Star Wars: Armada: Old Republic Squadrons Are Deploying For Combat
Let’s take a look at the new Squadrons for the Old Republic.
Rounding out the last of the Old Republic fleet’s initial releases, we have their squadrons pack, which brings a host of strong fighters to the tabletop. FFG has shown off the pack in all its glory, and it’s pretty cool. Today let’s dig into the new squadrons.
Delta-7 Aethersprite Squadron 
The Aetherpsrite sometimes called the Jedi starfighter, was the primary fighter used by the Jedi order both before and in the early part of the Clone Wars. It is a ship exclusively piloted by Jedi, making it far deadlier than its technical specifications suggest. The Basic Delta-7 is nothing to sneer at. With speed and hull 4, it’s strong in both areas but doesn’t really excel and isn’t quite a tank. It’s got strong anti-squadron armaments’ but weak anti-ship, placing it squarely in the role of an interceptor.
It’s also a pretty tricky ship, with the new Adept and Dodge rules allowing it to reroll dice when attacking and forcing the enemy to reroll when defending. This makes it a lot more reliable than its base stats suggest. Throwing in Counter 2 makes it pretty deadly. It’s a better A-Wing in anti-squadron combat and combined with Dodge and Adept; it means you really don’t want to take potshots at it. As you there are a ton of known Jedi pilots; it also has a bunch of unique versions.
The first unique Delta-7 is Luminara Unduli. She starts with the same base stats but loses Dodge while gaining a scatter and brace token. Scatter + counter is a powerful combo, so she’s pretty good off the bat. She’s also got a rule that gives friendly non-unique squadron obstructed when being targeted by squadrons near her. This forces the enemy into the choice of attack a weaker squadron but losing dice or trying to attack Luminara and getting countered while she scatters away. It’s pretty good.
Next u,p we’ve got Plo Koon, who actually dies in his Delta-7. He’s got the same defense tokens and base stats as Luminara but goes up to Adept 2, allowing two re-rolls; this means his counters are going to be super deadly. He also gives non-unique friendly squadrons a distance 1 counter 1 if they don’t have it, meaning he and Luminara are a great pair to run in a swarm of basic ships. We already know the new rules update is limiting the number of unique squadrons you can take, and the Republic really seems to play into that, wanting you to take a handful of powerful Jedi buffing a horde of more basic Clones, which is very flavorful.
Fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano shows up in her Delta-7, with the same basic loadout as the other named Jedi. She gains grit, making her hard to pin down, and lets a friendly squadron near her make a free if weak attack after she moves. Free attacks are always great, and using it on someone like Plo Koon, who can re-roll both the dice on the free attack, seems good.
Lastly, we’ve got Kit Fisto. He’s got a very nice Adept 2 but loses scatter for a 2nd brace. This isn’t the end of the world for him as he can discard a defense token to reduce the damage he’s taking by 3 rather than the effect of the token. Against a weaker attack, this is about as good as a scatter, though it does mean losing the token. You’ll want to brace first, then when he’s at lower health, ignore a few attacks. Honestly, it’s hard to see how different this is from a Brace/Scatter combo.
ARC-170 Starfighter Squadron 
The ARC-170 is a heavy fighter/bomber combo ship. It’s slow as heck, with move 2, but hard to kill with 7 hull. It’s got decent anti-squadron and pretty good anti-ship firepower with two blue dice. Having bomber makes it very reliable at doing something to ships, and counter 1 means it’s not just going to roll over and die when enemy squadrons hit it. It’s a slow ship, but if you can push them forward, it can grind through enemy screens and then punish a capital ship or two.
“Odd Ball” is the unique version of the ARC-170. He’s got a slightly different anti-squadron, worse in my mind, but gains brace and evade tokens. With 7 hull brace is pretty good and he’s likely to stick around a while. He also gets to re-roll two dice when attacking if he moved, so you really want a carrier pushing him and making him super accurate in his attack.
BTL-B Y-Wing Squadron 
The Republic Version of the Y-wing is almost identical to the Rebel version, trading one of its blue anti-squadron dice for a black one. Y-Wings are tough, fairly slow, and can’t fight their way out of a wet sack, but they are also cheap and decent bombers. While they aren’t as good an ARC-170 at dealing damage, their speed 3 is a draw as at speed 2, ARCs are in danger of missing out on getting into the fray. Dropping Plo Koon into a pack of Y-wings to give the tough ships Counter 1 seems decent.
Somewhat hilariously, Anakin Skywalker, the best starfighter pilot in the galaxy, isn’t flying his custom Aetherpsrite or his Eta-2, but a slow Y-Wing. Now, yes, he does fly one in the Clone Wars, but it’s still funny that what should be the ultimate interceptor is just an OK bomber. Now he is pretty solid, to be fair. He upgrades the base Y-wing to 3 blue anti-squadron and a blue/red anti-ship, which is pretty solid. He also gains Adept 2, making his attacks very accurate. He can take down enemy squadrons and is a real threat to ships. He also gets a pair of brace tokens, making him stick around for a while, and can spend them to ignore engagement, meaning you can’t screen against him. Overall he’s a pretty great bomber.
V-19 Torrent Squadron 
We’ve already covered the V-19 in a previous article, so I’m just going to look at the new unique version, “Kickback.” He’s got the same stats but adds a pair of brace tokens, which is OK. He also has the option to move up to distance once after an attack, even if he’s engaged or has already moved. This is a really solid rule as it lets him flit around the battlefield, getting a ton of movement, being very hard to pin down and potentially making hit and run attacks, damaging enemy units, and then moving away so they can’t shoot back. He seems really solid.
Let us know what you think of these new units down in the comments!
