DS9 moves now?!

  Recently, our new Admiral picked up the DS9 model to round out his extensive collection.  After some slow gaming at the shop one day, he decided to bust the sucker out and get a game on.  

  He and some of the other core players donated a number of ships to the battle, re-enacting the Battle of DS9 as close as they could in this ad-hoc situation.  We even had a new guy walk in and get sucked into the battle.  These guys are good like that...

Here's the beginning of the battle, with just a few ships out (or so it seems).  Romulans, Klingons, and Federation guarded the space station against the Dominion attack.  

After a couple of rounds and nearly time to close up shop, the station had moved toward the center of the board and starship debris was everywhere as a result of firepower galore!

  Nice easy post today.  these guys did this battle well over a month ago and used it as an excuse to set up the Battle of Wolf 359.  I can't wait to see that one myself.  And, of course, all credit to these guys.  I've bragged about the game group before, but they deserve it.  Game days don't suck!

  Let me know about some massive battles you've had and look forward to the 359 battle coming up!

Happy Gaming!

The Romulans CAN fight!

  For some time, I've complained that the Romulans are terribad in Attack Wing.  I already don't like that that D'deridex class is FAAAR underpowered compared to its canon.  For the longest time, all I wanted was three D'deridex warbirds, but I found that I couldn't seem to win with two.  

  A buddy won the first Attack Wing OP, the Donimion War, with Romulans.  He was extremely successful at using the 'sensor echo' action to avoid being shot, while also taking advantage of several Muon tokens.  It was like he was playing with his opponents, and we all hated him for it.  But he did prove me wrong in the most irrefutable way.  

  Sadly, that didn't mean anything for me.  I didn't realize how effective sensor echo was until I was playing a game of X-Wing (go figure) and my TIE fighters had to take advantage of 'barrel rolls' (the same thing, different game).  It was then that I realized how effective Romulans can be with their Federation-like resilience and amazing mobility.  If only we had something that could put out some firepower...

Enter the Reman Scimitar!!!

  This malicious beast of war was designed by Shinzon, clone of Picard, and built by Reman slaves to exact vengeance on the empire that tortured and forgot them.  It was so powerful, in fact, that two Romulan warbirds AND the Enterprise-E could not defeat it!  That's a beast for sure!

  In game terms, it definitely fills any weakness in the Romulan fleet.  Its firepower of 6 make it the most powerful there and one of the most powerful in the entire game (Klingons and Dominion have that covered).  The agility of 2 is refreshing on a battleship like this and definitely the trademark stat of the faction, making their reliance on cloaking that much more prevalent.  A hull of 7 and 4 shields mean that this baby can take some damage before finally going down.  The best part, even beyond the upgrades, is that this ship has a rear firing arc!  That is something that no other Romulan ship has!!!  Awesome!!!!!

  Included is also Shinzon.  My buddy used Captain Picard on his Khazara in the first couple of scenarios during the Dominion war and we made fun of him, saying that he was only getting away with it because there was a clone in the movies.  As it turns out, Wizkids would have that covered too!  With a captain skill of 9 and a Kirk-like ability to take many expensive elite talents, he definitely has his value.  But I don't care about that as much as just having a ship with real stats...

My fleet

This is following the 90 point format of the current OP tournaments, and also following the suggested format for tournament fleet builds.

• Scimitar, Reman Warbird  38 (6, 2, 7, 4, after attack, take aux to keep cloak token green)
• Salatrel  3 (5, choose 1 faction to be skill 10 during combat phase against)
• Counter Attack  3 (if damaged in front, free attack against shooter)
• Secondary Shields  6 (3 extra shield tokens to replenish through game)

• IRW Valdore, Valdore Class  30 (4, 2, 6, 3, +1 attack if green maneuvre)
• Donatra  4 (friendly ships within range 1 get +1 attack)
• All Forward Disruptor Banks  4 (disable for +1 attack)
• Romulan Pilot  2 (discard to place scan token and perform green maneuvre free)

  The idea behind this fleet is simple- get the Scimitar in range to crush somebody.  As Donatra keeps range with the Scimitar, she makes its firepower even more effective.  With Salatrel's ability to shoot first AND get the counter-attack (hopefully with that bonus), that could make the Scimitar twice as effective.  That upgrade really comes into its own with a ship as resilient and maneuverable as that Romulan battleship.  Adding those additional shield tokens keeps that ship around just a bit longer, which allows it to cloak longer and survive longer, dishing out damage the whole way.

  I didn't make the Scimitar more than 50 points, as per those restrictions above.  If I could, I would have to add torpedoes to take advantage of that rear firing arc.  

  I also have a few ideas for other fleets, but this is the one I'm focused on at the moment.  I can't wait to see what it can do (the one game I played was unfair and saw this fleet mop up two B'rels quickly...).

  You can also play around with this awesome army-builder program for Attack Wing.  It's called STAW Builder and can be found here.  This program even allows you to print out your fleet lists on Wizkids approved tournament sheets!  Give it a go and all credit to the developer, Dracos Software.  I don't think Lone Wolf could have done it better...

  Let me know what you guys think and happy gaming!

Is Resistance Futile?

  Well, it's coming up to the third Saturday of the month, when our game group happens to play the Attack Wing OP events.  This month sees us play "The Endgame", where players have to both keep their ships alive and try to slip at least one away before the transwarp conduit is destroyed.  Just like the other scenarios in this series, the Borg that are involved are real jerks and players have to deal with THEM while also having to fight each other.  The rules for the scenario can be found here:

Resistance is Futile OP

  But that's not what I really want to discuss.  Right now, we have a surprisingly robust core group of gamers for the this game, from Bud of Borg to Captain Charles of the Enterprise.  All of the factions are represented and all of the players are actually pretty skilled at the game.  But we've all realized something about Attack Wing- 

The game is not balanced!

  This isn't news to anyone who plays this game as the cries of "Cheeze!" abounded as the Borg were introduced.  Then the Federation were set up to match them and things started to spiral out of control.  It wasn't like the game was terribly balanced to begin with, but c'mon, man!  It was so bad that Wizkids produced the Admirals Orders, which were designed to give the outclassed fleets the opportunity to keep up.  But it didn't work and only exacerbated the Federation silliness, so they were quickly overridden after that OP.  

  Now, with the release of recent waves, it's so apparent that the fleets aren't terribly well-represented in some factions, meaning that the 'power creep' only got worse and worse with a seemingly random release schedule for every faction but the most powerful- Federation!  Wizkids attempted to rectify this with a suggested format for fleet building in tournaments.  We used this for the last two scenarios of this OP and there was much complaining about it.  I have much experience in FAQs and Composition as a TO (in the much more grueling world of wargaming), so my response to this is simple:

  It's meant to curtail the unrealistic advantage that certain fleets such as the Borg and especially the Federation have over the other fleets.  It prevents 'Dreadnoughts' that can completely dominate the game and there's little that Independent or Vulcan ships can do about it.  By requiring three ships and limiting the amount of upgrades, EVERYONE is equally screwed and it should bring a little more parity to the game.  

  Ironically enough, my biggest complainers were my Federation players, but I could always have some sympathy- Romulans finally got a dreadnought-class ship with the Reman Warbird and yet I couldn't use it with these rules myself!  They still didn't agree but complied with the restrictions, and then placed very well.  But we discussed it after the tourney and the group seemed to be fine with it, but didn't really want it either.  That leaves me with the question:

Do we use the restrictions or not?  

  Let me know what you guys think about these rules and whether the group should use them for this last scenario.  In the meantime, I want to make a 'Dreadnought League' that is literal space battles with no restrictions and just make a time of it.  But those things can come later...

Dice and Cards and Dice and Cards and ...

I don't know if any of you have gotten a chance to try this game out, but I have to warn you that IT IS ADDICTING.  I have already spent a couple of C-bills on this game for nothing but a bunch and dice and cards.  But man is it cool!

Okay, so Dice Masters is like another Deck-Building game, but it's more about Dice-Building.  You set up a hand of heroes and villain cards and the take a number of dice to represent each one.  You roll the dice in your pile, starting with a number of simple power (sidekick) dice, and use whatever power is rolled to 'purchase' the hero dice from your cards, or action dice from the communal area.  Those 'purchased' dice and the expended energy to the discard pile, which are eventually cycled back into circulation and rerolled.  When a hero or villain die shows their stats instead of power, you must spend power to 'field' them and use them attack and block the other player's hero/villains. 

  The game is so simple to play that my wife actually enjoys it!  That's right, my wife, the anti-gamer, the stereotypical 'bitter wife', actually learned and played a few times!  (I know, I'm still impressed myself!)  The only problem with the game is that some cards become rare, while the rare and ultra-rare cards are exactly that.  This means, as with any collectible card, er, dice game, you will spend way more money than you expected.  And in the process, have waaaaaaaaaay too many dice.

  Admittedly, there is an advantage to that problem- it makes 'trading' so easy.  Since dice are so plentiful and also so restricted, gamers are willing to share their dice (and extra commons and uncommons) with each other for little or no exchange.  Really, it's because nobody wants to be saddled with all that extra, unusable crap that means absolutely nothing.  It's barely one step from just giving it away, and that's not a bad idea if it brings in some more gamers...

  Now, the current sets are Avengers vs. X-Men, and The Uncanny X-Men, definitely with a bit of a Marvel slant.  It's based on the comic books, not the movies, so there are many incarnations of each of the characters.  Anyone who knows me will tell you that I've dropped Marvel (except my Spidey 2099) and love my DC stuff, especially Supes!  Luckily for me, there's a new set coming out soon...

  Go pick the game up (the starter kit is only $20 and boosters are only a buck each, and they are SELF CONTAINED, meaning that you don't need the previous or upcoming sets to play!) and let me know what you think.  I love it and it's really fun and, most importantly, it's affordable!

Happy gaming!