I know these speculation threads have been hashed over and over ad nauseum, but looking at FFG's release schedule in the past, the next wave should be announced about 8 months following the announcement of Wave 6. It could be as much as 9 months off based on previous waves.

That could put an announcement in about May or June of 2015, a time where we will most definitely have a new trailer and potentially some more information about the ships that will be in the Episode VII.

When Hasbro released their line of toys in advance of Episode I, they came out about two weeks prior to the movie release. An early December release of Wave 7 would be perfect timing for them to hit the holiday season and latch on to some of the excitement.

It seems to fit the timeline of the release schedule very well. With OU and EU from the original trilogy near tapped out, an influx of new canon material could be welcome.

I do think that we'll get a Hound's Tooth announcement as a bridge between 6 & 7, likely with a companion Z-95 with an alternate paint scheme, potentially with the Nastah Pup title. I think it's telling that we haven't gotten Bossk as a pilot yet, especially with how important bounty hunters are in this game.

Again, sorry if there's Wave 7 speculation fatigue.

It depends on a lot of stuff we just can't know. FFG would have to be fairly high in LFL's licensing family to get access to the designs as early as they would need them for a release around the time of the Episode VII merchandise avalanche. And even with JJ having to make concessions on such issues, I have my doubts. We won't know for a very long time, though.

As for the Hound's Tooth, I suspect they will go with the new smaller version we saw in the Clone Wars.

I doubt you see any sequel ships til after Episode VII hits. Now there are rumors of it getting released this summer but I don't see that happening.

I know LEGO Group already has them, and I assume that DICE/EA have them as well. Not sure if FFG gets the same advance notice they do.

Highly doubt the release will be moved up. Just doesn't make any sense to me for them to do that, just to avoid potential spoilers.

I will expect to see the Imperial huge ship in the new star wars movie

Highly doubt the release will be moved up. Just doesn't make any sense to me for them to do that, just to avoid potential spoilers.

Maybe fiscal year / tax year reasons. A May release vs a December one could have an impact there.

Also, if they are thinking about the release time lines of the stand-alones, a May 2015 release for VII could let you have a summer 2016 standalone with a full year between them to rake money as opposed to only 6 months of capitalizing on VII.

Highly doubt the release will be moved up. Just doesn't make any sense to me for them to do that, just to avoid potential spoilers.

Maybe fiscal year / tax year reasons. A May release vs a December one could have an impact there.

Also, if they are thinking about the release time lines of the stand-alones, a May 2015 release for VII could let you have a summer 2016 standalone with a full year between them to rake money as opposed to only 6 months of capitalizing on VII.

Yeah... a December release didn't make sense to me at first. Haven't all previous SW movies been a summer release?

Highly doubt the release will be moved up. Just doesn't make any sense to me for them to do that, just to avoid potential spoilers.

Maybe fiscal year / tax year reasons. A May release vs a December one could have an impact there.

Also, if they are thinking about the release time lines of the stand-alones, a May 2015 release for VII could let you have a summer 2016 standalone with a full year between them to rake money as opposed to only 6 months of capitalizing on VII.

Yeah... a December release didn't make sense to me at first. Haven't all previous SW movies been a summer release?

They (Disney) likely didn't want to compete with themselves by having both Avengers and Star Wars in theaters at the same time, and since the date for Avengers 2 has likely been set for quite a while now, Star Wars gets the move to a different time slot.

With Wave 6 coming out any day now and nothing but the Raider having been announced beyond that, I don't think FFG would make us wait 3-4 months for the next wave announcement. There are still quite a few EU ships that people want to see (e.g. Blastboat, Gunboat, K-Wing, Hound's Tooth, and several more). Also, don't forget that there will be two years between movies, so they'll need something to fill the time.

So I expect we'll get at least two more waves of EU stuff which will take us into next year. I think at that point they'll wrap up the current era of X-Wing and begin a new era with the Episode 7, 8, and 9 ships that begins with a new starter set and revised rulebook. In other words: a reboot that is backwards compatible with our existing collection.

EDIT: Pointless speculation removed.

With Wave 6 coming out any day now and nothing but the Raider having been announced beyond that, I don't think FFG would make us wait 3-4 months for the next wave announcement. There are still quite a few EU ships that people want to see (e.g. Blastboat, Gunboat, K-Wing, Hound's Tooth, and several more). Also, don't forget that there will be two years between movies, so they'll need something to fill the time.

I don't agree with your whole post, but I think this paragraph is spot on. February to December would be noticeably longer than usual between waves, for FFG.

Episode 7 ships do not belong in X-wing Miniatures.

Episode 7 ships do not belong in X-wing Miniatures.

Thus spake patox, the superman who hath surpassed all other men. The decree is law.

Episode 7 ships do not belong in X-wing Miniatures.

Uh, why not?

Episode 7 ships do not belong in X-wing Miniatures.

Uh, why not?

Well they are from 30 years in the future so either they are hideously more powerful or so close to the originals it's not worth adding them.

Y-wings are junk bby and easy fodder for ties, how much worse will they be another three decades on?

30 years of war time R&D means alot of improvements on existing tech as well as new weapons systems, or it should at any rate.

It's way too early to even speculate, we know next to nothing about the new films.

Episode 7 ships do not belong in X-wing Miniatures.

That's really up to LFL and to a lesser extent, FFG to decide. It wouldn't be the first time LFL forced a new era's content into an existing, popular hobby game.

Episode 7 ships do not belong in X-wing Miniatures.

On the OPs question: No, Wave 7 will almost certainly not be made up of Ep. VII ships. I'd you go on YouTube and look for the Team Covenant upload of the FFG company president (I think) doing his 2014 GenCon address (the one where Scum was announced), he makes it clear during the Q & A that:

A) They don't have advance access to Ep. 7 stuff and,

B) They have their releases locked down at least eighteen months to two years before they actually hit the market, and a solid plan about 3 years in advance.

So while it's possible that they got access to the designs after that video was recorded, the timelines just don't add up. FFG isn't anywhere close to as significant a partner for LFL/Disney in terms of money making potential as Hasbro, so they're unlikely to risk letting their ship designs out for them the way they will for toymakers, or the plot details that would let FFG design thematic pilots, abilities, etc.

Unless something had changed significantly in the last six months it so, don't expect new trilogy stuff until at best a year or two after the first new movie comes out.

Yeah I think we will see new advanced models from E7... but later in 2016. The E7 should come out in December, anything early is rumor. Unless all of the film sites I read/watch have it wrong. There is a lot of work to do yet before the film can be released.

I agree that new ships from episode vii will be more powerful than older models. If only the game had some way of accounting for more powerful ships... We could still use them. Almost like points or something.

Oh well.

I agree that new ships from episode vii will be more powerful than older models. If only the game had some way of accounting for more powerful ships... We could still use them. Almost like points or something.

Oh well.

The E-wing is canonically the F-22 Raptor to the X-wing's F-15; we saw how that turned out in the actual in-game stats/points.

Yep, points will deal with any combat ability discrepancies. Points and abilities. If the new X Wing we saw in the trailer is indeed a new model (we can call it the XJ for the sake of argument, though I doubt it'll be called that in the movies), then it's a simple matter for FFG to release a repaint or slight variant model, with minor tweaks to it's abilities and cost. Stats might not even need to change - give it boost to demonstrate it's advances or something like that.

Hell, I'd go one step further, personally, and say that the fluff about the age of ships is irrelevant to the players experience. Would it really matter if two players at some point in the future were able to play balanced prequel ships vs sequel ships, as long as the game was still fun? Fluff be damned I say.

If I see Decimators, Raiders, Assault Gunboats, E-wings, YT-2400, YT-2000, etc in Episode VII, I will be the happiest person in the world

The argument is often made that EU and Episode 7 ships would be far more powerful than the OT ones because 30+ years have passed, the old ships would be outdated, no longer be in service, etc. If we look at modern warfare, is this actually born out? In the USAF, the F-16 is still in service, and has been since the late 70s, I believe. Eventually it will be phased out for the F-35 or something else, but this suggests that it's not unreasonable to have OT ships flying next to E-wings, K-wings, and whatever Episode 7 might bring.

Episode 7 ships do not belong in X-wing Miniatures.

Uh, why not?

Well they are from 30 years in the future so either they are hideously more powerful or so close to the originals it's not worth adding them.

Y-wings are junk bby and easy fodder for ties, how much worse will they be another three decades on?

30 years of war time R&D means alot of improvements on existing tech as well as new weapons systems, or it should at any rate.

It's way too early to even speculate, we know next to nothing about the new films.

Okay so Uhm If this is true and All the ships are thusly upgraded. Care to explain this action sequence to the world?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLk59H86ww&feature=player_detailpage#t=60

I dare say that Most of the Ties we see on the board eg (Standard, Interceptor, bomber, advanced) Not going to talk about defender or phantom (mostly DOA) thanks to their own story lines. Would be out dated?

Yet as Iconic ships.

The falcon has received mods to it, and I'm going to again dare say that it is still the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.

And tie fighters (least they appear to be standard)

Are still in place?

I would have to say that just cause the X-wing gotta face lift maybe some improvements that we as a culture have never once seen a (classic) X-wing portrayed as these were in this fashion here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLk59H86ww&feature=player_detailpage#t=43

In fact a lot of assumptions on this Idea that 30 years later things are the new "Busted hotness" is rather pointless as if you look to the past. What ships in the old republic (that is still cannon) could go as fast in atmo as this X-wing. If things in 30 years are so advanced over the prior, why is it then that the falcon can only make it .5 past light speed? And that's fast!

I dare say sir that concepts of R & D are a bit lost in star wars. Since blasters have been about for thousands of years Engines that go fast have been around thousands of years and S-foils or something similar has been about for again thousands of years.