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http://www.startrek.com/article/attack-wing-wave-26-preview-u-s-s-enterprise-b

Enterprise-B Kinda lame. Gives you some utility to swap a token out for an evade. Best use would be with captains and tech that give you free tokens anyways, in which case I'd probably want a ship that did something else for a ship action. Standard Excelsior class, so horrible maneuver dial that's made up with a 180 fire arc.

John Harriman Ummm, what? Free action for an [EVADE] token, BUT you get an [AUX] token too? And captain skill 2. For 1 point. For 1 point, he isn't bad, but I think I'd prefer The Doctor. When you start looking at the 2 point captains though... And note that there is zero synergy between this captain and the ship he comes on. Ship action [BS] then use John Harriman for an [EVADE], and then during the defense step, convert that [BS] into an evade, but now you have 2 [AUX] on your ship. Just doesn't seem like a good deal.

Demora Sulu Why she isn't a 5 point discard like has been the trend lately I have no idea. On a tub of a ship like an Excelsior class, she is not that good. Place her on a Defiant, Intrepid, Oberth, Soveriegn... any ship with a good maneuver dial and she could become great. Too bad she is a discard, though there are ways around that. One of the better cards in this pack.

Deflector Control Please tell me they will correct the typo on this card, or is this just proof that there is no quality control/proofing/editing for STAW at Wizkids? I love the Repair 1 shield. Isn't this the first time we've seen a card that just flat out repairs shields without reducing your attack for the round? The other ability is VERY situational. As in, you need a build that disables shields and then you discard this card. Otherwise, you just re-enable them during the end phase. There are a few "Janky Builds" where I can see the use of this card, but for the most part, 5 points to repair a shield could be worth it if you survive the initial joust and aren't focused on something else (like maneuvering and destroying the enemy). There was an interesting article on the Facebook page the other day about mid and late game ship builds, and this is definitely a mid to late game card. This will probably pop up on a lot more cloaking ships then any other ship.

Full Reverse OK, this card makes me scratch my head and say "Huh?". It's straightforward enough (see what I did there?), but it's a 2 point disable. What? a 2 point disable that affects movement? How is this not a 5 point discard as we have so often seen? This card would be difficult to use. Best use would be on a big tanky ship, that can throw 5+ attack dice, and has a high captain skill, preferably with some free actions because you are probably going to get an [AUX] token for backing up. Though a low captain skill with Demora Sulu and a weapon that can shoot 360 or back arc could be useful. I can see some uses for this card, but for the most part, backing up is almost always a bad idea. It's still befuddling how this is a 2 point disable...

Holo-Communicator Could potentially be the best card in your fleet. Throw "Free-Ballin' Picard" on a ship, have this card on another ship, and you just got yourself a free action. Even Ahab Picard would be a good choice. The uses for this card... wow! And it's only a disable, doesn't take an action. So think about that- after using it last round, this round you could re-enable it, disable it to copy Picard's action to get yourself another free action! Will work great with Emergency Medical Hologram, The Doctor, Beverly Crusher, Phlox, Elizabeth Lense... great card!

Resonance Burst This is more like the cards we have seen lately. A five point discard that allows you to remove a evade, battle stations, scan or target lock token from an enemy ship at range 1. Or flip a cloak token over to the red side. Yeah, too short of range and 5 points is too steep to remove those tokens. Could be worth it to remove a target lock. 5 point discard though...

Improved Phasers "Treat this as an attack with your Primary Weapon" giving you range modifications, OK, I can see. And any card that affects your Primary Weapon attack should work here, right? Such as Dual Phaser banks? Type 8 Phaser Array? Basically, you can get a Constitution Class ship up to Primary Attack Value 6 for 8 points? Sounds like a deal to me! I'll take it!

Best card in the pack: Holo-Communicator. The ability to replicate a Captain's action on another ship can potentially lead to a lot of free actions or a powerful, crucial ability. Can you imagine having 2 Captain Picards in your fleet? Or two Donatra's? Two Martok's? Two... get the picture? Demora Sulu is a close runner up, and Improved Phasers on the right build could be awesome!

Worst card: Resonance Burst. 5 point discards, especially one that takes up a tech slot, are not worth it.

Thanks for the news. Did they change the mold to show the hull differences on the Ent B or is it an Excelsior rerelease modelwise?

Hard to tell, the picture is from above where you can't see the belly flange, but its visible on the card.

It is the same model as the Lakota with the shiny paint job. Which is ok by me because I always thought the weird redo of the Excelsior class for the B was hideous.



On the pack.

-Tamwulf

I think you are missing a big point on the synergy between the captain and the ship. The ship lets you swap for an Evade token and the captain lets you take an evade as a free action. So this ship could have 2 evades a turn, which could be a pain to enemies with lower attack values.


On Holo Communicator you don't get to copy a captains text you only get to perform their Action. So the captain would have to be someone with "Action: ..." on the card. Picard 9 grants a free action he doesn't have "Action:" on his card.




Take a look at these two captains. Holo Communicator could use Gowron's Action because his card has the "Action: ..." after it, however it could not copy Martok's because it is an innate ability and NOT an action.





There is a lot of debate right now over Improved Phasers stacking with things like Type 8 or Upgraded Phasers. Personally I am in the camp of they can't, but until WK make an official rulling I would check that one with each TO individually or ask you friend in a home game.


In all this is a good pack, much better than the Venture.





There are a few cards that repair shields without reducing attack value. Konmel, Rom, and Glen Daro come to mind, just spend an action to repair. Rom even repairs two shields if he is on a Ferengi ship. Unlike Obrien from the Defiant Action + Disable + NO Attack = that.

Mr. B, I recognize the interaction between Harriman and the Ent-B potentially giving you 2 [EVADE] during a combat round at the cost of your ships action and an [AUX] token. This works against one attack, and it's a bluff- he has a low Captain Skill, but I see 1-2 high skill, and the rest generic skill 1 captains in my Meta. Its a gamble to use this combo, and it's easy for your opponent to bluff you to hold onto a BS/Target Lock/Scan token and never use it, and give you an Aux Token instead. I haven't seen a ship throw less then 4 attack dice in a long time. Usually it's 5-6+ with quality. Other cards would be much better in this instance- Hikaru Sulu for 3 pts, Elizabeth Shelby for 2, Tom Paris for 4, or even Saavik for 3. It's a very disappointing ship ability that requires you to somehow get a token on your ship that you are not planning on using for the round... in which case, wouldn't it be better to use a ship that gives you a more useful ability and use crew/tech to add evades? I just can't see anyone taking an Enterprise-B/Harriman combo.

The Holo Communicator you are right again- though I was kind of looking at it from an action kind of way. While it doesn't replicate the Captains text, only it's action, then now I have a feeling we'll see Picard with a Holo Communicator calling up captain Kor and asking "Hey Kor! How do you get everyone to attack you, because I'm rocking Tom Paris and Elizabeth Shelby on my Defiant..." or "Hey Gul Dukat! Gimmie an extra attack die this round!" or better yet "Hey Borg Queen! I want more free actions!" LOL so many possibilities...

I agree with you on the Improved Phasers, but as written on the card, it should work like that- being able to stack cards that improve your Primary Weapon. I mean "Treat this an an attack with your Primary Weapon" seems pretty clear. I certainly don't want to run into a Tinyprize or Intrepid rocking 6+ attack dice. Or maybe not- it would rank right up there with the Delta Dreadnought for absurd builds. It's gotta be one of the most efficient uses of points for attack dice yet in the game. I really wonder if Wizkids will even bother issuing an errata for it. Last time we heard anything from them was the Wave 24 IRW Algerion and all the mess that ship caused. Even if they say nothing at all, no errata on the card at all, we won't be seeing it all that often as it's way easier to just use Tactical Stations or Type 8 Phaser Array or crew to gain more attack dice.

The USS Venture was a comparable release. The ship is better then the Ent-B except for it's fire arc, you can get more use out of Donald Varley, Galaxy Wing Squadron is kinda "meh"- and only useful in large games, but there is no comparable elite talent on the Ent-B. Improved Phasers will be great on smaller ships, but on big ships with lots of attack dice, the Venture's Additional Phaser Arrays will make a huge difference. The tech upgrades between the two are about even. My recommendation, get both because they both have good cards that you will want to use in your fleet. Must haves? Hmmm. Depends on how you build your fleet. For me, a must have is the Additional Phaser Arrays and Maximum Warp of the Venture. If I ran a lot of smaller ships, I'd probably want the Ent-B pack for Sulu and Improved Phasers. Neither pack is a "must have" but the Additional Phaser Array giving you a second shot at -2 attack dice. I can see MU Admiral Worf and this card giving a ship the chance to fire 3 times in one round... heck, let's make Admiral Worf a Captain instead, and then use Holo Communicator to give another ship an extra attack in a round... Hmmm. Two ships able to attack 3 times in one round...? Might have to ponder that one.

Captain Worf on ship X, other captain on ship Y. Ship X and Y both have Additional Phaser Arrays, Ship Y has a Holo Communicator. Ship Y uses Worf's ability to give Ship X with Worf on board an immediate attack, and then Worf on ship X uses his action to give ship Y an immediate attack. Both gain Aux tokens. During the combat phase, both ship X and Y make attacks with primary weapons, and then a second attack at -2 dice... Two ships making six attacks in one turn...

 Mr. S Baldrick wrote:
It is the same model as the Lakota with the shiny paint job. Which is ok by me because I always thought the weird redo of the Excelsior class for the B was hideous.

Well, boo - having the "right" mini was the big reason for me to get this. Luckily though, I do have my Micromachine copies, so I can replace the miniature with the right one and use the official cards and base.

-Tamwulf

I agree, I would rather take the Doctor over Harriman. Though he isn't that much of a gamble. You can wait until you're attacked to switch out the token, it just says during the combat phase. So take a BS with the ship and an evade token from Harriman. If you are attacked and need it switch out the BS for an evade. What might be an interesting idea is to take High Energy Sensor Sweep and Saavik. Then you could take a BS, Scan, and evade. That could change to 3 evades if need be. That could be as annoying as the Equinox


I can see where people are coming from with the Improved Phasers but I don't think that was the intent. I hope WK doesn't let it go too long before they address it. They posted rulings on the Algeron cards the next day, so here's hoping.

The ship model not being a refit is a major down point for me, i kinda expected it but still disappointed.

Holo-communicator opens up a lot of tricks. A klingon swarm with those +1 attack dice captains just got an even better alpha strike. I'm sure their are many possibilities for it.



Automatically Appended Next Post:
The ship model not being a refit is a major down point for me, i kinda expected it but still disappointed.

Holo-communicator opens up a lot of tricks. A klingon swarm with those +1 attack dice captains just got an even better alpha strike. I'm sure their are many possibilities for it.

I was actually thinking that Holo Communicator would be good for a higher skill Kirk or Picard to use Captain Sulu's ability to remove a TL.

Spock and Chang 6 in the same fleet could also be fun to disable people's captains. Free TL from spock then Holo Communicator to use Chang's ability to disable. Could be very annoying.

Picked this ship up this weekend and threw it in with my collection. Not impressed with the mini at all, and Holo-Communicator seems like the only stand-out card in the group.

I found it interesting it comes with a solo scenario (Save the Freighters from the Energy Ribbon). I think I'll give it a try and see how it turns out.

I do wish that all the X-Wing minis came with little scenarios like this, not just their bigger sets.

Sulu is a good card for that one time per game when you wish you could do that extra maneuver after being hit. You know, that one time you went left when you should have went right, and now you are facing the entire enemy fleet nose to nose? Yeah, you are about to get punched in the nose, but after that, you should be able to get away- or at least out of a fire arc or two. Unless you're facing those Dominion Sperm Fish Ships, Borg, or another Federation Excelsior class ship. Not many people outfit their entire fleet with 360 weapons. Basically, she is a Get Out of Jail Free card. After you've gone to jail that is.

Improved Phasers could be a very good card if everything that effects a Primary Weapon affects this card. Things like Constitution Class ship abilities, Type 8 Phasers, etc. etc.

On the whole the more I look at this pack the more solid I think it is. The only dud is Resonance Burst. Everything else in it pretty decent and could be used in several builds. I do wish WK would say something official on Improved Phasers.

WORF made a ruling yesterday on the Improved Phasers. They count as a secondary weapon with the number printed on the card. So Type 8 and Upgraded Phasers do NOT stack with them.

(http://win.wizkids.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=11771&sid=612a7de47b3bfa9006401892b46278ac)

For a lot of people, the only reason they picked up the Ent B was for Improved Phasers. Now, it's just another Secondary Weapon that will go in the "unused" pile.

I have two huge binders with card sleeves full of cards, and yet I maybe use the same 20 or so cards with every fleet. I think I'm going to pair down to one much smaller card book, and put the rest of my cards in a card box. If there was one thing I'd want out of STAW 2.0, it would be to get rid of the "must have" ships and cards. Would be a very daunting and difficult task, but would make for a much better game.

 Tamwulf wrote:
For a lot of people, the only reason they picked up the Ent B was for Improved Phasers. Now, it's just another Secondary Weapon that will go in the "unused" pile.

Honestly I don't think that is a fair assessment. This is still a good card. Not everyone has access to multiple Type 8 Phasers and Upgraded Phasers. Originally I was hoping for a retail variant of one of the two but this is a nice addition. It is actually nice to see WK do take some steps to curb the dice stacking for a change. There are few ships that someone can stack Type 8 and Upgraded on anyway.

Of the ships that start with an attack of 3 or less only Defiant, Defiant Class, Lakota, Cairo, Constellation, and Intrepid have 2 weapon slots. On any other ship you have to use someone like Saakona. Torres and Scotty from the Bounty add a weapon slot, but with out Saakona's discount the cost adds up fast. Arsenal from the Phoenix is an option, but still expensive.

4 attacks out of 1 upgrade is pretty respectable, especially for 3 points. Disruptor Beams is 5 points and people still use that. I have 6 copies of Type 8 and 3 of Upgraded, but I still see Improved Phasers as being useful. Hoods are soaring in price right now, and the Lakota isn't far behind. For people just getting in or those that want to keep the game economical this is a good option.

Since Improved Phasers gives the range bonuses I can see it being useful on any ship with 1 weapon slot. The USS Reliant is a great candidate. With it's special ability you are looking at 6 attacks at range 1.

Improved Phasers is also a good option for out of faction play. As I said before Hoods, for Type 8, are getting expensive and the Upgraded Phasers from Lakota costs +5 extra for out of faction. For someone like Breen or Ferengi Improved Phasers will be a nice boost.