A Blast from the Past! Wave Zero: Kraxon

I don't know in canon if the Cardassians ever had a ship ownership abbreviation like USS or IKS, but the Cardassian offering for wave zero was just known as the Kraxon. Maybe CUS Kraxon (for Cardassian Union Ship) or CSS Kraxon (Cardassian StarShip) was too confusing since the ships never had that prefix on the show, regardless, by having name alone, the Kraxon established that Cardassian ships never had any Prefix.

In my last post I posited the theory that "Wizkids hates Romulans" then dismissed it wholesale. For a while, at the beginning of STAW's life, "Wizkids hated the Dominion" that is to say, that until Wave 2, the dominion lagged behind their opponents (mainly, it has to be said, because they didn't receive a ship in the starter).

The Kraxon expansion is not in itself a terrible expansion, it just wasn't as great as the USS Enterprise from wave 0 or the Maht'h'a and Enterprise-D from the starter.

Ships:
Kraxon/Cardassian Galor Class

The slashline of 4-1-4-4 for the named Kraxon is almost perfect. 4 attack is worthy of note whilst 8 durability is the sweet-spot for avoiding a single attack death (without some unlucky critical hits at least). Agility of only 1 may seem bad, and certainly the 2 points paid for this stat would be better placed in literally any of the other categories, but seeing as agility 1 is standard on most capital ships, it shouldn't be begrudged too much. The named ability of the Kraxon is useful, as it allows you to siphon damage off from other ships, but not as useful as it once was thanks to the "may" ruling. As for slots, the named has Tech/Tech/Weapon/Crew, which is nice thanks to the two tech slots. In faction pure play, though, you really would like some better tech choices to go in those two slots, and in most cases I'd swap a tech for a crew (as you get on the Reklar). The generic loses a tech slot. Another downside to the Kraxon is that it has an action bar of Scan, TL and Evade. No Battlestations action really makes the ship less effective.

Grade: B-

Captains:

Gul Ranor is the higher CS captain from this expansion, but apart from his middling CS of 5, he has little to offer when compared to Gul Danar, the other captain from this pack. The only use I see for him is if you need to guarantee a first turn attack on an opponent (kill a shuttle before it docks, for example) then he may work, but otherwise I wouldn't run him, simply because the cost of taking his action (action/apt) removes much of the utility of doing so.

Grade: D-

Gul Danar has a low CS (3) but his ability is one that you can conceivably use every turn, allowing you to re-roll a blank red dice. Since his ability is prefixed with "when attacking" it goes to follow that if you are able to attack more than once per round, you get to use the ability multiple times. This has synergy with one of the upgrades in the pack, so I actually prefer Danar to Ranor. Danar is pretty cheap too, so you can use him as a third captain in a 3 ship fleet.

Grade: C+

Crew:
Glinn Telle is the only crew option in this pack, and his action is good, reducing one ship's incoming fire by 2 dice for the round, but expensive in both economical (Action/Discard) and cost terms (3SP). I have used him in the past, but don't see him as a card of use all that often.

Grade: D

Tech:
Antiproton Scan is a card that I see having some mileage, and as I said on Warp Core Breach, is one of a number of cards in faction that enhance the scan action. It works best against cloaking fleets and since you can't TL a cloaked ship, you'll probably be taking scan anyway, so scan away and then make use of the extra red die to make up for having no quality.

Grade: B-

EM Pulse offers a modified version of Glinn Telle. You get to impose -1 red and -1 green die on an enemy ship for the cost of an action/disable. At 4SP it is better than Glinn Telle's 3SP discard, it's almost a shame you can't use both in the same turn for -3 red dice! It still has limited utility though.

Grade: D+

Weapons:
Forwards weapon grid allows you to divide your attack between 2 different ships in your forward firing arc, which is great if you are facing fighters and synergises well with Gul Ranor. At 5 SP it is quite expensive, but doesn't require either of your targeted ships to be target locked. It is a disable though.

Grade: C

So in its totality this expansion doesn't bring anything fantastic to the table. The Kraxon's main utility is in using its ship ability to keep other, more important targets alive longer. My only build suggestion is the following:

Kraxon [Kraxon] (26)
Gul Ranor [Kraxon] (3)
Antiproton Scan [Kraxon] (4)
Forward Weapons Grid [Kraxon] (5)
Total (38)

Fleet total: 38

38 points is a lot to spend on what is essentially a support ship. Hang close to the rest of your fleet and bleed damage onto the Kraxon, when you face fighters you can use the forward weapons grid to knock a token or two off, and the Anti-proton scan gives you a use for the scan you'll be taking against cloakers. I'd almost suggest taking a scan action every turn, since you have Ranor for some quality anyway, then you are firing with 5 dice, a re-roll and a scan each turn against cloakers, 6 dice when using forward weapons grid. Not the most game breaking combination, but the best available from a pretty sub-par pack.


Thanks for reading, I'm not Picard.

A Blast From the Past! Wave Zero: RIS Apnex

Wizkids hates Romulans. There I said it. Not that I believe it. Certainly not anymore anyway, but there was a time when it was a oft-heard cry of those Romulan fans on either the BGG boards or facebook. There are some things that lead me to think that this may have been justified, but if the release schedule had been slightly different, with the Vo supplanted on the schedule with either the Scimitar or the Haakona, then it would seem somewhat over-the-top to suggest that Wizkids did genuinely 'hate' Romulans.

I suppose one of the reasons that people began to claim that Wizkids did infact "hate" Romulans, was the release in wave zero of a clear out and out support ship in a wave that mainly featured front-line combat ships. The Apnex is not going to win you games by damaging your opponent's fleet. If we are limited only to the upgrades in the Apnex expansion, it probably isn't going to win you games at all. What the Apnex expansion did give you was a number of interesting choices, and one of the cheapest spaceframes in the game, the cheapest for a long time.

Ship:
RIS Apnex/Romulan Science Vessel

The slashline of 1/2/2/1 (2 shields for the named) is nothing to shout home about. What makes the generic Romulan Science Vessel (RSV) interesting, is that it is only 12 point and has access to both Cloak and Sensor Echo on its action bar. This essentially means that you have a ship with a slashline of 1/6/2/0, if you spend most of the game cloaked. The slots the named version has are 2 crew and a tech, which isn't that impressive, certainly the other named RSV has a much more useful collection of 3 tech slots. The named ability is interesting, as it allows you to inflict one damage on every ship within range 1 (including your own ship) at the cost of only being able to perform manoeuvres with a distance of 1 for the rest of the game. This makes the ship a good minelayer - once your mines are gone, you just run into the midst of the enemy line and inflict damage - but the minelayer in itself is not all that effective, since you only have 1 tech slot or pay considerably for additional slots. The generic retains the tech and loses a crew slot, so losing the named ability is not all that bad, all things considered.

Named Grade: C

Generic Grade: C+

Captain:
Most expansions have 2 potential captains in them, and the "Wizkids hates romulans" conspiracy theorists always cite the fact that the Apnex only came with one captain option as evidence. Having said that, Mirok is a pretty good captain, whose low CS is somewhat mitigated by his ability (if a friendly ship is within range 1, then repair 1 damage to either your hull or shields). With so many methods in faction of boosting CS (Admirals, security officers, resources) he has potential. He is also only 2 points, so a good space filler too.

Grade: C+

Crew:

There are, to my knowledge, only 2 pairs of crew in the game with identical abilities: N'Garen and Drex, and Parem and Bochra. Parem's ability is not that fantastic (remove an opposing crew member from a ship with no active shields that isn't cloaked, at the cost of an Action/Discard and dropping your own shields). What makes Parem somewhat worthwhile is his low cost (1 SP) and the combination of Parem and Taris from the Haakona expansion. Taris allows you to fire primary weapons in a 360 arc for the cost of a crew discard, so Bochra and Parem are the ideal fodder for this kind of build - if you haven't got the points for something more interesting to shove out of the air lock

Grade: C-

Varel is a card that formed the basis of many combinations over the years. Her ability, to cancel at attack at the cost of a discard, is un-matched in terms of crew. What lets Varel down is her costliness (10 SP on a non-science vessel) and comparison to other cards that do similar things - Conditional Surrender as an elite talent does much the same thing for significantly fewer points, and Interphase Generator does a similar thing for less. Within faction though, Varel is a great basis for an attack cancelling build, especially when paired with centurion from the Gal'Gathong expansion. On her own she doubles the survivability of a support ship like the Apnex, since one good attack will usually eat two hull and get through cloak. There's no doubting this is a good card, but in faction pure play she isn't game-breaking in the way that she is in a mixed faction dreadnought game.

Grade: B+

Tech:

Interphase generator is a Romulan Faction staple. for the low cost of 3 SP it acts like an attack canceller, and like Varel can increase the durability of support ships. I absolutely love this card, and it's a card that really makes cloaked fleets worthwhile, since it allows you to run cloaked ships with a degree of confidence that they won't die to the first quality attack. Even a ship with 7 hull, like the scimitar, can benefit from the IG, or multiple IGs. The fact that it is generic just makes it better and I see no reason not to run them on every cloaking ship in your fleet.

Grade: A+

Muon Feedback Wave is an annoying card to face, with the ability to limit the movement of other ships, it is almost the perfect card for a support ship like the Apnex. It's utility is limited by its range (1) and its cost (Action/Discard) but a well timed Muon token can really limit the ability of an opponent to escape a sticky situation or add those last needed damage to a ship.

Grade: B

Overall the pack actually has a lot to offer, and the Support ship Apnex is an interesting ship to fly that requires a bit of skill:

R.I.S. Apnex [R.I.S. Apnex] (14)
Mirok [R.I.S. Apnex] (2)
T'Rul [Deep Space 9] (4)
Varel [R.I.S. Apnex] (5)
Cloaked Mines [I.R.W. Praetus] (3)
Cloaked Mines [I.R.W. Praetus] (3)
Total (31)

Fleet total: 31

This version offers some good survivability, with Varel and T'Rul both helping to avoid being one shot. and the ability to cause some board control issues, with 2 sets of cloaked mines and the Apnex's named ability to cause damage to opponents. It can easily built without Varel for a cheaper option.

Romulan Science Vessel [R.I.S. Apnex] (12)
Donatra [I.R.W. Valdore] (4)
Adm Mendak [I.R.W. Haakona] (4)
Varel [R.I.S. Apnex] (5)
Interphase Generator [R.I.S. Apnex] (3)
Total (28)

Fleet total: 28

This version offers greater survivability thanks to Varel and Interphase generator, with the added bonus of helping other ships in the fleet with Donatra's +1 red dice bonus and Mendak giving out BS tokens. As with the previous build version, Varel and IG are optional, the advantage of having them is that with Donatra you need to be close to the fighting and may, despite you best efforts with Sensor Echo, come under enemy fire. The 12 point space frame basically means you can build your third ship in a 50/3 meta up to however many point you have left, and still benefit from a worthwhile support ship. This is especially the case in cross-faction play, and was in one of the high placed builds at world's. 

So there you go, Wizkids hate Romulans so much they gave them access to one of the better support ships in the game, with two great cards (Varel and IG) as well as a number of useable cards (Mirok, Muon, Parem and the Apnex).

As always thoughts are most welcome, and I'm still not Picard.

A Blast From the Past! Wave Zero: IKS Gr'oth

The traditional opponents of the Federation in the original series, the Klingons were not to honourable warrior race we know and love, but a much sneakier and more underhanded race of antagonists. It wasn't really until Star Trek 6 that the Klingons became what we know today, even through the early movies, the Klingons were backstabbing their way through the Federation (and Dr David Marcus). From a certain point of view, the Gr'oth does this well, since it isn't the all out attacking monster we have come to expect from the Klingons...

Ship:

IKS Gr'oth/D7 class

With a slashline of 3/1/3/1 (3/1/3/2 for the named) the Gr'oth is nothing special at all. 18 points does not seem expensive, but seeing as the ship has a TL/EM/BS action bar, you don't benefit from the typical support ship boon of cloak and sensor echo. Having BS is nice, particularly because the D7 lends itself to being an 'Anger Cannon' of 3 dice attack on a cheap hull, and as I've discussed before, 2 green dice with BS is almost as good as 5 without. How do you get the second die? The ship's named ability allows you to roll an extra green die when defending at range 1, which is nice, but not game breaking. Being that your opponent will have an extra red dice (better quality with red dice than green to start with) at range 1, this is not an ability that you would ever deliberately engineer a situation in which to use, so I'm pretty unimpressed by it in general. 3/1/3/1 isn't a stat line to be excited about and 18SP for the named is too expensive for a ship with only 5 durability. I struggle to like this Ship, and I think it is of limited utility. It might be a good ship to build a swarm around, but given all the issues that swarm build have, and with the generic B'rel at 4/1/3/2 for only 4 point more, it isn't a ship I can ever see myself using.

Grade: C-

Captains:

Krell is interesting, since he is cheap (2SP) and has an ability that you can conceivably use every round (re-roll a BS) but perhaps not on this ship, since you have the BS action. I can see Krell also being a useful piece in a B'rel swarm build, where most ships don't have BS, but for the Gr'oth, it doesn't have fantastic utility.

Grade: C

Koloth is more annoying that Krell, with a higher CS and a meaningful defensive ability. Trouble is that Koloth fits into the same SP bracket as A LOT of more useful Klingon captains, and as such will rarely see play. 

Grade: C

Crew: 

The only Klingon crew in the pack is Korax. Korax is a ganking card, but not the good type (that allows you to target ships that have shields or are cloaked). His only USP is that he allows you, for an Action/Discard, to discard 2 opposing crew. This is a great combo breaker (imagine losing both Crusher and Phlox on one of those infinite repeating Fed-disable builds!), but given his limitations (opposing ship must have no shields, not be cloaked and you must disable your own shields to use him) he won't see play that frequently when in the same faction as Klingon Boarding Party, Klingon Stealth Team and (my personal favourite) T'kar.

Grade: D-

The independent crew in this pack is the delightful Cyrano Jones, who will never, ever see play on this ship. Tribbles are a good way of boosting Red and Green Dice, can really annoy your opponent and are funny as all hell, but aren't as good as they used to be. That being said they are still viable and offer an interesting game mechanic.

Grade: B-

Weapons:

Photon Torpedoes, not terrible on this ship perhaps, given it's low PWV, but not really worth considering for long either.

Grade: F

Magnetic Pulse is a disable but doesn't require a TL, gives you 4 dice but at the cost of having to disable one of your own shields. It is an early phased polaron beam/chroniton torpedoes since Critical Hits ignore shields to become regular hits on the opponent's hull. It bothers me that there is a grammatical error in the card text. Ultimately, I'm not a fan.

Grade: D- (Only because it doesn't need a TL)

Elite Talent:

Sabotage offers something quite rare: The ability to discard an opponent's weapon upgrade. It is uneconomical (Action/Discard) but relatively cheap (3 SP) and potentially invaluable to remove an opponent's Dorsal Phaser Array, Magnetometric Guided Charge or Thaleron Weapon at the right time. It suffers from ganking restrictions though (can't be used on cloakers or ships with active shields) so is perhaps only useful as a free elite talent (If a new resource ever comes along to allow them).

Grade: C

Tech:

Projected Stasis Field is the out and out star upgrade from this pack. It is not unique, it offers something very rare in the game and it synergises well with the plethora of ganking cards in this pack - as well as a whole heap of other cards. It works best on a ship moving last, as this will allow you to make the most of its abilities and on a ship that isn't key to your attacking power, since it drops your red dice by 2. On the other hand, use PSF first then use ganking cards on other ships with a wild abandon. Being able to drop shields on an opponent's ship opens up a world of possibilities: Drop shields then use KBP to disable all the crew on evader voyager, drop shields to teleport those annoying tribbles back from whence they came, drop shields to allow T'Kar to discard Varel, the list is pretty much endless in faction, let alone in cross-faction play. All of this paints the picture of a fantastic card, and that's before we have even considered the other effect that the card has: The ship that is hit by it cannot attack, so it's a form of attack cancellation. Even though it is an Action/Discard, and forces you to disable all of your shields, it doesn't reduce how much I like this card. An absolute star of a card that makes the Breen Energy Dissipator look weak in comparison.

Grade: A+

So how would I build from this pack? 

If I'm just using the ship, then it's likely to be something like this:

D7 Class [I.K.S. Gr'oth] (16)

Gowron [I.K.S. Negh'var] (4)
Total (20)

D7 Class [I.K.S. Gr'oth] (16)
Martok [IKS Ch'tang] (6)
Total (22)

I.K.S. Gr'oth [I.K.S. Gr'oth] (18)
Koloth [I.K.S. Gr'oth] (4)
Worf [I.K.S. Rotarran] (2)
Projected Stasis Field [I.K.S. Gr'oth] (5)
Total (29)

D7 Class [I.K.S. Gr'oth] (16)
Klingon [I.K.S. Negh'var] (0)
Klag [Starter] (1)
Total (17)

D7 Class [I.K.S. Gr'oth] (16)
Klingon [I.K.S. Negh'var] (0)
Total (16)

D7 Class [I.K.S. Gr'oth] (16)
Klingon [I.K.S. Negh'var] (0)
Total (16)

Fleet total: 120

It isn't great and has clear weaknesses in terms of being fragile as all hell, but with skill 9 Koloth moving last to put the PSF in the best position, and Martok and Gowron boosting the firepower of the rest of the fleet, it would certainly be different to play with. 

As always, thoughts are most welcome and....

....I'm not picard.