When I first got into ST:AW I wanted to play Federation. The 'good guy syndrome' rests strong with me (in Warhammer Fantasy, God rest its soul, I played Empire, in X-Wing rebellion and even in Twilight Struggle I prefer USA to USSR) so off I went to buy a federation fleet.
Before too long though I was tempted by the other factions and began to play Klingons, Romulans and then Dominion. Deep Space Nine is my Favourite ST series and the option of having Gul Dukat (one of TV's most multi-faceted villains) fly my ships was too good to miss.
So with OP 1 I decided to play Dominion, and you can see my testing process elsewhere, eventually I settled on this list:
Trager [Assimilated Vessel 64758] (26)
Gul Dukat [Battle Cruiser] (5)
Breen Aide [Gor Portas] (2)
First Officer [Officer Resource] (3)
Aft Weapons Array [Reklar] (4)
Total (40)
Reklar [Reklar] (26)
Gul Lemec [Reklar] (3)
Adm Gul Madred [Reklar] (5)
Boheeka [Koranak] (2)
Aft Weapons Array [Reklar] (4)
Total (40)
Hideki Class Attack Squadron [1st Wave Attack Fighters] (20)
Total (20)
Hideki Class Attack Squadron [1st Wave Attack Fighters] (20)
Total (20)
Fleet total: 120
Many have counselled me that I have too many upgrades and may struggle to deal with the quixotic nature of Q, but practice games have taught me that as soon as you reach the central area (outside range 3 of a board edge) the effects of Q are easily dealt with. Having captains disabled might be annoying, but with an admiral and first officer in the fleet, I'd probably have a higher captain skill than my opponent.
So I rocked up to Wayland Games on Sunday ready to take whatever the worst Q had to throw at me was and was faced in round one with Borg.
Round One: Dan - Borg
Assimilated Vessel 80279 [Assimilated Vessel 80279] (26)
Flagship: Independent (Klingon) [Flagship Resource] (10)
Third of Five [Scout Cube] (2)
Advanced Weapon System [Starter] (5)
Total (43)
Assimilated Vessel 64758 [Assimilated Vessel 64758] (30)
Drone [Borg Sphere 4270] (0)
Total (30)
Soong [Soong] (38)
Drone [Borg Sphere 4270] (0)
Feedback Pulse [Borg Sphere 4270] (8)
Total (46)
Fleet total: 119
Dan and I often bounce list ideas off one another so when I was drawn against Dan round one, it was reassuring to know I'd be in for a good game. Dan and I go way back too, having known each other first of all through playing Warhammer fantasy (rest in peace).
This first game was characterised by only being able to move 1 ever, and whilst all of my upgrades were disabled in turn one, by the time we made contact with each other everything was re-enabled and my captains were in play so I was able to take out the B'rel first and then the Galor. The Soong did offer some resistance, but went down to fighter fire soon enough.
The main lesson from this game was that having a captain skill higher than 1 was key, as it allowed me to concentrate fire and remove a key threat before I came under fire.
Result: Me 120-0 Dan
Round Two: Rich - Species 8472
Rich is the venue's TO and only plays when an odd number of people turn up. He'd played at nationals and is no slouch as a commander, we've played twice before, the first my scimitar killed his J'H battleship and the second my Klingons killed his Tholian. For this event he'd also gone down the no upgrades route with this list:
Species 8472 Bioship [Bioship Alpha] (36)
Species 8472 Captain [Bioship Alpha] (0)
Total (36)
Bioship Alpha [Bioship Alpha] (38)
Flagship: Independent (Klingon) [Flagship Resource] (10)
Species 8472 Captain [Bioship Alpha] (0)
Total (48)
Species 8472 Bioship [Bioship Alpha] (36)
Species 8472 Captain [Bioship Alpha] (0)
Total (36)
Fleet total: 120
This game was a similar game to the last- by the time we were in range of one another all of my upgrades were operational and I was able to concentrate firepower on the flagship and take it down before it had chance to fire. Afterwards, the fighters did their thing and I came away again unscathed.
Result: Me 120-0 Rich
Round 3: Mark - Romulans
Mark had the only fleet that really scared me, since he had 3 sets of cloaked mines and a lot of upgrades too.
I.R.W. Haakona [I.R.W. Haakona] (30)
Miles O'Brien [I.S.S. Defiant] (2)
Adm Mendak [I.R.W. Haakona] (4)
Tasha Yar [Prakesh] (2)
Brunt [Regent's Flagship] (1)
Cloaked Mines [I.R.W. Praetus] (3)
Total (42)
I.R.W. Valdore [I.R.W. Valdore] (30)
Donatra [I.R.W. Valdore] (4)
Jennifer Sisko [I.S.S. Defiant] (3)
Romulan Pilot [P.W.B. Aj'Rmr] (2)
Interphase Generator [R.I.S. Apnex] (3)
Total (42)
Prototype 01 [Prototype 01] (24)
Gareb [Prototype 01] (0 overridden to 3)
Shinzon [Scimitar] (6 overridden to 0)
Counter Attack [Starter] (3)
Cloaked Mines [I.R.W. Praetus] (3)
Cloaked Mines [I.R.W. Praetus] (3)
Total (36)
Officer Exchange Program (0)
Fleet total: 120
The first turn saw Incredible Power and Very Advanced from Q, which nullified the effectiveness of Jennifer Sisko, since that card would have caused me to disable all of my upgrades anyway. In the second turn the movement limiter came up again, and whilst my captain was captive of an Honored (sic) Judge, I was able to re-enable Boheeka and Breen Aide. A third turn of limited movement allowed me to re-enable both Aft Weapons arrays, meaning that by the time I engaged, all of my initial upgrades were re-enabled, and I was firing at a higher captain skill that my opponent.
The middle of the board was peppered with cloaked mines, and whilst I was relatively sure that in the end the mines would get me, I was confident that I could remove the enemy before that happened. The first round of firing got rid of the Valdore before I received any return fire, and the second round of shooting got the Prototype too. All that was left was getting the Haakona, which has considerably less firepower once the rest of the fleet are gone. Flying through the minefields hurt me a lot, but I was able to kill the Haakona before my whole fleet died.
Result: Me 120-80 Mark
So 3 games, maximum points from all three games and what did I discover? Aft Weapons Array with some quality (Boheeka and BS) is brutal, as are fighters. Whilst mines do damage fighter builds a great deal, I was still able to eek out the win thanks to some 8 HP carriers.
I'm still not Picard though....
D
The first turn saw Incredible Power and Very Advanced from Q, which nullified the effectiveness of Jennifer Sisko, since that card would have caused me to disable all of my upgrades anyway. In the second turn the movement limiter came up again, and whilst my captain was captive of an Honored (sic) Judge, I was able to re-enable Boheeka and Breen Aide. A third turn of limited movement allowed me to re-enable both Aft Weapons arrays, meaning that by the time I engaged, all of my initial upgrades were re-enabled, and I was firing at a higher captain skill that my opponent.
The middle of the board was peppered with cloaked mines, and whilst I was relatively sure that in the end the mines would get me, I was confident that I could remove the enemy before that happened. The first round of firing got rid of the Valdore before I received any return fire, and the second round of shooting got the Prototype too. All that was left was getting the Haakona, which has considerably less firepower once the rest of the fleet are gone. Flying through the minefields hurt me a lot, but I was able to kill the Haakona before my whole fleet died.
Result: Me 120-80 Mark
So 3 games, maximum points from all three games and what did I discover? Aft Weapons Array with some quality (Boheeka and BS) is brutal, as are fighters. Whilst mines do damage fighter builds a great deal, I was still able to eek out the win thanks to some 8 HP carriers.
I'm still not Picard though....
D
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