Not in bringing any of this information, but The Imperial Ubiqtorate just relishes the chance to shoot those spineless cur down whenever we have the chance.

And I can't wait to see some of the upgrade cards spoiled they already said that the corvette comes with Mon Mothma so maybe we might see Thrawn in with the Victory, provided they didn't show all of the cards.

The Valorous forces of The Empire

On looking at the preview it looks like we will get Director Isard in the Victory expansion along with the Victory II's the Warlord and maybe the Corrupter .

The Victory II class, Warlord , which was the flagship of Lord Rodin Hlian Verpalion , Imperial Advisor to the cloaking device project by Santhe/Sienar Technologies. [ Mission to Lianna, 1992, WEG40052 ]

The Warlord was also assigned to Grand Admiral Thrawn's task force when His Imperial Majesty Palpatine instructed Mitth'raw'nuruodo to pacify and expand the borders of The Empire into the Unknown Regions.

For upgrades we get the XX-9 Heavy turbolasers and Ion canons.

With the Gladiator expansion we get Gladiator s class I and IIs, for command we benefit from Admiral Screed and the named ships the Demolisher and the Insidious [the only Insidious I am aware of was from the Dark Empire comic books, which was a name given to a Rendil Star Drive's Lictor Class Mandalorian Dungeon ship, a class of ships that were introduced at the height of the Jedi Purge in an attempt to safely transport Jedi Knights and other dangerous prisoners].

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The Rebel scum seem to have able to gather the following gnats to populate their so called "fleet."

In the Nebulon B Frigate expansion there is the hint of the arrival of the Salvation the traitorous Mon Mothma's flagship and XI7 turbolasers .

In the CR90 Corellian Corvette expansion we get the wench that birthed the Rebellion, Mon Mothma and Captain Raymus Antilles [who must have the special ability of being turned into a low flying missile weapon by Dark Lords of the Sith who do not believe he is on a 'diplomatic mission'].

Named ships will include the Tantive IV and Jaina's Light [honest speculation based on the 'J' seen in the card preview].

I am assuming there will be a card for 'man made asteroid field' because The Imperial Fleet will be turning hundreds of this class of ship into cinders.

In the Assault Frigate Mark II expansion we can expect larger targets named the Gallant Haven and Paragon .

For armament the Rebels get H9 turbolaser and the XX-9 Heavy turbolaser , stolen from Imperial stockpiles certainly.

For the Assault Frigate Mk II, it also appears to come with Adar Tallon though this is a bit of a guess based off the part of the spread displayed.

Adar Tallon! From Tatooine Manhunt , one of the first heroes of West End Games that became part of Star Wars early expanded Universe, of course! An innovator of star fighter and cruiser combat alike, perfect for Armada .

You nailed it Brian, I was thrown off because I assumed that 'Ad' showing would be for 'Admiral,' keen memory banks you have sir.

I still don't see why people like Mon Mothma and Isard, who were a politician and an Intelligence agent and director with neither showing any hint of battlefield fleet command experience or training that I recall, are appearing in Armada.

It will be fun playing with Adar Tallon, Raymus Antilles, and when I eventually get an Imperial fleet up Screed. I've always wished they would do more with Antilles since first playing Empire at War and Dodonna's description of what happened to turn Screed into what he became from the Essential Guide to Warfare. reminds me of a less brutal version of what happened to my character in a long ago AU Rise of the Empire RPG Campaign.

I wonder if the Gladiators and Gladiator-IIs will appear in the RPG? I would be curious about the exact differences between them since AFAIK full stats have only been drawn up for one class of the Gladiators and the Broadsides with Armada being the first mention of a Gladiator-II class.

Any ideas who the named Y-Wing squad leader is? I can tell we have Wedge, Tycho and Keyan Farlander for the other flight leaders, but I don't recognize the other guy.

Imperial command leaders look like Lord Vader, the Baron Fel, Mauler Mithel and Major Rhymer.

Pretty sure the CR90 title is the Jaina's Light. The artwork is identical to the X-wing title card. Same with Isard. The image of the VSD in the article was labelled SWM02_10194_CorrupterVictoryClass_MadelineBoni.jpg and also matches the artwork on the title card, so that's a sure bet.

Any ideas who the named Y-Wing squad leader is? I can tell we have Wedge, Tycho and Keyan Farlander for the other flight leaders, but I don't recognize the other guy.

Imperial command leaders look like Lord Vader, the Baron Fel, Mauler Mithel and Major Rhymer.

Y-wing would be Dutch Vander.

Any ideas who the named Y-Wing squad leader is? I can tell we have Wedge, Tycho and Keyan Farlander for the other flight leaders, but I don't recognize the other guy.

Y-wing would be Dutch Vander.

It would be difficult to find a more Iconic Y-Wing squad leader than Jon "Dutch" Vander, as Gold Leader he had more lines than Wedge Antilles in Episode IV.

Fun trivia, there is a minor dispute surrounding Jon Vander's nickname.

Cards of Star Wars Customizable Card Game and Star Wars Trading Card Game as well as an official action figure of him name him "Dutch" , while the actual line of Gold Five in both Episode IV DVD subtitles and Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays is spelled as "Hutch" (which is also what many Star Wars viewers claim to hear).

" Gold Five to Red Leader! Lost Tiree; lost Hutch! "

Until further clarification the exact spelling remains unclear.

Jon Vander was played by Angus MacInnes who's movie credits include Space 1999, Superman II, Eyes Wide Shut, Soraya, Hellboy, Vikings and Captain Phillips .

Meanwhile back on Earth

Ah, of course it's "Dutch". I was looking with my phone, so I guess it was a poor look at an obscured name. Funny, he's actually one of my favourite pilots.

I wish Keyan was in a Y-wing, since that is his iconic ship. I'm actually surprised they did Dutch over Horton though.

I wish Keyan was in a Y-wing, since that is his iconic ship. I'm actually surprised they did Dutch over Horton though.

I'm okay with Keyan in a B-Wing, but yeah I am a bit surprised it wasn't Horton either. I always feel weird playing with people I know who died early in the war.