3125 Scale Kzinti Police Cutter & Police Corvette

The Kzintis are a species of eight-foot-tall felines; the Klingons call them "tigermen." They are adjacent to the Federation (and have fought two major wars with them, losing both) and the Klingons (and have fought several wars with them, winning a few and losing a few). Kzinti ships are armed with disruptors, phasers, and drones. They have more drones on their standard warships than any other empire, and forests of phaser-3s, because their ships are designed to fight each other. (They have had more civil wars than foreign wars.) They are enemies of the Klingons and Lyrans and allies of convenience with the Hydrans and Federation.

The Kzintis produced Police Cutters (from behind, the one on the right) to perform general police duties beginning just before the Third Klingo-Kzinti War. The ships were mostly intended to take over the duties of keeping watch on the planets that had indigenous populations that the Kzintis did not want to attain space flight. As was true with most police ships, many of them (in wartime) would be pressed into mainline combat where they did not belong. The Police Corvette began supplanting them about eight years later, at first as simply a heavier police ship. Ultimately the economic advantages of a ship (the Police Corvette) which used the same spares as a standard frigate and was nearly as effective in combat led to the production of Police Cutters being curtailed. However, some ships of this class were still in service in the Barony about 70 years after the inception of the class. In general, the Kzinti Police Cutters were numbered, not named, although some had informal nicknames.

Basically a modified naval frigate hull, the Police Corvette was built in a special separate shipyard for exclusive use by the police forces. These ships were used in peacetime for patrols, law enforcement, anti-piracy, tax enforcement, and rescue work. In wartime they were used as convoy escorts and to secure rear areas against raids. The ship had slightly less power than a military frigate but carried the special equipment needed for the police mission. Police Corvettes were numbered, although some had additional informal names.

This sprue contains one Police Cutter (on the right as seen from behind) and one Police Corvette (on the left).

The ships are 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.