Call To Arms:Star Fleet Discussion thread

[RunepriestRidcully]

I couldn't find a thread for discussion of Call to Arms:Star fleet so I thought I'd start one. I got my Federation fleet box yesterday and am assembling some of the ships in between revision, (It will probably take me about a week.) I've also decided to get some new drill bits next time I go into town as well, and experiment with pinning, am looking forward to my first game in a couple of weeks. So how are people finding it?

[Slartibartfast]

Honestly, rather play Federation Commander.

[emperorpenguin]

I've only managed to get a few games in (Feds v Romulans) but have enjoyed it. The models have been a pain in the nacelles to put together though.

[RunepriestRidcully]

I must admit, getting the socket for the stand ball to fit into the hull and the Nacelles have been a pain in the, well, the Nacelles. Am hoping to spread through my lgc as one other guy (Klingons) plays at the moment, the plan is for us to introduce more people and then possibly bfg as well :P .
Must admit initially I was not that keen on the Texas, but is has grown on me.

[The Strange Dude]

The game itself is awesome quick and easy whilst still being tactical. However the models let it down in fact the models are terrible and if it were not for this fact I would have got another 4 - 6 people to put in for the game at least.

[Shipmonkey]

It is my standard course of action now to avoid Mongoose like the plague. This game almost got me to give them a try again. The they Mongoosed it; missed deadlines, poor quality control, bad PR spin...

Thanks Mongoose for reaffirming my lack of faith in you.

[Ben]

I was unhappy with the delays and the first resin run. However the Klingon fleet box I got was all metal and I was very pleased with that, and I picked up the Federation reinforcements squadron today and they are the same high quality as the Klingons.

When I get some decent light I'll take pictures and do a little review. Possibly I'll put it up Sunday night.

[Ben]

I've only managed to get a few games in (Feds v Romulans) but have enjoyed it. The models have been a pain in the nacelles to put together though.

Which ones are you having trouble with?

[emperorpenguin]

Pretty much all the nacelles on my Federation squadron and Kestrel were a pain. There was a lot of lumpy flash on my models which was a pain to remove. My Texas class was devoid of detail on one side.
The rear fin on my Romulan War Eagle was paper thin and broke off when touched by a paintbrush. There were no holes for the stands in my Romulan ships, meaning I had to drill into them myself through the bird of prey emblems.

[Ben]

Contact Matt Sprange or Mongoose customer services and get the Texas class and War Eagle replaced. I got replacements for the duff resin ships in my fleet box within a week. Were these metal or resin minis?

However the stuff I saw (and bought) at the games expo was all perfectly fine. I think, like another company, they tried to shift production to resin but had problems with miscasts and quality. Unlike another company they then switched back to metal for their models (exception being the C8, which is a resin hull with metal engines, and the Romulan Condor dreadnought) rather than keep going with a lot of issues. I think the problems with the resin minis upset a few people, particularly because of the delays that came from that in filling peoples pre-orders.

[emperorpenguin]

My squadron sets are resin.
I could contact them but been there done that with Babylon 5. I once was sent a defective Octurion, and asked for the damaged left hull to be replaced. They sent a right hull, giving me two right hulls. I asked them to fix the problem and they sent another right hull, AGAIN!. Finally on the third attempt they sent the correct half.
Not sure I want to go through that again.

[Ben]

Give it a go, drop them and email and say you've got a miscast Texas and War Eagle in resin, and you'd like replacements. You probably don't need to specify metal (as there aren't that many of the better 2nd batch of resins left, as in my replacements I got a couple of non-miscast resin battle cruisers, but most of them were metal) but if definitely want metal, do so.

Matt's probably exhausted after the Games Expo (2 solid days of gaming and selling), but drop a mail to sales@mongoosepublishing.com and it should get picked up fairly quick.

Then use your resin miscasts to make wrecks, like the one at the bottom of this page

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/...51359&start=15

If you want me to email Matt on your behalf if you don't get a mail back after a few days, drop me a PM.

[emperorpenguin]

No that's ok thanks, and I know Matt well as I was a B5 playtester. I've already painted up my ships so I'll make do. Still need to order Klingons though

[Ben]

I'll get aroud to posting pictures of my Klingons today, so you can get a good look at some of the metals before you order. The metal ones have been pretty perfect, especially the frigates, which are lovely and pretty detailed for the size. I wasn't happy with the initial resin run, but between the metal Klingons I got, the resin stuff being replaced and the quality of the Federation reinforcements squadron boxes I picked up at the weekend I'm pleased as punch with the range now.

If you end up with E4s you don't want, I'd be happy to take them off your hands as well....

[billclo]

The game itself is awesome quick and easy whilst still being tactical. However the models let it down in fact the models are terrible and if it were not for this fact I would have got another 4 - 6 people to put in for the game at least.

What's so terrible about the models? They're far superior to the older Starline 2400s that ADB still sells. To be sure, they aren't perfect and I've had some issues with assembly, but they look pretty good. Tell me these models suck :

















Now to be sure, there certainly have been problems with the game launch - rushed for Xmas (which is endemic in the game industry, especially for video games), not fully playtested, and the resin minis fiasco didn't help. Things are coming together, and minis availability, while not great, is certainly better than before.

It's a fun game.

[Ben]

I'll post a review of the Federation reinforcements box later, with tons of pictures.

[TheBigBadWolf]

This is what I get for not visiting WarSeer outside the wastes, I totally missed this. I love the klingon ships and the romulans too, If only I could find someone to play against I would buy them in an instant.

[Ben]

I solved that problem by getting two fleets so I can provide all the ships for my club. If you have someone you game with who like Star Trek, or who likes spaceship games, this is a doddle to learn. Squadrons are £30 and give you about 1000 points (I recommend Klingons, as the Klingon dreadnought is a great miniature, though I've done a review on the Feds in another thread) which is enough to play decent sized games. The big fleet boxes are £75, give you 16 ships and over 2500 points.

Ask around your club and see if anyone is interested.

[billclo]

This is what I get for not visiting WarSeer outside the wastes, I totally missed this. I love the klingon ships and the romulans too, If only I could find someone to play against I would buy them in an instant.

If you go over to Mongoose's ACTA:SF forum, there are plenty of players from the UK. Maybe you can find one, or put up an opponents wanted post. Good luck.

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewforum.php?f=103

[wat_dabney]

Just thought I'd chip in on this thread as this game is my new hobby project. I have lots of the Federation ships (far too many probably) and a Fleet box of Klingons to put together - so I took pics of all the unbuilt Fed ships before I make a proper start on them. I think I've got at least one of each model of ship released so far including the Command Cruiser. Pics are on my blog site :

http://howlinggriffon.blogspot.co.uk...boldly-go.html

I'm following Ben's approach - provide enough ships for some intro games to get my gaming buddies hooked, then wait for them to start buying models for themselves. It worked for Firestorm Armada - we've got ten people playing it now.