If you want to have a size accurate Star Trek Attack Wing game, then basically forget it. Many have tried, often resorting to 3D printing or re-purposing ships from different brands like Micro Machines etc, but realistically, you might as well play a different game, it’s easier.
Ship “X” should be bigger then ship “Y”, which is 1/4 the size of ship “Z” and so on, with suspended belief playing it’s role. This is normal I guess as the original designers of these ships do not have to abide by budgets, physics or common sense, CGI cares for none of these, just the desire to impress with their creations.
A 3km wide Borg Cube at correct scale to the Enterprise-D at 430m wide, means your inch and a bit Fed ship needs to face off against a cube 8 times or about 30cm wide and they come pretty close with the big cube, maybe 2/3rds of the way, but it dominates a table and changed the way the game is played and then, what if you want a Delta Flyer “speck” in the fight at roughly 1/344th the size of the cube?
This does not only apply to physical scale, but table presence also. A monster like the Scimitar has 6 primary attack dice, which is good, accounting for a mass of weaponry, “she’s a predator” as Picard said, so in-game comparisons to the Flyer with 3 primary and the ability to carry some serious ordnance make little sense. Even defence, a combination of agility and size can be illogical with monster ships like the D’Deridex and again, the Flyer sharing 2 defence dice.
Even upgrade bars are at odds. Some very small ships have weak upgrade bars, but on the whole size does not seem to matter (as makes sense to the franchise, but not in scale). The Robinson, captured Asssauly Ship has 4 Crew, the Enterprise-D only 3?
The Scimitar should be at least twice this size in comparison to the Ent-E and don’t even think of trying to justify a smaller ship.
The big problem is, there is often no solid info to go on anyway, so no matter what you do, there will be more than a seed of doubt sewn. DS9 was a high water mark in tricky scale manipulation, the “hero” ship Defiant playing the role of run-about, scout and battle wagon, it’s screen size seeming to fit the role it’s playing.
Among the biggest offenders were the Klingon Bird of Prey, but Cardassian, Romulan, Jem’Hadar of all sorts and even the Breen were tough to settle on a scale for.
Some timelines fix their own issues, the TOS and TOM ships aligning pretty well as a rule and little enough is known to contradict logical conclusions.
I have reconciled the above issues in my my collection to some extent by going faction and timeline pure, with only a few exceptions that just cannot be fixed, so they are simply ignored*.
This fixes to some extent both scale “to-the-eye” and relative table capability.
The only timeline I have split the field further is the TNG/DS9/Voyager period, split into “TNG battle” and “DS9 skirmish” scale, the Delta Quadrant a little less defined as skirmish, with issues, because (1) I can and (2) I really need to for my own piece of mind.
In DS9 skirmish scale, hull values average 2 to 3 with 4 at the top end (Intrepid, and the tough Cardassian Dreadnaught), shields range from 0 to 5 (again Intrepid, which outstrips even some capitol ships-in the bigger scale). Defence is usually 2 with several 3’s, something battle does not have. Primary attack ranges from 1 to 4, 2 to 3 nominally, with a 6 for the Dreadnaught and some full strength fighter squadrons as standouts. The Dreadnaught is a big model, but is actually pictured by some as quite tiny at 100m. The fighters are abstracted, hiding the fact they are either too large or small depending on the ships.
The feel of this scale is X-Wing like, with attack and defence in balance, hull and shields much lower, Crew holding battered little ship together with duct-tape and hope and manoeuvre means something.
In TNG battle scale, which can be either unique ships or simplified massed battle generics, primary attack is on average 4, with plenty higher. Defence is almost universally 1, occasionally 0 or rarely 2 unless depleted fighters which are at 3, but nearly useless by now. Hull starts at 4 and peaks at 9 for some Borg and shields range from 3 to 7 (2-6 in generic).
All these battlewagons are tough and hit hard, but are generally less agile with little fighters flitting amongst them.
So, Battle is a slugging match, skirmish is a dogfight. faction and timeline boundaries aside, I now have two distinct games.
The anomaly of the D’Deridex being more agile than some small ships is addressed when comparison is removed. Basically the Romulans are sneaky and agile, the Borg are punishment magnets and the rest get a token dice that is effectively doubled with an Evade action.
The Delta Quadrant is actually pretty well scaled, until it is not. A curious (infuriating) mix of skirmish scale with a few anomalies.
The monstrous Kremin ship, the Kazon carrier which can fit their raiders inside, the huge Vidiians cruiser and of course the Borg, are absorbed into a set that also accepts a mix of unique and generic ships, some quite small.
So, let’s look at some troublesome ones.
The Klingon Bird of Prey in the original movies had slight scale issues, but tends to settle on a smallish (closer to medium for the time) generic BOP or group of similar ships varying in size. In TNG, there are serious differences and they are even called out in scenes such as DS9 battle scenes with little and large BOP shown together.
The B’Rel is about 100-150m, probably close to the earlier ships, the Vorcha class is much, much bigger at 450m+. The models are identical as are the cards except for the obvious hull size differences, which is also problematic with a ship four times the size of another similarly designed vessel sharing the same fire power, agility and shield values and only being slightly more robust? This is an example of why the split fleet scales make sense.
B’rel > DS9 as a tough and lethal ship used by many factions.
Vorcha > TNG as a relatively cheap, nimble and powerful workhorse.
The Romulan Science and Scout ships are even less convincing. The Scout is always considered small, nimble and with a small crew, maybe even single pilot able. The Science ship is either the same size (same hull value) or same design, but bigger with a crew of 50-100. Opinions vary greatly.
In Attack Wing the scout is harder to hit, but it is a scout. The Science vessel is a non-combat ship so is likely not armoured, maybe explaining the hull value and size confusion? The Science ship is possibly a small enough model to go into the TNG fleet as a little utility ship, but the scout is too small.
On reflection, even though the Romulans could do with a little filler ship and even if it is bigger than the scout, it is still only a small ship with a nimble dial and 1-2-2-2 stats (nothing else in battle scale is this weak or as nimble). I will go with the “they all use the same hull” camp.
Scout Vessel > DS9
Science Vessel > DS9
Not even close to right. The D’Deridex should be 2-3 times the size of the Valdore, which may be close to right with the Science ship, or way too small depending on the version you go with. The fighters are accepted as an abstract representation. The Valdore is the only one close to right against the Feds.
The Miranda class is a big enough ship to give the Constitution Refit a scare***, but only with Khan as captain and some subterfuge employed. In DS9 they appear regularly as cheap cannon-fodder and fleet fillers (many died, seemingly exactly the same way!??) and are generally known to be smaller than an Intrepid class, which is the hull 4 “big bruiser” of DS9 skirmish. I am putting it at about the same length as the Nova and it shares the same stats and it fits with the AW model scale.
Miranda > DS9 (and The Original Movies)
The Intrepid/Voyager. In DS9 skirmish and the Delta Quadrant set, the Intrepid class are “cock of the walk”, not because they are big, but they are powerful, fast and advanced. I cannot put the Intrepid class in TNG battle, because it is simply too small and to be honest too powerful for that set by size/cost. The Intrepid and Excelsior should not be used together, so they become the strongest/weakest ships in their respective sets.
Intrepid > DS9 as the Fed flagship.
Voyager > Delta Quadrant as the point of it all.
Queen of the DS9 skirmish seas, the Intrepid is the biggest, toughest and fastest ship in that set, even if the model is a little small. In TNG, it is close to the same length as the Galaxy and chunkier than the Excelsior, which is way too big.
The Excelsior. Only slightly bigger than the Intrepid, it is a smaller model, so fleet it is as the smallest Fed.
Excelsior > TNG battle and TOM
The Jen’Hadar Attack ship is always shown as size comparable to the Defiant, which is ground zero for the DS9 fleet, so it should go there. The named Battle Cruiser gets a bonus if supported by one, but even Wizkids have shown the scaling up in their Into The Unknown game, so I am going to deal with the BC somehow (a fringe little fleet of 2 Jem’Hadar and a Breen in TNG anyway). There is also the issue of the lone blue paint job and 6 shiny new purple ones, so that is the Robinson, maybe having a longer run than in the series.
Attack Ship > DS9
One of the worst offending factions. The Battle Cruiser is the biggest, but should be half the size of the Battleship. The Attack ship is even worse and the Breen is a bit of an unknown, but may be about right scaled to the Battleship.
The Hideki conundrum. Hideki fighters are roughly the same size as the Attack Ship, even close to the Defiant maybe. Wizkids made them multi-based fighters and smaller moulds, I guess because the only time they had any screen time was in swarm mode in DS9 and they had zero crew or upgrade highlights, so a tough one to add to the game. It raises some issues in a fleet with or without similarly sized ships. I need them in Fleet for depth and variety, but they also belong in DS9 as the only Cardassian small ship other than the Dreadnaught and Dukat’s BOP.
As fighters, they can go in both fleets, the squadron abstractness is much as Star Wars Armada forces on us and their role accepted as the exception.
Hideki > both as a squadron
Cardassian Dreadnaught. This is a big, solid model as befits the high Hull and attack value and it’s “0” agility. Problem is, it only 100m long, so less than a third the size of Voyager. It seems Wizkids felt the need to make this and the Bioship below large models to fit their strong stats, but at odds with their actual size.
Dreadnaught > DS9/Delta, but even then it is too big.
Species 8742 Bioship. Powerful and dangerous, a match for the Borg even, the bioship is a large model, but it is actually a small ship employed in numbers with possibly single crew, basically a giant integrated fighter.
I have always put it into the battle set as they are genuinely a threat to all factions even with small numbers (I have 5), with ship stats of 6-2-5-6. The 5 hull is probably indicative of their advanced and exotic nature not size, but it led me to believe they were fairly true to scale. According to several sources it is about half the size of Voyager at 200m, even though the actual model is actually larger. This is highly problematic.
Ignore the evidence and go with the stats for battle or make then an almost unstoppable powerhouse in a smaller scale Delta Quadrant game (where they were encountered) and ignore the massive scale issues everyone has with the Borg?
Species 8742 Bioship > Delta Quadrant only
The Ferengi seem small-time enough for DS9 scale, but the D’Kora is too big to use there, so only the little shuttle and an acquired BOP get a run. The Ferengi are a little pointless, generally scenario players, but 3 D’Kora might bother someone.
The Delta Quadrant is the most problematic over all. With no capacity to split the field, some scale issues are unavoidable.
The Borg-all of them, are always too small, but they are what they are. The Sphere “Type 2” is close to ok in scale with a Galaxy, but still way too small compared to Voyager. I do not have the giant Cube, only the Tactical one, a rare medium sized ship in AW, but it is also tiny compared to other ships and a properly scaled cube would be twice the size of the one made.
The Kazon. The Carrier is bigger than a Jem’Hadar Battleship, but the Raider is about the size of an Attack Ship ship, so another impossible ask for the makers.
The Kremin Time Ship is similar in size to the Kazon carrier, the Vidiians are also huge, so the Delta Quadrant needs compromise..
As an exception across the board, the Borg are battle scale, except in the Delta Quadrant or any other hypothetical I might do** (they do get around a bit), with a little suspended belief applied.
These are all in denial of the scale issues still obvious in these more defined segregations, but at least tiny little Delta Flyers are not facing off against monstrous D’Deridex any more.
Ships that sit ok are the TNG battle Fed Galaxy, Nebula, Akira, Excelsior, Sovereign, the Klingons generally (with B’rels in DS9), the TOM ships, Kelvin, Enterprise, if you remove the Xindi Aquatic, DS9 generally.
*Delta Flyer, Kremin Time ship, Kazon carrier, Xindi Aquatic, the Borg generally, all so massive it is a case of accept them as they come or don’t use them.
**The Tac Cube used as a Scout sent to an earlier time line makes for a good “Weapon Zero” or “Planet Killer” David vs Goliath scenario.
***Which is considerably bigger than the pre-refit model.