Thank you to everyone who joined us for an exciting weekend of tabletop gaming at the 2015 WizKids U.S. National Championships. Hundreds of players attended the events in Glen Burnie, Maryland to battle it out for the right to call themselves a WizKids U.S. National Champion and win an invitation to the World Championship, taking place in June at Origins Game Fair. With HeroClix, Dice Masters, Star Trek: Attack Wing and D&D Attack Wing tournaments taking over the Baltimore area, there was never a dull moment.
We would like to give a special shout out to our hosts from Games & Stuff. The success of these events would have never been possible without your help.
Congratulations to our new 2015 U.S. Star Trek: Attack Wing National Champion Danial Dattola
To learn from the best, we interviewed the new Champ – check out what he had to say:
Name: Danial Dattola
WES ID: ddattola
Location: Wichita, KS
Favorite Local Venues: Hero Complex Wichita, KS, Wizard’s Asylum Wichita, KS
What was it like to win the 2015 Star Trek: Attack Wing U.S. National Championship?
It was awesome. Obviously, that was the goal I had in mind, and everybody else playing had also. That became my main focus when I decided I was going, but you never know how things are going to turn out in these events. I have said all along you have to have 3 things to win an event such as this, at any venue.
First, you have to have the talent. There are so many variables that you have to be able to adjust on the fly at any given moment in each match.
Second, you have to have the build. Your fleet has to factor in the many possibilities you could face, and be able, one way or another, to beat what is across the table from you.
And finally, and this is something you cannot prepare for, you gotta have things go your way a majority of time. Dice can go against you, drawing the wrong critical damage at the wrong moment is a game changer, and having your opponent catch you off guard by out maneuvering you at a critical juncture of the game, can end your chances of winning a game and therefore the tournament real quick.
I felt confident I had the first 2, but after day 1 going pretty bad for me, I had my doubts going into day 2.
Did you enjoy the competition?
I totally enjoyed the competition. The guys that showed up to play were awesome. They were prepared and talented and very nice guys away from the game, but rather unmerciful at the table. Like I said, day 1 they showed me this was not gonna be a walk in the park. I went back to the hotel and started making phone calls to my best friend and fellow STAW player Curt Freeman. I told him day 1 was a disaster. I was really doubting myself and my build and thought I may be in over my head. I tinkered with different builds and discussed strategy with Curt, because obviously what I was doing was not working. He just told me these things happen and tend to turn around over the long haul. I was intent on changing my build for the next day. He questioned the need for that and told me that I needed to regroup and think about what I did during day 1. What went wrong and then think about how I could come back on day 2 and mitigate what went wrong, while still playing to the build’s strengths. So what did I do? I went to the casino to get my mind off things, and then got up early and changed my build 5 times. Ultimately, I went back to my original build and decided “what will be will be”.
How did you come up with your winning fleet and what was your main strategy?
The fleet came to me in an OP here in Wichita. I was playing against Curt, and he is big on playing all the ships at least once, so he decided that he wanted to play the Regents ship with Admiral Worf at this particular OP event. The extra attack Worf grants suits my style of play perfectly. So we started practicing and tinkering with builds designed around him and the 1st Wave Attack Fighters combo.
Because it takes an action to use, Picard became an obvious choice. Then the more I practiced it, the more I liked the Tactical Drone for 2 reasons. One, if he uses his action to grant the Worf attack, he can spend a drone token to re-roll his attack dice, and two, it gives me the option to choose when it is best to take the Worf action.
I can either do it before the fighters move using the Tactical Drone’s ship action, or after the fighters move using Picard’s ship action. The strategy was to target the ship in my opponent’s fleet, which I could get off the board, bringing all that fire power, before it ever got a shot. If that wasn’t possible, then my target was the biggest, baddest ship in my opponent’s fleet, and have it off the board by the time Picard finished shooting in the second round of attacks. After that, I should have superior numbers, and a huge advantage.
What were the fleets you went up against like?
The other fleets were all tough. There was a Dominion fleet that took advantage of the fleet captain that gives an extra 1 maneuver, which made it tough to keep his ships in the fighters firing arc. The Romulan fleet was resilient and handed me my lone defeat in the Swiss part of the finals. That fleet narrowly got edged out of the single elimination rounds by the Federation fleet that had a good showing for fourth place. There was plenty of Borg, as expected. Quite honestly, the local guys brought the power and skill, and really had me worried after day 1. I talked to Ellis Norris afterwards, and told him I was really worried as I was watching his final and deciding match. I did not want any part of those Romulans again. My first match in the single elimination portion, was against a local guy who ran a mixed fleet of Borg Sphere/Drone Ship/Fighters and he started dropping mines. That drone ship was a real threat even after it dropped its mines. It shoots for 3 and against my fleet, that can add up. He started chipping away at the fighters and could repair some damage each turn for free. And the final match, things just really went my way dice wise. We were Borg on Borg. I caught the hot dice early, and the guy had no chance to recover. I was the only player to defeat him either day, and we didn’t play day one, which shows how stout his build and skills were.
How long have you been playing Star Trek: Attack Wing?
I got in 2nd OP of Dominion Wars OP story line event. So, A little over a year I think it is.
What first brought you to the world of Star Trek: Attack Wing?
This is probably the goofiest story on how one gets into a game that has been told. Again, my friend Curt Freeman was into the game big time. So, the Dominion Wars OP events start, and he has to have multiples of those colored bases that were being given away as an entry prize. He approaches me at work and asks if he handles everything, and gives me a quick tutorial, if I would play, so he could multiples of those. So, I agreed and just get smashed. And they were taking it easy on me. Well in the end, I get voted the fellowship prize ship, I suppose out of pity. The following week, we go and play the same event across town with the same results. So, that Monday, I catch him at work, and ask what is it going to take to get competitive at this? I have been hooked ever since.
How often do you play, and where do you play Star Trek: Attack Wing?
I play locally at two stores. Wizard’s Asylum and Hero Complex here in Wichita. Great owners. Great support and great local players. For a smaller city, Wichita seems to have a strong thriving gaming community of really good players top to bottom. I haven’t really been playing as much outside the OP’S lately as I want. I have started to really taking to D&D Attack Wing, another great WizKids game too, and it’s been cutting into my STAW time, but that’s a good thing.
What is your favorite things about Star Trek: Attack Wing?
It is the ever-changing game meta. Right now, the Borg are going strong, but things change. I remember it was Klingons at first, and then the Dominion came in. And then the Borg got introduced. I love that every so often, there is something that swings the game in a totally different direction. I remember when the Krayton prize ship hit, and someone figured out the Weyoun/Conditional Surrender combo. It’s just those things where some upgrade is introduced, and then someone combos it with something else that hadn’t seen much use, and BAM! We have a whole new direction to go.
As a National Champion, you are pre-qualified for the Star Trek: Attack Wing World Championship at Origins. Are you planning on going? Any idea of what you might be playing?
The plan is to go to Columbus and play. It really looks like a fun event all around. I am thinking about trying to Play in the D&D Attack Wing Qualifying event also, and see if I can rid myself of bad dice rolls there. As far as the build I will bring, honestly I do not know. Probably a Ferengi Swarm of some sort. Those seem to be all the rage at this time.
Anything else you would like to add?
I would just like to thank WizKids for the honor and sponsoring these events. A thank you to Games and Stuff (I think was there name) in Baltimore for putting on a wonderful event there. Thanks to the TO’S in Baltimore. They were fair, impartial, knowledgeable and generally all around great guys. Thanks to all the players that showed up and made the event fun. And I hope to see a lot of the regional winners, who couldn’t make Nationals, at Worlds.
