New Player Fleet

animus

Mongoose
I have interested one of my gaming buddies into pursuing the passion that is A Call to Arms. I have lots of fleets, but he wants one of his own. If he's to have a fleet I don't have it has to be one of the following:

Drakh
Dilgar
Any League

What would you recommend for a new player who wants to compete; wants an easy fleet to play and paint. Naturally, he could go with any fleet and I could take any other fleet, but these would be the "cleanest" for him.
 
From what I've seen, Drakh would be the most fun. Maneuverable and Precise weapons...good time.

Dilgar come in second - I like the look of their fleet.

Never been a fan of any of the League races...I suppose diversity is a plus. Vree would be my League choice at a distant third.

However, you should play some small games using the counters. That way he'll know what he's getting into when he buys...
 
I play both Dilgar and Drakh.

Drakh has more room to be creative. You get to pull off wide-range maneouvers that no one else can really think of. You get to be spontaneous. But, the beam fleet is unforgiving. Against an opponent who knows how to manage their beam dice at range you can watch Light Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers go up like popcorn when the GEG gets caught against a bat weapon suite. If you go raider-heavy, fighters are almost an unanswerable problem. Anti-dodge weaponry is fearsome to raiders. You almost have to lure an opponent into a spider's web of skirmish ships and then pounce only at the last second -- there's a ton of patience involved. And, even then, your overall firepower is actually quite poor. A very technical race that allows for great flexibility. The logical conclusion to the WhiteStar fleet.

The Dilgar, on the other hand, are super-easy to play, as long as you've done your geometery. Know your distances, maximum ranges, and minimum ranges. You'll memorize the square root of 2. You'll see the world a sections of circles everywhere. You get obscene firepower moments. Every tactic is direct;if you aren't ahead after the first battle pass by a goodly margin, get the hell out.

Easy to fly fleet? Dilgar victory.

Painting:

Well, you can say that the Drakh paint easily, as there is almost zero detail on any of them. That argument is valid. The Dilgar have detail on them (at least, the old AoG figures do), but I consider this a Good Thing(TM). If you want to paint Dilgar well, there is some more investment (especially if you want to do that sponge-mottling technique). Painting Drakh well requires oodles of freehand. I'd say painting Dilgar has been easier for me.

So, easy to paint fleet? Dilgar victory.

League? No experience. Gut recommendations? Easy to play ... probably Pak, no that I think about it. Easy to paint ..... probably the Vree or the Brakiri, depending on what you think is easier, painting that Brakiri corporate logo or the hazard stripes on the edge of the Xorr.
 
I would say for a beginer the drakh could be dishheartening, all the majr races out range you, have better hulls, and can go for simple tactics, drakh while having some nice beams, need to maneuvre well.
I would consider Brakiri for a newbie wanting something different, a very tough battleship, which, if you take the Kaliva has great range and some punch, the ikorta and Brikorta are great skirmishers, Bit lacking at raid, but then throw in something from the other leage races and you can be quite formideable
 
I vote Dilgar. Their special rules aren't that complicated and you don't need to keep track of them throughout the round. Plus new player's eyes postively light up when you tell them "Oh, becasue you're Dilgar your weapons just did three times as much damage." They like that a lot. Bringing him in I would set up a battle with the Narn. He'll likely pulvarize them, but after the game be sure to tell him about interceptors. It can be a nasty surprise for people to suddenly learn that all their big weapons can be blocked.
 
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