I'm glad to see my idea for a fleet with 1 Vic II and a pair of Galdiators is right in line with what the game looks to be at. All those juicy upgrades Get Motti with 3 Gladiators w/XX9 Turbo Lasers for the skermish force. Oh yes this game is gonna be awesome!

Glad to see Screed. Old school Droids cameo.

Yeah I wish there had been a novel about Dodonna's and Screed's battles during the Clone Wars and early Imperial campaigns. Getting to see Screed in his prime would have been fun. In some ways the description Dodonna gives of Screed's transition from the Clone War and prior era to what he became in the Droids cartoon in the Essential guide to Warfare reminds me of one a character of mine underwent in an RPG campaign set in an AU of the rise of the Empire and the Clone Wars.

Just noticed as well with Admiral Motti, ships come in size classes (small, medium and large). That's a new snippet of information isn't it?

Yeah actually it is. I wonder if the VSD will be Large, or Medium?

I could see the VSD being Large, Neb's being Medium and Vettes being small, but the Vette isn't that much smaller than the Neb B.

CR90s being small, Neb-Bs, Assault Frigate IIs, and GSDs being medium and VSDs being large actually makes sense.

The current ship classification system used during the Clone Wars and Galalctic Civil War in setting divides capital ships into 7 subtypes and 3 categories.

The Categories are Gunship, Cruiser, and Battleship.

CR90s are Gunships. Neb-Bs, are cruisers, and I'm pretty sure GSDs, and Assault Frigate IIs are cruisers as well while VSDs are small Battleships

So the article has already had an edit. First they cleared up the 75 or 73 point issue on the Vic-I with the card now updated to show 73 points. Second they reworded (I think) the ion paragraph to show that the Ion Cannon Batteries do in fact strip away command tokens, like the card said to begin with. Thanks for clearing that up!

So someone either call me crazy or confirm this for me, but didn't the old pictures of the Vic-I/II have two anti-fighter dice? They've changed the pictures even in the older posts and that is certainly going to have an effect on gameplay if I'm remembering correctly.

Edit: Just confirmed this myself by looking at reposts of the old articles on other websites. They've made a balance change by dropping the Victories anti-fighter capabilities! Makes that Gladiator-II that much more valuable, but will certainly have some bearing on how you build your fleets.

Makes me wonder what other changes we may see This one wouldn't have been as big a deal if it hadn't dropped the ships ability to take on fighters by half!

Yeah, the poor anti-fighter batteries on the VSD-I, VSD-II, and GSD-I make the Imperials weak to fighters. They will need to bring a big screen of TIEs or a couple Gladiator-II Star Destroyers in order to survive against those awesome Rebel fighters.

So, here's my reaction to the Victory title cards:

Dominator: With this title on a VSD-II at medium range, you can unleash potentially 9 dice (3 red + 3 blue normally; 2 blue for Dominator; 1 die of either color from a concentrate fire command). With all of those blues (and to a lesser degree reds), you should be able to easily roll 2 or 3 accuracy, stopping your opponent's defense tokens. The remaining 6 or 7 dice could then easily roll the 6 hits required to one-shot a defenseless CR90! Also, this title can be useful on a VSD-I to give it some punch at mid-range (and be absolutely a beast at close-range).

Corrupter: I'm not super-impressed, since the only available bomber (TIE Bomber) already has good range. But it could be useful if you have a few extra points with a Victory being assigned to a carrier role.

Warlord: This is my favorite Victory title so far. It is ideal on a VSD-II, since you will be rolling lots of blue dice with lots of accuracy. It is even better, though, if you use it to turn a red die from the accuracy symbol to the double-hit symbol. It could also come in handy in conjunction with Overload Pulse--once the defense tokens are nullified, you don't need accuracy any longer.

Now, the Gladiator title cards:

Demolisher: This is awesome for a Gladiator in a grappler role. The problem is that it is hard to line up close range shots, if your opponent is avoiding you. You attack and then move into position--then your opponent attacks and moves out of position. With this title you can break the fundamentals of the game. You shoot with your forward arc, move into position for a broadside, and then shoot with your side arc. If you have Engine Techs, you can then move out of your opponent's broadside (and maybe set up a broadside to their rear for next turn). I will definitely use this title a lot.

Insidious: This title has a very narrow use--it only helps when you are at medium range in your opponent's rear arc. However, its cost is quite low. If you have 3 extra points that you are not using, there are worse things to take than this title. **Edit: On further thought, there is an interesting use of this title. If your opponent has initiative, then it is very hard for a Gladiator to tail an enemy ship. On one turn, you shoot and then move behind the enemy ship at close range. Then, on the next turn, that enemy ship attacks you at close range and then moves to medium range. Your Gladiator is much less effective at medium range--unless you have the Insidious title. So, it could prove useful if you are planning on using a Gladiator as a flanker to get behind slow, ponderous ships who also have initiative.

I prefer naming my own ships to using pre-existing ones honestly but some of the title abilities are tempting.

I prefer naming my own ships to using pre-existing ones honestly but some of the title abilities are tempting.

I would have no problem with you using the title -- but naming the ship something else. I'll likely run a GSD II named Oblivion (oblivious) yet assign it the Demolisher title

I would assume that the bonus hull granted by Admiral Motti would vanish as soon as Motti's flagship was destroyed. This makes him a little less useful. To give an example, say that you are running a triple-Victory list with Motti. Assuming that VSDs are medium ships, Motti provides you with 6 extra hull (2 on each Victory) for your opponent to chew through--unless your opponent kills Motti's flagship first, in which case they only had 2 extra hull to deal with (as the other ships revert to their printed values). That's a pretty weak effect. However, there are ways to mitigate this. You put Motti on the ship that you want your opponent to attack--maybe it has a defensive upgrade of some sort, or it is in a difficult-to-assault position on the table. Your opponent either wastes their time trying to kill Motti's flagship, or they accept having all of that extra hull to bust through. Win-win for you.

I prefer naming my own ships to using pre-existing ones honestly but some of the title abilities are tempting.

I would have no problem with you using the title -- but naming the ship something else. I'll likely run a GSD II named Oblivion (oblivious) yet assign it the Demolisher title

That works. In many ways I view my ships in wargames as much as characters in the story of the battles as anything else

I would assume that the bonus hull granted by Admiral Motti would vanish as soon as Motti's flagship was destroyed. This makes him a little less useful. To give an example, say that you are running a triple-Victory list with Motti. Assuming that VSDs are medium ships, Motti provides you with 6 extra hull (2 on each Victory) for your opponent to chew through--unless your opponent kills Motti's flagship first, in which case they only had 2 extra hull to deal with (as the other ships revert to their printed values). That's a pretty weak effect. However, there are ways to mitigate this. You put Motti on the ship that you want your opponent to attack--maybe it has a defensive upgrade of some sort, or it is in a difficult-to-assault position on the table. Your opponent either wastes their time trying to kill Motti's flagship, or they accept having all of that extra hull to bust through. Win-win for you.

That doesn't really make sense to me, as how does his very presence grant additional hull points? It makes more sense as Admiral Motti upgrades his fleet prior to the engagement, so the hull points would be permanent upgrades and the Admiral himself is just a tax and wouldn't provide any benefit to the fleet that makes him worth killing.

But I suppose they could have him somehow magically granting ships hull points and that vanishes when his ship is destroyed.

I was bored, so I came up with a couple more lists that are appealing to me (though these will be tweaked once we know more about the other upgrades and the fighter pack):

The Twin Fortresses
VSD II @ 85 + Dominator @ 14 + Enhanced Armament @ 10
VSD II @ 85 + Warlord @ 8 + Enhanced Armament @ 10 + Motti @ 24
6 TIE Fighter Squads @ 48
Howlrunner TIE Fighter Squad @ 16
Total: 300 points

This list gives you two very tanky ships that project massive death at any range in three directions. Hopefully, you can jam enemy fighter lists up with 7 TIEs led by Howlrunner (or alternatively: 8 plain TIEs) because this list has pathetic anti-fighter weaponry on the cap ships. Motti goes on the Warlord because it is less likely to blow itself up.

As an added bonus, it is very inexpensive to get the necessary ships. In fact, if you cut out 1 TIE and add in some sort of upgrade instead (XX-9? Overload Pulse?), then you can play this list with only a core set and 1 Victory expansion (you may need to proxy 1 Enhanced Armament).

Tarkin's Combined Arms
VSD II @ 85 + Tarkin @ 35
VSD I @ 73
GSD I @ 56 + Demolisher @ 10
5 TIE Fighter Squads @ 40
Total: 299 points

This list aims to take full advantage of Tarkin's excellent ability. It is fairly balanced--you get a long-range tank, a short-range tank, and an excellent flanker. It may be too light on fighters--you could downgrade the VSD II to a I, and that would free up points for one more TIE squad and a 5-point upgrade somewhere (XX-9 Turbolasers?).

Critical Damage Everywhere

VSD I @ 73 + XX9 Turbolasers @ 5 + Screed @ 26

VSD I @ 73 + XX9 Turbolasers @ 5

VSD I @ 73 + XX9 Turbolasers @ 5

5 TIE Fighter Squads @ 40

Total: 300 points

Once you tear through shields, you will be able to apply a minimum of 6 face up damage cards a turn. That should leave any fleet in utter pandemonium. Hopefully, your TIEs can hold back the tide of fighters until then.

I prefer naming my own ships to using pre-existing ones honestly but some of the title abilities are tempting.

My ships already have names assigned to them

If I use a special ship I'll check with the other player. But I'm pretty sure 99.9% of Armada gamers are gonna be okay if your Victory II SD Unicorn has the Corrupters abilities. Although if you name a SD Unicorn we might have to talk

I would assume that the bonus hull granted by Admiral Motti would vanish as soon as Motti's flagship was destroyed. This makes him a little less useful. To give an example, say that you are running a triple-Victory list with Motti. Assuming that VSDs are medium ships, Motti provides you with 6 extra hull (2 on each Victory) for your opponent to chew through--unless your opponent kills Motti's flagship first, in which case they only had 2 extra hull to deal with (as the other ships revert to their printed values). That's a pretty weak effect. However, there are ways to mitigate this. You put Motti on the ship that you want your opponent to attack--maybe it has a defensive upgrade of some sort, or it is in a difficult-to-assault position on the table. Your opponent either wastes their time trying to kill Motti's flagship, or they accept having all of that extra hull to bust through. Win-win for you.

That doesn't really make sense to me, as how does his very presence grant additional hull points? It makes more sense as Admiral Motti upgrades his fleet prior to the engagement, so the hull points would be permanent upgrades and the Admiral himself is just a tax and wouldn't provide any benefit to the fleet that makes him worth killing.

But I suppose they could have him somehow magically granting ships hull points and that vanishes when his ship is destroyed.

Think of it as Motti is such a hardass about his ships repair crews being ready for anything. Then once he is gone everyone go's back to buisness as usaly

I would assume that the bonus hull granted by Admiral Motti would vanish as soon as Motti's flagship was destroyed. This makes him a little less useful. To give an example, say that you are running a triple-Victory list with Motti. Assuming that VSDs are medium ships, Motti provides you with 6 extra hull (2 on each Victory) for your opponent to chew through--unless your opponent kills Motti's flagship first, in which case they only had 2 extra hull to deal with (as the other ships revert to their printed values). That's a pretty weak effect. However, there are ways to mitigate this. You put Motti on the ship that you want your opponent to attack--maybe it has a defensive upgrade of some sort, or it is in a difficult-to-assault position on the table. Your opponent either wastes their time trying to kill Motti's flagship, or they accept having all of that extra hull to bust through. Win-win for you.

That doesn't really make sense to me, as how does his very presence grant additional hull points? It makes more sense as Admiral Motti upgrades his fleet prior to the engagement, so the hull points would be permanent upgrades and the Admiral himself is just a tax and wouldn't provide any benefit to the fleet that makes him worth killing.

But I suppose they could have him somehow magically granting ships hull points and that vanishes when his ship is destroyed.

Think of it as Motti is such a hardass about his ships repair crews being ready for anything. Then once he is gone everyone go's back to buisness as usaly

That's more or less how I envisoned it, too. Or you can think of it as Motti being super-cautious, so he positions his ships in such a way as to leave them less vulnerable to enemy fire (but also less able to do cool things like Tarkin's and Screed's fleets).

I was bored, so I came up with a couple more lists that are appealing to me (though these will be tweaked once we know more about the other upgrades and the fighter pack):

The Twin Fortresses

VSD II @ 85 + Dominator @ 14 + Enhanced Armament @ 10

VSD II @ 85 + Warlord @ 8 + Enhanced Armament @ 10 + Motti @ 24

6 TIE Fighter Squads @ 48

Howlrunner TIE Fighter Squad @ 16

Total: 300 points

This list gives you two very tanky ships that project massive death at any range in three directions. Hopefully, you can jam enemy fighter lists up with 7 TIEs led by Howlrunner (or alternatively: 8 plain TIEs) because this list has pathetic anti-fighter weaponry on the cap ships. Motti goes on the Warlord because it is less likely to blow itself up.

Tarkin's Combined Arms

VSD II @ 85 + Tarkin @ 35

VSD I @ 73

GSD I @ 56 + Demolisher @ 10

5 TIE Fighter Squads @ 40

Total: 299 points

This list aims to take full advantage of Tarkin's excellent ability. It is fairly balanced--you get a long-range tank, a short-range tank, and an excellent flanker. It may be too light on fighters--you could downgrade the VSD II to a I, and that would free up points for one more TIE squad and a 5-point upgrade somewhere (XX-9 Turbolasers?).

Critical Damage Everywhere

VSD I @ 73 + XX9 Turbolasers @ 5 + Screed @ 26

VSD I @ 73 + XX9 Turbolasers @ 5

VSD I @ 73 + XX9 Turbolasers @ 5

5 TIE Fighter Squads @ 40

Total: 300 points

Once you tear through shields, you will be able to apply a minimum of 6 face up damage cards a turn. That should leave any fleet in utter pandemonium. Hopefully, your TIEs can hold back the tide of fighters until then.

How about this (assuming my math is right)

VSD II@85 (130)

Screed@26

Ion@5

Dominator@14

2x Gladiator I @56 (68 points each for a total of 136)

XX9 Turbo Laser@5

Assault Missile@7

4 Tie fighter squadron@8 (32 pts total)

Total: 298

I hope there is a 2 point upgrade I can toss in there somewhere lol

Otherwise other than being kinda skimpy on Tie's I would run this list like I imagine a Rebel Corvette/Neb-B combo would work. The VSD hangs back to snipe and Ion people while the Gladiators swarm a target crush it then move on. Lack of Ties is the only real problem I think :/

I would assume that the bonus hull granted by Admiral Motti would vanish as soon as Motti's flagship was destroyed. This makes him a little less useful. To give an example, say that you are running a triple-Victory list with Motti. Assuming that VSDs are medium ships, Motti provides you with 6 extra hull (2 on each Victory) for your opponent to chew through--unless your opponent kills Motti's flagship first, in which case they only had 2 extra hull to deal with (as the other ships revert to their printed values). That's a pretty weak effect. However, there are ways to mitigate this. You put Motti on the ship that you want your opponent to attack--maybe it has a defensive upgrade of some sort, or it is in a difficult-to-assault position on the table. Your opponent either wastes their time trying to kill Motti's flagship, or they accept having all of that extra hull to bust through. Win-win for you.

It does pose in interesting question though as to what if one of the other Star Destroyers that had the extra hull points was say 1 card over its original hull limit when Motti is destroyed, it would spontaniously be destroyed also?

I'm kind of leaning on the one VSD + Gladiators idea, maybe with Motti to give them some protection. Let the VSD attack targets at range while speeding Expanded Launcher Gladiators into battle from the flanks to punch the enemy in the face with a fist-full of black dice.

Fighter defenses on the Empire are probably going to rely entirely on fielding starfighters to tie up and kill the rebels before they can coordinate them. I wonder if there's going to be a considered minimum for the number of Imperial squadrons to bring- and if Howlrunner is going to be seen as essential to an Imperial swarm strategy as she is in X-Wing.

Is the Gladiator Class medium or still large?

We don't know for sure. It might be small. While the VSD is medium and the eventual ISD is large.

I plan in playing the ranged attack game I am leaning on a three Victory class list. And i plan on using bombers as well. This game already sounds fun to play.

It seems that many Wave 1 Imperial lists will have three ships: Triple Victory, 2VSD-1GSD, 1VSD-2GSD, Triple Gladiator. This seems to best balance quantity and quality. Three ships is less brittle than two, plus you will get better use out of your commander's ability. On the other hand, there is more room for upgrades and fighters than there would be in a four ship list.

Two ship lists may be viable, too. I imagine that two archetypes might work out: double Victory with really decked out ships; or a Victory and a Gladiator with an elite fighter complement. Four ship lists are not impossible, though the Empire is a little light on cheap ships at the moment. Here is an attempt at a four ship list:

Imperial Swarm

GSD-II @ 62 + Motti @ 24 (or Screed @ 26)

GSD-II @ 62

GSD-II @ 62

GSD-I @ 56

4 TIE Fighter Squads @ 32

Total: 298 points (or 300 with Screed)

This list would probably play much more like a Wave 1 Rebel list--with speed and attacks from multiple directions. This list can run lighter on TIEs because the three GSD-IIs supply a decent amount of anti-fighter flak. I'm not sure which commander would be more useful--Motti for a total of 4 extra hull, or Screed for more crits (even though it lacks cards to take full advantage of them).

Possibly a Vic-I and 3 Gladiators at that point value too.

GSD-I @56*3=168

Vic-I @72

So Plus 4 Squadrons of Ties and Motti for a total of 296.

I enjoyed this preview greatly.

Question: did they replace the "Rebel" & "Imperial" Only text on faction specific cards with just the faction symbols? I hope that is the case as it would declutter the text on the cards that we've seen in X-Wing. That's another line that can be used for game mechanics!