By the Book - Playing out The Wrath of Khan using Attack Wing

One of my favourite films is Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. For me, one of the most noteworthy scenes is when the USS Enterprise encounters the USS Reliant for the first time and falls victim to a surprise attack.

When the Enterprise first detects the Reliant, there's a bit of dialogue between Spock and Saavik.

SAAVIK: Sir, may I quote General Order Twelve, 'On the approach of any vessel, when communications have not been established...
SPOCK: Lieutenant, the Admiral is well aware of the Regulations.

The assumption for this game is that Kirk follows General Order Twelve and puts the Enterprise onto a combat footing.

So instead of Khan looking surprised when the Reliant's shields are lowered, Khan is now surprised that the Enterprise's are going up!

Sir! Their shields are going up!

With Kirk and Khan having the same Captain rating (8), officially Kirk should go first. However, in keeping with this scenario, we'll have Khan still carry out his surprise attack by going first.

So, onto the game.

Here are the card selections I used for the game.

USS Enterprise

USS Reliant

The ships approached each other. The Reliant established a 'Target Lock' on the Enterprise. In return the Enterprise went to 'Battle stations'.

Reliant attacks

The Reliant fired phasers, gaining +1 attack dice for being at range 1. Additionally, the 'Persistence' card was played as well. That meant the Reliant could use 5 attack dice. Spending the 'Target Lock' allowed some dice to be rerolled. Reliant generated 3 hits that were unopposed by the Enterprise. As a result, the Enterprise was down to 1 shield.

The Enterprise returns fire

The Enterprise returned fire, inflicting 3 hits with 1 opposed by the Reliant. The Reliant was down to 1 shield left.

Reliant fires 'Photon Torpedoes'

Both ships maneuvered and the Reliant acquired another 'Target Lock'. Enterprise carried out a 'Scan' action. Reliant expended its 'Target Lock' to fire its Photon Torpedoes. 1 hit and 2 critical hits were inflicted on the Enterprise.

Deciding Critical damage

With Joachim onboard, for every critical hit, you get to draw 2 cards and pick the result you want to keep.

An 'Injured Captain' & a 'Console Fire'

The Enterprise had lost its shields and was suffering from an Injured Captain and a Console Fire. Unfortunately for the Enterprise, the Reliant was outside of its firing arc.

For the 3rd turn, both ships turned to attack each other. The Reliant used its action to regenerate a Shield.

Reliant fires Phasers

Reliant fired its phasers, inflicting hull damage on the Enterprise.

The Enterprise retaliates!

The Enterprise brought its phasers to bear on the Reliant. Success, 2 hits and 1 critical damage were generated. Reliant lost its Shield and suffered hull damage.

Turn 3 saw both ships close each other down. Reliant fired its phasers to no effect.

Evasive action!

Enterprise returned fire, however Reliant evaded the phaser fire.

Valtane to the rescue

However, with a Scan token and Valtane allowing 2 attack dice rolls to be rerolled, the Enterprise was able to generate the required hull hit to destroy the Reliant.

Kaboom!!!

So, in this game, the Reliant was destroyed. However, (as per the film) I suspect Khan would have still activated the Genesis Device.

Unlike the film, the Enterprise's Warp Drive is working. Reliant explodes, the Enterprise warps out of detonation range, Spock lives and the plot for Star Trek 3 is very different!