The new demo really shows the advantage of the VSDII over the VSDI. Had the Imperial player been playing with a VSDII, he could have been throwing six dice at that nebulon-B, either doing more damage or cancelling some of his tokens.

Range 1 is a really tricky factor to play with on the big ships.

I think that I've cracked the code on a couple of the upgrade slots. You will notice that there are three different upgrade icons that look "gun-like": a dual-turbolaser icon, a single-turbolaser icon, and a point-defense icon (at least that is what they look like to me--I'm not always great with Star Wars weaponry lingo). The dual-turbolaser appears on both Victory class SDs, both Nebulon Bs, and the CR90A. The single-turbolaser appears on the CR90B and the Victory II. The point-defense appears on both Victory class SDs.

The big clue to their usage can be found with the one upgrade card that has been spoiled: H9 Turbolasers (there is a pic on the anythingbutones blog). The card is hard to read, but this is what I think that I can make out:

H9 Turbolasers
While attacking, you may spend 1 red die to reroll any number of the dice in your attack pool.
6 points

That is a cool little ability--drop one of your red dice that missed anyway in order to reroll your other misses. It is only really useful when you have at least two misses, but it is very useful in those cases. Basically, you make your guns more consistent without losing any of your top-end firepower. But notice something here--H9 Turbolasers only help you if you are already rolling red dice, preferably more than one. So, which ships can take this upgrade?

Nebulon B (both varieties) - red dice: 3 forward, 2 rear, 1 sides

CR90 A - red dice: 2 forward, 1 sides and rear

Victory (both varieties) - red dice: 3 forward, 2 sides and rear

All of the ships with the dual-turbolaser icon have lots of red dice, and only ship without the icon (CR90B) has no red dice in its front or side arcs. I am putting forward the hypothesis that the dual-turbolaser upgrades all have to do with red dice, directly or indirectly.

If that is true, what about the single-turbolaser icon? Both of the ships that have it are throwing a lot of blue dice:

Victory II - blue dice - 3 forward, 1 sides

CR90B - blue dice - 3 forward, 2 sides

If I am correct, then single-turbolaser upgrades deal with blue dice, directly or indirectly.

As far as I can tell, nothing spoiled so far deals with black dice, unless it is the missile icon. Of the spoiled ships, only the Victory I has a missile icon, and it is also the only core ship with black dice (3 forward, 1 sides). That does not make as much thematic sense to me, but it is at least possible that the missile upgrades deal with black dice (maybe letting black dice shoot at a longer range??).

So, am I on to something, or do I just need a better use of my free-time?

So, am I on to something, or do I just need a better use of my free-time?

You have found something that many of us hadn't realized was spoiled. Don't you dare call this anything but an awesome use of your free time.

And yeah, I think you're on to something. Cards like these have more benefit the more dice you roll, and no ship we've seen so far rolls more dice than the Victory.

Additionally, the image in question also confirms title cards are in the game. Or that CR90 card ending with "pride" has to be something suspiciously similar to "Dodonna's Pride."

Additionally, the image in question also confirms title cards are in the game. Or that CR90 card ending with "pride" has to be something suspiciously similar to "Dodonna's Pride."

Not only the "Dodonna's Pride"--that Neb B title looks like it must be the "Redemption." I know that that's hardly a mind-blowing revelation, but it is nice to see that our favorite medical frigate is in the core set.

Is it only me or is the squadron movement ... ahm ... pretty inaccurate?!

Is it only me or is the squadron movement ... ahm ... pretty inaccurate?!

it is but we only know it in theroy not practice. I expect that it will not be that big of a deal. There will be those few times when a fighter is just barely out of range and could not fire, or just barely in range. I guess we will see how much that really effects that whole game.

Is it only me or is the squadron movement ... ahm ... pretty inaccurate?!

I will say something I haven't seen anyone mention yet. Despite the expected release date, the producer of the game was running my demo and did mention that the game is still in beta and they are going through play testing and balancing. Some things might change by the time the game hits the shelves.

I will say something I haven't seen anyone mention yet. Despite the expected release date, the producer of the game was running my demo and did mention that the game is still in beta and they are going through play testing and balancing. Some things might change by the time the game hits the shelves.

I still don't think THAT much will change but you are right and that's probably why there isn't a rulebook up yet. Though I am willing to bet the "Core" is nailed down pretty well I imagine they are working mostly on the Wave 1 stuff to see if any of those interactions with the core rules would be problematic and worthy of a rule change rather than a card change. ( Large Ship Barrel Rolls ) Afterall its much simpler to change and nail the wordings before the the stuff is printed rather than wait until they hit the shelves and need to be errata'ed.

I will say something I haven't seen anyone mention yet. Despite the expected release date, the producer of the game was running my demo and did mention that the game is still in beta and they are going through play testing and balancing. Some things might change by the time the game hits the shelves.

I still don't think THAT much will change but you are right and that's probably why there isn't a rulebook up yet. Though I am willing to bet the "Core" is nailed down pretty well I imagine they are working mostly on the Wave 1 stuff to see if any of those interactions with the core rules would be problematic and worthy of a rule change rather than a card change. ( Large Ship Barrel Rolls ) Afterall its much simpler to change and nail the wordings before the the stuff is printed rather than wait until they hit the shelves and need to be errata'ed.

Is it only me or is the squadron movement ... ahm ... pretty inaccurate?!

How do you mean?

Watch the demo vids. You have round bases and only 1 template for all speeds.

This is not going to be accurate at all.

You would at least need a template for each speed.

Is it only me or is the squadron movement ... ahm ... pretty inaccurate?!

How do you mean?

Watch the demo vids. You have round bases and only 1 template for all speeds.

This is not going to be accurate at all.

You would at least need a template for each speed.

Uh, why?

ppl watch the demo videos!

To move the squadrons you need to either put the round base ON TOP of the template and then pull it out or you place the round base NEXT to the template and doing so you have no accurate reference point.

In both ways its not very accurate and this bugs me as a X-Wing player.

And as a gamer of many other tabletops, which for the vast majority use round bases, I can tell you this is hardly as big a problem as you're making it out to be.

Hell, the odds of nudging models with X-wing's templates are higher than the odds of getting significant range errors on these.

ppl watch the demo videos!

To move the squadrons you need to either put the round base ON TOP of the template and then pull it out or you place the round base NEXT to the template and doing so you have no accurate reference point.

In both ways its not very accurate and this bugs me as a X-Wing player.

I agree with you about it not be 100%. But since all we have to go on is the videos or a live demo if you were at gen-con, it is to early to tell if being off by a few percentage points will mater.

I don't expect any of my games to ever be won or lost because a fighter was a few Milli-meters short or long on the range. However, I am sure someones game will be won or lost because of it, but that is going to be the exception not the rule.

ppl watch the demo videos!

To move the squadrons you need to either put the round base ON TOP of the template and then pull it out or you place the round base NEXT to the template and doing so you have no accurate reference point.

In both ways its not very accurate and this bugs me as a X-Wing player.

One rule I have not seen mentioned here that was explained in the demo is that squadrons cannot attack ships when enemy squadrons are on the board. So special abilities not withstanding, you are gonna have to get rid of those fighter screens to make use of your bombers.

ppl watch the demo videos!

To move the squadrons you need to either put the round base ON TOP of the template and then pull it out or you place the round base NEXT to the template and doing so you have no accurate reference point.

In both ways its not very accurate and this bugs me as a X-Wing player.

I don't have to watch the video, I played in the demos personally. Squadrons have no facing and have full 360 degree movement available at any time. As long as they do not move further then their speed allows, it really does not matter where they go. There were times we were allowed to move the squadrons without even using the template/ruler because we knew where they were going was well within their speed.

One rule I have not seen mentioned here that was explained in the demo is that squadrons cannot attack ships when enemy squadrons are on the board. So special abilities not withstanding, you are gonna have to get rid of those fighter screens to make use of your bombers.

Ok ... you mean you can place the squadrons anywhere within the max movement range?! ...

Maybe the red icon on the bombers actually is the rule to attack ships within range even being engaged by fighters...

One rule I have not seen mentioned here that was explained in the demo is that squadrons cannot attack ships when enemy squadrons are on the board. So special abilities not withstanding, you are gonna have to get rid of those fighter screens to make use of your bombers.

That is an odd rule. How sure are you that you heard it correctly. I understand while fighter that are engaged could not attack ships but what is preventing my bombers from firing on a ship that has no fighters around it.

ppl watch the demo videos!

To move the squadrons you need to either put the round base ON TOP of the template and then pull it out or you place the round base NEXT to the template and doing so you have no accurate reference point.

In both ways its not very accurate and this bugs me as a X-Wing player.

I don't have to watch the video, I played in the demos personally. Squadrons have no facing and have full 360 degree movement available at any time. As long as they do not move further then their speed allows, it really does not matter where they go. There were times we were allowed to move the squadrons without even using the template/ruler because we knew where they were going was well within their speed.

One rule I have not seen mentioned here that was explained in the demo is that squadrons cannot attack ships when enemy squadrons are on the board. So special abilities not withstanding, you are gonna have to get rid of those fighter screens to make use of your bombers.

Ok ... you mean you can place the squadrons anywhere within the max movement range?! ...

Maybe the red icon on the bombers actually is the rule to attack ships within range even being engaged by fighters...

Yes, that is how squadrons move. They can be placed anywhere within 360 degrees, as long as it is not further than their max speed allows.

Keep in mind that squadrons within firing range of other squadrons are considered engaged and cannot move away, but aside from that, they are pretty fluid.

One rule I have not seen mentioned here that was explained in the demo is that squadrons cannot attack ships when enemy squadrons are on the board. So special abilities not withstanding, you are gonna have to get rid of those fighter screens to make use of your bombers.

That is an odd rule. How sure are you that you heard it correctly. I understand while fighter that are engaged could not attack ships but what is preventing my bombers from firing on a ship that has no fighters around it.

The producer of the game was running my demo. He said straight up that squadrons cannot attack ships if there are enemy squadrons present. That is word for word what was said. He might have meant within a certain distance, but no one was able to shoot at ships with squadrons in the demos I saw or participated in.

Its totally possible certain types of squadrons or certain ordinances can get around this, I just know that X-Wings were unable to shoot at my VSD, and my TIEs couldn't touch the CR90.

One rule I have not seen mentioned here that was explained in the demo is that squadrons cannot attack ships when enemy squadrons are on the board. So special abilities not withstanding, you are gonna have to get rid of those fighter screens to make use of your bombers.

That is an odd rule. How sure are you that you heard it correctly. I understand while fighter that are engaged could not attack ships but what is preventing my bombers from firing on a ship that has no fighters around it.

Actually it does help explain why an Imperial player would want to get fighters, even though the fighter advantage lies heavily in the rebel's favor.

One rule I have not seen mentioned here that was explained in the demo is that squadrons cannot attack ships when enemy squadrons are on the board. So special abilities not withstanding, you are gonna have to get rid of those fighter screens to make use of your bombers.

That is an odd rule. How sure are you that you heard it correctly. I understand while fighter that are engaged could not attack ships but what is preventing my bombers from firing on a ship that has no fighters around it.

Actually it does help explain why an Imperial player would want to get fighters, even though the fighter advantage lies heavily in the rebel's favor.

Surely it is only when engaged with enemy fighters that you are unable to attack capital ships, and not a blanket statement about any enemy fighters being on the board. Otherwise this is a serious design flaw, as you could simply take two or three squadrons, fly them to opposite corners, and then no enemy fighter squadron could ever make a meaningful attack, as they would have to spend the whole game moving out to get you and then coming back. I don't think the designers would have missed something as obvious as this.

Surely it is only when engaged with enemy fighters that you are unable to attack capital ships, and not a blanket statement about any enemy fighters being on the board. Otherwise this is a serious design flaw, as you could simply take two or three squadrons, fly them to opposite corners, and then no enemy fighter squadron could ever make a meaningful attack, as they would have to spend the whole game moving out to get you and then coming back. I don't think the designers would have missed something as obvious as this.

I think you are right, if you are engaged you have to shoot the fighters even if Capital ships are in range is the meaning of that

Surely it is only when engaged with enemy fighters that you are unable to attack capital ships, and not a blanket statement about any enemy fighters being on the board. Otherwise this is a serious design flaw, as you could simply take two or three squadrons, fly them to opposite corners, and then no enemy fighter squadron could ever make a meaningful attack, as they would have to spend the whole game moving out to get you and then coming back. I don't think the designers would have missed something as obvious as this.

That is bad is I missed this. It was kind of my thinking though I mean if a fighter is lets present and the fighter is as far away as it could be, that is almost 6 feet away, why would it matter that he is on the board