After writing about the “breakout” expansions for both
Dominion and Romulans I set to doing the same for Klingons. I went through the
release schedule expansion by expansion and tried to figure out exactly where
Klingons had become a viable competitive faction in fleet pure environments.
The trouble is, there hasn’t ever been an expansion that fills in the holes for
the Klingon faction. In fact, many of the expansions have given the Klingons
more of the same. Herein lies the problem with Klingons.
Starter Set-
Maht’h’a, Nu’daq, Konmel, Klag, Advanced Weapons System,
Photon Torpedoes, Tractor Beam
Not a bad haul for Klingons in the starter set, certainly
viable and when played against the other Starter set ships perhaps even a
little overpowering. The Maht’h’a, Nu’Daw and AWS are all serviceable cards
that gave the faction early on the feeling of being the “Cloaked Alpha-Strike”
faction.
Wave 0-
Gr’oth, Koloth, Krell, Sabotage, Korax, Projected Stasis
Field, Magnetic Pulse, Photon Torpedoes
Negh’Var, Martok, Gowron, In’Cha, Drex, Klingon Boarding
Party, Tractor Beam, Photon Torpedoes
Some very good additions to the starter set for the Klingons
here, Drex gave access to Battle Stations for offence whilst Martok provided
Action Economy. Projected Stasis Field was the Faction’s first ‘trick’ whilst
In’Cha, Magnetic Pulse and KBP all had their uses. The problem with klingons
doesn’t seem immediately apparent, but is already setting in, Tractor Beam is a
repeat card.
At this stage of the development of the game, my fleets
looked something like this:
1st Klingons:
I.K.S. Maht-H'A [Starter] (28)
Nu'Daq [Starter] (3)
Total (31)
Vor'cha Class [Starter] (26)
Martok [I.K.S. Negh'var] (5)
Drex [I.K.S. Negh'var] (4)
Total (35)
I.K.S. Negh'var [I.K.S. Negh'var] (30)
Gowron [I.K.S. Negh'var] (4)
Total (34)
Fleet total: 100
Wave 1-
Kronos 1, Chang, Gorkon, Once More unto the Breach, Kerla,
Stex, Photon Torpedoes, Concussive Charges.
There are some nice things here, notably OMutB and
Concussive charges, but nothing that fundamentally changes the faction.
Klingons still rely upon the cloaked alpha strike. Given the cards already
available at this point, there is nothing that was released with the Kronos One
that would alter my choice of build.
Wave 2 –
Koraga, Worf, Kurn, N’Garen, Alexander, AWS, EM Pulse,
Photon Torpedoes
Worf, N’Garen and Alexander are all good cards that would
instantly receive consideration to enter my lists, trouble was that Worf was a
better, but similar Nu’Daq whilst N’Garen was a carbon copy of Drex with
Alexander being very similar. This expansion did change the content of my
build, but didn’t
really affect the play style.
2nd Klingons:
Vor'cha Class [Starter] (26)
Worf [I.K.S. Koraga] (3)
N'Garen [I.K.S. Koraga] (4)
Total (33)
Vor'cha Class [Starter] (26)
Martok [I.K.S. Negh'var] (5)
Drex [I.K.S. Negh'var] (4)
Total (35)
Negh'var Class [I.K.S. Negh'var] (28)
Gowron [I.K.S. Negh'var] (4)
Total (32)
Wave 3:
Somraw, Somraw Commander, Klingon Honor, Bu’Kah, Tactical
Sensors, Shockwave, Photon Torpedoes
Whilst Bu’Kah is a nice enough card (Repair 2 Hull as a
discard as long as you have performed a green manoeuvre) there was nothing in
this expansion that changed the way I built Klingons at all. Everything stayed
the same.
The Prize Ships:
Ch’Tang, Martok, Synon, Secondary Shield Emitters, Barrage
of Fire
For a while, Barrage of Fire and the Ch’tang itself were
potentially great ships. The 3 Hull of the Ch’tang made it weaker though,
thanks to the advent of Borg, and Barrage of Fire was Worf’d. Nothing in this
pack that makes me want to change my list.
B’Moth, K’Nera, Qapla’, Kunivas, Tritium Intermix, Photon
Torpedoes
As a blind booster this was a great ship, and a lot of the
upgrades have medium utility. Qapla’ and Kunivas both help with damage output
and Tritium Intermix is one of the better repair cards in the game. When the
jump was made to 120 points all three upgrades would see some play –although at
90 or 100 SP there is nothing here to displace what the faction already had.
Wave 9:
Chang’s Bird of Prey, Chang, Kerla, Gorkon, The Game’s
Afoot, Cry Havoc, Azetbur, Prototype Cloaking Device
It wasn't for almost another 6 months that the Klingons had
anything to add to their arsenal from a retail release, and that came in the form
of General Chang’s Bird of Prey. Chang himself is an interesting card that can
have some applications, but he isn't good enough a captain to make me want to dethrone Worf, Gowron or Martok. Apart from that this pack only really offers
Gorkon, not for his ability, but as the first Klingon Admiral.
Korok’s Bird of Prey, Korok, Warrior Spirit
Warrior spirit is absolute trash. Korok is okay and the Bird
of Prey suffers the same problem as the Ch’tang - nothing worth adding here.
Pagh, Kargan, Phaser Array Retrofit
I know a lot of people like Phaser Array Retrofit, but I’m
not the biggest fan. The Pagh also has a nice little ability and as a K’Vort
class, doesn’t suffer the same issues as the B’rel class ships of low hull, but
the stat split on a named K’vort 4-1-5-3 is worse than the stat spilt on a
generic Vor’cha 5-1-5-2 for the same points. The interesting card here is
Kargan, whose ability works really well with Drex or N’Garen and therefore
becomes a replacement for Gowron in most builds.
3rd Klingons:
Vor'cha Class [Starter] (26)
Worf [I.K.S. Koraga] (3)
N'Garen [I.K.S. Koraga] (4)
Total (33)
Vor'cha Class [Starter] (26)
Martok [I.K.S. Negh'var] (5)
Qapla' [I.K.S. B'Moth] (2)
Total (33)
Vor'cha Class [Starter] (26)
Kargan [I.K.S. Pagh] (4)
Drex [I.K.S. Negh'var] (4)
Total (34)
Fleet total: 100
AND
Vor'cha Class [Starter] (26)
Worf [I.K.S. Koraga] (3)
N'Garen [I.K.S. Koraga] (4)
Advanced Weapon System [Starter] (5)
Total (38)
Vor'cha Class [Starter] (26)
Martok [I.K.S. Negh'var] (5)
Fleet Captain: Klingon [Fleet Captain Resource] (5)
Defense Condition One [IKS Ch'tang] (0)
Alexander [I.K.S. Koraga] (3)
Tritium Intermix [I.K.S. B'Moth] (4)
Total (43)
Vor'cha Class [Starter] (26)
Kargan [I.K.S. Pagh] (4)
Drex [I.K.S. Negh'var] (4)
Projected Stasis Field [I.K.S. Gr'oth] (5) Total (39)
Fleet total: 120
Now, I know what you are thinking. You are thinking “Hey
Dave, you’ve just spent 1000 words talking about Klingons and you;ve shown us
some builds but you haven’t really said what the problem is?” and I get that.
Klingons are a good faction, a fun faction, one that hits hard and has pretty
fun manoeuvring. The trouble with klingons is that’s what they’ve always been
like. Right from wave 0 they’ve always been hard hitting, manoeuvrable and with
a few nice tricks. Unlike the Dominion, who have had a number of changes in
play style caused by different expansions (Koronak, Reklar, Dominion Battleship
and Cruiser), the Romulans (who were wholly transformed by the Haakona
expansion after having been significantly altered by the Scimitar expansion)
and the Federation (whose sheer number of expansions give them access to loads
of different build options) the Klingons just seem to keep doing the same thing
but better.
I know that there are other builds out there (Swarms etc)
and I’m yet to explore the viability of the Ning’Tao expansion (the 3 hull
worries me) and I still enjoy playing Klingons, I just wish there was something
else to them, an expansion like the Koronak or Haakona that threw all of the
old staid choices up in the air and made me re-think the entirety of my build.
When half the cards in your list come from the first two waves, you begin to
think that the faction may be getting a little stale.
I’m still not Picard,
A good write up of the current state of the klingons, there not bad by any means but have not changed for some time. you still see the same lists with only minor changes in a faction pure environment.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the I.K.S. T'Ong & I.K.S. Rotarran will mix things up in later this year.
I hope so, I'm hoping for something that allows 360 fire and also a way of getting consistent quality on defence. Without compromising the faction's identity.
ReplyDeletefor 360's on the Klingons I would like to see some kind of hit and run abilities which would be very in faction for them. They currently have Strafing Attack which gives you additional two 3 dice attacks Vs targets outside of the ships fire arc.
ReplyDeleteI kinda feel 360 degree fire for the Klingons is a bit thematically out of faction if it ends up like the Dorsals. They do need some kind of other trick they can run as an alternative to the strong alpha hit from cloak.
How much has changed in the past almost 2 years?
ReplyDelete