The Warbird- IRW Khazara

An Idea of the scale of the Warbird

So today I'm going to conclude the reviews of the first three ships released with the starter package. We can then move on to reviewing a few of the more interesting upgrades that come along with the starter set, and then start on the expansions. There are plenty of things to discuss in Attack Wing, and the release schedule pretty much ensures that we won't run out of things to talk about for a long time. There are also the Organized Play events to discuss, so I don't plan on running out of topics in the near future. If you're keeping up with me every day, thanks a lot. Leave a comment, tell your friends etc.,

Okay, the Romulan Warbird. Originally intended to be a ship that would dwarf the USS Enterprise D, in both weapons and size, the Warbird does neither of those on the field of play. Let's take a look at the stats:

Weapons: 3

Agility: 2

Hull: 6

Shields: (3)4

If you initiate and attack while cloaked add +1 attack die. 

Evasive Maneuvers, Target Lock, Cloak and Sensor Echo

1 Tech, 1 Weapon, 3 Crew

30 pts Named, 28 pts Unnamed

The attack value is weak, the agility is great (2 is always better than 1!), the Hull is IMPRESSIVE and the shields are just there to make sure that you can keep your cloak up. 

The Maneuver Dial on this thing is VERY impressive. It's the most maneuverable ship in the base set. There is no come about, but that is offset by the white Turn 2 and Turn 3. It's a very forgiving ship for a new player, and has a nifty backwards red, which you should only be using when it's very obvious what your opponent is going to do on the next turn, and you can get a good firing arc on them. Don't use the backwards 2 just to be tricky- use it to deliver the final blow on a crippled ship. 

Is the named upgrade worth the 2 pts? Well, let's take a look. As I've said before, and is very apparent, each point in a ship's profile is worth 2 pts. Weapons 3 is worth 6 pts. The Unnamed ship has 14 pts across the various categories, and costs the player 28 pts to include on their ship. 

Now, take a look at the named ship. It has the extra shield point which is worth 2 pts. That brings it up to 30 pts. The special ability adds one attack dice if you are cloaked when you attack. Like I said with the Vorcha, you always want to be cloaked. You have no other way, aside from evasive maneuvers, to mitigate incoming attacks. There's even more incentive on the Khazara to be cloaked, since it's essentially like getting a 32 pt ship for 30 pts. If you're able to keep your cloak up every turn and fire every turn, you're going to get the full value of this ship. It will be like you're running a 102 pt list, and if you're like me, the efficiency of your 100pt list will already be pretty high. 

Lots of people prefer the Valdore to the Khazara because of the extra attack die built into the cost of the ship- it's consistent. Every time I look at the D'Deridex, I like it a bit more. The tech slot allows you to take the newly released, and very controversial, cloaked mines, as well as other interesting upgrades. This would be a great ship to put Captain Valdore on. I'll do a longer write up on Romulans as the weeks go on, but I'm recommending that you take another look at the D'Deridex- Galaxy class price with Miranda Class Maneuverability!