So after studying the contents picture I'm wondering what we haven't seen yet. There are extra ship cards under the face up VSD and Rebel ships, unique versions perhaps? Although I don't see any space that could be used for special abilities on the ship card, maybe they will have slightly different stats?

Second thought on the core, will there be a second fighter type included for both factions? There are ten squadrons included (and the article showed one squadron as 3 ships, so massive amounts of itty bitty fighters) which could maybe be a 3/2 distribution for say TIE Fighters and Interceptors. I'm guessing Squints over Bombers as two can be clearly seen on the box art. I wasn't able to make out any others though.

There's what looks to be a fairly hefty damage deck and a selection of upgrades. Between the two ship cards we can see there are 7 different upgrade types, of which the CR-90 and VSD share 2. Neb Bs look like they might have taken a shaft with only 3 upgrades. There's 15 upgrade cards pictured and two of them appear to be some sort of "leader" type. Tarkin is obvious and it looks like Dodonna is next to him. Also interesting to note is the three different card sizes. Fighters are normal, upgrades and damage deck look to be the same as X-wing and the Cap cards are big. Orange is tarot size sleeves.

All in all I'm very curious and can't wait to see if we get any more official news before Gencon.

Anyone found anything I may have missed?

One question I'm thinking is "will tie formation matter?" if you look at the tie fighter bases, there are at least 3 types of bases. Can they be arranged and will it matter if they fly in specific formations?

One question I'm thinking is "will tie formation matter?" if you look at the tie fighter bases, there are at least 3 types of bases. Can they be arranged and will it matter if they fly in specific formations?

I was wondering that too, but I seriously think it's just for looks and differentiation.

I think they will take the keep it simple and accessible approach that they did to Xwing. Or i hope.

While the TIE squadron stands show 3 different formations, if you look at the bases, they're all the same so it doesn't seem like the formation does anything other than for aesthetics.

Customization seems to be a big thing in this game. I count at least 16 unique upgrade cards, and even the Corvette has at least four slots to upgrade.

Also notice the range-band meter. Each range has a different number of dice on them.

Range 3 only has the red turbolaser dice, which makes sense. Long range guns for long range battles.

Range 2 has the red turbolaser and the blue anti-squadron dice. What this implies, to me, is that unless fighters are at range 2 or closer, a capital ship simply can't use it's anti-squadron dice.

Range 1 has both the red and the blue dice, as well as the black ones. Which we don't exactly know what they do yet.

The pic of the imperial fleet shows 6 stands of TIE fighters, so 6 basin tie/ln and 4 x-wings is almost a given for the 10 squads.

Range 1 has both the red and the blue dice, as well as the black ones. Which we don't exactly know what they do yet.

Hmm... maybe black is a tractor beam? Not listed on the card, because you'd have to choose to buy that as an upgrade?

Tractor Beam is a solid guess for the black dice, but it could also represent a bonus damage done to an enemy ship at range one similar to how there is an extra attack die rolled in X-Wing at range one. This die could also represent a critical hit effect, though most likely the damage cards will do that. Tractor beams would be awesome! All in all this looks like a great game to watch for in the coming months!

I'm going to have to withdraw my claim that blue dice are anti-fighter dice. Looking at the VSD's arc chart more closely I noticed that the "anti-squadron armament" was noted in a specific block with a specific symbol.

I submit the updated theory that blue dice are ion cannons, and the anti-squadron armament something else entirely. Possibly applying for every arc.

Examining the crew cards, I recognise Jan Dodonna and... what looks like Grand Moff Tarkin standing in front of a window, with an exploding Alderaan in the background.

My bet for the dice is that they're just separated by ranges. So Rather than listing the ranges, they could just do the colors. Range 1 is Black + Blue + Red, Range 2 is Blue + Red, and Range 3 is just Red.

This allows them to have upgrades that effect certain colors of dice, as well as allowing them to maybe have different odds on each color.

I tried to take a look at the dice from the presented images so this could all be wrong but from what I saw it looks like the dice are as follows:

Red: 3 Blanks, 2 Hits, 2 Double Hits, and 1 Crit.

Blue: For the blue I couldn't make everything out but it seems like it doesn't have any blanks whatsoever and looks to have an additional symbol on it besides the what I would assume would be a Critical hit symbol.

Black: 2 Blanks, 4 Hits, and 2 Crits

I expect Y-wings and TIE Bombers to be the first new squads, because they make the most sense in a capital ship game. You've got your fighter, now get some ordnance in there.

My bet for the dice is that they're just separated by ranges. So Rather than listing the ranges, they could just do the colors. Range 1 is Black + Blue + Red, Range 2 is Blue + Red, and Range 3 is just Red.

This allows them to have upgrades that effect certain colors of dice, as well as allowing them to maybe have different odds on each color.

I was thinking something like this after looking at the range ruler.

And is it just me or does range 3 look to be longer than the others? Maybe it's just the angle?

And is it just me or does range 3 look to be longer than the others? Maybe it's just the angle?

I thought the same thing.

And is it just me or does range 3 look to be longer than the others? Maybe it's just the angle?

Now that you mention it... yeah, it does look longer.

I was hoping blue dice would be ion cannons and black dice would be missiles...but the corvette has blue dice, and canonically no ions...so I have no clue?

Well, the red dice are the only that appear (based on their various facings in the preview) to feature double hit icons on some sides. The blue dice seem to only have single hits/crits(?) and one symbol that doesn't seem to appear on the red ones. The black dice seem to have only hit symbols.

From that, I would predict that red dice are "full effect" dice, blue are "indirect" dice, and black are perhaps some kind of bonus dice - the only place I see a black symbol is on the range ruler at Range 1. And the range ruler may be showing bonus dice you get to roll for those ranges.

That would explain why most ships have more red in each firing arc than blue dice. The red dice represent dedicated weapons in those arcs, and the blue represent either weapons from other arcs that can aim in that direction, but become less effective or perhaps adding in some of the anti-fighter weapons to the main barrage. Then the Victory-class has an equal number of both in the front arc to show powerful front-facing weaponry, but also many blue dice to show that weapons from the side arcs are being aimed forward, but some are further back and so less effective.

Well, hope you all enjoyed that rampant speculation.

Sounds like we're onto something gang.

The dice have three symbols, it appears. The 'starburst' that is most likely damage and matches the large stack of cards shown in the layout image, a slash with brackets that seems to match one of the red tokens directly above the damage cards, and what can only be described as 'Uchiha Eyes', or a hollow circle with three dots placed equally along its circumference.'

Starbursts are clearly the basic form of damage.

The slash with brackets appears to be a stylized starburst representing a blast getting through shields, making it likely to be this game's version of a critical hit.

The Uchiha Eyes are most likely special effects and only appear on the blue dice. Perhaps a 'focus'-like mechanic, or an extra effect when being used against fighters (since all the anti-fighter weaponry is blue)?

The red dice feature the most starbursts, and only seem to have starbursts and criticals. These are the basic damage dice.

The blue dice feature some starbursts, some criticals and some specials.

The black dice appears to be ALL damage and critical.

So based on all this, I think Red represents Turbolasers, in both power and distance making them the longest ranged, Blue are regular laser canons (hence why blue is used against fighters) and have medium range, and black represents the bonus for 'concentrate fire', and can be used at extreme short range to represent the extra effectiveness.

The blue dice imdeed seem to have a unique symbol, while the black dice have no representation on the ship cards. I agree that it still stands to reason that the different dice represent different weapons, with black possibly being unlocked by specific upgrades.

Speaking of which, the upgrade slot symbols on the cards are kind of hard to make out, but on the more sizeable Corvette card I can make out from left to right:

A silhouette of a person, probably representing characters.

A silhouette of a uniformed person, possibly representing crew upgrades a-la X-wing's epic ships.

A Star Destroyer dome, likely representing defensive upgrades

A turbolaser turret, likely representing offensive upgrades.

Interestingly, aside from the turbolaser turret and character silhouete, all the VSD symbols are different.

My theory is they took Descent Dice system and adopted it - different colors have different number of hits, and to simulate different strenght guns you mix them.

What if blue dice are just secondary weapons. And the special symbol varies in effect based on the weapon used.

If you roll the symbol with ion cannons, you ignore shields.

But if you roll it while using missiles, there's some other effect.

My guess is that the blue cards are tied to upgrade cards.