SW Armada: The Rebellion’s New Toys
Wave V brings a host of new Rebel Squadrons to Star Wars: Armada. Read on to see how they will change things.
It’s been two whole waves since we’ve gotten any new squadrons in Armada, but this December that all changes. I’ve talked before about the host of new squadrons coming out in the Corellian Conflict. These squadrons where only updates to old ships though. This week Fantasy Flight has been kind enough to spoil the brand new squadrons coming in Wave V. Today we look a the new Rebels, so lets dig in and check out the Rebellion’s new toys.
The E-wing
“I say let the Imperials keep coming, because every time a new admiral crawls out of the Outer Rim or some Imperial goon finds a lost superweapon, Rogue Squadron gets a new starfighter”
The new E-Wing introduces the Snipe ability for the Rebels (The Imperial Saber Squadron also gets it). Snipe is a cool ability that lets squadrons attacks other squadrons at up to distance two, and avoid counter as well. This ability is pretty great as it means you can attack without fear of retaliation. In addition it helps make your fighters a bit more independent. Outside of Snipe E-Wings are very similar to X-wings. This is fitting since in the old EU they were an attempt to upgrade the X-wing. Hull and armament are the same, escort is dropped for snipe and a point of speed is gained, for 2 points of cost. Overall this makes the E-wing a more offensive ship than the X-wing. Those two points of cost are however pretty big, meaning you can take at most 8 E-wings, vs 10 X-wings.
The VCX-100 Freighter
“Sir, comscan has identified the Corellian VCX as the supply transport.“
The VCX-100 is the kind of ship that you want to have one or two of in your fleet. Stats wise it’s only OK. Eight hull makes it hard to kill, but three move is on the slower side. It’s guns are weak, the same as a TIE fighters, yet its one the high end of cost for a squadron. It does however come with two new abilities. The new Strategic ability allows for the player to move objectives around a bit, which can come in super handy.
Spoilers?
Of more interest is Relay which allows you to, well, relay, squadron commands from your capital ships through the VCX-100. This ability means that with a VCX-100 along your squadrons commands now have unlimited range. The only draw back is that each VCX-100 can only do this once per ship you. So a single VCX-100 isn’t able to relay the full command of an AFMKII or a MC80 Command Cruiser. The Danger is that the more VCX-100 you take to pass on commands, the less other ships you can take to be commanded. Still I think one or two of the allows you form so pretty lethal independent squadrons to fly around and cause trouble.
Hera Syndulla
“War is in your blood…You were forged by it.“
Speaking of independent squadrons, Hera Sundulla has proven to be the queen of them. Possibly the first character from one of the new Disney TV shows to be added to the live action movies, Hera has the unique ability to give two other squadrons the Rouge special rule. I really can’t state how amazing this is. It allows Hera and her speical VCX-100 the Ghost to form a little group of rogues on their own. A rouge squadron if you will. Now the Ghost is no slacker on it’s own, with an upgraded attack and a brace, along with grit and rogue, it can take care of things on it’s own. The thought of the Ghost and two other Rebel ace’s with rogue flying around gets me a bit excited. She seems like a perfect fit for a Rieekan lead fleet.
The Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft
Totally not a Bird of Pary or any other Star Trek ship
The Lancer-Class Pursuit Craft is in many ways the Rebel’s answer to the Firespray. At last the Rebel’s have a nice non-unique bomber with rogue. Overall the Lancer is a decent ship. Speed four is maybe it’s biggest boon, as only having 4 hull makes it a little weak. Grit is ok, but bomber and rogue are the big strengths. Three blue anti-squadron, the same as the Firespray, is weak but serviceable. My big issue is that while a black anti-ship dice is nice for a bomber, it’s less reliable than the two blue a Firesray gets. I think that a wing of eight Lancers back up by a GR-75 with Bomber Command Center would be deadly.
The Z-95 Headhunter
“You gotta love the Z-95. Nothing beats the feeling of power they give you.“
The amazing Z-95 Headhunter may be the best new Rebel fighter in Wave V. The Z-95 is the new cheapest squadron in the game, beating out the basic TIE-FIghter by a point. Now what I love about the Z-95 is that it is straight up a gamblers ship. The Z-95 is the first ship in the game to get red dice for anti squadron, and while it makes it less accurate than the TIE, it also means it’s max damage out put is the highest in the game, matched only by Wedge.
The Z-95 has the ability to do 6 hits in a single attack, and can one shot almost any other squadron. Now it certainly can also miss outright more than other others squadron, but swarm helps with this and the high damage potential makes me a big fan. In addition a red anti-ship dice allows for the possibility of getting two hits on a ship. At 7 points it means you could max out and take 19 of them or use them to flush out your aces with numbers. Either way it’s an amazing, but risky ship.
Set Intercept Course!
Final Thoughts
Overall I am a huge fan of the new Rebel fighters. Now we’ve still got a few Aces to learn about. From what we can see Ketsu Onyo will slow down enemy squadrons. Corran Horn seems like an E-wing with Rouge and Snipe 4. Lt. Blount seems to be a Z-95 that buff’s swarm somehow. Even without knowing the full details of the new ships, I can confidently say I am looking forward to the new ships, and I am sure they will shake the game up for the better.
~These are exciting times BoLS fans! Let us know what you think about the new Squadrons down in the comments!
