Wednesday 13 November 2013

Koranak Preview

Gul Dukat is here... and he's PISSED
So the Koranak has been previewed. I'll go through my initial thoughts today. This thing is a doozy of a release and looks like a must buy at this point.

Here's the Link! http://wizkidsgames.com/blog/2013/11/13/star-trek-attack-wing-wave-2-preview-the-koranak/

The ship has a 180 degree arc with 5 attacks. Apparently it also has a bank 4. I'd like to see the rest of the maneuver dial- I have a feeling it will be light on turns, which is mitigated by the 180 arc. I may have a second ship to throw engage on soon enough! The ship also comes stock with scan- a useful tool that is getting more and more useful as these ships are released. Watch for Scan to get big improvements in Wave 2.


Okay, first things first, why this picture? I don't like it. Couldn't we get another clearer picture for Dukat's card? Just a minor gripe with some of the Attack Wing cards, but let's use brighter pictures and less dark on dark.

So Dukat allows your ship to make a free action. Already vaults up into the stratosphere of great captains. He's a bit worse than Picard in that you don't get to Scan or Target Lock for free and he isn't skill 9, but he only costs 5 pts, so there's a trade off. He gets a captain skill which also opens up some build space. Dukat is a BEAST of a captain and is going to become standard in most Dominion builds. I hate predictions, but if Picard shows up a lot in your group, get ready for Dukat to be a powerful wingman.

Gul Evek is not so good at first glance, but he could be great on a second Keldon with cloaking, which is another upgrade included in this package for the Koranak.  He's a captain made for cloaked ships and should be used on high defense ships exclusively.

Boheeka lets you save your battlestations token for defending. It's a very decent 2 point upgrade that'll see some decent play.

I don't like the included weapons. You will likely not need a 360 attack from a Keldon with its 180 degree arc, but your mileage may vary.

Here's the big contender for Tech slots in this expansion. Throw Dukat on your Keldon with this thing, and you'll have a Battlestations token and 4 defence dice per turn as your EASY mode. It's not amazing as you have to disable the ship, but it will definitely have its uses. It's not unique either, so you can run them on other ships as well. The other dominion ships finally have their mini-cloak. Be afraid of the Dominion. Add on that this can be put on ANY SHIP with a tech slot and we've got a big upgrade here.

Captured intelligence is okay, but I don't see that I'd want it over some other elite skills like Engage- which with the Koranak may be very good.



7 comments:

  1. Overall I think the Dominion finally becomes a forced to be reckoned with thanks to this expansion. They were sorely lacking a captain with a relatively high skill, and the 5-attack, 180 degree arc is a monster addition to Dominion forces. I'm looking forward to adding this to my Dominion tool kit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agree wholeheartedly. The dominion sorely needed this, and I believe this expansion has delivered.

      Delete
  2. It's looking like Wave 2 is filled with good stuff. I really can't wait to see the Excelsior.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You can see the movement card here:

    http://boardgamegeek.com/image/1834417/star-trek-attack-wing-koranak-expansion-pack

    ReplyDelete
  4. I saw it earlier. A lot like the Enterprise D.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'M SO BROKE AND I ONLY HAVE THE BASE SET.

    Come on, Kahless Klaus!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The 360 degree weapon is arguably more useful on other Dominion ships than on the Cardassians, and it's cheap enough that taking it crossfaction is viable. Three attack dice with no range mods isn't terrifying, but it's a whole lot better than nothing when the enemy is out of your arc. Even the Galor and Keldon might find it worthwhile - they turn very badly without upgrades like Engage, but they're very good at overflying enemies with 5 straights (and 4 banks for the Keldon) that leave their rear arcs facing the foe. In a mixed Dominion fleet other more maneuverable ships can help keep the enemy off you while you get the 180s in arc, but running pure Cardassians makes that a lot harder, and having rear guns for a turn helps with that.

    ReplyDelete