Galactic Supremacy!

Which game is the best?   Have you ever wondered who would win if you could pit your X-Wing collection against an Armada fleet?   I’ve decided to take it to the next level and pit all of the FFG Games I cover against each other in an event I’m calling Galactic Supremacy!

Galactic Supremacy will be a free for all battle where each game will battle by it’s own rules.  X-Wing, Armada, Imperial Assault, and even Star Wars Destiny will face off against one another!

 

In the coming weeks I’ll be updating my channel with videos for each game, detailing what I’ll be bringing to the game to represent that game.   It’s going to be a last-hero-standing rumble, so emphasis will be on survivability and eliminating the competition.

Training Grounds, will be the game mat.  Imperial Assault will be restricted to movement squares, and Destiny won’t be able to move at all, while X-Wing and Armada will be able to fly anywhere, but will lose if they fly off the mat.

 

The best part is that this battle will happen during a LIVE BROADCAST and everyone viewing will be able to help make the decisions!

X-Wing Waves 12 and 13 Arrive!

It’s turning out to be a great month to be a Star Wars fan!   Also an expensive month!   We finally get the long awaited Gunboat!   New mechanics with the Kimogila’s bullseye firing arc, and the Phantom 2’s amazing new crew, whom I can’t wait to run with a B-Wing, Maul.  Also some new Last Jedi ships for Wave 13 are sure to shake things up with their huge impact and huge table presence…. seriously these ships are huge!

Videos

 

Hope you enjoy! Discuss these over on the forums on Discord!

 

Contest Finalists!

It’s been a great contest with over 60 submissions!   I’d like to thank everyone who entered!   Submissions are now closed, but you are still more than welcome to add some more paint jobs to the forums if you simply want to share!

I’ll be announcing the winner of the Legion Core Set, as well as the winner of the door prize in the next day or 2, so make sure and check back often!

I’ll be narrowing down the paint jobs soon, but here are some of the finalists:

 

Here are some thumbnails of the submissions we got over on the forums!

 

 

The Original Blue Objectives

The Original Blue Objectives

This third installment of objectives are dealing with the original blue objectives that come in the Armada core set.  I also have covered reds and yellows, and will soon be covering the objectives in the Corellian Conflict as well.  Lets get started!

This one is a simple points race.   You land a ship on an obstacle, and you can gain a victory token.  It also has the clear benefit of allowing the 2nd players ships complete immunity when landing on asteroid fields and debris fields.  There are some common questions with interactions here that have been answered in the FAQ as well.  First – Grav Shift Reroute moves these obstacles, the tokens move with them.  Second – Squadrons with Strategic are allowed to move tokens off these obstacles.   In that case, the tokens must be placed back on an obstacle before it can be removed for scoring.   And if a ship lands on an obstacles with multiple tokens, you only remove one token each time.  See the Armada Errata page for a link to the latest FAQ.

Why you should include it:

One thing that’s nice is that you’ll get the ability to move through obstacles unhindered and your opponent won’t.  Large Based ships can certainly take advantage of this.  Also, if you are running Grav Shift Reroute you can pull some of these obstacles closer to yourself to make collecting them easier.   This doesn’t give a ton of points though and isn’t terribly strong, but it also typically doesn’t help your opponent either.

If you are 1st Player:

If you’ve got Jaina’s Light in your fleet, is usually a sure thing to select this objective, because you’ve already got a ship that can land on those obstacles without taking any punishment!  Also if you are running an Interdictor with a Grav Shift Reroute of your own, you may be able to reverse the placement of some of these rocks and pull them closer to yourself, giving you an advantage.

 

Another points grab, but this time it’s winner-take-all.  Flotillas have made it easier than ever to send a ship after one of these objective tokens.  Years ago, this objective used to be very bad for Imperial players who tended to run a Demolisher, and either VSDs and/or ISDs.  An Imperial Player typically could NOT afford to send any of his or her ships out chasing after objectives, so this was an easy pick for rebels running a lone CR-90.  Nowadays however, flotillas are so common that this becomes a more risky objective to take, as it can easily be turned against you.

Why you should include it:

If you’ve got several Strategic Squadrons and ways to give them extra movement, such as Squall, Fighter Coordination Team, or Adar Talon, you’ll have a much easier time of quickly grabbing three tokens.  As 2nd player you’ll be able to place 3 out of the 5 tokens, so be sure and place them in such a way that you’ll be able to get to them before your opponent.  You also want to ensure that you can keep your objective ship alive.  For Empire, consider something like a Gozanti with Minister Tua and Electronic Counter Measures.  For Rebels, a Bright Hope with Major Derlin would prove incredibly hard to kill.  Fast ships like Raiders and CR-90s also can make for good objective ships.

If you are 1st Player:

If you’ve got more Strategic than your opponent, and think you can get to those objective tokens before your opponent can, then you can turn this against him or her.   Alternatively, if you’ve got a force that can quickly kill their objective ship, then you can also stop them from collecting points.  A swarm of CR-90As with Turbolaser Reroute Circuits for example, can quickly move into striking distance and concentrate on a lightly defending objective ship.

 

A classic objective of telling your opponent which way they should approach.   This one used to get used a ton before Strategic came around.  Now it’s quite risky to use this if you don’t also bring in some Strategic Squadrons of your own.

Why you should include it:

If you’ve got Dodonna, you can trigger his ability if your opponent trips one of these mines and rolls a crit, so that is a very fun part of this objective.   It also helps you generally control which ways your opponent can come into the fight, so if your fleet is very vulnerable to flanking this one can help.   You’ll probably want to include some Strategic into your build, just in case your opponent has some Strategic of their own.  And if not, it helps to re-purpose those mined that your opponent managed to miss.  It’s great to push them again and again!  Also, keep note of your opponent’s build.  If they don’t have any strategic, you might even consider putting many of these mines closer to the center of the board so you can push them all directly into your opponent regardless of where they deploy.

If you are 1st Player:

If you’ve got several Strategic Squadrons and your opponent does not…. then absolutely pick this one.  Nothing is more satisfying than pushing the 2nd players mine field back on themselves!

 

In my opinion, this one is by far the best of the original blue objectives.  This one is especially helpful with modern fleets that might only run 2 or 3 activations.  I also think this will be especially good in the future, with Wave 7’s new large ships.  It punishes the 1st player by making them deploy EVERYTHING first.  It takes away any deployment advantage they had.   And it allows rear shots to reward both of you with victory points. Rear shots SHOULD be easy since you can see where your opponent is setting up.

Why you should include it:

This one is great for any list that has a big deployment disadvantage.   3 or less ships, for example.  This list can also be very nice if you’ve got a good number of squadrons that aren’t likely to get engaged and locked down.   Squadrons with Rogue are particularly nice here, but Intel will easily help your squadrons get rear shots.   Maneuverable ships will also help you sneak around slower ships and get those rear shots as well.

If you are 1st Player:

If perhaps you were going to have a deployment disadvantage either way, then you really didn’t lose much by selecting this one.   Perhaps you are running a 2-ship build heavy with Squadrons?  Just set up in the middle and adjust accordingly – hoping your squadrons will get you a ton of victory points.  Make sure you get those rear shots!

 

Hope you enjoyed my breakdown of the basic blue objectives!   I’ll be covering the Corellian Conflict soon so check back often!

The Original Yellow Objectives

The Original Yellows

In my second round of covering the basic Armada objectives, I’m tackling the yellows that come in the Core Set!

The Video:

 

There are some objectives that scream “Come at me bro”, and this is one of them.  Contested Outpost removes the station’s normal effects and instead turns it into a huge objective that the second player gets to place.

When you should include it:

If you’ve got a slow moving list that can easily hold a position.   When you want the enemy to move towards you, and not the other way around.  Slow moving Broadside lists, such as Ackbar MC-80s will be able to take advantage of this Objective.  So will Lists that use a few Victory Star Destroyers.  And While I am tempted to also suggest an Arquitens Conga Line, the lower command value of the Light Cruisers will make this one only a mediocre choice.

If you are 1st Player: 

If you think you can take the station quickly, you might consider this objective.   You’ll want to have some fast ships, and it’ll help if you can flank your opponent, because they’ll be set up to receive your charging offense.  Fortunately your opponent won’t get too many points from this as long as you can eventually get there.  Also, if you are confident you can table your opponent, you might simply ignore the station altogether.

 

22

One of my favorite yellows.  I tend to place these very close together to create a heavily contested area, even after the 1st players adjusts them.  It can net you 45 points per round, which, if you were actually able to hold all 3 for all 6 rounds, would be giving you the astounding sum of 270 points!  With those kind of points on the line, do you even need to kill your opponent’s ships?

It’s important to note that upgrades that add to your battery armament will actually help you control these tokens.

When you should include it:

Similar to contested outpost, this one works great for any list where you want to dictate where your opponent goes.  The difference here is that they won’t be able to simply ignore it.   You’ll want ALOT of dice in your firing arcs.    Arquitens swarms are a nice way to establish control over a group of tokens as well as contesting enemies that enter the “Killzone”.  Large firing arcs also are great.  Red dice will be your friend here, so you can get control early and keep it.   VSDs, ISDs, MC80s, and AFMk2s are all solid options here.   Also if you are including Strategic Squadrons in your build, you can pull these tokens even farther back, into safety.

If you are 1st Player:

Honestly I rarely take this one as first player.  However, there are times when it’s possible.  Possibly if the opponent doesn’t have much in the way of Red Dice, but primarily if you’ve got plenty of Strategic Squadrons and your opponent doesn’t.  Strategic Squadrons will allow you to pull those tokens away from your opponent.

 

The Ambush Zone from this objective tends to create an awful lot of confusion.  To simplify – It’s 2 full range rulers from the left and right side, and one full range ruler from each player’s edge.   One important thing about this, is if you have little to no squadrons, this objective will prevent a squadron-heavy build from getting deployment advantage on you, since all squadrons deploy last.  That is a double edged sword though, because those squadrons will also now have the ability to deploy MUCH closer to your ships.

When you should include it:

If you want to be able to start shooting on round 1.  Having a fairly high number of ships also will help you be able to react better to the 1st player’s Ambush Zone placements.  Also if you are lighter on squadrons, but don’t want to suffer a deployment disadvantage, this one might be good, for example if you are counting on a raider or two to deal with enemy squadrons.

If you are 1st Player:

If you have a major squadron advantage, and want to use your Ambush Zone deployments as an option to deploy your squadrons VERY close to the enemy, you might pick this one.   Also, if you are including some Relay squadrons, even your rear ships will still be able to lend their support, and that could totally work to your advantage.  Otherwise you might do fine with this objective if you have very maneuverable ships, that can deploy at odd angles in the ambush zone and quickly turn around and regroup with your fleet.

This one is actually a lot of fun.  It represents a ship coming in from hyperspace with a few squadrons backing it up.  It has tokens, which the 2nd player can move, which does make it susceptible to Strategic shenanigans, but it’s only a marginal risk for movement shenanigans because you can warp your ship in before the tokens get pushed too far away.   Wave 7 is going to open up whole new levels of hysterical hi jinks with this objective as well, considering Raddus and the Profundity can do similar things.

When you should include it:

Strategic will help you get even more precision on where exactly you want to jump out of hyperspace, so if you’ve got some Lambdas or VCX-100s you may consider this one.  Additionally, if you have an odd number of squadrons this one will “Fit” them better, since you’ll set 3 aside and it won’t impact your deployment as badly.    In terms of ships, you’ll want to go with a ship that can really shine by being able to be placed in surprising locations.   A Victory Star Destroyer, for example will really be a hindrance when you place it behind your opponent’s Liberty.  Keep in mind that you’ll be activating second, so even if you end up behind a ship at close range, they’ll still be able to move out of the way first.

If you are 1st Player:

A few strategic squadrons might help, but I think if you want to really turn this one against your opponent you’ll need to have a build that is maximizing Strategic, by using other mechanics that allow Strategic squadrons additional activations or movements.  Additionally this one will help your deployment advantage, so if your build needs help in that department it may be worth it to select this objective.

 

 

This concludes the basic yellows.  Check back with us soon for the rest!  Thanks for reading!

The Original Red Objectives

The Video – In case you prefer.

A long time ago when Armada was still new, I had started doing a series of videos on objectives, but never finished them.   I’ve decided it’s time to revisit Objectives and I’m going to start out with the Original Reds!  These first four are the originals.  The Classics.  They came with the core set and everyone should have them.  I’ll also be covering the objectives that come in the Corellian Conflict at a later date.

 

Advanced Gunnery is a dangerous objective to take, as it can benefit both you AND your opponent.  It also tends to be risky because it gives a benefit to your opponent as well, and if you are unlucky they may kill your objective ship and get a huge extra chunk of points. Also, with most heavy-hitting ships, you want to add gunnery teams, and this objective specifically won’t work with Gunnery Teams, because Gunnery Teams deny you the ability to attack more than once out of the same arc.

When should you include it:

One of the most common reasons to include this card is if you have a heavy firepower ship that does not, or can not, take Gunnery Teams.   This might be the case if you are running an Ackbar Build with an (H)MC-80.  MC-80s tend to be good targets for this, because they are tough enough to hopefully survive.  You can also consider running this on an Imperial Star Destroyer if your weapons team is occupied by something else, perhaps a boarding party.   Though most of the time if I’m running an ISD, I will often use Gunnery Teams instead of taking this objective.

If you are 1st Player :

Usually you don’t select this one.   However, if you’ve got a tanky ship that simply couldn’t take gunnery teams…. and you feel confident in being able to use this benefit better than your opponent, feel free.  It is important to note, that while the 1st player’s objective ship doesn’t get quite as good of a benefit as the 2nd player’s objective ship, you CAN still potentially attack the same ship twice if you are first player – You’ll just need to get that big firing arc into a position where it can attack two different hull zones of the same ship.

 

Opening Salvo is a favorite of mine.  It is one of those that gives something to both players, but really benefits fleets with a lot of ships.   It also offers the 2nd player the rare opportunity to throw black dice at long range – which can lead to some interesting combos.  One key point here is that you MUST discard your objective token the first time you attack a ship, so you actually may find yourself skipping your attack if it’s against a ship you don’t feel comfortable wasting your bonus, while shooting – (Perhaps a Gozanti with Tua and Electronic CounterMeasures).  This one also gives half score to players who manage to damage but not destroy enemy ships at the end of the game.  Great for those Star Destroyers who manage to avoid death, yet still take some damage.

When you should include it:

You absolutely want to include this in high ship-count lists.   If you are running 5 or more ships that can shoot (Sorry GR-75 Medium Transports), then this is usually a good bet.   It’s also nice to include this one if you’ve got specialized crit cards in your build, like Assault Proton Torpedoes, as you’ll now have an easy way to trigger those at long range.  It also helps to have some dice mitigation since you’ll be adding lots of dice here, so cards like Home One, Darth Vader, Ordnance Experts, and Leading Shots may be helpful as well.

If you are 1st Player:

If you have less than 4 ships you’ll most likely want to skip this one.  If you DO take this one you’ll generally want to have a lot of shooting ships.   If you have more shooters than your opponent, then I’d say absolutely go for this one.   Keep in mind you’ll only get red dice added to your first attacks, but that can be fine, especially if you’ve got Turbolaser Reroute Circuits equipped, or if your commander allows you to make the most out of those extra dice, like Darth Vader loves to do.  Also, since your are first player, at the start of each round you may want to prioritize attacking an opponent’s ships that still have an objective token, denying them both an activation and a powerful shot.

 

Most Wanted has literally made the difference in games that I would have lost otherwise.  The key with this card is that it lets the second player make both choices.  It does two things – It allows the 2nd player to pick one of the 1st players biggest ships that will end up being worth double points, (while picking one of their own least-important ships), and also gives extra dice to attacking ships that go after said objective ships.   Also this card has been errata’d in the official FAQ – under the SPECIAL RULE, it only allows SHIPS to add 1 die of any color, not any attacker.

When you should include it:

To make this card really shine you’ll need 2 things.  First, you’ll need some decent ship to ship firepower.   Several shooters would be good, since each ship that attacks the enemy objective ship will gain the bonus die.  Also, you’ll need a cheap ship, preferably a flotilla, to make your own objective ship.  This will minimize the impact if you lose it, and if you opponent gets bonus dice when going after a ship that isn’t exactly crucial to your build, then so be it.

When you are 1st Player:

This is one that a 1st player seldom wants to pick.   The only times you will want to chose this one are when your opponent won’t really get much out of it – weather they forgot to include a flotilla, or all of your ships are cheap and relatively worthless, (Hammerhead/CR-90 Swarm perhaps?).  Now if you happen to have a Hammerhead Swarm and your opponent has 3 Imperial Star Destrors plus a few TIEs, you actually might want to pick it!  You have to estimate that your opponent will pick his or her least valuable ship and your most valuable ship, and that both may get destroyed and ship value doubled.   If after doing the math, you still come out on top, then you might pick this one.

 

Obviously Precision Strike is meant to emphasize bomber-based fleets.   But at a second glance, you don’t need bombers to make it work.   (It just helps).  It’s going to give the 2nd player a concentrate fire token to each ship, which means if you are running a token-based commander like Tarkin of Garm, you’ll see very little benefit from this first part…. but the key is in the victory points that can be racked up.  This one has also become significantly more impactful since the core set wave, since we’ve seen new things that can really aide the bombers, such as Bomber Command Center, and Intel – really making it easier to rack up the points.  However, this card also offers very little as a bonus for the second player – and if you take it you run the risk of facing another bomber-based fleet

When you should include it:

If you have a significant investment in bombers, you may want to consider taking this one.   You’ll also need some anti-bomber mechanics as well, in case you face a ton of Y-Wings or TIE Bombers – because you absolutely don’t want the 1st player getting more points out of your own objective than YOU.  Your ships can also score points here, so agile, maneuverable ships like CR-90s are capable and tend to fit into bomber lists with ease.

When you are 1st Player:

If you have bombers.   Especially if you have more bombers than your opponent.   Any time you can turn your opponent’s objective against them, it’s going to be one heck of a ride!   Also if you have an effective way to deal with your opponent’s bombers, this might easily be the best objective to pick.  If you have few or no squadrons at all, then I’d strongly suggest passing on this one.

 

 

That wraps up the original red objectives!   Check back soon because we’ll be taking  a look at the rest of the core set’s Objectives, and then diving into the Corellian Conflict’s new ones after that!

Legion – How Many Core Sets Do You Need?

The video, which covers most of the same material:

As Star Wars Legion’s launch date approaches, many people are asking “Do I need multiple Core Sets?” and I think it’s easily one of the most frequently asked questions, so I decided to do my best to answer.

The Short Answer : No, 1 Core set is fine.

The Long Answer : You might actually want more than one.  (Keep reading!)

To first answer, we’re going to need to answer a few key questions:

  1. What comes in the Core Set
  2. What is Required to Play?
  3. What is the cost of each core-set expansion separately?2
  4. Do I really need to buy the individual expansions at all?
  5. Am I planning to play a single faction only, or both factions?

 

Core Set Contents

The Core Set comes with rules, tokens, cards, and all teh essentials to get you started.  In terms of Miniatures, it has Vader, Luke, 2x Stormtrooper Units, 2x Rebel Trooper Units, an AT-RT, and a Speeder Bike Unit.

Required to Play

A standard game has an 800 point limit.   You’ll want to get as close to 800 points as you can.   The Core set will get you about halfway there.   You have the option of playing a smaller point game if you want, but keep in mind that official play will be at the 800 point cost.

Legion also has minimums and maximums for units.   This means in the case of the empire, you can’t just build an army completely full of stormtroopers.   However you also won’t be able to do without stormtroopers either.  You’ll need at least 1 Commander, which each faction gets in the Core Set(Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader), and you’ll need a minimum of 3 Corps units (Stormtroopers, or Rebel Troopers, respectively).  So right away you’ll need more than the Core Set comes with.

You can have up to 3 Support Units (the AT-RT, or Speeder Bikes), and a maximum of 6 Corps.  There are other restrictions for other types of units, but for this article I’m focusing just on the Core Set.  So right away it would seem like THREE Core Sets would grant you the maximum number of Corps and Support units.   So why not just buy 3 and keep it simple?

Upgrade cards

In the past, FFG has almost always thrown out a few exclusive upgrade cards in each expansion pack, to give you an incentive to buy an expansion for a miniature you already own.  We can expect they will likely do something similar this time around.   However, I will note that in their latest miniatures game, Runewars, this actually was not so much the case.  Some individual core set unit expansions didn’t have a single exclusive upgrade card.   The upgrade cards they DID have were shared among multiple expansions.  Considering this game does have a few mechanics in common with Runewars, and seemingly a very similar distribution method, I wouldn’t be surprised to see upgrades in these expansions show up in multiple different boxes.  In short – you MAY not need to buy 4x Stormtrooper Expansion packs.

Cost

The Core Set retails for $89.95.   This is actually an incredible deal when you consider what is included.  In addition to the rules, tokens, cards, and essentials to get started, you also get Luke, Vader, 2x Rebel Troopers, 2x Stormtroopers, an AT-RT, and Speeder Bike units.  Plus all the normal materials you’d need to play the game.  Now lets look at those expansion prices. (We are excluding the unknown variable of Expansion Cards when we factor in cost).

They are each $24.95, and the extra dice and range tools are each $14.95, which means if you were to buy out everything in the core set separately, it would cost you $179.60!  You could almost get 2 Core Sets for that price, and you’d have twice the miniatures!  Not to mention the extra tools and dice.   Oh dice….

Dice

I’m making a separate paragraph to talk about dice.  You are going to want a ton of dice.  This game gives you the ability to chuck a TON of dice and you aren’t going to have enough in the core set.  I actually made the mistake of proxying dice for some test games, and didn’t make enough.   I got sick of having to record results and re-roll over and over again.   If you don’t get multiple core sets, you are going to want at least 1 more dice pack, if not 2 more.

What if I’m planning on playing a Single faction?

If you are running a single faction, I think it’s a safe bet to only get one core set.   But first, find a buddy who is doing the same, and arrange to trade the opposite factions with each other.  This way you’ll have double the Imperial contents, while your pal will have double the rebel scum… (Or vice versa).

There are other reasons why multiple core sets might be considered wasteful.   For example, the extra Luke and Vader won’t do you much good, unless of course you want to have extras to paint, or run multiple paint schemes, (Red Vader anyone?  Also, you might not be certain you’ll like the game yet, and simply want to run a few smaller test games.  If that’s the case, then by all means start off with just one and test the waters.

 

Maxing out

If you want to have the maximum legal number of each type of unit, three core sets will easily be the cheapest($269.85) but like I said earlier, you’ll run the risk of not having any exclusive cards that come with the expansions.  If you max out, I would instead suggest 2 Core Sets, and 2 of each trooper expansion, and 1 of each support expansion.  This will get you access to each upgrade card.   However, if for example, the stormtrooper expansion ends up having a “MUST-BUY” exclusive, that will change the entire formula… but as of right now I doubt that will be the case.

This would have a total cost $329.60 at MSRP.  

From what I’ve seen thus far, this game doesn’t really need you to load up your units with that many upgrades to really be effective.  The best upgrades, (in my opinion) are those which add a miniature to the unit.  Since we can see the miniatures in the spreads, it is reasonable to assume that those “top-level” upgrades will be the same between the core set and the expansions.

A Balanced Approach

If you don’t want to completely max out on all units right away, I’ll share with you my current plan.  2 Core Sets and only ONE of each expansion.  This will get me started with a wealth of options, and also leave plenty of room for those new Heavy units that were also spoiled.   It’ll also be more sparing on the wallet.

This will have a cost of only $279.70

 

In closing, I recommend two core sets, based on what we know now, and the tremendous savings involved.   Unless of course, you are only planning to play a single faction and want to split cores with a friend.  Once we get more details on the individual expansion exclusive cards, then this MIGHT change, but I wouldn’t bet it will change all that much.  Thanks for reading, and may the force be with you!

 

 

Painting Contest Update – Door Prize added!

I’ve had so many entries that I’ve decided to include a door prize!  This one is open to all of my youtube subscribers and as a bonus, everyone who enters the painting contest also gets a bonus chance to win the door prize!  It’s a $20 gift card to Miniature Market that you can use for an expansion of your choice!

I announce it in the video below.

The video itself is about all games in general.   If units had no printed point cost, do you think that would help the need to errata cards all the time?

Legion Vehicle Scale – New Images!

First off, here’s a video if you don’t want to read!

FFG released new images today showing us some relative scale of the AT-ST and Snowspeeder in relation to some infantry miniatures.  This is most likely aimed at the recent criticism for the initial articles having only solo images of each vehicle, making it difficult for us to see the pictures.

Here are two of the initial pictures from the launch article:

The AT-ST looks great next to those trees, but it would have been great to see it next to some troopers!

The Snowspeeder just looks really small right here.  There’s really not much for reference.

This lead to alot of debate on various different message boards and social media about the scale of these vehicles and if they are worth the price tag.  Many pointed out that the snowspeeder isn’t that large to begin with, which is true if you are comparing it to an X-Wing or similar starfighter.   However we still needed to see.

This week, FFG released these two images.

At first it seems like these images set the record straight by giving us some reference and perspective.   However, if you look closely you’ll see that the angles of the bases are different.  This lead people to say that the image was faked or photoshopped.

Realistically, I’m sure the image was photoshopped.  They don’t have production models in-hand yet, so they have to base it off of the proposed sizes and dimensions.   That doesn’t mean that this image is false though, in that it most likely does reflect the actual size of these vehicles.

I remain hopeful that they will be large and impressive!   Can’t wait for them to show up!

Dare to go Squadron-less?

Video if you prefer not to read the article.

 

It can be very tricky to go without squadrons.  Essentially, any list that doesn’t include any squadrons is taking a huge gamble, and it usually isn’t worth the risk.

Taking even two TIE Fighters or Z-95s is a minimal investment of points, and can make a huge difference when you are facing a squadron heavy build.  This is a major reason why you simply don’t see many squadron-less fleets these days.   It’s just too easy to spend 14-30 points to ensure that you are at least mildly prepared to deal with a majority of lists…  and since virtually every list out there uses squadrons at least in part – it’s almost a given that you HAVE to take some squadrons.   Almost…

But going without squadrons can give you all sorts of awesome benefits as well!  Lets talk about some of the benefits.

Single Strategy – For starters, you can build a singular strategy around your ships – weather it’s a full-blown broadside list, a hard charging Star Destroyer list, or something else designed without squadrons in mind, you can focus more on a single idea.

Command Dials – You only have to worry about planning 3 commands, instead of 4, effectively reducing the choices you have to make, and giving you less chance of picking something wrong.  (Although this is also a double edged sword if your opponent is running slicer tools – more on that later).

More Points! – The most obvious benefit is that you have more points to spend on the bulk of your fleet!  That means more ships, more activations, more dedicated anti-ship firepower, and more points for upgrades!

If you want to make a squadron-less fleet work you are going to need to embrace a few key concepts.

Survive – You need to be able to withstand lots of extra poke damage.  A-Wings like to poke and they are cheap.  B-Wings with bomber command center and Yavaris are the worst.    You won’t have an easy way of shutting these squadrons down, so you’ll need to outlast their barrages.   And if you manage to get rid of their ships, the remaining squadrons STILL get to shoot during the squadron phase, since the winner isn’t determined until the end of the round.   You might defeat your opponent only to have their remaining bombers finish you off as well.

Chase –  Relay has been a tremendous boon to fragile carriers.  Flotillas, Quasars, and even a really mean Yavaris can now hang in the back and issue commands from safety.   You’ll need some speed to be able to chase them down and take them out. Try to use ships that can go faster than speed 2.

Table – When your opponent has serious squadron power, the best way to shut them down is to table them.  This isn’t always easy, due to flotillas using scatter, or a single Star Destroyer running engineering every turn.  You’ll need to have a list that has the speed and firepower to catch every ship and table them.

Kill the Flotillas – Since you have no squadrons, it’s especially harmful if an opponent hits you with Slicer tools, so if possible, activate your 1-Command ships first, and prioritize killing those flotillas if you can.  They activate squadrons, can be housing a Bomber Command Center, and are hard enough to kill – you don’t want them getting away and using Relay to finish you off.

Be prepared to lose badly– Even a really well designed fleet with no squadrons is going to lose.   Alot.  If you are going to do this, keep that in mind.  You are gambling here.   Winning will be fun, but facing a swarm of bombers will hurt.   And people run them often.

Bad Ideas

Some ideas tend not to work too well.  Even though at first glance, they might seem like a winning solution for a squadron-less build.

Quad Laser Turrets – A single counter die is only going to do an average of half a damage, each time you are attacked.   This on it’s own isn’t enough to stop a bomber build, especially considering how most bombers have high hit points.  This need to be paired with other cards to work better, and also need to be on every ship.

Cluster Bombs – It sounds attractive, but it’s also expensive to get enough of them to outfit your whole fleet.  Plus it’s a one time use.   On the plus side it can’t be braced or scattered, but chances are, a low health Tycho will simply fly away or go after a ship that has already spent it’s bombs.  As much as I’d like to try to really try these in a heavy environment, there simply isn’t enough reason to use them now.

Single Raider with Impetuous – This title isn’t “bad” but if you are expecting a single raider with this title to stop the enemy squadrons you are going to be in for a disturbing truth.  Enemy squadrons will almost never put themselves in a position for you to shoot at them if this is your one threat.  Either they’ll activate during the squadron phase (after you’ve already gone), and fly out of your firing range, or they’ll activate ahead of you with a squadron command.  To make this title really shine, you need some way to lock down enemy squadrons, and for that purpose you should have chosen the Instigator.

Quasar 2 – The red anti-squadron die is unmatched currently in terms of range and number of squadrons it can hit.   And sure, you can give it Kallus to potentially hurt aces – but at the end of the day you are taking the game’s best pure carrier, and not bringing any squadrons for it to….. “carry”.  I just have a huge problem with that level of inefficiency.

Ideas that can work:

Lets talk about a few ideas that are more reliable and have a better chance to be effective in a variety of circumstances.

Raider 1 – The Raider 1 is a great ship, possibly the BEST ship in the game for this purpose.  It is fast.  It can roll 2 black dice.  It has two titles that specifically deal with Squadrons.  It can take the perfect combination of Flechette Torpedoes and Ordnance Experts to seriously lock down any large group of squadrons.   Consider running several of these.   Best part is they still work well against ships, unlike some other anti-squadron specific options.

Kallus – Dude is amazing for dealing with squadrons.  Combos well with Flechettes but works just as good without them.   And you get to pick the color – so if you really need that accuracy to stop the scatter, or you want the reliable damage from the black, or maybe you are going for the hail mary red die with the double hit… you can chose whatever you need!  And he’s only 3 points, so even if you end up not facing uniques it’s not a terrible waste.

CR-90A – It has alot of things going for it that help make up for the vulnerability that having no squadrons will give you.  It’s fast.  Very fast.  It has alot of red dice, so it can reach pretty far.  It has access to some good upgrades like the TRC.   And it’s cheap.   You can run a ton of them and squadrons will have a hard time keeping up with you, while you pelt their carriers from long range with TRC blast after TRC blast.

Toryn Far – If you are going rebels, you likely aren’t going to mass ships with double black anti squadron dice – so you’ll probably get alot of use out of her.   As a bonus she also helps make Quad Laser Turrets slightly better, so if you are on the fence about that idea, she can help push you over.  And she works against ships too!

 

Every time I try a list with no squadrons, I always know that I am taking a huge gamble, but i suppose that’s part of the fun.   Ideally you hope to get paired up against someone with a counter-squadron build – perhaps someone with a handful of non-threatening squadrons – perhaps with escort, or counter.  But if you can pull off a win against a heavy squadron list – it’ll be worth the anxiety!  Happy Flying!