Aw, yeah… I’m not dead. Even if this blog has been in hibernation since early summer.
Attack Wing and gaming has taken a back seat to life, though, and by the time I plop myself down at the end of the night, writing sarcastic comments about bonsai spaceships is not at the top of my mind of late. Also, let’s face it: Wizkids’ recent announcement regarding their new Trek game, Attack Wing 2: The Search For More Money, has taken some of the wind out of STAW community’s sails.
However, I still think there’s plenty left to explore with Attack Wing. Plenty of sarcastic comments yet to make about bonsai spaceships.
So let’s talk about a real piece of crap, the Galaxy-class.
…
Despite being one of the most beloved ship classes on screen, the Fat One isn’t exactly at the top of anyone’s “must play” fleet list in Attack Wing. It maneuvers about as well as the Love Boat and has to settle for a standard 90-degree firing arc. In Wizkid’s defense, the Attack Wing Galaxy-class perfectly encapsulates Starfleet design philosophy in the mid-to-late 24th century. The Federation is in a bit of a Golden Age, having made friends with one of their greatest enemies and driven the other into a generations-long period of isolation. There hasn’t been a major conflict in decades and peaceful exploration is the name of the game. Starfleet wants to make a statement with their next flagship, and so they build the biggest, baddest, bloat-iest diplomacy machine in the Alpha Quadrant. I mean, look at it! “We’re so certain no one will mess with us, we’re gonna put families on board this thing!“
There is one version of the Galaxy-class that I really like though: the USS Enterprise-D variant from the “Yesterday’s Enterprise” OP (or the “Yester-D”, if you will). If you’ve watched David’s Rank ‘Em videos for all the Enterprises and all the Galaxy-class ships, you already know I think highly of this version of the D because of it’s unique (some others might call it “gimmicky”) token-switching ability. The Yester-D allows you to exchange an Evade, Scan, or Target Lock token for a Battlestation token during either the Roll Attack Dice or Roll Defense Dice step. You may ask yourself, “Well, the Yester-D has BS on it’s Action Bar, and it’s usually the Action I want to take, anyway… so why would I bother using this ability?”
I’m glad you pretend-asked!
First, there are a lot of Captain/Crew/Tech upgrades that generate random tokens for free that are not Battlestations. Yester-D’s ability gives added versatility to those upgrades.
Second, there are several common cards in the current game meta that penalize you for taking Battlestation actions, or can otherwise mess with your choice of action. The Tal Shiar Scout has become a common component of Romulan builds, and Alidar Jarok has also found more use with the resurgent Romulan faction. Yester-D laughs at their token shenanigans.
On the Federation/Vulcan side, Vorik + Ezri Dax is a popular combo to annoy BS-reliant builds. Vorik triggers before Yester-D, allowing you access to a BS token when you really need it when attacking Vorik’s ship.
Aside from the ship ability, Yester-D manages a solid 5 upgrade slots, including two weapon slots to mount Type 10 Phasers and the almost-mandatory-on-Fed-Ships Tech slot.
Now I’m going to use that ability to make this ship move.
…
The Build: Solok’s Sneaky Yester-D
So here’s plan.
1. The Enterprise-D picks up some extra turns thanks to (Klingon) Helmsman, allowing it to bring that narrow 90 degree firing arc to bear on its opponent.
2. Alyssa Ogawa takes the ship’s Action to remove the disable token from Helmsman, and draws a Scan token as a free action.
3. Thanks to the Scan action, Solok’s ability triggers to look at an opposing face-down maneuver dial, and gains a free Sensor Echo action.
4. Finally, the Scan token is switched out for a Battlestation token during the Combat phase. (This works since Solok’s ability is triggered by the Scan action itself, and not the presence of the Scan token, leaving it available to use by the ship ability).
So, two extra pieces of movement, some intel on your opponent’s plans, and attack quality. The build fills out at a respectably svelte 38SP.
Solok’s ability is a great counter to high CS builds, since you can mark the position of your opponent’s ships and then try to block it using the free Sensor Echo.
For a few more points you can boost the offense with Type 10 Phasers or bump up it’s defensive firepower with Reinforced Shielding, or protect your Crew combo with Multiphasic Shields.
Hailing the Fleet
With the arrival of Romulan Cloaking Device, Enhanced Thrusters, Shakedown Cruise Commander, and the Sovereign (aka the “Subaru Forrest-er”), extra movement is now at a premium. This fleet takes advantage of move-centric abilities on two of the least graceful starships around to stay one step ahead of your opponent.
First we have the aforementioned Enterprise-D to spy on high CS opponents and throw out blockades to take away their actions.
Next, we have everyone’s favorite 9-skill Jean-Luc Picard under the admiralty of Maxwell Forrest to help the USS Venture turn on a… well, maybe not a dime, but maybe a really nice half-dollar? Geordi La Forge and Deanna Troi help add to movement-trickery and the growing TNG theme in this build.
Finally, we have the oft-overlooked Benjamin Maxwell from the Yeager pack, commanding a plain Jane Nebula-class generic. Maxwell can be used in one of two ways: (1) against lower CS opponents he can react to their movements to outflank them, or (2) against higher CS opponents he can utilize Solok’s spying to support the D and force a traffic jam at Range 1.
Maxwell’s ability is normally a one-shot deal, but thanks to Kelvin McCoy’s surgical skills and Ezri’s adroit counseling, Maxwell is brought back from the dead more times than Data in an episode of Picard.
I considered putting Maxwell on the USS Phoenix to further the build theme here, and to get those double Weapons slots for Type 10 Phasers, but the ship ability is redundant and the price too high. The generic gives us what we need, and Systems Upgrade beefs up those shields and gives us a third Crew slot needed for William T. Riker.
I’m usually more of a defensive guy, but given that these ships should be staying out of your opponents primary arc I’ve decided to go on the offensive and outfitted everyone with Type 10 Phasers instead.
…
Is this enough inspiration to get me off the couch and back into game? We’ll see…
Qapla’!
a good day to roll die 