Star Wars Armada: The Expansion We’ve All Been Waiting For
Armada is finally going to the Clone Wars.
Well, folks, the promised day is here at last. Pretty since the day Armada was announced players have been asking if/when it would get Clone Wars ships. Just the other week, will I was talking about how Armada was getting revitalized. I spoke about the need, and hope, of a Clone Wars expansion. And lo! This past week at Star Wars Celebration FFG put out the announcement that Clone Wars were indeed coming to Armada in 2020. What a great day for us all! Lets take a quick moment and go over what it could mean for the game and what we can expect.
What Ships Could We Get?
Over on the official FFG Forums user, LordCola put together a helpful list of all the canon Clone Wars ships. You can check out his post for more details, but the short of it is that that the following canon ships were active in the Clone Wars era:
Republic Navy
- Venator-class Star Destroyer
- Victory-class Star Destroyer (The Victory is barely canon)
- Acclamator-class assault ship
- Arquitens-class light cruiser
- Pelta-class frigate
- Consular-class cruiser
- CR90 corvette
- Stealth ship
- Paladin-class corvette
CIS
- Subjugator-class heavy cruiser
- Lucrehulk-class Battleship
- Recusant-class destroyer (Large and Small Version)
- Providence-class dreadnought (Large and Small Version)
- Munificent-class star frigate
- Gozanti-class cruiser
It’s important to note that this list only includes warships. There are a number of lighter civilian or non-traditional ships that could be brought in. There are also quite a few, especially for the Republic, non-canon ships that could be used. This includes the ever-popular Dreadnought Class Cruiser and the massive Secutor Class Star Destroyer. While FFG has stuck closer to canon in recent years, but they have not been afraid to draw from EU sources when needed.
Notes On The Ships
I think looking at the ships can tell us a few things about the factions. First off it’s important to note that several of the ships, VSD, Arquitens, Pelta, CR90, and Gozanti, are already in the game. These seem pretty easy choices to remake with new paint jobs and cards and can be used to help kick start the factions. Based on the list the Republic looks to be a very balanced faction. They’ve got only a single large ship (barring EU ships) in the Venator, but have a solid line up of medium and small ships. It looks like the faction could be able to build some exciting lists, with slower heavy ships making up a core and fast skirmishers out front. I do love the idea of CR90s and Star Destroyers working together.
The CIS on the other hand slew heavily towards large ships. Both the Subjugator (Malevolence) and Lucrehulk are massive, 3-4 times the size of an ISD. They will either be large ships or possibly a new class. The Lucrehulk is too small to be a huge ship, and the Subjugator is borderline. The Providence and Recusant-classes are interesting as they both have two version, a “smaller version” about as long as an ISD and a larger version that twice the size. I doubt we will get both versions, or at least models of both, in the game as that would be kind of redundant. FFG will most likely pick one to make. Either way that should put them in large ship size. Lastly the Munificent is a solid medium ship and the Gozanti is a flotilla. Important to note that currently there is no small ship that seems to work for the CIS. It could be interesting to see them be the first faction that doesn’t have any small ships.
Carriers Vs. Battleships
One of the interesting things about Star Wars ships is that there is an evident design philosophy between the Clone Wars era and the Galactic Civil War era. Ships of the Civil War era function primary as battleships, carrying large amounts of heavy guns, and a few squadrons of fighters. Ships of the Clone Wars are kind of the opposite, carrying fewer guns but tons of fighters. The Lucrhulk for instance carriers around 1,500 Droid Fighters.
For a direct comparison, you can look at the Venator Class Star Destroyer and the Imperial Class. Both ships are roughly the same size (the ISD is a bit larger). An ISD I carriers a compliment of 72 fighters. The Venator carriers a staggering 420 fighters. On the other hand the Venator carrier eight twin heavy Turbolasers, two dual medium Turbolasers, a handful of missile launchers and some point defense. The ISD I carriers 60 heavy turbolasers and 60 heavy ion cannons on its sides, and the number of heavy turbolasers in turrets on its superstructure and spine. This is in addition to point defense weapons and in some cases torpedo tubes. Given this massive difference in weaponry, it will be interesting to see how the fleets function and match up with each other.
A Good Day
Sadly we’ve got to wait till 2020 for the Clone Wars ships to hit, but in the meantime, we do have some more stuff coming out this year. All in all, I am pleased with this announcement. Once out Armada will have four full factions, something it’s needed for a long time. It’s going to be a more diverse game with a healthier meta. FFG’s Armada models are always amazing, so I can’t wait to get my hands on them. While I haven’t said anything about squadrons, I think we can look at what ships are getting added to X-Wing and expect them to show in Armada. Count me a happy player today.
Let us know what you think about Armada going to the Clone Wars, down in the comments!
