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So now I know I can get a Borg Sphere to most likely shoot on turn one, I decided to do some more analysis. On BGG someone listed the maneuvers a ship needs to do to get out of the corner if they lose the ground battle:

1 Come about
2 Come about
1 White Turn
1 Spin
2 Spin

Ships that have this are:

Hideki Class Attack Fighters
Federation Attack Fighters
Borg Sphere
Romulan Science Vessel
Romulan Scout Vessel
Bajoran Scout Ship (has 1 Turn and 2 comeabout)

Ships that have a reverse and and 2 White Turn:

D'deridex
Ferengi D'Kora (1 Reverse)
Miranda Class (has rear arc)
Constitution Class
Nova Class (1 Reverse; rear arc)
Nebula Class (1 Reverse)

So with my first shot Borg Sphere I could focus on destroying ships on this list with high level Captains; the other ships on the list would not survive the aftermath.

But then I had another thought: if you ran a two Sphere build and neglected the ground combat, you could be very dangerous in the aftermath. The issue would be the onus is on the 2 sphere fleet to make up the points the other player accumulated from winning the ground battle. So you would have to make quick decisions to keep the turns moving so time doesn't run out on you.

So I'm thinking something like:

Sphere 4270
Drone Captain
Drex

Generic Sphere
Drone Captain
N'Garen

12 points remaining

Maybe use the reinforcements sideboard to save a Picard for the Aftermath?

I think the Reinforcements sideboard can only be used to put cards of the same faction on ships of the same faction.

Probably better off using the Flagship.

 PlaguelordHobbyServices wrote:
I think the Reinforcements sideboard can only be used to put cards of the same faction on ships of the same faction.

Probably better off using the Flagship.

IIRC, it is an auxiliary power token to place an out of faction card from the side board on your ship.

Ok, I think my one sphere build has a chance against the two-sphere build I suggested above. The strategy against two spheres is to wait out the first 3 rounds. If I can stay away from the spheres I can get close to the planet to give my captains RMTs. Otherwise I stay away and have a very good chance to win the ground battle.

In the aftermath I place the two spheres at opposite corners. I set my two ships up to ambush the lesser equipped sphere at Range 1. I may even be able to move the RSV so the sphere will bump it and lose an action (assuming I pick the correct direction it will go). I then can get the RSV to fire first; my sphere to fire twice using a free scan from the Romulan Pilot, another Scan from Picard, and a Target Lock from the ship's action. I'm hoping the second shot will be able to use the Anti-proton scan to pick up an extra attack die. Doing this may allow me to destroy the sphere before it can return fire. If not, I should be able to take the hit or let the RSV go. Afterwards I run since I would have around 80 fleet points.

BTW: It looks like The Arena will be very competitive for that Gorn ship. Any other strategies for it; or ones that may nix my one-sphere approach?

So we had more practice for the Tholian Web and I have finally had my revenge on the Borg.




Man those things soak up a lot of damage.


I flew:
22 Ch'Tang
06 Martok
20 B'Rel
07 Koloth
20 B'Rel
06 Gowron
20 B'Rel
03 Worf

I like this list and maybe pre Borg I would play it more, but I hold my breath evertime the borg fire. 3 hull is soo brittle. I have learned against the Borg its just better to go shields up and hope you are left with one hull to shoot back with next turn. The B'Rels did do bad because we are practicing for a faction pure event the Borg are limited to low captain skills and can't boost their attack value. So with shields up it is tough for them to one shot a ship. As long as I don't screw up movement I also get to shoot before them.

I have to admit I am getting tired ofmthis scenario though, we have played it about 15 times. I still like the idea of a projected stasis field. But still need to work on that one. Some romulans are also skulking around my bin. So we'll see.

Here's a video of my 3 battles in OP7:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA9J35-aURc&feature=youtu.be

I took in a pure faction Klingon fleet:
Ch'Tang with Klingon Flagship, Koloth, and cheap Photon Torpedoes
Vor'cha-class with Gowron
Vor'cha-class with Martok (skill 8)

The top 2 winners of the tournament were:

Double Borg Spheres, one with Feedback pulse, Flagship, Tac Drone

and

Borg Sphere 4270 with 2 Borg Ablative Armors (would take 22 damage to kill)
Apnex with Cloaked Mines
Hideki Fighters

I fought against the latter build in my third game. Not a lot of fun to go against. All three of his units were exceedingly difficult to destroy: the Apnex was rolling 7 defence dice and was using evade, the Fighters take at least four separate ship attacks to kill by themselves, and the Borg Sphere could take up to 15 damage before you were even allowed to touch the 7 hull!

We had a nice Tholian Web OP over the weekend. We had a few new people show up who had never played in an OP before. All of the regulars had one Borg list and a non-Borg list ready to go. For fun and to help out the new guys everyone agreed to play Borg free without even involving the TO. It was Faction pure fleets though. I went with super defensive Romulans.

30 Khazara
10 flagship (indy gives an evade)
04 Toreth
04 Decoy
02 Nuclear Missiles (to use with decoy)
10 Varel
04 Centurion
04 Centurion
04 Centurion
03 Interphase Generator
03 Interphase Generator

14 Praetus
02 Mirok
03 Cloaked Mines
03 Cloaked Mines

I got stuck with a bye.

Round 2 was a Ent D and Voyager build. Everything was going as planed the Praetus died after delivering nits pay load, Voyager was on yhebropes with one hull left, Ent D had one hull left. Big D got stuck in a corner and was destined to fly off the next turn. But I took a turn too small of a turn,hard 2 instead of hard 3, so I bumped the doomed enterprise and killed myself My opponent won with 2 hull left on Voyager. The really sad thing was I still had 2 Centurions, Varel and an Interphase Generator left, pluse 6 hull and 5 shields. Oh well... best layed plans right


Round 3 played another Big D/Voyager build. I learned my lesson and stayed in the middle. I took out Enterprise and he flew Voyager off the table. The Praetus was an all star that round. It survived 3 rounds of enemy shooting rolling 4-5 evades each turn and it killed Enterprise with its primary weapon, outstanding

In all I came in 3rd, but had lots of fun, the OP withdrawal was getting bad. We all voted to let the new guys roll off battle stations for the 2nd ship. I still have 2 more chances at the Web so no worries. I am not head over heels for this ship anyway, so i won't be upset if i don't get one.


Automatically Appended Next Post:



-Deathwing
2 suggestions for the borg.

1)Try not cloaking so much. Most klingon ships can easily be one shoted by a sphere. Especially when the 6-8 dice are being modified by Tac Drone, Picard, or Dukat. Those extra 2-3 hit points from shields keep you alive for one more turn to shoot back. 5 evade dice are nice against regular ships but the Borg are usually scanning in addition to reroll/battle stations. Your 4 unmodified evade fice against the borg don't get you that much.

2) The Projected Stasis Field/Klingon Bording party combo is great. It takes some timing, but a turn of no shields, no upgrades, and no attack hurts them bad. Loaded up Voyagers don't like it very much either . It might mean giving up that flagship, but in a 3 ship build after one ship sets off the combo, the other 2 can easily handel 7 hull of the borg.

I have found these 2 things have helped against the borg. It's not foolproof but its is better taking them head on.

Update to my Arena OP plans:

I was thinking of a double Bioship with Quantum Singularities, but I think a swarm could be setup to cover most of the area so the Bioships could not 'jump' back onto the map.

Next, I was thinking of my single Sphere fleet and thought I could something similar (and harder to kill) with a Tactical Cube. I think the movement for the Tac Cube is the same as the Sphere. Assuming that, the Cube would move the same as the Sphere. I would have to make sure a 1 Spin would still allow the Cube to escape the corner given its larger base.

Tactical Cube
Maxwell Burke
Indpendent Evade Flagship Resource
Spock
Romulan Pilot
Transwarp
Feedback Pulse
Borg Ablative Hull Armor
Borg Ablative Hull Armor
Full Assault

Total: 99 points

The first turn would use Transwarp and the Romulan Pilot to charge ahead. The ship's action would be to use Maxwell Burke to gain +2 attack dice. Hopefully I could use that in combination with Full Assault to roll a total of 11 attack dice.

I like the defense aspect of this build better; it has a lot of hull points and has Feedback Pulse.

Thoughts?



Automatically Appended Next Post:
I agree the PSF/KBP is a great combo. I like trying to put it all one one ship. The trick is to use McCoy so he can let the KBP do their thing as a Free Action. Since it's all on one ship, its easy to time' just place a low level captain on that ship so you can move your ship before the Borg do. I like the RIS Vo w/ Rudolph Ransom

On second thought the Tac Cube will need a skill level 9 captain so I can set it up across from my opponent. So out with the Feedback Pulse and in with Picard I guess

EDIT:

Revised Tac Cube build:

Tactical Cube 138
Picard
Once More Unto the Breach
Mr. Spock
Romulan Pilot
Transwarp Drive
Secondary Shield Emitters
Borg Ablative Hull Armor
Borg Ablative Hull Armor
Independent Evade Flagship

100 points

Do you find that a lot of people use Spock? I find Valtane to be more useful as he is cheaper and can be used for blanks.

I have seen him occasionally in the past. But since Janeway came out and you can get double scan I see Spock and Valtane together a bit.

At 7 attack dice Spock becomes more effective than Dmitri. That's assuming no other modifiers. That's why I went for him. Having said that, I haven't seen either that widely used.

A Romulan attack squadron passes through Cardassian held space en route for Cestus III. Their mission is to gather intelligence and monitor resent hostilities between the Gorn and Federation. Interference may not be necessary, but the empire is prepared to protect its intrests

Since I am guaranteed a Tholian Ship from my Venue (won the event where only one other person showed up; other prizes will be held for rescheduled event) I was thinking of a whimsical build that still had a chance against the Borg. My first thought was it had to have the Ferengi Krayton and Tribbles. Then I fleshed it out:

Krayton
Independent Evade Flagship (ship stats now 4-1-5-4)
Jean Luc Picard
Conditional Surrender
Boheeka
Cyrano Jones
Dorsal Weapons Array
Shroud
Cloaked Mines

IKS Maht-H'A
Generic Ferengi Captain
Projected Stasis Field
Klingon Boarding Party
McCoy

I could sub out the Maht-H'A for the Koraga and add Sar as the Captain to add 2 more defense dice while cloaked; I am still wavering on that.

The Krayton would become annoying with the Conditional Surrender (haven't seen that in action yet) and could deliver a good amount of damage in all directions. The "support" ship would be used against a Borg ship to drop its shields and disable all upgrades. Then I hope the Krayton would be able to get some good hits in. The Borg ship would likely be able to re-enable a BAHA, so I don't think I'll be able to destroy it. Also, depending on the timing, I could either drop some Tribbles on the Borg or put them on my "support" ship. But that would prevent me from using the Krayton's ability which is quite nice (disable one shield to add one attack die and re-roll all blanks one time).

Thoughts?

It would be funnier if you had 2 Ferengi ships.

 Mr. S Baldrick wrote:
It would be funnier if you had 2 Ferengi ships.

I would if I could.

csimian wrote:

 Mr. S Baldrick wrote:
It would be funnier if you had 2 Ferengi ships.

I would if I could.

How about making it really challenging, play pure Kazon

 Mr. S Baldrick wrote:

csimian wrote:

 Mr. S Baldrick wrote:
It would be funnier if you had 2 Ferengi ships.

I would if I could.

How about making it really challenging, play pure Kazon

I haven't bought any Kazon. I wasn't a really big Voyager fan. But that was mostly because I thought Janeway was a know-it-all and not utilizing her crew as experts in their fields....

Given that, I'm not convinced the Kazon are a must-have. Their Photonic Charges are OK; their ship's ability might be useful; and their Initiative order may be helpful against the Borg. But it seems situational. I think the Ferengi EMP is far better than any weapon that gives you a single Aux Token; those are easier to get rid of and don't affect the current turn that much. I guess I'd rather go to eBay for a second Ferengi Marauder..... <checking now>


Automatically Appended Next Post:
With the Arena rule change, I have been thinking of a more fun build

USS Enterprise (no bloody A, B, C, D, J)
Maxwell Burke
McCoy
Day Kannu
(Scotty + Full Assault here)

Excelsior Class
James T. Kirk
Torps (5)

B'Rel Class
LE Martok

Reinforcement Sideboard

Full Assault
Montgomery Scott
Jean Luc Picard

And either Interphase Generator, Counter Attack, or Massacre (not sure yet)

I have the option of switching Picard for Burke before the Captain's Battle for later use or use Burke if there's going to be a quick battle beforehand.

Maxwell Burke + Scotty + McCoy + Day Kannu + Full Assault = 10 attack dice + Battle Stations

EDIT:

Add in LE Martok and that's 11 attack dice + BS + 1 reroll

So, had the first arena OP the other day,

lots of fun, interesting event, really changed the tactics on this one,

I ran bare bones un named: enterprise w picard, miranda w janeway, and a Khan-stitution class with 8 khan + fed fighters

won every captains battle, generally was taking out a ship or two before that as well.

biggest challenge was the borg, but I had pre thought out the best way to place a sphere in the corner, at just the right angle, with the planet covering up its best angle out of the corner, so that it took 2-3 turns to get out of the corner while I tried to take down the other sphere in the opposite corner.

all in all, definately plan to win the captain battle on this one or aplha strike a ship or two before the battle if you are not feds!

gorn ship has some nice upgrades on it, I actually like the stats as well... I hope i win a fleet of them, would be cool to play around with.

I wanted to discuss the First Contact Borg Collective OP Event. I see the following strategies:

1) Bioship/Quantum Singularites. Due to phrasing of when the BCT moves and the Quantum Singularity resolving during the end phase; I think this will be ruled in the BCT's favor making this less favorable

2) Crew Ganking. Load up your ships on upgrades that will discard your opponent's upgrades. This will be difficult as you have to take down their shields first and you don't want to use PSF's becuase that will be an upgrade you discard.

3) Manueverability. Use things like Sensor Echo, Engage, In'Cha to try to keep your opponent closer to the Borg than you are.

4) Protect your crew. There are cards that can help your upgrades from being discarded. I think most of these state from an enemy's upgrade. So most of these will not work against BCT assimilation. I asked in te FAQ if the Kos Vulcan Crew card would protect against assimilation. I hope it odes not; it would mean people could increase their chances of the grand prize by usig the prize from that month's OP for an advantage

5) Cloak. This can help against the crew gankers and you can use Sensor Echo

6) Swarm for Protection. Use some cheap ships that always try to get a Resistance Token close to the BCT so they can protect a larger ship.

7) Rogue Borg. May be easier to move around the BCT

8) Hide! Hug the map edges in hopes the BCT goes after the other guy

9) Damn the Torpedoes. Will a more basic build do better against the above fleets?

Here's a quick idea for a #3:

Khazara
Romulan Flagship
Picard
Feedback Pulse
Dorsal Weapons Array
Full Assault
Boheeka
Romulan Officer
Synon
In'Cha
Counter Attack

90 points

Try to stay cloaked and use the free Sensor Echo w/ Synon to try to stay away from the BCT. Keep In'Cha around for emergencies.

Full Assult and Feedback Pulse are really wastes of points for you.

Full assault has to be directed against 2-3 targets with a minimal of 2 dice to each. Even firing from Khazara that is 7 dice, 2 to one ship 5 to another. Cloaked with that flagship you already have a primary attack of 5, 2 dice on the second ship won't do much. Save yourself 2 points and take Romulan photons. 6 shots at range 2-3 with picards battle stations isn't bad at all.

The feedback pulse is 9 points, you could take an interphase generator for 3 and achieve virtually the same results. Plus the generator is saved for after all rolls. Feedback Pulse has to be used before any dice are rolled. If they whiff you wasted 9 points. It is a nice upgrade on borg ship that has no other defense, also nice with Tana Los for 4 points, but never spend 9 for it.

Hell with the points you same you could have both photoms and plama torps. 6 shots at range 1 battle stations and rerolling blanks, very nice.

I was just trying to fill up some points for those expensive upgrades. But given your suggestions, what about this:



Khazara
Rom Flagship
Picard
AWS
Int Gen
Dorsal WA
Plasma Torp
Aft Particle Beam
Boheeka
B'elanna
Synon
In'Cha
Counter Attack

The Aft Particle Beam is a point filler and can be selected for discard if I get a resistance token.

Another strategy is to plan to defend against the BCT w/o any upgrades...

RIS Vo
Independent Battlestations Flagship

4x Romulan Bird of Prey

The Vo can get 8 Defense Dice plus a Battlestations token and an Evade. Statistically this CAN last against the BCT; but eventually it won't. The Flagship allows the BoPs to increase to 7 Defense Dice when cloaked.

I like this much more. AWS is pricy but it could be very useful for what you are trying too. I too am very tempted to fly the Romulan swarm

Not sure if a swarm could do much against something like a beefed up Warbird though. It just has too many defense dice. This will require some playtesting...

Around me Federation and Dominion are becoming popular and most of our Klingons don't use AWS. Not many Romulans around. 4-5 BoP throwing out plasma torps could be fun.

Saw your proposed swarm. I'd be worried those Plasma Torps would be assimilated pretty quickly by the BCT. Might be able to count on 1 volley but assume no more.

Yeah it's not the best for the 1st month. The cube targets the 3 closest so there is a chance it could be the other guy. So maybe 2 rounds of shots. I have mostly been using the Romulan swarm in casual play. I have a few other ideas in mind for the collective

A friend came up with an epic scenario - a Borg Cube and two Spheres attempting to assimilate a 5 planet solar system. Each fleet had 200 points. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_HwEos7exc&feature=youtu.be

Also, here is a recent OP 4 event in which my first battle was up against a guy using FIVE Tholian ships laying energy webs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6SxcpqWXfY

Good times!

Very nice reports there Deathwingcrusader. Awsome home made scenario. Though somebody need to tell Picard to pull his weight. He was taking forever to get around those planets, remind that human he can do 5 staights or use engage It looked fantastic. But you do know when Klingons do all the work and humans sit around looking silly, Romulans win while sitting back with a cold glass of blue ale

The OP was cool. Nice to see all of Tholian ships on the table, I hope he did OK. My poor Tholian One is sitting on the side lines because it had no cards and wizkids has yet to respond to me That was some crazy good rolling by the federation player in round 2. I did not really expect that one. I can never fault anyone who takes Kirk though, he is the man.

Thanks again for sharing.

Here's an idea for Borg OP2 or 3 build.

IRW Gal Gath'thong
LE Kira Nerys
Plasma Torps (5)

Rom BoP
Donatra
Plasma Torp (3)

Rom BoP
Clark Terell
Plasma Torp (3)

Rom BoP
Generic Captain
Plasma Torp (3)

Total: 90

The 'Thong doesn't need a Target Lock when cloaked so Kira can help the others get a Target Lock for free. This can enable them to use Evades, Cloaks, or Sensor Echo (or re-renable the torps).


An alternative since I only have one BoP (so Far).

IKS Ch'Tang
LE Kira Nerys

Rom BoP
Donatra
Plasma Torp (3)

Rom BoP
Clark Terell
Plasma Torp (3)

Rom BoP
Generic Captain
Additional Weapons Array

Total: 90

This way I would only have to buy one more BoP IF I opened or traded for the BoP in the first month

So, I just got into Attack Wing at the Expo a few weeks ago and my mates and I have started having a go at the missions - Something mostly missing from X-Wing. Tonight it was the Kraxon 'Protect the Outpost' mission.

It err... seemed rather pants.

I fielded:

Picard on the Enterprise D
Janeway on Voyager
Ransom in The Equinox with 3pt Torpedoes, Tom Paris and possibly something else.

My opponent basically fielded the Kraxon, with a lot of upgrades, plus the outposts, with a lot of upgrades.

Basically... It was a complete whitewash for the Federation. I just deployed in formation on the left side, moved forward, killed the first outpost from range 3. Turned, killed the second outpost at range 2 and 3 before it could fire at me. The Equinox took some damage from the Kraxon. I flew forward slightly and destroyed the 3rd outpost... again before it could fire at me.

I honestly don't know how fielding a second ship, instead of the extra upgrades would really help. Ok, well, it might have meant that Ransom was killed off... Maybe the Enterprise would have lost a couple of shields.

However, it honestly seems like we got something very wrong.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, to get punished for that mission, we then played the Kobayashi Maru. - Hmm, fun fact, Kobayashi is in chromes spell checker...

I was fielding:
USS Enterprise, captained by Kirk (of course)
Sulu and Tom Paris at the helm.
Bones and Uhuru
3pt Photon Torpedoes
2 hidden Federation Pilot cards which cost 3 points, no matter what...


I was up against something like:

Vorcha IKS Maktha with Nudaq, Photon Torpedoes and an EM Pulse? (Maybe?)
Gor Portas with Thot Gor, Torpedoes, Energy Dissipater, Breen Aide. - Maybe a couple of other upgrades that weren't used.

This was a far more harrowing game. - Truly suited to its namesake.

However, when the mission discussed the whole 'demonstrating a Starfleet Officers character' thing... I think it just demonstrated I am a sneaky B*****d.

Basically, my entire strategy amounted to trying to minimise fire against me.

The badguys deployed in the corners, attempting to hem me in. I just went straight and simply up the middle.

Turn 1: I flew forward, not exciting.
Turn 2: A 3 bank manoeuvre managed to bring me out of both of the bad guys firearcs - Shooting past the Gor Portas' and just incredibly closely edging out of the Vor'chas. - Success! I managed to beam a survivor on board!

Turn 3: The Gor Portas got caught out trying to turn around, however the Vor'cha was on my tail. Too close for torpedo range though... But still, 6 attack dice incoming with my shields down at range 1. There was nothing I could do to get out of his arc, so Bones was the first one to take a hit for the team, allowing Sulu to perform his Evasive Maneuvers. - With the help of Tom Paris' extra defence dice, The Enterprise only took 1 point of damage and... picked up a second survivor!

Turn 4: A hard 2 turn heading away from the wreckage managed to completely throw off both enemy ships, the pair clearly thinking that I was going to be turning in towards it. - A 3rd survivor rescued And now just the journey home except... I was now well into enemy territory.

Turn 5: Another hard 2 to bring me back around. The Vorcha was still stuck flying through the wreckage, however the Gor Portas had finally achieved a bearing on me and unleashed its torpedoes. Even with Sulu and Paris at the helm it wasn't enough with the enemy scanning me and my shields took a massive hammering.

Turn 6: A Gentle 3 bank actually threw off the enemy ships, bringing me neck and neck with the Vorcha and out of the Gor Portas' firing arc, which was attempting to set up a Energy Dissipater shot next turn. Thanks to the Enterprises 180 degree firearc, it managed to get a shot off at the cloaked Vorcha, doing a Critical hit. - Unfortunately, it was just a pilot skill reduction - So no effect.

Turn 7: Breen to the right of them, Klingons to the rear of them, ... Onward charged the USS Enterprise! As the enemies charged their weapons to fire, Kirk revealed his first trick... The dreaded Corbomite maneuver! The Enterprise was safe for another turn!

Turn 8: This is where it all counted. The Enterprise was just short of escaping to Warp and freedom, with the survivors safely in tow. The Gor Portas was finally able to fire its Energy Dissapater... A single successful shot from this would dash the Federations hopes for victory and there was not a thing Kirk could do about it except trust in his Helmsmen.



And... They didn't disappoint! Deftly dodging the enemy fire, The Enterprise avoided every single hit, though it did rely on Sulu's Battle Stations evade. Except... That wasn't all, The Vor'cha was still to fire, with Sulu and Paris truly managing to save the day, allowing the Enterprise to flee to safety on the final turn?

Well, as for Kirk? He truly did Cheat Death that day, even if he didn't need to use his Card for it.

- What a fight, and it was significantly less than an hour to play.