Sunday 11 September 2016

Star Trek Attack Wing Report: U.S.S. Enterprise-D Verses I.K.S. Maht-H'a

This game was played using the "Star Trek: Attack Wing” rules by “Wizkids”. The game was set up using the recommended Federation Faction (Ship Card: U.S.S. Enterprise-D, Manoeuvre Card: Galaxy Class, Captain Card: Jean-Luc Picard and the Upgrade Cards: Geordi La Forge & Miles O’Brien) and Klingon Faction (Ship Card: I.K.S. Maht-H’a, Manoeuvre Card: Vor-cha Class, Captain Card: Nu’Daq and Upgrade Cards: Konmel, Tractor Beam & Photon Torpedoes [Klingon Faction]). The ‘encounter’ was played on an empty 3’ x 3’ space mat, with each faction beginning “opposite from each other across the play area.”
NU'DAQ TAKES ON JEAN-LUC PICARD FOR HIS PERSONAL GLORY 
“The story so far… ashamed by his failure to ensure the Klingon Defence Force were the first to decipher a four billion-year-old genetic program, and his vessel’s defeat by a Galor-class Cardassian warship whilst orbiting Loren III (See “Star Trek: TNG” TV episode “The Chase”), Captain Nu’Daq has decided to regain his honour by improperly entering Federation space and destroying the first vessel his Vor’cha-class attack cruiser encounters. Unfortunately for the Klingon commander however, the I.K.S. Maht-H’a’s course takes the vessel directly into the path of Jean-Luc Picard’s U.S.S. Enterprise, and the Federation’s Galaxy-class flagship isn’t going to go down without a fight…”
THE U.S.S. ENTERPRISE ENCOUNTERS A KLINGON TRESPASSER
The inferior of the two captains, Nu’Daq immediately threw his Vor’cha-class attack cruiser hard to starboard and forced his vessel to execute a tight turn that left the I.K.S. Maht-H’a facing 90 degrees away from the oncoming Federation vessel. They’d be no glorious head-to-head confrontation yet the Klingon thought, even if his weaponry did outmatch the pitiful human starship. The (red) manoeuver did however cause the Klingon craft to gain 1 Auxiliary Power Token as a result. This stress immediately prevented Nu’Daq from using any actions (even free ones) during this turn and as a result the commander was left to simply sneer at his opponent.

Believing that the Klingon vessel's captain may already have been reconsidering his hasty incursion into Federation space, the U.S.S. Enterprise shot straight ahead at Warp Factor Two. Sensing that his Galaxy-class starship would soon engage his foe, Jean-Luc Picard utilised his free action special ability to go to Battle Stations and ordered for the flagship to scan ahead. Lieutenant Worf momentarily fired the craft’s phasers in order to try and find the Klingon’s range…
THE I.K.S. MAHT-H'A PUSHES ITSELF TO ITS LIMITS IN ORDER TO ATTACK
With his inferior prize foolishly approaching, Nu’Daq placed his vessel into a (green) starboard bank and instantly reduced the strain on the cruiser’s engines (thus removing the Auxiliary Power Token and allowing him to use any appropriate actions). As a result the Klingon commander ordered his helm to perform Evasive Manoeuvers.

Sensing that the Vor’cha-class attack cruiser was about to attack, Captain Picard ordered the U.S.S. Enterprise to carefully bank left and had his crew remain at Battle Stations. Worf once again directed the vessel’s ship-mounted phaser banks at the intruder. But once again the weapons were out of range.
THE KLINGONS CONTINUE TO KEEP OUT OF RANGE OF MISTER WORF'S PHASERS
Judging that the time was right to spring his trap, Nu’Daq had the I.K.S. Maht-H’a perform another turn, almost as if the Klingon attack cruiser was about to come about, and then activated its cloak! This action instantly disabled all of the ship’s shields. But mean that it could now roll four extra defence dice in battle as well as perform a Sensor Echo (which signifies that the cloaked ship is actually in a different place than the enemy ship’s sensors believe).

Frowning, Jean-Luc Picard allowed his Galaxy-class flagship to continue forward at Warp Factor Two, and instructed Worf to fire the vessel’s phasers towards the last known location of the Vor’cha-class attack cruiser. The U.S.S. Enterprise was still too far away from its target to hit it…
CAPTAIN NU'DAQ ACTIVATES HIS VESSEL'S CLOAK JUST IN TIME
With a gusty laugh, Nu’Daq kept his attack cruiser’s course straight and true, and then utilised his craft’s Sensor Echo action to move it some way starboard of its current position. By Kahless the Unforgettable, today was going to be a good day for the Klingon if he could just get his vessel could into the perfect killing position.

Captain Picard knew his vessel would soon be badly out-manoeuvred if he didn’t do something immediately. Gripping his chair firmly he ordered the U.S.S. Enterprise towards his target’s last location at Warp Factor Four. Encouraging his crew to remain at Battle Stations and continuing his vessel’s scan of the surrounding area, he turned to Lieutenant Worf and instructed him to fire at will.
THE U.S.S. ENTERPRISE FIRES ALL PHASERS AT THEIR KLINGON FOE
The Federation flagship rolled four attack dice and initially caused two critical hits. However, Jean-Luc Picard used his Battle Stations token to change another of the dice to a normal hit. Reeling from the potential damage and with no active shields Nu’Daq instead had to rely upon his attack cruiser’s cloak to stave off the attack. Fortunately because the vessel was cloaked it was allowed to add four dice to its basic agility of just a single die, and a sixth defensive die on account of the Federation flagship firing at maximum range.

The Klingon rolled three evasive manoeuvers which ordinarily would have negated the entirety of the Galaxy-class starship’s attack. But because Picard had ordered his vessel to scan beforehand, Geordi La Forge was able to use his special ability to force the I.K.S. Maht-H’a to re-roll one defence die of his choice. Amazingly, Nu’Daq simply re-rolled another evasive manoeuver and as a result the Vor’cha-class attack cruiser somehow survived the devastating Federation phaser barrage unscathed.
DESPITE SURVIVING THE ATTACK UNSCATHED, NU'DAQ DECIDES TO RETREAT...
Realising that the U.S.S. Enterprise might be a far more formidable foe than he first thought, and believing that today was perhaps not a good day to die, Captain Nu’Daq decided that he would seek an honourable victory within Federation space another time, and thus ordered his vessel to return to Klingon space with all best speed. Jean-Luc Picard has thwarted the commander of the I.K.S. Maht-H’a for now… 

24 comments:

  1. Nice report! Its sounds quite a tactical game. Good stuff look forward to more.

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    1. Thanks Simon. Its rather straightforward to pick up. But each ship has some additional rules to consider, and these add to the flavour/tactics with each new release. Hopefully as the series continues, you'll see what I mean.

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  2. Klingons aren't what they used to be!

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    1. Absolutely Gordon. But it was very brave to try and outwit the Federation's flagship ;-)

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  3. Fun report, but to me the ships don't look as nice as the Star Wars ones they do, (or indeed the ones you've recently painted yourself).

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Cheers Roger. I know what you mean about the ships. Both come from the Starter Set and aren't anywhere near as nice as some of the other ones I own (which were released later). Indeed "Wizkids" have now started re-releasing some of the older sculpts with new paint-jobs - The federation vessels now being silver as opposed to grey-blue. Certainly my latest Galaxy Class starship (U.S.S. Odyssey) looks awesome compared to my Enterprise - and I may well swap the pair over as a result!!

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  4. Nice one. I like the outcome of the game, too.
    Though it possibly would have been funny to read the Klingon's had decided to ram the Enterprise and the subsequent collision destroyed both vessels. But that might just be my warped sense of humour.
    Get it? Warped! I'll get me coat.

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    1. Thanks Roy. It is a great game, and yes, I'll help you get your coat!! :-)

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  5. Not bad but you haven't persuaded me to jump on the Star Trek bandwagon. The trouble is that I was never that big a fan of Star Trek so it hasn't grabbed me as much as other sci-fi franchises. Still, I always appreciate reading any batrep written by someone who feels so passionate about the subject. I can always relate to enthusiasm. :-)

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    1. Cheers Bryan. This is undoubtedly my 'thing' presently, as you'll see from all the BatReps and "Irregular Miniature" miniatures I'll be posting for weeks to come ;-)

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  6. Very nice, Simon. Will you be using the Attack Wing rules for all future Trek batreps? One thing I would like to see in future batreps is a view of the whole battlefield at the beginning, just to get an idea of the setup. I do like the close-ups, but sometimes having a view of the start-up position gives me an idea of where everything starts off.

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    1. Thanks Jez. I'll be using "Attack Wing" for the "Wizkids" models but essentially "7TV" for the ones using "Irregular Miniatures"; once I've got them painted - and I'm almost halfway there already. I do usually post a setup shot, but for this BatRep (and the next actually) the two vessels were simply facing one another from across an empty space-field. once the asteroids etc start then I'll be sure to show you what's going on from further afield :-)

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  7. Phasers set to stun! Nice report Simon, bring on the next one.

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    1. Cheers Andy. I certainly do have a few more to come, as I'm rather taken with this game I must confess.

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  8. I think I'll be sticking with Full Thrust for my spaceship battles. There's a lot to like about Attack Wing, I suspect - but I've just got too much invested the other way...

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    1. No worries Hugh. My problem with "Star Trek: Attack Wing" is that I've joined the party at 'Wave 25', so some of the early releases are rather hard to find, and when I do they are fiendishly expensive. If you're already invested in "Full Thrust" then I'd certainly suggest sticking with it. Of course if you find a cheap "STAW" Starter Set then you might be tempted to pick that up too ;-)

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  9. Reads very much like the X-Wing game.

    Fun though - I like how you tied in actual characters from the series. :) Did you manage to get any more official ships, or will future AAR's feature the newly painted old-skool ships?

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    1. Cheers Dai. Having played both it is almost identical. I have purchased a 'few' more official ships... ahem... But the next BatRep will feature the Romulan D'Deridex Class vessel from the Starter Set. After that though all bets are off, as the Enterprise-D encounters all sorts of friends and foes, and perhaps finds that resistance is futile ;-)

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  10. goodness, tis is just superb stuff Simon, wow, I absolutely loved every moment of it. Very nice, highly enjoyable, and well worth the effort you obviously put into pulling this together.

    Boooooo!!!! Captain Nu’Daq. He needed the Duras Sisters that's what he needed, a bit of skull-doggery from them might have won the day. Then again, he seems far too honourable to lower himself to their level hehe.

    Yaaaaay!!! Jean-Luc *claps happily*

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    1. Cheers T, much appreciated. I'm not yet aware of the Duras Sister's Klingon Bird of prey being released yet. But there are new vessels coming out all the time. As for Captain Nu'Daq, he will most assuredly be back in the future... as will many old faces from both "The Original Series" and beyond. I'm rather taken with this game presently, so have a fair few minis ready for BatReps (and being pre-painted certainly helps!!).

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  11. Awe inspiring. Gripping. Intense... A feast for the eyes!! Just some of the words I might use to describe this game and article.

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    1. Many thanks Steve. Praise is always doubly welcome form a fellow BatRep blogger such as yourself :-) Hopefully they'll be plenty more starship battles for you to enjoy over the coming weeks.

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