Wednesday 27 November 2013

the D7! A Review


All Grown Up!

The D7, and its upgrades, are a pretty weak lot. I still haven't picked up this expansion because I can't see anything from it that is particularly useful. So there's the confession out of the way- I haven't played with a D7. I don't own a D7. I much prefer my klingons to be Cloaked and have 5 attack dice. I've heard some people have run a D7 swarm but I can't bring myself to look upon the upgrades with anything but a hearty "meh".
Here are the stats for the D7

I.K.S. Gr'oth (D7-Class)/ Klingon Battlecruiser (D7 Class)
Front Firing Arc: 90° Rear Firing Arc: NA
A: 3
E: 1
H: 3
S: 2(1)
Each time you defend against a ship at Range 1, roll 1 extra defense die.
Actions: Evasive Maneuvers, Target Lock, Battle Stations
Upgrades: Tech, Weapons, Crew
Points: 18 (16)

Here's the long and short of it- I don't think it's particularly good. Sure, you can cram 6 of them into a list, but you'll still, at best, have 18 shots at one target- I can get that amount of attack dice out of a three ship list using the Klingon Attack Build that I described yesterday- AND I can get cloak at the same time. Sure, I'll have 2 extra hull points across 3 more ships with the D7s, but I hardly think that will be the game changer. 

If you bump it down to 5 D7s, and add in some Captains, you have a bit more of an argument in favour of the D7. Essentially, you'll be at 80 points for ships, which is always a good number. You can take Donatra for 5 points, and Gowron for 4 pts and still have 11 pts left over for a Martok. You can get some pretty decent firepower- 23 shots at one target. But therein lies the worst problem- a 3 ship list has a significantly easier time attacking one target than does a 5 ship list. Sure, it can be done, in a modified triangle formation, but you'll be losing 1-2 ships / turn as your 4 hull/shield points get stripped off of you asap. 

The D7 maneuvers like all of the Klingon Ships in Wave 1- well. Like I said above, Manuvering 5 of them is going to get tricky, and a crafty opponent should be able to get out of your arcs. 
Ultimately, the biggest argument against a swarm D7 list is that it's the biggest glass cannon in the game. With no cloak, your ships will be hammered well before they can respond with their own firepower- especially the 1 skill captain'ed ships. While the Klingon Attack Build that I profiled yesterday has less firepower, it has more surviveability, which is ultimately why I think it is a better build- and a more popular one.

5 comments:

  1. Honestly, we're just buying one for the tribbles :). Of course, my son and I don't play competitively, but they sound like fun!

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  2. A friend of mine flew 4 D7s & Gr'oth (5 total) with Martok9, Gowron, Donatra, Terrell, and Unnamed Captain 1 at 3 OP3 events last week. It was intimidating to sit across from. Sure, if you get alongside/behind it you're fine, but don't be in it's firing arc. 2 ships w/6 & 3 w/5 attack are not something to sneeze at.
    I never thought a swarm would do well, but it did better than I expected. He ended up in 2nd at one event. Sure, he lost a ship a turn after the first couple of turns, but he was taking down more points than he was losing. As long as he could keep from flying into himself. He got very good by the 3rd event.

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  3. I picked one up for the collector in me. Never flew the ship - no cloak? no thank you. Projected Stasis Field looks good on paper but I've never really found a use for it in my builds. But how could you say no to Koloth (lol)?

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  4. I figure that it would be good in multiples, and is a lot better with LE Martok and could get even better with the Flagship upgrade.

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  5. The D7 isn't particularly competitive for tournament play, but it's not hard to foresee OP events or local tourneys where you're restricted to cards from given time periods. The ship's fine compared to the Constitution class and the recently-teased TOS Romulan warbird. TOS ships just aren't up to the standards of the Dominion War era, but they play okay against one another.

    Mind you, I wouldn't want to spend $75 to buy five D7s - but I could see doing print-and-play with a swarm of Clix or ADB or FASA minis for casual TOS-only games and the like.

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