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Last night a friend and I decided to try something different, playing a 60 point two ship minimum game.

I chose the Federation, With Starter Picard aboard the USS Thunderchild and Capt. James T. Kirk aboard the USS Reliant.

He chose the Klingons with General Martok aboard the IKS CH'Tang outfitted with advanced weapons systems and Chancellor Gowron aboard the IKS T'Ong

SET UP: Since it was such a small game, we decided that three planets would be a nice way to break up the open space. The first was placed at range 1 rfom both the top and right side of the board, the second roughtly range 2 from the right side near the center, and the third placed at range 1 from the left side, slightly lower than center. He placed first and place both ships near the center of the top edge. I placed to the left of center on the lower edge.

Round 1: Both of his ships execute a 3 bank left and cloak, Martok granting Gowron a free evade. The Reliant moves forward full speed at a 4 straight, and the Thunderchild moves forward at a slightly more cautious 3. Kirk and Picard both Battlestations, and Picard also Scans. Back to Dials.

Round 2: his ships move forward at a 3 straight, both taking evade actions. Gowron activates his ability. The Reliant and thunderchild both moving in at range 3 with a 3 Bank right, Kirk scans and Picard BS and Scans. Both fire, but no effect.

Round 3: things get Dicey. Both Klingon vessels come about and prepare to drop cloak and fire. Picard executes a 3 bank right, pursuing them at range 2, Scanning and BS. Kirk moves ahead at a 3, and Battlestations. Both the Thunderchild and the Reliant fire on the Ch'Tang, Picard managing to score a Direct Hit, dealing two damage to the ship. The Klingons return fire, Martok disabling his advanced weapon systems to avoid decloaking., stripping away the Thunderchild's shields and dealing a hit and a Jostled navigator. Dials...

Round 4: the Klingon ships move forward at a green 2 straight to remove their stress tokens, then the Ch'Tang evades and Gowron Evades and activates his ability. The Reliant moves in closer with a 2 right turn and Scans, while the Thunderchild does a 3 come about and catches the Klingons dead to rights... The Reliant fires, destroying the Ch'Tang and Martok. Picard Fires on the T'Ong, damaging her shields. The T'ong fire but misses the smaller and more agile Reliant.

Round 5: The Klingons move to keep the federation in arc, doing a come about as well. Picard does a 1 bank right, keeping them at range 2 and target locking and BS. Kirk executes a 2 right turn again, closing to point blank range and target locks the T'Ong. Picard Fires, but only manages to destroy the Klingons' shields and deal 1 damage. Kirk steps up, fires, landing the killing blow after burning target lock to get 3 hits and a crit.


Over all, I had a blast playing a bare-bones fight with the ships. It really came down to the maneuvering, and the fact that his ships could thrown as many as 9 dice at my thunderchild, its a bloody miracle that the ship survived. Having the higher skill captains was a major boon, as I was able to fire first each and every time (something I'm not used to). I intend to do something similar again soon.

Sounds fun. What is great about this game is that it plays well at all different sizes, from 45-1000 points. 60 points can be a lot of fun especially if you are spreading out among two ships. One of my favorite missions is the one that comes with the Gal Gathong, two 45 point ships pitted against each other. I lke games more when it is more about maneuvering and less about setting up your 360 attack and blasting away.

Nice report.

Thanks! I am definitely preferring more maneuver and shoot action than the mega combos.

Wizkids definitely seems to be approaching the game with a fire and forget philosophy.

"Um, boss, this upgrade can be combined with something from Wave 7 to create an infinite action loop... Should we re-write it?"
"Wave 7 didn't happen. This new wave is all that matters."
"But..."
"I. Have. Spoken."

At home we usually prefer faction pure which eliminates a lot of the crazy combos. We occasionally allow exceptions for theme, but try to keep it at least penalty pure. For instance right now I am experimenting with Type 8 Phasers on a Breen fleet. When we do allow exceptions it is usually to fix a glaring holes in ships not to break the game.

Every venue out here runs faction pure, save one, which still requires faction pure ships.

How does one keep a dual faction ship faction pure though?

It depends on the venue. I have seen some that allow you to put stuff from both factions on a duel faction ship and some that make you pick one of the two factions and stick with it. So it's best to ast the TO ahead of time. At home we allow both factions.

Gotcha. I was thinking of having people pic factions, that way the factions remain pure.

it does cut down on too many crazy things in one fleet, like cloaked mines and Mag Charges in a romulan fleet or Mag Charges w/Hideki Fighters.