3788 Scale Borak Light Cruiser/War Cruiser (CL/CW)

The Borak are six-limbed oxy-nitrogen breathers from a world similar to Earth, but with far less water. They were discovered by the Hydrans as their world was located in the Hydran Old Colonies. For nearly two decades, the Hydrans and Borak had a cordial relationship.  That changed after the Hydran homeworld fell to the Klingons and Lyrans and the Hydrans feared the Borak might join with their enemies. The Hydrans eliminated the Borak as a spacefaring power during the Early Years, though their fleet continued to evolve in Hydran simulators. During the General War, the Hydrans used the Borak in a game of deception, leaking data on their (non-existent) warships and presenting them as a powerful empire that wouldn’t appreciate having Hydrans and Lyrans intrude in their sphere of influence. The bluff worked because the Klingons and Lyrans didn’t figure it out until they were so heavily engaged against the Federation that they couldn’t spare the ships to conquer the Hydrans.

Although originally intended as affordable substitutes for heavy cruisers during Expansion Period, the light cruiser class emerged as the workhorse of the Borak Star League fleet. Rapid expansion left the Borak Star League with vast amounts of territory to be protected and this duty fell to ships of the light cruiser and frigate classes, with the light cruisers acting as local “flagships.” Many internal emergencies were averted or contained by the rapid response of the local light cruiser. Additionally, light cruisers continued to play an important role in Borak Star League fleet formations. They provided flexibility between the heavy cruiser-dominated battle line and the skirmishing destroyers, and could reinforce either as the situation dictated. The evolution of the class resulting in the war cruiser would end the role of the light cruiser as a destroyer-reinforcer.

An extensive upgrade was applied to the light-cruiser class during the General War that  resulted in the War Cruiser. It was a response to numerous other ships of similar performance in neighboring fleets introduced during the General War. While technically considered part of the fleet-wide “war” refit program, these upgrades were far more significant, and centered around the replacement of the single megaphaser turret with a lightweight version of the twin-weapon model used on cruisers. This gave the war-cruiser class nearly the same combat power as the larger heavy cruisers, and allowed the Borak Star League to rapidly upgrade their existing fleet without resorting to the wartime production rates that bled so many other empires’ economies. Just before the start of “Operation Remus,” virtually all “line” light cruisers were updated to this standard, although the basic light cruiser hull remained in production to support numerous variants.

This miniature can represent either the light cruiser or war cruiser, depending on the choice of turret installed. The light cruiser has two phaser-1s, two phaser-2s, two phaser-3s, two phaser-cannons, and a single megaphaser in its turret. The war cruiser upgrades the phaser-2s to phaser-1s and has a two-megaphaser turret.

The ship is available in a variety of materials. Ships are unpainted, use standard flight stands available from many sources, and, while designed for gaming, make fine display pieces.