigger vessels. Her Unique Action offers two possibilities. There’s either to steal an Evade, Battle Station or Scan from the target ship (Hull of 4 or more) and put it on your own OR when attacking a Klingon ship or a ship with a Klingon captain you can add a damage point to your roll. While it is a well balanced and priced scout class, the Unique Action targeting one particular faction does make it less attractive but only slightly since the reworking of the cost system. 

With the 4 ships you get five Captain cards; the Dahar Masters Kor, Koloth and Kang (TOS and DS9 versions) and The Albino. Aside from TOS Kang, all of the captains skill up to 7 and cost 4 points to equip. 

Kor can have the Dahar Master Elite Action equipped for free and draws fire from enemy ships. Taking on an Auxiliary Power Token, Kor’s ship then takes on all the red Target Locks from friendly craft. Koloth allows his ship to perform a speed of 2 as an extra manoeuvre if he’s within range 2 of an opposing ship. Kang targets a specific opposing captain and if an attack is launched on that individual then he can be discarded to add to extra Critical Damage results. Interesting that two of these captains are self-sacrificing. Then there's The Albino. Massively useful if you're up against Klingon foes because his attacking nature and ability to add a die to your roll. 

If that attack lands (and I'm guessing that means as a whole not just that one die), once per game he can also remove an opponent Crew upgrade from the target ship. Add into that a once-per-game ability to move last and you have quite a decent and reasonably priced Captain given specific circumstances.

The younger Kang sports a skill of 8 and a cost of 5 to represent his slightly more prime abilities. He forces an opponent to reroll their attack through spending his own Target Lock. I'd probably be wanting his older version in all honesty.

Five captains and appropriately 5 Crew to go with them. Yeto, a Klingon mercenary from Invasive Procedures, classes as both Klingon and Independent for 4 points. A hefty price to pay but when within range 2 of an unshielded enemy ship he can disable and/or steal a Crew upgrade. As a discard it's a good action to have available if there's a tasty upgrade to be had.

Ch'Targh (3 points) cloaks your ship and removes an Auxiliary Power Token in the End Phase. There's also no specific to say that you have to do both of these things so she could effectively be a "late" Free Action to play it safe. Kolana (2 points) cuts down your susceptibility to Time Tokens on Weapons. As a good Klingon ship usually has some Photon Torpedoes in stock, she reduces the number of tokens placed by one, If the ship is Cloaked then she negates 2 tokens.

The Klingon Gunner (2 points) adds a Damage result to your attack and is discarded and finally there's Kang's wife, Mara (2 points). Perfect for running alongside Kang since she can be discarded instead of the captain, she also adds a Scan ability to the ship she is assigned to. 

The Blood Oath pack does contact a couple of duplicates to allow for multiple ships to carry the same items. One of these is Concussive Charges. A 2 point Weapon, this one operates up to range 2 and can be fired fore or aft with the same number of dice as the ship's primary weapon. Players spend their Cloak token, raise shields and slap on 2 Time Tokens before targeting an opponent. If equipped to a K'T'Inga Class ship its effectiveness shoots up with an additional attack die in play plus the chance to remove tokens from beside the enemy dependent on how many Damage or Critical Damage results are left uncancelled.

Waylay can only be equipped to ships with a Hull of 3 or less and again costs 2 points. Only useable in the forward firing arc and up to range 2, it does have more than a few similarities to Concussive Charges. Hitting with the same number of dice as a primary weapon, Waylay receives 2 Time Tokens upon activation during Attack. If it's aboard a B'Rel Class then the defending ship also receives an Auxiliary Power Token as a bonus effect. Not enough? Then it keeps on giving as the ship on which this is placed then gets to perform a 1 bank left or right plus gets an Evade token in play. That's a ton of stuff to benefit from on one very cheap card.

There's a lone Tech upgrade too with Science Station. Adding a Tech slot to the ship, this 4 pointer works up to range 3 and only when Cloaked. Receiving 2 Time Tokens, this Free Action sees your ship gain a Scan token and if you have an enemy in the forward firing arc you can put a Target Lock into play. No specifics if this is an either/or card so I'd take it you can perform both if they apply. 

There are also 4 Elite Action cards here although three are duplicates of the Dahar Master. Linking perfectly with the set and the episode, Dahar Master can only be equipped to Kor, Koloth or Kang and increases the skill of the captain it is assigned to by 1. For each copy of this Elite Action in play, there is a further increase of 1 skill point. Added extra here in that it also allows your ship to Cloak or Target Lock as a freebie - and we all love a freebie. Definitely one to pull out whatever version of these captains you use - TOS, DS9 or even TAS!

Rounding out the regular expectation of cards is A Death Worthy of Sto-Vo-Kor. Not too highly priced - it's 4 points which is this pack's most expensive card(s). It comes with a certain amount of baggage as it's a discard that also takes a Crew card with it. It then causes the opposing ship (within range 2) to lose an upgrade and if that costs more than the Crew upgrade discarded from your own ship then you add an extra attack die for that round. Long winded but useful if you couple it with some of the other attacking cards in this pack. 

The big addition for the recent faction packs as a whole are the Ambassador cards. Kamarag (ambassador from The Voyage Home and The Undiscovered Country) forces two ships to attack each other if negotiations are accepted while if declined the enemy ship rolls 3 less dice to attack on its next attempt. Korrd (The FInal Frontier) steps in to force an enemy ship to plan its manoeuvres face up until it receives any form of damage while declining it means that you get to choose its next move as either a green or white manoeuvre and strictly within the playing field.

These Ambassadors are an interesting take especially since there seems, with the Klingons, to be no benefit to the enemy ship. At least with the Federation - and you would hope with the Vulcans - there's some form of reciprocation. Sadly the Klingons are all out for whatever they can get and with these two options saying "Yes" is probably just as bad as saying "No."!

Blood Oath, the included mission is a straight 2,3 or 4 player game with the Albino being hunted down by the Dahar Masters. With a fixed number of rounds it's a game of survival for the Independent player who can win if he's still standing at the end. Difficulty can be changed by altering the number of rounds. Then there's The Way of the Warrior which seems to be missing a whole lot of details about how to win the game. It appear to simulate the Klingon attack on Deep Space Nine from the fourth season feature premiere with the Federation holding off a Klingon pure offensive but tragically the cards seem to be missing half the info!

The Blood Oath pack is absolutely brimming with upgrades and ships to truly max out a new player while also fleshing out a few missing options that more seasoned Attack Wing veterans might have been missing (young Kang for instance). The changes in pricing also make a lot of these newer options a lot more palatable with the ability to use more of your available slots, fill out a ship completely and use everything you can to take a win. 

The models in this one aren't the best. The Negh'Var has wonky pods underneath and the paint jobs are a bit over-bling for me.  The K'T'Ingas also aren't totally straight suggesting the mould itself isn't aligned but at least the bridge and engines are now the right way round. That said, don't let the plastic put you off what is a quality faction pack with affordable options.

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

Enjoyed this article? Why not like and share to spread the word!

Like our page on Facebook 

Follow us on Twitter

Drawn Out Game? Attack Wing: The Animated Series Faction Pack, Part II

On with the concluding part of the Animated Series Faction Pack and as promised, let's turn our attention to the Klingon and Romulan elements that make up a good portion of this set. (PART ONE HERE)

The three D7s included alongside the tiny USS Enterprise are intended to be used for the Klingon and Romulan craft represented and are identical, carrying the silver base coat, the yellowed, feather detail on the wings and engines that are the correct alignment versus some of the earlier waves. 

Annoyingly there’s no difference to the Romulan variant because all three also carry the Klingon crest on their bellies meaning that they will probably end up,doing double duty when picked out of storage. The IKS Klothos and the IKS Devisor both offer three in attack, one defence, three hull and two shields plus slots for up to a Crew, Weapon and Tech upgrade. This is however the only real similarities between these two named Klingon craft as the Klothos is capable of cloaking and the Subspace Echo sidestep alongside Evade and Target Lock whereas the Devisor lines up Battle Stations with the Evade and Target Lock features. 

The Klothos’ cloaking ability is fairly key to the game as well since it is entwined with the ship’s unique ability. When attacking and if cloaked, the D7 Class ship can add in an extra attack die OR if it's not within the primary arc of the ship it's attacking one Battle Station result can be converted into a Critical Damage and any others can be changed to Damage.

Once more an unusual card with lots of repeat and varied ways to put it into action. This one does trump a lot of the existing D7s thanks to the features and the reduced cost. The Devisor's unique action will require some keen attention to the game - if the enemy performed a three or greater speed maneouver in the round then she gets to add a Critical Damage hit to the rolled attack result. I would think that this would be likely in a retreat scenario or perhaps once the battle has become more close quarters. As a repeat though it does assist in guaranteeing at least one hit to defend against every dice roll.

Generically both ships - and their Romulan counterpart all move with a top speed of four and a full range of banks and turns at speeds two and three plus an always welcome but red 180 turn at speed three. Banks and forward moves at speeds one and two will counter this as they are green. 

It's fair to say that the D7s have a surprisingly agile maneouver ability given their rather clunky form but with a combination of 180s, cloaks and these impressive Unique Actions, these are two ships that might be hard to deal with.

Who better to have lined up for the captaincy than two Star Trek legends in cartoon form with Kor and Koloth. The former carries the greater Captain Skill of eight and costs five points to equip to your ship. Functioning as a way to maintain the cloak and also fire, Kor incurs two Time Tokens (not three unusually) meaning you keep stealthy and you also get to add an extra attack die into the mix on that round. Oh - and that's not all Kor does because if this card is on a Klingon ship (and why the heck wouldn't it be?) then add in a Damage result too... Is Kor potentially the most lethal Klingon captain in the game with this Action?

Koloth (skill of seven and cost of four) also uses that two Time Token feature, disabling himself for two rounds which in turn disables a Captain or Crew card on the opponent's ship when attacking and if that's not possible then they'll have to take on an Auxiliary Power Token. Both captains can field the useful but usually expensive Elite Actions however there might not be a lot of opponents left after using these cards initially.

The minimal Crew requirements of the Klothos and the Devisor are realised in their inclusion of just two new personnel. Three point Kali works at range one and will be a card for later use in the game. A one use discard, Kali allows you to flip a Damage card on the opposing ship over to the Critical Damage side (your choice which card) and forces you to resolve the script. Of course, there is a high chance of this being a game winner, knocking an enemy out in one swift dice roll...

Kaz is much more operational than curveball offence. For two points you can ditch him off rather than using a more effective and useful Crew upgrade on this vessel or one at range one. I'm still not a fan of these kinds of cards. While they defend your better abilities they are a waste of points where you could use this space for a stronger card.

Devoid of Tech options, the Animated Series pack does have two Weapon cards to bolster the arsenal aboard your starship. Magnetic Pulse carries the same dice attack as the primary weapon value of the ship it's attached to and costs a meaty five points to equip.

By disabling one of your Shield tokens and targeting a ship at range two or three you can roll an additional two attack dice. Weirdly it specifies that these dice can only be added if it's armed on a D7 - however, it doesn't say if there's a way to use it on something that's not a D7... That aside this one allows Critical Damage to ignore Shields and be converted to Damage which does affect Hull points instead. Crafty move and linked with some of the other Klingon features here it's another combo waiting to happen.

Disruptor Blast can be equipped to either a Klingon or Romulan starship and costs three points. Attacking at ranges one or two with three dice, this card is disabled with three Time Tokens and allows two attacks on your target vessel.

While Magnetic Pulse indicated it should have a feature if/if not a D7, this one does manage to specify as D7s can convert one blank die result into a Battle Station during each attack. Another odd one but it will offer additional support should that defender decide to take a swipe.

Last up for the Klingons is their Elite Action, Worthy Opponent which provides, perhaps a little out of character for the formidable warriors, a chance to extend their survival in the game. It's only applicable if your ship is carrying a Damage card but it does mean that attacking Critical Damage, Damage and Battle Station results all get turned blank. Certainly a way for the Klingons to escape a pasting but only once since this one gets binned after use. I can see this getting a lot of mileage as, although situational it's not one that needs several different things to happen to function.

But let's not forget about those duplicitous Romulans. Their IRW Talon carries the same stats as its Klingon cousins and costs 14 points with space for a Tech, Crew and Weapon upgrade alongside Evade, Target Lock, Cloak and Sensor Echo.

In fact the Cloak is a key part of the Talon's distinctiveness allowing it to perform a bank or forward one or a Sensor Echo move before revealing its dial. Suddenly the Talon becomes able to dodge attacks or place itself in an optimal firing position in a blink of an eye. The generic version loses the Tech upgrade (not a bad idea since there's no Romulan Tech upgrade in the box) as well as a Shield point but comes in at a very affordable 11 points. 

Larus is the animated command option with this one with a skill of seven, the chance to equip an Elite Action and will cost you four points. He's just as useful as the Kor and Koloth as Sensor Echo (remember it's a Free Action on the Talon) can lead you to place a Battle Station token in play and it increases the ship's attack by one - and this doesn't specify it has to be the primary weapon. 

Joining Larus is the wiry Vendorian Spy, here in a Crew capacity and classed as a Romulan upgrade. Operating up to range two, Wizkids have duplicated the character from the series again - since it can mimic a Crew upgrade on a friendly ship within that sphere of influence. Costing four points there are no restrictions on use for the Vendorian Spy which does mean you can take full advantage of the best Romulan Crew upgrades there are to offer - twice and with no limit.

Two missions are also included with the rather superb Animated Series Faction Pack are The Practical Joker and Assault on Caleb IV. 

The Practical Joker pits a 60 point Federation player against a 60 point Romulan opponent in a straight two player set up with the winner being the last one standing. However, due to some "interference", instead of performing an Action, an attack die is rolled and the result indicates what the player will be doing. When any Crew or Captain abilities are used they incur two Time Tokens and finally each player has the chance to veto ONE attack per game.

Standard it may seem but this one could be decided more on pure chance than anything since you have no idea what will be coming with each Action roll - and that final big attack could be the one that gets cancelled.

Assault on Caleb IV goes a step further with the Federation player fielding a 50 point set up versus 80 from the Klingons. Using the objective tokens from the Starter Set, the odds are actually more in the Federation player's favour as the Constitution Class ship gains two attack dice by being in range one of the space station objective token. The derelict ship tokens represent sensor arrays and will give a Scan Action as a free Action if within range one and finally the Debris picture represents damaged parts of the space station under repair. As such this provides the chance to remove a Mission Token from that objective token to repair a shield on your ship. 

The Federation player needs to repel the attack while the Klingons are tasked with destroying the objective tokens and expand the Empire ever further. It's another neat twist and spin to what has proved to be an exciting and different Faction Pack. The Animated Series has proved to be a big, colourful Star Trek vault to unlock and the cards here are, in some respects, very closely linked in to their onscreen counterparts.

Some of the Captain and ship cards are ridiculously overpowered and give some of the most incredible options to try on your fleet especially if you happen to be playing as the Klingons - Kor and the Klothos have to be a couple of the most electric cards from any set - wonder how they would fare against the Gorn?

Of the two Faction Packs released at the end of 2019 this has to be my favourite. The Borg are a powerhouse where any upgrade just places them that step ahead of anyone else in the game. The Federaton, Klingon, Romulan - and that cheeky Harry Mudd Independent card - widen the playing field and could even provide a three-way battle straight out of the packet. Well worth getting if you have one pack to choose!

Have you tried out any good combinations of cards and ships from either of the recent Faction Pack releases? 

Enjoyed this article? Why not like and share to spread the word!

Like our page on Facebook 

Follow us on Twitter

Find us on Tumblr

The Art of War - Klingon Style

"Well it's a hardback book."

So came the official review from my wonderful wife when I asked her to open the box and tell me what had arrived.

I expected a thin, quirky little volume akin to the recent A Very Klingon Khristmas and was pleasantly surprised to find that this is so much more than a gimmick and from the very start you can see there is genuine research and time taken in producing this book. Drawing extensively from episodes such as Rightful Heir, Firstborn, Apocalypse Rising and Soldiers of the Empire, Keith R A DeCandido has delved deep into Klingon heritage, separating the principles of how to prove yourself in the way of the warrior with ten distinctive principles. Covering everything from how to choose your enemy, to face them in battle through to die in a manner appropriate (avoiding imprisonment of course) it's the most thorough reference material into what makes a Klingon tick since Marc Okrand created their language. 

Each section relates a "real" event in-universe to the teachings to be put into practice. Linking those events in alongside numerous references to episodic material from every generation allows readers very easy access to the principles. The tragedy is that some of the material explaining historical events might not exactly be from the onscreen universe which means I did tend to read each page with a pinch of salt or might have indicated that I've forgotten a lot of things we've been told about the Klingons in the last 50 years.

In line with the historic narrative is a commentary from the supposed "modern-day" Klingon editor, K'Ratak which explains how each of the sections should be implemented in the life of a Klingon and this makes it much more than a Klingon storybook if you will.  Ok, so from time to time I got utterly lost and/or engrossed in the text and lost my way completely. It's not the easiest book to follow, I can say that, but I absolutely loved it because it is utterly different from any other Star Trek book out there today.

Rightful Heir from The Next Generation's sixth season might not make many people's favourites list but it did give us Kahless in a more believable form than we saw in The Original Series' The Savage Curtain. DeCandido has clearly based his materials around this more philosophical version of the esteemed Klingon, turning the qeS'a (that's the Klingon name for The Art of War) into something resembling a biography of the famed father of Klingon society. We learn of his victories, his travels and his one love with each section, becoming more aware of how the building blocks of this society were put together.

Reviewing is a difficult task at times and it was in a car park that I got to read the Fifth Precept which dealt with aspects of the Klingon people referred to in both Birthright, Part II and By Inferno's Light. Not only do you end up occasionally having a memory-jog of "That Klingon Moment" but suddenly it all seems to make a ton more sense than you realised. Here in this section we learn about Klingon games and their significance in the culture beyond the narrative of the episode while tying it into things we are familiar with. Honour does pop up a lot here - and I do mean a lot as you would expect but its repeated appearances are always justified and linked into the narrative. It might be to do with ensuring your death is worthy of a warrior's life or choosing when and how to strike a foe or perhaps even when to raise a challenge either towards a wrongdoer or when seeking to take command - in every instance the detail and process is meticulously discussed leaving you clear as to how to proceed.

The more I went into the Precepts the more I found it a fascinating read, essentially defining what makes a Klingon a Klingon - and then not necessarily a warrior. The qeS'a, we are told, can be applied to any walk of life in Klingon society - it is much more a guide for all than just those heading off for battle. Honour, as we've said, is absolutely key but there are ways in which an honourable Klingon needs to act and can be used in every Klingon's life not just those intending to fight.

Adding instances relating to Kor and Kang do add depth to the book and even manage to draw in threads from their appearances in Deep Space Nine and Voyager which I didn't expect. The latter series is not only responsible for references to Kang's mission during the events of Star Trek VI but also the Barge of the Dead experienced by B'Elanna Torres. Clearly the research is extensive and footnotes throughout do help a little to keep track of the Klingon terms and their significance outside the context. Don't think that it's all limited to the 1990's shows though as DeCandido has pulled in material relating to the Gorkon assassination covering General Chang and also the subsequent succession of Azetbur to head of the High Council. While her on screen appearance did little to flesh out the role, the text here certainly does, even going as far as helping us understand the line from Gorkon, through his daughter down to K'mpec, Gowron and most recently Martok as Chancellor.

That said, DeCandido has stepped outside "official" canon to some degree throughout, referencing the Typhon Pact and Quo'noS' near destruction at the hands of the Borg to name but two. I found that this was one of those things fans will either love or hate - it links in the other publications that come from Simon and Schuster but might confuse those whose experience with Star Trek stops at on-screen appearances and anything that's linked to those filmed stories. Perhaps in another sense it is confirming for us, the fans, that Star Trek in the Prime Universe at least will only continue to exist in the literature of fans rather than the small or big screen.

One thing that's also worth noting here are the illustrations which open each of the Precepts - covering images relating to material within each chapter we have recreated pictures featuring a younger, fully-forehead endowed Kor, Azetbur, as well as images relating to the chapter content. The style of these is very much in keeping with the Klingon Khristmas book from last year although slightly more focused on the warrior aspects of these people.

Rounding off the text are a couple of appendices which cover some ground regarding weapons of the Empire as well as two narratives regarding a case study of a battle and also the search for the historical Kahless. Again, not expected but engrossing reads none the less.

Cards on the table this will be an acquired taste and if you're not fussed with the Klingons or learning about their background in a decent amount of depth then I would point you elsewhere. Long-term fans will find a lot of superb material here. How much is "accurate" should be taken with at least a pinch of salt I guess but I don't think there's a finer example of non-Federation background literature available at the moment than The Klingon Art of War. Keith R A DeCandido should be proud of his achievement here. As both a casual read and an ongoing reference book he's done a top job.

The Klingon Art of War is available now from Simon and Schuster priced £17.99 ISBN 9781476757391

All sample images from startrek.com