I started working on my first squad team, and I wanted some feedback, but since it's very possible I'll be doing this as part of the OP event, I wanted to see how it would do in that setting.

Here's a link to the rules for the event

http://wizkidsgames.com/wp-content/u...-Sheet_PDF.pdf

It sounds like the basic idea is that there is a planet in the middle, and you can fly your ships near it to try and fight the opposing player's forces and/or set up mines. The object is to kill the opposing fleet, but it seems you get some bonus points for taking the planet as well. My initial question would be does it seem more important to take the planet as often as you can or to ignore the planet and just focus on destroying the enemy as quickly as possible?

As for my current build, it's looking something like this:

Defiant 24
Riker 4
Anti-Matter Mine 5
33

Kraxon 26
Khan (6)
Counter Attack 3
Cloaked Mine 3
38

USS Reliant 20
Bejamin Sisko 4
I Stab At Thee (4)
28

I think Khan's ability doesn't apply to himself, so that's why he's six. The basic idea is to use the Defiant and the Kraxon to place mines around the planet, making it harder for the opponent to beam down to or fight around. In the meantime, if I do decide to take the planet, every ship has some capability to counterattack while they're defenseless. I'll have my guys keep close to the planet, forcing my opponent to fly around my mines while I target them.

I'm a little disappointed I couldn't afford to put Khan on a ship with Battlestations, but the Kraxon's decent stats, coupled with Counter Attack and a huge firing arc means he should get plenty of chances to damage others, especially if I use the Kraxon to extend shields to other ships. I wish I had room on the build for a way to repair shields, but I'm not sure where to trim the fat.

The Reliant was mostly because I heard two ship builds don't work well right now, I wanted to use I Stab At Thee on something that isn't expected to survive long. It's a bit of a waste of the Emissary, but he was a better choice than Pike in this case, and I needed an Elite Slot.

The Defiant was because I wanted to put Riker on a highly maneuverable ship that could take some damage so he could trigger his ability a lot. After he lays the mines, I assume him and the Kraxon will double team opponents, and I might even be able to get them both to trigger on the same attack. I could be wrong about how that works though.

I just started this week though, so any constructive criticism would be helpful. It feels a little odd because I assumed my team would have an Enterprise D with Picard and company on it.

When they first posted the scenario descriptions I kinda pegged this one as the one most likely to benefit a swarm team......I haven't built my team for it yet, though.

Keeping in mind that as it's currently worded the bonus for controlling the planet is worth as much as winning the game as it is an additional battle point. (a loss is worth 1, a Victory is only 2, participation is 1 and and Event win is worth 3). It's very valuable...this is probably the most important event in the series as you could potentially earn up to 13 Battle points this event as opposed to 10 in every other event, if you win the event, all 3 games, and control the planet at the end......again, as it's currently worded.

There are going to be multiple strategies and it will really depend on how your locals decide to play it.

One tip worth noting is that it has been clarified (by Andrew) that forgoing one of your ships attacks in favor of attacking with your ground forces(if you are in range to do so) is not your ship attacking and as a result it will not cause a ship that is cloaked to uncloak.

All that said, you have to win the game for controlling the planet to matter to you........I know I will be paying attention to the planet.


Most people start with that one.

Showing up - 1BP
Bye - 2BP
Win - 3BP
Tournament win - 3BP

there is a typo in the rournament sheet

but that is the actual BP scores. so the BP score for the planet is a big deal. but not the same as a win.

as a side note, at my venue. when the game is concluded (all ships destroyed, or time is up) whomever controls the planet winner or loser gets that BP. thought it might throw some intrigue into the scoring. (not sure that is the technical correct way to do it)

to the OP, controlling the planet is a big deal. It becomes a huge tension of attacking the ships to end the game vs. attacking on the planet.

Are you sure? Or are you adding in controlling the planet into that?

I know the typo about the Bye being worth 3 was noted but I still thought wins were worth 2 (as in the Clix events and the Instruction sheets indicate).


Not sure it's a right/wrong thing (as venues can run whatever they like).....it is different than the listed rules though.

So controlling the planet can be really useful. In that case, wouldn't that make the cloaked and antimatter mines more potent, since they can A) Prevent opponents from circling the planet to press ground forces, and B) help cover my own ships while they press my side?

I just noticed that anti-matter affects my own ships, though I still think it'll be a larger hinderance to cloaked ships. On that note, I hadn't thought of ground attacks not counting against cloak. That's fairly dirty, although it has the negative of not being able to beam mines or more troops down until you decloak. I could have the reliant and occasionally the defiant push the ground troops, while the Kraxon covers them and makes counterattacks. Would that be effective?

I'm still trying to figure out a good strategy for this one as well.

The mines are a good suggestion to help control, but remember that the cloaked mines can't be within 2 of opposing ships so you will need to keep that in mind when placing those.

That's my take, yes.

Well they are always potent........and I get the feeling, as you pointed out, that this might be their coming out party for many of the players who haven't seen their value yet. And yes, there are many that still do.

It can be devastating to cloaked ships......with ET:Engage or the Romulan Pilot coming out soon or other effects that give you more flexibility in movement (not including Dax which prevents you from Attacking) you can really cripple a tight formation.

Last time I used them I droped it on three ships and almost won the game with one mine drop (rolled 3-4 damage each time).


I think it will get more use when (and because of the planet causing complete obstruction, it will probably be more common) when a cloaked ship has no targets.......that's normally when I do my Target Locking......so it'll be nice to have another useful option during those 'nothing' turns.


Could be. We tend to play our events later than most (as we got off to a late start) so I'm anxious to see what strategies both come up and are more successful.

Hopefully 'Klingon Bird of Prey' will have a Bat-rep video for us to learn from.

Welcome to the game! Its a blast and I think you will enjoy it.

But here is some constructive criticism. At first look some of your ship, captain and upgrade choices seem like good ideas but I think if you got to play a few test games with them before going for the OP3 you might find some major problems.

#1, Well. #1 sucks. Sorry to say but Riker is just no good. First, you have to spend his action to use his ability, it is not automatic. Secondly, IF it does work, it only works once per turn; a second attack on him will not trigger it a second time. Thirdly, Once you take the action, the opponent knows not to attack him if they are worried about your two retaliatory attack dice. Fourthly, any decent player will just stay at range 2 to attack him. He is basically a boat anchor. For 4 points, Pike would be better. He could at least save you a few points on a few crew upgrades.

If you aren't married to having GenKhan on your fleet you could drop him and put regular Khan (8 skill) on the Defiant so he can take Battle Stations and bring the pain with crit hits. Then put Mirok on the Kraxon to heal a shield when you finish a move in range 1 of a friendly ship OR keep a captain with an elite talent slot on there so you can still Counter Attack, a solid upgrade for the Kraxon.

I Stab at Thee has some big power to it but the one thing you NEED to do if you run this is to keep your 'Stabbing' ship away from the rest of your fleet. Run in out ahead and keep the rest of your ships back because when it blows and stabs back it hits ALL ships, not just opposing ships. An Enterprising opponent will aim to destroy your Stabby ship first if you have it flying near any of your ships.

For as much of the fight as the Reliant might see, and for how soft it is to take down, I'd consider a Romulan Science Vessel with Donatra instead. You would have your 3rd ship to beam troops and initiate planet attacks while also boosting your main attackers and staying well defended with her cloak.

This actually leaves you plenty of room for other upgrades, like a Scotty or a Sulu or a torpedo for Defiant.

Give yourself enough room when flying with the Kraxon, that think handles like a bus with a flat tire. You have to keep a close formation to 'extend your shield' (range 1 form Kraxon), increase your attack value (range 1 from Donatra), heal your 'masterminded' hits (range 1 from Mirok on Kraxon) etc.

Whatever you take to play, have fun with it, and good luck!!

100% sure

until someone as up on the game as you asked. now I'm down to 90.

Yeah I know it isn't what is in the rules per se but i thought it would be an interesting change

Well this is the closest I could find, Andrew stating that a win + the planet is worth 3 Battle points.

http://boardgamegeek.com/article/13737062#13737062


So this (on the instruction sheet) is accurate (same as Event points in clix)

One (1) Point for Attending the Event
One (1) Point per LOSS
Two (2) Points per WIN
Two (2) Points per BYE
Three (3) Points for winning the Event

*Extra* One (1) Point for Winning while controling the planet in OP3 (added by myself)


Of course your venue can run it how they like of course.





Let us know how that goes......I'm making sure that I keep a scenario set for the store (as we've had smaller turnouts and everyone is getting a set anyway) in order to possibly run them in the future.

Thanks for the advice. I'll try a couple trial runs if I can help it. I didn't notice that Riker's ability needed to be activated. It's not quite a dealbreaker, since it ignores Cloak, but that does make it less wonderful.

I don't have a GenKhan, and I would rather regular Khan be on a ship with Battlestations, I just couldn't fit him on the Defiant. I originally wanted an all Federation team, but the Kraxon's ability and forward firing arc was too good to pass up. I also would have rather put that Klingon whon restores shields on the Kraxon, but I couldn't manage that either. I might try Mirok...though I'll need to go buy a Science Vessel to get him, but I wanted one anyway for a possible Weyoun/Varel combo later on. You gave me a lot of good advice, and I'll look into implementing it. Alternatively, part of me just thinks I should just get 3 or 4 Praetus ships, set them up to mine the entire planet, and then use a Donatra captained Valdore or Khazara with them for a swarm team. I haven't committed to buying so many Romulan ships though, so that's just an idea in the back of my head.

1. The Tournament Guidelines are contradictory regarding the number of points given to a player who receives a Bye. What is the correct amount?

A player receiving a Bye gains 2 points (not 3).



I found the above in the preliminary faq first post about op month 1

My guess is that Andrew wasnt reading super close on the numbers in the post you quoted (or in the faq) I'm committed to those points now

I will totally let you know how month 3 changes our standings with that scoring system

I'm pretty sure Andrew is correct in both instances.....the post you found in the preliminary FAQ was reguarding the error that had the Bye's listed at 3 battle points (more than the Wins at 2) in one of the early drafts of the OP info......which has since been corrected. The instruction sheet has always been correct though.

But really, as long as an event in run consistently that's the main issue.



Cool, look forward to it.

right after responding, i looked at the rules again

Man I read that wrong. that sucks

now I have to see if recaclulating screws anything up. damn it.

This will be my first event and, actually, my first time to play, on the 17th. I only have the starter and a few expansions, but I think I'm going with this:

Enterprise D with Picard and O'brien (Defiant version)
Defiant with Sisko and Photon Torpedoes
Maht-H'A with generic Klingon Captain
100 points exactly

I was thinking I'll just have the Enterprise run at the planet, beaming down troops and using Picard's extra actions to evade and stay alive. Defiant and the Klingons will do their best to cover them. I originally had the Defiant loaded with her cloak and Quantum torps, but dropped them to give the Enterprise O'brien's shield restoring ability.

I fully expect to get wiped out, but I think it sounds fun.