Having looked at all this, I personally went ahead and took the plunge. I've got a squadron of these fellas in my Drazi campaign fleet.
I'd be so bold as to say that these aren't a rookie's ship. I'll admit I've not played much in the way of ACTA, but I've been playing Battlefleet Gothic and Full Thrust for some years and with quite a high degree of success, and Claweagles strike me as high risk but at the same time high reward if used properly.
In a nutshell, I don't plan on using the Claweagles in a big game. If you've got even 5 battle points on the table, there are enough big weapons around to blow them away without much of a second though, and they probably wouldn't even take away enough enemy firepower to make their sacrifice worthwhile.
Take that down a couple of notches and they do become more attractive. In a Skirmish level game, they would become one of the more dangerous ships floating around because there isn't much that could take them out in one turn. That then means you have dramatically bigger breaching pods swooping in towards enemy ships which they have to deal with. If they do, then Warbirds and Darkhawks aren't being molested and more likely to get some good boresight angles. If they don't, then they're going to lose ships to being boarded and in a campaign game, nicking the opponent's ships has more value than just being able to point and laugh in the car park afterwards!
I guess what I'm trying to say is that in the right circumstances, then Claweagles look to me to be fairly valuable assets. However, if they're used incorrectly, then it's grape-popping time, and they seem particularly vulnerable to this in comparison to other ships. Badly-used Claweagles will get shot to bits. But be cunning (Drazi should be good at this!) and you've got a nice little earner...
I'd be so bold as to say that these aren't a rookie's ship. I'll admit I've not played much in the way of ACTA, but I've been playing Battlefleet Gothic and Full Thrust for some years and with quite a high degree of success, and Claweagles strike me as high risk but at the same time high reward if used properly.
In a nutshell, I don't plan on using the Claweagles in a big game. If you've got even 5 battle points on the table, there are enough big weapons around to blow them away without much of a second though, and they probably wouldn't even take away enough enemy firepower to make their sacrifice worthwhile.
Take that down a couple of notches and they do become more attractive. In a Skirmish level game, they would become one of the more dangerous ships floating around because there isn't much that could take them out in one turn. That then means you have dramatically bigger breaching pods swooping in towards enemy ships which they have to deal with. If they do, then Warbirds and Darkhawks aren't being molested and more likely to get some good boresight angles. If they don't, then they're going to lose ships to being boarded and in a campaign game, nicking the opponent's ships has more value than just being able to point and laugh in the car park afterwards!
I guess what I'm trying to say is that in the right circumstances, then Claweagles look to me to be fairly valuable assets. However, if they're used incorrectly, then it's grape-popping time, and they seem particularly vulnerable to this in comparison to other ships. Badly-used Claweagles will get shot to bits. But be cunning (Drazi should be good at this!) and you've got a nice little earner...
