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I have to admit, this has been a long time in coming. I started collecting STAW minis when the game launched, and for the first year or so I kept up pretty well with at least the Federation stuff (they're my favorite faction). However, since I never really got into playing the game, I hadn't bought much since July 2014 (the Enterprise Refit was the last mini I remember buying). Until this Christmas, that is. I decided to put a couple of ships in the ol' Christmas list (being only $15, they are easy for relatives to buy!), and dust off my stuff and no kidding play a game or two...and I had a blast with it! So, now I've been busily reading threads in this forum, trying to get caught up on what I missed. There are a few ships out there that I am definitely interested in...I got the Thunderchild and Hathaway for Christmas, so those are off the list. The Enterprise E is surprisingly hard to find, though I got one from an online retailer for $28, shipped. Going forward, I plan on mostly playing friendly games and not getting into the OP scene.

Here is my collection as it stands now:

Federation:
Enterprise-D (x2)
Excelsior
Reliant
Refit Enterprise
Hathaway
Thunderchild
Defiant (USS type)
Equinox
Voyager
Prometheus
Enterprise-E (on order)

Klingon:
Mhat-H'a (x2)
Negh-Var

Romulan
Khazara (x2)

Borg
Sphere 4270
Cube 138

Other
4th Div. Battleship
Bioship Alpha

Anyway, as far as future purchases go I plan on rounding out my Federation stuff and picking up some more Romulans and Klingon stuff. Here is what I am definitely planning on getting:

1. USS Phoenix (even if it has the wrong pod on top, I so love the Nebula class!)
2. Fighter Squadron 6
3. USS Pegasus
4. IKS G'roth
5. Valdore
6. Scimitar

Here are some things that I'm on the fence about:

1. TOS Enterprise (mainly because of the size of the mini)
2. Delta Flyer (never been a fan of the design)
3. USS Pasteur
4. Borg Queen's ship
5. Borg scout cube

Okay, question time!

1. Are there any ships you would recommend adding to my "must own" list? Keep in mind, I'm looking at this from the perspective of having enough variety for interesting games and scenarios, not necessarily to dominate in an OP event.
2. Are there any ships you would recommend having multiples of?
3. I'm very intrigued by the large DS9 and Borg cube...are they worth owning? I would mostly use them for display and scenario play.
4. Are there any OP prize ships that are worth going after? The prices some of these are going for are...off-putting, to say the least!

Thanks in advance for the help!

Are you playing ship pure/faction pure or anything goes? If it's Faction Pure, here are my recommendations:

1. Get the TOS Enterprise for the crew cards.
2. Delta Flyer may not look like much, but there is a 40 or 50 point build out there that turns the Delta Flyer into the Delta Dreadnaught, a 6/5/2/8 monstrosity with action economy up the wazoo. Its a gimmick ship, but oh so fun to play. It has some great cards, including one of the best crew in the game for non-federation players: Seven of Nine (free action [BS] token).
3. If you were playing the Mirror Universe faction, I'd say get the Pasteur. Realize that the USS Pasteur is a Mirror Universe Faction ship, and not a Federation ship.
4 and 5. The Borg got a huge Nerf Bat taken to them (they can only fire at range 1-2, and the suggested tournament build rules restrict them to a 40 point build with some caveats as well). Unless you want to play Borg, in which case I would suggest playing the Assimilated Vessels (they have an Assimilated Enterprise, D'drex, Galor, and Bird of Prey). If not, you might want to just stay away from them. If you want to play Borg, then Id' suggest two Borg Spheres, a Queens Ship, two scout cubes, and a Tactical Cube. Oh, and the Borg Soong. There is a lot of anti-Borg cards out there these days that will just ruin your day.

The Premium Borg Cube is really a waste of money unless you just really want one. Can't be used in OP's, so it'll be casual play, and it really isn't all that good. The DS9 is in the same boat, but it at least has some good crew cards and has rules for moving around. Of the two, I'd recommend DS9 before the Cube.

If you aren't interested in OP play, there really isn't any reason to get multiples of any ship. Looking at your purchases, I'd pick up a Romulan Praetus for Romulan Cloaked Mines, a D'Drex, just because they are a awesome brick ship, and the USS Excelsior. If there was two Federation ships I'd get multiples of that was an OP prize, it would be the USS Stargazer for Tactical Stations and the Picard Maneuver, and USS Hood for Type 8 Phasers.

This is all off the top of my head, and there are a lot I'm missing I'm sure.

Romulans?

The Scimitar, the Haakona, the Valdore.

The Delta adds alot of versatility to the Feds, and it makes the Equinox an AMAZING ship.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

So, based on the above, I will add the Delta Flyer and Constitution to my "get" list. After taking a look at some of the OP ships, I'm also thinking of tracking down a Sutherland, Yeager, and Stargazer, more for completionism than anything else!

@Tamwulf: Much win in your post . First, I appreciate the heads-up about the Pasteur; I didn't realize it was a non-Fed ship . Given that it was from an alternate timeline, that makes sense, though I'm not sure the Mirror Universe is a great match either. I had heard that the Borg were nerfed. It's not so much that I want to play them, rather I want to have them to play Federation ships against . That's why I'm intrigued by the large cube; I'd love to use it for Wolf-359 style games, maybe with some "Hollywood" rules to make it match up with the show. I hadn't noticed the assimilated vessels. These are all OP prizes so far, correct? Thanks for the tip on the DS9 too; I might very well end up getting that one first as you recommend.

All of the Assimilated ships are OPs at the moment. The Oversized Borg Cube has very few landmark cards, but the Locutus card is a high point.

The Yeager's ability is a little lack luster, since it has only a forward Arc. The stargazer is a great catch, but hard to find. The upgrades are fantastic.

The USS Hood and USS Lakota are both a VERY good idea to have at least one of each.

 Ruckdog wrote:
It's not so much that I want to play them, rather I want to have them to play Federation ships against . That's why I'm intrigued by the large cube; I'd love to use it for Wolf-359 style games, maybe with some "Hollywood" rules to make it match up with the show.

Actually you don't really need any "Hollywood" rules. If you play the mission that comes with the big cube, you can turn it into a bit of a monster. In the Wolf 359 mission you have 250 points to put into the Cube and it has unlimited Borg upgrade slots. You can do some fun things with the cube, it just doesn't fit into the narrow confines of OPs, but in casual play it's a blast. DS9 is pretty cool too.


As for the prize ships, none of them are "must haves" but they can be a lot of fun. If you are ok with proxies there are a lot of fun things to be found in (https://boardgamegeek.com/forum/1384770/star-trek-attack-wing/variants)

I'd second the adding of the USS Hood and USS Lakota to the list of ships to get. The Hood is a prize ship, so expect to get that on eBay, and the Lakota is a blind ship out of this season's OP kits. The Hood has another William T. Riker crew card, but the best Riker crew card IMHO, the Type 8 Phaser Array, and Systems upgrade. I use all three of those cards in just about every Federation Fleet. The Lakota comes with another phaser upgrade that is just ballz against fighters. If you are playing in a fighter heavy meta, then get the Lakota. Otherwise, I'd just play in this seasons OP's and try to trade or pull one.

The Borg Cube scenario is more than enough to play. You won't need to add any "special" rules for it.

Hood and Lakota...got it!

I'm also looking at using some of my Trek heroclix minis to proxy a few things until I can track down some of the OP ships...CorsecEng makes adapter bases for just that purpose:

http://corseceng.com/omni-stand/starship-bases/

Cards would be easy to print, though the movement dials will be a bit more problematic .

I made some of those in the early months of STAW, but these days it isn't really necessary. All of the OP ship classes have been released in some retail variant except the Raven but that is coming later this year. For instance if you want the Sutherland and can't find one, buy the Phoenix and then print out the Sutherland cards. For the Ch'Tang pick up a Ning'Tao. For Rav Larest get a Gor Portas. At least this way you get the dials and all the tokens.

I have a buddy who collects the Tactics that could REALLY benefit from that link, Thanks!