I am a Trek man at heart, and I thought long and hard about getting into Attack Wing versus Xwing. But my research showed Xwing as better-- better models, better balance, and better company. The models look downright cheap compared to X-wing. Scale issues bothered me a lot, and I don't have the paint skills to really do the ships justice. The game was already having balance issues last year, and from what I am reading in this thread, you can do cross faction...which seems terribly wrong and mostly broken. Back in my youth, I played the Wiz Kids Pirates of the Spanish Main CSG, but over a series of a year or two, the newest expansions had way better ships, abilities, and greatly outclassed the original ships. It was the collectible part WizKids games (Pirates, Heroclix) that eventually threw me out of CCG gaming in general. Additionally, like Steve Spikes said above me, it is about who you have to play with. My current game buddies are Wars people, so thank god that X wing is the better game.

In an alternative universe, FFG had the license to both Star Trek and Star Wars and I would have had to sell a kidney and my first born to them to stay in models, but Rembrandt Brown and I would play Trek AW and Wars Xwing everyday of the week.

I replaced the miniprise with a better scale micromachines ship.

I love how in X-wing people replace dice and templates, whereas in Attack Wing they replace whole ship models.

It staggers me that Wizzkid didn't consider better minis. It would have been such a cash cow. And they had the chance to come up with a different enough version (naval duels rather than dogfights) of the basic mechanics to make fans of both consider getting both.

Yeah... that was fun. The only models even close to being in scale (if you do like I did and buy 1/2500 scale models for the other ships) are the small ships like Klingon BOPs and such.

If I was to get back into Attack Wing I would play exclusively with Klingons. I'd replace the craptastic WizKids miniatures with proper Klingon ships from the Star Fleet Battles line of miniatures. At least then the bridge structures of my D-7's would be on correctly.

Whenever I think of how Wizkids and FFG handle their respective IPs, I inevitably think of two foster homes. One is clean and has foster parents who care for their kids, send them to school, put good food on the table, and tuck them in at night telling them that they're loved. The other is a nasty house with foster parents who act like they care by giving their kids good clothes, but then spend most of their time watching TV and don't really care about what their kids do or eat so long as they get their government check in the mail. And the difference is clear to anyone who looks at it close enough. And the ones in the Wizkids foster house are just standing in their back yards looking forlornly at the FFG house while their parents call them back into the house to get them more beers. And they better be cold, dammit!

attack wing? why not "Star fleet battles?? lol...

Or it's updated/streamlined version "Federation Commander"

Now that is how you do a Trek game!

The mini quality is great (although you do have to assemble + paint them, yourself, and they are all individual purchases - the base game is pure-cardboard-only)...

...and the level of control you have over your ship makes you really FEEL like sitting in Kirk's chair, redirecting power between systems, etc. Only, unlike SFB's "spreadsheet" energy allocation, FedCom gives you either a slider alongside the ship side, or tokens you can spend (player's preference), as you spend your energy 'on the fly'. Need 2 points of power to fire a disruptor? Just spend 2 chits and take the shot! It plays sooo much faster than SFB did.

It is, of course, 'original series', only, but...well, they make the original series look good!

NOW...as to 'Attack Wing'...

I've played a lot of it. Played the 6-month DS9 war at 3 or 4 different stores, and won the entire 6-month event (with the prize DS9 model) at two of the locations.

Annnnnd...I'm selling all my stuff. All of the flaws mentioned by previous posters are entirely accurate - WizKids balancing is absolute ****, the model quality is awful, etc. But the real problem is the lack of playtesting. With WizKids now dumping something like 4 new ships every month - 3 retail, and one 'organized play exclusive' alongside 5-ship-backs of blind boosters (IE., 17 ships every 3 months, with captains/crews/cards/etc on all of them)...you'd rightly think that there is no way they can playtest/balance them. They honestly don't even try. WizKids just keeps putting out more and more powerful cards with each new release, so you basically have to keep buying new ships to keep up. You show up to an event with only wave 0-wave 3 stuff, and you'll get your ass kicked losing every match.

I really hate that.

And the worst part is that it no longer even really captures the feel of 'Trek'. It feels more like playing 'Magic', where the entire "game" is not about play on the table, but your deck-building skills.

@OP

Short answer: No.

Long answer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

attack wing? why not "Star fleet battles?? lol...

Or it's updated/streamlined version "Federation Commander"

Now that is how you do a Trek game!

The mini quality is great (although you do have to assemble + paint them, yourself, and they are all individual purchases - the base game is pure-cardboard-only)...

...and the level of control you have over your ship makes you really FEEL like sitting in Kirk's chair, redirecting power between systems, etc. Only, unlike SFB's "spreadsheet" energy allocation, FedCom gives you either a slider alongside the ship side, or tokens you can spend (player's preference), as you spend your energy 'on the fly'. Need 2 points of power to fire a disruptor? Just spend 2 chits and take the shot! It plays sooo much faster than SFB did.

It is, of course, 'original series', only, but...well, they make the original series look good!

Ho-lee cow that looks amazing.

Wow. WOW.

Wizzkids...you blew it.

As someone who is a long-time SFB player, it's a FAR superior game, and it's not even that popular compared to Federation Commander.

Not only does it have a great combat system (not as streamlined; feels more like you're commanding a starship that way), but there are plenty of sub-systems like the scanners, tractor beam, shuttlebay, etc. that allow you to play more Trek-oriented games. In fact, one of my favorite missions in the SFB book is one involving a survey vessel that has to ascertain the nature of a planet.

- My research online beforehand indicated that X-Wing was a more solid, better designed/balanced game, and had slightly better quality components.

- The store owner said basically the same thing when I talked with him about it, and he also said that X-Wing tended to have more players (at least around where I live).

- The X-Wing miniatures look nicer; better paintjobs and more to scale.

- I knew that I would want to get my friends into whichever game I picked, so I'd have some people to play with, and they much prefer Star Wars.

I was left with the impression that Attack Wing was basically a slightly worse, cheaper (in terms of quality, not price) knock-off of X-Wing, so I decided to go with X-Wing.

I guess my last major concern would be balance. I've heard lots of horror stories about WizKids atrocious game balancing, power creep, event exclusives etc.

This all sounds dead-on to me and mirrors my own research which led me to the same conclusion - that X-Wing is the better option. I know one guy in our game group who has ST: Attack Wing and he tells me there are not many players around here either.

If you are going to have time and budget for another game, my advice would be to get into a significantly different game which also has a great reputation rather than a weaker clone of a game you already have.

Personally I would suggest that you look into some of the LCGs or Doomtown: Reloaded (basically an LCG but they can't call it that since FFG has the term trademarked). Then you can have another highly competitive quality balanced game with a reasonable cost. Feel free to PM me if you have questions about any of them, I've played them all.

- My research online beforehand indicated that X-Wing was a more solid, better designed/balanced game, and had slightly better quality components.

- The store owner said basically the same thing when I talked with him about it, and he also said that X-Wing tended to have more players (at least around where I live).

- The X-Wing miniatures look nicer; better paintjobs and more to scale.

- I knew that I would want to get my friends into whichever game I picked, so I'd have some people to play with, and they much prefer Star Wars.

I was left with the impression that Attack Wing was basically a slightly worse, cheaper (in terms of quality, not price) knock-off of X-Wing, so I decided to go with X-Wing.

I guess my last major concern would be balance. I've heard lots of horror stories about WizKids atrocious game balancing, power creep, event exclusives etc.

This all sounds dead-on to me and mirrors my own research which led me to the same conclusion - that X-Wing is the better option. I know one guy in our game group who has ST: Attack Wing and he tells me there are not many players around here either.

If you are going to have time and budget for another game, my advice would be to get into a significantly different game which also has a great reputation rather than a weaker clone of a game you already have.

Personally I would suggest that you look into some of the LCGs or Doomtown: Reloaded (basically an LCG but they can't call it that since FFG has the term trademarked). Then you can have another highly competitive quality balanced game with a reasonable cost. Feel free to PM me if you have questions about any of them, I've played them all.

No idea why it's so popular at my FLGS tbh...I can only assume it's because they are used to the similarities to heroclix. The more I learn about it, the less I understand why X-wing is getting so little love.

- My research online beforehand indicated that X-Wing was a more solid, better designed/balanced game, and had slightly better quality components.

- The store owner said basically the same thing when I talked with him about it, and he also said that X-Wing tended to have more players (at least around where I live).

- The X-Wing miniatures look nicer; better paintjobs and more to scale.

- I knew that I would want to get my friends into whichever game I picked, so I'd have some people to play with, and they much prefer Star Wars.

I was left with the impression that Attack Wing was basically a slightly worse, cheaper (in terms of quality, not price) knock-off of X-Wing, so I decided to go with X-Wing.

I guess my last major concern would be balance. I've heard lots of horror stories about WizKids atrocious game balancing, power creep, event exclusives etc.

This all sounds dead-on to me and mirrors my own research which led me to the same conclusion - that X-Wing is the better option. I know one guy in our game group who has ST: Attack Wing and he tells me there are not many players around here either.

If you are going to have time and budget for another game, my advice would be to get into a significantly different game which also has a great reputation rather than a weaker clone of a game you already have.

Personally I would suggest that you look into some of the LCGs or Doomtown: Reloaded (basically an LCG but they can't call it that since FFG has the term trademarked). Then you can have another highly competitive quality balanced game with a reasonable cost. Feel free to PM me if you have questions about any of them, I've played them all.

.

No idea why it's so popular at my FLGS tbh...I can only assume it's because they are used to the similarities to heroclix. The more I learn about it, the less I understand why X-wing is getting so little love.

Some people just like to be really competitive with the best builds maybe AW offers that where the balance of x-wing does not.

Maybe they saw the prequels and it forever ruined SW for them.

As someone who is a long-time SFB player, it's a FAR superior game, and it's not even that popular compared to Federation Commander.

Not only does it have a great combat system (not as streamlined; feels more like you're commanding a starship that way), but there are plenty of sub-systems like the scanners, tractor beam, shuttlebay, etc. that allow you to play more Trek-oriented games. In fact, one of my favorite missions in the SFB book is one involving a survey vessel that has to ascertain the nature of a planet.

Oh, yeah, to be clear - SFB is the better game (to my taste) of the two (FedCom vs SFB). But it's also...dense.

I mean, the 'master rulebook' (no scenarios, no ships, no background - JUST RULES) is something like an inch and a half thick...

SFB is DENSE. Potentially. Of course, as any vet of the system will tell you...99.99% of that rulebook, you won't use in a given scenario. Hell, there's probably a solid 40% or so of the rulebook that you basically NEVER use (or use only once - I mean, how many times has someone really had to deal with a mutiny of the Klingon subject races after a boom separation on their battleship? I've seen it happen once in 30 years playing...but there is an entire chapter of the rulebook dedicated to that kind of thing, just in case.)

That the universe is simulated in such exacting detail, and the rules SO comprehensive as to cover nearly any possibility - no matter how remote - and with almost every rule cross-referenced against every other rule it could potentially interact with...

It does make it appear more daunting than it is.

But, man, the CONTROL you have over your ship! Emptying your batteries during energy allocation, and then redirecting warp power to recharge them (which will normally do so by the end of the turn...unless you use it for something else like increasing your speed...RESERVE WARP POWER TO ENGINES!)...

That fine-tuning level of control is just amazingly powerful.

And, of course, you can use the same minis for SFB as are being released for Federation Commander...

Is it worth playing BattleTech? That's what I want to know.

Give fleet captains a go.

Very trek favoured game. So much more than attack wing!!

Is it worth playing BattleTech? That's what I want to know.

I play battletech tech it's a solid game but slow when your learning because of the charts involved but play a few games you speed up considerably.

Catalyst who do it now have also released alphastrike a system for large scale battles which is becoming very popular it's still battletech but streamlined for using bigger armies something gw could learn from.

It's also fairly cheap classic battletech set comes with twenty four mechs a hex board to play on, then you could buy the alphastrike and never need anything else.

Who doesn't love big mechs destroying each other.

Is it worth playing BattleTech? That's what I want to know.

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I play battletech tech it's a solid game but slow when your learning because of the charts involved but play a few games you speed up considerably.

Catalyst who do it now have also released alphastrike a system for large scale battles which is becoming very popular it's still battletech but streamlined for using bigger armies something gw could learn from.

It's also fairly cheap classic battletech set comes with twenty four mechs a hex board to play on, then you could buy the alphastrike and never need anything else.

Who doesn't love big mechs destroying each other.

Been playing Battletech for the last 24 years and I have to say there is nothing more satisfying than a six way battle among friends.

Well I stopped for ages because getting the models was tricky, I'm however really happy with the effort catalyst is putting into reprints and enjoying large battles with alphastrike.

I collect both, paint both and enjoy playing both. Nuff said really!

As stegocent mentioned though, fleet captains (uses the clix system) has a fun exploration mechanic to it which I feel is indicative of the Star Trek atmosphere and is a lot of fun if a tiny bit more complicated to play. It currently has Federation, Klingon and Romulan ships with a Dominion expansion pack being released very shortly

Oh yeah i forgot about the sh*tty click bases, used them once then cut up some card to mark the power setting on the ships card.

Thankfully they put all the click base info on the ship cards.

Those click bases are so lame, it was the other reason why i couldn't get into the battletech game the other reason being blind boxes......BLIND BOXES why would anyone play a game like that anymore

Oh I would highly recommend looking at Twilight Imperium.

A very good Sci-Fi board game. Annnnd its made by FFG so win win

Oh yeah i forgot about the sh*tty click bases, used them once then cut up some card to mark the power setting on the ships card.

Thankfully they put all the click base info on the ship cards.

Those click bases are so lame, it was the other reason why i couldn't get into the battletech game the other reason being blind boxes......BLIND BOXES why would anyone play a game like that anymore

Does anybody?

Oh I would highly recommend looking at Twilight Imperium.

A very good Sci-Fi board game. Annnnd its made by FFG so win win

I think I will have to pick up a copy of Federation Commander! I am a scifi fan, I like pretty much any genre of scfi, not limited to liking SW or ST. I was never much into STB, we prefered FASA's version of starship tactical command. We also dabbled more recently in A Call to Arms: Starfleet. STF looks like it could definitely find a place in my collection.

As far as replacing crappy WK ships, that is not an issue:

I have extensive Federation, Klingon, and Gorn fleets, along with a a mix of civilian and others.

Here is that MM replacement for miniPrise:

I really love Star Trek and got into Attack Wing, but it's just not nearly as good a game (bits are terribly broken), and the community is often pretty **** nasty because of the prizes and limited releases. If you're not already invested in it, don't do it. People say good things about Star Trek Fleet Captains, if you can get a friend or two to play with you.

I really love Star Trek and got into Attack Wing, but it's just not nearly as good a game (bits are terribly broken), and the community is often pretty **** nasty because of the prizes and limited releases. If you're not already invested in it, don't do it. People say good things about Star Trek Fleet Captains, if you can get a friend or two to play with you.

Yeah the nastiness is real...our heroclix community was pretty close-knit and welcoming, but it still strained relationships because of the exclusives.

Here is why: If the exclusive was something you REALLY wanted, you almost invariably had to buy a power-team fine tuned to the current set, which was anything from £20-60 or even more depending on how big your collection was. All that did was utterly annihilate the newbies who had just gotten into the game and only had a few figures, and also increase the chance of net-built mirror matches. And let me tell you, when you've gone out and spent £60 on a net-list and then lose a mirror match because of bad dice...it haz bad feelz.

Now, if you are laid back like I was, there is still fun to be had because of Wizkids great participation prizes (The Infinity Guantlet, for example). It's actually worse than MtG for power-gaming and buy to win, imo.